Chapter 450: Great Dragon

"Can I also?" Pan Xi blushed, somewhat uneasy. "Am I... worth it?"

"What's wrong with this?" Luo En waved his hand carelessly.

Harry smiled encouragingly at her, then said: "It doesn't matter, you can ask Ma Erfu, perhaps he will give the answer."

Harry and Luo En returned to the dormitory, packed their things slightly, and came to the library again. Zhang Qiu was still sitting in the original position, flipping through that book about flower language.

"Qiu, we met Pan Xi today, but I feel something is wrong," Harry asked in a very low voice after sitting down. "Do you think she and Ma Erfu are true love?"

"Definitely not," Zhang Qiu said decisively. "Ma Erfu's destined true love is Greengrass. Pan Xi just happened to be by his side in his student days."

"What? Didn't we discuss last year that we absolutely must not let Malfoy get Greengrass?" Luo En asked in surprise.

"In fact, what we are doing is helpful to Pan Xi. If there was no interference of fate, based on their personalities, I think Ma Erfu and Pan Xi would eventually enter the hall of marriage," Zhang Qiu paused here and revealed an inscrutable smile. "But what it will be like after marriage, and how many lovers each will have, is hard to say."

"But, their relationship looks very good at the moment. Pan Xi constantly helps Ma Erfu, making up for his social loopholes, and Ma Erfu is also determined to guard Pan Xi, and even the Dragon Bottle has become half golden," Harry said. "I just heard Pan Xi doubting whether she is 'not worth' Ma Erfu doing this today, so I vaguely felt something was wrong."

"Harry, you have to think about it this way: what do you think Pansy loves about Draco? She only loves the bloodline and the family status, not the person himself," Zhang Qiu said. "Perhaps you think Pansy seems to love Draco very much, but you have to consider, would a girl who is purely boy-crazy be in Slytherin? Slytherin requires ambition, after all."

"Oh..."

"As a girl from a minor family, it's only natural for her to want to cross social classes through marriage. So when she heard that Draco had pushed for the evolution of the Knight System because he loved her, and given that she doesn't actually love Draco, she would naturally feel a bit guilty and inferior," Zhang Qiu continued her analysis. "Because there is also a very realistic problem, which is that she isn't good-looking."

"I actually thought she looked okay today, maybe even a bit pretty," Luo En said objectively. "You can't always look at people through stereotypes."

"That's because she has studied the Makeup Charm very deeply!" Zhang Qiu rolled her eyes. "Two layers of Foundation Charm, who knows how many Setting Powder Charms—so many that she has to use three Makeup-Fixing Charms; three different sets of Eyeshadow Charms layered together, a full set of sixteen Nose-Shaping Charms; there isn't a single line from the corner of her eye to the corner of her mouth that doesn't need to be drawn, and finally, she has to apply two 'Fake Bare-Face' Charms. Added together, it's longer than a textbook lesson."

"Can you imagine a girl who has to stand in front of a mirror every morning, chanting and chanting, for an hour like she's giving a speech?"

Harry thought about it and found it terrifying; it was such a waste of time.

"But once she's finished drawing it, that should be enough, right? Why does she have to chant every morning?" Luo En questioned.

"Because the essence of the Makeup Charm is using Transfiguration to generate cosmetics that cover the face. If she doesn't remove the makeup, her skin will rot," Zhang Qiu sighed. "Chanting the counter-curse at night takes at least twenty minutes, and all this work is just to maintain this opportunity to marry into a wealthy family."

Harry's brain took a moment to process these things outside his knowledge, and then he reached a conclusion: "You mean, Pansy is working very hard to marry Draco, while she herself doesn't really love Draco?"

"Yes, that's exactly it."

"That actually seems to explain it," Harry mused. "Because of the family, you know, they Slytherins value those things a lot."

Zhang Qiu expressed a mocking disdain for the relationship between the two, but the two parties involved were perfectly happy with it. Just this Sunday evening, during the Torchwood gathering, Draco announced the news that they were preparing to get engaged, which made Pansy ecstatic.

"I just have this idea; I think I need to invite your mom and dad to talk with my mom and dad," he said. "I don't think my father would refuse."

"My family will definitely support us being together too," Pansy said, moved. "How about we have them meet next weekend?"

Harry, maintaining the impartial attitude of a neutral bystander, said: "But isn't getting engaged in the sixth year a bit too early? You aren't even of age yet."

"It's just an engagement, it doesn't matter if it's a bit early. We can wait until we're of age to get married," Draco explained. "If that doesn't work, we can just treat it as a simple afternoon tea to discuss the future."

Amidst the blessings and gossip of the Torchwood members, the two snuggled even closer, which made Harry feel a bit nauseated—especially since he could see those suspicious powdery substances on Pansy's face. Makeup is truly magical; once someone tells you they are wearing heavy makeup, the more you look at it, the more awkward it seems.

The rumors spread quickly. Many Slytherin girls expressed some regret, while those from other houses were mostly indifferent, and some even went up to be sarcastic and mocking; after all, the Snake House had never been popular with outsiders.

Of course, Lu Na still expressed her view on the matter from a different angle as usual. She felt that Draco intended to use this event to further elevate Pansy's status in his heart, thereby better promoting the evolution of Knight power. This made Harry feel a bit uncomfortable, but since Pansy herself was enjoying it, he didn't feel it was his place to say much.

In such dull days, a small piece of gossip could keep the students talking for a whole week. By the weekend, they were already starting to guess how the two families would handle the matter. Harry believed that if Fred and George were still around, they would definitely have seized this great opportunity to open a betting pool.

On Saturday afternoon, Harry and Luo En were sitting in the common room chatting, but Harry suddenly sat up straight; he felt his ring heating up.

"No way, they can run into trouble even at home?" Harry muttered. "Luo En, we have to go."

They ran quickly outside the common room. Harry and Luo En held out their hands to compare; it was indeed Harry's ring that was heating up, the little tail drifting back and forth, while Luo En's ring showed no reaction. This meant that, according to his agreement with Pansy, Draco had encountered a powerful enemy that even he couldn't defeat as a Kamen Rider.

"Where are they?" Luo En asked. "If they're at the Malfoy manor, how are we supposed to get there?"

"Apparate directly; I know where it is," Harry said, immediately starting to move. "But we'd better find Zhang Qiu, in case there's more than one enemy there. And Cui Ge, but I think I won't rush to..."

"Wait, mate, I mean," Luo En added, "there will be protective wards there. You can't just walk in, unless you've been there before. But have you really been there?"

"Of course I—oh, no, I shouldn't have been there."

Harry suddenly remembered this loophole: even though he had been to Malfoy Manor many times, every time it was in the guise of Hoffa. Harry Potter himself shouldn't have been to Malfoy Manor at all.

"So I can't go directly yet. I have to find Sirius—no, that's not right either, Sirius is Regulus over there, he shouldn't know me." Harry struggled to keep his panicked brain running. "Right, Snape. It would be perfectly reasonable for me to ask Snape to take us."

Thinking this, he immediately rushed toward the Headmaster's office, but after knocking several times, he received no response. Harry spent some time thinking, then ran back to the dormitory to dig out the Marauder's Map, only to see that Snape was in the herbology room.

"I'll go find Snape; you go to the Ravenclaw common room and find Zhang Qiu," Harry said, hastily stuffing the Marauder's Map back into his trunk. "We'll meet at the entrance to the Great Hall."

From the moment the ring started heating up to the time Snape led them into the fireplace, thirty-five minutes had passed. Harry was worried they wouldn't make it in time.

After a dizzying spin, Harry appeared in a place that felt very familiar to him: the fireplace in Malfoy Manor used to connect to the Floo Network.

"Outside, follow me," Snape said, striding in the lead. "I heard movement."

When Harry and the others reached the doorway, they happened to see a truly terrifying scene: Evolt used a powerful, heavy flying kick to strike the Magma Dragon, who was already struggling to stand upright.

As Evolt landed gracefully, the Magma Dragon flipped several times in the air before landing on the lawn, painfully de-transforming.

Evolt playfully brushed the dust off his hands and sneered, "I told you not to waste your effort."

Pansy, standing to the side, walked quickly to Draco's side, but this time she wasn't trying to help him up; instead, she snatched the belt and stood in front of him.

"Huff, if Lu Na can do it, I can too. I can do it too," she kept saying. "I won't let you go in!"

The belt responded to her, snapping firmly around her waist, but the Dragon Bottle rejected her. The gauntlet emitted extreme heat, and Pansy failed to get a firm grip, causing the Fullbottle to fall to the ground.

Just as Harry was preparing to shout to draw Evolt's attention, and Luo En had already inserted the Hazard Trigger into his belt, Snape suddenly let out an interesting "tsk" sound.

A hand picked up the Dragon Bottle that had fallen to the ground, and then a wave of blue, flame-like energy erupted.

"How could I let you do this kind of thing?" Draco gently retrieved the belt. "After all, this is my home."

"GreatCross-ZDragon!"