【HP】I don’t want to fall in love, I just want to mess around

Soon, Esther realized that she made the right move in dragging Draco along, because he was indeed much more experienced than her.

"Go this way. There is a secret passage here. It will be closer if you go this way."

"Be careful, Filch's cat often moves around this area, and it's difficult to get rid of it if it finds it."

"You can't go over there. The portraits over there are easily awakened. Once they are awakened, they will deliberately make a loud noise to deliberately let you be caught!"

……

Esther followed him obediently, obeying his instructions.

The journey was smooth and we successfully reached the kitchen entrance.

The Hogwarts kitchen is near the Hufflepuff common room, and Esther is a frequent visitor here. She walked to the painting of a silver bowl filled with fruits very skillfully and scratched the pear in the painting, so the golden pear turned into a green doorknob.

She opened the door and made a gesture of invitation to Draco beside her.

Draco swaggered in, and kept complaining as he walked: "Looking at your familiar look, you must be here often."

Esther replied to him: "Looking at how familiar you are with night tours, you probably do a lot of secret night tours."

Draco snorted and refused to admit it: "I'm not one of those stupid lions, and I have no interest in night walks."

Who would believe it.

Esther didn’t believe it anyway.

Since Hufflepuff students often come to the kitchen for late night snacks, the house elves who prepare food for Hogwarts teachers and students do not appear panicked by students who suddenly visit late at night.

Esther ordered the food she wanted to eat with ease, and then quietly waited for the house elves to prepare the food and serve it.

Draco was a little disgusted with the crowded kitchen and refused to eat with a group of house elves, even for a late-night snack.

"Who said you should dine with the house elves? Didn't you say you weren't hungry? So just watch me eat."

Esther deliberately pretended to be innocent and harmless, and said to him with her big eyes open.

Draco sat on the chair and slowly crossed his legs. Although one hand was injured, his arrogant attitude was no worse than before.

"Don't pretend to be stupid on purpose." He raised his chin and snorted: "I have figured it out now. Every time you make this expression, you do it on purpose. Don't try to lie to me again."

Esther blinked, thinking that with more contact, it would become harder and harder to fool him.

It was better than when they first met. He would believe whatever she played.

"I didn't want to fool you. Didn't you say you weren't hungry?"

She muttered something under her breath.

"Anyway, I can't stay here for long. You can eat it later when the house elves prepare the food and bring it back to the infirmary."

"But there is a risk that the food will get cold all the way back, and how are you going to explain the leftover food scraps to Madam Pomfrey the next morning?"

"That's not my business anymore. If you don't agree, I'll go back by myself now."

Draco acted tough.

Esther had nothing to do with him, so who could ask her to ask for help now?

I had to agree with tears.

The elves cooked very quickly and quickly packed the food and delivered it to Esther.

Esther picked up her lunch box and let Draco lead the way back to the infirmary.

Only a few torches were lit in the corridors of Hogwarts late at night. The dim light was not enough to illuminate the long corridors, and many places were completely dark.

There was a wind blowing from the unclosed window, which made Esther tremble.

As the temperature drops at night, the overall temperature of the castle is still a little low. Esther was only wearing a simple school uniform shirt and skirt, not a robe. She didn't feel it when she came, but she felt a little cold on the way back.

Looking at Draco, he was also wearing thin clothes, and with his bloodless face, he looked a little weaker than her.

Esther realized then that he was indeed risking physical discomfort by agreeing to accompany her out.

This made Esther feel a rare apology.

She decided to go back to the infirmary later and give him half of the food.

"Speaking of it, we are brothers in need. It is a kind of fate that we meet in the infirmary every time."

In order to liven up the atmosphere a little, Esther crossed her arms and started talking.

Draco snorted again: "I don't even think about the few times I've been to the infirmary. Most of them were thanks to whose blessing?"

Esther was silent for a moment.

Indeed, apart from this time, the previous two times were because they were fighting, and the other time was because she almost strangled him in panic.

In short, they are still standing here, chatting in a harmonious atmosphere, and they cannot do without her father, the director of the Department for the Control and Management of Magical Creatures.

"Why didn't you speak?"

Draco turned his head deliberately and asked her.

Esther said, "I'm trying to think of what to say."

As she finished speaking, a muffled thunder suddenly sounded outside the castle.

The thunder was not loud, but it seemed very abrupt in the silent castle.

Esther and Draco were startled. They stopped almost at the same time, glanced around, and relaxed at the same time when they realized it was just thunder.

"Let's go quickly. My cold is not over yet. If the wind blows for a while, it will get worse again."

She gave Draco a gentle push, signaling him to hurry up.

Draco didn't say anything, just silently quickened his pace.

While walking through a long corridor, Draco, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped.

Esther almost bumped into him. She immediately stabilized the food box in her hand to ensure that the food would not spill out. Then she looked sideways at him: "What's wrong?"

"I...I just saw a dark shadow flashing in front of me."

His whole body froze, his gray-blue eyes staring straight ahead, a look of panic on his face.

Upon hearing this, Esther immediately clenched her wand and took a step forward to look at the place where he spoke warily.

Nothing.

Esther did not lower her vigilance because she did not see any black shadow. Hogwarts has been established for thousands of years, and there will always be some unknown things hiding in it, such as the basilisk last semester.

She looked around carefully, then paused, and a guess formed in her mind.

To make sure she was right, she walked forward.

Draco followed her alertly, holding his wand tightly in his hand.

"What kind of ghost is it?"

He looked a little pale and whispered, "Why don't we go through this way and let's go around the other side?"

Esther shook her head slightly: "It's okay. I'll go over and take a look. You wait here."

"Are you crazy? What are you looking for? No matter if it's a ghost or something, can't we just go around it? Why do we have to take this risk?"

He lowered his voice to Esther.

Esther didn't listen to him because she had just seen a wet footprint.

To be more precise, it was a dog footprint stained with mud and rain.

Esther didn't like animals, but she could still recognize the dog's footprints, and she knew the plot of this school year, so she suspected that the dark shadow Draco saw sneaked into Hogwarts. Sirius Black.