Chapter 45: Halloween Eve

Over this period, Allen made several more visits to Hagrid for work-study, and this time Hagrid, having learned his lesson, dared not take him deep into the Forbidden Forest—only escorted him around the perimeter to resolve minor disputes among magical creatures.

This helped him grow familiar with the forest’s magical creatures, and his bond with Hagrid deepened further.

Hagrid even quietly told Allen things he hadn’t known before.

For instance, Professor McGonagall had asked Allen to assist Hagrid not merely for labor, but so Hagrid could expose him to more magical creatures—she believed this would help expand the range of magical beings Allen’s wand talent could transform into.

Allen was stunned by McGonagall’s thoughtful intent—he hadn’t realized there was such a profound reason behind it...

On October 10, Allen went again to Professor Snape to take the potion maintaining his physical condition; this time, having learned from the previous incident, Snape refused to let him enter, simply handed him the potion, told him to drink and leave, and wouldn’t utter another word to him.

This left Allen, who had hoped to chat with Snape, feeling awkward.

After taking the potion, Allen slept naked again that night and performed his wand talent transformation; the next day, he indeed transformed into a Lei Niao’s eye—this time, Allen chose to record the ancient magical script key-value pairs for the Unlocking Charm, since its key-value length was most suitable, allowing him to log all pairs within a single day.

Using his existing knowledge of ancient magical script, he analyzed them and concluded that one empty value in the Unlocking Charm corresponded to a key meaning “whether to return”—this baffled him; despite prolonged attempts in his “secret base,” he could not uncover any new application of the Unlocking Charm.

As for the Cleaning Charm, whose new application he had already developed, Allen decided to keep it secret and not show it to anyone—he felt this new use would prove vital later.

During his research in the “secret base,” Allen also met a ghost who permanently haunted the abandoned girls’ bathroom—Moaning Myrtle—but she was always shy, and Allen never managed to speak more than a few words to her.

Professor McGonagall was intrigued by Allen’s Zaidu transforming into a Lei Niao’s eye, believing it held significant research value; Allen seized the chance to share his hypothesis about the transformation—though he omitted the naked-sleeping part—and McGonagall said she would consult Snape about the potion’s formula, but it apparently went poorly, and the matter was soon dropped.

Allen’s transformation into a turtle shell had been discussed by the students for a week, but due to his low profile and lack of cooperation, the buzz quickly faded.

Time arrived at Halloween Eve; Allen was genuinely surprised by how wizards celebrated Halloween and Christmas, since he’d always assumed wizards were atheists, and historical records clearly documented the Church’s various “persecutions” of wizards during the Middle Ages—this puzzled him deeply.

Though he had complained about it often, he didn’t mind celebrating a few more holidays.

Unfortunately, today Allen randomly drew the tongue of some unknown creature whose saliva contained slight toxicity, leaving his stomach constantly uneasy.

As a result, he couldn’t concentrate during Charms class, and Hermione outperformed him in practicing the Levitation Charm.

Hermione had clearly practiced the Levitation Charm in advance—her casting was flawless and earned enthusiastic praise from Professor Flitwick.

Ron, meanwhile, grew increasingly frustrated as he still couldn’t cast the Levitation Charm correctly.

Before Charms class ended, Allen could no longer endure the stomach pain—he told Professor Flitwick, then hurried off to the hospital wing to see Madam Pomfrey.

Madam Pomfrey had no better solution, only gave him a foul-tasting potion to try.

After drinking it, Allen was completely incapacitated for the rest of the afternoon.

He spent the entire afternoon in the boys’ bathroom before feeling somewhat better.

Once his body improved slightly, Allen felt starved—he urgently needed food and rushed to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was decorated with colorful Halloween ornaments; a thousand bats fluttered wildly against the walls and ceiling, while another thousand hovered like low, dark clouds above the tables, causing the candle flames inside the pumpkins to flicker.

But Allen had no eyes for any of it—his gaze was fixed only on the food in golden platters; he quickly found Harry and Ron, sat opposite them, and began devouring voraciously.

“Where did you disappear to all afternoon?” Harry asked curiously.

“Don’t even ask! I don’t know what potion Pomfrey gave me—I spent the whole afternoon in the toilet before I felt better! That potion’s definitely faulty—I can still feel it churning in my stomach!” Allen’s mouth was full of food.

Harry and Ron exchanged a guilty glance.

“Did you see Hermione Granger?” Ron asked, sounding uneasy.

“I saw her in Charms class! Her Levitation Charm was beautiful!” Allen finally stopped gorging and picked up a glass of 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 have seen Hermione?” Allen asked, then suddenly realized, “Wait—you two are teasing me about how often I go to that abandoned girls’ bathroom!” Allen dramatically accused his two friends.

But Harry and Ron didn’t retaliate as they normally would—they fell silent.

Allen now sensed something was off; he suddenly grasped the hidden implication in Harry’s words.

“Why would Hermione stay in the girls’ bathroom all afternoon? She never misses a class! Did she get a stomachache too?” Allen frowned, put down his glass, and began taking this seriously.

Harry and Ron grew even quieter, refusing to meet Allen’s gaze.

“I heard Hermione cried all afternoon in the girls’ bathroom—we didn’t see her during class!” Harry whispered.

“What! Why would she cry? She’s always so strong!” Allen found it hard to accept.

He suddenly felt he’d been distancing himself from his only female friend at Hogwarts.

He realized that every moment he’d spent with Hermione had revolved around ancient magical script—he’d never once cared about her personal life.

He felt a pang of guilt, especially after hearing she’d cried all afternoon.

“Ron said something hurtful by accident, and Hermione overheard it,” Harry glanced at Ron, hesitating.

Ron lowered his head, poking his fork into the potatoes on his plate.

“What!” Allen shot to his feet, glaring at Ron, his tone sharp: “Go apologize to her right now—go now—”

Then Allen fell silent—perhaps because he stood up too quickly—he suddenly felt his stomach churn again, the sensations of morning’s toxic saliva and afternoon’s potion alternating violently.

He felt his insides roiling as if undergoing some chemical reaction...

He quickly corrected himself: his insides were indeed undergoing a chemical reaction—food, potion, and toxic saliva reacting together...

He felt these three substances violently reacting inside him, producing vast quantities of unknown gases, the gases multiplying rapidly...

He felt the gases relentlessly pounding against his sphincter—his sphincter was enduring a trial more severe than anything it had faced in two lifetimes...

He forgot about scolding Ron—he now only wanted to find a place alone...

He clutched his stomach and struggled to say to Neville beside him: “Help... me... to... the... bathroom!”

Neville quickly helped him stand; Harry and Ron watched him with concern.

At that moment, Professor Quirrell burst into the Great Hall, his scarf askew on his head, his face twisted in terror.

Everyone stared as he shouted: “Troll—in the dungeons—”

Then he collapsed face-first onto the floor, unconscious.

He landed directly in Allen’s path.