"Who asks something like that? Are you trying to get someone to compliment you?"
After quite a while, just when Murphy thought the topic had ended, Serika spoke again.
"Because... you're handsome."
"You're really good-looking, amazing, and cool! When I saw what you looked like in the Daily Prophet, I liked you—cough—I kind of liked you."
Serika seemed to have thrown caution to the wind. She had already been rejected, and she might be about to die anyway, so she might as well say it all and leave no regrets.
Murphy listened in silence.
"Besides, you're different from other wizards." Serika looked at him with starry eyes. "You seem like you're glowing. You never seem to hesitate, just charging straight toward your goal. You don't seem afraid of anything—not those judges, not Draco Malfoy, not anyone else, not even Dumbledore."
"I've never seen a wizard like you! You're full of power. Power so strong it feels like it could destroy everything, yet also like it could build a new world from the ruins! No other wizard is like you. Even the smartest wizards, the Aurors, even those important figures—you have something they don't."
"And you're really handsome." The girl suddenly stuck out her tongue. "Sorry, I lied just now. I really do like you quite a lot."
"I like you a lot, very much. So much that I want to be with you forever..."
As she spoke, the girl suddenly lowered her head.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to cry..."
Murphy was not quite sure how to handle this. After thinking for a moment, he reached out and patted her head.
"It's all right."
He smiled. "I didn't expect you to think so highly of me."
"You're making fun of me..." Serika suddenly looked a little aggrieved. Her lips trembled, and