Chapter 396: Tug-of-War

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

"That's hard to say, maybe she discovered it, but just didn't expose us." Zhang Qiu shrugged. "Is the ball 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, who were leaving one after another to say goodbye to him.

"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. He didn't see Luo En 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 gossip in a frivolous tone.

"Something like that." Harry said vaguely.

"Yes, to be precise, we figured out one thing, that is Hermione doesn't like McLaggen at all." Zhang Qiu said unceremoniously. "But it's a pity that McLaggen himself seems not to understand this kind of tactful refusal, 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, has to find an opportunity to teach him."

"It's very good that you are willing to help a little. Oh, I think we should leave." Harry was in no mood to continue chatting with the professor. "Thank you again for hosting the party, we had a great time."

"Harry?" Slughorn said hesitantly. "Can I, ask you something?"

At this moment, the people in the office were basically gone. Slughorn was holding a handkerchief in his left hand, and 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 ball?"

"Let's lay our cards on the table, old man." Zhang Qiu took over the conversation quite bluntly. "Kamen Rider is not a topic shrouded in mystery; every upright person has the opportunity to use that power openly and honestly. And as for you and Ma Erfu, I don't care what kind of tricks you are playing with the vampires—that has nothing to do with Harry!"

Slughorn froze, his round face seemed to sink. The old professor licked his lips and asked hoarsely: "According to this, however, can I ask how Harry transforms? What does he look like after transformation?"

"Did Lu Xiusi ask you to ask?" Harry looked at him with some confusion. "But to be honest, 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, hope it didn't make you feel offended, sorry!"

Seeing that 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 transformation? Not to mention that he couldn't transform yet.

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

"You will become a Rider, I believe 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 qualification to become a hero, magic is such a magical thing."

Harry glanced at her, then smiled and said: "Are you comforting me?"

"No, I am stating a fact." Zhang Qiu said seriously. "You also know about Agito, Mr. Shouichi's will can even overcome the lack of a belt, I believe Occlumency is not an obstacle that is difficult to overcome."

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

When he walked into the common room, Harry noticed Eve sitting in an armchair in front of the fireplace, but Luo En was not by her side.

"Oh, how do you feel tonight?" Harry greeted her casually.

"I think you should persuade Luo En." Eve said. "He clearly still likes Hermione, I can easily see this, really, the eyes of 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 is afraid you will mock him, or, he is afraid this feeling will add trouble to you. In short, he must like Hermione, just doesn't want you to know."

"Alright!" Harry sighed heavily. Judging from the current situation, the more troublesome thing is that Hermione seems not to like Luo En anymore.

"Like this, after you go back, 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 lie to your buddies, just don't lie to yourself. It doesn't matter if your buddies are lied to by you, just laugh it off. But I hope you don't take it seriously yourself."

"Think about it, she will no longer have any intersection with you, she might make friends with anyone except you, and might also show things other than everything you know about her. She will laugh, cry, and be sad, possessing an ordinary but happy life. But you, except for the appearance you have seen, can see nothing. She might choose a husband from her friends later, 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 the gentle whispers in the ear after every entanglement, and can't feel the fun of growing old with her and having children and grandchildren."

"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, buddies will help you think of a way, it's all possible. What's to be afraid of, is that you are still stubborn at that time, saying I didn't like her in the first place, then buddies will believe it if they believe it, and it will pass if they don't take it seriously, and then you 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 care, just treat it as Voldemort's atonement.

Subsequently, he walked into the dormitory, patted Luo En on the shoulder, and asked: "To be honest, buddy, are you still thinking about Hermione?"

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

The long paragraph Harry had just written down was held back alive.

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

"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 yourself up. Think about it, if she is with McLaggen, right."

That part about standing on tiptoe and broad chest, Harry couldn't remember it at the 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." Luo En 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 Luo En seemed to really feel this way.

"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 once? At that time, perhaps she already knew about Kamen Riders." Luo En stared at his bed curtain, his eyes a bit unfocused. "Mask, Rider, right, why do you think a hero has to wear a mask?"

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

"Is it? I don't know, I instead feel that the mask is to hide the tears." Luo En rambled. "When I first transformed, 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, 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 Hermione's topic?

But he didn't interrupt Luo En, 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 which enemy would they fight, and what would they lose? ===== CHAPTER 397 =====