After realizing just how important this secret was, Pansy never brought it up again. Even Goyle and Crabbe found themselves living in misery after that day.
Every few hours, led by Hermione, a group of girls would show up in front of them with clockwork precision, repeating the same warning over and over: under no circumstances were they to leak any information about the Dragontongue.
Their anxious, relentless insistence was so over the top that even Draco, watching from the sidelines, started to feel a bit sorry for Goyle and Crabbe.
Once or twice was manageable. But after it happened again and again, even someone as slow as Crabbe began to look distracted and unfocused. On one particularly alarming occasion at mealtime, he actually ate three fewer bowls than usual.
In the end, genuinely intimidated by the girls, Goyle and Crabbe stopped coming around as often...
...
Aside from that unfortunate reason, Goyle and Crabbe couldn't stay at the base very frequently anyway. They still had to keep in contact with other followers and pass along instructions.
During the holiday, most of their time was spent elsewhere...
As for Hermione, she couldn't simply leave home whenever she wanted unless she told the Grangers everything.
But after explaining Voldemort's terror to her parents, would she still be allowed to continue attending Hogwarts?
On that point, Hermione had no confidence at all.
After all, no parent would willingly allow their child to be placed in danger...
Because of this, the people who appeared most often at the base were reduced to just Draco, Pansy, and Astoria.
Perhaps for that reason, both the style of the furniture and the overall layout gradually began to cater to Pansy and Astoria's tastes. As time went on, more and more of their personal belongings accumulated there as well.
For example...
One of the rooms had been converted by Astoria into a potions laboratory, used to store rare potion ingredients and give her a quiet, undisturbed space to brew.
As for Draco, he seemed to have suddenly taken an interest in Muggle knowledge. The once-empty bookshelves were now filled with all kinds of books in a remarkably short time.
Throughout the holiday, it wasn't uncommon to see Draco reading Muggle books.
Compared to the ambition the other two showed, Pansy devoted herself entirely to Draco instead. Her carefree, untroubled demeanor was, at times, rather enviable...
...
Afternoon.
Inside the Draco base.
In the hall, Draco sat with a book in hand, quietly reading, while Pansy sat not far away, her gaze unfocused as she watched the people passing outside the window.
It was a day filled with warm sunlight.
Romania had a typical temperate continental climate, and this season was when the weather was at its most pleasant.
Yet throughout the entire holiday, Draco had barely stepped outside this place at all, devoting almost all of his attention to the books in front of him.
Come to think of it, although Pansy never liked seeing Hermione lingering around Draco, when Hermione wasn't there, it somehow felt like something was missing. Life seemed just a bit less lively, a bit less interesting.
Of course, Pansy would never admit that.
Today, Hermione couldn't come either, and Astoria was absent due to health reasons.
In other words, only Draco and Pansy were at the base right now...
At this moment.
Pansy, who had been staring out the window in a daze, suddenly remembered something and clapped her hands. The sharp sound immediately caught Draco's attention.
"I almost forgot! Draco, I was chosen as Slytherin's fifth-year female Prefect. It arrived yesterday along with the book list."
As she spoke, Pansy pulled out a small badge from her clothes. It was the badge that represented a Hogwarts Prefect.
Back then, Draco had used Percy's gleaming badge as a key clue in deducing that the Basilisk was the real culprit.
Catching the expectant glint in Pansy's eyes, Draco instantly understood what she was waiting for.
What Pansy wanted wasn't praise or a congratulatory pat on the head. She wanted to hear the answer she already had in mind…
"Mm… it's not hard to guess. Just like you think, your partner is me. Next year, I'll be Slytherin's fifth-year male Prefect."
"Of course. If it weren't you, I really wouldn't know who else would even qualify."
More than being proud of Draco, Pansy was probably happiest about becoming fifth-year Prefects together with him.
After all, male and female Prefects often had to act together. That alone was enough to make Pansy excited...
It was also worth mentioning that Hermione seemed to have been selected as Gryffindor's female Prefect as well.
As for who Gryffindor's male Prefect would be, that was still unknown...
...
Once the topic had shifted, Draco completely lost interest in reading.
He glanced at the pleasant weather outside, stood up, and stretched, loosening his body after sitting still for so long.
Seeing this, Pansy's eyes lit up. She slowly moved closer and stopped beside him without saying a word, her expression clearly hesitant, as if she had something on her mind.
Draco raised an eyebrow.
"Did you get into trouble again?"
"Of course not! Do I really look like the kind of girl who's always causing trouble in your eyes?!"
"..."
That strange silence made Pansy puff out her cheeks in frustration.
But in front of Draco, Pansy could only ever be soft-hearted. Before long, she put on a pitiful expression and finally said what she wanted to ask of him.
"I have a small wish."
"Just so we're clear, I can't cook, and I definitely can't take you to hunt Vampires."
"Of course not!!"
Compared to when he used to know nothing at all, Draco had clearly learned how to tease girls he liked.
At the very least, seeing Pansy's flustered little expressions brought him a faint sense of amusement.
Knowing exactly when to stop, leaving her with nowhere to vent her frustration, was also one of Draco's small guilty pleasures...
Maybe that was what growing up meant.
Draco chuckled softly, relaxing a little.
"Go on. I think I'm still capable of granting a wish, as long as it's not too difficult."
"Well… Granger told me about it."
"Hm? What does this have to do with Hermione?"
"Exactly! Ever since that day, I keep hearing her bring it up now and then. For the sake of fairness, I want to try it too."
"So…"
"So I want you to take me dragon riding too!"
Dragon riding?
Draco twitched at the corner of his mouth.
This wasn't horseback riding. It wasn't something you could just casually decide to do.
If Norberta found out you were using this as a bargaining chip to compete with Hermione, she'd probably breathe a fireball at you first...