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Chapter 18: Night Tour

  Thus, under Professonagall's careful guidance, Eda made great strides iransfiguration skills. With alternating theory and practical lessons, she had progressed beyond turning a matchstito a needle.

  Now, she could even transform a matchstito an exquisite cup with ease.

  Professonagall believed that, in terms of Transfiguration alone, she herself couldn't match Eda's progress at that age.

  Over the fifteen days, Magall had witnessed Eda's daily improvements, and Eda's talent even made her a bit envious.

  However, all good things e to an end.

  The half-month of "detention," which was essentially extra tut, cluded. Magall felt that Eda o solidate what she had learned. tinuing the intensive lessons might bee terproductive, so she had no iion of tinuing the sessions.

  Eda, oher hand, was eager for more private lessons. Having a great teacher guide her was invaluable, and she thought about itting a minor infra to get another half-month of detention with Professonagall.

  Unfortunately, this idea was quickly seen through by the astute Professonagall, and the pn was aborted before it could even begin.

  Life returo normal.

  Eda speime honing her skills and abilities, often practig diligently to increase her proficy.

  When she wasn't doing that, she was goofing around with the twins to bance her state of mind.

  Cody Avery had also been behaving himself tely, as if the previously annoying brat was just a figment of everyone's imagination.

  Whether he had e to his senses in the hospital wing or been frightened by Snape's detention, Avery was now very low-key.

  Irospect, aside from Draalfoy, there probably wasn't anyone else so stubborn aless. Someone who could keep provoking a person for seven years straight, despite stant failure, and still keep ing baore. Such resilience, or rather, obstinacy, left no other fitting description than being hard-headed.

  One evening in October, Eda y on her bed, feeling bored after another day of grinding.

  Her roommates, Angelina and Alicia, were having a heated debate about which Quidditch team was strohe Heidelberg Harriers or the Vratsa Vultures.

  The two Quidditthusiasts started with the pyer list, the lineup, and then pared the team's historical honors and popurity. In the end, they didn't e up with as aher of them could vihe other.

  Last weekend, Eda had apanied her friends to watch a Gryffindor Quidditch match.

  The game was exg, but the oute was disappointing as Gryffindor lost.

  Gryffindor hadn't won the Quidditch Cup in several years.

  The team that st won had long since graduated, and the new pyers were far from the same level. Gryffindor's hopes of winning the Quidditch Cup again seemed like a distant dream.

  Angelina and Alicia's argument tinued, switg to other teams, while Eda remained a silent observer, feeli out.

  Half-asleep, Eda heard Angelina and Alicia saying goodnight to each other as they settled into bed.

  [Ding!]

  [How you attend Hogwarts without going on nighttime adventures? plete ten successful nighttime excursions before the end of the Christmas holidays to receive the Disillusio Charm as a reward!]

  Eda sat up in an instant, and her sleepiness was driven away by the ding sound.

  From the perspective of the reward, Eda was very tempted. The Disillusio Charm is an advanced spell that make someone invisible by altering their skin color aure. The deeper the caster's uanding and the stroheir magic, the better the effect of the spell.

  Although the Disillusio Charm doesn't make a person truly invisible and there is a ce of beihrough, it is far superior to many invisibility cloaks avaible on the market, and Eda couldn't afford one anyway.

  However, Eda was a bit resistant to the idea of nighttime excursioioned iask. She had a lot to do each day and needed suffit sleep to rest her tired brain, enablio be a better book grihe day.

  Eda also worried that if she didn't get enough rest, she might suddenly colpse from exhaustion one day.

  Another was that it might affect her growth. Eda was currently quite short and often had to look up at others. She wao grow taller as she didn't like the feeling of looking up to people.

  Moreover, who knew what strahings might happen in a thousand-year-old castle at night? If you believed Hogwarts' cim that it's the safest p the world, you'd be a fool—an absolute fool who couldn't be saved.

  The exploration-spirited Weasley twins had already been on nighttime adventures and had invited Eda to join them multiple times, but she had always refused.

  From her versations with the twins, Eda khat the first danger she would face was the school caretaker, Filch. Filch patrolled the castle every night, looking to catch those who wahe corridors instead of sleeping in their beds.

  After a brief internal struggle, Eda, uo resist the temptation of the Disillusio Charm, climbed out of bed.

  The night was deep, and the only sounds were the evehs of her two sleeping roommates.

  She put on a set of light clothes, a pair of soft-soled shoes, and finally donned her cloak before leaving the dormitory. The lightweight clothes made it easier to move, the dark cloak helped her blend into the night, and the soft shoes ensured she made as little noise as possible.

  As she exited the on room, the Fat Lady, disturbed from her rest, gave Eda a harsh look.

  Moonlight streamed through the gss windows, casting a silvery glow across Gryffindor Tower. For the first time, Eda saw Hogwarts' corridors at night.

  The torch fmes in the corridor were faint, illuminating only a small area around them, leaving most of the long corridor shrouded in darkness.

  "Lumos," Eda whispered, and the tip of her waed a soft light. She dared not make it tht; a gring light in the darkness would be like a bea, essentially signaling File and catch her.

  Using the weak glow of the Lumos charm, Eda carefully wahe corridors, attentively dising whether the distant sounds were just the soft whispers of the portraits or something more threatening, like Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris.

  This skinny cat had pyed a signifit role in Filch's efforts to catch students. It used its keen senses and agility to locate students often without them realizing it, then led Filch to them. It was almost impossible to evade her.

  It could be said that a portion of the students' hatred for Filch was actually directed at Mrs. Norris.

  Eda held her wand aloft, cautiously moving forward. She was witnessing a different side of Hogwarts from the daytime hustle and bustle. The corridors, now void of the usual throng of students, and the portraits, usually animated with chatter, were all asleep. Eda suddenly thought that perhaps an occasional nighttime stroll wasn't such a bad idea; it was rather intriguing.

  In the distance, she heard a noise. Eda listened carefully; it wasn't the usual sounds from the portraits but rather seemed like two people having a versation.

  At first, Eda thought she had entered two fellow "night wanderers" and assumed they were other students on a nighttime adventure. But as she got closer to the source of the voices, she realized she khem both very well. One was Snape, with whom she had a mutual dislike, and the other was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Be Foley.

  Eda should have fled. Getting caught by the professors was no different than being caught by Filch, especially falling into Snape's hands—it was a dreadful thought.

  Even though she wao leave, curiosity drove Eda's steps closer and closer. Humans are always so tradictory. Everyone knows the saying "curiosity killed the cat," yet they still 't suppress their curiosity.

  Extinguishing the Lumos spell and l her wand, Eda pressed herself tightly against the corridor wall, listening ily to the versatioweewo professors at the staircase nding.

  "Severus, Severus…" This rofessor Foley's voice. Usually, he was graceful and elegant, like a nobleman from a story, but now his voice carried a hint of ay, like a child lost and helpless.

  "What exactly do you want to do?" Snape's voice was the same as always, soft but carrying far in the silent night.

  "I just… I just want to find something…"

  "Find something? What exactly are you looking for, wandering around the castle like an idiot?"

  There was a rustling sound, ahought it sounded like Snape grabbing Foley by the colr. She believed Foley wouldn't dare grab Snape.

  "Something very important, Severus. I 't be discovered... especially by Dumbledore..." Foley's usual posure was gone, repced by panid his voice even trembled a bit.

  "You've already been discovered, Professor Foley," Snape said, emphasizing "Professor Foley" to increase the pressure.

  This must have had a signifit impa Foley, as Eda could feel his growing ay.

  "Help me, Severus, please... This is very important..." His tone had a pleading quality.

  "Why should I help you?"

  "This world shouldn't be like this. The current Hogwarts, the current wizarding world, shouldn't be this way. This is something that ge the world..." Professor Foley's tone suddenly became reverent, like a missionary, but his preag tly cut off by Snape.

  "Shh!"

  Both of them fell silent, followed by the sound of soft footsteps ing toward Eda!

  Eda held her breath and pressed her body even closer to the wall, feeling that any moment someone would appear around the er, point a wand at her, and cast a curse!

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  Many thanks to Britney Fletcher and Parker Johnson for joining my Patreon page??

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  12 Advance Chapters- Patreon./Dragonel

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