The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 193: Prisoner Life in Nurmengard

In the past few decades, Grindelwald was the only person living in this castle, but today another person has arrived. The arrival of this person may add a bit of vitality to the castle.

After Grindelwald taught Ada how to enter and exit the castle, he turned and went upstairs. The first Dark Lord had nothing to say to Ada. He took Ada in and allowed her to live here because of Dumbledore's face. This was Nurmengard, not a psychological institution. Grindelwald had no intention of counseling a troubled girl.

After the owner of the castle left, Ada took a tour of the first floor. Except for the extremely spacious hall, the rest of the first floor were functional rooms such as reception rooms. There were no rooms suitable for living.

Climbing up the stairs, Ada finally found a bedroom that satisfied her. It's called a bedroom, but Ada thinks it's more appropriate to describe it as a loft. When you push open the door, you'll see a small reception room, and then you'll walk up a flight of stairs to the bedroom. What Ada is most satisfied with is the suite's oversized floor-to-ceiling windows. Holding the railing and looking out at the snow-capped mountains through the floor-to-ceiling windows, you'll feel a sense of pride stirring in your heart.

Since she had decided to choose this loft, the first thing she had to do was to clean it up. The dust on the floor and the floating dirt made it look like a place that people couldn't live in. The hard bed with its mattress missing, the bookshelf that was once full of books but now empty, the carpet whose original color could not be seen, and only the framed portraits were left, all of which needed Ada to sort out bit by bit.

Fortunately, Ada had cleaned up the Shrieking Shack with the house-elf Winnie before, so she was quite familiar with cleaning up this loft. During the cleaning process, Ada felt that this room seemed to have been lived in by a woman, or decorated by a woman herself. There was no pink atmosphere, but the decoration was particularly warm.

It took Ada a whole afternoon to tidy up her room. She also had time to see what Professor McGonagall had prepared for her. Ada fumbled in her handbag that was cast with the traceless stretching spell, and she took out three sets of clothes, a set of pajamas, two pairs of shoes, a few books she had been reading recently, and some snacks, tea bags, cocoa powder, cream, etc. that could be used to fill her stomach.

The handbag was not emptied until a set of bedding was taken out. Ada said that she was exiled, but the things prepared by Professor McGonagall seemed more like they were for Ada's vacation. No wonder she took so long to return to the principal's office.

If this was not the mountains of Austria but a tropical island, and Ada took out a bikini, it would be more like a vacation.

The sky gradually darkened, and Ada, who was hungry, squinted her eyes and appeared in the storage room on the first floor of the castle. There was only bread and some vegetables for cooking soup. Seeing that there was not even a steak here, Ada, as a carnivore, was very dissatisfied. She took back what she said about Grindelwald being an exiled monarch. Whose exiled monarch would drink vegetable soup every day? Even a rabbit couldn't stand eating like that!
Ada filled her own stomach first, and then delivered a simple dinner to the top floor of the castle. After knocking on the door and putting down the plate, Ada left. Whether Grindelwald ate or not was his business and had nothing to do with Ada.

Back in her room, Ada used a fire spell to light a fire in the fireplace, and the warm magic flame dispelled the chill in the room. Ada found a large copper kettle, boiled a large pot of water, and made herself a cup of hot cocoa. Ada sat in front of the railing and quietly flipped through the "Medieval Witchcraft Guide" in her hand.

But Ada was not interested in the text in front of her. She was thinking about another book, a book she had seen in the Burrow, called "The Magic of Baking Bread". It is a pity not to have a book when you need it. If Ada could read this book when she was in the Burrow, her life in Nurmengard would probably be better.

Putting away the Guide to Medieval Witchcraft and holding the hot cocoa in her hands, Ada leaned against the railing and admired the bright moonlight. Her exile in Nurmengard began on this silvery night, but she didn't know when it would end.

Ada could have chosen to flee Nurmengard and leave. She knew how to get in and out of the castle, and Grindelwald would not stop her from leaving. But after she escaped from the castle secretly, she was afraid that she would never be able to return to Hogwarts.

In this way, Ada lived in Nurmengard. She and Grindelwald did not disturb each other and lived their own lives. Grindelwald would go downstairs for dinner and stayed on the top floor of the castle. He did not go anywhere else.

Compared to the nerdy Grindelwald, Ada lived a comfortable life. During the day, she would read books, rest in the castle, or wander around outside the castle. She also found a small village with simple folk customs. At night, Ada would stay in the castle and clean it properly. It was not because Ada was hardworking, but because it was really too dirty.

Such peaceful days lasted until the fifth day when they were broken. It was not because Ada violated the previous agreement, but because Grindelwald took the initiative to break it.

This morning, Grindelwald went downstairs to eat breakfast as usual. Since Ada came, Grindelwald didn't have to prepare breakfast and dinner by himself, because Ada, who needed more energy, got hungry faster than he did. Ada tore the bread and greeted him without even looking up: "Good morning."

"Good morning." This was the first time Grindelwald responded to Ada's greeting in a few days. After sitting down, Grindelwald suddenly found that in addition to bread and vegetable soup, there was an extra piece of bacon on the plate.

"Where did this bacon come from?" Grindelwald asked. The person in charge of delivering food hadn't delivered meat for many years, and Grindelwald didn't care.

"Of course, I exchanged them with the villagers down the mountain." Ida explained, "There are some old handicrafts in the castle, which are very popular with the villagers."

After several days of eating dry bread, Ada couldn't stand it anymore, so she wanted to eat meat and found the simple villagers at the foot of the mountain. Although Ada didn't have Muggle currency, there were some exquisite old handicrafts in the castle, so Ada used the most primitive barter method to exchange some meat from the villagers.

The simple and kind villagers did not treat Ada as a child carrying "gold nuggets" through the downtown area, and she did not have to pretend to be a charlatan to deceive these villagers, although she originally wanted to get something for nothing.

At first, Grindelwald thought that Ada could not stand the boring life in Nurmengard and would cry and shout to go back to Hogwarts in a few days. But Ada persisted here for five days without complaint, and even improved the castle's food in her own way (although Grindelwald paid for it).

The castle gradually became clean and tidy. Although Ada just lived here quietly, she really brought youthful vitality to Nurmengard.

"Why do you think you came here?" Grindelwald asked.

After swallowing the last bite of bread, Ada said, "I don't think I have done anything wrong. I will return to others the way they treat me. If you insist on saying that I am wrong, it is probably that I should not have such a talent? Or am I dissatisfied with my status?"

"Magic only thrives in a few souls. This is never a mistake, but your birthright," Grindelwald said. "Your mistake is that you are still weak and do not have an unwavering mind."

“To this day, do you still believe that you are not wrong?”

"I admit my failures and I admit that I have brought pain to many people, but I never think that my ideals are wrong. What is wrong is the way I practice them." Grindelwald said, "I once foresaw that Muggles would have more power than wizards, and this foresight has already become a reality. You come from the Muggle world, so you should see it more clearly."

Planes, cannons, missiles, nuclear bombs, Muggles are no longer at the mercy of wizards. The Muggle society is changing with each passing day, while wizards are standing still and even regressing. Once the wizarding world is exposed, wizards and Muggles will go to war. Ada is not optimistic about the decadent wizarding world.

Grindelwald had almost destroyed the whole of Paris with a single spell, but how many wizards could do this? Unless wizards used the Imperius Curse to control the upper echelons of the entire Muggle society and concealed it from other classes, the balance of victory would sooner or later tip over to the Muggles.

But these are just empty talk. If you want to go to war with the Muggle world, first you need to integrate the combat power of the entire wizarding world, which is almost impossible to do. If you don’t believe me, ask Grindelwald. Do you think he did it?
"Because you are not firm in your thinking, you hesitate when doing things. If I were you, I would unify those ignorant students. If they are still so hopeless, I would give them an unforgettable experience." Grindelwald continued, "rather than being like you, with a strong start but a weak end."

(End of this chapter)