Chapter 61 A Gift for Kwasi
This year Della arrived at Hogwarts earlier than any other young wizard. She also boarded the Hogwarts Express, but she and Snape took the teachers' special train on the 31st.
According to the Slytherin Headmaster, after taking care of the children for so many days, he could certainly use someone to help.
So, under Snape's instructions, Della took a rag and wiped his office piece by piece. It was not that she was not allowed to use magic, but Della herself did not think she could control the strength perfectly. After all, there were a lot of precious materials here.
Maggie knew how to hide away. As soon as he entered Hogwarts, he swam towards the Forbidden Forest, probably to meet his snake companions.
At this point, Della was a little unsure about her Parseltongue ability. She suspected that her ability to hypnotize snakes was mainly due to Maggie.
However, I cannot ask him yet, or rather, I should ask him when I can get something out of him.
In Della's eyes, deception was not something unforgivable. She could understand the helplessness in some situations. Besides, from beginning to end, there was only Maggie.
After wiping the last small piece of the counter surface, Della stretched her body and stood up. With the dim green light in the dungeon, Della looked around the office divided by several wooden grids. She once again marveled at the richness of Professor Snape's private vault, then walked out quietly.
Hogwarts seemed a bit desolate without any students. Della walked slowly towards the Potions classroom that Snape had mentioned, feeling the wall out of boredom. Along the way, she only met Nick who was almost headless and a few house-elves who were busy cleaning.
Seeing Della, Nick took off his head as a gentleman's hat as usual to signal her. Della, who was already used to it, smiled and nodded to him. "It's nice to meet you, Sir Nicholas. I'm here today to help Professor Snape prepare for class."
"Oh, that shady professor," Nick snapped his head back into place, "Good luck to you, another smart Riddle."
Della paused, and looked at Nick with white curly hair without changing her expression. "Another one? Sir Nicholas, can you tell me who the previous one was?"
"Ah... I can't really remember it in detail. It seems to have happened 50 or 60 years ago."
Nick frowned, trying to come up with a rough idea. He squinted at Della's slightly curly black hair. "Maybe you can look it up in the school history or go to the trophy room. I remember he was pretty smart."
"Thank you, Sir Nicholas." Della smiled, waved goodbye to Nick, and continued to walk upstairs, but she was thinking in her heart.
Riddle is not a rare surname in the Muggle world, but thinking about what Dumbledore said before, "Perhaps you are a Riddle like your father," and Voldemort's origins that have never been mentioned, Della felt it necessary to explore it.
I just hope that this year's principal won't monitor as closely as last year, after all, there is still a lot to do.
Thinking of this, Della had already walked to the door of the Potions classroom. She knocked on the door gently, and after hearing the familiar voice "Come in", she pushed the door open and walked in.
Snape was sitting upright on the podium, looking at the book he was going to teach about Potions. He held a quill in his hand and occasionally made a few strokes. The sunlight slanting in from the window made the thinness of the young man's face more obvious, especially against the backdrop of his hooked nose, which further highlighted Snape's serious bone structure.
"Professor, the office has been cleaned."
"Well, now go wash the white heart leaves on the table, and then deal with the poison." Snape said without raising his head.
After spending so many days together, Della was sure that Snape didn't like her very much. However, apart from ordering him around and mocking him, this petty professor didn't do anything else. Della was also happy to learn new things, so she didn't feel dissatisfied. Instead, she was quite happy with it.
She handled the materials skillfully, and was quickly assigned another task after finishing one task, just like in Snape's house, grinding medicine, watching the heat, cutting and pressing. Snape asked her to do everything, as if he had to use her to a certain level.
Thanks to the professor's strictness, when Quasi came skipping to the Potions classroom to deliver food, Della, who had been working for half a day, didn't even shake her hands.
Professor Snape was of course dismissive of the noisy house-elf. Della pushed Quasi out before he could utter a word, saying that she would come back after dinner. After getting a "hmm" from Snape with his head held high, Della closed the door of the Potions classroom.
"Huh~" Della let out a light breath, tilted her head at the still excited Quasi, and gestured for him to go to the terrace at the corner.
"Wow! Dela Dela! I haven't seen you for a long time! I'm so happy!"
Holding the lunch box prepared for Della, Quasi excitedly jumped his small body and walked in front of Della in two steps. When they came to the well-lit terrace, he jumped up and eagerly spread out the meal he had packed.
Appetizers include bread, salad, cream soup, a small portion of soft chicken, and a small portion of raspberries packaged separately. It can be seen that Quasi knows Della's food preferences very well.
"There's also a portion of raw beef for Maggie. I see he's not here. Della can bring it back to him later." Quasi took out another portion of fresh raw meat and pushed it to the corner of the terrace, a big smile on his small face.
"You are so considerate, Kwasi," Della pinched Kwasi's voluptuous face, imitating Leah's previous actions, and continued before he screamed, "Thank you for taking care of me all the time. I also prepared a small gift for you, Kwasi."
"Gift! Gift! Della prepared a gift for Kwasi!" Kwasi screamed loudly.
"I asked Professor Dumbledore before. Although you did not ask for payment, you were indeed hired."
Della took out a small piece of white cloth from her pocket, waved her wand and cast an amplification spell. "I have also learned about your customs. I want to explain in advance that you can only regard this as a tool to help you with housework."
Della shook out the white apron with the Hogwarts emblem on it. "I used some of what I learned during the holidays. It can keep your clothes clean while you are working."
"You can just think of it as a magic prop, Quasi." Looking at the dazed Quasi, Della was a little afraid of his next reaction, so she bit her lip and added.
"Dela, can you help Kwasi put it on..." Kwasi's body was shaking a little. He didn't scream. He just looked at Della with his big eyes that were becoming more and more watery.
"With pleasure." Della laughed and reached behind Quasi to tie a small, cute bow.
As soon as the bow was tied, the apron began to glow faintly and spread all over the old pillowcase on Quasi's body. The apron gradually disappeared, and Quasi's clothes gradually turned into a round pearly white, and the Hogwarts school emblem turned into a gold-embroidered pattern on his left chest.
"If you want to take it off, just pull the bow." Della flicked the small bow that was still behind Quasi. Looking at Quasi who was holding his clothes with his head down, she dipped her finger in some salad dressing and said, "Let's see the effect of this magic prop first."
Della emphasized the pronunciation of the words "magic props" and then touched Kwasi's clothes with her hand stained with salad dressing before he could react. The place stained with salad dressing emitted a small light, and when the light faded, Kwasi's clothes were as neat and clean as before.
"Kwasi likes this gift!" Kwasi jumped up and grabbed Della's hands with both hands. "Kwasi is so lucky! Kwasi met the best Della!"
"Don't praise me like that, we are friends, Kwasi." Della shook Kwasi's hand and said sincerely.