Happiness can be built on someone else's discomfort. Eda's happiness was built on Dumbledore's discomfort—maybe not that painful, but definitely a bit embarrassing.
That morning was calm and bright, the sunlight just right, with a gentle breeze. The students were eating breakfast in the Great Hall as usual, and the owls were delivering letters, packages, or copies of the Daily Prophet as they always did.
Thanks to Sirius Black, the Daily Prophet's sales had hit a new high. As the outlet with exclusive coverage on the retrial of the old case, its market share had reached an astonishing level.
Everything seemed the same as usual, nothing out of the ordinary—except among the many owls, there was one that arrived late. This grey owl ignored the students who looked up at it, flew straight across the four long tables, and headed directly for Dumbledore.
The grey owl seemed like a dive bomber, swooping down to Dumbledore in an instant. After dropping the letter, it pulled up sharply and disappeared in a flash.
The letter landed precisely on the table in front of Dumbledore. Seeing it, a hint of surprise appeared on his face, while the students in the hall began whispering among themselves. There was no other reason—just because the letter was red—a Howler.
Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, receiving a Howler—this was certainly something worth talking about.
But Dumbledore was still Dumbledore. Even after receiving a Howler, his expression didn't change. With interest, he opened the envelope, and immediately a loud female voice rang throughout the entire hall. Compared to this lady, Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Longbottom seemed especially gentle.
The deafening voice echoed continuously, making the cups and plates on the tables tremble. Everyone in the hall covered their ears in unison, even the professors at the staff table. The only people who remained completely unfazed were Dumbledore and Eda.
Dumbledore stayed calm because this was nothing—he had seen far bigger storms. As for Eda, it was because she was extremely familiar with the voice. Even though it was distorted slightly by the sheer volume, she still recognized it as her grandmother, Vinda Rosier.
Grandmother was still grandmother—she had said she would send Dumbledore a Howler, and she really did. A true force of nature among women!
The general meaning of the Howler was:
"Dumbledore, I'm warning you—if you dare let my granddaughter get into danger again and play your detective games, I'll tear your old bones apart and scatter your ashes!"
The red Howler made a face at Dumbledore at the end, then burst into flames and turned into ashes.
The Howler stopped, but no one had recovered from the shock. It wasn't the first time they had heard of Dumbledore receiving a Howler, but it was the first time they had actually seen it. This parent was far too fierce.
The students, still unable to calm down, kept replaying the contents of the Howler in their minds. From keywords like "granddaughter," "detective game," and "danger," they had already figured out whose parent had sent the letter.
All four houses turned in unison to look at Eda. Like granddaughter, like grandmother—sure enough, there wasn't anyone in her family at Hogwarts they wouldn't dare take on… daring to threaten to tear apart Dumbledore's old bones and even scatter his ashes—such fierceness clearly ran in the family.
At the staff table, the professors reacted in different ways. Some watched the drama unfold, like Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout; some were indifferent, like Snape; some were still stunned, like Hagrid and Professor Babbling; and some felt a sense of approval, like Professor McGonagall.
Then there were those holding back laughter, like Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Recently, Sirius had been rather idle, so Dumbledore had arranged for him to assist Lupin as a teaching assistant—of course, without pay.
Defense Against the Dark Arts classes had become especially lively. Lupin was already humorous, and with Sirius joining in, the classroom had practically turned into a sea of laughter.
The more mischievous students adored Sirius, even hoping he would open a course dedicated to teaching pranks.
Dumbledore would certainly never agree—unless he'd lost his mind, or wanted to see the school thrown into chaos, or wake up one morning to find Filch hanging at the door of the headmaster's office, with a scrawny cat hanging beside him.
In the Great Hall, Eda, under the gaze of the entire school, felt a bit embarrassed. She hadn't expected her grandmother to be someone who followed through so absolutely. It could only be said—no wonder she was a woman who had been around the block, a woman who had once followed Grindelwald. The old lady was even more "Lupin" than Professor Lupin—simply ferocious.
Once everyone's hearing returned to normal, the twins leaned in beside Eda and whispered, "Is our grandmother always this fierce? Or did she only get this fierce after finding you?"
Their words were naturally answered with Eda chasing them down, and amid laughter and cheer, May quietly arrived.
The weather in May grew better and better. The days turned clear and cloudless, warm enough to make one want to grab a few pints of chilled pumpkin juice and stroll out onto the grounds.
But that wasn't possible. With exams approaching, the students had no choice but to stay in the somewhat stuffy castle, forcing their minds to focus, while tempting summer breezes drifted in from outside the windows.
The fifth-years preparing for their O.W.L.s and the seventh-years facing their N.E.W.T.s both became somewhat high-strung.
If anyone disturbed the quiet in the common room, they would immediately be condemned, and Percy would even step in to impose heavy punishments.
Eda didn't want to stay indoors—she was the type who did whatever she felt like—so she really did take some chilled juice and show up by the cool shore of the Black Lake. Lazily, she watched the giant squid glide dreamily across the water, wondering how big a griddle it would take to cook it.
Fred and George stood by the lake, holding books and loudly reciting, while Garlon followed right behind them. During this period, Garlon had been living with the twins—its dog bed, snacks, and toys had all been moved into the boys' dormitory.
For the time being, Eda had no intention of forgiving Garlon's betrayal, even if Sirius wasn't an enemy.
At that moment, Sirius and Lupin also came to the lakeside. The two of them looked like an old married couple, perfectly in sync. Sirius naturally walked over to Eda, just as naturally poured two cups of chilled juice, and handed one to Lupin.
"You lot really know how to enjoy life!" Sirius downed the cold juice in one gulp.
"Muggles enjoy life even more. Do you know what air conditioning is?" Eda said lazily, then went on to explain it to Sirius and Lupin. She genuinely wished Hogwarts could install air conditioning too, but unfortunately, any Muggle electronic devices would fail at the school.
After a bit of small talk, Sirius finally got to the point. "Garlon's been staying in the boys' dorm lately. Are you planning to keep things like this?"
"Did it tell you that itself?" Eda asked, glancing at Garlon in the distance, still feeling a bit upset.
"No, Harry told me," Sirius replied. After regaining his freedom, he had already moved out of the boys' dormitory.
"Such a blabbermouth…" Eda muttered under her breath.
Sirius said seriously, "Eda, are you really not planning to keep Garlon by your side anymore? It looks pretty pitiful right now. Considering it didn't really do anything bad…"
"It betrayed me." Eda cut him off. "If it could betray me once because of you, it could betray me a second time because of someone else! When it bites down on my throat one day, am I supposed to forgive it then too?"
Sirius was left speechless, completely choked up. Still, he had to find a way to persuade Eda—after all, Garlon had ended up like this because it had helped him.
"That's a bit extreme—it's not that serious. Everyone knows Garlon's basically useless in a fight; it couldn't do anything like that," Lupin joked, trying to ease the tension, worried things might turn sour between Sirius and Eda.
"Garlon has always trusted you, Eda," Sirius said. "Back when I was injured, it was because of it that I came to you for help. It might not show it clearly, but to it, you are everything."
Eda didn't respond. Maybe she didn't need to hold a grudge against a pet dog, but Garlon's betrayal was real. Watching it trot along behind the twins, wagging its head, Eda let out a long sigh.
"Then let Garlon stay with Fred and George," Lupin suggested. "If you really send it away, I'm afraid you'll regret it."
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