（3）

In late December, Hogwarts is once again hit by the cold of winter, and even the most industrious house elves have to nest around the warm fireplace; The blue Beauxbatons carriage, frozen into an iced pumpkin, stopped next to Hagrid's hut; Durmstrang's submersible mast with its portholes covered in ice...... But contrary to the extremely low temperatures, the hearts of the students are getting hotter and hotter.

The Yule Ball was still a few days away, and rumors about it were already flying around: for example, Dumbledore had bought eight hundred barrels of spiced honey sprinkles from Lady Rosmerta in Hogsmeade; For example, Dumbledore invited a singing group that was very famous in the wizarding world to perform; For example, Quidditch star Victor Krum officially extended an invitation to the Muggle-born Hermione Granger, much to the displeasure of Karkaroff, who was on the road of pure-blood supremacy; For another example, the Delacour sisters "eloped" with the Weasley brothers, and their whereabouts are currently unknown, which angered Mrs. Maxim with internal injuries.

In a pink atmosphere, the Hogwarts staff, who want to impress the guests of Beauxbatons and Durmstrand, have already put the best of the castle on display this Christmas, with icicles fixed to the railings of the staircase, twelve Christmas trees in the spacious hall, shiny hollow berries, singing golden owls...... A variety of beautiful magical decorations make the thousand-year-old castle less solemn and more youthful.

However, during such a festive period, some people keep releasing negative energy-

"I can't believe it's Malfoy to be the person they've been meeting with these days! I thought they were looking for a dance partner! In the Gryffindor break room, Ron said angrily as he nibbled on Christmas candy.

He was so angry only partly because of Malfoy, and mostly because he had rejected his girl and eloped with Fred. This would not be an exaggeration at all, if Fleur Delacour was his dance partner in a few days...... No, if any of those super-cute Oriental exchange girls had agreed to his invitation, Ron would never have been in the lounge talking this kind of, not practicing his lame dancing skills like Neville, or showing off that he had hooked up with beautiful women.

Harry, who didn't know anything about this, just replied to his friend's words, "...... Fred and George might have had something serious to do with Malfoy, you know, they've always been very assertive. ”

Oh, I forgot to mention that after the first trial, it was about the surprise that the Triwizard Tournament was not fun, and Ron took the initiative to bow his head to Harry and Hermione and apologize, and the two forgave him, which is why the two of them are now chatting together.

"Yes, the Lord saw him befriending the Death Eaters! They're going to be a disgrace to the Weasleys! Ron's expression was a little distorted, and if his father Arthur saw it, he didn't know who he would see as a disgrace to the family.

"Ron, don't say that, Malfoy has changed ......"

At the mention of the name 'Draco Malfoy', Harry still had a hard time getting rid of the mustard in his heart, and in the course of three semesters, the person he hated the most was Malfoy. But Harry was also well aware that Malfoy had never provoked him since Leeds arrived at Hogwarts.

Besides, Harry had heard from his godfather, Sirius Black, that two months before the semester began, Malfoy followed Leeds around hunting Death Eaters. Regardless of whether the hunt was for personal gain or not, if Harry were to see Voldemort as an "enemy", Malfoy would be his most reliable "companion...... Of course, whether Malfoy took Harry in his eyes or not is another matter.

"People are still the same people, won't they become more powerful!" Ron's jealousy finally shifted from his brother to Malfoy, "It's not that we don't know Malfoy, he wasn't much better than us in the beginning, if it weren't for the good fortune of being trained by Professor Leeds, he would be an ordinary obnoxious Slytherin now!" ”

“…… That's right. Harry weakly agreed.

The whole of Hogwarts knows this, but at the same time everyone knows that Malfoy has worked extremely hard to gain power, and look at the monsters that Leeds brought out of the Yanan region! Listen to Malfoy's hoarse cries for help as he was dragged away by Leeds during his second summer vacation!

It's a pity that in Ron's eyes, it's 'I can do it too', "So, in the end, it's Professor Leeds who is biased!" Malfoy's kind shouldn't have been raised in the first place! ”

...... Harry felt that this was inappropriate in order to maintain the friendship he had just redeemed, but he didn't say anything. Anyway, he himself was glad that Leeds didn't take him to Yanan for his name as a 'savior', and Malfoy was indeed trained to be a 'dragon slayer', but that didn't mean Harry wouldn't die in the process of training.

But

"—jealous of this and that behind your back?" Just because Harry didn't say anything didn't mean Hermione, who happened to be passing by, didn't say either.

"First of all, we didn't eavesdrop, you shouted too loudly, this is the Gryffindor shared common room." Hermione, who walked down the stairs with the three girls in the same dormitory, had exactly the same dislike in her eyes as the girl next to her, and she did not lose half a point because she was familiar with Ron.

“…… Hum! If it was just Hermione, Ron would have taunted him right away, but now that there were other girls, Ron could only swallow his anger.

After all, can they still be considered friends now......?

After the first trial, Hermione forgave Ron after he apologized, and she wanted to maintain the friendship. Hermione and Krum then confronted each other, and Ron didn't say much. But as Hermione began to pay attention to her image, adjusted the size of her front teeth through magical magic potions, and then used magic to smooth and neat her messy hair, completing the gorgeous transformation from 'ugly girl' to 'beauty', Ron began to insinuate, and what he said made Hermione angry even more than Malfoy's 'dirty mudblood' back then!

The sad Hermione went to talk to Liz, who was about to become a psychological mentor for the girls in the school, and Liz came to a conclusion...... It calmed her anger in an instant, but it also left her speechless.

Now, Harry and Ron are still good friends, but Hermione and Ron are distancing, and it is Hermione's choice - just like now, she is acting with the girls in her dorm room, instead of sticking to Harry and Ron forever.

"Let's go, Hermione, let's talk to Professor Leeds~Leave him alone~"

"......" Hermione shook her head, she originally just wanted to keep her distance from Ron, not to break off her friendship, but Ron's recent words and deeds she really couldn't see it, so she made a mockery...... However, the kind of future that Liz is talking about is too scary, so let's leave it at that," ah...... Wrap up the professor more, and he might give us a Christmas present~"

"Uh-huh~"