With each passing day of hard work, Number 12 Grimmauld Place became much cleaner. At the very least, walking around no longer kicked up clouds of dust everywhere. As the house became increasingly tidy, the summer holiday also gradually approached its end.
Everyone missed Hogwarts terribly. Even listening to Professor Binns would be more enjoyable than staying in this filthy, foul-smelling old house. At least everyone slept particularly well during his classes.
Moreover, there was the house-elf Kreacher in this house. Kreacher would always hide in the shadows whenever you passed by and curse you viciously.
If Dobby was an oddity among house-elves, then the Black family's Kreacher was also an oddity.
Unlike Dobby, Kreacher was extremely unfriendly toward others. He seemed to have learned quite a few insulting words from his old master.
For example, he called Mr. Weasley an "old degenerate," called the Weasley children "disgusting little brats from that old degenerate," called Hermione a "Mudblood," and so on.
Kreacher's tone toward Tonks was even more vicious. It was probably because half of Tonks's blood came from the Blacks, while the other half came from "dirty" Muggles.
On the last day of the holiday, Eda finally received her letter from Hogwarts. It should have arrived much earlier in previous years. After giving it a quick look, she saw that this year she only needed to buy a new copy of The Standard Book of Spells and a copy of Defensive Magical Theory.
Looking at the familiar-looking title, Eda thought carefully for a moment. She vaguely remembered that she had read this book before, probably when she was working at Flourish and Blotts.
If there was nothing wrong with Eda's memory, the author of the book, Wilbert Slinkhard, was apparently a pacifist. He opposed the use of offensive spells and advocated using passive methods to deal with conflicts.
His book was an extension of that philosophy.
Putting down the book list, Eda went to take a look at Hermione's and Ginny's lists as well.
The two of them also needed to buy Defensive Magical Theory. In other words, fourth-year, fifth-year, and seventh-year students would all be using the same textbook for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Fifth-year students had to take their Ordinary Wizarding Level exams, while seventh-year students had to take their Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Yet they were going to use the same textbook as students in other years. What kind of arrangement was this?
Eda really wanted to know where exactly the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Dumbledore had gone through all that trouble to find had crawled out from!
"Ah!" Hermione suddenly let out an excited scream.
Eda, who had been lost in thought, turned around to look. Hermione was holding an envelope in one hand and a badge in the other, jumping around excitedly.
"I'm a prefect!" Hermione said excitedly. "Eda, Ginny, I'm a prefect!"
Hermione's face was flushed, and even her brown hair seemed to float as she spoke. The newly appointed prefect, Miss Hermione Granger, jumped off the bed with a thump and quickly ran out.
Eda and Ginny were left staring at each other in the bedroom.
"Eda, were you this excited when you got your prefect badge?" Ginny asked quietly. Then she shook her head vigorously, as if trying to drive the wild thoughts out of her mind.
"No, absolutely not," Eda said firmly.
There was no way she would embarrass herself like Hermione. At most, she had simply smiled very happily. It was only a prefect badge. She was already Head Girl. Had she gotten excited about that?
As they talked, Eda and Ginny also left the bedroom. Ginny went to find Mrs. Weasley, while Eda went to the twins' room.
Fred and George were not in the room, and their Hogwarts book lists had been casually thrown onto the floor. Eda had come up empty-handed.
Looking at the orders scattered all over the floor and the little boxes bearing a W scattered everywhere, Eda helplessly sighed. She tied up her hair and helped the two brothers tidy things up a little.
Not long afterward, with a loud bang, Fred and George Apparated into the bedroom. Both had smug, mischievous grins on their faces as they rolled around together on the carpet.
"What happened? Who did you prank this time?" Eda asked while putting all the orders together. "Harry? Ron? Or old Kreacher?"
Fred rolled over and sat up on the carpet. He said, "Ickle Ronniekins. No, the esteemed Prefect Ronald Weasley."
"What?" Eda could hardly believe her ears. Although Ron was her own idiot little brother, Eda genuinely could not see what reason there was for choosing Ron as a prefect.
At home, apart from his excellent height, Ron was not particularly outstanding in any area compared with his brothers. At school, Ron was even more overshadowed by the brilliance of Harry and Hermione beside him, making him seem almost transparent.
"See? You find it hard to believe too, right?" George said. "We could hardly believe it either. We thought it would be Harry."
Indeed, no matter how you looked at it, Harry seemed more suitable than Ron. Yet Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall had not chosen Harry.
Perhaps they thought Harry had already taken on enough and did not want to add another burden to him. Perhaps they had discovered the qualities that shone within Ron and believed he was more suited to the position of prefect.
Regardless, Ron was now a Gryffindor prefect.
"What did you say or do to make you two laugh like this?" Eda asked. "Don't tell me you stuck the badge to Ron's forehead?"
Actually, what Ron needed most at a time like this was encouragement and a boost of confidence. But Fred and George were never going to do something like that, so Eda did not waste her breath.
In the twins' view, only fools became prefects, and the Head Girl was an even bigger fool. That included Eda.
Fred laughed and said, "Who would've thought the Head Girl would actually give us a good idea? We just asked him if he wanted us to kiss him like Mum does!"
"And we also said we could bow down to him," George added with a laugh. But as they laughed, the twins gradually stopped smiling.
Fred said gloomily, "Do you know what Mum said? Mum said everyone in the family has been a prefect. Bill, Charlie, you, and that disgusting idiot Percy..."
George followed in a dejected voice, "Then what are Fred and I? The neighbors next door?"
After saying that, Fred and George both lowered their heads and stared silently at the carpet. It seemed that Mrs. Weasley's unintentional words had really hurt the twins.
About five minutes later, the twins got up and began packing their things, with Eda helping them from the side. Throughout the entire process, Fred and George remained gloomy.
Once everything had been packed into their trunks, the clouds finally cleared from Fred and George's faces, and they put the unhappy matter behind them.
That evening, Mrs. Weasley hung a banner in the kitchen congratulating Ron and Hermione on becoming prefects. She had also bought Ron a new broomstick, a Cleansweep Eleven.
Mrs. Weasley was in an exceptionally good mood. She had not seemed this happy at any point during the entire holiday.
As soon as Fred and George entered the kitchen, they saw the banner. The brothers rolled their eyes at the same time, but they did not prank Ron again because they did not want to ruin their mother's good mood.
Dinner was lavish. Everyone had a glass in their hands, while the underage ones had butterbeer. Everyone offered their congratulations to Ron and Hermione.
Tonks shared why she had never become a prefect. Professor Sprout believed she lacked certain qualities necessary for the position, such as being unable to follow the rules properly.
Sirius also said a few words. He had spent most of his time in detention with James, so what normal person would ever choose him as a prefect?
Lupin, on the other hand, had become a prefect, but he summed up his prefect career with the word "failure," because he had never managed to keep Sirius and James under control.
All these people were trying to comfort Harry, who had not been selected, and tell him not to worry about the prefect badge.
Eda sat in a corner of the kitchen. She neither joined the conversation nor listened to Ron talk about his new broomstick. Instead, she was keeping watch for Fred and George.
Halfway through the feast, Mrs. Weasley left the kitchen. She was going to deal with a Boggart hidden somewhere in the house. The moment Mrs. Weasley stepped out of the kitchen, the twins immediately began their top-secret transaction.
Since the transaction was with Mundungus Fletcher, whom Mrs. Weasley disliked very much, she absolutely could not be allowed to find out.
The brothers were almost finished with the deal, but Mrs. Weasley still had not returned, which made Eda somewhat worried.
Without wasting any words, Eda grabbed the twins and stopped them from continuing to haggle with Mundungus, then dragged them out of the kitchen.
"What happened?" George asked in confusion.
"Yeah, give us another two or three minutes and we can get the price down to ten Galleons," Fred said. "The seeds of Venomous Tentacula are really difficult to obtain."
They had barely gone very far from the kitchen when Eda and the twins heard faint sobbing. It was Mrs. Weasley's voice.
Fred and George immediately stopped arguing about the Venomous Tentacula seeds and hurried toward the sound.
They pushed open the living room door and saw Mrs. Weasley curled up against the dark wall, clutching her wand and trembling as she cried.
On the dusty old carpet, illuminated by the pale moonlight, were the bodies of Fred and George.
"R-Riddikulus!" Mrs. Weasley sobbed, pointing her trembling wand at them.
Pop!
The Boggart changed into Percy, leaving Mrs. Weasley even more distressed.
The twins hurried to their mother's side so she could clearly see that they were safe. Eda also stepped forward and pointed her wand at the Boggart.
Fred and George held their mother tightly and spoke softly.
"Mum, it's all right. It's only a Boggart. It doesn't mean anything. Dad, Bill, Charlie, Eda, Ron, and Ginny are all fine... Percy will be fine too."
Mrs. Weasley sobbed as she tightly embraced her two most mischievous sons and broke down crying.
Fred gently wiped away Mrs. Weasley's tears, while George softly patted her back to comfort her.
The brothers continued reassuring her in gentle voices.
"Mum, nothing will happen. Everyone will be all right. Everything will get better."
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