Today is Halloween Eve.
A grand banquet is being held in the Great Hall.
The walls were decorated with hundreds of pumpkins with lit candles, and a large flock of live bats Accio.
Many orange banners, still glowing with flames, floated lazily on the ceiling, like colorful water snakes, as if a storm was brewing.
In the faculty section, Professor McGonagall was looking towards the Slytherin table, gazing at Silan with a loving expression.
She had naturally heard about what happened at Hogsmeade yesterday, which was being discussed extensively among the students.
Professor McGonagall was pleased to see Draco Malfoy and Silan getting along so well.
Watching Silan dine with such elegance, Professor McGonagall thought, "This is exactly the kind of model student Gryffindor desperately needs!"
"A person of high moral character and kind heart, even Malfoy admires him! Gryffindor needs such a role model."
Draco was staring at Silan, shaking his head inwardly and sighing, "To avoid a direct confrontation with me, Prewett has actually teamed up with my father, using family honor to persuade me..."
He picked up the Pumpkin Juice, took a sip, and frowned as if he had drunk bitter wine, looking utterly lost.
Professor McGonagall grew increasingly pleased with Silan, swirling her wine glass in thought, "This child is not only friendly and virtuous, but he also never breaks school rules, not even a night out. He's truly remarkable."
At this moment, Silan was slowly calculating in her mind the Acromantula Venom she had obtained the previous night.
"All in all, it's about 30 pints. Worth 3,000 Galleon..." Silan did a quick mental calculation, thinking to herself, "I can give some to Professor Snape at Christmas."
Professor McGonagall withdrew her gaze, downed the wine in her glass in one gulp, and remarked, "Slytherin has a fine student."
Following Professor McGonagall's gaze to the Slytherin table, Snape instantly understood who she was referring to, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.
"Students I personally teach are certainly not ordinary."
Thinking this to himself, Snape forced a calm expression and said, "Prewett is just so-so."
"This is extraordinary." Lupin smacked his lips, as if the taste of Wolfsbane Potion still lingered. "The Potions I've been drinking lately have all been prepared by Mr. Prewett. I dare say, a student as outstanding as him is probably a rare find in the entire history of Hogwarts."
"Mr. Prewett, he can already make... Potions?" Professor McGonagall was taken aback, her hand trembling as she poured the wine, spilling a little.
Snape's lips, which he had managed to suppress, curled up in a smug smile again. He let out a soft snort and said nonchalantly, "He does have a little talent for Potions; he can barely serve as my assistant."
"For Third Year student to be able to make that kind of Potions, it can't be said that they only have a little bit of talent," Professor McGonagall couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
She casually turned the spilled wine into a handkerchief, folded it, and moved it aside, leaving the table sparkling clean. She then asked, "You mean your assistant? Has Prewett been helping you research Potions lately?"
Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout seemed to be drawn in by the topic as well, both holding their wine glasses and glancing over frequently, quietly pricking up their ears.
Snape rarely spoke at these kinds of dinner parties, but Professor McGonagall's topic seemed to have flipped something in him.
"Although it hasn't been published yet... we've recently improved a Potions, the one Lupin uses." Snape glanced at Lupin and continued, "The paper and experimental results are complete; we're just waiting to send it to the Extraordinary Society of Potioneers for review."
Snape swirled his wine glass, speaking in a casual tone as if discussing the weather, but the professors around him stared in astonishment, frozen in place.
They all knew Lupin's identity; even though Snape and Professor McGonagall deliberately avoided mentioning it, they knew he was using Wolfsbane Potion.
Very few people can concoct a high-level Potions like Wolfsbane Potion, let alone improve it.
If this paper is published, it will undoubtedly cause a huge stir in the field of Potions.
Looking at the expressions of the professors around him, Snape felt an unprecedented sense of pleasure. He spoke in a tone that was both boastful of a treasure and forced nonchalance:
"Prewett has been a great help to me; he's the second author of this paper. I plan to take him with me to the Extraordinary Society of Potioneers."
"Are you planning to have him register as Potioneer?" Professor McGonagall guessed.
"That's right."
The Extraordinary Society of Potioneers is a gathering place for elite Potioneer and the most authoritative institution in the field of Potions.
"Are you confident? Their standards are not simple..."
Snape simply smiled, as if it weren't a problem at all.
The expressions of the surrounding professors changed, and they all thought to themselves, "Third Year registered Extraordinary Potioneer... that's simply astonishing!"
Seeing Snape's obvious smugness coupled with his feigned indifference, the professors all took a sip of their drinks, feeling somewhat annoyed.
The Sorting Hat —that senile old hat!
Prewett should have been assigned to our college!
Hagrid, who had been chugging his drink, suddenly stopped, sniffed, and muttered inexplicably, "Why does it smell sour..."
Diagon Alley Halloween Eve, with streetlights transformed into pumpkin lanterns and many shops displaying signs advertising Halloween specials.
A wizard wearing a top hat leaned against a street corner, casually reading today's Daily Prophet.
The headline still dominated the news of Sirius Black's escape, followed by Fudge's tired old statement from the Minister for Magic.
Wizards came and went, chatting casually.
"Hey, did you hear? Yesterday at Hogsmeade, the Malfoy family heir publicly acknowledged his relatives!"
"Who? Malfoy? Who is the other party?"
"It seems to be the Prewett family, but I'm not sure if it's that Prewett... I heard their family has already..."
The wizard in the top hat slowly pulled down the newspaper, muttering with a strange expression, "My nephew is really something... I'd better hurry up too."
After saying this, the wizard took off his top hat, pulled out a Broomstick, mounted it, and flew into the sky in the blink of an eye.
As soon as it left the ground, the wizard's facial features began to twist strangely, and then another face was revealed.
Sirius Black.
He glanced down from his Broomstick; wizards were crowding the streets, creating a lively scene.
He pulled flyers from his top hat and tossed them down, shouting with a grin, "Ladies and gentlemen, Happy Halloween!"
The flyers fell like snowflakes along his flight path, covered with dense writing.
Some curious wizards picked it up and looked at it, discovering that it described in detail what happened twelve years ago.
From the decision to appoint Peter as the Secret Keeper, to Peter's betrayal and death of the Potters, to Sirius's pursuit of Peter and his wrongful imprisonment.
The rigorous logic and clear facts caused some wizards to fall into deep thought.
The other wizards were whispering amongst themselves, their eyes fixed intently on Sirius.
"It's Black! It must be him!"
It's happened again!
"Keep an eye on him! I'm going to get Auror! I just saw them nearby!"
Sirius flew around once, tossing out all the prepared leaflets, then waved downwards, deftly twisting his wrist to perform a graceful courtly salute.
When he looked up again, several Auror were already rushing towards him on Broomstick.
"Good evening, guys. Looks like you're working overtime again." Sirius turned his Broomstick around and said jokingly.
Several Auror, their eyes bloodshot, gritted their teeth and chased after him.
"It's because of this jerk that we have to work overtime on Halloween Eve!"
With old and new grudges combined, these Auror put all their effort into relentlessly pursuing the target.
Sirius pressed down his Broomstick and darted between the buildings in Diagon Alley, leaving the Auror far behind.
After turning a corner, the Auror finally cornered Sirius, only to find that there was no one on his Broomstick.
A large black dog turned the corner, looked up at the Auror in the sky, stuck out its tongue, and disappeared into the crowd.
The Halloween Feast at Hogwarts was drawing to a close.
The ghosts sprang out from the walls and tables, forming various formations and performing gliding feats. Nearly Headless Nick, reenacted his beheading experience and won decisively. The students gave him thunderous applause.
"Thank you, thank you." Nick put his head back together with both hands and bowed to the surroundings.
After finishing the last piece of Cake, Goyle let out a burp and asked, "Draco, are we having a meeting today?"
"Open!"
... Divider Line...
Author's Note: Originally, Halloween Eve and Hogsmeade Day were on the same day. This was my mistake; I forgot...
Also, today is the author's birthday, so I'm taking a day off. To maintain my record of more than 200 consecutive days of updates, I'll only be posting one update for now.
Love you all! Thank you so much!