HP: Hogwarts Snake

That Della, that Pote!

At the Slytherin table, Draco looked angrily at Harry who was surrounded by everyone.

When this so-called savior was lying in the infirmary, rumors spread among the students about how he bravely fought Voldemort to protect the Philosopher's Stone.

That heroic description completely overshadowed the 150 points that the trio had previously deducted from Gryffindor, and many people felt that Dumbledore would most likely add all those points back because of this.

The savior always steals the show, but this time, Draco truly felt that he was being overshadowed!

He received a lot of generous praise on the first day he returned to school after waking up. Because of what happened between him and Della, everyone seemed to generally believe that if he hadn't protected Della, Della would have been hurt more seriously, and as far as Draco himself was concerned, this was indeed the case.

Thanks to Della's generally pitiful experience, Draco gained a lot of admiration. Even most of the seniors who had been stern towards him during the Parkinson incident softened their expressions. Many Muggles who Draco didn't care about also seemed to have a better opinion of him.

Although Draco disdained some of the advances, he did enjoy the attention.

So he no longer thought too much about why he decided to take Della with him to escape. There might be a reason that he didn't want to admit, but Draco felt that it was a good deal to exchange the pain of being unconscious for the attention of the public.

However, this pure enjoyment only lasted for half a day. The news that Pott was sent to the infirmary by Dumbledore and Voldemort's defeat overshadowed the previous voices of praise for him. Envious admiration spread among the students, making his previous complacency seem like a joke!

Now that the savior has awakened and returned to the hall with his great achievements, who will still remember the Malfoy who almost died in the Forbidden Forest?

No one will care!

Draco's eyebrows were tightly twisted together, and his jealousy of Harry who was surrounded by everyone completely overshadowed his dissatisfaction at being ignored by Della just now.

He couldn't help grinding his teeth, and after taking a few deep breaths, his expression softened a little. After glaring at Pott fiercely again, Draco lowered his head and began to enjoy his dinner absent-mindedly.

When he looked up, he saw the annoying Poter; when he looked down, Della's pale face couldn't help but appear before his eyes, which made Draco even more depressed.

It was obvious that during the two days when Della was discharged from the hospital, he and her had reached a delicate balance that needed no words.

She would call herself 'Draco' in a drawl she never showed to anyone else, and he would no longer call her a Mudblood.

However, due to the need to save face, Draco never took the initiative to ask either his first name or last name, and only said a reserved "hmm".

Draco felt something was not right, whether they were too close or too distant, but Della didn't care too much about it anyway.

As long as she would smile at him when they met, it would not be wrong to give her a reserved nod in return; in the past two days, they had become new deskmates in various courses, and a Malfoy could always sit in the position he wanted, not to mention that Weasley and Granger's helplessness was also very interesting.

Della is indeed beautiful and smart.

Putting aside his prejudice against Muggles, Draco made the above evaluation with a little unspeakable emotion, especially after he had gained a lot of points under Della's guidance.

His head which was filled with bloodline, arrogance and cleverness finally figured out one thing: an orphan meant that her bloodline was unknown. She might even be a pure-blood who was left behind in the war.

This argument had been mentioned before, but Draco didn't take it seriously at the time. He could certainly label an orphan wizard with no background who had bullied him as a Muggle-born.

What he took for granted at the beginning has now become a guilty conscience that limits Draco from getting closer to Della.

However, Draco was confident that Della's feelings for him would break through his own constraints. Although he did not actually admit it, he could not deny the existence of that subconscious feeling.

And today, Della's neglect of him shattered his subconscious complacency!

Draco directly linked Della's haste to ignoring him to Harry who just happened to wake up today.

He thought Della must be in a hurry to go back to get gifts or something and see Merlin. She hadn't even thanked him properly after being discharged from the hospital!

External praise and inner complacency were shattered almost at the same time, and in the end, all the injuries were thrown away to waste!

No, he couldn’t control the savior for now, but he must make Della say thank you to him!

So on Monday, Draco stared at the still absent-minded Della with an almost creepy look, and after breakfast, he took advantage of the crowd to drag Della away as she walked towards Harry with a bag in her hand.

"Next up is Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class. You'll be late if you walk too far." Della did not resist Draco's somewhat painful force. She turned around to look at Crabbe and Goyle who were completely lost in the crowd and could not catch up, and reminded the boy who was pulling her in a gentle voice.

"Are you going to give the candy in your hand to that Pote?" Draco slowed down his pace, but his words were very blunt. He even snatched the bag of candy from Della's hand before she answered. "You should thank me. Let that Pote eat slugs!"

As he spoke, he loosened his grip on Della's wrist and made a move to leave, but was pulled back.

Della's pale, delicate face suddenly enlarged before his eyes. Draco could even see the fine hairs on her face. Her thick eyelashes scratched his heart like a brush. A blush had already climbed up his cheeks before he came back to his senses.

"Draco, I have prepared a gift to thank you." Her long eyelashes moved up and down, constantly showing the seductive eyes hidden under them. The heat was so close that it blasted Draco's mind. "It's much more thoughtful than candy. If you want it, wait for me in the lounge after curfew tonight."

After the slightly hoarse voice, the heat along with the tail sound moved away from Draco's eyes, and the seemingly amazing force in his hands also disappeared, replaced by a pulling feeling on the black robe.

"Let's go, we'll be late if we don't hurry up."

Della had already walked in front of him, pulling the sleeve of his robe, and pulled him two steps towards him. The movement brought Draco back to his senses. He blushed and pulled back his sleeve, saying sullenly, "Who asked you to remind me!"

Then he took the candy in his hand and walked quickly to Della, looking like he didn't want to say anything more, and walked towards the Transfiguration classroom with her.

It must be said that Draco was greatly pleased by the incredulous look that Pott gave them when they entered the classroom. Perhaps he could not shake Pott's position as the savior, but he also succeeded in snatching something from him, at least he did think so.

Draco didn't notice that Della beside him was pointing at the candy in his hand and smiling apologetically at Harry. He automatically attributed Harry's inability to restrain himself from standing up and being pulled down by Ron to a kind of injustice, which made him feel particularly proud.

In the past, sitting next to Della was always a reluctant thing, but today I could sit next to her very comfortably.

But in fact, the conversation between Harry and Ron was not at all what he expected.

"Did Della really say that?" Harry lowered his voice and asked Ron in disbelief.

"Yeah, I really can't figure out what she's thinking. Maybe I should question her judgment?" Ron's unconfident tone revealed his incomprehension, "That arrogant, annoying guy has such great charm???"

Harry was also puzzled by Della's confession to Hermione and Ron that she was in love with Malfoy.

Although according to Ron, there were many qualifiers in the words like "interesting" and "temporary", it still shocked the Iron Triangle.

"Merlin, Malfoy has called her a mudblood many times before. No one in the wizarding world can stand such an insult."

Harry's shock brought Ron back to the conversation when Della first explained it to them. He still remembered the intensity in Della's eyes when she looked at the bouquet of daffodils on the bedside table, so much so that he still regretted not destroying the bouquet of flowers at the first opportunity.

"Is calling someone a mudblood too much, Ron? Sorry, I always thought it was a nickname for Muggle-borns."

"That's a name that's enough to make us enemies! Oh! That must be it!" Even though he lowered his voice deliberately, Ron couldn't hide the excitement in his tone. He grabbed Harry's wrist as if he had suddenly realized something. "As long as we let Della understand how vicious that name is, she will definitely see Malfoy's true face!"

"But on that day in the Forbidden Forest, Malfoy did take her away..." Under Ron's almost deathly gaze, Harry's tone weakened. He paused for a moment before adding in a low voice, "But we can't just take Della and say these things..."

"You're right, we have to think of a solution..." Ron's voice dropped, he frowned and seemed to be trying to move his little head.