The night swallowed the last trace of light on the horizon, and Eda walked sullenly down the street, still furious.
After crossing a messy, desolate little square, Eda stopped in front of a row of old houses. The kind of old buildings that were a serious eyesore for the city.
At night, the houses looked somewhat eerie, as if a hideous monster might jump out of one of them at any moment. Counting the house numbers silently, Eda stopped between No. 11 and No. 13.
After waiting for a while, a battered door suddenly appeared out of thin air between the two houses. Then dirty walls and gloomy windows appeared as well. It was as if an extra house had suddenly expanded, pushing everything on both sides apart.
Number 12 Grimmauld Place,
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Walking up the battered stone steps, Eda drew her wand and tapped the peeling-painted door. A loud metallic clanging sound rang out, followed by a rattling noise like chains. Then the door creaked open.
Stepping over the threshold and into the almost completely dark entrance hall, Eda saw a blue eye rolling wildly around.
"It's good to see you, Professor Moody," Eda said. The magical eye belonged to Alastor Moody, one of the most outstanding among the professors who taught for a year. He had not taught even a single second of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
A row of old-fashioned gas lamps on the wall suddenly lit up, casting an unsteady, unreal glow over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare, worn-out carpet in the long, gloomy entrance hall.
"I've never been a professor for even a second," Moody said gruffly. "Arthur said you'd be coming today, but I didn't expect you to arrive this late. Run into trouble outside?"
Moody limped along as he led Eda into the house.
Following behind Moody, Eda said, "No, I just went to see a paranoid idiot. We talked for quite a while, so that's why I'm late."
Hurried footsteps sounded, and Mrs. Weasley came out through a door at the other end of the entrance hall. She hurried toward them, her face glowing with a warm smile.
"Dear, you're finally here." Mrs. Weasley immediately hugged Eda tightly. Then she pushed her back a little and carefully examined her.
"I'm hungry. Are there any meatballs left?" Eda said quietly. She had no intention of mentioning that she had gone to see Percy. Bringing it up would only make Mrs. Weasley even more upset.
Mrs. Weasley pushed Eda toward the door she had just come through and said, "Of course. How could there not be any for Eda? I saved some for you in advance."
Behind the door was a cave-like, deeply shadowed room, surrounded by rough stone walls. Scrolls of parchment, goblets, and empty bottles were scattered across a long wooden table.
Mr. Weasley and his eldest son Bill sat at the far end of the table, their heads close together as they spoke quietly. Hearing the door open, Mr. Weasley stood up and walked over to Eda.
He proudly announced to everyone in the room, "Esmeralda Twist. I think you've all heard her name to some extent!"
As he spoke, even the bald spot on Mr. Weasley's head seemed to shine a little brighter. He was genuinely proud of Eda from the bottom of his heart.
"Of course, I know her all too well," Sirius said dramatically. "That crazy girl left a one-foot-long scar on my shoulder!"
Sitting beside Sirius was Lupin. The gentle werewolf professor reached out as if to strip his friend. He smiled and said, "I don't believe it's a foot long. Take it off and let us have a look!"
Tonks, whose hair was bubblegum pink, excitedly waved her hand, only to accidentally knock a cup off the table.
Without having time to say anything, Tonks immediately bent down to pick up the cup that had fallen under the table. She managed to retrieve it safely, but when she stood up, she slammed her head hard against the wooden table again, bringing tears to her eyes from the pain.
Fortunately, everyone had already grabbed the things beside them, so Tonks did not manage to turn the place into "a complete mess."
Kingsley Shacklebolt put down the bottle in his hand and waved to Eda. He said, "We finally managed to meet at a good time for once! How about having a drink to celebrate?"
At that moment, Mrs. Weasley, who was passing by Kingsley, gave him a hard smack and said, "If you want to drink, drink by yourself. Don't use Eda as an excuse."
Kingsley spread his hands, shrugged, and raised his eyebrows, performing all three gestures in one smooth sequence, silently resisting Mrs. Weasley's "tyranny."
"Hestia Jones," Mr. Weasley said, pointing to a witch beside Kingsley as he introduced her. Hestia, whose hair was jet-black and whose cheeks were rosy, waved.
"That's Emmeline Vance." A dignified and elegant witch nodded slightly. She was sitting on the other side of Hestia Jones.
"Find somewhere for Eda to sit, Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley said sharply. She put her hands on her hips, furrowed her brows, and glared at her husband. Behind Mrs. Weasley was a large pot giving off clouds of steam.
Mr. Weasley, who was somewhat afraid of his wife, immediately cleared out a place for Eda to sit, conveniently right across from Tonks.
Mrs. Weasley came over carrying steaming meatballs, and the delicious food instantly swept away Eda's exhaustion from the entire day.
After a while, another round of footsteps sounded inside the house. Before the door even opened, the Weasley twins appeared in the kitchen.
"I told you not to Apparate inside the house!" Mrs. Weasley shouted at the twins.
Fred and George readily promised their mother they would behave, but as soon as they turned around, they used their wands to summon the pumpkin juice from her hand. The twins sat on either side of Eda and made faces at her.
"For Merlin's sake!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed loudly. "Even if you two are allowed to use magic outside school now, you don't have to pull out your wands for everything!"
Amid Mrs. Weasley's shouting, the kitchen door opened, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny filed into the room.
Crookshanks and Garlon also squeezed into the kitchen. The cream-colored Garlon eagerly ran toward Eda, only to be ignored by Eda, who was completely focused on enjoying her food. Ginger-colored Crookshanks shot onto the table like an arrow and began batting a cork back and forth across it.
The twins chattered endlessly in Eda's ears, telling her how they had passed their Apparition tests and how many orders they had secretly taken recently without Mrs. Weasley knowing...
They were all trivial little things, yet somehow fascinating to listen to.
In her ears, there was also the sound of Mr. Weasley and Bill talking. They were discussing Bill's new job. Sirius and Lupin were fooling around as well, still arguing over whether the scar on Sirius's shoulder was really a foot long. There was also bursts of laughter, coming from Tonks making Harry and the others laugh loudly.
Eda liked this feeling. It would have been even better if this place were not dirty and were not the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
Suddenly, a harsh creaking sound rang out in the kitchen, completely out of place with everything around it.
Then Moody's rough voice sounded as well.
"Would you mind giving me a glass of water, Molly?"
"Mad-Eye, what you're doing is really disgusting, you know?" Tonks said in her usual friendly and casual manner. "Eda is still eating!"
Eda, with her head lowered, had no idea what was happening. Then she heard Fred whisper in her ear, "Don't look up. Whatever you do, don't look up!"
"Trust us. Don't look up and look at it," George also said in a very low voice. "You'll thank us."
Eda had not been particularly interested in looking in the first place, and Tonks's words completely killed any desire she had to look up. But after the twins whispered in her ear like that, they instead aroused Eda's curiosity, making her want to know exactly what Moody had done.
Unable to suppress her curiosity, Eda still raised her head. She saw Moody remove his magical eye and place it inside a silver cup decorated with a family crest.
Moody poked the magical eye with his finger, making it bob up and down. Fortunately, the cup was not transparent, otherwise Eda would have seen the eye spinning rapidly. After poking it several times, Moody finally fished the magical eye out and put it back in place.
Once it was back where it belonged, the magical eye first glared at everyone in the room one by one, then began spinning at incredible speed, as if someone had installed a motor inside it.
Eda finally understood why Alastor Moody was called Mad-Eye Moody. It was not because he was somewhat crazy. It was entirely because of that rapidly spinning magical eye.
Looking at the blue eye, Eda suddenly felt a little dizzy. She felt as though she had motion sickness.
At that moment, behind Eda, Fred and George revealed their true colors. The brothers quietly high-fived each other.
(〃￣︶￣)人(￣︶￣〃)
Mission accomplished!
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