Chapter 645 Christmas Full Moon Night

The dinner ended in a relaxed atmosphere.

The invited guests left one after another. Felix glanced around the crowd and did not see Carlotta Pinkstone. He had originally planned to find an opportunity to contact this person, but from the expression on Ms. Bones's face when she came back, it was estimated that the two of them did not have a pleasant chat, and Pinkstone left early.

Professor Slughorn was very satisfied with this party. At this moment, he stood in front of the gorgeous fireplace, seeing off every guest who left. He enjoyed it and was busy, giving appropriate verbal and physical responses according to each person's status.

"Elder, my dear student, you haven't published much in recent years. I'm looking forward to reading your masterpiece--"

"McLaggen, say hello to Tiberus for me! And Scrimgeour, he should be free recently."

"Mrs. Zabini, thank you for the gift..."

"Oh, Frank and Alice, can I call you that? That's great... It's a pity that I didn't send you my blessings on the day you opened your school. I was still hesitating whether to accept this teaching position... Neville? Well, he performed very well..." Slughorn took Frank Longbottom's hand enthusiastically, and spoke in a very intimate tone: "To be honest, I think your performance in this war is fully worthy of two Order of Merlin, but since you already have two first-class medals..." He patted Frank's shoulder heavily, "Please give it to Augusta for me."

Alice kissed Neville on the forehead, and disappeared in the emerald green flames with her husband.

"How are you going to get back?" Hermione asked her parents. Felix looked over the shoulders of the Grangers and saw Sirius and Ms. Bones saying goodbye to Harry.

"Of course, it's the Floo Network." Mr. Granger said excitedly, "That's how we got here. It's incredible! Professor Slughorn said that he temporarily connected our fireplace to magic. I guess it's similar to connecting to the network signal."

Hermione was shocked.

"Oh my God! How can you..." She said anxiously, "What if you call the wrong address? Harry once mistakenly entered Knockturn Alley for this reason... Professor?" She looked at Felix for help.

"I can use Apparition--" Felix thought for a while and said.

"Oh, don't worry!" After seeing off the Weasleys, Professor Slughorn came over with a big belly, and the walrus mustache between his lips was waving. He said happily, "Thanks to Amelia! I mentioned it casually when I accepted the invitation, and she generously agreed to help."

Ms. Bones, whose name was called, nodded in this direction.

"That's it." Slughorn said with a smile. They came to the fireplace. Sirius and Harry hugged each other and left through the fire. Slughorn took out his wand and tapped on the fireplace.

"Okay, next, no matter what you shout, it will lead to a place - only for today."

"Thank you for the hospitality. We had a great time tonight." Mr. Granger took Mrs. Granger's hand and said to everyone. "Welcome to my home, Mr. Happ." Mrs. Granger said politely. "Yes," Mr. Granger looked at Felix and seemed to think of something. "In fact, I have collected various types of tooth specimens. If you are interested..."

Mrs. Granger squeezed her fingers hard.

"Ahem, um - goodbye."

The next morning, most students took the Hogwarts Express to leave school and go home for the holiday. However, there were still some people who chose to stay in school, and there were quite a few of them. In addition to the students in the 'Animagus' class, some people were punished for abusing magic to transform.

Harry took the opportunity to eat breakfast in the hall and told Ron and Hermione what Sirius said to him last night.

They expressed their opinions one after another. Hermione looked a little worried. "Well, I vaguely guessed it from Ms. Bones' letter." Ron's response was flat. "According to Sirius, that will be decades later, right? Let's consider the present." He

frowned and looked around. The people who were eating with them all looked like they were chewing slowly, which made people lose their appetite. According to Professor McGonagall, starting from the full moon, she will provide a special recipe for students who are preparing to practice.

"It can prevent some of you from swallowing mandrake leaves because of carelessness."

After breakfast, Hermione went to the library as usual. "We have twelve papers to write!" "It's eleven, Hermione," Ron pointed out her mistake, "Harry and I don't have arithmetic divination classes."

In the end, only Hermione went to the library.

Harry and Ron chose to go out for a ride on their brooms. There were not many people in the school now, so they could race around the Black Lake happily. As a result, they accidentally ran into Valen who was skating with his army of snowmen. The two grinned and had a snowball fight with Valen.

Because they were too absorbed in the game, the ordinary blades of grass in Harry and Ron's mouths fell out several times. When they returned to the castle and calmed down, they expressed pessimistic views on their respective futures.

"I don't think it's possible. I can't help talking." Ron said negatively, "Even if we really did it, we still have to get up every morning and evening to chant spells, and wait for thunderstorms. Even Bill and Percy, who had the best grades, didn't consider Animagus when they were in school..."

"Don't be discouraged, Ron. We even got through Voldemort." Harry encouraged, but when Ron pointed out that he would have to host Quidditch training after school started, which would require loud talking, Harry also became depressed.

When he saw Hermione in the evening, she didn't give them a good look. Instead, she sneered at the two's idle behavior and went back to bed early. It was not until the next day when Harry opened the gifts under the small Christmas tree that his mood improved.

As usual, the gifts Harry received included a sweater knitted by Mrs. Weasley, some candies, and products from the twins, including a boxing telescope. When he showed it to Ron, Ron threw it aside angrily. Because the twins had given it to him for testing, he gave it to Professor Happ to save trouble. As a result, he was scared to death when he remembered that it was something from his two unreliable brothers.

Harry also opened the gift from Ron - a tiger hat.

"Collins picked it out. If you don't think it's good, go find her." Ron said, and he put on a parrot hat and looked at himself in the mirror. "Where did she buy it from?" Harry asked with interest. This seemed to be a series. He wanted to ask if there was a deer antler model. He planned to give it to Ginny next year.

"Feng Ya Wizard Clothing Store," said Ron, "it can only be there."

"Is Collins okay?" Hermione asked when they went downstairs, "Aren't she and Tonks responsible for keeping an eye on Carlotta Pinkstone? And she showed up at the party last night."

"It shouldn't be a problem," Ron thought for a moment and said slowly, "Their mission ended yesterday at noon. Who would have thought that woman would be related to Professor Slughorn and be invited."

On the other side, Felix had just opened his presents, which was a lot of work.

Felix was most satisfied with Luna's gift - perhaps because he helped to "propose" it - it was a portrait of himself, in which he smiled very brightly. Felix didn't know when he left this impression on Luna, but he soon solved the puzzle.

A small note read Luna's blessing:

Merry Christmas, Felix. I like your gift and plan to take it home to show my father. In addition - I got inspiration from the magical portrait you hung in St. Mungo's when my father was receiving treatment on the fourth floor.

Valen also received a painting, but - perhaps this one was in line with Luna's aesthetics - it was a stone painting. In the one-foot square frame, hundreds of carefully selected pebbles were painted and pieced together into the shape of a Niffler. The green cloak behind it was cut out of palm-sized leaves, and the corners would sway majestically. Valen looked at

it for a long time, babbling, and seemed to be both disgusted and fond of it.

Until Felix said in a sour tone, "We can exchange." Valen immediately hugged the painting and looked at him warily. When he came back after a round, the stone painting had been placed next to Felix's blank magic portrait. If he came back to visit the portrait in St. Mungo's one day, he would be surprised to find that he had a weird-looking neighbor.

Felix was about to ask, what did he and Luna talk about that made them laugh so happily and be painted and sent to him?

In the afternoon, a strong smell of cooking drifted into the house along with the cold air.

Valen, who was curled up on the sofa watching cartoons, smelled the smell and quickly reported a series of dishes. He and Felix looked at each other for a while and agreed to turn off the projector and go downstairs to the auditorium.

The hall seemed very empty. Only one of the four college tables was left. Every few seats were placed with a bulging wizard lottery firecracker - various styles of hats and strange gadgets could be exploded from it. They came early and it was not time for lunch, but there were already students there.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two consecutive sounds like cannons exploding echoed in the hall, and a purple smoke spread out. The figures of two students were looming, and there were bursts of coughing, accompanied by fragments of "It's all your fault" and "It was obviously your suggestion."

Felix couldn't help laughing. These were two Hufflepuff students who were punished to stay in school for tarnishing the reputation of the college. They turned each other into a honey badger, but accidentally got lost during the transfer. Professor Sprout mobilized half of the Hufflepuff students in the college to search for the unlucky guy in the lounge for a long time before finding him.

More and more people came, and Felix chatted with Valen in a low voice.

"Those four? I heard that they were in the same dormitory and planned to secretly study Animagus transformation. For this purpose, they formed a secret study group. As a result, they were discovered by the neighbors because of the uncontrollable tiger roar. The other three people at the scene were trembling with fear..."

When the four Ravenclaw girls passed by, they glared at them in shame and anger.

Professors gradually appeared and sat at the long table. Dumbledore was wearing a moon-white robe and looked very happy. "Merry Christmas!" He said enthusiastically, "There are many people this year. I have temporarily added a batch of lottery firecrackers. Please sit down!"

Not many people were as happy as him. Most of the students were either punished (all four colleges, mostly Gryffindor) or members of the 'Animagus' class. Only a few of them really volunteered to stay at school.

He glanced around and looked at the students with sad faces. He said, "Today is Christmas. I think our task is to fill our mouths with delicious food, not a small leaf... What do you think, Minerva?"

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips. "You are right, Dumbledore." As soon as the voice fell, half of the students immediately took out the leaves in their mouths happily, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively. Dumbledore struck while the iron was hot and grabbed a handful of wizard lottery firecrackers and stuffed them into everyone he could reach.

Others followed suit, and the long table was suddenly filled with popping sounds, and clusters of smoke of different colors exploded. Felix drew an ordinary wizard hat with four colors of fine lines to outline the pattern. Harry and Ron drew two sailor hats, which Felix thought were far less exciting than the tiger hats and parrot hats they wore. Hermione drew a wide-brimmed hat for women, and she fiddled with it happily.

Then they looked at Snape out of the corner of their eyes - he drew a lady's pointed hat last time, and I wonder what it will be this time? Even Dumbledore looked at him with interest. Snape pulled the firecracker expressionlessly, and when the smoke cleared, a deer horn hat appeared in his hand. This time it was

Harry's turn to be unhappy. He looked at the beautiful deer horns with envy, thinking that the hat was a waste in Snape's hands. If no one wanted it after the dinner, he might be able to take it away quietly... Snape really didn't like it, and stuffed the hat to Professor McGonagall, but Professor McGonagall liked her feather hat very much, so it finally fell into Dumbledore's hands.

"Eat!" said Dumbledore, wearing a deer horn hat, with a smile.

Everyone began to enjoy the food. Valen was also assigned a seat, sitting opposite Professor Flitwick. Their chairs were all custom-made, and they looked peculiarly symmetrical.

Harry ate the smooth and soft mashed potatoes, Ron bit the meat on the ribs, and half of the students wolfed down their food with fierce eyes. Even Felix couldn't help but sympathize with their suffering.

However, this was the only meal. Because tonight was the full moon. These students would be subjected to more severe tests. He had seen the special recipes that Professor McGonagall was going to give to the house-elves in the kitchen. Most of them were tasteless but could quickly fill the stomach.

At the dinner, everyone was busy eating, only Trelawney was holding a bottle of sherry and spreading rumors that "six-legged creatures will bring misfortune to the castle". Just when Felix was wondering what this was, Professor McGonagall quietly turned her head and whispered in a strange tone, "Albus is going to recruit a centaur into the school."

Felix suddenly realized.

Just when Trelawney mentioned this for the twelfth time, her tone became more and more certain, Dumbledore stood up.

"...More than one death, I saw--"

"Filch," Dumbledore asked happily, "Is that thing ready?"

Filch raised his head from his plate, bent down and said, "Yes, Headmaster, I put it in the corner, covered with a piece of green tarpaulin."

"Excellent." Dumbledore said, looking around, and others looked over. Dumbledore pointed his wand, and a piece of green cloth flew up from an inconspicuous corner, and underneath was an exquisitely shaped machine.

"The latest model of projector--" he said happily, "I bought it and tried it myself. I like the 'immersive' mode the most." He glanced at Felix, then pulled the machine over and placed it nearby.

With a "click" sound, a large amount of dark golden smoke spurted out from the magic projector. It seemed endless, and it seemed that it was just to fill the place where they were - that is, the hall. Soon, there was a foot of golden mist under their feet.

"Meow--"

Mrs. Norris jumped out from under Filch's feet and jumped onto his knees. "Don't be afraid, Mrs. Norris." Filch said hoarsely, but his pair of lightbulb-like eyes were still staring at the machine vigilantly.

At this time, singing came from the air, as if it sounded in their ears. The smoke rose and gathered into golden dancers. They looked exactly like real people, dancing around the long table, and their skirts sprinkled fine mist like gold powder.

The students' eyes were straight. They seemed to have mixed into a lively party. They saw the performances of the Weird Sisters and the Skeleton Dance Troupe, as well as the rough dwarf dance, the soft singing of the magic baby, and a strange language that no one could understand.

"This year's Christmas is really worth it." Ron said in admiration. The students around him nodded silently in agreement.

As the dinner ended, the students pulled out their chairs one after another and prepared to leave. Felix glared at Valen because he took advantage of the chaos to sneak up to Grindelwald and took a very beautiful Christmas hat from him.

Grindelwald leaned back reflexively and touched his chest.

Dumbledore's movements paused slightly, and then he continued to stand up - Harry keenly captured this moment, and a strange feeling arose in his heart. "What's wrong, Harry?" Hagrid leaned over and asked across two tables.

"No, nothing -" Harry was suddenly speechless and stared at Hagrid, with a small piece of onion in his thick beard.

He remembered that Hagrid accidentally mentioned to them that Dumbledore seemed to have known Professor Bagshot for a long time, and Bagshot was a follower of the dark wizard Grindelwald. Harry happened to learn from the letter from Sirius to Lily that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were close friends when they were young... There was a vague clue in front of Harry, connecting the three people.

What exactly is it?

"Students in the Animagus class stay," Professor McGonagall said in a loud voice at this time, "get dressed, we are going to the courtyard."