"Ron, you have to believe me! I really didn't mean it like that!"
[? What's going on with Harry and Ron?]
Early the next morning in the Great Hall, Tom noticed that Ron hadn't looked Harry in the eye once since sitting down, while Harry was looking frantic. Curious, Tom slipped over to Neville, tapped his shoulder, and signed a question.
Weren't these two normally thick as thieves? Why were they suddenly having a lovers' quarrel? The plot hadn't even reached The Goblet of Fire yet, and nothing had happened to wound Ron's fragile ego, right?
"Um... well..." Neville stammered, his face turning red. He wanted to know what was going on too!
Neville might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was a rule-follower. When Harry had snuck out the night before, Neville had asked where he was going. Upon hearing Harry was just serving detention, Neville hadn't pressed further and obediently went to sleep.
But when he woke up this morning, the atmosphere had completely shifted. Harry and Ron, who had been best buds the night before, were suddenly fighting for no apparent reason.
"I think Harry's been seeing someone on the side, and Ron got jealous," Seamus interjected through a mouthful of food. His eyes were shining with pure gossip as he leaned over.
"???"
Hermione, who had just taken a sip of pumpkin juice, nearly did a spit-take. "What?! Has their relationship really progressed that far?!"
Sure, this kind of thing might be common in British boarding schools, but weren't they moving a bit too fast?!
And wait a minute—hadn't they all gone out and come back together last night? When would Harry even have the time to do something like that?
Hermione instinctively realized Seamus was spouting pure nonsense. But not everyone at the table was as rational as she was.
"He's talking about Draco!"
For the sake of his own reputation, Harry abandoned trying to placate Ron. If he didn't clear this up right now, he was actually going to be ruined! "I only talked to Draco for a bit yesterday because of... some stuff! That's it! I didn't—"
Before he could finish, Tom cut in:
[Ohoho! Stringing Ron and Draco along at the same time? Harry, I had no idea you were such a player!]
As a certified troll cat, Tom never passed up a chance to fan the flames.
"I am not!" Harry's neck flushed bright red, his voice pitching up in panic. "Ron and I are completely innocent!"
The moment the words left his mouth, he realized how bad that sounded. He opened his mouth to clarify, but Ron beat him to the punch:
"So, you really did hook up with Malfoy?"
Just as Harry feared. He had originally planned to explain their purely platonic friendship, but hearing Harry's poor phrasing made Ron see red instantly.
If Harry really had nothing going on with Malfoy, why had he only bothered to clarify his relationship with Ron, but not his relationship with Malfoy?
"Ron, not you too?!" Harry clutched his head in despair. This was a disaster. The misunderstandings were piling up, the more he tried to explain, the worse it sounded, and his reputation was officially unsalvageable. The only way to clear his name was to get Malfoy to explain things, but before that, he had to calm Ron down. "I really didn't—"
"Why Malfoy?" Ron interrupted, his voice tinged with a strange mix of anger and... resentment? "I was clearly here first..."
"?"
Hearing Ron's shocking statement, Harry forgot whatever he was about to say. He stared at his best friend with his mouth hanging open in sheer horror.
People always say you should cultivate your interests from a young age, but no one ever told him this was the kind of interest he was supposed to cultivate!
Ron seemed to realize what he had just said. He turned his head away awkwardly, the tips of his ears turning pink.
If it were just regular Harry, of course Ron wouldn't have those kinds of thoughts. But if it was Harriet...
Let's just say Lily Evans's inherited charm was truly terrifying.
The commotion at the Gryffindor table had attracted a lot of attention. Students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff pricked up their ears, unanimously eavesdropping on the Savior's juicy gossip. Meanwhile, over at the Slytherin table—where the other center of the maelstrom, Draco, was sitting—things were equally turbulent.
Draco himself, however, was completely oblivious. His mind was entirely consumed by the dragon egg in Hagrid's hut, daydreaming about the exact moment the little Ridgeback would hatch. He hadn't noticed the massive drama unfolding over at Gryffindor.
But his current "girlfriend," Pansy Parkinson, certainly had.
Even though the other Slytherins hadn't said anything to her face, deep down in her insecure heart, she felt they were all pointing fingers at her. She felt they were mocking her for just being Draco's shield—a fake girlfriend he used to hide his true preferences.
Unable to sit still any longer, Pansy marched over and slammed herself down next to Draco. Her shrill voice carried a mix of grievance and accusation: "Draco! They're saying you and Harry Potter are involved! Is it true?!"
She glared at him, her tone aggressive. "Are you really just using me to cover up your true preferences?!"
"What did you just say?" Draco looked up at Pansy in utter confusion, his brow furrowing. "Involved? Me and Harry? Parkinson, what kind of nonsense are you spouting?!"
After Pansy frantically explained the rumors, Draco exploded. Sure, his relationship with Harry had thawed a bit, but they definitely weren't that close!
He instinctively shot a glare toward the Gryffindor table to see which bored idiot was spreading these ridiculous rumors. But as he looked, his gaze froze.
Harry was bright red, waving his arms frantically as he tried to explain something to Weasley. And that obnoxious Weasley...
Merlin, Draco thought. Weasley looks exactly like someone who just had his favorite toy stolen. Look at that pathetic face.
Seeing Ron in such a state, a rather wicked idea popped into Draco's head. The denial he had been about to shout died on his tongue. A playful, teasing glint flashed in his eyes.
Besides, if it were Harriet... maybe it wouldn't be so bad? The thought made the corner of his mouth twitch upward into a half-smile. He quickly shook his head, banishing the thought, and began calculating his next move.
However, Pansy completely misinterpreted his reaction.
She had come to Draco for a simple reason: to get a public reassurance that would squash the ridiculous rumors and prove to the rest of Slytherin that she, Pansy Parkinson, was not just a shield (even though no one had actually said she was).
But seeing Draco's reaction—the hesitation, the smirk—left her completely stunned.
Wait, is there actually something going on between you and Potter?!
Pansy's heart sank. "Malfoy! If you can't explain this right now, we are breaking up!" she snapped, her voice rising in a mix of panic and anger, drawing the eyes of students from neighboring tables.
"Fine! We're done!"
Draco, completely immersed in his newly hatched "genius plan," didn't care about Pansy's feelings in the slightest. He fired back without a second thought.
Did she really think he liked her? If her family background didn't offer him some minor conveniences, and if the actually pretty Slytherin girls hadn't been ignoring him, there was no way he would have ever settled for someone who looked like a pug!
"You...!" Pansy hadn't expected him to agree so readily. All the color drained from her face.
She had assumed Draco would try to coax her. After all, she was the young miss of the Parkinson family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight! With her backing, it would be much easier for Draco to establish his dominance among the first-year Slytherins.
But seeing that he truly didn't care—and that his attention was still fixed on the Gryffindor table—she panicked. She immediately switched to a fawning, desperate tone.
"Draco, don't say that! I was just acting on impulse! You're a Malfoy! How could you ever mix with those Mud—Muggle-born lovers?!"
She nearly let the forbidden slur slip, but catching Snape's warning glare from the High Table, she slammed on the brakes just in time.
Being the snob that she was, Pansy was incredibly sycophantic toward the Malfoys. Her earlier outburst had partly been driven by the pressure of the rumors, but also because she thought throwing a little tantrum would make Draco value her more.
She had completely failed to realize that Draco already disliked her. Combined with a certain newly awakened "preference," his tolerance for her had hit rock bottom. He was more than happy to use this excuse to dump her.
Ignoring Pansy's backtracking, Draco elegantly wiped his mouth with a napkin. Having mentally finalized his script, he stood up gracefully and, under the watchful eyes of countless students, strode directly toward the Gryffindor table.
The buzzing chatter in the Great Hall visibly dropped several decibels. Up at the High Table, Snape watched the scene unfold, clicked his tongue, and lowered his head as if he didn't care. In reality, he was watching everything out of the corner of his eye.
Draco stopped right in front of Harry and Ron. Ignoring Ron's murderous glare and Harry's escalating look of sheer terror, Draco's lips slowly curled into a smirk. He spoke in a voice just loud enough for the surrounding students to hear clearly.
"Harry, about the fallout from what happened last night..."
He deliberately made his words sound as vague and suggestive as possible. "I think we need to find some time to discuss the details... alone."
He paused, a glint of successful mischief flashing in his eyes, and let his gaze flick between Harry and Ron. "After all, there are many private matters that aren't suitable for a public setting. You wouldn't want outsiders finding out about what happened between us, would you?"
Even though Harry knew Draco was talking about the dragon egg, seeing the Slytherin shoot a pointed look at Ron right after delivering that line made Harry instantly adopt a look of absolute doom. I am so dead.
Seeing this, Draco lifted his chin slightly. "Then it's settled. This afternoon, we'll find a quiet, secluded place and have a nice, long chat about last night~"
With that, without waiting for Harry to reply, Draco suppressed a laugh, shot a look at a visibly trembling Ron, and turned to leave.
Of course, Draco didn't actually expect to destroy their friendship. Honestly, he didn't even want to ruin their friendship right now. He just saw Weasley's face and couldn't resist the urge to bully him a little bit. That was all.
Tom saw through the entire charade, but he didn't expose Draco. After all, this kind of drama wasn't going to cause any real harm. If it was actually dangerous, Tom would have stopped him.
BOOM—
The moment Draco walked away, the Gryffindor table erupted into chaos. Whispers swept through the Slytherin table as well. Pansy's "wish" had finally come true: nearly every little snake was currently looking at her with a very strange expression.
Draco's actions and words had practically confirmed the absurd rumors as undeniable truth.
Slytherins might constantly preach about logic and self-interest, but gossiping is human nature. Given that they were in the crowded Great Hall, Pansy's public dumping spread like wildfire, and Draco was officially branded with the label: "Dumped Pansy for Harry Potter."
"H-Harry!"
Ron grabbed Harry's arm. He didn't care about throwing a tantrum anymore; his voice was actually choking up, and his eyes were red. "You said nothing happened between you two?! Discuss details alone? Private matters I shouldn't know about?! And setting up a secret meeting?! He even dumped Pansy for you!"
"It's not like that, Ron! Listen to me! He did that on purpose! He absolutely did that on purpose!"
Harry felt like he had a hundred mouths but couldn't explain a single thing. Draco's gasoline-on-the-fire performance made Harry want to sprint over and punch the Slytherin in the face. Any trace of goodwill he had felt toward Draco evaporated instantly. "He's just using this as an excuse to cause trouble!"
"Causing trouble by ruining his own reputation?!" Ron's eyes were red-rimmed. "Causing trouble by throwing away his dating prospects for the next six years?!"
That's MY dating prospects for the next six years too! Harry wailed internally in absolute despair.
But then, a terrifying thought struck him: Wait... what if Malfoy actually did that on purpose? What if he's ruining his own reputation just to ruin mine, forcing us both to lose all future dating prospects so that my only option is to be with him?!
Actually, when you put it like that, it makes perfect sense—wait, NO IT DOESN'T! I'M STRAIGHT!
"I'm only going to ask you one thing!"
While Harry was having an internal crisis, Ron took a deep breath and stared at him intently. "Tell me the truth. Are you going to meet him this afternoon?"
"I—" Harry was speechless. Could he really just not go? Setting aside the fact that Draco was holding the dragon egg over their heads, even if Draco had no intention of telling the professors, Harry still had to go meet him!
"Pfft!"
Right at the peak of the tension, Ariana finally couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. While giggling, she shot Tom a pointed glare.
After all, even though Seamus's easily misunderstood comment had sparked the fire, the true culprit was obviously Tom! If the troll cat hadn't thrown fuel on the flames just for kicks, things never would have escalated this far.
Meeting Harry and Ron's confused looks, Ariana sighed. "Relax, Ron. Harry didn't betray you. He's not seeing anyone behind your back. I assume he already told you exactly what happened last night, right?"
"But—"
"No buts!" she cut Ron off. "If you really don't trust him, why don't you just go with Harry this afternoon?"
"Yeah, Ron! Come with me!" Harry quickly agreed, seizing the lifeline. "We have the Invisibility Cloak anyway!"
Hearing this, Ron's mouth twitched. He didn't agree, but he didn't refuse either. His expression softened significantly. He harrumphed. "Hmph. Who wants to hide under a cloak and listen to you two talk? I'm not that petty."
He paused, then quickly added, "But no matter what happens, you have to tell me everything. No keeping secrets."
"Deal! I promise!" Seeing that Ron had finally calmed down, Harry hurriedly raised a hand as if swearing an oath, the massive weight finally lifting from his chest.
[Aw, you guys made up already? Boring~] Tom swished his tail and curled his lip. He hadn't gotten nearly enough entertainment out of this yet.
"Tom!"
The Gryffindor quartet—and even Hannah—glared at him. If it hadn't been for this troll cat, none of this would have happened in the first place!