HP North Star's Radiance

This wasn't the first time Draco had gotten so close to Praris, but this time it felt different.

He thought he was a little nervous. Perhaps it was because he and Praris were wearing formal attire instead of magic robes, or perhaps it was because Praris had let his hair down...

Draco thought again, her skin is so white, it seems to reflect light in the lantern light.

Draco also thought that her hair was very long and she had a faint fragrance—wait, it smelled a bit like herbs or a potion.

He was thinking haphazardly, so much so that the thoughts in his head were a jumbled mess.

He rambled on about random topics, to the point that he couldn't remember what he had just said.

He was jumping around so haphazardly that he didn't realize that Praris was leading him in the jump.

He looked down at Praris's bright red lips and suddenly felt a little dizzy.

"Are you tired?" Praris suddenly asked.

Draco finally came to his senses, but he had already nodded and was led by her to sit down at a table next to the dance floor.

Praris poured him a butterbeer: "Your face is so red, are you too hot? Why don't you take off your jacket?"

Praris issues an instruction, and he executes it.

So he took off his tuxedo, revealing the shirt underneath, then he drank a whole glass of butterbeer, and then he ate some snacks.

Praris thought, "That's rare. He didn't say a word against me."

Draco thought... Draco wasn't thinking anything; he was embarrassed by his own thoughts.

After Draco finally calmed down, he noticed that Praris was looking at other people again.

“He is Durmstrang’s champion!” Ron Weasley snapped at Hermione. “You’re dancing with Harry’s rival…you’re befriending the enemy!”

Hermione looked both surprised and angry, and retorted vehemently.

The two started arguing, while Praris, sitting next to them, had already watched half the show while eating cookies.

Prareas looked extremely focused, and Draco wanted to invite her to dance again, but he didn't know how to get her to look at him instead of her being so engrossed in watching others argue.

Draco mustered his courage and poked her arm, but Praris slapped him down with her own hand: "Stop messing around, I see the key point!"

"Don't call him Waikiki!"

Hermione finally couldn't take it anymore. She jumped up, turned around angrily, and disappeared into the crowd.

Chapter 90 Discussion

Praris was still watching the Gryffindors' antics.

Krum from Durmstrang has arrived; it seems he's here to see Hermione.

Draco looked down at their clasped hands. After a while, he couldn't help but wonder: Does this count as holding hands?

If he had to, he hoped Weasley and Krum would talk a little longer.

If that doesn't count, he still hopes Weasley and Krum can talk a little longer.

Unfortunately, Weasley's good show for Prader came to an end quickly. Prader, looking rather unsatisfied, released his grip on Draco.

Praris sneered, “People always save their polite words for strangers, but treat those they care about like the wind and rain.”

Draco was looking at his own hands, and he felt that he was also somewhat unsatisfied.

Love blocked the ears of the lover, so he couldn't hear what Praris had just said.

Draco asked, looking completely bewildered, "What snow? You want to go for a walk?"

"You should get some fresh air too, to clear your head a bit," Praris glared at him, not too hard, not too soft.

Prareas's dress was rather thin, so Draco draped his robe over Prareas's shoulders.

The front door to the foyer was wide open, and after taking only a few steps, they saw Weasley and his good friend Potter, who had just been arguing with their friends.

These two men have one thing in common: neither of them has a female companion.

Draco, with a smug look on his face, whispered to Praris, "Some people are only interested in arguing, so it's no wonder they lose their girlfriends."

Praris gestured for silence.

“It’s become clearer and clearer over time.” That was Karkaroff’s voice. “I can’t help but worry, I can’t deceive myself—”

"Go ahead and run if you want," the professor said impatiently. "That's it—I'll make excuses for you. But I'll stay here."

Then, they witnessed a thrilling scene of the professor catching couples in a relationship. He used a spell to blast out several couples hiding in the flower bushes and casually deducted ten points from each of them.

Fortunately, there were no Slytherins in it.

Unfortunately, Weasley and Porter were quite assertive, stating that they were simply there for a walk.

Once everyone had left, Praris calmly emerged from behind the Christmas tree.

"They're eavesdropping on Professor Snape's conversation!" Draco exclaimed, puzzled. "Why don't we expose them?"

Praris glanced at him dismissively: "Do you think the professor doesn't know?"

Draco said, "That—"

“That’s not important, at least not to the professor,” Praris said. “So it doesn’t matter if we heard it. Use your brain, we exposed them, and then what? Didn’t we hear the professor’s conversation too?”

"Why not do things that benefit both yourself and others? For things that harm others for personal gain, you must weigh the long-term gains and losses. Let saints do things that harm themselves for the benefit of others. As for things that harm others without benefiting yourself, consider whether they are worthwhile." Prareus said to Draco, "I taught you this in first grade. Let's go!"

Prareas was referring to Draco's insistence on going out at night in his first year of high school, determined to personally testify about the Norwegian Spinosaurus.

Since the professor knew everything but didn't punish the two Gryffindors, it means there was no need for him to come forward and testify.

They returned to the Great Hall, and Draco once again extended an invitation to Praris, but Praris declined.

“I’m sleepy, Draco.” Praris was still draped in Draco’s tuxedo robe. “When you’re sleepy, you can’t remember how to jump—trust me, it’s for your own good.”

When they returned to the common room, the hall was still mostly empty. Most people were still enacting romantic scenes in the Hogwarts Great Hall and other places.

Prareus handed Draco his tuxedo robe, which Draco took somewhat listlessly.

Just then, Prareas suddenly opened her hand. Draco's collar chain was hanging from her palm.

Praris laughed and said, "Mind? Keep it as a souvenir."

Draco was taken aback: "No—I mean, it's yours now. But—"

However, lapels are generally only worn by men.

Praris clenched and then released his fist. In a few seconds, the lapel chain transformed into a thin silver bracelet: "Goodnight."

Draco waved to her while holding his clothes: "Goodnight."

Daphne returned just as Praris changed into her pajamas and got into bed.

She said with some emotion, "Plares, a man can't just have a face; he also needs a mouth."

It seems that Theodore's reclusiveness affected Daphne's ball experience.

Pansy and Millison were the last to return; they got back at midnight, presumably because the band had finished their shift.

Millison danced wildly all night. She and Derian were both incredibly energetic, and their dancing was so wild that it was almost unbearable.

Even after she returned from dancing, she was still overly excited.

Pansy was somewhat surprised to see that Praris was already getting ready for bed.

She leaned closer to Praris and whispered, "I thought you two—"

Praris laughed and said to Pansy, "Pan, people are always passionate when they pursue something, but once they get it, they feel it's nothing special."

Although Draco still loves Quidditch, he wasn't as passionate about it as he was the previous year after Prares helped him win the championship.

Prarese's emotions led her to accept Draco's invitation, but her rationality made her know when to stop.

The last light in the dormitory went out, and Praris gradually drifted off to sleep.

“You’re right,” Hermione said to Prairie. “You’d never guess, we ran into Bagman, who lied to us and said the goblins were looking for Crouch, but we all knew they were looking for him. He definitely owes the goblins money!”

Praris nodded listlessly: "And then?"

“But you might be suspecting the wrong person! The problem might be Crouch!” Hermione said thoughtfully. “He hasn’t shown up in public for so many days. Percy said he was sick and instructed him to cover for him in a letter. Yet his name appears at school in the middle of the night.”

"What does this mean? It means he's not sick at all! He might have done this before, showing up at school in the middle of the night and throwing name slips into the Goblet of Fire!"

“Name?” Praris sat up straight. “You mean, name?”

Hermione had been so focused on analyzing Crouch's suspicious behavior that she forgot about the Marauder's Map! She could only vaguely reply, "Some magical gadgets, you know, that's nothing special."

“I find this rather strange,” Praris said leisurely. “Alright, you saw Barty Crouch’s name appear at the school. So, where is he going, showing up at Hogwarts in the middle of the night?”

“Uh, at school,” Hermione said hesitantly.

Praris rested his chin on his hand: “Where, I mean, which place? Let me guess, the headmaster’s office? The Gryffindor common room? The Slytherin common room? The Potions office—oh, I mean Professor Snape’s office. Yes, it’s normal that you don’t want me to know.”

Hermione sighed. "Harry and the others think Crouch is suspicious of Professor Snape. They say that Moody said Dumbledore hired Professor Snape to give him a second chance. This means Professor Snape made mistakes before."

"Did Porter run into Moody during his nighttime stroll?" Praris asked.

“How do you know—well, you always do.” Hermione said with a headache. “I suspect Crouch, but Harry and the others prefer to believe it was Professor Snape. I don’t think so; he saved Harry before.”

Praris sneered, "Luckily, there's at least one person among you who isn't blinded by prejudice."

“But he can be really awful sometimes, and it’s not entirely Harry’s fault.” Hermione instinctively defended her friend.

Prarese ignored Hermione's words.

She closed her eyes and tapped her fingers on the table.

This is very troublesome, extremely so.

By second grade, Ginny had too many flaws; after all, the diary was manipulating a naive little girl.

As Prarese said before, the perpetrators of a conspiracy cannot be separated from the conspiracy itself.

As someone outside the conspiracy to frame Potter, she lacked a lot of crucial information. Without actually being involved in the events, it's extremely difficult to learn the truth through mere retelling.

Crouch, Moody, Professor Snape, Potter...

"Hermione, why did Moody discuss the professor with Potter while he was out for a walk?" Praris suddenly asked.

Hermione shook her head: "No, that wasn't Moody who told Harry, it was Moody who said it to Snape. You know, Moody used to be an Auror. Moody suspected Snape, so he used these words to test him."

Praris raised an eyebrow: "So, while Moody and the professor were talking, Potter was watching from the sidelines—wearing an invisibility cloak?"