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Chapter 33: An Unexpected Harvest

  Eda's stomach was full of delicious turkey, roast meat, and Christmas pudding as she left the Great Hall, thhly satisfied. She carried some prizes she had won from wizard crackers, including a brand new Gobstones set and a beautiful wizard chess set.

  Iernoon, Eda po study Professonagall's notebook by the firepce. However, a group of soakiudents had already cimed the spot.

  They had been pying in the snow for a long time and looked like they had just been fished out of the Bck Lake.

  They stood by the fire, drying their clothes and themselves.

  Without the warmth of the firepce, Eda had to retreat to her dormitory. If her notebook were a ic book and she had a bottle of soda, she would be the perfect picture of a homebody.

  She stayed in her room all afternoon until the turkey iomach was fully digested. Only then did she ve to find food.

  Eda had some sandwiches and Christmas cake, which finally revived her hunger-fogged mind.

  However, a full belly is the easiest way to lose one's ambitions, and Eda was no exception. She felt like a zy, tented sloth, lying on her bed without a care in the world.

  This delightful Christmas had allowed Eda to thhly rex. She even wished the day would never end. But this wish was bound to be unfulfilled.

  After all, she erson with dreams and aspirations, and it was impossible for her to remain idle forever.

  Before heading home, the Weasley twins had given Eda a task: they asked her to frequently visit the mirror on the fourth floor to see if it really hid a secret passage.

  During the holiday, Eda checked on the mirror daily. The mirror was embedded in the wall, with its base slightly above the ground. It was surrounded by intricate carvings.

  The intricate carvings on the mirror were shrouded in mystery, stantly capturing Eda's attention, but she had yet to find any clues within them.

  "Let's check that out and then call it a day" Thinking about the mirror, Eda decided to take another look. After all, it was still early, and curfew hadn't started yet.

  Draped in her cloak, Eda stood in front of the mirror, looking like a student who had casually stopped to admire herself. Even if someone saw her, it wouldn't seem strange.

  Eda, who had been staring at the mirror, could hardly reize herself in the mirror. She felt that she was being mocked by the "Eda" reflected in the mirror.

  Her good mood for the whole day was ruined by this mirror. She kicked the mirror in frustration.

  Eda put a lot of strength into the kick, but it didn't even leave a scrat the mirror. Instead, the impact made her own foot hurt.

  "Ouch... ouch... it hurts" Humiliated, Eda, who had brought shame upon herself, squatted on the ground and massaged her gloriously wounded right foot with her hand.

  This damned mirror didn't even spare her a bit of dignity! Standing in the empty corridor on Christmas night, away from her fortable dormitory, Eda felt she had nothier to do than this pointless endeavor.

  Eda swore that whewiurned, she would definitely give them a piece of her mind.

  Ada, who was about to leave with her "injured" right foot, made a new discovery, aeps that were supposed to leave also stopped. She suddenly found that the patterns around the mirror had ged, which had never happened before!

  It seemed that her frustrated kick had actally triggered some meism, causing the patterns to alter.

  'Yes! I wasn't doing senseless stuff after all!' Eda thought to herself.

  The ges iricate carvings were subtle, just slight depressions that were easy to miss. If Eda hadn't examihem so closely before, she might not have noticed at all.

  As she carefully observed the ges, Eda extended her hand to touch the newly recessed areas.

  These altered ses felt like they formed the shapes of letters, though she couldn't immediately dis them.

  After distinguishing the letters, Eda began to try te them in order to restore them into a plete sentence.

  Her memory was already sharp, and being a Hogwarts student who learned a lot daily from Magal's punishments had only enha. Remembering the shapes of these letters wasn't difficult.

  Croug on the floor, Eda used her fio write and draw on the ground, attempting to first form words and thehem together into a sentence.

  There were many possible binations, and it took a while for her to figure it out.

  After many attempts and siderable brain strain, Eda finally pleted the puzzle, her furrowed brow rexing as she did.

  Standing up, she gnced around the corridor to make sure no one else resent. Feeling reassured, Eda spread her arms wide and decred to the mirror, "Show me the world within the mirror!"

  As her voice, full of ceremonial i, echoed, the mirror in front of her slowly vanished. In its pce was a dark entrance, just rge enough for a person to pass through.

  Eda took out her wand and murmured, "Lumos!" Using the light from the Lumos charm, she stepped inside.

  She found herself on a small ptform, rge enough to aodate three or four people. Below the ptform, a turetched downward.

  Eda cast the light from her wand tip dowunnel.

  With the light's assistance, she could see that the tunnel's slope was gentle, making it easy to navigate up or down, though its end remained out of sight.

  At the entrance of the tunnel were torches of ierminate age. Eda used the Indio spell to light one of them.

  Holding the tor her left hand and her wand in her right, she ventured into the tunnel.

  The only light ich-bck tunnel came from Eda's torch, and the only sound was her footsteps eg. She felt as though she could hear her owbeat iillness.

  The tunnel wasn't a straight dest. It had many twists and turns, and Eda lost track of how long she had been walkiually, she reached the tunnel's end.

  Raisiorch high, Eda tried to dis her surroundings. The torch's light could only reach so far, preventing her from seeing the full extent of the space.

  However, she sensed she was deep beh Hogwarts.

  Eda cast Lumos again, this time p more magito the spell. The Lumos charm became dazzlingly bright. She raised her wand ahe light orb high into the air, like a magical fre in the night.

  With the help of this magical fre, Eda could finally see her surroundings. She was in a vast room, with colossal statues lining the walls.

  These statues seemed to both support the room and gaze down at any intruders, imparting an overwhelming sense of oppression.

  Apart from scattered stone debris, the room was empty. Eda looked up at the statues, notig that most of them were damaged, with several colpsed on the ground. It seemed that time had taken its toll on this pce.

  This room had likely been a well-hidden space, but the stantly falling stones from the statues reminded Eda of the potential for a cave-in at any moment.

  Holdiorch carefully, Eda crossed the room to the opposite side, where aunnel led upwards. This appeared to be another entrance or exit.

  Eda proceeded slowly through the unnel, which was shorter than the previous one. She soon reached its end and pushed open a stone door, allowing the moonlight to pour in.

  The exit led to a vilge, with the t Hogwarts castle visible nearby. It was clear that this vilge was Hogsmeade.

  Fortunately, there were rians on the road at this hour, so no oiced Eda's sudden appearance.

  Eda had no iion of t Hogsmeade on this cold night. Having discovered the secret passage, she had pleted the task assigned by the twins and decided to return the way she came.

  Retrag her steps through the long tunnel, Eda reached the inal starting point. She didn't rush out but instead used the mirror at the entrao check if anyone assing by in the hallway.

  Given the long journey, it was already past curfew wheurned. It was best to be cautious.

  Eda waited there for a while before emerging from the secret passage.

  She cast the Disillusio Charm on herself, feeling a chill spread from head to toe, as if someone had just poured a gss of ice water over her.

  As the spell took effect, Eda's body blended into her surroundings like a chameleon. fident in her "invisibility," she made her way back to the on room without worry.

  Eda, lying on the bed in the dormitory, did not fall asleep quickly. Her body was very tired, but everything tonight made her very excited, as if every cell in her body was carefully recalling everything that happeonight.

  That night, from Hogwarts Castle to the giant room buried deep underground with sculptures, and then to the wizarding vilge Hogsmeade, the whole journey seemed to be safe, but every moment gave Eda aing feeling.

  Walking through the Hogwarts underground at night and expl the castle's secrets was fasating for her.

  She found herself increasingly drawn to this adventurous lifestyle. Perhaps, deep down, she was never meant to live a calm life.

  The S Hat sorted her into Gryffindor probably because of this trait of hers!

  ________

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