Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 103 The Skull Dance Troupe, and Clean Walls

On Halloween, the whole castle seemed to be filled with the sweet smell of pumpkin.

Harry was incredibly grateful that he could attend the Halloween party with other people instead of spending time with ghosts in the eerie, cold underground classroom.

So at seven o'clock, he specially invited Xilun to go to the auditorium for the banquet.

When Harry came to knock on the door, Sheryl was holding Tom by the neck, warning him that he had better behave today.

"Either you go back to the Forbidden Forest, or you stay in your dormitory. In any case, don't wander around the castle today."

Tom didn't seem convinced and bounced around in Siron's hands.

Siren wanted to say something more, but just then Harry appeared at the dormitory door.

"Silen, the Halloween party is about to begin."

“I’m coming right now,” Celen said, tossing Tom onto an empty bed next to him. “Remember, you’re free to do whatever you want at other times, but don’t go anywhere tonight.”

After saying that, Xilun put on his school uniform robe, wore a pointed hat, and walked out of the dormitory. He then tapped the door lock with his wand.

With a "click," Xilun nodded in satisfaction.

"There shouldn't be any need to lock the door, right?" Harry asked, somewhat puzzled. "Everyone will be going to the Halloween party soon, and then the common room will be empty."

“This is to prevent Tom from escaping,” Celen said. “That guy can unlock it from the inside.”

Harry then remembered that Siren seemed to have a pet cat named Tom, but he had hardly ever seen him.

The last time I saw that cat was last year at the start of the semester, when Hagrid was leading the new students across the river; it was quietly perched on Siron's shoulder.

"Pet cats should be fine, right?" Harry asked. "I've seen plenty of pets in the hallways, and the professor has tacitly agreed that they can roam freely in the castle."

“If Tom runs away, you might never see those pets again,” Celen said casually.

Perhaps it's because the name is too menacing, but although Tom has stopped eating "colleagues" thanks to Sheren's insistence, he is still very irritable and his territorial instincts are getting stronger.

Mrs. Lorris has been traumatized by it and will instinctively avoid it whenever she sees Siron.

Even when an owl flies over Tom's head, he feels like jumping up and slapping it.

This is one of the reasons why Xilun wanted to keep it in the dormitory.

What Siren didn't expect was that no sooner had he and Harry left the common room than Tom pried open the window with his front paws and jumped onto the windowsill outside.

The outer edge of the eighth-floor wall was only a few inches wide, but Tom walked on it as easily as if it were flat ground. Soon he found his target, pushed off with his hind legs, and nimbly jumped into an open window.

However, by this time, Siron had already entered the Great Hall and was watching in astonishment as Hagrid placed a pumpkin even larger than himself next to the teachers' seats.

"Tonight's show was great, I hope you had a great time."

Hagrid left after he finished speaking.

He rarely came to the Great Hall to eat with everyone, and Dumbledore's invitations were declined several times.

When the Halloween feast officially began, all the giant pumpkins lit up and slowly floated up under Dumbledore's command.

Thousands of bats were already waiting in mid-air. When the pumpkin lantern was raised, they instantly gathered together, forming a huge dark cloud, and rushed towards the stage that had been set up in advance.

The students in the front row screamed in fright, and the entire dark cloud exploded into countless colorful plumes of smoke, from which twelve skeletons gleaming with a pearly luster appeared out of thin air.

"Look, it's the Skull Dance Troupe!" A surprised scream erupted from the crowd.

Xilun also looked over.

Twelve skeletons were arranged in an oval shape beneath an enchanted ceiling.

Moonlight shone on a skeleton holding a bone violin, which used its shinbone as a bowstring to play the first note.

Then, instruments such as the viola, cello, harp, and flute joined in.

Six skeletons came to the center of the oval, and then they began to dance.

It's a waltz. The absence of flesh and blood makes them even more agile, every movement incredibly precise, looking both terrifying and elegant.

Xiren could hardly believe that he could see elegance in a group of skeletons. And he was clearly not the only one who felt this way.

Hermione was stunned, her eyes fixed on the stage. Harry was pouring pumpkin soda, but because he was so engrossed in watching, he didn't notice that the glass was already full and most of the drink had spilled onto the table.

At the front of the teachers' table, Dumbledore was clapping his hands to help them keep rhythm.

After the first piece, the Skull Dance Troupe played another, even more upbeat dance, bringing the atmosphere in the auditorium to its peak.

"This is fantastic!" Harry shouted, taking a big bite of the pumpkin pie.

Last year, because of Quirrell, the Halloween party ended abruptly not long after it started. Luckily, he came this year; he would have regretted it if he had missed such a wonderful performance. Siren nodded in agreement; the Skull Dance Troupe truly lived up to its reputation, no wonder it was so famous.

It is said that every Halloween they receive hundreds of invitations from the entire wizarding world, and probably only Dumbledore could invite them to perform at Hogwarts at this time.

Xiren joined the others in clapping and cheering.

If you ignore other factors, this Halloween was really good, and the pumpkin pie was delicious.

But every banquet eventually comes to an end.

As the skeleton dance troupe left, the last piece of pumpkin pudding disappeared, and the plate returned to its pristine shine.

The students, still wanting more, stood up and walked out of the auditorium one after another.

Xiren left the auditorium with the crowd and went up the stairs.

At that moment, Hermione suddenly called out to him in surprise, "Silon, aren't you going to the Ghost's Death Anniversary Party?"

"I want to go back to the dorm to get something," Xilun said, and the three of them didn't suspect anything.

Hermione and Harry discussed whether they should go too. She thought that since they had nothing else to do, it would be good to broaden their horizons.

And perhaps because he had just seen the skeleton dance troupe at the Halloween party, even Ron wasn't so averse to the so-called ghost party anymore.

However, Xiren didn't care what they were thinking at all. As the crowd went up to the second floor, his mood became more and more nervous.

The staircase leading to the third floor turned in another direction, forcing them to go to the opposite side. As the crowd jostled and pushed their way into a passageway, Xiren immediately looked up.

Then he suddenly laughed.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"It's nothing," Xiren said with a smile, looking quite pleased with himself.

He was indeed in a good mood because the walls on both sides of the corridor were clean, without any red words or anything else.

Later, Celen encountered Filch on patrol on the fifth floor. As before, Lady Lorris ran away as soon as she saw him from afar, but Celen still caught a glimpse of his tail.

This made him even happier.

Continuing on, they encountered a weeping ghost, which flew past them, its face covered.

Mischievous Ghost chased after her, pelting her with moldy peanuts while giggling merrily.

“That’s Moaning Myrtle, a ghost in the girls’ washroom on the second floor,” Hermione said. “She and Peeves are probably the two ghosts I least want to encounter.”

Fortunately, the two ghosts came and went quickly, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The group arrived in the middle of the corridor.

“Oh no, this staircase goes down, we need to find another one…” Harry hadn’t finished speaking when he saw Siren walk up the stairs.

“Sirlen, you’ve gone to the wrong place. This staircase leads to the first floor.”

“That’s right, I need to go to the underground classroom, so I definitely need to go to the first floor first,” Xilun said.

"Weren't you going back to your dorm to get something?"

“I just found it in my pocket.” Siren casually pulled out a piece of parchment. “Do you want to come along?”

The three of them exchanged glances and quickly went upstairs.

"Do ghosts like to dance too?" Ron asked, his mind immediately conjuring up images of the Skeleton Dance Troupe's waltz.

That was truly the most spectacular performance he had ever seen.

“Probably,” Hermione said uncertainly. “Nick liked to be called Sir Porpington, which means he was a nobleman in his lifetime, and nobles should dance at parties, right?”

"I think so too."

The group discussed animatedly before walking from the first floor to the stairwell leading to the underground classroom.

However, once they arrived here, they all fell silent.

A distinct stench filled the air, as if the sound of a thousand saws rubbing against each other were drilling into their ears from the depths of the underground classroom.

At that moment, their fantasies about the ghost party began to crumble rapidly.

What's going on? The music played by the Skull Dance Troupe is so beautiful, but here the ghosts are... no, this can't even be called music, it's noise, utter noise!

(End of this chapter)