HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 32 A Good Relationship Amidst Bickering

"Harry, why don't you ask me about Nicolas Flamel?"

"Hermione said she had seen Nicolas Flamel in the library before, so she didn't think to ask you, but now that book is nowhere to be found, and the trail has gone cold."

Harry, looking dejected, hugged Draco tightly, resting his head on Draco's shoulder and his arms firmly around Draco's waist. The two sat on the grass by the Black Lake, leaning against a large tree.

A gust of wind blew by, and Draco's hair fluttered, obscuring Harry's eyes. The intense scent of roses wafted over, and he closed his eyes, burying his face in Draco's hair, his nostrils filled with Draco's fragrance.

Draco jerked at Harry's breathing, swatting away the mischievous head. "Stop fidgeting and get down to business. Your current investigation concludes that Quirrell is trying to steal something, but we don't know what it is yet. The item is in Cerberus's classroom, and it's related to Nicolas Flamel, right?"

"Yeah, I don't know why, but it feels like there's always someone preventing us from investigating this matter."

"Didn't you think of telling the professors, or Dumbledore, that we're still children? Isn't it absurd for children to defeat adults? This isn't a fairy tale."

Harry wasn't angry when his head was slapped away; he continued to hug the man and listen attentively. "But Quirrell is a professor too, Little Dragon, please help me, please!"

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you, stop fooling around." Draco gathered his thoughts and continued, "Last month, Dad wrote to tell me not to run around lately. He got word that Nicolas Flamel ran away after meeting with Dumbledore. Father guesses they made some kind of deal, most likely the Philosopher's Stone."

"If the information you received is true, then there's a high probability that the Philosopher's Stone is under the trapdoor. If something happens to the Philosopher's Stone, Nicolas Flamel will definitely die."

Draco and Harry were both stunned upon reaching this conclusion. "I'm going to tell Dad," they said. "We need to keep an eye on Quirrell."

"Okay, Harry, I'll have Dad keep an eye on Nicolas Flamel, and you guys keep an eye on Quirrell."

Draco felt he had arranged things exceptionally well, with people watching on both sides just in case, and he leaned comfortably against Harry's chest.

"What do you mean 'you guys'? Aren't you coming with me? Draco, are you disgusted with me?" Harry pitifully turned Draco around and hugged him. "Why are you being so particular? Don't you like me anymore?"

"Harry, what's going on in your head? Can't you think about what it looks like for a Slytherin to be with three stupid lions like you?"

Harry said he couldn't hear or understand, buried his head in Draco's arms, and pretended to be asleep.

"Harry, what are you dawdling for in Potions class? Snape will deduct points if he catches you!" Ron ran quickly, grabbed Harry, and rushed towards the classroom.

"Dragon, we made a deal, I..." Before he could finish speaking, he ran off. Draco rolled his eyes, smoothed out the wrinkles on his clothes, and slowly walked to the wall. He tapped the third brick with his wand, and a secret passage appeared before him.

Emerging from the secret passage, they found themselves in the Potions classroom. After sitting down and setting out their books and notebooks, Harry and Ron, panting, ran to the classroom door.

"Gryffindor students lose 10 points for being late to class."

"Professor, Malfoy is late too, why don't you deduct his points..." Ron shouted, pointing at Draco's seat. He turned around and saw Draco in his seat, and immediately shut up, but it was too late. "Mr. Weasley slandered a classmate, deduct five points, three days of confinement, please appear at the cellar door on time."

"Trying to drag others down with you when you're late yourself—is this what Gryffindor is all about?"

"Can't they have any sense of time?"

"We don't have the Academy Cup again this year, and the Weasley family lost the most."

These words felt like slaps to Ron's face. His face flushed red as he sat down next to Harry. "Harry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk about Malfoy. I was just upset."

"Ron, you shouldn't apologize to me since you didn't hurt me. You should apologize to Draco." Harry wanted to say that if Draco hadn't dragged him along with the dragon, they might not have been late.

Friends should be tolerant of each other, but Draco and Ron are not friends, so he cannot accept the apology on Draco's behalf. He and Ron agreed to meet Draco together after class.

"Five points deducted from Gryffindor. Is class for you to chat idly?"

Harry and Ron felt like the sky was falling. They had already lost 20 points before the class was even halfway over. Hermione tried her best to answer questions every time to cover for them, but she ended up losing more points than she gained in a whole class.

They slowly raised their heads to look at Hermione. The little witch had her back to the two troublemakers; she didn't want to pay any attention to them anymore. They were too much and didn't care about the collective honor at all.

Severus was very pleased with the number of Gryffindor points he had deducted that day. He still had three days of hard work processing herbs. This good mood lasted until the homework was collected, when a simple hemostatic agent was boiled into poison.

"Those who have obtained T and D should go to the cellar and redo them themselves. It's best to come early if you don't want me to contact McGonagall."

The last sentence was clearly addressed to Gryffindor; the Slytherin snake would not bring shame to his house, much less get a low grade in the Headmaster's class.

"Draco, shall we go over there? Ron has something to tell you." As soon as class ended, Harry quickly walked over to Draco, took his hand, and after seeing Draco nod, the three of them, along with Ron, walked into an empty corridor.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy, I shouldn't have said that in front of the professor."

"Hmph, I won't bother with you, as long as you don't provoke me."

Harry clung to Draco, not getting involved in their feuds, and of course, he was very happy to see his friends not arguing.

In the afternoon, they agreed to exchange information, so Draco and Harry went to reserve the classroom while Ron went to find Hermione and meet them at the entrance of the Great Hall.

Ron asked many people but no one saw her. He suddenly remembered that Hermione often spent the whole day in the library, so he ran to the library and sure enough, Hermione was in the corner where they usually sat.

"Hermione, Harry and Draco have found a clue. Let's meet at the Great Hall entrance."

Upon hearing that there was a clue, Hermione immediately packed her things, stood up, picked up her homework, and headed towards the Great Hall. She didn't want to deal with people who didn't respect her hard work.

Ron followed Hermione helplessly, unsure of what he could do to get her to forgive him.

The two walked for a long time, one after the other. When they saw the Great Hall in the distance, Ron ran in front of Hermione and held out his hand to block her. "I'm sorry, Hermione, I shouldn't have caused trouble and lost so many points."

Hearing his apology, Hermione reluctantly forgave him, saying, "We'll see how you behave," before tossing her hair and walking away smugly.

"Draco's plan is excellent. Perhaps we can try moving the Philosopher's Stone to a safe place. Many people believe it's in the Headmaster's hands. What do you think?"

"Miss Granger, we are children, we should talk to adults when we have problems." This was an unbelievable statement from Draco.

"The four little wizards' plan is pretty good, but your guard isn't up to par." This was Emeric, who was eavesdropping.

"If you promise me one thing, I won't tell the professors that their students want to go out at night. Isn't that a great deal?"

Fearing that Draco would be put in a difficult position, Harry took the initiative to speak with Emeric, "Brother Emeric, what do you want to do? Tell us first and then we'll decide whether to agree or not."

Emeric looked at the unyielding Harry and felt a strange sense of relief; the timid, shy boy who used to follow him around at the start of the school year had grown up.

"Take me with you on your adventures. I'm not interested in the Philosopher's Stone; I'm curious about Dumbledore's defenses."

The four little ones chattered and discussed it for a while before deciding to bring him along, at least for safety.