"Woohoo~"
With a spinning hop and a playful little cry, Pansy of the Parkinson family completed the trip in lively fashion.
You could hear how delighted she was just from the lightness in her voice.
What was strange, though, was that the expectation in her eyes vanished the moment she swept a quick glance around the room. It was replaced at once by disappointment, as though the scene she had imagined was nowhere to be found.
Hermione, who had witnessed Pansy's sudden appearance and that completely undisguised reaction, felt her eyelids twitch.
"Don't tell me you were expecting something?"
"Huh~ So it's already over? Or did it never even start?"
"Can you actually listen when someone's talking, you idiot?!"
Pansy's reply made it perfectly clear to Hermione that she had done it on purpose, whether it was deliberately showing up late or muttering to herself without even trying to lower her voice.
Now that she understood why, Hermione, sitting in the chair with her long pale legs crossed, rolled her eyes.
"Sorry to disappoint you."
"Tsk. I gave you a chance and you didn't make use of it. How useless, Granger."
"So I'm the useless one here?!"
"Anyway, there won't be a next time. I'm not going to be this nice again."
Even if things had not turned out the way Pansy had wanted, Hermione was not about to foolishly tell her everything that had just happened. She only pursed her lips and acted as if nothing at all had happened.
That was why, from an angle Pansy could not see, Hermione shot her a grateful look.
Draco noticed it from the side.
In the end, Pansy had not needed to do any of this, yet she had still given Hermione and Draco a chance to be alone. Hermione obviously could not pretend she had missed that.
But after seeing that look of open amusement on Pansy's face, the words of thanks would not come out after all.
"Hm? What's going on?"
With Astoria appearing right after that, the exchange between Pansy and Hermione came to a perfectly timed stop.
That strange tacit understanding made Astoria, who had no idea what had happened, blink in confusion.
She had wanted to ask ever since Pansy had dragged her away earlier.
Had she missed something important?
...
For now, setting aside the... peculiar dynamic between Pansy and Hermione.
Draco and the others' journey was far from over. After all, their destination was Malfoy Manor, which could still be some unknown distance away, not this ordinary-looking room.
Standing by the window, Hermione, who was here for the first time, curiously looked outside.
"So this is the middle of some city? It's not what I imagined."
Pedestrians.
Streets.
There was nothing particularly different from the world Hermione knew. Put simply, this was a muggle city.
Unfortunately, from where she was standing, she could not see the street signs directly. Otherwise, she would have been able to figure out exactly where they were.
Hiding in plain sight.
Using a base in a muggle city as a transfer point really was a smart choice, and clever as she was, Hermione immediately understood the reason for it.
The only question left now was how they were supposed to get to Malfoy Manor from here.
Or was there another stop after this?
But after seeing how unhurried Draco and the others were, Hermione shook her head and dismissed the latter guess right away.
If they still had to move on to another base, there would be no reason to stay here.
It was not as if they had to wait for some auspicious moment before setting off.
That was what she thought, but for certain personal reasons, even though Hermione was curious, she had no intention of urging Draco and the others any further.
If anything, this was exactly the kind of situation she wanted.
Unfortunately, a certain House-elf did not seem inclined to give Hermione that chance.
Crack.
Crack.
At the sound of Apparition, Hermione finally understood what Draco and the others had been waiting for, and the conversation that followed explained why they had not left yet.
Familiar big ears.
Round bulging eyes.
For wizards, House-elves were actually hard to tell apart. Even after spending a long time with them, you could usually only identify them by a few small details.
But the House-elf that appeared before Draco and the others was an exception, because one look at that trendsetting House-elf style was enough to identify him.
It was the House-elf as swift as the wind, Dobby.
...
"Dobby has come to pick up Young Master, and his friends."
After giving Draco an awkward imitation of a wizard's bow, Dobby turned those huge eyes toward Pansy and the others and greeted them excitedly.
His tone did not carry the slightest hint of treating anyone differently, which really made one wonder whether House-elves had any clear understanding of such complicated relationships as girlfriends and love rivals.
For some reason, all the girls present had the exact same strange thought at the same time.
But in the very next second, what Dobby said next immediately drew all their attention.
"Next, Kreacher and Dobby will take Young Master and his friends to the manor together."
Kreacher?
As Dobby finished speaking, a short figure slowly emerged from the corner of the room. Only then did Pansy and the others realize there had been a second House-elf here all along.
Pansy straightened up a little.
"So I didn't hear wrong just now. There really were two Apparition sounds."
Compared with the girls' curiosity, Draco leaned slightly toward the unfamiliar House-elf. He wanted a better look at this House-elf who had once served the Black family.
Under Draco's gaze, the House-elf, who looked gray and worn-down, slowly lifted his head and met Draco's eyes with large bloodshot ones.
That look... it was not like the eyes of other House-elves at all.
Draco had met quite a few House-elves recently, yet even he could not help freezing for a moment under that gaze.
Did those eyes hold countless stories?
No.
Those were the eyes of someone hollow with deathly stillness and numbness.