Chapter 27: Inner Demon

It’s October in the blink of an eye. The weather has never been nice. The floors in the castle were never dry. The mud brought in from outside only added to the mess on the ground. Filch cursed all day.

Mu Yu no longer knew how long she had been practicing the Patronus Charm. She practiced the Patronus Charm over and over again in the deserted public courtyard, as if this was the only way she could manage to calm down the chaos caused by her quarrel with Tom.

She returned to the classroom and saw the girl hanging from the fan. Blood dripped down his hair. She returned to the deep corridor, and she seemed to have walked through the abuse and contempt of countless people. At the end of the corridor, in the dim light, was London, shattered by artillery fire.

She always felt that she had lost something, something that would never come back.

Is it the burning sunset on Mingyuan Mountain when she was five years old?

"I just hope you don't die in my hands."

She has never been afraid of death.

Everything was distorted into an old and disappointed face.

Mu Yu felt as if he was being forced into a deep black lake, unable to breathe.

In this case, there is nothing.

She took a deep breath, as if she had inhaled a large piece of ice, and her internal organs were stirred. She raised her wand and wanted to recite the spell again, but was interrupted by someone: "It's useless."

She looked up and saw Theodore standing in the middle of the courtyard: "The Patronus Charm can't comfort you, it will only make you sad. "It will add more pain." As if thinking of something, he lowered his head slightly, "Because it forces you to dig out happy memories."

Mu Yu put down the wand without delving into why he also understood the Patronus Charm: "Is something wrong? Otto."

Everyone said she was gentle and good-tempered, but they never noticed the coldness behind her.

"I have a question about Potions." He raised the book in his hand. "I can't find Professor Snape."

Mu Yu rubbed her forehead. She was not in the mood to talk to anyone now, especially she always felt that Theodore Nott didn't look like someone who would ask questions.

"What's the problem?"

He still didn't move.

"It's very complicated. It's too cold here," he said, shivering, "Can we tell you on the way back to the common room?"

He was already like this. Mu Yu couldn't refuse, so he had to hurriedly pick up the man on the stone bench. There was a pile of books. Maybe it was due to her recent mental state. She couldn't hold it steady for a moment, and all the books in her hands were scattered on the ground.

A small thing made her mood worse.

Theodore Nott bent down and helped her clean it up, even though he said nothing, which made her very uncomfortable. She doesn't like letting people see her weakness.

"Thank you." She thanked him softly when Theodore picked up the last Daily Prophet and handed it to her, but she found that the former was looking at the newspaper with interest.

She only saved this page from this week's newspaper. A corner of the International News section still depicts the ferocity of the house-elf uprising in Norway.

"The Norwegian Ministry of Magic says everything is under control..." is another eye-catching line below.

"Their Minister of Magic followed Grindelwald, but it was only because of a short period of follow-up and some costs that he was able to sit in his current position. From then on, he was just dawdling, and we can't expect him to do much." Theodore Nott It's like chatting.

Mu Yu was surprised how he knew so much, but he also savored his words carefully: "Following Grindelwald..."

"You still care about this?"

They walked along the winding corridor to the common room.

"It's so rare for house elves to rebel. It's been centuries since they last rebelled," she replied absently.

"It's rare for someone to attend a History of Magic class," Theodore Nott said, sounding both surprised and inexplicably happy. Before Mu Yu could urge him to get to the point, he took the initiative and said, "There are several laws that I haven't understood regarding the production of antidotes."

Even though he knew that Theodore Nott had an extremely high level of potions, Mu Yu still took them. Surprised: "You only learn how to make antidotes in the fourth grade. The laws of antidote are even content in the sixth grade. Theodore, I can only try my best to answer. You'd better..."

Before she could finish speaking, she spoke to the man who was walking towards her. A person collided hard, and the person seemed to be in a hurry. She was focused on talking to Theodore Nott, and she didn't expect that someone would suddenly turn out of the empty corridor.

After she calmed down, she realized that it was Ginny, the youngest daughter of the Weasley family.

Ginny was knocked to the ground, but she still hugged the diary tightly in her arms.

Mu Yu saw with sharp eyes that it was Tom Riddle's diary. Did he still find Ginny to realize his plan?

Tom Riddle's figure became more solid. He just stood behind Ginny and looked at Mu Yu coldly. After seeing Theodore next to her, His eyes were inexplicably colder. Mu Yu also raised his eyebrows at him without fear.

She said she would watch him cleanse Hogwarts with a basilisk to drive away Dumbledore.

"Ginny, are you okay?"

Mu Yu helped Ginny up after falling. Ginny's face was equally pale, and her life was slowly draining away.

Ginny blushed a bit. She avoided Mu Yu's gaze and said in a voice like a mosquito, "I'm fine." She stood up and didn't dare to look at Mu Yu, lowered her head and left in a hurry.

"It's indeed a bit cold. I want to go back to the common room quickly." She was particularly irritated after seeing Tom Riddle again. "We can also try to look at the laws together."

Theodore Nott stopped at this moment. pace.

"What's wrong?"

A gust of cold wind blew into the deserted corridor. He gathered the scarf around his neck and walked a few steps to catch up with Mu Yu: "It's okay. You're right, let's go back quickly."

It was Friday afternoon. The common room is the most idle time. There were not many people in Slytherin to begin with, and on the eve of the weekend, more people would rather hang out in the castle with friends than go back to the dark and damp basement.

They discussed it together all afternoon and still didn't make much progress.

Mu Yu's mind was not on this at all. She half-reclined on the sofa in the common room and shrunk as close to the fire as possible: "You still have to ask Professor Snape. He can explain it in five minutes at most."

"Malfoy and the others haven't given you any trouble recently, have they? "Theodore Nott put away a pile of books on the table and asked with a frown.

Mu Yu didn't want to deal with these things now. She forced a smile: "Compared to me, Malfoy pays more attention to Potter, and he doesn't want to ask for trouble."

Although she has always remained gentle, Theodore Nott But it was already obvious that she didn't want to talk to anyone anymore. His intuition told him that Mu Yu's abnormality was most likely related to Ginny Weasley, whom he had just bumped into in the corridor.

"If there's anything..." He seemed to have no reason to stay here anymore, and he swallowed half of what he said because he suddenly thought of something, "It's nothing."

He walked straight upstairs.

Mu Yu was the only one left in the common room, and she stared blankly at the fire dancing in the fireplace in the common room. Frequent dreams would hinder her progress and trap her in a swamp that she would never be able to get out of. She wanted to eradicate her inner demons, and she thought it would be as easy as solving a difficult problem. She has never encountered any serious problems since she was born.

She thought her inner demon was just a pebble in her path.

But after this month of futile attempts, she discovered that her inner demon was an insurmountable mountain.

All methods have been tried. Mu Yu tried to use demulcents, sleeping potions, heart tricks, and even started learning Occlumency, but nothing worked. The practice of Occlumency led to even worse situations. Just as Tom Riddle was sucking Ginny's life force bit by bit, the inner demons were consuming her mind.

Why did the inner demon suddenly appear

? She has obviously found her own way.

Tonight, no more dreams, no dreams needed. All she wanted was a normal and peaceful night.

Yet it failed.

This time she was not dreaming of a dark corridor, let alone a bombarded London. She walked in a white light of nothingness, as if she was the only one left in the world. She hated this feeling, especially.

She doesn't like the hustle and bustle, and she doesn't like a world that is too noisy and too colorful. But she likes to control such a world, and she likes to arrange such a world according to her favorite colors.

But there is nothing here.

"Then, we have no choice but to part ways." The hoarse voice echoed in this world of nothingness. It was like a sharp knife piercing her broken body.

Is it him? All her inner demons started after the diary left.

Mu Yu clenched his fists: "Tom Riddle, get out of my memory."

There was no response.

Mu Yu continued to walk in this void, and a group of light gradually flickered in the distance. It was a ball of orange, warm light, very much like the sunset Mu Yu saw on Mingyuan Mountain when he was five years old.

That was the only light that little Mu Yu could see, and the only light in her life.

Like an exhausted traveler thirsting for nectar in the desert, Mu Yu stepped closer to the faint, orange light, even if the light was just a mirage, or a trap set by inner demons to corrupt her.

"Xiao Yu, the path you chose is to protect the Mu family, or is it for the selfish desires that you control?"

That was Grandpa's voice. The once kind voice was now extremely cold, like a stranger, no, worse than a stranger, like an executioner about to be executed.

Mu Yu ignored the question and still moved forward firmly towards the light.

Such questions are nothing but temptations from inner demons and a means to shake Taoist minds. Mu Yu once read in a book that no matter how you respond, it will have an indelible impact on Taoist heart.

The voice asked questions repeatedly, getting sharper and harsher every time.

"Is the path you choose to protect your family or to satisfy your own desires?"

No matter how Mu Yu walks, the light will always stay in the far distance, flickering with a faint light that is almost extinguished.

"The things you did in the past were so cruel, and the path you chose was so ridiculous. You really disappoint me. I would rather not have you as my granddaughter."

Sharp voices echoed in Mu Yu's ears, one after another. Mu Yu bit her lip, this couldn't be her grandfather, and her grandfather would never speak to her like this.

But is he really not disappointed in her?

Mu Yu himself doesn't know the answer.

She finally didn't want to pursue that ray of light. The questioning in the void continued. Mu Yu crouched down. She stubbornly refused to let her tears flow down, but she whispered, almost pleading: "Don't let me dream about it." Not anymore. Not anymore."