The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 523 One step away

The morning sun was warm and gentle, illuminating the entire Hogsmeade village. The bustling village also woke up at the moment the sun rose and plunged into a busy day.

In the corner of this wizard village, there is a house called the Shrieking Shack, but Ada and the twins prefer to call it the Twilight Shack. It is their secret base, carrying a lot of their sweetness and sorrow.

Since Ada dropped out of school, Twilight Cottage has lost its breath of life, and Fred and George no longer do their research in the cottage. However, the vacancy of several months did not make the cottage full of dust, and it is still clean and dust-free.

Someone must have been cleaning the place, presumably Winnie the house-elf, though there wasn't much point in that.

The sun rose higher and higher, and the light it cast became more dazzling. A moan was heard from the sofa in the cabin.

Then, the young and beautiful blonde woman sat up, rubbed her sleepy eyes, drowsily poured herself a glass of water, and sat back on the sofa with the cup in her hands.

Ada pinched her waist and pounded her legs. Even though the sofa was soft, it still felt uncomfortable to curl up and sleep on it. She didn't know when she had become more delicate.

After leaving the abandoned manor last night, Ada found Sergei and others who had left earlier, and also saw the bodies of Bernard and Robert. These two people died because of her. Ada felt sad and grief in her heart, but more of it was an indescribable feeling.

When facing outsiders, Ada was always ruthless, even cruel. But when facing insiders, Ada's heart was no longer as hard as iron. She once doubted these people, but Bernard and Robert proved their loyalty with their death.

The four who survived, Sergei, Sidorov, Hartmann, and Laurent, also kept their promise. The curses were flying in the abandoned manor, and it was their ability and luck that they survived.

Ada didn't say much. She should have made an inspiring speech to win people's hearts, but she didn't. She just asked Sergei to send the two back to their hometown to rest.

Ada didn't know whether wizards' souls could return to their hometowns and be buried in peace, but she felt that being buried in their hometowns was what Bernard and Robert would want to see.

After arranging the next trip, Ada returned to Hogwarts alone and walked around the campus at night. She wanted to see the small swamp left by the twins in the school, but she stood in front of the castle gate for a long time and finally gave up the plan.

In addition, Ada wanted to shout, "Hogwarts, your female student union president is back," but after thinking about it, she decided not to.

Now she has been rumored to be the new generation of Dark Lord, and what she is doing is also moving in this direction. Perhaps in the near future she will become the real Dark Lord. So, it is better not to shout this sentence out.

Ada walked around the playground for a long time and sat on the Quidditch field for a while. She had cheered in the stands and had also flown desperately over the field.

When the moon began to disappear and the sky began to lighten, Ada went to the Twilight Cabin. On the way to the Whomping Willow, she also saw Hagrid's cabin in the distance, which was now in ruins.

A fire made Hagrid's already poor situation even worse.

Perhaps it was because returning to Hogwarts made Ada feel at ease, or perhaps it was because she had put too much effort into decorating Twilight Cottage, but Ada fell asleep unknowingly while sitting on the sofa in the familiar room.

In the past six months, Ada has squeezed herself too hard and pushed herself too hard. She is really tired. Ada could have just laid down and been Miss Rozier, eating, drinking and having fun, but she still chose this thorny mountain road without hesitation and became a mountaineer.

If the midday sun had not been so glaring and if she had not been so hungry, Ada would probably have continued to sleep for a long time until the sun set in the west and rose in the east again.

Ada, who was a little more sober, sat in a rocking chair by the window, with the curtains half drawn, just blocking the dazzling sunlight.

Ada had already searched the room, but there was nothing in the room that could fill her stomach. Although she was very hungry, she did not want to leave. She wanted to stay a little longer. A little longer was better, because if she left this time, she didn't know when she would come back, and she didn't know if she could come back again.

Time sometimes seems very long, and sometimes passes very quickly. When Ada came to her senses again, it was pitch black outside the window, and a crescent moon hung in the sky.

Feeling that she was about to starve to death, Ada finally left the Twilight Cottage. After returning the water cup to its original place, Ada walked towards the Hog's Head Inn in the dark. She was now a wanted criminal, but she somehow felt that Aberforth would not sell her information to the Ministry of Magic. There were not many pedestrians on the street, and when Ada rushed to the Hog's Head Inn, she was greeted by a closed door. I don't know if the Hog's Head Inn closed too early today, or if it was not open at all.

Unwilling to give up, Ada banged on the door a few times, and Aberforth responded angrily from inside: "Closed today!"

Ada banged three more times, and footsteps as violent as those of the owner came from the inside of the door. After a while, the door opened a crack, revealing a face covered with gray beard.

"Come in." Aberforth looked at Ada for a few times before widening the gap in the door a little, just enough for Ada to get in.

Ada sat at the bar by herself, with only a candle lighting the place. She said, "I'm hungry, Aberforth."

Aberforth Dumbledore didn't say anything. He walked directly behind the bar and took out a bottle of butterbeer. He then walked to an operating room at the back and brought out a sandwich that didn't look very good.

"Should I say that you came at an unfortunate time, or that you came at an extraordinary time?" Aberforth muttered.

After taking the sandwich, Ada didn't put it in her mouth immediately. Instead, she asked, "What's wrong? Are there any unwelcome guests today besides me?"

"Yes, a very unwelcome guest," said Aberforth, "he had just left and you came." Then he picked up a dirty cup and wiped it. However, the towel he used to wipe the cup was not very clean, and the cup became dirtier the more he wiped it.

"Oh." Ada lowered her head and silently ate the sandwich in her hand. Unexpectedly, the sandwich, which looked terrible, tasted good. It might be because she had been hungry for too long and her sense of taste had failed.

After all, they missed each other. Ada and Albus Dumbledore passed each other again that night.

"Where did he go?" Ida asked. "Back to Hogwarts?"

"I don't know, probably not." Aberforth replied, "His position as headmaster has not been restored, which means that he is still the mastermind of the 'Dumbledore Rebellion' for the time being."

Ada didn't know how to express herself, neither laughing nor crying. Could it be that defeating the new generation of the Dark Lord was not enough to make the Ministry of Magic, led by Fudge, realize how powerful Dumbledore was?
"I must go, Aberforth," said Ada, wolfing down her sandwich.

"Well, let's go," said Aberforth. "Will we meet again?"

Ada had already walked to the door. She paused and said, "Maybe, who knows! In fact, the sandwich you made tastes pretty good. If you can change a towel to wipe the wine glass, maybe the glass will be cleaner."

……

At the same time, Albus Dumbledore, who had left the Hog's Head, appeared in the Twilight Cottage.

This old man who was invincible in the magic world now looked like a loser. His white hair made him look particularly old in the moonlight. Dumbledore also sat in a rocking chair by the window, staring at the crescent moon in the sky.

Dumbledore wondered if he was really wrong. Was it because of her childhood experiences and personality that Ada had become what she is today, or was it caused by her teacher alone?
Some things are decided early on, but some things accumulate bit by bit and then explode at a certain moment.

Dumbledore's usually wise blue eyes were filled with confusion. He slowly closed his eyes and no longer looked at the bright moon and shining stars.

Only a heavy sigh could be heard in the pitch-black hut.

(End of this chapter)