bacchusnovels Chapter 147 Don't let go, hold me tight
Chapter 147 Don't let go, hold me tight
Chapter 147 Don't let go, hold me tight
The next day.
As the young wizards sat around the long table in the Great Hall, laughing and chatting, preparing to enjoy a delicious breakfast, the sound of flapping wings broke the lively atmosphere.
Many owls, those trusted mail carriers, flew in through the window with unerring accuracy, as always.
They skillfully circled the auditorium, their sharp eyes quickly locking onto their respective targets.
Then, they landed lightly on the young wizards' tables, casually tossing the packages, letters, and newspapers and magazines they had subscribed to onto the surfaces.
For a moment, the sound of rustling through letters and packages filled the hall, and the young wizards' faces showed expressions of excitement, curiosity, or anticipation.
Having completed their task, the owls took flight again without a moment's rest, disappearing out the window.
The auditorium returned to its previous liveliness, but this time, there was more conversation and discussion as everyone shared the novelties they had received in their letters and packages.
Suddenly, a voice shouted.
"Quickly check the Daily Prophet!"
All eyes turned to the source of the sound, where a young wizard was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.
His face was filled with shock and disbelief.
The young wizards around him immediately crowded around, eager to read the contents of the newspaper.
The front page of the newspaper carried the following headline:
Shocking! Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledore actually did this!
This newspaper recently learned that a malicious attack occurred at Hogwarts, with many young wizards suffering grievous injuries, while Headmaster Dumbledore remained indifferent.
Even Dumbledore, a wizard of immense magical power, couldn't prevent the repeated deaths of young wizards, giving us every reason to believe that the Chamber of Secrets incident might be intricately linked to him...
As for the aftermath of the Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets incident, our reporter Rita Skeeter will continue to report on it.
"What?! How dare she ruin Dumbledore like this!" a Gryffindor wizard shouted angrily.
"That's utter nonsense!" exclaimed another Hufflepuff boy. "Headmaster Dumbledore is one of the greatest headmasters at Hogwarts; how could he possibly ignore something like this?"
"That's hard to say," the young Slytherin wizard who had been watching the commotion for a while said quietly. "Otherwise, why haven't we caught the culprit in the Chamber of Secrets incident yet?"
These words plunged the auditorium into a brief silence.
The Gryffindor wizard stared wide-eyed at his Slytherin classmate, seemingly incredulous, while the Hufflepuff wizard frowned, clearly displeased with the idea.
"How can you say that?" the young Gryffindor wizard retorted. "Headmaster Dumbledore has been working hard to protect us; he must be investigating this matter in secret."
"Yes," the Hufflepuff wizard chimed in, "we can't just let things not be resolved yet."
They began to suspect the principal.
The young Slytherin wizard chuckled, shrugged, and said, "I was merely suggesting a possibility. After all, facts speak louder than words. If Headmaster Dumbledore is truly innocent, why doesn't he step forward to clarify?"
"And..." His tone abruptly shifted, glancing intentionally or unintentionally towards the Gryffindor table, "Every time, the victim is someone who offended Harry, and Harry even shows up at the scene... The answer is clear, isn't this cover-up...?"
For a moment, the entire auditorium fell silent again.
During this period, everyone at Hogwarts was in a state of panic.
Strangely enough, what terrified people the most was Nick's near-headless ordeal.
What could possibly do such a thing to a ghost? People asked each other.
What terrible power could harm a dead person?
The students practically scrambled to reserve seats on the Hogwarts Express, hoping to go home for Christmas.
Luna was no exception; she had also booked a ticket for the Hogwarts Express to go home. However, she received a letter from Mr. Lovegood.
The letter said that he would be busy with an interview during Christmas and might not have time to take care of Luna, so Luna should stay at school during the Christmas holidays.
So Luna cancelled her train ticket for a later date.
But today.
When Sean finally emerged from the sumptuous dinner, rubbing his stomach contentedly, and slowly walked back to his office, he had no idea what was about to happen.
The corridor was so quiet that only his own footsteps could be heard, along with the occasional sound of students chatting and laughing in the distance.
However, as he turned a corner, a familiar figure came into view—it was Luna.
She stood alone at the door of his office, standing there silently like a sculpture.
Her eyes revealed an indescribable sadness, like a light autumn mist enveloping her entire face.
Sean quickened his pace involuntarily as he approached Luna, a strange tension welling up inside him.
He noticed that Luna's eyes were fixed on him, as if she wanted to see right through him. That gaze made him uneasy, as if it foreshadowed something important about to happen.
"What's wrong?" Sean finally broke the silence and asked with concern.
Luna seemed startled by his voice, trembling slightly before slowly speaking, "Yours..."
The disturbances...the rainbows have lessened, my... disturbances have increased...
Her voice was broken and very soft, so much so that Sean could only catch snippets of it.
He looked at her trembling lips and tearful eyes, his heart filled with confusion and worry.
Sean looked around to make sure no one else was there, then opened the office door for Luna and gestured for her to go in.
The office was quiet and spacious. He closed the door and poured Luna a warm cup of honey lemon tea, trying to calm her down.
"Miss Lovegood, could you repeat that to me? I didn't quite hear you," Sean asked softly, his eyes full of concern.
Luna took the teacup, took a small sip, and then took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm herself down.
She spoke again, her voice still trembling slightly, but much clearer than before, "Sean, I've noticed that I've been harassing you more lately, while yours has decreased. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I feel it's necessary to tell you."
At some point, Luna stopped calling Sean "Professor" and started calling him "Sean" directly.
But Sean didn't pay attention to this subtle change in address; his focus was entirely on the subsequent issue of the amount of harassment.
"So..." Sean began hesitantly, unsure of Luna's intentions.
"I want you to help me reduce some of the harassment," Luna said earnestly, staring intently into Sean's eyes.
782 words have been deleted. On the day before Christmas, in the auditorium.
"Looks like we're the only ones left at school," Ron said, finishing the eggs in his bowl.
He said to Harry and Hermione, "With us, plus Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, this holiday is going to be fun."
Because Crabbe and Goyle always followed Malfoy's lead, they also chose to stay at the school.
However, Harry was pleased that most of the students had left school.
He was tired of people avoiding his gaze in the corridors, as if he might turn into a monster at any moment; he was also tired of being the center of attention.
Fred and George, however, found it all quite amusing. They would often block Harry's way in the corridors, jokingly shouting, "The Slytherin heir is here! The evil wizard has arrived!"
Percy was very unhappy about this, and he coldly retorted, "This is not a joke."
"Hey, Percy, get out of the way," Fred teased. "Harry's a busy man."
George laughed and said, "Yes, he has to rush off to have afternoon tea with the Fang Servant."
Harry didn't mind; Fred and George's joke at least showed that they thought the idea of Slytherin's heir was utterly absurd, which gave him some comfort.
However, their actions seemed to further enrage Draco Malfoy, who turned pale every time he saw them.
"He's just jealous," Ron said knowingly. "Malfoy can't stand anyone being better than him. He did so much good work, and you stole all the limelight."
"It won't be long," Hermione said with satisfaction. "The compound decoction will be ready soon, and we can get information out of him anytime."
As she spoke, Hermione remembered the strands of Burst's hair she had kept in her suitcase, and a sense of anticipation welled up inside her.
The semester has finally come to an end, and the castle is filled with a tranquility as thick and pure as accumulated snow.
This means that the young wizards who stay in school can finally enjoy the fun of Wizards Slayer group battles without any worries.
They even secretly practiced dueling techniques.
Fred, George, and Ginny decided to stay at school, giving up the opportunity to travel to Egypt with the Weasleys to visit Bill.
Percy, however, disagreed and thus rarely entered the Gryffindor common room.
He had said that he stayed behind to support the work of teachers during turbulent times, out of a sense of responsibility as a prefect.
As the Christmas dawn broke, the surroundings were covered in white snow, a world of silver and white.
Only Harry and Ron remained in the common room, awakened early in the morning by Hermione's light footsteps and cheerful laughter.
She was dressed neatly and held in her hands the gifts she had carefully chosen for the two of them.
"Merry Christmas," Hermione said with a smile, tossing his gift over. "I got up an hour early and added some grasshoppers to the potion. It's ready now."
"Are you really sure?" Harry asked eagerly.
"I'm 100% sure," Hermione replied confidently. "If we're going to take action, I think tonight is a good time."
No sooner had she finished speaking than Hedwig suddenly flew into the room, carrying a delicate little package in her mouth.
It's a Christmas present.
Hermione had no intention of peeking at other people's Christmas presents, because no matter what the present was, it couldn't compare to the gift she had prepared for Professor Sean.
Of course, Sean had started preparing gifts for the witches a week earlier.
Last year, he gave Akiharu a "Kointoki 2000" and a while ago, he gave him a "Kointoki 2001", so he doesn't plan to give him a flying broom this year.
He used alchemy tools to create a model of a sports car to give to Qiu Zhang.
However, this is no ordinary car model. In some ways, if you were to use a magnifying spell on it... it might just turn into a real sports car.
Sean prepared a book for Hermione.
It was a collector's edition of all his books since they were first published, with his autograph and copies of his original manuscripts. He thought the little witch would love it.
Sean has prepared a different "Christmas exclusive skin" for Tonks than last year. After so many purchases, he has upgraded to an exclusive member of the Madam Malkin's Robes boutique.
As for the specific style, please allow me to keep you in suspense for now.
He prepared some new toys for Bella, including locks, giant bouncy balls, and gags... He thought Bella would love these things.
Of course, there are other witches, such as Susan and Penelope, but I won't go into detail about them here.
After distributing the gifts, Sean and Bella played games all afternoon. Hungry, he prepared to go to the Great Hall to attend the Hogwarts Christmas dinner—to be well-rested so he could tutor his junior, Tonks, that evening.
As he entered the auditorium, a magnificent atmosphere overwhelmed him, as if he had entered a dreamlike winter wonderland.
The first thing that catches the eye is a dozen or so majestic Christmas trees, their branches adorned with glittering ornaments and covered in glistening silver frost, adding an endless festive atmosphere to the entire auditorium.
Looking up, the cross-shaped decorative bands on the ceiling are eye-catching.
These ribbons, meticulously woven from mistletoe and holly, are robust and vibrant, resembling natural green vines intertwining in the air; and most astonishingly, magical snowflakes gently fall from the sky. These snowflakes are not ordinary, cold snowflakes, but warm and dry ones, dancing in the air and slowly landing on people and the ground.
It truly lives up to its reputation as a Christmas dinner.
Sean thought to himself.
Looking at Tonks' flushed cheeks beside him, he seemed to have already anticipated what would happen tonight.
But did he really foresee this?
There is often an insurmountable gap between plans and reality.
Perhaps things are completely different from what he imagined.
Sean could never have imagined that tonight...
(782 words have been deleted)