[HP] Liar

Chap.27

At eight o'clock in the evening, Viola and her two friends appeared outside the hall of the agreed place on time.

In addition to the three of them, there were many other girls hanging out in the hall.

Roger Davis quickly found Nancy, and took her to the corner of the foyer to taste the delicacies brought by Professor Slughorn.And Harry also appeared after a few minutes. He specially changed into a black robe today, which made his figure tall and slender, and his short black hair was not as disheveled as before. Violet Ra guessed it might be because of the detangler he used.

Harry looked relieved when he saw Luna.

"Hey!" He waved to Luna and Viola, "Luna, shall we go?"

"Oh, yes." Luna also happily responded, "Where is the dance?"

"Professor Slughorn's office." Harry replied, "Come on, I'll take you there." After speaking, he stretched out a hand to take Luna's arm.But Luna looked at Viola hesitantly at this moment, seeming to hesitate to speak.

"And you, Viola?"

"I'm fine." Viola said with a smile. "Ernie should show up in a while, and I'll be there to find you soon."

Today is a good day for Luna, Viola thought secretly in her heart, so she must not spoil Luna's interest.

After Harry and Luna left, Viola noticed a few beams of enthusiastic gazes from other girls.Their eyes seemed to turn to resentment when they saw Harry lead Luna's hand towards the marble steps.

Apparently, being too popular sometimes isn't a good thing, at least for Harry.

When Ernie Macmillan appeared, Viola noticed that he had changed his hairstyle.He combed all his golden brown hair back, revealing his smooth white forehead and strong eyebrows. In all fairness, Viola felt that Ernie McMillan was indeed much more handsome than he was usually at this moment. .

"You changed your hairstyle, Viola?" When Ernie saw Viola, his eyes immediately showed surprise, "Well—you look better than before...Of course, I don't mean that you used to be It's ugly! It's just—"

"I know, I know." Before Ernie could finish speaking, Viola interrupted him softly, "But let's hurry up and go to Professor Slughorn's office."

……

I don't know if it's because of the magic, but now Professor Slughorn's office looks much more spacious than usual.Hanging on the ceiling are hangings and ribbons representing the four colleges (Viola was very pleased that the Potions professor did not ignore the colleges other than Slytherin.) And in the center of the ceiling hung a huge The golden colored lights illuminated the entire dance hall red, and it looked even more lively than the Christmas ball held at Hogwarts two years ago.

Viola saw Professor Slughorn talking to Harry and Luna. He was wearing a smoking shirt and a velvet hat with tassels tonight, which looked a little funny at first glance, but Viola Ola didn't say that outright.

Of course, after all, Professor Slughorn didn't like her very much, and she wasn't stupid enough to run herself into the muzzle of a gun.

As a celebrity, Harry is always surrounded by all kinds of people - there are juniors who admire him, professors who admire him, and some officials from the Ministry of Magic.

As for Viola, she was beginning to feel tired after a few stiff dances with Ernie.Fortunately, Ernie was still considerate of her. After seeing her tired face, he didn't continue to ask her to dance with her.

"Viola, do you need a rest?"

"Ah... I'm fine, you go find someone else to dance with, Ernie." She waved her hand with difficulty, and smiled at Ernie, "I'll go to the long table for a glass of water first."

Ernie was stunned after hearing this, and seemed a little hesitant to speak, but in the end he didn't object to Viola's suggestion.

Just as Viola was leaning against the long table, gulping down the butter beer, Professor Snape suddenly appeared.Tonight, Professor Snape still wore a pure black robe as before, and his face was still serious and indifferent, as if in his eyes—this ball was just an extremely absurd and energy-consuming dance. Just a joke.

"Don't be sneaky, come and talk to us, Severus!" But Professor Slughorn didn't seem to be discouraged by Snape's indifference, and pulled him to Harry's side enthusiastically. Beside him, he said cheerfully, "I'm talking about Harry's special talent in potions! Of course it's also your credit, you taught him for five years!"

But I don't know why, these are obviously flattering words, but Professor Snape's expression is as ugly as swallowing a fly.

"Interesting, I never felt like I taught Potter anything." Professor Snape replied flatly.

"Oh, that's genius!" cried Professor Slughorn. "I haven't seen a student do better than Harry—"

"is it?"

"Harry, what else did you take? Tell me and Severus!" Professor Slughorn asked.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbal Medicine..."

"In a word, all the lessons you need to learn to be an Auror." Professor Snape pointed out succinctly, with a slightly contemptuous tone.

Harry finally seemed to be irritated by Professor Snape's attitude, he raised his head, looked into Snape's eyes without fear, and said loudly at the same time: "Yes, I just want to be a proud Luo."

The corner of Professor Snape's mouth twitched, and Viola felt that he must have something more to say to hurt Harry's self-confidence, but Luna interjected very timely at this moment: "I don't think you should be Aurors, Harry. Aurors are part of the Tooth Rot plot, I thought everyone knew, to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within, using the Dark Arts and gum disease."

After hearing Luna's words, Snape's expression became even uglier, but Harry smiled brightly at Luna at this moment.

Up to this moment, Viola at the time did not expect that something would happen after that that would make everyone present dumbfounded.

—Filch pulled Draco Malfoy out of the corner.

"Professor Slughorn," Filch said, with a gleam in his eyes that only belonged to a winner, "I found this boy hiding in the corridor upstairs, and he said he was invited to the ball by you, He also said that his departure was delayed by something. Excuse me—did you send him an invitation?"

Draco looked distraught and out of breath at the moment.Viola saw that he was not wearing a formal suit, but was still wearing the Slytherin school robe he usually wore when he went to school.Based on this alone, Viola can conclude that Draco is lying.

Although she knew she shouldn't look at Draco, Viola still couldn't control herself.I don't know if it was her illusion, but the moment she quickly set her gaze on Draco Malfoy's face, she seemed to feel that Malfoy's gaze was also directed in her own direction.

However, Malfoy quickly turned his head back.

At the same time, Viola couldn't help feeling a little puzzled about it.Hadn't Malfoy, a Slytherin prefect, been invited by Professor Slughorn?But even Hufflepuff prefect Ernie MacMillan has received invitations, so how could Professor Slughorn have forgotten the students of his own house?

"Okay, Professor Slughorn didn't invite me." Draco shook Filch's arm violently, like shaking off something dirty that would stain his robe, " I wanted to break in, so you are satisfied?"

"No, I'm not satisfied!" cried Filch, but the words didn't match the smug look on his face. "You're in trouble—the headmaster warned you that you're not allowed to walk around late at night without permission, eh ?”

"It doesn't matter, Argus, it doesn't matter." Professor Slughorn waved his hand casually, trying to smooth things over, "It's Christmas, it's not a crime to want to go to the ball. Let's forget it this time, and don't make an exception. It's okay, Draco, you can stay tonight too."

After hearing this, Filch subconsciously opened his mouth, obviously disappointed with Professor Slughorn's handling.

But since the host had already opened his mouth like this, Filch naturally couldn't say anything more, so he turned around and left indignantly.

"It's nothing, Draco." Professor Slughorn approached Draco kindly after Filch left, and softly comforted him, "After all, I also knew your grandfather—"

"He's always praised you, sir," said Malfoy quickly and respectfully. "He says you're the best potions expert he's ever known."

"I have something to tell you, Draco." Before Malfoy's compliment was completely over, Professor Snape said suddenly.

"Oh, Severus—" Professor Slughorn gave him a reproachful look, "Christmas, don't be too harsh."

"I'm his headmaster, and it's up to me to decide whether to be strict or not." Snape retorted briefly, "Come with me, Draco."

Just like that, the dark-faced Head Slytherin took Malfoy away under the curious and gloating gazes of everyone, and Harry Potter, who was still chatting happily with Professor Slughorn just now, didn't know When did he suddenly disappear, leaving his dance partner Luna Lovegood standing there blankly.

"I didn't expect that, Viola." Before Viola had time to completely sort out her thoughts, Ernie had already appeared by her side with two glasses of drinks, and like her, he cast his eyes on the fading away. Malfoy and Snape murmured, "I never thought Malfoy would be here today."

"What do you mean?" Viola asked subconsciously.

Ernie snorted softly, appearing a little disdainful: "Malfoy used to be bossy, because his father Lucius was the chief member of the Wizengamot and also the school's director. We also looked after his father. For the sake of his face, he swallowed his bad behavior. But now... everything has changed. Lucius Malfoy is nothing now, he is just a Death Eater imprisoned in Azkaban, Si Professor Lughorn naturally understands this truth, so the professor didn't invite him. That's right, after all, who would be innocent to have anything to do with a Death Eater's family?"

Ernie's words instantly made Viola fall into deep thought.

Everyone was gloating at Draco Malfoy's current situation, but only Viola felt some bitterness and sympathy in her heart.

Even if Ernie was right, even if Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater, so what?

What does this have to do with Draco himself?

It was obviously Lucius who did the wrong thing, so why should Draco bear the contempt and ridicule of others?