Chapter 213 Cockrell's Thoughts
The day after she decided to manifest, Della went to see Cockrell.
"You're a little slower than your father in determination, Riddle." In the dim office, Cockrell showed no surprise. He sat there and just rubbed his leather gloves.
"Children always try to catch up with their fathers," said Della, with her usual smile.
Cockrell snorted and chuckled, then reached out to grab the paper and pen next to him and started writing, "Manifestation is not that simple. You need to do a lot of preparation beforehand."
"First of all, you have to pass two wizard level exams. The society has an agreement with the Ministry of Magic of Country D, and can conduct exams for members at any time. You will be a junior member in the first half of the year." Cockrell handed the first piece of parchment to Della, which was full of textbooks on non-dark magic.
"Dark magic is still magic after all," Cockrell explained as Della raised her eyebrows at the list of books in her hand. "Generally speaking, the magic attainments of orthodox dark magic masters are also very high."
orthodox.
Della's eyes twitched slightly at this word, and she realized that she had only seen unorthodox black magic before, just like most people.
"It's a pity that there are too many evil dark wizards in the magical world." Moreover, there is too little popular science on dark magic, as if the three words "dark magic" can define it. This is exactly the same situation as the Slytherin who is "voluntarily" "isolated" now.
"Let them do whatever they want, let them think whatever they want," Cockrell took another piece of paper and began to write. His voice was cold. "They don't need our recognition, and we don't need their recognition."
"Then in which category does the professor put my father?" Della looked at Cockrell with a hint of inquiry in her eyes.
Cockrell looked up at Della calmly, the wrinkles on his face were motionless as if they were carved. He said nothing, but handed over another list of books.
"Thank you." Della politely took the list of special books on black magic and didn't ask any more questions.
"Learn by yourself and practice on this." Cockrell waved his wand, and an hourglass with black thorns wrapped around its rim appeared on the table. "Every time you come into my office from now on, you must bring an empty hourglass with you."
"Can I try it first, Professor?" Della asked, glancing at the light golden sand on the upper layer of the hourglass that was stirring on its own without flowing down.
"Okay, now that we've started communicating, you should ask questions about anything you don't understand. This is a good habit." Cockrell nodded.
After getting the answer, Della cast a fierce fire spell, but when the green light hit it, only one grain of sand fell through.
The Fire Curse is already a very powerful dark spell, and the power of her spell should not be low either...
Thinking of this, Della cast a few more powerful black spells, but only a little bit of sand leaked out.
"Avada Kedavra!" Finally, Della, with frowning brows, released the killing curse. A dazzling green light flashed, and the sand did not move at all.
Cockrell had been looking at the somewhat frustrated Della calmly, without a trace of fluctuation in his deep grey eyes. He was used to seeing the so-called dark wizards and really didn't care about them, but the girl in front of him had become his student, so Cockrell gave her a reminder.
"If power only exists as power, then the time spent squandering it is meaningless," he said in a low voice. The twinkle in his eyes reminded Della of the wise headmaster of Hogwarts. "Time is only effective when you are exploring your desires and proving your growth, Riddle."
Is it because one has strong personal views and is proud of them that one displays condescending tolerance?
But is tolerance, with the prefix "condescending", a form of contempt?
Professor Cockrell may not think highly of Voldemort.
"..." Della didn't say anything. Her black eyes trembled a few times as she looked at the thorn hourglass. She put away her wand and two lists of books, held up the hourglass with both hands, and said goodbye to Cockrell. "I will try my best, Professor Cockrell."
"Looking forward to your growth, Della Riddle." Cockrell said, watching Della push the door and walk out, and while Della was confirming his image, he was also looking at the little girl.
Like, was Cockrell's first impression of Riddle.
Just like the last Riddle who came to him, they were polite, good at reading people's expressions, and used lukewarm words to achieve their goals. It seemed that there was always a hint of arrogance hidden in their humble eyes.
They do have the capital to be arrogant.
As a pioneer of the concept of 'manifestation', Cockrell is considered an extremely talented wizard, but even after manifestation, when the power of his dark magic was enhanced, he was still no match for Dumbledore, while the previous Riddle showed the potential to crush Dumbledore.
After seeing the amazing potential, Cockrell pointed out the arrogance in Tom Riddle's eyes and asked directly whether his future career would make Dumbledore never at peace.
"I don't actually care about it," Cockerell remembered that the warmth on Tom Riddle's face at that time suddenly turned into playful indifference, "but I don't think Professor Dumbledore will like what I'm going to do."
What would Tom Riddle do at that time?
Cockrell didn't care, nor was he curious. His entire mind had been isolated in the tower along with his beliefs, and he could no longer spare a single bit of energy for this hopeless world. If Levin Cockrell had not still been named Cockrell, he would not have followed the ridiculous restriction order and only moved around in Durmstrang.
However, although his freedom was restricted, Cockrell still had a keen intuition. He knew clearly that with Tom Riddle's talent, as long as he did something that would displease Dumbledore, it would definitely bring big trouble to Dumbledore.
So Cockrell's answer at the time was "enough", and he immediately gave Tom Riddle access to all the dark magic books in the school.
Tom Riddle grew up very fast. After half a year, Cockrell could no longer teach him anything and his name changed from 'Riddle' to 'Voldemort'.
The humility in Tom Riddle's eyes disappeared too quickly, and Cockrell saw Voldemort's madness from his undisguised arrogance afterwards.
It's the kind of madness that comes from people who have no pursuits and only know how to have fun on their own.
In Della Riddle, Cockrell saw no such signs of madness, for he could see that the girl was hesitant.
Hesitation does not mean weakness, especially when facing the powerful unknown, people need to be in awe. Tom Riddle did not have this kind of awe, he only saw power.
Cockrell admired Della's awe, and he also felt comfortable with Della's humility in front of him, compared to Tom Riddle, whose attitude was completely different after he got the power he wanted.
But Cockrell's affection for Della ended there, because he could see that this girl, like her father, had no ambitions, so in his eyes, the two Riddles were positioned in the same way -
Someone who could kill Dumbledore.