Chapter 396: Tug-of-War

"I think she shouldn't have discovered it." Harry watched Hermione walk away, and while packing up the Invisibility Cloak, said with some luck.

"That's hard to say; maybe she discovered it, just didn't expose us." Zhang Qiu shrugged, "Is the dance party over? Shall we go back and see?"

When they walked to Slughorn's office again, it was already a bit deserted here. Most of the students had left, leaving only Slughorn's old friends, saying goodbye to him one after another.

"Ah, what an unforgettable night, Harry?" Slughorn turned his head and smiled at him, "You haven't left yet?"

"Yes, Professor, we wanted to, uh, come back and see." Harry looked into the room a few times and didn't see Ron and Eve. He guessed the two should have already gone back.

"You were chasing Miss Granger just now, right?" Slughorn put his hand on the back of the chair and asked gossipingly in a frivolous tone.

"Something like that." Harry said vaguely.

"Yes, to be precise, we figured out one thing, and that is Hermione doesn't like McLaggen at all." Zhang Qiu said unsparingly, "But it's a pity that McLaggen himself seems unable to understand this kind of polite rejection, and Hermione doesn't want to say words that are too direct and impolite."

"Haha, so that's how it is." Slughorn pretended to be very interested in this, "McLaggen this child, have to find an opportunity to teach him."

"It's really great that you are willing to help a little bit; oh, I think we should leave." Harry had no mood to continue chatting with the professor, "Thank you again for the party you hosted; we had a great time."

"Harry?" Slughorn hesitated and said, "Can I, ask you something?"

At this moment, the people in the office were basically gone. Slughorn was clutching a handkerchief in his left hand; he looked a bit nervous.

"What is it? Professor?"

"I'm just a bit curious, did you deliberately choose the vampire makeup to attend this... masquerade?"

"Let's lay our cards on the table, old man." Zhang Qiu took over the topic unceremoniously, "Kamen Rider is not a topic that is taboo; every upright person has the opportunity to use that power openly and honestly. And you and Lucius, I don't care what tricks you are playing with vampires, that has nothing to do with Harry!"

Slughorn stiffened; his round face seemed to sink. The old professor licked his lips and asked hoarsely: "Speaking this way, however, can I ask how Harry transforms? And what does he look like after transforming?"

"Did Lucius ask you to ask?" Harry looked at him with some confusion, "But to tell you the truth, I don't know either."

"Sorry, that was me saying something inappropriate." Slughorn wiped the sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief, "I won't bring up this topic again; I hope it didn't make you feel offended, sorry!"

Seeing there was nothing to talk about, Harry took the opportunity to leave the office. When he closed the door, he was still thinking in his heart, why did they care about his form after transforming? Not to mention that he couldn't transform yet.

As soon as he thought that he couldn't use such a good thing as the Rider system, that feeling of regret began to surge in his heart again.

"You will become a Rider; I believe in this point." Zhang Qiu suddenly said, "As long as you want, you can do it; it's just that the desire is not strong enough for the time being, not enough to break through Occlumency."

"Yes, as long as you have that desire to protect others, you have the qualifications to become a hero; magic is such a magical thing."

Harry glanced at her, then said with a smile: "Are you comforting me?"

"No, I'm stating a fact." Zhang Qiu said seriously, "You also know about Agito; Mr. Jinshang Xiangyi's will can even overcome the lack of a belt; I believe Occlumency is not an insurmountable obstacle either."

"Alright, I will remember this conclusion." Before parting, Harry said so. But he wasn't in a hurry to have to transform; if it was a Rider, Ron was enough. In Harry's heart, what should be more important was to come up with a plan to use magic to deal with Riders; Britain should have this core technology.

When he walked into the common room, Harry noticed Eve sitting on a sofa chair in front of the fireplace, but Ron was not by her side.

"Oh, how does it feel tonight?" Harry greeted her casually.

"I think you should persuade Ron." Eve said, "He clearly still likes Hermione; I easily saw this point, really, the look in one's eyes when liking someone can't be hidden."

"But he said he already—"

"He lied, Harry!" Eve said firmly, "You don't want to suspect, but he just lied! He was afraid you would mock him, or, he was afraid this feeling would add trouble to you; in short, he must like Hermione, just didn't want you to know."

"Alright!" Harry sighed heavily. Judging from the current situation, what was more troublesome was that Hermione seemed not to like Ron anymore.

"How about this, after you go back, just ask him, say, do you still like Hermione?" Eve came up with an idea, "He will say, I don't like her anymore."

"At this time, you should say this: It's okay to fool your brothers, but don't fool yourself. It doesn't matter if you fool your brothers; just laugh it off. But I hope you don't take it seriously yourself."

"Think about it, she won't have any intersection with you anymore; she might make friends with anyone except you, and might even show things other than everything you know about her. She will laugh, cry, and also be sad, possessing an ordinary but happy life. But you, except for having seen her appearance, can see nothing. She might even pick a desirable husband from her friends in the future; she will bloom every side of herself wantonly in front of him, she will stand on tiptoe to kiss his lips in front of him, will bury herself in his broad chest and act like a spoiled child, will puff up her cheeks and pretend to be angry."

"But you can feel nothing. Can't feel the temperature when hugging her and the charming hair fragrance rushing into the chest, can't feel her gentle whispers in your ear after every entanglement, and can't feel the fun of growing old together and having children and grandchildren with her."

"Really, we are all brothers; it's not shameful to turn your face in front of brothers. If you still like her, just tell the truth; brothers will help you think of ways, all are possible. What's to be afraid of? Just afraid that you will still be stubborn at that time, saying I didn't like her in the first place, then brothers will believe it if they believe it, and it will pass if they don't take it seriously, and then you will secretly wipe tears in the dead of night. Really, there's no need for this; what can't be said to brothers?"

Harry wrote furiously in his notebook, and at the end, he said emotionally: "Where did you learn this; this is really well said."

"Tom taught me." Eve shrugged.

Harry blinked, and finally decided not to argue, just treat it as Voldemort atoning for his sins.

Afterward, he walked into the dormitory, patted Ron's shoulder, and asked: "To tell the truth, brother, are you still thinking about Hermione?"

"Sigh, of course," Ron said with a sad face, "I know I still can't forget her as soon as I see her—you say if I hadn't met that unlucky white-haired one at that time, would Hermione and I really have a different ending?"

Harry's big paragraph he just wrote down was stifled back alive.

"What can be done now? Hermione must have started to hate me, and I guess there's not much possibility with her." Ron said with his hands behind his head, "I'll just pursue Eve; regardless of whether it can succeed or not, it's somewhat helpful to my strength, and it's better than Marietta anyway."

"You can't have this attitude." Harry was a bit unhappy; he didn't want Eve to be with someone who didn't love her, "Hermione actually doesn't hate you; you can't give up on yourself. Think about it, what if she is with McLaggen, right."

That part about tiptoeing and broad chest, Harry couldn't remember clearly at this moment. He could only wave his hand, then skip those descriptions and directly throw out that question: "If it really reaches that point, will you be reconciled? Will you regret not doing something today?"

"I won't regret it." Ron suddenly smiled relievedly, "What I want to do is to bring happiness to everyone; regardless of success or failure, I won't regret giving up a girl I actually like a bit at this moment."

Quite unexpectedly, Harry didn't doubt at all whether he was being stubborn at this moment; he felt Ron seemed to really think so.

"I remember Zhang Qiu mentioned this matter last year; she asked, do I want to be with Hermione? Or do I want to be a hero for once? At that time, maybe she already knew about Kamen Riders." Ron stared at his bed curtains, his eyes a bit unfocused, "Masked, Rider, yes, why do you think heroes have to wear masks?"

"To protect their family?" Harry remembered where he heard this conclusion.

"Is it? I don't know; I instead feel that the mask is to hide tears." Ron chattered, "When I transformed for the first time, it was the day I drank Felix Felicis; I thought of it inexplicably."

"Is there a possibility that we are just being pushed by fate, at first just forced to pick up this power, and when we truly understand the meaning of power that day, we might have already lost a lot, a lot..."

Harry really didn't know how he associated these; was it because he drank a little fruit wine at the party? Or was it because he blamed himself for bringing up the topic of Hermione?

But he didn't interrupt Ron, because Harry felt that what he said was actually not wrong. How much did they pay in the process of burying Voldemort? How much did they lose? And in a confused future, for the sake of dealing with which enemy, what would they lose again? ===== CHAPTER 397 =====