The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

"I screamed in the night to straighten my teeth immediately, but the trial process was so simple and crude. They took out the beheading stone but forgot the grinding stone. They usually have to sharpen the ax first..."

On the stage, Nick's song was singing to its climax, and the ghosts were listening solemnly.

But the saw-like background sound was really not suitable for living ears. Loren and Hermione couldn't hear the lyrics Nick sang at all, so they preferred to observe the weird food on the table.

Although it was disgusting, Hermione was as curious as a cat. If she didn't look carefully, her heart would feel like she was being scratched by claws.

She took a closer look at the meat-stuffed sheep tripe. At this moment, the fermented gas in the sheep tripe burst a belly bag, and a stronger rancid smell leaked out, got into her nose, and made her face wrinkle tightly. together.

A few maggots splashed onto the table, twisting and squirming. Hermione pulled Loren further away, for fear of accidentally catching the fallen bugs.

Loren watched her series of actions and struggled to hold back a smile.

The leader of the Headless Horseman was near Loren and Hermione, and his slightly emotional voice reached their ears: "Oh, it's a pity...but..."

He turned his head and saw the two of them. He jumped back in shock, his head fell on the floor and shouted: "Alive person?"

"Hello Sir Patrick," Loren greeted politely, "Nick told us about the Headless Hunters."

"Hello." Hermione was behind him, curiously looking at the cross-section of Patrick's head and neck, trying to figure out the reason for the decapitation.

"Ha, Nick!" Patrick's head yelled, "He must still be upset that we didn't let him join the Hunters!"

Hermione got out from behind Loren and wanted to say a few words for Nick: "I think Nick is already headless, with only a little elastic muscle and skin left, and he can still do more tricks."

She paused and added: "And Nick is very scary."

Loren couldn't help but look at Hermione helplessly. The second half of the sentence was what Nick told him. The first part is what you want to say.

"Haha!" Patrick's body picked up the head on the ground, "I guess Nick told you to say that!"

He put the head on and shook it. It was shaky and about to fall at any time: "My rejection was not only about whether the head could be used as a ball, but more importantly, I didn't want to deepen Nick's attachment to the world."

"Attachment?" Loren and Hermione looked at him doubtfully.

"There are many reasons why ghosts are unwilling to accept death and stay in the world, but the essence is that they are attached to the world of living people and do not want to leave."

Patrick raised his high collar and fixed his head to prevent him from falling. "Nick felt that his death was too ridiculous, too hasty, and difficult to accept. Also, the glory of the Poppington family has not been passed down and carried forward. In the vast world, he He hasn’t realized it yet, but all kinds of messy things make up his fear of death and his attachment to the world of the living.”

"500 years have eliminated his fear, although he still has not accepted his absurd and hasty death. However, Henry VII has long since turned into ashes, and even the Tudor dynasty has perished. Sooner or later, he will be able to think clearly. That’s when he’ll embark on a great adventure.”

He looked at Nick who was singing on the stage: "Joining the Headless Hunters will deepen his attachment to the living world, which is a hindrance to him."

Loren thought of every ghost he had ever seen, Professor Binns, Gray Lady, Bloody Barrow, Myrtle. Analyzing their reasons for staying in the living world, I was fascinated for a while.

Hermione followed Patrick's line of sight and saw Nick singing passionately on the stage. He was clearly enjoying the stage. She couldn't help but ask, "Why do you have to accept death? Isn't it bad to stay in this world?"

Patrick held the reins of the ghost horse tightly in his hand, bent down and put his head in front of Hermione's eyes, and said in a cold tone: "Do you think being a ghost is something comfortable?"

"I can hear beautiful music, but I can't feel the emotions in the melody; I can see the changes of the four seasons, but I can no longer appreciate the beautiful scenery."

This seemed to poke a pain point in his heart, and his speaking speed gradually became aggressive, "Not to mention the void body that cannot touch the real world, the disgusting rotten food, and the harsh and annoying music, all just to get a little bit. Poor consolation!”

"That's enough!" Loren pulled Hermione behind him, looked at him warily, and scolded, "It is your own choice to become a ghost. Why are you complaining to us now?"

Patrick calmed down and panted heavily with his eyes closed on horseback. In fact, he couldn't feel the air, and breathing wouldn't calm him down. This was just a habit left over from when he was alive.

After a long time, he opened his eyes and said weakly: "I'm sorry, little wizard, for scaring you."

Loren didn't reply and walked away with Hermione.

Patrick looked at their backs blankly and laughed at himself: "Yes, this is the coward's own choice..."

Hermione was still thinking about the question. She walked a long way without saying a word before suddenly asking: "Are ghosts unable to control their emotions and easily collapse when stimulated? It's like some kind of mental illness."

Loren thought about it for a moment, and it seemed like this was true for Nick that night, Moaning Myrtle, Patrick just now, and even Ms. Gray.

"Not Professor Binns. He almost never loses his temper." He thought of a counterexample.

"They still lost their temper." Hermione told about something she heard during a night chat in a girl's dormitory. "George and Fred once made Professor Binns angry. Once they changed Professor Binns's lesson plan to "The Quibbler." ", Professor Binns recited it for a week before being discovered by Percy. Penello said that Professor Binns' wrinkled skin was so angry that it swelled up, and George and Fred were imprisoned for a month."

Loren: "..."

What can he say, twin brother Niu Boyi.

"According to what Patrick said, after becoming a ghost, they will have emotional disorders. They will not be able to smell, taste, or touch anything. Their barren senses will make them depressed, irritable, and irritable. This is the sign of mental illness. Symptoms, they are mentally ill.”

"So Patrick hopes Nick accepts death out of good intentions, but what will happen to the ghosts after they accept death? Go to another world?" Hermione looked at a room of ghosts with curiosity in her eyes.

Loren didn't know either, but considering Dumbledore's attitude towards death and the existence of trances, it seemed that for wizards, there really was an afterlife.

The clear mixed tenor Nick's Song comes to the end and becomes more melodious and higher pitched.

"I died like this, but my faithful head,

But you don’t want to be separated from me no matter what,

It still hangs there, my song ends here,

Now please applaud, otherwise it will be the biggest blow to me——"

After the song ended, Nick took off the head, ignoring the stretched skin and tendons, pressed the head to his chest and bowed.

In the dark and cold basement, only countless slender candles emitted cold blue light. Each of the ghosts who also emitted cold light applauded vigorously and cheered loudly. The boiling sound almost overturned the castle.

Loren looked at these ghosts, watching them try to create a lively atmosphere, but there was still an inexorable coldness in the venue. It's the coldness brought by the magic candle, and it's also the coldness brought by the ghost body.

"Who knows, we just need to live well." Loren said softly. He and Hermione were so close that they could feel each other's body temperature in such a cold place.

"Gugu——"

"Gu——"

Hermione covered her stomach in shame, lowered her head and did not dare to look into his eyes, and whispered: "I thought there was something to eat at the banquet..."

Loren suppressed laughter and pulled Hermione towards the edge of the stage: "Let's go, let's go to Nick to say goodbye. Now we'll go back to the auditorium and have pudding to eat."

Seamus, Dean is taking Neville to play a game of walking through ghost bodies. The ghosts put on various weird postures, and the three of them had to run over as fast as possible and compete at the end to see who had passed through the most ghosts.

Although the cold made their teeth chatter, the three of them were very excited.

"Harry and the others have already left. If you want to leave, go up first. We will go back when we are tired from playing." Neville waved his hand and hurriedly rushed into the pile of ghosts.

Loren and Hermione:…

When they reached the edge of the stage, Lockhart was pestering Nick about his new ghost-themed book.

Lockhart held a pen and paper, dancing and speaking loudly: "Ms. Grief is a hidden werewolf. The full moon was revealed that night, so it grew terrible fangs. In order to prevent you from revealing his identity, the king A captive werewolf army, so you will be executed the next day.”

Lockhart said this, trembling with excitement: "This adaptation is great, the new book will definitely be a big seller!"

Nick shook his head impatiently: "How could a Muggle dare to come into contact with a werewolf? Don't tamper with my experience!"

What's going on in this new Hogwarts professor's head? Water in the bathroom toilet?

"Of course Muggles can come into contact with werewolves! Even... yes, yes... the werewolf army has remained until today, and there are still hidden werewolves in the Muggle world... Bates..." Lockhart's eyes became more and more fanatical. .

He is a best-selling author who knows how to relate to his readers. With some slight changes, Nick's story could fit in with the most popular trend in the wizarding world - the Muggle threat theory.

Provoking conflict between Muggles and wizards, and combining it with the historical Muggle witch hunts, this would become a best-selling book for decades. There is also the recently introduced "Anti-Werewolf Act", which can also be linked to the content of this book.

As for this ghost, just using the Forgetting Charm and the False Memory Charm can make him cooperate with you.

Tampering with memories from 500 years ago is a challenge he has never faced before. The blood all over Lockhart's body warmed up. Even in the cold ghost banquet venue, he still felt his blood boiling.

Loren heard Bates's name as he approached. He looked at Lockhart's uncontrollable excitement, his eyes colder than the temperature in the basement.

This new professor disgusted him, and it seemed that the progress of the Forgetting Curse was going to speed up.

When Nick saw Loren and Hermione, he smiled with relief. He greeted happily: "Hey, how are you doing tonight?"

Hermione looked at Nick, then at Lockhart, and said, "The show is wonderful, and the ghosts are also interesting. It's just that there's no food for us to eat, so we're a little hungry."

Nick patted his head, his head shaking, and he said regretfully: "I was negligent and forgot to prepare food for you."

"Then let's go back to eat. Goodbye Nick!" Loren said goodbye after coming back to his senses.

Hermione and Loren walked up side by side: "Did I just hear Lockhart say Grandpa Bates's name?"

"It's a coincidence, or it's someone with the same name." Loren replied calmly, he didn't want Hermione to worry. Don't worry, he has always learned spells quickly. Once he finishes learning the Oblivion Charm, he will turn Lockhart into an idiot.

hall.

There is still some residual heat from the lively atmosphere of the Halloween party. The little wizards have already eaten their fill. Some of them are chasing each other and playing in the auditorium, while others are chatting at the long table.

The skeleton dance troupe had already left. When Loren and Hermione came in, they only saw some musical instruments made of bones still placed under the guest of honor seat.

A violin made from the tibia, a drumstick made from the radius...

Loren thought that the Skeleton Dance Company might be more suitable for a basement party. Ghosts and skeletons seemed to go well together at first sight.

Live bats flying all over the sky rest inside the jack-o-lantern and peck at the sweet pumpkin flesh. In addition to the jack-o-lantern above the guest of honor, George and Fred were also throwing colorful firecrackers at the jack-o'-lantern hanging above Dumbledore's head, trying to blow it down.

Lockhart did not attend the Halloween party, no one boasted inappropriately, and there was joy and harmony at the guest table. Professor McGonagall, who was in a cheerful mood, ignored the twins' suicidal behavior.

Dumbledore stood up, and his cheerful voice spread throughout the auditorium: "Finally, I have only one thing to say - Happy Halloween!"

As his blessing fell, the party came to an end. The house elves stopped serving food, and the food on the long table disappeared like popping balloons.

Loren patted the puddings in his pockets, the mutton pies and chicken drumsticks wrapped in brown paper, and felt very at ease. Hermione patted her bulging belly, feeling relieved both in her stomach and in her heart.

The little wizards lined up to leave the auditorium. At this time, a fast fourth-year Ravenclaw little wizard ran anxiously to the center of the auditorium and said in a panic with a trembling voice: "Headmaster! Professor! Something happened!"

At a certain moment, Loren felt that this scene seemed familiar.

Last Halloween, it was in the same position, with similar words, but it was Quirrell who spoke.

The little wizards in the auditorium followed the professor, and the professor followed Dumbledore. They hurriedly left the auditorium and went up the stairs to the third floor. At a glance, they saw the end of the corridor surrounded by those who had left the auditorium first. Little wizard.

The crowd of onlookers separated a road so that those who came later could see the scene inside.

Harry and Ron stood blankly in the center, like prisoners. Next to them, a stiff and motionless Mrs. Norris hung on a torch stand.

Between the two windows, on the wall a foot high from the ground, there are some writings scrawled on it, glimmering under the light of the burning torch:

The secret room has been opened,

Be wary of those who are enemies of the heir.

I don’t know how to create a book club group, so I’ll post the group number here: 184361553