if i am not me

In the middle of the night, the sound of hurried footsteps accompanied by the sound of rain reverberated in the alley. As the person approached, a vague smell of blood and intermittent sex caught her attention. .

"Who's there?" The soft voice of a woman could not help but carry a hint of fear. Traveling on such a rainy night was already a last resort, let alone in this remote and deserted alley.Cautiously stopping her pace, she saw through the hazy rain curtain the huddled black shadow behind the garbage dump in the corner.

With the help of the dim light of the street lamps in the distance, she mustered up the courage to slowly approach the helpless and trembling figure curled up in the corner.What came into view was a child, with his brows furrowed in pain, he half-buried his small face in his arms, his whole body was exposed to the cold and merciless rain, and he was already unconscious.

"God." The woman hurriedly used the umbrella in her hand to block him from the pouring raindrops, but it was completely useless. 'Must take him to the hospital'.Throwing down the umbrella in her hand decisively, she bent down and hugged the child in her arms before rushing towards the alley.

Tom yawned, and walked towards the bar counter cursingly. As always, he drew out his wand and began to tidy up the tables and chairs while waiting for the delivery of the "Daily Prophet".The continuous rain for several days made the air damp and cold, which made him fretfully gather up his clothes.In his opinion, rainy days are always so annoying, there will not be many guests, but the ground will be extremely messy.

Soon, the bar was tidied up, and the sound of flapping wings could be heard outside the window.He took out a few copper nuts from his pocket and threw them into the pocket on the owl's feet. He took out the "Daily Prophet" and couldn't wait to read it.

The newspaper was not wet from the rain. On the front page, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was delivering a speech with a serious face.The topic this time is to increase the training of Aurors and increase related funds, so as to contribute to the safety and stability of the magic world.

Seeing this, Tom couldn't help but nodded—it should have been so long ago.

Although the magic world is gradually returning to peace after the disappearance of "that person", it is still not stable, isn't it?The murder case that happened a few days ago is the best example: a wizard killed 5 Muggles, and set fire to burn the corpses after the killing. More than 30 people suffered burns of varying degrees.Even though the Ministry of Magic declared after the investigation that this was just an ordinary revenge-seeking incident and that there would be no danger to ordinary people, it still caused panic, and even his business was much deserted.

Grunting and scrolling down, Tom hoped to find some latest news about the murder, after all, the murderer was still at large.But apart from a few comments on yesterday's new decree to strengthen the management of wands, he didn't get any other information he wanted.

"Damn it, can't they explain it more clearly?" Complaining again and again, he threw the "Daily Prophet" in his hand on the newspaper rack, and decided to give himself a cup of hot chocolate to soothe his emotions.

"Slap!" The sound of lighting the alcohol stove was very clear in the cold atmosphere of the bar. Tom listened to the "ding ding dong dong" wind chime, and half-squeezed his cloudy eyes and looked out the window.

In the sky, the dark clouds seem to indicate the continuation of the rainy weather.

In 1990, England ushered in a wet and cold winter.

It was just dawn, and in an old building, the young woman got busy very early.I saw her quickly tidy up her appearance, walked through the somewhat dilapidated but still clean and tidy courtyard, and went straight into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the children.After baking the bread swiftly, she walked to the refrigerator and took out milk and eggs.Suddenly, the familiar sound of unlocking the lock stopped her hands, which were about to start frying eggs.

Huo turned around, Mary put down the eggs and hurried out of the kitchen, looked at the iron door, and sure enough, she saw the boy who was hesitant to notice her gaze, "I remember you told me yesterday that you had sent The milk job quit."

Half of the boy was still outside the door, scratching his shoulder-length black hair, and he hesitated for a while before slowly saying, "Well, the milk delivery job is indeed resigned..."

Raising her beautiful eyebrows, Mary looked at the handsome little face of the boy who was smiling unnaturally, "Then what are you now?"

"Uh...Mr. Boardman said that I can increase my salary a little, so..."

"So you started delivering newspapers again!" Mary helped him finish the rest of the sentence, her beautiful eyes staring at the boy for a moment.It seemed he had learned the art of half-talking, she thought.At this moment, a clear voice suddenly sounded behind Harry, "Harry! Why are you blocking the door?"

Harry's body froze suddenly, but the voice behind him continued uncontrollably, "Make room for me, if Mary finds out..."

He couldn't help rolling his eyes, and the smile on the corner of Harry's mouth had completely subsided following the voice.After thinking about it, he simply moved to the side to make room for the person who was so desperate to come back at this time.

Mary looked at the sneaky figure after entering the door in disbelief, "Veri?" She thought it was just Harry, but she didn't expect that even Veri...

"Ah—" Apparently he didn't expect this to happen, and Willy, who was still thinking about it, let out an exclamation in shock from Mary's quiet voice.But the child reacted very quickly, and then he smiled at Mary shyly, wanting to say "haha" and just whitewash the peace. "Well... good morning..."

But Mary didn't take this kind of trick. Seeing his shyness, she just asked him the question he wanted to avoid the most with her hands on her hips. "What are you sending again?"

The word "again" fully conveyed a certain message to him, rolled his eyes slowly, and Willy gave Harry a look for help, but found that the kid had already bowed his head in repentance, making it clear I can't protect myself.Knowing that the situation was not good, Willy immediately threw away his thoughts of concealment, and confessed, "Milk..." took over from Harry's class.

She sighed softly, in fact, how could she not understand their intentions.

Five years ago, relying on the wealthy family left by her parents, she resolutely founded this small orphanage. With sufficient financial security and government support, she adopted seven children one after another.Everything was going well, but as time went by, a loss on an investment put her in a bind, and life in the courtyard became tighter as a result.

In Mary's view, even if these children were orphans in the past, they should be like other children in normal families, staying in bed, acting like a baby, and having their favorite toys, instead of going to bed before 6 o'clock every morning. Going out to deliver milk and newspapers door to door...

Harry and Willie quietly raised their eyes to look at Mary who had been silent since just now, but were surprised to find the glimmer of light in the corner of her eyes.Seeing this, Viri disappeared the trace of naughtiness that was still shining in his expression before, walked straight to Mary's side, and gently raised his hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of Mary's eyes.Pursing the corners of his resolute lips, he said in a tone that didn't match his immature voice, "Mary, I'm already 12 years old."

Wei Li is the oldest child in the yard. Although he is still very angry as a child, he is still a little adult.Hearing Willy's words, Harry smiled faintly, and came to Mary, "This is a kind of exercise, and we really learned a lot, right?" Looking at Willy with smiling green eyes, he got The boy nodded affirmatively.

Unlike the formal adoption process of other children, Harry was picked up by Mary.Two years ago, when she sent the dying Harry to the hospital, he was out of danger for three full days, and it took a month for him to recover and be discharged from the hospital.Mary didn't know what Harry had been through, so he kept everything in his past except his name and didn't want to mention it, but everyone has their own story, even if he is just a child...

Mary looked at the two mature and outrageous children, and fondled their faces with her hands, but then the gentle caress turned into a kneading.Viciously left a red mark on the delicate cheeks of the two, seeing their mischievous expressions that were about to cry, Mary smiled "puchi" and said in an unquestionable tone, "From now on, you must go to bed at 9 o'clock in the evening."

Willy jumps his feet as soon as he hears it. His favorite show doesn't start until 9:[-] in the evening...

Raising her hand to stop Willi's unsatisfactory protest, Mary's brows and eyes regained her usual gentleness, "Now, go and wake up those little lazy pigs who are still sleeping."