Draco frowned, glanced at the increasingly noisy surroundings, and interrupted the group:
"Alright, stop chatting. It's too noisy and uncomfortable here. We'll talk about the male and female leads another time."
Cho Chang had only been sitting down for a short while when he heard this and couldn't help but laugh, "You're already leaving before you've even had a chance to warm up? Looks like I'll have to come earlier next time to grab a seat."
Draco glanced at her helplessly. "No way, it's already crowded here, it'll be even more uncomfortable with more people."
Cho Chang sighed, feigning hurt, "Alas, I've been rejected."
Emock immediately chimed in, "That's right! Our Qiuqiu finally mustered up the courage to come find you, and you just want to run away like that? How heartless!"
The car drove so suddenly that Cho Chang's face instantly turned bright red. She reached out and gently patted Emock's arm, whispering reproachfully, "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Draco froze on the spot, blinking blankly, unable to keep up with the car's pace for a while. "What? When did I become heartless?"
Susan, standing nearby, couldn't help but cover her mouth and burst out laughing, adding incisively, "The point isn't 'ruthless,' the point is clearly pulling out... you know!"
Draco's lips twitched; he was utterly speechless at this absurd statement, and uttered a single word dryly:
"Six."
Hannah, standing nearby, immediately saw through the truth, smiling as she looked at Hermione: "Actually, Draco was just afraid of upsetting Hermione, that's why he wanted to leave quickly."
Hermione's cheeks flushed slightly, and she immediately retorted, "I'm not that petty..."
Lavender immediately seized the opportunity to egg him on, slamming his fist on the table and shouting, "That's right! Hermione said so, Draco, you can't be so heartless!"
Draco bluntly exposed her. "Come on, you just love making things worse."
Ron chimed in, " Draco, Harry's going to be upset by this!"
Harry was stunned for a moment, standing there blankly, completely unable to react.
How did things suddenly turn around and get back at me?
Draco watched the crowd jeering and sighed in exasperation, finally relenting, "Fine, fine, a lot of people is fine, a little excitement is good too."
Cho Chang couldn't help but laugh, and the atmosphere immediately lightened up again.
Ron, however, wasn't done causing trouble yet. He forcefully turned Harry's head towards Cho Chang's direction.
Harry's face instantly turned bright red, and he struggled frantically, muttering under his breath, "Stop it."
Cho Chang was taken aback by this sudden action and was momentarily stunned, unsure of how to react.
Everyone who saw this couldn't help but laugh out loud, and after a few playful banter...
Not wanting to stay in the increasingly noisy Great Hall any longer, they greeted each other and got up to leave the hall together.
On the way out of the Great Hall, Ron, Lavender, Parvati, and a few Quidditch fanatics were still chattering away.
They talked non-stop, from Nimbus 2000 to Seeker techniques, and then to Gryffindor's hopes of winning the championship this year.
Draco was preoccupied with his confinement; he had to go clean the Trophy Room.
Although it was cleaned up completely yesterday, the lockdown requires us to do it all over again every day.
The two groups parted ways at the fork in the corridor, and the noise gradually faded away, leaving only Hermione and Draco walking side by side in the quiet stone corridor.
Draco breathed a sigh of relief, "It's been so noisy every day, at least I can finally spend some time alone with my wife."
Hermione's ears burned slightly, she rolled her eyes at him, and didn't slow her pace at all:
"Here we go again. I'm not going to argue with you. Hurry up, we need to get this done quickly, we have Astronomy tonight."
Draco quickly caught up, unable to resist complaining, "Why is it so busy? Before coming here, I clearly heard that Hogwarts had very few classes and was quite relaxed!"
"It's better to be busy than to have nothing to do," Hermione said, walking away without looking back. "Otherwise, you'll start spouting nonsense again."
Draco retorted confidently, "This is called fostering relationships, what do you mean by talking nonsense?"
"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense and hurry up."
Hermione quickened her pace and walked ahead, Draco smiled and hurried to catch up.
The two walked through the corridor one after the other and soon arrived at the entrance of the Trophy Room. As they looked up, they bumped into Filch, who was guarding the door.
Filch was unusually docile today, even somewhat cautious.
He had already heard about how Draco easily summoned Peeves to punish the foul-mouthed student during Dark Magic Defence Class today.
Even the Peeves was obedient to him, so how could he dare to make things difficult and cause trouble like before?
Draco glanced at him, already giving him a nickname. " Little Filch, wouldn't it have been better if you'd behaved yourself earlier? Always nagging and causing trouble, aren't you tired?"
Filch opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word of rebuttal for a long time. He could only droop his face and give a muffled hum in agreement.
After the two entered the showroom, Filch, with a stern face, added in a sinister tone:
"Don't get cocky. Professor McGonagall instructed you to go to her office immediately after you finish cleaning."
Draco paused, then turned to him and asked, "What's wrong? There's no Professor McGonagall class today, and I haven't gotten into any new trouble, have I?"
Filch scoffed, arms crossed, and said smugly, "How would I know? Anyway, she specifically told me to deliver the message."
"You got to show off because the professors found out about you bossing Peeves around in class," Hermione whispered.
Draco was somewhat speechless. "Wasn't this all over a long time ago...? I didn't really cause any trouble, I just enforced discipline."
"Why is Professor McGonagall specifically targeting me? I was just trying to maintain order in the classroom..."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, her tone firm yet slightly stern. "Only Professor McGonagall can handle you."
"Well, what about you? I asked for your opinion before I started intervening," Draco said.
Hermione's cheeks flushed, and she hurriedly explained, "That's not what I meant at all!"
Draco immediately put on a pitiful look and stared at her expectantly.
Hermione's heart softened immediately. She sighed helplessly and compromised, "Alright, alright, stop pretending. Hurry up and clean up. I'll put in a good word for you when we see the professor later, okay?"
"Thank you, honey." Draco immediately lit up with a smile.
Hermione's cheeks were still slightly flushed. She didn't say anything more, but turned around and quickly walked to the corner of the wall, silently bringing Draco the rags, buckets, and small brushes for the Dusting Charm that he needed for solitary confinement.
Draco quickly wiped the Trophy Room spotless.
Filch could perhaps not find any fault with the guy, or perhaps he was afraid of him, so he could only wave them away with a sullen face.
After tidying up the tools, Hermione accompanied Draco as they walked towards Professor McGonagall's office. The two chatted, showing no signs of nervousness about seeing the professor.
Draco reached Professor McGonagall's office and knocked three times on the wooden door, neither too hard nor too soft.
Professor McGonagall's calm and clear voice soon came from inside the door. "Come in."