Chapter 314: The Deathday Party

In the Forbidden Forest, a giant serpent opened its bloodied maw; even without eyes, the basilisk could hear the crisp crackling of its food and smell its enticing aroma.

As it fed, Aragog had already vanished into the depths of the Forbidden Forest, surrounded by a cluster of eight-legged giants.

Wizard Sean paid it little mind; he looked over the vast corpses of the giant spiders and collected some potion ingredients.

In just one night, at least half the population of the Forbidden Forest’s eight-legged giants had been reduced.

Surprisingly, only a third of them were linked to Wizard Sean; most had ended up in the basilisk’s belly.

As the basilisk ruthlessly unleashed its nature among the eight-legged giant colony, the panel kept chiming:

【You earned the basilisk’s favor at an expert level; favor +50】

【You earned the basilisk’s favor at an expert level; favor +50】

Wizard Sean silently felt the basilisk’s mingled affection and malice, as moonlight pierced the scorched canopy of the Forbidden Forest and spilled into the depression.

For wizards, they must choose their own faith; for dark magical creatures, their faith is already predetermined…

Being powerless to choose is tragic.

The story of the Chamber of Secrets has reached a pause—how should the basilisk be handled?

…

Hagrid’s Hut.

Floating candles drifted in the air, jack-o’-lanterns hung from the walls, and the fireplace roared with warm flames.

Young wizards in robes gathered like attendees of a tea party, chatting back and forth about the upcoming Halloween.

When Wizard Sean returned, his wand was guiding a massive pumpkin inside—large as a carriage.

It was the largest pumpkin Hagrid had ever grown; he called it the Pumpkin King and now gifted it to Wizard Sean for Halloween.

“Wizard Sean, where did you find this…”

Hermione looked bewildered.

“I’ve never… seen one this big…”

Neville stammered.

Though magic applied to food and plants has no combat utility, its difficulty is no less than any other.

From this perspective, Hagrid possesses considerable talent in food magic.

“Hagrid gave it to me. By the way… he asked me to tell you he hasn’t seen you at his hut in a long time.”

Wizard Sean set the pumpkin beside the fireplace; Jia Jia Siting began enthusiastically planning what to do with it.

Harry and the others flushed red.

Indeed, since learning of the basilisk in the castle, their attention had been entirely consumed by the great danger—they hadn’t visited Hagrid in ages.

While they were lost in thought, Wizard Sean walked to his seat and sat down.

Since returning from the Restricted Section, the words Godelot had written in *The Most Toxic Magic* had echoed constantly in his mind.

“To create a positive faith is so difficult, yet to forge an evil one is so easy…”

What, then, should a wizard’s faith truly be understood as?

After long contemplation, Wizard Sean’s quill finally moved slowly:

【Emotion—love, protection, cruelty, distortion… these are the wizard’s emotional components, corresponding to their intuitive power; at certain moments, they can unleash potent magic. [35] For example, Fred transformed Ron’s toy into a spider in a fit of rage; Harry turned Aunt Marge into a balloon in anger. [36] Young wizards, still unburdened by deep self-doubt, believe “I think, therefore I can.” This belief, fused with imagination and curiosity, makes magic as natural as breathing. [37] Reason—wisdom, knowledge, insight… these are the rational components of magic, corresponding to the wizard’s rational power; they are centuries of wizarding annotations, enhancing magic’s stability and providing a practical path for learning. [38] Wizards begin building confidence through learning incantations, gestures, potion recipes, and other “external rules.” They believe “Because I performed the steps correctly, the magic works.” Belief shifts from “Who I am” to “What I did.” [39] Ritual magic—this is the final synthesis of both. It has become the ultimate expression of wizarding magic.】

For example, Fred turned Ron’s toy into a spider when he was furious, and Harry turned Aunt Marge into a balloon when he was angry.

Young wizards, still young and untouched by deep self-doubt, believe “I think, therefore I can.” This belief, blended with imagination and curiosity, makes magic as natural as breathing.

Reason—wisdom, knowledge, insight… these are the rational aspects of magic, corresponding to the wizard’s rational power, the centuries-long annotations upon magic, enhancing its stability and providing a practical path for its study.

Wizards began building confidence by learning “external rules” such as incantations, gestures, and potion recipes. They believed “Because I performed the steps correctly, magic will work.” The belief shifted from “Who I am” to “What I did.”

Ritual magic—the final synthesis of both—became the ultimate expression of wizarding magic.

After writing this long passage, Wizard Sean seemed to gradually understand something.

No wonder Voldemort was obsessed with killing Harry himself.

To him, he believed himself the most powerful dark wizard in the world; thus, he could not accept being defeated by a boy.

In truth, he could never accept it—because it would shatter his belief outright.

According to Godelot’s theory, when a wizard’s belief collapses, his magical power withers.

Like Neville, who believed he could not succeed—his magic reflected that belief.

After encouragement and a shift in mindset, he quickly succeeded again.

Thus, whether or not Godelot’s theory was entirely accurate, it held immense significance.

Then, what of himself?

Wizard Sean watched Jia Jia Siting fiddle with the pumpkin, and inner ripples began to form.

…

“I’ll take just a minute of your time,”

Seeing Wizard Sean “return,” Harry quickly spoke,

“Would you like to attend a Deathday Party?”

The air in Hagrid’s Hut fell silent for a second, then trembled.

“Deathday Party? What does that mean?”

Jia Jia Siting was always the first to respond.

“Tomorrow is Nearly Headless Nick’s five-hundredth Deathday, on Halloween. He’s hosting a party in a larger underground classroom.

His friends will come from all across the country… supposedly all ghosts.”

Harry said.

“Why would anyone celebrate the day they died? It sounds dreadfully unlucky…”

Ron, practicing Transfiguration, said.

“Deathday Party? I bet few living people can say they’ve attended one—it must be amazing!”

Hermione, however, was thrilled.

Jia Jia Siting and Neville immediately turned their eyes to Wizard Sean; Wizard Sean appeared to be thinking, but was actually imagining the Halloween feast.

The Deathday Party held little meaning; the worst part was the rotting food.

Wizard Sean had no intention of missing the Halloween feast to share moldy cake with flies and maggots—he’d already missed too many meals in the Great Hall because of Tom.

No matter what, no one would drag him out of the Great Hall this time.

“I hope you have fun.”

Wizard Sean murmured, a faint smile rising on his lips.

He suddenly remembered something—what would Harry and the others say when they arrived?

“Congratulations on being dead for five hundred years?”

Near the fireplace, Harry’s eyes dimmed noticeably; he wanted to say more, but his lips moved without a sound.

If he’d known Wizard Sean wasn’t interested, he wouldn’t have gone.

Spending Halloween with his friends was far better than spending it with ghosts.