Chapter 115 True and False
The smoke bomb was more effective than Della expected.
As soon as she entered Draco's dormitory, she was hung with several crystals and ivory, and onions and salamanders were placed on the table. Della raised her eyebrows and said, "Is this an apotropaic object?"
"It's just to protect you." Draco glanced at Della cautiously as he spoke. He pursed his lips, pulled out a chair in a natural manner, and motioned for Della to sit down.
Fortunately, Maggie went to find Aryan. If he had seen this scene, his impression of Draco would have been even worse.
"Well," Della gave Draco a forced smile and sat down following his movements, "Madam Pomfrey finally let me out this morning. We haven't seen each other for a week."
"We'll see each other often in the future." Draco moved another chair and sat down. He stared at Della with a serious expression and did not mention his plan for yesterday's disastrous defeat in Quidditch.
Della responded to Draco's gaze, her brows slightly furrowed, "You're overreacting, Draco, have you forgotten what we agreed on before?"
"But I didn't get any honor, and I can't compare to you anyway." Draco's eyes widened, and he held Della's hand a little eagerly.
"Don't talk like that, Draco, that's not the Slytherin way." Della shook Draco's hand back, but her tone did not quite agree.
"Then let me put it another way." Draco held Della's hand tightly. Because he leaned towards Della, he was slightly shorter than her. "You are my glory."
"......" Della was startled and opened her eyes wide. The boy in her eyes no longer had the rosy shy look from before. He was pale and his expression was solemn. He didn't look like he was joking at all, leaving Della at a loss as to how to respond.
"I don't agree with this statement," Della said slowly after reacting. She stopped laughing and showed the same seriousness as the boy, "but I accept what you said, Draco."
Hearing this, Draco laughed. He lifted Della's hand and placed it to his face, stroking it tentatively twice. "Don't let me lose you again," he said.
"I told you this," Della smiled slightly, the darkness in her dark eyes faded away, and her eyes were filled with Draco's light gold, "You will never lose me."
She made a promise to the boy again.
According to Della's standards, Draco is not a good person, but according to Della's standards, Draco is a pure person like Harry and others.
The purity here is in contrast to her hypocrisy.
As a person who is good at observation and disguise, Della's concept of good and evil is based on her own yearning.
Ironically, those who integrate falsehood into their lives yearn for true feelings the most.
You can even bring in your previous character of seeking profit and avoiding harm, and go out of your way to protect the party that provides more emotional value.
So at the beginning of this semester, when the vague feelings and sincere friendship conflicted, Della abandoned Draco like a lizard cutting off its tail.
But Draco was pure after all, and that purity had been quietly imprinted in Della's heart over the past year, allowing her to finally pick up her broken tail.
Even if this is a tail that can never fit perfectly.
Between them lies the barrier between the world and paradise in fairy tales.
However, Draco did not force Della to endure the cold of the moon, and Della no longer forced Draco to experience the experience of the sun. The difference only separated them by a few millimeters, which did not affect their companionship at all.
After losing and regaining, the companionship between the two is more important than anything else.
Now, Della was getting more of what she needed from Draco, even to the point of being annoying.
Of course, the extra ones are also sweet.
What about friendship? Did Della give up that part?
No, apparently she hasn't, but recent events have made her realize her boundaries in friendship.
Compared to the lions, she is still cold-hearted and can accept being petrified by her classmates; moreover, she also keeps secrets, secrets that almost change her position.
Perhaps her indulgence of Draco's unprincipled ways was partly due to her pursuit of purity, but she also knew herself that she should never be someone who would worry too much about these issues.
At this time, Della clearly realized that she had become more smooth and more hypocritical.
Feeling that the emotions in Della's eyes became a little strange, Draco finally recovered from the ambiguous atmosphere. He regained his shyness and said, "You have to wear these things well." He pointed at the crystals on Della's body and his face slowly blushed.
"It's good that it's not the things on the table." Della glanced at the smelly exorcism items on the table and raised the corners of her mouth helplessly, "As for these crystals and ivory——"
"What? I'll wear it with you." Seeing Della playing with the accessories hanging on her body, Draco became nervous unconsciously.
"I need to make some changes. Before I finish, I will wear it carefully." Della glanced at Draco and smiled maliciously. "Don't think I am just borrowing your flowers to pay tribute to you when the time comes."
"You really are—" Draco muttered, blushing and curling the corners of his lips, "As long as we can be together."
His tone was light when he said this, just like he usually spoke, but Della could still hear from his words the boy's anxiety and fear of loss that had been there since the quarrel between them at the beginning of the semester. Perhaps this emotion infected her, and Della, who had always been very sure of the heir's target of attack, felt empty for a moment.
Although the heiress seems to be very careful so far, the basilisk's side glance around the corner can kill people. Should she adopt some radical strategies to find out the truth?
After all, the natural Parseltongue who bred the Basilisk has a gene in his blood that can resist the Basilisk's eyes. And in her case, both the Clingretton family and Voldemort, who had a blood connection with her through alchemy, were natural Parseltongues. Della was very confident in her resistance to the Basilisk.
But that would be too conspicuous. Such an aggressive investigation strategy would be like telling others that there was something wrong with her. And if it was too obvious, Draco would be worried.
Especially on Monday, when the news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying in the ward like a dead man spread throughout Hogwarts, the students became suspicious and moved together in groups of three or five, fearing that they would be attacked if they were left alone.
Although the attack on students made the Slytherin students panic a little, they were still much calmer than people from other colleges. It was this phenomenon that allowed Della to temporarily suppress her previous impulse.
She was not sure that the matter could be resolved quickly, and she could also foresee the criticism that she might face as a Slytherin as the situation developed, so she finally decided not to take the lead and would only express a few opinions in Snape's office.
Now, Theodore Nott's suspicion has been ruled out, and Aidan Royeria also has an alibi for the last attack. The remaining Lucius Malfoy is not so easy to approach, but it is said that he has been making a lot of moves in private, which almost confirms his identity as a suspect.
But the most crucial heir and the basilisk have not revealed any clues so far.