The pumpkins that Hagrid had planted in the field outside the gate were brought into Hogwarts. God knows what he had done to them, but they looked at least six feet tall, and if they had been given four wheels they could have been used as carriages.

When the pumpkins were delivered to the hall, Professor McGonagall was responsible for changing them into various shapes, such as eagles, lions, snakes, badgers, or some more famous ghosts, and then Professor Flitwick would send them into the air in the hall.

Nearly Headless Nick posed wildly next to his pumpkin statue for the little wizards to take pictures.

The fat Hufflepuff monk was also laughing happily and looked very satisfied.

However, in the remaining two academies, the real ghost and the statue cannot be seen in the same frame.

The Bloody Baron was not interested in these things and had not appeared in the Great Hall. As for the Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw, she had disappeared for a long time.

Kyle had looked for her many times, and had also looked in Dumbledore's and the portraits in the headmaster's office. They had almost turned the castle upside down, but they still couldn't find her.

Later, Kyle slowly gave up. There was nothing he could do. Even the castle was built by Rowena Ravenclaw. If they didn't want others to find it, it wouldn't be a difficult task.

"Hey, that's pretty good."

Mikel, who came to the auditorium from the common room to attend the dinner, looked at the decorations around him and said, "It's a pity that there are no performances by the Weird Sisters or the Skeleton Dance Troupe this year, otherwise it would be even more perfect."

"There's nothing we can do about it." Ryan sighed, "Everyone is busy avoiding the Death Eaters right now. No one wants to come all the way to Hogwarts to attend the Halloween party."

"But the dance team is a bunch of skeletons." Mikkel was a little confused, "Can the killing curse kill them again?"

"Uh..." Ryan was really stumped by the question, but he didn't know the answer to this question either. He could only say vaguely, "Maybe the Death Eaters have other tricks."

That's the only explanation now.

…

A few of them came to the Hufflepuff table and sat down. Just at this time, the professors also walked in from the small door on the other side.

"Oh, shit..." Kanna said suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Kyle looked at her.

"Professor Slughorn..." Connor said, "I just remembered that he organized another dance after the dinner, and Froda just gave me the invitation an hour ago.

"Oh, and there was your copy, but you were in the library at the time, so Froda gave them all to me."

"What? How many parties does he hold in a month?"

"This is the fifth time this month," Connor said.

"Okay." Kyle was a little speechless. "I'll just use the same reason as before to reject him this time. After the dinner, I just want to go back to the warm common room to while away the time. Even if it's just sitting there and being in a daze, it's better than going to a dance!"

"I'm afraid it won't work this time." Connor sighed, "Professor Snape has left the school for something. Professor Slughorn should have received the news in advance. He also asked Froda to pass on the message, asking me to go."

"Professor Snape has left the school?"

"Yeah, it was about an hour ago," Connor said, "and within five minutes I got the invitation."

“He has perfect timing,” Kyle said.

"So..." Connor blinked, "Can I invite you to the dance?"

"Professor Snape's leaving the school has nothing to do with me, so my excuse is still valid." Kyle raised his eyebrows, "After all, the Ministry of Magic will not have a holiday on Halloween."

"But Professor Slughorn requires everyone to find their own dance partner in advance." Connor said, "If you refuse, I can only ask Mikel to be my dance partner.

I heard that Slughorn has privately invited a ghost dance troupe. I think he would be happy to attend the Halloween party."

"Actually, I'm also quite interested in the Ghost Dance Company." Kyle said immediately, "Besides, Mikel can even trip over his legs when he walks, how can he dance?"

Kanna let out a soft sigh.

Fortunately, the dinner started at this time. Sumptuous food appeared on golden plates, and the whole auditorium was instantly filled with the aroma of pumpkin.

The smell also attracted Connor. Without looking at Kyle again, she reached out and took a piece of golden pumpkin pie.

"I've been waiting for this... outside of Halloween, school kitchens only seem to make pumpkin into drinks."

Kyle also helped himself to a piece of pumpkin pie, which he also liked because it was less greasy.

But as Kanna said, this kind of thing is only available on Halloween, and the only thing related to pumpkin on the table on other days is pumpkin juice.

"Oh, right." Connor suddenly remembered something halfway through the dinner. "Remember to write a letter to Fred and George, asking them to stop putting love potions in bottles of stimulants and sending them to school. This is simply adding to our workload."

"What happened to them?" Kyle asked puzzledly.

"Don't you know?" Connor glanced at him, "I have confiscated several bottles of love potion recently, all of which are products of Weasley's Hocus Pocus.

"They'll replace the packaging with a Vitality Potion bottle and label to evade Filch's detection.

"You should know that detectors are only effective against dark magic, and love potions are just potions, not dangerous... so they took advantage of the loophole."

"Well, you don't have to worry about it..." Kyle explained in a low voice: "Fred and George made some improvements to the love potion, reducing some of its ability to confuse the mind and amplifying the desire to perform.

Of course, it still has an effect, but after being improved, it has become something closer to a prank, and the effect only lasts for ten minutes, so there won’t be any big problems even if you leave it alone.”

"Since you said that, I don't care anyway." Kanna said softly, "But Romi Davanni and Antlia, who bought it, seem to want to pour this stuff into the pumpkin juice you are going to drink. Remember to pay more attention to it in the future."

Kyle's hand holding the sandwich stopped in mid-air, and the corner of his eye twitched slightly.

"You have to be kidding, right? Who would use a love potion on me?"

"There are quite a few..." Kanna stretched out her hand and counted, "In addition to the two I just mentioned, there are also Paya, Darling, Kval... and these are all those who have been discovered. As for those who have not been discovered, there may be more.

"Anyway, good luck to you. I don't want to see you tap dancing on the dining table one day."

Connor was talking about a Gryffindor student who suddenly jumped onto the table during breakfast two days ago and performed a clumsy tap dance for everyone.

After investigation, it was discovered that the other party became suddenly excited because he accidentally drank Harry's pumpkin juice.

It was after that incident that Kanna noticed the aphrodisiac disguised as a stimulant.

Kyle's face changed suddenly when he thought of the scene at that time.

"This is too much." He said angrily, "Fred and George are too much. How can they sell love potions to students? This is so shameless.

"Don't worry, I will write a letter right away to severely condemn their opportunistic behavior and warn them not to do it again in the future."

Kyle didn't even wait until the dinner was over, and started writing the letter right at the dining table in the auditorium.

This abnormal behavior also attracted the attention of many people. They looked over and guessed what Kyle was doing.

But Kyle didn't care about all this. After writing the letter to the Weasley brothers, Kyle still felt uneasy, so he wrote another letter to Mr. Weasley.

Kyle tapped the two letters with his magic wand, and they were automatically folded into paper airplanes, which flew out of the auditorium and then turned a corner to the outside of the castle.

After getting outside, a huge owl suddenly flew over from the direction of the forbidden forest, grabbed two paper planes floating in the air, and flew away.

In the auditorium, Kyle breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that the letter had been sent away.

But after that, he didn't drink another sip of pumpkin juice, especially when it was handed to him by others.

Until the end of the dinner.

The students all stood up and went back to the common room. Some of them ran very quickly, and some even went back before the dinner was over.

Because it was a dance, they needed to change into formal robes in advance.

This was also Slughorn's request. Although they could dance in their school robes, he wanted the ball to be more formal, just like the ball during the Triwizard Tournament.

"If possible, I would rather attend the dinner party than go to any dance." Connor looked at the two seventh-year Slytherin girls who had already changed into dress robes and were standing in the middle of the hall like peacocks.

"That dress is so uncomfortable and has no pockets. I don't even know where to put my cauldron..."

"You carry a crucible with you?" Kyle turned his head and asked in disbelief.

He could understand carrying two bottles of potions, but a cauldron was a bit too much.

"Yeah." Kanna nodded and took out a small crucible the size of a fist from her pocket.

"As long as you use the recovery spell, it will return to its normal size." Kanna continued, "This is a habit I developed last year when I was trying to perfect the resuscitation potion, so that I can verify the combination of certain materials at any time.

"Later I thought it was pretty good, so I kept it with me."

"Okay," Kyle asked, "but why don't you put it in your lizard skin bag?"

"Because the leather bag is full." Connor said as a matter of course: "There are not enough finished potions and herbs to put in, so where is the space for the crucible?"

Hmm...that makes sense.

At this time, Kanna was still thinking about where to put her cauldron after she changed into a dress robe.

Kyle thought about it, and when no one was paying attention, he took out his wand and tapped her.

The original school uniform robe immediately turned into a bright blue-purple color, and the hem became longer and longer, and in the blink of an eye it turned into a dress robe.

"Transfiguration..." Kanna was a little surprised.

"Well, I saw a similar style at Madam Malkin's robe shop during the holidays, but the details are definitely not as exquisite as the real ones, and it's just a replica."

"It's okay, that's good." Kanna looked up and down at the robe, then asked in a low voice: "Others can't see it, right?"

In the wizarding world, most people would not wear Transfiguration dresses and robes to a ball, because if they were seen, they would definitely become the laughing stock of others.

For example, two years ago, Ron only trimmed the edge of his second-hand dress robe and never thought of using Transfiguration.

Of course, it could also be that he just didn't remember it.

"Don't worry." Kyle waved his hand, "As long as Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore don't go, no one will be able to tell."

Then he changed his clothes.

"That's good." Connor said happily, without any doubt about Kyle's words. She turned around and found that this dress robe had another advantage besides being more convenient.

Because it was a transfiguration, it was still essentially a school uniform. There was no change in the feeling of wearing or the weight. It was much more comfortable than a heavy, tight dress robe.

Because it happened to be Halloween and a dance, Slughorn invited many people this time, and with their respective dance partners, the number of people was even larger.

As Kyle and Connor entered Slughorn's office, they heard a commotion, laughter, music, and loud voices that gradually grew louder as they walked.

Slughorn had enchanted his office to make it appear much larger than an average professor's.

Curtains of various colors were hung on the ceiling and walls, and on the top there was a golden pumpkin lantern, but there were no candles inside. Instead, there were many elves holding lanterns, flying around inside, as if there were countless points of light flashing constantly.

The waiters were the house-elves in the kitchen, and they moved back and forth among the crowd with trays containing various drinks.

"Oh... Kyle, Connor, my children!" Before the two entered the door, they heard Slughorn's loud voice, "It's not easy to invite you once... But like I said before, you can't hide from me forever."

"Professor, it's so sad that you say that." Kyle said, "We really want to come to the party, but there is no way, Professor Snape has been making trouble and not letting Connor come.

"Besides, I'm sure you know how boring working at the Ministry of Magic is."

"Oh, yes, I know all that." Slughorn blinked and said with a smile, "I was just joking. You finally got what you wanted today, didn't you? " "Well, come in, there are so many people for you to meet." He walked into the office happily.

Kyle and Kanna looked at each other and could only follow helplessly.

"That's Walper, my former student." Slughorn pointed to a short man who was talking to Harry not far away. "He's the author of Blood Brothers: My Life Among Vampires... Of course. And his brother Bloody."

The title of this book sounds a bit like Lockhart's style, but it is real. That Walper really lives among a group of vampires.

The blood monk next to him was a real vampire, tall and handsome, with dark circles around his eyes and a sleepy look.

Only when a girl passed by would he become a little more energetic, licking his lips with a hungry look in his eyes.

As if noticing Kyle's gaze, Xue Ni turned his head and looked over.

He saw Kanna at a glance, and the light in his eyes suddenly became brighter. He noticed that Kanna was different from other girls and had a very unique fragrance.

That feeling was like the rosemary garnish on the steak, making him salivate.

Xue Ni suddenly felt that the pie in his hand no longer tasted good, and couldn't help but take two steps forward.

"Vampires like talented wizards, especially witches." Kyle explained, looking at Connor who was frowning.

"I know. Lockhart mentioned it in his book," Connor said. "I just think it's a weird feeling."

"That's easy." Kyle took out his box and opened it a crack.

The students attending the dance in the room didn't notice anything different and continued doing their own things, but the vampire stood stiffly where he was.

Just for a moment, he instinctively felt several extremely dangerous smells, and each of them could easily tear him apart.

Xue Ni suddenly came to his senses. He turned around stiffly as if nothing had happened and tried to hide himself behind Walper, who was a head shorter than him.

“See, it’s easily solved,” Kyle said with a smile, as he skillfully caught the Niffler that had jumped out of the box and stuffed it back in.

(End of this chapter)