With a "plop," a ball of mud, nimbly bypassing the students blocking its way, struck the marble slab in front of Filch.
The administrator, Filch, stared at the mud in front of him, his face suddenly turning grim, and an aura of "keep away" emanated from him.
Albert and Lee Jordan also noticed the change in the corridor, stopped and looked with the other students toward the source of the low pressure.
Filch stiffly turned his head to look in the direction from which the mud ball had come, only to find another mud ball, about the size of a thumb, flying towards him.
Filch quickly dodged to the side, his gaze lingering for a moment on the spot where he had just been standing, before suddenly pushing through the crowd in the corridor and chasing after the mud ball that had come from.
His relentless determination to catch the culprit drew astonished glances from the surrounding students as they watched Filch's retreating figure, with several even preparing to follow him to see what the commotion was about.
The other students were guessing who had thrown the mud ball at Filch.
In the opposite direction from Filch as he chased the criminal, the twins appeared around the corner, waving at Albert and his companion with cheerful smiles on their faces.
"How was it?" Fred and George had just emerged from a nearby secret passage, while Albert raised his index finger in a gesture of silence.
That's right, the Weasley brothers were the ones who just threw mud balls at Filch. They used a winged slingshot that Albert found in the Room of Requirement, and the mud balls they used were made from mud mixed with Moonbeast droppings that they had just gotten from Herbalism class.
Of course, the twins weren't aiming at Filch, but at the marble slab beneath his feet; however, anyone watching would have thought the mud ball was being thrown at Filch.
Now, Filch, furious, chased after them but found nothing. He wondered if anyone might have suffered an undeserved misfortune.
After returning to the lounge, the group immediately took a hot shower. When they came downstairs after changing their clothes, they heard others talking about Filch. The caretaker was furiously searching for the culprit.
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" Fred's smile widened, as if nothing pleased him more than seeing Filch suffer a setback.
"Eat quietly," Albert glanced at them, then nodded to Filch in the corner of the hall as a reminder.
Albert didn't eat much for lunch, as there would be a grand Halloween party that evening.
However, Filch's matter still made the whole afternoon pleasant for the group.
Professor Brod, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, knew that the students weren't paying much attention in class, so he spent the whole afternoon telling them interesting stories.
For example, in the mid-15th century, a minor count was preparing to duel a child who was suspected to be a witch. He rode his warhorse, holding a lance, intending to kill the boy with one thrust. However, he crashed headfirst into an armored barrier cast by a witch, suffering fractures all over his body and severe head damage, eventually becoming a mentally challenged count.
This story immediately piqued everyone's interest in the Ironclad Charm, but the professor said that the spell would not be encountered until the later years of school, which disappointed most people.
"Is it difficult? By the way, doesn't Albert know this spell?" Li Jordan muttered doubtfully. His voice wasn't loud, but quite a few people heard it, drawing a bunch of suspicious glances to Albert.
Albert just smiled, neither confirming nor denying. "You can guess for yourselves!"
The Halloween party that evening quickly dispelled everyone's lingering gloom, and as they entered the hall, they were immediately drawn to the Halloween decorations.
The twelve giant pumpkins in the vegetable garden behind Hagrid's hut were carved into large lanterns, each large enough to seat two or three students.
A large swarm of bats flew around on the enchanted ceiling, occasionally hovering and dancing above the dining table, causing the candle flame inside the little pumpkin to flicker.
Before the banquet began, Dumbledore first invited the famous witch singer Setina Warbeck to sing "Children, hit back the ball, throw the Quaffle."
Albert, sitting at the table, was completely bewildered. He had little appreciation for the songs of this era. Although he felt that the witch singer's voice had a unique charm, he simply couldn't connect with the other singers.
While everyone else was having a blast, I was sitting there dumbfounded, feeling incredibly awkward.
Shanna, sitting across the table, was in a similar predicament, equally bewildered.
Fortunately, the song didn't last too long, and eventually, amidst enthusiastic applause, the witch singer and her assistants temporarily left the stage.
"Why aren't you reacting? Don't you like Setina Wörkbeck's music?"
"Very infectious music." Albert carefully organized his limited vocabulary. Actually, he wanted to say, "Have you guys just gone crazy?" But after thinking it over again, he swallowed the words back to avoid being overwhelmed by the unidentified objects called fans.
"Right, Shanna?" He looked at the witch opposite him.
"It's very strange music." Shanna, who also came from the Muggle world, couldn't appreciate this style of music either. When Albert asked her, she just smiled and made a forced smile.
"You don't seem to like Setina Warbeck's music." Angelina's eyes gleamed with cunning.
"Well, no, that's not true. I just... don't listen to music often," Albert mumbled after swallowing a piece of beef. "By the way, I thought you were also enjoying this beautiful music, but I didn't expect..."
"Cough cough!" Angelina coughed lightly and quickly buried her head in her food, while Aria next to her shook her head almost imperceptibly.
"My whole family are fans of Warbeck, and we like to play her songs at home during holidays," Fred said indistinctly while stuffing a chicken leg into his mouth.
"Yes," George chimed in. "I heard that there's a female ghost in Setina Warbeck's troupe, and they often perform together. I wonder if we can see that female ghost here."
"A female ghost?"
This topic quickly piqued everyone's interest.
"Are you sure that's a female ghost?" Albert raised an eyebrow and asked. "Female ghosts are creatures of darkness, and it's said that hearing their screams is deadly."
"Sedina Warbeck is the hottest singer in the UK, and she's said to have graduated from Hogwarts," Li Jordan said. "However, the rumors about the ghost are true; my mother really likes the song she sang with the ghost."
"How do you know?" Shanna asked curiously. "And why didn't her female ghost companion show up here today?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore would never allow a female ghost to appear at Hogwarts; it would scare many timid students." Albert recalled the description of the female ghost in "Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Defense." "The female ghost had long, jet-black hair that reached the ground, a face like a skull, and green eyes."
Is it that kind of thing?
Suddenly, someone asked a question.
"What does it look like?"
"In the stands..."
Albert turned his head to look at the stage, and his expression froze instantly. The fried potato in his hand slipped from his hand before he could put it in his mouth, and with a clatter, it fell into the plate along with the fork.
That's right, the thing on the stage is pretty much exactly what Albert just described.
She had long, black hair that dragged on the ground, a face like a skull, and eyes that glowed green. Yes, she was a female ghost.
She opened her mouth wide, and immediately, a strange scream echoed through the auditorium.
The moment the scream rang out, the music began, the two sounds blending together in a clever way, and Setina Warbeck, the somewhat aged witch singer, held a long golden microphone and began to sing with abandon.
In Albert's words, this person was practically singing with their life on the line. However, the ghost's screams weren't as shrill and piercing as legend had it; instead, they blended seamlessly into the music, becoming an integral part of the song.
However, the most admirable person was the dancer who danced with the female ghost. Albert wondered how the dancer overcame the psychological pressure brought by the female ghost.
After the song ended, even Albert couldn't help but clap along with everyone else. It wasn't that he understood the song, but rather that he admired the guys on stage for being able to use the accompaniment to cover up the ghost's screams and create such a wonderful song.
Setina Wobbeck's third song was performed at the end of the Halloween party. When everyone learned the song's title, "You Stole My Pot, But You Can't Have My Heart," it drew a tremendous response, with applause nearly lifting the roof off.
"Is this song famous?" Albert asked, puzzled.
"Very famous."
"My mom always wanted to go to her live concert, but the tickets were always sold out as soon as they were released. It's said that when Setina Warbeck first released 'You Stole My Pot, But You Can't Have My Heart,' fans rushed to the concert venue, which even caused three brooms to collide," Fred explained.
"Oh." Albert simply gave a light "oh," as he wasn't a fan of celebrities and therefore took it quite lightly. Of course, Albert was very curious about the song's charm and immediately perked up his ears to listen carefully:
You think you're a decent wizard, that you've conquered me with spells?
But guess what, wizard, you don't really know me.
You think you're incredibly smart, but you're actually a liar.
...
You stole my pot
and the toads in the pond
Crystal bottle for storing memories
...
You stole my pot, but you can't have my heart!
After the song ended, Albert was still completely bewildered.
To be honest, the song wasn't very good, or rather, that's just the style of the magical world, something I just couldn't appreciate. Moreover, without the female ghost's music, it was even worse than the previous song. At that moment, Albert felt he could no longer face the magical world's aesthetic standards.
Seeing the people around him clapping enthusiastically, Albert also pretended to clap, and he heard shouts of "encore!" coming from his ears. However, this brief chaos was quickly quelled by Dumbledore.
Setina Warbeck left, taking her crew and the ghost with her from Hogwarts.
The Halloween party ended amidst sighs of disappointment. Albert followed the surging crowd back to the Gryffindor common room.
Along the way, he heard many people talking about female ghosts.
"How many people do you think will have nightmares today?" Mark put his arm around Albert's shoulder and asked with a half-smile.
"I don't know. But I think it's a very interesting and bold idea, isn't it?" Albert didn't mind Mark's joke and waved to Mario and the others, saying, "I think when they form a circus, they can invite Peeves to join."
"That's a brilliant idea," Mark said with a wink. "By the way, you haven't been to training lately."
"I've been busy with something," Albert said, surprised by Mark's way of changing the subject. "I never finish my homework, and I have to attend the Transformation Club every week."
"Charlie wants you to take over his Seeker position," Mark said directly. "To be honest, there's really no one in Gryffindor who can take over that position."
"Ahem, maybe an even more formidable figure will emerge next year or the year after." Albert noticed Mark's "Do you even believe that yourself?" expression and said helplessly, "Well, if there really isn't a suitable one... we'll see when the time comes."
By the way, the book-reading app I've been using recently, [Mimi Reading app], allows you to cache books and read them offline!
"You'd be perfect as a Seeker," Charlie said, appearing out of nowhere and patting Albert on the shoulder with a smile.
The reason everyone favored Albert was that during a Quidditch friendly match, Albert caught the Golden Snitch right in front of Charlie, which made Charlie think that Albert was a suitable successor.
After all, in Quidditch, the Seeker is very important and can almost determine the outcome of a game.
"You know, I play Quidditch purely out of interest," Albert said, looking helplessly sandwiched between the two.
"Playing Quidditch won't prevent you from becoming an excellent wizard. Professor McGonagall was also an excellent Seeker when she was young. Look, she's better than anyone else at Transfiguration. You're her prized student, how can you not know how to play Quidditch?"
Yes, Albert was Professor McGonagall's star pupil, at least that's what some people think.
Although Albert was quite pleased to hear what Charlie and the others said, he actually understood why they cared so much about this matter.
Unfortunately, Gryffindor hasn't won the Quidditch championship in several years.
Albert didn't really care about this, because after Charlie graduated, there was Harry Potter to take the fall, and Potter would naturally fill the Seeker's position.
That's right, please call him: Harry Potter, the savior of the world.
Although in Albert's eyes, he was just a scapegoat.
"Ah!" Albert sat on the edge of the bed, covered his mouth with his hand to stifle a yawn, then grabbed the pillow next to him and smacked the Weasley brothers, who were tap dancing and singing off-key songs in the dormitory.
Merlin's beard, is this the legendary aftereffect of attending a concert?
It's no wonder the two were excited; being able to hear Setina Warbeck's concert live is a truly rare opportunity.
"By the way, how about we go for a night stroll?" George suggested.
"Some other time, just throw the pillow over here." Albert caught the pillow Fred tossed to him, then covered his mouth to stifle a yawn, and lay back down in bed. It's easy to feel sleepy after a big meal.