Ghostly Howling Halloween (Green)

Ted returned to the dormitory, set down his schoolbag, and took his guitar to the usual spot.

Sure enough, Helena appeared before he had even finished a song.

"Did you find something last night?" she asked eagerly, her voice still carrying that faintly ethereal quality.

Ted hesitated. "I can't be sure. It might be some magic Lady Ravenclaw left behind..."

"Mother..." Helena could no longer hold back her emotions. Bright silver tears slid from her eyes, falling to the ground and vanishing.

"I miss her so much. I want to apologize to her. I failed her expectations..." Helena's sorrow endlessly overflowed from her eyes, dripping away and disappearing.

How was one supposed to comfort a ghost who had existed for a thousand years?

With Ted's shallow knowledge of Mind Power, and Muggle psychology's less than a century of research, neither could touch upon that question.

All he could do was sit beside her in silence, listening to her weep and recount events from a thousand years ago.

She spoke of how she had once been jealous of her mother's fame, wanting to become smarter and more renowned than her mother. She had thought stealing her mother's diadem would grant her that wisdom. She told him how she later died tragically in Albania, never getting to see her gravely ill mother one last time.

She even mentioned how, forty or fifty years ago, she had been deceived by a Slytherin student and told him where the diadem was hidden. That student was Voldemort...

Ted could only hold his guitar and watch her. He could not even offer her a handkerchief to wipe her tears.

"All right, I feel much better after saying it. I've kept those words bottled up for so, so many years... Let's talk about my mother's statue. No one has noticed all these years that it was enchanted." Helena pulled herself together.

It truly was an ordinary statue: a bust of Ravenclaw with her hair loose, not wearing the legendary diadem.

The reason it had survived for a thousand years was partly because of its fine material, and partly because the castle's magic maintained it.

Ted rubbed his face. "It may not be ordinary magic. It feels more like a cluster of thoughts..."

He could not say exactly what it was. Through the underlying consciousness of the mind, he had sensed a special emotion rather than an ordinary magical fluctuation.

Otherwise, the head of Ravenclaw in every generation had been among the best. There was no way none of them would have noticed. It could only be said that this was a field very different from the current magical system, perhaps even closer to Mind Power.

His words seemed to stir some memories in Helena. After a moment of silence, she said, "In her final years, Mother did set aside rune casting and much of Ancient Magic, turning instead to research into some unusual magic. I think I'll need some time to look into it..."

"Thank you, Ted." She thanked him, then turned and passed through the wall.

That afternoon's class passed far too quickly. Amid the Little Wizards' anticipation for the evening, it slipped away as though it had left no impression at all.

The moment class ended, Ron and Jerry in the corridor had already forgotten what class they had just attended!

But that did not matter, because two months after the start of term, their first holiday and feast were finally arriving.

Even the air in the castle seemed charged with excitement. Because of the feast, dinner would be later than usual today.

The moment Ted and the other five entered the Great Hall, they were stunned.

The entire Great Hall glittered magnificently beneath countless candles and braziers.

A huge swarm of bats flew around the walls beneath the hall's ceiling. Every now and then, a stray one would crash into a wall and vanish.

They had all been conjured by magic.

Piles of pumpkins carved with ghostly faces were stacked by the walls and tables, while some jack-o'-lanterns floated in midair, spinning slowly.

Pumpkin pies were piled high on the tables, steaming hot. Their distinctive sweet fragrance forced its way into everyone's nostrils, making saliva gather uncontrollably before they swallowed with a loud gulp.

"Ding~ Holiday quest triggered:

Ghostly Howling Halloween (Green)

Is this it? Is this it? Is this it? Eat some pumpkin pie, drink some Pumpkin Juice, watch bats fly around, touch a jack-o'-lantern? Halloween isn't supposed to be celebrated like this! If this were the Muggle world, the school would have been blasted with complaints already! Show them what a real Halloween is! Objective: Scare 10 people before the feast ends.

Progress: 0/10.

Reward: 200 experience, Ghost Cloak Card (Green).

Put on a pumpkin hat, and good fortune circles your head; drape yourself in ghostly clothes, and luck settles on your body; wear Superman pants, and happiness can't be hidden; step into big boots, and gain a little more bliss~"

The system jolted Ted awake. He carefully read the quest, thought for a moment, then whispered to his friends, "Guys, I think this is too ordinary..."

"This is ordinary?" Ron's eyes went wide. Aren't your standards a little too high?!

"As a new generation of wizards, we have a responsibility to make Halloween more interesting," Ted said. "I have a plan..."

Jerry: That sounded like something a Gryffindor would say.

Harriett: Did you steal my line?

Ted: Come closer. We'll do this and this, then that and that...

Before long, not only Ted's group of six, but also the Weasley Twins and their best friend and roommate Lee Jordan had joined the plan.

Just as most of the students had arrived, begun sampling pumpkin pie, and were waiting for the Halloween Feast to officially begin—

A scream suddenly rang out.

Caught off guard, the students all turned toward where the scream had come from.

At the entrance to a side door, a blood-smeared face appeared. It was impossible to tell who it was, but judging by the clothes and build, it was clearly a student.

He seemed to be trying to flee inside, but a sickly bluish-green ghost claw, muscles bulging, seized the back of his neck. Then a bloodied axe came down hard on his head!

Bang! The boy's "corpse," with an axe lodged in its forehead, fell to the ground as blood spread beneath him.

A terrifying ghostly face peeked in from outside the door, as large as a wagon wheel!

At the same time, a "bone-chilling" gust of wind blew in from nowhere, and all the students who were still frozen in shock shuddered.

Then, as if waking from a dream, dozens of screams erupted at once, nearly piercing the Great Hall's transparent ceiling!

In an instant, the light in the entire hall dimmed. Beneath the flickering flames, countless Little Wizards howled in terror, scrambling across the floor in every direction to escape.

"Ding~ Quest Ghostly Howling Halloween (Green) completed. Reward: 200 experience, Ghost Cloak Card (Green)."

Ghost Cloak (Green)

Item Card

Wear: Disguise yourself as a ghost and move without sound.

Note: No matter how convincing it looks, you still can't pass through walls. Don't try it.

Then a voice rang out. "Quiet!"

Everyone knew that voice. It seemed to carry some kind of soothing power, instantly calming the students whose souls had nearly fled their bodies in fright.

It was Dumbledore! He and several professors had appeared soundlessly at the professors' table without anyone knowing when.

Ted quickly waved to his friends from the shadows. Run! It'll be too late if we don't!

He was already prepared to take the blame. The quest was complete anyway.

But how could Snape possibly let a pack of troublemakers off?! He wished he could toss every last one of them into a Cauldron and boil them.

As a result, no one got away, Hermione included.

"Oh, it's our Miss Know-It-All and Mister Knows-Everything, and..." He glanced at Harriett, an emotion of disappointment brewing within him.

"And a pack of Gryffindor trolls!"

"Let me think. How should I punish you? Scaring students and attempting to ruin the school's Halloween Feast—I suggest expulsion!"

Damn it, Ted rolled his eyes. Do you have no shame at all? Why not just sentence us to life imprisonment in Azkaban?! Naturally, the professors could not let Snape go that far.

Dumbledore pointed his wand at his throat and silently cast Sonorus. "Students, remain calm. This was merely a little Halloween Eve prank your friends played on everyone. I thought it was quite amusing."

By then, the students had finally realized that they had been fooled!

The "corpse" that took the axe was Jerry.

The monster pretending to split open someone's skull was Ron riding on Neville's shoulders, with the two of them acting together.

That enormous ghost face had been created by Ted using Transfiguration, while Harriett controlled it from behind.

Ted had not watched all those horror films for nothing. That wheel-sized ghost face was genuinely terrifying.

When it had first appeared, even Neville and Ron, who had watched it form with their own eyes, had jumped in fright.

As for that "bone-chilling gust," Ted had used the Freezing Charm to create the cold while Hermione used the Hurricane Charm to summon airflow.

The Weasley Twins had worked together to use the Extinguishing Charm. Although they could not completely put out the Great Hall's many candles and braziers, they could suppress the flames for a short time and drastically dim the light.

Lee Jordan was in charge of atmosphere, screaming among the crowd and guiding everyone into panic so they could not think rationally.

If the professors had not suddenly appeared, Ted's group might have scared the students into wetting themselves.

Ted's quest had been completed in an instant. Rather than scare people one by one, he had put on a major production. At least a hundred people had been frightened just now.

That counted as massively exceeding the quest requirements!

At that moment, Professor McGonagall stepped forward. "You lot nearly ruined the Halloween celebration. Gryffindor loses 20 points!"

Professor Flitwick naturally had to make a statement as well. Although there were only two students from his house, according to Ted's full confession, he was the mastermind. Thus, Ravenclaw lost 20 points too! Ted checked the quest: An academic career without points deducted is incomplete (Blue), and its progress had already reached 75/100! Ted: I really want to laugh~ Could you spare me two monthly votes?