Halloween Eve Incident

In the last few days of October, Hogwarts seemed as ordinary as ever, but every young wizard was secretly brewing with restless excitement.

During History of Magic, the first-years began frequently asking Professor Binns about the history of monsters and ghosts, completely disrupting Professor Binns's lesson plan—though nobody knew whether he even had one.

The ghost professor flew into a rage and roared at Seamus Finnigan, whose hand was raised high in the air, "Stop asking those stupid questions about monsters! I won't answer any more of them! Put your hand down, Sean Panic! Five points from Hufflepuff!"

Seamus looked aggrieved. "Professor, my name isn't Sean Panic, and I'm not in Huffle—"

Harry and Ron hurriedly grabbed him and clapped a hand over his mouth.

But aside from History of Magic and Potions—where nobody dared ask Snape anything—the other professors were quite happy to let the young wizards, who had been studying for two months, relax a little.

Professor McGonagall, usually so stern, Transfigured the desks into a pile of dancing skeletons.

Professor Flitwick enthusiastically recounted a marvelous Halloween he had spent with vampires and werewolves in his youth.

Amid such excitement and anticipation, October drew to a close. By the day before Halloween, Hogwarts had already fallen into a festive mood.

Even though the weather had become quite terrible by then.

No one knew exactly when it had begun, but the mountains surrounding the school had started to gather snow and ice. The sky remained gray all day long, and the frost on the ground each morning grew thicker and thicker.

This forced Hagrid to put on his moleskin coat, rabbit-fur gloves, and hat. Wrapped up like some kind of furry monster, he struggled through the grounds, swinging a broom to clear away the frost.

October 31st was no exception.

Vaughn walked through the courtyard with his books in his arms and greeted Hagrid. When he reached the Great Hall, he found that the braziers and torches that had originally been there had all been replaced with jack-o'-lanterns.

Many decorative streamers hung down from the ceiling. Every young wizard eagerly discussed the changes in decoration, as well as what entertainment there might be for Halloween this year.

Fred and George said that last year, Dumbledore had invited a ghost band to perform. Their droning tunes had put half the Great Hall to sleep.

Percy said that, as a prefect, he had received no notice from the school, so there would most likely be no entertainment this year. Speaking of Percy, ever since Vaughn had been sorted into Slytherin, the fellow had avoided meeting him for quite some time.

It was not until he discovered that his younger brother got along well with students from several Houses that Percy sought Vaughn out one day. "Dear brother, I've been too busy lately. The Slytherins haven't been bullying you, have they?"

Vaughn could only respond with a dry laugh...

Harry secretly said to his friends, "There definitely won't be any entertainment. Dumbledore is still hiding his little secret—how could he possibly let outsiders into the school?"

Hermione looked at him in a new light. "I thought you'd complain that it wasn't lively enough."

"My life is lively enough every day now."

Harry said listlessly.

The closer the Quidditch season drew, the crazier Wood became. If everyone had not threatened him with death, he probably would have wanted to organize Quidditch practice even on Halloween.

But they still could not escape this afternoon's training!

"Ron, can you keep me company this afternoon... uh..."

Harry decided to drag his good friend along to share the joy.

But when he turned around, he realized Ron had not said a word the entire time. He sat there blankly, tears rolling from his eyes, looking as though he were about to depart this world and was taking one last look at it.

"Ron, wh-what's wrong with you?"

Ron clasped Harry's hand emotionally. "Harry, take good care of yourself from now on. When you grow up, earn lots of money. If there's anything delicious to eat, good to drink, or fun to play with, remember to save me some..."

Then, a silent spell from across the long table turned him mute.

When Harry looked over, Vaughn was eating meat stew while reading, and casually put away his wand.

Harry looked around. Everyone nearby continued chatting as if they had seen nothing—

Wasn't it perfectly normal for Ron to be bullied by his brother?

Harry silently turned away, pretending not to see Ron's wide eyes as he struggled, flailing his arms and legs.

That evening, after a whole afternoon of Quidditch practice that had blown his hair into a Mohawk, Harry dragged himself back to the Great Hall, exhausted to the point of death, only to find that it had been completely transformed.

The professors had thoroughly enchanted the jack-o'-lanterns again, making them flicker with multicolored light.

Countless bats fluttered between the splendid walls and streamers beneath the stars and moonlight hanging from the ceiling. Below them, the long tables were piled high with delicious food.

Harry went to his usual seat, but only Hermione was there.

"Hermione, have you seen Ron?"

Hermione nodded and said with some distaste, "He was here earlier, hugging a roast and eating until his mouth was covered in grease. Vaughn just called him away."

Harry did not ask any more questions. These past few days, he had kept hearing Ron say that he had agreed to a devil's terms, and that he regretted it terribly.

Maybe the brothers had gone off to "bond" again!

Feeling starved, Harry quickly forgot all about Ron in the face of the feast.

But he had barely started eating, and was gnawing on a potato when the doors of the Great Hall suddenly flew open.

Professor Quirrell rushed in, his face filled with terror. He hurried past the student tables, which had suddenly fallen silent, and ran breathlessly to the teachers' table. Facing Dumbledore, who was looking at him, he wailed:

"Troll! Troll! In the dungeons..."

After saying that, he pitched forward onto the floor and fainted.

No one noticed the look in Dumbledore's eyes as he stared at Professor Quirrell. All the students panicked. The older students, who knew how destructive trolls could be, turned pale and began chattering anxiously, while the younger students, who did not know what was happening, screamed and shouted.

And the troublemakers who took the opportunity to cause mischief.

The entire Great Hall was in an uproar.

It was not until Dumbledore came to his senses that he arranged for the four Heads of House to restrain their own students while casting a Sonorus Charm. "Silence, ladies and gentlemen. Regrettably, the Halloween feast must be suspended for the time being. Prefects, lead the students back to their common rooms."

"Professors, come with me to the dungeons."

Although Dumbledore had already hurried away, some order was finally restored. Following his instructions, the Heads of the four Houses gave their prefects their orders before hurrying toward the dungeons as well.

Like the other young wizards, Harry and Hermione followed behind Percy in confusion, listening to classmates from wizarding families discuss the troll in voices that were either terrified or excited.

It was not until they started up the stairs that Harry suddenly remembered something. In fright, he grabbed Hermione's sleeve.

"Ron and Vaughn!"

Hermione's face went pale as well. "They... don't know about the troll... I'll go find Percy!"

Harry quickly stopped her. "Percy's too rigid. He'll only think to find the professors, but they're all in the dungeons now. I think Vaughn and Ron probably haven't gone far. Let's try looking for them upstairs first."