Draco opened his eyes and asked in return:
"Honey, is sitting for a while considered being lazy?"
"You can't stand it for long?"
"It's not that I can't, but I need to protect my back. You know, your back is the key to a happy sex life."
Draco had mentioned this several times, Hermione immediately understood, blushing as she said, "Can you please stop saying such inappropriate things?"
"To be honest," Draco laughed.
"Alright, alright, fine, I'll slack off then." Hermione was too lazy to argue with him. "What about the pages? Where did you look?"
The pages of the book were nowhere to be found on the stone. Hermione confronted her, "Didn't you say you wouldn't let it run away?"
Draco pointed to his head. "Look, here."
Hermione had actually noticed the frog on Draco's head a while ago, but she hadn't connected it to the book page.
"These are book pages?"
Hermione gave her a look that said, "You're not lying to me."
"Yes, it's bouncing around on my head."
"Don't move!" Hermione suddenly had an idea and said immediately.
Draco remained perfectly still.
Hermione slammed her hands down on the paper frog.
But the frog reacted incredibly fast. Just a second before Hermione could close her hands, it leaped away, then quickly stretched out its wings in mid-air, transforming into a paper bird that fluttered away.
Hermione gently patted Draco's head.
Draco accused him, "You're looking for revenge."
Hermione withdrew her hand, denying it without changing her expression:
"I didn't."
Without a word, Draco reached out and grabbed her waist. With a slight pull, Hermione lost her balance, cried out, and fell into his arms. "What are you trying to do!"
Draco grinned mischievously and looked directly into her eyes:
"I'll get my revenge too."
Hermione's cheeks flushed, and she hurriedly struggled to say, "Stop it, we're in the middle of nowhere, someone might pass by."
Draco pulled her closer. "It's the middle of nowhere, the students are all on holiday, how could anyone be passing by?"
Hermione's face was flushed red, and she could only use the book pages as a shield. "Stop fooling around, grab the pages, or it'll fly away!"
Draco turned his head, glanced at the paper bird on the branch, and asked, "Does it look like it's going to fly away?"
The little bird tilted its head and stared at the two of them.
Draco turned his head and saw Hermione cautiously trying to slip out of Draco arms. He pulled her closer and teased, "Honey, don't rush, it won't run away. If we follow it, we'll surely get to Brakebills School of Magic."
As soon as Draco finished speaking, the bird flapped its wings at them, seemingly signaling them to follow, before flying away on its own.
Hermione seized the opportunity to break free from his embrace, pointed at the bird, and said, "You said it wouldn't fly away, and it's gone now! Go after it!"
Draco remained unhurried, picking up the broom beside him and saying, "No, you can see it's waiting for us not far away."
Even so, Draco still hopped on the broom and patted the spot in front of him. "Wife, get on the broom."
Hermione went first, Draco sat behind her, naturally putting his arm around her waist. "Let's go, honey."
"You're too lazy to even fly."
As Hermione spoke, she grabbed the broom handle, propelling the broom into the air, and chased after the paper bird against the mountain wind.
Draco leaned close behind her, chuckling, "With a wife to hold, who wants to grip that cold, hard stick?"
But the broom got upset and wobbled from side to side.
That's all; it's like expressing dissatisfaction.
"Look at you, you're even unhappy with your own broom."
Hermione chuckled.
Draco quickly changed his tune and said evasively:
"It's a rod that's heated, okay?"
Although it was a perfunctory response, the broom seemed to understand.
In a good mood, I lifted the club and seemed to move faster, quickly closing the distance to the paper bird.
The paper bird glanced back calmly before continuing to Depulso forward, confident that Draco and his companions couldn't catch up.
And indeed, no matter how fast the broom went, it always maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far from the paper bird.
Then, the paper bird began to flit about in the woods.
Hermione steered her broom close behind, dodging the overhanging trees and branches, sometimes sidestepping a thick tree trunk, sometimes lowering the broom to brush past low bushes, and sometimes yanking it up to avoid an oncoming branch.
The withered leaves were swept up and scattered by the wind stirred up by the broom.
Branches whistled past my ears.
Hermione noticed it too, and while wielding her broom, she said to Draco, "It seems to be deliberately trying to prevent us from catching up."
"No, I suspect Brakebills arranged this test for us because he sees us as special."
Hermione thought about it and agreed.
If we really wanted to shake them off, we should have sped up and flown far away long ago.
So she focused even more intently on following the paper bird's flight.
As we flew, the sounds of the wind and insects gradually faded into the distance.
The world around us slowly grew quiet.
The woods grew increasingly dense and the sky grew ever darker.
Hermione felt a chill run down her spine and asked in a low voice:
" Draco, where are we being taken?"
This wasn't the first time she'd experienced something like this.
But this place is different from the area around Hogwarts.
Hogwarts was a familiar place, and every blade of grass and tree gave him a sense of security. But this place was far from Ilvermorny School, and all around him was a strange, dark, and seemingly endless dense forest.
Fortunately, Draco had his arms around her.
Draco tightened his grip, reassuring her, "Don't be afraid, wife. Your husband's here. Besides, if anything happens, we can teleport away instantly."
Draco's tightening arms and gentle yet reassuring words acted like a shot of adrenaline, putting Hermione at ease.
It was already dark when Draco drew his wand to light a torch, only to be surprised to find that the paper bird was emitting a soft, faint white light, becoming the only landmark in their path.
The bird flew even higher, reaching the treetops and then above the treetops. The two of them followed, flying into the open sky. With their view wide open, they were no longer so afraid.
Draco joked, "See? I knew you'd be scared, so I held you beforehand."
"Bullshit, you just like it this way..." Hermione relaxed, "Like a lecherous old man who's never been with a girl before."
"Isn't this good?" Draco retorted.
Hermione was speechless.
It's not good to say it's good, and it's not good to say it's bad.
Just then, the paper bird flew toward a white barrier that shimmered with a hazy glow, and disappeared after passing through it.
Hermione, not daring to act rashly, grabbed the broom, hovering in mid-air, and turned to Draco for his opinion. "Should we follow? That light seems to be a barrier that allows us to travel through space..."