Chapter 12 Christmas

Muyu went straight to the cellar after coming out of the library. She wanted to hand in the potion she had brewed specially this week.

The door to Snape's office was completely closed. Mu Yu knocked on the door, and it took a long time for the door to open. "Come in."

The office was very dark. It was originally in the cellar without sunlight, and there were all kinds of extremely weird medicinal materials around it, which added to the coldness of this small room. Mu Yu saw that he was very unnatural, and there was still a trace of blood in the air.

Mu Yu pretended not to know anything: "Professor, this is the potion I brewed this week."

When she got closer, she realized that Snape's face was paler than usual. Snape took the silver-white potion in Mu Yu's hand: "Sedative."

He looked at the bottle of potion carefully.

Mu Yu always felt that he took potions more seriously than his students.

"The effect is more significant than ordinary sedatives." She lowered her head slightly. She had always been a shy student in front of these professors. "Yes, I changed the recipe and neutralized a piece of Tianshan Snow Lotus. I tried it myself. , Drinking it is indeed more effective."

No one could see her irritation.

The intersection with Tom happened again and again, and what followed was a surge in power.

The only way to practice Taoism in the East is to sense the Taoist heart, which represents choice.

She had a hunch that she had to make a decision, otherwise it would be difficult to make progress if it dragged on for a long time.

"Your way is already before you."

She could not walk on such a way.

"You don't have to pay the price of falling into the abyss to retaliate against those who have hurt you."

The first thing to seek is to face her true self, but she can no longer take off that mask. Once she took off her mask, she had to face the bone-gnawing darkness.

"Very good." Snape's voice was always monotonous, without any emotion even when he was praising others. "You must be able to drink your own potion before others can drink it. I'm glad you remember this. A little bit. Instead of acting like some idiot."

Mu Yu was used to his complaints from time to time, which were nothing more than innuendos about Potter or Neville.

"Professor, if there's nothing else, I'll leave first." She didn't comment much on this.

Snape waved. The moment he closed the door, Mu Yu took a deep look at him. His reputation at Hogwarts was not very good. He was extremely defensive and had a bad temper. It was even rumored that he resented Dumbledore for not applying for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position. .

Such people have stories.

Mu Yu had no time to care about other people's stories, including the boy in front of him.

It was Wu's Orphanage again, and Tom's face became even more gloomy: "I heard that they are going to send me to a mental hospital."

Without waiting for Mu Yu to react, he stood up and opened the only wardrobe in the room. There was only A box. Tom opened the box and dumped the contents onto the bed. There were rag dolls, an old harmonica, the Hibiscus flower that Mu Yu gave him that time, and some odds and ends. They should all be "trophies" that Tom collected from other children.

He didn't speak, he was watching Mu Yu's reaction. He waited, waiting to see whether there was hypocrisy in her eyes that sickened him or a moralizing that upset him. But there was still no emotion in Mu Yu's eyes. He wasn't surprised at all.

Mu Yu picked up the old harmonica and looked at it carefully: "I don't like the harmonica very much, and I can't play it. The only thing I know how to play is the guqin."

"What is that?"

"I can play it if you have a chance. Listen."

She played with the other side flower in the box. The flower of the other side transformed by magic is still as bright as before even if it leaves the soil and sunlight.

The blood-red petals were like flowing blood, and she said firmly: "You will not go to a mental hospital."

Tom was a little proud, as if this was the thing that made him most proud: "Of course not. I will go to Hogwarts to study. I "I can also

talk to snakes. It seems that this is not a common thing in Hogwarts."

She heard rumors about the founder of Slytherin. Ratchas Lytherin is a famous snake talker. Wizards who can speak in a snake-like manner are considered to be his descendants by default.

Mu Yu fiddled with the pile of broken toys: "Yes, this is not a common thing."

"But you can. You knew last time I let a snake attack you." It was the first time that Tom was so close to Mu Yu, They sat together on the narrow bed, their knees almost touching.

Only then did he vaguely smell the faint scent of sandalwood on Mu Yu's body. Sandalwood is very light, and he wouldn't be able to detect it if he wasn't so close. This kind of fragrance is just like Mu Yu, so illusory and unreal.

Only Tom Riddle could get so close to Mu Yu, only Tom Riddle could grasp this faint fragrance, and only Tom Riddle could hold this erratic cloud at his fingertips for a moment.

"It's just a feeling."

"As long as I want to," she whispered.

Tom sat farther away, and actually stretched out his hand to her for the first time: "Follow me."

He still liked to order people, and there was an unquestionable determination in his rarely ups and downs tone.

Mu Yu hesitated for the first time. She still stayed where she was, pretending not to hear and playing with the pile of old toys. However, her increasingly slow and hesitant movements hinted that she seemed to be really struggling with something, making an extremely difficult decision.

She held the bright flower in the box tightly, and gently twisted a petal in her hand to a rhythm that only the two of them could understand, one after another, slowly reaching the point of explosion.

She took advantage of the moment when the node was about to fall and put her hand on it. As soon as she put it on, she was tightly held, unable to escape.

She bent down and put the flower plant in her hand back into the box, as gently as if she were treating some rare treasure: "It's up to you this time."

Facing those dark eyes that also had little emotion, she smiled and curved her eyebrows, and tolerated them by the way. All the violence that has never erupted.

She was pulled through the only narrow corridor in the orphanage, inevitably contaminated by all the filth, filth and noise contained here. At the end of the corridor, there is a steep staircase that goes up almost vertically, leading to darkness where there is no light from the sky.

Spreading in the shadows under the stairs was a pool of blood that might be difficult to remove.

Tom still held her tightly, but he wouldn't let her go. He was so close that neither of them had much room to escape. Even though the light was sparse, Mu Yu could still distinguish his smile mixed with the shadows and darkness.

He thought he would win.

"I chose another path for the two people who went to the cave. They didn't even have the right to be afraid." These things seemed so ordinary in his mouth, as if he was gently stating an ordinary prank. He entwined her hair and said, "Yu, do you still want to go up?"

The warm breath covered Mu Yu's ears, blowing away the filth that had come along the way, and reinjecting it into something even more terrifying and disturbing. It is difficult to get rid of what one rejects.

They were in a stalemate in the shadows where the sun couldn't reach them, and it seemed like no one was willing to give in.

Mu Yu sighed and took off his hand that was entangled in his hair. He said gently and without any unnecessary emotion: "I said, today is up to you."

They climbed up the shaky stairs together and entered. dark.

The light of day suddenly appeared.

Calling it Tianguang is actually quite reluctant. London is filled with smog and dust, and it is difficult to say that there is any light. The roof of the orphanage is close to the dirty and cramped ceilings one after another, surrounded by the gray and airless sky and the curves of the city.

They sat on the roof, looking at the prosperity that was currently out of reach in the darkness.

When Mu Yu stretched out his hand, he was stained with the turbidity of old London.

She couldn't touch time, let alone keep it.

This is completely someone else's world - another unfamiliar territory. He may have climbed to this roof countless times, listening and appreciating the wailing hidden in the dirt of this city, and imagining the pleasure of patrolling his own territory again and again.

Mu Yu stroked the mottled wall tiles.

It's too high here, and it seems to be far away from the death everywhere.

She leaned aside, trying in vain to find support in an unfamiliar territory.

They all are.

"Let's spend Christmas together." He sat further away, retreating to the edge of his territory.

It seems that only giving in is enough to make room for the invitation.

Mu Yu looked at the sky outside. Although London was desolate during the war, he could still see the green weeds. This time and space has reached early summer.

"Christmas in the summer"

"No," Tom looked at the noisy street below: "This does not belong to me, and I don't want to belong here. My destination is Hogwarts. Let's spend a Christmas together at Hogwarts."

The roar of fighter planes was faintly heard in the distance. Mu Yu smiled broadly at the thin boy in front of her: "Okay."

The next day was a rare sunny weekend. There were not many sunny days in Hogwarts, let alone sunny days in late autumn and early winter. The wind coming from the Black Lake was rare and did not carry the biting cold, and even contained a bit of warmth.

Mu Yu was sitting on the lawn, and she could have a panoramic view of the vast black lake from the slope she was on. She was holding a book and reading. The weak sunlight danced between the pages, and the picture seemed to be frozen. For a moment, it was impossible to tell whether she was reading seriously or already drowsy.

The picture seemed to move when she gently turned the page.

"You like reading books very much."

She knew who it was without looking up.

"There are not many ways to entertain herself."

Once, only books saved her from the nightmare of being chased. Slowly, she dug out more things from books. From then on, books merged into endless dreams and became another nightmare.

"Are you serious?" Tom sat next to her and glanced at the book she was reading with disdain, "In the orphanage, that woman often read this to us."

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn. , it shines brighter and brighter until noon.

"A piece of rubbish," he snorted.

He has no ordinary dislike for ordinary people. They unanimously ignored what happened yesterday, but this did not mean that Mu Yu would forget it easily.

She even had a vague guess about his identity.

"It can be fun sometimes," Mu Yu never took his eyes away from the book, "Muggles also have a lot of interesting things."

Before Tom got angry, she quickly added: "When you use their things It's even more fun when you crush their will and trample them under your feet."

Only then did Tom show some interest. It wasn't the books that aroused his interest, but the secrets Mu Yu seemed to be hiding. She must have done something scarier and more creative than hanging Billy Rabbit.

She would not feel guilty, but what annoyed him was that there seemed to be an unknown power that disgusted him, forcing Mu Yu to suppress the memories.

Mu Yu had put the book aside and stared at the black lake in a daze. As expected, she never wanted to continue talking.

"You turn this page often," Tom Riddle handed the book back to her hand, as if he had grabbed her handle again, "The wind blew it here just now."

Only those who obey me will do it. Live in peace, enjoy peace and quiet, and have no fear of disaster.

Mu Yu took the book and pinched the pages tightly. The fragile paper was almost deformed under her strength: "It's just ridiculous. Muggle fantasy gods often act arbitrarily, but they warn believers to be kind and friendly." She paused. Then he said softly, "It's like raising a group of docile lambs."

"You want to be such a god," Tom said with certainty. He was excited because he discovered another secret of Mu Yu. "You want the ultimate power. Control people's hearts, control life and death, and make everyone become a lamb in your pasture."

He approached her, and only when he was very close could he smell the faint scent of sandalwood: "Then why don't you pursue it. If you can do great things, you will have the world in your hands. "

Mu Yu did not deny it as hard as he thought. She laughed directly, just like last time, full of ridicule and teasing.

She is dangerous...but also bright and beautiful.

"Then I will face a powerful enemy." She sighed softly and turned to the page where she just stopped. "I probably don't want to be an enemy of that person, not because of fear, but because of boredom. "

"That's..." Tom Riddle seemed to be struggling with something, and Mu Yu was always waiting for him gently and patiently. She was willing to listen, but she didn't necessarily care much. As she said, it was boring. The warmth of the apple pie seemed to be rolling in the palm of my hand again, "That's just...another me."

Mu Yu gently stroked the page without saying anything more.

"Any more?" Tom said, pointing to the book in her hand.

A pile of heavy books fell directly in front of him: "The garbage you asked for."

After saying that, she ignored him and started reading alone while holding the books.

She really didn't want to talk to him. The books in her hands seemed more interesting than him. Tom Riddle had no choice but to pick up a book and flip through it casually.

The black lake ripples in the sunlight, like a person's shallow breath. The sound of turning books gradually weakened in the waves of light.

The moist breeze carried the light sandalwood on her body. When he smelled this ethereal fragrance again, Tom Riddle had an illusion. It seemed that he was really living in this time and space, going to school with her every day, Read books and delve into weird magic in the library.

She would listen to his ambition and pride, tolerate his cruelty, and then return to her own world indifferently.

The floating clouds in the sky seem to dilute the concept of time.

He leaned towards Mu Yu, trying to grasp the reality of this moment.

Mu Yu naturally noticed it. She had never sat and read with someone alone. For a long time, there was only herself and the dark corridor from which she could not escape. She wanted to move away, but she held back.

Even though there was still a distance, the coldness from his whole body penetrated her back. She could not mistake it. It was the same aura as hers. There was a terrifying cruelty hidden in the coldness that was thousands of miles away. .

From the time Tom mercilessly hanged Billy's rabbit, terrorized the noisy children in the orphanage, and coaxed two people into a cave to scare them unconscious, she knew they might be the same kind.

She also moved a few inches closer to him, and the strange thing was that she could find an eerie sense of peace in this resemblance. Tom would never preach to her, never force her to walk out of that dark corridor, and never talk in her ears about the ridiculous superiority of pure-blood families.

At least not this Tom. He would just keep leading her down a path from which she could never turn back.

The condensed clouds in the sky were scattered by the wind, and she didn't even know how long it took for him to disappear.

When Snape came to collect the list of students staying in school, Mu Yu signed the list without hesitation. Her grandfather wrote to her a few days ago to wish her a Merry Christmas, and repeatedly told her that Christmas was too short to go home. Grandpa also sent her a gift - a box of sweet-scented osmanthus cake.

It turns out that it has been almost half a year since I left home.

Mu Yu simply decorated the room for Christmas. The room, which was originally monotonous with only green, had some colorful ribbons. She also found a small Christmas tree and randomly decorated it with some hanging decorations.

When Mu Yu came to the kitchen, he was warmly entertained by the elves. They seemed to really enjoy having something to do.

She chatted with them casually: "You are all here voluntarily."

"Mr. Dumbledore is a good man, madam. We were all given clothes by the master and became homeless. Mr. Dumbledore does not dislike us, and he also Let us help here," said an elf sharply.

Mu Yu looked at the busy elf: "Given clothes, doesn't that mean you are free?"

The elf seemed to have heard the worst thing, and his eyes were filled with tears: "No, no, no, ma'am. , that is the cruelest punishment. Only the most useless elf who has completely angered the owner will be given clothes. No one will want an elf with clothes.

" Talk again. The rebellious elves of Norway clothed themselves and bravely waged war on the wizards. British elves regard getting a piece of clothing as a great shame and torture.

What fun.

Mu Yu put the dishes she wanted into the space, and she smiled politely: "Thank you. Merry Christmas." Just a casual saying of Merry Christmas almost made several elves almost faint with joy.

The small dining table was filled with exquisite dishes. Mu Yu only ordered a few famous snacks from Xianghai that were not too complicated to make, but the elves were busy all afternoon. Their magical attainments are indeed very high. Every dish is cooked very delicately and the heat looks just right. Their ability to control the subtleties of magic far exceeds that of ordinary wizards.

Snowflakes were falling outside when Tom appeared. The table full of dishes made him stunned for a moment. Mu Yu didn't pay much attention to him. She originally wanted to spend a Christmas with herself, and Tom was just an unexpected guest.

"It's already July 30th for us. It should be July 31st if you come here tonight." He picked up a crab meat dumpling and looked carefully at the shrimp wrapped under the crystal dough. Then he slowly put it into his mouth.

Mu Yu's hands trembled slightly.

"I probably won't show up again."

When he showed up again, I had become one with that person.

Mu Yu didn't know what to say for a moment. Tom was the one person who had really grown close to her over the past few months. Mu Yu was afraid of his darkness, but was disappointed to find that they were so similar.

"My father is a Muggle, right?" Tom looked straight at Mu Yu. There are many Slytherin wizards from pure-blood families, and Tom has roughly known the 28 pure-blood surnames in the wizarding world in the past few months. This obviously does not include Riddle. His hands almost sunk into the table.

Mu Yu sighed softly, her sigh was so gentle. There was no mercy in the sigh, but it still made Tom uncomfortable.

Her sigh was like an adult scolding a child for being silly. As much hope and admiration as he has put into his father, now his disgust, contempt, and even hatred are getting deeper.

His unwillingness and hatred could only be expressed in front of Mu Yu. Only Mu Yu had the patience to listen to him and tolerate him.

"Tom," Mu Yu called his name so solemnly for the first time, "I have never met my father. He may have studied at Hogwarts, or he may have stayed at Kunlun College."

Tom first The first time he heard Mu Yu mention her parents, he stared at the steaming dishes in front of him, the steam blurring his handsome face.

"I don't know about my mother either. Grandpa told me that she died due to dystocia, but I don't believe it. None of this is important, because they are no longer here. They all died while still possessing their abilities."

Mu Yu bit his lower lip hard . , she didn't want to cry in front of Tom: "So... does it matter whether you are a wizard or not? Only power, only power is the cornerstone of everything. Your talent is fate, not from your parents. If pure blood is so glorious , then why are there squibs? If only pure blood is the most noble, then why can those Muggle families still produce wizards?"

The dim light in the room mixed with the green and cold waves outside the window reflected on the faces of the two. Mu Yu's face was very pale, and every word she spoke seemed to have exhausted all her strength. Tom was still staring at Mu Yu, his previous unwillingness and disgust had faded, and now his eyes were full of enthusiasm and burning ambition.

The two of them just looked at each other, separated by a table, separated by bleak lights, and perhaps several years apart.

"Yu, it would be great if we really met in 1937." It was Tom who broke the dead silence: "That day, I saw the real me, the me fifty years later. He was stupid and arrogant."

His voice gradually Gao Gao: "But at least he is still great. I have seen many of his memories, and I can't imagine what I will do fifty years later."

Mu Yu listened quietly to him laughing at what he would do fifty years later. She was already sure of Tom's identity herself.

"If you give life and death, control people's hearts, and pursue power to the extreme, can you live forever?"

He asked a question seriously, a question that Mu Yu could not answer at this time.

She understood what he meant by eternal life, but this kind of eternal life at this moment was a completely different world to her. She didn't want to lie, so she chose silence.

Tom Riddle did not wait for her reply, and said to himself: "Yu, we are the same kind of people, and we have all done some terrible things. So why do you have to fight against the light? Why don't you pursue that kind of power? He was like a snake slowly showing its fangs, "Perhaps, you can tell me the answer after you find such power."

At this time, he is no longer the gloomy eleven-year-old boy, or he was from the beginning. He cannot be considered a gloomy boy. It is not easy for obsession to integrate into the original time and space. As it gets closer to the end, obsession will gradually break away from the past.

The obsession of ending is finally separated from the long river of time, and all memories and emotions are integrated with the current person. Because obsessions usually arise when one is dying, and the obsessions of ordinary people cannot withstand the turbulence of time and space. Even if it is over, it is the last moment for a person to return to the body, and it is already too late.

But he...

the food was already cold. Mu Yu said softly, "But I have a bond, and it is my bond that prevents me from pursuing that kind of power."

Tom was at a loss for a moment. He felt that Mu Yu had mentioned areas that he didn't understand. A humble, dirty, useless realm.

For a moment, he wanted to destroy her bond at all costs.

This way they are exactly the same.

"But kindness no longer belongs to you." He stood up and gently put his arm around her shoulders, but said the cruelest words in his mouth, "You are still deceiving yourself. I have seen your memory, and you have done so many things. What you call Will I really forgive you?"

He continued to induce: "Yu, admit it, your talent and talent are born to make people fear. You are born to fight for power."

This is Tom Lee. Del's temptation was also... Mu Yu lowered his eyes: "Tom Marvolo Riddle, change the order, I am Lord Voldemort."

This was also Voldemort's plan.

Many people thought he was dead, but they didn't know how he survived.

"Whether you admit it or not, the time your so-called fetters can trap you is not long. Power can do many things, Yu. The unicorn symbolizes kindness and purity, and the wand with unicorn hair as the core refuses to admit it. You, you are far away from the light. Don't force yourself to deal with fools..."

The dim light in the wand shop that day, the wand that could not be picked up, flickered with the blood and screams that could not be erased in the past. A mist formed in his eyes. She was obviously still smiling, but drops of water fell down: "Is that so?"

She was born a freak, an existence that would not be accepted.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle." She called his full name: "You are really a madman."

"We all are." The boy's cruel smile was extremely clear at this moment.

She slowly wiped away her tears and said softly: "If this is the case, may God forgive me."

"I forgive you."

"Madman, you really want me to give you that answer." She no longer looked at the surging tears. But look at him steadily.

He didn't speak. This was just her self-comfort. He didn't need to waste his words on such a question.

Mu Yu slammed the plate on the table. The cold air in the room could not be dissipated: "I forgive you too."