Hogwarts Emerald

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"That's it!? That's just it?"

"I mean you had an opportunity to take any item and FLICK Filch up and you chose this?"

"....."

Eda and the twins stared blankly at the parchment, unable to discern its purpose.

Fred and George turned the parchment over multiple times, but it remained just that—an old, blank piece of parchment.

"Why don't you take a look? Maybe you'll come up with something," George handed the parchment to Eda.

Taking the parchment, Eda examined it carefully for a while but found nothing. She placed the parchment on the table, drew out her wand, and pointed it at the parchment, "Revelio!"

The parchment remained unchanged, still as worn and unremarkable as before.

"Aparecium!" Eda tried another spell, but it had no effect, as if it were just a piece of paper with no hidden secrets.

Eda tapped the parchment several more times with her wand, muttering various revealing spells, but to no avail. The old parchment stayed stubbornly blank and unresponsive.

Eda shrugged, indicating she was out of ideas.

Resigned, George put the parchment away. "Looks like it will take a lot of time and effort to uncover its secrets."

"I hope the time and effort we put in will be worth it, and that this parchment will surprise us," Fred said.

"Let's hope so. It better live up to its 'extremely dangerous' label," Eda agreed.

Exhausted, the three said goodnight and returned to their dormitories to rest. They had plenty of work awaiting them the next day.

The following day, the reason behind Gryffindor's dwindling points quickly became clear.

Instead of reacting aggressively towards the twins for yet another loss of points, the Gryffindors decided to give the brothers the cold shoulder, hoping they would learn their lesson.

That evening, the twins endured Filch's punishment—cleaning the boys' restroom. Professor McGonagall forbade them from using magic, rendering their newly learned Cleaning Charm useless, much to Fred and George's dismay.

When the twins returned to the common room, reeking from their ordeal, they found Eda busily working.

The double assignments had significantly increased her workload, cutting into her practice time.

The trio frequently gathered to discuss the mysterious parchment, but they remained stumped, unable to uncover its secrets.

December brought even colder weather to Hogwarts, with Christmas and the holidays fast approaching.

A week before the break, the twins finally completed their punishment, and Eda finished her double assignments. During this time, Eda's writing speed had improved remarkably, making her consider offering her services as a scribe for extra income.

Earn each Galleon through diligent work, she thought.

The snow blanketing the school grew thicker, and the Black Lake froze over, its surface hard as stone. Students eagerly engaged in spirited snowball fights, enjoying the winter festivities.

Eda, Angelina, Alicia, and Lee Jordan formed a team to face off against the Weasley twins in a snowball fight, creating an unequal battle of four against two.

From the start, Eda's team found themselves struggling despite their numerical advantage.

The twins' unparalleled coordination kept them firmly in control.

Angelina and Alicia were no match for the twins and were quickly driven back by George, leaving Eda and Lee Jordan to face the twins head-on.

Repeatedly hit by snowballs, Eda finally became "angry and embarrassed." She decided to show everyone what a real snowball fight was. Simply tossing a few snowballs and kicking up some snow didn't qualify as a proper battle.

Clearly not!

Under Eda's direction, Angelina and Alicia gathered their courage and began to fiercely engage George, distracting him and pulling their defensive line. 

Meanwhile, Eda and Lee Jordan braved Fred's "hail of bullets" and charged him directly. Together, they managed to topple Fred to the ground and buried him in a snowbank. Then they used the same tactic to bury George.

"You two can't be so cocky now... haha," Lee Jordan laughed, looking down at the twins lying in the snowbank.

But before he could finish, he was tackled by the three girls and ended up in the same situation as the twins. "Cocky" Lee hadn't noticed the continuous exchange of glances between the girls behind him, so getting buried in the snow was his own fault, not theirs.

The twins saw through the girls' plan but had no intention of warning Lee Jordan.

After taking down Lee Jordan, Eda was also ready to taunt the others, but she didn't make the same mistake as Lee. 

Eda first glanced back at Angelina and Alicia, and seeing them brushing off snow, she felt confident enough to start her group taunt: "You three... Ah!"

Before Eda could launch her broadside, Angelina and Alicia buried her as well. They had only pretended to clean their clothes, in reality, they were lulling Eda into a false sense of security.

The two girls high-fived each other in celebration of their successful sneak attack, while the twins and Lee Jordan, the three losers, loudly laughed at Eda, the fourth loser. Eda, who had taught her "students" too well, lay in the snowbank, silently questioning the world's sanity: even a snowball fight involved scheming and deception; the world must be doomed...

Seeing Angelina and Alicia still celebrating, the indignant Eda attempted to sow discord. She said, "Only the last one standing is the true winner!"

Hearing her words, the two girls became wary of each other, neither wanting to give the other an opportunity. The four on the ground got back up, and what started as an uneven four-on-two battle turned into an all-out six-person brawl.

The six of them returned to the common room soaking wet to change clothes. More than dry clothes, they probably needed a dose of cold medicine each.

This style of snowball fighting was adopted and popularized by other Gryffindor students in the following days. Anywhere on the school grounds with snow became dotted with little "snow mounds," making it look like a cemetery to the uninformed.

As the students gathered in the Great Hall for dinner, Professor McGonagall started to take a headcount of students staying at school for the holidays. Eda's friends were all heading home for the break, leaving her as the only one staying behind.

Fred and George had invited Eda to spend Christmas at the Weasley home, but Eda declined. She already had plans for Christmas and felt that the holiday was best spent with family. She didn't want to intrude as an outsider.

When Professor McGonagall approached, Eda signed the stay list without hesitation. This Christmas would be perfect if Snape didn't stay at the school either.

In the last few days before the holiday, Fred and George could often be found near Hagrid, offering warmth and trying to help him in any way they could, even though Hagrid didn't need their help. They did this partly to gather more information about the Forbidden Forest and partly out of guilt for deceiving Hagrid before.

The Great Hall was decorated with garlands of holly and mistletoe, and twelve towering Christmas trees stood around, some with glistening icicles, others with hundreds of twinkling candles. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had worked together to create a festive atmosphere, heightening the students' anticipation for the upcoming holiday.

Finally, amid great anticipation, the Christmas holiday arrived.

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12 Advance Chapters at Patreon.com/Dragonel