Chapter 57
In everyone's eager anticipation, Halloween is finally here.
Harry was regretting that he should have agreed so hastily to attend the Deathday Party.
Other students in the school happily participated in the Halloween banquet, and the auditorium was decorated with live bats as usual.
Hagrid's giant pumpkins had been carved into lanterns, big enough for three people to sit inside. It was also rumored that Dumbledore had ordered a skeleton dance troupe to entertain everyone.
Hermione, are you still going to the Deathday Party? Harry couldn't help asking.
Yeah. Hermione nodded, but her attention was obviously not here.
By seven o'clock, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked straight through the doorway that led right into the crowded Great Hall. There were lights and festoons, candles flickering, and gold plates on the tables, very inviting. Looking at the luxurious scene, Harry secretly sighed regretfully, and they still walked towards the dungeon.
The aisle leading to the venue where the Deathday Party was held was already lit with candles, but it didn't look pleasant at all.
Those were all dark, thin candles, which shone with a faint blue light when they were burning. Even when they shone on the faces of the three of them, they looked a bit eerie.
The temperature dropped with every step, and Harry shivered, pulling his clothes tighter around himself.
At this time, he heard a sound, as if a thousand fingernails were scraping back and forth on a huge blackboard.
That's called music? Ron whined under his breath.
They turned a corner and saw Nearly Headless Nick standing in the doorway of a large room, draped in black velvet.
My dear friends, he said with inexplicable sadness, welcome, welcome... I'm so glad you're here...
Then look at the hundreds of milky, translucent phantoms in the room, and the horrible, quivering dance music of thirty musical saws, and it seems like a nightmare.
Either way, it was the worst Halloween ever for the three of Harry.
And most importantly, it's extremely cold here!
But even if the Halloween of the little lion trio is so tragic, at least there are still many people to accompany them! Relatively speaking, the dull loneliness on Maca's side is really unbearable-although he himself doesn't care at all.
At this moment, he was conducting some strange experiments alone in the Room of Requirement.
...The effect of the rule rune is really powerful.
He is still writing rule runes with a quill pen. Although there is no progress in the application, the current results are already very remarkable in terms of the number of analysis.
What satisfied him even more was the superficial application of abilities he experienced when he was in Alani's body.
After some research by Maca, it was found that those blessing-type abilities were not even called rules, but just a prototype of magic, but they also benefited him a lot.
He finally understood why Godric Gryffindor was known as the most accomplished duelist of the time.
When a wizard masters a lot of magic that improves physical skills, the actual combat will be greatly enhanced. Because of this, Gryffindor, whose magical achievements are definitely not as good as Ravenclaw or even Slytherin, is the one with the highest combat effectiveness among the four founders of Hogwarts.
Of course, the reasons may be more than these, but according to the research and attempts of Maca, this is definitely one of the reasons. It is even unknown that Gryffindor himself was born a knight.
After jumping up and down and trying to cast the spell again and again, Maca, who finished his research, rested for a while in the Room of Requirement, then left here and walked slowly to the dormitory.
The corridor was quiet, only the sound of the rain outside,
It makes people feel a little uneasy.
It's always like that during the holidays. When everyone gathers together, it means that other places are much more empty.
Willy?
After passing a corner, Maca saw Willie Blois standing by the corridor window.
... Willie turned her head and looked at him silently.
What's the matter, why don't you go to the hall? Maca tried hard to make his expression not so stiff, but even so, it was just a waste of effort.
You've changed, Willie whispered.
After Luna, another person said so.
Although Maca knew it himself, his changes were so obvious. Even if he is low-key enough, people who have had close contact with him in the past will always detect some clues in him.
The two girls, Luna Lovegood and Willie Blois, were the most sensitive of these people. Well, maybe there's a Hermione Granger in there too.
After a little self-examination, he paused, no longer forced himself to express his expression, and then shook his head slightly.
Maybe, but I'm still me. He said calmly.
Willie turned around and looked at him carefully, her tone was equally calm, but the feeling it brought was completely different from Maca's indifference.
...The old you was better. She looked into Maca's eyes and said seriously.
After finishing speaking, Willie turned and left, as decisively as she was in the library that day.
Even if there is no emotional bondage, I still can't read her thoughts. Maca quietly looked at Willie's back, thinking so.
The sound of rain continued outside the window, Maca stood there looking out the window for a while, and then went to the Hufflepuff common room in the basement.
When he reached a corner on the third floor, his footsteps stopped.
Just around the corner, a gigantic snake was wandering the corridors, and near its head, a petite figure was drawing something on the wall.
Ginny Weasley. Maca turned sideways, staring at the little figure with piercing eyes, and murmured silently.
The secret room has been opened, those who are enemies of the heir, be vigilant!
Large characters, a foot high, were still visible in the dim light of the torches.
In the end, Ginny hung a petrified cat on the torch hook next to the line—it was Filch the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris. And not far away, a door was wide open, which seemed to be a bathroom.
Maca watched all this quietly, thinking about something in his heart.
Suddenly, a rush of footsteps came from the other end of the corridor. The giant snake moved after hearing the sound, and rushed into the bathroom, and then Ginny followed in, and closed the door behind her.
A sign with Malfunction swayed slightly on the door, as if refusing others to enter.
...Harry, what the hell is going on here? Ron said, wiping the sweat off his face, I didn't hear anything?
But I did hear it! The voice said...
Hermione, who was running ahead, gasped suddenly and pointed down the corridor.
Look!
Obviously, she saw the writing on the wall - such a big writing, it's not normal if she can't read it.
What's that... hanging down there? said Ron, his voice trembling.
As they approached cautiously, Harry almost slipped: there was a large puddle of water on the ground. Hermione grabbed hold of his clothes so he wouldn't fall.
The two of them approached the slogan little by little, their eyes fixed on the dark shadow below. The two saw what it was at the same time, and jumped back in fright, splashing a splash of water.
But Ron stared straight at the corner not far from here, as if there was something there that caught his attention.
The three of them had their own thoughts, and they stood there motionless for several seconds.
Should...should... try to save it? Harry stammered.
Huh? What—ah! Ron turned his head suddenly, and was startled by Mrs. Norris on the hook.
What are you doing! Didn't you just see it! Hermione said loudly.
No, that, I just saw— Ron opened his mouth, but swallowed the words again.
Just when Hermione was wondering, a muffled noise, like distant thunder, told them that the Halloween party had just ended.
From the ends of the corridor where they were, there came the sound of hundreds of feet ascending the stairs, and the cheerful chatter and laughter of people who had eaten their fill. Then, the students crowded into the aisle from both ends.
They are surrounded.
When the people in front saw the upside-down cat, the buzzing and chattering suddenly disappeared. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood alone in the middle of the corridor, and the students fell silent, crowding forward to see the horrific scene.
In the midst of an uneasy silence, someone spoke.
Those who make enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudblood! That was Draco Malfoy speaking loudly.
He had already squeezed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes were alive, and his usually bloodless face had a tinge of red at this moment, obviously he was very happy with the current situation.
He looked at the stiff cat hanging there, with an undisguised grin on his face.
What happened here? What happened?
Filch, apparently attracted by Malfoy's shouts, shouldered his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris.
Filch stumbled back a few steps, scratching his face in his hands in horror.
My cat! My cat! What's wrong with Mrs. Norris? he screamed and muttered, staring at Harry so viciously that he looked as if he would eat him alive.
Filch!
Dumbledore and the other professors arrived. In the blink of an eye, he was past Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and unhooked Mrs. Norris from the torch hook.
Come with me, Filch, he said to Filch, and you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger.
Lockhart hurried forward and asked Dumbledore to his office.
My office is the closest to here, upstairs...
The students silently split to both sides, allowing them to pass through.
In Lockhart's office, Dumbledore bent over and looked carefully, poking here and touching there. Lockhart pretended to be very understanding, and kept coming up with some bad ideas.
It's not dead, Filch, Dumbledore said after checking, it's petrified...but I don't know exactly how.
Ask him! screamed Filch, turning his mottled, tear-stained face towards Harry.
Snape looked at everything in front of him from the shadow on one side, and seemed to have a sense of schadenfreude. As far as he is concerned, Harry's misfortune can be directly converted into his joy, and the conversion rate is enough to reach more than two hundred percent.
