Just as Draco was secretly chuckling at Hermione's reddened ears, a hand suddenly and gently pressed on his shoulder.
Hermione was startled by the figure that suddenly approached her and turned to look.
Lavender and Parvati were holding Draco's shoulders, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief, though his heart was still pounding wildly.
Lavender winked. "Tsk tsk tsk, look what we've found—our Miss Granger, she was secretly kissing someone in the library..."
"You've heard about the Black Lake squid, right?" Hermione hurriedly interrupted her, speaking very quickly, trying to change the subject as soon as possible.
"Hmm?" Lavender drawled out the last syllable, clearly not buying it.
Hermione's cheeks were burning hot, and all the blood rushed to her face. If she stayed any longer, she would be so embarrassed that she wanted to disappear into the ground.
She quickly pushed the two away and made up an excuse. "Alright, the person involved is right here. If you want to question him, ask him. I'm going to borrow a book over there."
After saying that, she turned around almost as if fleeing and disappeared into the depths of the densely packed bookshelves.
Leaning against the cold wooden surface of the bookshelf, she dared to take a deep breath, pressing her hands to her burning cheeks, desperately trying to calm herself down.
Oh no... did they all see it?
This is terrible! How am I going to explain this to my best friend?
I was just trying to sneak around, how did I get caught red-handed...?
Her mind was in complete turmoil; she searched through all logic and reasoning, but couldn't find a single explanation she could articulate.
But as soon as Hermione dodged, all the firepower of the attack was instantly focused on Draco.
Lavender leaned forward, grinning gossipyly, and asked, " Draco, tell me honestly—what does it feel like to be secretly kissed on the cheek by a girl?"
Draco chuckled and shrugged, looking completely innocent. "It's just the angle; you're seeing things wrong."
"Tch—" Ron, Lavender, and Parvati all scoffed in unison; they didn't believe a word of it.
"If you don't believe me, go ask Hermione," Draco continued, shifting the blame.
Parvati rolled her eyes. "Ask Hermione? She'd be even less willing to tell you than you are; you two would just keep passing the buck."
"That's right, so many people saw it, you can't renege on your promise," Lavender chimed in.
Draco deliberately cleared his throat and played his trump card, saying, "Do you still want to know about the Giant Squid?"
One sentence had an effect; the few people who had been chattering just moments before immediately moved in unison, quickly pulling over chairs and sitting around to listen to the juicy gossip.
Ron couldn't hold back any longer. "Stop keeping me in suspense! How did you manage to get that... Octopus Brother to listen to you?"
"Looks like you've gathered quite a bit of information," Draco said with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
"Of course!" Lavender raised his chin smugly. "I almost fell for it again."
Count me in! Count me in!
As soon as she finished speaking, Hannah and Susan squeezed in, each carrying a book they hadn't finished reading.
Following closely behind were Cho Chang and several of her friends. Cho Chang waved with a smile, "I'm not late, am I?"
"Just right." Draco had barely finished speaking when two familiar, burly men burst in, panting heavily.
"Brother! You even managed to tame the Giant Squid from Black Lake! That's amazing!" Goyle exclaimed with admiration.
"I heard you succeeded with just one move!" Vincent added.
Fortunately, I had cast a spell on this area, otherwise these two loud voices would have definitely attracted the administrator.
Draco sighed and facepalmed. "Are rumors spreading this fast these days? At this rate, will Octopus Brother become my mount next?"
Susan couldn't help but laugh out loud, "It really is a trend. Anyway, you were quiet all day Thursday, but on Friday you caused a huge commotion throughout the whole school again."
"I didn't want this either," Draco said helplessly, shrugging. "I just wanted to have some quiet time with Hermione, but things have turned out like this."
Ron was getting impatient and banged on the table. "Alright, alright, stop talking! Just confess already, and we promise we won't disturb your date!"
At this moment, Hermione, holding a copy of " Hogwarts: Hogwarts, A History," walked out from behind the bookshelf, pretending to be calm and trying to maintain her usual composed demeanor.
But when she saw the crowd surrounding her, her cheeks still couldn't help but feel a little hot.
As soon as Lavender saw her return, he immediately smiled and leaned forward, getting straight to the point. "Well, Granger, have you thought of a reason to explain yourself?"
Hermione felt a pang of panic.
She had indeed prepared a speech behind the bookshelf, but she didn't expect the other party to preemptively strike, catching her off guard.
She braced herself, put on a serious face, and said:
"That was just an optical illusion; you were seeing things incorrectly."
"Pfft--" Draco couldn't help but burst out laughing on the spot.
The others around them burst into laughter.
Hermione was taken aback, and asked blankly, "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
Parvati laughed so hard he clutched his stomach, "You two are really in sync! You even came up with the exact same excuse! Not a single word different!"
Cho Chang, standing to the side, was completely bewildered and hadn't kept up at all. He quickly whispered, "What gossip is this? What did I miss?"
Lavender's eyes lit up immediately, and he prepared to start the story from the beginning, but Hermione abruptly interrupted him as soon as he opened his mouth.
Her face flushed crimson at a visible speed, leaving her no choice but to resort to her trump card: a threat.
" Miss Brown, if you continue, I will be very, very disappointed if any false rumors circulate at school tomorrow."
"Furthermore, I believe you'll need my help with your future assignments, papers, and exam preparation. You should know how difficult Hogwarts papers are to write."
A single sentence hits the nail on the head.
Lavender immediately raised his hands in surrender, waving them repeatedly. "I won't say anything more! Granger, I was wrong!"
The others couldn't bear to tease Hermione any longer, who was so shy she was practically fuming, so they all suppressed their laughter and adopted a serious listening posture.
Seeing that the time was right, Draco cleared his throat and said, "Alright, everyone who's supposed to be here is here. I'll get to the point all at once, so you don't have to take turns blocking my way."
Emock looked around and couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, quite a few people have arrived..."
Everyone subconsciously glanced around and saw that the library's originally quiet reading area was almost completely packed with people.
The students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw sat together, all their eyes fixed on this side.
Only the Slytherin students sat far away at the other end, pretending to read, but their ears were all perked up, secretly glancing this way.
Even Madam Pince was passing by, frowned as she held her account book, muttering to herself in confusion, "What's going on today...? Is the homework the professors assigned too difficult, and everyone's here in groups to look up information?"