The chaos in the stands made it impossible for Quirrell to continue casting spells on Harry Potter. Harry, having climbed back onto his broomstick, caught the Golden Snitch—well, "caught" might not be the best word; "bit it" or "swallowed it" would probably be more accurate.
Gryffindor won the opening match without major mishap, but the whole game was filled with strange twists. A Ravenclaw had gone to great lengths to try to kill a Gryffindor, while a Slytherin had been protecting that very Gryffindor—it truly was an unusual match.
Eda was now absolutely certain that the person who broke into Gringotts was Quirrell, and the one trying to steal the treasure hidden at Hogwarts was also him. On top of that, Quirrell even wanted to take Harry Potter's life while he was at it. This scandal just kept getting juicier.
After the match, Eda congratulated her friends who had helped secure the team's opening victory. But she didn't follow the others back to the common room to celebrate—she had another task: comforting a brokenhearted, empty-nested middle-aged man. Harry, Ron, and Hermione also didn't return to the common room; they followed Hagrid to his hut.
Eda arrived at the door of Snape's office. She knocked, and was greeted by Snape's impatient voice. Pushing open the door, Eda walked in. Snape had already changed out of the robe that had been burned, though his new robe was still black.
"What are you doing here? There's no detention today."
"Of course I came to check if Professor was injured," Eda said, casually picking up a bottle from Snape's shelf. She opened the cap and gave it a sniff. "Stimulant?"
"Yes," Snape replied. "Now that you've seen it, you can leave."
Snape realized that Eda was becoming increasingly casual in her interactions with him. Just now, for example, she had grabbed a potion bottle directly from his shelf—something she would never have dared to do in the past.
Saying she used to act like a mouse before a cat might be a bit of an exaggeration, but Eda had definitely been intimidated by Snape. Now, not only did she dare to touch his things, she even dared to joke with him.
"How does it feel to take the fall for someone else?" Eda asked. She was dying to interview him about his feelings—any words of consolation or sympathy had completely slipped her mind.
Snape's sallow complexion darkened. Even though he never expected any thanks for what he did, being misunderstood and treated like the villain stung—anyone would feel uncomfortable in his shoes.
"If you came here to laugh at me, then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed," Snape said. "And you'd best stay out of my sight for a while—I don't want to see anyone from Gryffindor."
Eda dragged a chair over and sat down in front of him, then said seriously, "Professor, I don't understand—why would Quirrell dare to try to harm Harry Potter in front of so many people?"
She'd been excited when she first caught Quirrell slipping up, but once she calmed down, the question began to trouble her.
Doing something like that in front of so many witnesses was bound to expose Quirrell. And the method itself was almost guaranteed to fail. Even if Harry had actually fallen off his broom, there were so many professors around that his life wouldn't have been in any real danger.
"You should ask him that yourself," Snape replied. He hadn't figured out what Quirrell had been thinking either. "Maybe he's just like that troll on Halloween—doesn't have much of a brain."
If Eda were in Quirrell's shoes, she would definitely keep a low profile. She wouldn't do anything out of line or attract any attention to herself—she would lay low until she got what she wanted.
But Quirrell did the complete opposite. First, he made himself look like a complete useless wreck. While that might have worked as a deception to some extent, it also made him memorable to the entire student body and faculty.
Then today, he pulled off a public murder attempt, as if he were afraid no one would realize he was the villain. It was a totally self-defeating move. Anyone who paid even a little attention to him—like Eda—would immediately notice how suspicious he was. There was no covering it up.
So many of Quirrell's actions went against all logic. He had no awareness of what being a villain entailed. Acting so brazenly—was he tired of living?
Eda was now extremely curious about how Quirrell's brain worked. How did he even get into Ravenclaw in the first place? His behavior was completely tarnishing Rowena Ravenclaw's name. How was Ravenclaw supposed to recruit students next year?
"Professor, what exactly is hidden under the trapdoor that makes Quirrell want it so badly, to the point that he's even willing to harm Harry Potter?" Eda asked.
This had absolutely nothing to do with her—she was just purely curious.
"One day, your curiosity is going to get you killed," Snape said sternly. It wasn't meant as a harsh rebuke, but rather out of genuine concern for her. Back in first year, it had been Eda's curiosity that drew Benedict Fowley's attention, hadn't it?
Everyone knows the saying "Curiosity killed the cat," but curiosity itself was never the real cause—it was the mismatch between one's curiosity and their actual abilities. Snape was trying to warn Eda: don't let your curiosity run wild when you're still weak. Even if his words weren't gentle, his intention was.
"Then before I die, can't you at least satisfy my curiosity a little bit, Professor?" Eda said. She knew full well that her curiosity might one day get her killed—but she just couldn't help it.
Seeing that Snape still refused to tell her the truth, Eda pressed on: "Are you really heartless enough to let me die with regrets?"
"Absolutely," Snape replied. "Not only heartless—I'd applaud it. But when you die, don't bother notifying me. I won't be attending your funeral."
"...Damn."
That answer left Eda speechless. That was about as final as it could get—he'd basically killed the conversation. What had she been thinking, coming here to comfort Snape? Only someone with a hole in their head would try something like that.
Too embarrassed to keep pressing her questions, Eda stood up to leave. But just as she was about to go, Snape spoke again: "Stay away from Potter. Trouble will stay away from you. You don't need to be involved in everything—it won't do you any good."
People who only say half of what they mean are the most annoying—and Snape was being exactly that kind of person now. He told Eda to stay away from Harry Potter but didn't explain why, only leaving her more confused.
Eda had her suspicions, but her understanding was still only surface level. She had no idea about Dumbledore's grand plan. Could it be that Dumbledore had included her in it too?
Before Eda could ask her new question, Snape had already thrown her out and slammed the door shut with a loud "BANG!" that echoed through the corridor.
Eda hesitated, wondering whether she should reenact Snow Auntie's famous dramatic scene [a well-known melodramatic reference]. But given Snape's "cruel and cold heart," even if she smashed her own hand against the door, he still wouldn't open it.
Unless Eda tore the door off its hinges, it looked like she wasn't going to see Snape again today.
...
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just left Hagrid's hut after a not-so-pleasant "discussion."
They were firmly convinced that Snape was the mastermind behind everything, while Hagrid didn't agree at all. He didn't believe that a professor like Snape would try to kill a student.
Unlike Eda and the twins, Harry and his friends were still seen as innocent little cuties in Hagrid's eyes. So he reverted to his usual big-mouth self and accidentally let slip the name Nicolas Flamel.
It was a critical clue. Eda had asked Hagrid about it, asked Snape, even tried to ask Professor McGonagall—but got nothing from any of them. Harry Potter, on the other hand, just threw out a casual question and got the answer. It was enough to make a person choke on their frustration!
On the way back to the castle, the first-year trio kept discussing who Nicolas Flamel might be.
It wasn't just Harry and Ron who didn't know—even "Little Miss Know-it-all, Second Generation" Hermione had no clue.
They decided to head to the library and dig up everything they could on Nicolas Flamel to figure out who he really was.
"Should we tell Eda?" Ron suddenly asked.
"Yeah, Eda's so smart—she's bound to know who Nicolas Flamel is!" Harry said excitedly. "But… would she even talk to us?"
Although they didn't know the reason, Harry and Ron had still noticed that Eda was distancing herself from them. It had already been over a month—if they hadn't picked up on it by now, they probably needed to get their eyes checked.
"She's definitely amazing," Hermione said, "but do we really want to drag someone unrelated into this?"
She didn't want more people getting pulled into something so dangerous, especially people who had nothing to do with it.
Hermione knew exactly who the "Eda" they kept mentioning was—that cold (on the surface), fierce (on the train), but incredibly smart upperclassman girl.
"I'm not talking about Nicolas Flamel—I mean Snape," Ron said anxiously, seeing his two companions getting sidetracked. "Eda's always being put in detention by Snape. We should tell her to be more careful."
Eda really hadn't doted on Ron for nothing—at least the kid knew how to worry about her. Even if his naive thinking might make Eda laugh out loud, the concern behind it was genuine.
But rather than whether Snape was the mastermind, what Eda actually wanted to know more was the name Nicolas Flamel.
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