Chapter 731: Halloween, Slughorn's Ball
Chapter 731 Halloween, Slughorn’s Ball
Halloween came quietly after the first Quidditch match.
The pumpkins that Hagrid planted in the field outside the door were moved into Hogwarts. God knows what he did. Those pumpkins looked to be at least six feet tall. If you put four wheels on them, they could be used as a carriage.
When these pumpkins were delivered to the auditorium, Professor McGonagall was responsible for turning them into various shapes, such as eagles, lions, snakes, badgers, or some more famous ghosts, and then Professor Flitwick delivered them to the auditorium. Half empty.
Nearly headless Nick was posing crazily next to his pumpkin statue for the little wizards to take photos with.
The fat monk of Hufflepuff also smiled happily and looked very satisfied.
However, in the remaining two academies, you can no longer see the main ghost and the statue in the same frame.
Bloody the Bloody was not interested in these and never appeared in the auditorium. As for the Gray Lady, Helena Ravenclaw, she has long since disappeared.
Kyle has looked for her many times, as well as Dumbledore and the portraits in the headmaster's office. They almost turned the castle upside down and couldn't find her whereabouts.
Later on, Kyle slowly gave up. There was no other way. Even the castle was built by Rowena Ravenclaw. If they didn't want others to find it, it wouldn't be difficult.
“Hey, this is really good.”
“Oh, crap…” Connor said suddenly.
“Well, actually you don’t need to pay too much attention to this...” Kyle explained in a low voice: “Fred and George made some improvements to the love potion, which reduced some of the ability to confuse the mind and amplified the desire for expression.
“He’s got really good timing,” Kyle said.
“What’s wrong?” Kyle looked at her.
Mikel, who came to the auditorium from the common room for the dinner, looked at the surrounding decorations and said: "It's a pity that there are no performances by the Weird Sisters or the Skeleton Dance Troupe this year, otherwise it would be more perfect."
…
“What’s wrong with them?” Kyle asked confused.
"Actually, I'm also quite interested in the Ghost Dance Troupe." Kyle said immediately: "And Mikel can even stumble his legs when walking. How can he dance?"
I heard that Slughorn personally invited a ghost dance troupe. I think he would be happy to participate in this Halloween dance. "
"Professor Slughorn..." Connor said, "I just remembered that he organized another dance just after the dinner, and Floda had just given me the invitation an hour ago.
This scent also attracted Kangna. Without looking at Kyle, she reached for a piece of golden pumpkin pie.
“Anyway, good luck to you. I don’t want to see you tap dancing on the dinner table one day.”
“This is the fifth time this month,” said Kangna.
Kyle also got himself a piece of pumpkin pie. He also liked the less greasy taste.
“Well, just an hour ago,” said Connor, “and within five minutes I got the invitation.”
“What? How many parties does he have to hold a month?”
"Since you said so, I don't care anyway." Kangna said softly: "But Romidavani and Antelia who bought it seem to want to pour this thing into the pumpkin juice you want to drink. , please remember to pay more attention in the future.”
"You must be joking, right? Who would give me a love potion?"
"There's nothing we can do about it." Ryan sighed, "Now everyone is busy avoiding Death Eaters, and no one wants to come all the way to Hogwarts to attend some Halloween dinner."
A few people came to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. At this time, the professors also walked in from the small door on the other side.
“But Professor Slughorn requires everyone to find their own dance partner in advance.” Connor said, “If you refuse, I will have to find Mikel as my dance partner.
“Oh, there’s also a copy for you, but you were in the library at the time, so Floda gave it all to me.”
"Okay." Kyle was speechless, "Let's just use the previous reasons to reject him this time. After the dinner, I just want to go back to the warm common room to kill time. Even just sitting in a daze is better than going to a dance party. Be nice!”
"I'm afraid it won't work this time." Connor sighed: "Professor Snape left the school for something. Professor Slughorn must have received the news in advance. He also asked Floda to send a message, telling me to go."
"Um..." Ryan was really stopped by the question, but he didn't know the question, so he could only say vaguely: "Maybe the Death Eaters have other methods."
"There are quite a few..." Kangna stretched out her hand and counted: "In addition to the two I just mentioned, there are also Paia, Darlene, and Kvar...and these are all discovered, and there may be more that have not been discovered.
“You should know that detectors only work on black magic, while love potions are just magic potions and are not dangerous... so they took advantage of it.”
But as Kangna said, this kind of thing is only available on Halloween. Usually the only thing related to pumpkins on the table is pumpkin juice.
“You don’t know?” Connor glanced at him, “I have confiscated several bottles of love potion recently, all of which are products from Weasley’s Trick Shop.
"By the way." In the middle of the dinner, Kangna suddenly remembered something, "You remember to write a letter to Fred and George and ask them to stop putting love potions in bottles of pick-me-up potions and send them to school. , This simply adds to our workload.”
Kyle’s hand holding the sandwich stopped in mid-air, and the corners of his eyes twitched slightly.
Kanna clicked her tongue lightly.
This can only be explained now.
"So..." Kangna blinked, "Can I invite you to the dance?"
"Professor Snape leaving school has nothing to do with me, my excuse can still be used." Kyle raised his eyebrows, "After all, the Ministry of Magic will not have a holiday on Halloween."
“They will replace the outer packaging with the bottle and label of a refreshing potion to avoid Filch’s inspection.
“Professor Snape has left school?”
Of course, the effect is definitely there, but after being improved, it becomes something closer to teasing people, and the effect is only ten minutes, so even if you leave it alone, there won't be any big problem. "
“I’ve been waiting for this… outside of Halloween, the only thing school kitchens seem to do is make pumpkins into drinks.”
Fortunately, the dinner started at this time, sumptuous food appeared on golden plates, and the whole auditorium was instantly filled with the smell of pumpkin.
“But the dance team is all a group of skeletons.” Mikel didn’t understand. “Can the Death Curse kill them again?”
Connor was talking about two days ago, when a Gryffindor student suddenly jumped on the table during breakfast and performed a lame tap dance for everyone.
After investigation, it was discovered that the other person became suddenly excited after drinking Harry's pumpkin juice by mistake.
It was only after that incident that Kangna noticed the love potion disguised as a refreshing potion.
When he thought of the scene at that time, Kyle's expression suddenly changed.
"That's too much." He said angrily: "Fred and George have gone too far. How can they sell things like love potion to students? It's so shameless.
“Don’t worry, I will write a letter right away to severely condemn their opportunistic behavior and warn them not to do it again in the future.”
Kyle didn’t even wait until the dinner was over and started writing the letter directly on the dining table in the auditorium.
This abnormal behavior also attracted the attention of many people. They all looked over and guessed what Kyle was doing.
But Kyle didn't care about all this. After finishing the letter to the Weasley brothers, Kyle still felt uneasy, and then wrote another letter to Mr. Weasley. The general content is to report Weasley's Joke Shop for illegally selling love potions to Hogwarts.
Kyle clicked with his wand, and the two letters immediately folded into paper airplanes and flew out of the auditorium, then turned around and arrived outside the castle.
After waiting outside, a huge owl suddenly flew over from the direction of the Forbidden Forest, grabbed two paper airplanes floating in the air, and flew into the distance.
In the auditorium, Kyle breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that the letter had been sent away.
But after that, he didn’t take another sip of pumpkin juice, especially if it was handed to him.
Until the end of the dinner.
The students all got up and went back to the common room, some of them ran very fast, and some even went back before the dinner was over.
Because it is a dance, they need to change into formal robes in advance.
This is also Slughorn's request. Although he can dance in school uniforms and robes, he wants to make the dance more formal, just like the dance during the Triwizard Tournament.
"If possible, I would rather go to the previous dinner party than go to any dance." Connor looked at the two seventh-grade Slytherin girls who had already changed into formal robes in advance and were standing in the middle of the hall like peacocks. .
“That kind of dress is so uncomfortable to wear, and there are no pockets. I don’t know where to put my cauldron...”
“You still have the crucible with you?” Kyle turned his head and asked with a look of disbelief.
He could understand carrying two bottles of magic potion with him, but the cauldron was a bit too much.
“Yes.” Kangna nodded and took out a small crucible as big as a fist from his pocket.
"As long as you use the recovery spell, it can become normal size." Kangna continued: "This is a habit I developed last year to perfect the recovery potion, so that I can verify the combination of certain materials at any time.
“Then I thought it was pretty good, so I kept carrying it with me.”
"Okay," Kyle asked, "but why don't you put it in the basilisk skin bag."
“Because the leather bag is already full.” Kangna said matter-of-factly: “There’s not enough ready-made potions and herbs, so there’s no room for the crucible.”
Hmm...that makes sense.
At this time, Kangna was still thinking about where to put her cauldron after she changed into a dress robe.
Kyle thought for a while, and when no one was paying attention, he took out his wand and tapped her.
The original school uniform robe immediately turned into a bright blue-purple color, and the hem became longer and longer, turning into a formal robe in the blink of an eye.
“Transfiguration…” Kang Na was a little surprised.
“Well, I saw a similar style in Madam Malkin’s Robe Shop during my vacation, but the details are definitely not that exquisite, and it’s just a look-alike.”
"It doesn't matter, this is good." Kangna looked at the robe up and down, and then asked in a low voice: "Can't others see it?"
In the wizarding world, most people will not wear the formal robes of the Transfiguration Spell to attend a ball, because if they are seen, they will definitely become a joke to others.
For example, Ron just trimmed the edges of his second-hand dress robe two years ago and never thought of using transformation.
Of course, it’s possible that he didn’t think of it.
"Don't worry." Kyle waved his hand, "As long as Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore don't go, no one will be able to tell."
Then he also changed himself into a set of clothes.
"That's good." Kangna said happily, without any doubts about Kyle's words. She turned around and found that besides being more convenient, this kind of dress robe had another benefit.
Because it is a transfiguration, it is essentially a school uniform. There is no change in the feeling or weight of wearing it. It is much more comfortable than a heavy and tight dress robe.
Because it happened to coincide with Halloween and the dance, Slughorn invited a lot of people this time, and with their respective dance partners, the number of people was even greater.
As soon as Kyle and Connor walked into Slughorn's office, they heard a burst of noise, laughter, music and loud voices that gradually increased with their footsteps.
Slughorn has enchanted his office to make it look much larger than the average professor.
There are curtains of various colors hanging on the ceiling and walls, and there is a golden pumpkin lantern on the top, but it is not a candle inside, but many elves holding lanterns. They are flying around inside, as if there are countless The light spot kept flashing.
The waiters are the house elves in the kitchen. They shuttle back and forth among the crowd with trays containing various drinks.
"Oh...Kyle, Connor, my child!" Before the two of them entered the door, they heard Slughorn shouting loudly, "It's not easy to invite you...but as I said before Yes, you can't always avoid me."
"Professor, it's so sad when you say that." Kyle said: "We really want to come to the party, but there is no way. Professor Snape has been hindering it and not letting Connor come.
“Besides, I’m sure you know how boring working at the Ministry of Magic can be.”
“Oh, yes, I know that.” Slughorn blinked and said with a smile, “I was just joking, you finally got your wish today, didn’t you?
“Okay, come in quickly, there are so many people for you to meet.” He walked into the office cheerfully.
Kyle and Kangna looked at each other and followed helplessly.
"That's Walpole, my former student." Slughorn pointed to a small man not far away who was talking to Harry. "He's the author of Blood Brothers: My Life as a Vampire... Of course .And his brother Xue Ni.”
The name of this book sounds a bit like Lockhart's style, but it is real. The Walpur really lived among a group of vampires.
The blood nun next to him is a serious vampire, tall and handsome, with dark circles around his eyes, looking tired and sleepy.
Only when a girl passes by does he become more energetic, licking his lips with a hungry light in his eyes.
As if aware of Kyle's gaze, Xueni turned his head and looked over.
He saw Kangna at a glance, and the light in his eyes suddenly became brighter. He noticed that Kangna was different from other girls, and she exuded a very unique fragrance.
The feeling was like the rosemary garnished next to the steak, making him salivate.
Xueni suddenly felt that the pie in his hand was no longer fragrant, and couldn't help but take two steps forward.
“Vampires like talented wizards, especially witches.” Kyle explained as he looked at the frowning Connor.
"I know, it was mentioned in Lockhart's book," Connor said. "I just think it feels weird."
"That's easy to say." Kyle took out his box and opened it a crack.
The students attending the dance in the room did not notice anything different and were still doing their own things, but the vampire stood stiffly in place.
At that moment, he instinctively felt several extremely dangerous smells, and each one could easily tear him apart.
Xueni suddenly came to his senses. He turned around stiffly as if nothing had happened, and tried to hide himself behind Walpur, who was a head lower than him.
“Look, it’s easy to solve.” Kyle said with a smile, skillfully catching the Sniff that jumped out of the box and stuffing it back in.
(End of this chapter)