My partner at Hogwarts is Tom

Chapter 82 Halloween Dinner and Death Anniversary Party

Amidst this mix of excitement and anticipation, the October calendar quietly turned to its end.

Hogwarts Castle seemed to be soaking in a potion called "Festival," bubbling with warmth.

Everywhere you look, there's an aroma of pumpkin, caramel, spices, and just the right amount of eeriness.

Paper bats and ghostly lanterns that chuckled floated in the corridor, and the armored figures were dressed up as comical knights or pirates.

Peeves was in his element, wearing what he thought was the scariest outfit, which was actually just a gaudy clown costume, scattering colorful sequins that would stick to people's hair and strange-smelling smoke bombs everywhere.

The popularity of the Pokédex reached a small peak just before Halloween.

After nearly two weeks of exploration and training, a small number of exceptionally talented or particularly persistent young wizards successfully crossed the initial threshold of favorability.

They are able to briefly summon their magical animal companions in reality.

Although time was limited and magic power was consumed in large quantities, it was enough to trigger a new wave of envy.

In the corridors, you can often see a student accompanied by a small, carefully dressed creature.

A bowerman wearing a mini pirate hat, eye patch, and with small hooks tied to its claws.

A little fairy wearing a bat-patterned cloak with silver powder on the tips of her wings.

There was even a fluffy creature dressed as a little ghost, fluttering around its owner's feet, eliciting gasps of surprise from the younger students.

George and Fred's Niffler and Keppela have long been Hogwarts' star duo.

At this moment, the two little ones were also dressed up in their finest attire.

Niffler wore an exaggerated black bow tie around its neck and white lace gloves on its little paws.

Fred used magic to infuse Keborah's misty body with shimmering orange and purple specks of light, making it look like a floating, glowing Halloween candy cloud.

The two of them were strolling around the entrance of the Great Hall, like mischievous messengers spreading joy, throwing Halloween prank candies made by Weasley's Magic Tricks Studio to passing young wizards.

It is a food that, when eaten, temporarily changes the color of the tongue or makes strange noises, causing bursts of good-natured laughter and chasing.

On Halloween, the weather seemed to want to add to the festive atmosphere.

Outside the window, the fierce winds of the Scottish Highlands whipped up icy rain, violently battering the stained glass windows of the castle with a rattling sound, and the sky was as gloomy as a rag soaked in ink.

But this did not diminish the fervent joy inside the castle.

The house-elves were full of energy and decorated the auditorium like a haunted house party.

Thousands of bats hovered and danced on the enchanted ceiling, pumpkin lanterns grinned with mouths of all sizes, and candlelight flickered in their empty heads.

Hagrid's carefully cultivated giant pumpkins, each the size of a small house, were carved into various grotesque or comical faces and placed in the four corners of the auditorium.

The largest one was placed directly in front of the professor's chair, its warm orange light illuminating the entire hall.

The professors, unusually relaxed, joined in the holiday decorations.

Professor Flitwick used his wand to direct a group of small bells to form a dancing skull pattern in the air; Professor Sprout brought magical fungi that emitted a faint phosphorescence, which were placed in the center of the long table.

Even Professor Snape had a gloomy face, but he used magic to make some black ribbons automatically wrap around the pillars, turning them into slowly twisting snake-shaped decorations.

Professor McGonagall remained serious, but a subtle smile played at the corners of her lips as she carefully examined every decorative detail.

Victor and Tom, of course, did not miss this grand event.

They were dressed in matching, custom-made vampire costumes with meticulous details.

The most eye-catching item was the "special dessert" brought by Victor: the meticulously crafted "blood nougat".

They were served on silver trays carved into the shape of coffins. The candies themselves were translucent dark red, and you could see the thin strands of sugar inside, like blood vessels.

The first taste is a rich blend of sweet and sour cherry and raspberry, with a hint of minty coolness, stimulating the taste buds like real "blood" without being cloying at all.

The young wizards gathered around Victor, tasting it with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation, before bursting into joyful cheers.

"That's so cool, Professor Scamander!"

"It tastes amazing! Is there any more?"

Tom proudly puffed out his chest, as if the candy was his own creation, and every now and then he would stretch out his white-gloved paw to "steal" a piece from the tray and stuff it into his mouth, making everyone laugh even harder.

Amidst this almost boiling ocean of joy, the atmosphere in a corner of the Gryffindor table seemed somewhat out of place.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione barely touched their plates as they looked at their classmates who were excitedly discussing the upcoming Skull and Bones dance performance, their faces showing obvious frustration and regret.

"I shouldn't have said yes to Nick," Harry muttered, his eyes sweeping over the tempting Halloween decorations and food in the Great Hall.

"Look how great this place is. I bet the death anniversary party will only have moldy cake and—who knows what other weird stuff they'll have."

"At least it's not a real ghost, is it?" Ron said hesitantly, his eyes fixed on the direction where the Weasley twins were throwing candy.

"I mean, Nick and his crew are ghosts, but the food—shouldn't it be for the living?"

"According to the book 'A Study of the Hogwarts Ghost Community'," Hermione tried to arm herself with knowledge, but her voice sounded somewhat sullen.

"Ghostly death anniversary parties usually feature the food they most missed in life or can best savor in death"—often some desserts that have been left out for a long time and have a very unique flavor.

1

She glanced at the encyclopedia on her wrist. On the screen, her butterfly bookworm "Document" was quietly resting on the cover of a virtual book, the words and shadows on its wings slowly flowing, seemingly uninterested in the noise of the auditorium.

Hermione sighed and turned off the Pokédex screen.

Seven o'clock arrived quickly.

When Dumbledore's booming voice rang out in the Great Hall announcing the start of the banquet, followed by enthusiastic cheers for the long-awaited appearance of the Skeleton Army dance troupe by the young wizards.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione could only stand up silently and walk against the flow of people surging towards the center of the Great Hall to watch the performance, heading towards the underground classrooms.

As they passed through the foyer, they saw Fred and George directing their Nifflers and Capola to demonstrate the "correct way" to eat the prank candy to a group of excited younger students.

The laughter, like warm waves, lapped at them, yet made their steps grow heavier.

The further down you go, the more quickly the usual warmth and noise of the castle fade away.

The walls became damp and cold, and the torchlight seemed to have dimmed considerably, flickering and uncertain.

Will-o'-the-wisps glowing with an eerie blue light.

Laughter and cheerful conversation were replaced by a vast silence, with the occasional gurgling sound of water coming from a distant pipe, or some rustling sound whose source was difficult to discern.

Their breath condensed into white mist in the cold air.

Finally, they came to a long, empty corridor.

Candles with eerie blue flames were stuck in the wall, burning quietly without any heat, which only made the surrounding air feel colder.

At the end of the corridor, a blurry, pearly white figure floated there.

"Ah! My dear friends!"

Nick, who was almost headless, greeted him enthusiastically. His head, which was almost separated from his shoulders, shook happily, and the clear slash on his neck was particularly conspicuous under the blue light.

He wore a magnificent but old-fashioned knee-length coat with a ruffled collar, trying to project the most solemn image.

"It's wonderful that you could come! The grandest memorial celebration in five hundred years is about to begin! This way, please!"

Nick led them through an archway draped with a black curtain.

What came from behind the door was a "music" consisting of out-of-tune violins, shrill flutes, and muffled drums.

And a cacophony of sounds, as if countless people were simultaneously sighing in my ear.

Just as Harry and his friends stepped into this cold and eerie ghostly gathering, the atmosphere in the Great Hall was reaching its boiling point.

The Skull Dance Troupe truly lives up to its reputation!

The smooth, jade-like white bones shimmered under the magical light. They used their shinbones to strike a xylophone made of rib bones, their skulls to blow melodious flutes, and their entire spines to pluck bass strings.

The dance segment was absolutely spectacular. The skeletons performed a comical yet eerie dance with incredibly agile movements, the cracking sounds of their bones perfectly blending into the rhythm.

The young wizards were completely engrossed, their laughter, applause, and whistles nearly lifting the ceiling from which the magic had conjured starlight and bats.

Even the professors were all smiling. Dumbledore chuckled and tapped his wine glass lightly with his fork in rhythm with the music, while Professor McGonagall couldn't help but nod in approval of a few particularly difficult skull spins.

Tom, however, couldn't suppress his inner performer when the Skull Band played a fast-paced jazz piece.

With a meow, it leaped off Victor's shoulder and nimbly jumped onto the makeshift stage.

It first swayed its body a few times to the music, and then, taking advantage of a gap, it stretched out its claws and "borrowed" the spine bass from the skeleton bassist next to it who was frantically shaking his "hair".

The audience fell silent for a moment, then erupted into even louder cheers!

Tom stood upright on his hind legs, his front paws holding the spine, which was a bit too long for him, and his fluffy tail swayed like a metronome.

As it rapidly plucked the strings with its paws, it swayed its waist, clad in a little dress, the vampire fangs on its cat face trembling with its movements. Its emerald eyes gleamed under the stage lights, brimming with pride and enjoyment.

The members of the Skull Band were taken aback at first, but then seemed to find the suddenly added "vampire cat" drummer very interesting, and they all adjusted their rhythms to match it.

For a moment, the sounds of bones clattering, the whistling of a leaky flute, the strange bass guitar, and Tom's enthusiastic "meow meow" accompaniment blended together, creating a wonderfully joyful harmony.

"That's great, Tom!"

"Long live Boss Tom!"

The young wizards in the audience went absolutely crazy with joy. Many of them stood up, clapping and stomping their feet in rhythm.

Even some older students started mimicking Tom's movements.

The auditorium was transformed into a huge, joyful dance floor.

Victor leaned back in his professor's chair, watching Tom on stage, radiant and seemingly old friends with the skeletons, a bright smile spreading across his face.

He picked up a piece of "blood nougat" and put it in his mouth, feeling the sweet and sour taste melt on his tongue. His gaze then swept over the long table below.

Many young wizards also released their own dressed-up magical creature companions.

A swallowtail dog wearing a tiny tricorn hat is chasing its own tail in circles.

Two baby raccoon cats are slapping each other's small bat wing decorations with their paws.

Even Draco Malfoy seemingly casually allowed his harpy cub to perch on his shoulder.

The little creature's silver scales were intricately decorated with mysterious dark gold patterns, which shimmered faintly in the candlelight, attracting many eyes.

Food, music, dance, laughter, and these amazing companions —

Everything before him formed a near-perfect Halloween scene in Victor's mind.

He felt a deep sense of satisfaction and peace, as if his long-term efforts had finally yielded the sweetest and most direct reward.

Time flew by in the midst of the revelry.

Before they knew it, the hands of the magic clock on the wall had already pointed to 9:45.

Despite the Skull Band's still-wonderful performance, Tom continued to tirelessly perform as a "special guest" on stage.

But most of the young wizards were already showing signs of fatigue after several hours of feasting, drinking, and excited screaming.

They gradually put down their knives and forks, letting out satisfied burps, and huddled together in twos and threes to chat, or teasing their equally lazy magical animal companions beside them.

Finally, as a cheerful Scottish folk melody began to play, Tom jumped into the spot that a skeleton drummer had voluntarily given up.

Then, with a slightly husky but exceptionally infectious "cat-like" voice, he led the Skull Band in presenting the final song for tonight's feast.

It was an old ballad about harvest, ghosts, and friendship, with humorous lyrics and a catchy melody.

Tom sang with great passion, sometimes soaring high, sometimes low, and interspersed with just the right amount of cat purring as harmonies.

The young wizards in the audience, whether or not they understood all the lyrics, swayed gently to the rhythm and hummed softly, filling the entire hall with a warm, languid atmosphere full of festive spirit.

As the song faded to its last note, Tom gave a graceful bow.

Thunderous applause erupted instantly and lasted for a long time.

Dumbledore stood up and smiled as he greeted Tom and the Skull and Bones dance troupe.

"Thank you to our talented guests, and to our equally talented Tom, for such a wonderful evening!" Dumbledore's voice was loud and cheerful.

"Now, I declare this year's Halloween party a complete success! Class leaders, please lead your respective students back to the common room in an orderly fashion. Goodnight everyone, and sweet dreams—or perhaps some funny little scares!"

Amidst sighs of lingering reluctance and joyful farewells, the young wizards, greeted by their prefects, began to leave the Great Hall in a bustling throng.