Chapter 322: Brother and Sister's Childhood Chapter
The absence of a reading partner made Della leave the living room earlier than the previous two days. After quickly washing and drying her hair with magic, she lay down on the bed, but she did not let go of the book. She turned on the bedside lamp and continued reading.
At about half past nine, the unclear sound of a door opening passed through the door and wall of Della's room, telling her that Maggie was back. Then, the footsteps became clearer from vague, and when the footsteps were clearest, a knock on the door followed.
"Come in," Della called, placing the book face down in front of her.
"I knew you were still reading," Maggie pushed open the door and met Della's teasing gaze. He waved his hand elegantly, showing his clothes that were as neat and wrinkle-free as before, "Stop reading. There are no adult stories tonight."
"Then you didn't come back until 9:30? We left the amusement park at 6 o'clock," Della said, obviously not intending to broach the subject lightly, "and the time you spent sending them home plus the time you spent driving back shouldn't have been more than an hour."
"It took me twenty minutes to drive back," Maggie reported her evening, looking at the mechanical watch on her wrist that she wore every time she went to the Muggle country. "Thirty minutes earlier, I gentlemanly put a blanket on a woman who had taken off her clothes. Fifteen minutes earlier, I started telling the kids a bedtime story. Fifteen minutes earlier, I spent all my time playing with puppies and playing house with the kids."
"You should know that there are details in your words that I will question," Della said in Maggie's serious tone, and raised her voice slightly. "Of course, if you just got out of a woman's bed, you can leave my room silently at this time."
"I won't sleep with a woman who voluntarily takes off her clothes but looks at me like a rapist," Maggie's handsome face wrinkled slightly. He moved the small sofa stool in the bedroom and sat next to Della. "I really don't understand. I know I'm mean to people most of the time, but I never asked anything of her, but she acted more vulnerable than Sadolin."
"I do need to find time to talk to you about Sadolin's problem," Della said thoughtfully, "but it's normal for Xina to have wild thoughts since she lives in the house you gave her and uses your money."
"So not living in my house, not taking my money, and being someone forced to use all kinds of methods to pay off debts would be her preferred lifestyle, right?" Maggie laughed, and he sarcastically said the harsh words that he had just tried hard not to say in front of Hina.
"Ah, you are really a mean person to others," Maggie said with a light tone, turning the harsh words into a witty remark. Della looked at him with contempt, her eyes slightly curved, "It can't be helped. You have to put yourself in trouble when helping others. You are asking for trouble."
"Yeah, I asked for it," Maggie leaned back against the floral wall behind him, and turned to look at Della, "So, a killing curse would be right?"
"If you've just killed an innocent Muggle with magic, get out of my house in silence," Della responded.
"This house is not old enough for you yet!" Maggie squinted her eyes and shouted in a strange tone, then smiled and relaxed her eyebrows, "Besides, I didn't do anything to her. I guess my hand touched her shoulder when I was covering her with a blanket," Maggie rubbed her hands in disgust, "and then I kindly counseled her for 30 minutes, so that she finally knew how to cry and make a fuss, and she was barely acting like a decent person."
In fact, when Ximena was taking off her clothes, Maggie stared at her blue eyes, and his hand had already touched the wand in his pocket. When the killing curse was about to be triggered, he saw Ximena's face again.
For Maggie, killing someone like Cynthia who was stealing without even realizing it was happening was one thing, but killing Ximena who could manifest his complete form with his eyes closed was too much of a challenge.
That's why he didn't do anything to Xina, who was gradually becoming a trouble, tonight, and barely avoided the fate of being kicked out of Della's future house.
"Wow..." Della exclaimed falsely. She guessed that Maggie couldn't convince herself to kill Ximena again. "Riddle's rare tenderness is too tender to kill..."
"I'll have time to quantify the psychological damage your words have done to me, Della." Maggie's voice dropped, and he pretended to be serious.
"It's the same to you." Della acted modestly.
They looked at each other and laughed.
"By the way," after a few seconds of mutual understanding, Maggie continued to smile and suggested, "How about trying a bedtime story? It seems like you haven't had this experience yet?"
"You're still addicted to raising children?" Della habitually asked Maggie a rebuttal, but it was just a habit. She didn't want to make things difficult for Maggie, so she continued talking without waiting for Maggie to answer, "If you really want to tell me a bedtime story, you have to find a fairy tale that I didn't read when I was a child."
"Also, I want to remind you," Della added, "I have read a lot of myths from various systems."
"Hmm..." Maggie lowered her eyes, and he thought, "How about putting new wine in old bottles? I'll give you a new version of Maggie's story."
"Okay, let me see if those books you read are useful," Della cooperated and handed the book on her lap to Maggie, asking him to put it aside. Then she lay down, looking at Maggie with rare bright eyes, waiting for her first bedtime story. "What are you going to write?"
"The most classic one is Grimm's Fairy Tales," she said, as a hardcover storybook fell into Maggie's outstretched palm. "Today I'm reading Snow White. I don't like this story where the whole person just runs away from danger and relies on others to keep her alive and resurrect. Wait for me to flip through it. I'll find a story I've read and tell you."
"Oh, I got it," Maggie saw the eye-catching words, "Adventures in the Candy House, the story of a brother and a sister, how about it?"
"Okay, let's get started," Della said, still looking at Maggie.
"Once upon a time there was a small village called Hogwarts. There lived a farmer named Dumbledore," Maggie looked up at Della from time to time as she read. "Because his family was too poor, he planned to throw away the brother and sister Maggie and Della."
"Dumbledore wouldn't be the one to lose a child," Della questioned.
"Well... okay," Maggie accepted the suggestion and chose the person she thought was the most compatible with Dumbledore to continue the fairy tale. "Once upon a time, there was a small village called Hogwarts. There lived a pair of friends, Grindelwald and Dumbledore. They had a very good relationship and even adopted a pair of siblings, Maggie and Della."
"But suddenly one day, the good friends turned against each other." Maggie paused here, thinking about the reasonable transition of the two old people choosing to abandon the child. "But Dumbledore still wanted to keep Grindelwald. Grindelwald stayed and wanted to take revenge on Dumbledore before leaving."
"Grindelwald planned in his mind, and he began to say to Dumbledore, 'It's time to let the children go out for exercise. I heard that there is a kind wizard deep in the woods. Let them go and try their luck.' Dumbledore refused reluctantly, but he couldn't resist Grindelwald's soft and hard persuasion, and he finally agreed."
"The night before the siblings were sent to the forest, the family had a warm dinner. At the table, Grindelwald told the news, which immediately alerted the brother, Maggie." Maggie raised her lip corners slightly and raised an eyebrow at Della. "He thought Grindelwald would not be so kind. Unfortunately, his protest was not taken seriously. He could only discuss it with his sister after dinner."
"His little sister, Della, was totally bewildered at the time—"
"Hey!" Della made a small protest at this description, but it did not interrupt Maggie's story.
"Maggie comforted Della, 'It's okay, leave it to me, I'll find a way'," Maggie turned a page and made up a story based on the original text, "Then Maggie sneaked out of the house under the moonlight, used the nuts left over from dinner as a trap, and caught a greedy squirrel."
"Squirrel?" Della questioned.
"And I want to name this squirrel Draco," Maggie said with a smile, and continued to tell her fairy tale. "The next day, Grindelwald and Dumbledore took the brother and sister on the road. Maggie first cut small wounds on the squirrel and sprinkled a few drops of blood on the grass at their feet every few steps."
"This is the beginning of a bloody incident, isn't it?" Della complained in a low voice. She immediately made things difficult for Maggie. "During this time, little Della heard the squirrel's subtle cries of pain. She asked Maggie in panic and tried to snatch the injured squirrel and save it while the two parents were not paying attention."
"Unfortunately, the injured squirrel fell into a hysterical state. It didn't care that Della came to rescue it. It bit and scratched it recklessly, injuring the back of Della's hand. Blood splattered and marked that short section of the road." Maggie was still smiling, but her speech speed was much faster. Obviously, she didn't want to give Della a chance to interact. "Maggie was so angry that she crushed the squirrel to death."
"Well, it looks like I can only unilaterally deprive this dead squirrel of its name." Della didn't want to interrupt the warmth of the night, so she changed to a more compromising way of protest.
"Then, blood spots were squeezed out of the squirrel's body. When no more blood could be squeezed out, Maggie began to tear the squirrel's body apart, throwing the little pieces covered with fur on the side of the road." Maggie was completely unaware that the fairy tale should not describe the process of injury in detail. Maybe because of Draco, he was still too dissatisfied in his heart, so he said this part. "When the squirrel's body was almost used up, Grindelwald stopped."
"Grindelwald sent Dumbledore away, who was reluctant to part with the children, and promised him that he would give the children a compass and told them to go back after noon. But when he turned around, he said to the brother and sister, 'Wait here until night, the wizards will come', and there was no sign of the compass," Maggie said, her voice rising and falling, trying her best to convey the fairy tale situation with her voice. "After that, he took Dumbledore away, leaving the brother and sister hugging each other."
"Little Della couldn't help shouting, 'Grindelwald is a big liar, everyone knows there will be man-eating snakes in the woods at night.' Maggie comforted her, 'It's okay, it's okay, we'll stay a little longer, I'll take you home before sunset.'"
"Wow, what an innocent and adorable little Della." Della exclaimed in a cold tone, fully expressing her yin and yang.
"Of course, then our innocent and lovely little Della," Maggie smiled and agreed shamelessly, "followed Maggie and went home after the sun went down a little, looking for squirrel fragments along the way, just in time for dinner."
"Fragments? Thank you for using that instead of the word corpse," Della murmured.
"Dumbledore was deeply moved by the return of the siblings. He prepared a sumptuous dinner and said that he would never let the children go out on adventures again," Maggie said in a raised tone. "On the contrary, Grindelwald could only force a smile. He postponed his plan to leave Dumbledore quietly and leave him alone, and continued their turbulent family life."
"Family? Didn't they say they were friends? Then who is the father and who is the mother?" Della, who had been listening carefully to the story, caught the inconsistent details.
"The main reason is that I can't think of a woman who is suitable for Dumbledore, and I subconsciously thought of Grindelwald. They can live together. Well... ordinary friends really don't adopt children and live together. So let Dumbledore and Grindelwald be a pair of same-sex lovers with broken relationships." Maggie corrected the relationship between the characters in the fairy tale and briefly expressed her thoughts. "Well, it's an unimportant detail. I am still very open-minded. The two fathers can completely accept it."
"The key point is whether you can accept having two fathers?" Della laughed. "The key point is whether Dumbledore and Grindelwald can accept being treated as a same-sex couple."