"Ugh—another slanderous accusation," Draco feigned grievance.
"I'm usually low-key in front of everyone, but I only show a different side to my Miss Granger. Otherwise, how could I make her fall head over heels in love with me?"
Hermione's cheeks flushed slightly, and she muttered something under her breath:
"Who's so madly in love...?"
Then, suppressing her shyness, she got back to business and asked curiously, "How did you manage to contact them from scratch?"
Draco patted his pocket and said:
"Wife, you've forgotten again, I have a magic bag."
Hermione understood now, and instead of asking further, she inquired, "Since you have a way, why did you go to the Restricted Section?"
Draco's gaze suddenly softened as he looked at her and said, "Of course, it's about accumulating a library fortune! Then Miss Granger will own all the books in the world, more than she could ever read in her lifetime... What do you think? Who says Young Master Malfoy doesn't understand romance?"
Hermione was touched by the sentiment, but Draco's flippant tone diminished her feeling of being moved.
"His sweet talk is certainly pleasing to the ear."
"Honey, you're really easily moved..."
Hermione didn't respond and changed the subject, saying:
"You'd better pray they invite you soon, otherwise I'll just think of you as a big talker."
Draco patted his chest confidently:
"Wife, just you wait and see."
"Who knows when we'll get to go?" Hermione pouted.
Just after she finished speaking, a page suddenly broke free from the spine of the book and detached itself from the page. There was no wind blowing in the mountains, yet the paper suddenly fluttered in the air and drifted forward. Hermione panicked and hurriedly reached for it, but the page deftly slipped from her fingers.
She had no choice but to hurry after him.
He whispered, "Don't run!"
Draco followed behind, drew his wand, and used Scouring Charm to clear away the pebbles and twigs under Hermione's feet to prevent her from slipping and falling.
Hermione ran very fast, but the pages of the book were like a butterfly, flitting left and right, sometimes high and sometimes low, sometimes swirling past her fingertips, sometimes circling above her head, always managing to slip away from her grasp, which was incredibly annoying.
Hermione drew her wand as she ran and shouted at the pages of the book:
" Accio!"
But the pages wouldn't listen to her and continued to float forward on their own. Hermione used the Levitation Charm again, trying to stop the pages from moving, but they only paused briefly before Depulso again.
It flew and stopped intermittently; when Hermione got tired, it would hang on a patch of grass; when Hermione took a breath, it would perch on a tree branch; and when Hermione got close, it would nimbly spring away.
Hermione was truly exhausted from flying the kite; she stood with her hands on her hips, panting. The pages of the book had fallen onto a rock in front of her, and she sat there upright.
Hermione turned around and saw Draco leisurely following behind. She was furious. "Aren't you going to help?!"
Draco stepped forward and handed Hermione a bottle of water, which she snatched, took two small sips, and glared at him. "Don't think I'll let you off the hook just because of this. You clearly had a chance to help just now."
Draco laughed, "We can't catch up with these pages."
After drinking some water, Hermione calmed down a bit. "You mean, this page was enchanted beforehand?"
Draco nodded and said, "Speak of the devil, and he appears."
"You mean to say that the pages of this book might have been enchanted by the admissions officer at Brakebills School?"
"You're right." Draco took the water and drank a sip.
Hermione glared at him. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Draco said innocently, "These pages are meant to guide us, so it seems like it doesn't matter whether they're mentioned or not, right?"
"Same as you!!" Hermione really wanted to punch him. "You should have told me earlier so I could have walked slower and wouldn't have had to chase after you so tirelessly."
"Isn't it fun?" Draco said with a grin.
Hermione took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down so she could hit someone. "I've found that my IQ has plummeted since I started dating you."
"How could that be? You understand right away, don't you?"
"I don't care." Hermione turned her face away.
"Alright, whatever you say goes."
Hermione suddenly realized and turned around. "I didn't mean my IQ has dropped, I meant it's all your fault!"
Draco found it hard not to laugh at Miss Granger's contradictory statements.
Hermione's cheeks flushed, and she said urgently, "You're still laughing!"
"I laughed because Miss Granger is so adorable."
"I'll deal with you when we get back." Hermione quickly turned to look ahead and asked, "Right now, shall we just follow these pages?"
She looked back again; Ilvermorny Castle was getting farther and farther away, and only the tip of the tower could be seen through the trees.
"If we want to get to Brakebills, we'll probably have to follow it. But we should let Trillian and Selene know first, just in case they worry," Draco said.
"Then you wait here, I'll go back for a bit."
Draco a thumbs-up. "Don't worry, honey, I promise I won't let it get away."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, then teleported back to the villa, leaving Draco alone there, a gentle smile on her lips.
Draco, preferring to sit rather than stand, found a stone, just like the page in the book, and used Transfiguration to transform it into a stone bench. He took out a broom, placed it next to the bench, and sat down, resting his elbows on the armrests, staring wide-eyed at the page.
The pages seemed to come alive; seeing Draco's abilities, they stood up and curiously examined him.
"What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen such a handsome man before?"
Draco, bored, said something that immediately caused the page to fall flat on the stone, as if it had been choked by the words.
Seeing that Draco had no intention of taking it anymore, the page suddenly became defiant, with one corner curling up slightly and beckoning to Draco, looking arrogantly as if to say, "Come and get me!"
Draco chuckled and said, "Don't worry, we'll go with you. I'm just waiting for my wife to come back."
Whether it couldn't understand human speech or simply loved to play, it floated into the air, folded into a small paper airplane, and flew straight over, hovering above Draco's head.
Draco waved his hand, trying to shoo the paper airplane away.
"Stop spinning, it's making me dizzy."
The paper airplane ignored him and continued to circle around him, even deliberately flying past his nose with a hint of provocation.
Draco was genuinely curious to see if he could catch it.
Seize the opportunity, reach out and grab it.
The paper airplane came to an abrupt stop, and he missed.
He then reached out with his other hand to grab it.
The paper airplane slipped away again, as nimble as an eel.
Draco withdrew his hand, deciding not to waste his time.
I thought to myself that it must have been cursed with a spell to prevent being scratched.
The paper airplane started circling around him again, but Draco, not wanting to be bothered, simply closed his eyes and let it fly.
Seeing that he closed his eyes, the paper airplane changed its attack.
The paper airplane transformed into a frog and landed on Draco's head. It hopped back and forth, but after a dozen or so jumps, seeing that Draco wasn't paying any attention to it, it got bored and stopped hopping, settling obediently on Draco's head.
Just then, Hermione Apparition back.
Seeing Draco comfortably sitting on the stone bench with his eyes closed, he feigned displeasure and said, " Draco, you're slacking off again."