This round of criticism and education did not end until Harry returned with Ron and Hermione. During that time, Eda also "deeply realized" her mistakes and admitted to the title of spendthrift, stating that she would reform completely and be a better person.
Did Eda really realize her mistake?
She did—just not quite in the same way Mr. and Mrs. Weasley thought.
Eda believed that buying a Firebolt was indeed wrong; buying a Nimbus 2001 would be enough.
The Firebolt was a competition-grade broom. The Irish International Team had ordered seven of the premium ones in one go. Not only was the Firebolt extremely expensive, its specialization was also too strong—using it in Hogwarts matches really was a bit over the top.
It was like how rich kids might play with sports cars or drive supercars around the streets, but hardly anyone would buy an F1 car and drive it onto public roads.
After surviving the Weasley couple's combined education and narrowly saving her life, Eda slunk back to her room. Before long, she came back downstairs carrying a suitcase filled with gifts she had bought in Paris.
Everyone in the Weasley family had a gift.
Each person received at least one set of clothes; Mr. Weasley and the boys also got a finely crafted cane. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, in addition to clothes, each received a large box of cosmetics and perfumes.
Even Harry and Hermione had gifts, though neither of them received clothes, as Eda did not know their sizes.
Harry's gift was a complete set of broom models, in all kinds of styles. Aside from Quidditch and brooms, Eda really couldn't think of anything else Harry liked.
Hermione's gift was much simpler: a book, Nicolas Flamel: The Great Life of an Alchemist. This book was published to commemorate Nicolas Flamel; besides recounting his legendary life, it also recorded many major events that took place in the magical world during the same era.
Only after finishing handing out the gifts did Eda remember her pet, Garlon—her heart really was that careless.
When she left Britain, because the road ahead was uncertain, Eda left Garlon at the Burrow. After that, he went along to Egypt on holiday with them.
In the photo of the Weasley family in The Daily Prophet, Garlon was there as well—standing in front of the twins, wagging his tail and having a great time.
Eda picked up the dog food she had bought in Paris, intending to get closer to her pet, only to find that Garlon had absolutely no intention of paying her any attention.
Instead, he was running around after a ginger-colored big cat.
That was Hermione's new pet, Crookshanks.
The ginger Crookshanks looked like he could slap Mrs. Norris to death with a single paw. Crookshanks was clearly not interested in the Garlon following behind him, and a flurry of cat punches sent Garlon fleeing with his head tucked down.
Well then—on the Hogwarts pet combat power rankings, Garlon had dropped another place.
Eda covered her face with one hand. She truly couldn't bear to watch anymore. If you listen to advice, you'll be well fed—she really should have listened back then. Garlon couldn't even beat his shadow, let alone anyone. She had never seen such an embarrassing dog.
Now Eda was even starting to suspect that somewhere in Garlon's ancestry there was some unclear, inexplicable connection to a husky. Otherwise, why was it that aside from bullying Scabbers, he couldn't beat anyone at all?
At dinner, the whole family sat around a long table that had been pieced together. Fred and George sat far away from Eda, and the way they looked at her seemed to say: You actually betrayed our group—you traitor!
Mrs. Weasley said happily, "That's wonderful, Eda! Our family now has, besides the second male Head Boy, a fourth prefect!"
"And the last one," Fred muttered in a low voice.
"I don't doubt that at all," Mrs. Weasley suddenly frowned. "I've noticed they didn't choose you two as prefects."
"What do we need to be prefects for?" George said. Just thinking about it seemed to make him nauseous. "It would make life so much less fun."
Mrs. Weasley immediately covered Ginny's ears and said sharply, "You must set a good example for your sister!" After dealing with the twins, she softened her tone and said gently to Ginny, "Don't learn from the two of them. Your big sis is your role model."
Hearing this, Fred and George's eye rolls were practically reaching the sky. They really ought to tear off Eda's hypocritical mask and let Mum and Dad see her true colors—that would be quite a spectacle.
Right up until bedtime, the twins still hadn't forgiven Eda for her betrayal. A prefect—she actually became a prefect!
What next, becoming Head Girl? Too much, simply unforgivable.
Early the next morning, Eda once again heard Mrs. Weasley's loud voice, just as familiar and just as warm as ever.
Before departure, everything was chaos. Everyone was busy carrying their trunks down the narrow stairs of the Leaky Cauldron and piling them up at the entrance.
Because of Sirius Black's escape and Harry's situation, the Ministry of Magic sent two cars to take Harry to school. Everyone benefited from Harry's good fortune.
Upon arriving at King's Cross Station, and then passing through Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, the scarlet steam engine appeared before Eda, standing there puffing out smoke. The platform was packed with witches and wizards—men and women—seeing their children off.
Life at Hogwarts was about to begin again.
"Oh, Penelope!" Percy said, preening as he ran a hand through his hair, his face flushing pink. Then he strode off toward a girl with long, curly hair.
Behind Percy, the twins exchanged exaggerated looks. Suddenly remembering that they were in the middle of a spat with Eda, they turned their backs on her and ignored her.
Looking at that Ravenclaw girl, Eda felt that the girl looked nice enough and was clever too—her eyesight, however, was questionable. To think that there were actually girls who liked Percy; it was truly unbelievable.
Mrs. Weasley kissed her children one by one in order of age, then Hermione, and finally Harry. The steam engine was about to depart, yet Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside to have a private chat with his future son-in-law.
Whether Mr. Weasley hadn't expressed himself clearly enough, or Harry's hearing was already failing at such a young age, was hard to say.
Mr. Weasley had clearly said, "You must not go looking for Black," but what Harry heard was, "You must go and find Black."
The scarlet steam engine slowly started moving, heading north toward the Scottish Highlands. Eda reunited with her friends, and the first thing to do was, of course, hand out gifts.
The second was to share stories about their holidays. It was just that Eda seemed to have forgotten something.
It wasn't until Percy knocked on the compartment door that Eda remembered she needed to attend the prefects' meeting. As a prefect, that was her duty. Eda held out her hand toward the twins. Two minutes later, Fred finally took Eda's gleaming prefect badge out of his pocket.
Following Percy, Eda went with him to the designated prefects' carriage. She had thought she wouldn't see any familiar faces, but when Percy opened the compartment door, Eda realized she actually knew several of the people inside.
Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff—Eda's friend outside her own house, and the only non–house member of Dawn; Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw—Percy's girlfriend, whom Eda had just managed to place; Cody Avery from Slytherin—whom Eda had beaten up in first year; and Clark Gerald from Gryffindor, a good kid in the Percy mold.
In the compartment, Eda was only familiar with Percy and Cedric, but if she had to sit next to Percy during the meeting, she would rather die.
So she went straight to sit beside Cedric, and the Hufflepuff girl prefect could only reluctantly give up her seat.
In this compartment, there was only the possibility that Eda didn't know the others—there was absolutely no chance that they didn't know Eda. After all, someone who had been "throwing her weight around" at school for four years was hard to miss.
"Long time no see, Twist," Avery was actually the first person in the compartment to greet Eda. It really was a sight to behold.
You don't strike someone who smiles at you. It had only been a bit of friction back in first year, nothing like a deep-seated feud, so Eda responded to Avery. She said, "Long time no see."
The prefects from the four houses were all stunned by this bizarre scene. A pure-blood like Cody Avery had actually taken the initiative to greet the Muggle-born Esmeralda Twist!
Was something wrong with them—or with everyone else?
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