Malfoy's Imperius Curse was clearly not enough to control Cassius? Warrington, he just forced the opponent's knee to bend halfway, and he was met with stubborn resistance, Ning An shook his head, and Malfoy suddenly lost control of Cassius because of nervousness.

The latter gasped for breath and shook like a sieve, his face terrified as he emerged from the Imperius Curse.

This was the first time he had been struck by the Unforgivable Curse, and although it didn't work as well as it should due to Malfoy's magic and experience, the feeling of falling into the fog terrified Cassius, and the more he woke up from the Imperius Curse, the more he realized how terrible it would be to be controlled.

"Out of body."

This time, Ning An didn't talk nonsense, and directly used the Imperius Curse to completely control Cassius, and the wizard who was able to resist a little just now had no room to resist in front of Ning An at all, and became obedient like a marionette.

"I'm sorry - master—"

Malfoy looked at Ning An nervously, uneasy about his performance just now, he had made up his mind to use the Unforgivable Spell, but he didn't expect that this spell was not as simple as he imagined.

"Don't be nervous, Draco, you've done a good job for the first time."

Ning An waved his hand nonchalantly, he stood there and watched Malfoy, the fire elongated the shadow, casting a thin, long, eerily distorted black shadow on the ground, spreading over the cold wooden chairs and sofas, and extending to the curtain that covered the black lake.

The sound of "stampeding" footsteps sounded rhythmically in the lounge, and Ning An turned and paced, sat down on a four-legged armchair carved with snake patterns in front of the fireplace, and leaned back slightly.

"I want to know, is the snake letter still partying?"

Malfoy leaned forward and leaned in front of the fire, the firelight stretched his shadow together, merging under Ning An's hideous shadow, and merged into one, he froze slightly, Ning An's question made Malfoy a little embarrassed, although he secretly knew that Snake Letter was still partying, but he had never participated once.

"Yes...... Yes...... Master. ”

After thinking about it, Malfoy lowered his head, hid his head under the shadows, and replied in a trembling voice.

He was afraid that Ning An would ask him if he had participated, or why he had chosen to quit the snake letter in the first place, but he was only silenced for a while.

Difficult moment, for Malfoy, he looked at Ning An's eyes quietly staring at the flickering fire in front of him, not knowing what he was thinking, and then after about half an hour, Ning An finally spoke slowly

"Who do you think is the best in the snake letter right now?"

At Hogwarts, the other House students generally disliked and stayed away from the Serpent Society, and generally they would never have joined it, while in Slytherin, when Ning An left, most of them chose not to get involved.

Even a small number of former members of the Snake Letter, in order to prove their innocence and previous innocence, used some deliberate revenge methods to bully those students who refused to express their attitude and cut off the Snake Letter.

The professors also pay closer attention to such students, as if they were spying on a prisoner who might be on the path of a dark wizard at any moment.

So now there are only two or three people left in the snake letter, although they dare not declare it openly, but secretly everyone understands that they still think they are members of the snake letter, otherwise they would not call them snake claws.

Malfoy wasn't one of them, but he knew who was the best of them.

So he didn't hesitate to say a name

"Eric - Erik? Hohenzollern. ”

Ning An nodded, remembering the boy he saw on the train.

Germans? He remembered everything about Eric, and after a long silence, he looked away from the fire in the fireplace, and said to Malfoy:

"I'd like to find a time to meet with this Eric classmate, and you can ask him out for me—"

After a pause, Ning An's eyes lit up and continued:

"It's Hogsmeade, you can go there on the weekend, Pig's Head Bar, maybe it's a nice place, I'll come to you."

——————————————————————————————

The next morning, the students had their first class of the new semester, and in the herb class, Harry had to wear dragonskin gloves to squeeze the concentrated water of the Babo tubers, and Professor Sprout told them that this viscous yellow-green liquid had high medicinal properties.

"Hey, be happy, Harry - think about the Triwizard Tournament, Fred and George are working on the anti-aging potion, maybe we can use a little of it ourselves, maybe we can become a Warrior?"

Ron stood next to Harry, squeezing a bulge from what looked like a slug's swarthy tentacles, and a puddle of viscous liquid flowed out of it.

He retched uncontrollably, a thing that reminded Ron of the days when he was hit by his own wand and vomited slugs all day long when he was in second grade.

"It must have been Malfoy."

Harry used his hand to squeeze through a bulge, and the slime splashed on his hand, but luckily he didn't get burned while wearing dragon skin gloves.

"I want to drive Harry, now that you've got permission, you don't need to sneak out of the school on that map, and I think sneaking into Hogsmeade through the secret passages is a violation of the school rules-"

Hermione carefully collected the tuber pus from the bottle, and although the expression on her face showed that she was also holding back the nausea and discomfort, it seemed that such a conversation was an effective distraction, and Hermione's frowning brow was slightly soothed.

Ron rubbed his nose with his arm, which was stained with a speck of dirt that had been ejected, and chimed in:

"Besides, according to what you said, Malfoy can't find a way to use that map, it's just a useless blank slate in his hand."

"Yes, that's the problem—" Hermione stopped what she was doing, looked up and looked at the two of them with a serious look, which caused Harry and Ron to stop what they were doing and listen to her:

"Here's the problem, Malfoy shouldn't have known that Harry had such a magical map, and there was no reason why he had to get it, he deliberately created this mess on the train in order to steal it from the chaos."

Hermione paused, looking at the two of them with questions

"Not to mention the other Slytherins who were interested in helping him, we know Draco? In all these years, when would Malfoy have done something so deliberately? ”

"Uh, let me think, snatch Neville's memory orb? Insulting people with dirty words? Uh, and last year pretending to be a Dementor at a Quidditch match? ”

Ron looked at the sky and pretended to think and said, "But there really doesn't seem to be such a premeditated and planned thing to get something." ”

"But what's the use of him trying to keep the map alive?" Harry was puzzled and went back to work, he seemed to find the pleasure of squeezing the bulges, and watching the pus flow from one bulge to another was disgusting, but comforting.

"Oh, I wish those bulges were on Malfoy's face and we'd pop them one by one."

Ron turned around and began to squeeze the pus, as Professor Sprout looked over at the three of them whispering, she didn't want anyone to do anything else in class.

"I think someone instructed me to do this."

Hermione dropped a summary sentence at the end, representing her opinion on the matter, and continued to frown and go back to squeeze the Babo tuber in front of her.

"Who can command him? Except when Ning An was there......"

Ron hurriedly stopped halfway through speaking, and Harry hurriedly pulled his clothes, and Hermione's hand next to him had stopped, and Ron's unbridled words seemed to freeze the air for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Hermione—"

"You don't have to, Harry-Ron."

Hermione turned her head to interrupt Ron's apology and said firmly:

"It's been almost two years, and I admit that maybe I used to like him—"

Hermione's words suffocated Ron and Harry, and although the tacit understanding between the three of them made them hide some things in their hearts, Hermione's sudden mention of this still made the two of them feel complicated.

"I like the gentleness he used to have, the way he treats everyone, and the cleverness of him, although I don't want to admit it, but his performance in magic makes me ashamed."

Hermione was opening her heart to her best friend, and it was as if she was talking to herself, unloading the burden that had been weighing on her heart.

"I liked Ning'an at that time, it really left a deep impression on me, but everything has changed, you know, we are all growing up, and the world is constantly changing-"

"Hermione ......"

It was the first time Harry and Ron had heard Hermione talk so much about it, which made them very uncomfortable, Ron and Ning An had nothing to do with each other, but for Harry, Ning An was also his first friend.

Although they don't say much to each other on weekdays, they will only think silently when they are alone, and this is the first time that the three of them have spoken in the open.

"If Ning An chooses to embark on what he thinks is the right path, no matter what he is for, I have my own choice, do you understand?"

"It's really good, Hermione- you know Ron and I have been worried about you-"

Harry was silent for a few seconds, then raised his head and looked into the eyes of one of his best friends, saying sincerely, he was indeed glad that Hermione could see this, before Ning'an's name was more of a taboo in his mouth than Voldemort, simply because he didn't want to hurt his best friend's feelings.

"Thank you too, Harry, Ron—but we should all step forward, don't dodge, I can face Ning'an-"

Hermione's eyes were slightly red, for some reason, but her eyes were determined, and Harry felt that this was the Hermione he was familiar with, the jack-of-all-trades, the Hermione who was confident and courageous in everything, and dared to face all difficulties.

Many times, when he was helpless and weak, Harry would even turn to Hermione for help, so he really wanted to see a brave and strong Hermione, a Hermione that he could rely on and trust.

"Phew, so we can finally say that person's name?"

Ron let out a long breath and tried to wipe the sweat from his forehead with his hands, but suddenly remembered that he was still wearing a dragon skin glove stained with pus.

Hermione also took a deep breath, after saying this, she always felt that a burden that had been pressing on her heart seemed to be removed, and her heart was relaxed for a while, but empty, it was a very strange feeling.

Ning An, maybe the next time we meet, we will fight.

Hermione thought in her heart that when the World Cup was over, after facing Ning An again and being knocked out, Hermione thought deeply about what she would do if Ning An became a Death Eater and became Voldemort's henchman.

This is a painful period of choice, in countless dreams, she even fantasizes that she has become a dark wizard desperately, abandoning her family and friends, and following Ning An's side, which feels painful and happy.

But when she woke up from her struggling dreams, she realized that she could never do that, not just because of good or evil, but because she also had cherished family and friends, and these people happened to stand in the opposite direction of Ning An.

Is she Hermione? Granger, she is a girl who has more ideas than anyone else, can bear more than anyone else, and is absolutely strong and independent, so she faces the reality and accepts that she is in the camp of Ning An's enemy.

It was hard, it was painful, but Hermione forced herself to do it, she blew her nose, forced back the tears that were about to flow unconsciously after saying what she had just said, and followed Ron's words:

"Actually...... I also wondered if Malfoy's doing this would be Ning An's idea, and maybe he didn't plan to give up his revenge on Laurel? ”

Hermione's words made Harry and Ron think deeply at the same time, and the two pinches of eyebrows behind Harry's lenses furrowed and furrowed, and he asked uncertainly, confused:

"But...... Why would he want a living map? Does this serve him any use? ”

"Not to mention, he doesn't necessarily know how to use that map." Ron added.

Or maybe...... He doesn't need to be used, just make sure ...... You don't ...... Just use it! Hermione paused word by word, as if she had straightened out her train of thought, and the last two words were almost shouted, which made Professor Sprout, who had been staring at them from a distance for a long time, finally unbearable.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley - don't make such a noise in class."

Professor Sprout was not a strict student, and even what she said was hard enough was not as good as Snape's eleventh.

"I'm sorry, Professor Sprout—"

The three of them apologized together, and Hermione's eyes lit up, as if she had caught something by what she had just said.

After apologizing, Professor Sprout finally looked away, and Hermione lowered her voice and continued in a low voice:

"If it's Ning An's order, then it makes sense, he doesn't need to use that map, he just needs to make sure you don't use it, then he's safe."

"What do you mean?"

Ron looked at Hermione in confusion and still didn't understand, but Harry's pupils shrank, and he gasped, unable to speak in surprise, which made Ron even more puzzled, and didn't understand why both of them had a hellish expression.

"Don't you know, Ron?" Hermione's expression became solemn, and she simply stopped pretending to squeeze the bulge in her hand, and turned to look at her friends seriously, and said in a deep voice

"What do you think it means that Harry's map of the living spots can mark the location of everyone at Hogwarts, and Ning An doesn't want Harry to have this map?"

Ron finally showed a look of sudden realization, and then his expression suddenly became tense and unsightly

"You mean—"

"Nyan is at Hogwarts—"

Harry coldly made the final additions.