Curiosity, frustration, anger, regret. Ignoring the mixed and complicated looks behind him, Draco simply led Pansy and the others around the corner of the corridor and out of sight.
He left so decisively that it was obvious he had no intention of lingering. Only after quite some time passed did they finally accept that Draco and the others had truly gone...
No one among Cedric's group had expected things to end like this. Even though, at this distance, they would not have been able to hear anything Draco's group said anyway, not one of them seemed inclined to move or speak.
Even Cedric Diggory, who should have been the pillar of the group, only stood there blankly in silence, head lowered, as if lost in thought.
It was as though he had suffered some heavy blow.
That only made the others even less willing to say anything carelessly.
And in this strange silence, perhaps only his girlfriend, Cho Chang, could vaguely understand what Cedric was thinking.
Only Cho Chang knew exactly why Diggory had thrown in his lot with the Senior Undersecretary of Magic, and why he had deliberately distanced himself from those former friends...
With that in mind, Cho Chang did not step forward to comfort her boyfriend. Instead, she merely glanced silently at Ginny, who had only just realized, again, that she had been left behind, tugging at her robe with one hand and waving with the other as she hurried after the figures ahead.
Just like the Ginny she used to know, all energy and momentum, like a little boy charging forward.
Still, Cho Chang could not help feeling curious.
Why was a Gryffindor with a Slytherin...?
...
That was one question Cho Chang was never going to get an answer to.
Even Hermione, one of the people directly involved, probably did not fully understand what she herself was feeling, let alone Ginny, whose mind was still a complete mess after everything that had happened recently.
At that moment, she had probably just followed her instincts and run after them.
As for Hermione.
Not long ago, she had been having an intimate exchange with Draco, yet now, later that same evening, she had to watch Miss Parkinson rub her soft pink cheek against someone's arm.
That provocative little gesture made Hermione's eyelids twitch.
At the sight of it, Hermione puffed out her cheeks slightly, her gaze flickering as she quickened her pace and moved to Draco's other side.
Unlike Pansy's rather direct move, Hermione's actions were much more subtle.
As they walked, the backs of their hands brushed by accident.
Their arms touched from time to time.
Those sneaky little tricks only made Hermione's heart beat faster, and all at once, she no longer felt there was anything she needed to envy in Parkinson at all...
To be fair, even though her heart was pounding so hard it felt ready to leap out of her chest, Hermione did not let any of it show on her face. She even managed to throw the occasional annoyed look in Pansy's direction.
Anyone who did not know better might have thought Hermione was embarrassed by Pansy's bold behavior.
Little did they know that, out of sight, the thieving cat in Pansy's eyes was doing almost exactly the same thing.
Draco, who had no reason to stop either of them, cast Hermione a rather strange sideways glance.
This tsundere little thing... had she drunk some suspicious potion or something?
...
That seemingly harmonious and affectionate scene was abruptly cut off when Ginny finally caught up from behind.
Hermione was far too timid, and the fact that she had managed even that much was surprising enough already, so the moment she heard footsteps, she sprang away from Draco's side like a startled rabbit.
Her face went blank, as if everything she had just done had been entirely accidental.
Even so, the little gesture of toying with the ends of her hair exposed exactly how flustered she really was...
As for Pansy, she had no interest in revealing that other side of herself in front of a stranger, much less when the newcomer was that Weasley girl.
As if everything Ginny had just seen had been nothing but an illusion, Hermione let out a light cough with her fist near her lips before Ginny had even caught her breath, then spoke in a slightly stern, serious tone.
"I think things like this are only going to happen more and more in the future. For all we know, most of the school may be thinking the same way."
"Why do you say that? Potter did not get this kind of treatment back then. At least, I did not see anyone trying to use him."
Although Pansy had already grown used to Hermione's presence, she still bickered with her the same way she always had. Even if Hermione was probably right, and even if deep down she had long since admitted that Hermione really was a little smarter than her, Pansy still wanted to pick some flaw out of her argument.
Draco had no intention of stopping them.
He knew perfectly well that this was simply how they got along...
Subtle as it was, the phrase both enemies and friends probably described the relationship between Pansy and Hermione quite well.
In any case, Hermione only shrugged at Pansy's unprovoked nitpicking, but the look of disdain in her eyes nearly made Pansy bristle on the spot.
She was not stupid.
Just as Pansy was about to snap back, a hesitant voice came from behind them.
"Is it because... Harry defeated that person?"
"..."
"..."
Pansy and Hermione both turned at the sound of the voice, wearing identical looks of surprise that made the corners of Ginny's mouth twitch.
Had she really been ignored all over again in that short span of time?
Was her presence seriously that weak...?
Pansy, whose relationship with Ginny had never been good, did not care much, but Hermione, as Ginny's friend, felt a little embarrassed.
As though trying to make up for it, she turned, linked arms with Ginny, and continued the earlier topic.
"I think that is part of the reason, yes. But do you really think Potter was never being watched? If it looked that way, I think it was only because someone else was protecting him."
Draco did not particularly care how many people wanted to use his fame as a stepping stone, but he was very interested in what Hermione was saying.
"You mean Dumbledore, right?"
"Exactly. What I do not understand is what you people were thinking, raising you up this high. Who knows what kind of rumors are spreading outside by now, or how many people have already set their sights on you? Isn't that just putting you in danger?"
Because she had not been present and no one had explained things to her beforehand, Hermione looked especially worried and anxious now.
And when she saw Draco's completely unconcerned expression, she only grew more helpless and irritated.
Perhaps she was just too worked up.
Standing in front of Draco and waving her little fist at him, Hermione did not notice the complicated light in Ginny's eyes as she watched from behind.
Was this really the same Hermione she remembered, the proud and confident Hermione?
Was that jerk's charm really that overwhelming...?