Chapter 21: Back to School and Gossip

The next morning, Draco boarded a train back to school.

There is something in the world that spreads faster than anyone could imagine, and that is gossip.

As Draco sat in his seat, he didn't even have to strain his ears to listen carefully. Words like these reached his ears:

"Have you heard? Draco's wand was confiscated by the Ministry of Magic."

"Why?"

"I heard he was found using a spell to torture Muggles."

"No way, he's usually such a gentleman and personable," some girls said.

"Don't believe it, go and see if his wand is still there."

The result, of course, was that some girls pretended to pass by his seat by chance and then hurried away with panicked looks, apparently believing most of what they had heard.

Draco was happy, but Slytherin's reputation has always been like this.

"Is anyone sitting here?" a gentle female voice asked.

"If you don't mind, may I sit here?" A girl sat in the seat next to Draco.

"I haven't agreed yet," Draco couldn't help but cry out. "Also, I just tortured a Muggle a few days ago. Classmate Cho Chang, are you afraid?"

Cho Chang shook her head and looked at him and said, "I still trust my own judgment." She then asked, "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"No comment," Draco joked. This kind of thing, if it were to reach Voldemort, would be a big deal. She had a history of leaking information in the past. As for a casual lie, Draco was not interested.

Cho Chang was disappointed but still insisted, "No matter what, I still believe in you."

"Thank you," Draco thanked her politely, nodded slightly, and then began to flip through the latest issue of "Daily Prophet".

The journey seemed short, but when Draco returned to Hogwarts, the setting sun was exuding its last glow and it was already dinnertime.

As Draco walked around the campus, people came and went. Some students were afraid of him and avoided him. Students who walked in front of him dodged their eyes and dared not look at him, afraid of being remembered by him. Students behind him would always find opportunities to bypass him from other places.

Of course, a small number of students in green robes followed him from afar. Apparently, Draco had a reputation for preying on them. His previous performance at the academy had shown that he was very strong and traditional.

"It's over, I'm doomed," Draco lamented.

"Professor Dumbledore is probably going to call me to his office for a lecture." Draco's current situation was reminiscent of Voldemort's boyhood, with his talent and certain tendencies being misunderstood enough to raise Dumbledore's suspicions.

"Take things one step at a time and be careful," Draco comforted himself and walked slowly towards the restaurant.

It seemed that the banquet had just begun. Many people still had full plates. Hogwarts always had so many reasons to hold a banquet, and Christmas was just one of them. The end of the year was also a reason.

As soon as he found a seat and sat down, Pansy approached with concern on her face and asked, "Are you all right?"

"What can I do," Draco smiled and waved his hand to show that he was fine.

Seeing him smile naturally, not worried or concerned about the recent incident, Pansy relaxed and leaned back in her chair, whispering, "I know you're fine. Some of the stories you told me didn't emphasize anything, like race equality and so on." She paused and said, "But I still hate Muggles."

Draco was not at all confident that the change of concept was not a day or two.

"I'm very frustrated with the Christmas gift you gave!" Pansy knocked on the table, as if to get his attention. "Don't you dare to give the pen and ink to that mud-blood..." It seemed that she had thought of something and stopped herself, "Give it to the Muggle witch?"

Before Draco could answer, Pansy continued, "But I still like the color of the ink."

"And you have a conscience," Pansy glanced quickly at his hand and whispered.

Draco raised his hand and looked at the pair of gloves with strange color matching and some fuzzy balls.

"Put it down," Pansy said with a blush on her face as she saw him raise his hand to check.

"If you're brave enough to weave it, I'm brave enough to wear it. Are you afraid of others watching?" Draco smiled. He thought Pansy's looks were so cute now that people couldn't help but tease her.

"You're laughing again! Give it back to me," Pansy said as she stood up, seeming to want to grab the gloves back.

"Don't you have confidence in what you weave?" Draco raised his eyebrows.

"Don't even get me started," Pansy said, her head suddenly dropping and her tone low.

"I took a photo with the camera as a keepsake and my mother saw it. She actually laughed at me."

Then she spoke more seriously and said, "Give it back to me and I'll change it again. It will definitely look better than that." Draco could clearly see the fighting spirit in Pansy's eyes, clearly stronger than her mother's.

"There's no reason to return a gift once it's given, and I'll keep it until the day I die," Draco said, looking at the glove with a cherished eye. The deep emotion in his eyes could not be expressed.

"Disgusting!" Pansy blushed even more, and the blush even spread to the roots of her ears.

"Okay, I won't tease you anymore," Draco straightened his expression and then said, "Thank you very much, Miss Pansy, for knitting this pair of gloves for me in your busy schedule. I am very honored, but given this as my first gift, I have decided not to return it."

"When did you become so slippery! Give it back to me," Pansy said bitterly.

"Growth is irreversible, Missy," Draco smiled.

In the end, the gloves were still worn on Draco's hands, but he was not stared down by Pansy.

"Harry, have you heard?" The Gryffindor dining table was also lively, and Ron reached into the middle of the table to pick up a pancake and said to Harry.

"What have you heard?" Harry asked without looking up. He was destroying a chicken leg.

"It's spread all over the academy, don't you know?" Ron glanced over at the Slytherin table and then whispered to Harry, "Draco was caught by the Ministry of Magic. It is said that he tortured Muggles using magic. I don't think it was his father, maybe he's already in Azkaban now."

Ron was gloating.

"But even so, his wand was confiscated," Ron continued.

"That was so lucky," Harry said, unable to help touching his chest as he felt his heart beating violently. "It's unimaginable. I actually almost asked him who Nicole Flame is. Ron, you really helped me out."

"Of course," Ron said, looking a little proud at this moment.

"It's not like that," Hermione suddenly shouted at the table, attracting the attention of the Gryffindor students and even some Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students.

"What's not like that?" Ron asked her. Obviously they didn't think that Hermione would be willing to help a Slytherin. He thought maybe Hermione was just thinking about some other question.