Chapter 14 Life experience
Della followed Quirrell in silence. All the classmates along the way were deterred by the smell. Even Ron, who obviously wanted to laugh at her, could only glance at her from a distance.
What is this called.
Della was speechless and could only passively accept her unknown fate. She was led into Professor Quirrell's office under the strange yet sympathetic looks of her classmates.
The office was cluttered with many things Della had never seen before. She glanced at them briefly and then looked away, looking very well behaved.
"Please take a seat, Miss Riddle."
Quirrell pointed to the seat opposite the desk. Della subconsciously followed his gesture and took a few steps to sit down. When she realized something was wrong, she looked at Quirrell suspiciously.
"Oh, I just get nervous when there are a lot of people around. I stutter when I get nervous."
Quirrell explained immediately. He motioned for Della to sit down again, and then he pulled out a chair and sat down.
Della's suspicion grew even stronger now, but she did not show it on the surface. She looked at Professor Quirrell with a smile, waiting for his next words.
"Regarding the questions you raised in class, don't rush to answer them. We can chat and relax for a while. I don't want my students to be so nervous in front of me."
The young man in front of her laughed and acted like a friendly elder, as if he wanted to chat about family matters. Della could only respond with a smile at this time. She couldn't figure out the man's intentions for the time being.
"By the way, where's your snake, Riddle."
"Professor, it doesn't seem right to bring a snake to class, so I left him in the dormitory."
Quirrell nodded, and after a while he spoke slowly, "I heard from Professor McGonagall that you were a child from an orphanage. Was your name given to you by the director?"
The question was a bit offensive, and Della felt unhappy, but she kept smiling as she answered.
"No, Professor. My name was given to me when I entered the orphanage. I think it might have been left to me by my parents whom I have never met."
Hearing this, Qi Luo seemed a little disappointed. He continued to ask, "Then do you know when you entered the orphanage? Did you leave anything on you?"
"Professor?" Della frowned and looked at Quirrell, who was leaning forward in front of her with a somewhat impatient look, and asked.
"Oh, sorry." Quirrell paused, then slowly retracted his forward leaning body, with beads of sweat dripping down his face. He frowned as if he was struggling with something, then he looked at Della tentatively and said, "I just want to know more and confirm it. I mean, you look very similar to someone I've seen before."
"Professor, are you saying that you might know my parents?" Now it was Della's turn to be shocked. She could no longer maintain the smile on her face. She slammed her hands on the table, stood up with her eyes wide open and stared at Quirrell.
"I can only say that they do look alike," Quirrell waved his hands, motioning her to sit down, and then continued, "If you'd like, you can leave some of your hair. I'll contact you again after I contact him to confirm."
"Okay, thank you, professor." Della pulled out a few strands of hair without hesitation and handed them to Quirrell.
After Quirrell took the hair, he put it in a box in the drawer. When he opened the drawer, he casually spoke again, "By the way, regarding the question you asked in class, the answer is actually very simple. It's because of people."
"people?"
"Yes, those irreversible magics become Unforgivable Curses when used by so-called bad wizards. Take the Cruciatus Curse for example. Because of its large-scale use by Death Eaters, it has become one of the three major Unforgivable Curses in public. But in fact, the Ministry of Magic also uses these to torture prisoners in secret."
"..."
Even though Della didn't quite understand the values of the wizarding world, she knew that what Quirrell said was problematic, and she really couldn't say anything now.
"Okay, go back first, don't miss dinner."
Fortunately, Professor Quirrell did not pursue the matter any further. Della stood up, bowed slightly, and impatiently left the place filled with the smell of garlic. After staying with him for so long, she was almost accustomed to the strange smell, and her nose protested again when she was about to leave.
As soon as she closed the office door, Della's excitement at hearing the news about her parents disappeared. She was a little confused. In fact, she didn't have much expectation for her parents' love.
Maybe there was one before, but that was a long, long time ago. Just like the fairy tales I have read, the devil spent the first few hundred years waiting for redemption thinking about repaying a favor. After thousands of years of waiting, the unanswered wish turned into resentment.
I stopped having any expectations or fantasies about my parents a long time ago. If I suddenly had parents, I would probably just treat them like strangers.
……
Della suddenly became gloomy. She looked through the corridor at the sun that was about to sink into the castle. The clouds around the sun were dyed crimson red. The color became lighter as it went farther away, with a large patch of purple clouds trailing behind it.
It is a beautiful sunset, but it is meaningless.
Della narrowed her eyes and retracted her gaze, then continued walking forward. It was already time for dinner, and the corridor was empty with only her. With every step she took, she could still hear the footsteps echoing in her ears.
Maggie should be well taken care of at Harry's place, but Quarsi hasn't returned to Hogwarts at all. That was just an excuse to fool Harry at noon. Where should he go now?
She definitely couldn't go to the restaurant, and she might run into someone she knew in the library. Della just wanted to be alone for a while. She tilted her head to look at the sky and decided to continue walking upstairs. Hogwarts was so big, there must be a place where she could be alone.
Della simply walked around casually, following her instincts as she wandered around the castle. She avoided corridors with paintings and tried to walk in dim aisles. She would only stop and look for a while when she saw some interesting tapestries.
Before she knew it, she had wandered to the eighth floor. As she walked, a huge tapestry appeared in front of her. It was embroidered with a giant monster beating the stupid Barnabas with a stick. It was not very beautiful, but it was impressive in size and exquisiteness.
After walking through so many dark corridors, Della finally saw something different in front of her, so she carefully examined the tapestry, walking left and right in front of it to trace the direction of the gold thread on it.
When Della looked at the portrait from left to right again, there was a rumbling sound behind her. Della turned back vigilantly and saw a huge stone door appeared on the originally smooth wall behind her. The patterns on the stone door had spots of damage, and it looked very old.
Della squinted her eyes and looked up at the stone door. After hesitating for a while, she walked closer to the ancient stone door. She exhaled lightly and pushed open the stone door.
A white light flashed before her eyes, but it was not dazzling. After the light faded, an elaborately decorated room appeared in front of Della.
The enlarged bookshelf extends all the way to the bathroom carpet, there is an exquisite wardrobe, and many decorations are hung on the wall.
Della raised her eyebrows and opened the cabinet under the desk. Sure enough, there were a lot of snacks neatly arranged inside, and...
She took out the long-necked bottle, which was an unopened bottle of sherry. Della turned it around curiously and then put the wine on the table.
Only then did she notice that there was a line of words written on the wall in front of her.
'Room of Requests'
Della blinked, turned around, opened the stone door and walked out. There was no obstruction, and there was nothing strange about her. The stone door in front of her was still there. Della pushed the door open again and went in. The dormitory in front of her was still the same one she had imagined in her mind yesterday.
She shrugged. It just so happened that she wanted to be alone for a while, so this place was just right. Wait, was this room created just because she wanted to be alone for a while?
Every wish is granted. It seems that there are many interesting places in Hogwarts.
Della no longer hesitated. She took out the books from her bag one by one and laid them out. She stretched out her hand and hesitated. Her hand paused on "Alchemy You Don't Know" and finally picked up the book "Elementary Transfiguration: Advanced".
It’s better to learn more first.
Thinking of this, Della took out the apple that she had not had time to eat in the afternoon from her pocket and rubbed it on her body. Then she took out her wand and started practicing the Transfiguration spell according to the book while eating the apple.
Enlarge or reduce, lengthen or shorten, change straight or curved, change state...
Judging from the catalog, it is indeed more advanced than turning a toothpick into a silver needle of the same size.
Thinking of the cursive golden M that she had transformed into by chance in the Transfiguration class today, Della turned to the page about straight-curved transformations and started reading.
By the time Della came back to her senses from the book, it was already half past nine and curfew was about to begin.
Della yawned, stretched her stiff body, and walked towards the bathroom. Since no one would check the dormitory, she might as well stay here tonight.
Oh, and Maggie, she should still be at Harry's place. When he comes back, I'll have to ask him why he's so close to Harry.