After washing up, Hermione returned to her dorm room, her steps unsteady as she moved to the bedside, almost collapsing onto the soft mattress.
She pulled the thick quilt over herself, wrapping herself in a tight, airtight cocoon, as if that would shut out all the cold and unease from the outside world.
Only the even breathing of Parvati and Lavender remained in the dormitory.
The warm yellow moonlight streamed through the window, casting a hazy silver glow on the floor.
The surrounding silence should have been reassuring, but Hermione's heart pounded wildly, as if gripped by an invisible hand.
With her eyes closed, she tried to force herself to fall asleep, but her mind was uncontrollably filled with those unwanted memories of the night.
First, their fingers were forced together in the corridor; his palms were icy cold, yet held her hands tightly with an irresistible force.
The touch was unfamiliar and scorching, as if it bore some kind of eerie mark, burning her fingers until they went numb.
The scene then shifts to the common room, where she lunges at him to cover his mouth, but stumbles and falls forward uncontrollably.
Instead of the expected cold ground, I fell into a warm embrace with a faint fragrance.
His arms were strong and powerful; he wrapped his arms around her waist and caught her steadily.
The two were terrifyingly close; she could even feel the rise and fall of his chest, and his warm breath brushed against her ear.
That moment of weightlessness and closeness was like a thunderbolt, splitting her heart full of fear and anger, and exploding into a sudden panic.
"Bastard... Demon..."
Hermione buried her face in the pillow, biting the pillowcase tightly with her teeth, and a sobbing whisper escaped her throat.
Shame and indignation overwhelmed her like a scalding tide.
She hated her own disheveled state, hated herself for losing control in his arms.
She hated that moment of physical contact even more, for it stirred up a ripple in her heart that she herself despised.
It was clearly coercion, humiliation, and a carefully laid trap.
But those details of skin-to-skin contact, like vines that have taken root, entwined her nerves.
She felt both ashamed and annoyed, and her whole body felt hot.
She curled up, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself, as if trying to crush herself into this small space.
The moonlight outside the window gradually faded, and the night dew clung to the windowsill. The light and shadow in the dormitory grew fainter, but Hermione was still wide awake.
She stared with her eyes open at the dark patterns on the top of the bed curtains, letting those images replay in her mind again and again.
Whenever she thinks about it, her nerves tighten, and she doesn't even dare to breathe heavily.
I don't know how long I waited, but then a faint glimmer of dawn appeared on the horizon, and the sporadic chirping of birds drifted in from outside the window.
Finally, she succumbed to exhaustion and closed her eyes slightly.
But her consciousness remained suspended, and even her dreams were chaotic.
I was just half-asleep, and by the time it was fully light, faint dark circles had formed under my eyes.
As the morning light streamed through the castle's stained-glass windows, it cast dappled patterns of light onto the crimson carpet of the Gryffindor Common Room.
Draco got up early, put on his school robe, and tied his bow tie meticulously.
He seemed to be in good spirits, clearly the opposite of Hermione's experience last night.
He glanced at Neville and Seamus, who were still lazing in bed, tapped their bedposts with his finger, and called out in a penetrating voice:
"You're awake. Time to get ready, or you'll miss breakfast."
Harry, who was leaning against the window trying to concentrate, simply nodded upon hearing this and continued tidying up his wand.
Ron was woken up by his classmate in the next bed. He sat up groggily, and when he saw Draco's handsome but annoying face, he immediately frowned, snorted, and turned his head away.
Ignoring Ron's hostility, Draco called out to the others in the dorm, "I'm off!"
After saying that, he turned and went downstairs, walking straight to the largest armchair in the common lounge and sitting down, his gaze fixed on the rising sun outside the window.
On the other side, Hermione opened her eyes almost at the same time as Chenguang.
She squinted, feeling as if her eyelids were weighed down by lead, and her head was dizzy and throbbing.
The chaotic images from last night still linger on the edge of my consciousness, and they seem to surge forth as soon as I open my eyes.
She struggled to raise her hand and rub her eyes. The dark circles under her eyes were even more pronounced than the night before, and her face also had a sickly pallor.
In the dormitory Parvati and Lavender had already gotten up and were quietly discussing what they wanted for breakfast: toast and Pumpkin Juice.
Hermione gritted her teeth and sat up, feeling as if all the bones in her body were falling apart, and every movement was accompanied by a dull, heavy exhaustion.
She didn't dare to delay, quickly put on her school uniform, haphazardly ruffled her hair, and didn't even dare to look in the mirror for long.
She was afraid to see the lingering fear and panic in her own eyes.
She stopped abruptly as she reached the dormitory entrance.
Draco's words, "Wait for me to go to class tomorrow," exploded in my mind like a curse.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively gripped the hem of her clothes.
She practically fled downstairs, not even hearing Parvati call out to her if she wanted to go have breakfast together.
As soon as Hermione reached the bottom of the stairs leading to the common room, she abruptly stopped, frozen in place as if struck by lightning.
That upright figure on the sofa, who else could it be but Draco Malfoy?
The morning light outlined his profile as he sat there leisurely.
Hermione felt like dying.
Hermione instinctively shrank back, raised her hand to tuck her stray hair behind her ear, and quickly straightened the wrinkled hem of her school uniform.
She absolutely couldn't let him see her in this disheveled state, with dark circles under her eyes and a listless demeanor!
We must not let him find any more grounds to mock her!
Hermione bit her lower lip, slowed her pace, and like a little animal stealing food, shuffled along the wall, inching her way towards the door of the lounge.
Her toes landed so lightly they made almost no sound, and she deliberately kept her breathing shallow and slow.
Her gaze was fixed on Draco's retreating figure, her heart pounding in her chest, afraid that she might make the slightest noise and attract his attention.
As long as you step out of this door, as long as you reach the corridor, as long as you avoid him...
Hermione's hand had already touched the cold doorknob, her fingers turning slightly white from the pressure.
She held her breath, preparing to gently open the door...
" Miss Granger."
A voice, tinged with a half-smile, rang out clearly in the quiet lounge.
Draco didn't turn around; he continued gazing out the window.
But the voice seemed to have eyes, landing precisely in Hermione's ears and freezing her in place.
Hermione's hand froze on the doorknob, and a fine layer of cold sweat seeped out from her back.
She didn't even need to turn around to imagine the amused look on Draco's face.
Hermione slowly turned around, trying her best to straighten her back and tuck her stray hairs behind her ears, attempting to appear calm.
However, the dark circles under his eyes and his pale complexion could not escape Draco's sharp eyes.
"I..." Hermione opened her mouth, then instinctively gripped her backpack strap tighter.
"I just remembered I left something in my dorm and was planning to go back to get it."
Her tone carried a hint of haste and evasion.
Draco finally turned his head, his gaze falling on her tense face, a smile playing on his lips.
The smile didn't reach his eyes; it carried a hint of knowing mockery.
He stood up and slowly walked towards her, like a hunter tightening his encirclement around his prey step by step.
"Oh? You left something behind?"
"Did you forget the 'promise' we made last night, or did you forget to 'go have breakfast together'?"
Draco stopped a few steps away from her, his gaze sweeping over her slightly disheveled collar before settling back on her evasive eyes.
" Miss Granger, didn't we agree to have breakfast together and go to class together?"
"After all, I still need Miss Granger's 'protection,' don't I? I can't be left to face those hostile gazes alone, can I?"
Hermione's cheeks flushed instantly, a mixture of shame, anger, and resentment making her want to grind her teeth to powder.
She knew he was doing it on purpose, deliberately bringing up that absurd agreement, deliberately making it impossible for her to escape.
She looked up at him, her brown eyes filled with resentment and embarrassment, but she could only manage to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth. "... I understand."
Seeing this, Draco nodded in satisfaction and turned to gesture towards the door. "Let's go then. If we're any later, the cafeteria's sausages will be all gone."
He took the first step.
Hermione watched his retreating figure, trembling with anger, but could only grit her teeth and follow him resentfully.