The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 123 A familiar story

As expected of a notorious dark wizard, he could easily change other people's opinions. If Cecil wanted to, could he forcefully change a person's will and make him commit suicide? This method of bewitching people was really too terrifying, and it could accomplish many things without making any noise.

Ada didn't know how Cecil did it. If it was magic, Ada didn't feel any magical fluctuations. This method looked more like hypnosis or psychological suggestion, but the latter two were far from being as easy and hard to defend as Cecil.

Fortunately, Ada still has the "Last Glory". The passive ability of the ring, Unswerving Determination, is designed to deal with this kind of "chat". It was the flash of light that just passed by that woke Ada up, so that she was not fooled by Cecil again. After buying the wheelchair, she even said thank you.

Cecil had used this method to influence her twice, and this was only the number of times she knew about. Who knew if there were any more times that she hadn't been discovered? Ada, who always had a bad temper, couldn't stand it anymore. She immediately squinted her eyes and stared at Cecil.

Anyone with good eyesight could see Ada's anger, because she did not hide it at all. Her eyes and slightly fluttering golden hair showed her anger.

An angry person is likely to do anything. Just like in Muggle murders, murders in the heat of the moment are always the most common.

Cecil didn't expect Ada to turn hostile so quickly. He knew why Ada was angry, and he also knew that if he teased her again or did anything unusual, Ada would really dare to attack him. Cecil, who was a little too excited, put away his smile, took two steps back and spread his hands, indicating to Ada that he had no weapons in his hands.

"It's wrong of me to use this method to force you to agree with my point of view." Cecil said, "But if you don't have any trust in me, this magic will not work at all."

This method was discovered by Cecil from an ancient book. This magic does not require any magical power to activate, it only requires trust. This is a magic that is specially used to stab one's own people and to betray.

At the edge of the Black Lake, Cecil laid the groundwork in advance by using his identity as a professor, and used such a tragic story to make Ada have a basis for trust in him, which ultimately enabled him to successfully cast a spell on Ada.

In addition, casting this kind of magic has a price to pay. The greater the impact and damage caused, the greater the price to pay. Today, he just forced Ada to agree with his point of view, so it had no effect on him. But the last time he cast a spell by the Black Lake, he paid a great price. That time, the spell increased his physical burden.

"This is what we call trust. Even a professor who treated you well before will cheat you or push you into the abyss when you are not paying attention." Cecil said, "That's why I said don't trust anyone unless you are capable of facing possible betrayal."

"Maybe I'm a little naive, but I still want to believe that there are people in this world that I can trust unconditionally." Ada said, "The darker you are, the more you should yearn for light, otherwise you will be assimilated by the darkness."

"Let me tell you another story I heard in Azkaban! I personally guarantee that this time it is true, but it is up to you to believe it or not." Cecil didn't care whether Ada wanted to listen or not, and started telling the story directly, "Once upon a time, there were four Gryffindor boys. They had a good relationship, even better than you and the Weasley twins."

"I'll call the protagonist of the story J. J lived and ate with the other three people for seven years. Even after graduation, they could still trust any one of the other three. The strong friendship between the four people could have lasted a lifetime, but unfortunately it didn't last long. A very scary dark wizard targeted J and wanted to kill him. But J and the other three people combined were no match for this dark wizard, so J had to hide and use the Fidelius Charm to protect his hiding place. The secret keeper was one of the other three."

Cecil hadn't finished his story yet, but he turned to Ada and asked, "Is this kind of life-threatening friendship better than your relationship with the two Mr. Weasleys? Do you think J must be safe because his good brothers will not betray him?"

This story sounds familiar, but something is missing. It is a shortened version, but the ending should remain the same. J's friend betrayed him in the end, and he lost his life.

Even if Ada had never heard of this story, she could guess that J would not have a good ending. Cecil had always been telling people not to trust others. If the story ended happily for everyone, wouldn't Cecil be slapping himself in the face?
Ada, who knew the ending of the story, answered truthfully: "J was betrayed by his friend, he died, and the friend who betrayed him was imprisoned in Azkaban."

"That's right. He was betrayed by the person he trusted the most and died at the hands of a dark wizard." Cecil went on, "The only people in this world who can be trusted a little are your parents. No one else can be trusted, but... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to deliberately expose your scars." Cecil had said so much today, just to tell Ada that when she didn't have enough ability, she shouldn't trust anyone, and the only person she could trust was herself.

The idea is selfish and dark, but it is close enough to reality, because the truth is always so cruel that people cannot look directly at it.

"Have you really never trusted anyone in your life?" Ada asked. She spoke in a bad tone and without any respectful titles.

Cecil lowered his head and remained silent for a long time. After a long while, he said, "She once did, but she betrayed me. She was also the first person I killed with black magic."

Cecil stopped talking after saying this simple sentence. Although decades had passed, he still didn't want to mention it. When he died, this matter would die with him.

After taking a look at the sky, Cecil whispered, "It's almost time."

"What?" Cecil's voice was too soft for Ada to hear clearly.

"You and me, we should leave the cemetery."

"Professor McGonagall will come to pick me up in the afternoon. I won't go anywhere without seeing her." Ada said. Now Cecil has no credibility in her eyes, so she will not go with him.

"If you don't want the tombstone of this deceased lady to be destroyed, you'd better come with me." Cecil gently persuaded Ada to leave the cemetery with him.

But these words were particularly harsh to Ada, making her feel that Cecil was threatening her with Lady Mary's tomb.

Ada stood opposite Cecil, blocking Lady Mary's grave behind her, and raised her wand. She said, "If you want to leave, you can go by yourself. I will not leave with you. Professor McGonagall will be here soon."

The moment she raised the wand, it meant that Ada had officially broken off with Professor Cecil. At the same time, she borrowed the name of Professor McGonagall, hoping to scare Cecil.

Cecil felt more and more that he had gone too far. He should not have used that magic just now, and things would not have become so difficult. Usually, Ada always showed her well-behaved side in front of the professors, making the professors ignore the fact that she was a Gryffindor with a very bad temper.

Now he didn't know how to persuade Ada to follow him out of the cemetery. Cecil didn't want to die directly in the cemetery. Was it too late for him to dig a hole in the cemetery now?

In fact, Cecil didn't have to think about how to persuade Ada, because just when he was racking his brains, someone took action to persuade Ada for him. Three spells with great malice shot directly at him and Ada from three different directions.

Thanks to the book friend Atomist for the reward

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(End of this chapter)