HP North Star's Radiance

This string of runes means "good luck".

Chapter 132 OWLS Exam

The gold pendant was slowly moved aside, revealing Draco, whose voice was growing fainter and fainter behind it.

Praris stared at him and asked softly, "Doesn't this count as bribing me?"

“If that’s what you insist on thinking,” Draco said slowly, “I won’t object to you thinking that way.”

Praris chuckled, and Draco looked at her, puzzled, not understanding what she was laughing at.

Honestly, doesn't anyone think girls are hard to understand?

Pansy, who used to be completely obedient to him, only protected his image in front of outsiders after they grew up.

She even said in a very puzzled tone, "I really don't understand what you two like about each other!"

Is there even a question? He's the best boy, and Praris is the best girl. He deserves Praris's love, and Praris deserves his love too.

It's that simple!

Draco believed that people who hesitated about why they liked someone must not like them enough.

People who truly love each other, like their parents, never hesitate in such matters—they are a match made in heaven.

Prareas is indeed hard to understand, but Draco doesn't think it's a problem; his father often doesn't understand his mother either.

Prareas once told him that one can never fully understand another, but one can try to think from the other's perspective.

What a strange idea! Draco thought to himself at the time, "Why should I try to understand other people?"

Draco now wonders, what is she looking at? What is she laughing at? What is she thinking?

“That’s not enough.” Praris took Draco’s hand, gently pried open his palm, and placed the pendant in his hand. “Does Mr. Malfoy give gifts like this?”

The Mr. Malfoy that Prarese is referring to is certainly not Draco.

Draco stretched out his hand, lost in thought, "My dad?"

How else can my dad give me a gift...wait, my dad?

Bang!

It felt like fireworks were exploding in Draco's head!

In a flustered manner, he picked up the pendant chain from his right hand with his left. His hand slipped, Draco's heart skipped a beat, and the pendant nearly fell!

He hurriedly caught it, but somehow the chain got tangled up again!

Undoubtedly, he has skillful hands; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to create so many "handicrafts." But now his hands are suddenly a bit unresponsive; he's been struggling to untie a knot for ages.

"Ha!" Praris couldn't help but laugh again. "Draco, you look so busy. Do you need my help?"

"No!" Draco suddenly shouted, then quickly lowered his voice, "You know, I'm much better at sports than you."

Prareas looked at Draco, who was struggling with the necklace, with a puzzled expression.

Did Draco really know what he was just saying? He needed to use his athleticism to untie a necklace!

After a flurry of activity, Draco finally breathed a sigh of relief—the necklace was undone. He lifted the two ends of the clasp and walked towards Praris.

Five years have passed, and Prareas's hairstyle has hardly changed, which has made it easier for Draco to put a necklace on her.

He reached around Praris's neck and, in a gesture that looked almost like he was embracing her, placed the necklace around her neck.

As Draco approached Praris, the first thing he noticed was her scent. He knew her scent all too well; it was a blend of potion and herbal aromas.

As he bent down to put the necklace on Praris, he saw her dark hair and fair neck.

He accidentally touched the skin on her neck, but the touch was fleeting, as if he hadn't touched her at all.

He had put his arm around Praris's shoulder before, and he had touched her skin before—his hands count too—but this time the feeling was different, leaving him somewhat unsatisfied.

Draco thought to himself, "No wonder Dad always puts jewelry on Mom himself whenever he buys her some."

“I’ll be lucky,” Prares said to Draco with a smile. “You’ve already put a lucky necklace on me, haven’t you?”

"Look at you, so naive. This is just a Scandinavian pendant." Draco suppressed his delight, saying proudly, "If you like, there will be more later..."

Praris leaned against the balcony railing, watching Draco speak with great interest, listening to him promise some vague and unrealistic future.

She had overheard Nott and Pansy talking about Draco. Draco reportedly once said, "I have no respect for those guys who go around proclaiming their love; they're the most unreliable. True love isn't about words, it's about actions."

Prareas wondered if Draco had ever imagined that he himself would one day be able to talk so eloquently about relationships.

Whether Draco considered it or not is unknown.

But Praris certainly didn't know that when Draco said those words, he was merely putting down his rival Miles Blaitch, who was skilled at sweet talk.

The setting sun cast their shadows long and thin, reflecting on the ancient castle walls.

As the sun sets, the two shadows gradually lean together until they vanish into nothingness in the fading sunlight.

Soon, it was the day before the OWLs exam.

The OWLs exam lasts for two weeks, with theory exams in the morning and practical exams in the afternoon, while the astronomy exam is held in the evening.

—It seems Umbridge also knows that astronomy classes can't be scheduled during the day?

Praris extinguished the torches around the room and buried herself in the covers. As she drifted off to sleep, Pansy suddenly got out of bed.

"What's wrong?" Milison poked his head out and asked.

Pansy touched her wand and chanted, "Flash! I think I forgot the key to breaking the Hiccup Curse!"

"Oh, my dear lady!" Praris sighed. "You should go to sleep first and look at it tomorrow, otherwise you won't get any sleep tonight."

"No!" The flashing fluorescent light illuminated the lower half of her face, making her look sinister and terrifying. "I found it!"

Daphne also poked her head out; she was lying on the bed, only her long blonde hair and fair face were visible.

If it weren't for her hair color, she would really look like a female ghost!

Praris inexplicably recalled Lockhart's masterpiece, "Walking with a Ghost"...

Why would she think about this? At most, she's just living with two female ghosts!

Daphne lowered her voice and said, "Pansy, listen to me, use your books as a pillow under your head. That way, while you're asleep, knowledge will quietly enter your brain!"

"Really? There's such a thing?" In the darkness, Milison's voice revealed a mixture of surprise and regret, as if he regretted not knowing about this good method before.

Praris exclaimed in confusion, "Daphne, who told you that?"

“My sister said so,” Daphne said confidently. “She said that high-concentration knowledge will permeate my low-concentration brain.”

Prarese's lips twitched twice; she was certain that this knowledge must have come from Grace Jones, who came from a Muggle family.

Astoria is using these Muggle jokes to amuse Daphne!

Prarese knew everything, but she dared not expose it. She feared Daphne might go berserk in the middle of the night and engage in domestic violence.

The next day at breakfast, the Slytherin table was very quiet.

The younger students were quite sensible; they rushed to class after finishing their meal. The fifth and seventh graders all wore expressions of grim determination, like soldiers about to go to war.

After breakfast, the students preparing for their exams wandered around the lobby. Each one held a notebook and muttered to themselves, looking like a group of wandering ghosts.

"If I pass the OWLS exam," Pansy raised her hand and vowed, "I'll definitely donate a whole batch of new toilets to Hogwarts after I graduate!"

"Pfft—I thank you on behalf of Myrtle." Praris almost couldn't help but laugh.

Pansy suddenly leaned closer and asked Praris, "Did you give Dracoford the Potion?"

“Of course not!” Praris didn’t know why Pansy would ask that question, but she seemed to genuinely believe it.

Pansy frowned and said, "But when I ran into Draco this morning, he seemed to have an empty bottle of Felix Felicis hanging around his neck!"

Praris's expression froze, and after a long while she finally said, "The...bottle of Felix Ferulic?"

“Mhm!” Pansy nodded.

“I gave him a vial of Felix Felicis,” Prarese said softly, “but only the bottle was real; it was a trick I played on him…and he knew it was fake!”

"Huh? Is this your kind of fun?" Pansy leaned back, saying with disdain, "I really don't understand!"

The fake Felixir incident happened a long time ago, when Prarese was only in third grade. She assumed Draco had thrown the bottle away long ago.

Draco's family has seen all sorts of valuable things; that was just a small vial of potions...

Back then, Praris and Draco were just ordinary classmates who would tease each other.

He gave the pendant, a symbol of good luck, to Praris, but put on a fake bottle of Felix Felicis for himself, heading to the first important test in a wizard's life.

Praris felt a sour, bitter feeling in his heart, like he had drunk a glass of lemonade.

Finally, the students were called into the auditorium.

The long tables in the auditorium had all disappeared, replaced by school desks, on which were placed quill pens, ink bottles, and parchment.

This was not difficult for Praris. She quickly wrote down a textbook-like answer, adding her own understanding of the spell and specific requirements.

She finished writing twenty minutes before the exam ended, and couldn't even think of anything else to add.

Leaving now would disrupt the rhythm of other candidates, and Praris doesn't need this short time.

So she just sat there with her arms crossed and fell asleep.

While she was nodding incessantly with her eyes closed, Professor McGonagall, the examiner, walked over, glanced at her parchment scroll, and then silently left.

Last night, the three of us in the dorm were so anxious that we tossed and turned until midnight before finally falling asleep.

Later, Pansy started asking in a voice barely above a whisper, "Play—is there any—medicine that can make me pass out—?"

Pansy was afraid of disturbing Praris's sleep, but she also hoped that Praris would give her some sleeping pills.

Praris replied with her eyes closed, "Darling, I can knock you out with a knockout."

"Thank you," Pansy said weakly, "but I'll have to rely on myself then!"

When the two hours were up, Professor McGonagall collected all the parchment scrolls.

In the foyer, Praris punched his neck, feeling a slight soreness in the back of his neck from sleeping.

Pansy insisted on comparing answers with Praris, but Praris said in a seemingly helpful tone, "Panpan, let go after the exam! There's a practical exam this afternoon!"

Meanwhile, Millison confidently told Daphne, "I feel great! I'm so hungry from all the testing, let's eat!"