"Haah.. I 't believe I'm going to do it.."
Threading a red string through the ring and keeping it close to her body, Eda then summohe trial dummy in hard mode. This would be her "oppo" for the foreseeable future—she wao see just how powerful a dummy on par with the two professors would be.
The dummy still looked the same, taking on Eda's oearance. Although its form hadn't ged, it was essentially an old bottle filled with new wiernally, it had undergone a plete upgrade. If Eda faced it with the same approach as before, she would suffer a serious loss.
After the upgrade, the trial dummy had truly been transformed, its attacks far sharper and mgressive. Eda was pletely on the defensive, forced to brush up on her defensive skills. The idea of terattag head-on was abahe moment their duel began.
Iy, the gap between Eda and the dummy wasn't as overwhelming as she had imagined—her attacks did cause it some trouble. However, the dummy's attack methods were so uable that a single mistake could lead to getting hit by its spells. Eda had no choice but to face it cautiously, shelving any thoughts of an aggressive terattack for now.
Throughout the battle, the trial dummy demonstrated exceptional skill in Transfiguration, leaving Eda—who only knew how to summon hounds—pletely astonished.
"What the..."
So Transfiguration could be used like this?
The dummy's offensive and trol abilities were far beyond what Eda could currently match. Seeing this firsthand, she accepted her loss with a clear mind.
Failure had never been something to fear.
What Eda o do was learn from it, refine her skills, and make sure that ime, she wouldn't lose as badly. After all, true mastery was fed through relerials.
By March, the weather was gradually warming up, and Hogwarts' Quidditch matches had resumed. The first game of the sed half of the term was Hufflepuff versus Ravene team in yellow, the other in blue. If they weren't flying on broomsticks but ridiric scooters instead, Eda would have thought it was a battle betweeuan and Ele.me.
Hufflepuff cimed victory in this match. Their team had been perf exceptionally well this school year, temporarily holding the top spot. The usually easygoing and unambitious little badgers were now eyeing the Quidditch Cup with serious i.
Eda watched this match with ease, but the Gryffindor team captain, Charlie, had his brows furrowed the eime. He was worried about their uping game—Gryffindor's oppo was Hufflepuff, and fag such a high-momentum team would be no easy task.
This was Charlie's st year at Hogwarts, and he hoped to leave behind one more Quidditch Cup fryffindor before he graduated.
After the match, Charlie initiated an intense "hell week" of training. Everyone oeam, except for Wood, was utterly exhausted. The twins, in particur, were stantly pining.
Due to these grueling practices, they hadn't had time to visit Twilight Shack, and being forced to put their resear hold only made them more frustrated.
Fred and Gee had finally made some initial progress with their experiments, managing to create a few prank dies. However, these dies were far from perfected and still carried a certain level of risk—they weren't even half-finished products yet, let alone ready for use.
The twins were always thinking about ways to improve their creations, which led to them zoning out during practice. This, of course, earhem plenty of scolding from both Captain Charlie and Vice-Captain Wood. With the twins stantly drawing fire, the three Chasers actually ended up having a much easier time.
In te March, the twins were finally spared from stant scolding because Gryffindor's match against Hufflepuff was about to begin. Charlie had shifted his full focus to their oppos and no longer had time to keep pig on his two youeammates.
To support the team, Eda even took the time to make a banner. She repurposed an old bedsheet, turning it into a massive siguring a ed lion. The lion wasn't just vividly drawn—it could also let out mighty, majestic roars.
On the day of the match, the weather was terrible. The sky was overcast and gloomy, but the oppressive atmosphere did nothing to dampeudents' enthusiasm. The Gryffindor stands were filled with cheers that rose and fell in waves.
Amidst the resounding lion roars, ts of "Gryffindor will win!" and "Weasley is our King!" echoed throughout the stadium.
One side wore yellow robes, riding the momentum of their ret victories—Hufflepuff. The other side, red, was determio defend their title—Gryffindor. From the very start, the match was intense, with both teams fiercely vying for victory.
It was a battle between two equally matched teams, with relentless attacks from both sides keeping the spectators on the edge of their seats.
On one end, Angelina and Alicia executed a brilliant coordinated py; oher, Hufflepuff responded in kind. The Quaffle assed bad forth between the Chasers of both teams, while the Bludgers were stantly sent hurtling toyers on their broomsticks by the Beaters.
Fortunately fryffindor, they had Seeker Charlie anch the team. pared to him, Cedric was still too young—both in skill aality, he was pletely overshadowed by Charlie.
The final result of the match spoke for itself.
In the final moments of the match, the experienced Charlie outmaneuvered Cedrid caught the Golden Snitch, seg Gryffindor's "revenge" against Hufflepuff and g victory in this hard-fought battle.
When entator Lee Jordan annouhe results, Charlie—who had been stern and unsmiling for nearly half a month—finally revealed a long-overdue smile.
This also meant that the grueling training sessions could e to a temporary halt, and the team members were finally free from their suffering.
Luckily, they woch; otherwise, the twins' thirteenth birthday would have been a miserable one. If they had lost, who knew how Charlie—now ied with Oliver Wood's obsession—would have tortured the two of them?
pared to the suffering Fred and Gee endured, Eda had a much more rexed March. She had no research projects to refine and no Quidditch training to attend. If she wao read, she read. If she wao py wizard's chess, she pyed wizard's chess (though, of course, she was only pying against herself).
As long as Eda didn't deliberately seek trouble a herself into detention, she was a free spirit—the very embodiment of freedom at Hogwarts. She could do whatever she pleased, and life couldn't have been more fortable.
As the poet Sándor Pet?fi once said: Life is dear, love is dearer. If it is for freedom, both be given up. His words highlight the immense value of freedom. Though this great Hungaria passed away in his twenties, his yearning for freedom has been forever remembered by the world.
Speaking of Hungary, the first thihought of was Budapest, and the first person that came to mind et?fi. But after being influenced by Charlie, who was determio bee a dragon tamer, Eda had now also begun to associate Hungary with the Hungarian Horntail.
After all, anything that could earle of "ferocious and dangerous" from a dragohusiast like Charlie could only be an even more terrifying creature, not some tame little pet—just like h was in Hagrid's eyes.
To the gamekeeper, Aragog the Aantu was nothing more than a big, furry sweetheart. But to everyone else, Aantus were monstrous creatures from the isnd of Borneo—gigantic, vicious, and deadly.
However, in Eda's eyes, Aragog was far more lovable than a Hungarian Horntail. After all, Aantu venom was extremely valuable!
Especially after learning that a pint of the stuff could sell for about a hundred Galleons, Aragog and its offspring suddenly looked less like terrifying creatures and more like walki-legged sacks of gold.
If it weren't frid's feelings, Eda would have cleared out the spider in the Forbidden Forest ages ago. And of course, she wouldn't be doing it for the money—how could a student as righteous and full of justice as Eda possibly allow such highly dangerous ivorous creatures to roam freely in a school?
Absolutely not for the Galleons. Eda would swear it on the honor of Professor Severus Snape himself!
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