Different Reactions Caused by a Cold (VIII)

Several Ravenclaw students were gathered in the corridor, discussing something with thick notebooks in their hands. Hearing footsteps, they looked up—and froze.

The Slytherins passed by them without speaking or looking at them. Yet the magical fluctuations spilling from each of them—like an invisible layer of ice—spread along the floor.

The Ravenclaws instinctively retreated toward the wall. Some clutched their notebooks tighter, while others held their breath. The pressure was not directed at them; it was merely passing by. But it was already enough to make them instinctively uneasy.

Penelope stood at the corner of the corridor, watching Draco walk past her. In the dim corridor light, his profile looked especially cold and hard. His jaw was clenched tight, his eyes fixed straight ahead without shifting even a degree. She noticed the ring on his right index finger—the obsidian Ouroboros ring. At the snake's eye, an extremely faint red light flickered. Bright, dim, bright, dim, like a heartbeat.

She stood there, watching the group pass before her, watching the last Slytherin disappear around the end of the corridor. Behind her, a younger Ravenclaw asked softly, "Where are they going?" Penelope did not answer.

She only said, "Don't ask."

The corridor fell quiet again. There were only the footsteps fading farther and farther away, and the lingering red light on that ring, slowly vanishing.

As they crossed the corridor, they passed a group of Gryffindors clutching their noses, smoke rising from their ears. Ron was being dragged along at a run, two streams of black smoke billowing above his head as he cried, "Woo—woo—," with a line of scarf-wearing people trailing behind him.

Fred spotted Draco and shouted, "Malfoy! Want a ride? The Hogwarts Express has empty seats!" Draco did not even lift his eyelids, nor did he slow down. Crabbe,