Orochimaru travels to Hogwarts

Chapter 110 "If we're found hiding in the restroom, should we drop out of school?"

The first Quidditch match concluded successfully.

The celebration banquet was very lively, a far cry from Slytherin's usual low-key and extravagant style; it looked more like a group of Gryffindors getting together for a fun-filled occasion.

Orochimaru was initially a little unaccustomed to it, but he quickly adapted.

After all, even he, after the war ended, would go with Jiraiya to a roadside stall in the village to drink a pot of sake and eat a few skewers of yakitori.

Humans cannot get through the long years without celebration.

Orochimaru was fully aware of this and quite agreed with it.

So, when the moon rose, the Slytherin students, unusually, did not disperse. Instead, they brought out fine wine and delicacies to celebrate their victory over Harry Potter.

When it comes to Quidditch, they are even more powerful than the Dark Lord.

Of course, no one would say this out loud.

This is what happened after the first Quidditch match.

After that, Orochimaru watched two more Quidditch matches: Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw.

Ravenclaw won both of these matches.

In the previous match, Hedges' Seeker Cedric was injured and did not play.

In the second match, although Harry finally caught the Golden Snitch, Wood's performance was somewhat off, leading to their eventual defeat by ten points.

But this was just a minor incident.

It wasn't until the holidays were approaching that Orochimaru realized he had confused the Halloween and Christmas holidays.

Especially when he discovered that Hogwarts didn't have a holiday on Halloween, a rare look of surprise appeared on his face.

That look in his eyes—

With a hint of schadenfreude and a sense of reassurance, Harry was far more composed than Orochimaru at this moment.

After all, as someone born and raised in this world, Harry understood a thing or two.

Halloween is not a holiday; Christmas is.

However, compared to ordinary days, Hogwarts will hold an extra dinner on Halloween night to celebrate Halloween.

The food was good tonight, but nothing else was particularly special.

Harry ate his Halloween dinner while listening to Wood rambling on about Quidditch in his ear.

"Harry, we still haven't practiced together enough. You're not going home for Christmas, are you?"

Harry looked at Wood in shock; he was now starting to regret joining the Quidditch team. He never expected Wood to be so passionate about Quidditch.

Wood went mad after he caught the Golden Snitch and caused Gryffindor to lose to Ravenclaw by a mere ten points.

He stubbornly believed that the problem lay in the tactics, which caused communication breakdowns and prevented Harry from knowing the score difference between the two teams in time.

all in all----

We need to practice more!

"On the afternoon of the third day of the Christmas holiday, the morning of the fourth day, and every afternoon starting from the sixth day, you have to go to Quidditch Stadium to practice with the whole team."

Harry listened silently, but when he looked up, he saw Orochimaru sitting across the long table.

This is the moment Orochimaru realized that Halloween wasn't actually a holiday.

The two exchanged a single glance, and both understood the meaning behind the other's eyes.

It's been moved to Christmas.

Without any further communication, almost solely through the exchange of glances, Orochimaru and Harry instantly understood each other's thoughts.

If Dumbledore, or any other wizard, were to find out, they would probably be amazed that these two little wizards, who were only first-year students, had actually invented their own magic.

But what can you do when Orochimaru and Harry are just first-year students?

They didn't realize how strange this was, and then, like all Hogwarts students, they spent the two weeks before the Christmas holidays peacefully.

The events of this period were unremarkable, consisting mainly of Gryffindor students, led by Hermione Granger, frantically answering questions in class to earn points for the House.

Harry was bound to Wood, a geoglyph, and trapped on the Quidditch pitch day and night, along with his Nimbus 2000.

As for Orochimaru—

He has been spending his days in the library, searching for any clues related to the soul.

What is the soul? What is immortality? Has this topic ever been touched upon in history?

He read through many books, and in the end, even Hermione Granger, the wisest witch who helped him, couldn't help but sigh.

"Really, that's all, Slack." Hermione looked up at Orochimaru and said, "We've searched every single book in the entire Hogwarts library."

But it just didn't happen.

There is nothing related to the soul.

Hermione even began to doubt later on, wondering if souls did not exist in the world.

But when she looked up at the ghosts and spirits wandering around Hogwarts, she felt that not believing in souls was a bit too foolish.

But here's the problem.

"Don't you think this is a bit too much of a coincidence?" Orochimaru said slowly, closing the last book they had been reading.

"If there were no contents related to immortality, I think that would be more reasonable."

Orochimaru's gaze passed over Hermione Granger and fell upon the forbidden book section behind her.

Mrs. Pings' counter in the library was right at the entrance to the restricted section, and any student who tried to peek into the restricted section would be driven away by her gaze.

But that forbidden book section was so tempting.

Orochimaru squinted, feeling as if his soul was being sucked into the forbidden book section behind Lady Pins.

He glanced at the forbidden book section several times before turning the conversation to studies of the soul.

"Immortality might be somewhat immoral and unacceptable in the wizarding world. But why draw such a strict red line regarding the study of the soul?"

Orochimaru was asking Hermione a question, but he was also asking himself one.

This is a way of adjusting one's thinking to find the truth hidden beneath the surface; that's how he found Ryongji Cave back then.

"Because the school doesn't want us to understand the soul?" Hermione asked instinctively, squinting.

Well said.

Now, here's the problem.

"Why doesn't the school want us to understand the soul, or even simply ask us some basic questions about the soul? Would that cause some terrible disaster?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as he spoke, his gaze full of mockery.

"So it's not that the school doesn't want to, but rather that it can't let us know about the soul. Because any level of knowledge about the soul could potentially harm us?"

Hermione could hardly believe her own deduction.

But Orochimaru took a step closer than her.

"So this is a form of protection for us," Orochimaru deduced, realizing there was no need to continue exploring the library. "It's also a form of restriction for us."

Orochimaru didn't tell Hermione the last thing, lest she one day become too curious and embark on that dangerous path.

This practice artificially draws an invisible red line.

This red line is called the Untouchable Soul.

The school, from some point in time, has been preventing its students from coming into contact with a soul, a soul that has never been recorded.

Orochimaru held onto this idea until one night during the Christmas holidays.

He appeared on time in the third room from the left in the boys' dormitory.

Suddenly, a snicker came from the cramped washroom.

"Orochimaru, what do you think? If someone finds us hiding in the restroom, should we drop out of school?"

"There's no need for that; this is Britain, after all."

Orochimaru laughed and ripped off Harry's invisibility cloak.

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