[SSHP] End of life

Hogwarts was ridiculously cold in December.It seems that once the calendar turns over the whole month, an invisible boundary is suddenly broken through, and the snowstorm continues one after another.It was getting dark earlier and earlier, and even when it wasn't really dark it was too dark to see.When the students were outside in Care of Fantastic Beasts, Harry could see Durmstrang's big boat frozen on the frozen Black Lake, swaying from side to side in the high winds and not freezing.There is a lot of broken ice at the junction of the hull and the lake, and the ladder to get off the boat is getting longer and longer.

"get out of class will be over soon." Professor McGonagall said one day after Transfiguration class, "I have a few words to say to all of you."

Harry was secretly mobilizing his magic.In the first aid tent, he noticed that Madam Pomfrey tapped Cedric's wound with the tip of her wand and instantly healed the wound without saying any spells.At this moment, everything on his table was off the table, too close to be seen, but it was indeed suspended.

"The Yule Ball is coming up - a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and a great opportunity for us to mingle with foreign guests. Well, the Ball is only open to students from Year [-] onwards - but if you wish, A junior student may be invited—”

Lavender Brown let out a piercing smirk.Parvati Patil poked her hard.The muscles in her own face were tensing too, because she was trying so hard not to laugh.They both turned to look at Harry.Professor McGonagall ignored them and continued: "Put on your dress robes. The ball will be held in the auditorium at eight o'clock on Christmas evening and ends at twelve o'clock midnight."

There was a buzzing noise in the classroom, and everyone was whispering.Professor McGonagall looked at the whole class calmly.

"The next day, the Hogwarts Express will leave Hogsmeade, and it will leave a little later, considering you may not be up in the morning after the carnival. You can laugh and relax on Christmas Eve, But that doesn't mean we're going to relax our behavioral requirements for Hogwarts students. I would be heartbroken if a student in any house did this to the school in any way."

When the bell rang for the end of get out of class, she seemed to have just finished speaking.As usual, everyone stuffed the books into their schoolbags, and then threw the schoolbags over their shoulders. There was a panic in the classroom.

Professor McGonagall raised his voice and called out through the noise: "Potter—please stay a moment, I want to say a few words to you."

Here we go again, it must be about the dance partner.Harry remembered his poor performance at the last dance, and walked listlessly towards the podium.If you don't count the consolingly haphazard pas de deux with Hermione in the snow tent - neither of them very good at it so it wasn't demanding, and it had been almost four years since he last danced, The dance steps learned with great difficulty must have returned to the original point due to neglect of practice.Last time he stepped on a few pairs of Parvati's shoes during practice, and this time he will probably step on several pairs again.

Professor McGonagall waited for the whole class to leave before saying: "Potter, all warriors must have their own partners to bring to the Christmas ball. According to the traditional practice, the dance is held by the warriors and their partners."

"Oh, I see," said Harry listlessly. "I'll find a partner."

He invited Parvati directly this time, and the girl said yes again with a piercing giggle.The students were no longer interested in class, and many professors had adjusted their teaching methods slightly to account for the situation, except for Snape, who still threatened the students to experiment with the antidote in the last class.

Snape's extra lessons were temporarily suspended.During Potions class, Harry noticed that his face was getting uglier, and he guessed it might be the reason for Voldemort's frequent activities.After all, he had the impression that last Christmas night, Karkaroff was so frightened that he did not hesitate to meet Snape in private at the risk of revealing his identity.Although he was reluctant to part with the pace of life he was used to, he still chose to accept when Snape informed him that the class was suspended without asking any further questions.Every night, he practiced dancing with Parvati.

On the day of the dance, Harry woke up early.It was dark outside, but there was no wind.

He played with the figurine that had been hiding by his pillow.After a while, the dormitory door was pushed open a crack, and a small figure walked in. He lifted Harry's bed curtain, and was surprised to see that Harry had sat up, put on his glasses, and was looking at him. "Dobby? Good morning," said Harry.

"Harry Potter is waiting for Dobby!" screamed the elf, his voice waking everyone up.Four shaggy heads poked out from behind his drapes, sleepy-eyed. "Dobby?" Ron asked.

"Sorry to wake you up, go back to sleep," Harry said.

But the four classmates obviously don't want to sleep anymore.Their upper bodies hung neatly by the bed for a while, and then they lazily rolled out of bed, sat on the carpet and began to unwrap their presents.

"Can Dobby give Mr. Harry Potter his own present?" Dobby asked.

"Thank you, I'm glad," said Harry, "I have a present for you, too."

He really didn't forget to prepare a gift for Dobby this time.This loyal elf bravely helped them a lot last time, and he must find a way to thank them.He got up and got out of bed, opened the box, took out the beautifully wrapped gift, and handed it to Dobby.

Dobby handed Harry a small package as well.Harry unwrapped it, revealing a pair of mismatched socks.He immediately put the socks on his feet.Dobby cried out again, tears welling up in his eyes, partly because Harry had put on his hand-knitted socks, and partly because he had unwrapped the present Harry had given him.Harry gave him a whole set of beautiful clothes.

"The people in the store wrapped the Harry Potter presents wrong!" said Dobby, happily dressed in a whole outfit, and horrified as he put on his socks. "They gave Harry Potter two of the same." socks!"

"Never mind, there are too many people who buy presents for Christmas, and they make mistakes sometimes," snickered Ron, handing Dobby a pair of lavender socks, "here's this for you, you can mix them up Wear it. And this gift, here's your sweater."

"It's very kind sir!" screamed Dobby, bowing low to Ron, his eyes filled with tears again, "Dobby knew that sir would make a great wizard because he was Harry Potter's greatest friend, but Dobby didn't expect Mr. to be as generous, as noble, as selfless as Harry Potter—"

"Just a pair of socks," said Ron.

"Dobby has to go, sir, we're already preparing the Christmas banquet in the kitchen!" Dobby said, and left the dormitory in a hurry, waving goodbye to Ron and the others before going out.

Harry sat down by the bed too, and joined his roommates in unwrapping presents.It was the familiar gifts: a tissue from the Dursleys, a bulging bag of dung eggs from Ron, a pencil sharpener from Sirius, and a big box of candy from Hagrid.Mrs. Weasley's new green sweater has a very different pattern, and the dragon moves on it, spewing out a fireball every now and then.Harry guessed that Charlie had told her all about the Horntail.Hermione gave Harry a book, not a Quidditch book this time, but a spell.

"What's that?" Ron asked, pointing to Harry's bed leg.

Harry turned his head and saw a box lying beside the leg of his bed. It was red with gold stripes, a very Gryffindor color that almost blended into the carpet in the dim light. , no wonder he didn't notice just now. "Gifts?" Harry asked suspiciously. "Who else gave me Christmas presents?"

"Is it Dumbledore?" Ron leaned over with interest.Harry reached out to pick up the box, and the outer wrapping of the gift felt very good, as if a ribbon had been used directly.The moment the box was opened, a piece of paper fell down, and two things rolled onto the carpet.

Harry picked up something on the rug.The slightly larger one was an oddly shaped bar of chocolate almost the size of his own fist, wrapped in waxed paper, apparently handmade.There was also a very, very small crystal bottle with a cork, only enough liquid for half a sip.The paper that fell to one side was a simple note with just a few words:

To Harry Potter:

drink it up.

He frowned and looked at the unsigned paper.The handwriting of the message is in beautiful cursive script. He is sure that he has never seen this font before, but he seems to be familiar with it somehow.He always felt as if he forgot something.

"Is this a potion? This bottle is so beautiful." Ron spun the small bottle against the candlelight, the irregular outer wall of the bottle refracted brilliant colors, "Why did Dumbledore give you the potion? There are other things on it information?"

The bottle is of course more than just pretty.It has multiple spells on it.Three years more study and reading experience than anyone else - only the last year of reading, making Harry the only person in the room who knew the charm attached to the bottle.But these experiences were not enough to tell him what these complex spells were.

Harry left the bottle alone, the paper was far more important.He used a few detection spells on the paper to make sure that there was no other writing on it, then he closed his eyes and searched his brain.Half a minute later, as if Merlin had given him some hint, he had a flash of inspiration, as if the old events from many years ago were finally connected one by one.The potions textbook, the handwriting on the blackboard, the font he saw on the documents in the principal's office before the final battle - he felt familiar at that time, but he didn't have time to think about it - the paper with the ancient rune spells The parchment, the paper—one's habits do not deceive, even if the lettering varies.

"No more information," said Harry, taking the potion from Ron's hand, "probably a lucky potion... so that I don't lose face at the dance tonight." He uncorked the bottle, That bottle of potion smells good.

Ron smelled that sweet smell too. "This bottle of potion must be delicious, why did Dumbledore give you a piece of chocolate? Not everyone likes sweets like him." Harry shook his head, Snape was not so kind, given that he had used grid Confounding with Ryffindor-style presents - that was probably as much as his Slytherin dignity could do, and he was not going to lure him with needless chocolates.This chocolate must have its value.

Holding the chocolate in his left hand, Harry stared bitterly at the small bottle of potion, then tilted his head back and drank it.The moment he entered the potion, he felt as if he was punched on the nose by someone head-on, or was stuffed under a pillow, and he had been unable to breathe for 2 minutes.He didn't know how he swallowed this small mouthful of potion, or even whether he swallowed it. When he recovered, he had already collapsed beside the bed, and it took a few seconds for him to breathe.The moment he inhaled, he felt unspeakable pain again, the air filled his mouth and nasal cavity, and the indescribable taste made him suffocate again.

He stuffed the chocolate into his mouth and bit down a large piece, the taste was much less.He took another bite, and this time he was able to breathe normally.He wiped his tears and found that everyone was staring at him with straight necks.The bottle and cork were not in the house, they disappeared. "It's... just beyond description," said Harry dryly. "Hope it works as well as it tastes."

"Probably the antidote," said Ron. "Everyone knows Snape is trying to poison you. He's been looking pretty ugly these days, and I bet he's jealous of you."

The author has something to say: Sometimes I am also quite strange. Generally, a chapter of an article is basically around 3000.The 3000-word chapter of this article feels very short, laughing, I have never been able to write long articles before, how did I write this article, how did I write it into 3500 words, I think it is too short, laughing.

In short, let's bear with this chapter and make a short-term outline. I promise to give you a big surprise within this week.Definitely not a scare, brackets laugh.In fact, I think some of you have already guessed almost the same, so just pretend to be surprised and cooperate with me.

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Sorry for another occupational disease.

Ever notice the difference between boundaries and boundaries?The basic usage is similar, and the function of the syntactic structure is the same, but there are still subtle differences.Boundaries are generally abstract and invisible, um, like the line of economic growth or something, this is the invisible hand, lol.The boundary line is more specific, for example, what is the boundary line for an item to divide into two parts.Time can be concrete or abstract. Here I think it is a relatively abstract cut-off point, so I chose the boundary.Is there a wrong choice, laugh.