Chapter 381: Early Christmas Present (2 in 1)

Chapter 381: Early Christmas Present (2 in 1)

Assia left the Castle in a daze.

She was like a shell that had lost its soul, not knowing what she was supposed to do or what she could do.

The look that Floyd had given her yesterday had shown Assia a clear picture of her future fate, and she was sure that Floyd had heard what Flint had said to her.

No woman, let alone the jealous Floyd, could tolerate the idea that her fianc making such remarks to another woman.

She made her way to the Black Lake; it was still school time and there weren't many students skating in the lake for leisure, so Assia's arrival drew little to no attention.

Walking along the lawn and around the Quidditch pitch, she made her way to the spot where she and Hermione often met.

It was here that Assia sat with her knees in her arms, staring blankly at the ground that was clearly different from the rest of the land, with a patch of fresh dirt.

It had been filled in yesterday while Hermione had been digging out the herbs, and she had even told her to fill it in firmly so that it wouldn't leave another hole behind when the snow melted and water seeped in.

Yesterday's experience was still fresh in her mind, but for Assia now it was as if a century had elapsed.

She had no intention of asking Hermione to protect her; even if they might indeed become owners of the castle again in the future, for now, the order in the Castle continued to function according to the rules set by the Headmaster.

Hermione could protect her outside the Castle where no one else would notice, but inside the Castle, there was little she could do.

If she asked for help, she was sure that eventually, Hermione would find a way to help her, but in the end, even if she did, it would be at great risk.

Assia didn't want to see that happen, and she would rather sacrifice herself to get this thing straightened out than have it involve any more people, whether it was her own parents or Hermione, who right now is her only friend.

She just sat there from morning until noon, just after lunchtime, Hermione's voice sounded behind her.

"Assia?"

Assia didn't turn around at first, she briefly straightened up her facial expression and put back on the same soft smile that she had worn every time she had come to meet Hermione before.

"Good afternoon, Hermione."

The sun shone down on her, her pale blonde hair reflecting a faint halo of light that made the girl look as gorgeous as she was.

"What brings you here so early today?"

Hermione looked as if she had been tricked by Assia's disguised faade and didn't notice anything wrong with her, sitting down next to Assia with the small basket in her hand that she had used to temporarily store herbs.

"I have nothing to do in the Castle, so I am just sitting here casually."

"We can meet at the Castle on Christmas Day." Hermione propped her hands on the grass and raised her head to look up at the azure sky, an involuntary smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "We were talking about it yesterday before we parted ways, and he ended up asking me at the same night."

Assia's expression staggered.

"You've found a dance partner? Who was it?"

"The same one I told you about yesterday, who else could it be, last night he called me into the driver's seat at the front of the wagon to talk about it and finally managed to find a somewhat romantic excuse to extend an invitation, I was expecting him to say something like, 'Hey Hermione, you must have nothing to do on Christmas night too, right? Why don't we go and dance together in the great hall?' Turns out he was a lot better than I thought he would be."

Assia froze, her fingers tugging at her robes, and for some reason, when she saw the look on Hermione's face as she said this, a wave of envy or arguably some small jealousy rose up in her heart for no apparent reason.

But soon she shook this strange feeling out of her mind and blessed her from the bottom of her heart.

"That's lovely, congratulations, Hermione."

"And you? Assia must be very popular at the Castle, right? Have you promised anyone that you will dance at the Ball then? We'll have to pretend then, just as if we were meeting for the first time."

Assia's nose couldn't help but tingle a little at the question, and she forced a smile as she kept her head down, not letting Hermione see her face.

"I've been asked by many people, but I haven't accepted, you know, I'm rather scared of dealing with strangers and I can't dance."

"So when the time comes, if I invite Assia to a dance, will you accept it?"

Hermione waved back at the girl's back, the white string already on her hand, her voice soft as if she were blessing the wind that was wafting away.

"Goodbye, Assia."

For two whole days, Assia was at peace with herself.

It was as if the look Floyd had left her with earlier was actually an illusion, that the so-called revenge was all in her head, and that even the greatest hatred between students could not possibly involve human life.

However, on the evening of the same day that Assia's mind started believing such a stroke of luck, she was about to go to get lunch in the great hall when she was knocked unconscious from behind with a stunning spell.

She had been very careful these days, even though she had no friends at school, but whenever she left her dormitory she would stay close to her classmates.

But even so, that evening Assia was attacked and dragged away by Floyd's group in front of two female students around her.

Before leaving, Floyd's face was grim and she left only one comment.

"If anyone asks, you'd better tell them you didn't see her at all this afternoon, or you'll know the consequences."

The two pureblood girls just looked at her in dread, not knowing whether to nod or shake their heads.

Floyd, however, looked like she didn't care how they would actually react, and after saying her threatening words, she left with her two goons who were holding Assia's arms.

When Assia woke up, she realised that she had been taken to an abandoned Potions classroom.

The place was cluttered with tables, chairs and benches, but there were obvious signs that it had been tidied up before; Floyd had been premeditating this for a long time, and the calmness of these days was just her doing some preparatory work.

"I've given you plenty of chances, Konrad."

Floyd's face was frighteningly calm, she held a vial of blood-red potion in her hand and was pouring the blood-like liquid from the vial onto the floor as she spoke to Assia.

Assia, her body restrained by an Incarcerous Spell, and positioned right in the middle of the classroom, with a number of bizarre runes and symbols surrounding her.

"You're a slippery one, you've escaped from me many times before, but that's what gave me time to prepare, without these preparations the chances of success in casting the curse directly on you would have been too small and too slim, now there's at least a thirty percent increased chance of success, which is great, isn't it, a fate you chose to suffer. "

Even though she had been prepared, Assia's face still showed a deathly pallor when she actually had to face such a situation.

"You heard me the other day, Miss Floyd, I have refused, I didn't ask for anything of that nature, I didn't-"

"I never said it was your fault, Konrad. I said it, you're not at fault, I'm not at fault, Flint he's even less at fault, no one's at fault, but now it's gone horribly wrong, so there's no point in finding out whose fault it is, we can just get rid of the problem itself."

The red liquid soaked through the magic runes and symbols that had been carved out of the ground and Floyd looked down calmly at Assia.

"We all want to solve this problem, so you should be happy to do me this favour, just get rid of this problem you have so that Flint will never be obsessed with you again, that would be good for all of us, wouldn't it? And all you have to pay for is simply becoming a blood-cursed Maledictus."

At the sound of the term blood-cursed Maledictus, the pupils in Assia's eyes visibly contracted for a moment.

After hearing this curse for the first time from Floyd's mouth, she looked up a lot of information in the library and knew what kind of effect this vicious curse had.

It could be said that if she had to bear such a thing, then she would rather die!

"Bang!"

Floyd dropped the already empty potion vial in her hand and raised the wand in her hand as she aimed the tip of it at Assia's forehead.

"Without you having to give your life, once you become that kind of freak, then surely Flint won't have his mind set on you anymore, he'll love me with all his heart, what a perfect solution, isn't it, Miss Konrad!"

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