The ancient castle that had stood in Scotland for a thousand years should, by all rights, have felt eerie and ominous—just like those famously haunted castles scattered across Britain. But Hogwarts was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
Today, there was no distinction between professors and students; everyone was celebrating the holiday and spreading their happiness.
The towering Hagrid was drinking glass after glass of wine, and soon, his cheeks turned red. With his face flushed, he actually planted a kiss on Professor McGonagall's cheek—while she merely blushed and giggled.
The scene absolutely stunned Eda, who was watching from the sidelines. Rubeus Hagrid was truly a Gryffindor through and through. Eda finally understood why he dared to raise all those "adorable" creatures—he was the real deal, a true warrior.
Compared to Hagrid, all that "hidden villain" Quirrell business or "venomous snake-faced" Snape stuff was just weak sauce.
Starting today, Hagrid was Eda's idol. Sure, her big brother wasn't exactly handsome—scruffy beard, terrible cook—but he was so brave!
From now on, Eda could proudly say to others: "Our brother dares to raise Acromantulas and a three-headed dog—does yours? Our brother dared to kiss Professor McGonagall—did yours?"
I mean, who wouldn't love a brother like that?
Tomorrow, Eda was going to submit an article to the Daily Prophet, titled: "The Greatness of Hagrid: I Want the Whole World to Know."
Whether the whole world knew or not didn't matter—what mattered was that Hagrid knew. Building a good relationship with her idol was essential. And if Hagrid could send her a bottle of Acromantula venom as a fan bonus? That would be perfect!
Eda returned to the common room with the others, her arms full of wizarding cracker prizes. She placed a red paper hat on little Garlon the puppy's head.
She hadn't been sitting in the dormitory for long when she heard the twins loudly shouting her name from downstairs.
The restless boys were heading out for a snowball fight, so Eda handed Garlon's leash to Fred and asked him to take the pup along. As for herself, she dove straight into bed, with no intention of going outside.
And so, Eda lay cozily asleep in the warm dormitory while the boys spent the entire afternoon playing wildly in the snow, with little Garlon running around right alongside them.
When they came back, they ran into Eda just as she was finishing her nap.
Rubbing her eyes, Eda looked at the five boys in front of her, all soaked through.
If she hadn't already known they'd gone out for a snowball fight, she might have thought they'd just taken a dip in the Black Lake—fully clothed.
The five boys stood in a line in front of the fireplace, letting the flames warm them and chase away the chill. Eda sat in an armchair by the fire, flipping through a book on alchemy.
Both wizards and Muggles studied alchemy, and Eda even remembered that some Muggle scientists had been obsessed with it.
Of course, Eda wasn't reading it to seriously study alchemy—she just wanted to understand how the Philosopher's Stone could turn things into gold.
One must have dreams, after all—what if they come true?
To Eda, the Philosopher's Stone was like buying a lottery ticket: she didn't really expect anything, but she held on to a tiny bit of hope. And besides, reading about it seemed pretty interesting. It was a good way to pass the time and relieve boredom.
However, none of the five others present—except Percy—would have agreed with Eda's way of thinking. At that moment, Hermione, who was spending the holidays at home, would probably have agreed wholeheartedly.
When you're in school, time seems to drag on—every time you open your eyes, it's time for class again. But when you're on holiday, you suddenly realize how fast time flies.
It's like you just closed your eyes last night, and now, the moment you open them, school is starting again.
After Christmas, Professor McGonagall and Snape gave Eda a few days off, but those leisurely, relaxing days passed in the blink of an eye.
Students returned to school one after another, and Eda, still not fully rested, had no choice but to plunge back into the intense rhythm of school life.
During this busy yet fulfilling holiday, Eda had completely forgotten about Dumbledore's instructions—forgotten all the way to Java.
She had no time to pay attention to whether Quirrell was deliberately approaching Harry, or whether Harry was growing closer to Quirrell. It wasn't until Christmas that she had any personal time of her own.
And during those few days of personal time, Eda discovered that Harry might have inherited Gryffindor's glorious tradition: sneaking around the castle at night.
Because she noticed that Harry always looked half-asleep during the day, with very obvious dark circles under his eyes, as if someone had punched him in the face.
For several days in a row, Harry kept looking like that—as though he were addicted to nighttime wandering.
But then, a few days later, Harry's dark circles vanished, and he became energetic during the day again. It seemed his exploration of the castle had temporarily come to an end.
If Eda had been watching the Marauder's Map, she would have discovered the truth—she would have seen that Harry, who clearly hadn't left the common room, had somehow appeared in the empty classroom that housed the Mirror of Erised.
But Eda didn't check—and not only her, even the twins hadn't used the Marauder's Map in a long time. They hardly needed it anymore.
The three of them were probably more familiar with the castle than Filch himself. They no longer needed outside help to avoid the school caretaker.
After receiving his father's Invisibility Cloak, Harry couldn't wait to put it on and leave the common room that very night.
Through the cloak, he could see Eda and the twins chatting by the fireplace about Quirrell, but the three of them couldn't see him at all.
Wandering aimlessly through the castle under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry accidentally discovered the empty classroom where the Mirror of Erised was kept. He was drawn in by the mirror's magical power, and in it, he saw his parents and family.
So, Harry came to the mirror every night with his Invisibility Cloak, sitting in front of it for hours at a time. That was the reason for his dark circles.
Harry even encountered Dumbledore there, and only after being gently advised by him did he stop going there to "visit his family"—hence the disappearance of his dark circles.
And Eda knew none of this. She was still troubled by how "outstanding" she was.
She had thought that once school resumed, without the two professors' "selfless care," her life might be a bit more relaxed. Unfortunately, reality proved otherwise—not only was it not easier, it had actually become even more hectic.
Under Snape's instruction, Eda not only had to complete the potion orders with quality and precision, but she also had to prepare three types of extremely toxic potions, as well as two fire-resistant elixirs made from entirely different sets of ingredients.
Those two fireproofing potions, in particular, were exceptionally difficult—the timing and flame control had to be absolutely perfect.
During the brewing process, Eda was constantly on edge, afraid she might accidentally burn a hole in her own robes.
Also under Snape's private guidance, Eda received news that he would be acting as the referee for the upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.
Eda looked at Snape teasingly—he was clearly worried something might happen to Harry, which was why he volunteered to referee.
Snape turned his back to avoid her gaze and promptly kicked Eda out of his office—he simply couldn't stand those curious eyes of hers.
What news could possibly be more explosive than this? What could Gryffindor hate more than this?
Almost nothing. So when Eda passed this information on to Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain lost sleep over it.
If the captain couldn't sleep well, there was no hope for the players. Everyone unanimously believed Snape was up to no good, especially since this match was critical for Gryffindor—they needed to win to have a shot at competing with Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup.
Snape's favoritism was known to all, so naturally, everyone thought he volunteered as referee just to make Gryffindor lose.
Facing either of the other two teams would be better than facing Gryffindor.
Even Fred and George felt the same, despite knowing Snape wasn't actually a villain and that he had once protected Harry during a match.
But Snape's many past "misdeeds" made it hard for them to believe he was purely doing this to protect Harry, with no thought for his own house's advantage.
Under such disadvantageous conditions, Wood could only push the team to train harder. Not even heavy snow or endless rain could stop him from leading the team in their relentless practices.
And none of this had anything to do with the whistleblower Eda—because she had just received a message from Dumbledore. She was off to receive some personal guidance from the headmaster himself.
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