Time flew!
In the blink of an eye, two months had passed since Hogwarts started term, and today was Halloween—October 31, a traditional holiday in Western Europe.
It was said that the festival's origins could be traced back to ancient Celtic rituals. People believed it marked the boundary between the end of summer and the beginning of winter. To ward off evil spirits and celebrate the harvest, they would light bonfires and dress up in all sorts of disguises to frighten away ghosts?
As for where autumn went, nobody knew. Maybe the ghosts had eaten it?
In any case!
No matter how nicely you put it, it was really just more or less the same as the Eastern Zhongyuan Festival, commonly known as the "Ghost Festival." Nothing special, that was all.
The only difference was that while the Western Ghost Festival meant eating roast pumpkin, filling all of Hogwarts Castle with its sweet aroma, in certain Eastern provinces it was customary to eat duck?
Of course, none of that mattered!
What mattered right now was this: there were only two more classes in the afternoon before she could get ready for dinner. So Annie, who had dozed off and been woken by the delicious aroma, was already wondering what tasty treats the Great Hall would have tonight.
However...
As she let her mind wander, wondering whether tonight's feast would include roast turkey as well as roast pumpkin—and whether she should hurry to grab a nice drumstick before she got stuck eating chicken that tasted as bad as wood—someone finally called out to her:
"Annie?"
"Annie..."
"Are you listening?"
"Hm?"
Of course, Annie wasn't listening. She was thinking about important things. How could she spare the time to pay attention to anyone else?
"?!"
∑(△｀)?!
In the end, it was only