Draco retraced his steps, took the elevator to the third floor, and walked slowly towards the Great Hall after exiting the Great Hall.
They had only walked a few feet when the surrounding air subtly changed.
Several slivers of gaze fell upon him like searchlights.
Immediately following was a chorus of pointing and whispering, mixed with barely suppressed excitement.
"Look, it's Malfoy!"
"He just came out of the Headmaster's Office!"
"I heard his father stormed into the school like a whirlwind this morning, I wonder what it was about..."
"Was he fired? Otherwise, why does he look so strange?"
"That can't be right. His father is School Governor; he can't be expelled so easily."
"Why does he look like he's been hit hard by Bludger? He doesn't look well."
Shh! Don't talk nonsense, he's looking this way!
The whispering young wizards, upon their eyes meeting Draco's across the distance, quickly averted their gazes like startled sparrows.
Some pretended to examine the tapestries on the wall, some casually gazed out the window at the Forbidden Forest, and others whispered to their companions.
But their peripheral vision remained fixed on Draco, never wavering.
Draco paid no attention to this and continued walking steadily.
Wherever he walked, the hushed conversations would eerily pause for half a second.
As soon as his figure passed by, the voice would rise again in a lower volume and at a faster pace, surging behind him like a tide.
Before long, the heavy doors of the Great Hall came into view.
Draco reached out and pushed open the door.
The moment you step inside, the previously noisy and bustling crowd vanishes as if under a powerful " Quietus " spell, leaving behind an eerie silence.
Only the soft clinking of cups and plates, and the subtle sounds of swallowing food, echoed in the vast space.
Hundreds of gazes, like physical searchlights, suddenly focused from the long tables of the four houses onto Draco.
In those gazes were astonishment, curiosity, Slytherin's disgust, bystander's sympathy, ambitious man's scheming, and even pure, amused amusement.
Draco remained unfazed, showing no concern whatsoever.
However, it seems that keeping a low profile is no longer an option for now.
A moment later, the deathly silence was broken, replaced by a buzzing sound that was lower in volume but ten times denser and more exciting than before.
Near the entrance of the Gryffindor table, several first-year students nearly spilled their Pumpkin Juice on themselves when they saw Draco approaching.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at him, as if they had seen Troll dancing ballet in the center of the Great Hall.
"He's really here!" a freshman exclaimed excitedly, tugging at his companion's sleeve.
" Merlin's beard! A Malfoy dares to linger around the Gryffindor table!"
" Fred and George are over there, look at their expressions!"
Draco ignored them, walking straight across the whispering table, his gaze sweeping around before finally settling on the empty seat not far from Hermione.
He stopped and spoke in a calm, almost abrupt, tone. "Is nobody here?"
Before he could finish speaking, and without waiting for Hermione or anyone around him to respond, he calmly sat down.
Draco then reached for the silver cutlery and began picking food from the empty plate in front of him, as if all the noise and sights around him were nothing more than insignificant dust.
In an instant, an even more utter silence than before enveloped the area around the Gryffindor table.
"Wow, are you serious?" George raised an eyebrow and exchanged an incredulous look with Fred beside him.
The two brothers briefly stopped joking, their eyebrows raised high, their faces full of amazement as they watched the spectacle unfold.
Lavender leaned close to Parvati's ear and whispered rapidly, his voice trembling slightly with excitement:
"He chose Hermione! He just sat down there! Completely ignoring everyone around him! That's so aggressive! So manly! Is he publicly declaring something?!"
Parvati, equally astonished, instinctively lowered her voice. "Do you think Draco did this intentionally to get Hermione's attention? Or was he trying to provoke Harry?"
Hermione, who was sitting in her seat, froze instantly, as if she had been Petrificus Totalus. Even the hand holding the knife and fork paused slightly.
She took a deep breath, turned her head, looked at Draco beside her, and said with a hint of restrained displeasure:
"First of all, this is extremely impolite behavior, occupying someone else's social space without explicit permission."
Hermione frowned as she spoke, her gaze gradually sharpening.
"Secondly, Mr. Malfoy, your choice of seat has already caused a huge uproar and attracted countless criticisms."
"I think you need to explain the logic behind your actions."
"Did you choose to sit here with a specific purpose, or simply because it's the closest empty seat to you?"
Draco put down his cutlery, looked up at Hermione, and said quite frankly, "There are no empty seats around, and besides, I'm Gryffindor too. Is it wrong for me to be friends with you?"
In fact, there were still plenty of empty seats around the long table; his words were just a pretext he made up on the spot.
"First of all," Hermione countered logically, "The long tables in the Great Hall are used on a rotating basis; there is no such thing as 'no seats available'."
"You can choose to sit in any area that still has space, or wait for others to finish their meal and leave."
"But your choice to sit here was an active one, not a passive consequence."
As she spoke, her gaze pierced Draco's eyes. "Secondly, becoming Gryffindor only means that we are obligated not to attack each other because of our house affiliation, but to fight side by side in Quidditch Match and house activities."
"But this does not automatically create an obligation of personal friendship, nor does it mean that you can ignore basic social etiquette and personal boundaries."
Hermione took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling slightly, clearly indicating that she was not at peace.
"As for 'making friends,' Mr. Malfoy, friendship is based on mutual understanding, trust, and shared values. It can never be easily achieved through a one-sided declaration."
As she spoke, she slightly distanced herself from Draco, a subtle movement that was undoubtedly a clear signal of defense and rejection.
"Given your actions to date, including but not limited to sitting down uninvited, and making such a request at a time that is clearly likely to arouse public outrage and vigilance."
"I think this is more of a social probe, or some kind of strategic behavior, than a genuine invitation to friendship."
Hermione concluded, "If you really want to change how people perceive you, Mr. Malfoy, what you need is consistent, repetitive behavior that conforms to basic social norms, not... what you are now."
As soon as Hermione finished speaking, Ron next to her sprang up from his seat with such force that he almost overturned the bench beneath him.
His eyes widened in fury, he pointed at Draco's nose, and roared at the top of his lungs, "You! Did you hear what Hermione said?! Get out of here! Stay away from us!"
Draco slowly raised his eyes, looking at the furious Ron, a faint smile playing on his lips, " Ron, you've been so aggressively targeting me from beginning to end. When it comes to being aggressive, aren't you the one acting more like a villain?"