"Sorry? Sorry for which 'joke' you said? Or for your whole... inexplicable night?"
Hermione didn't take the wicker basket; instead, she gripped the hem of her wizard's robes tightly with both hands.
Her gaze was fixed sharply on Draco, but she could see nothing but an unfathomable calm.
Draco had anticipated Hermione's doubts and defensiveness.
He said, "I'm sorry for causing you trouble."
"In Charms, in History of Magic class... some of my words and actions may have crossed necessary boundaries, causing your displeasure and... distress."
Hermione's heart skipped a beat. The calmer and more polite he was, the more uneasy she felt.
This was completely different from the Draco Malfoy she knew.
"Just 'possibly'?"
Hermione couldn't help but ask back, her tone tinged with grievance, and her eyes welling up with tears.
"Just 'bothering'? Malfoy, you think you can make me cry and then act like... like..."
She was speechless, racking her brains but unable to find the right words to describe his behavior at that moment.
Is he a hypocritical gentleman? Or a condescending benefactor?
"... and then, like nothing happened, they come running over with a basket to apologize, and that's it?"
Her voice rose unconsciously, and a thin layer of moisture welled up in her red and swollen eyes again, but this time it wasn't from sadness, but from anger.
She hated Draco's all-powerful manner, hated how he acted as if he were doing something perfectly right.
Moaning Myrtle floated around in the washroom, her transparent figure swaying by the door frame, curiously observing the two people outside.
She kept muttering to herself, "Oh, they had a fight? Waaah... Boys are always like this, they make girls cry and then come running to apologize with gifts... But this boy seems alright, at least he brought some hot soup, unlike those idiots before who just yelled at the door..."
Her ghostly logic has always been incomprehensible to anyone, but her incessant sobbing undoubtedly added an eerie awkwardness to the already tense atmosphere.
Draco frowned, not because of Hermione's questioning, nor because of Moaning Myrtle's chatter, but because of the tears welling up in her eyes again.
He neither admitted nor denied it.
He simply watched Hermione quietly.
Looking at her face, which appeared exceptionally fragile yet incredibly stubborn in the dim light of the corridor.
Looking at her slightly trembling lips and those brown eyes filled with moisture.
A silent silence spread between the two.
At this moment, only the dripping sound of the faucet and the faint sobbing of Moaning Myrtle intertwined and echoed in the silent air.
Then, Draco did something that Hermione didn't expect at all.
He took a small step forward.
It was just a tiny step, yet it instantly closed the distance between the two.
The safety boundary at the entrance has been reduced to less than an arm's length.
Hermione tensed up almost instantly, like a startled kitten, her shoulders hunched slightly and her eyes wary.
She was ready to retreat at any moment, or raise her spikes in retaliation.
But he didn't move any closer; instead, he pushed the wicker basket forward a little more, the edge of the wicker almost touching the hem of her wizard's robe.
"I didn't ask for it to be wiped clean, Miss Granger," Draco said softly. "And I can't define what your feelings are. I just... saw the outcome and felt I should apologize for it."
"You're right, Miss Granger."
Hermione's eyes widened slightly at this sudden agreement, her wariness deepening and her doubts growing stronger.
Draco continued, "The phrase 'wipe it all off' is too hasty and arrogant. Emotions and feelings are not simple transactions; they cannot be easily erased with a flimsy apology."
Hermione instinctively took a half-inch back, pressing her back more firmly against the cold doorframe, her heart pounding.
She had absolutely no idea what he was going to say next, let alone what his actions tonight were all about.
Draco's gaze swept over her slightly clenched fingers, and he said:
"Therefore, I'm not seeking to 'write it off'. That wouldn't be fair to you, and... it's too cheap."
"How about this," Draco suggested.
"As compensation for the unpleasantness you experienced tonight, and as a concrete manifestation of my apology... I can grant you one request."
"A request, within my basic principles and stance, and within my capabilities."
Draco added some conditions, but they were really unnecessary; Hermione wouldn't ask herself to kill or commit arson.
This was more unexpected and more meaningful than a simple apology, or even a basket of warm food.
Hermione was completely stunned.
A request?
Draco Malfoy promised to grant her one request? As compensation?
This is even more absurd than the Hogwarts staircase suddenly starting to spout tongue twisters!
What requests could he grant her?