The decorations in the Great Hall had grown even richer.
Jack-o'-lanterns hovered in midair, and countless black-cloth bats fluttered through the air.
Flocks of black-cloth bats would even dive into the jack-o'-lanterns, then surge out all at once and circle up near the vaulted ceiling, over and over again.
Unlike the start-of-term feast, the Halloween feast was much freer, with far fewer rules and formalities.
Dumbledore did not give a dinner speech. Instead, he raised his glass with the teachers, drinking and chatting merrily.
The students only had to sit down on the long benches to begin enjoying the carefully prepared food.
Halfway through the feast, Ron and Harry finally arrived late.
Both of them were drenched in sweat and looked thoroughly unhappy.
Seeing his younger brother sit down beside him, Percy asked curiously, "Ron, why are you so late?"
"And Fred and the others aren't here yet either... You haven't done anything bad, have you? You mustn't copy Fred and the others!"
"We didn't. We just went to look for someone..." Ron's expression was very unnatural, his face full of embarrassment.
Neville was eating lamb chops in great mouthfuls, and said indistinctly with his mouth full, "Harry, did you find Hermione?"
"Hermione got lost?" Percy frowned slightly. "What exactly happened?"
Ron and Harry looked at each other. In the end, it was only with Neville beside them helping that they managed to explain the matter clearly.
"In other words... you searched the castle for a long time and still didn't find her?" Percy's brow furrowed tightly. "Did you try... the girls' bathroom?"
"Huh?" Harry and Ron froze. "Hermione's in the girls' bathroom?"
"I heard it from your classmate... Miss Patil," Percy said. "She said Hermione was in the girls' bathroom, crying there all afternoon. No matter how they tried