[HP] Noble

"—Draco, what would you think if Hogwarts were to close like this forever?"

"The Malfoy family donated a large amount of Galleons this semester in order to secure their position on the school board. Bankrupt? Are you kidding me?"

"——Uh, for the sake of the school board...is it really justifiable?...But I'm not asking you this, I mean, if Hogwarts is gone, would you choose to study at home with a tutor or—"

"Durmstrang."

"——I heard that the teaching system there is completely different from that of Hogwarts. There is a classification test for admission. If you don't know anything about that, maybe you need to learn from a group of kid from the first grade."

"so what?"

"—I heard that the Germans are not very friendly to outsiders."

"Money and power would make any thinking creature kinder—like, now I tell somebody to bring the peanut butter, and you'll get it, and lo and behold—Goyle, pass me the peanut butter— Well done, buddy."

"—... Goyle, you are farther away from that jar of peanut butter than he is, what a virtue! Oh, Draco, Hogwarts may not necessarily close down, I think Professor Snape is just trying to scare us -"

"I've begun to feel that Durmstrang is a very tempting choice. Regardless of whether Hogwarts is closed or not, when I think that I may accidentally breathe the air that Potter once breathed, I feel Feeling weak, with a splitting headache and wanting to vomit - Heir of Slytherin? Don't be kidding me!"

"..."

Scorpius shut his mouth, regretting that he hadn't had anything to say to Draco about the school at such a serious moment - in fact, at this moment, His Royal Highness the Slytherin Prince looked like he couldn't wait to give the district a try. Durmstrang is writing an application form for next summer... oh, Merlin's socks, that's not good.

Scorpius sighed deeply, and subconsciously glanced at the long table of Gryffindor—the usually noisy academy is acting more elegantly than Slytherin today, the whole long table was silent, everyone Her face was extremely heavy, Hermione Granger's eyes were red and swollen, Ron Weasley looked like a lion that might erupt due to lack of sleep at any time, and as the central figure in the incident, Mr. Harry Potter, the savior of Gryffindor, Absent today.

Scorpius believed that Porter was right not to show up at this time, whether it was his own wishes or the headmaster's instructions-the situation was bad enough, and now watching a group of students avoid him does not make him feel ashamed. Things got a little more pleasant.

This morning, when all the Slytherins thought that the heavy snow outside had stopped, when they walked out of the cellar, they found that the snow had not only not stopped, but had intensified and turned into a blizzard. It was blowing outside the window, as if an invisible witch was crying and howling.

However, just like the bad weather, every student who is doing this at this time probably knows one thing: their school is now facing unprecedented blows and challenges.

The death of a student overnight spread throughout the wizarding world as if it had grown wings—everyone in the outside world experienced abnormalities that night except Hogwarts itself. Sleepless nights--

All the major newspapers and magazines are working overtime to put this explosive news on the front page headlines. Parents can't sleep all night, wishing they could go to school at night to bring their children out and tie them around their waists with a rope. The Ministry of Magic The security department, the education department, and the Department for the Protection of Fantastic Beasts met overnight, but no one knew what their meeting was about.

Scorpius turned his head and glanced at His Royal Highness Prince Slytherin who was sitting upright in his seat and eating breakfast quietly. His eyelids jumped when his gaze swept over the peanut butter in front of him... just sitting As the Slytherin prefects at the breakfast table moaned for the second time at the fact that he seemed to have encouraged the leaders of the second years to run away, a large flock of owls flocked from the window above the Great Hall for owls Squads flew in, and the auditorium hall, which seemed so heavy today, was slightly revived by the arrival of these creatures with wings and feathers!

Scorpius guessed that he had never seen such an unprecedented parade of owls.

The auditorium boiled like a pot of hot oil that had been poured with a spoonful of cold water, and most of the students stood up from their seats to take today's special order of prophets from the owl's talons at the post office After the daily report, he turned around and took his family letter from the other owl's paw—yes, except for children like Hermione who were born into Muggle families, even if one of the parents had connections with the wizarding world All the families got the news. Parents who were far away from school couldn't wait to send letters home to their children, and asked them the specific date of returning to school in the letter.

"My mother was furious. She said that if I don't go back to Malfoy Manor this Christmas, I never have to go back." Draco calmly refolded the letter in his hand, and when Scorpius turned his head to look, Just in time to see a small hole on the paper that was scratched by the tip of the quill because of too much force - one can imagine how angry Mrs. Malfoy was when she wrote this letter.

Scorpius watched Draco stuff the letter back into his schoolbag nonchalantly, and asked after a while, "What did Mr. Malfoy say?"

"Euphemistically expressing that I agree with my mother's views-but I think he may be forced, and the Malfoy family cannot lose an heir for such a ridiculous reason as 'not coming home for Christmas'."

"..."

"Then what do you think?"

"Not going back." Draco put his chin on one hand, showing an impatient and rebellious expression, and his other hand listlessly wrapped the presumably empty envelope, as if trying to shake it from inside again. Like a bag of candy, "I know what my mother is worried about. It's completely unnecessary for me to say that, after all, the people who were attacked were—"

Draco's words stopped suddenly when he saw a thin, invisible note floating out of the envelope - he sat up a little, took the note and opened it, silver Gray eyeballs rolled in their sockets, and after a few quick glances, his jaw tensed and twitched. His wand burned the note into ashes and threw it into the glass of milk in front of him.

"What happened?" Scorpius asked.

"..." Draco was silent for three seconds, then twisted his head, and said flatly, "It's okay."

Looking at the back of the platinum blonde head in front of him, Scorpius could guess even with his toes at this moment, that Mr. Malfoy might have secretly slipped the note in while Mrs. Malfoy was loading the letter. Yes, and on the note, there is definitely something written that is impossible to read in today's Daily Prophet.

……

By the end of the semester, it had been snowing for several days in a row, and the whole of Hogwarts was covered in white snow—winter is here, and it should have been a good season for snowball fights, but unfortunately, there were no snowball fightrs in the courtyard this year. Even the silhouettes of people are rarely seen. The students walk in groups, with nervous expressions on their faces. Apart from going to the classroom for class or going to the auditorium for dinner, they all seem to be The small animals that were about to hibernate all gathered in the common room of their college and didn't go anywhere.

It seemed that Professor Snape was not alone in warning students that Hogwarts might be closed.

Scorpius once heard a Ravenclaw girl crying to her companions that if Hogwarts closed down, she would have to go back to the Muggle world to read ordinary Middle school, and she has missed three years of courses from the day of enrollment to the present, and it is impossible to catch up with the progress.

More children from Muggle families face this embarrassing problem of riding a tiger.

There are also some children from magical families who can't afford expensive tutors, but compared to going to a world that is almost unfamiliar to them, they have to give up everything about magic that they once had. For the children of Muggle families, they seemed much luckier at this time.

Every day at school is gloomy.

Even the professors kept quiet about some things - which made the atmosphere even more panicky.

The only ones in the school who are still happy are probably the Weasley twins - first of all, they are not afraid of the collapse of Hogwarts, because they would have quit school if it weren't for Mrs. Weasley, and they would have broken their necks Secondly, no matter what the Weasley family is, it is still a pure-blood family.

So these two guys, Hermione and Ron have almost become Harry Potter's regular companions during the recent period. When they pass the corridor, the former savior of Gryffindor always walks at the end with his schoolbag and head bowed. In the middle, the Weasley twins sang and laughed loudly to make way for everyone, shouting: "Make way for the heir of Slytherin—"

As if they didn't see the eyes of the students around them looking at Harry Potter with fear, they followed Potter almost everywhere, even if Potter was going to the toilet, they looked like they couldn't wait to be in the toilet. There's a sign on the door that reads "No dogs allowed inside" - their little sister, Ginny Weasley, looks very annoyed at her brothers' behavior, for example, at this moment, she's crossing He was arguing with the twin brothers with his waist down and eyes red, loudly repeating "you can't do this to him".

"This little bitch is right. It's not a good way to watch Potter prevent him from attacking people in this way." Not far away, he just walked out of the Charms teacher, and had a panoramic view of the farce at the bathroom door Pansy snorted.

"It's the other way around," Daphne said in a low voice, glancing at the Weasley twins leaning against the boys' toilet, talking and laughing happily, "I think they are afraid that some other restless students will come out to attack Potter .”

While Daphne was talking, she suddenly found that one of the twins seemed to have noticed that she was looking at them - because he suddenly stopped talking and turned his head, his eyes collided in mid-air inadvertently, after a moment, Fred Weasley raised the corners of his lips and smiled at the little girl in Slytherin robes who was staring at them not far away... Daphne, who was completely passive and accepted this smile, stiffened her back, as if As if seeing something terrible, his face paled and he immediately turned his head away. At this time, Pansy, who hadn't noticed it, was still talking endlessly——

"I didn't see the twins having that much IQ, after all they were like rowdy amusement park clowns from the start - look at their cheap tricks, I bet there won't be any A girl would be willing to marry such a poor and mischievous person, don't you think, Daphne—hey? Girl? Why are you in a daze?"

"I have a stomachache." Daphne whispered palely.

"I have a stomachache and I need to go to the bathroom." Pan Xi was puzzled, "Oh, yes, there are two door gods standing at the door - hurry up, I will accompany you to the bathroom on the first floor."

As the black-haired Slytherin girl spoke, she grabbed Miss Greengrass, who was half a head shorter than her at the moment, like a commander, and dragged her all the way to the first floor. Drag it in the direction of the stairs.

……

When the Christmas holiday officially came, the school gate was crowded with parents for the first time—no matter which college the students were from, there were people constantly calling "Dad" or "Mum" and dragging their luggage out of the queue to greet them. In the arms of my parents, the campus that had been lifeless for several consecutive days was rarely filled with joy and laughter.

After returning the last first-year Bywater boy to his parents, Scorpius heard Professor McGonagall, not far from him, say to the Weasleys in a strained voice: "Back to school." To be determined, if there is any change, we will notify you separately.”

"My God, it's unimaginable that such a thing would happen." The slightly fat Mrs. Weasley sighed, and hugged the girl in her arms tighter with a protective desire——and Ginny Weasley Lai, pale as a ghost, trembled violently like a sieve when her mother gasped and hugged her.

Scorpius looked at it for a while, then turned his head inexplicably and asked the platinum noble standing beside him: "Is it cold today?"

"It's not cold," Draco sneered, "I'm afraid some people are just guilty."

After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked into the castle without looking back - Scorpius couldn't understand what this guy meant at all, but he had to turn around and hurriedly followed his pace.

Except for Ginny, most of the Weasley family stayed with Harry Potter, and the oldest Percy Weasley stayed with his brother because he stayed to help the professors during this special period. They also chose to take the initiative to stay, even though Scorpius thought that as prefects, they had nothing to help except an extra mouth to eat.

When the students and their parents took the Hogwarts Express to leave one after another, the bustling campus suddenly became deserted—the oppressive atmosphere of the previous few days became even more unbearable because of the sparse population. Copi always wanted to find an opportunity to talk to Draco about what Mr. Malfoy wrote on the note that day, but unfortunately he never found the opportunity. Draco would stare at Potter a little more than usual Besides, it looked like it was the same as usual, even if they occasionally talked about the topic of the Chamber of Secrets, Draco would quickly pull the topic away.

Until the day before Christmas, Scorpius met His Royal Highness Prince Slytherin in a hurry in the corridor on the second floor—he looked very wet and embarrassed. When Scorpius saw him, He was waving his wand trying to dry out his thick goldfish-friendly boots.

Scorpius stopped, and when Draco muttered something dirty, he called him abruptly: "What are you doing?"

Draco was so taken aback - he looked so terrified - that he almost threw the whole wand he was using into Scorpius' face!

"You stalking me?" Prince Slytherin frowned disapprovingly.

"I was just going to the library, and I happened to pass by here," Scorpius raised his eyebrows, "I'm talking, what secret do you have that I need to follow you?"

"..."

"It seems that it really has."

The rare blushes of embarrassment showed on Draco's thin, pale face, but they faded away quickly, and after a loud clicking sound, he flung his wet robes and wanted to make an exasperated exit. ——But Scorpius didn't intend to give him this chance. Before the platinum nobleman successfully left, he had already grabbed him with quick eyes and hands. When he becomes angry from embarrassment, he always poots his face unconsciously.

"You've been paranoid lately," Scorpius said. "Are you trying to figure out how to drown yourself in the toilet?"

"Oh, shut up, no one wants to study this kind of thing." Draco shook off Scorpius' hand impatiently, and after a pause, he said very vaguely and quickly, "I'm just here to find that female ghost Let's chat."

"What?" Scorpius narrowed his eyes slightly, almost suspecting that something was wrong with his ears, "Who are you talking to?"

"That," Draco rolled his eyes, "crazy female ghost."

Scorpius widened his eyes slightly: "Weeping Myrtle."

Draco snorted reluctantly.

"...Mrs. Malfoy knows that the reason you're not home for the holidays is because you're busy dating a crazy girl ghost, and she can kill Hogwarts right now and tear down the entire second floor of the building." Scorpius Shocked, "What's wrong with you, so aesthetically curious, Draco?"

"Not a date, oh shit." Draco took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently—as if he could resist stabbing the senior Slytherin in front of him without using his wand, "I just To get some useful information out of her mouth about the attack, I asked the seniors, and one of them told me that Moaning Myrtle was here decades ago."

"Do you think you are Holmes?"

"Who is that?"

"A Muggle detective."

"boring."

"Oh, what else?" Scorpius said while grabbing Draco and pulling out his wand to dry Draco's body, "Professor Binns has been floating in Hogwarts for hundreds of years, isn't he the same Don't know what the hell is messing with--now you're getting yourself soaked, like you can--"

"My father said on that note that in one of their school years, someone died at Hogwarts -- listen, Hogwarts is not the first time in hundreds of years, as the professors say. Killed - this has already happened, just over 20 years ago, when my father was still in school... he wrote in a note that the Chamber of Secrets had been... tried to be opened by the Dark Lord in that year At that time, it was a coincidence that someone died in the school, and the dead student was a girl. Later, the school found out in time and prevented the tragedy from spreading, and blocked the news. At that time, my grandfather was a member of the school board. , After the meeting, they came to the same conclusion and announced that the girl committed suicide in the bathroom because of being bullied and unbearable pressure, and my grandfather said the same to my father, but my father has always been skeptical about it.”

Scorpius: "..."

The old fools the big ones, and the big ones come to fool the young ones when they grow up—this is really a family!

Scorpius thought for a while and asked again: "...then?"

"Moaning Myrtle is in the bathroom, in her school uniform, and you'll notice she doesn't go anywhere but the bathroom."

"So what—oh no," Scorpius snapped back to his senses, "She's in the bathroom, not going anywhere, and that's the problem!"

"That's right, although I don't know why." Draco said angrily, "But I have to say that this is indeed my suspicion - the great magician who died may have died because of powerful magic power or The attachment to the world has turned into portraits and returned to us, but over the years, very few people have become ghosts. You will notice that, not counting the Myrtle, even the youngest Peeves This year is celebrating its [-]th birthday!"

"What does Myrtle say?"

"She wouldn't say anything," Draco rolled his eyes. "It was normal at first, but as soon as I mentioned her death, she threw things and water at me like a madman—"

"Because you touched her pain point."

"I didn't—what?" Draco was taken aback, looking at the senior Slytherin beside him and frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Because Moaning Myrtle is not a ghost in the sense you understand, Draco." Scorpius sighed and said in a tired voice, "Although I am more confused now, I can still explain This phenomenon—have you ever heard of the earthbound spirits? Before death, they went to death without their own will, so their souls stayed in the place where they died after death, and kept repeating the last scene before death—— "

"She didn't." Draco frowned.

"Because Hogwarts has a special feng shui pattern, other ghosts can move around freely, and it makes sense for the ground-bound spirits to gain more freedom of movement."

"……What did you say?"

"It's fine if you don't understand." Scorpius patted the shoulder of the platinum noble next to him, and said with a sore face, "Now you just need to understand a few things. First, you can write to Mr. Malfoy to satisfy his childhood unrequited love." Curiosity that can be satisfied, if the crying myrtle is really the female student who died that year, she definitely did not commit suicide; second, she was not bound in the girls' bathroom on the second floor because she was full of hatred. The nostalgia in the world is because the thing that killed her was too evil, so evil that even if she witnessed her own death process, she still can't recall it, so that... Well, I don't even know how I died. How does Lord Yan accept people? Third..."

"third?"

"... whatever it was that killed her, it's still there. And it's likely that for some reason it got out again and killed that Hufflepuff again, that's all."

After Scorpius finished speaking, he was disturbed to find that His Royal Highness Prince Slytherin in front of him showed an eager expression, he almost bit his tongue, and quickly warned with a tiger face: "Now, Draco, you must promise that I will Stay away from the second floor until all the truth comes out. Believe me, if something alive is really killing people, it will not let you go just because you are pure blood. Even Potter can be said to be the heir of Slytherin , do you still dare to believe even half a punctuation mark in that kind of gossip?"