Adelaide woke from her slumber, warm sunlight spilling through the window onto the white sheets.
She blinked, adjusting to the light before looking at the clock on the wall; the hour hand was nearly at eleven, almost time for lunch.
Since Madam Pomfrey hadn't woken her to kick her out, she might as well lie there a bit longer.
Adelaide rolled over lazily in bed, letting the sun warm her evenly.
At the same time, her thoughts began to wander—who would have thought that the Transmigrator fused with the Horcrux would turn out to be a Giant Cockroach!
Thinking about it, Lord Voldemort and the Giant Cockroach shared many similarities: both liked hiding in dark corners, both wore dark colors, both were loathed and feared, both could fly, both were hard to kill, and neither had a nose.
Fortunately, the Cockroach didn't read books or watch movies; he didn't know the plot, so her side still had a significant advantage.
At this thought, Adelaide couldn't help but sigh softly to herself. Until she truly became stronger, she didn't dare take any suicidal risks. It would be best to reveal the matter of "a Voldemort Horcrux causing trouble inside Hogwarts" to Dumbledore and let the adult Wizards deal with the Ravenclaw cockroach horcrux Diadem.
But the cockroach horcrux involved a Transmigrator. According to what Merlin had told her before about not exposing the nature of the world, she couldn't directly leak anything related to the Transmigrator to other Wizards. So, she had to think carefully about how to phrase things for Dumbledore.
But before that, her most urgent task was to survive the upcoming denunciation meeting.
Following Miss MacFusty into the Forbidden Forest at night and riding her for over ten minutes, nearly dying—in short, Dumbledore, Amandine, and Professor Flitwick would never let her off easily. Adelaide only hoped they wouldn't dock all the points she had earned over the past two months.
Tsk, in the final analysis, it was all the cockroach horcrux's fault!
The thought of likely being given detention made her blood boil. She writhed and twisted on the bed with a grimace for a good while, only releasing the anger in her heart through a bit of a manic outburst.
As the anger gradually dissipated, it was replaced by a strong sense of hunger.
Adelaide sat up and rubbed her aching arms and knees. Her gaze swept toward the door of the Hospital Wing, planning to head to the Great Hall to find some food to fill her stomach.
Then she saw Amandine standing at the door with a tray of beef sandwiches, staring at her in utter horror.
Oh no, her episode had been seen. Would Amandine think she had gone mad?
Adelaide cursed inwardly and quickly said, "It's not what you think, I can explain—"
But before she could finish, Amandine let out a sharp cry of grief: "Madam Pomfrey, come quickly! Adelaide seems to have been hit by some kind of Dark Arts curse that affects the mind!"
With that, she didn't even care about the lunch she had prepared for Adelaide; she tossed the plate aside and rushed to the bedside like a gust of wind, pinning Adelaide firmly to the bed.
Adelaide was startled by the sudden turn of events. She tried to struggle, but unfortunately, Amandine was too strong, her hands like iron pincers. She couldn't break free at all and could only shout.
"Let me go! I haven't been cursed! I'm perfectly sane!"
Amandine didn't speak, her eyes only shimmering with tears.
Madam Pomfrey hurried over at the sound. With a serious expression, she performed a comprehensive examination on Adelaide, which took over three hours. Fortunately, she didn't find anything wrong.
"No signs of poisoning, nor any damage from a curse—in my opinion, this might be a manifestation of sequelae stemming from some psychological trauma. I'll prescribe her some Calming Draughts and let her rest in the Hospital Wing for a few more days."
"Sigh, what a poor child." Madam Pomfrey's face was full of pity. She took a deep look at Adelaide before turning and walking toward the pharmacy to prepare the necessary medicine.
Amandine let out a long sigh of relief, casually wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, and began to curse under her breath: "Tsk, damn Death Eaters, and that wretched Dragon!"
After speaking, she turned her head and glared fiercely at the still-unconscious Alice MacFusty.
Adelaide felt a bit awkward; after all, she was the one who had proactively followed her, and nearly dying was her own fault for being reckless.
Amandine looked back at Adelaide on the hospital bed, her gaze full of maternal instinct. She pinched her throat and asked softly in a sugary-sweet voice, "My dear baby Adelaide, please don't be afraid. You just need to relax and enjoy your school life; leave everything else to us."
Adelaide got goosebumps from that sickeningly sweet cutesy voice. She was about to explain that she was just stretching her body—
Wait, this was a good opportunity!
She could use this to play the victim. Seeing how pitiful she was, the Professors might reduce her punishment.
And she could screw over Lord Voldemort once more.
This was a win-win—specifically, she wins twice.
Adelaide's eyes darted around as she switched into drama queen mode.
"Actually, it doesn't have much to do with Miss MacFusty. When I was riding the Dragon through the sky, I only felt the thrill; I wasn't afraid."
"The root of my fear is still Lord Voldemort and those Death Eaters. I don't know them, and I've never provoked them. Why do they insist on capturing me?"
As she spoke, Adelaide shrank back into her blanket, her body trembling slightly, and even her voice began to shake: "Sister Amandine, look at Professor MacFusty lying in the bed opposite me. He's a peerless genius in Defense Against the Dark Arts, having published his own work at only 15—even a Wizard as powerful as him, with the help of Hagrid and the Centaurs, was still tortured nearly to death by those insane Death Eaters."
"Just think, if it were weak and helpless me falling into their hands—"
Before she could finish, she was interrupted by an angry Amandine: "That could never happen! If they dared to do such a thing, I would make them pay a heavy price!"
Amandine's eyes spat fire, her intense killing intent seemingly ready to solidify and overflow from her eye sockets.
"Hmph! That pack of filthy rats living in the gutters! This is a blatant provocation to our Wizengamot! Dumbledore is still concerned about the British Ministry of Magic's reputation and doesn't want to make a scene..."
Amandine clenched her fists tightly, her tone firm and cold.
"I will personally go to St Mungos Hospital to report last night's events to the Leader. We can no longer endure this!"
It's a lock!
Adelaide narrowed her eyes, the corners of her mouth hidden under the blanket curling upward slightly.
Next, those Death Eaters who hadn't been locked in Azkaban prison would likely no longer be able to live as comfortably and leisurely as they did in the original story.
After all, this ruthless bunch from the Wizengamot didn't care if you were a so-called State's witness. As long as you annoyed them, there was only one word: fight!
And fight to the death!
At this thought, Adelaide couldn't help but look forward to it: when Lord Voldemort thought he was fully prepared and attempted to regroup his old followers, how many Death Eaters would be left to serve him?
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