Chapter 477: Clivard

Xie Ling was about to get up and leave. Due to the deformation of his body, he lost the spatial storage function of the Supreme Wizard Robe. He could only hold the Hufflepuff Gold Cup in his arms and prepare to deal with the Horcrux as soon as possible. However, just as he took a step, his eyes accidentally swept across a dark corner and a familiar figure came into view.

It was a young witch, with long brown curly hair hanging down her shoulders, scattered messily, with a few strands of hair sticking to her slightly flushed cheeks. She was gulping down a glass of strong liquor, and her drunken eyes revealed a deep sense of decadence. Sherin squinted his eyes and recognized her - Penelope Clearwater.

Sherin and Penelope actually had some friendship in the past. They were both competitors in "The Trial of Merlin". Later, she participated in the Patronus Charm exchange meeting hosted by Sherin. She was also one of the little witches who supported Sherin in fighting against Dementors in the Quidditch stadium.

She was five years older than Shailene and had served as the female president of the Hogwarts Student Union. She was beautiful, generous, intelligent, calm, and had a bit of arrogance in her personality. When Shailene was in his third year, she had already graduated from Hogwarts, and the two lost contact after that.

Seeing Penelope's gloomy and depressed face, Xie Lin guessed that she was probably drinking to drown her sorrows about something unhappy.

His gaze stayed on her face for only a moment, and then he looked away. Although he didn't know what happened to her, he was not like Xie Ling at the moment, and she was still immersed in sadness, so he didn't want to disturb her, so he walked towards the door of the bar without even saying hello, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

However, just after taking two steps, a dull sound suddenly came from behind - Penelope's forehead hit the table heavily.

She was drunk.

Xie Lin stopped, frowned slightly, and looked sideways. At this moment, the bar was very busy, with many drinkers of all kinds and unknown origins, but a few strong men among them were particularly conspicuous. They were dressed in shabby clothes, with a somewhat obscene smile on their faces, and their eyes wandered greedily over Penelope, like a group of wild dogs that smelled the scent of prey.

Xie Lin sighed softly. After all, they knew each other, and he couldn't bear to let a little girl he knew encounter misfortune. He raised his hand to greet the bar owner Tom, took out a gold galleon, and said lightly: "Open a separate room for her."

Tom took the gold coin and glanced at the drunk Penelope. He seemed to understand something and nodded without asking any more questions. Sherin walked back to Penelope, held her back with one hand, and lifted her up from the table. She was limp, and the warm breath of alcohol fell on his neck.

"Hmm..." Penelope murmured, her drunken consciousness was unclear, but she still instinctively shrank her body, as if subconsciously resisting the strange contact. Xie Lin just gently adjusted her posture to prevent her from falling, and then helped her walk upstairs.

After entering the room, he placed Penelope on the bed and took out a bottle of hangover potion from his arms. The potion exuded a strong bitter smell. Sherin unscrewed the bottle cap and handed the potion to her lips.

"Drink it." His tone left no room for doubt.

Penelope subconsciously turned her head away, pursing her lips tightly, as if resisting the unpleasant-smelling potion. Xie Lin frowned slightly, pinched her chin directly, and slowly poured the potion into her mouth. She struggled for a few times, but finally swallowed it.

However, the bitter taste of the potion seemed to make her feel extremely uncomfortable. She twisted her body in dissatisfaction, and her arms waved unconsciously, causing the remaining potion in the bottle to spill accidentally, with some of it falling on her chest. The wet clothes clung to her skin, outlining her graceful and attractive curves. I didn't expect her figure to be so good. I couldn't see it when she wore loose uniforms at school.

Xie Lin knows quite a few girls, and Penelope can definitely be ranked in the top three in terms of figure alone.

Xie Lin shook his head vigorously to dispel these strange thoughts in his mind. It must be said that since he began to practice the Dark Arts and his attainments in the Dark Arts have become more and more profound, even though he has a strong willpower and the protection of Gryffindor's "brave heart", he still feels that he is inevitably affected in some places.

Certain aspects of his desires were magnified——

He knew clearly that when he performed black magic, he was very calm inside. He did not lose his mind, nor did he fall into madness. He also did not get any perverted pleasure from seeing the pain and struggle of others.

He was 100% sure that his mind had not been twisted, his soul had not been eroded, and even his personality and will had not been shaken in the slightest - he followed his own heart and pursued power only to protect the people he loved.

However, in the past, he would not have fallen so easily to Furong's pursuit. This was probably due to the power of black magic and some unknown changes in the "love" and "desire" in his heart.

Of course, this is not a bad thing. At least, it is much better than becoming an old eunuch with no desires or ambitions. Xie Ling thought so.

He took out the sheets from the closet, washed them with a cleaning spell, and gently covered Penelope with them, his movements calm and composed, without any extra emotions on his face. When Penelope was completely settled, he turned and left the room, but stopped when he walked out of the door.

He originally planned to leave, but thinking of the malicious wizards in the bar hall, he decided to stay and observe for a while. After thinking for a while, Xie Lin simply booked a room next to Penelope. He found an armchair in the room and sat down, opened a book, and read it casually, waiting for time to pass.

The pages of the book turned at my fingertips, and time passed quietly. After an unknown amount of time, there was a light knock on the door.

Xie Ling frowned slightly, moved his eyes away from the page, and looked towards the door. Old Tom knew that he didn't like to be disturbed, and he would never knock on the door unless it was urgent.

He stood up, walked to the door, and the moment he opened it, he was slightly stunned.

Standing outside the door was Penelope.

Her eyes were still red and swollen from crying, her curly hair was a little messy, and the soft hair stuck to her cheeks, making her look pitiful. She looked up at Xie Lin and saw that it was a strange man (Xie Lin was still Carter Young at this moment), and suddenly she looked a little reserved and shy, and whispered: "Sir...Excuse me, were you the one who sent me to the room just now?"

Sherin smiled slightly, with a faint arc at the corner of his mouth, then raised his hand and gently performed human transformation, and his appearance gradually returned to that of Sherin Malfoy. Sherin smiled, "Long time no see, Miss Clearward."

Penelope opened her eyes wide and exclaimed in surprise: "Ah, it's you, Malfoy. Did you take me to the room?"

Schelling neither admitted nor denied it, shrugged and said, "Why do you think so?"

Penelope smiled sadly and said in a low voice: "I am a Muggle-born wizard. Since I left Hogwarts, I have no relatives or friends in the wizarding world... I just went to ask Old Tom. Although he didn't specify who it was, he revealed that this person also lives in this bar. I can guess that it should be someone I know, but I didn't expect it to be you."

Xie Lin did not deny it anymore and nodded gently, "Okay, it's me. You come in first."

Xie Lin gently moved aside and motioned Penelope to come in.

Penelope hesitated, blinked her eyes that were swollen from crying, and finally stepped into the room, clasped her hands in front of her, and whispered, "I... just wanted to say thank you."

Xie Lin closed the door, walked back to the armchair and sat down, his eyes fell on her calmly, "What happened? How did you get yourself into this state?"

Penelope sat down in an armchair by the fireplace, clasped her hands together, her fingertips tightly grasping her sleeves, her eyes wandering, as if she was thinking about how to start.

After a moment, she finally said quietly, "After I graduated, I tried to find a job in the Ministry of Magic... Unfortunately, a Muggle wizard like me has nothing except a decent transcript. I have no family background, no connections, and I applied for jobs in several departments, but was rejected without exception."

Her voice was a little dry, as if she had repeated these words so many times that even her emotions had become numb.

"Although I can't find a job, I don't want to go back to the Muggle world... You know, we can't use magic there, and the knowledge I learned in Hogwarts in the past seven years is useless in the Muggle world. My life seems to be split in two, one side is the wizarding world, and the other side is the Muggle world, but - I am not qualified to gain a foothold in either side."

Her throat moved, as if trying to hide some kind of pain. Xie Ling did not speak, but just listened quietly, his eyes as deep as the night.

"So…I chose Percy."

She finally raised her head, with a bitter look of self-mockery in her eyes.

"You still remember him, Percy Weasley. I have been with him for almost four years." She paused and took a deep breath. "I thought that as long as I married him, I could stay and at least find a place of belonging in the wizarding world. I would be willing to be a full-time housewife. But who knew... when I proposed to him..."

Her voice trembled slightly and her eyes were red.

"Percy... that bastard... he actually broke up with me."

When she said this, she seemed to have tried her best to stay calm, but she couldn't hold it back, and tears slid down her eyelashes and fell on the back of her hands. Her shoulders trembled slightly, and her fingertips clenched tighter, as if she wanted to pull herself out of the abyss of emotions.

"He, he's a bastard! I've known for a long time that he's an ambitious man, but I didn't expect...he would be such a person." She smiled, but it was uglier than crying. "He only has his own career in his mind. He just wants to find a partner who can help him climb up in the Ministry of Magic and help him get more powerful. And I...I'm not even within his consideration range."

"Four years of love cannot withstand the cruel reality..." When she said this, she finally couldn't control herself anymore and threw herself into Xie Lin's arms, crying loudly. Her shoulders twitched and her hot tears soaked his clothes.

Xie Lin looked down at Penelope in his arms, speechless for a moment, feeling deeply moved.

The situation of Muggle-born wizards in the magical world is already difficult, and they have to face all kinds of unfairness in the wizarding society.

Examples like Penelope's are by no means uncommon.

Schelling still remembers that in the original work, many female wizard characters eventually married Muggles and played the role of a full-time housewife who knew nothing in the Muggle world. Although their married life was never mentioned in the original work, it was not difficult for Schelling to imagine the married life of a woman who had no ability to work, no financial control, and had to rely on men to survive.

Penelope was originally a smart and excellent witch, but because of her background, she was pushed into a desperate situation by reality. She is not a weak person, she just can't accept that the magic she learned with great effort and all the efforts she made can't even exchange for a stable life.

She cried for a long time, until her emotions slowly calmed down, she realized that she was clinging to Xie Lin's chest, and her clothes were soaked with tears. She was immediately at a loss, and hurriedly stepped away from his arms, raised her hands to wipe her face, and whispered in a somewhat embarrassed tone: "Yes, I'm sorry, Malfoy, I made a fool of myself. I...I should go."

Xie Ling did not answer immediately, but looked at her red eyes from crying, was silent for a moment, and then asked softly: "What are your plans for the future?" (End of this chapter)