Early in the morning, Li Mu had barely crawled out of the underground barrel when he caught the sweet, enticing aroma of Roasted Pumpkin drifting through the corridor.
He suddenly realized that he had been at Hogwarts for nearly eight weeks. Time had entered the golden autumn, nearing winter, and November had arrived with Halloween.
Li Mu ate breakfast with his two roommates and deliberately glanced toward the Gryffindor table. He saw neither Harry Potter nor Ron, nor did he see Hermione or Neville. He had wanted to invite his friends to visit Hagrid's hut together as Halloween approached, or find something relaxing and fun to do.
The last time they had all gathered had been several weeks ago. After the library incident had dealt Hermione a blow, the Lion Queen seemed to have been avoiding him. And ever since the points battle among the four houses had grown increasingly intense, Harry and the others seemed to have felt enormous pressure as well. They had clearly been studying harder, so naturally they met with him far less often.
After breakfast, once they had put away their knives, forks, bowls, and plates, they hurried upstairs again. Along the way, they found that all the candles on the walls had been replaced with Pumpkin Lanterns. Some students had even put on all sorts of strange costumes early in the morning. At the staircase on the third floor, they ran into the Weasley twins. George and Fred, that fiery pair, had even put on monster masks—one with a blue face and fangs, the other with a red face and black hair—scaring quite a few first-years.
Overnight, the entire atmosphere in the castle had changed. Unfortunately, no matter how festive Halloween was, there was no holiday. They still had to attend class as usual.