Chapter 394: Masquerade Ball

"I mean, you didn't intend to be with Hermione again, right." Zhang Qiu brought up this topic that gave Luo En a headache again.

"Don't bring this up again." Luo En waved his hand impatiently.

"Tell me definitely, yes or no." Zhang Qiu pushed his hand aside and asked firmly.

"Alright, yes, I will never fantasize about falling in love with her again." Luo En swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said.

"Good, then you should consider doing some things that fit the knight spirit." Zhang Qiu said unceremoniously. "For example, pursuing Eve."

"Ah?" Luo En was stunned for a moment, but was soon replaced by another subtle emotion. "It's not impossible, if Harry doesn't object... I think it's worth a try, what do you think, Harry?"

"When have I ever objected?" Harry shrugged. "You can start dating openly, as long as you get along well, I won't interfere with free love."

"Openly can't be counted, Eve is after all the initiator and leader of Lgbt." Zhang Qiu picked a logical error as if watching the fun.

"Then date low-key." To this day, Harry no longer took these controversies in school to heart.

"That's not right, but I have already promised Marietta—" Luo En suddenly hesitated a bit. "And she looked so happy at that time."

"Oh, give it a rest, she wasn't happy because of Luo En Weasley himself, she was because your dad is the Minister." Zhang Qiu said with full disdain when talking about this plastic girlfriend. "She is just a stupid person who chases power, takes advantage of small gains, is timid, and has no ability, a female version of Wormtail."

"Um, no need to say it like that, right." Harry's compassion flared up.

"Do you want me to start from the time she used my toothpaste in the first grade?"

"Alright, then, you handle her." Luo En shrank his neck. "I'll go invite Eve."

"That's not right, clearly she is so bad, then why are you always with her?" Harry asked curiously.

"............ She is sometimes quite good at blowing rainbow farts." Zhang Qiu explained in a low voice.

They were silent for a long time, then Harry said somewhat hesitantly: "I still feel this is not very good, how about..."

"You can listen to me on this matter." Zhang Qiu replaced the two of them and made this decision very strongly. "First, the current situation is a bit subtle, we must improve Luo En's strength as soon as possible; second, I don't think Luo En and Marietta can spark any fire, better to make it clear early; besides, your invitation was originally just said casually to stall Slughorn."

"Finally, I will lie to Marietta and say that Eve was throwing a tantrum and insisted on going with Luo En, so it won't affect our plastic friendship too much."

Having said this much, Harry and Luo En could only choose to agree. They saw Eve in the Gryffindor common room, and Eve also agreed very readily. She also suggested that they could wear brown lace dresses together, which was the set they wore when they danced for the first time. From the perspective of a masquerade ball, this kind of retro dress actually seemed just right. Moreover, the medieval-style dress could also strengthen Luo En's identification with the hypothetical identity of a medieval knight.

When Wan Shengjie truly arrived, Harry and Luo En changed into their clothes in a hurry and came to the entrance hall, only to find many girls wandering around here. It took Harry a long time to notice Zhang Qiu.

"Why are you wearing an ordinary dress?" Harry said with some suspicion. "Didn't Slughorn say this is a masquerade ball?"

"Ah yes, but you have to notice that this is a European-style dress. For an Oriental like me, it's already a strange costume." Zhang Qiu said with justification. "And, why are you only wearing an ordinary tuxedo?"

That was of course to help set off Luo En. Harry almost wanted to say it, but he suddenly realized that Zhang Qiu might also have done this out of this consideration—even if Luo En had claimed that he would no longer pay attention to Hermione, Harry still hoped to give Luo En as much face as possible on occasions where Hermione was present.

"If Slughorn asks, what are you two dressed as?" Eve asked.

"Vampire." After Zhang Qiu finished speaking, she pointed at her brow with her wand, and her eyes turned blood red all at once.

"What kind of new spell is this again?" Harry watched her extend her wand toward himself, and didn't avoid it either.

"Colored contacts, part of the makeup spell."

Harry didn't speak again. He only wanted to know what his eyes had become. He remembered there were mirrors in Slughorn's office, so he could take a look without leaving a trace. Soon, they began to hear some laughter and talking, mixed in the melodious music.

I don't know if it was because of magic, or because of the special care of the headmaster, Slughorn's office was much larger than an ordinary teacher's room. However, even in such a large room, it seemed a bit crowded and stuffy at the moment, because there were too many guests present, not only students in school, but also many alumni from previous years, now gathered together, everyone's face was red from the golden lights. The ceiling was dotted with various light spots, and the room echoed with loud singing that sounded like it was accompanied by a mandolin; some house-elves walked among the guests, they held silver trays filled with food, the huge trays covered their bodies, looking like moving small tables.

"Harry, Luo En!" As soon as they entered the door, Slughorn called out in a booming voice. "Come in, come in quickly, many people are looking forward to seeing you!"

Slughorn wore a brown hat with pendants, which matched his velvet robe very well.

"Aha, just right, Harry, you have to come and meet Lu Xiusi, he brought a friend."

Sure enough, not far away stood a man with long silver-white hair, who was exactly Mr. Lu Xiusi Malfoy, whom Harry had only seen once or twice, but whom Hofa had seen countless times, the current Director of the Department of Mysteries.

"This guy? I don't want to talk to him." Luo En showed a look of disgust and pulled Eve to walk aside.

"That's a pity." Slughorn didn't force it either, just looked at Harry with expectant eyes.

"Then I'll go say hello." Harry shrugged.

"Harry Potter, very happy." Lu Xiusi said. "We just came out of Snape's place and caught up with Slughorn's invitation, so it's just right to chat with you for a few words before leaving."

Snape's name aroused Harry's vigilance. He began to think about whether this would be a serious matter.

"This is Mr. Gregorius Hilbert, currently he is cooperating with the Ministry of Magic." Lu Xiusi introduced. "Heard there is a masquerade ball here, he is very happy to come and join the fun."

Hilbert was tall and strong, with a pair of equally blood-red pupils in his eyes.

"Hello, Harry." Hilbert said. "As you can see, I am a vampire."

"Yes, great makeup." Harry showed a smile. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Hilbert."

"No, I am a real vampire." Hilbert corrected seriously. "I am participating in this grand event of the masquerade ball in my original appearance."

"Ah, yes, this is also very fitting, you look great." Harry subconsciously said politely.

"After all, it's Wan Shengjie." Slughorn chimed in happily.

"Not just because of this." Lu Xiusi said softly.

"Have you seen Professor Snape?" Harry thought they were speaking with hidden meanings.

"That's right, he feels Hilbert's approach is a bit dangerous, but we don't have a better way for the time being—anyway, I hope you can support us."

"You mean, Mr. Hilbert participating in the masquerade ball?" Harry guessed their meaning. Masquerade ball was using homophones to refer to "Kamen Rider". That is to say, Lu Xiusi hoped to use the power of vampires, or magical creatures, to fight against the Rider system. And although Snape thought this was a bit dangerous, he still let it go, because they hadn't found a better way for the time being.

Snape wouldn't beat around the bush. Clearly, this was a little trick of Lu Xiusi. He had mostly colluded with Slughorn to induce Harry to express support, and after using a homophone reference, they could interpret Harry's attitude more flexibly.

"Wan Shengjie, I think it's no problem." Harry said seriously. "But if it's at other times, it still has to be with Professor Snape's consent."

"Of course, of course," Slughorn smoothed things over in time, "we don't hold masquerade balls often anyway."

"Yes, then we'll leave first." Lu Xiusi looked at his watch pretentiously. "Wish you have a good time."

After experiencing such a thing, how could Harry still be happy? How the British Wizarding World should respond to the advent of the Rider system was a very serious and imminent topic. And what Lu Xiusi was doing now might be an inglorious but useful solution—if Harry wanted to stop him, unless he proposed a legitimate and more useful method. This meant he needed to rack his brains harder to study new spells.

Harry sighed. He lost interest in the entire ball all at once. After glancing at Luo En and Eve in the dance floor not far away, he said: "Let's go elsewhere."

"Yes, you're right—" Zhang Qiu suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him in one direction. "I saw some things worth caring about."

"You grabbed too tight, we are not going to Apparate." While Harry was saying this, he also discovered what that so-called thing worth caring about was:

Hermione and McLaggen were together, and they happened to walk under the mistletoe. ===== CHAPTER 395 =====