Chapter 38: Social Death

That night, Allen slept uneasily; he dreamed of walking alone through the dark Forbidden Forest...

When he woke, he could not shake the panic from the dream for a long time...

But all of this was interrupted by another matter...

Just awakened and somewhat confused, he felt a tightness in his chest and thought to roll over, get up, and draw back the curtains to let in some air...

Then he horrifiedly discovered he could not roll over...

Trembling, he reached out to check his body; although he had been transforming into all sorts of strange things these past few months and his mental resilience had greatly improved, the thing he had transformed into today instantly shattered his psychological defenses, causing him to let out a wail of despair...

The wail startled the entire dormitory.

Chaos erupted in the dormitory; finally, Harry drew back the curtains, and Allen's appearance was laid bare before his roommates...

Harry stared blankly at Allen lying on the bed; the anxious expression on his face gradually faded; he began to bite his lip tightly with his teeth to stop himself from making a sound; he struggled to keep the corners of his mouth from curling up; he felt only a stream of air constantly surging up from his lungs, battering against his upper palate...

Harry was holding back laughter... and it was a hard struggle...

Someone, he knew not who, could no longer hold back first, and everyone in the dormitory burst into loud laughter...

The entire dormitory instantly became an ocean of joy...

Allen had transformed into a turtle shell today...

Allen ate breakfast in gloom; the meal had been brought over by his roommates from the Great Hall.

Just now, he had pressed Hedwig into service again to deliver a letter to Professor McGonagall, explaining his situation and requesting leave.

Only then did he have the mood to carefully inspect his turtle shell.

The shell was not as heavy as imagined, weighing only about ten-plus jin, and the weight was borne by his shoulders and waist, leaving him with little burden while walking.

The back of the shell was brown; looking at it in the mirror, Allen felt there was a metallic sheen on the surface, suggesting its defensive power should be very strong...

The shell was not large, only two sizes bigger than Allen's chest and abdomen, but its structure was quite peculiar; Allen tried curling his head, arms, and legs into the shell; although this action triggered another round of raucous laughter from his roommates, Allen miraculously managed to retract both his arms and head into the shell... though a section of his legs still remained exposed.

Allen even fancifully tried to remove the shell from his body, but in the end, he sorrowfully discovered his back seemed fused with the shell into one...

Allen's heart was truly dead this time; he never expected this ability to be so unreliable; he had thought to transform something to deal with the Forbidden Forest at night, only to transform such a thing!

Although this thing looked quite strong defensively and might prove useful in the Forbidden Forest, walking out like this meant total social death!

Allen thought, tears welling but unable to cry.

However, looking at his current state, he probably wouldn't need to go to the Forbidden Forest tonight; he wouldn't need to attend classes today either; he would just stay in the dormitory and get through the day! Allen thought silently.

At that moment, a pecking sound came from the window; Hedwig had returned.

Allen hurriedly opened the window to let Hedwig in.

Hedwig dropped a letter and flew away.

Allen opened it and indeed found it was a reply from Professor McGonagall, but the content made Allen hesitate.

Professor McGonagall was very interested in Allen's condition, but being too busy to visit Allen at the Gryffindor Tower, and since certain examinations and research could not be conducted in the dormitory, Professor McGonagall hoped Allen would fulfill the cooperation agreement signed at that time and proceed to her office on his own to assist with the research.

Allen read the letter over and over again several times,

only to confirm he had not misread it.

Then he fell into inner conflict...

Professor McGonagall had been very good to him; he did not want to disappoint her; moreover, last time she had mentioned adding a salary for cooperating with the research; if he did not cooperate this time, would this good fortune be gone? Allen quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind.

In the end, he decided to go see Professor McGonagall, but before going, he had to cover up his turtle shell.

However, the first thing that troubled Allen was how to dress; but he was not limited by the thinking of his past life; he found the clothes he wanted to wear, used scissors to cut them into a state he could wear now, and after putting them on, used a Repairing Charm to restore the clothes.

Previously, he had always used this trick to alter large clothes to fit smaller sizes; magic was just that convenient!

Then he continued using this trick to make a huge cloak for himself out of bed sheets, capable of covering him completely.

Allen stood before the mirror looking at his appearance and felt very satisfied.

"Luckily my bed sheets are clean, with no strange patterns on them!" Allen looked at his cloak and started daydreaming again.

Allen soon realized he had been foolish again; wizards all know Cleaning Charms; this world does not need to wash bed sheets...

Dressed up, Allen set off quickly, walking rapidly through the corridors of Hogwarts.

It was almost time for class; the corridors were crowded; Allen was already famous at the school, everyone knew his strange talent, and now this attire aroused even more curiosity among the people.

Young wizards constantly tried to crowd up to check Allen's condition, but Allen said nothing, did not respond to them, simply tightened his cloak and quickened his pace.

But those attracted by Allen's attire were not just young wizards; there were also the portraits' inhabitants and Hogwarts'... ghosts...

And today, the one who set his sights on Allen was Peeves, the most mischievous of the Hogwarts ghosts...

Upon seeing Allen, he shrieked happily: "Haha, the strangest student at Hogwarts, even stranger today!"

Having said that, he kept circling around Allen.

But Allen did not want to complicate matters; he kept his head down and walked his own path...

"Hee hee! Why are you dressed like this?" Peeves asked while chasing Allen, throwing moldy peanuts at him.

Allen became somewhat impatient; he reached out to drive Peeves away: "Peeves, don't bother me; go play by yourself immediately! I have urgent business!"

But Peeves continued to shriek: "Look! Here is a strange student, dressed weirdly going to class!"

"Peeves! If you do this, I will call the Bloody Baron to teach you a lesson." Allen remembered Ron saying Peeves feared the Bloody Baron the most, so he threatened Peeves.

But this time Peeves said nothing and acted directly; he rushed under Allen's cloak...

Then Allen felt the part overlapping with Peeves was as cold as being soaked in ice water...

Before he could snap out of this sensation, he felt the cloak slipping from his hands—Peeves had grabbed Allen's cloak and flown up...

Allen was thus exposed under the gaze of hundreds of pairs of eyes...