Mysterious Journey
Chapter 907: Social Gala and the Hunt
Just as the colors of each Hogwarts house's banners differed, the banquets hosted by each house also presented distinct atmospheres and personalities. For instance, Slytherin valued sophisticated social networking with a delicate buffet, and Hufflepuff emphasized a rich and delicious food banquet. If you asked Aliena to describe the scene before her in one word, it would be—
Amusement park.
Or more accurately, a magical version of a carnival.
Compared to the little wizards who lacked entertainment, Aliena naturally knew how to host a lively banquet, and in her opinion, there was nothing more suitable for the Gryffindor style fellowship party than a "magical carnival".
The Hogwarts kitchen provided an extremely rich selection of food, but at least half of it was temporarily purchased from Hogsmeade.
"Oh, Percy, even if you're my own brother, you have to follow the rules—"
Ron sat on the left side of the room away from the fireplace, righteously rejecting Percy's attempt to hint at letting him win.
He tapped the marble wizard chess board in front of him with his wand. The chess pieces that had been shattered into pieces stood up again, but they did not return to their original appearance. Instead, they returned to a certain state of deadlock, as if regretting a move.
And around Ron, there were several similar chess boards, and many little wizards were racking their brains in front of the chess boards.
"Winning gets you two full exchange tickets, and a draw gets you a butterbeer reward, but even if you lose, there's a reward—uh, lollipop quill, this is a... small hint for you and Penelope, don't worry too much about the Queen..."
Ron took two lollipop quills from Harry and handed them to Percy, whispering when no one was paying attention.
As the owner of the Gryffindor "Wizard Chess Endgame" game stall, he really couldn't let anyone win.
After all, there were so many spectators watching, and if he acted too obviously, all the prizes would be given out in no time—Aliena only got him ten endgame chess scores, so he had to find a way to last until the end of the night.
"...Don't worry too much...about the Queen?"
Percy was stunned for half a second, still trying to figure out Ron's hint.
Just then, a burst of cheers erupted from the other side of the common room.
"Don't push, don't push... Let me see, Meryl, you guys won, you can take the exchange tickets to exchange for things—as for the others, a handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans... Okay, next group—you must team up, oh—"
Hermione stood on a small circular wooden platform, trying to maintain order.
Behind her was a huge slate of three 9x9 blocks, one of which was now filled with the numbers 1-9.
Meryl Streep was counting the exchange tickets she had just earned from the "Sudoku" game with a satisfied look on her face, while George Weasley was standing beside her holding a large pile of dolls and snacks with a silly smile, looking even happier than if he had won the game.
Penelope looked enviously at the dolls and then at the lollipop in her hand.
"Let's go over there, Percy—I've discovered that playing chess is really not your forte..."
"Sudoku... hiss... that seems very difficult too—"
Percy glanced at the numbers behind Hermione that were slowly disappearing and changing, feeling a little distressed.
Unlike Ron's level, the biggest problem there was competition—three Sudoku slates, three groups of contestants.
Only the winners can get exchange ticket rewards, and the number of exchange tickets depends on the length of time used. In Percy's memory, this seems to be the first group to successfully complete the game tonight, so it is not difficult to understand the cheers that suddenly erupted just now.
"It's okay, it's just Sudoku—there are questions on *A Bite of Hogwarts*."
Penelope moved her wrist, her eyes glowing with competitive light.
"Eh? But, I was almost..."
Percy was stunned for half a second, he was about to say to try the endgame again.
Just a moment ago, Percy had finally figured out the hint that Ron had quietly given:
If he had directly changed the Queen just now, he could at least force a draw with Ron, and maybe even take the first win.
"That's what you said the previous five times, let's go play something else first... Otherwise all the prizes will be exchanged by others, don't worry, it's just Sudoku, Weasley, you can help me cast spells to adjust the numbers, I'll take care of the rest!"
Penelope glared at the "useless man" beside her, her long eyelashes making Percy's heart tremble.
Also a Ravenclaw student, the girlfriend of the Weasley family's "useless man", she couldn't lose to her senior.
After a few tens of minutes of observation, Penelope finally realized that although the dodo was considerate and serious, he was not as good as some lower grade students in terms of playing. For the sake of the prize, she had to start working hard.
"Penny, one last time, or..."
Percy scratched his cheek, trying to save the last dignity of being a boyfriend.
Before he could finish speaking, Percy felt someone pat him on the shoulder.
"Weasley, given my relationship with your father, I think I should give you a little advice—sometimes whether you are correct or not is not important, what is important is your little girlfriend's mood, go play somewhere else first..."
"Huh? Professor Black? Professor Lupin?! Why are you here too—"
Percy turned around and saw Sirius Black standing behind him, seemingly waiting for a long time.
And behind Sirius, the formal professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lupin, had a helpless expression, looking as if he had been forcibly dragged to this place. Rather than waiting in line, it was more like he was being dragged to stand as punishment.
"What's wrong, can't a professor attend a fellowship party? Don't worry, I don't object to students dating normally."
Sirius Black grinned and glanced at Penelope, who was blushing with embarrassment because of his words.
This kind of lively scene reminded him of the days when he was studying at Hogwarts. As a famous bad boy, he knew too well how to help those little guys who unfortunately encountered strong girlfriends.
Of course, he could only give a little advice, after all, he was still single himself.
"What's wrong, Padfoot, are you eyeing some student?"
Remus Lupin nudged Sirius with his shoulder, half-joking and half-serious.
"You are now a formal professor. If Professor McGonagall finds out, it might not be as simple as detention. Of course, if you plan to develop a sincere relationship with marriage in mind, I can guarantee it to Dumbledore for you—"
"Don't be silly, Moony—marriage is too troublesome, I don't want a bunch of Blacks in the world later."
Sirius refused without hesitation, squatted down, looked at Ron, who had reorganized the endgame, and said mysteriously.
"Hey, how about I give you extra points, and you just give us the exchange tickets—"
"Sirius!" Lupin frowned.
"Just kidding, I'm not Snape, the kind of guy who deducts points randomly without principles."
Sirius Black glanced at Ron, who was suddenly stunned in his seat, his face flushed red with tension. This youngest Weasley was obviously stronger than his brother, at least he could resist the temptation of extra points.
"The rules are chess, right? Then let's start—Professor Lupin was a Gryffindor chess saint when he was in school."
As he spoke, Sirius smiled mischievously and pressed Lupin into the seat in front of Ron.
"That was a long time ago, and I didn't—"
Lupin said helplessly, with an indescribable look of resistance. There was nothing to be proud of for playing chess with students and winning, but losing would still be a little embarrassing, although he himself didn't care.
"...It's different, I believe you can definitely do it!"
Sirius winked at Lupin, smiling meaningfully.
"Uh, okay... Queen, d6, Check—"
Lupin shook his head, cleared his throat in Ron's somewhat strange eyes, and directed his own Queen to actively come within the attack range of the opponent's knight, making a seemingly meaningless act of self-sacrifice.
At the same time, it was also the only possible starting move for this endgame to force a draw and win.
As a werewolf, Professor Lupin had much better hearing, vision, and smell than ordinary wizards.
With the way Ron lowered his voice to give hints just now, let alone Remus Lupin, even Sirius Black could hear it clearly—Animagus is not just a transformation spell, it also slightly changes part of a wizard's physique.
"Katie, don't hesitate, if this goes on, all the boys will be taken away by the Ravenclaw b*tches—"
On the right side of the Gryffindor common room, on the rotating staircase above, Angelina nudged her best friend beside her.
Compared to the heartless boys, as Ravenclaw girls poured into the common room, the Gryffindor girls instantly smelled the signal of war—the Ravenclaw b*tches were all wearing makeup today, even if it was light makeup, it was war!
Obviously, this was a long-planned and well-organized team fight!
Due to carelessness caused by home advantage, the Gryffindor girls accidentally suffered a big loss in the first wave of contact.
Then, I don't know who started it, but almost all the upper-grade Gryffindor girls slipped back to the girls' dormitory above for various reasons, hurriedly starting to dress up and comb their hair, preparing to get their revenge.
Although they suffered a big loss in the first-level group, they still had the confidence to rely on their home advantage to get back a little bit... right?
"Angelina... take a look at your silly roe deer..."
Before Katie Bell could answer, Alicia Spinnet poked Angelina several times with her elbow.
Following the direction of her finger, by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, Fred was performing magic tricks with butterbeer bottles alone. A large group of Ravenclaw girls surrounded him, occasionally making extremely pretentious screams and cheers.
And the most outrageous thing was that some shameless b*tches even tried to feed Fred with fruit.
*Crack-*
"You guys clean up, I'll go down first..."
Angelina Johnson threw down the comb that was broken in half in her hand, smiled, and rushed down.
A few seconds later, Fred's painful cries and screams heralded the start of the girls' team fight.
"What should we do, Katie... what are you planning? Huh?"
Alicia Spinnet curled her lips, and after enjoying Fred's miserable end with ease, she turned around and realized that Katie Bell's gaze had long since stopped staying on Angelina and Fred, but was looking at the other side of the common room.
Different from the large areas of gold, red, bronze, and blue in the common room, that corner was sparsely dotted with silver, green, and brown-yellow.
In addition to Ravenclaw students, a small number of Hufflepuff and Slytherin students also came to today's fellowship party.
"Wait, Katie, are you planning to start hunting other houses?" Alicia asked in surprise.
"Those Gryffindor guys are too familiar, most of them are good buddies, there's really nothing to do—"
Katie Bell shrugged, her gaze staying on those somewhat restrained outer house boys, her eyes flashing with eager excitement, "Those Ravenclaws can reach out, why can't we take the initiative to attack?"
"Wait, over there, you're not planning to find a Slytherin boyfriend, are you?"
Alicia Spinnet was stunned for half a second, saying in disbelief.
"Strictly speaking, it's not that I can't consider it..."
Katie pressed her finger lightly on her lips, a colorful light that made people's hearts ripple rising in her eyes.
"But not those students, don't you think that group of graduates... um, for example, that former Slytherin Quidditch team captain, seems much more reliable than those childish ghosts below?"
"Speaking of which, it seems..."
Alicia Spinnet blinked and glanced around at the silent and quiet outer house boys.
"The Hufflepuffs, especially that Cedric, seem pretty good too—"
"Then... good luck?"
"Good luck!"
They cheered each other on and quickly started tonight's hunt.
In fact, apart from Alicia and Katie, there were quite a few Gryffindor girls who shifted their targets.
Compared to those impulsive, reckless, and playful little boys from Gryffindor, that group from Hufflepuff, and the "Master of Magic" students who were curious and came here to participate in the fellowship party, were obviously more like the definition of men.
"Um... it seems that the overall effect today is good—"
At the entrance of the Gryffindor common room, Aliena's gaze wandered around the room for a while.
"Unexpectedly, it was the Gryffindor girls who noticed the treasure first... It seems I have to pay attention later, in case those young and energetic 'magic graduate students' want to develop further, that would be quite a headache."
In the corner of her eye, Ginny Weasley and Cho Chang looked a little eager to try.
Obviously, after thinking about it, Coach Hermione was still preparing to try to use a beauty trap.
After all, if everything goes well, Ginny and Cho alone can defeat two extremely powerful Quidditch teams for their Hogwarts newcomer team, securing four victories—considering Ginny's identity, they might be able to target one more team.
"I really want to see the results later... tsk... how annoying..."
Aliena sighed a little reluctantly, pushed open the Fat Lady portrait silently, and left the common room.
Outside the common room, an old man with a long silver beard was putting away the pocket watch in his hand, looking at the part-Veela hybrid who appeared outside the Gryffindor common room on time with a smile, and said softly.
"Let's go, Professor McGonagall has been waiting for you for a long time..."
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Yay!