Chapter 45: Eve of Halloween

Allen Finis had gone to Hagrid's several times recently for work-study; this time, Hagrid had learned his lesson and dared not take him deep into the Forbidden Forest, only leading him around the perimeter to settle some disputes among the magical creatures there.

This also made him familiar with the magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest, and his relationship with Hagrid grew better and better.

Hagrid even quietly told Allen Finis some things Allen Finis did not know.

For instance, Professor McGonagall asked Allen Finis to assist Hagrid, essentially wanting Hagrid to take Allen Finis to see more magical creatures; she believed this would allow Allen Finis's wand talent to transfigure parts of more magical creatures.

Allen Finis was stunned by Professor McGonagall's good intentions, never expecting such a deep reason behind it...

On October 10, Allen Finis went to Professor Snape again to drink the potion maintaining his physical condition; this time, Professor Snape had learned his lesson from last time, did not let him enter the door at all, simply handed him the potion, told him to finish it and leave, and was unwilling to say another word to him.

This made Allen Finis, who wanted to get a few words of closeness with Professor Snape, very awkward.

After drinking the potion, Allen Finis slept naked again that night and performed wand talent transfiguration; the next day, he indeed transfigured a Thunderbird's eye again. This time, Allen Finis chose to record the key-value pairs of the ancient runes for the Unlocking Charm, because the length of the ancient rune key-value pairs for the Unlocking Charm was the most suitable; Allen Finis could record all the key-value pairs within a single day.

Allen Finis analyzed it using his existing ancient rune knowledge; the final result was that the Unlocking Charm contained an empty value corresponding to a key meaning "whether to return," which left him baffled; he tried for a long time in his "secret base" but could not develop a new usage for the Unlocking Charm.

As for the Cleaning Charm, for which a new usage had already been developed, Allen Finis decided to keep it secret and not show it to others; he always felt this new usage of the Cleaning Charm would be of great use later.

During his research in the "secret base," Allen Finis also met a ghost who had long been stationed in this abandoned girls' bathroom—Moaning Myrtle; unfortunately, she was always quite shy, and Allen Finis could not even speak a few words to her.

Professor McGonagall was quite interested in Allen Finis transfiguring a Thunderbird's eye again; she believed this had great research value. Allen Finis took the opportunity to tell her his speculation about transfiguring the Thunderbird's eye; of course, he did not mention the naked sleeping. After listening, Professor McGonagall said she would go ask Professor Snape about the potion formula, but it seemed to go quite poorly, and later it came to nothing.

The matter of Allen Finis transfiguring a turtle shell was discussed by the young wizards for a week, but due to the low profile and uncooperativeness of the person involved, the heat quickly died down.

Time thus arrived at the eve of Halloween; actually, Allen Finis was very surprised that wizards celebrated Halloween and Christmas, because he had always thought wizards were atheists, and the Vatican had carried out various "persecutions" against wizards in the Middle Ages, all recorded in magical history, so this left Allen Finis very confused.

Although he complained a lot about this matter, he did not mind celebrating a few more festivals.

But unfortunately, Allen Finis randomly obtained a tongue from an unknown animal today; the saliva secreted by this tongue seemed slightly toxic to the human body, making his stomach uncomfortable all along.

This caused him to be unable to concentrate during Charms class, so when practicing the Levitation Charm, he was outdone by Hermione.

Hermione had clearly practiced the Levitation Charm in advance; her casting of the Levitation Charm was very beautiful, earning high praise from Professor Flitwick.

And Ron, because he could not correctly cast the Levitation Charm for a long time, became quite irritable.

Before this Charms class even ended, Allen Finis simply could not endure the feeling of stomach pain any longer; he said a word to Professor Flitwick and hurriedly ran to the hospital wing to find Madame Pomfrey for treatment.

Madame Pomfrey had no good method for this either, simply letting him drink a bottle of disgusting potion to try.

After drinking the potion, Allen Finis's entire afternoon was completely written off,

staying in the boys' bathroom for the whole afternoon before he finally felt a bit better.

Feeling a bit better, Allen Finis only felt his eyes were red from hunger; he urgently needed to replenish food for himself, so he hurriedly ran to the Great Hall.

At this time, the Great Hall was decorated with colorful Halloween decorations; a thousand bats fluttered on the walls and ceiling, and another thousand, like low clouds, circled and flew above the tables, making the candle flames inside the pumpkins flicker intermittently.

But Allen Finis had no heart to appreciate these things; his eyes held only the food on the golden plates. He quickly found Harry and Ron, sat opposite them, and ate wildly.

"Where did you run off to this afternoon?" Harry asked curiously.

"Don't mention it! I don't know what potion Madame Pomfrey gave me today; I stayed in the toilet all afternoon before feeling better! That potion is definitely problematic! I can still feel it in my stomach right now." Allen Finis's mouth was stuffed with food.

Harry and Ron exchanged a guilty glance.

"Did you see Hermione Granger?" Ron asked somewhat guiltily.

"I saw her during Charms class! She used the Levitation Charm so beautifully!" Allen Finis finally stopped eating wildly and started drinking some pumpkin juice.

"Ron means, did you see her this afternoon? I heard Parvati say she was in the girls' bathroom all afternoon," Harry explained.

"I was in the boys' bathroom all afternoon! How could I see Hermione?" Allen Finis asked in confusion, then suddenly realized, "Ah! Are you two mocking me for often going to that abandoned girls' bathroom?" Allen Finis exaggeratedly accused his two friends.

But Ron and Harry did not retort to Allen Finis as they usually would when joking; instead, they both fell silent.

Allen Finis also felt something was wrong at this moment; he suddenly realized the other information contained in Harry's words.

"Why would Hermione stay in the girls' bathroom all afternoon? She hasn't missed a single class! Could she have a stomach ache today too?" Allen Finis was a bit puzzled; he put down the cup in his hand and began to treat this question seriously.

Harry and Ron were even more silent; they did not dare to look at Allen Finis.

"I heard Hermione cried in the girls' bathroom all afternoon; we didn't see her during class this afternoon!" Harry said in a low voice.

"What! Why would she cry? She has always been very strong!" Allen Finis felt he could hardly accept this.

He suddenly felt he had been somewhat distant from the only female friend he had at Hogwarts recently.

He suddenly discovered that the time he spent with Hermione seemed to always be studying ancient runes; he had never cared about the life matters of this female friend of his.

He suddenly felt a bit guilty, especially after hearing that Hermione had cried all afternoon.

"Ron accidentally said something hurtful, and then Hermione overheard it by mistake!" Harry glanced at Ron and said hesitantly.

Ron lowered his head and poked the potatoes in his plate with his fork.

"What!" Allen Finis suddenly stood up, glaring at Ron, and said in a somewhat stiff tone: "Then go find her and apologize! Go quickly..."

Then Allen Finis could not speak anymore; perhaps because he stood up too abruptly, he suddenly felt his stomach become uncomfortable again, and the feeling of morning saliva poisoning and afternoon potion torture alternated...

He felt his stomach began to churn, as if some chemical reaction was taking place...

Then he quickly corrected his conclusion: a chemical reaction was indeed taking place in his stomach, specifically a chemical reaction among food, potion, and slightly toxic saliva...

He only felt the three were undergoing a violent chemical reaction in his stomach, producing many unknown gases; these gases increased more and more...

He felt these gases were constantly battering his sphincter; he felt his sphincter was undergoing a severe test it had never endured in two lifetimes...

He could not bother to criticize Ron anymore; he now only wanted to find a place with no people...

Holding his stomach, he said with difficulty to Neville beside him: "Support... me... to... to... the bathroom!"

Neville immediately helped him stand up; Harry and Ron looked at him with concern.

At this moment, Professor Quirrell suddenly rushed into the dining hall, his large scarf worn crookedly on his head, his face full of terrified expression.

Everyone stared at him; they saw him shout: "Troll—in the dungeon—"

After speaking, he collapsed onto the floor, lying there unconscious...

Coincidentally blocking Allen Finis's path...