The dark metal armour reflected a cold gleam beneath the dim corridor lights. The metal joints of its body clashed and clicked, producing a series of crisp sounds that were especially abrupt in the silent corridor. The echoes spread through the passageway like ripples across water.
Then the armour, which had been moving stiffly, suddenly stopped in front of an oil painting.
The armour began to melt and deform, accompanied by a series of cracking sounds. It gradually shrank, its metallic lustre eventually fading as its height decreased to that of an ordinary human being.
With Luna's help, Malfoy had avoided a great deal of trouble. Instead of confronting the professors head-on, he had blended into the ranks of the armour and moved along with them.
Eventually, he naturally fell behind and escaped their search.
The area that had been searched was now empty and appeared completely safe.
However, just as he dispelled the concealment spell around the Vanishing Cabinet beneath the painting, relying on his memory, and was about to return to his underground warehouse, Malfoy's heart suddenly sank.
The Vanishing Cabinet was no longer in its original position.
There were clear signs that it had been moved.
The cabinet, which had previously been positioned directly beneath the centre of the oil painting, was now several metres away.
Malfoy had absolute confidence in his memory. Years of training, combined with his considerable natural talent, ensured that he would not make mistakes in this regard.
"Restored to its original state!"
He approached the cabinet and quickly inspected it.
The door showed signs of having been damaged by an impact.
Fortunately, only the door had been damaged.
"Confundus!"
"Hide your tracks!"
"Restored to its original state!"
After casting a series of spells and completing the necessary precautions, Malfoy remained highly vigilant and tense. Even so, he resolutely decided to step into the cabinet.
Another strange feeling of compression washed over him.
Spatial movement through the cabinet was so magical that, even though he had experienced it once before, he still felt slightly dizzy.
When faint light entered his eyes, he immediately knew that someone had indeed arrived here before him.
There should not have been any light in this warehouse.
"Lumos!"
He immediately cast the spell, illuminating his surroundings.
As he stepped onto the hard stone floor, his wand was already pointed forward, ready to subdue the "unlucky" intruder at any moment.
The secret of the Vanishing Cabinet had to remain confidential.
Just as Malfoy's throat began to vibrate, forming the syllables of a spell to subdue the intruder, he abruptly stopped.
What had he just seen?
A short-haired girl wearing a dark-green robe was crouched in front of a sturdy iron gate.
The rust on the gate was a deep red and had corroded nearly half of it.
She held her wand in one hand to illuminate the way ahead. The long sleeve of her robe had naturally fallen back due to gravity, revealing part of her fair arm.
With her other hand, she was fiddling with the lock.
"Alohomora! Alohomora…"
She muttered the spell in a somewhat frustrated tone.
It seemed that an ordinary Alohomora did not work on the lock here.
She seemed to hear something as well, and her body tensed slightly.
Using the dim light, she turned her head to look behind her.
Their eyes met.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment.
The only sound remaining in the warehouse was the ticking of the broken clock.
"Tick… tick…"
"Draco? Is that you?"
Pansy's voice trembled with surprise.
Her face was illuminated by the dim light, and her expression was filled with disbelief and joy.
Then the time that had seemed frozen suddenly began to flow again.
The girl abandoned the dark iron gate, ran straight toward him, and threw herself into his arms.
At that cry, Malfoy's heart skipped a beat.
The instant their eyes met, he had recognised the girl standing before him.
What was this?
An unexpected surprise?
He was somewhat speechless.
In less than an hour after returning to Hogwarts, he had unexpectedly encountered so many people with whom he shared deep connections.
"Uh… long time no see?"
Malfoy, who had initially been on guard, surprisingly relaxed and greeted the girl.
"Six months and thirteen days."
Her eyes immediately welled with tears, and she spoke excitedly.
Malfoy fell silent for a moment.
"How did you get here?"
He suddenly changed the subject.
This was something he needed to understand.
"At that time, I just wanted to go to the nearest bathroom to wash my face. The dust kicked up by the funeral pyre was so annoying, and I was covered in it."
"Of course, I sneaked away. Everyone was attending the funeral, and it was almost over anyway."
"Then, halfway there, I saw the Iron Guards in the castle corridor come to life."
"They swept through the area like madmen, coming straight toward me."
"It knocked me aside."
"I thought this was one of Hogwarts' secret passages."
"I don't know what the situation is like in the corridor right now, so I was too scared to go back. I could only stay here."
Such a simple coincidence left Malfoy speechless for a moment.
"The place you're in now is an underground storage room in my house," he casually explained.
"Your house?"
Pansy asked in surprise, then looked around again under the light from the tip of her wand.
No one had been here for a long time.
The stone floor was covered with a thick layer of dust. Various odds and ends were scattered around, including a portrait riddled with wormholes, several tables and chairs missing legs, and a dilapidated bookcase.
Pansy glanced around several times before moving closer and raising her wand higher, making the light brighter.
Then she turned her gaze toward Malfoy's face.
"You look so much darker… You've had a tough time these past few days, haven't you?"
Pansy suddenly wiped her eyes, stopping the tears from spilling over, then asked with concern as she tried to suppress her emotions.
The wind and sun exposure during those days had made his originally pale and somewhat sickly complexion noticeably darker.
In fact, after some adjustment, it could now be considered a normal complexion.
"This is what healthy skin looks like. It was frighteningly pale before, wasn't it?"
He smiled and comforted Pansy.
The girl was still sobbing and choking back tears, her words coming out between uneven breaths.
"Don't cry. I'm fine now, aren't I?"
Malfoy moved closer and gently touched the girl's short black hair.
"And you've grown quite a bit taller! Is your foot injury any better?"
Malfoy asked with concern.
The effects of that malevolent curse would gradually weaken as her magical power increased.
A fifth-year student's magical ability was already quite close to that of an adult wizard.
"That's about it."
Pansy nodded obediently before suddenly raising her head and looking at Malfoy.
"Where have you been all this time?"
"I stayed in France for a while, and also in a few places in Germany."
Malfoy did not avoid the girl's question.
"So far?"
Pansy exclaimed in surprise.
"France…"
Then, as though she had suddenly realised something, she repeated the word.
"You've finally decided to come back? Did you have fun with Miss Delacour? France… It must have been very romantic, right?"
After her initial surprise, Pansy's tone suddenly became somewhat mournful.
The shift in her emotions was so natural that it caught Malfoy completely off guard.
Malfoy suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Luna had asked him the exact same question not long ago, but the two girls had used completely different tones.