Hogwarts, the Deathday Party.

"Living people! So many!"

Sir Patrick, captain of the Headless Hunt, immediately noticed Erina standing next to Nick.

Then he looked around the hall, pretending to be surprised and jumping high, causing his head to fall off again, triggering laughter in the hall. Now all eyes were on them.

On the other side, the two professors who had just arrived at the hall entrance exchanged a look.

Siren choir, ghost gathering, Headless Hunt performance...

These were much more exciting than the Skeleton Dance Troupe. No wonder the Gryffindor students chose this side.

Amidst the laughter, the only one whose face wasn't so good was the host of this Deathday Party.

"Very amusing," Nearly Headless Nick said with a straight face.

"Oh, come on, guys, leave Nick alone!"

Sir Patrick's head shouted from the floor, looking particularly comical.

"He's still upset that we didn't let him join the Hunt! But I want to say, look at this guy—"

"I think, sir, I think..."

Erina glanced at Nearly Headless Nick, and said somewhat abruptly and flustered,

"Sir Nicholas is very—scary. He's the most impressive ghost I've ever seen, and—"

"Haha! Child!" Sir Patrick's head laughed loudly, "I bet he told you how to say that! The scariest, most impressive ghost? Ha—Nick, you have to figure out how to get your head off first."

With the Q&A between Sir Patrick and Erina, there was another burst of good-natured laughter in the hall.

Nick looked around awkwardly, the veins on his forehead bulging, and he argued vaguely.

"Forty-four chops... the guillotine! ...Just a tiny bit of skin holding on, does that count as not losing my head?" Then came unintelligible mutterings, something about "stupid lazy executioner" and "meaningless hair-splitting," which made the people attending the banquet couldn't help but laugh again, and the hall was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

"Ahem—attention, everyone, I will now begin my speech!"

Nearly Headless Nick stopped his argument angrily, and while speaking loudly, he strode towards the podium. He came under a cold blue spotlight, which Erina had specially created for him with top-notch lighting effects.

"My departed lords, ladies, and gentlemen, I am filled with great sorrow..."

Unfortunately, no one could hear what he said after that.

Sir Patrick and the other members of the Headless Hunt began playing a game of head hockey, and everyone turned to watch.

Nearly Headless Nick tried in vain to recapture the audience, but Sir Patrick's head flew past him amidst cheers, and he had no choice but to give up and continue reading his speech at the podium in a sullen mood.

At this time, Sirius and Lupin had arrived among the students and began to enjoy… supervising the dinner process.

However, in less than a quarter of an hour, they realized the limitations of their professor status.

"Sirius, stop just watching the show, you should at least think of something."

Lupin grumbled unhappily, patting himself awkwardly all over. The Deathday Party's banquet area had now become Peeves' private territory. As soon as they approached, Peeves would take out a bowl of moldy peanuts and throw them.

This was a special treatment that only he and Sirius could enjoy.

"Oh, you could consider going back to the Great Hall to get something to eat, if you're hungry—"

Sirius crossed his arms, gloatingly joking.

He had discovered a very helpless pattern these days: when he and Lupin encountered Peeves together, the little guy would prioritize taking his anger out on the "caretaker", and Lupin would sell him out without hesitation every time.

"It's not about being hungry. You know that, Sirius."

Lupin rolled his eyes at Sirius, and pointed his thumb at the dining area behind him.

"Those are ghostly dishes that even ghosts can taste. It's one thing not knowing before, but now that so many people are discussing and praising them, we can't eat a single bite—I won't be able to sleep this Halloween night."

"But you're a professor now, Professor Lupin, you have to learn to change your thinking."

"Unfortunately, that has no effect in front of that little guy—"

Lupin finally cleaned up the food crumbs on his body, and looked at Sirius warily.

"Don't try to trick me this time, I've tried it several times under your instigation."

"No, I mean... Oh, thank you, Weasley."

Sirius shrugged, suddenly turned his head, and smiled as he took two plates full of dishes from Percy, while casually asking.

"By the way, I forgot again, how many people in your family are studying at Hogwarts now?"

"Seven, professor. Including Charlie and the others." Percy answered excitedly and quickly.

"Correct answer, five points to Gryffindor—child, just this once tonight, don't tell anyone—otherwise Professor Snape will come looking for me. Also, I might have to trouble you to make a few more trips..."

"I'm happy to serve you, Professor Black."

The faint blue candlelight fell on the prefect's badge on Percy's chest, looking particularly mysterious.

In Lupin's unbelievable expression, Percy pushed up his glasses and ran quickly towards the dining area.

"This, this... no, I mean, Black you..."

Lupin looked at the rich "strange foods" on the table, and opened his mouth several times with a strange expression but couldn't say a word.

"You might as well just mark the price clearly, how many points in exchange for how much time of serving—"

"That won't work, the Hogwarts Great Hall's bulletin board records the reasons for adding points."

Sirius Black picked through the dishes with a knife and fork, forked a piece of stir-fried golden fatty sausage and stuffed it into his mouth, and explained vaguely to Lupin.

"You have to ask questions, that way, it will become [answering the question correctly]."

"Wait, you're the Hogwarts caretaker!"

Lupin supported his forehead speechlessly. He said why Gryffindor had been scoring points so quickly recently.

As Hogwarts' caretaker and a formal professor, Sirius Black had the right to add or deduct points anywhere, not just in the classroom. Judging from Percy Weasley's reaction just now, this kind of transaction was not the first time.

"That's right, so I didn't violate the school rules."

Sirius grinned, looking at Lupin triumphantly, and said slyly.

"Really not considering a little bit? Remus, or are you planning to continue fighting with Peeves?"

"...Do you think I'm stupid?" Lupin said unhappily, sitting down and picking up a knife and fork.

"By the way, Sirius. Speaking of which, I discovered a secret some time ago..."

Professor Lupin shook his head, while watching the Headless Hunt's head hockey performance not far away, and whispered mysteriously, "The Weasley twins, they've never been caught by Filch while wandering around at night."

"So what? Isn't that normal? After all, that gentleman is... um."

Sirius snorted dismissively, his eyes also staying on the Headless Hunt not far away.

As the most mischievous foursome at Hogwarts, he didn't think this was strange. When he, James, and Lupin were studying at school, the castle had almost no secrets in front of them.

"Well, at first glance, it doesn't seem to be a problem, but—"

Lupin blinked slyly, glanced at the two boys who were talking and laughing with a ghost in the corner.

"Once when I ran into them around the corner, I saw those two kids staring blankly at an old, blank parchment, and a few seconds before, I vaguely heard the phrase 'Mischief Managed'—you know, my ears have always been very sensitive."

"Oh. Blank parchment, Moony."

Sirius paused with the fork in his hand, his eyes a little dazed, as if he remembered something happy.

Of course he knew what Lupin was talking about, their masterpiece when they were young—the Marauder's Map.

It was a magical tool invented jointly by Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter, and him, specially used to accomplish pranks and night wanderings.

Since they often transformed into animals to explore after bedtime, they had a lot of knowledge about Hogwarts' underground passages, and they made the secret passages they discovered into the Marauder's Map.

At first glance, the map was just a blank piece of parchment.

But when the user said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," ink lines would begin to extend, revealing a map of Hogwarts, including the secret passages they knew.

Most importantly, the Marauder's Map would also display the real-time location of everyone in Hogwarts, as well as some methods and special spells for opening secret passages.

And when finished, as long as you say "Mischief Managed," you can restore the map to a blank state, to prevent others who know the map's password from using it.

The map was written with their names, but using nicknames only known to each other:

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

It's just that more than ten years have passed, Wormtail betrayed them and became a prisoner, and Prongs sacrificed himself.

The former Hogwarts "mischievous foursome" now only had Lupin and Sirius left to comfort each other.

"Looks like they passed the introductory test we left behind."

Sirius looked at the Weasley twins who were still playing, thoughtfully, and said softly.

"I see, I was wondering why those two little guys are so proud, arrogant, and lawless. It turns out they found an interesting toy... Maybe I can play with them at school later."

"Pay a little attention, you are the caretaker and Transfiguration professor now."

Lupin shook his head with a smile, and said expectantly.

"Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall definitely don't know that you've corrupted another prefect—I'll say it in advance, I don't know anything and I don't participate, just tell me the final result, I have a troublesome little guy to watch here."

As he said, he gestured towards the podium next to him with a wry smile, looking anxious.

The more he understood the excellence of this little witch, the more of a headache Lupin was now.

With just this one dish that allows ghosts to perceive taste, she could become the living "Ghost Princess" of the wizarding world. After the news spreads tonight, Lupin had no doubt about it—this was even more difficult than he imagined.

Maybe the child doesn't realize this yet, but Lupin could already foresee the frenzy that the ghosts might present.

Lupin looked around worriedly at the hundreds of ghosts around him, the difficulty has increased again.

It seems that in the subsequent guidance and care, he also has to add a teaching content on how to cautiously and restrainedly make wishes.

Even adults will get lost when surrounded by everyone, let alone Erina Kaslana, a twelve-year-old, who has not yet been exposed to complex society, a slightly talented, proud, and sensitive Veela.

Professor Dumbledore, you have given me a super difficult problem.

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Yay!