The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 6 Secret Talk
That night, Professor McGonagall returned to Hogwarts.

Perhaps because school had not yet started, Hogwarts seemed a little empty at night. Professor McGonagall walked alone in the empty corridor, the only sounds of her own footsteps and the whispers of the portrait accompanying her.

When Mag came to a huge and ugly stone monster, he stopped and said, "Iced pear juice!"

After hearing this, the monster suddenly came to life and jumped to the side. The wall behind it split in two, revealing a spiral staircase. Professor McGonagall climbed the stairs, and the cracked wall closed with a bang. The stairs spiraled up, just like the escalator in a Muggle shopping mall.

There was a wooden door at the top of the stairs. Professor McGonagall walked up and knocked on the door. With a creak, the door opened by itself.

Professor McGonagall walked into the room. It was a spacious round room with many portraits on the wall, both men and women. They were doing their own things, but they were all secretly looking at McGonagall. Behind the desk sat a tall and thin old man. His silver hair and beard were long enough to be tucked into his belt. His nose was long but looked a little crooked, probably broken. Behind the half-moon glasses were a pair of blue eyes, which seemed to contain supreme wisdom.

"Professor McGonagall, would you like some cockroach piles?"

"No, Albus. I'm taking the child to Diagon Alley today." Professor McGonagall first took a look at the thing called the cockroach pile, then waved her hand decisively.

"How is it?" Albus Dumbledore stretched out his slender fingers to pick out the cockroaches in the pile. "What kind of child is little Esmeralda?"

Professor McGonagall thought for a moment, then replied, "A good child, very talented, but also very pitiful." Professor McGonagall then told Ada's story to Dumbledore.

After listening to Ada's unfortunate childhood, Dumbledore was silent for a while, then said: "Happy people use their childhood to heal their whole life, and unfortunate people use their whole life to heal their childhood... We cannot choose our own birth, but we can choose how to live. In this world, there are always people who can face the misfortunes of life, without fear of the thorns along the way, and bloom bright flowers in the wind and rain..."

"Albus, I think she must be a strong child. You asked me to pay more attention to that child, and I have observed her these days. She manages her life very well, and she has arranged what to do and when to do it very well... But, today I officially met her, and her behavior is in line with the experience that a child of this age should have, but I can feel that she has been hiding herself, and she only shows her obedient and well-behaved side..." Professor McGonagall said as she recalled what happened in the past few days.

"This shows that little Esmeralda is a smart child. She knows how to please others. In front of a teacher, she shows her obedient and sensible side, and naturally she will be liked by the teacher. Just like a cunning young fox!" Dumbledore said. Sometimes he would wonder if he was too cautious. She was just a student who had not yet officially enrolled, and he still had a lot of time to observe and guide her.

"Well, yes, she knows exactly what she needs." McGonagall recalled the scene with Ada in the second-hand bookstore today. Ada did not choose books at random, but chose them very specifically. Ada bought books that were suitable for her. She could use these books to increase her understanding of the magical world. She knew her shortcomings very well and would try every means to make up for them.

"But, Albus, I still don't quite understand why you are interested in her? She is just... Drizzt is just from an orphanage like him..." Professor McGonagall still didn't quite understand why Dumbledore paid so much attention to a child who had not yet entered school. Was it because she had the same unfortunate childhood as He Whose Name Must Not Be Mentioned?
"I want to know more about Miss Drizzt, not because of him." Dumbledore recalled, then said to McGonagall, "The reason is the Book of Admission."

"Book of Admission?" Professor McGonagall was even more confused.

"For every child who shows magical talent in this land, there will be one more name in the admission book. Then we will admit the child to Hogwarts when he is of the right age," said Dumbledore.

The Book of Admission was kept in an inconspicuous locked tower at Hogwarts, and would probably have remained undiscovered if Dumbledore hadn't discovered it by accident.

The Book of Admission and the Pen of Acceptance, one of the purposes of these two ancient magic items is to provide the admission list for Hogwarts. Whenever a child on the British Isles first shows his or her magical talent, the Pen of Acceptance will write the child's name in the Book of Admission. When the name appears in the Book of Admission, the child will receive an admission notice from Hogwarts when he or she is eleven or twelve years old.

However, not every child with a magical riot will receive a notification letter, because some children's own abilities are not enough to become a wizard, or they are only affected by the residual magical energy of their parents, not their own abilities. In this case, the Pen of Acceptance will still record the child's name, but the Book of Admission will prevent it from being written, and the child will be rejected.

"Miss Drizzt's name is in the Book of Admission. What...what could be wrong with that?" Professor McGonagall was even more confused by Dumbledore's words. She really couldn't think of any connection between the Book of Admission and Ada.

"Yes, Ada's name is in the admission book, and there is no doubt about her admission." Dumbledore looked at the puzzled McGonagall and explained slowly, "Esmeralda Jessica Drizzt, I don't know when her name first appeared in the admission book, but I know that her name disappeared from the admission book two years ago..."

"Disappeared?" McGonagall felt a little unbelievable. "Disappeared, but reappeared again. Has this happened before? Can you do it?" Although Professor McGonagall has worked at Hogwarts for a long time, this has never happened. The admission book has almost never made mistakes. For the first time, she wondered if she was really old and her brain was not enough.

"I can't do it, Minerva," said Dumbledore. "It's not the first time that a name has disappeared from the Book of Admission. Usually it's tragic news, like the child has lost his gift or died young."

"But neither of these two situations suits her!"

"Yes, the two most common situations do not apply to her. I did not think too much about it at the time, and I just felt it was a pity that her name disappeared. But a few days later, I found that the name Esmeralda Jane Drizzt appeared in the Book of Admission again." Dumbledore also looked puzzled.

Professor McGonagall also fell into deep thought. It was normal for a name to appear in the admission book. It was also normal for a name to disappear. But it was very abnormal for it to disappear and then reappear a few days later.

"So, is this why you asked me to keep an eye on her?"

"This is the cause of the incident. There are other things that contributed to my decision. Minerva, do you remember the big accident that happened in London two summers ago? At that time, Cornelius personally led the staff of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes to deal with it on the scene."

Professor McGonagall had a memory of this incident. There were traces of a strong explosion of magic at the scene of the accident, and half of the street was blown up. The incident caused a sensation at the time. Although there was no Dark Mark left at the scene of the accident, most people still believed that the remnants of the Death Eaters did it.

There were only a few collapsed houses and two unidentifiable bodies left at the center of the accident, and the Ministry of Magic did not find any useful information. In the end, the Ministry of Magic, which had nothing to gain, had to disguise the accident as an accident caused by a gas leak.

But after a few years of peace, people just don't buy it. For the Ministry of Magic's inaction, the angry masses have criticized Minister Millicent Barnold and Director of the Accident and Disaster Department Cornelius Fudge. But are these two things related?

"These two things seem to have nothing to do with each other. It can even be said that they are completely unrelated. How could a young wizard who has not yet entered school be connected with such an accident?" McGonagall asked. She was waiting for Dumbledore to explain to her.

"During that time, I was busy with the admission of freshmen, and I often looked at the admission book... Unfortunately, I didn't see how it worked. When the accident happened, I was in the tower looking at the list of freshmen. After Cornelius informed me of the bad news, I immediately left the tower and went to the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore recalled, "When I came back from the Ministry of Magic, I found that Ada's name had disappeared. When the name appeared again a few days later, I was just a little curious."

Dumbledore stretched out his slender fingers, tapped his forehead rhythmically with his fingertips, and continued, "Until one day later, I suddenly noticed that the street where the accident happened was very close to the orphanage where she lived. Very close!"

"That's far-fetched..." said Professor McGonagall.

"I know that there are almost no young wizards who can blow up half a street at the age of ten. I have also paid attention to Ada privately. She is indeed very talented, but this is not something she can do now, and she doesn't look like someone who can do such a thing." Dumbledore said.

Dumbledore had secretly observed Ada many times. She could beat up the children who bullied her in the orphanage, and she could also take good care of the younger children. Her talent was indeed very good, but Dumbledore did not think that Ada could blow up half a street at the age of ten!
"The scene of the accident left traces of dark magic, which is not something little Esmeralda could have done. But she is the only wizard in that neighborhood. For any reason, I must pay more attention to her."

"Who have you told this to, Albus?" Professor McGonagall thought of something bad that might ruin the child.

Dumbledore stretched out his hand and pointed at himself first, then at McGonagall. "It's just you and me. This is just my guess, not even a guess. I can't destroy a child's future with a guess that has no evidence and even I think is ridiculous, Minerva."

"I'll keep a closer eye on her," said Professor McGonagall, looking towards a tattered, crumpled wizard's hat on another table.

"I can't control the Sorting, Minerva. But fortunately, she will be enrolled soon..."

(End of this chapter)