Propelled by several events in succession, Hogwarts fell into a strange and depressing atmosphere at the beginning of the new semester.
Ai Wen had a feeling that the people around him were gradually collapsing.
First up was Neville, who was completely intimidated by Snape.
In the second Potions class of his third year, Snape had given him two full months of confinement for throwing figs into the cauldron instead of peeling them. But in fact, everyone knew what was going on, Snape was taking revenge. From there, Neville couldn't help turning pale and sweating whenever he saw Snape.
Next came Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his confidence.
Now in Care of Magical Creatures, students learn lesson after lesson how to care for a Flobberworm: a disgusting, ten-inch-long, round, dark brown, wriggling worm. The existence of this creature is almost completely meaningless, and they are always left alone to do nothing except eat.
It was Harry again, who was now increasingly dreading his divination lessons.
Professor Trelawney always stared at him with big teary eyes, and the ominous prophecy spread almost throughout the school, no matter who, no matter when, as long as they spoke to Harry, their voices became soft Yes, as if he had been mortified in bed.
Besides, he had to worry about going to Hogsmeade himself, and Professor McGonagall rejected his application. This meant that he was likely to be the only third year student staying at Hogsmeade Visiting Day.
Even more worried than Harry were Colin and Ginny.
They completely believed Professor Trelawney's death prophecy, and in their eyes, Ivan and Harry might fall down at any time. Therefore, the two collected a lot of things that were said to be able to ward off evil spirits and break curses and wanted to give them to them. Most of them were popular items in the castle during the basilisk rampage last semester.
As for Hermione, she was also getting more and more neurotic.
This is mainly because she has taken too many courses, and her body and mind have been overloaded for a long time, and she has reached her limit. Ai Wen saw that her schoolbag contained more than ten magic books every day, and he wondered if Hermione would faint if this went on.
Finally there was Ron, who had been paranoid lately.
After Crookshanks tried unsuccessfully to attack Scabbers several times, he was always on guard against the cat. He showed Banban to everyone, it is now skinny and skinny.
From Ivan's point of view, the reason why Banban became like this has nothing to do with Crookshanks at all.
Peter Pettigrew must know that the real reason for Black's escape from prison is to seek revenge for himself, after all, he betrayed the Potters back then. He was afraid, and as Black got closer to Hogwarts, panic gradually took over his brain.
He wanted to run away, but he didn't know where to go.
Hogwarts Castle is currently the safest place. After all, there are so many terrifying dementors guarding it outside. It stands to reason that there is no reason for Black to break in, but since the other party can escape from Azkaban, it seems that it is only a matter of time before entering Hogwarts.
The mental torment made Peter Pettigrew extremely haggard.
In fact, not only a few of them, Ivan was also very busy during this time.
Aside from preparing newspaper articles, he devoted most of his energy to brewing the potion, which he prepared especially for Peter Pettigrew. A tracking potion he found on "Powerful Potion". As long as Peter takes this potion, he can use special magic to sense its location within a certain range.
In this way, there is no need to worry about him turning into a mouse and escaping.
Aiwen's plan is to mix this tracking potion with rat tonic, and I believe Ron will let Scabbers drink it. The only problem now is that the brewing step is too time-consuming. Although he has made sufficient preparations, he will not be able to complete the potion until the eve of Halloween at the earliest.
On Halloween, Harry sent Ron and Hermione to Hogsmeade pitifully.
Aiwen rejected Colin's suggestion to play wizard chess. He ran to the eighth floor of the castle alone. After seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he quickly walked back and forth three times in front of a wall and entered the Room of Requirement.
The room he requested was similar to Snape's office. The long table in the center was filled with glass products of various shapes, two tin crucibles and a heating device, and the cabinets on both sides were full of potion materials.
All these things were bought by Aiwen from Diagon Alley. Since last year, he has been brewing the potions he needs here, reviewing the content of potions class in advance, etc.
Long-term practice has made Aiwen's technique very proficient.
He put the prepared materials into the crucible one by one according to the formula in "Powerful Potion".
After about five hours, he finally finished making the tracking potion. He mixed it with the rat tonic that he had made. The potion was dark red, exactly the same color as the rat tonic that he saw in the magical creature store during the holidays. Aiwen filled the bottle with satisfaction, and when he came out of the Room of Requirement, he found that the Halloween banquet had already started, and he hurried into the auditorium.
Hundreds of jack-o'-lanterns hung in the auditorium, along with a swarm of fluttering bats and many flame-breathing orange streamers that floated lazily below the ceiling like brilliant water snakes.
The food at the banquet was excellent and everyone looked happy.
The tense atmosphere has been swept away since the beginning of school. Harry seems to have forgotten the damn prophecy, and Hermione finally stopped thinking about her studies. After Ivan gave the "rat tonic" to Ron, the other party's mood gradually improved. Don't worry about Banban anymore.
Everything went well, and even Hagrid, who hadn't been around recently, sat happily on the classroom mat.
The dinner ended with entertainment provided by ghosts, who suddenly appeared from the walls and tables to do a kind of parade slide; the ghost of Gryffindor House Nearly Headless Nick successfully recreated the time when he was killed. head condition.
All felt like they had had a good night, but less than ten minutes after the dinner was over, everything turned around.
The little joy accumulated at the Halloween banquet disappeared, and the atmosphere of panic permeated the castle again.
When the whole thing happened, Ivan, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Colin, and Ginny were slowly returning to Gryffindor Tower along the usual route. Ordered two servings of each food and my stomach was so bloated.
When they came to the portrait of the fat woman, they found that the corridor was full of people.
"What's going on, why didn't everyone go in?" Colin asked curiously.
"Maybe they forgot the password!" laughed Ron.
How is this possible? It is impossible for so many people to forget the password. Aiwen saw Peeves jumping on top of the crowd, looking very happy. He suddenly had a bad premonition in his heart. Peeves could only see the destruction This expression can only be shown in a scene of sadness and sadness. Could it be...
Before they squeezed into the crowd, Professor Dumbledore, who got the news, arrived in a hurry. He hurried to the portrait of the fat woman. The students in Gryffindor House crowded together to let him pass. Ivan and the others leaned closer. Tighten a little, trying to see where the trouble is.
"Oh, my God!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly, and grabbed Ivan's arm tightly.
Before them, the portrait of the fat woman had been vandalized, with portraits, small pieces of canvas strewn all over the floor, and large pieces of canvas completely ripped from the frame.
"Professor McGonagall, please go to Filch at once and tell him to look for the fat lady on every painting in the castle," said Dumbledore quickly.
"You'll be lucky!" Peeves grinned.
"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked calmly.
"Excuse me, Mr. Headmaster!" Peeves' smile faded a bit, he didn't dare to laugh at Dumbledore, he adopted an oily tone instead, "She doesn't want to be seen, she's messed up. I Saw her running past that picture of the fifth floor, sir, hiding among the trees, crying and saying terrible things."
"Poor thing," Peeves added, without any pity for anyone else.
"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
"Oh, I said it, Professor Chief!" Peeves looked like he was holding a big bomb in his arms, "She won't let him in, he is very annoyed, you understand. He has a really bad temper, this Sirius Black!"