Emily's stubbornness actually came from insecurity.
Maybe in some of the old, fixed ideas people have, the relationship between husband and wife, between the man and the woman, mainly relies on emotion as its bond.
Unfortunately, that bond isn't as solid as it looks.
Because people change.
Emily of course understood that right now, Link's love for her was blazing hot, and that as a partner he was extremely loyal.
But she couldn't guarantee that ten, twenty, or even thirty years later, that love wouldn't go bad.
To avoid that kind of risk, for a married couple to help each other succeed and complement each other becomes the real underlying logic of a marriage.
This was even more obvious in top-tier noble families like Link and Emily's.
For example, the famous alchemy master Nicolas Flamel, his wife was his best assistant.
And for another example, Lucius Malfoy, a well-known super-rich man in the British wizarding world, his wife Narcissa was also his key middleman among various social powers, as well as the main contact for all kinds of balls, banquets, and other social events.
Influenced by the education she'd received since childhood, Emily naturally wanted to become that kind of person by Link's side too.
There was nothing wrong with that in itself.
After all, two people with similar backgrounds, similar life experiences, and similar education should, after getting married, show roughly the same level of ability, values, and contribution to the family.
That's the main reason old people always say a couple should be well matched.
The only problem was that Link had a cheat.
In just the last few years, whether it was his personal strength or his family's power, Link had grown way, way too fast.
And correspondingly, the difficulty of the problems he faced had risen exponentially.
Those problems had already started to feel like a heavy burden to Emily.
So her insecurity naturally followed.
And Link saw this, which was why he deliberately tried to train Emily.
Like taking her along on the Gringotts operation before, or this time throwing out a representative problem for her to brainstorm over.
If Emily could stand out again and again through this kind of training, then Link wouldn't mind giving her more power.
If not, then Emily would honestly return to the home, becoming someone like Narcissa Malfoy.
Thankfully, Emily was still smart.
Even though she and Link had basically been sitting idly in the Great Hall for an entire afternoon, when the sun finally set and starlight appeared on the enchanted ceiling above them, Emily at last found the answer.
"It's because we're too strong!"
Sitting on the bench by the Hufflepuff long table, Emily's eyes suddenly lit up. She grabbed Link's arm and said excitedly, "The reason Dumbledore doesn't want to be our enemy is completely because we've grown strong now!"
"As a force whose original goal was to eliminate Voldemort and the Death Eaters, we've now become a power on the chessboard that can be courted."
"So before Voldemort is definitively defeated, Dumbledore almost certainly won't make a move against us."
"Because doing that would be the same as pushing us into Voldemort's camp!"
"To make sure we stay on their side, Dumbledore is even willing to give up some of his own interests to satisfy us!"
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Link clapped hard and laughed. "You're absolutely right, Emily!"
Emily beamed with joy. She stood up, ignoring the crowd around them that was gradually getting bigger, and hugged Link.
After a long while, the two separated.
But Link leaned close to Emily's ear and whispered, "This really is something worth being happy about!"
"How could we not celebrate something like this with a drink?"
"I've got a bottle of wine from a Serbian winery, vintage 1832, hidden in my office at the M.O.M.H.L. factory."
"How about we go drink it tonight?"
Emily's face instantly turned bright red.
She nervously glanced around. Seeing that not many people were paying attention to them, she lowered her voice and said, "But… but we clearly just yesterday…"
Before she could finish, Link cut her off, "Yesterday's business is yesterday's business. Today's wine is today's wine! How can you mix those two together?"
The blush on Emily's face spread all the way down her neck. She looked shyly at Link, but the smile on her lips couldn't be held back.
In the end, she quietly nodded, then buried her head in Link's chest.
That cute, sweet look made Link's blood boil, and he couldn't help laughing.
But just then, a tall figure sat down beside Link, deliberately dragging his chair and making a harsh scraping noise.
Emily, who was sitting on Link's other side, was startled. She cried out and jumped out of his arms.
The smile on Link's face collapsed at once. He glanced irritably at Cedric beside him and said, "Don't you think some people are a little too lacking in self-awareness? You know, when he's getting close with his girlfriend, I never go and disturb him."
Cedric looked even angrier than Link.
He narrowed his eyes and glared at Link.
"I also think certain leaders of the D.A. are way too lacking in self-awareness."
"You know, when I was serving as president of the Hogwarts student council, I never just ignored what was going on with students from each year under me."
As soon as he said that, both Link and Emily froze for a moment.
Fortunately, Link quickly understood.
He let go of Emily and stretched a bit.
"So, what happened?"
"Oh? What happened? I can't believe you still dare ask me that!"
Cedric said angrily. "Do you have any idea how miserable I've been today?"
"Ever since Umbridge put up that notice this morning, the entire seventh-year graduating class has gone crazy!"
"At first they were still trying to hide it a bit, but later on they didn't even bother pretending anymore!"
"Do you know? The line to submit applications stretched straight from Umbridge's office all the way to the stairway!"
At this point, Cedric suddenly slumped.
He grabbed the half cup of water Link had drunk from and downed it in one go, then collapsed back on the bench and muttered, "Umbridge's offers are just too good!"
"The first batch of volunteers who defected to Umbridge have not only become members of the Inquisitorial Squad, they've also all gotten invitations to train with the Auror Office."
"That's basically the same as confirming them in advance as recruits to the Auror Corps!"
"Link, honestly, just on this point alone, we can't compete with them."
"Today it was only because I forcibly held things down that our senior D.A. members didn't go submit applications too."
"But that's all I can do."
"If this goes on, the D.A.'s existence will probably lose its meaning."
Cedric looked so pitiful that even Emily felt a little embarrassed. If it hadn't been for her, Link wouldn't have spent the whole afternoon sitting in the Great Hall.
She lowered her head and secretly poked Link with her finger.
Link brushed her mischievous fingers away, shook his head helplessly, and smiled as he said, "These are all small problems, Cedric. You don't need to worry so much. I actually already expected this."
Cedric, who had been slumped, immediately felt like exploding again.
In his eyes, what they were facing now was something that could shake their very foundation.
Yet Link was acting like he didn't care at all.
But just as he was about to stand up, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
He widened his eyes and pointed at Link in disbelief.
"So you're not worried at all because you already thought of a way to deal with it?"
Link smiled and nodded. Then he looked around, waved his hand to set up a soundproof barrier, and explained to Cedric, "While you've all been making trouble at Hogwarts, my people at the Ministry of Magic haven't been idle either."
"This might sound arrogant, but right now, more than half of the Ministry is actually under my control."
"Umbridge is included in that."
After Link said that, Cedric did nothing but blink rapidly a few times. Otherwise, he was frozen in place like someone had hit a pause button.
Link was very satisfied with his reaction.
He smiled, crossed his arms, and prepared to enjoy Cedric's shock.
But the next moment, Cedric hooked his arm around Link's neck and started shaking him hard while loudly scolding him, "So I was over there freaking out about all this, and you knew everything, had everything under control, but you wouldn't say a word, just watching me make a fool of myself?!"
Cedric was actually careful with his grip. When he hooked Link, he even used his other hand to pad it, afraid of digging into him.
Link knew it was a joke. Laughing loudly, he patted Cedric's arm and said, "My fault, my fault, okay? Hahaha!"
"Wasn't I just using Umbridge to keep pulling people's loyalty over to us?"
"Not telling you was so you'd act more convincingly. I really didn't mean it."
"I'm warning you!"
"If you don't let go, I'm going to fight back!"
"Hahaha..."
Amid the laughter, what started as Cedric grabbing Link turned into the two of them hugging each other.
If Emily hadn't gotten uncomfortable halfway through and pulled them apart, Link and Cedric probably would have ended up rolling onto the floor together.
"You two really are close."
After separating them completely, Emily said in a rather complicated tone.
Hearing that, Cedric raised an eyebrow and deliberately spoke in a sugary voice, "Link, looks like your fiancée is jealous!"
"Oh! It's all my fault!"
"Merlin, Cedric!" Link shoved him away in total disgust. "Stop being so gross! I really don't understand how Cho Chang puts up with you!"
Cedric straightened his clothes. Not only was he not angry, he even said proudly, "You probably wouldn't understand. It's a Diggory family talent!"
———
Watching Link and Cedric still tangled up, laughing and fooling around, Emily shook her head helplessly.
She knew very well how important Cedric was in Link's heart.
In a sense, the emotional investment Link put into Cedric was not much less than what he put into her.
That had nothing to do with anything dirty, it was just brotherhood.
If Cedric really grew distant from Link, even if Link didn't go crazy, he would definitely be miserable for a while.
So seeing Link and Cedric still so close actually made Emily very happy.
But happy was happy.
Jealous was still jealous.
And in this huge Great Hall, Emily wasn't the only one who was jealous.
Ron, who had just come in through the entrance hall and happened to see that scene, was so envious he practically stuffed his whole hand into his mouth.
Even though he usually called Cedric "pretty boy" along with George and Fred, in reality, Ron was extremely jealous of a perfect guy like Cedric, excellent in character and academics, surrounded by beautiful girls, and from a very good family.
Especially Cedric's closeness with Link.
If he could, Ron would really like to become the kind of good friend who could joke around freely with Link like that.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the guts.
As for Hermione beside him, even though she was also jealous, it was from a different angle…
"Link!"
Harry, who was following behind them, saw them stop and hurriedly pushed through, shouting.
He didn't have any of those messy thoughts. He was about to be driven crazy by what had happened today.
Hearing Harry call out, Link and Cedric, who were in the middle of joking, both turned their heads.
"Link, how are things on the Hufflepuff side?"
Harry said anxiously. "Almost everyone in the Gryffindor common room is talking about the Inquisitorial Squad. Even though they don't say it out loud, I've noticed that a lot of them have actually already..."
Before Harry could finish, Cedric raised a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.
"Don't worry, Harry. Everything is under our control. Things won't get out of hand. I can guarantee you that."
Cedric stepped out ahead of Link and used the same words Link had used to fool him earlier to keep fooling Harry.
"You…"
Harry's voice stalled. Looking at Cedric, a feeling of irritation and disgust rose up inside him.
He didn't know whether it was because Cedric was Cho Chang's boyfriend, or simply because Cedric was using such obviously dismissive words to deal with him.
But that didn't really matter.
Driven by that irritation, Harry blurted out the next moment, "What right do you have to give me that kind of guarantee?!"
As soon as he said that, Ron, who had already been gaping, opened his mouth even wider.
Many of the Hufflepuffs sitting nearby also shot unfriendly looks at Harry.
Link, seeing this, just smiled without saying anything. That strange gaze of his kept moving back and forth between Harry and Cedric, as if he had discovered something interesting.
And just then, a burst of noisy arguing came from far away.