In the end, after much hesitation, Harry and Ron finally told Eda about Hermione.
It turned out that Hermione had planned to use the Polyjuice Potion to transform into Millicent and sneak into the Slytherin common room with Harry and Ron.
But the result was completely different from what Hermione had expected — the hair she had taken from Millicent hadn't belonged to a human, but to a cat.
As a result, Hermione turned into a catgirl. Yes, Gryffindor's second catgirl.
However, unlike the older one, Hermione's transformation was mostly human in form — and temporary.
Under Madam Pomfrey's care, she would soon recover completely.
Eda didn't laugh at Hermione, nor did she think the mishap was funny. Hermione's carelessness had already taught her a painful lesson, and Eda believed the clever girl had learned from it.
On the contrary, Eda even went to the infirmary to visit Hermione.
Unfortunately, she didn't get to see the fluffy little girl or touch the "catgirl's" ears.
To protect Hermione and spare her embarrassment, Madam Pomfrey had drawn the curtains around her bed so that no one could see her feline form.
Eda could only offer a few comforting words through the curtain to ease the girl's heart.
Before the Christmas holidays ended, Eda successfully sold off the Acromantula venom.
Scott Warren truly lived up to his reputation as a professional — he acted quickly.
On a snowy day, he completed the deal with Eda, exchanging a large bag of Galleons for the venom.
Scott Warren didn't show any of the darker sides of his trade — he didn't double-cross her.
Instead, he chose the Three Broomsticks as their meeting place and paid a clean one thousand Galleons on the spot.
Having worked in this line for so long, Warren had good instincts.
Not only did he avoid offending Eda, but he also made sure to build a friendly connection, hoping to secure future deals with her.
This deal might not have earned Warren much profit, but for him, the more important thing was expanding his connections.
A young witch who could get her hands on Acromantula venom at barely over a decade old — that was a business partner worth befriending, someone who could bring him far greater benefits in the future.
So, a "black eats black" stunt — robbing or killing one's partner for profit — was something a professional like Warren would never do, even if the thought had crossed his mind for a moment.
It was clearly January, and snowflakes were drifting over Hogwarts — yet for Esmeralda Twist, it felt as if thunder had struck the ground. She had suddenly become rich!
Of course, compared to the wealth of great wizarding families, this sum was nothing.
But for Eda, who had lived in poverty for so many years, it was an enormous fortune.
This money was enough to cover two or three years' worth of wages at the Leaky Cauldron.
With a heavy bag of Galleons in her arms, Eda returned to Hogwarts in high spirits —
she even felt that the unknown monster in the Chamber of Secrets seemed a little more adorable now.
Though the twins often called Eda a money-grubber, she wasn't blinded by the glitter of gold.
She didn't keep all the Galleons for herself — instead, she chose to split them with the twins.
After all, they had gone with her into the spider's lair and had nearly become the Acromantulas' dinner.
The twins didn't refuse. They knew that even if they did, Eda would force the money into their hands anyway.
However, Fred and George didn't agree to divide it evenly among the three of them — they only took a small portion as funding for their experiments.
As for Aragog, the Acromantula, it had been scared witless by Eda.
It didn't dare tell Hagrid what had happened, so neither Hagrid nor Dumbledore ever learned that the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest had narrowly escaped annihilation.
The matter of burning the spider's lair finally came to a clean and complete end.
Everything had been taken care of properly — though she hadn't "destroyed the evidence," no one besides the twins knew that Eda had used black magic.
While Eda was happily counting her Galleons over and over again, the Christmas holidays came to an end, and the other students began returning to school.
Whether it was because of the break or because they had been home, the returning students seemed far less panicked than before.
After the holidays, the sun began to shine weakly over Hogwarts once again, and optimism slowly spread throughout the castle.
Since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had been petrified, there had been no further attacks.
Madam Pomfrey happily reported that the mandrakes had become moody and withdrawn — a sign that they were quickly leaving their childhood stage.
It seemed that Hogwarts's cold winter had frozen the courage of Slytherin's heir; he hadn't reopened the hidden Chamber, nor released the monster that lurked within it.
Everything appeared to have settled down — no more attacks, no more injuries.
Gilderoy Lockhart, on the other hand, once again thought he was the hero of the story.
He strutted proudly through the castle every day, as if he were the one who had stopped the heir of Slytherin.
To everyone he met, he would boast, "There won't be any more trouble!" and "The culprit must have realized that the great Gilderoy Lockhart is on the case — I'll have him caught in no time!"
No matter how many times he'd been humiliated, nothing could dampen Lockhart's passion for showing off and bragging.
He truly was the kind of man who wouldn't cry until he saw the coffin.
The students' mood had improved — they were no longer as panicked or uneasy as before.
But Eda didn't share their optimism; she didn't believe the attacks were truly over.
Fifty years ago, a student had died.
Now, fifty years later, Eda didn't think that merely petrifying a few students would be enough to satisfy the Heir of Slytherin.
The attacks would definitely happen again.
Some students shared thoughts similar to Eda's, though in a different direction — they were firmly convinced that Harry was the culprit.
Led by Ernie Macmillan, these students believed that Harry was only lying low for now, waiting for the right opportunity to cause even greater panic.
They had decided Harry was guilty simply because he could speak Parseltongue — the language of snakes — and therefore must be Slytherin's heir.
It was a baseless and absurd conclusion, but it gave Eda a sudden inspiration.
A detail she had long overlooked might actually be the key to solving the mystery.
Everyone knew that Salazar Slytherin himself — and his descendants — were Parselmouths.
So, could the monster inside the Chamber also be related to snakes?
Harry could hear a voice that no one else could and always appeared first at the scenes of attack — wasn't that proof enough?
She had been blinded by the obvious, overcomplicating things.
The snake was the emblem of Slytherin.
Only Harry could hear the creature because the monster in the Chamber was a serpent.
And since serpents preyed on spiders, that explained why the spiders in the castle were fleeing in terror.
Eda should have realized all of this long ago!
She rapped her knuckles lightly against her forehead, annoyed with herself.
She hadn't managed to drive Lockhart out of the school, nor had she uncovered the Chamber's monster earlier — both were her failures, and they were simply unforgivable.
To make up for her mistake, Eda once again buried herself in the library, surrounded by piles of books about magical creatures.
She even wrote a letter to Mr. Newt Scamander, far away in Dorset, seeking advice from the knowledgeable old man about certain magical creatures.
Her effort was not in vain.
At last, Eda's persistence paid off — she finally found a magical creature that fit all the clues.
She could now be certain what old monkey Slytherin's little pet really was.
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