The first method he had mentioned came with far too many practical problems.
Just figuring out how to convince the Granger couple, and explain clearly just how dangerous a wizard like the Dark Lord was, would already be no easy task.
At the same time, there was also the question of how frightened they would be once they learned that Hermione had become involved in something like this.
Not to mention that whether the Dark Lord could be defeated anytime soon was a huge unknown.
So asking the Granger couple to give up their muggle life, or accept long term protection from wizards, or even agree to let Hermione take part in something this dangerous. None of those things were realistically likely...
And that was exactly why Draco had never brought it up to Hermione before.
...
As for the second method.
Draco looked deeply at Hermione beside him, her face full of expectation and tension. Even though he knew what she was thinking, in the end he only parted his lips and said nothing.
After spending so much time with her, Draco understood Hermione's personality very well by now...
She might not have a powerful background, but she had a stronger will and a firmer heart than almost anyone else.
Once she believed that something was right, and that it was something she wanted to accomplish, this proud little witch would throw herself into it wholeheartedly and would never give up easily just because things were difficult.
So asking Hermione to completely cut all ties with Draco and the others?
Setting aside whether it could even be done, Draco already knew what Hermione's answer would be without needing to say it out loud.
Most likely, this proud little thing in front of him would explode on the spot...
"Why aren't you saying anything? Since you didn't deny it right away, you must already have thought of some method, unless... that method is very hard to carry out?"
"...."
Just as Draco understood Hermione, she understood him just as well.
He had only hesitated for a few seconds, yet Hermione had seen right through him at once and guessed the truth almost exactly.
At that, Draco chose to put it another way and gave a helpless shrug.
"First of all, do you want your parents to know about the Dark Lord? Or rather, are you willing to tell them just how dangerous the wizarding world is right now?"
"I... I don't want them to worry." Hermione bit her lip and shook her head.
Someone as clever as Hermione could never have failed to think about these things. After all, the possibility that the Dark Lord might return was not some newly discovered secret.
But while that was indeed part of the reason, the real reason was something Hermione had not said out loud.
Because it was not just that the Granger couple would worry.
Once she told them the truth, what would follow would be the helplessness of knowing they could not solve this for their daughter, along with the guilty urge to ask Hermione to leave the wizarding world altogether.
The moment Hermione looked at it from her parents' perspective, she immediately thought of all of that.
More importantly, could she really still leave the wizarding world now?
Leave Hogwarts and Gryffindor, where she had spent five whole years?
And never again laugh and chat with the friends she had worked so hard to make, like Pansy and the others?
At that thought, Hermione's little face turned faintly pale. Perhaps all this time, she had been subconsciously avoiding these questions.
Erasing memories was not difficult for a wizard.
But if it came to that, then it would mean she would have to... forget Draco existed.
...
Watching Hermione clutch her chest with a stricken look on her face, Draco, wanting to give her time to process it, silently reached for the teacup on the table.
He took a sip.
The bitter fragrance of the tea lingered in his throat, making Draco narrow his eyes slightly.
His thoughts drifted back to a few days ago.
In an instant, his father's warning on the terrace seemed to echo in his ears once more.
Though Draco liked to think he was not that naïve or childish, and had already made preparations far beyond what someone his age should have been able to foresee, he had still overlooked some important things...
This was a war.
A bloody struggle that had nearly shaken the whole of magical Britain, not some game where failure simply meant starting over.
And behind him, there was not a group of powerful, mature adult wizards. Nor did he have vast support, endless resources, or an extensive network he could call on.
He had indeed caused the Dark Lord a little trouble, but that was all.
And when it came to facing retaliation from the Dark Lord, or even from other factions, Draco realized there was still something he had not fully accounted for.
Like the safety of Hermione's family, for example. That was one of the problems that needed to be solved and guarded against.
Put simply, after coming home this time, Draco had been hit head on by reality...
It had only taken one short conversation for him to understand all of this from Lucius's warning and from the sight of how busy he was.
It had not been direct, but it had left a deep impression.
That, too, was exactly what Lucius had wanted.
In that sense, Lucius had indeed succeeded.
But.
Lucius, so used to holding the lives of many wizards in his hands, seemed to have forgotten that Draco carried the blood of the Malfoy family as well.
Just as had been said before about the Black family, every wizard had something they were stubbornly devoted to.
And the Malfoy family, equally one of the Sacred Twenty Eight and a house with a long history, naturally had something special that seemed engraved deep into their bones as well...
In the eyes of outsiders, the wizards of the Malfoy family might seem proud. Or ambitious. Some would call them arrogant and cunning.
But only the Malfoys themselves knew what they truly relied on.
Wealth?
Power?
Magic?
Those were nothing more than tools they used to achieve their goals...
Family, the one they loved, their own flesh and blood. Only a Malfoy who truly cared about those things was the real reason the Malfoy family had endured until today.
Because protection.
Was also a kind of strength.
And that was Slytherin style selfishness...
...
Naturally, in a situation like this, Draco, who also had people he cared about, could never do nothing, much less give up halfway.
'In the end... I'm still not strong enough.'
At that thought, Draco's grey eyes, fixed on the view outside, gained a new depth, as though they could pull someone straight into them.