Draco had barely uttered those casual words when Hermione beside him abruptly turned her head.
A pair of brown eyes stared wide-eyed at him, looking at him as if he were a complete madman.
"You... you're kidding me?!" Even Peeves was stunned by this earth-shattering remark.
"You're lying!" He quickly realized and screamed again.
"You ran faster than Niffler under a treasure-hunting spell! You're scared! You and your Muggle girlfriend are terrified!"
Peeves desperately tried to regain the initiative he had just taken.
Draco's lips curled into a mocking smile as he said, "Do I look scared to you?"
Hermione's eyes widened even more, and her gaze toward Draco practically screamed, "He's completely insane."
"I'll make you regret being born!" Peeves completely lost his patience for teasing, and even his "cat and mouse" playful attitude vanished.
"I'll show you what real fear is! I'll teach you the consequences of offending Peeves Demon!"
It lunged at Draco with its claws outstretched, its red and green hair standing on end, making it look like a wildcat that had been provoked.
Draco, however, remained standing still, without even raising his wand to make the slightest defensive gesture.
He simply raised one hand slowly, palm facing forward, and made a simple and clear "stop" gesture to Peeves.
"Etc."
A calm voice rang out, light and airy, yet it seemed to carry some strange power.
Peeves suddenly braked.
Hermione was completely dumbfounded.
She watched helplessly as the Peeves abruptly ceased, the entire ghost frozen in mid-air.
Peeves was only inches away from Draco, and the two faced off in a scene so eerie it sent chills down one's spine.
A moment later, Peeves finally came to his senses.
With its head drooping and arms crossed, it said in a mocking tone, "What? Now you want to beg for mercy? Isn't it too late?"
"I'm not begging for mercy." Draco's voice remained calm and unwavering.
He looked at Peeves, a hint of mockery in his eyes, "I just want to remind you, do you know who I am?"
The moment the question left her lips, the extreme shock and bewilderment in Hermione's eyes vanished instantly.
It turned into a strong sense of disgust after a sudden realization.
She understood.
She understood everything.
It turns out that all of Draco's maneuvering and quick wit from beginning to end were just preparations for this moment.
He wasn't fighting the Peeves with any courage or quick thinking.
From the very beginning, he planned to reveal his surname and family background as a final deterrent.
This realization was like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the faint, strange emotion that had arisen in Hermione's heart because of Draco's act of protecting her.
"So what?!" Peeves stuck out his neck, trying to regain his previous momentum, but the confidence in his voice was clearly lacking.
" Peeves fears nothing! Dumbledore can't do anything to me!"
"Stop bragging," Draco scoffed.
He said dismissively, "Then do you dare to play a trick on Dumbledore?"
"I... I..." Peeves was speechless after being choked by these words, stammering for a long time.
He wanted to argue, to say "Of course I dare," but the words just wouldn't come out.
The name of Dumbledore was like an invisible mountain, weighing him down and making it hard for him to breathe.
That hollow threat seemed so pale and laughable in the face of the prestige of the Hogwarts Headmaster.
After a long standoff, Peeves managed to stammer out a clumsy explanation, "That's because he's the headmaster of Hogwarts, and I respect him!"
"You're kidding me." Draco mercilessly exposed his lie.
"Respect him? You're just afraid he'll shove you into some filthy old toilet and you'll never get out again."
After making a sarcastic remark, Draco stared sharply at Peeves: "I don't care if you're afraid of him or not, I just want to ask you, do you know who my father is?"
Lucius Malfoy!
Peeves practically blurted out the name in a shrill voice.
There was an inescapable fear in that voice.
Of course he knew.
That blond, cold-faced man, the man with immense power and influence in the Wizarding World, the man even the Ministry of Magic had to treat with respect.
Lucius Malfoy's reputation terrified Peeves far more than the name Draco.
"What... what else can you do besides using your father to scare people?!"
Peeves's voice grew increasingly guilty, but he remained defiant, trying to salvage his last shred of dignity.
Hermione looked at Draco's appearance and couldn't help but shake her head slightly, her contempt growing even stronger.
The little bit of goodwill I had built up from the greenhouse trip had vanished, leaving only utter disappointment.
It turns out that the Malfoy family, in the end, couldn't shake off their nature of bullying others by relying on their power.
As the two confronted each other, more and more students gathered around to watch.
At the corner of the corridor, a crowd of people gathered, their voices rising and falling.
Most people looked at Draco with undisguised disgust.
"It's the same old trick again... relying on their family's power to act arrogantly and domineeringly."
A Hufflepuff girl whispered, her tone full of disdain.
"Besides relying on his father, what else can he do? He's a disgrace."
Another Ravenclaw boy chimed in.
"While Peeves is annoying, Malfoy looking like this is just too ugly..."
"Exactly, exactly, what kind of skill is that?"
A few students, however, displayed completely different expressions.
" Malfoy is amazing! Even Peeves is afraid of his dad."
"A young Slytherin wizard said with eyes full of admiration."
"I also want to have a powerful dad... If my dad were this strong, Peeves wouldn't dare bully me." The little wizard next to him nodded enviously.
These whispers reached Peeves's ears clearly.
He was already feeling incredibly frustrated because Draco brought up Lucius Malfoy.
Hearing these words now, he was so angry that he trembled all over, and his reason was completely consumed by rage.
"Aaaaaaahh...
A deafening scream suddenly echoed throughout the entire corridor.
Peeves ' body swelled to its limit due to anger, and his red and green hair danced wildly, looking like a burning flame.
"Who said Lord Peeves is afraid?!" he roared shrilly, his fierce gaze sweeping over the crowd of onlookers. "Who said that?! Lord Peeves, step forward!!"
His voice was full of violence, which frightened the students watching, who all backed away with expressions of terror on their faces.
The corridor, which had been buzzing with discussion just moments before, fell silent instantly, leaving only the heavy breathing of the Peeves.
The students, who were whispering and commenting on Draco's "nepotism" just a second ago, froze in an instant.
His face was now filled with nothing but terror.
But then, the crowd parted automatically to make way for two figures who slowly emerged.
He had messy black hair, wore round-framed glasses, and had a youthful air about him.
Another one had messy red hair, a face full of freckles, and eyes that seemed to enjoy watching the drama unfold.
It was Ron and Harry.
When Peeves saw the two of them, he was taken aback at first, then burst into an even more arrogant burst of laughter:
"Oh--! Look who's here?! The Chosen One Boy and his red-haired henchman!"
It hovered in mid-air, leaping and bounding, its tone full of mockery:
"What? You think you're so great? Want to be a hero? Want to save these useless little bugs who only know how to talk behind people's backs?"
Peeves finally found an outlet for his frustrations.
Ron quickly waved his hand, a sly smile appearing on his face.
He shouted at the Peeves, "No, no, no, we didn't come out to oppose you. We just want to tell you the truth."
Peeves ' laughter stopped abruptly. He looked at Ron and Harry suspiciously, his eyes full of wariness. "The truth? What truth? What tricks are you trying to pull?!"