Hermione went to find Harry and stopped pestering the twins, which made the atmosphere in the common room much better, especially harmonious.
Angelina, Alicia, and Katie Bell were adjusting the old robes Oliver Wood had left behind. Ron would have to wear them for training first.
Lee Jordan repeatedly counted the empty boxes with the letter W printed on them in his hands, completely ignoring the twins' distress signals.
Eda's left hand twisted Fred's ear while her right hand twisted George's ear, turning them around with all her strength as she settled both their new and old grievances at once.
The twins did not dare resist either, because the more they resisted, the more it hurt. This "ear-twisting technique" was directly inherited from Mrs. Weasley. The brothers could only slap at Eda's arms and beg for mercy.
Just when Fred and George had nowhere to escape, Ronald Weasley arrived like a hero, saving the twins from their predicament once again.
Ron came toward the three of them with his brows furrowed and eyes wide, looking murderous. Behind Ron, Hermione was also dragging an unwilling Harry toward them.
As soon as he reached them, Ron shouted at the top of his lungs, "Eda, you've got to do something about this! Look what that old hag Umbridge has done!"
Eda's little heart had been pounding nonstop tonight. First, she had been startled by Angelina's "backup plan," then Hermione's righteous fury had made her shiver, and now Ron's murderous shout had shaken her again.
Eda immediately let go. The twins hurried away from her, rubbing their ears as they fled.
At this moment, Hermione, who was dragging Harry along, also reached Eda's side. She immediately raised Harry's hand for Eda to see. Harry's right hand was covered in bright red blood, with beads of blood constantly welling up.
Eda took out a handkerchief and gently wiped away the blood, revealing the injury on the back of Harry's hand. It was a line of words:
I must not tell lies.
Everyone gathered around. Anger showed in Fred and George's eyes, while Angelina looked somewhat guilty because she had harshly scolded Harry that afternoon. The twins gave Lee Jordan a look, and Lee immediately ran back to the dormitory.
"Tell us what happened," Eda said. "Don't leave anything out."
Eda pulled Harry down into a seat. Before sitting down, she glanced around the common room, and the little lions immediately moved away from their location as a group.
Lee Jordan soon came running back as well, carrying a bowl of Murtlap essence.
The essence of this magical creature could relieve pain and help wounds heal. In order to research an antidote for Instant Skiving Snacks, the twins had stocked up on a large amount of Murtlap essence.
Harry soaked his right hand in the bowl and explained the cause of the injury. It turned out that Umbridge's detention consisted of writing lines, using a special quill to write them. The ink was blood.
Harry did not know how many times he had written "I must not tell lies." He estimated it had been thousands upon thousands of times. By now, those words had been deeply "carved" into his hand. That was exactly what Umbridge wanted.
"Good thing you didn't go to detention," Fred said, looking at Eda's smooth hand. "What's the deal with this quill? Dark magic?"
"I think so," George said. "Look at the back of Harry's hand. It's been soaking for this long, and the bleeding still hasn't completely stopped."
The amount of blood coming from the back of Harry's hand made the wound seem very deep. But there was not much flesh on the back of a person's hand. If the wound were truly as deep as it appeared, Harry's hand would probably already be ruined.
This magical quill sounded very much like a torture device, and the magic it used on people also seemed very much like Dark magic.
"That's absolutely despicable!" Ron said. "We should go tell Professor McGonagall and tell Dumbledore!"
"It won't do any good, Ron," George said, pulling Ron back into an armchair as he spoke. "Dumbledore can't do anything about the Ministry of Magic."
Fred continued, "Umbridge is Fudge's lapdog. She won't listen to Dumbledore. Did you forget how she interrupted Dumbledore's speech directly at the start-of-term feast?"
"But I think we have to tell Dumbledore about this," Hermione said. "Especially since Harry's scar hurt again! When Umbridge touched him, Harry felt..."
Halfway through her sentence, Hermione suddenly stopped. In her anxiety, she had forgotten that Angelina and the others were still nearby.
Angelina and the others did not show any displeasure. The four of them each found an excuse to leave. Before leaving, they also comforted Harry a few times, and Angelina apologized to Harry as well for her poor attitude that afternoon.
After everyone left, Eda asked, "Your scar hurt again? Does it hurt all the time, or only today?"
"It hurt on and off throughout the summer. It just hurts a little more tonight," Harry said irritably. "It's nothing. I mean, it's no big deal."
Harry seemed very unwilling to talk about his scar, looking just like a child going through a rebellious phase.
"Write to Sirius!" Ron suggested. "See what he thinks."
"We can't do that. The Ministry has already reached its hands into the school, so our letters aren't safe anymore," Hermione said. "They could expose them. Moody also told us to be extremely careful when writing letters."
Harry looked impatient and acted extremely irritable.
"We can't tell Sirius because it's not safe. Fine!" Harry said. "I don't want to tell Dumbledore either. I don't want him worrying about me because of this ugly scar!"
As he spoke, Harry stood up and wanted to leave. He said, "Is there anything else? If not, I'm going back to bed. I'm tired."
The bowl containing the Murtlap essence fell to the floor when Harry stood up. It shattered into pieces, and the Murtlap essence splashed onto the trouser legs of several people.
Fred pulled out his wand and restored the bowl. He said, "Mate, don't be like this. Relax a little. In a few days, you'll realize how awful you look right now."
"Worse than that old toad Umbridge," George added.
Eda said nothing. She silently stared into Harry's eyes, almost as if Snape had possessed her. After watching him for a long time, Eda still could not find anything unusual. Dumbledore's concern might have come a little too early.
"If you don't want our concern, we can stop caring about you," Eda said. "The time we save can be spent doing something else. Even if I went to feed Garlon, he would still happily wag his tail at me."
Eda's words were harsh, almost no different from insulting him.
You cannot advise someone to be kind when you have never experienced their suffering.
Although Eda did not know how much pain Harry was carrying inside, that was still no reason for him to lash out at the people around him.
That was why Eda directly snapped back at Harry. If he continued behaving like this, no one would keep tolerating him forever.
Hermione and Ron simultaneously tugged at Harry's sleeve, and Harry finally sat down. His expression was still impatient, however.
"Umbridge touched my arm in her office, and then my scar started hurting," Harry said absentmindedly. "I suspect she was being controlled. Like Quirrell was back then."
Eda thought for a moment and said, "Impossible. When I first met Umbridge, she was already this vicious. If you knew what Umbridge had done in the past, you wouldn't say that."
Everyone looked at Eda, waiting for her to continue. Although Harry had been contradicted, his expression had improved considerably.
"Umbridge once drafted an anti-werewolf bill that made it impossible for Remus to find any work that could support him," Eda continued. "Umbridge is a cold-blooded person. If she could, she would raise a knife without hesitation and slaughter werewolves, merpeople, centaurs, and all sorts of other creatures. Of course, that includes anyone who opposes her."
"Do you remember what Dad said about Umbridge, Fred?" George asked.
"Of course," Fred said. "Dad said she's a pure-blood supremacist. Just because Dad likes Muggles, she targeted him repeatedly."
"She's absolutely rotten," Ron muttered. "That old hag would be perfect as a Death Eater."
Eda chuckled softly and continued, "Actually, Umbridge is a half-blood, and she has absolutely nothing to do with the Selwyn family."
All this time, Umbridge had disguised herself as a pure-blood and constantly promoted pure-blood supremacy, which earned her the support of quite a few pure-blood families. Even though those pure-blood families did not particularly like Umbridge either.
This enormous piece of gossip left everyone completely stuffed. It was simply too unexpected.
"Many things aren't as simple as they look. Think more and observe more. Don't rush to get angry," Eda said. "Whether it's Dumbledore or Umbridge, the same applies."
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