Madam Pomfrey muttered something as she opened the door and went back to the Hospital Wing.
"I do not understand, I did not faint, why do they have to check me?" Draco complained, glancing at Hermione who was lost in thought beside him.
"Professor Snape asked me to do this, Mr Malfoy. Because you cast the Patronus Charm. For a young wizard your age, that is a very difficult spell, and it could easily lead to exhaustion and depletion of your magic." Professor McGonagall finished speaking, her lips pursed sternly.
"Professor McGonagall, he was protecting us; the situation was critical too" Hermione quickly explained for him.
"Yes…" Harry chimed in.
"This is extremely risky! Schools do not allow students to use magic outside of school! This should be punished. Moreover, casting a spell before you have fully mastered it could cause you great harm," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "I must tell Professor Dumbledore about this, and the school will also write to your parents."
Draco hung his head and remained silent.
He thought to himself, troubled, My mother will definitely worry about this.
"However, in the face of danger, Mr Malfoy showed fearlessness in protecting his classmates and took appropriate measures to treat and help those around him. Slytherin deserves ten points." Upon hearing this, Draco looked up in surprise and saw Professor McGonagall smiling at him.
People said that Professor McGonagall was a strict and fair professor.
But everyone had their preferences. She would obviously be a little more lenient with Gryffindor students and much harsher with Slytherin students.
Therefore, it was no less difficult for a Slytherin to gain her favour and smile than for a Gryffindor to win Professor Snape's favour.
"Of course, this does not mean that 'casting spells off-campus' is something to be encouraged. We have decided to reserve the right to record your 'casting spells off-campus'," Professor McGonagall said sternly again. "We hope you will take this as a lesson."
Draco nodded silently.
Harry was completely confused. He asked Hermione, "What does this mean?"
"Oh, so that means that because there was a reason, Draco will only receive a verbal reprimand for 'casting spells outside of school,' and there will not be a written reprimand," Hermione said quietly, relieved. "It is good that there will not be a written record of violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery."
Hermione's explanation was correct.
Draco had been vaguely worried about this matter, and only now could he finally relax.
Before he could relax for long, he and Harry were ushered into the corridor, leaving Professor McGonagall and Hermione to have a private discussion about things like "timetable arrangements".
Neither of them left first; they stood together outside the door waiting for Hermione to come out.
Harry seemed preoccupied. He looked down, staring at the ground, lost in thought.
"Hey, do not be so down," Draco said, nudging Harry's shoe with his toe. "There is nothing shameful about fainting in front of Dementors. It just means you are stronger."
"What do you mean by that?" Harry looked up at him, still somewhat dejected. "Are you making a joke that is not funny?"
"Fainting does not mean you are weak. I suspect the Dementors have affected you more than others because you have suffered more." Draco asked softly, "You said you heard screams, whose screams were they?"
Harry lowered his head again.
"That was a woman's scream," he said sombrely. "I reckon it might be my mother. That was her scream when she died...."
"Oh...." Draco said dryly, his lips pale.
"I heard her say, 'Do not touch Harry...'" Harry's voice sounded like shards of broken glass.
After a pause, Draco organised his thoughts and said, "She must love you very much. She would be willing to sacrifice herself to protect you."
"Yes. I believe so," Harry said quietly. "This is the first and only time I have ever heard her speak."
Draco was speechless.
What should he say at this point?
"I am so sorry," he said, adding that for the first time he felt how powerless language was.
After a pause, Harry spoke again. His tone held a hint of envy, "I saw your mother hug you goodbye on the platform. She loved you very much, did she not?"
"Yes. I reckon so." Draco paused for a moment, then said sincerely, "She is a good mother. And your mother, I reckon so too. They were both mothers who loved their children, and loved us in their own ways."
His mother, Narcissa who was even willing to give her wand to her son, to face the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters unarmed at Malfoy Manor.
Ah, a mother's love.
Despite their different camps and stances, they shared a similarity they all loved their children with all their might.
Draco could not even imagine what he would be like if he lost his mother's love.
He might have died long ago.
Given his circumstances in his previous life, he probably would not have survived and would have withered away.
At that moment, Draco suddenly realised that he had been so much luckier than Harry.
Harry grew up without a mother, like an orphan, living with relatives who hated wizards, even living in a cupboard, lacking clothes and suffering abuse; whilst he grew up carefree and extremely well-off at Malfoy Manor.
The only voice Harry ever remembered of his mother was the painful memory he was forced to recall under the influence of the Dementors her mournful cry before her murder. He had always had his mother's companionship and love, and for him, being "loved by his mother" was as simple and natural as eating and dressing.
Draco could not imagine that if he were in Harry's position—with such a poor life and such a loveless environment—he would probably have collapsed long ago.
"They will probably laugh at me," Harry said with a wry smile, "for fainting or something."
Draco gave Harry a strained, pale smile.
He suddenly remembered that he had not been in a good mood when facing Dementors either.
If Hermione had not called his name in his ear, if her warm hands had not embraced him, giving him a bit of courage from who-knows-where, perhaps there would have been another person fainting in that compartment.
Perhaps right now, it would just be him and Harry arguing about "how to deal with the students' ridicule."
"Harry, listen, no one has the right to laugh at you," Draco said with difficulty. "If they had gone through what you have gone through, how many people could be as kind, optimistic, and strong as you? You have been very brave. None of this is your fault. It was the Dementors that triggered your painful memories."
Draco was not lying; he genuinely believed it.
"Thank you." Harry sniffed and finally looked up at Draco with wet eyes that looked like they had just been rained on. "I finally understand what you were saying. Those Dementors are the most terrifying things in the world."
At that moment, Hermione, beaming with joy, and Professor McGonagall, still maintaining a serious demeanour, opened the door, abruptly ending Draco and Harry's conversation.
"Draco, Harry, let us go to dinner!" she said to them with a beaming smile, as if she had encountered something incredibly wonderful. "I cannot wait to see what is on the menu!"
"What did you two talk about?" Draco asked Hermione casually as they walked behind Professor McGonagall towards the Great Hall. "Why are you suddenly so happy?"
"It is a secret," Hermione said with a mysterious smile. "It cannot be told."
Draco glanced at her, his mood sinking even further.
Even Hermione Granger, who loves "honesty" the most, now has little secrets she will not tell him? Draco suddenly felt a strange sadness welling up inside him, along with a faint sense of self-loathing.
Yes, why should she tell him? he thought listlessly, following everyone else into the Great Hall.