One cannot truly grow up without experiencing poverty; one remains naïve forever without suffering setbacks.
Under Eda's relentless blows, and the repeated bombardment of "what a beautiful flower," Hector finally emerged from the shadow of heartbreak. If Hector still hadn't managed to recover, Eda would have had no choice but to call Henry in.
As for how Henry, whose way of thinking was equally bizarre, would comfort Hector, Eda had no idea. But she suspected Henry would open a door to a whole new world for the innocent Hector…
Life at Rosier Manor was peaceful and tranquil. Vinda spent her days walking the dogs, taking strolls, or feeding the fish by the aquarium. She had finally come to understand the joy of raising dogs, especially when they came running toward her at full speed.
Speaking of which, Eda really had put a lot of thought into it. There were so many dogs in the yard, yet not a single husky among them.
Eda herself was also enjoying this hard-earned peace. Since the start of the holiday, she hadn't even opened a textbook once. Every day she slept until late morning before finally getting up, and her first meal of the day had become lunch. She wandered around idly all day long, almost to the point of carrying a birdcage and strolling about like a proper loafer.
If she hadn't seen Hector sulking in his room doing homework, Eda would have completely forgotten that Hogwarts also assigned summer homework. She hadn't even opened her textbooks, let alone touched the assignments. She truly hadn't written a single letter.
If Hogwarts was a school, a workplace, and someday perhaps even a battlefield, then Vinda and Rosier Manor were Eda's safe harbor, the place where she could anchor herself and rest.
During this period, Eda and the twins had been exchanging letters constantly, sharing amusing stories from their daily lives. The twins had spent the entire holiday locked in their room, continuing experiments on their joke products.
In truth, Fred and George had already created many products and even conducted small-scale trial sales at school, receiving overwhelming praise. But because of the O.W.L. exams, they had temporarily halted production and development, so they planned to make up for the "wasted" time during this summer holiday.
From the twins' letters, Eda also learned that Harry was surprisingly still staying at the Dursleys' house this summer. She had thought he would be with Sirius and Lupin, traveling the world together, but instead he was still living with the Dursleys, which felt rather strange.
Another matter Fred and George repeatedly mentioned in their letters was the Quidditch World Cup. They reminded Eda to return to Britain early so everyone could go watch the finals in person together.
The England Quidditch Team had never once disappointed people when it came to being disappointing. In a match a few days earlier, they suffered a crushing 10-to-390 defeat against Transylvania. It was hardly even a match anymore—it was practically a massacre.
The "Three-Meow Legion" truly lived up to its reputation. When she first heard the result, Eda even spent a while thinking about where Transylvania was before finally remembering that it belonged to Romania.
In mid-July, Eda received the results of her O.W.L. examinations. Passing everything was naturally no problem at all, and she had even achieved Outstanding in every subject. She had narrowly, very narrowly, managed to get an Outstanding in Herbology as well.
After all, during the practical Herbology exam, Eda had nearly ruined her test completely. She had thought the best she could hope for was an "E"!
Vinda was very satisfied with the report card, and she even gave Eda a small reward by allowing her to drink a little butterbeer. But what Eda received was not a whole bottle of butterbeer, only a pitiful little cup.
Nothing hurts more than comparison. Watching Laura and Hector, who had only recently become an adult, drinking happily to their hearts' content while she herself was limited to a single cup of butterbeer truly made the disparity feel painfully unfair.
That morning, near the end of July, the sun had already risen high enough to roast people alive, yet Eda still refused to get out of bed. Sprawled across the bed in a starfish position, she had actually been awake for quite some time already—she simply did not want to move.
Every now and then, Eda would lazily wave a little hand and cast a spell to lower the temperature in the room a bit more, and then a bit more again. The weather was simply too hot, so hot that it made people irritable. Half-conscious from the heat, Eda kept mumbling "air conditioner" into the empty air. At that moment, she dearly wished Willis Carrier had been a wizard too.
Since weather records began in France in 1873, the summer of 1994 had been one of the three hottest summers on record.
And France had very long daylight hours. The sky was already bright by five or six in the morning, and it did not grow dark until around ten at night.
"So miserable, like a crushed mushroom… wanna use air conditioning, hing~"
Just as Eda continued rolling around on the bed, kicking her legs irritably because of the heat, Laura Fournier suddenly appeared in the bedroom and witnessed this utterly "deserving a beating from your mom" scene.
Leaning against the bedside, Laura said, "Couldn't the young miss at least look at the time? Do you know what hour it is already? And you still won't get up!"
"It's too hot outside. Don't want to move," Eda replied lazily. "Perfect timing, Laura, since you're here, bring me up a jug of iced fruit juice. The coldest kind!" After speaking, Eda even waved her hand at Laura as if saying goodbye.
"Of course. You're the boss here, whatever you say goes," Laura replied as she turned and walked out of the bedroom.
But when Laura reached the doorway, she suddenly stopped. "Oh right, a man came to the manor today. Vinda is meeting him in the sunroom."
The moment she heard the word "sun," Eda immediately felt as though the temperature in the bedroom had risen even more. Whatever sun, whatever man—it had nothing to do with her, unless that man happened to be named Willis Carrier.
Seeing that Eda still refused to get up, Laura had no choice but to raise the stakes further. She continued, "This man came from across the sea. He has blue eyes, and he said his name was Albus too many names Dumb…"
Before Laura could even say the surname "Dumbledore," she felt a gust of wind sweep past her. Eda had already vanished from the bed, rushing out of the bedroom like a storm.
A man from across the sea with blue eyes—even before hearing "Albus," Eda had already developed a terrible premonition. So she leapt straight out of bed and charged out without combing her hair or washing her face, not even having time to put on slippers.
Eda was terrified that if she arrived one second too late, Vinda and Dumbledore would start fighting. Her grandmother battling her headmaster—now that would truly be exciting!
Like a nanny, Laura picked up the slippers beside Eda's bed and chased after the girl who had disappeared like the wind. As she ran, she shouted, "Your slippers! You still haven't put on your slippers!"
The weather was simply far too hot. Moving even a little made one break out into sweat. And just like that, Eda rushed downstairs in a frenzy and burst into the sunroom.
Panting heavily, Eda pushed the door open in one motion. Then she saw Vinda and Dumbledore sitting opposite each other. Not only were they not arguing, they were actually chatting happily. On the coffee table sat iced lemonade and French pastries.
Unbelievable. Based on Vinda's usual attitude toward Dumbledore, along with that Howler letter, Eda had thought their meeting would definitely be a legendary collision of worlds.
But what in the world was this now? Not only were they not arguing red-faced, Dumbledore's face also hadn't been scratched into ribbons by Vinda. Instead, the two were laughing and chatting together. Had she opened the door the wrong way?
Under the astonished gazes of Vinda and Dumbledore, Eda silently backed out of the room and closed the door behind her. Yet no sooner had the door shut than she pushed it open again and walked back in, once more under their surprised stares.
Nothing had changed. The two really were not fighting. Everything was peaceful, and the French pastries on the table were not baguettes used as weapons, but crêpes from Brittany.
"Eda!" Vinda scolded loudly. "How can you come downstairs dressed like that to meet a guest!"
Of course, whether Vinda was truly criticizing Eda, or emphasizing that Dumbledore was merely a guest, was open to interpretation. A girl about to turn seventeen, wearing nothing but a nightgown and running out barefoot to greet visitors, really was rather improper.
At that moment, the "old nanny" Laura also came chasing after her with the slippers and tossed them down at Eda's feet. Eda lowered her head awkwardly, put on the slippers, and silently withdrew from the room once again.
After carefully closing the door, Eda finally realized that her body felt sticky and uncomfortable. Just from running that short distance, she had already broken out in sweat. Her long golden hair clung damply to her face, and her entire body was covered in perspiration.
Eda finally understood why the two people in the room hadn't started fighting.
It was entirely because the weather was simply too hot!
(～￣▽￣)～Read 12 Chapters ahead:
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