章節 53: Halloween Dinner
The last day of October is Halloween Eve.
When the young wizards woke up in the morning, they smelled the sweet and tempting aroma of roasted pumpkin in the corridors, and even breakfast was pumpkin pie.
Today's spell class, of course, taught the levitation spell, and Seamus still managed to turn it into an explosion spell.
Otherwise, everything was as usual.
After the last class in the afternoon, everyone gathered in the auditorium, which was now beautifully decorated.
A thousand bats fluttered on the walls and ceiling, and another thousand hovered like low black clouds above the dining tables. Pumpkins carved into ghostly faces floated in the air, with the candle flames inside them flickering.
It should be okay to play a prank today, right?
At first, Ethan thought about targeting the trash cans in the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron, but after some consideration, he gave up the idea. Being new to the wizarding world, it didn't seem like a good idea.
It's not that Ethan wanted to play a prank, but if the prank could trick a certain number of people, there would definitely be achievements. Ethan had almost figured out how this system worked.
For this reward, Ethan had to do it!
He immediately pulled George and Fred aside, knowing they were just as mischievous.
Ethan shared his idea with them.
"Too cool, Ethan! You're a genius! Why didn't we think of this?"
"If you want a better effect, you'll need more people to join in."
"Yes, we could do this later..."
Fred and George discussed excitedly, constantly refining Ethan's plan.
As the sky darkened, students arrived at the auditorium one after another.
Today was a holiday feast, and the food was especially rich. In addition to various pumpkin dishes, there were dozens of French specialties.
The atmosphere was lively and joyous, but aside from the floating pumpkin heads and bats, the decorations didn't quite capture the Halloween spirit.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed from outside the door!
The door burst open, and a figure with blood and mud on his clothes and face staggered in.
The young wizards in the auditorium immediately turned their attention to the scene, all heads swiveling to see what was happening.
It was unclear who it was, but judging from his size, he seemed to be a third or fourth-year student.
But what happened?
Who was chasing him?
"*..."
He seemed to reach out for help, but before he could finish, an arm stretched out, grabbed his clothes, and then a bloody steel claw slashed his throat, sending blood spraying ten feet high.
The students in the auditorium were stunned. Is he dead?
At the same time, a cold wind and bursts of white mist surged from the door, and a strange man with a severely burned face walked out, retracting the steel claws from the neck of the unknown student, pushing the body to the ground, and staring coldly at everyone in the auditorium.
Twisted black shadows appeared in the white mist, approaching from afar.
The lights in the auditorium suddenly went out, leaving only the faint glow from the candles inside the floating pumpkin heads.
The young wizards snapped out of their shock, and hundreds of screams erupted simultaneously, threatening to overturn Hogwarts.
The scene quickly descended into chaos, everyone scrambling to flee through the other exits.
No one wanted to be the next student to have their throat cut.
Ethan, who had been watching the panel, knew the prank was successful when he saw the flickering light.
He knew the prank would work.
"Quiet, everyone, be quiet!"
The extinguished lights flickered back on, and a voice with a touch of magic calmed the chaos.
Dumbledore appeared on the high platform, followed by many professors.
Snape descended from the platform, his iconic cloak billowing behind him like a large bat, and walked towards the door.
The wand in his hand emitted a series of flashes, transforming the corpse on the ground and the disfigured man with steel claws back to their original forms.
And of course, he also dragged Ethan out of his hiding place.
"You frightened your classmates and tried to ruin the Halloween party. A genius from Ravenclaw and a troublemaker from Gryffindor. How should you be punished?"
Snape's tone was stern as he addressed the three culprits.
During this period, Snape had been in a particularly foul mood. After Slytherin lost 250 points, they went from the highest to the lowest, and Snape couldn't give them extra points without a good reason. After all, he still had to maintain appearances.
But he could certainly find various reasons to deduct points—whether it was for mishandling potion ingredients, failing to answer questions, or even having untidy robes.
It could be said that he single-handedly dragged the other three houses down with his relentless point deductions.
Now that he had the opportunity, he wasn't going to let it go easily.
"My suggestion is to deduct 100 points from Gryffindor and 50 points from Ravenclaw, and then expel them!!"
Snape looked towards Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall as he delivered his recommendation.
Ethan rolled his eyes and ignored Snape. Expel them? Why not just send them to the moon while you're at it?
Snape had been particularly harsh on Ethan lately.
Ethan couldn't understand how senior transmigrators managed to get along with Snape. How did they ever convince him to teach them potions in a special way?
Most of the time, he had a sour expression and spoke rudely. His heart was nearly impenetrable, and apart from things related to Harry, nothing seemed to matter to him.
Ethan figured there was no way he could ever get along with Snape.
"Students, please return to your seats. It was just a joke played by a few students. Don't you think it fits the Halloween atmosphere?"
Dumbledore, walking up with Ethan and the others, also brought in Cedric, Lee Jordan, and several Gryffindors who had been accomplices.
At this point, the students realized they had been fooled!
The one who appeared to have his throat cut was George Weasley, and the large pool of blood on the ground turned out to be just clear water.
The man with the disfigured face and steel claws was Fred Weasley, whose face was made up, and the steel claws were transfigured from wood.
The white mist, cold wind, and shadows were all controlled by Ethan at the door. The white mist and cold wind were the result of a clever use of the freezing spell, and the shadows were just some wooden stakes transformed by Transfiguration.
Inside the hall, Cedric, Lee Jordan, and several Gryffindors were responsible for heightening the atmosphere of terror and turning off the lights.
Fortunately, the professors arrived quickly, or the consequences might have been severe. The students were completely panicked, and if a stampede had occurred, it would have been a tragedy.
Ethan hadn't expected the prank, perfected by the twins, to have such an effect.
"Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff each lose ten points!"
Professor McGonagall announced the punishment.
No accidents were caused, so the situation was usually handled by Professor McGonagall, and she certainly wasn't going to listen to Snape.
Snape's overzealous point deductions had been a headache for Professor McGonagall. Points were being deducted much faster than they could be earned, and Gryffindor had been causing more trouble.
If each person lost 100 points, Gryffindor would be in the negative, setting a new record. McGonagall didn't want to set such an incredible record.
Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout had no objections either. After all, if they hadn't arrived in time, the Halloween feast would have been ruined. A few points deducted seemed fair.
After accepting their punishment, Ethan and the others returned to their respective tables.
Although the prank had scared everyone, they also found it quite fun and even looked forward to doing something similar next Halloween.
After all, pranks here were generally on a grand scale. Ethan's prank was just a scare—nothing too serious. (Candies that burn a hole in your tongue are quite intense, but the thrill never gets old.)
Especially on the Gryffindor side, those who didn't participate in the prank surrounded George and the others like they were Gryffindor heroes.
Only the Slytherins were unhappy.
Not only had they been fooled, but they weren't even included in the prank. Were they being excluded ?
Are they not all from the same school?
"Ethan, you really scared me."
At the Ravenclaw table, Cho Chang lightly hit Ethan and expressed her dissatisfaction at not being included in the prank.
"I thought of it at the last minute, so I had to arrange it quickly. There wasn't enough time."
Throughout the entire process, Ethan was the busiest. The props and special effects were all done by him.
"Senior, pass me the lamb chops!"
After swallowing the lamb in his mouth, Ethan turned to Penelope and said, "Senior, I asked you to pass them to me, not feed me!"
"I saw that your hands seemed to be very busy, and you are eating very happily, aren't you?"
Penelope took a bite of the grilled lamb chop and looked at Ethan with a playful expression.
"I was wrong, ah!"
Anyway, she had already fed him once, so Ethan didn't care anymore. He opened his mouth and waited for Penelope to feed him again.
The people around looked at him with surprised eyes. Penelope fed him another piece, and then continued to feed him more and more.
Finally, when Penelope handed him a piece of lamb chop again, Ethan finished it quickly and opened his mouth for more. She suddenly seemed to realize something, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Ethan got scared and didn't dare eat any more, otherwise, Penelope would feel uncomfortable.
Ethan smirked as he pulled a lamb bone out of his mouth. The grin on his face earned him an annoyed glance from Penelope.
It's okay to tease him for a while, but if she keeps feeding him, it will have a bad influence. She is the Prefect and must set an example.
Just then , another voice came
"Ethan, here, eat Lamb Chops!" Cho Chang said with a smile as she brought a plate of grilled lamb chops directly to Ethan.
As Ethan was going to eat the lamb chops, just then
Bang!
The door of the auditorium suddenly opened, and Professor Quirrell rushed in, his purple scarf crooked on his head, with a look of fear on his face.
This immediately attracted the attention of the whole audience and also helped Ethan out of the predicament. "Troll -- in the dungeons -- thought you ought to know."
Quirrell ran and shouted loudly, finally falling headfirst on the stairs of the teacher's seat.
However, the scene was not as chaotic as Quirrell had expected. Everyone was eating and drinking, and no one took Quirrell's words seriously.
After all, Quirrell's acting was too exaggerated. A professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, scared to death by a troll? Can you be more professional?
In addition, Ethan and the others had just given everyone a hard time, and everyone thought Quirrell was also trying to imitate Ethan and the others to get attention.
There was no other way; Quirrell could only make one last-ditch effort:
"Troll... The troll is in the basement, run... run...run"
"Haha!"
The Gryffindors laughed directly. Afterall, it was really funny.
If Quirrell can't defeat a troll, he should go back and practice.
Who could he fool like this?
Let's not even talk about whether trolls could enter Hogwarts.
Even if they did, Dumbledore is here, and he could probably take on a troll tribe.
"No, there are real trolls!" Quirrell said to everyone dryly, no longer stuttering.
He still doesn't know why; he thought he had acted very well!
At this time, Dumbledore stood up and said to the little wizards below, "Prefects, take the students from each house back to the dormitory!"
It was also a way for Quirrell to save face.
There was no other way; Dumbledore wanted to play this game with Voldemort, and at this moment, he could only cooperate with Quirrell's performance.
On the way back to the Ravenclaw dormitory, Cho Chang asked with a strange expression, "Ethan, do you think trolls really got into Hogwarts?"
Quirrell's acting was too fake. Why did Dumbledore still believe him and interrupt the Halloween dinner?
"It doesn't matter. Dumbledore and the others will handle it."
Due to the changes brought by Ethan, Hermione never had any conflicts with Ronald in class, and naturally, she wouldn't run into the monster in the girls' bathroom.
And Ethan doesn't want to fight that giant monster.
That thing stinks, and there's no benefit in fighting it.
Otherwise some grumpy man will deduct points for not listening to the professor's advice.
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