The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 184 The Full Moon of Harvest Festival

It has been said that there will never be any eternal topics in Hogwarts Castle.

Because the little wizards' unpredictable minds are like wild golden angels, you never know where they'll appear next.

After entering October, the atmosphere in the castle became more stable, and the previous ups and downs faded away with the passage of time.

Although it was only a short month, many young wizards felt as if they had experienced a whole year's worth of events, and perhaps the events of the whole year combined did not equal what happened in just one month.

In the week before the start of the school year, the verbal battles in the Daily Prophet had just calmed down for two days when a book titled "The Hidden Story" suddenly appeared.

To everyone's surprise, the author of this novel was none other than Enoch Swinburne, the celebrity of the previous week. Perhaps out of a fan mentality or a desire to follow the trend, many people bought the book.

After all, the author of the novel is my classmate, so whether it's getting an autograph or just having something to talk about, it's a very interesting thing.

Although some people bought it because of the trend, others read it seriously. As time went by, more and more people were attracted by the stories in the book and moved by the characters.

The most widely circulated and discussed story is "The Young Man of Hutton Mar Back Alley," in which the protagonist, Azra, perfectly embodies the meaning of love and fidelity through his pure, sky-like heart.

It's worth mentioning that, riding on the popularity of the story, George and Fred also launched their own themed merchandise – straw rings.

Upon its release, it quickly became a sensation throughout the castle, and even the bouncy joke shop in Diagon Alley came to stock it, since it wasn't just the castle's little wizards who read the novel.

Sometimes one has to admire the Weasley twins' learning and hands-on abilities. Although the ring is made of straw, it is essentially a kind of alchemy tool.

When the two wearers are close to each other, the rings will emit a faint light. If the distance is close enough, the faint light emitted by the two rings will even intertwine.

Of course, you can customize the color and shape of the light by paying one more sico, and you can also customize the wrapped style by paying two more sico.

……

In the Slytherin dormitory.

Ino sat quietly at the table, with 20 straw rings laid out in front of her.

This is the second batch today. Looking at the exquisitely crafted rings, he could only wave his wand and let them float towards the lockers in his dormitory.

There are already hundreds of rings in the cabinet, and with each other's company, these straw rings are not lonely at all.

After doing all this, Ino looked up at the alarm clock on the wall. It was exactly nine o'clock at night, half an hour before curfew.

This is the time he's waiting for, because only during this period is the moon at its fullest.

Thinking of this, he slowly stood up and walked out of the dormitory, his figure gradually fading with each step until it became transparent and disappeared.

This is a new magic he created by combining the ancient runic word "concealment" with the Illusion Charm—a unique form of invisibility magic.

The new Disguise Charm abandons the previous optical invisibility, achieving complete invisibility with the same effect as the Invisibility Cloak.

……

Black Lake.

A figure slowly emerged from the empty grass, and three ceramic pots, identical to those in the herbalism greenhouse, also appeared on the ground.

The origin of the Harvest Festival is unknown, but one of the most plausible theories is that it originated in the fifth century.

Like its unverifiable origins, the timing of the Harvest Festival is also not fixed, as it varies with the "harvest month," which begins each year after the most recent full moon at the end of September.

After several days of waiting, a full moon has finally arrived.

A bright, full moon hangs high in the sky, like a deep, silken ribbon, its pale silver light gently cascading down like a veil.

Ino sat on the ground, with three earthenware pots in front of him planted with magic beans.

He originally didn't want to come this time, after all, he had heard that plants need sunlight, but he had never heard of them needing the moon.

But today in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Snape substituted for the class and then talked about werewolves, which reminded him that perhaps many things in the magical world cannot be judged by common sense.

The bright moon hangs high above the lake, and as time goes by, the moon gradually rises higher in the sky, its light growing brighter and brighter.

Suddenly, Ino stopped gazing at the bright moon and instead lowered her head to stare at the earthenware pot in front of her.

He felt a joyful emotion; it was hard to imagine that an empty earthenware pot, containing nothing but clay, could evoke such a feeling.

But that's the reality. A feeling of joy called harvest is quietly rising, like being in a field under the autumn sun, looking at the golden waves of wheat and the full, ripe ears of rice, which brings joy to the eyes.

This signifies a bountiful harvest.

After a year of hard work in the fields, this is the moment people have been looking forward to.

Although she was on the shore of Black Lake, Ino saw another scene on the calm lake surface: farmers were happily moving among the golden rice fields, their sickles flying, accompanied by the crisp sound of cutting rice.

Outside the fields, simply dressed children joined the harvest. They followed behind the adults, picking up the fallen rice grains with their small, tender hands. Laughter and cheers rose and fell with each harvest.

If fire represents hope and redemption, then harvest represents sweat and joy.

Harvest is closer to life; and the joy of harvest is also one of the most primal and natural human emotions.

This joy rose from the earthenware pot and gradually grew stronger.

Happiness truly seems to be contagious; this joy of harvest spread along the lake, carried by the breeze, gradually covering the entire castle, and then extending towards the distant Forbidden Forest…

At this moment, the little wizard in the castle, the house-elves in the kitchen, the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, and the mermaids in the Black Lake—all intelligent species felt this subtle joy.

The eighth floor of the castle.

Dumbledore stood by the window, his gaze fixed on the direction of the Black Lake.

Although he didn't speak, he had a relieved smile on his face.

It feels like an elderly man carrying a heavy load of grain alone, and suddenly someone behind him helps him support that heavy carrying pole.

at the same time.

On the shores of Black Lake, Ino was immersed in the joy of the harvest, enveloped in a cheerful mood. At that moment, he had no mind to pay attention to whether the magic beans he had planted had sprouted.

In a flash of inspiration, as if he had drunk a small bottle of Felix Felicis, he instinctively drew his wand, the white elderberry wand gleaming in the moonlight.

"Protect the Gods!"

Although surrounded by the joy of harvest, his tone was not particularly enthusiastic, but rather carried an undeniable certainty.

The surrounding emotions seemed to have found their center, merging, summarizing, converging, and finally gushing out from the tip of the wand.

(End of this chapter)