Chapter 660: Harry Potter in a Frenzy Everyone has a side they do not show to others.There are plenty of people who look righteous on the outside while carrying darkness |
The secrets Harry Potter carried were something Draco had no chance of uncovering now.
Because next, all the wizards would be heading to Hogsmeade to spend the weekend there.
So before long, Draco and the others left the Great Hall and headed for the front doors...
Come to think of it, Filch was the same as ever this year, standing guard in front of Hogwarts’ oak doors with a watchful, predatory look, checking the list of students approved to visit Hogsmeade one by one.
But with the way his eyes gleamed and that vicious expression on his face, it was hard not to suspect he was hoping to catch some murderer who didn’t even exist among the students.
Or rather, maybe he simply didn’t want to see a single student walk out through those doors at all.
Especially with Professor McGonagall nowhere in sight, the gatekeeper seemed even more overbearing than usual...
After enduring an inspection even stricter than in previous years, Draco and the others finally made their way through the wind and snow along the road to Hogsmeade.
The fierce wind and icy weather made the walk thoroughly unpleasant. They had to wrap their faces up tightly, or the cold would soon sting so badly it hurt.
“Checking for dark magic items? What’s the point?”
“He should be checking what we bring in, not holding us up when we’re going out.”
Maybe it was because Filch had just run that long, thin magical detector over them.
It certainly hadn’t been very polite.
Even though Filch hadn’t made things too difficult for them because of Draco, the girls had clearly still taken the matter to heart...
Just as Draco’s expression turned a little strange, Astoria suddenly pointed ahead.
“Look, we’re here!”
Following the direction of her finger, they could see through the biting wind the entrance to Hogsmeade, where quite a few young wizards were already bent over against the snow as they pushed forward.
Those were probably students who had set out even earlier than they had...
Raising a hand to shield her eyes, Astoria called out happily through the storm, “Great. Honeydukes isn’t closed.”
Compared with the shop next door, which had already been boarded up, Honeydukes, practically the signature shop of Hogsmeade, was still brightly lit. Even in the heavy snow, its outline could be seen from far away.
It had to be said.
Nearly half of Hogwarts’ students seemed to be heading straight for Honeydukes...
It wasn’t packed to the point of being crammed wall to wall.
But business was definitely booming.
The crowds and the terrible weather seemed completely incapable of dampening the young wizards’ enthusiasm or stopping them from going inside...
Pansy and Hermione, who had originally said they wanted to go somewhere else, now seemed to have forgotten that entirely and followed right behind Astoria.
Of course, they hadn’t forgotten to drag Draco along too.
The moment they reached the entrance to Honeydukes, the sweet scent of candy and a wave of warmth came rushing over them.
In that comfortable atmosphere, Draco brushed the snow off his shoulders and waved at Pansy and the others, indicating that he would wait near the entrance.
“I’m not going in.”
“Then... all right. We’ll come out as soon as we’re done shopping.”
The girls did not try to force the matter, and it was hard for them to imagine Draco picking out candy in the first place.
They exchanged a knowing look, then laughed softly together.
And just like that, with Draco still utterly baffled, the girls disappeared from his sight...
Maybe it was because of the location, combined with the awful weather.
Standing by the entrance, Draco could feel even more clearly just how popular Honeydukes was with the young wizards.
The street, which had been fairly deserted before, was gradually becoming lively and animated thanks to the enthusiasm of the Hogwarts students.
Even the shopkeepers and wizards, who had seemed lifeless under the Dark Lord’s threats and the constant attacks, could not help being affected by the students’ high spirits. For once, faint smiles that had not been seen in a long time appeared on their faces...
At the sight of that, Draco fell silent. If Hogsmeade was already like this, then the situation elsewhere could only be worse.
Peace, it seemed, would still take some time.
As Draco idly looked over the street in front of him, a wizard suddenly entered his line of sight.
The reason Draco noticed him was not because he knew the man personally.
To be precise, they had never exchanged a single word and had never even properly met face to face.
But that did not mean Draco did not know who he was...
Narrowing his eyes, Draco quietly hid himself in the shadows. “That’s Lupin’s companion... or rather, is he also one of the Order of the Phoenix?”
Although Draco did not have the kind of memory that let him remember every face after a single glance, he had paid some attention to the wizards standing beside Lupin back then.
After all, aside from Cousin Tonks and Alastor Moody, this man was one of the few who had been standing close to Lupin...
Though Draco had no idea why he was here, he had no intention of exposing himself either.
As the man drew nearer, Draco could already make out the long, messy ginger hair and those short, bowed legs.
Those distinctive features were exactly why Draco had recognized him at once.
Especially that sly, shifty air about him. It was hard to connect someone like this with being one of Dumbledore’s allies...
Just then, another figure entered Draco’s line of sight, and by pure coincidence, the two ran into each other in the middle of the snowstorm.
The newcomer was Harry Potter.
And Harry Potter addressed the other wizard as Mundungus.
What was this?
Draco had assumed they would at most exchange greetings, or perhaps pretend not to know each other, but what happened next was completely beyond his expectations...
Shouting.
Arguing.
It all started with a wooden box that was accidentally knocked to the ground.
Everything inside spilled out, and every single piece of silverware and every little trinket bore the Black family crest...
...
Because Kreacher had defected to their side, Draco actually knew a little about the Black family’s current situation.
With Sirius Black dead, and with the family already so thinly populated because of its obsession with preserving blood purity, the Black family could now be said to exist in name only.
Otherwise, Kreacher would never have chosen to serve Narcissa, a witch who had once belonged to the Black family...
At that thought, Draco’s gaze fell on the pieces of silverware scattered across the snow, each of them looking distinctly valuable.
“So this counts as looting a burning house?”
He studied Mundungus with an odd look. The man seemed nervous, like someone caught red-handed after doing something shameful.
At that point, Draco finally understood why Harry Potter looked so furious.
After all, Kreacher seemed to have mentioned before that Sirius Black had become Potter’s godfather...
At the same time, Draco could not help wondering yet again whether this Mundungus, who was plainly stealing, was really a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
If nothing unexpected had happened, Sirius Black should have been their companion too.
So how could someone with character like this possibly have been accepted by Lupin and the others?
Just as Draco was frowning and wondering what kind of redeeming quality Mundungus could possibly have for Dumbledore to accept a wizard who was not exactly “righteous,” Harry Potter’s furious scream carried through the swirling wind and snow...
“You’re selling these things?!”
“You stole them from Sirius’s house!”
“They’ve got the Black family crest on them. Don’t try to fool me!!”
“What did you do? The night he died, you went and stripped the place clean!!”
“How dare you!!”
On top of Harry Potter’s increasingly uncontrolled shouting, the savior who had clearly lost his cool grabbed Mundungus by the throat with one hand and pressed his wand against the man’s neck.
That string of actions made Draco raise his brows.
To be honest, he had expected Harry Potter to react strongly, but a response that looked as though he wanted to kill the man was something Draco had not seen coming.
That kind of loss of control was something that had almost never appeared in the Harry Potter of the past...
“Ah! He’s going to kill someone!”
“Harry?!”
“Stop right now!”
Even with the wind and snow badly obstructing people’s view, Harry Potter’s savage actions still caught the attention of the people out on the street.
Screams.
Shouts to stop him.
Those voices made Harry Potter, who had been consumed by rage, recover a little of his senses, and his hand hesitated for just a moment.
And in that instant of hesitation, the short, squat Mundungus bent over, snatched up the box from the ground, and then, with a crack, vanished into thin air.
That sly-looking wizard disappeared just like that, right before everyone’s eyes...
Naturally, Draco, leaning lightly against the wall, could already see the look of helpless fury on Harry Potter’s face. It was enough to make the nearby wizards, who had been thinking of stepping forward, quickly keep their distance from him.
There was no schadenfreude on Draco’s face, though. Instead, he looked thoughtful.
Was this really just a chance encounter?
Or had some wizard arranged it?
Looking at Harry Potter standing there in the snow with his head lowered, Draco could not help suspecting as much...
...
Once Mundungus had disappeared, no one paid Harry Potter any more attention.
And because he stood there without moving at all, snow quickly began to pile over him. In only a short while, if you did not look carefully, you might not even notice there was a living person standing there.
Obviously, from where Draco was, he could not see Harry Potter’s expression, much less tell what he was thinking.
As time passed, Draco’s initial curiosity faded...
Just as he was starting to feel bored, a puzzled voice suddenly sounded by his ear.
“What are you doing standing here? Where’s Hermione? Wasn’t she supposed to come with you?”
That rapid-fire stream of questions, delivered so fast that no one else could interrupt, immediately gave away the newcomer’s identity and brisk temperament.
Sure enough.
When Draco turned his head, the first thing he saw was that fiery red hair, which somehow still seemed warm even in the freezing weather.
The one who had appeared was naturally Ginny Weasley, who was still staying at Hogwarts.
It was worth mentioning that Luna was also standing behind Ginny, looking this way.
Draco first glanced at Luna, who was quietly standing to one side, before finally looking properly at Ginny Weasley, who had appeared behind him at some point...
Was she a little too enthusiastic?
Or maybe, because they had gone through danger together, she simply did not think there was anything strange about acting like this. Ginny Weasley leaned in beside Draco, her face full of curiosity.
At the end of the day, Draco did not think he was particularly close to her.
“What are you standing here all sneaky for...”
Draco was nothing like what Ginny described. If anything, his calm, open manner had absolutely nothing to do with being sneaky, yet that was still how she chose to put it.
But when Ginny followed the direction Draco was facing, a clear flash of surprise appeared on her face.
“Huh? Is that Harry?”
“Did something happen?”
She had no idea what had happened, but Harry Potter’s strange behavior, just standing there in the snow, was enough to show that something was wrong with him.
It was almost like... a wounded beast.
Only, Ginny herself probably had not noticed that she did not seem nearly as worried about Harry as she thought she was.
Otherwise, she would have gone over to check on him at once instead of staying where she was and asking Draco for answers.
“You... I mean, what’s wrong with Harry?”
Draco lowered his eyes to look at Ginny and curled his lip indifferently.
“Who knows. Maybe someone stole his Galleons.”
“I see.”
“Don’t just believe that, Luna! Hogsmeade’s security isn’t that bad.”
Seeing that Luna had accepted it without any suspicion at all, Ginny shot back at her irritably.
What she did not know was that, in a sense, things really were exactly as Draco had said...
...
Ginny’s attitude toward Draco was actually very complicated.
To call them friends would still be far too much, but to call them enemies would also be an exaggeration.
After all, they had fought side by side before.
In fact, judging from Ginny’s expression and the way she looked at Draco, she did not seem to dislike him quite as much as she claimed.
Every now and then, she would even take the initiative to seek Draco out...
But because this shift in their relationship had not lasted very long, most people were still unaware of it.
Just like now.
Whether they were wizards who had just come out of Honeydukes or ones about to head inside, the moment they saw the three of them together, all of them could not help showing a look of surprise.
Some of them even had the same thought.
Had she switched targets?
Ahem.
In any case, even if they did not let their thoughts run that far, they still could not help sneaking a few extra glances their way.
And perhaps because of all that attention from the surrounding wizards, Harry Potter, standing some distance away, also noticed the commotion over here.
Ginny, meanwhile, still chatting with Draco, failed to notice any of it...
...
Perhaps because of the cold, Ginny leaned a little closer as she spoke.
“Mm, I saw Hermione. So you were waiting here for them.”
When she said “them,” Ginny deliberately stressed the word, and a trace of disdain appeared on her face, as though she found Draco’s habit of juggling several girls at once utterly contemptible.
Although she was mocking Draco, Luna, who knew her friend very well, gave Ginny a strange look.
If you looked closely, you could catch a hint of something complicated flickering through Luna’s detached, ethereal eyes.
It was almost as if she were saying that Ginny herself was one of those boats.
But Luna kept her expression blank and said nothing. Nor did she mean to warn her. She simply stood there quietly, watching the conversation between them...
Draco merely glanced at her and gave a small shrug.
That calm reaction, however, only seemed to stir Ginny’s competitive streak even more.
The girl’s rather spirited brows lifted, and she rose onto her toes to peer into the shop.
“For someone so smart, she really has terrible taste.”
“...”
“What a pity. I thought Ron actually had a pretty good chance.”
Draco’s mouth twitched, and he lowered his head to look at the red-haired witch in front of him.
That was one comparison he absolutely could not accept. To put him on the same level as someone like that.
He had no idea where her confidence came from.
But Ron Weasley?
What a joke...
Before Draco could even laugh, Ginny’s expression turned downcast first.
“Speaking of Ron... did you notice anything strange about him back then?”
Ginny tipped her face up as she looked at Draco, her eyes full of expectation.
It was as if she believed she could get a perfect answer from him.
At that, Draco’s expression slowly turned serious.
“Something strange...”
Although Draco had been somewhat concerned about the changes in Ron Weasley after that day, Dumbledore had likely done too good a job keeping things under wraps.
So when it came to information on that matter, Draco had been unable to get anything at all. In fact, even the Malfoy family had received no news whatsoever.
What he had not expected was that he, who had wanted to uncover the truth this whole time, would hear the first hint of it from Ginny instead.
Especially when Hermione had refused to reveal a single thing when she asked before...
...
From Ginny’s point of view, asking Draco this question was not really a problem.
After all, Draco had been one of the people directly involved at the time. More than that, the one who had actually fought Ron was Draco, not Ginny, who had been sitting behind him, and certainly not Luna, who had spent the whole time as little more than a bystander.
As for why she would not answer Hermione, only Ginny herself knew.
Of course, it might also have been because the factions behind them and their respective positions were just a little too delicate.
That was why Ginny had not spoken carelessly.
Especially since Ron’s hatred for Draco had been laid bare without the slightest restraint that very day...
So when faced with Ginny’s request for help, Draco’s expression turned a little odd, but he had no intention of letting this chance slip by.
“Then what are you planning to offer in exchange?”
“...”
An exchange.
Mm... Ginny did not let her thoughts run in any strange direction.
After all, Luna’s father had already made a deal with Draco before.
As for why she had fallen silent, it was mainly because she had no idea what she could offer Draco in exchange...
“What do you want?”
That frank question in return was very much Ginny’s style.
She was just lacking a little confidence.
Some things really were hard to say in front of Draco, especially anything related to the Order of the Phoenix.
Although Ginny still did not know that Draco had learned about the Order of the Phoenix from her own mouth in the first place...
And since they were talking about Ron Weasley, Draco naturally set his sights on him.
“Then tell me exactly what happened to your brother.”
Honestly, that was not an unreasonable request. If anything, only by understanding Ron Weasley’s real condition could Draco better explain the problem he had noticed back then.
For both of them, it was something that benefited them equally.
And Ginny, who did not have much guard up around Draco, could naturally see that as well.
As long as she kept control of herself and did not reveal any important secrets, it would be fine.
Realizing that, Ginny happily stepped forward.
“Ron, he...”
Just as Ginny was about to say what she knew, a furious shout suddenly rang out beside them.
And that single shout cut off whatever Ginny was about to say next...
“Ginny, what are you doing!!”
Anger.
Disbelief.
Who would have thought that a single sentence could carry such complicated emotions?
Turning toward the source of the roar, they saw that the speaker was the same thin figure who had just been standing in the snow in a daze.
It was still Harry Potter.
But that face, twisted with grief and fury, felt so unfamiliar...
...
Everyone has a side they do not show to others.
There are plenty of people who look righteous on the outside while carrying darkness inside.
Wizards in particular, with power of their own, can fall into darkness all too easily.
So when Draco saw the twisted, hate-filled look on Harry Potter’s face, he did not show much of a reaction.
As long as no one provoked him, Draco was actually quite easy to get along with.
Ginny Weasley, on the other hand, having just been shouted at by name by Harry Potter, seemed genuinely startled by this side of him. She clearly had not expected that kind of attitude or tone from him at all...
She gave a little shiver, then instinctively, and with practiced ease, hid behind Draco.
It looked as though Ginny had completely forgotten Harry Potter was even there.
What she did not realize was that this reaction of hers was the real thing that provoked Harry Potter, not merely the fact that she was standing together with Draco.
What angered Harry Potter most was that he seemed to catch the slight upward curl of Draco’s lips, making him feel like a clown in front of Draco...
That came from the inferiority complex born of failing again and again before Draco.
Much as he hated to admit it, the truth was that Harry Potter had never beaten Draco even once.
School grades.
Quidditch matches.
The Triwizard Tournament.
Even the girl he liked.
Harry Potter had lost every single time, thoroughly and completely.
Without even realizing it, Draco had become like a dark cloud hanging over Harry Potter’s head, one that simply would not go away.
And now even the fame he had once been able to take pride in had recently been surpassed by Draco.
There was nothing more crushing than that...
Not only that.
That intense inferiority complex had also made Harry Potter’s pride far more fragile than other people’s. Combined with Mundungus’s “betrayal” just now, his emotions had completely spiraled out of control.
What was disappointing was that Harry Potter actually chose to vent all that anger on Ginny...
...
Ginny might be a year younger than Harry Potter, but her temper was not small at all.
Why are you even standing with this guy!
Ginny could naturally hear that this was what Harry Potter meant.
But Ginny, who had a bit of a rebellious streak in her, had no way of accepting that kind of tone from him, as though he were interrogating her...
So once Ginny came back to herself, she frowned and stepped out from behind Draco.
“I don’t like your tone, Harry.”
Since she believed she had done nothing wrong, Ginny was naturally furious at Harry Potter’s manner, the kind of tone one would use on a criminal under questioning.
As if she had done something utterly unforgivable.
When all she had done was exchange a few words with Draco, at most trade a little information.
More importantly, he was not an Auror, and she was not some criminal either!
But Harry Potter, at that moment, looked as though he could not hear anything at all, nor could he even see the ugly expression on Ginny’s face.
Especially with Draco standing right there.
At that moment, he was like a Snape who had lost all reason, constantly pouring the darkness in his heart onto Ginny...
“Have you forgotten what our relationship with people like them is? Are you trying to betray us?!”
“I think all of you have misunderstood Draco. Maybe we could sit down and talk this out...”
“Shut up! You don’t understand anything! It’s not that simple!”
That sudden roar made Luna quietly take a step back, and for once, obvious disgust showed on her usually placid face.
Wasn’t it a little too arrogant to treat Ginny like some child who understood nothing?
Luna might always act like an observer, but she was very clear on who was close to her and who was not.
Not to mention that, in Luna’s eyes, Ginny had done absolutely nothing wrong.
Only...
Luna cast an odd glance at Draco, who at some point had retreated to stand beside her as well.
Even Luna could not help twitching at the corner of her mouth when she saw that expression on Draco’s face, as though he were enjoying the show.
At the end of the day, Draco was the main fuse behind this whole incident, so how could he stand there looking so completely unconcerned?
Anyone who did not know better would really think Draco had only happened to pass by.
Just as Luna was utterly unable to make sense of it, the argument between Ginny and Harry Potter became even more heated.
Ginny tried to calm Harry Potter down.
“Our enemy should be the Dark Lord, not Draco and the others.”
“How can you be sure these evil wizards don’t have some kind of plot?!”
“But he... but Draco saved us! I trust him!”
“Who knows whether that wasn’t part of the plan? Maybe he only did it to gain your trust.”
By this point, it was already obvious that Harry Potter was no longer listening to anything.
Logic no longer mattered.
This argument existed only because Ginny still held onto a last shred of hope for Harry Potter...
...
When people are emotional, they always end up doing impulsive things they will bitterly regret later.
That was exactly the state Harry Potter was in as he spoke to Ginny.
Especially because Ginny refused to “listen” and because he could not persuade her, Harry Potter’s face grew redder and redder.
In the end, stung by humiliation and anger, Harry Potter directly raised the wand he had been holding all along and pointed it in Draco’s direction...
“What... what are you doing, Harry?!”
The moment Ginny saw what he had done, her vision swayed strangely, her eyes full of disbelief.
Harry’s furious expression had already felt unfamiliar to her, but Ginny had never imagined there would come a day when he would point his wand at her.
Staggering back a step, Ginny let out a bitter laugh.
So in his heart, I was nothing at all?
Perhaps anger had clouded his eyes, or perhaps the worsening wind and snow had obscured his vision, but Harry Potter could not see the change in Ginny’s expression at all.
To be precise, all of Harry Potter’s attention at that moment was fixed on Draco.
Those faintly green-glinting eyes looked colder and colder in the midst of the wind and snow...
Just as Luna realized something was wrong, Draco, who had looked lazy and relaxed only moments earlier, suddenly gave off a terrifying aura.
He stepped forward.
The snake-headed cane in his hand struck the ground once.
Shielding the two girls behind him, Draco now looked like a dragon awakening from sleep!