Ever siransf the Shrieking Shato Twilight Cottage/Shack, Eda had been spending a lot of time there. Itage, she could read in peace without anyone disturbing her, nor would she have to suffer the sight of couples in the library. Most importantly, no one would fight her for a chair anymore.

  On cold, gloomy days, she could sit on the sofa by the firepce. If the weather was clear and sunny, she would rex in a rog chair by the window—one she had asked the house-elf Wi for her.

  Swayily in the rog chair, whether reading or taking a short nap, ure bliss.

  A small table beside her held elf-made pastries, apanied by a steaming cup of tea. This lifestyle was almost detly beois.

  With just herself, Garlon, and a book, Eda could sit there for aire day. Meanwhile, Fred and Gee would be downstairs in their rooms dug experiments, with occasional explosions eg up—providing the only source of noise itage.

  The saying goes, "A nd of beauty is a hero's grave," but Eda was no hero. So, the forts of the cottage never mao erode her resolve. Whenever she had no other pns at night, she would still go to the underground room to train with the trial mannequin.

  After nearly two years at Hogwarts, Eda still wasn't anywhere close to "pung Dumbledore and stomping on Voldemort." In fact, she couldn't eve Professors Snape onagall yet—how humiliating!

  To make things worse, her system was unbelievably id-back, rarely giving her any quests. Eve did, failing them resulted in no punishment whatsoever. Its presence was almost ent.

  The biggest pity was that such a great system had a mouth and actually talked.

  Sitting by the window, Eda was holding a book titled A Beginner's Guide to A Runes. She had specially ordered it from Flourish and Blotts after seleg the course, intending to preview the material in advance.

  With the system's help, Eda could have pletely skipped the css if she wao. However, as the saying goes, "two heads are better than one." With Professor Bathsheda Babbling's guidance, her progress in learning A Runes would likely be much faster.

  Setting the book aside, Eda needed a break. These rune symbols, which might as well have been written in an alien nguage, were giving her a headache. She needed something lighter to read to rex.

  On the small table beside her were three other books. One was The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a birthday gift from Fred and Gee. Another was Signifit Magical Events of the 20th tury, which she had bought before starting her first year and had already finished long ago.

  The st one, however, was more of a pamphlet than a book. Titled The Evolution of Modern Dark Magic, it was something Eda had retly found in the Restricted Se. It had been hidden within another book, and she had only stumbled upon it by ce. Though thin, the pamphlet tained a wealth of information, all handwritten in minuscule script.

  It recorded the lives of several Dark wizards, as well as some of the Dark spells they had used. The author had even he effects of these spells and their side effects.

  Eda thought the pamphlet's title was pletely misleading. Instead of The Evolution of Modern Dark Magic, it would be more fittingly named A Dark Wizard's Crash Course—or perhaps A New Crime Every Day: Yuide to Azkaban. The more you read, the closer you were to a prisoence.

  The book didn't include the author's name—probably because they didn't dare to write it. If the Ministry of Magic ever caught them, they'd surely reward the author with a Dementor's Kiss on the spot!

  Eda had just reached the part about Gellert Grindelwald traveling to America, shortly after leading his followers in multiple attacks across Europe. From the book's descriptions, every gesture and movement of Grindelwald was dripping with style—no wonder he was one of the most powerful Dark wizards in history.

  Aside from his bat prowess, Grindelwald had an incredibly persuasive way with words. His famous phrase, "For the Greater Good," struck deep into people's hearts. That robably why he had so many followers and mao extend his influence across both Europe and America.

  Fred and Gee came upstairs, interrupting Eda's ption of "For the Greater Good."

  "What's got you so absorbed?" Fred asked, pig up a piece of pastry from the table and popping it into his mouth.

  Gee poured two cups of steaming hot tea, adding milk to both. This was the British way of drinkihough to Eda, it was basically milk tea.

  Shaking the book in her hand, Eda said, "A crash course oio Azkaban. Want to learn?"

  "Nope. Absolutely not." Gee stirred his tea and scoffed, "To hell with bloody Azkaban."

  "It's a book on the history of modern Dark magic, but the author added quite a bit of personal entary," Eda said, pg the book ba the table and refusing the milk Fred tried to add to her cup. "I was just reading the se on Grindelwald."

  "Who do you think was more fearsome—Grindelwald or the Dark Lord?" Eda asked. Maybe it was because she had never lived under Voldemort's rule, or perhaps because she hadn't grown up in the wizarding world, but she didn't fear him the way others did.

  If not for the twins, she would have directly said Voldemort instead of using the Dark Lord or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

  "We say Grindelwald's hout hesitation, but we don't even dare to utter the Dark Lord's name," Gee said. "Isn't the answer obvious?"

  Fred nodded in agreement, pletely standing by his twin's reasoning. pared to Grindelwald, they feared Voldemort far more—and so did the rest of the British wizarding world.

  Even though Grindelwald once cast a dark shadow over Europe, his influend terrifying aever extended into Britain. But Britain had always been Voldemort's stronghold, and most of his atrocities were itted here.

  Besides, Grindelwald had beeed by Dumbledore all the way ba 1945. So many years had passed sihen that people's fear of him had faded with time.

  His pce as the most feared Dark wizard had long been usurped by Voldemort, and sinort had only fallen a decade ago, his shadow still loomed rge in the minds of witches and wizards.

  Eda's question was fwed from the start.

  By the time Voldemort rose to prindelwald had already been personally defeated by Dumbledore. The two Dark wizards had never faced each other, and their styles were entirely different. paring them directly just didn't make sense.

  "My dear Miss Twist, what about you?" Fred asked. He knew Eda wasn't particurly afraid of Voldemort, so he was curious about her choibsp;

  "For the greater good!" Eda decred. If it were purely up to her, she would lean slightly more trindelwald over Voldemort. After all, Grindelwald had once waged a brutal war that swept across the entire world.

  "What?" Gee didn't quite uand what she meant.

  "I think the Dark Lord is more fearsome too," Eda ged her ao Voldemort. "After all, I'm a muggle-born orphan. With my background, I'd be at the very top of his and the Death Eaters' hit list."

  To Voldemort, Eda was nothing more than a lowly, filthy Mudblood—someone unworthy of learning magic, a stain that o be wiped out. But with Grindelwald, at least she'd have a ce to survive. Her abilities clearly marked her as ae, and Grindelwald was willing to let people like that exist.

  "Why even think about this? The Dark Lord was defeated by Harry Pes ago," Fred said. "You should be fog on something more important—like what's for dinner."

  "Besides, we have Dumbledore," Gee patted Eda's shoulder reassuringly. "He's the greatest wizard of all!"

  "Alright, alright, I was just talking nonsense," Eda stood up and straightened her clothes. "Let's head back to the castle. I'm hoping for some pudding at dinner!"

  ________

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