Old Blood at Hogwarts

Although the teachers assigned a lot of homework during the holidays, after the term was over, the people in Gryffindor Tower were almost the same as before the holidays, playing happily every day, and the tower seemed to shrink because of the people who lived in it. People were much noisier than usual.Fred and George's canary biscuits were selling very well. During the first day or two of the holiday, people suddenly sprouted feathers all over their bodies.But the Gryffindor students soon learned their lesson and became very wary of the food being handed to them, lest there be a canary biscuit hidden in the middle.George confidently told Aaron that he and Fred were working on another new product.Aaron warned himself never to accept anything from Fred and George, even a potato chip.He still hadn't forgotten about the Dursleys and Fat Tongue Toffee.

Heavy snow fell on the castle and grounds.Beauxbatons' light blue carriage looks like a big pumpkin covered in frost in winter, and the little gingerbread house sprinkled with frosting next to it is Hagrid's cabin, on the side of Durmstrang's ship A layer of ice formed on it, making it smooth and translucent, and the sail ropes were also stained with a layer of hoarfrost.The house elves in the kitchen below were busy preparing a variety of hot stews and sweet puddings, but only Fleur Delacour could find an excuse to complain.One night, as Aaron was leaving the Great Hall, he heard her frown and say: "The food at Hogwarts is so greasy that I can't even fit in my robes!"

One night before Christmas, Aaron finally waited for the full moon. He took a single mandrake leaf that he had prepared and put it into his mouth, and officially began the training to become an Animagus.From now on, he cannot take the leaves out of his mouth for the next month, and he must be careful not to swallow them when eating.

On Christmas morning, Aaron got up from bed and saw several packages at the foot of the bed. They were Christmas gifts for him.Aaron was sure that these packages were not there when he went to bed last night, and he didn't know when they were delivered, but he didn't hear any movement at all.

Looking at these gift packages, Aaron was filled with emotions.He still remembered that when he first came to Hogwarts two years ago, no one gave him any gifts during his first Christmas (at that time, he was not familiar with Harry, Ron, Hermione and others). , and his only friend Colin at the time was also petrified by the basilisk before Christmas).Last Christmas, only Colin gave him a scarf.But this year in addition to Colin, Harry, Hermione, Ron and even Mrs. Weasley all gave Aaron Christmas gifts.

Aaron opened the packages and saw that what Colin gave him was a light pencil sharpener, which also came with gadgets that could open various locks and untie various knots.Hermione sent a copy of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard", which is a fairy tale book in the magical world, similar to the "Grimm's Fairy Tales" in the Muggle world, except that the stories recorded in "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" They are all fairy tales from the magical world, and most of the protagonists in them are wizards. Basically, children in the magical world grow up reading this collection of stories.Ron gave Aaron a bulging bag of dung bombs.The package from Mrs. Weasley contained a red sweater.Finally, there was another package sent by Professor McGonagall, which contained the dress robes mentioned before.

It was a red robe trimmed with gold. The style was similar to his school robe, but it looked more gorgeous.Aaron was glad that the dress robes Professor McGonagall bought him were more similar to Harry's rather than Ron's.Aaron had seen the dress robe that Mrs. Weasley bought for Ron. Wearing something like that in public would be a nightmare.

Aaron spent almost the whole morning in Gryffindor Tower, surrounded by Gryffindor students who were happily admiring the gifts he had received.At noon, they enjoyed a sumptuous lunch in the Great Hall, including at least a hundred turkeys and a pile of Christmas puddings, as well as mountains of Cribbage wizard shortbread cookies.In the afternoon, the Weasley brothers invited Aaron to have a snowball fight with them outside, and Aaron agreed.They came out onto the field.The snow was white and almost untrodden, except for a deep footprint made by the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons when they returned to the castle.

In addition to the three brothers Aaron and Weasley, Harry and Lee Jordan also participated in the snowball fight.The six of them were divided into two teams.Hermione actually came with Aaron and the others, but she was only willing to watch the battle and refused to participate.

At five o'clock, Hermione suddenly told everyone that she was going back upstairs to prepare for the ball.

"What, you need three hours?" Ron asked, looking at her in disbelief.While he was distracted like this, he was hit hard on the cheek by a big snowball thrown by George.

"Who are you going with?" Ron shouted at Hermione's back.But Hermione just waved her hand and walked up the stone steps into the castle.

There will be no Christmas tea today as there is a banquet at the ball.But at seven o'clock, when the sky darkened and it became harder to aim, everyone gave up the snowball fight and returned to the common room together.

The Fat Lady sat in the frame with her friend Violet, both of them very drunk, and several empty boxes of liqueur chocolates were thrown at the bottom of her portrait.

"Bright light, yes, that's it!" She listened to their command, giggled and turned forward to let them in.

Aaron changed into the salute he had just received in the morning in the dormitory upstairs and went to the common room.The common room looked strange. The people inside were no longer wearing green and black robes, but instead wore colorful ceremonial robes.Aaron saw Harry and Ron, but he didn't see Hermione.Ron was wearing his dress-like ceremonial robe. The folds and lace on the ceremonial robe had been cut off by him, but he didn't seem to be doing his job efficiently. Aaron saw that his collar and cuffs were still stained. rough edges.Next to Harry stood Parvati Patil, an Indian girl. She looked very beautiful. She was wearing a dazzling pink robe, her black hair was braided with gold ribbons, and she had gold ribbons on her wrists. The bracelets sparkle.

Aaron followed everyone out of the common room and went downstairs to the first floor foyer.

The foyer was also crowded with students, milling back and forth, waiting for eight o'clock to arrive, when the doors to the auditorium would open.Some people want to meet their dance partners from other colleges, so they squeeze through the crowd sideways to look for each other.Aaron also looked for Luna in the crowd.

"Are you looking for me?"

Just as Aaron was looking around, Luna's voice came from behind him.

Aaron turned around and saw Luna standing behind him.She wasn't as crazy as usual, she looked obviously well-groomed.She wore a dark blue ceremonial robe, her golden hair was tied back, and she wore a pearl necklace around her neck.

Aaron discovered for the first time that Luna was actually quite beautiful.It's just that her usual slovenly appearance and somewhat crazy behavior have made everyone ignore her beauty.

"You...well...you are so beautiful." Aaron said a little unnaturally.

"Thank you." Luna said generously.

While he was talking, there was a sudden commotion at the door.Aaron looked back and saw that it was Fleur Delacour.She looked stunningly beautiful in a silver-grey satin gown.Accompanying her is Roger Davis, captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

After they were gone, a group of Slytherins came up the steps from their underground common room.At the front was Malfoy, who was wearing a high-collared black velvet robe. Aaron thought he looked like a vicar.Pansy Parkinson, wearing a frilly light pink robe, hung tightly on Malfoy's arm.Crabbe and Goyle, both dressed in green, looked like two moss-covered boulders, following Malfoy.

Then, the oak front door opened, and everyone turned to see Durmstrang's students walking in together with Professor Karkaroff.Krum walked in the front, accompanied by a beautiful girl in a blue robe whom Aaron did not recognize.Over their heads, Aaron saw that a lawn in front of the castle had been turned into a cave, with little fairy lights shining inside, which meant that there were hundreds of living fairies, sitting on magic roses. In the flowers, or flapping their wings on the statues, those statues seem to be Santa Claus and his reindeer.

At this time, Professor McGonagall's voice sounded: "Please come here, warriors!"

Professor McGonagall wore a red tartan robe with an ugly wreath of thistles on the brim.Aaron took Luna, the other three warriors and their partners to Professor McGonagall.She told them to wait by the door and let others go in first.After the students were all seated, they lined up and walked into the auditorium.

Fleur Delacour and Roger Davis stood nearest the door.Davis seemed unable to believe that he was so lucky to have a dance partner like Fleur. He simply couldn't take his eyes off her.Next to Fleur and Roger were Aaron and Luna, then Harry and Parvati, and finally Krum and his dance partner.Aaron's eyes fell on the girl next to Krum.Suddenly, he opened his mouth in surprise.

It's Hermione.

But she looked nothing like Hermione.She had done something to her hair and it was no longer matted but smooth and shiny, pulled back into an elegant bun.She was wearing a robe made of flowing light purple-blue fabric, and somehow her aura was different. Maybe it was just because she had removed the more than 20 thick books she usually carried on her body. .

"Hello, Aaron!" Hermione said with a smile, "And hello, Harry and Parvati!"

Aaron saw Parvati staring at Hermione with undisguised suspicion.She's not the only one doing this.There were also many girls who walked past Hermione and cast her extremely hateful looks.Pansy Parkinson walked by, holding Malfoy's arm, staring at Hermione. Even Malfoy seemed unable to find a word to insult her.