Over the next few days, Dawn held a meeting. Eda did not hide the truth from her friends. She told them that Voldemort had returned.
Telling the members of Dawn about this was not meant to frighten them or put pressure on them, but to let them prepare themselves mentally.
It was also a way of screening the members. After all, not everyone had the courage to stand against Voldemort.
With the upcoming holiday, everyone could take some time to carefully consider whether they wanted to stay or leave.
If they decided to stay, they would resist Voldemort together and face the coming war. If they wanted to leave, Eda would never stop them. They would still be friends in the future, but once they left, they could never return.
As soon as Eda brought it up, everyone expressed their intention to stay without much thought.
What surprised Eda the most was that Lini also chose to stay. Eda had thought she would quit, or at least hesitate for a long time. She had not expected Lini to give her answer so decisively.
Although everyone's responses deeply moved Eda, she still told them to go back and think it over carefully. They could decide whether to stay or leave after the new term began. There was no need to make a decision in such a hurry.
Taking advantage of the fact that Eda had not taken part in the exams, Cedric, who had finally managed to come first for once, made another suggestion.
How about expanding Dawn after the next term began and recruiting new members?
The twins immediately expressed their disagreement. The brothers believed that "quality matters more than quantity." Recruiting new members could easily turn them into burdens for everyone, and might even damage the harmony between them.
Fred and George also teased Cedric, saying that his desire to recruit new members was simply because he wanted another place to meet his girlfriend. It was all an ulterior motive, and he was not sincere at all.
Eda did not express an opinion. She needed to carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the matter.
On the afternoon of the day before the holiday, after packing her luggage, Eda once again climbed the Astronomy Tower to look into the distance from above.
Every time she stepped onto the Astronomy Tower, Eda had a different feeling. This time, she actually felt a heavy weight on her shoulders.
"You're here again. It seems you've fallen in love with Hogwarts' magnificent scenery." It was Dumbledore's voice. He walked step by step to Eda's side, and the two of them watched the setting sun disappear behind the distant mountains.
"Only when you climb high and look into the distance can you feel how insignificant humanity is," Eda said. "Wizards are nothing more than slightly larger ants."
Dumbledore looked at Eda with some surprise. He said, "When did you become so pessimistic? The Eda I know would never say something so dispiriting."
"I've always been fairly pessimistic, but this isn't pessimism." Eda looked back at him. "I'm just expressing what's in my heart and lamenting how weak and powerless humanity is."
Dumbledore did not agree with Eda's argument. He said, "It seems you're still dwelling on what happened that night. Yes, I heard about it from Remus. I thought you would be able to move on by yourself. I didn't expect you to still be depressed because you failed to stop Voldemort."
Depressed? Perhaps a little, but more than that, Eda was simply somewhat dissatisfied with herself. She said jokingly, "Sorry to disappoint you. Is it my fault?"
"Not exactly." Dumbledore became serious. "You have been accustomed to everything going smoothly. Suddenly suffering such a major setback must have been difficult for you to accept. But I still hope you can pull yourself together as soon as possible. We need you."
It wasn't as though Eda were that fragile, that easily defeated. She was not a porcelain doll that would shatter at the slightest touch. In the end, she was simply unwilling to accept it, because she knew she could have done better.
It was like knowing you could get an O through your own ability, only to receive an E because of one mistake. How could you possibly be satisfied with that?
"That night at the pub, Sirius gave a detailed account of what happened," Dumbledore continued. "At that moment, I suddenly felt somewhat frustrated and thought that everything I had done was meaningless. There was a major flaw in my plan. I failed to understand why Voldemort wanted to get Harry in the first place."
Whether it was Dumbledore, Eda, or Sirius, they had all thought that Voldemort was going to such great lengths simply to kill Harry and eliminate the obstacle in his way.
None of them had expected that Voldemort wanted to use Harry's blood to give himself a new body. Killing Harry was only his secondary objective.
"Do you mean that if Voldemort had used Harry's blood, the situation might have been more favorable for us?" Eda asked uncertainly. "If he had used Harry's blood, would that have created some kind of blood connection between the two of them?"
After studying magic for so long, Eda had already witnessed the wonders of magic, so she should not have been so surprised. However, the hidden meaning in Dumbledore's words genuinely gave her quite a shock.
"Harry and him had already established a connection long ago. Harry's dreams are the best proof of that," Dumbledore explained. "Although I cannot be certain, I believe that if Harry's blood were flowing through his body, this connection would become even stronger, and Harry would also be safer."
Eda did not respond immediately. Dumbledore had given her too much information all at once, and she needed some time to sort through it.
The white clouds drifting across the horizon gradually turned red in the setting sun. Eda slowly said, "You mean if Harry and Voldemort share the same blood, then Voldemort might not be able to hurt Harry?"
Dumbledore nodded and said, "I believe so. That is why, for a moment, I felt that everything I had done was unnecessary. Perhaps doing nothing would have been the best choice. Besides their blood, their wands are also very important."
"Their wands?" Eda was completely confused. This relationship was far too complicated. She did not want to play anymore. She wanted to go home.
"Yes, their wands." Dumbledore continued explaining, "Harry's wand core is made from the same material as Voldemort's, and they both came from the same phoenix. They are like a pair of brothers. On the day Harry bought his holly wand, I received a letter from Ollivander."
At this point, Eda really wanted to turn toward the distant horizon and vent her feelings, cursing loudly and thoroughly.
Then Eda thought of the protective magic left in Harry's blood by his mother. If Voldemort had used his blood, wouldn't Voldemort have gained that protection as well?
Eda immediately looked at Dumbledore, only to find that Dumbledore had already assumed a posture as if he had been waiting for her to ask.
"You are right," Dumbledore said, as though he could read her mind. "If we had done nothing, that protection would also have manifested itself in Voldemort."
Dumbledore rested one hand on the battlement and turned sideways toward Eda. "Not to boast, but I came up with an excellent way to extend that protection until Harry came of age. If we had done nothing, the earliest we could have defeated Voldemort would still have been after Harry became an adult."
Every extra second Voldemort remained alive in this world meant another second of danger, and it could mean more people losing their lives. If possible, it would still be better for Voldemort to die sooner rather than later.
Thinking of this, Eda no longer wanted to curse. Although their plan had seemed somewhat unnecessary, it had not been a complete waste of time.
"Everything has two sides. Where there are benefits, there will also be drawbacks," Dumbledore said. "Our plan caused Harry to lose another layer of protection, but we did not put Harry in danger. At the same time, it gave us the possibility of ending the war sooner."
Dumbledore said casually, "So I quickly stopped feeling frustrated about my plan. People need to look forward. Constantly looking back will only make the road ahead more difficult to walk."
The headmaster's words of reassurance always managed to strike a chord with Eda, and this time was no exception.
Would Dumbledore really feel frustrated because of this unnecessary plan? Eda did not know, but she felt that he probably would not.
"Professor, Voldemort possessed Quirrell before, so I always thought he was some kind of spirit, or something similar to a wandering ghost," Eda said, voicing the question that had been troubling her. "But that night in the cemetery, I discovered that he had already had a physical body for a long time. It was just very weak, extremely weak."
Dumbledore put away his relaxed expression from before and became serious. "Before I explain this, there is something else you need to understand."
"What is it?" Eda asked curiously. "Don't tell me it's another piece of ancient magic involving bloodlines or ancestry."
"Of course not. This thing is called a Horcrux."
...
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