Chapter 171 That Night
Della had a day of meetings on Monday. What Livia had said was true. Professor Weiss took her to a senior researcher meeting, and then the group of professors stuffed a bunch of information into her newly assigned independent office.
A day of meetings was tiring, and the arrangements for the following period were even more tiring. However, there was some good news. Beauxbatons had a credit exchange system, and if she could produce enough results this summer, she could choose the courses in the new semester with a playful attitude.
Oh yes, and the senior meeting was in the form of a tea break (Friday’s meeting was only apple juice), with all the snacks being very delicate and delicious, and she even packed some to take back.
As soon as she opened the dormitory door, Della, who was carrying snacks, saw Quasi and Nella diligently cleaning the already clean room. "Maybe you could take a break? After all, this place is not as big as Hogwarts. You can do something else."
"Going out and wandering around like Quasi?" Nayla pouted, the bow on her ear dangling, and she shouted in a shrill voice, looking unhappy.
Quasi blinked but didn't argue. He walked to Della's side and took the takeaway box. "I can make some hard dishes with Nayla tomorrow, and the time will pass quickly."
"But you can't just spend your time cooking every day." Della rubbed her knuckles and immediately understood Nayla's problem. It was obvious that she didn't know how to have fun. Quasi would break through herself and go out for sightseeing, but Nayla might only find happiness in housework from birth to now.
But it would be difficult for house-elves to change their accustomed lives...
Della actually had a plan for these two house-elves. After all, there were house-elves everywhere. Nella and Quasi could exchange recipes or simple spells for doing housework with the house-elves in Beauxbatons.
But now, she suddenly felt that this fate, which was the same everywhere, was a cage.
This was her own self-righteous thought, the house-elves might just like their fate, but she just wanted to see if there would be any new possibilities.
Della glanced at the shiny bow on Nayla's ear. She searched her pockets and took out all the gold Galleons she had with her today, about ten in total.
"We still have plenty of food money left." Quasi looked at the gold galleons, his tennis-ball-sized eyes as innocent and pure as ever.
The most important thing that needs to be changed about house-elves is that they have no concept of "want" and "should have", and Della decided to start from this point.
"I want to ask you for help," Della said, handing the money to Nayla. "I'm very busy with my upcoming research, and I don't think I'll have time to visit the wizarding world of Country F. This won't be good for socializing after school starts. No one likes someone who can't talk about anything."
"What?" Nayla didn't quite understand. She blinked her eyes. "But what can we do?"
"Visit Country F with a work mentality," Della emphasized the word "work," "and report to me once a week and bring back five items that you think are popular in that place. The weekly budget is ten Galleons. If you plan the location in advance, we can also flexibly increase the budget."
"Let's go out for a walk!" Quasi's voice became high-spirited.
"Popular products?" Nayla was still a little hesitant.
"Like jewelry, scarves, handicrafts, stationery and snacks, it's all up to you. Bows like yours are good," Della cast an admiring look at Nella's bow, "but pay attention to the budget. Of course, I won't give you any extra punishment."
"The bow...was given to me by Quasi..." Naila muttered. Her flesh-colored face did not express much emotion, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that she was shy. She did not immediately agree to Della's proposal, but first rolled her eyes and looked around the small room that she had cleaned over and over again in the past two days, and then she agreed somewhat awkwardly, "If you really need our help..."
"Thank you so much!" Della said, and waved for them to follow her into the room. She took out two plain necklaces from the drawer and handed them to them. "This is a translator. It will help you understand and speak French."
"You are so thoughtful, Della!" Quasi's eyes welled up with tears, and Nella also looked touched.
"You guys really helped me a lot." Della said with a smile. After chatting with them for a long time about things to pay attention to, she let the two house-elves return to their small rest area outside.
"Ha-hi-sa (You're right, they should have been sent out long ago)," Maggie slid off the bed and onto Della's shoulders as soon as the two house-elves left, "Sa-hi (I want to talk to you about your roommate)."
"Ok?"
"Hai-Shisa (She seemed to have eaten someone today, but I didn't smell any blood)." It was rare for Sadolin to speak.
"Hmm?" Della's tone rose even more.
"Hai-ya-sa (She didn't eat people, but she--)" Maggie lowered her throat slightly, making the already low snake language more trembling, "Xisi-sa (But she is a humanoid succubus, maybe you should consider changing dormitories)."
Della agreed with Maggie's evaluation of Belinda, but she had no intention of changing dormitories. To be honest, Della liked Belinda very much. She liked her in an admiring sense. People with self-respect and principles are always likable.
"Sa—" Della was just about to explain her plan to Maggie in snake language (after all, she couldn't judge another person so blatantly in a dormitory shared by two people), when Belinda's highly recognizable voice rang out.
"I'm back, Della—"
"I feel like your voice is a little higher today. Is there something happy?" Della turned around and looked at the hem of Belinda's plain dress fluttering in the air, and asked with a smile.
"I have a new lover today!"
"Hai-Xi (Human Succubus)"
"Sa-hi (Apep said she ate people--)"
Belinda, Maggie and Sadolin's replies rang out at the same time. For the first time, Della felt a lively feeling in her living space. Her reaction was delayed by a second by the trio's replies. Belinda thought that Della's delay in reaction was a sign of loss.
"Oh, please don't be sad. I still like you very much, but you are too young. I can't say anything like 'wait until you grow up'. I don't think it's romantic to say such things to minors," said Belinda, stretching out her hand to pinch Della's soft cheek. "Although I am a trustworthy person, not all adults are reliable in front of minors."
Della's eyes widened slightly after hearing this. It was a rare moment for this precocious little girl to realize that she was indeed only thirteen years old.
"Thank you for your teaching?" Della was not sure whether she should use this word, but she did not dwell on the use of this word, nor on her own maturity that did not match her age. She soon smiled and asked Belinda, "What kind of lover are you? It seems that you seem very happy." She paid attention to her language and did not use any gender-related pronouns.
"The eyes she looked at me were pure, pure love for pure Belinda," Belinda half held her face in her hands, lowered her eyes and showed a dreamy smile, "So I gave her the opportunity for us to love each other, oh, and I also seized the opportunity to love her."
What a vague answer. Della didn’t hear any personal information. Maybe for Belinda, love is enough?
Della was curious about this, but she always knew that it was meaningless to ask a person questions, and words were always decorative. If you want to get to know someone better, you should observe her politely.
"I hope you will have a pleasant love life," Della said, ending the topic. Then she and Belinda mentioned the snacks they brought back. "Would you like some cake? I brought some back from the tea break today."
"Today, I might use a little." Belinda rolled her eyes and thought about the calories she consumed today. In fact, she didn't calculate it carefully. After roughly concluding that she didn't eat much today, she immediately planned to eat some cake happily.
"Oh, yes! I heard that you attended the senior researcher meeting!" Bellinda said. Her tone was high, but her expression was still normal. After all, she was not doing research, so this was just a title for her. She was just a little curious, "Will senior researchers get any special treatment?"
“I got a huge raise in my allowance,” Della said, and then she added slowly, blinking, “and an office.”
"Salary increase? That's great. We must go shopping when we have time. I can't wait to go clothes shopping with you!" Belinda only paid attention to the first half of the sentence and she said excitedly.
"I heard it's easy to take time off after payday. We can go next month." Dela reached out and touched Belinda's Muggle dress. For the first time, she showed her love for Muggle clothes to someone who didn't know much about her background. "We can also exchange some Muggle money to go out shopping. I have always liked Muggle clothes."
"That's even better!" Belinda happily hugged Della into her arms, and even brought Maggie, who had been silent on Della's shoulder, between them. The unexpected squeezing feeling made him twist his body unbearably.
Why are there always emotional monsters around Della?
In the past there were light golden childish ghosts, and now there are amber succubi. Maggie can see that Della has a subconscious tolerance for this kind of people, and she also knows where this tolerance comes from.
Because this kind of people see little, they cannot see the huge interests behind Della, they only see Della, so even if they look naive and stupid all day long, Della can still favor them a little.
Was she enjoying being Della, and not Della Riddle?
This seemed to make sense to Maggie, but it also seemed not to make sense.
After all, Della and Della Riddle were just one person from beginning to end, right?