Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying!

"If they had listened to me sooner, maybe things would have been different?"

Lockhart shook his head regretfully as he spoke.

The girls in the classroom looked at him with admiration, tears welling in their eyes, and comforted him with heartache, saying, "It's not your fault, Professor! You've done everything you could!"

Seeing that Harry seemed a little shaken, Ron quickly said, "You didn't take his nonsense seriously, did you, bro? You know Lockhart is a brainless idiot."

“But… but he’s written so many books, hasn’t he?” Harry said. “He may indeed be very observant.”

After finishing his homework at the Umbrella House, Harry asked Lupin a question in the Book of Friends.

[Lupin: Gilderoy Lockhart?]

Lupin's reply seemed to be filled with question marks: "Who is that?"

Harry then wrote down all of Lockhart's boastful words.

It took Lupin quite a while to seem to remember this person.

[Lupin: I have indeed heard of the person you're talking about; he's a very famous Ravenclaw.]

[But that wasn't because of his insight or magical talent, but because shortly after enrolling, he claimed he could create a Philosopher's Stone before graduation and lead the England Quidditch team to victory in the World Cup.]

[The Ravenclaw team made an exception and allowed him to participate in the selection process, but he ended up falling off a broom.]

[He is also known for several other things, such as having his name engraved in 20-foot-long letters on a Quidditch pitch.]

[Furthermore, in our later years at school, we were busy competing with Slytherin, exploring and drawing Marauder's Maps, or keeping up with the war situation; we didn't have time to deal with a younger Ravenclaw student.]

Lupin's reaction seemed quite intense...

Harry thought to himself as he watched the strings of words appear on the parchment.

Michael pointed out incisively, "It seems he doesn't want anything to do with Lockhart at all, so you'd better not mention it."

Harry nodded silently.

He abandoned his unrealistic expectations of Lockhart and instead asked everyone, "Hey guys, do you want to go to Nick's death anniversary party? It's on Halloween."

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Michael: "I think I misheard... What party?"

Theo: "Who is Nick?"

Neville: "Nick the Headless, the Ghost of Gryffindor."

"A ghost anniversary party?" Padma wrinkled her nose. "Will there be a lot of ghosts?"

"I think... I guess so..."

Harry hesitated before trying to encourage everyone:

"This year's Halloween marks Nick's 500th birthday. Think about it... Halloween comes every year, but a death anniversary party might only happen once in a lifetime! Don't you want to go?"

"Uh..." Michael asked, "You haven't already agreed to go, have you?"

“Yeah!” Harry said, then looked pitifully at his friends.

“I want to go,” Hermione said excitedly. “It must be amazing!”

"Is anyone else going, Harry?" Theo asked. "Or is it just you... and Hermione?"

“…Ron also promised to come with me,” Harry said.

“Well… if you wish, I can…” Neville said hesitantly.

But after he finished speaking, judging from his expression, he immediately regretted it.

Harry didn't give him a chance to back out, and immediately said happily, "Then it's settled! What about you guys?"

“I’m not going.” Wade shook his head.

He knew the food at that party was terrible and had absolutely no interest in attending.

“Of course we have to go!” Fred said excitedly. “Ghosts! I’ve never seen a ghost anywhere else except at school!”

George nodded as well.

Harry felt somewhat comforted, but then he did the math again...

Huh? Aren't these all Gryffindors?

He looked at the others.

Theo glanced at Ryan and said with a smile, "We're not going either... but I'll save you dinner."

"What do you mean?" A bad feeling welled up in Harry's heart: "The death anniversary party...isn't there any food?"

Theo said tactfully, "They should only serve food for ghosts."

Harry blinked.

"Should I... not have agreed to go to Nick's death anniversary party?"

“But you’ve already agreed,” Padma said gleefully.

Hermione nodded: "A promise is a promise! Besides, the party isn't just about eating!"

Michael laughed and said, "A rare sight, isn't it? Most people don't have this opportunity."

"Do you want this opportunity?" Neville asked nervously.

"Hmm... I'd better not." Michael declined gently but firmly.

"Wear more clothes," Wade reminded him as a final reminder. "It'll be cold where ghosts gather."

……

Halloween is here in the blink of an eye.

That evening, Wade and the others arrived at the auditorium. Just like last year, countless candles hung from the ceiling, and bats adorned the ceiling.

Giant pumpkins were carved into lanterns of various shapes, and fairies flew around on the vines, their tiny wands spewing out colorful starlight.

The long table was filled with golden platters of fragrant food, most of which were dishes that you wouldn't normally see on a dining table.

Michael took two pieces of crispy pan-fried cheese, took a big bite, and the rich, crispy flavor was almost addictive.

He finished his food in a few bites, then put two more pieces on his plate and happily told Wade, "If Harry and the others knew how much delicious food there was tonight, they would definitely regret it."

“I bet they’re already regretting it,” Wade said, forking a piece of French lamb chop. “The ghosts’ food is all rotten.”

"Uh..." Michael advised, "Let's not say such terrible things while eating, shall we?"

During the meal, a skeleton dance troupe performed on stage.

The pale skeletons danced hand in hand to the rhythm of lively music, sometimes floating up like soft-boned snakes, and sometimes even suddenly scattering into a pile of skeletons and then piecing them back together.

The skeletons' teeth clicked and clacked, prompting the audience to clap and cheer along, creating an extremely enthusiastic atmosphere.

Apart from Professor Snape's usual stern face, the students and teachers were overjoyed, and applause came one after another.

"This is great!"

Gryffindor's Lee Jordan pulled a black girl onto the stage, and the two of them danced with the skeletons, taking the energy of the entire audience to a new level.

As the dinner party ended and the students returned to their lounges, Wade saw Harry and his group coming up from the underground.

Apart from Fred and George, who still had smiles on their faces, everyone else looked extremely haggard.

“It was horrible,” Ron groaned. “Moldy, maggot-infested, stinky food… everything there made me sick.”

Theo and the others laughed heartily and shared the food they had brought from the auditorium with them.

"Thank you so much." Harry stuffed the food into his pocket and sighed, "But I can't eat anything right now... I feel like my nose is about to go numb."

A group of people walked out of the lobby, then went their separate ways, following the crowd toward their respective college lounges.

"This is the best Halloween I've ever had."

On the way back to the dormitory, Michael was still excitedly talking about it.

Padma unconsciously hummed a song that the Skull Dance Troupe had sung, and said, "Yeah. Last year was great too, but the trolls messed everything up."

“You can’t say that,” Michael said. “You joined us after that day, so that Halloween was great too.”

Padma looked at Michael and gave him a sweet smile.

Wade consciously shook them off and went back to the lounge first.

He took out the gift he wanted to give to the house-elves—a shape-shifting mask—from his bag, wrote a blessing on it, and placed it on the table.

That way they can get it tonight.

Even though Vader had developed a good relationship with the house-elves, they still adhered to the moral code of house-elves. They rarely appeared before Vader unless summoned.

Wade stood by the window and waited for a while.

The vast castle gradually quieted down, and the Ravenclaw students drifted off to sleep one by one, presumably the students from the other houses did the same.

There were no screams, no petrification, no chaos or fear.

This is exactly what he hoped for—a peaceful, fulfilling, and fun school life.

Wade smiled.

……