After the match, Draco, who had spent the whole day in the stands, devoured a whole steak at the Great Hall table, ravenously hungry.
Then, as usual, he called over to the overfed Crabbe and Goyle, and they wandered off together to digest their meal.
It was an ordinary evening, the sun just about to set. As they strolled near the grassy slope, they saw Neville Longbottom walking towards them, looking pitiful. "Have you seen my wand? It has been missing since noon."
"No," Draco gave him a disdainful look, unable to resist teasing him. "Why not get a hole bored through it, put a string through, and wear it round your neck?" Crabbe and Goyle chuckled to themselves.
"My gran would not allow it; it is my father's wand." Longbottom, oblivious to Draco's sarcasm, walked away dejectedly.
He had not gone far when Crabbe and Goyle burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs.
"That idiot..."
"He loses his wand every day..."
Draco thought these two were the last people who should be laughing at Neville's forgetfulness. After all, who checked, tutored, and corrected their homework!
"Stop laughing, look at your own bellies!" Draco glanced at them dismissively. "You have been training for so long and you are still so fat. Should you two not be eating something a bit lighter?"
Crabbe and Goyle stopped laughing and secretly hid the freshly unwrapped toffee in their palms.
Seemingly to keep Draco from noticing the sweet, Crabbe, quick-witted as ever, changed the subject.
"Draco, I have been wanting to ask you this for a while. I have always felt your attitude towards Granger from Gryffindor is a bit unusual."
Crabbe's face had recently lost some of its fat, and his mind seemed to have sharpened a little too. He had even learned to ask questions and raise doubts. "Some people say those rings you two wear are a couple's rings."
"Was it that gossiping Pansy who said that?" Draco rolled his eyes. "You believe everything she says, do you not?"
Crabbe nodded blankly.
"Also, we saw you two at Honeydukes... hugging." Goyle said, slipping a toffee under his tongue, preparing to chew it when Draco was not looking.
"That... was an accident! There were... too many people!" Draco's voice trailed off. His face flushed slightly.
Just how many people had seen it?
"But Pansy said only boyfriends and girlfriends hug each other. Only boyfriends and girlfriends look after each other like that." Crabbe was still struggling with this. "Is she not...?"
"No, she is not my girlfriend. How old do you think she is?" Draco interrupted him, hurriedly saying, "I... I think of her as my...my...little sister... that's it."
He was not really lying; mentally, he was already twenty.
But she was only fourteen... an age at which she understood nothing.
This was not the best age gap for romance. His soul had aged; she was too young.
Besides, he had many concerns. He restrained himself. He wanted to protect her, not hurt her.
Maintaining a safe distance from her was perhaps the best way to protect her.
His life was already tangled up with too much darkness and too many secrets.
He also needed to concentrate on dealing with the Dark Lord.
Most importantly, she would not like him.
She had plenty of people who might like her.
She had been so distant from him lately, barely paying him any attention, had she not?
So why bother, why add to his troubles?
Draco gazed at the last light falling across the grass, finding the scene somewhat melancholy.
"Let us go back," he sighed, ending the conversation and his reverie, deciding to return to the castle and reality.
As they turned the corner of a boulder behind them, preparing to head towards the corridor, Draco spotted Harry beyond it. He was staring at them in surprise, a Firebolt in his hand, seemingly just returning from practice.
Behind him were Ron and Hermione.
Hermione's face had turned deathly pale.
She rushed forward, pointing her wand at his nose. "Draco Malfoy, you fucking scoundrel!"
Draco felt as though he had not seen her in a century.
Lately, she had been incredibly elusive, nowhere to be seen. How could she have suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
Of course, what struck him even more was that he had never seen her so angry in his life.
She had never been so aggressive towards him before.
"Hermione... are you pointing your wand at me?" Draco looked at her in surprise, his tone wounded.
"Do not be like that, Hermione. It cannot be that bad, can it?" Ron said anxiously, trying to calm the furious Hermione down.
If a vengeful Medusa had taken physical form, Ron would have wagered she looked exactly like Hermione did right now.
"You do not understand!" Hermione snapped back at Ron, glaring at Draco again, her eyes blazing with a mixture of tears and fire. "You disgusting little cockroach! After what you did to me, you say you think of me as your sister?"
"What did he do to her?"
"I do not know either."
Draco heard Crabbe and Goyle whispering behind him, their voices filled with excitement.
"What did I do to you?" In fact, Draco was also a little confused, so he could not help but ask.
He had long felt that her recent manner towards him was somewhat inexplicable and strange.
Distancing, evasive, and hiding.
Was there some misunderstanding between them?
"You... you kissed me!" Hermione, having endured it all, sifting through the memories that made her heart race, finally could not hold back any longer. Her face flushed red, and she blurted out the most outrageous thing she could say.
Gasps rose and fell around them... from Harry, Ron, Crabbe, and Goyle.
Before today, the four of them had never been so united.
Yet today, they were in perfect unison.
"When did this happen?" Draco was dumbfounded.
How could he have no recollection of it?
"You kissed me, and then you just casually forgot?" Hermione's face flushed even more, her expression more indignant.
That kiss on the forehead... was he planning to deny it? That wretch!
All those touches, the hand-holding, the embraces they had shared recently... had he felt nothing at all?
He had even held her in his arms, asleep in the Hospital Wing bed all night... was he simply toying with her?
"I really do not remember it. And I do not think this is the right place to discuss such things," Draco said, his brow furrowed slightly.
Should they not find a quiet, secluded place to discuss this?
Being surrounded by a crowd of onlookers, discussing such a private matter involving a girl... it was thoroughly undignified.
Hermione glared at him fiercely, the tip of her wand slowly drooping.
How similar this scene was to her past life! Draco thought.
However, her reason for attacking him had completely changed.
Kiss her? Had he done it? If so, how could he not remember?
Kiss.
Draco looked at her angry, slightly parted lips, the word flashing inappropriately through his mind. He swallowed, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips.
However, this smile caused Hermione, who was trying to calm down, to lose her temper again.
That smile! He must be mocking her!
So she suddenly raised her fist and punched him hard in the nose in a fit of rage.
Oh, that fateful punch, it struck his nose hard. It was as if it knocked him unconscious, or as if it woke him up.
"You should not have teased me!" she yelled at him, tears welling in her eyes.
She contemptuously pulled the silver ring from her hand, threw it at his face, turned, and strode away from him, running towards Hagrid's hut down the hillside.