HP/LOTM: Visionary - 369

Chapter 369: Horace's Christmas Banquet

Harry's invitation was overheard by Peeves, and subsequently, the news that the silly boy fell for the crazy girl spread throughout the entire campus.

At the last dinner before the holiday, Hermione still didn't sit with Ron.

Harry tried to convince Ron to apologize to Hermione, but was directly refused.

Subsequently, when Hermione saw Lavender come looking for Ron, she started her retaliation. She proceeded to chat with Parvati, loudly proclaiming at the dinner table that she had invited McLaggen. And she lavishly praised how his grades were good, how handsome he was, how well he played Quidditch, saying she liked real Quidditch players like him.

After speaking, she left with her head held high, leaving behind the constantly gossiping Parvati and Lavender, and Harry lamenting that Hermione had won the battle but lost the war. Also present was Ron, whose face had turned deathly pale with vacant eyes.

At the Ravenclaw table, a certain dragon's mouth corners slightly hooked up.

"What's wrong?" Edmund happened to see it when he reached over to get the jam.

Aiden quietly told him what happened.

"Whoa, seems Miss Granger is quite determined, too," Edmund said, spreading jam on his bread slice.

"So what about you? Who are you planning to invite?" Aiden gossiped to Edmund.

"A Slytherin girl, seems to be called Agnes Stevenson or something," Edmund said, still gnawing his bread.

"Muggle-born. Your family doesn't mind?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.

ince learning you can transform Muggles into wizards, attitudes about blood status haven't been that strict. Originally, the main reason we maintained blood purity was fear that mixing with Muggles would dilute the magical blood in our bodies, resulting in many non-magical children in the next generation. The rest was just propaganda pure-bloods fed to fools to justify their sense of superiority," Edmund sighed.

"That's true," Aiden said, grabbing lamb chops and gnawing on them.

"Rather it's you..." Edmund started but stopped.

"What?" Aiden turned back, confused.

"No, hurry and eat. There won't be this much food at the banquet later," Edmund swallowed his words and winked teasingly.

But the Discerner knew exactly what he meant to say. The so-called confusion was merely an act.

Sometimes, leaving each other some space, not putting everything on the table, was better for everyone. This was something Aiden had learned from that good friend far away in America.

Night fell, and Horace's banquet was about to begin.

After greeting Horace, Aiden used Psychological Invisibility to wander about freely.

Luna arrived in the evening wearing a shimmering six-layered dress, and she looked quite nice in appearance. Harry was greatly relieved that she hadn't brought any strange accessories. Meanwhile, Hermione spent the entire banquet dodging McLaggen.

The wandering dragon, after circling about, spotted his target for the evening in a corner—a genuine vampire.

From the information Aiden perceived, his name was Sanguini.

Aiden brought him into the sea of consciousness and conducted a small inspection, confirming he wasn't a practitioner of the Moon pathway, and immediately lost interest in him.

However, during the research process, he discovered a peculiar curse on the other party's body. The nature of the curse seemed very similar to... life itself!

Recording the magical fluctuations of the curse, Aiden released him back.

After all, he was visiting Horace's banquet as a guest, and conducting research by capturing people and then taking them away was quite excessive.

"Oh, where did you go? I was so worried about you," Horace's student Edel hurriedly ran over.

"Hmm, the thirst was calling to me," Sanguini murmured, his eyes fixed on the necks of nearby girls.

"What do you want to do? We agreed absolutely not to attack anyone at the banquet!" Edel pulled out his wand.

"Tsk," Sanguini let out a cold snort and found another dark corner to crouch in.

Hermione was bothered endlessly by McLaggen's harassment. Finally, she found a gap between the curtains and the floor-to-ceiling window to hide in. Then she happened to encounter Aiden returning from the sea of consciousness.

The two locked eyes. Hermione's eyes widened.

"You went... where did you come back from?" Hermione asked, surprised, looking at Aiden.

"Oh, you know, I need to handle affairs from my businesses outside school," Aiden made up an excuse.

Fortunately, Harry pulled open the curtain and walked in. "Hermione... what are you two doing here?"

"I'm hiding from McLaggen. Merlin's beard, he's like a horny troll with his head full of nothing but kissing," Hermione rubbed her shoulders.

"Sigh, if you don't like him, why did you invite him in the first place?" Harry sighed.

"I thought he would anger Ron the most, and originally my plan was Aiden," Hermione glanced at Aiden.

"Blame me then," Aiden spread his hands.

Then a house-elf entered carrying Flobberworm Wellington on a tray. "Would you like some?"

"No, thanks," all three shook their heads.

"Wise choice. This stuff gives wizards bad breath. Truly terrible food!" The house-elf made as if to throw it away.

"Oh, I changed my mind. Give me some, hoping this will keep him away from me," Hermione said. For the sake of her first kiss, she was determined. She directly grabbed one and stuffed it in her mouth.

"He's coming," Hermione quickly shoved the Wellington into Aiden's hand and escaped through the left side of the curtain.

McLaggen pushed open the curtain and stepped in.

"Have you seen Hermione? She's really hard to find," McLaggen complained.

"Try some?" Aiden held up the Wellington and showed McLaggen a smile.

"Thanks," he said. He didn't suspect anything, grabbed the Wellington, and shoved it in his mouth.

"Hermione went to touch up her makeup. You know, ladies always care about their appearance," Harry added to cover.

"Yeah, a bit of lipstick," McLaggen was chewing while speaking. "By the way, what is this thing I'm eating?"

"Dragon egg," a certain dragon revealed a mischievous smile.

Just then, McLaggen bit through the Wellington's outer skin, and a fishy smell rushed into his mouth.

Then Professor Snape suddenly yanked open the curtain. McLaggen bent over and vomited up all the food he'd eaten at the banquet.

"Whoa, someone really did treat the banquet like dinner," Aiden complained, completely forgetting his own first time at a Ministry awards banquet.

Snape's pants and shoes were covered in vomit. He looked coldly at McLaggen but didn't pull out his wand.

Harry had already quietly pulled the curtain open, preparing to sneak away.

"You've just earned yourself a month of detention, McLaggen. Don't rush off, Potter," Snape's sentence stopped both of them.

"Sir, I think my date is waiting for me," Harry said, holding up his thumb and pointing backward.

"I think your date won't die if you leave her for a few minutes," Snape leaned in close to Harry.

"There's news. Sirius Black has awakened."

Snape looked at him once, then turned and left.

"Wait..." Harry urgently tried to get more information, but Snape didn't acknowledge him.