harry potter book of crimes

The small wooden stick kept rolling, and kept rolling, until a hand with large joints and a rough texture gently stopped it and picked it up from the ground.

But the moment the stick lifted off the ground, the entire backyard drying area suddenly became quiet.

In fact, at that moment, little Tia didn't actually notice that a strange figure had appeared not far away... No, it wasn't just her, probably none of the children present at this moment noticed it.

Then……

"thump."

Little Tia's eyes suddenly blurred as she was pulled up by her pigtails, and then she sat down on the ground. She saw the face of fat Johnny, who had just pinched herself hard and was laughing happily.

I don't know when I felt a little more confused.

The next moment, all the children with different expressions in front of them seemed to suddenly remember something. They completely ignored their companions around them, and even ignored Little Tia. They dispersed and left in unison.

To be honest, a sudden and strange change like this is actually not much better than being surrounded and bullied - at least little Tia was frightened! Although the expressions on the faces of the children when they left were different, they also had the same expression.

The extremely similar dullness made Little Tia feel a numbness in her scalp as she watched this scene unfold.

After she fell to the spot and was stunned for a while, she finally came back to her senses, and saw her intuitively turning her head and looking in a certain direction behind her——

No one! No one was there. Only the gentle breeze blew over the sparse and yellow grass tips there, swaying a few times.

"call--"

Because nothing shocking happened anymore, Little Tia finally calmed down a little and silently turned around again.

But at this moment, she used her unskinned hand to support the ground and tried to get up from the ground, but unexpectedly, the palm of her hand was suddenly hit by something hard.

Tia lowered her head and saw the stick.

"ah?"

Looking at the small wooden stick that appeared in front of her again, Little Tia was startled again - when the wooden stick fell from her hand just now, although she was pinched in great pain by Johnny, the sound of the stick falling to the ground was still there.

She could hear it. Even if she wasn't very sure, she still remembered that the little stick should have rolled some distance away.

So, why? Why did it appear in front of me again now?

She had been frightened by the sudden change in the crowd's dispersal just now, and now such an unexpected doubt appeared, which made Little Tia's heart skip a beat.

"What on earth...is going on? Is this what happened today?"

The extremely flustered Little Tia's head was already empty. Apart from "weird", perhaps there is no word to describe it. The very nervous and confused Little Tia could not even breathe smoothly, as if she was worried about the sound of inhalation.

If it is too big, it will startle something again.

And it was at this time...

"Ding-dong--ding-dong--ding-dong--"

Suddenly, the sound of a hand-bell ringing from the direction of the front yard came slowly. Because it had been used for a long time, the ringing that should have been clear and crisp seemed a bit dull. This was something Tia had heard since she was a child, and she was very familiar with it.

But this time, the sudden ringtone startled Little Tia again.

Fortunately, it was just a ringtone after all. Little Tia, who quickly reacted, stopped the exclamation that had risen to her throat, quickly glanced left and right, and finally suppressed the panic in her heart and ran as fast as she could.

The speed was even a few minutes faster than when he escaped in the first place.

She ignored the inexplicable and strange little wooden stick on the ground.

…

In orphanages affiliated with the church, children do not have much free time. In addition to regular cultural classes, there are also morning and evening classes exclusive to the church, as well as more religious content and etiquette classes, even more than the latter.

The former is more strict and focused.

When the bell rings, no matter the bully or the bullied, they will return to where they should be like everyone else. Because no matter who is late, they will be punished - late is late.

Well, that old nun Taylor who always has a straight face will never listen to any excuse.

Naturally, Little Tia also went to the gathering, and no one could miss the prayer before dinner, otherwise they would definitely be hungry at night.

Fortunately, after the thrilling experience in the afternoon, no more accidents happened until the end of the evening class when I returned to the dormitory to turn off the lights and go to bed. The children who bullied me and watched me before seemed to be fine after that.

From what happened, it seemed that everything had returned to normal.

Yes, there are small things like being squeezed deliberately when fetching water, and her wrists being slightly burned. Tia has long been accustomed to it. Apart from pain, there is no more fear, which is very important to her.

It was already a relatively peaceful evening.

Until nightfall, thinking about the strange scene this afternoon, Tia, who was mentally and physically tired, gradually fell asleep wrapped in a damp quilt - the quilt had probably been doused with water by her roommate,

Or it could be some more excessive liquid, which doesn't matter because Tia is already very sleepy.

"Click, click, click..."

She didn't know how long she had slept, but when Little Tia was awakened by this strange sound, she opened her eyes and found that it was completely dark.

Not far away, the curtains were half-closed. It might be a cloudy day tonight, and it was almost pitch black without stars or moon outside the window.

What is the sound? Why... does it feel familiar?

Relying on the dim light of the street lamp that was only on in the distance, Little Tia, who was a little unable to open her eyes due to sleepiness, squinted her sour eyes and turned to look in the direction of the sound.

"ah."

The exclamation failed to burst out of her throat happily, but as soon as it came up, Little Tia covered her mouth and forcibly cut it off.

But no matter what, at this time, Little Tia had completely woken up from her half-dream. Because she saw that the small wooden stick she picked up and discarded during the day appeared again at this time.

in front of oneself.

What's even more weird is that the small wooden stick on the bedside table is trembling slightly without being touched by anyone, and is pointing in a certain direction.

It’s the window behind me! The tip of the small wooden stick is pointing to the window behind me!

After realizing this, Little Tia, who was huddled in the quilt and her whole body was already a little stiff, was startled. The cold little hands in the quilt were clasped tightly, and she suddenly turned over with her elbows and looked towards the window.

past……