Ginny turned and pressed her back to the wall.
She could almost see heat rising from the top of her head.
Her eyes were full of embarrassed anger.
Precocious as she was, Ginny naturally knew exactly what kind of awful, mortifying scene was unfolding below...
"Pervert. Shameless. This is school. Aren't you afraid someone will see you?"
Her legs felt strangely weak, and she was almost short of breath. One hand pressed against her pounding chest, while inwardly she kept cursing the pair below... no, cough, that outrageously bold Draco Malfoy.
When had their relationship gotten to this point...
No, that bastard, how dare he!
Having watched the whole thing from beginning to end, she naturally knew very well who had taken the initiative.
Ignoring the fact that Hermione had shown almost no real resistance as things went on, the dazed and thoroughly flustered Ginny shoved all the blame for this entire mess straight onto Draco's head.
Because this was not the Hermione Granger she admired, smart and proud as she was.
Only after some unknown amount of time did Ginny cautiously poke her head back out, only to realize that the two people below were already gone. She had no idea when they had left.
Still, the moment she noticed that, Ginny finally let out a breath of relief.
She looked as though she had just come through a fierce battle...
Even though it was already over, the moment she thought of what she had just seen, her face still burned fiercely.
Biting her lower lip, she could not help muttering under her breath, "...Jerk."
It was not the first time she had used those words, but compared with before, there was now a strangely subtle undertone mixed into them.
At the same time, Ginny felt a wave of resentment toward Hermione...
"Did Hermione forget all about me?"
She had no idea whether Hermione had remembered that she was still upstairs, then gotten embarrassed and dragged Draco away, or whether Hermione had not remembered her at all and had only stopped because the Sorting Ceremony was about to begin.
But no matter which it was, it did not change the fact that Hermione had left Ginny behind...
Yes.
There was a reason Ginny had been here in the first place.
In fact, if Hermione had not dragged her here to lie in wait for Draco, then honestly, Ginny would never have shown up at a place like this, and certainly not at such awkward timing.
And she definitely would not have seen that heart pounding, face heating scene just now.
In short.
Not only had her friend forgotten her off to the side, she had also been force fed a whole mouthful of couple nonsense.
It was only natural for Ginny to be upset about that...
...
Still unaware that she had forgotten Ginny, Hermione had already arrived at the Sorting Ceremony with Draco.
Which meant the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
The Sorting Ceremony was still quite a formal occasion.
Naturally, Hermione had to return to her own house table, rather than sit together with Draco at the Slytherin table.
Even if Professor McGonagall might turn a blind eye, Snape would never allow it.
Not to mention, Hermione had no intention of doing that anyway. If anything, the farther she was from Draco right now, the better.
Because at the moment, she needed to calm down...
Hermione had been completely unprepared for Draco to be that forceful. It was not until she pushed open the doors of the Great Hall that the chaos in her head finally began to settle enough for her to think properly again.
And the moment she recovered, Hermione's very first reaction was to take a step away from Draco. The wary look in her eyes, and the movement itself, made it perfectly obvious that she was glaring at him like he was some kind of criminal.
Faced with that look, Draco merely chuckled and shrugged, as though the one who had just bullied her was not him at all...
Noticing his gaze, Hermione bared her little teeth. "I am warning you, do not try anything. Everyone is looking this way."
And just as Hermione said.
The moment they stepped into the Great Hall, every wizard already seated at the house tables waiting for the new students to enter turned to look at them, the pair who had arrived almost last.
More precisely, all those eyes were fixed on Draco.
Compared with the excited first years who looked as though they had just seen a star, however, the wizards here were far calmer, and far more complicated...
Regret.
Envy.
Defiance.
Curiosity.
The little snakes of Slytherin in particular were split quite sharply into two camps.
One side was full of regret and eager attempts to curry favor.
The other was openly excited and thrilled.
Clearly, those Slytherin wizards trying to ingratiate themselves now were hoping to make up for what they had done to Draco last year.
As for the ones who had chosen to follow Draco early on, they were simply happy for Draco, and for the choice they themselves had made...
It was hard to imagine so many different judgments and attitudes gathering around a single person at the same time.
But under all those stares, Draco's steps only paused for the briefest moment before he calmly walked toward Pansy, who was waving a small hand at him.
Seeing this, the professors at the staff table exchanged glances in silent understanding.
Because composure like that alone was enough to show that Draco possessed the makings of a powerful wizard...
As for Hermione, who had come in with him, she had long since returned to the Gryffindor table.
While straightening her robes, Hermione covered her already slightly swollen lips with one hand. "Just like I thought, he pulled everyone's attention onto himself completely. Wait... did I forget something..."
Catching sight of the empty seat beside her from the corner of her eye, Hermione only then realized that something seemed a little off.
Hermione: "..."
Had she... forgotten someone?
...
Draco's appearance was only a minor interruption.
Once Pansy waved him over to sit down, the restlessness in the Great Hall gradually died away.
Though it seemed quiet, the heavy breathing gave everyone's emotions away. And the moment Draco noticed where all those eyes were directed, he immediately understood the strange atmosphere.
They were all fixed on the passage reserved for the professors.
And with the head seat still empty, it was not hard to tell who everyone was waiting for...
"Looks like everyone is very concerned about that wizard's injury."
"Mhm... unless they see it with their own eyes, no one is willing to believe that someone like him could actually be injured."
Pansy's whisper beside his ear perfectly summed up what everyone around them was thinking.
But Draco did not believe Dumbledore would reveal his true condition so easily.
Because only by preserving that air of mystery and strength could he maintain the intimidation carried by the name of Dumbledore.
And just after Draco said something that might disappoint everyone's expectations, that silver white beard, so long it could have been tucked into a belt, appeared before all of them.
The current Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!