"So that's how stressful the House Cup is."

After Farley and the Slytherin students left, Daphne sighed as she looked at the closed door.

Pansy, on the other hand, spoke with a puzzled look on her face.

"But it's no use her looking for us. It's not like we can decide which house we want to go to."

"Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I was sorted into a house that I really don't want to go to."

While Pansy and Daphne spoke to each other, Draco remained silent, her mind thinking about the words of the Prefect before she left.

Lightly biting her lip, Draco slowly stood up.

Pansy and Daphne showed slightly surprised expressions but smiled in unison.

The silent understanding without the need for words brought a slight smile to the corners of both of their mouths.

"Would you like us to accompany you?"

Pansy said with gusto, but Draco had other plans.

"I'll ask Vincent to join Gregory. After all, he might not be by himself."

Whether Harry Potter was the dark-haired boy on first impression or not, having two bodyguards to protect her always prevented some accidents.

"Don't be too nervous!"

"Be careful and safe."

Pulling open the compartment door, she heard Pansy and Daphne's exhortations, nodded, and smiled towards her girlfriends, then knocked on the door of the opposite compartment.

Taking Vincent and Gregory with her, she walked to the next compartment.

The ends of the compartment were packed with students who were curious but afraid to disturb Harry Potter.

Those at the end of the crowd couldn’t help but shout softly as Draco’s figure appeared.

"Miss Malfoy is here too!"

Draco raised an eyebrow, not surprised at the sight of a pathway being made.

"Thank you."

Only unable to stop herself from thanking both sides as she passed, her steps graceful and light.

But then she stopped her pace in front of the glass window of the compartment, stunned.

The curtains of the compartment were rolled up, letting the mess inside be seen.

A boy with red hair, freckles, and a dirty nose. Cheeks covered in food crumbs as he feasted.

The boy next to him wasn’t much better. Black curly hair messy, thin cheeks bulging, lips dyed brown to black with melted chocolate, holding a chocolate frog in his left hand and greedily carrying a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in his right hand.

Between their seats was a mountain of Cauldron Cakes, chocolate frogs, and pumpkin pies.

Unwrapped cartons and bags littered the floor, and both mouths struggled to open their mouths while stuffed with food.

"What...?" Draco muttered to herself incredulously.

It seemed that the boy was, indeed, Harry Potter.

But such a fact no longer shook her mind.

Accustomed to elegance since childhood, she was shocked and slightly frightened by the purely natural greed of desire before her.

How could it be that beneath those sincere and bold turquoise eyes, there was such a beast that looked like it had been starving for a long time?

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Subconsciously retracing her steps, she turned around and saw that the crowd seemed to have grown even larger.

It seemed that the whispers of "Miss Malfoy and Harry Potter are going to meet!" had spread on the Express in a short time.

The impending meeting of the two popular figures who had been in the limelight even before they had reported for duty had naturally attracted quite a few good-natured students to the compartment.

As she watched the cluster of eyes lock onto her, Draco settled down and slowly calmed herself.

Determined, she mustn’t chicken out first.

Besides, the legendary Harry Potter was never so vulgar.

The social responsibility of a pure-blood family would not allow the uninitiated Harry Potter to be tarnished by the Weasleys.

Turning back around, her long blonde hair fluttered in circles, causing the assembled students to stare in disbelief.

Facing the door of the compartment, head held high, in the reflection of the glass window, Draco saw her own willowy, lone eyebrows, her childish, delicate, white face was imperious.

Draco pulled open the door of the compartment, hands clasped at her chest, and her eyes cold and sharp.

She glared at the two boys who looked surprised.

The black-haired boy’s mouth opened wide, and his face abruptly turned red. It seemed that he recognized her from the side of the robe shop.

For this, Draco’s heart flashed with a little bit of joy.

Turning her eyes, the red-haired boy just stared, his mouth still chewing on his snack.

"So, it's true then?"

"The whole express is clamoring that Harry Potter is in this compartment."

Many students outside are very noisy talking about this matter.

Watching the two boys in this state, Draco raised an eyebrow and spoke in a controlled tone.

"So, you're Harry Potter, huh?"

Listening to her leisurely and lazy voice, Draco felt very satisfied. This tone combined the social tones of Severus, her mother, and her father. She believed it best highlighted the identity and status of the Malfoy family's daughter.

"Yes...yes." The dark-haired boy swallowed hard on the food in his mouth and spoke frankly.

The blunt self-admission, paired with the same emerald green and sincere eyes, in turn, took Draco by surprise for a few moments.

Unconsciously, she froze for a few seconds before speaking slowly again.

"You haven’t met them, this is Vincent Crabbe, with Gregory Goyle."

With a slight sideways glance over her shoulder, she introduced the two silent followers behind her.

Harry nodded, gesturing slightly, and spoke hesitantly.

"I’m still-"

"Malfoy, Draco? That's the name you didn't get to ask for in Madam Malkin's shop." Draco rushed to answer.

Remembering the encounter in the robes shop, and a few moments of melancholy behind Harry’s "Though I don’t know your name..." before he left, Draco nearly blushed again.

Fortunately, the blushing moment was diverted by the red-haired boy beside Harry.

At the sound of her name, the red-haired boy snorted out an undisguised laugh.

Harry looked a little overwhelmed, and Vincent and Gregory followed suit, taking half a step until Draco stopped the two with a dark wave of her hand.

"You think it's ridiculous for a girl to have a male name, don't you?"

Eyes cold and clear, she glared at the boy, not hiding the icy anger in her tone.

Her own name, following her mother’s Black family naming tradition, had been chosen as a celestial constellation.

It was the name Draco (Draco) that had caused herself so much anguish since childhood.

Draco, in Latin, is one of those rare words that only has a masculine case.

For some reason, Lucius and Narcissa had named their beloved daughter after a male.

This had always puzzled Draco a little and had become the butt of many jokes amongst the children of powerful families of their own age.

Of course, these sorts of jokes were all but dared to be talked about behind her back.

When she asked her mother three times about the reason for the naming, Narcissa always had a dark look on her face for a moment and didn’t say much.

It was only as she grew older that she accepted the name with the comfort of Severus, and gradually, she became proud of it.

After all, it was one of the few constellations in the northern hemisphere that didn’t sink.

Furthermore, who said that girls couldn’t be ‘Draco’?

And so, in the face of the red-haired boy’s teasing, Draco was unconsciously on fire.

"Don’t cower so much."

The red-haired boy seemed to be cowering a little to offend himself, making Draco more and more offended.

"I’ll ask again, you think my name is ridiculous, right?"

The red-haired boy nodded only after being forced icily to do so.

Draco raised the corners of her mouth in contempt.

"And this young lady doesn’t have to ask which one you are. Bright red hair, despicable demeanor, second-hand robes."

"You’re Weasley, right? That destitute family who is willing to consider themselves vulgar and not cherish magic."

Draco noticed with satisfaction that the red-haired boy’s freckled face reddened at her words.

Without noticing, Harry’s face flushed with anger as well.

"As I mentioned to you in the robes shop, you should have noticed, Harry Potter."

"There are wizarding families that are better suited to guide you into the wizarding world."

"You don’t want to make friends with the wrong people, and that’s something I’m more than happy to help you with."

Draco said, glaring at the red-haired boy as she did so.

The red-haired boy, though angry, was clearly too afraid to take offense.

It wasn’t until she finished speaking and held out her hand towards Harry that she finally noticed that Harry had stood up.

The black-haired boy’s thin but angular face was full of resistance.

"I think I can tell who’s in the wrong on my own, thank you."

Harry huffed, his hands always hanging by his sides and without any semblance of intent to meet her own palms that were prancing in mid-air.

The red-haired boy chuckled, consciously or unconsciously, but Draco’s mind went blank.

What had this rude and ignorant bloke just said?