Chapter 47: The Halloween Farce
Halloween was just around the corner. Hogwarts didn't have a holiday for Halloween, but it did hold a Halloween Eve feast. A ghost orchestra would come to the Great Hall to perform, and the Headless Hunt would also make an appearance. Halloween was a lively day for both the living and the dead.
The alluringly sweet smell of roasted pumpkin drifted through the castle. The largest of these pumpkins, grown by Hagrid, were big enough to be the body of a pumpkin carriage. With the help of magic, these floating pumpkins would also shout "Boo!" to scare passersby, then don a ghostly cloak, let out a cackling laugh, and fly off to give someone else a surprise in a different location.
By dinnertime, the Great Hall had been completely transformed with Halloween-style decorations. Thousands of bats fluttered their wings near the ceiling, as if Snape had learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The scene was quite spectacular. They formed a dark cloud, circling above the dining tables. But these bats were not alive; they were a project organized by Professor McGonagall for the upper-year students in today's Transfiguration class—in short, a pop quiz.
Under the light of the jack-o'-lanterns, cheerful conversation echoed through the Great Hall. Today's specialty drink was a special pumpkin juice, and there was also a blood-red pudding cake that a vampire might enjoy. The house-elves' craftsmanship was as excellent as ever. Although the appearance of today's food was a bit unconventional, the taste was still very good.
Just as the feast was halfway through, the doors to the Great Hall were suddenly thrown open by a stumbling figure. Quirrell, with his large turban, suddenly rushed into the dining hall. After two months, Quirrell's reputation at Hogwarts had already hit rock bottom.
The self-study group organized by Ezio had successfully weeded out most of its members last month, leaving less than ten people. Hermione, who had been reluctant at first, had also chosen to follow Harry's advice and join after experiencing several terribly awful Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. At least here, there was practical magic content, and she could learn much more than in Quirrell's class.
Even the upper-year students had spontaneously organized similar self-study groups. As seniors, they had encountered several bad teachers before, but compared to a useless fellow like Quirrell, who taught nothing and spent the entire class stammering through a book, the others still had some level of skill. Even just bragging in class was better than a dry reading. Did he really think they were illiterate?
Just as everyone was wondering why Quirrell had entered in such a disheveled state, the man looked up in terror, panting heavily. He staggered to Dumbledore's chair, leaned against the table, and gasped, "Troll—in the dungeons—thought you ought to know."
After saying that, Quirrell collapsed onto the floor and fainted.
Watching Quirrell's cringe-worthy acting, Dumbledore's face remained calm, but the dining hall erupted into chaos. The young wizards screamed and chattered, the cacophony almost threatening to lift the ceiling.
Relatively speaking, however, the reaction from the Slytherin side was much smaller. Ezio was still eating his dinner at an unhurried pace. And upon noticing this, the little Slytherin snakes seemed to have found their backbone. One by one, they sat back down. There hadn't been many who had panicked in the first place, mostly first, second, and third years, and they were the ones who were most afraid of offending Ezio.
After eating the last bite of his steak, Ezio drew his wand and pointed it at the ceiling. The swarm of bats that had been flying near the ceiling suddenly dived towards the dining tables, then transformed into countless ferocious ghosts. In that instant, the young wizards who were frightened by this change let out piercing screams, but immediately, the chaos in the dining hall ceased.
"Scaring your fellow students is not a good thing, Ezio," Dumbledore said at the opportune moment. The dining hall had been so noisy before that it had been difficult for him to get a word in. Seizing this brief moment of silence, Dumbledore made his voice heard.
Ezio put down his knife and fork and stood up. He swept his gaze forward with a cold indifference that was somewhat irritating, but also made one want to shut up. He looked at the students of the other three houses as if they were trolls.
"They were hurting my ears. A single troll scared this bunch of idiots into such a state. Shouldn't they be ashamed?"
"I believe this is all due to their failure to master the most basic knowledge and abilities of a wizard."
"The professors are too lenient. I hope you will assign more homework to fill the brains of these dunderheads, so as to prevent them from shaking their empty heads and making such ear-piercing noises again. My suggestion is to double it."
"So what if it's a troll? So what if a troll broke into the dining hall?"
"Hundreds of wizards can't deal with one stinking oaf? Or do you think the professors are all on the same level as Quirrell?"
The students' faces were pale, and the professors' faces were not much better. Especially Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout, the Head of Hufflepuff who was in charge of Herbology. The three of them felt disgraced. Their students were indeed lacking in some common-sense education.
Only Snape sat with a calm expression, but it was not difficult to see that he was in a very good mood.
"You have successfully ruined my enjoyment of the Halloween feast," Ezio said, turning his gaze to Snape, who was enjoying the show. "I imagine, Professor Snape, you would agree to adding a bit of troll anatomy to next week's lesson, right?"
Some students let out a dry heave. They had already imagined the horror of that scene.
Now in a good mood, Snape's own vicious sense of humor surfaced.
"Although trolls are filthy and stupid, they do have their value as potion ingredients." He nodded slightly, passing a sentence that was no less than a death penalty for the students present. Low wails could be heard from the dining hall. They could already foresee the desperate addition to next week's curriculum.
Ezio stood up and left with a steady pace. The Great Hall behind him was still quiet, lacking the joyous laughter that the festival had brought before.
"Ezio, where are you going?" Harry, who had also slipped away, wiped his mouth. He had already eaten most of his fill and had followed to see what was up.
"To prepare next week's teaching materials for Professor Snape, of course." Ezio replied calmly. But the main reason was that he now knew how to complete his second Hogwarts-exclusive milestone.
[Phantom Assassin (Complete a frontal assassination while being looked at but not perceived. Target is limited to humanoid or near-humanoid creatures.)]
This milestone was a bit troublesome to unlock, but not too much. If it were in the training dimension, Ezio could have solved it easily. He would just have to pick a target on the street, walk past as a bystander, and then casually stab them. But at Hogwarts, it was a bit more difficult. After all, he couldn't attack the students, nor the professors.
This milestone specified a frontal assassination while being looked at but not perceived. This meant that Ezio could be ignored, but he had to be in the target's field of vision before making his move, and the target could not sense his killing intent or threat beforehand.
And a stupid creature like a troll, while being a near-humanoid creature, also made it very easy to meet the prerequisites for the assassination. A troll's shriveled brain couldn't think too much. Fooling it was much simpler than fooling any other prey.
"Are you planning to take care of the troll by yourself?"
"Is it that difficult?" Ezio asked in return.
"Well... it is a bit difficult..." Harry scratched his head. "A troll's hide can resist many spells. Although it's not as strong as a giant's, it's still very difficult for an ordinary wizard to deal with."
"Then don't use magic. A troll's head is a weak point, and not just in terms of intelligence. Their heads are also very fragile. A heavy blow can knock them unconscious. Compared to their strong bodies, hitting them in the head is exceptionally effective."
As they spoke, they had already reached the dungeon area of Hogwarts. Ezio's wand was laid flat in his palm, its tip trembling slightly, pointing in one direction. The Four-Point Spell. This was a rather idealistic spell, mostly used for exploring mazes or complex environments. It could, to a certain extent, help a wizard find their desired target, even if the wizard was not very clear about the target. It belonged to the mystical side of magic that was currently unexplainable.
"Do you smell that stench?" Ezio stopped and turned to look at Harry.
"Yeah. It's more disgusting than a smelly sock that hasn't been washed for three months and has been soaked in a cesspool." Harry fanned the air in front of his nose and said with a frown.
"So when you're dealing with a troll, you need to hold your breath or use the Bubble-Head Charm to protect your nose."
Ezio pulled up his hood and tapped his head with the tip of his wand. A cold sensation quickly spread from top to bottom, and his body became transparent. The Disillusionment Charm had taken effect. "The troll is just around the corner. It'll be here soon."
"That's the Disillusionment Charm, right? But it doesn't seem to be as good as the Invisibility Cloak," Harry said, comparing the translucent Ezio to his own cloak.
"Of course. The cheapest, low-quality invisibility cloak costs several thousand Galleons, while the Disillusionment Charm is free. Yours is worth at least several hundred thousand Galleons; it's the only one of its kind in the world."
"Hiss~" Harry was a little surprised. "It's that valuable?" But since the vault he had inherited already contained a mountain of gold, he was only a little surprised.
"But the Disillusionment Charm is enough for me. More than enough."
Ezio said no more. He crouched down and entered a stealth state. The 'Phantom Stealth' milestone he had unlocked before allowed him to enter an unscientific but somewhat magical state of optical camouflage. He could greatly reduce his presence without the help of the Disillusionment Charm and make his body blend in with the surrounding colors. And with the secondary bonus of the Disillusionment Charm, his stealthy posture was almost impossible to detect with the naked eye, even without the cover of bushes or shrubs.
It was as if he had disappeared. Harry rubbed his eyes; he couldn't see where Ezio was.
As the heavy footsteps grew closer, the troll came around the corner ahead. It was dragging a crude club made from a log, walking with a somewhat lost expression. Its intuition told it that it could find food in this direction, but the empty corridor was devoid of anything. Ezio was right in its line of sight, but it couldn't see him.
Ezio moved forward silently, his right hand gripping the handle of his broken spear. When he was only three meters away from the troll, he suddenly burst into action, leaping from the front. The cold glint of the broken spear's blade flashed past. The troll suddenly froze on the spot, and a head silently slid off, rolling on the ground with a thud.
Its powerful heart hadn't reacted yet. The blood it pumped gushed out from the smooth cut on its neck, forming a small fountain of blood.
Only then did Ezio's figure reappear.
[Milestone: Phantom Assassin (Completed)]
[Phantom Assassin: You can perform a single forced stealth action while in combat. For one second, you will completely break the target's perception and line of sight. The uses of this forced stealth will be restored after leaving combat.]
"Ventus."
Ezio waved his wand, then turned and walked towards Harry. "It's over. Let's go back."
*****
Hey guys,
If you're eager to know what happens next, you can now read up to 20 chapters ahead over on my Patreon.
I've also posted some chapters for free, so feel free to check them out as a little sneak peek!
Patreon.com/CanonTwist
P.S. psst... Don't forget about the Power Stones.