About two months had passed since we entered Hogwarts, and on October 31, we welcomed Halloween.
From early morning, the entire castle was filled with the sickly sweet scent of pumpkins, and for this one day, even the garlic in Professor Quirrell's classroom seemed to be overpowered.
"I hope the food's amazing today. I'm really in the mood to eat a ton of cake."
"Daphne eats plenty as it is, so why is she still slimmer than me?"
Beside Daphne, who was so caught up in the Halloween mood that she was barely listening to the lesson, Pansy was voicing her complaints. Well, all things considered, it was a pretty peaceful day.
That said, even on Halloween, we still had regular classes during the day. After finishing Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy in the morning, we ate lunch and then prepared for Charms in the afternoon.
That day, we had a joint lesson with Gryffindor, learning a spell to make objects float in midair.
"Swish and flick, all right? Swish and flick. Accurate pronunciation is important too."
After Professor Flitwick carefully explained and demonstrated the wand movements and incantation, the students began their practice. The task was to levitate the quill placed on the desk.
"Wingardium Leviosa. Levitate!"
Imitating the professor, the students waved their wands and chanted the spell, but perhaps the pronunciation was trickier than it looked, because it was not going well.
"Wingardium Levio-sa!"
"Draco, isn't your pronunciation wrong?"
"Hmph. In that case, Celestelia, why don't you try it?"
Fine then, I will. I offered some friendly advice, and he scoffed at it. Do not blame me if you regret it later.
Of course, I had prepared properly. I could practically see Malfoy's snarling face as he embarrassed himself. Pansy and the others, who had been struggling nearby, also turned their curious gazes toward us after hearing our exchange.
"Watch closely. Wingardium Leviosa!"
Huh? It did not float.
"What about the pronunciation?"
"My, my, that was careless of me. I forgot to account for air resistance. Wingardium Leviosa!"
Third time's the charm. This time, the quill should rise lightly, as if carried by the wind—
"Oh, it fell."
"Wasn't it just lifted by a draft?"
"Celestelia, that was lame…"
Pansy and the others should come behind the school building later.
"Miss Celestelia, your pronunciation is perfect, but your wrist movement is slightly off."
While I was plotting my revenge against Pansy, Professor Flitwick had already come over and demonstrated for me.
"Swish and flick."
I see.
"Ahem, let us try again. Wingardium Leviosa! Wingardium Leviosa! Wingardium Leviosa!"
Fwoosh.
"Oh, Celestelia did it!"
The unbeatable theory that even bad shots hit the mark if you fire enough times.
"It was just a fluke!"
"Draco, the howling of a sore loser is unsightly, you know. No matter the means, the winner is justice."
"Then do it again."
"Very well. Watch closely this time. Wingard—"
The next instant, a tremendous bang echoed through the classroom, and it was engulfed in dazzling light.
"Hey, Celestelia!"
"Please wait. Look carefully up there. The feather is floating."
Although there had been an explosion, charred feathers and scraps of plume were indeed floating in the air.
"…Mostly ash, though."
"No one said it had to be intact."
As this was going on, another explosion could be heard from the Gryffindor side. Apparently, Seamus Finnegan had tried to copy my movements, with the same explosive result.
Right beside us, Professor Flitwick was holding his head.
"Levitation charms are not supposed to explode…"
"Professor, if I can cause an explosion with a levitation spell that should not explode, doesn't that make me a genius in a way?"
"Where does that confidence even come from…"
Creating a brand-new explosive spell as a first-year student was impressive, even to myself. Perhaps I should apply for a patent at the Ministry of Magic after class.
"Miss Celestelia, repeatedly casting spells places a great strain on the target. That is likely why it exploded. Please be more careful next time."
"…Yes."
As we were talking, the Gryffindor seats suddenly became noisy.
"Ron, your pronunciation is a bit off. It's not Levio-sar, it's Levio-sa."
"If you're going to nitpick that much, why don't you try it yourself first?"
This feels like déjà vu. At this rate, Hermione might become the third bomber.
"Wingardium Leviosa. Levitate!"
Why is it floating?
"Oh! Well done! Everyone, Miss Granger did it on the first try!"
At Hermione's spell, the feather rose and hovered steadily about two meters in the air.
"That's strange…"
"No, what's strange is that yours exploded."
Ignoring Malfoy's remark, after setting things off a few more times, I started to get the hang of it too. As they say, failure is the mother of success. Following Hermione, then me, and then Seamus, we each mastered the levitation charm in turn.
Seeing this, the other students refused to be outdone and began firing off the levitation spell like machine-gun bursts. Feathers started exploding simultaneously all over the classroom.
"Ah, you all, this is a problem! If you keep exploding things like that, the classroom will be destroyed! Oh, Miss Greengrass, you succeeded too. I would have preferred it if you had succeeded without causing an explosion, but still… you there! Yes, you, Miss Brown! That's why I said repeatedly casting the spell causes it to explode…"
Dear quills, your sacrifices will not be forgotten.
"Honestly, because of you, Elaina , my hair's a total mess."
"Wild Pansy has its own charm too."
"Zabini's more than enough when it comes to being flirty."
After class, we headed back to the dorms, laughing at each other's soot-smudged faces. On the way, Professor Snape passed us and gave us a suspicious look, asking, "Have you been to war?" When we explained that these were honorable wounds, he curtly told us to hurry up and take a shower in the dorms.
"Right, then."
In the shower room, we washed away the soot from the explosions, dried our hair, and changed our clothes. When we entered the Great Hall a little late, what greeted us was the very image of Halloween, countless candles, bats, and jack-o'-lanterns floating in the air.
And on golden plates, there were piles upon piles of rich, colorful Halloween dishes.
"Pumpkin tastes great today too!"
Daphne sat down with a delighted expression, and as everyone around her stared in disbelief at where all that food could possibly fit in her slender body, she continued to consume mountains of calories without pause.
As for Pansy, she carefully served herself dishes that seemed low in carbohydrates and cast a somewhat resentful glance at Daphne.
"…I wish she'd just hurry up and put on some fat."
"It's already going to the right places, you know."
"Can I hit you?"
After making good on her words and hitting Daphne, Pansy shouted, "Ah, I can't deal with this unless I drink something!" and downed a glass of pumpkin juice in one go.
Next to her, Millicent completely ignored Halloween, stuffing both chicken and potatoes into her mouth at the same time. With cheeks puffed out like a hamster's, she was mumbling something, but none of it was intelligible.
"Now then, shall we start with pumpkin cake and tea?"
As for me, I always maintained my composure and elegance. I cut off small portions of pumpkin bread and pumpkin potato salad, savoring them little by little.
Looking over at the boys' side, Crabbe and Goyle were shoveling food into their mouths at a pace worthy of competitive eaters. Caught between them, Malfoy wore a solemn expression and let out a sigh that seemed to say, "I picked the wrong seat…"
On the opposite side of the table, Zabini was chatting away animatedly at Nott, who was quietly eating his meal.
"You know that Granger in Gryffindor? Apparently she and that red-haired Weasley had a lovers' spat."
"I see."
"Seems like Weasley was taunting her, calling her things like 'a nightmare' and 'that's why you don't have any friends.'"
"That's impressive."
"The so-called chivalrous house, and this is what they do. He clearly has no idea how to treat a girl."
"The one at fault isn't you."
Oh my, so that's what happened.
"Still, this pumpkin pie is quite good."
I am concerned about Hermione, but I also want to enjoy Halloween with my Slytherin friends. Even if Ron's words shocked her, it's not like her life is in danger.
Let's leave her alone for a bit and go check on her after the feast is over.
"The pumpkin gratin is pretty good too…"
As I happily munched away at the Halloween food, a loud noise suddenly echoed through the Great Hall.
The massive doors were flung open, and Professor Quirrell came rushing in at full speed, wheezing as he ran.
"A troll! A troll in the dungeons! I had to warn you…"
Barely making it to the front of Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Quirrell seemed to lose all his strength at once, collapsing on the spot as if the tension holding him together had snapped.
(End of chapter)
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