HP Starlight

Esther followed closely for two steps before catching up with Professor Snape.All the way to the door of the office, I found Durmstrang's principal Karkaroff standing there.

"So you're here, Severus. I want to talk to you," Karkaroff said in a smooth tone.

"I'm not free right now, Igor." Snape retorted stiffly.

"You should also notice the change, nothing is more important than this." Karkaroff said forcefully, and looked at Esther sternly, as if he wanted her to leave wisely.

Before Esther could react, Professor Snape took a step to block Karkaroff's sight, "I didn't notice any changes, so don't be suspicious."

Karkaroff was about to say something more, when another person came from the other end of the aisle, "Let me see, are old friends gathering here?" Professor Moody said viciously.

Professor Snape tensed up.Karkaroff's face suddenly turned pale, he opened his mouth but made no sound, and finally hurried past Professor Moody and walked towards the exit of the underground classroom.

"What are you plotting here? Um, Snape? Open up your office, I'll check," said Professor Moody forcefully.

"You have no right to do that," Professor Snape hissed.

"On the contrary, Snape, what do you think Dumbledore asked me to do? I have the right to search any place I think is suspicious. Or, you have hidden something ulterior in the office, so you dare not let me see it ?” said Professor Moody aggressively.

Snape's face was flushed with anger, and he opened the office door after a moment of silence.

"You'd better hurry up, Moody, I also have to talk to the brave about the Yule Ball." Professor Snape suppressed his anger and restrained himself.

Moody walked into Snape's office and started rummaging. "Just because there are warriors here, it is all the more necessary to search carefully, so as not to have a situation like Potter's again." He said.

Finally, after the last thing had left its place too, Moody stopped the search.

"Maybe there is some hidden secret door?" Moody still scanned the entire room with his magic eyes.

"Professor Moody, is your magic eye malfunctioning? If not, don't make unnecessary guesses. Since Professor Snape allowed you to check, it means that he has a clear conscience. If you insist on slandering our dean, I can only ask Professor Dumbledore has come to judge." Esther's eyes were burning with anger.

"Collins, I am very touched by your behavior of defending the teacher. But you must understand right from wrong, not everyone is worthy of your trust and protection. As a Hogwarts warrior, you must remember to be vigilant at all times!" Professor Moody cast a good eye Turning to her, the Eye remained on Snape.

"Thank you for reminding me, I know who is trustworthy and who is not." Esther looked directly at Professor Moody without flinching.

"I heard that you and Potter are friends, but unfortunately your eyesight is not as sharp as his." Moody turned his eyes to Snape again, stared at him for a while, and then moved sideways from between him and Esther.

Esther looked at Snape who was still stiff, and decided to keep silent for the time being.She gently put the specimen jar and potion bottle back to their original positions one by one, waiting for Professor Snape to calm himself down.

"What happened today..." After a while, Esther heard Snape's hoarse and deep voice coming from behind, "Don't tell anyone."

"Got it, Professor," Esther replied.

"Okay, there's no need to clean up." After a while, Professor Snape returned to his normal tone, "I called you here to tell you that, as Hogwarts warriors, you and your dance partner will meet at the Yule Ball. The other warriors and their partners dance. You must choose a suitable partner for yourself as soon as possible."

"But I don't want to go to the ball, professor." Esther blushed when she thought of dancing under the gaze of countless eyes.

"It's a tradition, Miss Collins, you must attend." Professor Snape said seriously.

"Okay, professor, I see." Esther quickly accepted the reality.

"You can go back," said Professor Snape.

"Clean it up for you." Esther started to get busy again.

After a while, Professor Snape's deep voice sounded again, "You shouldn't contradict Professor Moody, don't go against him."

"But I don't trust him, Professor. I know he's really strong. But I don't think he's any better than a Death Eater. Even when he's showing the Unforgivables, there's a moment when I think he enjoys them. Pardon I'll be honest, sometimes I think he's more of a Death Eater than an Auror," Esther confessed.

"You haven't seen a Death Eater, so don't guess casually." Professor Snape said dryly.

"I already know that Karkaroff is a Death Eater, Professor." Esther saw Professor Snape suddenly look up and meet his gaze, and continued, "There are other guesses. But I still like the past I trust you as well. I have my reasons, and no matter what others think, I insist that you are different from them."

Professor Snape stared at Esther without saying a word, making her regret that she had said too much.She continued to organize the display case, but her intuition told her that the eyes behind her were still on her.She tried to focus on the bottles of eyes, skin or bones soaked in the liquid, but her face still felt hotter than when she was scorched by the scorching flames of the dragon.

It finally took some time to restore the office to its original state, Esther hurriedly said good night to Professor Snape, and walked out of the office quickly.

News of the Yule Ball quickly became the number one talking point at Hogwarts.In every recess in the hallway someone sent out prom invitations to others, some rejoicing at their successes, others dejected at their failures.

Esther had no one she wanted to invite, and she couldn't and dared not invite Professor Snape to be her dance partner.So she casually said yes to the first Durmstrang student who extended an invitation to her.Even though her partner was confirmed, invitations kept coming to her, and she even received some small things that contained love potions.She wasn't angry, and took all the orders.In this way, in Potions class, besides taking care of her Felicia, she could also study which love potion she had received, and try to make some antidote by the way.

"What's the ingredient again this time? It smells good." During the Potions class, Leona approached Esther's cauldron and couldn't help but look inside.

"This time it seems to be a powerful love potion, and it's quite cheap." Esther smelled a familiar bitter taste, and couldn't help but glanced at Professor Snape who was patrolling the classroom, his face was slightly flushed.

The love potion mixed in the chocolate was gradually extracted by Esther.This time it wasn't just Leona, the whole classroom smelled something more or less.Everyone turned to Esther's cauldron, and even Professor Snape frowned at her.

Esther quickly used the Separation Curse on the Love Potion, and the smell gradually dissipated.Leona looked at Esther's cauldron with a lot of interest, and sighed regretfully.

While everyone was enthusiastically preparing for the Christmas ball, Orion and Leona called all the prefects of the four colleges to cooperate with the professors to decorate the castle.

"We want to show the best of Hogwarts this year." Professor McGonagall said seriously at the planning meeting, "Everyone has any good ideas to share."

"I've chosen a Christmas tree for this year in the Forbidden Forest, definitely the biggest twelve firs," said Hagrid excitedly, his bright black eyes twinkling.

"Thank you, Hagrid. Only you can do this." Professor McGonagall nodded to him.

"I'll decorate the trees when they come in," said Professor Flitwick sharply. "I'll make sure they're the shiniest Christmas trees. I'm going to add some more holly this year."

"Maybe something alive like a Halloween bat," said Ravenclaw fifth-year prefect Dole.

"A bat wouldn't be a good fit, how about an owl, the messenger of friendship?" said Cedric, Hufflepuff Head of Sixth Form.

"That's a good idea, Mr. Diggory!" said Professor McGonagall affirmatively. "I remember your Transfiguration results are very good, so I'll leave it to you."

"I heard that there will be ice sculptures for Beauxbaton's Christmas decoration, should we make some too?" Orion suggested.

Leona nodded, "Esther can do it, and she is best at freezing spells."

"I also thought of one, how about asking the armor to sing Christmas carols." Professor Flitwick said excitedly, standing on the raised chair.He was so small that even standing on a chair, he was not much taller than the others.

After discussion, everyone customized a detailed plan.Everyone worked together, and it took three days to complete the work of dressing up one after another.

On the first day of Christmas vacation, Leona invites Esther to the Room of Requirement.

"Help me see how my dress looks like? What hairstyle should I go with?" Leona was wearing a bright silver dress and asked Esther to help her as a consultant.

"I think a wedding can be held directly with a bun and a veil," Esther teased her.

Leona patted Esther in embarrassment.

Esther used her wand to help Leona try to curl her hair, braid it or put it in a bun.Finally Leona settled on a high bun with some loose ends curled into waves.

"It's your turn, where's your dress?" Leona asked.

"I forgot to prepare it for the holidays. I just ordered it by mail recently and it hasn't been delivered yet." Esther said nonchalantly.

"Don't delay, you're going to dance." Leona seemed more anxious than Esther, "If you really don't catch up, you can wear mine first."

"Thanks, Leo. But I care more about my golden egg." Esther looked sad.She now sleeps with a golden egg every day, and her roommates joke that she is like a nesting female dragon, no wonder she is not interested in proms and the opposite sex.Esther hoped that something could hatch from it, but the golden egg was hollow, and there was nothing but ghostly screams.

Leona has also heard the voice of Harry's golden egg, and she can understand Esther's mood very well.

"Don't worry, there are still two months. I don't think Harry is in a hurry." Leona comforted her

"Did he unlock the clue to the golden egg?" Esther asked in surprise.

"He's busy messing with the Weasley twins. I haven't seen him touch that thing again." Leona grimaced.

Esther took out the golden egg and held it in her hand, wanting to take a closer look to see if there were any small words that she missed.

"Will it be like the Chamber of Secrets needs Parseltongue to open, this one needs to speak to it in Dragon Language to make a normal sound?" Leona guessed wildly while restoring her hair to its original shape.

"What you said seems to make sense. Maybe it's not that it makes a normal sound, but you have to learn the dragon language to understand it!" Esther never thought of having this idea.She concentrated on thinking that she needed a dragon language book.After a while, a large green book thicker than a dictionary was covered on the small cabinet in her hand.

Leona raised her eyebrows, "You are getting more and more proficient at using this room."

"It's the last year, let's make good use of it." Esther took the book with a smile and began to flip through it.

The book introduces more than 100 languages ​​of magical creatures, including goblin language, troll language, giant language, mermaid language, dragon language and some simple explanations of Parseltongue.Esther looked at the silver-blue dragon model lying on the golden egg, and turned the book to European fire dragons.

On Christmas morning, Esther received a surprise gift, a high-end looking glass from Aunt Connie.She thought that her aunt would never contact her again, and she was even mentally prepared to wait for the scarf that she wove by herself to be returned.But the looking glass lying quietly in the palm of her hand made her feel warm from the bottom of her heart.Aunt still cared about her, and Esther put the speculum into her backpack.

Orion sent a copy of "The Collection of Spells Commonly Used by Healers", and it seemed that he was already planning to graduate.Leona's gift was also the book, Curses and Anti-Curses.Esther felt that she was implying that she could not do too much in her next project.Harry delivered a Weasley twin canary biscuit with instructions.Esther found this idea very interesting and was going to try it out when he had a chance.The roommates sent small ornaments for the prom, which looked very delicate.

Esther put away all the gifts she received, hurried to the auditorium to have breakfast, and then went back to the Room of Requirement to continue studying Dragon Language.She was very absorbed in watching, and when she came back to her senses, it was lunch time.

Esther ran downstairs holding the golden egg, just as Professor Moody came out of the office.

"Good afternoon, Professor Moody." Esther greeted stiffly, subconsciously hugging the golden egg in his arms.

Professor Moody looked at Esther with his good eyes, and the magic eyes kept turning, "Good afternoon, Collins, are you still studying the golden eggs? Have you gained anything?"

Esther wanted to tell him no, but then remembered that Professor Snape had said not to fight against him.She tried to be honest, "I'm trying to figure out if it sounds like Draconic, Professor."

"Interesting idea," said Professor Moody. "Perhaps you should try putting it in water."

Esther looked suspiciously at Professor Moody, who limped downstairs to the auditorium for dinner.

Why would Professor Moody say that?Is he reminding himself?Est looked at his back hesitantly.It should be tried anyway.She gave up on the idea of ​​having lunch and ran back to the Room of Requirement.I need a big sink, she thought, making three laps around the wall and stepping through the door that appeared.

Inside is a large bathroom, similar to the prefect's bathroom.Esther slapped his forehead, he was too dependent on the Room of Requirement, he could go directly to the prefect's bathroom.

Esther turned on the tap and filled the tub just in time to relax.She put the clothes neatly by the pond, and went into the bath with the golden egg in her arms.

The water temperature was just right, and white soap bubbles crowded around Esther.She pushed aside the foam, put the golden egg in the water and opened it, and a pleasant singing sound came faintly.Surprised, Esther took a deep breath and dived into the water.

It was a chorus, Esther listened carefully:

Seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing on the ground.

As you search, think carefully about:

We stole your most beloved baby.

You only have an hour,

To find and recapture what we took,

After an hour there is no hope,

It is completely gone, never to appear.

Esther jumped out of the water, fumbled for her wand in a hurry, cast a bubble head spell on herself, then dived into the water again and listened carefully again.

As she listened, she pondered the meaning of the lyrics underwater.Slytherin's lounge is at the bottom of the Black Lake. Esther has lived there for almost seven years, and she knows what's at the bottom of the lake.She had never heard that piercing sound before, so she couldn't figure out what it was.But now she was very familiar with this sound—it was the mermaid's singing.They often swim outside the window in groups, and although their singing sounds cannot be heard clearly when they enter the dormitory, their voices are similar.What are they going to steal?Esther couldn't think of anything strange about himself that would be targeted.But whatever it is, there's no doubt that the second project will take place in the water.

An hour underwater, still in February, Esther couldn't help shivering.Breathing is not a problem, Esther is very familiar with the bubble head curse, it is his own problem that the loss of mobility due to too cold and hypothermia is his own problem.Continuous use of the Warming Charm is too mana-consuming.It's better to transform the body into a fish, which can not only reduce the influence of temperature, but also speed up.

Esther tapped her wand on her leg, and fish scales grew out of the skin.Esther flicked her wand again, causing the scales to retract.She has to practice again, she thought, to conjure up a complete fish tail.

Having solved the problem of the golden egg, Esther felt a lot relieved.She began to feel guilty about her previous attitude towards Professor Moody.He was willing to help himself even though he was rude to him.She was going to toast him a glass of wine later at the ball as a token of thanks.

Esther returned to the dormitory, Larina, Kelsey and Luku had already started to dress themselves.Seeing Esther come back, they quickly pulled her to the vanity mirror and dressed her up together.

"You can't just let it go today, you have to put on some serious makeup." Larina curled her wand at Esther's eyelashes.

Kelsey spread Esther's hair and carefully combed it with a comb, "That is, you represent the image of Slytherin, clean and tidy is not enough."

"You can no longer follow your temper today. You must listen to us." Luku also catered.

"I see, I'll do it myself, okay?" Esther was not used to being treated like this, and wanted to get up and hide.

"No!" The three said in unison.

Esther had no choice but to let them torment herself.

Esther's gown is a black high-necked waist dress.The collar, cuffs and the folds of the skirt hem are dark green, dotted with silver star-like highlights, appearing mature and mysterious.

"Isn't it a little less youthful?" Kelsey said hesitantly.

"I think it's quite Slytherin style. Anyway, Esther didn't plan to find a boyfriend at the ball." Luku looked at the shiny golden earrings dissatisfied. She waved her wand and turned them into silver Only then smiled and nodded.

Larina finally fixed a small top hat on Esther's chestnut bun, "Take out your aura and let them feel the power of our Slytherins. Be a queen tonight."

"I think with your help, my single path will go farther and farther." Esther stuck out her tongue.The four laughed together.