Eda's stomach was full of delicious turkey, roast meat, and Christmas pudding as she left the Great Hall, thoroughly satisfied. She carried some prizes she had won from wizard crackers, including a brand new Gobstones set and a beautiful wizard chess set.
In the afternoon, Eda planned to study Professor McGonagall's notebook by the fireplace. However, a group of soaking wet students had already claimed the spot.
They had been playing in the snow for a long time and looked like they had just been fished out of the Black Lake.
They stood by the fire, drying their clothes and themselves.
Without the warmth of the fireplace, Eda had to retreat to her dormitory. If her notebook were a comic 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 in her stomach was fully digested. Only then did she venture out 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 lazy, contented sloth, lying on her bed without a care in the world.
This delightful Christmas had allowed Eda to thoroughly relax. She even wished the day would never end. But this wish was bound to be unfulfilled.
After all, she was a person 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, constantly 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 recognize 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 scratch on 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 comfortable dormitory, Eda felt she had nothing better to do than this pointless endeavor.
Eda swore that when the twins returned, 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, and her steps that were supposed to leave also stopped. She suddenly found that the patterns around the mirror had changed, which had never happened before!
It seemed that her frustrated kick had accidentally triggered some mechanism, causing the patterns to alter.
'Yes! I wasn't doing senseless stuff after all!' Eda thought to herself.
The changes in the intricate carvings were subtle, just slight depressions that were easy to miss. If Eda hadn't examined them so closely before, she might not have noticed at all.
As she carefully observed the changes, Eda extended her hand to touch the newly recessed areas.
These altered sections felt like they formed the shapes of letters, though she couldn't immediately discern them.
After distinguishing the letters, Eda began to try to arrange them in order to restore them into a complete sentence.
Her memory was already sharp, and being a Hogwarts student who learned a lot daily from McGonagal's punishments had only enhanced it. Remembering the shapes of these letters wasn't difficult.
Crouching on the floor, Eda used her finger to write and draw on the ground, attempting to first form words and then piece them together into a sentence.
There were many possible combinations, and it took a while for her to figure it out.
After many attempts and considerable brain strain, Eda finally completed the puzzle, her furrowed brow relaxing as she did.
Standing up, she glanced around the corridor to make sure no one else was present. Feeling reassured, Eda spread her arms wide and declared to the mirror, "Show me the world within the mirror!"
As her voice, full of ceremonial intent, echoed, the mirror in front of her slowly vanished. In its place was a dark entrance, just large 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 platform, large enough to accommodate three or four people. Below the platform, a tunnel stretched downward.
Eda cast the light from her wand tip down the tunnel.
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 indeterminate age. Eda used the Incendio spell to light one of them.
Holding the torch in her left hand and her wand in her right, she ventured into the tunnel.
The only light in the pitch-black tunnel came from Eda's torch, and the only sound was her footsteps echoing. She felt as though she could hear her own heartbeat in the stillness.
The tunnel wasn't a straight descent. It had many twists and turns, and Eda lost track of how long she had been walking. Eventually, she reached the tunnel's end.
Raising her torch high, Eda tried to discern 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 beneath Hogwarts.
Eda cast Lumos again, this time pouring more magic into the spell. The Lumos charm became dazzlingly bright. She raised her wand and sent the light orb high into the air, like a magical flare in the night.
With the help of this magical flare, 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, noticing that most of them were damaged, with several collapsed on the ground. It seemed that time had taken its toll on this place.
This room had likely been a well-hidden space, but the constantly falling stones from the statues reminded Eda of the potential for a cave-in at any moment.
Holding her torch carefully, Eda crossed the room to the opposite side, where another tunnel led upwards. This appeared to be another entrance or exit.
Eda proceeded slowly through the new tunnel, 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 village, with the towering Hogwarts castle visible nearby. It was clear that this village was Hogsmeade.
Fortunately, there were no pedestrians on the road at this hour, so no one noticed Eda's sudden appearance.
Eda had no intention of touring Hogsmeade on this cold night. Having discovered the secret passage, she had completed the task assigned by the twins and decided to return the way she came.
Retracing her steps through the long tunnel, Eda reached the original starting point. She didn't rush out but instead used the mirror at the entrance to check if anyone was passing by in the hallway.
Given the long journey, it was already past curfew when she returned. It was best to be cautious.
Eda waited there for a while before emerging from the secret passage.
She cast the Disillusionment Charm on herself, feeling a chill spread from head to toe, as if someone had just poured a glass of ice water over her.
As the spell took effect, Eda's body blended into her surroundings like a chameleon. Confident in her "invisibility," she made her way back to the common 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 happened tonight.
That night, from Hogwarts Castle to the giant room buried deep underground with sculptures, and then to the wizarding village Hogsmeade, the whole journey seemed to be safe, but every moment gave Eda an exciting feeling.
Walking through the Hogwarts underground at night and exploring the castle's secrets was fascinating for her.
She found herself increasingly drawn to this adventurous lifestyle. Perhaps, deep down, she was never meant to live a calm life.
The Sorting Hat sorted her into Gryffindor probably because of this trait of hers!
________
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