Ron's head wasn't working too well to begin with, having just woken up — and when he saw these three standing there, his mind short-circuited even more.
He didn't wonder how Eda had come back to school, because he hadn't even remembered that Eda had been "expelled."
The question that Ron blurted out made Eda and the twins burst out laughing. Fred said, "I'm going to tell Mum, Ronald Weasley — you're dead this time. Mum's going to tan your backside so hard!"
"Yeah~ If Mum finds out that her precious little Ronnie broke this many school rules, she'll be heartbroken," George added, even mimicking their mother as he wiped away imaginary tears from the corner of his eye.
"This isn't the time to talk about that — Snape's inside stealing the Sorcerer's Stone! Harry's already gone to stop him, but Dumbledore isn't at school…" Ron babbled incoherently. "We have to stop Snape — we have to protect the Stone."
"Relax, Ron. We're here for pretty much the same reason as you," Eda said, dropping the teasing. "But we're not here to stop Professor Snape — we're here to stop Quirrell."
"Who?" Ron's brain crashed completely. Wasn't Snape the one inside?
How had it turned into Quirrell all of a sudden? Ron pointed stiffly toward the next room, stammering, unable to squeeze out a complete sentence for a long moment.
"From the very start, it was Quirrell who wanted to steal the Stone, not Snape," Fred explained patiently to his poor, confused brother. "The day Gringotts was robbed, didn't Harry run into Quirrell at the Leaky Cauldron? Because he was the one who robbed Gringotts!"
"The troll on Halloween was also let in by Quirrell — he wanted to use the chaos as cover to get here, but because of Snape, he failed," George continued. "And at the Quidditch match, it was Quirrell trying to hurt Harry — Snape was the one protecting him. Got it now, my stupid little brother?"
Ron nodded blankly, feeling like his brain had probably been eaten by the ghoul that lived above the Burrow. Otherwise, how could he have missed all of this?
Ron's brain wasn't much use, but the clever one of the young trio had also returned to the chessboard room — Hermione had just solved Snape's potion riddle and come back from the other side.
She was still worrying about how to get Ron out of here, how to find a professor — and then she saw Ron awake, with these three standing next to him.
"You all… How—"
"How are we here?" the twins said in unison, following up smoothly, "Well, that's a long story — not really the right time to tell it."
"Alright, Fred, you take Ron and Hermione and get out of here. Ron needs Madam Pomfrey to check him over — we can't risk leaving any lasting damage on that not-so-smart head of his," said Eda. "George, you go inform the professors — you know how to find him."
Fred and George helped Ron up without questioning Eda's instructions. They knew that if they kept going forward, they'd only become a burden to her.
The twins had never been able to be as outstanding as Eda when it came to magic, but they'd never envied her for it, nor had her brilliance driven them away. They never belittled themselves, either — they knew where their strengths lay, and they knew how to protect Eda in their own way.
"Eda, you probably can't help Harry anymore — the path ahead is blocked by black flames. The potion to get through the flames was only enough for Harry alone," Hermione said. Even though Eda hadn't mentioned what she was about to do, Hermione already knew.
Eda reached out and ruffled Hermione's hair — not bad, she thought, nice texture.
She said, "Hermione, thanks for the reminder, but more than a month ago, Fred, George, and I already came to the final room. The fire-protection potion on the table was made by me."
Hearing this, Hermione was as dumbfounded as Ron, and that old feeling of inferiority from the start of the school year flooded back: So this is what a real top student looks like?
The gap between her and Eda was huge — about the size of ten Rons…
"George, you can explain the whole story to our confused Miss Granger on the way out. Everyone — see you later," Eda said as she walked forward, loosening her joints and preparing for the fight to come.
Without breaking a sweat, Eda passed through the remaining two rooms and entered the chamber with the Mirror of Erised — the room where Quirrell, Harry, and Voldemort were waiting.
"You?! How are you here?" Quirrell asked, startled to see Eda suddenly appear.
Why does everyone keep asking that? Do you all think I, Miss Twist, am so unworthy of staying at Hogwarts?
Eda smiled and asked, "Why aren't you stuttering anymore? The show's not over yet — can you be a bit more professional?"
"No! How in the hell are you here?" Quirrell demanded again, this time with anger in his voice.
"I'm here to settle a score with you! You still haven't paid me for that glass of brandy — don't tell me you're planning to stiff me?" Eda continued. "You're a professor — if you just skip out on paying a student, I think I really ought to report this to the Headmaster."
"Eh?"
Quirrell couldn't remember when he'd ever owed Eda a glass of brandy, but he knew perfectly well that Eda was here to stop him — and that was enough.
Quirrell had hated Eda for a long time; this student and her friends always made things difficult for him. Now he had the perfect chance to get rid of her too.
"Stop wasting time! Kill them both!" Voldemort's shrill voice snarled from the back of Quirrell's head.
"Oh? So there's more than one of you in that body — What is This? Black Clover? Nah, what's that called then? Two souls in one shell? Or are you just a two-faced scum?"
Eda's taunt cut through the murderous tension in the room. It wasn't that Eda underestimated Quirrell — she just didn't see him as any threat at all.
"Avada Kedavra!" Quirrell's wand tip flared green as the Killing Curse shot straight at Eda.
Eda dodged nimbly, her body twisting aside from the deadly curse. At the same time, she swung her left hand back and shoved Harry to the side, moving him safely out of the way. Both of them avoided the lethal spell.
"So, what should I call the one on the back of your head? The Dark Lord?" Eda shook her head, rejecting the title. "No, no — in my eyes, the title 'Dark Lord' belongs to someone else entirely. I'll stick with Voldemort for you."
"Kill her! Kill them — you useless fool!" Voldemort's roar echoed from Quirrell's skull. A mere student — a Mudblood — daring to speak his name? Unforgivable!
Quirrell obeyed Voldemort without question. His attacks grew frantic — green flashes of deadly light shot one after another from his wand.
Because of the nature of the Killing Curse, Eda didn't bother to block it; instead, she slipped and weaved through Quirrell's wild attacks with ease.
The sky-blue robes fluttered gracefully with Eda's movements, like a swan dancing in midair. Hiding to the side, Harry watched Eda and couldn't help but think back to their first meeting — the shock and awe she had given him then. Today, once again, he was witnessing Eda's strength firsthand.
But in truth, Eda was far from as relaxed as she appeared in Harry's eyes.
She had no desire to dance in a minefield like this — one slip, and she could lose her life. She couldn't afford a single careless mistake.
After dodging several consecutive Killing Curses, Quirrell grew increasingly frantic. The furious roars from the back of his head only made him more agitated.
That agitation gave Eda the opening she needed. The ring on her left hand unfurled into a shield that blocked a Killing Curse head-on. The deep sound of the impact echoed through the underground chamber.
Seizing that moment, Eda unleashed a Shattering Curse, this one carrying all her pent-up anger. For the first time, she triggered her "Reckless" double-casting trait.
Unlucky as ever, Eda's double-casting caught Quirrell completely off guard. He barely managed to block the curse in time, sparing himself from being blown apart.
Though he'd fended it off, Quirrell realized that the battle was now beyond his control.
The tables had completely turned — all he could do was keep swinging his wand desperately to avoid being struck by Eda's relentless spells.
Eda didn't use any Dark Magic, nor any large-scale spells — she didn't dare risk accidentally hurting Harry. Even so, this new, calmer, more confident Eda still kept Quirrell utterly suppressed.
The flow between her spells became smoother and smoother, her shifts between offense and defense ever more seamless. Meanwhile, Quirrell, hampered by Voldemort's presence, found his concentration fraying.
The balance tipped, and it was only natural that he was now the one being driven back.
"Useless fool! She's holding back because of that Potter boy — go attack the child!" Voldemort's voice barked from the back of Quirrell's head, unable to bear watching any longer. He inwardly cursed himself for ever choosing such an idiot.
Not that Voldemort really had a choice — he'd been hiding in the forests of Albania for so many years that Quirrell was the only one who had ever come to him. There simply hadn't been any other options.
After blocking Eda's relentless string of attacks, Quirrell seized an opening in her offense. He lunged forward in a single leap, charging straight at Harry, aiming to seize him and force the troublesome Eda to hold back.
Once Eda was dealt with, he could make Harry reveal the location of the Sorcerer's Stone.
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