Lost in their own thoughts, neither of them seemed willing to speak.
Worried about her parents, Hermione leaned quietly against Draco's side, as if trying to draw some sense of safety from him to steady herself.
Meanwhile, Draco stared out the window, reflecting on his past thoughts and actions, wondering whether there were flaws or oversights he had failed to consider.
And so, the silence between them made this afternoon tea feel somehow different.
It was not until Dobby appeared that the quiet atmosphere was finally broken...
"Young Master, Dobby is here right on time. Dobby can leave at any moment."
"Dobby?"
"Good afternoon, Young Master's friend."
"Good afternoon, Dobby."
That awkward greeting still left Hermione unable to respond to it naturally or grow used to it. But this time, she was in no mood to correct Dobby's distant and overly formal way of speaking.
Hermione turned her gaze back to Draco. "So Dobby is taking me home?"
"More precisely, Dobby and I are taking you back..."
"Young Master!"
"Eh?!"
Dobby's sudden cry made Hermione jolt and stare at him in shock.
This was the first time he had ever interrupted Draco.
And it was not just Hermione who was surprised. Draco also looked at Dobby in astonishment as the elf, looking as though he had committed some terrible mistake, prepared to smash his large head against the wall.
"I order you to stand still. That's right. You are not allowed to bang your head against the wall."
"....But Dobby... cannot obey Young Master's order."
Dobby's small body trembled as he said those strangely contradictory words.
Contradictory?
'But he is not banging his head against the wall, so why is he saying he cannot obey Draco's order?' Hermione tilted her head in confusion.
The next second, Dobby explained without hiding anything why he had reacted so strongly just now.
More accurately, Lucius had never intended for Dobby to hide this from Draco in the first place. "It was Master. He told Dobby to keep watch over Young Master and absolutely not let Young Master leave Malfoy Manor."
"You are saying my father ordered you to watch me."
"Uh... yes, that is right. Dobby cannot disobey orders."
Perhaps feeling that this sounded wrong, Dobby spoke hesitantly and with a stammer, then added an extra explanation at the end.
Those aggrieved wide eyes made Hermione soften, and she reached out to tug gently at Draco.
"Just let Dobby take me home. It is fine, really."
Hermione's words nearly made Dobby cry on the spot, and that grateful look in his eyes only made Hermione feel embarrassed instead.
At that, Draco gave a nod and did not insist.
Not being able to take Hermione home himself was indeed a little disappointing, but what concerned Draco more was the fact that he was not being allowed to leave Malfoy Manor.
That meant there were many things he would no longer be able to do...
...
With afternoon tea over, Hermione left Malfoy Manor.
Speaking of that, when Hermione left, she also took quite a few sweet cookies that Narcissa had baked herself. Draco strongly suspected that Hermione was not actually very willing to take them.
After all, during the time she had stayed here, those cookies had appeared on the table at every single meal...
In any case.
Just as Dobby had said, without Lucius's permission Draco could not leave this place. In other words, unless Pansy and the others came to see him, Draco would be spending the entire holiday in Malfoy Manor.
It was even quite possible that, just as Lucius had mentioned before, he would not be returning for the next school term either.
Faced with this result, something very much like house arrest, Draco did not fiercely resist Lucius's decision, nor did he go running to his doting mother in an attempt to change the situation...
Instead, certain people seemed even more anxious about it than he was.
Rubbing his hands together hard.
Glancing around uneasily.
Feeling himself being disturbed, Draco helplessly set aside the book in his hand. "Dobby, is something the matter? My father has not given you another order, has he?"
"No, no, no! Dobby only... feels sorry for Young Master. Dobby knows Young Master has something very important to do, but Dobby cannot help at all. Instead, Dobby has to stop Young Master... Dobby... wuh, but Dobby also thinks Young Master should stay somewhere safe."
Faced with Dobby beginning to sniffle, Draco felt both annoyed and amused.
He was the one being watched, was he not?
So why was the one doing the watching the one who looked upset...
Draco raised a brow. "How about this. I have something I need you to do for me."
"No problem, Young Master! Leave it to Dobby! But..."
"Do not worry, I will not leave this place. At least not for now."
Draco murmured that last sentence so quietly that only he himself could hear it, while his earlier words were enough to put Dobby at ease.
It was obvious that if Dobby had not genuinely been worried about Draco's safety, he might not have obeyed Lucius's order so readily. And that was exactly why Draco found the whole thing both irritating and oddly funny...
...
As Draco finished giving his instructions, the sky outside gradually darkened.
Leaving aside for the moment what exactly Draco had said to Dobby, the instant Dobby vanished from the room, Draco's eyes flickered slightly.
His fingertips tapped against the armrest as his gaze shifted toward the corner of the room.
Then Draco's low magnetic voice broke the silence.
"Kreacher."
Crack!
The one who appeared was Kreacher, whom Draco had not seen at all since returning to Malfoy Manor.
At first glance, he did not seem to have changed much. The only noticeable difference was that the bloodshot lines in his eyes looked even more pronounced than before.
"..."
"..."
A strange silence.
Draco leaned forward slightly as he looked at Kreacher, while the newly arrived house elf bent deeply at the waist and remained motionless.
Neither of them showed any intention of speaking first. Only the steady tapping echoed through the room.
Tap!
The moment Draco's fingers stopped, Kreacher's body seemed to tremble, though it was hard to tell whether it was real or only an illusion.
And in that very instant, Draco took something out and waved it lightly at Kreacher.
"This was something you secretly slipped in among those gifts, was it not, Kreacher?"
Kreacher looked up.
Deep in those large eyes, something flickered almost imperceptibly.
In Draco's hand was a small mirror no bigger than his palm.
To be precise, it was the Two way mirror Dobby had once given him.