After Dumbledore announced the start of the Halloween dinner, a particularly rich meal immediately appeared on the long table.
Various tempting meats and fruit snacks were piled up.
Milton successfully calmed down and said to Scott and the others with a smile: “Now, don’t think about these things. I don’t want to affect your mood for the holiday because of my own affairs. Enjoy the banquet!”
After that, he stood up and walked to the front of the teacher’s seat.
At the same time, students from various colleges stood up from their seats.
“Good evening, everyone!”
Professor Flitwick walked out of the teacher’s seat with some excitement.
“Please enjoy the performance brought by the Toad Choir and the Classical Music Club!”
He strode to the center of the auditorium and waved his wand gently.
Countless points of light fell, and a beautifully decorated stage emerged in the open space in front of the teacher’s seat.
Piano, cello, violin, Scottish bagpipe… Various different instruments were placed on both sides of the stage, shining brightly under the candlelight.
Milton and other members of the Classical Music Club walked onto the stage and set up their own instruments.
Finally, Roger’s ex-girlfriend Caccini bowed gracefully and sat in front of the piano.
In front of the stage, a huge pumpkin lantern rose from under Professor Flitwick’s feet.
Professor Flitwick waved his wand, and the members of the classical music club moved, and the beautiful music ensemble sounded.
“Quack! Quack!”
With a few toad croaks, the members of the Toad Choir, who held the big toad with both hands, stood up from the long tables of each college and began to sing along with the music.
[Double, double, double, cook quickly,
The flames are blazing and foaming out of the pot.
Double, double, double, cook quickly,
The evil will be doomed. ]
While singing, the members of the choir walked from the long tables to the stage and stood in several neat rows.
[Eyes of salamanders, toes of frogs,
Bat wings, membranes, dog tongues.
Viper tongue, poisonous tongue, worm stings,
Lizard feet, owl wings. ]
Next, the music played by the musicians gradually became more passionate, and the voices of the toad choir and the toads formed a duet.
[Cook twice as fast,
The flames are blazing and foaming out of the cauldron.
Cook twice as fast,
The evil will be doomed.
The sea cauldron is roasted until it is burnt,
The wild python of Zexi is broken and bones are removed.
The scales of the evil dragon and the teeth of the wolf,
The witch’s mummy rolled into the cauldron. ]
Soon, the voices of the choir also began to duet, and together with the toads’ croaking, they formed a somewhat weird trio.
In front of the stage, the pumpkin lantern under Professor Flitwick’s feet suddenly flew up.
But Professor Flitwick always stood firmly on the top of the pumpkin lantern, his body swaying with the music, and the movements of his hands became larger and larger.
[Cook twice as fast,
The flames are blazing and foaming out of the cauldron. ]
Suddenly, all the pumpkin lanterns of various sizes placed in various places in the auditorium flew up, floating in the air with the rhythm of the music.
The black bats that were originally between the candles also dispersed and flew between the pumpkin lanterns.
[Double, double, double, cook faster,
The flames are blazing and foaming out of the cauldron.
Double, double, double, cook faster,
The flames are blazing and foaming out of the cauldron.
The evil will be doomed. ]
As the last line of the lyrics ended, Professor Flitwick’s commanding action froze, the floating pumpkin lanterns in the air also became still, and the black bats flew back to the candles.
Professor Flitwick turned around and bowed, and the pumpkin lantern under his feet slowly landed with other pumpkin lanterns.
Deafening applause rang out in the auditorium.
The Toad Choir and the Classical Music Club and their members bowed and left the stage.
Professor Flitwick jumped off the pumpkin lantern and gently waved his wand, and the dreamy stage turned into countless light spots and dissipated.
The cheers and applause rang for a long time without stopping.
“Oh I like this performance, much better than last year’s Skeleton Dance Troupe!” Eddie said to Milton who had returned to his seat.
Roger said excitedly: “If I heard correctly, the lyrics are from Shakespeare’s play Macbeth? It’s amazing.”
“Yes.” Milton said with a smile, “To this day we still don’t know whether Shakespeare is a Muggle or a wizard. This topic always makes people argue endlessly.”
The Halloween dinner ended in a joyful atmosphere.
Before going to bed that night, Scott was still thinking that the curse that Hogwarts would inevitably have trouble every Halloween Eve in the “original book” was finally broken.
The next morning, Scott woke up early and left Ravenclaw Tower alone, but met Luna who was walking out in the corridor leading to the kitchen.
“Good morning, Scott.” Luna greeted with a smile.
Her hair was messy, and she was hanging a small knitted bag on her body.
“Good morning, Luna. Where are you going?” Scott asked.
“I got some fruit and meat from the kitchen and was about to go to the Forbidden Forest to feed a little guy.” Luna patted her woolen bag, “Do you want to go with me?”
Scott raised his eyebrows, “Little guy?”
“It’s a Thestral.” Luna said with a smile, “Wuwu and a female Thestral gave birth to a child. Oh, Wuwu is the leader of the Thestral group.”
Scott nodded, “I’ll go with you to see it. I saw a car accident in Spain during the summer vacation. When school started, I found that I could see them now.”
He did witness a car accident during the summer vacation, but it was not because of this that he could see the Thestrals.
“Then let’s go!”
Luna walked forward happily.
She jumped forward for a while, then suddenly stopped, turned around and asked, “What is a car accident?”
Scott explained to her what the car accident meant.
“Car, do you mean Ginny’s car?” Luna asked curiously, “Then, why can’t Muggle cars fly?”
“Because Muggles don’t know magic.” Scott replied briefly.
Luna nodded, not sure if she accepted this explanation.
The two walked all the way through the garden behind the castle and into the forest where the white morning mist drifted.
“Go this way.”
After entering the Forbidden Forest, Luna behaved very well.
“I also saw them at yesterday’s dinner, through the window.” She said to Scott in an uncertain tone, “The way they fly in the night sky fits the festive atmosphere of Halloween.”
“You come here often to play with those big guys?” Scott asked.
“Occasionally,” Luna said. “I like them. A lot of people hate the way they look, but I think they’re cool.”
Scott nodded.
In the magical world, Thestrals have always had a bad reputation. In addition to the characteristic that “only people who have seen death can see them”, their appearance is also not very pleasing.
The Thestral has a huge body, but there is no meat on it. The black fur is tightly attached to the bones, and the bones are clearly visible.
The head that resembles a dragon has a ferocious appearance, with white eyes without pupils, dragging a long black tail, and huge bat wings growing on the bulge between the shoulder bones.
The two gradually went deeper into the forest, passed through a dense forest, and walked to a wide open space.
But they didn’t see Yeqi’s figure.
“Oh… they don’t seem to be here.” Luna said hesitantly, “This is a bit strange.”
Scott guessed, “Maybe they went somewhere else?”
Luna shook her head, “No, Thestrals only like to be active at night, and they will hide in dark places during the day.”
She walked forward quickly and called out “咴儿” and “咴儿”.
“Where did you go?”
She looked around while imitating the Thestral’s cry.
“Eh, eh, eh.”
Her call was quickly answered.
A little Thestral screamed and staggered out of the bushes on the side.
Judging from its childish voice and staggering steps, this little guy was probably born not long ago.
“Oh, little one, there you are!”
Luna quickly ran over, took out an apple from her bag and fed it to Xiao Yeqi.
“Slow down, eat slowly.” She asked while feeding the little guy, “Where are your parents? Where are your tribe, little guy?”
Xiao Yeqi quickly finished chewing the apple and started to scream again.
It rubbed its ugly head against Luna’s body, its voice a little anxious.
“Don’t worry, there is more.”
Luna took out another apple and fed it to it.
She turned her head and said to Scott: “Something is wrong. The adult Thestrals are gone. Normally they would not leave their cubs alone.”
“They are the Thestrals tamed by Hagrid, aren’t they? Maybe someone at the school wants to use them to pull a carriage.”
Scott said.
“Okay.” He also felt that this reason was a bit ridiculous, “You stay here with the little guy, and I will ask Hagrid.”
“Then it’s up to you.” Luna waved her hand.
Scott turned around and walked quickly out of the Forbidden Forest and came to Hagrid’s hut.
It seemed that Hagrid hadn’t gotten up yet, because Scott had already heard his loud snoring.
Scott raised his hand and knocked on the door.
“Woof woof woof woof…”
A ferocious-sounding dog barking sounded immediately inside the hut.
“Shut up, you woke me up, Yaya!”
Hagrid was awakened by the barking of dogs and roared angrily.
Scott knocked on the door a few more times and called out.
“Professor Hagrid, Professor Hagrid!”
“Oh, if someone is looking for me, I’ll come right away!”
The sound of chairs or stools falling down was immediately heard in the room.
“Get out of the way, Yaya!”
Hagrid called to his dog and opened the door of the hut.
“Who is it? It’s not time for class yet!”
He looked down at Scott.
“Oh, you are…oh, Ravenclaw…”
He smelled of alcohol and had obviously drank a lot at last night’s banquet.
Scott raised his head and said: “Good morning, I am Trollope of Ravenclaw, Professor Hagrid.”
“Oh, good morning, Trollope.”
Hagrid scratched his messy hair.
“What’s the matter with you?” He turned around and walked into the house, “Oh, come in and talk.”
Scott heard him mutter loudly, “Where did I put my tea?”
“No, Professor Hagrid.” Scott said loudly, “I just want to tell you that all the Thestrals in the Forbidden Forest are gone!”
“What?” Hagrid asked louder.
He rushed out of the house like a ferocious beast, holding the door frame with both hands, lowering his head and glaring at Scott, “Are you saying… are you saying that the Thestral is missing?”
His huge hands cracked the wooden door frame.
