Chapter 154
Halloween Chapter
Chapter 154 Halloween
As long as there is enough profit, there will always be journalists who dare to publish articles that those in power do not want to see.
Fortunately, after the arrow of responsibility was pointed at Barty Crouch, the Ministry of Magic's originally tough attitude was indeed softened.
Barty Crouch was once the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic and the most promising Minister for Magic.
In other words, he was a former strong rival of Fudge.
But after Voldemort's downfall, Barty Crouch's son was found to be a Death Eater, and he personally sent his son to Azkaban.
This incident caused Barty Crouch to gradually lose his prestige and failed to become the Minister of Magic. He now serves as the Director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation.
This position is similar to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Muggle government, but its importance is not comparable to the latter. Most of the time, it is spent dealing with trivial matters such as "the thickness of imported crucibles" and "the differences in standards of contraband in various countries".
The reporters had no fear of Barty Crouch's revenge, and they described Crouch during the war as a cruel tyrant, and began to dig up other people who were sent to Azkaban without trial.
The Ministry of Magic was also happy to let Crouch take the responsibility. During the interview, Fudge wiped his tears in front of the camera and confessed that he "trusted the wrong person".
The Ministry of Magic still had an ambiguous attitude towards the release of Sirius, but the overwhelming public opinion had forced the Ministry of Magic to make a decision as soon as possible, and Dumbledore had been working hard for this.
"Lupin said that the court should be opened after Halloween to re-examine Sirius's case."
Harry told his friends: "Many people think he is innocent and the chances of him being acquitted are very high."
Michael knew that Harry had always understood the most optimistic part. He whispered to Wade: "Is that really the case?"
Vader nodded: "This time it's real."
It was only a small minority of the Ministry who insisted that Sirius should not be released; most people didn't really care.
Marchionne told Wade that most prisoners in Azkaban went insane within a few weeks, unable to sustain even the simplest thoughts.
Therefore, many people think that there is nothing to worry about when releasing a madman who is likely to have no self-awareness, not to mention that he is being wrongly accused.
Students in school are completely unaware of the changes in public opinion and pressure from all sides.
All they saw were reports of Sirius Black in the newspapers, sometimes with a picture of the young wizard from his school days.
The boy's handsome appearance and tragic experience aroused the sympathy of almost all female wizards, bringing him unexpected help.
Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to think that this was a hot topic that he could take advantage of. In this week's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, he rarely asked students to perform a drama, but instead talked a lot about his friendship with Sirius Black.
Although the Marauders were about to graduate when he enrolled, they still sympathized with each other in Lockhart's story.
"I saw at once that Peter Petillo was a man with ulterior motives, and I warned them about it, but no one took my words seriously."
"Alas, I was as young as you are now. Despite my extraordinary vision and amazing insight, I did not receive the respect I deserved."
"If they had listened to me earlier, maybe everything would have been different?"
Lockhart said, shaking his head regretfully.
The girls in the classroom looked at him with admiration, tears in their eyes, and consoled him distressedly: "This is not your fault, professor! You have done everything you can!"
Seeing that Harry seemed a little shaken, Ron said hurriedly: "You didn't take his nonsense seriously, did you, mate? You know Lockhart is a brainless idiot."
"But... but he's written so many books, hasn't he?" said Harry. "He might be a good observer."
After finishing his homework in the Umbrella House, Harry asked Lupin in the Friends' Book.
【Lupin: Gilderoy Lockhart? 】
The characters in Lupin's reply seemed to be filled with question marks: [Who is that? ]
Harry wrote down all of Lockhart's self-boasting.
It was a long time before Lupin seemed to remember this person.
[Lupin: I have indeed heard of the person you are talking about. He is a very famous Ravenclaw.]
[But that was not because of his insight or magic, but because soon after he entered school, he declared that he could make the Philosopher's Stone before graduation and lead the England Quidditch team to win the World Cup.]
[The Ravenclaw team made an exception and allowed him to try out, but he fell off his broom.]
[He is also known for having his name carved into 20-foot-long letters on the Quidditch pitch.]
[Also, in the last few years of school, we were busy competing with Slytherin, exploring and drawing the Marauder's Map, or caring about the war situation at the time. We didn't have time to deal with a junior Ravenclaw student.]
Lupin's reaction seemed very intense...
Harry thought to himself as he looked at the words that popped out one after another on the parchment.
Michael pointed out bluntly: "It seems that he doesn't want to have anything to do with Lockhart at all. You'd better not mention it."
Harry nodded silently.
He put aside his unrealistic expectations of Lockhart and asked everyone: "Hey, guys, do you want to go to Nick's Deathday party? It's on Halloween."
Everyone was quiet for a moment.
Michael: "I think I heard it wrong...what party?"
Theo: “Who’s Nick?”
Neville: "Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor."
"A ghost's death anniversary party?" Padma wrinkled her nose. "Will there be a lot of ghosts?"
"Should... should be..."
Harry said hesitantly, and then tried to encourage everyone:
"This Halloween is Nick's 500th death anniversary. Think about it... Halloween comes every year, but a death anniversary party may only happen once in a lifetime! Don't you want to participate?"
"Uh..." Michael asked, "You haven't agreed to go yet?"
said Harry, and looked at his friends pitifully.
"I want to go," said Hermione enthusiastically. "It must be wonderful!"
"Are you going with anyone else, Harry?" Theo asked. "Or just you... and Hermione?"
"... and Ron agreed to go with me," said Harry.
"Well...if you want, I can too..." Neville said hesitantly.
But after he said it, looking at his expression, it seemed that he immediately regretted it.
Harry didn't give him a chance to regret and immediately said happily: "Then it's settled! What about you?"
"No." Wade shook his head.
He knew that the party was full of dark dishes and had no interest in attending.
"Of course we have to participate!" Fred said excitedly, "Ghosts! I have never seen ghosts anywhere else except in school!"
George nodded as well.
Harry felt a little relieved, but after another calculation...
Hmm? Isn't this all Gryffindor?
He looked at the others. Theo glanced at Ryan and said with a smile, "We're not going either... but I'll save dinner for you."
"What do you mean?" Harry had a bad feeling in his heart: "Deathday party... no food?"
"They should just serve ghost food," Theo said politely.
Harry blinked.
"Should I...shouldn't I agree to go to Nick's Deathday party?"
"But you already agreed," Padma said gloatingly.
Hermione nodded. "Once a word is spoken, it can't be taken back! Besides, the party is not just about eating!"
Michael smiled and said, "What a rare view, isn't it? Most people don't have this opportunity."
"So do you want this opportunity?" Neville asked nervously.
"Well... forget it." Michael refused gently but firmly.
"Wear more clothes." Wade finally reminded: "It will be very cold where ghosts gather."
……
In the blink of an eye, Halloween is here.
In the evening, Wade and others came to the auditorium. Like last year, countless candles were hung above the auditorium and bats decorated the ceiling.
The huge pumpkins were carved into lanterns of various shapes, fairies flew around on the vines, and the tips of the tiny magic wands sprayed colorful starlight.
The golden plates on the long table were filled with delicious food, most of which were not usually seen on the dining table.
Michael grabbed two pieces of the fried crispy cheese and took a big bite. The rich and crispy taste was almost addictive.
He finished his meal in a few bites, put two more pieces on his plate, and said happily to Wade, "If Harry and the others knew how much delicious food we have tonight, they would definitely regret it."
"I guess they regret it now." Wade forked a piece of French lamb chops and said, "Ghost food is rotten."
"Uh..." Michael advised, "Don't say such terrible things while eating, okay?"
While we were eating, a skeleton dance troupe performed on stage.
Those pale skeletons sometimes danced hand in hand to the cheerful music, sometimes floated up like cartilaginous snakes, and even suddenly scattered their skeletons on the ground and then pieced them together again.
The teeth of these skeletons chattered with each other, leading the audience to clap their hands and cheer along with them, creating an extremely lively atmosphere.
Except for Professor Snape who still had a gloomy face as usual, the students and teachers were all very happy and applauded one after another.
"This is great!"
Lee Jordan from Gryffindor pulled a black girl onto the stage and they both danced with the skeletons, bringing the heat of the venue to a new level.
When the dinner was over and the students were returning to the lounge, Wade saw Harry and his group coming up from the basement.
Except for Fred and George, who still had smiles on their faces, everyone else looked extremely haggard.
"It's horrible." Ron groaned. "Moldy, maggoty, smelly food... everything there makes me feel sick."
Theo and the others laughed and shared the food they brought from the auditorium with them.
"Thank you very much." Harry stuffed the food into his pocket and sighed, "But I can't eat anything now... I think my nose is going to fail."
A group of people walked out of the hall, then separated and followed the crowd to the lounge of their own college.
“This is the best Halloween I’ve ever had.”
On the way back to the dormitory, Michael was still talking excitedly.
Padma unconsciously hummed a song sung by the Skeleton Dance Troupe and said, "Yeah. It was great last year, but the trolls messed everything up."
"That's not the case." Michael said, "You joined us after that day, so that Halloween was great too."
Padma looked at Michael and gave him a sweet smile.
Wade consciously shook them off and returned to the lounge first.
He took out the gift for the house-elf from his bag - a shape-shifting mask - and wrote a blessing message on it and placed it on the table.
That way they can get it at night.
Even though Vader had a good relationship with several elves, they still followed the moral code of house elves and would not easily appear in front of Vader unless summoned.
Vader stood by the window and waited for a moment.
The huge castle gradually became quiet, and the students of Ravenclaw fell asleep one after another. Presumably, the students of other colleges were the same.
There were no screams, no petrification, no confusion or fear.
This was exactly what he expected - a peaceful, fulfilling and interesting school life.
Vader smiled.
……
On the second day of Halloween, after the afternoon class, Wade received a note from Professor Sprout -
【After dinner, come to the third greenhouse. 】
Wade was delighted, and after dinner he could not wait to go to the third greenhouse, where he saw the grown mandrakes swaying slightly.
"Although the mandrakes are not yet mature, their leaves are ready to use," said Professor Sprout.
A purple vine tried to quietly hook onto the witch's shoulder, but she calmly slapped it away.
"Great!" Vader said happily, "Then I can use it to practice Animagus, right?"
"Yes, that's right," Professor Sprout said with a smile. "It could have been a week ago, but I think it would be a shame to make you miss the Halloween dinner, wouldn't it?"
"Thank you, Professor," Vader said gratefully.
"Learning about Animagus is a long process, Vader."
As Professor Sprout spoke, he took out a pair of large scissors and searched carefully among the mandrakes.
"You have always been successful in learning magic, but you should know that it is normal to fail two or three times in practicing Animagus, especially the first step."
"For a whole month, you must hold a mandrake leaf in your mouth. You cannot swallow it or take it out. If you fail, you have to start the whole process over again."
"Let's choose the leaves today. Before the full moon, you have to get used to the feeling of talking, eating, and sleeping with a leaf of similar size in your mouth, and be careful not to swallow it. Practicing in advance will help you know which mistakes to avoid when you officially start."
Professor Sprout held the scissors and smiled, saying, "Well, choose a piece, Vader."
Still two-in-one, 4000 words.
Tomorrow's update will probably still be in the evening
(End of this chapter)