Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 239: An ill-fated Halloween
Mike still underestimated the attraction of Hogsmeade village to Harry. Although Mike repeatedly persuaded Harry, when the two of them returned to the secret passage to return to Hogwarts, it was already past the scheduled time.

As a result, Harry's pace became faster and his mood became anxious.

When you are impatient, you will ignore some things.

For example, the two house-elves following behind them.

After rushing for a long time, Mike and Harry finally returned to Hogwarts before the main group. After that, they said goodbye to each other and went to the lounge of their respective colleges.

Mike didn't relax until he reached his own dormitory. It was not an easy task to carry two house-elves who couldn't turn invisible through the common room, but fortunately he succeeded in the end.

"Is it okay?" Mike said in a relaxed manner, sitting down on his bed.

Upon hearing this, Shuke and Beta did not immediately respond, but instead looked around Mike's dormitory. After they had firmly imprinted all the surrounding scenery in their minds, they respectfully replied:

"Dear Master, we have recorded the location and scenery here. Next time we can directly use Shadow Change to move here."

Mike casually opened three bottles of Dolphin Magic Drink, threw two bottles to Shuke and Beta, and then ordered again:
"That's right. Don't go back right away. Stay here and wait for my notice. I have a task for you tonight."

"It's our pleasure, Master!"

Nodding with satisfaction, Mike stood up and walked towards the door. Having delayed Harry's visit today, the Halloween party would begin soon, so he had to meet up with his friends and go to the auditorium.

When passing by Shuke and Beta, Mike suddenly noticed that the two house-elves were looking at him expectantly, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

He gently stroked the two men's smooth foreheads as a reward, then left the dormitory again, no longer paying attention to Shuke and Beta who were trembling with excitement in the dormitory.

When Mike arrived at the auditorium, it was already packed.

The third-year wizards excitedly recounted what they had seen and heard in Hogsmeade today. The first- and second-year students were their loyal listeners. They enviously watched their seniors brag while imagining the scene of themselves visiting Hogsmeade.

The senior students were much more reserved. The increasing academic pressure meant that they didn't have much time to focus on having fun. Even at such a joyous banquet, the thing they talked about most was still the future advanced wizarding exams.

Of course, this does not include the Weasley brothers.

At this moment they are showing off to everyone the new big dung eggs they just bought today. It is said that this new product from Zoko's Joke Shop can make the area within a hundred meters become smelly like a cesspool after being fired.

It was certainly inappropriate to fiddle with such dangerous items at a dinner party, so the Weasley brothers were quickly dragged out by the angry Professor McGonagall.

When they came back, not only were the dung bombs in their hands gone, but even their ears were red.

It seems that they were severely punished.

Thinking so, Mike sat down at the Ravenclaw table.

The auditorium was decorated in a Halloween atmosphere today. The candles that usually floated in the air were all replaced with pumpkin lanterns, and bats flew through the sky from time to time.

But to be honest, this kind of scene might seem novel when you first enter the wizarding world, but now Mike is tired of it.

The same goes for the various delicacies that were served later.

Mike is not a person who cares about food, and the cooking skills of the Hogwarts house-elves are just so-so. It can't be said to be bad, but it is definitely not as good as the top chefs in the Muggle world.

But Mike still eats a lot.

This is not because of the human law of true fragrance, but because Mike is now in adolescence, which is a period of rapid development.

Teenagers at this stage always get hungry quickly, and when people are hungry, as long as the food is not bad to a certain extent, it will become a delicacy in their eyes.

After a while, Mike felt that he was full, but the party did not stop. Many idiots kept stuffing food into their mouths as if they had never eaten at a buffet before, and they were unwilling to stop even when they were full.

It was impolite to leave the party midway, so Mike could only sit in his chair and stare blankly.

As soon as people have eaten, their thoughts will diverge, and Mike, who was in a daze, was thinking most about Halloween at Hogwarts.

Mike didn't know the origin of Halloween, nor did he know why Hogwarts held a Halloween dinner every year. The only thing he knew was that something sensational happened every Halloween since they started school.

In the first grade, there was an invasion of giant monsters, and in the second grade, there was an attack of cats by snake monsters.

And today is no exception.

At this moment, a great soul, a tragic heroic figure, Sirius Black, is lurking in a dark corner, ready to attack his enemies tonight and complete his Count of Monte Cristo-style revenge!
Mike knew all this, but he was not going to stop him.

In a stable Hogwarts with Dumbledore in charge, there would be no chance for Mike to rise. Only if Black muddies the waters of Hogwarts will he have a chance to profit. In order to maximize his profits, Mike does not mind taking the initiative to make the water in this small pond of Hogwarts even more muddy.

Mike liked Blake very much, so he didn't intend to kill him.

He even thought about letting Blake live a better life without affecting his plan, and finally escape the tragic end of heroic death.

In his previous life, many people thought that Blake was a fool. He could have avoided so many years in prison if he had explained everything clearly, but he just admitted it so blatantly.

Mike doesn't think so. He thinks Blake is a hero and a loyal knight.

He believed that the death of the Potter family was entirely the result of his own cleverness. The reason why he was willing to stay in Azkaban for so many years was actually an act of self-punishment, an act of self-mutilation to alleviate his inner guilt.

Blake is an illegal Animagus like Rita Skeeter who writes soft articles for Mike. His transformation is a huge black dog.

Based on the above reasons, Mike believed that he could escape from Azkaban at any time if he wanted to, which was proved by the fact that he escaped as soon as he knew that his "good friend" Peter Pettigrew was not dead.

In fact, there are many illegal Animagus in the world. In addition to Black and Peter, Harry's father is also one, and his transformation is a stag.

It was obviously abnormal that three of the four members of the Marauders had completed Animagus transformation when they were students. This extremely difficult transformation technique was obviously abnormal, and Mike had reason to believe that they had mastered some special skills.

The value of this skill is immeasurable and can be said to be priceless.

Compared to the Potter family and the poor Peter family, Mike would rather believe that this skill came from the Black family.

After all, the Black family can be said to be a true sacred aristocracy, and the family heritage that has been passed down for thousands of years is completely beyond Mike's imagination.

Therefore, even though the Black family had been robbed once by those blood-sucking nobles, Mike was still very interested in the Black family's collection of books.

Maybe in addition to the Animagus transformation technique, there will be other spells such as the Fiery Curse? "Mike, Mike! What are you thinking about, laughing so evilly?"

Franklin's changing duck voice called Mike back from his fantasy, and seeing that Mike seemed to have come back to his senses, Franklin continued:

"Let's go back, the party is over."

"oh oh!"

Mike shook his head vigorously, then stood up and followed the Ravenclaw team back to the dormitory.

In the dark dormitory, two pairs of green eyes were staring at Mike who had just walked in.

Seeing this, Mike smiled, lit the candle, took out the food from the bag of the Traceless Stretching Spell and let Shuke and Beta eat.

After they finished eating, Mike smiled and told Shuke and Beta about their tasks for tonight.

"Tonight I need you to provoke those Dementors outside the school. Of course, I don't mean that you have to fight them to the death. Just lead them into Hogwarts. If you encounter any danger, you can just Apparate away."

Mike's words wiped out the anticipation on Beta's face, and was replaced by fear.

Mike saw all of this and said pretentiously, "I know this mission is dangerous, so why don't you just give up. You are not slaves to me, but my family. I don't want my family to be in danger."

Mike's dream in his previous life was to be a Hollywood movie star, so he had studied some acting techniques. This made him feel that his performance just now was very successful and his words were very sincere.

This feeling became even stronger when he saw Shuke and Beta wiping their tears and sobbing as they begged him to agree to let them complete the mission.

Finally, after Shuke and Beta's repeated requests, Mike reluctantly agreed to their request. Watching the two of them walk out of their dormitory happily, Mike's mouth corners curled up handsomely.

"Tsk tsk, you are so easy to fool! No wonder your ancestors were tricked into becoming slaves!"

After slowly uttering these words in a voice that only he could hear, Mike lay quietly on the bed, waiting for someone to knock on his door.

Not long after, the knock on the door that Mike was waiting for came.

When Mike opened the door with a smile on his face, he saw Penelope's anxious face. She grabbed his hand and tried to drag him out.

"Hey! What's wrong with you, baby?"

After being dragged by Penelope for a long distance, Mike finally asked, and Penelope responded breathlessly:

"The Blacks have invaded Hogwarts! Professor Dumbledore wants us to gather in the Great Hall!"

Mike showed a barely perceptible smile on his face, then frowned and asked, "How is this possible? There are Dementors all outside Hogwarts now, how could Black still come in?"

"I want to know too! I have a quiz in Potions tomorrow morning! Holy crap!"

Seeing Penelope swearing, which was rare, Mike wisely kept his mouth shut.

When Penelope dragged Mike to the auditorium, it was still decorated for Halloween, but the original four long tables were gone, replaced by small mats and sleeping bags.

After the magical experiences of the past two years, the students of Hogwarts actually no longer had much fear of this kind of emergency assembly. They gathered in groups of three or four, excitedly discussing the reasons for today's assembly.

Mike learned the truth from them.

Black attacked the Fat Lady, the Gryffindor common room guard, while they were all at the Halloween dinner.

Unlike Ravenclaw, those who want to enter the Gryffindor common room must give a password to the guard, and the guards guarding the door are usually those magical portraits with wisdom.

"The Fat Lady was so devoted to her duty that she didn't let Blake into the lounge until the last minute."

"Who said she wasn't? I always thought she was just an ugly, stingy fat woman, but I didn't expect her to be so brave!"

Listening to the Gryffindors discussing the Fat Lady, Mike's expression became more and more strange.

"Wait! Are you saying the Fat Lady is dead?"

Mike asked.

"Nine out of ten times, the portrait of the Fat Lady was torn into pieces when we arrived. I don't think she could have escaped with her fat body."

"He must be dead. Blake is the most vicious murderer!"

……

The Gryffindor girls chattered and answered Mike's questions, appearing very attentive.

This is not surprising. Since Mike won the duel championship, he has become an idol of many girls. After the start of school this year, when they learned that Mike is now a rich man, more opposite sexes surrounded him.

After finally getting rid of the entanglement of these girls, Mike saw Harry hiding in the corner with his head down, Ron was comforting him, and Hermione was nowhere to be found.

"Harry, how do you feel now?" Mike walked up to Harry and said, "I seem to remember someone told me not long ago that Black could not sneak into Hogwarts."

Harry looked up and glared at Mike in shame and anger, then lowered his head and said nothing.

He really didn't know how to refute Mike.

Ron frowned and looked back and forth at Harry and Mike. He felt that these two might be hiding something from him.

"Hahaha, don't worry, Harry." Mike laughed and said, "It's safe here. There are Dementors everywhere outside. Black will be caught by them as soon as he shows up."

In response to what Mike said at the beginning, Harry stiffened his neck and said:
"I don't think so! Those Dementors are not trustworthy at all! They might break into the hall and attack us any second!"

As soon as Harry finished speaking, a scream was heard from the crowd in the distance. Mike and others looked and saw several Dementors coming in from the open window in the distance.

Harry stared at all this in amazement. After a moment's silence, he slapped himself hard with his backhand and said in a dreamy tone:
"Oh my God! My bad mouth..."

(End of this chapter)