Peeves and the Vanishing Cabinet

In the wizarding world, many wizards enjoyed holding all kinds of balls, especially those old pure-blood families, who hosted two or three every year. Birthday balls and Yule Balls, for instance, had become regular events—but for most balls, dancing was never the main focus.

This time was no exception. Music played continuously in the office, but very few people actually danced.

Most merely spun around symbolically a couple of times before taking a drink and chatting with the people around them.

It had to be said that Professor Slughorn was very well connected, having invited quite a few notable figures.

Besides the famous writer Worple and the vampire Sanguini, whom Kyle had met before, there was also a professional Quidditch player—Buwell Hode, a current Chaser for the Montrose Magpies—and a reporter from the Daily Prophet. Not Rita Skeeter, but another male wizard.

According to Slughorn, he had handled most of the exclusive interviews with Ministry of Magic department heads and above.

Kyle also spotted the owner of Honeydukes... which made sense. Slughorn had a signed photograph of him at his home, and with the school being so close to Hogsmeade, there was no reason not to invite him.

Even so, Slughorn still seemed to think things were not lively enough. As he put it, Halloween was only a small gathering; Christmas would be the real highlight. He even reminded Kyle and Kanna that they absolutely could not miss it.

But the two of them had completely different opinions on that.

They found an excuse to shake off Slughorn and went to the drinks area, where there were relatively fewer people.

However, Kyle had only come here for some peace and quiet, and did not touch anything on the table.

Ever since learning that someone in the school had bought Amortentia,