Since the trap was already laid in her path, Eda had no choice but to jump in—so she might as well go all in. And if she had to jump, then she'd do it in a style she liked, at least to save some face.
Just as Eda was debating whether to go with a triple twist dive or a double backflip, and whether her splashless entry would earn a round of applause, Dumbledore spoke again. He didn't even wait for Eda to respond—he simply said his piece and left.
"If Harry wants to suspect Severus, let him suspect. As long as he doesn't get mixed up with Quirrell, that's enough. That's what I'm asking you to do, Eda."
With his hands clasped behind his back, Dumbledore strolled out of the classroom, leaving Eda—still stuck thinking about diving techniques—standing alone.
Left alone in the classroom, Eda could only stew in helpless rage. She wanted to grab Dumbledore by the beard and demand answers—but of course, she didn't have the guts to do it.
Esmeralda Twist: a strange young woman who embodied both recklessness and cowardice.
But Eda really did want to ask Dumbledore—did he even know what year she was in? What year Harry Potter was in? And how exactly was she supposed to stop him from getting tangled up with Quirrell?
Eda couldn't just round up a group of friends and beat Harry up so he couldn't attend Defense Against the Dark Arts class, could she?
Or should she go audit the first-years' classes herself, and interrupt every time Quirrell tried to talk to Harry?
Compared to those two options, it seemed more practical to just beat up Quirrell so he couldn't teach anymore!
But Dumbledore probably wouldn't want to see that scene—if yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts professor turned out to be a wreck, it would only make next year's hiring even harder.
Keeping Harry away from Quirrell also meant keeping him further from the truth, making him all the more convinced that Snape was the one trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone.
In that case, as long as Harry didn't personally try to protect the Stone, he would be safe. Snape would never harm a student's life. His damage was always verbal and psychological—something Harry was already well acquainted with by now.
Eda actually found herself a little envious of Harry. No one had ever protected her like that, kept her far away from danger.
She reached up and touched her smooth forehead in front of the Mirror of Erised. Seemed like no matter how shiny her forehead was, it was useless—what she really needed was a scar to make it complete.
If Snape ever found out about Eda's thoughts, the Potions Master would probably prepare a whole row of cauldrons for her, just to completely break her spirit.
Forgetfulness wasn't supposed to go that far—Snape had protected her once. It's just that his protection was subtle, and some people hadn't noticed. Even if they had, they didn't listen, still stubbornly determined to uncover the truth.
Poor Snape really was being wronged. And not just a little—his scapegoat burden kept growing heavier and heavier.
Christmas break officially began, but Eda felt like it might as well not have.
She was more exhausted on break than she was during regular school days. Wizard chess and card games stayed far away from her; she didn't even get a single round of Gobstones in. Her entire Christmas holiday was split between Professor McGonagall and Snape.
In the mornings, Eda had to go to Professor McGonagall's office for private tutoring in Transfiguration. She also had to write an essay on the Vanishing Spell—her brain was already bursting from Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and all its supplementary laws.
In the afternoons, she had to report to Snape.
The Potions Master truly lived up to his title—he had taken on a ton of potion orders, and Eda had to complete them all before Christmas arrived.
Probably as revenge for all her earlier sarcasm, Snape constantly muttered in her ear in surround sound 3D. Who could possibly endure that?!
It had taken all her strength to make it to the evening, and there was still a mountain of holiday homework waiting for her—enough to bury her alive. What happened to joyful learning?
Why assign so much holiday homework?
Would the professors really have time to read it all after school started again?
As far as Eda knew, there weren't any junk collectors around Hogwarts. Who were they even planning to sell all that parchment to?
Under the loving care of her two professors, Eda not only lost all desire to make trouble for Quirrell, she felt like making it to Christmas in one piece was already a luxury.
But truthfully, Eda didn't need to worry—so long as she didn't suddenly drop dead, Snape and Madam Pomfrey would drag her back to life just so she could finish her unfinished business.
On Christmas Day, Eda finally got the rare chance to sleep in. If it hadn't been for hunger waking her up, she might've slept straight into the afternoon.
The morning sunlight was a bit harsh, so Eda raised a hand to shield her eyes.
After gulping down a large glass of water, she sleepily got out of bed, eyes still closed, and pulled the curtains she'd forgotten to close the night before. The light in the dormitory instantly softened.
Eda sat back on her bed to finish waking up. While eating a small cake she'd taken from her nightstand, she absentmindedly played with her long hair and mentally reviewed whether she'd forgotten to give anyone a gift.
She didn't want a repeat of the awkward situation with Cedric.
Last Christmas, Eda hadn't given Cedric a gift, so this year the first present she prepared was for the Hufflepuff boy.
Word had it that he'd started noticing the girls around him as he grew older, so Eda gave Cedric a book about love. Whether it was useful or not was up to him.
Given Cedric's handsome face, that book probably wouldn't make much difference—he only needed a glance to win over the girls around him, so long as he didn't do anything stupid.
Eda had prepared similar gifts for her three roommates: merchandise from their favorite Quidditch teams, like new posters and match collections.
This year, Lee Jordan finally didn't get a half-hearted bag of candy from Eda—because the candy had gone to Ron and Harry instead.
For Lee, Eda had prepared a lion-head hat—not a lion-head meatball, but an actual lion-shaped hat that could roar like a real lion. He could wear it while commentating Quidditch matches—that's the kind of showy spirit Gryffindor should have.
For the twins, Eda had gotten each of them a set of work clothes made primarily from dragon hide, to offer protection while they experimented with fireworks.
Their initial research had shown results, and now they needed to add some creative flair to their products so people would want to buy them.
Besides all that, Eda had also prepared three extra gifts: a special-effect shampoo for Snape, a scarf she had knitted herself (though it wasn't very good-looking) for Professor McGonagall, and some clotted cream fudge along with a thick pair of wool socks for Dumbledore.
Originally, Eda had only planned to give the fudge and some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, but the idea for the wool socks came to her after that night.
She had wanted to knit them herself, but the holiday had been far too busy, so she simply ordered a pair instead.
Eda figured that compared to socks she made that might not even be wearable, the purchased ones would probably be much more comfortable.
Eda sat dazed on her bed for about ten minutes before she finally woke up fully and began unwrapping her own presents.
Right on top was a gift from Dumbledore—a large box of assorted candies, with every brand imaginable. They were all ones he liked. That inexplicable sense of competitiveness, honestly.
Below that was a whole set of new clothes from Professor McGonagall, along with an issue of Transfiguration Weekly.
Eda flipped through it casually and spotted the paper she had co-authored with Professor McGonagall. She decided she'd go show it off to the twins later.
Angelina and Alicia each gave Eda an expensive quill. Eda had seen this model at a shop in Hogsmeade before—it could auto-correct errors and even had predictive memory functions.
Eda received a lot of snacks this year. Katie, Lee Jordan, Cedric, Harry, and Ron all gave her candy. Looking at the bed full of sweets and chocolates, Eda suddenly felt a toothache coming on. What potion cures toothaches again?
Since Eda had lost one of her gloves during the snowman-building incident a while back, Fred and George had given her two new pairs—same style, two different colors: one black, one blue.
The gloves even had a heating function—wearing them felt like holding a hand warmer.
At the very bottom was a lovingly knit sweater from Mrs. Weasley. Unlike last year's, this one had a heart-shaped neckline, and the color had changed from red to blue. The only thing that hadn't changed was Mrs. Weasley's care and affection.
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