At the start of this term, Eda had once been stopped outside the common room by Sir Cadogan because she didn't know the password. Neville had appeared like a savior, clutching a small slip of paper, and rescued her.
At the time, Eda had even reminded Neville to keep that slip of paper safe and not lose it.
Eda's jinx-like words had struck again—unfortunately, her warning came true. Neville really did lose the "secret manual" with the passwords on it, and by sheer bad luck, it ended up in Black's hands.
Looking at Neville's pitiful state, Professor McGonagall found herself unable to vent her anger, yet equally unable to suppress it. She knew exactly how poor Neville's memory was, and with Sir Cadogan constantly changing the passwords, Neville's situation could hardly be described as anything less than miserable.
Including Eda, everyone was roughly driven back into the common room by Professor McGonagall and ordered to stay there, forbidden to go anywhere.
If it weren't for the fact that Black had just broken into the Gryffindor common room, the scene would have looked exactly like a pajama party.
Percy stood guard at the entrance with the prefects, while the other students gathered in small groups, whispering among themselves.
The twins didn't come over to comfort Eda—they knew she didn't need comfort right now.
Instead, they took out the unfinished version of their homemade map and began carefully examining the names on it. But Black had already fled the castle, so their efforts were destined to yield nothing.
Near dawn, Professor McGonagall returned. She told everyone to go back and rest, and also spoke with Eda alone for a while. She sternly criticized Eda's recklessness—chasing Black alone had been far too dangerous.
By daylight, the students discovered that security in the castle had been strengthened.
Professor Flitwick was at the castle gates, teaching the guards to recognize a large photograph of Sirius Black; Filch, meanwhile, was suddenly swamped with work, running back and forth through the corridors sealing up every possible gap—from the smallest cracks in the walls to mouse holes.
Sir Cadogan, who had made the grave mistake, was dismissed. The Fat Lady returned to her post, and a group of rough-looking troll guards were hired to protect her fragile nerves.
These troll guards had been specially trained by the Ministry of Magic. Although they no longer reeked, their brains still weren't very sharp. Instead of patrolling the corridors, they often compared the sizes of their clubs with each other, looking rather foolish.
At breakfast, Eda once again wore her gold-rimmed glasses to hide the fatigue from a sleepless night.
The twins leaned in and told her what had really happened in the boys' dormitory—not Ron's exaggerated, self-glorifying version, but the truth.
Last night, Black had appeared beside Ron's bed holding a gleaming knife. But Ron had unexpectedly woken up, and his scream woke the others. Sirius Black took advantage of the chaos to escape.
The more Eda thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Ron had no past grudges or current conflicts with Black—so why would Black go to Ron's bedside and try to kill him?
Eda didn't believe Black had mistaken the bed. There were only five beds in the dormitory, and Harry was so easy to recognize. If he could still get it wrong, then Black's brain must have been ruined by the Dementors.
Moreover, Black hadn't actually done anything and had been scared off by a few panicked students. That didn't fit the image of a ruthless Azkaban escapee at all.
Twelve years ago had already proven that Sirius Black didn't care about slaughtering innocents. This time, he had faced five unarmed boys—four of whom were still asleep—so why had he just left?
Since he was already there, why didn't Black casually kill Harry Potter while he was at it?
The mysteries surrounding Black were only growing deeper. Twelve years ago, was it really him who betrayed the Potters? And was the explosion truly caused by him in an attempt to kill Peter?
Eda felt like her brain wasn't working properly anymore, as if it had been eaten by the troll guards patrolling the corridors.
As usual, the school owls swooped into the Great Hall in a flurry, delivering the mail. A huge barn owl landed in front of Neville, holding a bright red envelope in its beak.
Neville choked in shock, and the Gryffindors nearby immediately recognized it as a Howler. Last year, Mrs. Weasley's performance had lingered in everyone's ears for days—hopefully this year Mrs. Longbottom would bring something fresh.
Reminded by Ron, who had experience, Neville grabbed the envelope like it was a bomb, held it out in front of him, and dashed out of the Great Hall like an arrow. Laughter erupted throughout the hall—not just from Slytherin, but from everyone.
Neville still couldn't escape social death. The Howler exploded in the entrance hall—Mrs. Longbottom's voice, amplified a hundred times, shrieked as she condemned him for bringing shame to the family.
Eda suddenly felt the urge to see what Dumbledore would look like receiving a Howler. Maybe she could get her grandmother to try it?
At that moment, Dumbledore, who was eating breakfast, suddenly felt a chill run down his back and even had the urge to sneeze a few times. He didn't think much of it, assuming he was just getting old and feeling a bit under the weather from the cold.
At last, the Hogwarts students had a new topic of conversation. Everyone was eagerly discussing when Black would finally be captured.
After the Howler incident, Ron became famous once again. Although he was still shaken from the events of the previous night, whenever anyone asked, he was more than happy to vividly and thoroughly recount his "adventure."
But before Ron could enjoy the attention for long, Eda stole the spotlight—everyone had heard that she had injured Black. Once again, the students looked at Eda with new admiration. As expected of Esmeralda Twist—there was no one in this school she wouldn't dare to take on!
The Slytherin students, especially Avery and Flint, secretly clutched their chests in relief. Thankfully, they had never seriously provoked Eda—otherwise, wouldn't they have been beaten to death by this furious lioness?
If you don't believe it, just look at Black—just for sneaking into the Gryffindor common room at night, he was chased by Eda all the way from Gryffindor Tower to the Forbidden Forest. The bloodstains in the castle had only just been cleaned up by Filch.
A sense of surviving a disaster rose in the hearts of the Slytherin students—thank you, Miss Twist, for sparing our lives all these years!
Unlike the Slytherins, the Gryffindor students felt completely at ease. With such a big boss holding down the common room, it was incredibly reassuring.
If you don't believe it, go take a look at Slytherin. And if you still don't believe it, go take a look at Sirius Black…
Black's attack didn't plunge the school into panic—instead, it gave students a new topic of conversation and further cemented Eda's reputation.
Now many students wanted to ask Eda: Big sister, even though I'm not from Gryffindor, is it still not too late to start paying protection fees?
In the following days, this behavior only escalated. Many students waited along the paths Eda had to take to and from class, just to catch a glimpse of Gryffindor's leading big sister.
Those blatant looks—just short of someone running up to her and shouting something ridiculous like, "Babe, I had an IV drip yesterday, and I missed you all night!"
Faced with the ruthless Sirius Black, Eda hadn't been the slightest bit flustered—she had chased him from Gryffindor Tower all the way to the Forbidden Forest with wand in hand. Yet when faced with this group of "harmless" students, she was unexpectedly panicked.
Small, pitiful, and utterly helpless, Eda could only avoid peak crowds and try to travel at off-hours.
The most infuriating ones were Fred and George. Not only did they not help Eda come up with solutions, they were the ones enjoying the spectacle the most. To them, a flustered Eda was a rare sight—and far too entertaining.
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