The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 235 An unexpected gift

The Dueling Club did not allow the students to learn anything useful. Instead, it made the blame on Harry grow bigger and bigger.

Harry inadvertently revealed his Parseltongue, a hissing sound that is a very special language ability and is also regarded as a sign of a dark wizard.

Salazar Slytherin himself was the most famous Parseltongue speaker, and his descendants all mastered the language. The Chamber of Secrets in the school was opened again, and the words on the wall reminded everyone: Slytherin's heir reappeared in the school.

At this time, Harry accidentally revealed his Parseltongue, which undoubtedly proved the students' speculation in disguise that Harry was the descendant and heir of Slytherin, and Harry was the murderer who opened the Chamber of Secrets and attacked the students.

Filch always makes things difficult for students, and the fact that he is a Squib has spread. How can the heir of Slytherin tolerate a Squib staying in the school?

Colin Creevey was a Muggle-born student who always pestered Harry and took pictures of him, so he was the first student to be attacked by Harry.

Similar remarks began to spread in the school, and the students all believed that Harry was the murderer. However, due to lack of evidence, they were unable to catch Harry Potter on the spot.

Harry experienced the same setback as in his first year again, and this time it was even more serious than in his first year.

The students talked about him in private, and everyone avoided him and stayed away from him, as if they would be petrified by his pet if they got close to him.

If you ask who the most uneasy person in the school is, everyone will insist that the most uneasy person is Justin Finch-Fletchley.

The Hufflepuff boy revealed his information to Harry and told him his Muggle-born origin. Because of his quick words, Finch-Fletchley had to hide in the Hufflepuff common room to prevent Harry from hurting him.

For this, Harry had a big quarrel with the pure-blood Ernie Macmillan, who was a staunch supporter and propagator of the "Harry murderer theory".

Not long after, Justin Finch-Fletchley, who was hiding, was attacked. He lay on the floor, cold and stiff, with a look of horror frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

Also attacked along with Finch-Fletchley was Nearly Headless Nick, who, like Finch-Fletchley, had a look of extreme fear on his face.

The already tense atmosphere turned into real panic. As soon as the Christmas holidays arrived, students scrambled to escape from the school. They didn't want to stay in the dangerous Hogwarts for a moment.

The castle was too deserted, as if it was summer vacation instead of Christmas vacation, or as if the school had been closed due to the attack.

The Christmas of 1992 arrived in such a deserted atmosphere. This year's Christmas was destined to be an extraordinary one, because the two groups of the Big Three of Gryffindor were planning to do something big today.

Christmas dawn arrived, the weather was cold and snowy. Ada was the only one in the dormitory. She opened the gifts piled at the foot of the bed one by one, enjoying a moment of peace.

The gifts she received were similar to those of previous years, including new clothes from Professor McGonagall, a handmade sweater and candies from Mrs. Weasley, and daily necessities given by her friends.

As we grow older, people seem to look forward to Christmas less than before, and the gifts they prepare are not as carefully prepared as before.

Just like in her previous life, when Ada was a child, she always looked forward to the Chinese New Year because she could wear new clothes and eat delicious food that she couldn't eat at other times. But when she grew up, she always complained that the Chinese New Year atmosphere was weak, the Chinese New Year was boring, and even the time for setting off firecrackers was not unified.

One box after another was unpacked, and at the end, Ada found an extra box. This box was not big, and could be held in one hand. There was no signature on it, and Ada had no idea who gave her this box.

Ada shook the box near her ears, but the gift box made no sound. Ada put the box on the ground again, took out her gold-rimmed glasses and put them on. She stood far away from the box, covered her mouth and nose, and pointed her wand at the box.

Under the effect of the spell, the gift box was opened. There was nothing strange in the box, and no monster popped out. There was only a bracelet lying quietly on the satin.

This bracelet is made of gold and engraved with two lifelike griffins, one of the symbols of Gryffindor, representing the control of the earth (lion) and the sky (eagle). There are also four red gems inlaid on the gold bracelet, which emit dazzling brilliance under the morning sun.

Expensive, very expensive, very expensive, this was Ada's first impression of the bracelet. Ada carefully examined the bracelet, but she did not find any dangerous smell on the bracelet. It was just an ordinary gold bracelet.

Among the people Ada knew, there was no one who could give such an expensive gift, and send it anonymously without blinking an eye.

Grindelwald, who was far away in Austria, might have been very rich, and his name was not suitable to appear, so it was completely reasonable to send gifts anonymously. But the first generation of the Dark Lord would not give Ada jewelry, let alone such luxurious jewelry, not to mention that Nurmengard was so poor that it was almost unable to make ends meet.

So who sent this priceless gold bracelet?
At the Christmas dinner at Hogwarts, everyone ate with gusto, including Ada, who had a lot of questions in her mind, and Harry, who was about to drink the Polyjuice Potion.

There was not only a frosted Christmas tree in the hall, with thick streamers of mistletoe and holly, but also enchanted snow, warm and dry, falling gently from the ceiling.

Dumbledore led everyone in singing some of his favorite Christmas carols, and Hagrid's voice became louder and louder as he drank glass after glass of eggnog.

Percy, who hadn't noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it read "idiot," kept asking everyone what they were laughing at.

At this moment, Ada also put aside her worries. The Chamber of Secrets, the heir of Slytherin, the unidentified stalker, the gold bracelet of unknown origin, nothing was as beautiful as the moment, nor as sweet as the eggnog in the cup.

As the night deepened, the two groups of Gryffindor's three big men began their own actions. Harry, Ron and Hermione went to the girls' bathroom and took the Polyjuice Potion, while Ada and the twins walked out of the castle and headed deep into the Forbidden Forest.

Under the bright moonlight, Ada and the twins walked through the playground and into the Forbidden Forest. When they passed by Hagrid's hut, they heard Hagrid's terrifying singing.

Fred and George's wands emitted a beam of light, illuminating the path under their feet, trying to find the shadow of the spider on the snow. Ada spread out her right hand, with the wand flat on her hand, and whispered, "Show me the way!"

The wand began to rotate horizontally in Ada's hand, and stopped steadily after a few seconds. Ada led the twins in the direction indicated by the wand. As they went deeper, the moonlight above their heads became weaker and weaker.

After walking and stopping for more than half an hour, Ada and the twins were completely plunged into darkness. The only light was the wands in the hands of the twins.

The three of them walked through the dark bushes, pushed aside the dense branches, and the road under their feet suddenly became wider. They also found some animal remains on the ground. The three of them looked at each other and knew that they were not far from the spider's nest.

Walking down a steep slope, thick spider webs were everywhere, and soon Ada and the twins came to the edge of a wide depression. Among the fallen leaves and snow, the three found a cave entrance covered by spider webs.

Ada pointed the magic wand at the thickest part of the spider web, and slid the magic wand from top to bottom. The spider web was like being cut by a sharp blade, leaving a gap, and the gap was getting bigger and bigger. After a while, it was big enough for three people to enter side by side.

Raising the wand above her head, the tip of Ada's wand emitted a brilliant light, illuminating the three people and the cave in front of them.

Countless spiders huddled together at the entrance of the cave, densely packed together. Fortunately, none of the three had claustrophobia, otherwise they would have fainted before they could even get into the spider's nest.

Looking inside the cave, the spiders become bigger the further inside, some are even bigger than horses.

"Fred, George, are you ready to make a midnight snack for the Acromantula?" Ada said with a smile.

"No, no, no, we don't want to feed the spiders," said Fred. "We're here to pick out the spiders."

George looked in the direction of the castle and continued, "I hope little Ronnie will like the Christmas present we give him."

(End of this chapter)