The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 258 Humanity and Sophistication
This was an antique study room, with rows of bookshelves filled with countless books in various languages, some even written in ancient runes. On the quaint desk was a photo of a man, the man in the album that the house-elf had just looked through.

The man was very handsome, and looked a little serious when he wasn't smiling, but when he smiled he was as warm as the sun, as if he could melt the ice in winter.

The windows in the study were closed, and in front of the window there was a carved wooden rocking chair, which was rocking slowly. An old woman was sitting on it and taking a nap with her eyes closed. It is common for people to lose energy when they get older.

Beauty is in the bones, not in the skin. Although the old lady's hair is white and her face is covered with wrinkles, she still has the beautiful face of her youth. Hearing the call of the house elf, the old lady slowly opened her eyes and said gently, "Any good news, Agnès?"

The house-elf Agnes bowed deeply and said, "Master, the monster in Hogwarts Castle failed to harm Miss. The latest news is that Dumbledore has solved the monster in the Chamber of Secrets."

The old woman seemed not to want to hear Dumbledore's name. She asked absentmindedly, "Agnès, do you think I should send her to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang?"

“Maybe the young lady prefers Hogwarts, where she has friends.” Agnès said cautiously, fearing that she would displease her master. The elf held the clipping with both hands and placed it in front of the old woman.

The old woman took the newspaper clipping and read it while saying, "Yes, Louis was very dissatisfied with my arrangement at the beginning. He even ran away from home because of this. His daughter's personality will naturally be like him. Even his mother cannot arrange their lives arbitrarily."

"Master Louis was still young at the time, and he did not yet understand your good intentions," Agnes said, "but he always loved you very much."

The old woman did not reply, but concentrated on reading the newspaper clipping. Louis was the old woman's sad story. The worst decision in her life made her lose her excellent son. It was also because of this decision that she and this even more excellent granddaughter could only look at each other across the sea.

“Agnès, she is even better than Louis. Her father couldn’t have done such a great thing at her age.” The old woman gently stroked the cheek of the girl in the photo, her cloudy eyes full of tenderness. The girl in the photo was Ada, who had just appeared on the Daily Prophet.

This old woman was Ada’s grandmother, and the Louis she mentioned was Ada’s father, the father she had only seen in the Mirror of Erised.

Looking at Ada in the photo, the house elf Agnes felt very distressed. She asked her master, "Master, should we take the young lady back in the summer? She has been through a lot of wind and rain outside."

The old woman shook her head and looked out the window. She said, "Not yet, Agnes, wait a little longer. Although the house is not big, it must be cleaned up. When I clean the house, my little Ada can go home and she won't have to go through all that suffering again."

Ada, who was in the Scottish Highlands, naturally had no way of knowing the conversation between the old woman and the house elf on the other side of the channel, nor did she know that she had a grandmother in this world. At this moment, she was in trouble and was not happy at all. She was famous, but there is an old saying: People are afraid of fame just as pigs are afraid of being fat.

This is the situation with Ada now. What she did in school was published in the Daily Prophet, allowing more wizards to know her, but it also made some people jealous. Ada's sudden fame attracted the attention of these people.

They could allow Ada to run rampant in the school, as in their eyes a student could not stir up any trouble. But they could not allow Ada to have such a great influence outside the school, and could not allow someone like Ada, whose background was unknown, to take charge.

As the saying goes, "A high rise brings a heavy fall." They first praised Aida with bad intentions, allowing Aida to gain more reputation. Then they exposed a lot of negative information about Aida, saying that she was arrogant and domineering in school, beating up classmates, talking back to professors, and doing all kinds of evil. This series of false statements successfully tarnished Aida's image, and some people who did not know the truth also began to follow suit and slander Aida. This kind of speech reached its peak when Aida was revealed to be an orphan, and all kinds of dirty words and weirdness appeared.

This familiar scene was very familiar, after all, Ada had just seen a similar scene on Lockhart. It was just that there were no brainless fans who came out to whitewash it.

Soon, "brainless fans" came out to whitewash the story. They restored the truth of the matter and refuted the slanderous remarks. The direction of public opinion changed again, and Ada became the top star in the British magic world again. Because of her orphan status, she gained countless mother fans.

These mom fans are not just talking, but a group of people who are old enough to be Ada’s mother.

However, these ever-changing remarks are not the reason why Ada feels troubled. These rumors cannot affect Ada at all.

What really troubles Ada is that recently there are always people trying to get close to her, and some even come out wanting to adopt her. What's even worse is that some people even become hysterical and say that they are Ada's biological parents and that they abandoned Ada only out of necessity.

Some people even ran to the school, crying and wailing to Dumbledore, hoping to take Ada home. Some people had never seen Ada before, and didn't know if she had any birthmarks or other characteristics. Some people couldn't even say Ada's full name.

This wonderful performance was too much for the young Ada, and even the experienced Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall was furious, and she wanted to use the stone pillars in the school to drive all these people out.

Even if Ada did not have the close relationship with Dumbledore as rumored, nor did she have the mother-daughter relationship with Professor McGonagall, she herself was enough to make many people think about her.

Pure-blood families might have concerns of one kind or another, worrying about affecting the purity of their bloodline, but those who dared to say this, or came directly to the school to acknowledge their relatives, did not have such concerns.

She has strength, fame, beauty, and obvious talent, but no family to rely on. This gives some small families an opportunity. It is totally worthwhile for these small families to take a gamble and invest in Ada.

Some people extended an olive branch, hoping to gain Ada's friendship and lay the foundation for future cooperation; some people were more direct, trying to make Ada their own, whether as a daughter or a daughter-in-law.

Some people also know the close relationship between Ada and the Weasley family, and they envy Arthur Weasley. Some people think that he is far-sighted and bet on Ada when she was not well-known; some people think that Arthur Weasley just got lucky and happened to pick up such a rough gem.

But what they didn't know was that the Weasleys took in Ada not for the purpose of making a bet or picking up treasures, but because they simply liked this girl and wanted her to have a home.

If we have to say that the Weasleys are lucky, it's probably because good people are rewarded!
Thanks to the book friend Futu Xuan for the reward

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(End of this chapter)