[HP] Comparative

In the last week of the semester, the school is getting busier and noisier day by day.Rumors abounded about the Yule Ball, including that Dumbledore had ordered eight hundred barrels of spiced mead from Lady Rosmerta, and that the Weird Sisters had been invited to perform at Hogwarts.Students are not in the mood for class at all, and everyone is excitedly looking forward to the upcoming holidays.

In this atmosphere, Harry's lethargy seemed particularly out of place.In Care of Magical Creatures class on Wednesday, he, Ron and Hermione gathered around the trestle table behind Hagrid's hut, preparing the already large snails with food that they might be interested in.

Because of his absent-mindedness, Harry missed his aim when he dropped the sliced ​​dragon liver into the metal bowl, and it slipped slipperily out of his hand.Hermione grabbed the dragon liver quickly so it wouldn't fall to the floor. "Have you not been in a good mood lately, Harry?" She tossed the dragon liver back into the bowl, rather puzzled.

Harry knew she had been holding back for a long time.He ran away from Professor Slughorn's buffet, completely forgetting to wait for Hermione.Hermione must have found it strange: she had stumbled upon Krum and hadn't known Harry had run into Tom.Fortunately, Hermione wanted him to keep the matter of accosting Krum a secret, so she couldn't blame him for leaving early alone.

"Nothing," Harry muttered, giving a vague answer, "I'm just a little bit upset."

Ron thought he knew the answer to that question. "Harry and I haven't found a partner yet," he said, cracking a hard-boiled fire snake egg. "Why do you have to dance? It's so annoying."

This was the last thing Hermione wanted to talk about, so she coughed lightly. "It's all right, Harry," she tried to reassure Harry, "it's just the beginning of a dance. If you know who you want to invite, just tell her when you get a chance. It's easy."

Harry could tell she was avoiding discussing Ron's partner—their relationship had been icy respectful since Ron said he didn't want to dance with the last ugly one.Although between Ron and Krum, he would definitely choose Ron, but he couldn't even figure out his own feelings, let alone intervene in two friends who hadn't been exposed yet.

"I don't know who to invite." Harry replied wearily, and took another large piece of dragon liver, ready to continue cutting.

As he had expected, Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You don't know, Harry?" she said carefully, "I thought you..."

"What do you think of Harry?" Ron asked, with a rare shrewdness in his eyes.

Harry wondered if it was true that rough-headed Ron hadn't noticed his previous affection for Cho.Either way, he didn't want to continue discussing the matter—

Could he say that he had really considered inviting Cho, and that when Tom offered to help, he got angry and denied it?Not to mention leaving no way out for himself, he suddenly discovered that he might care more about Tom than Qiu?

Since the first project, he has been secretly paying attention to Tom, and has not paid attention to other people at all... To describe it accurately, he has never invested so much energy and persisted in studying a person for such a long time...

However, just as Hermione said, Tom doesn't look like he's going to like anyone... Even now, the other party may not know why he ran away suddenly at that time... Who would have thought that he was actually frightened by his hidden thoughts ...

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became, Harry could only force himself to divert his attention. "Nothing." He prevaricated, and turned to Hagrid, who was sitting at their table, "Will you go to the dance, Hagrid?"

The person whose name was called was staring at the Forbidden Forest not far away, his thick black eyebrows tightly tied into a knot.He didn't hear Harry at all until Ron gave him a hard push. "...what's the matter?" he asked, staring at the three of them blankly.

It was only then that Harry noticed that Hagrid also looked preoccupied, his eyes were bloodshot, and there were obvious dark circles under his eyes. "Did something happen?" He asked confusedly, then turned his head to look at the Forbidden Forest again, "You don't seem to have slept well?"

"Oh, it's not that I didn't sleep well, I didn't sleep at all." Hagrid sighed and rubbed his eyes with his big palm-like hands.

Hermione immediately forgot about Harry. "What's the matter with you?" she asked concerned, and sat down next to Hagrid.

Hagrid looked at them one by one, seemingly hesitant.But soon, they were all gone, and he sighed heavily again. "Actually, I don't know what happened." Other students were still talking and laughing at their desks, and he lowered his voice consciously, "Since this semester, there seems to be an extra top predator in the Forbidden Forest. I I didn’t pay much attention to it, but later I heard from the horsemen that there were somehow fewer large animals in the forest.” His mood was visibly depressed.

Taking advantage of his pause, Harry and Ron exchanged a look.Harry didn't think it was unusual at all, after all, there could be any monster in the dark wood.Ron's opinion is obviously similar to his. You must know that the giant spider can hunt very large prey.

Presumably only Hermione was listening to Hagrid intently. "What's 'inexplicably less'?" she asked sharply.

"Because they're gone, and there's nothing left." Hagrid gave her a wry smile back under his bushy beard. "It's as if they've been swallowed whole, and there's no skeleton left."

It did sound a bit creepy, but Harry was intrigued. "It's not impossible, is it?" He expressed his opinion, "I think there must be some magical creatures that can digest bones."

Hagrid nodded at him. "That's right, I thought so too, so I didn't take it seriously. Until recently, Aragog suddenly moved his nest deeper into the woods."

Aragog was Hagrid's first acromander and the ancestor of all acromanders in the Forbidden Forest.

Ron was terrified of spiders, and couldn't help but shudder when he heard Aragog's name. "Wouldn't that be nice?" he muttered under his breath, rubbing his goosebumped arm vigorously.

Hagrid was so absorbed in his own melancholy that he didn't catch Ron's words. "For so many years, Aragog has been staying in his lair. Since he got old, he hardly went out to hunt. It was I who brought the cut meat in for him to eat. I really can't think of anything that would make him He took the initiative to move his nest..." Speaking of this, he became more and more frowning, "In the end, he told me that something was preying on his descendants."

"Is there anything else that can eat acromantula?" Harry was very surprised when he heard it at first.Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the expression on Ron's face, and felt that Ron was about to laugh out of joy, so he quickly patted his friend under the table.

Hermione had the same question as Harry. "I thought there were no creatures in the Forbidden Forest more vicious than acromanders," she said truthfully—and Ron shuddered again at the word "vicious"—"spiders don't eat centaurs, but neither do centaurs. Spiders! There are unicorns too, aren't there?"

In normal times, Hagrid would definitely argue with Hermione about whether or not the acromant was ferocious, but now he couldn't keep his spirits up. "Yes," he said annoyedly, reaching out to grab his already messy hair into a chicken coop, "I asked him what it was, but he refused to say it, looking very afraid."

"So you're going to find out yourself." Hermione understood. "You patrolled the woods at night, didn't you?"

Hagrid nodded again. "I went there for three or four nights, but found nothing." His shoulders and eyebrows slumped together, "the horsemen refused to tell me. They are always secretive, and only willing to use a large black shadow to refer to it."

The three looked at each other.The description of Sombra is too vague, and I can't guess anything.But then again, did any of them really feel sorry for the mysterious disappearance of the acromantula - as Hagrid showed it -?

"Uh," Harry tried to comfort Hagrid, while he couldn't help but suspect that Ron probably wanted to set off fireworks to celebrate, "whatever that shadow is, as long as it exists, you're sure to be able to catch it." But he That said, he just didn't want to see Hagrid sad.In fact, he felt that there was nothing wrong with Ron's idea.There are so many acromantids in the Forbidden Forest, it doesn't matter if there are a few or few.

The look on Hermione's face showed that her views were not much different from Harry's. "Yes," she patted Hagrid's arm resting on the table, "Since you said that those animals disappeared, then the black shadow is probably the type of elusive. Don't worry too much, take a good rest, and pay attention to safety when patrolling .”

Hagrid nodded emphatically.He pulled out his handkerchief the size of a towel and began blowing his nose vigorously.The three were careful not to look at each other lest they make inappropriate expressions.

Walking back to the castle after Care of Magical Creatures class, Ron was literally in high spirits. "This is really wonderful news!" He waved his arms happily, "The black shadow that eats spiders! I hope it has a better appetite, so that it can quickly finish eating those disgusting things!"

"Don't say that, Ron, Hagrid's going to be very sad." Hermione gave him a reproachful, but weak, look.

And Harry was thinking about something else. "Did Aragog really see that black shadow clearly?" He asked the question that had been lingering in his mind just now. Aragog doesn't dare to say what that black shadow is?"

"Whatever it is," Ron said disapprovingly, "as long as it can deal with spiders, I think that shadow is good - at least it deserves a medal for killing people!"

That made Hermione laugh angrily. "Medal for Civilian Harm? You award it, don't you?"

Ron nodded of course. "I'd like to use all my pocket money to build one for it!" He clenched his fists firmly.

Seeing the gibberish getting more and more outrageous, Harry had to pull it back aloud. "If what Aragog said is true, what on earth would eat acromantula?"

Ron must have thought of something, because he immediately made a puke face.

"Basilisk," Hermione replied without blinking, not looking at Ron anymore, "it's written in the books that basilisks are natural enemies of acromantulas. But there can't be basilisks in the Forbidden Forest... basically, There's been no record of a basilisk for hundreds of years. And, if it was a basilisk, there's no way Hagrid didn't know about it!"

"Why?" Harry asked curiously.

"Looking directly into the eyes of the basilisk will kill people immediately, and it can also petrify people indirectly." Hermione explained, speaking quickly, clearly and accurately, "Think about it, if there are more monsters like this in the Forbidden Forest, The consequences are more than what Hagrid said?"

Harry thought about it, and felt that what she said made a lot of sense.The Basilisk's eyes can be regarded as an indiscriminate attack, and its lethality is too great. "But when it comes to disappearing," he said thoughtfully, "does it mean that no one saw how those animals disappeared? Aragog probably didn't see it either. He only speculated from the disappearance of his descendants that they were eaten. gone?"

Facing his questioning gaze, the other two shook their heads.

"I don't know," Hermione frowned, trying hard to figure it out. "Maybe they saw it and just didn't say it; maybe they just guessed like you speculated..."

At this time, the three had already entered the castle and climbed the stairs leading to the Charms classroom. "Anyway, it's a great thing to celebrate!" Ron concluded in an unquestionable tone, his eyes sparkling. "I'm going to have to eat a lot tonight, ha!"

In the next class, since everyone's mind was not on the books, Professor Flitwick simply allowed them to play games.This made Ron happier, and even Harry wasn't as sullen as he had been the other day.After class, the three went downstairs talking and laughing, intending to go to the auditorium for dinner, but they were blocked in the corridor leading to the hall.

"What happened?" Hermione wondered as she looked at the sea of ​​people surrounding her. "We didn't miss any must-know events, did we?"

Ron, the tallest of them all, stood on tiptoe. "No, they seem to be surrounding someone..."

Harry looked in the direction of Ron's line of sight, and could only see a mass of black heads.He thought for a while, and stepped back up the stairs, so that the height would be enough. "Who are they really around," he affirmed, squinting his eyes, trying to make out the two men in the empty central circle—

They were both so iconic that he recognized them in no time.

It's Tom, and Fleur.

"...Why are they standing there facing each other?" Someone not far away was discussing, full of curiosity, "It seems like it's been a while? Don't you know what to say after you say hello?"

"I don't know," another student replied, seeming very excited, "I heard that girl with long silver hair was wandering in the hall until Riddle showed up after class!"

"Does she, like everyone else, want to invite Riddle to the ball?" A third voice interrupted | a girl, her tone full of hatred, "Why doesn't she choose one of Beauxbaton's boys?"

These words immediately attracted a lot of disgust. "Is there even a need to ask? Which boy in Beauxbatons is as good as Riddle?"

Even if Harry couldn't guess what they were doing when he saw them, he knew it all now.Then he realized that Fleur was probably looking at Tom at the buffet.But Tom told Slughorn he wanted to go back on vacation...

Ron had heard the talk too. "What does this mean?" He looked suspiciously at Harry and Hermione, "Even if she wants to invite Riddle, it won't take much time, right? How could it be so blocked?"

At this time, Hermione had already climbed up to a step higher than Harry's position, and curled her lips when she heard this. "Who knows? Maybe people just like to watch them? I have to say, this combination is quite eye-catching."

Harry found himself resisting that fact internally, but he couldn't show it. "Ron's right," he whispered. "I forgot to tell you that Fleur has Veela blood. Her grandma is Veela, she said during the Warrior's wand test."

Hearing this, Hermione gasped in horror immediately behind him. "You mean... she wanted to use that ability just now, so that Riddle would treat her..."

At this moment, Fu Rong suddenly moved.The noisy crowd around immediately quieted down, and every eye was fixed on her and Tom without blinking, for fear that they might miss any important scene. "I just want to ask," she said, her voice was clear and sweet, but there was obvious tension inside, and there was a hint of embarrassment in it, "Do you already have a dance partner?"

Tom was facing Harry's direction.Because of the distance, Harry couldn't see his expression clearly. "not yet."

Fleur was probably laughing or something, because the circle of boys behind Tom suddenly stirred restlessly. "Can you come with me, Tom?" she asked again, sounding like she was trying to be as reserved as possible, but not too successfully.

Unexpectedly, she actually said it, Harry's heart sank, and his fingers on the banister immediately clenched.Turn her down, a voice in his head yelled like crazy, that you don't want to go to the prom, or whatever reason—

It's right to reject her anyway!

The tall boy didn't answer right away.The crowd held their breath, waiting eagerly for his reaction.After a few seconds that seemed extremely short and seemed long, he finally spoke, quietly and clearly: "That will be my honor."

The excited booing suddenly exploded, and the sound wave was so loud that it could lift the ceiling of the hall.Harry's knuckles were clenched white, and his stomach slumped down.

The author has something to say:

Harry:? ? ?I just thought about it for a few days!

Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~

Thanks to the little angels who voted [Bazooka]: KK 3; Tang Chenxin 1;

Thanks to the little angel who threw [Grenade]: 1 Xuanyangqu;

Thanks to the little angel who cast [Landmine]: 1 Dead Leaf, Feathering, Jade Scratching Head;

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:

李贪20瓶；病毒体7瓶；阿莫墨5瓶；迷蝶3瓶；姬长翎1瓶；

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!