Chapter 1 Twenty-Four: Ghost Party
Time comes and goes in a hurry like riding on a playful animal.
The end of October is coming soon.
The day before Halloween, the sun had just set from the end of the black lake, and the pitch-black night gradually pushed away the afterglow of the evening sun, wrapping the entire sky like a black curtain——
This is the Halloween that countless wizards have been waiting for!
There is an underground classroom specially set up for ghosts in Hogwarts, filled with hundreds of milky white, translucent figures.
Most of them wandered around in the crowded shabby dance hall, waltzing in response to the terrible and trembling sounds.
This "yin music" is produced by a "musical instrument" called a music saw.
This unique "instrument" is often played with just a bow, producing a thrilling sound that sounds like a thousand fingernails scraping against a giant blackboard...
The band playing the saw was sitting on a stage covered with black cloth. A chandelier above their heads imitated the structure of the Hogwarts Great Hall. It also lit a thousand candles, but it was not as bright and majestic as the Great Hall. Instead, it emitted a faint blue light at midnight.
Now, this ghost territory has ushered in three unharmonious figures. Their breaths formed clouds of mist in front of them, as if they had walked into a refrigerator.
Obviously, these are three living people who have sneaked into the ghost party.
"Harry, so why did you agree to the nearly headless Nick to attend his death anniversary party?" Ron shivered and tightened his clothes around himself, "It's cold, eerie and scary here... instead of staying there... Here, I would rather face the big Halloween spider at the door of the auditorium!"
Harry nodded in understanding.
He thought that agreeing to come here to attend Nearly Headless Nick's death anniversary party was one of the most wrong decisions he made this year——
The other students in the school must have gone to the Halloween dinner happily, and the auditorium had been decorated as usual. The huge pumpkin planted by Hagrid was carved into lanterns, big enough to accommodate three people. Sit inside.
What he regretted most was the rumor that Dumbledore had booked a skeleton dance troupe to entertain everyone.
Although the Skeleton Dance Group is definitely not as surprising as last year's star vampire singer Lorcan Demeans, it is at least much better than the "yin music" pulled out by the band Ghost with a musical saw!
At this time, the almost headless Nick escaped from the crowd of ghosts in the underground classroom and faced the three Harrys who had just walked through the door.
"Ah, my dear friend," he said with a very sad tone and very happy words in a black velvet curtain, "Welcome, welcome...I am so happy that you can come!"
He took off his feathered hat and bowed gracefully to them.
"Welcome to my 500th death anniversary party," said the almost headless Nick. "What an honor that four living people will come to this party of ghosts!"
"Four living people?" Harry was stunned for a moment and subconsciously looked into the depths of the underground classroom.
In the gloomy environment, he saw a figure with silver hair standing on the ground, which was in sharp contrast to the ghosts floating around.
"Professor Dracula?!" The three of them exclaimed at the same time.
They thought that no one would agree to Nearly Headless Nick's participation in the ghost's party except for a big wretch like Harry.
But the three of them never expected that Professor Dracula would actually come to Nick's death anniversary party earlier than the three of them. Judging from how familiar he was with the ghosts around him, it seemed that he had already arrived. A short time.
At this time, Dracula was standing among a very beautiful ghost witch, a ragged man in chains, and a fat monk.
Looking from a distance, Harry and the three of them could probably see that Dracula was happily talking to the beautiful ghost witch, ignoring the ragged man in chains next to him with a guilty face on his face.
The fat man in monk's uniform was acting as peacemaker, trying to mediate the relationship between several people.
"Hermione, Ron, am I hallucinating?" Harry asked softly to the two people around him, "Why do I feel that Professor Dracula is as spooky as those ghosts... If he hadn't been well Standing on the ground, I couldn't tell whether he was a ghost or a living person..."
"I feel what you said." Ron pinched his chin and nodded exaggeratedly, "Harry, do you think...could Professor Dracula not be a human being, but a materialized ghost?"
"Look, Professor Binns, who is a ghost, can give us lectures. Why can't Professor Dracula be a ghost? According to the experience Professor Dracula showed us when he was giving lectures, it is absolutely impossible to only express it on his face. The age of coming out..."
"In addition, Professor Dracula can also be immune to the damage caused by our spells. This is definitely not something ordinary wizards can do..." The more Ron said, the more reliable his reasoning became, and he smiled proudly. , "So there is only one truth -"
"Professor Dracula is actually a ghost!"
Harry: "..."
Hermione: "..."
"Wake up, Ron! It's impossible for ghosts to use magic." Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron, "And if you arrange Professor Dracula like this, aren't you afraid that he will hear it and add a few more to you? Double the homework?”
"Oh, no!" Ron immediately covered his mouth and lowered his voice and said, "Quick! Get out of Professor Dracula's sight before you are discovered..."
As he spoke, he walked towards the other side with small steps.
"Let's go, Harry. Follow Ron." Hermione and Harry looked at each other and shrugged helplessly, "We can't leave him alone."
"Okay." Harry sighed helplessly, "At least there seem to be a few dining tables in the direction he went, so we can fill our bellies."
However, when the three Harrys walked to the long dining tables, they all showed extremely frightened expressions.
As I approached the table, I was first hit by a strong smell of rancidity and sourness.
Harry reluctantly opened his eyes and saw large chunks of rotten meat on beautiful silver plates, dark, charred cakes piled on large trays, and a large amount of maggot-stuffed lamb tripe. , a piece of cheese covered with green hairs.
In the center of the table, there was a huge tombstone-shaped gray cake, with tar-like frosting spelling out the following words -
Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington died on October 31, 1492.
The three of them were stunned.
At this time, a fat ghost floated towards the table.
He lowered his body and passed directly through the middle of the table, his mouth wide open, and just passed through a smelly salmon.
"If you put it through like this, can you taste it?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
"Maybe," the ghost said sadly, turned and floated away.
"I guess they let the food rot to make the taste stronger." Hermione quickly guessed.
She held her nose and leaned forward to take a closer look at the rotting lamb belly.
"Stop studying these 'foods', Hermione, I'm already so sick that I want to vomit." Ron said with a grimace, "Get out of here quickly, maybe we can make it in time for the last dessert of the Halloween dinner."
"Okay, then let's try to find another way." Hermione glanced at the way we came and said softly, "I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle—"
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Do you know why the bathroom that Quirrell sneaked into last year became semi-abandoned?" Hermione said. "The bathroom breaks down all year round because she kept throwing water all over the place because of her tantrums. "
"I try not to go there as long as I can avoid it. Every time I go to the toilet there, she will scream and cry at you. It's really scary..."
They were talking, but before they could turn around, a short ghost suddenly emerged from under the table and stopped in mid-air in front of them.
Harry, Hermione and Ron were instantly frightened when they saw this ghost.
"Hello, Peeves..." Harry said carefully and a little timidly.
It’s not because Harry is timid, it’s because Peeves is a ghost who likes to play more pranks than Fred and George——
Peeves is different from the ghosts around him. He is not pale and transparent. On the contrary, he wears a bright orange-red pointed hat, a rotating bow tie, and a broad, ruthless face with grinning teeth. Bad smile.
Not only that, Peeves does not pass through any real objects like other ghosts, but can use his body to affect real matter. This is also his capital for mischief.
"Want some?" Peeves looked at the three little wizards in front of him and said with a smile.
At the same time, he reached out and handed them a bowl of mold-covered peanuts.
"No, thank you." Hermione said stiffly.
"What a shame," said Peeves.
But there was no regret in his expression. Instead, his eyes flickered, "It's so impolite to talk about poor Myrtle!"
He took a deep breath and yelled, "Hey, Myrtle!"
"Oh, no, Peeves, don't tell her what I said, she will feel very sad." Hermione whispered anxiously, "I was just joking, I don't mind her doing that..."
However, the ghost of a short, fat girl has arrived.
"Oh, hello, Myrtle." Hermione had to stop what she was saying and greeted Myrtle in a pretended to be happy voice.
Myrtle's face looked very melancholy and gloomy, half obscured by her long, straight hair and thick, pearl-colored glasses.
"What's wrong?" She looked at Peeves with a sullen face, "I have something very important to do today. If it's not important, don't disturb me!"
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"Miss Granger was talking about you just now!" Peeves said slyly in Myrtle's ear.
"I was saying...well, yes, I was just saying that you look really beautiful tonight." Hermione glared at Peeves fiercely and said with a stiff face.
Myrtle looked at Hermione suspiciously.
"I know you're making fun of me," she said angrily. "You think I don't know what people call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Poor, sniveling, sullen Myrtle. mother!"
"You left out the word 'pimple-faced'." Peeves whispered in her ear.
Myrtle's voice broke off.
"Whatever you say, I don't have time to talk to you today!" She took a deep breath, turned her head and looked to the other side, "Professor Dracula has finally become a ghost, and I can share a toilet with him. !Great!"
Myrtle's eyes seemed to light up with two stars, which was in sharp contrast to the bitter and resentful look just now.
"Is this really Myrtle? Does she have emotions other than sadness...?" Hermione looked at the excited Myrtle and fell into deep doubt.
However, at this moment, Harry keenly discovered a problem in Myrtle's words——
"Wait, Myrtle." Harry said in surprise, "You mean... you also think Professor Dracula has become a ghost?"
…
On the other side, Dracula, who was being discussed by Myrtle, Harry and other young wizards, did not pay attention to the situation here.
He first expelled the bloody Barrow who came to apologize from the ghost party with an indifferent expression, and then drove aside the fat monk who came to be the peacemaker.
Bloody Balor, the culprit who turned Helena Ravenclaw into a ghost, really couldn't make Dracula look back favorably on him.
"Uncle Dracula, thank you for venting your anger on me just now." Helena raised her eyebrows and said with a smile. There was no trace of her usual cold expression on her face.
"It's a trivial matter." Dracula said casually, "If Barrow pesters you again in the future, just tell me this matter directly, and I will take action."
"It is true that ghosts cannot die again, but there are still some magics that can restrict ghosts... Just use a special confusion spell on Barrow so that his memory will not recognize Hogwarts as the place he has been - based on With the characteristics of a ghost, he can immediately roll as far as he wants!"
"Actually, there is no need to go to such trouble for me, Uncle Dracula." Helena said, "After all, Barrow was once Uncle Slytherin's proud disciple, and there is still some affection between you."
"Since you said so, forget it." Dracula shrugged, "Let's see how he behaves in the future."
Then, Dracula took out a silver crown from his pocket——
This is another Horcrux that Dracula learned about from Riddle. Now, all the soul fragments in the crown have been absorbed by Riddle, leaving only the purest magic power of Ravenclaw in the crown.
"Happy Halloween, Helena!" Dracula chuckled.
At the same time, he secretly made up his mind to try not to make casual promises in the future——
Too much trouble!
…
At the same time, in the dim living room of Malfoy Manor.
The Death Eaters gathered around the long table. The whole room was silent and the atmosphere was extremely solemn.
"Master, your clone hasn't sent back any news yet?" Yaxley asked, breaking the silence in the field.
Snape stayed at Hogwarts and was responsible for holding back Dumbledore and Dracula; Riddle was still trying his best to get what Voldemort wanted.
Under such circumstances, Yaxley considered himself to be the number one Death Eater present, so he took the lead without hesitation.
"Master, we are about to start taking action now, but your clone hasn't sent you what you need yet..." Yaxley whispered, "Is he really what Severus said? , where has he taken refuge with Dracula?"
…
…
