The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 628 Locket

The sky brightened, and Hogwarts welcomed the first morning without Dumbledore. The bright sunshine seemed to be mocking everyone.

In the Twilight Cottage, Ada, Fred and George curled up on the sofa. The twins woke up one after another, but neither of them woke Ada up, as they wanted her to sleep a little longer.

But in fact, Ada had woken up a long time ago, she just didn't want to open her eyes and greet the sunshine of a new day.

Lifting the blanket that George had covered herself with, Ada went to wash up absentmindedly, and then followed Fred and George absentmindedly towards the familiar yet unfamiliar castle.

Before he entered the castle hall, he heard the voice of Seamus Finnigan, the explosive genius of Gryffindor, who was arguing with his mother. Mrs. Finnigan wanted to take him home, but Seamus wanted to stay and attend Dumbledore's funeral.

Mrs. Finnigan was not the only one who had this idea. The Parvati twins left without breakfast, and Zacharias Smith also left the castle with his father early in the morning.

Ada and the other two, who were indifferent to this, walked straight towards the hall. They had not had breakfast in Hogwarts for a long time.

Although all classes were suspended and all exams were postponed, the atmosphere in the auditorium was depressing. Everyone ate breakfast quietly, with occasional sobs.

The throne-like seat in the middle of the staff table was empty, and Professor McGonagall sat in her seat, chewing the food on her plate like a puppet. Her hair was neatly combed, but her eyes were bloodshot, obviously she had stayed up all night.

There were two other empty chairs, one for Hagrid who had no interest in breakfast, and the other for Snape who killed Dumbledore.

Ada looked at the empty chair and thought that Snape must be very sad at the moment. Not only could he not show it, he might even have to force himself to smile and celebrate Dumbledore's death with the Death Eaters.

After a while, the mail arrived. A hundred or so diligent owls flew into the hall, and the Hogwarts couriers flew around the dining table, looking for their respective owners, and then threw letters or newspapers into their laps.

The contents of today's letters are all similar, either asking about the situation at school or offering to take everyone home.

George borrowed a copy of the Daily Prophet from a student. The front page was Dumbledore's obituary, followed by the news of the severe damage to the Ministry of Magic and the death of Thicknesse.

Overnight, the good situation took a sharp turn for the worse. People remembered the fear rooted in their memories and the period known as "the darkest decade in the wizarding world."

There was wailing everywhere in the hall, except for the Slytherin table. People at that table were talking in low voices, and some were even so excited that their eyebrows were about to fly out of their faces.

After breakfast, Ada and the twins went to the school hospital to visit Bill.

Bill seemed to be in good spirits. Although his scars were horrifying, he did not give up on himself because of his disfigurement. Instead, he comforted his mother, saying that these scars were his medals of bravery.

Furong, who was beside the bed, fluffed up the pillow so that Bill could lean on it more comfortably. Then, Furong picked up the plate and fed the food on it to her boyfriend, acting very virtuous and completely different from her previous delicate appearance.

The green food on the plate was not to Bill's taste, and he stopped eating after a few bites. Fleur put down the vegetables and picked up the tenderly fried beef. Ada suspected that the house elf had just scorched it over the fire before serving the meat.

But even with such tender beef, Bill ate it with gusto, while Ada and the twins who were watching on the side all frowned.

This...does the Bill family not have to open fire anymore?

While Bill was enjoying his meal, Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione also came to the hospital ward. They first showed concern for Neville, and then walked to Bill's bedside. Facing Fred and George's playful eyes, Ginny was not shy at all, but took Harry's hand and declared her sovereignty. Ginny was not shy, but Harry blushed.

At this time, the person who stood up to save Harry was the kind-hearted Ada. She stretched out her soft hands and gently pulled Harry out of the school hospital.

"Uh...thank you." Harry said standing at the entrance of the school hospital, he lowered his head to adjust his collar. Harry felt that if he stayed in the room, he would be burned to death by the twins' fiery eyes.

Thinking of death, Harry's mood instantly fell to the bottom. He remembered Dumbledore dying in front of him, falling from the tall astronomy tower like a broken big doll.

Ada didn't say anything like "treat her well". Relationships are a matter between two people, and the less other people interfere, the better.

Of course, if the beauty-stamping machine dared to cheat on Ginny, Ada would break his legs without hesitation.

"You left the school with Dumbledore yesterday. I wonder where you went?" Ada asked directly. She wanted to know if the Horcrux was in Harry's hands.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you, Ada." Harry whispered, and he rejected Professor McGonagall with the same words last night, because Dumbledore once told him that he could only tell Ron and Hermione about what they had experienced.

Ada was not angry. She asked, "Is this Dumbledore's order?"

After seeing Harry nod, she continued, "You just need to tell me one thing, did you go looking for Horcruxes yesterday?"

Harry looked up suddenly and looked at Ada with astonishment. Suddenly, Harry's eyes returned to calm. He had heard about Ada's affairs at school, so it was normal for her to know about Horcruxes.

"Yes, we went to look for Horcruxes." Harry said sullenly. He told Ada everything about his experience with Dumbledore last night.

A cave in the sea, a poison that causes people to lose their magic power, a terrifying and cold corpse, and Slytherin's locket.

Hearing this, Ada raised her eyebrows. This way, four Horcruxes had been found, and they were one step closer to completely defeating Voldemort. But when Harry took the locket out of his pocket, her heart sank to the bottom.

The locket was fake, not only was there no pattern decoration, there was not even the gorgeous "S" mark unique to Slytherin. Then, Harry handed Ada a folded parchment.

Unfolding the parchment, it read:
To the Dark Lord
I'll be dead before you read this
But I want you to know that I discovered your secret.

I stole the real Horcrux and planned to destroy it as quickly as possible.

I risk my life in the hope that you will be killed when you meet your match.

RAB
"It's fake. We only got a fake Horcrux." Harry said, "If it weren't for those potions, Professor Dumbledore...he...maybe he wouldn't have died."

Harry was much taller than Ida, and it seemed strange to touch his head, so Ida patted his shoulder to comfort him. It was clear that Dumbledore had concealed his injury from Harry, just as he had from everyone else.

RAB, RAB, Ada kept repeating this name, who could this abbreviation be?

(End of this chapter)