In the Great Hall adorned with silver and green, Slytherin was rising once again.
They had shaken off the gloom of the past few days and were back in control. Especially when they spoke loudly about the House Cup, their gazes would unconsciously drift toward the direction of Gryffindor.
Just a month ago, they had been crushed beneath their archrivals, and now, they were poised to defend their title once more.
Unlike the time when they won the Quidditch Cup, and unlike the arrogant Slytherins, the long table of Gryffindor was unusually quiet. Even the twins sat obediently beside Eda, unable to crack even the simplest joke.
Just over a month ago, they were in first place. Now, just over a month later, they had fallen to fourth.
That rank didn't sound so bad—except there were only four houses. Once again, Gryffindor had come in dead last.
The young lions didn't even dare lift their heads. Faced with taunts from their archenemies, they chose silence. With no backbone, they couldn't win the fight.
The atmosphere around Gryffindor was frozen. Harry, Hermione, and Neville buried their heads even lower. Though everyone had already forgiven them, they couldn't forgive themselves.
If only they had been more careful, how could their house have ended up like this?
If only they hadn't lost 150 points, how could it have led to internal strife, followed by even more point losses?
The students around her all wore long faces—only Eda remained unaffected by coming in last. She pretended to look at an unfinished magazine, but in truth, she was watching the system's summary.
At the end of the previous two school years, Eda had always received new abilities. She was eager to know whether this year would be the same.
The system's summary interface slowly appeared before Eda's eyes, displaying:
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Name: Esmeralda Twist
Age: 15 (Bless her heart, the host's still got that youthful optimism... for now.)
Height: 5 feet 5 inches (approx. 165.1 cm). [The host is currently auditioning for the role of a human walking stick. One strong gust of wind and she's off to see the Wizard of Oz!]
Weight: 97 pounds (approx. 44 kg). [Forget the Killing Curse, a gentle breeze is the host's mortal enemy. On the plus side, she could probably hide behind a broomstick and still be invisible. (Seriously though, someone get this girl a second breakfast... or five.)]
Wand: Yew wood, phoenix feather core, 14¾ inches. [This wand clearly has aspirations that the host is still struggling to live up to. It's like a Ferrari in the hands of someone who just got their learner's permit.]
Occupation:
Hogwarts Student (Third Year): Good job reaching the 3rd year without dying.
Leaky Cauldron Waitress (part-time): Speaking of which, Quirrell still owes the host for that drink from Harry's first year. Being a good person—I call BS! Apparently, the unpaid tab was her main motivation for helping defeat him!
Proto-Alliance Revolutionary (Nurmengard-exclusive title): "Revolutionary" might be a strong word for someone who could probably be blown over by a strong whisper. We're just saying, the "proto" part is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
Best Subjects: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions (Dumber than a Troll in Herbology! The host seems a bit biased in her studies, huh?)
Talents:
Magic Reserve: (Your magic reserve has exceeded that of an average adult wizard, lifting you from cannon fodder status, but you're still a novice.)
Quick Learner: (You have strong learning abilities, you learn good things quickly, but bad things even faster.)
Empathy: (Don't you want to learn some skills? Highly recommend the two unparalleled manuals: Tea Talk and Two-Faced Speech.)
Recklessness: (Acting without thinking, or striking out when angry, with a chance of double-casting spells. Let's see how long you will live.)
Curse Affinity, Flight Affinity, Dark Magic Talent(...Expand)
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Ugh.. can you stop with the jabs.. hm? A new occupation?
Seeing this newly added occupation, Eda felt like slamming a barrage of question marks into the system's face.
What did "Proto-Alliance Revolutionary" mean? What did "Nurmengard-exclusive" mean?
She had just felt a little resonance with the phrase "For the Greater Good"—how did that make her a reserve member of some reactionary organization?
Besides, Eda didn't even fully agree with Grindelwald's ideology.
Grindelwald had scoffed more than once at her views, calling them naive and weak. The two of them couldn't exactly be said to see eye to eye.
Sure, Grindelwald and his followers had some serious style—but Eda had no desire to become one of them.
Was this broken system trying to get her killed faster?
Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster sir, let me defend myself—no, wait, let me explain…
Fortunately, the subjects Eda excelled at didn't turn up any other unexpected nonsense.
As for the newly added, blatantly obvious Dark Magic category—Eda chose to ignore it entirely. She had never used Dark Magic.
She was "Dumbledore's person through and through."!!
How could she possibly be good at Dark Magic? The system must have made a mistake—an embarrassing mix-up.
Just like last year, Eda gained two new talents this year as well: Flight Affinity and Curse Affinity.
The Flight Affinity didn't refer to broomsticks or flying carpets—none of those tools. Eda preferred to call it a "Flight Charm," because this new talent allowed her to fly without using any tools, relying solely on her own magic.
It sounded amazing, powerful even—but it was just another empty promise from the system.
Nearly every book on Quidditch or broomsticks had some version of this sentence:
To this day, no wizard has invented a spell that allows them to fly unaided in human form.
From that line alone, it was clear just how difficult unaided flight was. Even Dumbledore traveled using a phoenix or Apparition, didn't he?
With Eda's current abilities, even if she managed to break free from gravity, she would rather describe it as "floating" or "gliding" than actual flying.
Moreover, in terms of speed, her current self was probably far inferior to a flying broomstick. In actual combat, she'd be no better than a moving target.
This talent granted her a possibility, not an immediate boost in combat ability. Maybe one day, as the system described, "the sky will be the limit."
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