Chapter 173 Black Flames in the Fireplace

Chapter 173 Black Flames in the Fireplace

The school post office looks like a larger newsstand from a distance. Once you walk in, you can clearly feel that the actual space inside is much larger than it appears from the outside. There are many small windows with wooden railings neatly arranged on both sides, but there are no staff behind the railings.

"The school newsstand has only been in use for a dozen years," said Zhou Yushi, who has read the history of Beauxbatons carefully. "It is said that because private letters are too easily obtained by others when delivered by owls, the school changed the system. Now owls can only go to the school post office, and only the person himself or a backup contact can pick up the letter."

"This sounds great." It's becoming more and more like the Muggle world, Della commented in her heart.

"Really? How come I didn't know that?" Livia was a year older than Zhou Yushi, but she read most of the research materials when she was in school. "Then is the purpose of reading the letter room to yell credit to others?"

"Why, have you ever seen anyone opening a Howler Letter in school? What kind of idiot would open something like that in public?" Zhou Yushi felt that Livia was talking nonsense. He walked to a window, turned his head to look at Della, and motioned for her to follow him.

Della, who was thinking about Ron, walked over. She saw the wooden railing facing Zhou Yushi suddenly rise up, revealing the glowing crystal ball inside. Zhou Yushi's face could be clearly seen reflected in it. Then there were a few "clicks", and a wooden frame containing a letter fell to the side of the crystal ball.

"Oh! There's a letter!" Zhou Yushi reached out to take the letter. The crystal ball flashed twice, and the whole ball emitted a light green color. He explained to Della, "This means there is an empty letter reading room. You can go in after pressing it. If you press it when it flashes red, it means you have queued for the letter reading room."

After saying that, Zhou Yushi took the letter and walked away. As he left, the wooden railing fell down and returned to its previous appearance.

"Wow-" Della let out a small exclamation in the face of such an automated scene. She had a strange sense of déjà vu, as if she was neither in the magical world nor the Muggle world with questionable efficiency, but in some future world. Beauxbatons' adaptation to Muggle technology seemed to be a bit too much.

But it is indeed convenient.

Della walked to the window, raised the wooden railing, and her face was reflected in the crystal ball. After the same "click-click" sound, five wooden frames filled with letters fell down. Zhou Yushi behind her opened his eyes wide when he saw so many letters for the first time, and Livia exclaimed in amazement.

"Belinda only received three baskets of love letters at most," Zhou Yushi finally remembered that this genius from the Airborne Research Institute also had the title of "Daughter of the Dark Lord" when he looked at Della with a calm face. Della had never mentioned this deliberately, and he had completely forgotten about it during their time together. "I think you'd better use the letter reading room."

"There's a fireplace for burning letters inside," Livia added. "It will be easy to deal with."

"Okay." Della responded and stretched out her hand to press the crystal ball, but just when her hand was halfway out, the familiar cold feeling from the soul made her freeze. Della's body trembled unconsciously, and she hurriedly used her other hand to pull back her hand that had begun to turn cold.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Yushi, who noticed something was wrong, put his arm around Della's shoulders from behind. He looked at Della's pale face and exchanged a glance with Livia. They both thought of the description of Della's curse in the newspaper.

"What about the letter from Country Y?" Zhou Yushi frowned, thinking that the Ministry of Magic of Country Y was doing things inappropriately and terribly. He supported Della and motioned Livia to press the crystal ball. "I think it's best for us to accompany you to the letter reading room this time."

"Thank you so much." Della's black eyes trembled slightly. She relied on Zhou Yushi's hand to support her and stood firmly. At this time, Livia pressed the crystal ball, and the entire window disappeared, revealing a hole with a vague candlelight.

Livia also came over to help Della up, and Zhou Yushi let go of her hand. The three of them walked in together and entered a room with a large chandelier and a fireplace. The fireplace was not lit, and the five baskets of letters were neatly stacked next to the fireplace.

"If you don't mind," Zhou Yushi walked over to the pile of letters, "I'll help you sort them."

"Thank you so much, Zhou." Della still said this, and she also gave Livia beside her a grateful smile.

"Oh, look at your face, it's like an iris out of season." Livia said sadly as she looked at Della's still pale face.

"Why did you think of using iris? The irises in school are too bright in color. Which girl's face can look like that?" Zhou Yushi tried to liven up the atmosphere. He squatted down and teased Livia's rhetoric while sorting out the letters. "Don't you think lily of the valley is better? It's white and light."

"Lily of the Valley? Isn't it good?" Livia's attention was diverted, and she thought of her ex-girlfriend who lived in the Lily of the Valley area. "I miss Belinda. How is she doing recently, Della?"

"Uh..." Della opened her mouth, somewhat speechless. After all, you can't tell these two people that your ex has a new lover, right? You can't do that, right?

"Oh... I see, she has a lover again," Livia's voice dropped for a moment, but immediately rose again, "Then I hope she can enjoy her love this time!"

Zhou Yushi, who was sorting the letters by region, glanced at Della. He continued to sort the letters in an orderly manner and asked, "What kind of person is the new one?"

Hearing this, Livia also looked at Della, waiting for her answer.

......

Seriously, Senior Zhou? You really have to ask this?

Now Della didn't care about the troublesome curse on herself at all. She said "tsk" in her heart, and considering that these two people helped her so much today, she answered this awkward social topic, "He is a person who can make Belinda feel pure love." Della used Belinda's words, and this was all she knew.

"That means the basic conditions have been met." Zhou Yushi commented indifferently and finally did not continue the topic.

After a while, Zhou Yushi sorted the letters. There were four baskets of letters from Country Y, one basket of letters from outside Country Y, and three more letters in his hands. He waved the three letters at Della and said, "You also received a Muggle letter and two work letters."

"Work letter?" Della heard a new concept.

"Intermediate researchers and above can take customized work. The school takes a cut of the transaction. If the client is willing to pay a little more, the customized agreement can be sent to a specific alchemist," Zhou Yushi walked over and handed the letter to Della. "The two work letters were sent yesterday. As soon as you entered the senior meeting, someone approached you before your work number was determined."

Della heard the hint in Zhou Yushi's words, this was not a work letter sent for work purposes.

But obviously, people who know how to send work letters are much smarter than those who send random letters. In order to reward this intelligence, Della decided to take these two jobs.

She roughly scanned the signatures "Annika Rochier" and "Gilles Holt" on the two envelopes. The letter from Holt was a little bulging, as if there was a book stuffed inside. Della put the two letters into her bag, and then looked at the Muggle letter.

From country F, signed as Otto Granger.

It's Hermione.

Della's breathing stagnated for a second. She didn't know whether to open the letter. Just then Zhou Yushi asked her, "Those Y country letters, shall I help you throw them directly into the fireplace?"

"Do you want me to light the fireplace with my magic wand?" Della, who was thinking about other things, looked at the cold, empty fireplace and spoke subconsciously.

"This fireplace doesn't burn wood, it burns the emotions in the letters," Livia explained, her voice as lively as ever, and she walked over to the fireplace. "I used to love burning letters here with Belinda. It's a beautiful red one."

As she spoke, she picked up the basket of Y country letters that Zhou Yushi had sorted out and poured them into the fireplace. As soon as the letters entered the furnace, they began to burn on their own, but the color they burned was not the red that Livia had just said, but a rich black.

"Ah..." Looking at the color of the flames, Livia covered her mouth in surprise and took a few steps back unconsciously.

The fireplace in the letter reading room burns with emotions and will burn out the color of emotions. The darker the color, the heavier the emotion you receive.

If you receive care from your relatives and friends, it will burn out warm orange; if you receive love from your lover, it will burn out fiery red; if you receive jokes from your friends, it will burn out playful blue...

What if it burns black?

This means you are receiving curses and hatred.

Zhou Yushi frowned when he also saw the black flames in the fireplace for the first time. He glanced at Della, who was holding the letters and temporarily ignorant of the rules of the fireplace, and then looked at Livia, who was at a loss in front of the fireplace. He walked up with pursed lips and silently poured the remaining three baskets of letters into the black fire.

The black fire suddenly became more intense, crackling and turning everyone in the room into a charcoal-like complexion. Della over there opened the letter from Granger in the black light.

'Dear Miss Riddle:'

'Hello, I am Hermione's father, a dentist in the Muggle world. I heard about your experience from Hermione. I am deeply sorry for the injustice you have suffered. At the same time, I also hope that you will gain something in your study abroad journey in the coming year.'

'Hermione always mentioned you at home, told us about you many times, and showed us the Daily Prophet. I noticed that you were still lying in the hospital in London, so my daughter and I made an assumption. I thought that as a Muggle, the letter I wrote could be obtained by you. I can't verify the correctness of this assumption, but Hermione and I both hope to communicate with you. '

'Della - please allow me to call you that, Hermione wants to tell you that she now fully understands your helplessness, and she is always willing to be your friend, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley think so, and many people in the school think you are right. She wants to say that you are always welcome back to Hogwarts. '

'If you can receive this letter, Della, please reply to us, or you can also go to the hotel to find us according to the address below. We will spend most of this summer vacation in Country F. I am happy to be a mouthpiece between you and Hermione, and look forward to your reply. '

After Della finished reading the letter, her throat became even more choked. Her hands holding the letter trembled, but she finally folded the letter, put it back in the envelope, and carefully sealed it again.

Hermione was as sweet as ever, and as innocent as ever, but Della had already passed the stage of being in the company of innocence.

She walked towards the fireplace in the thick black light, and threw Granger's letter into the fireplace under the gaze of Zhou Yushi and Livia. A little orange light lit up in the black fire, and was instantly swallowed up by the rolling black flames.

"Hmm?" Della finally noticed the difference in the flame colors after she came to her senses. She also remembered what Livia said. She turned around and asked the two people beside her, "Why are the colors of the flames different?"

Livia and Zhou Yushi's eyes met, both of them frowned, and no one spoke.

......

What's the point of a faint fluorescence in the dark if nothing can dispel it?

It may give you some comfort, but when you place your hope on that little light, isn't it telling you all the time that you are in darkness?

Rather than dispelling the darkness and obtaining the light that Fluorescence wants, Della prefers to control the darkness.

And the first step to mastering darkness is to dispel the light of innocence.