The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 240 Dark under the lamp

In the end, Harry and Ron finally told Hermione about it. It turned out that Hermione was planning to use Polyjuice Potion to transform into Millicent and sneak into the Slytherin common room with Harry and Ron.

But the result was not what Hermione had imagined. The hair she got from Millicent did not belong to humans, but to a cat. So, Hermione became a cat lady, well, the second cat lady of Gryffindor.

However, unlike the older cat girl, Hermione's transformation this time is mainly human form, and it is a one-time thing. Under the care of Madam Pomfrey, she will soon return to normal.

Ada did not laugh at Hermione, nor did she find this mistake funny. Hermione's carelessness had taught her a lesson, and I believe that the smart Hermione has realized her mistake.

On the contrary, Ada went to visit Hermione in the school infirmary. However, Ada was unable to see the furry little girl and touch the ears of the "cat lady".

In order to take care of Hermione and prevent her from being embarrassed, Madam Pomfrey drew a curtain around her bed to prevent anyone from seeing her cat-girl form. Ada could only comfort her through the curtain and comfort the little girl.

Before the Christmas holiday, Ada successfully disposed of the venom of the giant spider. Scott Warren was indeed a professional and acted quickly. He completed the transaction with Ada on a snowy day and exchanged a large bag of gold galleons for the giant spider venom from Ada.

Scott Warren did not show the dark side of society. He did not engage in thug-on-thug behavior. Instead, he chose the Three Broomsticks as the meeting place and happily settled the deal with a thousand gold Galleons.

Having been in this business for so long, Warren has some vision. Far from offending Ada, he will try his best to befriend Ada and facilitate the next cooperation.

Warren may not make much money from this business, but what is more important to him is the expansion of his network. A young wizard who can get the venom of the giant spider in his teens is a business partner worth making friends with, and will bring him more benefits in the future.

Therefore, as a professional, Warren would not do such a thing as killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, although he had doubts.

It was January and snow was falling in Hogwarts, but something unexpected happened: Esmeralda Drizzt suddenly became rich! Although, compared to many big families, this amount of money was nothing, it was a huge sum of money for Ada, who had been poor for many years.

This money was enough to pay Ada's salary at the Leaky Cauldron for two or three years.

Carrying a large bag of gold Galleons, Ada returned to Hogwarts happily. She even felt that the unknown monsters in the Chamber of Secrets had become cute.

Although the twins always said that Ada was a money-grubber, she was not dazzled by the bright gold. She did not keep the gold galleons for herself, but chose to share them with the twins.

After all, the two of them went to the spider cave with him and almost became food for the eight-eyed giant spider.

The twins did not refuse, because they knew that even if they refused, Ada would force it on them. However, Fred and George did not agree to the proposal of an equal share among the three of them, and they only took a small portion of it as their own research funds.

The giant Acromantula Aragog was frightened by Ada and did not dare to tell Hagrid about it, so neither Hagrid nor Dumbledore knew that the giant Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest almost suffered a catastrophic disaster.

The matter of burning the spider cave was concluded successfully, and everything was done cleanly. Although there was no "destruction of the body", no one except the twins knew that Ada had used black magic. Just as Ada was counting the gold galleons over and over again, the Christmas vacation ended and other students returned to school one after another.

I don't know if it's because of the holiday or because they went home, but the students who returned to school were much less panicked than before the holiday. After the holiday, the sun began to shine faintly on Hogwarts again. In the castle, people's mood became optimistic. Since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick were petrified, there have been no more attacks.

Madam Pomfrey was pleased to report that the mandrakes had become moody and taciturn, which meant that they were rapidly growing out of their childhood.

It seemed that the cold winter at Hogwarts had sealed the courage of the heir of Slytherin. He did not open the hidden chamber of secrets again, nor did he release the monster lurking in the chamber of secrets.

Everything seemed to be settled, there would be no more attacks, and no one would be hurt.

Gilderoy Lockhart felt that he was good again. He walked around the castle with his head held high every day, as if he had stopped the heir of Slytherin. He told everyone he met, "There will be no more trouble," and "The criminal must have known of my existence, and the famous Lockhart will definitely catch him."

Even after so many setbacks, Lockhart's passion for showing off and bragging could not be stopped. He was too ignorant to cry until he saw the coffin.

The students' mood improved and they were no longer as anxious as before, but Ada did not think that the attack was over like them.

Fifty years ago, a student died. Fifty years later, Ada doesn't think that petrifying a few students will satisfy the heir of Slytherin. The attack will definitely happen again.

Some students have similar ideas to Ada, but their ideas are somewhat different from Ada's. They firmly believe that Harry is the murderer.

These people, led by McMillan and others, believed that Harry was just lying dormant temporarily, waiting for the opportunity to create greater panic.

These people concluded that Harry was the murderer and the heir of Slytherin based on Harry's Parseltongue. This kind of groundless speculation made no sense at all, but it gave Ada a lot of inspiration. The details that Ada had forgotten before became the key to breaking the deadlock.

As we all know, Slytherin himself and his descendants are all Parselmouths, so is the monster in the Chamber of Secrets also related to snakes? Isn't it a good proof that Harry heard sounds that others couldn't hear and was always the first to appear at the scene of the attack?
It was dark under the lamp, and Ada thought things were a little complicated. Snakes were the symbol of Slytherin, and only Harry could hear those sounds because the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was a snake; snakes would eat spiders, so the spiders in the castle would run away.

Ada should have thought of these things a long time ago!
Ada knocked her head with her knuckles. She was very dissatisfied with herself. She had not succeeded in expelling Lockhart from the school, nor had she found out the monster in the Chamber of Secrets early on. This was her mistake, which was simply unforgivable.

In order to make up for her mistake, Ada plunged into the library again and read a pile of books about magical creatures.

Ada even wrote a letter to Mr. Newt Scamander in Dorset, asking the knowledgeable old man some questions about magical creatures.

Hard work pays off, Ada's efforts were rewarded, she finally found the magical creature that met all the clues, and she was finally able to confirm that the old monkey Slytherin's pet.

(End of this chapter)