Chapter 26: Encounter at the Observatory
The days passed one by one, and with the return of Parkinson, Draco became unruly again, mainly by finding trouble with Harry.
However, when facing Della, because she was pitied by most people, he deliberately avoided her, and even let go of Neville and Seamus who had committed crimes against him and his younger brothers in front of her.
If it were before, Della might have found it boring, but unfortunately now she couldn't spare the time to care about the young master Malfoy.
She received instruction from Voldemort once a week. Although she made rapid progress in other subjects, she was somewhat restrained due to her status as a first-year student. She used to read a few books to kill time, but now that she had a secret teacher who was not stingy with her support, Della could not help but devote all her attention to the dark arts outside of her schoolwork.
Rather than being addicted to black magic, it would be more accurate to say that she is addicted to the information itself.
The blood draws once every two weeks were simply tuition for Voldemort.
In order to practice those dark arts, after Della finished her homework and preparation for other subjects in the library, she would return to the dormitory to practice on the spiders provided by Quirrell. As she spent more and more time in seclusion, Maggie often stayed with others.
He would spend the day interacting closely with Ellian, would look down upon Malfoy over Harry's shoulder, and would sometimes cooperate with the Weasley twins in their pranks.
Only Maggie would return to Della on time every night, and would quietly wait for her in the dormitory when Della went to the Room of Requirement. He never faced Professor Quirrell, and would always leave the classroom during the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Della didn't care about him, and when the two were together, they never reported to each other, and most of the time they were in a state of silent companionship.
Such a fulfilling life was not actually unpleasant until the Thursday before Halloween, when Quirrell revealed some of his plans to her, and Della realized her current situation again.
Quirrell told Della that there would be a little commotion on Halloween, and there was nothing Della needed to do. In Quirrell's words, just let her know.
Since Voldemort possessed Quirrell, he must have some plan, but it couldn't be just the blood of his half-born daughter.
Della guessed that the blood could extend Voldemort's life, but he must have originally wanted something else, something that could reshape his body.
Della didn't know the details at all and had no intention of finding out more. She didn't care about it, but she felt a little sorry that her quiet life was about to be disrupted.
So after today's instruction was over, Della felt a little irritated. After thinking about it, she did not go back to the dormitory, but continued to go upstairs to the observatory.
Just think of it as a preview of tomorrow night’s astronomy class.
In the dim moonlight, a familiar figure appeared in front of Della, especially the light golden hair that was really eye-catching.
"Malfoy?"
Draco, who was fiddling with a huge telescope, was startled. He turned around subconsciously and saw Della walking towards him step by step in the shadows. The smile on her face that could not be seen clearly was gradually revealed in the moonlight.
"What are you doing here? It's curfew now!" After being surprised, Draco frowned and questioned.
Della didn't answer. She looked at Draco, stopped, and her smile widened as she sneered softly.
Draco realized that he was also one of the people who ran out after curfew. His face turned red and his lips pursed even tighter. Just as he was about to say something to the ignorant mudblood in front of him, a cat's meow came over.
"Who is there!"
An old and hoarse voice followed closely, followed by more hurried footsteps.
It's Filch and that damn cat!
Draco panicked at the knowledge that he couldn't escape the cat's nose even if he hid. He looked around helplessly, trying to find a hiding place to struggle, but in the darkness, he couldn't see any good place.
As the footsteps got closer, Draco could only pull Della's hand and run into a corner, then squat down with her.
"How dare you come out after curfew, you are so cowardly."
The golden hair was right next to her face, and Della could still feel the touch of the hair. She chuckled and teased Draco in his ear.
"Be quiet!"
Draco shouted softly. He had no time to pay attention to the sounds surrounding his ears. He just held his breath and looked forward nervously.
"Don't worry, I won't let you be found."
As the glowing wand was waved, the girl beside him cast several spells she had never heard of. Because of the cat's meowing that was getting closer and closer, Draco could only glare at her fiercely in the dark, and the hand that was holding Della tightened unconsciously.
The cat didn't react at all when it passed by them!
The feeling of surviving a disaster made Draco's heart pound. Even when Filch walked away with his cat in confusion, Draco had not completely recovered from the feeling. He couldn't even breathe freely.
"How long do you plan to hold my hand?"
A half-smiley voice came to his ears, and the two people's tightly clasped hands were raised in front of his eyes. Draco suddenly came to his senses, he shook off Della's hand, staggered to his feet, and returned to the moonlight.
"How could I possibly want to hold the hand of a mudblood like you!" The dim moonlight hid the blush on his face, but it couldn't hide the emotions in his voice.
"Yes, yes, my noble Malfoy," Della stood up slowly in the darkness and walked towards the boy who was glowing in the moonlight. "Let me guess. Tomorrow's astronomy class will be about the Draco constellation. Is our young master here to prepare for the lesson?"
"So what? I've already read it. In this regard, I will definitely do better than you tomorrow!" Draco regained his usual arrogance, and his blushing face showed that standard Malfoy smile.
"That's amazing, Draco, can you teach me?"
In the semi-darkness, Della showed her usual smile, but her emotionless black pupils startled Draco. He was stunned for a moment and even forgot to care about Della calling him by his name.
"There are still people patrolling down there, so just chat with me for a while, Draco. I will help you get back to the dormitory safely afterwards."
This was a naked threat. Draco gritted his teeth, snorted coldly, walked to the large telescope, and moved his golden head to signal Della to come over.
"I have just found it, you can just come and take a look now."
Della cooperated and walked over. At Draco's instruction, she squinted one eye into the telescope and looked at the winding Draco constellation, but her words had nothing to do with astronomy.
"It's been a long time since you've bothered me, Draco."
Hearing this, Draco was startled, and when he turned his head, he met Della's eyes, which looked very strange in the moonlight. She bent over, not looking at the telescope, but turned her head to look at him with a very playful look.
"This really hurts me, Draco, I've missed out on so much fun teasing you."
"you!"
"How involved were you in Parkinson's day?"
His words were interrupted, and the girl in front of him started to approach him with her hands behind her back. Draco subconsciously took a step back, looking at Della's usual smile, a chill rose in his heart.
"I didn't... I didn't order them to do that. I just know they were going to teach you a lesson."
Under the cold gaze, Draco stammered in response, his delicate little face full of panic, and he kept backing away as the girl approached.
"Is that so? Well, actually I didn't intend to make such a big fuss." Della was still approaching Draco step by step. She sighed as if she was regretful. "If there hadn't been an accident that day, I would probably go directly to your room. I know you are alone. I would dress you up as a little girl, lock you in, and spend the night in your room."
His back had already touched the cold, hard wall. As the distance got closer, the smile on the girl's face grew wider. She pointed her wand at him and uttered horrible words. Draco was so panicked that he couldn't even remember to take out his wand. He could only lean against the wall and look at Della in horror as she waved her wand and cast spells.
After several spells were cast on him, Draco immediately touched his body, trying to confirm where he had changed, but he found nothing unusual, not even his hair had grown longer. It was then that he remembered that those spells were cast by Della when he had just hidden himself.
Draco's face flushed with shame and indignation at being teased. He was so angry that he couldn't say a word. He could only glare hatefully at Della who was laughing in front of him. Her originally emotionless face showed a look of expression, and even her dark eyes were shining in the moonlight.
The pouring moonlight made her usually pale face radiate a holy white light, and even her black eyes were filled with sparkles. Combined with her natural smile, she looked much more beautiful than her usual well-behaved yet distant face.
To be fair, Della is a very pretty girl, and her beauty is even more evident when she becomes lively.
Draco was a little stunned, but Della waved at him and spoke with a smile, showing her good mood.
"Come on, I'll take you back, Draco."