The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 197 Harvest
Foam is a collection of small bubbles that reflect beautiful colors under the sunlight. Although beautiful, it is fragile and illusory. Even without external interference, it will soon break and nothing will be left.

These fantasies are like bubbles in the water, shadows in the mirror, and dewdrops in the morning. If you indulge in them, indulge in vanity, it will eventually wear out your fighting spirit, soften your beliefs, and stop you from moving forward.

The sweetness of the hot cocoa had long been diluted by the additional water, but the relationship between Ada and Grindelwald deepened during these small talk. This is the charm of Grindelwald, he always makes others willing to listen to him and let others take his ideas as the criterion.

This is what Ada does not have, and it is one of the reasons why she has no appeal in school. It is precisely because of the lack of this charm that Ada cannot become a true leader.

Ada needs to possess this charm and cultivate this leadership qualities. Only in this way can she truly surpass Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Otherwise, she can only be a general who charges into battle or a lone ranger.

In Nurmengard, Ada did not learn any decent magic, nor did she receive private lessons from the first Dark Lord, but she learned something more important.

During these days of getting along with Grindelwald, Ada learned from him that talent is not the only thing, and that the determination and confidence that match it are equally important; from him, she learned what a leader is and where her own shortcomings are; from him, she learned many lessons from failure. After all, the power of words on paper is inferior to that of real people.

No magic can compare to the teachings of the first Dark Lord, and this is Ada's greatest gain.

If Voldemort had studied Grindelwald carefully, perhaps the impact he caused would have been greater, and he might not have been so extreme before achieving his goal.

As for inheriting Grindelwald's mantle, raising the banner of "for the greater good" again, and waving the flag for being able to "breathe in the sun" and for "relative fairness", Ada would not do it. It is meaningless to walk Grindelwald's old path again.

It had failed in 1945, so it was even harder now. And because of her origins, even if Ada really did replicate what Grindelwald did, it would only be more difficult.

Two generations of Dark Lords tried to change the world for their own ideals. They achieved their goals through violence and war, but all they got in return was the same violence and war. Without exception, they all failed.

Even if she was walking on a road paved with the bones of her predecessors, the hope of success was still slim. At least now Ada had no good solution. Rather than thinking about how to slay the dragon, she should strengthen her own strength. Otherwise, no matter how good the dragon-slaying plan was, it would be useless.

A leader who can be easily defeated is meaningless and will not gain recognition from others.

Perhaps this is why Dumbledore brought Ida to Nurmengard, making Grindelwald the beacon of her life, guiding Ida in the direction of progress on the foggy ocean.

In addition to these, the benevolent Grindelwald also gave Ida an answer to a question that had troubled her for a long time, that is, will every dark wizard fall? Being dragged into the quagmire of dark magic, becoming violent and extreme, looking like a mental patient.

After asking this question, Ada regretted it because she saw Grindelwald looking at her as if she were a fool.

Maybe it was because the sun was shining brightly that day, or maybe it was because the sausages tasted like home, Grindelwald simply asked back calmly: "Do you think I look mentally ill?"

Indeed, Grindelwald does not fit the description of the dark wizard in the book. He is one of the two people in the world who are most proficient in dark magic, but dark magic has not caused him much harm, at least in Ada's opinion.

From Grindelwald's explanation, Ada learned that the effects of black magic on its users can be divided into two types: active and passive.

In addition to magic power, when casting black magic, you also need to mobilize extreme negative emotions, so that black magic will be effective. Being continuously affected by this negative emotion, the user will be eroded by the evil power of black magic itself over time. This is the passive influence of black magic. For example, Death Eaters and most dark wizards enjoy the pleasure of killing or torturing others. They are not strong enough to resist the influence of black magic, and become extreme and crazy.

Another way is to actively seek. The user of black magic actively accepts the influence of black magic on himself, and obtains more powerful power through dangerous black magic transformation. This irreversible transformation will make people more and more dangerous.

Moreover, dark wizards who actively seek influence are often very powerful. For example, Voldemort gained more power in this way, but also lost a lot. Because of his strong personal strength, he did not die in the dangerous transformation.

The counterexample is Grover Cecil, Ada's former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. His strength was not enough to support him to complete the transformation. If Dumbledore had not saved him, he would have died in the summer of 1990 and would not have had the chance to meet Ada.

As long as they don't actively transform like Voldemort, the only thing that the dark magic user needs to resist is the passive influence. To resist this kind of influence, in addition to their own strength as a foundation, they also need a strong heart as support, or find other "external forces" to help them resist this influence, such as love, such as the people they love.

The world of magic is so idealistic. In this world, "love" is the most powerful emotion. It can form an ancient magic to resist the killing curse, and it can also serve as an inner strength to resist the invasion of black magic into the mind.

Grindelwald did not comment on Voldemort's active transformation, but judging from his daily behavior, Grindelwald was somewhat disdainful of his colleague. Grindelwald recognized Voldemort's personal strength, but he was quite critical of his way of doing things.

This is no wonder. After Grindelwald's followers killed someone, they would prepare a fine coffin for the victim. Naturally, they looked down on their British counterparts who killed and set fire to others and then left a big mess.

Grindelwald was very rude to those wizards who could not resist the passive effects of dark magic. He called such people "idiots". Ada, who was afraid of dark magic before, was naturally included in this category.

Nurmengard was surrounded by a strong learning atmosphere, and so was Hogwarts, as the exams were getting closer and closer. In addition to the pressure brought by the final exams, Gryffindor was also affected by other things.

The internal conflict was caused by Harry and his friends losing 150 points, which made Gryffindor disqualified from competing for the House Cup, so he was no longer regarded as a hero by other Gryffindors, but as "that guy".

One of the parties involved in the internal conflict is serving a month-long confinement torture; the other has not shown up at school since that day. Although there was no announcement, all students in the school took it for granted that Aida had been expelled.

This made Fred and George, who were worried about Ada, extremely anxious.

These days, in addition to harassing Professor McGonagall, Fred and George sent a lot of letters to the Burrow, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley asked the two brothers to stay calm and not worry.

But Ada, who was in Nurmengard, couldn't get in touch with the twins, and the twins couldn't get anything out of Professor McGonagall. How could she not be anxious?
Harry Potter's punishment was also decided. Not only would he be deducted points, but he would also have to go to the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid at night to investigate for clues, because someone had killed the holy unicorn in the Forbidden Forest.

It is not known whether Harry was lucky or unlucky, as he happened to meet Quirrell who was sucking unicorn blood while investigating in the Forbidden Forest. So Harry did not hesitate to put the blame on Snape, and regarded the evil figure in the Forbidden Forest as the professor of potions.

Ada, who was far away in Austria, didn't know what happened in Hogwarts. She was counting the days since she came here. Although she got along well with Grindelwald, she felt more and more homesick. She missed everything in Hogwarts, especially her friends.

(End of this chapter)