Chapter 394: Masquerade

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

"Don't bring this up again." Ron 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." Ron 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, pursue Eve."

"Ah?" Ron was stunned for a moment, but was quickly 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 harmoniously, I won't interfere with free love."

"Openly can't be said; 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 the school to heart.

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

"Oh, give it a rest; she wasn't happy because of Ron 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 sympathy flared up.

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

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

"That's not right, clearly she is so bad, then why do you always stay 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 hesitantly: "I still feel this is not very good, how about..."

"You can listen to me on this matter." Zhang Qiu made this decision for the two of them very strongly, "First, the current situation is a bit subtle; we must improve Ron's strength as soon as possible; second, I don't think Ron and Marietta can spark anything, so it's better to make it clear sooner; 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 Ron, so it won't affect our plastic friendship too much."

Since it had been said to this point, Harry and Ron 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, this kind of retro dress actually seemed just right. Moreover, the medieval-style dress could just happen to strengthen Ron's identification with the hypothetical identity of a medieval knight.

When Halloween truly arrived, Harry and Ron changed their clothes in a hurry and came to the entrance hall, only to find that there were many girls wandering here. It took Harry a long time to notice Zhang Qiu.

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

"Ah yes, but you have to notice 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 Ron; Harry almost said it out, but he suddenly realized that Zhang Qiu might also have done this out of this consideration—even if Ron had claimed that he would no longer pay attention to Hermione, Harry still hoped to give Ron as much face as possible on occasions where Hermione was present.

"If Slughorn asks, what do you count as dressing up as?" Eve asked.

"Vampire." After Zhang Qiu finished speaking, she tapped 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 dodge.

"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 headmaster's special care, Slughorn's office was much larger than the average teacher's room. However, even such a large room seemed a bit crowded and stuffy at this moment, because there were too many guests present, not only students in school, but also many alumni from previous years, gathering together at this moment, everyone's face illuminated red by the golden lights. Various light spots were dotted on the ceiling, and loud singing, as if accompanied by mandolins, echoed in the room; some house-elves walked among the guests, carrying silver trays filled with food, the huge trays covering their bodies, looking like moving small tables.

"Harry, Ron!" 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 see Lucius; he brought a friend."

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

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

"What 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." Lucius said, "We just came out of Snape's, and caught up with Slughorn's invitation, so just in time 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 Hillber; currently he is cooperating with the Ministry of Magic." Lucius introduced, "Heard there is a masquerade here, and he is very happy to come and join the fun."

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

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

"Yes, great makeup." Harry revealed a smile, "Very happy to meet you, Mr. Hillber."

"No, I am a real vampire." Hillber corrected seriously, "I am participating in this masquerade event with my original face."

"Ah, yes, this is also very fitting; you look great." Harry subconsciously was polite.

"After all, it's Halloween." Slughorn added happily.

"Not just because of this." Lucius said softly.

"Have you seen Professor Snape?" Harry thought of their hidden meanings.

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

"You mean, Mr. Hillber participating in the masquerade?" Harry guessed their meaning; the masquerade was using homophones to refer to "Kamen Riders". That is to say, Lucius hoped to use the power of vampires, or magical creatures, to counter the Rider system. And Snape, although he thought this was a bit dangerous, 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 Lucius. 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.

"Halloween, I think it's no problem." Harry said seriously, "But if it's 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 masquerades often anyway."

"Yes, then we'll leave first." Lucius 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 birth of the Rider system was a very serious and imminent topic. And what Lucius was doing now might be an inglorious but useful solution—if Harry wanted to stop him, he had to propose a legitimate and more useful method. This meant he needed to rack his brains harder to research new spells.

Harry sighed; he lost interest in the whole dance party all at once. After glancing at Ron and Eve in the dance floor not far away, he said: "Let's go elsewhere to walk around."

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

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

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