Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 627 Harry's Invitation

In order to find out Salazar Slytherin's attitude towards him, Voldemort instructed Snape to try to force Slytherin out of the public eye, and then probe Slytherin's attitude step by step through Hogwarts' internal communication with its students.

As for Voldemort himself—

He planned to take this opportunity to go to the Dreamland and exchange a sufficient amount of Sky Gold, Flowing Silver, and Pillar Copper with the Moon Beast Clan. That way, even if his plan was eventually exposed to Tiera, Tiera would not be able to catch him for the time being. Let him chase him to the Dreamland and search every corner of the Dreamland to catch him!

Voldemort believed that given the unpredictable nature of the Dreamlands, even a divine being like Tyrell wouldn't dare to openly and blatantly search him. If he were careful and hid within the Dreamlands, he would truly be like a fish out of water.

Furthermore, Voldemort could use the Death Eater mark he had planted on Draco Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew, or other Death Eaters, or even directly use the soul fragments in Harry's body, to allow his will to descend directly from the Dreamlands into their dreams, before returning from the Dreamlands, to confirm whether the surrounding environment was safe.

With that thought in mind, Voldemort walked step by step deeper into the cave.

Meanwhile, at Hogwarts.

Christmas is less than ten days away.

The arrival of Christmas not only means a two-week holiday, but also countless Christmas gifts, and Horace Slughorn's Christmas ball, which is said to be "unprecedented and unparalleled"—

This made the veterans who had participated in the three-way competition at the Christmas ball very excited, filled with anticipation and longing.

After all, this ball is different from the one for the Triwizard Tournament. Not just anyone can attend. Only students who have performed well in Horace Slughorn’s class or have demonstrated special talents in other areas of the school are eligible to receive an invitation.

This made the students who received the invitations, regardless of gender, suddenly highly sought after.

Now, besides Harry, only Tyrell and a few other students haven't decided on a dance partner, which makes Harry suddenly very popular.

Over the past few days, all sorts of girls have tried to give Harry gifts such as chocolates, candies, and scarves, but Harry has refused all of them and thrown them directly into the trash can.

Seemingly unable to bear the harassment from those crazy girls any longer, after a Transfiguration class, Harry found out the fifth-year schedule and intercepted Lunalovegood in the crowded corridor.

“Luna! Hello, it’s been a long time!” Harry said, a little out of breath.

“Oh, hello there, Harry,” Luna said, then chuckled softly and added, “Harry, do you know that one of your eyelashes is pale gold and the other is pale purple?”

“Oh yes, that’s right,” Harry said somewhat embarrassedly.

His last class was Transfiguration, and today they are learning how to use Transfiguration to change different parts of the human body.

For the previous half semester, they had been practicing on their nails and hair; today, they could finally use their eyelashes for surgery.

“We just practiced transfiguring with our eyebrows,” Harry answered truthfully. “So, Luna, how have you been this term?”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! It’s just a little lonely without Dumbledore’s Army, but I’ve made a lot of new friends this semester. Maybe they think I can talk to you and Tierra.” Luna said casually, revealing her uncomfortably keen observation skills again. “I know they don’t like me at all, and they probably call me crazy behind my back, but they’re very nice to me and take good care of me when I’m with them. I hope I can introduce them to Tierra or you.”

"Huh? Oh?" ​​Harry didn't know what to say, so he just nodded blankly. "Yeah, I believe in them. There must be some among them who truly care about you."

“Yes, yes!” A gentle light seemed to shine in Lunalovegood’s eyes. “Rolf Scamander, a boy from Hefpatch, in my year. He and his grandfather both love magical creatures. We met while feeding Thestrals. Of course, he can’t see the Thestrals, but he’s very interested in them. I took his hand to pet the Thestrals, and that’s how we met.”

"Huh? Oh, so you've decided to go to Horace Slughorn's Christmas Ball with him?" Harry asked, somewhat disappointed. He really didn't want to take a strange girl to Horace Slughorn's Christmas Ball. Harry knew Rolf Scamander; he was the grandson of the famous magizoologist Newt Scamander. According to Horace Slughorn's custom, they would always send invitations to the descendants of such famous people, no matter how poor their academic performance.

“No,” Luna said. “Rolf did not receive an invitation to the ball.”

"He didn't?" Harry asked in surprise. "Didn't he meet the requirements?"

“Hmm.” Luna nodded and said with a smile, “I think Rolf’s grades are alright, but I think it’s probably because of Rolf’s grandfather, Mr. Newtscamander, who made a proposal at the Magical Union’s legislative meeting entitled ‘Proposal on Establishing a Magical Creature Protection Act’ that Professor Horace Slughorn was not very happy.”

"I heard that because Tiera approved Mr. Newtscamander's proposal, a large portion of potion ingredients have increased in price," Lunalovgood said.

“Oh, oh, oh, oh,” Harry nodded in agreement. “Then would you like to come with me to Slughorn’s party?”

These words had already slipped out of his mouth before Harry could stop them.

He heard himself say it, as if a stranger had said it.

Luna's bulging eyes were filled with surprise.

"Slughorn's Christmas party? With you?"

“Yes,” Harry said, “we can bring companions, so I thought you might want to—I mean—” He was eager to make his intentions clear. “I mean, as a friend, you know. But if you don’t want to—”

He was already hoping in his heart that she wouldn't want to go.

“Oh no, I would love to go with you as a friend!” Luna said, her eyes shining with the same light.

“No one has ever invited me to a party before, except for Tiera, as a friend! Is it because you got your eyelashes changed? For the party? Should I do the same?” Luna said cheerfully.
“There’s no need for that,” Harry said firmly. “It was just a mistake, and I’ll have Hermione or Tyella correct it.”

"Aha!" A voice suddenly screamed from above, startling them both.

Neither of them noticed that they had just passed by Pippi the Ghost, who was hanging upside down from the crystal chandelier, grinning maliciously at them.

"Little Bodie invited Little Looney to the party! Little Bodie has fallen in love with Little Looney! Little Bodie loves, loves, loves Little Looney!"

"Little Boti has fallen in love with Little Looney!" it exclaimed, jumping up and down with a loud laugh.

“If you can keep it a secret, that would be best,” Harry said, but he was more certain than ever, because in no time the whole school seemed to know that he had taken Luna to the party.

"Little Bodie has fallen in love with Little Looney! Little Bodie has fallen in love with Little Looney! Little Bodie has fallen in love with Little Looney—" But Peeves showed no sign of stopping, continuing to shout and gradually drifting away into the distance to prevent Harry from using the spell that could defeat him.

"Ah—" But suddenly, the Pikachu in mid-air let out a miserable scream.

A white, jade-like bone hand extended from above Pipi's head, pierced through Pipi's half-solid body, and gripped Pipi tightly.

(End of this chapter)