Gee's behavior was somewhat rude, even a bit disrespectful, but since Cedric had knowwins from childhood, he didn't mind Gee's slightly impolite as.

  Eda patted Gee on the shoulder, signaling him to stop. Realizing his mistake, Gee stayed silent.

  "Whether you call me Eda or Esmeralda, either is fine. My friends usually call me Eda," she said.

  "Then we're friends now!" Cedric replied with a smile. "You call me Ced, that's what Fred and Gee used to call me."

  Cedric had heard about how Eda and the twins became friends. He thought that if it had been him helping her with her luggage back then, they might have already been friends by now.

  Both Cedrid Eda were not only in the same year but were also born in 1977, with Cedric's birthday being slightly earlier. They both enjoyed reading aop students, with many other things in on. It would be a shame for them not to be friends.

  They chatted casually for a while longer, and the atmosphere was quite pleasant, though the twins still felt a bit awkward. However, they didn't let their disfort show.

  "Alright, I should get going. See you in css!" Cedric said, as his friends had been calling for him several times. He jogged off to catch up with them.

  "Cedric is really handsome!" Katie blurted out, clearly smitten by his charm.

  The other two girls nodded in agreement, while the three boys scoffed dismissively.

  Eda hadn't given any opinion, which made Alicia curious, so she asked, "Eda, what do you think?"

  "He's alright. Who knows who'll be lucky enough to end up with him iure," Eda replied.

  "Cedric is just 'alright' in your eyes?" Alicia was a bit surprised by Eda's standards. "Then who do you think is handsome?"

  "I think Fred and Gee are pretty handsome," Eda said. She really wao mention Al Pao, but figured none of them would know who that was. "Oliver Wood is also quite good-looking."

  Fred and Gee were pleased with her a first, but their enthusiasm waned when Oliver Wood was suddenly added to the list.

  As they chatted, Charlie annouhe final sele list. Angelina and Alicia had both made the team, and the twins had fulfilled the bragging rights they had boasted about to Eda.

  After setting the date for the first team practice of the school year, the gathered Gryffindors began to disperse. Tomorrow was the weekend, and everyone was ready to rex.

  At 7 p.m., Eda once again found herself in the dungeon . Snape had moved the detention, inally scheduled for Wednesday, to Friday, so that even if Eda was utterly exhausted, it wouldn't affect her csses the day.

  However, tonight Snape didn't cruelly prepare three cauldrons to "torture" Eda, which made her feel relieved—she certainly didn't want to spend her eurday bedridden.

  Standing in front of the desk, Eda noticed that the table was pletely empty. There wasn't even a single Flobberworm, let alone a cauldron. Just as Eda was w what "surprise" Snape had in store for her, he handed her a bck cloth and instructed her to blindfold herself.

  The bck cloth was pletely opaque, and with her eyes covered, Eda couldn't see a thing, which made her feel uneasy.

  Snape pulled out a small bottle of liquid, uncorked it, and pced it in front of Eda, askio identify the potion through its st and guess what ingredients it was made from.

  Was Sreating her like a sniffer dog?

  Eda regretted ning Garlon along with her. She sniffed deeply, carefully trying to identify the liquid in the gss bottle.

  After sniffing for a long time, Eda couldn't e up with an answer. Instead, she became more fused: had Snape givehe wrong bottle?

  After two minutes of thinking, Eda hesitantly asked, "Rum?"

  "Are you sure?" Snape questioned.

  "Rum, I'm sure," Eda ultimately stuck to her answer.

  Even though Sone made her sed-guess herself, she was vinced she smelled rum. However, she couldn't identify the redients that might have been added to the alcohol.

  S the bottle away, "It seems your time at the Leaky Cauldron hasn't goo waste. Why don't you just drop out and work there? Or at the Three Broomsticks? That's their famous Red Currant Rum."

  This bottle had been a test, a trap.

  , Snape brought out a green potion for Eda to identify.

  Snape kept pulling out different gss bottles, and Eda tio use her o smell them.

  But the bottles didn't only tain potions and alcohol—there were even a few different drinks. Oricky test followed another. Some traps Eda successfully avoided, while others caught her pletely off guard.

  Eda's nose had bee so sore that each breath felt painfully sharp. Only then did the "Trap Master" Snape finally call it a night ahe training session.

  She removed the bck blindfold aly rubbed her nose, which was stinging so much that it almost brought tears to her eyes.

  Sill in his robe, pulled out two small bottles—one blue, one green. The moment they appeared, Eda reflexively twitched her nose.

  Fortunately, Snape wasirely heartless.

  These two bottles were specially prepared for Eda. The green one was for external use, and the blue one for internal, meant to ease the pain in her nose.

  In fact, Snape had prepared simir potions st time but fot to give them to her before she left...

  Eda uncorked the blue potio for drinking, but the taste was so horrendous that she nearly gagged. She was vihat nothing in the world could taste worse.

  , she applied the green potion evenly on her he moment it touched her skin, it was absorbed instantly, leaving a cooliion that gradually relieved the soreness in her nose.

  Despite the unbearable taste of the blue potion, Snape's cos were undeniably effective.

  Just as Eda was about to thank him, Snape's words nearly made her explode with anger.

  "ht. ime, remember to apply the green one first and then drink the blue potion. That way, the taste won't be as bad," Snape remarked casually. "But it's fihe effect is the same. In fact, the way you took it might even work a little better."

  Snape hadn't inteo trap her this time. After all, he had prepared everything for her properly. He simply hadn't mentiohe order, and Eda had already finished drinking it. So teically, she couldn't bme him.

  With her ill stinging, Eda hadn't thought it through. She had been too focused oing rid of the pain and hadn't anticipated that yet arap was waiting for her to fall into.

  "This time, sider it a lesson for your recklessness," Snape said. "You don't o e Friday. I'll let you know when to return."

  After spending the whole evening sniffing different potions, Eda had memorized their sts. If she ever entered them again, she would easily reize them, ensuring she wouldn't actally drink the wrong thing.

  This "detention" roductive as ever.

  Eda walked along the path leading back to the Gryffindor Tower, with the house-elf Winnie following behind. From now on, every time she went to the dungeons, Winnie would escort her back afterward, a task Snape had arranged.

  As they walked, Eda chatted with Winnie, asking about the castle's hiddes.

  House-elves had lived in the castle for tless years, so they surely khings no one else did.

  Winnie had been living here for eleven years, and she definitely knew more than Eda, who had only been at Hogwarts for a year.

  At the entrao the Gryffindor on room, Eda ran into Toller, who had also just returned.

  While she had been iion" with Professor Soller had been serving his detention with Professonagall. Both had beeained, but their detentions were entirely different experiences.

  For the past week, Toller had been expeg retaliation from Eda and the twins. But after waiting for more than a week without any sign of revenge, he assumed they were too scared of losing points to do anything. This made him look down on Eda even more.

  inally, Eda had po head straight back to the on room, but Toller's expression irritated her. She immediately drew her wand, pointing it at him, and said, "You'd better learn to look at people with respect—or lower your head."

  "Miss, please don't do this. It will only bring you trouble..." Wiugged at Eda's robe, trying to dissuade her.

  Toller didn't lower his head; he tio stare at Eda.

  "Either lower your head or pick up your wand like I have," Eda said, stepping closer to him.

  Winnie followed, still gently tugging on Eda's robe, softly urgio put down the wand.

  The two were now standing very close, but Toller remained unresponsive. He still believed Eda wouldn't dare make a move on him here.

  Eda pressed the tip of her wand against Toller's cheek and whispered, "You're right, I did e from an orphanage. But what gave you the idea that kids from orphanages be bullied so easily?"

  ________

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