Chapter 378: Draco's Evasiveness

"Just consider it finished," Luo En said, squirming. "Let's go to Diagon Alley to buy our books first."

"That works too. We can research the Knight matter after school starts," Zhang Qiu said with a sigh of relief. "Let's head out. I see the driver is already waiting at the entrance."

Harry ran upstairs to call his sister. When he came back down, he noticed Luo En's expression changing repeatedly.

Along the way, Harry steered the conversation, and the group mainly discussed school matters. Ivy was curious about who would be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Zhang Qiu was looking forward to Hagrid's return. Only Luo En looked out the window, appearing uninterested. Harry guessed he was likely worried about the homework he hadn't finished yet.

The car stopped slowly on Charing Cross Road. The Muggle driver couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron, so he could only wait on the spot for them to return.

The Leaky Cauldron was still noisy. After Harry walked in, the crowd suddenly cheered.

"Just passing through, gentlemen, I'm just passing through," Harry said, waving his hand helplessly.

They shook off the crowd of onlookers, went to the small courtyard in the back, and tapped the brick wall with their wands.

Diagon Alley was slightly different; a few new restaurants or cafes had opened. Harry glanced over briefly, then strode toward the robe shop.

"I feel like last year's school robes are a bit short, and Luo En should be the same," he said. "You two don't seem to have changed much, but girls never dislike new clothes."

"It's a pity they're just school robes," Ivy pouted.

As soon as they walked into the shop, they heard a familiar voice coming from behind a row of blue and green robes.

"... I think we need to add a bit of blue-gold. You know, Mother, I am no longer who I was."

After a series of clucking sounds similar to a hen hatching eggs, a young man stepped out from behind the clothing rack with a triumphant gait. He was wearing a beautiful dark green robe, with dark gold pins attached to the edges and cuffs. He strode to the mirror and examined himself carefully.

A moment later, he noticed Harry and his group.

"Ah, what a coincidence," Draco said in a pretentious tone. "Friends, I'm so glad to see you here."

"Is he usually like this?" Luo En looked at Ivy suspiciously; the latter hadn't said few good things about Draco.

"Doesn't look like it..." Harry muttered. "Draco, you look extremely happy. Did you encounter any good news recently? Is it because your father was promoted—I haven't had a chance to congratulate you yet."

Draco's gaze shifted to Luo En. He seemed to suddenly remember that he was now the son of a Department Head talking to the son of the Minister, and his tone instantly became much more gentle. "Ah, yes, sorry, I got a bit carried away. But it is indeed a very happy thing. We have caught up with an unprecedented great change in the Wizarding World..."

"You aren't talking about the Knight System, are you?" Zhang Qiu's eyes widened sharply.

"Ah?" Draco gave a sudden start. In an instant, he returned to the humble appearance he had last year. "Yes, I was just saying, how could Harry not know about this... May I, um, ask privately, what kind of bottle are you suited for?"

"Bottle? Do you have a belt?" Zhang Qiu stared at him with a scrutinizing gaze. "Who gave it to you?"

"A bit of the Malfoy family's connections," Draco said, feigning modesty. "This matter is currently the talk of the upper echelons, so my father got me one."

No one showed an expression of belief.

Draco looked elsewhere with a bit of a guilty conscience, then retreated in a panic. "Getting off track, sigh, we can chat in detail later. Now I have to go to, uh—my mother is waiting."

"Perhaps this is the reason Master and the Junior Master are arguing," Zhang Qiu whispered. "They have some disagreements regarding the circulation of the Knight System."

"He sounds too fake," Ivy said, picking faults from the perspective of a passerby. "If that belt were really something good, Lucius would have gotten one for himself before giving it to Draco, and he would definitely have presented one to the Minister as well."

"That's actually not the case. I remember the Junior Master mentioning that using the belt requires mobilizing sufficient emotions," Zhang Qiu explained. "The stronger the emotion, the stronger the combat power. He has a danger level classification for this, and if the level is below 3.0, one cannot use the Knight System."

"Indeed, adult emotions are much flatter compared to those of young boys and girls," Harry nodded. He felt this was somewhat similar to the Patronus Charm.

"Sorry, children, kept you waiting," Madam Malkin walked out enthusiastically, while Draco gave them an awkward smile, then fled, pulling his mother along.

After they bought their books, they took a turn around Diagon Alley and also took a look at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Fred and George's business was quite booming; they tirelessly researched and improved various magical tricks, which were very popular.

"Oh, Harry, there's something I think you need to know," Fred said to him quietly. "Recently, people have been coming to us to buy Wei Wei Silai fireworks."

"What's wrong with that?"

"There's nothing wrong with that, but they asked to buy more powerful fireworks, which is very strange," Fred said in a low voice. "We think you should let the Order of the Phoenix keep an eye on it."

"I will report it," Harry nodded and returned to the crowd.

He understood very well why the two brothers didn't report this to the Ministry of Magic. For one, they were worried that their original stock of fireworks would be confiscated; for another, the Ministry of Magic was currently busy dividing into factions and probably didn't have time to pay attention to these undercurrents.

Just as they walked out of the joke shop's door, they saw someone standing at the corner. It was Draco.

"Oh, Harry, sorry to bother you, but there's something I want to clarify immediately," he asked in a low voice. "You know the origin of the belt, don't you?"

Harry looked at Zhang Qiu.

"This should be my Junior Master's invention," she said. "This shouldn't have leaked out. Where did your belt come from?"

"I'm not sure. It was given by a mysterious person, but Father seems to trust him very much," Draco said, rubbing his face with some embarrassment. "Could it be that the Malfoy family has been drawn into some vortex of your Tianchao?"

"It's fine, maybe Master has other arrangements," Zhang Qiu shook her head gently.

"Then I'll keep holding onto it?" Draco said with a bit of luck. "Having a bit of self-preservation ability is always good."

"Yes, it's hard for you to have this talent," Zhang Qiu gave him a flat look.

"That's good, see you another day." The smile returned to Draco's face. "Perhaps we can spar sometime."

The young master walked away with that same arrogant gait again. Harry ruminated on Draco's performance for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "A belt—does it really make him that smug?"

"Yes, this is the confidence that the Knight System brings to people," Zhang Qiu answered very seriously.

"He asked Harry what kind of bottle he is suited for. Is it that for different people, the elements in that bottle are also different?" Harboring a desire to try the belt, Luo En couldn't help but think.

"Why don't you just ask Draco directly?" Ivy complained. "This sounds like a quite complicated matter. How can it be explained clearly by beating around the bush?"

"No, I'm worried this is also some kind of arrangement by Master," Zhang Qiu said, biting her lip. "He hopes to let Luo En and Draco fight each other, because Knights get stronger the more they fight."

"There's such a saying?"

"After every transformation and battle, the emotions during the battle will slightly remain in the energy bottle and will resonate with you during the next transformation, making your emotions more intense. This is the origin of the saying that one gets stronger the more one fights. And it is said that after emotions fill the energy bottle, it will become something that belongs exclusively to you. The Junior Master calls it a 'Fullbottle'."

"Wow, do you know it so clearly?" Harry looked at Zhang Qiu cautiously. According to her, it seemed that everyone in Tianchao tacitly agreed that it was Luo En who would use this belt, which made him feel a bit strange.

"Yes, I have entered the Junior Master's memory before," Zhang Qiu mentioned this again. "So when this was mentioned just now, I remembered it."

"So you don't want to show weakness in front of Draco?" Ivy asked, confused. "Are you afraid you won't be able to beat him?"

"Yes, I can't lose to anyone, especially not a Malfoy," Luo En said indignantly. "Once I figure out how to use this belt, I must go to his house personally and beat him until he's looking for his teeth."

"Be careful, Luo En," Zhang Qiu reminded him. "You must know what you are fighting for. Negative emotions are not recognized by the Knight System."

"That's one thing. There's another question: do you know who gave Malfoy his belt? Is there any factional struggle within Tianchao?" Harry asked.

"First of all, it's certain that there is no struggle within us; everyone listens to Master Xuanjun," Zhang Qiu waved her hand. "Then we might suspect the identity of that mysterious person, which requires waiting a bit. I need some time to figure out what exactly my Master's plan is."

"The time you mentioned refers to—" Harry's gaze shifted to her pocket. "You need to enter your Junior Master's memory again to understand what he is thinking? Or if necessary, write a letter to ask Master Xuanjun directly?"

"Because thinking from this perspective, if Master Xuanjun were to have any schemes, why would he tacitly allow you to give the belt to us? What role does he hope we play in this?" Harry began to speculate on Ge Xuan's intentions without hesitation. Because in his understanding, since the Knight System was a very powerful epoch-making weapon, Ge Xuan shouldn't have handed such a thing to children who were only in their sixth year.

"I can only say I will figure these things out as soon as possible," Zhang Qiu fell silent.

"Don't tell Draco," Harry tapped Ivy, who was watching the fun without thinking it was a big deal. "Let's go back first." ===== CHAPTER 379 =====