[HP Doujin] 1943

Later, I thought about the ins and outs of the matter carefully, and felt that Francis was right, and Ada must be bluffing.How could Ada have clues to the secret room case that even the Ministry of Magic couldn’t find a clue about? Besides, the Daily Prophet is a very strict newspaper, and it is absolutely impossible for it to publish an article that is based entirely on the author’s subjective opinion. Guess what the article came from.

In the eyes of veteran officials like Francis, I am really just a naive child.

Later, I thought, I did grow up rapidly in the year after graduation.Tom's departure, good friend's turning against each other...all these made me understand what is meant by the warmth and warmth of human relationships and the vicissitudes of the world.

Christmas came down in the snow, and instead of fighting with my mother, I went back to Knight Street to spend the holiday with the Randalls.I received a gift from Chris from Norway, Gillian sent me a very useful book "Herbs for Trauma at Home", and Mr. Kahn sent me a tea set that can change patterns according to the temperature.A gift box of Mrs. Newman's Transformed Fudge that Francis sent me from Scotland.Those gummies can transform into different shapes when held in your hand: raccoons, rabbits, teacup dogs, bobcats, and... dementors.You have to be careful not to eat the gummy while it's turning into a dementor, or it will send acid water back up in your stomach for the next 10 minutes.

After the Christmas break, Melinda Stuart began to recover.The treatment plan that Mr. Kahn found worked, which made everyone in our department feel happy-of course, we are not happy because of Melinda's recovery, but because this young lady can finally leave. feel happy.Everyone has had enough of her bad temper.

Because of Francis' request, Melinda, who was in the recovery period, was no longer hospitalized and went home to recuperate.Three trainee therapists took turns on duty at Francis's London mansion on the Strand, with Gillian, me, and Rosemary assigned to look after her.

One evening on Easter Eve, I was about to go back to the office after my shift, and as soon as I walked out the gate, I saw Francis' car parked on the side of the road.

I hadn't seen him in over two months, so I stopped and waved at his car.Only after the blackened windows came down did I realize that he was driving by himself without a driver or assistant.

He smiled at me from the driver's seat and said, "Come on, I'll take you home."

When I walked up to him, I smelled a strong smell of alcohol.

I sat in the co-pilot's seat, fastened my seat belt, and glanced at him several times worriedly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing my gaze.

"Have you been drinking?" I asked.

"Don't worry," he said, "I'm a drinker, not like you."

I rolled my eyes: "I'm not worried about you, but my own safety. How dare you drive after drinking so much?"

He laughed, shook his head, and said nothing more.

The profile of his face looked resolute and steady, reminding me of the pictures of statues of ancient Greek statesmen I had seen in my Muggle studies textbooks.He was deep in his own thoughts, his deep gray-blue eyes stared motionlessly at the windshield ahead, and he didn't say a word for more than half an hour.

He slowed down as the car approached Hyde Park.In the gray sky, there was a faint drizzle, and the fine rain was very clearly seen in the warm yellow halo at the top of the black lamp post, like needles, dense and urgent.The car drove slowly around a square. On the side of the square was a tree-lined avenue, and the feet of the black benches on the side of the road were piled up with withered yellow leaves.Looking at this bleak scene, I felt inexplicably sad, as if I had been to this place in a dream.

As if guessing what I was thinking, he slowly parked the car on the side of the road.On this boulevard full of sycamore trees, there are wooden benches on both sides, and the lawn is covered with large pieces of fallen leaves, and there is no one.

I stared at the scenery outside the car window in a daze.

Francis broke the silence first, and he asked me suddenly and calmly: "How long do you think it takes a person to get out of his past?"

The heat from the car blowing on my face made me drowsy.I thought of Tom and felt a dull pain in my heart.

"It depends on how deep his past is. Maybe five years, maybe ten years, maybe... a lifetime." I said.

He smiled: "What a child, he takes everything so seriously. In fact, as long as you look at life a bit more, if you get drunk and sleep, there is nothing you can't live with."

"No," I blurted out, "mental anesthesia is only temporary. If you really meet such a person, you will never forget her for the rest of your life."

After listening to my words, his expression seemed to be severely shocked by something.With one hand on the steering wheel, he stared silently ahead. The verdant leaves fluttered up and down in the wind and rain, like an ocean in a dream.The rain was getting denser on the windshield.Not far away, a group of pigeons fluttered into the sky in the square.

I don't know how long it took before he opened his mouth again: "Two summers ago, Laura and I had a quarrel, and she went to Denmark alone in a fit of anger. My sister Clarissa worried about Laura's safety and asked me to immediately I went to find her, but I was full of impatience at that time, so I didn't set off immediately. After I set off, I stayed in France for several days, but when I arrived in Denmark, Laura had disappeared. Three Months later, people from the Danish Ministry of Magic found her body in Norway, and Grindelwald's people did it. That year, Melinda was only one year old.

"Maybe all of you think I dote on Melinda too much, even Tony thinks so. But no one can understand the guilt and guilt in my heart. If I had caught up earlier, if I hadn't Argue with her so Laura won't have such a terrible accident. I'm trying to be as nice to Melinda as I can, as if that's going to make it up to Laura."

His expression was still calm, as if he was narrating a story that had nothing to do with him.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I didn't think... I didn't think you'd ever go through something so horrible."

"Two years have passed," he sighed, looking quietly at the rain outside the window, "Recalling the past, everything seems to be in a dream."

"Yeah, it's all like a dream," I agreed, thinking of Tom instead.

Like Laura, he was gone from this world forever, as if he had never been in my life.

To this day, I still remember that evening when it was raining lightly, we sat quietly in the car, watching Hyde Park at dusk.A gypsy girl in a red dress was dancing in the square.I have never worn such brightly colored clothes, but at that moment, I watched her dancing figure from a distance, so vivid and moving, I felt as if I saw my own life burning.

The colors in that scene—the gray rain curtain, the gray sky, the green camphor trees and grass, the black benches, and the flaming red skirt—are like a deep and distant dream, deposited in the to the bottom of my heart.

******

One day in early May, to celebrate Melinda's recovery, Mr. Stuart took a large group of us therapists and interns out to dinner.Everyone drank a lot.After eating, it was past nine o'clock, and everyone was staggering at the door and returning home. I also smiled and turned around, but when I opened my eyes again, I found that I had arrived in a valley surrounded by mountains. Here, a winding drive leads to the imposing granite castle, and the hillsides are filled with the pungent fragrance of hyacinths.I looked around blankly, and found that I was dragging Francis' arm and followed his entourage in a daze.

We looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Where am I?"

"The Scottish Highlands," he said, laughing. "Would you like to see my estate?"

"Okay." I said.

He drew his wand and said, "Here comes the broom."

After a while, a flying broom flew over from the direction of the castle, he stepped on it first, and then I sat behind him, hugged his waist, and rose into the sky in the cool night wind.

What a great feeling to fly over the Scottish Highlands at night.I still remember the starry sky over Stuart Manor that night.We passed a silvery river, crossed valleys, brushed low over birch forests rustling in the evening wind, passed low valleys, and the mountains and plains were filled with white camellias in full bloom, and the air was full of It is a fresh aroma, mixed with the smell of earth and river water.

Stuart Manor stands on a high hillside, with wide valleys and rolling hills on one side, and jagged cliffs on one side, and the rolling Scottish North Sea at the bottom of the cliffs.We skidded down from the battlements and landed on the top floor of the castle, and I slid off the broom, my hair tousled by the wind, and I looked up, with shining eyes, and said to him: "It's a beautiful country life in Scotland. "

Francis put the broom on the ground and said to me with a smile, "Yes, even though I didn't grow up here, I also deeply love the simple and natural land of Scotland."

I looked up at the sky full of stars.There are no city lights, no criss-crossing highways, day is day and night is night here, everything is so pure and original.

At this moment, he suddenly turned his head, held my cheek in one hand, and tentatively kissed me lightly on the lips.

My mind was so full of alcohol that I didn't quite understand what he was doing all of a sudden.It took a while before the blood of shock rushed to my forehead - Francis Stuart was kissing me!What the hell is he thinking?

I turned around and stumbled away, but he caught up with me and hugged my waist from behind.He grabbed my wrist and pushed me against the wall, bowed his head and kissed me profusely.The kiss this time was not the tentative kiss just now, but a kiss that conquered the city, as if it wanted to take part of my life for myself.I must have drunk too much at that time, when his fiery breath and lips fell on my earlobe and neck, I even giggled.

"It's itchy." I said.

"It's okay..." He whispered softly in my ear, my whole mind was a mess, his kiss and touch made me feel so comfortable.I don't remember how we got back into the castle, he took me stumbling down from the rooftop to the spiral staircase, then to the long and eerie corridor, and finally to the master bedroom with the thick carpet underneath At the door, he had already unbuttoned my shirt at some point, and finally I kicked off my high heels and fell down on the big soft bed with him.

Starlight falls through the dark glass windows, we sink into the darkness and forget everything.

The next morning, I woke up in the Stuart Manor, vaguely remembering what I did last night, and slapped my forehead angrily.

"Elizabeth Bradley," I said angrily to myself, burying my face in my hands, "see for yourself what you've done!"

I turned to look, and Francis was gone.Fortunately, otherwise, I really don't know what to say when I see him.I got up quickly and tidied up, only to find that all my clothes were gone, perhaps taken away by the servants to be washed.In desperation, I opened the closet, which was full of Francis's clothes. I took out a nightgown and wrapped it around my body. I walked through the bedroom barefoot, opened the curtains, and there was a cool breeze outside the window, floating on the light blue sky. With a few wisps of white clouds, there is a large sloping grassy area below the terrace, and several gardeners are watering and trimming rose beds.

I looked around the room and noticed a brass bell over the bed.I tried to pull it, and after a while, there were three knocks on the door.

I opened the door, and a maid in a white apron with her hair neatly tied behind her head came in, holding my clean clothes in her hands, and said to me elegantly and politely: "Good morning, Bradley Miss. These are your clothes. I'm going to put the bath water for you now. After you take a bath, I'll bring you your breakfast. After breakfast, you can transfer and leave."

Feeling a bit confused, I asked her, "Where did Francis go?"

The maid gave me a strange look and said, "You don't need to know Mr. Stuart's itinerary. Oh, by the way, don't forget, don't walk out of this bedroom door."

I suddenly understood something, and a huge sense of humiliation hit me.

"Does he often bring different women back for sleepovers?" I asked.

The maid frowned slightly: "This is not something I should talk about."

But I already knew the answer from her eyes.It was the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life, I dressed quickly, disapparated back to my own apartment, and showered.Standing under the shower head, I was getting more and more angry.

I was mad at myself.

******

The very next day, I resigned from my job as Melinda's care to Mr. Kahn on the pretext that I had a lot of patients to care for in the hospital.Mr. Stuart came to the hospital several times, and every time I saw him, I kept away from him.He didn't seem to notice anything.Honeydukes still sends me candy every week, and every time I get those packages, I just throw them in the trash.

So it came to the end of July, and one day my mother came down with typhoid, and Tony was out of London, so when old Randall was giving a dinner party at his house, he called me over to act as hostess.The guests invited to this dinner were basically people who had business contacts with the old man Randall, and some were also officials from the Ministry of Magic, which was extremely boring.The butler of Randall's house showed me the menu, and I checked it a little and said it was all right, without making any changes.I've never had a dinner party, never knew what a hostess should do, I might as well leave it to the housekeeper.

I carefully checked the guest list and made sure that Mr. Stuart was not on it, so I went there with confidence.That night, the weather was a bit muggy, so I wore a simple dark green dress and arrived at Randall's house in the West End.

Before the dinner party started, the guests arrived one after another. I greeted them all to the living room, and the servants walked among the guests with silver plates containing champagne.I was chatting politely with them, while paying attention to when the figure of the butler appeared to announce the opening of the meeting.

I was standing at the piano talking to Cygnus Black when the fire in the fireplace turned green.I looked over in surprise.From the point of view of etiquette, it is as impolite to go to someone's house to have a banquet, to transfer directly to the house, or to get out of the fireplace, as to kick open the door of someone's house.Therefore, all the guests apparated to the vicinity, then walked over, knocked on the door and came in.

I saw Tony's honey-coloured head emerge from the fire and realized it was him.When he returned to his home, he naturally didn't need to take these etiquette into consideration.

Seeing him, Mr. Randall said happily, "Why are you back? Aren't you still dealing with official business in Greece?"

Tony was wearing a black shirt and a dark blue tie, handed a dark green robe over his arm to a servant, and said with a smile: "Mr. People have never been his match, so we came back early. You don't mind if I bring him too?"

"Mr. Stuart?" Mr. Randall looked even happier. I knew that he and the Stuart family had jointly bought a mine in South Africa. "What a surprise!"

Mr. Stuart, wearing a black robe, came out of the fireplace. His dark brown hair was messy and he looked a little tired. He patted the ashes on his body and walked over to shake hands with Mr. Randall.

"Lizzie!" Mr. Randall waved to me from across the room. "Come and say hello to Mr. Stuart."

I took a deep breath and walked over, masking a smirk on my face, saying hello to Tony, then turning to Francis to say hello.After all, he is a veteran in the officialdom. When he saw me, his expression was not disturbed.He said "good evening", his gray-blue eyes were calm and calm, and he had a smile on his handsome face, and then he extended his right hand to me familiarly.

His palm was big and warm, but mine was as cold as a piece of ice.When shaking hands, I couldn't help shaking, he shot a sharp look at me, I didn't look at him, and quickly withdrew my hand without any trace.

"How's Melinda?" Mr. Randall asked.

"It's all right. I'm recuperating at home now. St. Mungo's therapists come to take care of her in shifts at home." Mr. Stuart said, "This child is spoiled. If he was more obedient, he might have recovered."

"Isn't Lizzie Melinda's therapist too?" Mr. Randall asked.

"Yes," Francis said.

"Not anymore," I said. "Mr. Kahn replaced me."

He looks surprised.I've been out of Melinda's care for nearly two months and he hasn't even noticed.I walked away on Tony's arm, listening to his anecdotes about the tough leprechauns in the Bank of Greece, and ignoring Francis.

After a while, the butler came over to announce the opening of the meeting.The seats were supposed to be one male and one female, but Tony and Francis popped up, and the butler added two extra seats. Tony sat next to Signus, and Francis' chair was inserted next to mine.

"Why aren't you tending to Melinda?" Francis turned to me when the first hot dishes were served.

"Mr. Kahn replaced me." The serving boy bent over me with a large silver plate full of quail meat. I forked a piece of meat and put it on my plate, and the boy walked up to Francis. , he shook his head, indicating that he would not eat this dish, so the manservant walked towards Tony again.

Francis was still wearing the same black robe, and a gold cuff button on the sleeve of his shirt gleamed in the light of the candlesticks on the dining table.He picked up the glass and took a sip of red wine, smiled slightly, and said unhurriedly, "Because you want to avoid me?"

It was as if my thoughts were an open book, and he was able to say what was on my mind every time.I poke at a piece of quail, still smiling calmly, and to the rest of the table it looks like the two of us are just chatting casually.

"Why should I avoid you?" I said cheekily, pretending to be the end.

He smiled and said nothing more.

The red wine selected by the butler tonight was a bit off-putting, and it was not easy to drink. Half of the quail meat was eaten and left on the plate.The next course was Parmesan cheese with garlic white truffles, the ground-growth gold that is essential to London's high society social dinners.The valet sent Benidi Batasiolo from Italy's Batasi Winery to accompany this dish.I thought that the previous red wine was unpalatable and my stomach was uncomfortable, so I took a mouthful of cheese and took a big gulp of Batasiolo to suppress it. Unexpectedly, an uncontrollable nausea surged up from my stomach in an instant, and I moved back As soon as I retreated, the chair made a harsh friction sound across the marble floor. I picked up the napkin on my lap, covered my mouth and stood up. Before I could walk away, I spit a mouthful of acid water into the napkin.

Tony stood up immediately and waved for the butler to come over. The butler hurried away to call the maid. I leaned on the back of the chair, staring at my eyes. As soon as Tony supported me, my legs gave way and I fell down.

Good dinner, because I've become a mess.Tony carried me upstairs and laid me on a big soft bed in the shade of the guest room.The maid brought me a water glass and a silver jug ​​to wash my mouth.I was crooked in a pile of soft pillows with a pale face, and I didn't even have the strength to speak.

"Did you eat your stomach?" Tony said, "Don't worry, I've sent the maid to get you a therapist."

At this time, the old man Randall and Francis also walked into the room and asked Tony about the situation.As soon as I saw Francis, a terrible thought flashed through my mind like lightning. Could I be pregnant?

I was even more pale with fright, and I was trying in vain to find an excuse to escape when St. Mungo's healer had arrived.When I saw it, it was my mentor, Mr. Kahn.He happens to be on duty tonight.Tony must have thought that I was poisoned by something I ate, so he went directly to the plant and pharmaceutical poisoning department.

Mr. Kahn was still in his green robe, the heels of which were covered with ashes.He walked up to my bed, wand in hand, and examined me up and down.After a while, his expression suddenly became surprised. He looked at me, and then at Tony and Mr. Randall standing behind him. He opened his mouth, but said nothing.

I shook my head at him like hell, how can I get him to lie for me and say I just got food poisoning?

But Mr. Randall had already noticed the strangeness in his expression, stepped forward, and asked sternly, "What's going on?"

"Lizzie..." Mr. Kahn said with difficulty, "you are almost two months pregnant. Congratulations."

I closed my eyes in despair.

Pregnancy by an unmarried woman was a huge scandal in our day, especially in our circles.When such things happen, the reputation of a girl and her whole family is ruined.I knew that Mr. Randall wanted to cut off all ties with me the moment he heard the news.I didn't care about that, all I could think about was whether I'd lose my job at St. Mungo's.

The room was dead silent.Tony looked at me with a mixture of confusion and anger.I know he's thinking about Tom.He's been gone for over a year now, and now Tony won't believe me if I swear to Merlin that Tom never contacted me.As for Francis, I know that it is absolutely impossible for a person like him to be responsible to me because of the time he had with me.For a politician like him, marriage has always involved innumerable interests, and I am far from being able to threaten him.

I turned my head away in despair, not wanting to see anyone.I thought I could work well and live a good life, but why did God treat me like this?No, I can't blame anyone for this, it's my own doing, I can't live.

Those in the room who heard the news included Tony, the old man Randall, Mr. Stuart, and two maids from the Randall family.After silence flooded the room like a flood, Old Man Randall swallowed and was the first to recover.

He turned his head to look at the two maids with a terrified expression: "You go down first. You are not allowed to tell anyone what you just heard. Otherwise, I will guarantee that you will starve to death on the streets of London."

The two maids left in panic and closed the door of the room.

Then he looked at me and said, "Who is it?"

I turned my face, looked at him, and said lightly: "I don't remember."

Francis was standing behind the old man Randall, with a stern expression, without any expression.When I was speaking, he suddenly raised his head and his face was terrified, as if he didn't expect that I would say that.

Mr. Randall put his hand into his robe pocket and said coldly: "If you don't want to say it, then I can only use Legilimency on you. I believe I still have the ability to force that bastard who slept with you to marry you." your."

"What?" I looked at him in shock.

"If you don't marry, the Randalls will be in disrepute by the time word gets out," he said. "I've suffered a great deal of humiliation and loss of business because of Margaret. And yours Things, at least there is still room for redemption."

"No!" I stepped back, "I can sever ties with you, and go abroad alone to kill the child, and no one will know!"

"What if someone finds out?" He said, pulled out his wand, and took a step closer to me. I cried in despair, and pulled out my wand too: "You can't do this!"

"I have to."

"Father!" Tony yelled behind him, trying to grab the old man Randall who had lost his mind in anger, "Give Lizzie some time to think about it!"

"We don't have time!" Old Man Randall yelled as he turned around, causing Tony to jump back, sparks from the tip of his wand.I backed away, and Don Randall cast a quick disarming charm on me, and I screamed.

"Enough." Francis said suddenly. He walked up to me, put his arms around me, looked into old man Randall's eyes, and said calmly, "It's me."

******

In the summer of my 19th year, my body began to give birth to a new life.

Although my surname is not Randall, I still have the halo of the Randall family on my head.After Margaret went to prison, I became the only daughter of the Randalls.Things gradually got out of my control, and Francis managed the whole situation with ease.In mid-July the Daily Prophet published the news of our official engagement, which became the sensational news of London society in the summer of 1947.

One day at noon in early August, Francis found time to come to my office, unexpectedly bent down behind my back and hugged me, and said, "Are you going home for dinner tonight?"

"not going back."

"I had Becca make the bisque."

"no appetite."

"Lizzie, we're both engaged, you don't have to avoid me anymore."

I squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying: "I don't want to use pregnancy to force you to marry me, you still have time to regret it now."

He showed a helpless expression: "Things are settled, why do you still say this every time you see me?"

I turned around, pulled his hands off my shoulders, and said matter-of-factly, "I mean it. We barely know each other. I don't love you, and you can't have feelings for me. In your In my eyes, I'm just one of the women who sleep with you."

He smiled, looked at me with steady gray-blue eyes, and said, "That's right, but you are the only woman who accidentally got pregnant. Mr. Kahn has already told me that you are carrying a boy. "

"Then why don't you marry the child in my womb?" I said mockingly.

He ignored my sarcasm and leaned over to me, his mature and resolute face looked very intimidating: "I need this child, and I also need the Randall family to support me in the Ministry of Magic, Randall The relationship between the family and the Black family is very deep, so I can also win the support of the Black family for me. For you, there is no harm in being Mrs. Stuart."

I said lightly: "I don't love you."

He smiled: "Don't be childish. Sex and falling in love are two different things, marriage and love are two different things."

"And who is your love?" I asked. "Laura?"

His face suddenly sank.He turned his head and looked out the window, as if trying to control his emotions.Then he turned around, ran his hands through my hair, lifted my head up, and planted a deep kiss on my lips.His kiss was deep and strong, and he didn't let me go until I was short of breath and blushed.

He lowered his head, looked at me, and said lightly: "After marriage, many relationships can be cultivated slowly."

After speaking, he stood up, walked into the fireplace and disappeared.

For Francis was about to be his son-in-law, old Randall treated me a hundred times more happily.My mother was in Bath to take care of her body. When she heard the news of my engagement, her migraine and arthritis seemed to be gone all at once. She rushed back overnight and organized all the engagement dinner and wedding in person.Because of my insistence, we just held an engagement party in London, but instead of getting married, we traveled abroad.

In fact, I don't want to travel at all. I just want to get rid of the trouble of banquets and parties in the name of traveling and getting married.One engagement party is enough for me.Our wedding is scheduled for early September, when Francis and I will go to Barcelona.

Although the Stuart family is a typical Scot, Francis grew up in France. Not only does he not have a Scottish accent, but he also behaves very French.He seldom went to Stuart Manor, and always lived in his house on the Strand Street in London.Melinda usually lives in Stuart Manor accompanied by a wet nurse, nurse and governess.

One evening Francis' driver took me to dinner on the Strand.After dinner, he went to the Wizards Club and I went back to my flat in Edinburgh, planning to pack all my things for our wedding trip to Spain.

After packing a suitcase, I was already sweating, so I went to the bathroom to take a shower.Wrapped in a towel after my shower, I was wiping my hair and stomping out, only to be startled by a figure in the living room and scream.

Tom Riddle was wearing a white shirt, and his new black robe was left open.He was sitting presumptuously on the single sofa, with his long legs crossed casually, and shiny black leather shoes on his feet.

When he saw me, the corners of his mouth slanted up, and his smile was like cramp.

I froze for a second, turned around and rushed back to the room, put on my nightgown, and rushed out of the room again.When I went out again, I thought so for a moment, maybe it was just my hallucination just now.

But he was still sitting there, and said to me, "You still looked good when you were naked."

You can't go wrong this time.Haven't seen him in over a year, and he's still the same jerk he's always been.

I stared blankly at him.His skin was slightly tanned, and his dark eyes were cold and sharp, making him look even more unfathomable.His hair was a little longer than when he was in school, his cheeks were sunken, and there were some stubble on his chin, making him look calmer and more composed.

Several questions flashed through my mind together, such as, "Where have you been in the past year?", "Why haven't you contacted me for a whole year? It would be nice to just tell me that you are still alive." !", "Why are you looking for me now?"

Finally, I pointed to the door and said, "Get out."

My fingers trembling uncontrollably as I pointed to the door of the apartment.

I didn't say "get out" because now I don't swear as much as I used to, and secondly, because I'm afraid of him.

He picked up the light green robe I had laid on the sofa.It was my overalls, with a wand and bone cross embroidered on the chest.

He looked at the name tag pinned to his clothes and said, "Elizabeth Bradley, Pharmacy and Phytotoxicity, Intern Therapist. Not bad."

"I let you out," I said.

"Why is your hair cut so short?"

"Get out." I said again.

He put down my robe and looked at me with a complicated look in his eyes and a mocking smile on his face.

"Give me a cup of tea," he said, "without sugar."

With a straight face, I endured the uncomfortable feeling in my chest, and turned around to make tea for him, making the kettle and teacups rattle.I slammed the tray down on the table in front of him and poured him a cup of tea, spilling most of it on the table.

He picked up the teacup and took a sip slowly.In spite of my fury, I couldn't help watching him drink his tea carefully.His fingers were thin and long, and when he lowered his eyes, the long eyelashes were as thick and beautiful as ever.

"I got a job in London," he said, putting down his teacup, "in Knockturn Alley."

"What?" I said in surprise.