It was Saturday, a day without classes. Though the Triwizard Cup, displayed in the entrance hall, captivated everyone's attention, no one would spend the entire day in the hall or the Great Hall.
After breakfast, everyone dispersed. Wade took a book and went to the Umbrella Room to pass the time.
Not long after he arrived, Theo and another person came with their homework. Then Padma arrived, bringing a pile of snacks. Within half an hour, everyone else started to trickle in.
Michael was the last to enter, his face full of frustration. He slammed the door shut with a *bang*, startling everyone.
Padma raised an eyebrow and said loudly, "Hey, nobody here offended you."
"Sorry," Michael said, running a hand through his hair. He sat down in his usual spot, grabbed a random book, but tossed it aside irritably as soon as he opened it.
"What's wrong?" Wade asked. "Did you argue with someone?"
Michael looked like he didn't want to talk about it, grumbling, "Nothing."
Padma, however, looked knowing. "Is it Daphne?"
"Daphne?" Several people repeated in unison, looking utterly astonished.
"Michael... your new girlfriend is Daphne from Slytherin?" Hermione asked directly.
"Yeah, is that so strange?" Michael said. "She's so beautiful, and her personality isn't as awful as Pansy's. Maybe you haven't noticed, but she's actually never actively bullied anyone."
"But she's never stopped Pansy when Pansy bullies others, has she?" Hermione pointed out sharply. "She's an accomplice."
Michael's gaze flickered, and he stubbornly said, "What accomplice... if she didn't go along with them, her own situation in the house would become very difficult. There's nothing she can do about it."
"But how could you be with her..." Harry said, puzzled. "I don't have anything against Daphne, but I thought you didn't like Slytherin either."
"To be precise, I don't like most Slytherins who preach Pure-blood ideology. I have good relationships with quite a few Slytherins, like Astoria."
Michael corrected him, then added, "However, it was when I saw Daphne defending her sister in front of Pansy, and then later crying secretly by the greenhouse, that I felt she was a bit... different."
He glanced guiltily at Padma, his voice dropping a few decibels for the rest of his sentence.
Padma's expression, however, was much more normal, as if it had nothing to do with her. She asked, "So why did you two argue again today?"
At this, Michael's expression became frustrated once more:
"Daphne... she wanted me to go to the maze with her today, but I said I was going to the Umbrella Room. I planned to finish all my essays today, but... as soon as I said that, I don't know why, she started crying and said if I didn't care about her, we might as well break up..."
"And then?" Wade asked in surprise. "She said all that, and you still came here?"
Michael was no unfeeling brute; he knew perfectly well how to cheer a girl up. Logically, he should have easily appeased Daphne with a few words, not come fuming to the Umbrella Room.
"Ugh... I'm just a bit annoyed..." Michael slumped onto the table, grumbling unhappily. "Daphne is actually quite cute, but if I'm going to date her, I'd have to give up my accustomed lifestyle, and everything would have to give way to her preferences. I just can't stand it."
Padma scoffed. "You idiot."
"What?" Michael looked at her in confusion. "Do you think my thinking is wrong?"
"Don't you understand?" Padma said, looking down at Michael with an air of intellectual superiority. "She didn't want to go to the maze, and she wasn't unwilling for you to come to the Umbrella Room—she just thought you were insisting on coming to the Umbrella Room for..."
She bit her lip, her face slightly flushed, and said, "...to see me."
Padma was the prettiest girl in their year. When a faint blush rose on her cheeks, like a sunset hidden beneath a frozen lake, she was breathtakingly beautiful.
Michael's gaze suddenly fixed. He looked dazed for a while before realizing what she had said, his eyes blinking slowly as he let out an "Ah."
Two seconds later, he stammered, "So that's... that's how it is..."
He rustled through his book again, then put it down, fidgeting on his chair as if there were a hedgehog on it, and finally stood up abruptly.
"I... I should go explain it to her again..."
He didn't know who he was explaining this to, but he pulled out his chair and ran out of the Umbrella Room again.
The others in the room, including Wade, dared not speak because of the tense atmosphere between the two.
When the sound of the door closing echoed, everyone instinctively looked at Padma.
Padma, however, seemed oblivious to everything. She pushed her homework towards Hermione and said, "Hermione, have you written your essay on the Muggle-Repelling Charm? I was wondering if the spell could be combined like this..."
The stagnant air in the room seemed to flow again, and everyone found their breath.
Theo leaned closer to Wade and whispered, "Did you see Michael's eyes just now? I think he still likes Padma deep down."
"It's just infatuation. It's only because Padma and the others are good-tempered, otherwise, if Michael keeps this up, he'll eventually get a hatchet to the head," Wade muttered dismissively.
Theo asked, puzzled, "What do you mean?"
"The Wise Do Not Fall in Love," Wade said seriously. "Love is a poison that makes people self-dumb. Its ability to control the mind is scarier than the Imperius Curse."
Theo was speechless for a while before saying, "Well, it's... it's not that absolute, is it..."
After lunch, it started to drizzle. The air was filled with the damp smell of earth, making it feel especially fresh.
Through the window, everyone could see many students from the foreign schools enthusiastically lining up outside the maze. Even the rain couldn't dampen their excitement.
"Why doesn't the school seal off the maze?" Padma muttered. "This is our Hogwarts' training resource..."
As if she felt this sounded too petty, she added, "And what if those guys cause damage inside?"
Ryan asked, "Have any of you who decided to compete signed up yet?"
They all looked at each other. Ryan spoke first: "Theo and I aren't planning to participate. Everyone in our house thinks there's definitely going to be a Cedric."
"I haven't signed up either," Padma shrugged. "Compete with people in a competition where I might die? Give me a break."
"Same here," Hermione said cautiously. "I don't think I have enough knowledge, and I probably wouldn't be chosen anyway. So, signing up is pointless."
"That's what I think too," Neville said with a good-natured smile.
Only Wade and Harry remained. The two exchanged a look.
"So, it seems only the two of us have signed up?" Wade said.
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