The Gryffindor on room was quiet, and the twins were eager to ask Eda how her detention had gone, if Snape had given her a hard time. But an exhausted Eda barely said a wiving them a brief response before heading straight to her dormitory.

  Fred and Gee watched her weary figure leave, feeling both ed and angry.

  They had po deal with Towler slowly, but seeing Eda like this, they couldn't hold bay longer. However, despite turning the Gryffindor on room upside down with Lee Jordan's help, Towler was o be found. He hadn't returned.

  Earlier in the Great Hall, Professonagall had called Towler out in front of all the Gryffindors. She had looked calm aone was as normal as ever, but everyone kowler was in big trouble.

  Since being called out, Towler hadn't e back. It was obvious he had been giveion by Professonagall. The only question was how long it would st—one week, two weeks, or even a month?

  Curfew had e, and most students had already returo their dorms. Fred and Gee stayed glued to the entrance of the on room, waiting for Towler.

  After a while, the twins' patience paid off. Towler finally returned, but he wasn't alone—Professonagall was with him.

  Towler had his fists tightly ched and stood behind Magall, his eyes red, looking like a frightened rabbit.

  "Fred, Gee, e with me for a moment," Professonagall said, gesturing for the twins to follow her. The brothers had no choice but to let To for now and follow Magall out of the on room, leaving Towler aloe toward the dormitory with his head down.

  Some students wao ask Towler what had happened, and others were curious about unishment he'd received. However, no matter what was said or asked, Towler remained silent, keeping his head down as he walked straight ahead.

  Lee Jordan, Angelina, and Alicia blocked his path on the way to his dormitory. Lee shouted sternly, "Don't think ag like a victim is going to make us go easy on you!"

  Towler still didn't respond. He lowered his head a walking, pushing past Lee Jordan and squeezing through the gap between Lee and Alicia, seemingly ued by the threat.

  By the time Towler colpsed onto his bed, the twins had finally returo the dormitory, where their three friends rushed over to greet them. Since Eda hadn't said anything befoing to rest, their friends he twins to make a decision.

  "What did Professonagall say?" Alicia asked. "Did she tell you how Towler unished?"

  Fred shook his head and said, "You should all just get some rest. We still have csses tomorrow."

  Hearing the words "rest" and "csses" from Fred's mouth was surprising for the group left in the on room.

  It didn't sound like the Fred they knew. Angelina g Gee and noticed that his expression mirrored Fred's, both of them struggling to trol their emotions.

  "And Towler..." Angelina began, but Gee cut her off.

  "Take good care of Eda. She looked really worn out," he said.

  The two girls nodded auro their dormitory, while the twins and Lee Jorda back to their own room to rest.

  When Angelina and Alicia eheir dorm, they saw Eda lying on her bed, clearly exhausted. She hadn't even bothered to take off her robes—one shoe was on the floor, and the other was still hanging off her foot.

  Angelily pulled Eda up from the bed, helping her ge into her pajamas before letting her go back to sleep. Alicia poured two gsses of water, pg one on the nightstand and handing the other to Eda to drink.

  That night, Eda was tormented by a pierg headache that made it impossible for her to rest properly.

  She tossed and turned until the sky outside gradually began to lighten, and only then did she finally fall into a fitful sleep.

  When Eda woke up, she felt slightly better, and the headache had subsided, though she still looked weary. She dragged herself through the m csses in a daze, uo remember anything the professors had taught.

  This state of fogginess sted until the afternoon, when Eda finally felt fully recovered. That's when she remembered to check the reward the system had given her.

  "Art of Duplication" At first gnce, Eda thought the system was about to reward her with some sort of magic for creating es of herself. If she could really split into multiple versions of herself, wouldn't that mean she could outnumber her oppos in duels?

  If she could create many es, she could cover all angles with spellfire. While others would be casting one spell at a time, Eda could fire off multiple at once. Victory would be guaranteed.

  However, the system's reward turned out to be misleading. The "Duplication" part was real, but there was no "Art or Teique" involved. Instead, what the system had given her pet—a training puppet.

  The puppet could be used for real bat practice, simuting a variety of fighting styles to help Eda gain more experien wizard duels. It was essentially a private bat instructor.

  The training puppet came with three difficulty levels: Normal, Difficult, and Dumbledore. For now, only the Normal mode was unlocked. To access the stages, Eda had to clear Normal mode and achieve a three-star her rating.

  This trial puppet was exactly what Eda had been longing for. She wao vert her knowledge of magito real, practical power rather than just theoretical uanding.

  Last year in the Forbidden Forest, she had been overpowered by Fowley because of the gap in both their skill and experience. Eda had to exert great effort to ter Fowley's spells, while Fowley could easily ralize Eda's attacks.

  Fowley's fluen casting and linking spells made his offensive maneuvers faster, more calcuted, and nearly impossible to defend against. Being thhly outcssed in that frontation made Eda realize the vast gap between herself and more experienced wizards.

  The only dowo the trial puppet was that it couldn't be thrown into real battles for assistanor could anyone else use it—only Eda. She also didn't have to rack her brain iing a pusible in for the puppet, as there were no alchemical products on the market that could match its capabilities.

  In css, the sound of intations filled the air, but Eda's mind was elsewhere. She was eagerly waiting for css to end, so she could go test out her new puppet.

  After dinner, Eda borrowed the Marauder's Map from the twins. The brothers didn't ask what she nning, but just reminded her to return early and not to e back too te.

  Their behavior was a bit unusual, but Eda didn't give it much thought. She assumed they had gotten into trouble and were ying low.

  On the fourth floor of the castle, Eda stood in front of a rge mirror. She had already checked the Marauder's Map to ensure no one was nearby. Looking at her refle, she whispered, "Show me the world within the mirror."

  The mirror slowly disappeared, revealing the hidderance behind it. Eda, familiar with the path, entered and desded down the long tunnel leadih the castle.

  The giant underground room remaihe same, except that there was more rubble on the ground and there was one more colpsed giant statue. The underground room was more dangerous tha was discovered st year.

  Eda took out a small ball from her pocket and threw it hard. A ray of light fshed, and the trial doll appeared in front of Eda. A familiar mae-synthesized voice came out of the mouth of the trial doll, saying: "The trial is about to begin, please be ready!"

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