The Unlucky Girl from Her Past Life

When Evita opened her eyes again, she saw Madam Pomfrey looking furious.

"Thank goodness, you're finally awake," Madam Pomfrey said crossly. "You've been unconscious for two days. If you hadn't woken up, you would have had to go to St. Mungo's for further treatment!"

"I'm sorry for the trouble," Evita said apologetically.

"You should be apologizing to yourself!" Madam Pomfrey said angrily, though she remembered to keep her voice down. "Didn't you ever have a magical outburst as a child? Constantly suppressing your magic has put a tremendous strain on your body. You can't keep forcing yourself to be the best at everything!"

She paced back and forth, speaking urgently. "Of course, I know you're an exceptionally gifted genius, aren't you? But how could you put yourself under so much pressure?"

"I know. Thank you." Evita sat on the bed with her head lowered, covering her face with her hands.

Dumbledore walked in and said gently, "Madam Pomfrey, may I have a word with her alone?"

Madam Pomfrey shook her head and left, frustrated that Evita hadn't lived up to her potential.

"I thought you might like a Sherbet Lemon?" Dumbledore said kindly. "Or a cup of hot cocoa?"

"Either is fine, Professor." Evita lowered her hands and slowly raised her head, revealing a pale face and a slightly thinner chin.

Dumbledore handed her a cup of hot cocoa, sat down beside her, and said softly, "Perhaps it's time you took it a little easier, Evita."

"I know, Professor," Evita replied, looking a little downcast.

She remembered her past life.

For convenience, Evita decided to refer to her past self by a familiar name.

Xiaohong.

Xiaohong had caused her mother's death when she was born. Her biological father had dumped her at a tiny orphanage and disappeared without a trace.

The woman the children called Mother Director was old-fashioned, stubborn, and quick-tempered. More than half the children at the orphanage had disabilities, so she spent her days rushing about for their sake, mentally exhausted and unable to look after the remaining healthy children.

Having grown up in such an environment, Xiaohong was naturally quiet and obedient to a fault. She had no friends, and her favorite things were reading and studying. Adults often said that knowledge could change one's fate, and she wanted to change hers. She also wanted there to be no more abandoned children in the world.

Sometimes Xiaohong wondered whether she could have lived an ordinary but happy life if she hadn't caused her mother's death. When she was little, she had cried and fussed for her mother too, but after doing so enough times, she came to understand that it was impossible.

She could only hide herself in books, escaping those unpleasant, painful, and sorrowful things.

Around the time she was in middle school, a volunteer came. She was very young, college-aged, and had once been a child at the orphanage herself. The volunteer brought many books, including a complete set of Harry Potter.

Xiaohong quickly fell in love with the stories and became utterly convinced that magic was real.

A chuunibyou girl had plenty of fun. After discovering the magical world, she became much livelier. To put it in the words of a domineering CEO novel, "It's been so long since the young miss smiled like this."

What followed was death and transmigration. She was shrunk back to childhood with one click, her hair and eye colors were changed with another, and she had almost become a different species.

Xiaohong didn't look forward to having a father; she only regretted not having a mother. But then she thought, if it was her consciousness that had transmigrated, how was that any different from killing a mother's child? So she put that regret aside.

However, that sense of regret disappeared because of Adele, who had nearly starved her to death in the first few months, then took human form and looked after her. Although there had always been something inhuman about the way Adele acted at first, she truly was a mother.

Not only that, after transmigrating, Evita had continued to study hard, driven by a sense that she didn't deserve it, as though it were "stolen time." All her genuine happiness was built on the magical life she now had, which she had once read about in books. It was an anchor she could not afford to lose.

And so she felt a sense of urgency and anxiety.

But-

There was plenty of time, and life was more than just busy studying, right?

Professor Dumbledore smiled faintly. "It seems you've already understood, Evita."

"Mm!" Evita nodded and spoke cheerfully.

She officially left the Hospital Wing three days later, just in time for Hufflepuff's next match. Evita won without trouble and greeted the heavy Christmas snow in high spirits.

Sirius had sent her a mirror a week earlier, so she leaned against a pile of presents and said cheerfully, "Tina, please pick up the phone!"

The long-distance visual communication mirrors, improved upon from the Two-Way Mirror, could be held by multiple people and show quite a few of them at once.

"Honey," Tina said brightly, "guess where Newt and I are right now?"

"Where?" Evita asked, bewildered.

"We're in Hogsmeade," Newt said seriously. "Tina and I bought a house here. Would you like to come out and spend Christmas with us?"

He angled the mirror behind him. "Um... I mean, here..."

Tina naturally picked up where he left off. "There are too few people here. It's just Newt and me, and Hobby and the others. It's a little lonely, really."

"Okay." Evita readily agreed. She closed the mirror and fell backward onto her bed, a light smile slowly appearing on her face.

On Christmas Day, she got up in a wonderful mood and opened everyone's presents.

There were rather too many. Tina, Newt, and the other elders had sent her plenty of sweets and books, while Lily, Sirius, and the others had given her some very interesting things.

The professors had sent her presents too. Professor Sprout had given her plant essential oils, just as she had the previous year. Professor Kettleburn had sent a handful of feathers from an unknown animal, and Professor McGonagall had given her a year's worth of the weekly Transfiguration Today... Professor Slughorn had sent her some material, and even Professor Snape had given her a notebook.

Most of the Weasley family had sent her presents as well, including a sweater knitted by Molly. There was also a stone from little Harry, though she had no idea where he had picked it up, and a small bottle of hair dye from Tonks.

Many Hufflepuff students had sent her presents too, as had Adele.

"You know the excuse I've given everyone is that I'm exploring ancient ruins, right?" Adele said. "But that's too vague. I needed to actually do something, so I really did explore some ruins in Egypt."

She added, "Merry Christmas."

"Thank you." Evita was delighted. "I don't think I've ever had a happier Christmas than this one. I think a memory like this could let me conjure the strongest Patronus."

Hugging a pillow, she went into the space, spread her arms, and fell backward, landing on the Antipodean Opaleye dragon that flew over.

"Good girl, my good girl," she said. "I brought you all presents. Yes, forty-two presents, one for each of you. Or would you rather have a new companion?"