Chapter 133 Darkness and Light
Della always felt that the Malfoys were a magical family.
Perhaps we shouldn't pay too much attention to surnames, but it is said that the Malfoy family, who arrived in Britain with the Norman army and obtained Muggle noble titles, has a surname that means "bad faith" in French.
In the past, most of the nobles of Country Y, especially the Normans from Northern Europe, would learn French, which they believed to be the most elegant language. However, their families still used the sinister word "Malfoy" as their surname.
Is it because the glory of this family was built on conspiracy from the very beginning?
Following the Muggles' arrival in Britain and their rise to fame and fortune in war, the answer seems obvious.
Under the bright magic light, Della calmly turned a page of "The Origins of Wizards and Muggles". She stared at the large Malfoy family emblem of an evil dragon on the page, reached out and touched it, feeling the slightly different texture of this page of paper from other papers, and picked up a small cup of water next to it and poured it on the emblem.
The evil dragon slowly disappeared, revealing a large and neat family tree. It is worth noting that many names in this family tree were deliberately marked with the word "half-blood".
She discovered this by chance while reading a book. Della didn't know how the Malfoy family tree was leaked, nor did she know what the purpose of the person who leaked it was, but she found it very interesting.
The "Jean-Pierre" on the cover is obviously a pseudonym. The fact that he could get the family genealogy shows that this person is not far related to the Malfoy family, and the clear-cut mark makes it difficult for people not to lean towards the "pure-blood theory".
As to whether the pure-blood advocates think that Malfoy, who shouts slogans, is dirty, or whether the anti-pure-blood advocates within the organization think that Malfoy, who is arrogant, is hypocritical, that is a matter of opinion.
After all, the book "Origins of Wizards and Muggles" is very boring. It has no opinions or tendencies. You can't say it is neutral, but boring. If Della hadn't urgently needed a lot of popular science about the wizarding world at that time, she would not have finished reading this book.
Thanks to her perseverance at that time, she was able to discover such an interesting thing.
Oh, maybe I shouldn't use the adjective "interesting". It is very rude to make fun of other people's families. But once you know the history of the Malfoy family and witness their arrogant behavior, you will unconsciously think they are very interesting (in a derogatory sense).
After taking another look at the sarcastic family tree, Della put the book back on the bookshelf. She tilted her head to look at the clock that had already pointed to midnight, tapped the table twice with her fingers, and after two crisp "dong dong" sounds in the unusually quiet room, she suddenly stood up.
She opened a small drawer beside her and took out the dagger, necklace and crystal ball one by one.
The dagger was an alchemical work made from the hardest material she had at hand and painted with the sharpest phase diagram. The necklace contained a spell that connected the soul. She spent a lot of effort to make these two things without Maggie's knowledge.
The crystal ball was the Valentine's Day gift she had originally intended to give to Draco.
Della turned off the magic lamp. As the only light source in the room went out, she fell into darkness in an instant. It was in this darkness that the crystal ball emitted a faint light.
Della put on the necklace in the gradually brightening light, put the dagger into her pocket, and straightened her school uniform. It was already midnight, but her clothes were still meticulously dressed.
Feeling that she could find no fault in herself, Della looked up at the ceiling.
At this time, the crystal ball showed its entirety on the ceiling. The Draco constellation, which was deliberately marked on the star map, meandered between the Ursa Major, Ursa Major and Hercules constellations, flashing from time to time, announcing its protagonist status among them.
Della didn't know how much Draco looked like a sinister Malfoy, but his name was in line with the habit of naming dark wizards after constellations, which made him fit the sinister image of Malfoy in the current wizarding world.
It might sound strange to say this, but Della wouldn't have been so involved with Draco Malfoy if it weren't for what happened in that situation in first year.
Snape was right. The Malfoys always pretended to be superior, especially since the foundation of their superiority was not solid. As long as you know a little bit about it, you will find this family ridiculous.
However, she herself was not mentally healthy, and Della had always known this clearly.
What was Draco to her?
From the perspective of universal values she understood, Draco was an arrogant and annoying person, but it was precisely thanks to this understanding that Della was able to be herself in front of him.
Because she herself is hypocritical.
Oh, that kind of hypocrisy of yearning for light is the worst.
If Draco was only arrogant, their relationship would not have developed to the point where they had established a relationship now. However, Draco's feelings towards her were unexpectedly "bright".
It wasn't a word to describe a relationship, but Della knew the beauty of it.
It's just that sometimes, it's just too beautiful.
The originally proud boy would compromise for her, show her the future, and protect her every step of the way, which made Della, who sometimes questioned how much she loved Draco, feel ashamed.
When what was originally thought to be evil was covered up by light, her hypocrisy was further highlighted.
She may not love it enough, but she is indeed deeply trapped in it and no longer has the courage to pull herself out.
In first grade, she could say that she would always have Maggie, and although she could still say that now, knowing that Maggie had kept so many secrets, it was hard for Della to trust him as before.
She was not yet at the point of being anxious and worried, so when Maggie said she was "going to do something" the day before, she did not ask any questions at all. Instead, she took advantage of his absence to do something.
She gave Maggie autonomy, and also gave herself autonomy. In fact, the man and the snake were both outlasting each other, but this time, she secretly reset some things and secretly saw some things, and she seized the initiative.
Della always shows an attitude of not hating or judging others. Perhaps you can see some of her rejection from her thoughts, but from her actions you can see that she is moving unambiguously towards the so-called "rationality".
She didn't like Maggie's concealment, but she was doing well in this regard.
She doesn't like the arrogant atmosphere of Slytherin, but despite this dislike, she can still thrive in Slytherin, which has great social values. Doesn't this make her seem more arrogant?
The same behavior can be framed as correct as long as there are legitimate reasons and characteristics that distinguish it from others.
Della should be a Slytherin, because here she can find all kinds of excuses for her hypocrisy.
Dumbledore said that she had made her own ideological choice, but Della unknowingly also perceived Slytherin from a direction that was beneficial to her.
It might take some effort to recognize herself, but Della finally determined it.
Her shapeable and critical mind became her magic mirror at this moment.
Della didn't inherit much from her actual parents, and she didn't know whether her way of thinking came from them, but it finally distinguished her from Voldemort.
But this kind of sober decline is even more painful.
After learning about her own life experience and possible origins, Della found it increasingly difficult to face up to the former Clint Graydon, Dorotheus and Doreen, because most of them could be classified as "light" by Della.
And she was always dark from beginning to end.
It’s not her that her family members expect, it’s not her that her friends see, it’s only her that her partner touches.
What about Dumbledore and Snape, you ask?
Della was grateful for their care and teaching, but they were monitoring her and treating her as a budding evil.
Voldemort's blood separated her from her friends, and Maggie's concealment made her close herself off. Now, it seemed like that night in the Forbidden Forest, with only Draco's hand still holding hers.
But, does she deserve this only light that she can touch?
Sometimes, Della couldn't help but think, wasn't Maggie to her before the same as she is to Draco now?
It should obviously be a wholehearted relationship, and one party firmly believes so, but the other party only acts this way and secretly looks at the relationship with a gloomy and measuring eye. This can be said to be a betrayal.
But she had no home and didn't want to look back at the past. In the end, Della could only look at Draco, and then at Malfoy behind him.
Malfoy was imperfect, Draco was imperfect, and she was not perfect either, but these three things combined gave her a perfect period of peace.
Now, she might have to break this peace with her own hands.
"Squeak~"
Her unlocked door was pushed open, and Della looked toward the door and saw several snakes struggling to wrap a diary in their mouths, so she hurried over.
Della's dark eyes seemed to glance at them casually, and several snakes immediately dispersed and retreated, leaving only the pure black Apep. Della squatted down, picked up the days on the ground and said to Apep gently, "Hai Xi-Ha Xi-ya (You have worked so hard, Apep, has Ange collected the things?)"
"Hai-xi (It's all done)!" Apep raised his snake body and rubbed Della's palm affectionately.
"Xi-si-sa-hai (Well done. As we said before, you can go to Quasi now and he will give you delicious steak tomorrow)." Della stroked Apepu attentively without paying any attention to the diary in her other hand, as if it was just an insignificant thing.
After watching Apep walk out of the door, Della slowly closed the door, put away the crystal ball, turned on the magic lamp, and finally placed the diary on the table.
She did not open the diary immediately, but just cast the same gentle gaze as before on the already old book, as if examining it carefully, but her hand under the table unconsciously touched the dagger in her pocket.
There had already been tricks done to Slytherin, and now she was sure that the mastermind behind the plot was related to Voldemort but had never looked for her, his daughter.
To be honest, Della had no idea whether she would fall into a coma like those confused Slytherins after opening the diary.
But she had to open the book and contact Voldemort. This was one of the few things she could do to temporarily classify herself as a light person.
Of course, there is also a bit of selfishness in her persistence.
Della opened the book, stared at the familiar "Tom Riddle" on the title page for a second, then turned the page, only to see a blank space.
However, before she could frown, a line of flamboyantly written characters appeared.
【Hello, Della.】
Della's eyes jumped, and she subconsciously picked up the feather pen beside her. Before writing, she took another look at "Della" on the notebook.
In the first year, Voldemort never called her by her name. The extremely self-centered Dark Lord only addressed her as "my child", which was a term full of connotations.
'Why don't you call me child like before? Your unfamiliarity is really sad.'
Della wrote that she wanted to test Voldemort's attitude towards her now, and also wanted to test whether the person she was facing now was Voldemort.
Or rather, was it the Voldemort she knew?
So she wrote another sentence immediately afterwards.
'My dear father.'