Unlike Professor McGonagall, who had left the Room of Requirement and headed straight for the headmaster's office,
Zheng Qing planned to go to the Chamber of Secrets, deliver Ravenclaw's Diadem to the basilisk, and help Voldemort revive once. But before that, there was a small matter he still needed to decide.
"—You lot..."
He had barely uttered four words when Hermione cut him off.
"We're coming too!"
Her tone was exceptionally firm.
Of the four young wizards remaining, perhaps only she had the courage to say such a thing in front of the green-robed wizard. Beside her, Harry held his forehead, a flicker of pain occasionally passing through his eyes; Ron was pale, as though terrified Zheng Qing would draw The Wand and hit them with an Evil Curse; as for Malfoy, his eyes kept darting toward Ravenclaw's Diadem Reinhardt held in hand, a trace of concealed greed flashing in his gaze.
Zheng Qing was slightly taken aback.
Then he could not help but laugh. "—Where are you going?"
The fierce expression on Hermione's face froze. Only after glancing at Ravenclaw's Diadem in the Blond Youth's hand did she seem to find a line of thought, stammering, "Wherever you go, I'm going too!"
Those words seemed somewhat ambiguous.
The moment they left her mouth, she realized it, and her cheeks flushed visibly red. Ron, beside her, turned even paler. Reinhardt and his companions, meanwhile, watched the scene with great interest without uttering a word.
Zheng Qing had never thought his own charm was that great.
After thinking it over, the most likely explanation was that Hermione possessed an innate thirst for knowledge, while he, with his legendary status, naturally radiated an aura of truth and knowledge with every movement. Perhaps that was why she showed him such unusual enthusiasm.
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