Chapter 703: A Dragon in Sheep's Clothing Neville Longbottom... no, Draco raised his eyes and looked at the wizards who had suddenly surrounded him.On their faces, he cou |
If you asked which House common room felt most unfamiliar to every Slytherin student, the first answer would undoubtedly be Gryffindor House, the House they could practically call their sworn enemy.
It could even be said that most Slytherin students at Hogwarts had never set foot in the Gryffindor common room by the day they graduated, let alone seen what it looked like.
Although the four Houses were all more or less the same in that their common rooms were not places where students from other Houses could simply wander in at will, none were quite as extreme as Slytherin and Gryffindor.
Every now and then, students who were on good terms could still be seen appearing in another House’s common room.
In fact, there was no school rule explicitly forbidding students from entering another House’s common room.
Hermione was a perfect example.
And today, Slytherin seemed about to break that precedent.
Though admittedly, they were doing it in a way that could not exactly be spoken of openly.
...
Compared to Slytherin House, which lay deep underground, Gryffindor House was located very high up in Hogwarts Castle.
It was worth mentioning that the Headmaster’s Office was also on the eighth floor. Perhaps that said something about the wizarding world’s fondness for Gryffindor.
In any case, as footsteps sounded, a boy and a girl in Gryffindor robes appeared in the eighth-floor corridor known as the Fat Lady Corridor.
As for why it was called the Fat Lady Corridor, that was apparently because a portrait of the Fat Lady hung at the end of it, and behind that portrait was the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
“This should be the place.”
“According to Hermione, as long as we give the right password, the Fat Lady will let us through, right?”
No one knew the witch’s real name. Everyone simply called her the Fat Lady.
Although the Fat Lady was only a portrait, she took her duties very seriously. Not only did she strictly guard the entrance to Gryffindor, she would also remind and lecture the Gryffindor students from time to time, especially the ones who were always causing trouble.
Sometimes, even if you knew the password, she would not easily let through any wizard she found suspicious.
Rather than calling her a guard who watched the entrance, it was more accurate to say she was something like a dormitory matron.
“All right? We’re going in.”
“Phew, I’m ready, Dra... yes, I mean Neville.”
The boy glanced at the girl beside him. “Don’t forget to call me Neville Longbottom, Miss Ginny Weasley.”
“Ahem. I won’t forget.”
If anyone had passed by and overheard their conversation, they would definitely have found it strange and rather off.
After all, no one talked like that.
On top of that, to anyone who knew the situation, this boy-and-girl pairing also seemed odd and unexpected.
Because the girl here was Ginny Weasley, who was fairly popular across all the Houses.
But the one walking beside her was Neville Longbottom, the boy with a round face, a slightly chubby build, and an utterly unremarkable appearance.
One was a pretty girl who was well liked wherever she went.
The other was an ordinary wizard with poor grades and somewhat muddled behavior.
Although they were not exactly a beauty-and-the-beast pair, they truly did not look harmonious walking together. There was even something faintly jarring about it.
Not to mention, the two of them were not exactly close friends.
And yet Ginny and Neville, who normally would not have exchanged more than a few words, had somehow ended up together today, even whispering to each other intimately as though no one else were around.
Anyone who saw this scene would definitely wonder whether there was something wrong with their eyes.
...
The Gryffindor Common Room.
Compared to Ravenclaw’s private library, Hufflepuff’s plain simplicity, and Slytherin’s design, which seemed more suited for dealing with enemies than resting, the Gryffindor Common Room was more like a banquet hall meant for wizards to play and celebrate in.
The wine bottles that had not yet been cleared away said plenty about what had just happened here.
Red.
It represented Gryffindor’s passion and courage, and it was also the dominant color of the common room.
It was a very comfortable-looking circular room, filled with soft armchairs. As for the small tables that should have been used for copying... for reviewing lessons, they were instead covered with all kinds of toys and games.
Wizard chess, prank props, miniature Quidditch. Anything but textbooks and homework.
It was worth mentioning that on one wall, there was actually a portrait of Professor McGonagall.
And it was Minerva McGonagall when she was young!
It made one wonder whether it had been placed there to warn these little lions not to forget that their Head of House was watching them.
Step.
After Ginny Weasley passed first through the doorway behind the Fat Lady’s portrait, Neville... no, Draco, who had drunk the Polyjuice Potion not long ago and transformed into Neville Longbottom, also stepped into the circular room.
To avoid suspicion, Draco gave Pansy a small nod, then took the initiative to put some distance between them.
After all, Hermione had made it very clear that Ginny and Neville were not the sort of friends who could casually chat with each other.
Yes.
The ones who had just entered the Gryffindor common room were Draco and Pansy, who had drunk Polyjuice Potion mixed with the hair of Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom.
After giving Pansy a look that told her to keep her expression as natural as possible, Draco narrowed his eyes and began observing everything around him.
According to Hermione’s information, there were not many wizards in the common room right now. This was their chance.
While imitating Neville’s usual unconfident steps, Draco quickly swept his gaze over the entire common room.
And just as Hermione’s information had said, there were not many little lions in the common room at the moment. Most of them were in their dormitories.
Most importantly, the real Ginny and Neville were not here.
That meant Hermione had completed her task perfectly.
After making a quick scan of the room, Draco confirmed that his identity would not be exposed right away. Only then did he turn his gaze toward the target of this operation.
It was the figure sitting in front of the fireplace, staring blankly into space.
It was Gryffindor’s... Harry Potter!
...
Although most of Pansy’s attention had always been fixed on Draco and Hermione, her romantic rival, and she had never paid much mind to anyone else, she had still done some targeted preparation before carrying out this bold plan.
Namely, how she should convincingly play the wizard Ginny Weasley.
On that front, Hermione and the others might not have been professional psychological profilers, but based on Pansy’s own observations and the information Hermione had provided, they could still roughly identify some of Ginny Weasley’s traits and habits...
She was very pretty, warm, and full of a sense of justice, as well as the newest rising star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
More importantly, she seemed to have feelings for Harry Potter.
Of course, Hermione’s assessment had been made before everything with Draco happened.
In short, the first few traits were manageable enough, but the last one was not so easy to act out...
As she slowly walked toward Harry Potter, a trace of confusion and disdain appeared in Pansy’s eyes. The Weasleys really did have terrible taste, whether in friends or in people they fancied.
Pansy, who could not understand at all why any girl would like Harry Potter, kept rolling her eyes inwardly.
At that moment, while suppressing the rejection in her heart and keeping the disgust off her face, Pansy slowly sat down in the armchair opposite Harry Potter.
The way she instinctively gathered her robes closer and pressed her legs tightly together made it look as though she was worried Harry Potter might do something awful to her.
Only after confirming that the distance between them was safe did she lift her eyes toward Harry Potter, who did not seem to have noticed her. Slowly, Pansy opened her mouth. “Ha... tsk!”
Draco, who had come to a spot nearby where he could hear Pansy’s conversation clearly, saw her falter and could not help the sharp twitch that crossed his round face.
He knew Pansy hated Harry Potter, and even everything around him.
But he had not expected that she would be unable to say the other party’s name at all. There was already a problem right at the start...
It was also at that moment that Harry Potter noticed Ginny Weasley.
“Ginny?”
“Mm.”
“You look...”
“Huh?! What’s wrong with me!?”
“Like you have something you want to say to me?”
Pansy, thinking she had exposed herself somehow, almost failed to keep her nerves under control.
Fortunately, Harry Potter did not seem to notice anything strange about her, nor did he realize that the Ginny Weasley sitting before him was not the red-haired girl he knew at all.
Seeing the hesitant look on “Ginny’s” face, Harry Potter went on by himself, his tone tinged with impatience.
“Are you here to lecture me with all that reasoning of yours again? I haven’t changed! I’m still the same Harry Potter I always was!!”
The sudden outburst caught Pansy completely off guard. She had not expected things to turn out like this.
But Pansy reacted very quickly. Her eyes lit up, and she gave an outstanding performance of disappointment and frustration.
“You never used to be like this. You’ve changed, Potter!”
The disgust in Pansy’s eyes, along with the form of address she would not normally use, not only failed to make him suspicious, but even elevated her acting.
But it only provoked Harry Potter further...
He lowered his voice and let out a beast-like growl. “You’re the ones who’ve changed! You and Granger! Damn it, you’ve all been fooled by that evil Death Eater. Just like Ron said, a despicable Slytherin!”
“You...”
“If you’re still going to keep telling me that impossible nonsense about not being hostile toward Malfoy, then get out of my sight! Don’t talk to me anymore!”
If Ginny Weasley herself had heard those vicious words, she would certainly have been both hurt and furious.
Unfortunately, the Ginny Weasley in front of him was Miss Pansy in disguise, so she did not feel anything at all.
No...
At that moment, Pansy widened her eyes in disbelief and looked suspiciously in Draco’s direction.
Why would that woman Ginny speak up for Draco?
Seeing Pansy’s dazed expression, Draco irritably slapped a hand to his forehead.
Was this really the time to care about that...
...
Fortunately, Harry Potter had only told her to get out of his sight.
That meant that as long as Pansy was shameless enough to stay, their conversation would not end so easily.
As for whether she could do it?
Hmm... the shameless one was Ginny Weasley. What did that have to do with Pansy?
In any case.
After receiving Draco’s signal, Pansy finally remembered her mission.
Without feeling the slightest bit affected, she spoke up. “I heard them say you have a magical map?”
She made no attempt to hide her intention. This line had been planned before they came here.
It was a leading question.
The “them” Pansy mentioned could refer to the Weasleys, a professor, Dumbledore, or anyone at all.
Harry Potter, who had just begun to regret saying such things, had not expected Ginny to not be angry. He instinctively answered.
“Them? Fred and the others told you, didn’t they? Yeah, it’s an amazing gift, and it means a lot to me.”
“Can I see it? You know, we Gryffindors have that damn curiosity.”
“I mean, I can... but what kind of weird way is that to put it?”
Perhaps because the Ginny in front of him was Fred and the others’ younger sister, Harry Potter did not suspect anything. Instead, he felt a little relieved.
After all, he had indeed lost control of his emotions just now...
Just as Pansy secretly clenched her fist and felt that this mission was practically in the bag, several voices suddenly reached her ears, making her furious.
“Oh, isn’t this our scatterbrain, Mr. Neville Longbottom?”
“What’s wrong? Didn’t drop something again, did you?”
“If that’s the case, your grandma will be very upset. Then she’ll have to send more useless things to school.”
“Hahahaha.”
As the saying goes, even the tallest tree has dead branches, and wherever there are people, there are idiots.
Even in Gryffindor House, where everyone seemed to have a sense of justice by default, there was no guarantee that a few rotten people would not appear.
And from the looks of it, Neville Longbottom had been surrounded by them.
Only...
These little lions had no idea that the little lamb they thought they could bully at will was actually a ferocious dragon!
...
Neville Longbottom... no, Draco raised his eyes and looked at the wizards who had suddenly surrounded him.
On their faces, he could clearly see mocking smiles, malicious looks, and the satisfaction of cruel intent. The malice they showed was even more Slytherin than the Slytherins they hated.
No... most Slytherin wizards would not even stoop to such crude methods to bully their own classmates...
It was obvious that this was not the first time these wizards had treated Neville Longbottom this way.
Unfortunately for them, Draco had just happened to run into them.
Listening to their vicious words and that irritating burst of laughter, Draco, who felt absolutely nothing, closed his eyes indifferently and showed no intention of responding.
His act of treating them like air made the bullies frown in displeasure...
“Hey! Did you not hear what we said?”
“How interesting. Don’t tell me you’re trying to rebel against us like this?”
“Hahaha, with this idiot who comes bottom of the class every year?”
“I said, we’re talking to you!!”
One blond-haired wizard laughed as he reached out, grabbing for the collar of Draco’s robes.
Just like they always did, using Neville Longbottom to amuse themselves...
Only, the instant Draco’s eyes snapped open and he was about to cast a spell on these wizards, Pansy stood up from her seat and warned them sharply, “If your hand dares touch him, I’ll make you and the family behind you taste true despair!”
“.......”
“.......”
“Ginny?!”
If those words had come from Pansy Parkinson, then they would not have felt surprising or out of place at all. In fact, what she did might have been even more extreme than what she said.
But coming from Ginny Weasley, they seemed a little strange, because they were not Weasley-like at all.
Fortunately, this did not seem to be the first time Ginny herself had stopped them from doing something like this. So after everyone froze for a moment, they also realized what had happened...
“You again, Weasley!”
“Make me taste true despair? Hmph... with those poor parents of yours who might not even be able to scrape together a single Galleon?”
“Don’t make me laugh!”
Although the blond-haired wizard was mocking Ginny Weasley, who had stepped forward, he still withdrew his hand.
After all, the Weasleys had once been one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Who knew whether they still had unknown connections or resources in their hands?
Because of that, these blond-haired wizards, who bullied the weak and feared the strong, were still somewhat intimidated by Pansy’s words.
It was worth mentioning that although it had declined, the Longbottom family was actually also one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight...
...
In fact.
This was not the first time Ginny Weasley had done something like this.
Back when Luna had also been bullied, Ginny had been the one to step forward and scold those people, stopping Luna from continuing to be bullied by her classmates and becoming friends with her afterward.
Therefore, even though Pansy’s words were indeed rather harsh right now, and even carried the sense of using family background to pressure others, no one suspected that Ginny was no longer the same Ginny Weasley as before...
In any case.
Because Pansy’s aggression had been turned up to the maximum, and because she had no intention of giving the other side any way to back down, the atmosphere in the common room suddenly froze.
The blond-haired wizards did not dare speak carelessly.
As for Pansy, she remembered that she was not the real Ginny Weasley.
Draco, who stood in the middle of them, instead looked completely detached, as if the person who had just been bullied was not him at all.
Hmm... in a way, it really did have nothing to do with Draco.
Finally, realizing she had been too impulsive, Pansy guiltily avoided Draco’s gaze. A moment ago, she had still been fierce and aggressive, almost ready to draw her wand, but now she suddenly did not know how to end this.
If it were up to her, Pansy would definitely have had Goyle and Crabbe teach these people a lesson. But right now, she was Ginny Weasley, and as for what she should do next to avoid making Harry Potter suspicious...
Oh no. Have I been exposed?
Facing the faintly pleading look Pansy sent his way, Draco’s mouth twitched speechlessly.
As for this, Draco did not directly kill... directly knock out everyone present. Instead, he observed Harry Potter’s reaction, trying to adapt according to what Harry did.
Harry Potter, who had the righteous image of the Chosen One, naturally could not possibly...
“Let’s go, Ginny.”
“......”
“......”
Huh?
Draco, who had not expected this outcome at all, looked up at Harry Potter’s slightly impatient face. Harry did not show the slightest intention of looking his way.
Could it be that Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter were not friends?
Even if they were not friends, where was your damn sense of justice?
Of course, Draco was not disappointed by this. He was just surprised that things had turned out this way.
Draco suddenly understood why Ginny Weasley herself had said that Harry Potter had changed...
Pansy, however, turned around the instant she heard those words and glared fiercely at Harry Potter. This perfectly captured the real Ginny Weasley.
Although the reason Pansy felt indignant had nothing to do with Neville Longbottom, of course...
Pansy’s glare made Harry Potter frown in irritation. “Forget about Neville. Weren’t you curious about that map? I also happen to have something to tell you.”
“.........”
Hearing this, Pansy’s brow twitched, and she swallowed the refusal she had been about to give.
Once she calmed down, she naturally understood that Harry Potter’s invitation was a very good opportunity, and she was also very curious about what he wanted to say to her.
Could it be about the Order of the Phoenix?
Just then, from the corner of her eye, Pansy also caught the signal in Draco’s gaze.
Their long-standing tacit understanding immediately allowed Pansy to grasp what Draco meant...
Pansy nodded her little head. “All right. What do you want to tell me, Ha...”
“Let’s go to the sofa in the corner.”
Still unable to say his name, Pansy turned and followed in Harry Potter’s footsteps.
As for the situation with the blond-haired wizards...
At the end of the day, others might not know, but Pansy knew very well that the Neville Longbottom in front of them, who looked easy to bully, was not someone easy to bully at all.
Raising his eyes to glance around the Gryffindor common room, where there were no other wizards besides them, Draco’s lips curved into a cold smile.
Someone wanted to bully Draco?
Don’t be ridiculous!
As Harry Potter and “Ginny Weasley” headed toward the corner, the blond-haired wizards finally let out cautious sighs of relief.
They might have looked full of themselves, but asking them to lower their heads and apologize to a junior was something they really could not bring themselves to do. More importantly, they were not willing to make enemies of Harry Potter and the Weasleys either.
Just as smiles returned to their faces.
Whether it was their imagination or not, the blond-haired wizards surrounding Draco suddenly felt a chill run through their entire bodies...