Capítulo 74: Chapter 74: Dance Spell and Mandrake
After class, the Gryffindor students were still discussing Glover Cecil.
This unconventional theory lesson had successfully won over the young lions, and his past as a Dark wizard no longer concerned them much. He had quickly become one of their favorite professors.
By dinner that evening, Glover Cecil's identity was known to all the students, and their curiosity about him far surpassed their fear of his Dark wizard past.
There were too many mysteries surrounding Cecil, making it hard not to be intrigued by both him and the subject he taught.
Everyone was speculating about his past, wondering what kinds of wrongdoings he had committed.
Did he perform terrible experiments or murder wizards or Muggles?
And who had brought him to justice and sent him to Azkaban?
Both second- and fourth-year students had already attended his classes, and they couldn't stop praising him. This only fueled the anticipation for those who had yet to take Defense Against the Dark Arts.
A mysterious past, a controversial identity, and waves of protest letters from parents—what seemed like a catastrophic beginning had vanished in just a day. From this alone, Cecil was already proving himself to be better than his predecessor.
That evening, back in the common room, a first-year girl approached Eda, Angelina, and Alicia.
"Good evening, senior. My name is Katie Bell. Professor McGonagall told me to temporarily stay in your dormitory," the girl named Katie Bell said timidly.
She seemed nervous, clutching the piece of parchment in her hand so tightly that it was crumpled.
Eda vaguely remembered the girl, recalling that she had sat nearby during the start-of-term feast.
Eda extended her hand to Katie, and the nervous girl finally realized she was supposed to hand over the parchment.
"Ah! Here!"
After quickly scanning the letter, Eda said, "Welcome, Katie."
The three girls led Katie back to the dormitory, where two large suitcases were placed at the door. Katie stepped forward, struggling to move the boxes to clear the entrance.
Angelina walked up and unlocked the dormitory door. She and Alicia entered first, while Katie, just about to lift her two large suitcases and follow them, noticed that the boxes were now floating in mid-air, slowly drifting into the dormitory.
"Two beds, pick one!" Angelina said, pointing to the two empty beds. She and Alicia quickly tidied up the things on the vacant beds as they entered the room.
Still standing at the doorway, Katie walked in and inspected both beds before ultimately choosing the one slightly farther from the door. Her suitcases floated over and gently landed by her chosen bed.
"Even though I know Eda is talented, every time I see her use magic, it makes me feel unworthy of being a witch. It's honestly a bit discouraging," Alicia said to Angelina as she walked over to help Katie with her bed.
"Yeah! Being Eda's roommate is seriously stressful. Not only do we have to deal with her in class, but we also come back to see her in the dormitory," Angelina added.
"I'm kind of jealous of little Katie. At least she doesn't have to see Eda in class."
"I'll take that as a compliment, humph!" Eda said, leaning against her bed with no intention of helping. "But next time, maybe talk about me behind my back."
"Actually, you could always move in with Patricia Stinson if you can handle her constant crying," Eda continued with a smirk.
"I'd rather stay with you!" Angelina laughed. She was a straightforward girl and definitely couldn't stand Patricia, the little crybaby.
"Could you at least get off your lazy butt and help?" Alicia tossed a pillow at Eda, though not out of frustration—she just wanted Eda to make a good impression on the new student.
While Katie was organizing her things, she quietly said, "It's okay, seniors. You can rest. I can do it myself."
Katie Bell's dorm was temporarily uninhabitable, so she had to be separated from her new classmates for a while.
Professor McGonagall assigned her to this dorm, and since she'd only been at school for two days, it was natural for her to feel a bit nervous around the older students.
"Don't even think about it. Eda even uses her wand to prepare Garlon's dog food. If she doesn't have to use her hands, she won't," Angelina said.
Checkmate!
Angelina's comment forced Eda to get off the bed and help out. With Eda joining in, the unpacking went much faster.
After they helped Katie settle in, the first-year student became much more familiar with Eda, Angelina, and Alicia, and her initial nervousness faded. She realized that the older girls were actually quite easy to get along with.
Angelina and Alicia took extra care of the new student, especially after learning that Katie also liked Quidditch. This made them even more attentive to their new housemate.
"Quidditch chatterbox"
Eda didn't join in their conversation. She simply sat on the side, watching the three animatedly discuss their favorite sport, almost as if she were the one who had just moved in that day.
On Tuesday morning, their first class was Charms. Professor Flitwick seemed to have learned from yesterday's lesson and didn't jump straight into teaching new spells. Instead, he led the students in reviewing the charms they'd learned the previous year.
After practicing for a while, Professor Flitwick began teaching spells from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, but he explained everything slowly, as if worried the students had forgotten to bring their brains to class.
The Dancing Feet Spell 'Tarantallegra' was what Eda and her classmates were learning today.
This spell caused the legs of any object it hit to twitch uncontrollably, as if performing a quickstep dance. It worked on both inanimate and living objects—basically, anything with legs.
It was a fun yet mischievous jinx, but Professor Flitwick strictly forbade them from using it on their fellow students. Instead, he handed each student a small stool to practice the spell on.
In the afternoon, they had Herbology. During their first year, Professor Sprout had always taught them in Greenhouse One, but this year, they were using Greenhouse Three instead. Compared to the first greenhouse, Greenhouse Three was far more interesting, but also much more dangerous.
For example, in their first lesson, they dealt with Mandrakes.
Mandrake roots were a powerful restorative ingredient, used to return transfigured or cursed people to their original state. However, the cry of a Mandrake could be deadly to anyone who heard it.
Mandrake roots looked hideously like wrinkled babies, and their cries were incredibly unpleasant. During Eda's attempt to re-pot the plant, the Mandrake was anything but cooperative—it squirmed, kicked its legs wildly, waved its tiny fists, and even tried to bite her!
With the help of the system, Eda was able to recognize and distinguish herbs, accurately naming the characteristics and uses of every plant she had studied.
Today, she even answered Professor Sprout's question about the Mandrake and earned two points for Gryffindor.
However, Eda could never muster any real interest in Herbology. She disliked handling difficult plants and detested the smell of fertilizer that always filled the greenhouse.
That particular odor made her feel especially uncomfortable.
For Eda, Herbology was always a class that came second only to Potions in terms of sheer torment.
Potions was difficult due to Professor Snape, but Herbology? That was thanks to the strange plants and unpleasant smells.
Next year, if Eda chose to take Care of Magical Creatures, she imagined it would bring her triple the "joy."
She could only wonder what kind of bizarre creatures Professor Silvanus Kettleburn might bring out for them.
Hopefully, whatever the elderly professor had prepared wouldn't be more terrifying than Hagrid's "cute pets."
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