They burst into laughter as they pulled something off their heads; Draco recognised it as an Invisibility Cloak.
"Harry! Ron!" Hermione exclaimed in surprise and delight, her face now as red as her woolly hat. "You two are so naughty!"
Yes! Harry has an Invisibility Cloak.
However, Draco had not anticipated that Harry would use it in this situation. He breathed a sigh of relief, his body finally relaxing and no longer displaying an aggressive demeanour.
Harry folded the Invisibility Cloak and put it in his pocket, still unable to stop laughing. "Sorry, I know this kind of prank is not good, but I just could not help it."
"We originally used it to hide from Professor Snape! Then we found you two, so we thought we would play a joke on you."
Ron grinned from the side, laughing heartily. "Look at your faces, the way you looked like you were facing a formidable enemy! It is hilarious!"
"This is not funny at all." Draco frowned. "I might have hurt you."
"That is quite right." Hermione relaxed, and the despairing feeling in her heart eased somewhat.
As she put away her wand, she suppressed her pounding heart and asked Draco, "What spell were you trying to cast just now?"
"Confringo, or Expulso," Draco said casually.
This is clearly not a spell that a third-year student ought to have access to.
"We just threw a snowball! Draco, you are overreacting." Harry stopped laughing and said incredulously.
"Has anyone ever told you that sometimes you are frightening? The creepy kind of frightening?"
Ron glanced at Draco with awe, and at the hand still resting on Hermione's waist. "Especially when it comes to being protective."
"Yes, perhaps," Draco muttered to himself. He subtly withdrew his hand, pretending to be focused on putting away his wand.
Hermione suddenly became busy as well. She quickly moved a step away from Draco, dramatically brushing the snowflakes off her hair, the suspicious redness on her face still lingering.
"Harry? What are you doing here?" a pale, thin man called out as he walked over from the other side of the road. Draco recognised Lupin from his shabby, thin robes.
Does he not get paid at Hogwarts? Draco looked up at the sky speechlessly. Please! Buy yourself some new robes!
Hermione quietly took a step back. As Lupin drew closer, her expression grew increasingly tense. She stared at Lupin, then moved closer to Draco, her hand involuntarily rising to slowly grasp the hem of his robe.
"Do not be nervous. Try to stay calm and be natural," Draco whispered, tilting his head slightly, his breath warm against her ear.
Hermione glanced at him in alarm. The embers of fireworks still lingered in her heart. That last bit of heat almost reignited them.
She was in a terrible state, torn between two options: should she quell the burning inside her and get away from Draco, or should she cling to this corner of safety and stay away from that seemingly kind werewolf professor who might attack them?
Lupin moved a little closer and smiled at Harry.
She frowned in confusion, gave up thinking, and unconsciously clutched the hem of the boy's robe next to her.
Lupin, oblivious to Hermione's thoughts, kept his eyes fixed on Harry. At that moment, he smiled and asked, "Is there anything unusual here?"
They all shook their heads. Lupin, facing their direction, glanced at the Shrieking Shack and his brow twitched slightly.
"Professor Lupin, what are you doing here?" Harry asked curiously.
"I am waiting for a friend, but he has not arrived yet," Professor Lupin said kindly, snapping out of his reverie.
"Harry, I just happened to be looking for you. Since we have run into each other, how about we go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink? How about a warm Butterbeer?"
Lupin looked better than last week. His youthful face no longer looked so haggard, though wrinkles were still visible.
"I say, shall we go and get a drink together?" Ron said, his teeth chattering. "It is too cold."
Draco was more than happy to agree. He glanced at Hermione questioningly and saw that she smiled genuinely, clearly agreeing with the idea... after all, being with a werewolf in a crowd felt safer.
So the group walked back in high spirits, took a side path, and followed the street. A few minutes later, they escaped the swirling snow and crawled into the warm, cosy Three Broomsticks.
In the cold weather, everyone wanted something hot to drink. The Three Broomsticks was crowded and noisy, filled with smoke. They finally found a slightly cleaner table in the corner, and each of them sat down with a large glass of frothy Butterbeer.
Draco took a sip of his drink and immediately felt a warm sensation rising in his stomach.
"Merry Christmas!" He clinked glasses with Hermione and Ron, and the atmosphere was extremely cheerful.
Lupin and Harry did not sit down.
They stood in front of a misty window, watching the shadowy figures of passers-by outside, who seemed to be having a heated discussion.
Hermione was not paying attention to her Butterbeer; instead, she kept her round eyes wide open, watching Harry's movements warily.
The sudden confirmation that "Professor Lupin is a werewolf" was a huge shock to her. She was still in a state of unease.
This matter is far more important than the Butterbeer in front of me.
"It is all right, it is already the end of the month." Draco glanced at her, finding her reaction somewhat amusing. He took a sip of his drink and said casually, "He will not suddenly transform in a pub."
Hermione chose to glare at him... how could he be so indifferent?
How long has he known this secret? How could he have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to it?
"I always felt like you two were hiding something, you know, you talk in riddles." Ron glanced at them suspiciously as he examined the Dungbombs, Hiccup Sweets, and joke soap he had bought.
"Nothing much. We were just discussing some trivial matters," Draco said with a smile.
"What, you have a cat too?" Ron asked, completely bewildered. Judging from his expression, he was probably thinking of Crookshanks.
Draco did not say anything, but simply raised his eyebrows at him with amusement.
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