"Idiot Potter, clear the things off the table."
Two days later, Harry was practicing spells in an empty classroom that afternoon.
The Knut hovering in midair had just dropped back onto the table when Malfoy walked in carrying a parcel.
Goyle and Crabbe followed behind her, also carrying a bulging money pouch.
Harry looked at them, then at the parcel, and moved his textbooks aside.
"What are we competing at today?"
"Who said I was competing with you?" The girl set the parcel on the table and lifted her chin. "A reward for you."
Goyle placed the money pouch beside it, and a heavy clinking of metal immediately rang out across the tabletop.
Harry's gaze followed it, then slowly returned to the girl's face.
"All of this?"
"Of course. Did you think I'd come here in person just to leave things in your keeping?"
With that, Malfoy waved a hand at the two girls.
Goyle and Crabbe immediately left the classroom, gently closing the door behind them and leaving the two of them alone.
Harry unwrapped the parcel. On top lay a neatly folded new wizard's robe.
The fabric felt soft, the stitching was fine, and the label of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was sewn inside the collar. It was clearly considerably finer than an ordinary school robe.
He unfolded the robe, checked its length, then looked at Malfoy.
"It's a pretty good fit."
"You're only this tall, aren't you?" The girl glanced at him, answering quite naturally. "It's not as if I've never seen you."
Harry said nothing more. He put the new robe aside and picked up the dark-green-covered book beneath it.
"Detailed Explanation of Charms and Spellcasting Notes."
The gold lettering on the cover was somewhat worn, but the book had been well cared for.
Harry had assumed it probably contained a few little spells commonly used around the house, but his finger paused as soon as he opened the contents page.
Scourgify, the Mending Charm, the Leg-Locker Curse, and a whole string of names he had yet to learn.
Flipping farther back, he actually found more advanced magic such as the Shield Charm and the Disillusionment Charm. Each entry contained not only the incantation but also wand-movement diagrams and detailed annotations.
Harry turned a few pages, then a few more, before slowly raising his head.
"Malfoy, we agreed on three spells, didn't we?"
"Aren't there three in there?"
"There are." Harry glanced down at the several pages of contents. "But there seem to be more than three."
The girl gave a little huff and brushed her long platinum hair off her shoulder.
"So what?"
"We have far too many magic books at home. I simply asked Mother to pick one at random and send it over."
As she spoke, she cast Harry a deliberately casual glance.
"It would only gather dust at home anyway. Better to give an ignorant fellow like you a chance to broaden his horizons."
"Hmph, don't be too grateful!"
Harry looked at the book, then at her. Suddenly, he felt that while her explanation sounded rather effortless, there was nothing small about what she had actually given him.
He set the book down carefully and finally untied the money pouch beside it.
The moment its mouth loosened, a brilliant golden gleam shone from within.
Gold coins lay packed neatly and tightly together, clinking softly with his movements, a sound that lifted his spirits.
Harry reached in and shifted them, discovering still more underneath. At last, his expression changed.
"...How much?"
"Five hundred."
The girl answered very casually, as though she were talking about five hundred pumpkin seeds.
Harry's hand stopped at the mouth of the pouch. "Five hundred Galleons?"
"What else?" Malfoy frowned. "Did you think I'd put five hundred Knuts in there?"
Harry fell silent.
What they had agreed on was clearly just one new robe and three spells.
Now he had the robe, the spells had turned straight into an entire book, and the young lady had casually increased his payment to this amount as well.
Of course he still remembered that vault at Gringotts.
But that was money his parents had left him. This pouch before him was something he had earned by accompanying her around the castle twice and catching a Niffler.
Wasn't this far too generous?
Harry looked down at his wand, then at the young lady with long platinum hair before him, and a thoroughly spineless thought suddenly popped into his mind.
Why was I even practicing magic?
Suddenly, he felt a little less inclined to work hard.
Thinking about it carefully.
I was the famous Chosen One, Harry Potter, whose name resounded throughout the Wizarding World.
And this young lady before me?
The Malfoy family's only daughter, a proper pure-blood noble heiress.
If Harry Potter's fame were combined with the Malfoy family's wealth and connections...
Hiss!
Wouldn't I soar straight into the sky?!
Harry could not help stealing another look at the girl before him.
Long platinum hair, a delicate, beautiful face, and those gemlike gray-green eyes.
...Living off her seemed pretty tasty, actually?
No!
Harry shook his head sharply, hurriedly throwing those spineless thoughts out of his mind.
Calm down, Harry! You're a bona fide transmigrator!
How could you think about living off a woman at such a young age?!
Malfoy had been watching him all along, so naturally, she did not miss the dazed look on his face.
The corners of the girl's previously restrained mouth slowly rose, and even her chin lifted a little higher.
Well, Potter?
Now you know how much my word counts, don't you?
"They're only a few little things." She gave a soft huff, shifting her gaze from the money pouch back to Harry's face. "Just look at you. You've never seen anything of the world."
The girl continued, her tone a little more serious than before.
"This is merely payment for helping me. Don't read anything into it."
"Understood." Harry nodded, then could not help asking, "Miss Malfoy, if there's anything else you can't find next time..."
"Potter!"
"You can come to me again."
Malfoy glared at him, the words she had prepared suddenly catching in her throat.
Why wouldn't this fellow behave himself even after accepting so many things?
Yet seeing his smiling, money-loving face, she inexplicably felt that her visit today really had not been wasted.
"Put my charity away properly." The girl lifted her chin again.
Harry nodded, tied the money pouch shut, and placed it beside the new robe before reopening the spellbook.
While looking through the contents earlier, he had already noticed that the book went into far more detail than their school textbooks.
Basic everyday spells came first, while the later sections were clearly more complex.
For someone with a Learning Status Panel, this book's usefulness went well beyond saving him the cost of buying books.
Harry turned to the page on Scourgify and studied it carefully for a while, then picked up his wand and aimed it at a dusty patch on the corner of the table.
"Scourgify."
The wand tip flashed. Some of the dust on the table lifted, but it was not completely cleared away.
[Magical control too diffuse. Recommended: reduce the area of effect.]
Harry adjusted his movements again, focusing his attention on that small patch at the corner of the table.
Standing beside him, Malfoy glanced at his wand tip.
"Are you trying to poke through it? Don't stretch your wand out so far."
"Good point."
Harry drew his arm back a little and spoke the incantation again.
This time, the dust on the table corner quickly vanished, revealing the original color of the wood beneath.
[First successful casting.] [Scourgify: beginner (8/100).]
He looked at the clean patch on the tabletop, then lowered his gaze to the page, the corners of his mouth finally rising slowly.
I'd learned it.
And all those spells farther on were things he could seriously try next.
Harry unfolded the diagrams tucked between the pages, examined them carefully, then returned them to their places one by one.
As Malfoy watched his movements, her mood improved a little too.
Compared with his earlier vacant stare at the gold coins, Potter's current look of concentration as he read was much more pleasing to the eye.
The volume she had specially asked her family to find had, after all, been the right choice.
Harry closed the book and looked up, his tone free of teasing for once.
"This book is excellent. So are the robe and the Galleons."
"Thanks, Draco."
The girl's movements suddenly stopped.
What had he just called me?
Malfoy looked at Harry.
The boy was placing the book together with the parcel, clearly intending to put them away properly. He seemed to find nothing at all wrong with the name he had just used.
Draco.
The girl's fingers tightened slightly around her robe sleeve, and her ears suddenly grew a little warm.
He had always called her Malfoy before, or dragged out that irritating hint of a smile as he called her Miss Malfoy.
Why had he suddenly changed it now?
She had intended to remind him that he could look through the later spells first, but should not start by choosing the most complicated ones to practice.
Yet when those words reached her lips, they suddenly became jumbled.
Harry looked up, saw that she was still standing there, and asked a question.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." The girl answered quickly, then immediately turned around. "Hmph, as long as you know."
At the door, she paused again and added with her back to Harry.
"And the dueling business isn't over. I never said giving you things meant admitting defeat."
"I remember."
"Next time, I'll beat you just the same."
The girl gave a soft huff, pushed the door open, and walked out. Her long platinum hair swayed lightly with her steps and soon disappeared through the doorway.
Harry folded the new robe neatly, then glanced again at the money pouch beside it.
Finally, he picked up his wand again.
With something this good, he had to use it a few more times to do the young lady's generosity justice.
In the Slytherin Common Room, Goyle and Crabbe had barely sat down when they saw their young lady walk in.
Her steps were a little lighter than when she had left, and the corners of her mouth seemed slightly different too.
The two girls exchanged a glance. In the end, Goyle spoke first.
"Miss, did you give everything to Potter?"
"Mm." Malfoy sat down and smoothed the long hair over her shoulder. "They were only a few little things."
Goyle opened her mouth, then slowly closed it again.
Their young lady had written home specifically to have that book found.
The robe had to be new, the fabric had to be good, and before the gold coins went into the pouch, she had even complained that the first amount prepared was not enough.
Now, they had all become little things.
Crabbe lightly nudged her from beside her, and Goyle immediately swallowed her words.
Both of them knew very well by now that at times like this, it was best to agree with their young lady.
"Potter must have been very happy, right?"
Malfoy opened her own textbook, but the corners of her lips rose a little again.
"Him? He almost forgot how to speak."
Remembering Harry's dumbstruck expression when he opened the money pouch made the girl's mood grow even brighter.
But as her thoughts went further, another sentence surfaced in her ears.
Thanks, Draco.
Her page-turning hand paused for an instant, then immediately flipped the page over.
Hmph, as long as you know my things are good.
Goyle and Crabbe watched her. Neither mentioned the letter she had specially sent home again.
Their young lady really was in a very good mood today.
Before you continue