A prefect is generally a student appointed by the headmaster or the heads of house and is granted special authority and responsibilities.
As part of student self-governance, prefects can deduct House points from other students as punishment for breaking rules, and can even assign detention.
However, under normal circumstances, prefects rarely exercise this authority, because it is troublesome.
Deducting points is not something you can do on a whim — you have to submit a report explaining the time, place, people involved, and the reason for the deduction, and so on.
You could say deducting points feels good for a moment, but writing the report will kill you.
Moreover, the other Houses also have prefects.
If you deduct points from another House, won't they deduct points in return? You deduct one point, I deduct one point — going back and forth like that is not only troublesome, it also hurts relationships.
Therefore, unless it is an extremely special situation, prefects generally do not deduct points. This is an unspoken rule of conduct among prefects.
As for whether she could deduct points from others, Eda wasn't very interested. What she liked most about becoming a prefect was that she could now use a special, exclusive bathroom.
This bathroom, located on the 5th floor of the castle, was specially prepared for prefects and Quidditch captains of each House. It was said to contain a bathtub as large as a swimming pool!
In addition, completing a long-term task was also something to celebrate. The task goal was prefect and Head Girl, and Eda had completed half of it.
Now that she had become a prefect, could becoming Head Girl be far behind?
Although being a prefect was not a necessary condition for selecting the Head Student, those who had served as prefects clearly had an advantage.
Looking at the badge in her hand, Eda suddenly felt she should mail-order some blood pressure medication for Professor McGonagall, just in case she couldn't hold on.
With the task completed, the system naturally issued a reward. However, Eda was finding it harder and harder to understand the system — hmm… it seemed she had never really understood it in the first place.
This time, the task reward turned out to be Legilimency, a spell belonging to the same branch of magic as Occlumency.
The concept of this kind of magic is rather vague; it is magic used to perceive and probe the human mind.
Before a master of Legilimency, there are almost no secrets to speak of—unless you are skilled in Occlumency, or the secrets you guard are protected by layers of other magic, such as the Fidelius Charm.
As far as Eda knew, both Dumbledore and Snape were masters of Legilimency, yet neither of them used this ability to pry into other people's secrets at will.
Dumbledore, in particular, preferred to give people the choice of whether to tell the truth, rather than using such a terrifying form of magic to peer into their hearts.
From her initial training in Occlumency, to later abilities like [Unwavering Resolve], [Try Lying to Me], and [Straight to the Heart], and now to Legilimency itself, Eda's mind could be said to be fully armed—its security level far higher than that of Hogwarts.
Included with the letter was also a King's Cross train ticket and a new list of required items. There weren't many things to buy: The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, The Monster Book of Monsters, and a new Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.
Ever since the day Lockhart was exposed, The Daily Prophet had begun running advertisements for a Defence Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts.
However, no brave soul had dared to challenge the post—after all, who wants to be a disposable resource?
After four years at Hogwarts, two Defence Against the Dark Arts professors had ended up in Azkaban, and two had died. Calling it an "annual replacement" post wasn't even enough to describe the attrition rate.
Of the four professors, the one who lasted the longest was Glover Cecil, and even he didn't make it to the end of the term.
The two professors who survived but were imprisoned—Quirrell and Lockhart—only lasted until April. Given the current situation, who could possibly have confidence in taking this job?
Dumbledore doesn't even offer insurance!
Before finding a new professor, Dumbledore had probably pulled out who knows how many of his own beard hairs. And on top of the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, the Headmaster also needed to recruit a new Care of Magical Creatures professor.
Professor Kettleburn, who was left with only one arm and half a leg, finally retired.
He had once cast a spell on a Fire Crab so it could play a worm in the stage play The Fountain of Fair Fortune, only to end up setting the entire Great Hall on fire. That was merely one of the more famous incidents in Professor Kettleburn's turbulent life.
Although the old professor, like Hagrid, had a particular fondness for dangerous magical creatures and had even set a record of sixty-two instances of detention, he was dearly loved by both students and staff.
Even though Professor Kettleburn had taught Eda for only a little over a year, she was quite fond of this dedicated old professor.
Eda guessed that the one to take over the Care of Magical Creatures position would be Professor Grubbly-Plank, after all, the witch with short grey-white hair had often substituted for the injured Professor Kettleburn.
...
Life in Paris gradually became dull, and Eda began to miss her days at the Burrow and at Hogwarts.
Now she spent her days at home, either reading or spacing out, or eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating—no different from a shut-in.
Although Eda never complained, Vinda noticed it all. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do about it, and she could only worry in silence.
It wasn't exactly complete isolation from the world, but Vinda's life was much like living in seclusion. Normally, no one came to visit her, and she never attended those pure-blood social gatherings.
In Vinda's eyes, such parties—meant to consolidate relationships and strengthen friendships—were utterly useless. They were no place to make true friends or partners.
Left with no other choice, Vinda conscripted Henry as a temporary helper, ordering him to take Eda out with him instead of letting her stay cooped up at home all the time. And so, Eda became Henry's little shadow—wherever Henry went, Eda followed.
Very quickly, Eda got to know all of Henry's rowdy friends.
From Ministry of Magic officials at the top to street stall vendors at the bottom, Henry's social circle could be said to be extremely broad. Anyone who could get along with the unreliable Henry was clearly very different from the traditional, conservative wizards.
In their attitude toward Eda, they neither discriminated against her blood status nor fawned over her because of her identity. They simply treated Eda as Henry's younger sister.
Eda hadn't expected that one day she would end up in the same category as Ron again.
Time flowed on like the waters of the Seine, never stopping. August passed in the blink of an eye, and Eda was about to return to Britain.
That evening, after dinner, Eda accompanied Vinda on their usual walk.
The Champs-Élysées is the most beautiful avenue in the city; even its name comes from Greek mythology. In addition to that, it is also known as the Queen's Tree-Lined Avenue.
The street was filled with traffic and crowds, yet none of it disturbed the grandmother and granddaughter as they strolled.
There was a question that had weighed on Eda's heart for a long time. After thinking it over for many days, she finally decided to ask it. She said, "Grandmother, back then, your relationship with Grindelwald…"
"I was his follower—my entire life," Vinda said without the slightest hesitation. "The house we live in was once one of his bases in Paris."
There was nothing to hide.
Vinda believed that being able to follow Grindelwald was the greatest honor of her life.
Likewise, she didn't think Eda would be unable to accept her status as a supporter of wizard supremacy.
These days of living together had given Vinda a deeper understanding of her granddaughter.
Listening to Vinda's account, Eda also came to know her grandmother better. Through it, she gained a clearer picture of what Grindelwald—the stubborn old man—had been like in his prime, how brilliant and peerless he once was.
And also, how that wretched old man squandered the youth of Vinda Rosier! Urg! Arsehole~!!
"Did Grindelwald never respond to you at all?" Eda asked cautiously, afraid of touching a sore spot in Vinda's heart.
"He was omnipotent. To him, not responding was the best response," Vinda said calmly, as if she were talking about someone else's story.
Even though her tone was steady, Eda could still see the dimness in her grandmother's eyes. She asked again, "Did you ever resent it?"
"Silly child, it was nothing more than a young girl's tender, immature feelings. What is there to resent?" Vinda said lightly, putting on a relaxed air. "In the future, you too will meet such a person—someone for whom you'd be willing to do anything."
One glimpse of Grindelwald ruined an entire lifetime. More than half a century had passed; the once-radiant French rose was now an old woman with a face full of wrinkles.
And in Grindelwald's heart, there was probably only that one flower standing aloof on the heights—Dumbledore.
"Just a young girl's tender, immature feelings… how could they ever compare to the 'greater good'?" Vinda said softly, her words scattering into the Paris night breeze as soon as they left her lips.
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