Compared with Hermione, who had been completely shaken by passively enduring everything, Draco, the one who had taken the initiative, showed not the slightest trace of discomfort on his face.
At least when he was facing Pansy and the others, he did not show even a hint of the guilt one might expect from someone who had just done something bad.
From that angle alone, Draco truly did possess the admirable quality a strong person ought to have, keeping his composure even if a mountain collapsed right in front of him...
And with that, as the feast and the school song came to an end, this year's Sorting Ceremony was brought to a perfect close.
Although there were no especially noteworthy first years this time, and nothing major happened during the ceremony, Dumbledore's utterly undisguised actions, along with Professor Slughorn's somewhat odd behavior at the end, still became the main subjects the young witches and wizards discussed afterward.
You could tell as much from how lively the common rooms of every house remained even after the ceremony ended, especially the Gryffindor common room...
It was clear that these little lions were not affected in the slightest by the Weasley twins graduating early, nor had Harry Potter's gloomy expression ruined their mood.
At the moment, they were all gathered together discussing the injury to Dumbledore's hand and loudly celebrating the fact that Snape had finally become the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
Probably because that meant they would not have to keep seeing that black bat next year.
Besides that, it was worth mentioning that, apart from Harry Potter, who had gone straight back to his dormitory and therefore was nowhere to be seen, there were also a few other students missing from the crowd.
One of them seemed to be the only red-haired Weasley left at Hogwarts this year...
...
Hogwarts had actually changed a great deal this year.
Because this peaceful daily life had not come easily.
Especially at such a sensitive time, that peace felt all the more precious.
It was easy to imagine that behind this seemingly normal surface, far more had been paid than most people could ever guess.
Security in particular had clearly cost Hogwarts a great deal of effort, and several new decisions had been made...
Besides the existing rule that students were not allowed to wander the castle at night, the school had also assigned far more people to patrol duty.
And that seemed to be true both day and night.
They were no longer relying only on Filch, who had absolutely no ability to resist if he ran into an enemy, and his cat.
In a sense, Hogwarts's caretaker had practically lost his job.
As for the people who had taken over that role, besides the professors and prefects from each year, there were also several wizards who had nothing to do with Hogwarts at all.
To be precise, they were neither students nor professors.
They were the wizards who had appeared at the Sorting Ceremony for reasons no one knew, dressed in Ministry of Magic robes...
In fact, the Auror trainees led by Cedric had come to Hogwarts specifically to prevent an invasion by the Dark Lord, and their task was to protect the school's safety.
Rather than protection, though, it might be more accurate to say they were a special presence meant to contact the Ministry of Magic as quickly as possible if anything happened at Hogwarts.
Of course, that was only the Ministry's official explanation to satisfy everyone. No one knew whether they had some other, more important objective or secret mission.
You could even call them open and obvious spies.
After all, given the current relationship between the Ministry and Dumbledore, things were rather delicate...
...
Candlelight.
Moonlight.
Tap tap tap~
Along the corridor where no one should have been appearing at this hour, footsteps could be heard from time to time.
Every now and then, there were even obvious voices in conversation, along with Peeves making merry.
Who would have thought Hogwarts could still be this lively in the middle of the night?
Near the Slytherin common room...
"Why are the two of you here together? This is not even your patrol area, is it?!"
Clinging to Draco's arm, Pansy looked like someone whose good time had just been ruined. Puffing out her cheeks, she glared at Hermione in annoyance, since Hermione should not have been here in the first place.
Oh, and one more...
"If it were Granger, I could maybe understand it, but what is your excuse, Weasley!"
"Me? I am just doing what a prefect is supposed to do."
"...."
There was certainly nothing strange about Ginny becoming a prefect, and as a prefect, she really had been assigned patrol duty by the school.
The only problem was that this place was absurdly far from the Gryffindor prefects' patrol route...
Just as Pansy was about to say something else, Ginny cut her off and looked directly at Draco.
"Even though everyone else says I do not need to, I still wanted to thank you in person."
Compared with Hermione's lack of honesty, Ginny was much more straightforward and did not think there was anything hard to say about it.
Though the way she expressed it sounded more like she was picking a fight than genuinely thanking him.
And what was she thanking him for?
Naturally, for taking her and Luna away from those Death Eaters.
Part of it had been because of a deal, yes, but the fact that Draco had not abandoned them and run off alone was enough for Ginny to say thank you...
Draco glanced at her and seemed completely unconcerned.
"No need. I protected you only because of the deal between me and Mr. Lovegood. There was no special reason."
"...Draco."
Hearing him put it so bluntly, Hermione, who had still been annoyed about what Draco had done to her earlier, quickly reached out and gave his robe a discreet tug.
After all, she was the one who had brought Ginny here, and she did not want the atmosphere to become too stiff...
"Anyway..."
"Oh? If it is not Malfoy. It really has been a long time."
The one who interrupted Draco was a familiar figure stepping out from the other end of the corridor.
A gleaming Ministry badge.
A black robe made from expensive magical materials.
That was... Cedric Diggory, and his girlfriend Cho Chang...