Amid everyone's eager anticipation, Halloween has finally arrived.
Harry was regretting that he should not have agreed so hastily to attend the death anniversary party.
Other students in the school were happily attending the Halloween party, and the auditorium was decorated with live bats as usual.
The huge pumpkins Hagrid planted were carved into lanterns, big enough for three people to sit in them. People also rumored that Dumbledore had booked a skeleton dance troupe to entertain everyone.
"Hermione, are you going to the death anniversary party?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah." Hermione nodded, but her attention was obviously not here.
When seven o'clock rolled around, Harry, Ron and Hermione walked straight through the doorway that led to the crowded Great Hall. There were lights, candlelight, and gold plates on the table, which was very inviting. Harry looked at the luxurious scene and sighed secretly with regret, and they still walked towards the underground classroom.
The aisle leading to the venue where the Death Anniversary Party was held was also lit with candles, but it did not look cheerful at all.
Those were small, dark, thin candles that glowed with a faint blue light when they burned. Even when they shone on the vibrant 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, like a thousand fingernails scraping back and forth on a huge blackboard.
"That's called music?" Ron complained in a low voice.
They turned a corner and saw an almost headless Nick standing at the door of a large room, draped in a black velvet curtain.
"My dear friend," he said with inexplicable sadness, "Welcome, welcome... I am so happy that you can come..."
Looking at the hundreds of milky white, translucent ghosts in the room, and the terrifying and trembling dance sounds made by thirty musical saws, it was like a nightmare.
No matter what, this is the worst Halloween Harry and I have ever had.
And most importantly, it's extremely cold here!
But even if the little lion trio's Halloween was so miserable, at least there were still many "people" accompanying them! Relatively speaking, the dull loneliness over Maka was really a bit unbearable - although he himself didn't care at all.
At this moment, he was conducting some strange experiments alone in the Room of Requirement.
"...The effect of the rule runes is indeed very powerful."
He is still writing rule runes with a quill pen. Although there is no progress in application, the current results are already very significant 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 Maka, he found that those blessing abilities were not even 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 dueling master of his time.
When a wizard masters a large amount of magic that improves physical skills, actual combat will be greatly improved. Because of this, Gryffindor, whose magical achievements are definitely not as good as Ravenclaw or even worse than Slytherin, is the one with the highest combat effectiveness among the four founders of Hogwarts.
Of course, there may be more reasons than these, but according to Maca’s research and attempts, this is definitely one of the reasons. Even Gryffindor himself was born a knight.
After jumping up and down and trying to cast spells again and again, Maka, who finished her research, rested for a while in the Room of Requirement, then left and walked slowly to the dormitory.
The corridor was quiet, except for the sound of rain outside, which made people feel a little uneasy.
It's always like this during the holidays. When everyone gathers together, it means that other places are much emptier.
"Willy?"
After passing a corner, Maca saw Willy Blois standing by the corridor window.
"..." Willy turned her head and looked at him silently.
"What's wrong, why don't you go to the hall?" Maka tried to make her expression less stiff, but even so, it was just in vain.
"You've changed," Willy whispered.
After Luna, another person said this.
Although Maka himself knew that 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 on him.
The two girls, Luna Lovegood and Willie Blois, are the two most sensitive of these people. Well, maybe a Hermione Granger can be added to the mix.
After some introspection, he paused, no longer forcing 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 gave people was completely different from Maka's indifference.
"...The you before was better." She looked into Maka's eyes and said seriously.
After saying that, Willy turned and left as decisively as she did in the library that day.
"Even if there is no emotional connection, I still can't read her thoughts." Maka couldn't help but thought as she looked at Willie's retreating back quietly.
The rain continued outside the window, and Maka stood there looking out the window for a while before walking to the Hufflepuff common room in the basement.
When he reached a corner on the third floor, he stopped.
Just on the other side of the corner, a huge snake was swimming in the corridor, and near its head, a petite figure was drawing something on the wall.
"Ginny Weasley." Maka turned sideways, staring at the little figure with sharp eyes, and murmured silently.
"The secret room has been opened. Those who are enemies of the heir, beware!"
The large characters, one foot high, were still vaguely visible in the dim light of the torches.
At the end, Ginny hung a petrified cat on a torch hook next to the line - it was the caretaker Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris. Not far away, a door was open, which looked like a bathroom.
Maka watched all this quietly, thinking about something in her heart.
Suddenly, a burst of busy footsteps came from the other end of the corridor. The giant snake moved upon hearing the sound and scurried into the bathroom. Ginny followed and closed the door.
A sign reading "Out of Order" swayed slightly on the door, seeming to deny entry to others.
"...Harry, what is going on?" Ron said, wiping the sweat off his face, "I didn't hear anything?"
"But I did hear it! The voice was saying..."
Hermione, who was running in front, suddenly gasped and pointed down the corridor.
"look!"
Obviously, she saw the writing on the wall - such large writing, it would be unusual not to be able to see it.
"What's that... hanging down there?" Ron said, his voice trembling.
They approached cautiously, and Harry almost slipped: there was a large puddle of water on the ground. Hermione grabbed him by the shirt to stop him from falling.
The two of them approached the sign little by little, staring intently at the black shadow below. The two of them saw what it was at the same time, and jumped back in fright, causing a splash of water.
But Ron was staring straight at the corner not far from here, as if there was something there that concerned him.
The three people had their own thoughts and stood there motionless for several seconds.
"Should...should...try to be rescued?" Harry stammered.
"Huh? What-ah!" Ron suddenly turned around and was startled by Mrs. Norris on the hook.
"What are you doing! Didn't you just see it?" Hermione said loudly.
"No, um, I just saw-" Ron opened his mouth, but swallowed the words when he reached his mouth.
Just as Hermione was wondering, a low noise, like distant thunder, told them that the Halloween party had just ended.
From both ends of the corridor where they were, there could be heard the sound of hundreds of feet climbing up the stairs, as well as the cheerful chatter and laughter of people after they had had their fill of tea and food. Then, students crowded into the aisle from both ends.
They were surrounded.
When the people in front saw the upside-down cat, the lively and chirping sounds suddenly disappeared. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood alone in the middle of the corridor. The students fell silent for a moment and crowded forward to watch this terrible scene.
In the midst of an uncomfortable silence, someone spoke.
"Those who are enemies of the heir, beware! You will be next, Mudblood!" That was Draco Malfoy speaking loudly.
He had already pushed his way to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes became vivid, and his usually bloodless face was now glowing with a trace of red. It was obvious that he was particularly 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, grabbing his face with his hands in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What happened to Mrs. Norris?" he screamed and muttered, staring at Harry fiercely, as if he wanted to eat him alive.
"Filch!"
Dumbledore and other professors arrived. In the blink of an eye, he was past Harry, Ron and Hermione and unhooking Mrs. Norris from the torch's hook.
"Come with me, Filch," he said to Filch, "and you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger."
Lockhart hurried forward and invited Dumbledore to his office.
"My office is closest to here, just upstairs..."
The students moved silently to both sides to allow them to pass.
In Lockhart's office, Dumbledore hunched over, looking carefully, poking here, touching there. Lockhart pretended to know a lot and kept coming up with some bad ideas.
"It's not dead, Filch," Dumbledore said after checking it. "It's petrified...but how, I don't know."
"Ask him!" Filch screamed, turning his mottled, tear-stained face towards Harry.
Snape looked at everything in front of him from the shadows on the side, seeming to feel a sense of gloating. As far as he was concerned, Harry's misfortune could be directly converted into his happiness, with a conversion rate of more than 200%.