Chapter 141: Figured It Out
Ginny stood there in a daze.
Lately, she had been trying her hardest to act mature and strong. She wanted to prove that she was qualified to stand by Tamara's side, and she wanted to shed her image as nothing more than a crybaby.
But now, in Tamara's eyes, all her efforts still seemed to amount to nothing more than that snivelling Weasley.
A massive sense of shame, mixed with grievance, surged into her heart. Ginny's eyes instantly reddened.
Why?
Why had the senior who had been stern yet caring in the bathroom become so cold now?
Ginny desperately searched for excuses in her mind.
Maybe Tamara was too busy.
Maybe she was in a bad mood.
Or perhaps... her own performance just now had been too stupid.
Yes.
It must be because she was too useless.
Tamara was someone who did great things, a Slytherin genius. How could she possibly have time to listen to boring nightmares like these?
Instead of helping, Ginny was acting like a burden, constantly causing trouble for her.
"I... I'm sorry."
Ginny lowered her head, fighting back tears as she grabbed the rejected pasty and turned to flee from this suffocating place.
However, just as she turned and took a few steps away, a crisp, confident, and slightly excited voice came from the other side of the bookshelf.
"Tamara!"
Hermione Granger hurried over, carrying a stack of books taller than her head.
She did not notice the pale, trembling Ginny at all. She walked straight to Tamara's desk and dropped the books with a loud thud.
"About that variant structure of Ancient Runes you mentioned last time!"
Hermione was breathless, but her eyes were incredibly bright, and her face glowed with the fervour of academic pursuit.
"I found it! There is a similar variant in Chapter Seventeen of Tracing the Origins of Nordic Runes!"
Ginny stopped in her tracks.
She subconsciously looked back, wanting to see how Tamara would treat this person who had also come to disturb her.
Would she look at Hermione like rubbish too, and tell her to get lost, just as she had done to Ginny?
But what Ginny saw was a scene that broke her heart.
The previously impatient and ice cold Tamara actually stopped her quill upon hearing Hermione's words.
She looked up, and in those pitch black eyes, that suffocating indifference actually dissipated a little. In its place appeared a genuine focus, though still arrogant.
"Tracing the Origins of Nordic Runes?"
Tamara raised an eyebrow slightly and reached out to take the book Hermione handed over.
"That old fashioned theory can actually be applied?"
"Of course!" Hermione opened the book with full confidence and pointed to a line. "Look here, regarding dielectric loss in magic conduction..."
"...Interesting."
As Tamara looked at the page, the corner of her mouth actually curled into an extremely faint arc, almost like approval.
"Although the logic is somewhat strained, as a supporting argument, it is not entirely without value."
"Sit down, Granger."
Tamara tapped the chair opposite her with her wand.
"Explain your so called theory to me in detail. If you start talking nonsense again, I will throw you out."
Her tone was still sharp.
But she let Hermione sit down.
She was willing to listen to Hermione speak.
She was even discussing profound topics with Hermione that Ginny could not understand at all.
In that moment, standing in the shadows, Ginny felt the last trace of warmth being drained from her body.
The stark contrast was like a sharp knife, ruthlessly stabbing into her already battered heart.
So Tamara did not hate being disturbed.
She only hated being disturbed by her.
In Tamara's eyes, Hermione was a peer who could keep up with her thoughts, a valuable conversational partner.
And she...
She was just a Weasley who could only cry, act paranoid, and bring pumpkin pasties.
"Why..."
Ginny gripped the wooden plaque at her chest tightly, her nails almost sinking into her flesh.
Jealousy, despair, grievance, and deep self loathing fermented wildly in her heart.
At the very moment her mental defences completely collapsed, a dark force carrying endless malice spread silently from the depths of her soul.
The remnant soul that had been lurking inside her, forced to play dead after being severely wounded by Tamara, had finally found this once in a lifetime opportunity.
[Heh heh...]
A voice full of malice and mockery, audible only to Ginny, rang out in the depths of her mind.
It was not the gentle Tom from the diary.
It was a monster stripped of reason, leaving only pure resentment and the instinct for revenge.
[Look... what a pathetic little girl.]
The voice hissed in Ginny's head like a poisonous snake flicking its tongue.
[You treat her as your only salvation, your most admired idol... but what about her?]
[She looks down on you.]
[She thinks you are a waste, a burden, a fool who cannot even speak clearly.]
Ginny's pupils began to dilate, and deep within her originally brown eyes, a layer of eerie black mist slowly emerged.
[Look at that Mudblood...]
Using Ginny's eyes, the remnant soul's gaze locked firmly onto Hermione Granger, who was sitting across from Tamara and speaking with confident eloquence.
To this remnant soul, Tamara was its most feared natural enemy. It did not dare strike at Tamara directly.
But it hated her.
It hated the original body that had ruined its plan to rebuild itself physically.
It hated that high and mighty woman.
Since it did not dare touch the original body, it would destroy what she cared about.
In the remnant soul's twisted perception, for a cold blooded person like Tamara to be willing to waste time communicating with someone, even allowing that person to sit opposite her, meant that person must be her most important pawn.
[It is that Mudblood who stole your place...]
[It is that Mudblood who makes Tamara ignore you...]
The voice was full of temptation.
[As long as she disappears... Tamara will see you again.]
[As long as you destroy that Mudblood... you can make that arrogant woman feel pain...]
Ginny's body shuddered violently.
Then, she slowly stopped trembling.
She slowly raised her head, and on that tear stained face, a bizarre smile appeared.
In those eyes, there was no longer the innocence and cowardice that belonged to Ginny Weasley.
Only a deathly, silent darkness remained.
"Granger..."
Ginny's lips moved slightly, her voice exceptionally hoarse.
"It's all because of you..."
She took one last deep look at Hermione, who was bathed in sunlight and discussing academics with Tamara.
Then she turned and walked out of the library with stiff, silent steps.
And in her mind, that frantic plan had already taken shape.
The monster that had slept in the pipes for too long...
It was time to wake up again and enjoy a feast.
"I'll make you... pay the price."
Ginny's fingers neurotically stroked the wooden plaque at her chest, as if it were her only lifeline.
The smile at the corner of her mouth slowly widened in those deathly shadows, revealing a bone chilling obsession and innocence.
"As long as you disappear..."
"That spot will become empty."
Ginny murmured in a low voice, as light as a chilly wind.
"That way... Sister Tamara's gaze will fall entirely... on me."
.....
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