Zhang Xiao went through his usual preparations for visiting the Headmaster's Office with practiced ease, much like a certain unnamed head of Slytherin House and Potions professor brewing the Draught of Living Death.
It was all unconscious impulse; magic had simply carried out his wishes faithfully.
Only after he had finished did Zhang Xiao realize how inappropriate his behavior had been.
Dumbledore might not mind, and it hardly mattered when it was just the two of them, but with other people present...
It was a little disrespectful to Dumbledore, taking liberties with his kindness.
Mistakes should be corrected. Zhang Xiao immediately looked toward Dumbledore, intending to apologize.
To his surprise, Dumbledore secretly winked at him.
"Harry, Draco, it seems Zhang has already done some of my work for me. Young people are always so eager and full of energy..."
Dumbledore gestured for the two of them to sit down.
He himself walked behind his usual high-backed chair and pressed his fingertips together, apparently considering something.
Zhang Xiao let out a small sigh of relief, then suddenly noticed how unusually quiet the Headmaster's Office was today. Only then did he realize that every portrait was pretending to sleep.
Even his own "chief fan," Phineas Nigellus Black, was feigning a nap in a very elegant pose.
But their twitching eyebrows and ears betrayed the portraits' keen interest in what was about to happen.
Dumbledore lowered his hands. His azure eyes turned toward the rather nervous Harry and Malfoy, and he pushed the candy box toward them.
He made a gentle joke:
"There is no need to be so nervous, unless you find this place more frightening than Professor Snape's Detention Room."
Harry relaxed a little. Because of Zhang Xiao, this young Chosen One had not become a regular visitor to the Headmaster's