[HP] End of Death

Dinner in the Great Hall that night was a rather traumatic experience for Harry.

News of his and Professor Umbridge's quarrel spread like wildfire, surprisingly fast, even by Hogwarts standards.

While he, Ron, and Hermione ate in the middle of the Great Hall, there were whispers all around.And the people who were discussing it didn't care if he heard it or not—in fact, they seemed to wish he'd lost his temper and yelled again so they could hear what he had to say for themselves.

"He said Voldemort was back..."

"He still fantasizes about fighting the mysterious man..."

"God, please forgive me..."

"Who does he think he's lying to?"

Harry's hands trembling when cutting the beef, he tried his best not to refute them, because he would fall into their trap.They don't want to know the truth, they just want to hear a funny joke.

But when they walked out of the hall, they didn't expect to meet a group of Slytherin students at the door.They stood in a circle, surrounded by a person in the middle, and seemed to be discussing something intensely, bursting into laughter from time to time.

Harry and the others frowned, and were about to bypass the group of people, but they had already stopped in front of them aggressively, with malicious smiles on their faces.

"Oh, isn't this Potter?" Pansy said with a smile, "Hey, we already know about your heroic deeds, what a pity, you have persecution paranoia at a young age..."

"Get out of the way, Parkinson," Hermione yelled angrily, "You better shut us up."

"You still think about fighting the mysterious man yourself, are you crazy for wanting to be famous?"

"Who does he think he is..."

Harry endured their cynicism with a stiff face. He didn't want to stay here for a moment, he just wanted to leave immediately, but they kept blocking him, as if they must make him angry.

"By the way, Potter, didn't you still say that Draco had an accident?" Pansy seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and the sneer on his face deepened.She turned her head to look at the boy leaning against the doorpost and playing with his wand with his head bowed. His golden hair was particularly dazzling, shining like gold, and the eyes hidden in the deep eye sockets were hazy and gloomy, like It was covered with a mist.

"Draco, do you think what he said is true?" The girl asked loudly, her words attracted everyone's attention, and they all looked at him, expecting him to give an answer.

Draco finally raised his head and looked at Harry lazily.The latter's heart sank suddenly.

There was no emotion in those eyes, like a knife cutting through his heart.The corner of Draco's mouth curled into a mocking arc, and he said in a dragged tone: "Oh, of course it's fake. Some mysterious person is back, it's just someone's dreaming and talking nonsense, do you still believe it? "

He started laughing as he spoke, and the group of Slytherins laughed too, some even stooped exaggeratedly, kicking their legs on the ground.

Harry was as cold as if he had been flooded from head to toe by sea water.He could hardly believe his ears and shook his head vigorously.

Fake.Fake.all fake.Be sober, Harry Potter.

Stop being obsessed.

Hermione and Ron dragged him out of the crowd.They each held his hand and walked towards the common room, their faces tense, and neither of them spoke.

The common room was almost empty, and everyone was still eating in the auditorium.Crookshanks stretched out in an armchair and trotted out to welcome them, purring loudly.They sat down in armchairs in front of the fire, and sat round the table in silence.

"Don't pay attention to them, Harry." After a while, Hermione was the first to break the silence, trying to comfort her, "Slytherins are always like this, don't pay attention to them... We can't expect them to say anything good either."

"Yeah, if one day that Malfoy guy is facing us, it's really the sun in the west," Ron agreed. "Leave those unimportant people alone, Harry."

"And you told us that his father was a Death Eater . . . he would never admit it."

Harry didn't answer for a long time.After a long time, he slowly nodded and said softly: "I'm fine, you...don't worry about me."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, still very worried, but there was nothing they could do.They weren't the ones who actually faced Voldemort, they weren't subjected to such intense slander and suspicion, they wouldn't understand how painful a needle was in him.Although they would love to understand.

Harry silently took out the potions textbook and the parchment from his bag and began to write the essay assigned by Snape.Ron and Hermione wanted him back, but there were many things they didn't know.

They didn't know that Draco Malfoy wasn't an insignificant person to him.They were still lingering in the train carriage and on the spiral staircase yesterday, and he still hugged himself tightly, telling him that he understood how painful he was.

But today he was able to reinsert the knife he had just cut back into the old wound that was still bleeding, and each cut was more severe than the next.

Harry looked down, and around his neck hung a garnet and onyx necklace that Draco had given him last Christmas.He stroked the two gemstones lightly, and they turned smoothly under his fingertips.

In fact, there is no need for him to do anything for him, as long as he does not make trouble, it is the greatest help to him.But thinking about it now, he still underestimated his fickleness and his own naivety.

Don't even try to trust him, it's no use... no use.The most trustworthy person is by your side, not Malfoy, but the two friends who have been with you all the time, as well as the members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Never Malfoy.

Harry kept his head down and flipped through the pages of the book, writing a few lines on the paper now and then, although he didn't know what he wrote.He didn't want Ron and Hermione to see his bloodshot eyes, and the tears that were on the verge of welling up.And the two started discussing Professor Umbridge again, Hermione yelling "How could Dumbledore let this happen", Harry was startled, Crookshanks jumped off her shoulders Yes, looking offended.

"How could he let that horrible woman teach us? And it's the year we're taking the OWLs!"

"Hey, we've never had a decent teacher in Defense Against the Dark Arts, have we? You know how it goes, Hagrid told us, no one wants to take the job, they say it's dead Hex."

"True, but he hired someone who wouldn't let us do magic at all! What the hell was Dumbledore thinking?"

"That woman still wants someone else to be her spy." Ron was extremely depressed. "Remember, she said that if we saw someone saying that the mysterious man was back, she wanted us to report to her."

"By the way, Harry, what did she ask you to go to Professor McGonagall for?" Hermione asked.

Feeling that both of them were staring at him, Harry finally had to raise his head and answer her question, "Uh...she's reporting to Professor McGonagall." After noticing Ron's sudden change of expression, he quickly added A few words, "But Professor McGonagall didn't punish me. She told me to keep a low profile in the future and don't mess with that woman."

Hermione sighed, and turned a page of the book on the table: "I think she's right. You have to do what she says. The old woman must be eager to put you in detention a few more times."

"Ah, yes. I'll try," he said sullenly.

"By the way, Harry, you're going to be locked up tomorrow, aren't you?" Ron suddenly thought of something, "But you still have the Quidditch trials!"

"Oh my God, I almost forgot! Angelina must be so mad, I just promised her..." Harry was frustrated to find that there was one more thing to worry about, and he felt his temples were starting to hurt.