HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

Leila slowed her pace, admiring the boy's pale golden hair from a distance. The slightly long strands covered his forehead, and compared to his usual old-fashioned slicked-back hair, it had less arrogance and more of a youthful feel.

The boy in the green uniform leaned casually against the wall, the torches burning in the corridor illuminating his face: his features perfectly inherited the best features of his parents, and his pale skin and disdainful expression could not detract from his beauty.

But the spoiled temperament and acerbic behavior of these aristocratic young masters often cause people to overlook this fact. Not to mention, Slytherins are inherently biased: whether it's their prejudice against others or others' prejudice against them.

As you get closer, you can see the young master's long, pale fingers fiddling with his wand, clearly showing his impatience.

As if sensing her approach, Draco Malfoy looked up, sized her up, and after confirming she was unharmed, began to mock her: "Gryffindors are indeed reckless, stupid lions, daring to run around the dungeons all by themselves!"

"Where aren't those two red-haired monkeys with you? Humph, they're like two mangy dogs guarding a bone all day, but when it really matters, they're nowhere to be found. Useless bastards... ugh..."

Leila saw that he was going too far, but this platinum young master had just stood up for her despite immense pressure and against his usual principles. She didn't want to argue with him, so she had to find another way to shut him up—

Lyra stepped forward, close to Draco Malfoy's slightly thin but upright body, leaned down, and quickly placed a light kiss on his cold, thin lips, successfully stopping his incessant taunts.

“You—” The platinum boy stared in shock, but his cheeks quickly flushed red.

"...Brace, have you seen Draco?" Pansy asked. "I haven't seen him since Charms class ended."

"Brace, please tell our lovely Pansy, she made a box of chocolates herself..." Daphne's laughter could also be heard.

Draco Malfoy heard his friends chatting and footsteps coming from the next hallway, and immediately pushed away the dark-haired girl who was standing very close to him.

But the next second, seeing the girl slammed against the cold, hard wall by him, frowning and letting out a soft groan, Draco almost immediately regretted it—had he just acted subconsciously and hurt her by not controlling the force?

Will she be very sad? Is there a misunderstanding? Did he not actually mean to push her away?

But the black-haired girl had already quickly left the corridor, and only the lingering warm touch on his lips told him that what had just happened was not an illusion.

"Draco! Why are you standing here all by yourself?" Pansy's excited shout interrupted the young master's turbulent thoughts.

"Let's go together to the auditorium for lunch." Daphne warmly linked arms with Draco, along with Pansy.

Bresz Zabini walked behind his friends with a smile, seemingly completely uninterested in his platinum roommate's unusual behavior of having a suspicious blush on his cheeks and standing alone in the deserted hallway.

*

"Merlin's beard, where have you gone—"

Fred and I practically searched half the castle—

Lyra sat at the Gryffindor table, enjoying her pan-fried lamb chops with roasted potatoes, accompanied by the chattering questions of her two friends.

Without even looking up, she felt the gazes from the Slytherin table. Recalling Draco Malfoy's flustered expression after pushing her away, she couldn't help but smile slightly.

Actually, when she heard that someone had arrived, she didn't intend to continue being affectionate with this platinum young master in front of everyone.

She was already preparing to leave when the platinum-haired boy pushed her away so quickly, which was entirely due to her going along with the situation. She then lost her balance and bumped into the wall, feigning pain and wincing slightly. Sure enough, he looked regretful and panicked.

Those wide, panicked eyes are so cute!

Thinking of this, Leila happily forked another piece of lamb chop and put it in her mouth.

At the Slytherin table on the other side, Draco Malfoy was eating his lunch absentmindedly, completely unaware that he had almost mashed the pudding on his plate.

He saw the two red-haired monkeys around the dark-haired girl at the Gryffindor table making a tremendous racket, but the girl didn't care at all, eating and laughing indulgently.

It's impossible to tell if she's angry about what happened in the hallway.

Are you really that happy hanging out with those two damn red-haired monkeys?!

Draco angrily mashed the pudding in the plate into a lump of puree.

*

In the afternoon, we had History of the Magic with Hufflepuff. The twins claimed that this might be the first time they had seen everyone sitting in their chairs full of energy, instead of being completely drowsy.

Throughout the class, short boys kept barging into the classroom to deliver Valentine's Day cards—and this lively scene wasn't just caused by Lyra alone, but also by Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff.

Leila had long heard of Cedric Diggory's reputation.

Lyra had noticed this gentle, handsome man in a canary yellow robe long before she met him, not only from chatting with the Hufflepuff girls she had just met, but also from when the twins played against the Hufflepuff team.

During late-night talks in the girls' dormitory, Angelina and Arya's eyes lit up when this name was mentioned. Cedric Diggory was almost flawless: top of his class, handsome, well-mannered, and from a pure-blooded family, not to mention he was quite good at Quidditch—a perfect combination of campus heartthrob and all.

Cedric Diggory was always very popular among the girls in the school; according to Arya, he was as popular as a male version of Lyra.

Hufflepuff considered this perfect boy the pride of the school.

Of course, the twins and the other boys didn't have a good word to say about this Hufflepuff's pride, thinking he was just a good-looking pretty boy.

Lyra and Cedric Diggory practically monopolized all the Valentine's Day cards in the History of Magic class, to the point that the twins set up a bet on the spot, bringing a large group of people to guess which of the two cards was actually given to each.

And a final bet was set up for the total number of love letters received.

Lyra rolled her eyes at this, and while Professor Binns turned around to write on the blackboard, she stood up and moved to the doorway—she planned to cast a silencing spell and a banishing spell as soon as any dwarf came in.

As they passed Cedric Diggory, Leila casually pulled the perfect boy aside and they sat together at the classroom doorway.