Adelaide spent several more comfortable days recovering (and slacking off) in the Hospital Wing before she was finally allowed to be discharged.
Then, after a long absence, she once again experienced the sensation of being the center of attention, just like when the term first started—only this time, the focus of everyone's attention was no longer her status as the second-generation Grindelwald genius, but Adelaide Grindelwald herself.
To this day, Adelaide still hasn't figured out who exactly was spreading the word all over Hogwarts that she had sneaked into the Forbidden Forest on Halloween night to tame the MacFusty Family's Dragon, and had even succeeded.
Because of this, she earned a new nickname: "The Hogwarts Dragon Rider."
Fortunately, Adelaide's previous performance of playing the victim and acting pitiful was quite successful. The merciful Professors, worried that excessive punishment would cause further trauma to her fragile psyche, ultimately only deducted twenty points from Ravenclaw House as a symbolic punishment for trespassing in the Forbidden Forest at night.
However, a mere twenty-point penalty couldn't stop the restless hearts of the Gryffindor students. It was as if a fire of passion had been ignited within them; one after another, they risked entering the Forbidden Forest, attempting to find the Dragon raised by Professor MacFusty.
After docking Gryffindor over a hundred points, Professor McGonagall finally reached her limit. She had Dumbledore choose a well-attended dinner time to announce that for the students' safety, the Dragon had already been sent away. This finally quelled the craze for exploring the Forbidden Forest within the school and saved the few points the Gryffindor Quidditch team had just won.
The Forbidden Forest exploration craze died down, but it was followed by a craze for gossip.
Now, no matter which corner of the campus Adelaide walked to, there would always be Gryffindor students enthusiastically greeting her, begging her to explain the thrilling details of the Dragon-taming battle that night. Whenever this happened, a group of Hufflepuff 'Little Badgers' would silently gather around to listen to the gossip, chiming in with heroic details she didn't even know about herself.
Even the older students from Ravenclaw House couldn't wait to find her, pestering her for a summary of her Dragon-taming experience and a report on what it felt like to ride a Dragon.
What made her even more unsure whether to laugh or cry was that from time to time, Slytherin students would cast probing glances at her. Rumors were circulating privately that she intended to prove she was stronger than Alice MacFusty by taming the Dragon, aiming to make Alice along with the first and second-year Slytherin students submit to her. They said Alice had challenged her to a fair duel after her successful Dragon taming, but had suffered a crushing defeat and was still lying in the Hospital Wing.
Adelaide was speechless. She had indeed thought about building her own influence before, but taking advantage of Alice's unconscious state to poach her followers was something she truly couldn't bring herself to do.
Facing the lower-year Slytherin students who frequently came to show their goodwill, Adelaide had to patiently explain over and over again, declaring that she had absolutely no intention of contesting Alice's leadership over the younger Slytherins.
But no matter how much she talked until her breath ran out, it seemed she couldn't change their minds; not a single Slytherin believed what she said.
The Wizengamot was conducting a large-scale manhunt for Death Eaters within Britain—this move directly'solidified' Adelaide's supposed 'ambition.'
In the eyes of the Slytherins, such a situation would lead anyone to believe that this was a Great Purge initiated by the first Dark Lord to cultivate his own heir, targeting the remnants of the second Dark Lord's forces.
Add to that the tacit approval from Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic, and the students from pure-blood families in Slytherin House who had ties to Death Eaters fell into a state of extreme panic.
At this moment, if they didn't hurry up and offer a 'tribute' to show their loyalty, were they really going to wait until Adelaide Grindelwald truly grew powerful and came to settle accounts with them?
Because of this, some clever Slytherins began to quietly write secret letters to Adelaide, informing her of everything they knew about the Death Eaters in full detail.
At first, Adelaide took these letters quite seriously, carefully reading and analyzing the contents of each one.
But when the other Slytherin students realized she was actually interested in this area, they all followed suit and imitated the practice.
For a time, all sorts of reports and tip-offs flooded toward Adelaide like snowflakes.
This really made things difficult for Adelaide. She received an enormous number of reports every day, a mix of truth and lies that was hard to distinguish.
The letters piled up like a mountain, leaving her overwhelmed, and even her normal academic life was seriously affected.
Looking at the piles of densely written papers before her, Adelaide felt a massive headache coming on. Lamenting her misfortune, she could only dump them all on Amandine, letting the Wizengamot's intelligence department work overtime to process the information.
Fortunately, the increasingly intense Quidditch matches acted like a giant magnet, successfully drawing the vast majority of students' attention away.
As a result, the storm caused by Adelaide's 'Dragon taming' and 'duel' incidents gradually receded like the tide, slowly returning to calm.
For Adelaide, this was undoubtedly good news, because it meant she could devote more energy to the task of coaxing Cho Chang into forgiving her.
Thinking back to when she was hospitalized, Cho Chang had quietly come to deliver meals many times. Every time, the food brought was a carefully prepared nourishing delicacy, like the Black Chicken Blood-Replenishing Soup—its broth rich and delicious, making one feel warm all over after drinking it. There was also the sweet and tasty Pumpkin, Chestnut, and Cashew Vegetarian Soup, as well as the sweet, lung-moistening Pear and Lean Meat Soup, and so on.
These delicious dishes not only nourished her body but even made her skin smoother and more delicate.
However, what Adelaide found strange was that Cho Chang always chose times when she was fast asleep to deliver the food.
At first, Adelaide didn't pay much attention to it, assuming Cho Chang was busy with her heavy course load and couldn't find much time to meet and talk with her.
But once she recovered and was discharged, the situation suddenly changed.
Cho Chang's attitude toward her became exceptionally cold, to the point where she was simply choosing to ignore her.
Whether it was during daily classes or between them, Cho Chang always walked with her roommates like Marietta Edgecombe. Whenever she accidentally made eye contact with Adelaide, she would quickly look away and find any opportunity to get away from her as fast as possible.
Only then did Adelaide wake up as if from a dream, finally realizing that the severity of the problem far exceeded her previous imagination—Cho Chang was angry!
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