Deathday Party

In the dimly lit basement, Draco's words did not attract Harry's attention in the slightest.

It was just too cold.

As Harry and his friends walked down the corridor leading to Nearly Headless Nick party, the temperature seemed to drop with every step they took.

And that's not all. The Nearly Headless Nick seemed to have forgotten that there were still living people attending the banquet. The candles lit in the aisle were actually small, dark candles that glowed with a bluish light when they burned.

This small glimmer of light is almost useless in illuminating the darkness.

Moreover, the light shone on the faces of Harry and his two companions, making them appear particularly sinister.

Even the usually easygoing Ron couldn't help but tremble when he looked at Harry and the others' faces.

"Great, I almost forgot I'm a wizard." Ron looked at Harry gratefully, as a sun shot out from the tip of Harry's wand, illuminating the surrounding darkness and dispelling the cold.

"Come on, Ron."

"Even though you're Ravenclaw, you don't learn any spells other than the ones taught in class, except for a few bad ones."

"For a spell to dispel the cold, you'd probably only rely on Incendio," Draco couldn't help but complain to Ron.

"Can you do that?" Ron retorted.

"I really do know how. My parents once considered sending me to Durmstrang."

"It's very cold there, so I learned the relevant spells— the Warming Charm."

"Let me teach you," Draco said, raising his pointed chin smugly. "Hold your wand halfway above your head, keeping your elbow still. Rotate your wrist twice, then say 'Frigus Minuo Calorem Augeo,' and touch yourself with the tip of your wand."

"I don't want to learn your damn Warming Charm. Harry's is way cooler."

"A sun is floating overhead, how cool!" Ron pointed to Harry, who looked like Apollo under the magical sun.

"It's cool, so what?"

Can you learn it?

"My Warming Charm is much simpler."

"Its status in Durmstrang is like Lumos." However, Draco had to admit that Harry's spell was obviously much cooler.

"Ron, Draco, you didn't recognize me?"

"This is an alternative use of my Dark Curse."

"As you all know, the spell I created borrowed from the story of the Sköll Skll devouring the sun."

"I'm just getting the 'sun' out of the wolf's belly right now," Harry explained.

He found it outrageous; Ron and Draco hadn't even thought of that.

"It's all your fault, Harry."

"You gave this spell such an unremarkable name as Dark Curse."

"If you call it the Sun-Eating Curse, I can think of it." Ron chose to turn the tables.

"We've been standing here for a while, we need to move on!" Draco decided to change the subject.

However, Draco regretted it. He, who was walking ahead, was suddenly confronted with a sickeningly loud voice.

It was as if a thousand fingernails were scraping across a giant blackboard.

"That's music!?" Ron covered his ears right after, followed by Harry.

"It seems that after a long period of being unable to contact the material world, the ghosts have chosen to use these sounds that are unbearable for the living to find the feeling of being alive," Harry said with a twisted expression.

"My dear friends," he said with infinite sorrow, "Welcome, welcome... I am so glad you could come..."

"But why are you all so late? I told a lot of ghosts that Harry Potter would be attending my Deathday Party." After feigning seriousness, Nearly Headless Nick, became lively again.

He stood at a doorway, draped in a black velvet drape. He removed his feathered hat and bowed, inviting them inside.

Harry never imagined there would be so many ghosts.

Especially since they all looked at him at the same time.

"He is Harry Potter."

"The magical wizard that Peeves dares not approach."

"The Potter family are all cut from the same cloth; they look so familiar."

However, Harry, who was being watched and discussed by the ghosts, immediately understood why he was receiving so much attention.

In the very center of the underground classroom, a huge cake floats, shaped like a giant tombstone, slowly rotating.

Although it is transparent, you can still see the words spelled out on it using tar-like icing:

Sir Nicholas Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington

Died on October 31, 1492

The other side, which is the main reason why Harry is receiving so much attention now, also has text drawn on it:

Welcome Peeves, the nemesis of Harry Potter, and his living friends!

The underground classroom was packed with hundreds of milky-white, semi-transparent figures who must have been starving at it before.

"Alright, now it's my turn to speak. The turnout is satisfactory; the Wailing Widow has come all the way from Kent... However, I know very well that your attendance at my death anniversary is also related to ghost food. I'm sure you've noticed that some of us have already taken on some of the colors of the living, and there are even more obvious ones, but she offended my friend— Harry Potter."

"You might wonder why I put Harry Potter's name on my death anniversary cake. It's not just because his existence drove away a guy who had an invitation to this dinner party but whom none of us welcomed, but also because it was because of him that Ravenclaw's Diadem came into existence, Dumbledore was able to recreate this wonderful magic through the great Ravenclaw Ghostification Ravenclaw's Diadem, which is how we were able to have dinner tonight," Nearly Headless Nick.

Finally, he waved his hand, and the band on the black-clothed stage, with the terrifying, trembling sound of thirty musical saws, began to dance a waltz.

"Why haven't they started eating yet?" asked Ron, the man who only eats rice.

Meanwhile, Ron was also looking around the room, hoping to spot the opaque food.

"The Headless Hunt haven't arrived yet? I guess Nicholas's waiting for them." Harry shrugged.

"But why?"

"I don't think the other ghosts are really focused on dancing; they're all drooling over the cake!" Draco asked curiously.

What he couldn't understand was why the other ghosts were all so cooperative.

"You do not know?"

"By the way, back at the Slytherin table, Nicholas wanted to join the Headless Hunt, but was rejected because his head wasn't completely severed."

"Nicholas is definitely trying to humiliate them with these ghost foods."

"You know, because the head is broken, food will leak out." Harry was puzzled at first, but then suddenly understood.

"I understand. The reason these ghosts are willing to cooperate is probably related to ghost food." Draco nodded.