The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 473: Boggart in the House

As the day went by, No. 12 Grimmauld Place became much cleaner. At least it didn't raise dust wherever it went. The summer vacation was coming to an end as the house became cleaner.

Everyone missed Hogwarts. Even listening to Professor Binns' lectures was more pleasant than staying in this dirty, smelly old house. At least everyone slept soundly during the class.

What's more, there is a house-elf named Kreacher in the house, who always hides in the shadows and curses you when you pass by.

If Dobby is an outlier among house-elfs, then Kreacher of the Black family is also an outlier.

Unlike Dobby, Kreacher is extremely unfriendly and seems to have learned a lot of swear words from his old master.

For example, he would call Mr. Weasley an "old scum", the Weasley children "the nasty little bastards of the old scum", Hermione a "mudblood", and so on.

Kreacher's tone towards Tonks was even more vicious, probably because half of Tonks's blood came from Black, and the other half came from "dirty" Muggles.

On the last day of the holiday, Ada finally received a letter from Hogwarts, which should have come a long time ago. After a quick glance, she only needed to buy a new "Standard Spells" and a "Magical Defense Theory" this year.

Looking at the familiar title, Ada thought about it carefully. She vaguely remembered that she seemed to have read this book before, probably when she was working at Flourish and Blotts.

If Ada's memory is correct, the author of this book, Wilbert Slinka, should be a pacifist who opposes the use of aggressive spells and advocates a passive approach to conflict.

And his works are an extension of his will.

After putting down the list of books, Ada went to take a look at Hermione and Ginny respectively.

They both also had to buy Magical Defense Theory. That meant that fourth-year, fifth-year, and seventh-year students had to use the same textbook in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Fifth grade students have to take the Ordinary Wizarding Level Examination, and seventh grade students have to take the Ultimate Wizarding Level Examination, but they have to use the same textbooks as students in other grades. What's going on?
Ada really wanted to know where the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that Dumbledore had gone through so much trouble to find came from!

"Ah!" Hermione suddenly screamed in excitement.

Ada, who was brainstorming, turned around and saw Hermione holding an envelope in one hand and a badge in the other, dancing excitedly.

"I'm a prefect!" Hermione said excitedly, "Ada, Ginny, I'm a prefect!"

Hermione's face flushed, and her brown hair seemed to float when she spoke. Miss Hermione Granger, who had just been promoted to headmistress, jumped off the bed with a "bang" and ran out quickly.

Ada and Ginny were left staring at each other in the bedroom.

"Ada, were you this excited when you got the prefect badge?" Ginny asked in a low voice, then she shook her head vigorously, as if trying to dispel the random thoughts in her mind.

"No, absolutely not." Ada said firmly.

She wouldn't be as embarrassed as Hermione, at most she was just smiling happily. It's just a prefect badge, and I'm the head girl, are you excited?

As they talked, Ada and Ginny left the bedroom. Ginny went to find Mrs. Weasley, and Ada went to the twins' room.

Fred and George were not in the room, and the Hogwarts book list was thrown on the ground casually by them, so Ada found nothing.

Looking at the orders scattered all over the floor and the small boxes with W printed everywhere, Ada sighed helplessly. She tied her hair up and helped the two brothers to tidy it up.

A few moments later, there was a loud bang, and Fred and George Apparated in the bedroom, both of them rolling on the carpet with triumphant smirks on their faces.

"What's going on? Who did you play a prank on again?" Ida asked as she put the orders away. "Harry? Ron? Or old Kreacher?"

Fred rolled over and sat up on the carpet. He said, "It's little Ronnie. No, it's the Honorable Ronald Weasley, Prefect."

"What?" Ada couldn't believe her ears. Although Ron was her stupid brother, Ada really couldn't see the reason for choosing Ron as the prefect.

At home, Ron was not as dazzling as his brothers in every aspect except for his excellent height; at school, Ron was overshadowed by the brilliance of Harry and Hermione around him, and seemed a little transparent.

"Yeah, that's hard to believe for you, isn't it?" George said. "It's hard to believe for us too, we thought it would be Harry's."

Indeed, no matter how you look at it, Harry is more suitable than Ron. But neither Dumbledore nor Professor McGonagall chose Harry.

Maybe he felt that Harry had already shouldered enough and didn't want to add more burden to him. Maybe he discovered Ron's shining points and thought he was more suitable for the position of prefect.

Anyway, no matter what, Ron is the head of Gryffindor.

"What did you say or do to make you laugh like that?" Ada asked, "You didn't stick the badge on Ron's forehead?"

In fact, what Ron needed more at this time was encouragement and confidence building, but Fred and George would not do such things, so Ada did not waste her words. In the eyes of the twins, only fools would become prefects, and the president of the student union was an even bigger fool. This also included Ada.

Fred smiled and said, "I didn't expect the Head Girl to come up with a good idea. We just asked him if he wanted us to kiss him like a mother!"

"And said we could curtsy to him." George also laughed, but as he laughed, the twins stopped laughing.

Fred said glumly, "You know what Mum said? Mum said everyone in the family is a prefect. Bill, Charlie, you, and that disgusting idiot Percy..."

George added in a dejected voice, "What are Fred and I? Next-door neighbors?"

After saying that, Fred and George both lowered their heads and looked at the carpet in silence. It seemed that Mrs. Weasley's unintentional words made the twins very sad.

After about five minutes, the twins got up and started packing their luggage, with Ada helping them. But during the whole process, Fred and George were unhappy.

After all the items were put away in the boxes, Fred and George's faces finally brightened up and they put the unhappy things behind them.

In the evening, Mrs. Weasley hung a banner in the kitchen congratulating Ron and Hermione on their election as prefects. She also bought Ron a new broomstick, Sweeping Eleven Stars.

Mrs. Weasley was in the happiest mood she had been all holiday.

As soon as they entered the kitchen, Fred and George saw the banner. The two brothers rolled their eyes at the same time, but they did not tease Ron again because they did not want to ruin Mrs. Weasley's good mood.

The dinner was sumptuous, everyone had a glass of wine in their hands, and the minors had butterbeer. Everyone sent congratulations to Ron and Hermione.

Tonks shared the reasons why she was not made a prefect, as Professor Sprout believed that she lacked certain necessary qualities, such as an inability to follow rules.

Sirius also said a few words. He spent most of his time in detention with James. Who in their right mind would choose him as a prefect?

Lupin did become a prefect, but he used the word "failure" to summarize his career as a prefect because he never managed Sirius and James.

These people were all trying to comfort Harry, who had lost the election, and told him not to care about the prefect badge.

Ada sat in a corner of the kitchen. She neither participated in the conversation nor listened to Ron introducing the new broom. She was keeping watch on Fred and George.

In the middle of the banquet, Mrs. Weasley left the kitchen to deal with a Boggart hiding in the house. As soon as Mrs. Weasley stepped out of the kitchen door, the twins started a top-secret transaction.

As the deal was with Mundungus Fletcher, and Mrs. Weasley disliked Mundungus greatly, it must not be known to her.

By now the two brothers were almost done with the deal, but Mrs. Weasley hadn't come back yet, and Ada couldn't help but feel worried.

Without further ado, Ada grabbed the twins, stopped them from bargaining with Mundungus, and led them out of the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" George asked, confused.

"Yes, in another two or three minutes we can get the price down to ten Galleons," Fred said. "Poison tentacle seeds are very hard to come by."

Not long after they walked out of the kitchen, Ada and the twins heard a faint cry. It was Mrs. Weasley's voice.

Fred and George immediately stopped arguing about the poisonous tentacle seeds and ran towards the place where the crying came from.

Pushing open the door to the living room, the two brothers saw Mrs. Weasley huddled against a dark wall, wand in her hand, crying so hard that her whole body was shaking.

And there, sprawled out on the old grey carpet, in the bright moonlight, were the bodies of Fred and George.

"Slippery - slippery - riposte!" sobbed Mrs. Weasley, pointing her shaking wand at the bodies of Fred and George.

Snapped!
Fred and George's bodies had become Percy's, sprawled on his back, glasses askew, eyes wide and blank, and Mrs. Weasley was crying even harder than before.

The twins hurried over to Mrs. Weasley so their mother could see them clearly, and Ada stepped forward, pointing her wand at the body on the carpet.

Fred and George hugged Mrs. Weasley tightly and whispered, "Mom is fine, it was just a Boggart, it doesn't mean anything. Dad, Bill, Charlie, Ada, Ron, Ginny are all fine... Percy will be fine too."

Mrs. Weasley sobbed, wrapped her arms around her two most naughty sons, and cried loudly.

Fred gently wiped Mrs. Weasley's tears away, while George patted her back soothingly.

The two brothers comforted her softly, "Mom, it's okay, everyone will be fine, everything will be fine."

(End of this chapter)