In the Room of Requirement, Cedric, who had fallen in love unilaterally, received Eda's careful guidance, while the others also chimed in one after another with their own opinions.
The atmosphere was gradually stirred up, and Cedric didn't know how it happened, but in a muddle he ended up agreeing to confess to Cho Chang the next day.
In reality, Cedric hadn't prepared himself for a confession at all, and he was also afraid that his suddenness would make Cho Chang feel uneasy.
It was mainly because the twins and Lee Jordan were just too good at stirring things up. Without realizing it, the atmosphere had been built to the right point, and Cedric fell right into their trap.
If Cedric hadn't agreed to confess the next day, the situation probably wouldn't have ended well that night. It would have been hard for him to make it back to Hufflepuff in one piece.
Early the next morning, the members of Dawn were all very excited—except for Cedric. The newly appointed Hufflepuff prefect was extremely nervous, constantly clenching his fists, relaxing them, then clenching them again, then relaxing them…
Eda and the others gathered early at the entrance to the Great Hall, planning to cheer Cedric on and give him encouragement.
If Cedric's confession succeeded later, he would become the first person in Dawn to say goodbye to being single!
Eh, why did the atmosphere feel a little sad? The whole group had nine people in total, and every single one of them was single. Dawn was probably the most unsuccessful study group in all of Hogwarts.
Setting up a study group, yet having no campus couples within it—such a study group had no reason to exist at all.
After a while, Cho Chang and her friend Marietta Edgecombe appeared outside the Great Hall. Whether someone from Dawn could successfully get out of singledom would be decided in this one moment!
At this critical moment, Cedric chickened out. He couldn't open his mouth, couldn't move his legs, and just kept backing away.
This was the first time the members of Dawn had ever seen him like this. From the time they first got to know Cedric, to becoming close friends today, all of it had been initiated by him.
Back then, Charlie was still at school, and now Cedric had even become Quidditch team captain—so how was it that the more he lived, the more he seemed to regress? Cho Chang was just a gentle little girl.
It was only a confession—what was there to be afraid of? Could it really be scarier than Eda?
Fred and George couldn't stand this hesitant, dithering attitude at all. No wonder the two of them were eternal troublemakers—working together, they gave Cedric a shove from behind, and the utterly cowardly Mr. Diggory was pushed right in front of Cho Chang.
Cedric turned back in terror to look at everyone, his eyes full of pleading. That expression was about the same as Little Ron's when he saw a spider. But everyone just waved him off, urging him to hurry up and confess so he wouldn't delay everyone's breakfast.
"Um… um…" Left with no choice, Cedric had to muster all his courage to face Cho Chang.
But he "um"-ed for ages without managing to say a single complete sentence, as if from this very moment on he'd changed his surname to Quirrell.
So was it really true that being open and straightforward was friendship, while being cautious and timid was love? But Lee Jordan wasn't like this with Angelina—could it be that Lee Jordan had simply settled for second best?
Marietta Edgecombe seemed quite used to scenes like this. She gave a knowing smile that everyone understood, then walked into the Great Hall by herself, leaving Cedric and Cho Chang some space alone.
Cho Chang shyly lowered her head, her slender pale fingers twisting together. This looked promising! Everything was ready—only the final push was missing!
There were more and more students gathering at the entrance to the Great Hall.
Confessions weren't anything rare, but a confession from the school heartthrob Cedric was something seldom seen. People always praised this boy, saying he possessed "everything people hoped for in a Hogwarts student."
The twins and Lee Jordan were also watching the situation nervously, all of them breaking out in a sweat for Cedric. If Cedric became officially taken, their own chances in the dating pool would increase invisibly several times over.
The girls, led by Eda, on the other hand, weren't nervous at all. They had noticed Cho Chang's small gestures and knew this had a very high chance of success. As long as Cedric dared to open his mouth, things would naturally fall into place, and he would become the first member of Dawn to walk upright.
But Cedric disappointed everyone. When it really came down to it, he was so scared that he didn't dare to speak. In the end, he only managed to choke out one sentence:
"Hi! Have you eaten?"
Cho Chang's eyes widened instantly. She had already prepared herself to accept it, but all she got was that one line. She was very disappointed and replied neither softly nor harshly, "Not yet, because you're blocking my way, Mr. Diggory."
The good-hearted Mr. Diggory covered his face and retreated in defeat, armor shattered, fleeing in utter rout.
With much thunder but little rain, a wave of boos rose at the entrance to the Great Hall, and Cedric ran away even faster.
But when he ran back to the others, he found that not a single person paid him any attention—everyone's eyes were filled with deep disappointment.
As the leader, Eda patted Cedric on the shoulder and said earnestly, "You deserve to not have a girlfriend. You really do."
The entire confession plan had gone down the drain, and a whole night's effort was wasted. For a while, no one was going to forgive Mr. Diggory.
Cho Chang was the same. Cedric's negative-performance this time successfully lowered her opinion of him. He had brought it on himself—Cedric's long road of pursuing his future wife had been infinitely extended because of today's retreat.
This confession had been a ridiculous accident to begin with, and it ended in an even more ridiculous way.
Cedric spent the entire day steeped in sorrow. Whenever he ran into members of Dawn in the corridors, they would warmly say to him, "You're blocking my way, Mr. Diggory."
Hopefully, Mr. Diggory, who was always blocking people's paths, would feel ashamed and strive to do better—so as not to disappoint everyone again.
In the blink of an eye, it was evening. With an extremely heavy heart, Eda walked into the dungeon classroom.
Thankfully, the dungeon was rather dim, so Eda couldn't clearly see Snape's face. Thankfully, it was the second day after the Boggart incident, and Eda had barely managed to adjust her mindset.
Snape really looked good in a skirt..
"What are you laughing at?" Snape said darkly. "Do you know how many more wrinkles you have now compared to when you first enrolled?" Seeing the smile that unconsciously appeared on Eda's face, Snape felt his anger flare up—damn Remus Lupin!
After all, she was a girl and still cared about her looks. Eda instinctively touched her cheeks with both hands and said indignantly, "Professor, you shouldn't have said something like that to a lady just now. It was extremely rude!"
"I'd like to ask, Miss Twist, who gave you the courage to call yourself a lady?" Snape's words were slow but lethally sharp. "And who gave you the illusion that I am a polite person?"
In a battle of words, Eda was no match for Snape. After all, the Potions professor had been steeped in this for many years. On the rare occasions when she managed to win once due to one of Snape's mistakes, she would be so angry afterward that her liver would tremble.
Unable to beat him in a fight and unable to outtalk him either, Eda finally experienced that sense of helplessness others felt when facing her.
Seeing that Eda didn't retort, Snape didn't press the attack. He sat back down in his chair and said, "The formula is on the table, the ingredients are in the cabinet. That is your task for today."
Eda walked over to the workbench. A cauldron sat on the surface, with a sheet of parchment placed beside it. She reached out to pick up the parchment and carefully examined the potion name and recipe written on it, a huge question mark forming in her mind.
As if afraid she had read it wrong, she asked uncertainly, "Professor… the Wolfsbane Potion?"
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