The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 320: Adult Thoughts

Human curiosity exists all the time, but everyone's curiosity is slightly different.

Just like some people would be curious whether walnuts that have been caught by a door can still nourish the brain, whether it is possible to eat on an empty stomach, and so on... well, these are extremely smart questions.

Vida's curiosity was not whether there were really werewolves in Hogwarts, but he wanted to know more about the environment in which Ada lived and studied.

It’s just like the question that parents always asked when we were children, such as how was your day at school? Did you have any fights?

Vida's curiosity about werewolves is of this kind, and it is essentially because of Ada. If there is no Ada, who would care who the werewolf is? That is something the Ministry of Magic should worry about.

It is a terrible thing to have unsatisfied curiosity, and Ada knows it well.

She had no choice but to satisfy her grandmother and told her a bedtime story without revealing her name and identity. Satisfied, Vida let her go and went downstairs to rest.

The evening breeze in Paris is much gentler than that in the Scottish Highlands. There is no violent wind to shatter your dreams, so you can sleep well all night. For Ada, Paris is like a safe haven at this stage.

Ada doesn't know anyone here, and many things don't involve her. She doesn't have to face the unbreakable Halloween surprises and get involved in unknown dangers.

In Paris, the only people who could make Ada feel a little irritated were probably Alain and Vincent. But these two were very self-aware and not mean enough to come and bother her for no reason.

Comfortable, as long as Ada doesn't make herself boring and daydream about something, her life can make people envy her from the bottom of their hearts. Clothes come to hand, food comes to mouth, the ivory tower in the Old Testament Song of Songs may be like this.

In the past few days, Vida and Ada have been decorating the house. Although it can be done with magic, Ada climbed up and down under Vida's command and hung holly and mistletoe everywhere.

The grandparents and grandchildren were having a great time, enjoying the process of working together, while the house-elf Agnes was standing by and wanted to bang her head on the ground. Fortunately, house-elfs don't have eyebrows, otherwise Agnes' eyebrows would have been wrinkled into a ball.

Ada really had no talent for housework, she was clumsy and unintelligent. After she finished hanging the clothes, Agnes would have to do it all over again, otherwise she might not be able to celebrate Christmas.

When she was in the orphanage, Ada was the slowest worker. When other children finished their work, they would go out to play, but she might only have finished half of it.

This is the problem with the wrong talent tree. Ada put all her talents on learning and "hands-on" skills, which resulted in her current life being extremely dependent on magic.

You can use your mouth, but not your hands. Never use your hands where magic can be used!

This activity of "wasting" the fruits of the house-elves' labor continued until Christmas Eve.

The ending was not because Ada had decorated the house, nor because the grandparents and grandchildren found more interesting activities, but because Ada discovered the truth in the middle of the night the day before.

For several days, every midnight, Agnes would rearrange the arrangements that Ada had made during the day. In order to prevent the two "hateful" women from noticing the clues, Agnes racked her brains and took great pains.

Make minor adjustments as unnoticeably as possible to make the furnishings and decorations in the house look a little more beautiful.

Ada did not disturb Agnes's hard work, but stuck out her tongue in shame and went back to sleep silently. So on Christmas Eve, Ada ended her "colorful clothes to entertain her parents" behavior, took out her magic wand and began to rearrange.

Agnes, the house elf, was not idle either. She hung golden bells all over the Christmas tree, and the crisp sound added a festive atmosphere. There was also a model of a manger under the Christmas tree. If the model of the Virgin Mary and Joseph was placed on it, it would be very festive.

On Christmas morning, Ada came to the Christmas tree in her dressing gown and slippers. The manger model was already filled with gifts, and she was surprised by the number of packages.

She had exchanged gifts with her friends at Hogwarts, and thought she would not get anything today, but she was wrong. Professor McGonagall's gift was still a new set of clothes, but this year the clothes were lavender. Mrs. Weasley's gift was still a handmade red turtleneck sweater, plus a box of pralines. Snape also gave a gift for the first time, a thick potion book.

Dumbledore gave her a candy box filled with colorful candies, all of which must have been tasted by Dumbledore himself. Looking at this box of "carefully" selected candies, Ada felt that what she had done was somewhat unkind.

Just when Ada was regretting her decision, her grandmother Vida came to her side and asked softly, "What's wrong? Why did you open a gift and end up with a bitter face?"

After saying that, Vida picked a piece of candy from the box. Sweet candies always make people feel good.

Vida was very happy that Ada could come back to spend Christmas with her. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she last celebrated Christmas.

"Uh... these candies are gifts from Professor Dumbledore. I recommend you try those pralines, they taste great too." Ada thought it would be better to remind him. There is a saying that goes "Love the house and love the dog in it", so it is not impossible that you will hate the house and hate the dog in it.

"It's okay, these candies are innocent. By the way, did you give him anything?" Vida said indifferently, but her hand was honest and she didn't reach for the candy box again.

"Of course I did, but I gave you a big box of Pepper Urchins." Ida gestured with her hands to measure the size, and then added, "It's very stimulating to eat... It can be considered candy."

"You kid, you're just making trouble."

Vida first scolded him, then she picked up the red senior sweater placed aside and asked, "Isn't this the sweater sent by Mrs. Weasley? The stitches are fine and the feel is good. We should thank them very much."

Vida was a somewhat picky person. The reason why this sweater caught her eye was not because of Mrs. Weasley's craftsmanship, but because of the meaning behind the sweater.

Even if he didn't find Ada, his granddaughter at least had a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

People should be grateful, so Vida blamed the pepper urchins that Ada gave. But in fact, the pepper urchins were not real gifts. Hidden in the pile of pepper urchins was a pair of wool socks knitted by Ada herself.

The unpacked packages are not all the packages received, and there are more than just a few packages under the Christmas tree.

Thierry and Henry both gave gifts, and their gifts for grandparents and grandchildren could just make up a set, namely a set of crystal chess pieces and a chessboard.

That’s not all. What Ada didn’t expect was the last gift. The package actually came from Alan and his son Fan Shang, and it was a set of standard jewelry.

The workmanship of this set of jewelry is not exquisite, but the materials used are solid.

The gift from Alan and his son seemed a bit perfunctory, but it was carefully selected by them. The poor workmanship hinted at the fact that Ada was mixed-race, and the honest materials showed their attitude.

They hope that Vida will keep his word and not support his granddaughter in her bid for the throne; they also hope that Aida can grow to the expected height and bring glory and benefits to the family.

Just by looking at it, Ada understood what the father and son wanted to express. Rather than saying that this gift was for herself, it was more like making it for her grandmother Vida.

"This is all I have achieved in my life." Vida shook his head and said, "I always feel like I accepted it with a pinched nose, and I always feel like I am the one who suffered a loss. I can't tell who is better in my life."

Vida disparaged his nephew as worthless, but Ada did not quite agree.

In her opinion, at least this father and son knew the current situation and knew when to advance and retreat, and did not choose to foolishly fight against the strong with the weak. Compared with many pure-blood families in her impression, Alan's performance was quite satisfactory.

(End of this chapter)