Hogwarts Emerald

"..."

In the dirty, dimly lit pub, Eda sat with the twins, frowning at the dusty Butterbeer bottles, her look of disdain written all over her face.

George pulled out the items the twins had prepared in advance—three clean glasses.

"Damn..."

Realization dawned on Eda, and she finally understood why they insisted on coming to the Hog's Head and why their footsteps had jingled earlier—they had hidden the glasses.

"Heh~"

After wiping the bottle's mouth, Eda poured the Butterbeer into the glasses. Fortunately, only the outside of the bottles was dirty, and the Butterbeer inside hadn't been "contaminated."

The twins took a satisfied sip of their Butterbeer, excitement evident on their faces. They kept glancing around at the pub's patrons, but they did so subtly, not drawing any unwanted attention.

The door creaked open, and a gust of cold wind blew in as four figures, wrapped tightly in cloaks, entered the pub. Like the other patrons, their shapes and faces were obscured.

In this bar, concealing one's identity was the norm. Only first-timers like Eda and the twins would enter so openly.

The customers spoke in hushed tones, their conversations inaudible. The twins had hoped to see some interesting characters but didn't spot anyone noteworthy, and they weren't equipped with super-hearing to eavesdrop on the other patrons' murmurs.

"You were right. We should've gone to the Three Broomsticks," Fred said dejectedly.

"Yeah, at least it's warmer there," George added, pulling his cloak tighter around himself. "And there's Madam Rosmerta."

Madam Rosmerta is far out of your league!

Eda rolled her eyes. Her eyes were large, making her eye-roll especially dramatic.

Fred noticed Eda's eye-roll, but he didn't mind. Instead, he cast her a disdainful glance and said, "Unripe fruit always envies the ripe peach, just like..."

"Just like what?" Eda asked casually, raising her glass.

"Nothing. I just envy others drinking real liquor. I want whiskey," Fred wisely stopped himself from continuing. He was certain that if he did, he'd end up taking a Butterbeer shower, followed by a Scourgify charm.

"We didn't expect the Hog's Head to be like this. Hagrid said it was fun," George chimed in, steering the conversation away.

Hagrid's words had sparked the twins' curiosity about the Hog's Head, but they had never considered the difference between themselves and Hagrid. Even though they were as fucked as Hagrid in the head. For one, Hagrid was an adult. He also knew how to enjoy himself at the Hog's Head—qualities the twins lacked. As a result, the bar held no real excitement for them.

"Where should we go next?" Eda asked. "Back to school?"

"You finally get a day out, and you can't stop thinking about your dark books?" Fred teased. "Or do you actually want to further your studies in Azkaban?"

From being the Hogwarts's Emerald to the Emerald of Azkaban—that's quite the leap, isn't it?

Leaving the Hog's Head behind, the trio once again wandered the streets of Hogsmeade. Their next destination was the Shrieking Shack. It wasn't their first time there—they'd even visited at night—but they had yet to witness any haunting in the supposedly most haunted house in Britain.

The Shrieking Shack was an abandoned house in Hogsmeade Village. For years, villagers had been spooked by the piercing screams emanating from it, leading to widespread belief that it was haunted. This reputation had earned the Shrieking Shack the title of the most haunted place in all of Britain.

Despite the modest size of the British Isles, ghost stories abounded without end.

For instance, in the year Eda was born, a strange incident occurred in Enfield, North London. Objects in a house mysteriously moved on their own, terrifying the homeowners. Desperate, they even called in a medium to resolve the situation, and only then did the disturbances cease.

In truth, however, it had been a wandering wizard who had taken up residence there. He had used magic to make the furniture and objects move, intending to scare the owners away. When the incident gained too much attention, the wizard fled, and the medium took undue credit for "solving" the problem.

Another famously haunted location was the Tower of London.

Muggles claimed to have seen ghosts there multiple times, the most well-known being Queen Anne Boleyn.

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, was accused by the capricious king of being a witch. Charged with treason and adultery, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London and beheaded with a sword in 1536.

After her death, her body was stuffed into a chest and hastily buried in the chapel within the Tower.

Since then, sightings of Anne Boleyn's ghost had been reported. Dressed in a white robe, the headless queen was said to roam the Tower's green and corridors. Stories of the headless queen spread far and wide.

It was said that every year, around the anniversary of her execution, people could see her carrying her severed head under her arm, riding a headless horseman's carriage back to her birthplace—Blickling Hall in Norfolk.

What truly led to Queen Anne's downfall remained a mystery to Eda, but there was one thing she knew: Henry VIII's suspicions weren't entirely misplaced. The queen, who brought a storm to the Tudor dynasty and altered the course of British history, was indeed a witch. To this day, her portrait still hung in the halls of Hogwarts.

Eda had even considered asking Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington if he had ever encountered Anne Boleyn's ghost—after all, they had both met their ends by beheading.

Many of the ghost stories that circulated among Muggles were actually the result of wizard interference. But the haunting of the Shrieking Shack remained unexplained. For this reason, wizards viewed the unassuming little house as the most terrifying of all haunted places.

Eda, Fred, and George stood outside the fence surrounding the Shrieking Shack. They weren't alone—other daring, curious souls had gathered nearby, all waiting for the appearance of a ghost or the spine-chilling screams that had so frightened the villagers.

The shack was fenced off, barring visitors from entry.

Even if someone wanted to go inside, it was impossible; every door and window had long since been sealed, even before rumors of its haunting began to circulate.

Aside from its eerie appearance, the Shrieking Shack was hard to associate with tales of ghostly activity. It wasn't a grand castle haunted by the deaths of many, nor an estate once inhabited by a significant figure. Its rundown state seemed unworthy of the infamous reputation it bore.

As time passed, the students gathered nearby began to disperse. After waiting for what felt like forever, they had lost patience. No piercing, blood-curdling screams emerged from the shack.

Discussions arose among the remaining onlookers: had the ghost left, or was the haunting nothing more than a myth—a clever ploy to draw more visitors to Hogsmeade?

"This place doesn't feel haunted at all!"

Eda said, leaning against the fence. She was itching to pull out her wand and cast Bombarda or Reducto, blowing open the sealed doors and windows of the shack to explore what lay inside.

"That's what everyone says, but it must be true! It scared plenty of people back in the day!"

Fred replied as he picked up a small stone from the snow and hurled it at the shack. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

"Back in the day? Which day?"

Eda tilted her head and asked.

Hogsmeade was said to have been established around the same time as Hogwarts, with the village even serving as headquarters for the goblin rebellion in 1612. Eda was eager to uncover the exact point in Hogsmeade's long history when the legend of the Shrieking Shack began.

The twins both turned to look at her, their expressions practically shouting: You're asking us? Who do we ask? Aren't you supposed to be the all-knowing Miss Encyclopedia? Is that all you've got?

"When we get back, I'll do some research and see if I can find anything related to the Shrieking Shack," Eda said, her curiosity about the place growing. "Then we can make a plan to sneak inside and catch a ghost. How about it?"

The twins' interest was piqued as well. The three of them clapped hands in agreement, sealing their decision. The long-abandoned Shrieking Shack would soon have visitors—three daring adventurers ready to uncover its secrets.

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