Neville Longbottom... no, Draco raised his eyes and looked at the wizards who had suddenly surrounded him.
On their faces, he could clearly see mocking smiles, malicious looks, and the satisfaction of cruel intent. The malice they showed was even more Slytherin than the Slytherins they hated.
No... most Slytherin wizards would not even stoop to such crude methods to bully their own classmates...
It was obvious that this was not the first time these wizards had treated Neville Longbottom this way.
Unfortunately for them, Draco had just happened to run into them.
Listening to their vicious words and that irritating burst of laughter, Draco, who felt absolutely nothing, closed his eyes indifferently and showed no intention of responding.
His act of treating them like air made the bullies frown in displeasure...
"Hey! Did you not hear what we said?"
"How interesting. Don't tell me you're trying to rebel against us like this?"
"Hahaha, with this idiot who comes bottom of the class every year?"
"I said, we're talking to you!!"
One blond-haired wizard laughed as he reached out, grabbing for the collar of Draco's robes.
Just like they always did, using Neville Longbottom to amuse themselves...
Only, the instant Draco's eyes snapped open and he was about to cast a spell on these wizards, Pansy stood up from her seat and warned them sharply, "If your hand dares touch him, I'll make you and the family behind you taste true despair!"
"...."
"...."
"Ginny?!"
If those words had come from Pansy Parkinson, then they would not have felt surprising or out of place at all. In fact, what she did might have been even more extreme than what she said.
But coming from Ginny Weasley, they seemed a little strange, because they were not Weasley-like at all.
Fortunately, this did not seem to be the first time Ginny herself had stopped them from doing something like this. So after everyone froze for a moment, they also realized what had happened...
"You again, Weasley!"
"Make me taste true despair? Hmph... with those poor parents of yours who might not even be able to scrape together a single Galleon?"
"Don't make me laugh!"
Although the blond-haired wizard was mocking Ginny Weasley, who had stepped forward, he still withdrew his hand.
After all, the Weasleys had once been one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Who knew whether they still had unknown connections or resources in their hands?
Because of that, these blond-haired wizards, who bullied the weak and feared the strong, were still somewhat intimidated by Pansy's words.
It was worth mentioning that although it had declined, the Longbottom family was actually also one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight...
...
In fact.
This was not the first time Ginny Weasley had done something like this.
Back when Luna had also been bullied, Ginny had been the one to step forward and scold those people, stopping Luna from continuing to be bullied by her classmates and becoming friends with her afterward.
Therefore, even though Pansy's words were indeed rather harsh right now, and even carried the sense of using family background to pressure others, no one suspected that Ginny was no longer the same Ginny Weasley as before...
In any case.
Because Pansy's aggression had been turned up to the maximum, and because she had no intention of giving the other side any way to back down, the atmosphere in the common room suddenly froze.
The blond-haired wizards did not dare speak carelessly.
As for Pansy, she remembered that she was not the real Ginny Weasley.
Draco, who stood in the middle of them, instead looked completely detached, as if the person who had just been bullied was not him at all.
Hmm... in a way, it really did have nothing to do with Draco.
Finally, realizing she had been too impulsive, Pansy guiltily avoided Draco's gaze. A moment ago, she had still been fierce and aggressive, almost ready to draw her wand, but now she suddenly did not know how to end this.
If it were up to her, Pansy would definitely have had Goyle and Crabbe teach these people a lesson. But right now, she was Ginny Weasley, and as for what she should do next to avoid making Harry Potter suspicious...
Oh no. Have I been exposed?
Facing the faintly pleading look Pansy sent his way, Draco's mouth twitched speechlessly.
As for this, Draco did not directly kill... directly knock out everyone present. Instead, he observed Harry Potter's reaction, trying to adapt according to what Harry did.
Harry Potter, who had the righteous image of the Chosen One, naturally could not possibly...
"Let's go, Ginny."
"..."
"..."
Huh?
Draco, who had not expected this outcome at all, looked up at Harry Potter's slightly impatient face. Harry did not show the slightest intention of looking his way.
Could it be that Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter were not friends?
Even if they were not friends, where was your damn sense of justice?
Of course, Draco was not disappointed by this. He was just surprised that things had turned out this way.
Draco suddenly understood why Ginny Weasley herself had said that Harry Potter had changed...
Pansy, however, turned around the instant she heard those words and glared fiercely at Harry Potter. This perfectly captured the real Ginny Weasley.
Although the reason Pansy felt indignant had nothing to do with Neville Longbottom, of course...
Pansy's glare made Harry Potter frown in irritation. "Forget about Neville. Weren't you curious about that map? I also happen to have something to tell you."
"......"
Hearing this, Pansy's brow twitched, and she swallowed the refusal she had been about to give.
Once she calmed down, she naturally understood that Harry Potter's invitation was a very good opportunity, and she was also very curious about what he wanted to say to her.
Could it be about the Order of the Phoenix?
Just then, from the corner of her eye, Pansy also caught the signal in Draco's gaze.
Their long-standing tacit understanding immediately allowed Pansy to grasp what Draco meant...
Pansy nodded her little head. "All right. What do you want to tell me, Ha..."
"Let's go to the sofa in the corner."
Still unable to say his name, Pansy turned and followed in Harry Potter's footsteps.
As for the situation with the blond-haired wizards...
At the end of the day, others might not know, but Pansy knew very well that the Neville Longbottom in front of them, who looked easy to bully, was not someone easy to bully at all.
Raising his eyes to glance around the Gryffindor common room, where there were no other wizards besides them, Draco's lips curved into a cold smile.
Someone wanted to bully Draco?
Don't be ridiculous!
As Harry Potter and "Ginny Weasley" headed toward the corner, the blond-haired wizards finally let out cautious sighs of relief.
They might have looked full of themselves, but asking them to lower their heads and apologize to a junior was something they really could not bring themselves to do. More importantly, they were not willing to make enemies of Harry Potter and the Weasleys either.
Just as smiles returned to their faces.
Whether it was their imagination or not, the blond-haired wizards surrounding Draco suddenly felt a chill run through their entire bodies...