Chapter 733 A blessing in disguise? The Vanishing Cabinet found by Malfoy
"That's nice, Harry..."
In the Potions class after Halloween, Slughorn looked at the cauldron in front of Harry with a look of surprise on his face.
"The color is perfect, and the taste is impeccable. I can guarantee that even a person as irritable as a fire dragon will become calm after taking three drops of the demulcent you brewed."
"Thank you for the compliment, sir." Harry couldn't hide his excitement and asked, "So, am I qualified?"
"Qualified? Are you kidding!" Slughorn said in an exaggerated voice, "This is a perfect potion. There is no doubt that Gryffindor gets ten points!"
Harry almost jumped with excitement. This was the first time in six years that he had received extra points in Potions class. For a moment, when he looked at Slughorn, he felt that he was more pleasing to the eye.
"I've known for a long time that you must have inherited your mother's excellent talent for potions, but Severus didn't help you dig it out." Slughorn said with a smile, "Keep up the hard work, I look forward to your next class. Performance."
Harry nodded vigorously.
Next to her, Hermione let out a cold snort from her nostrils.
Her potion was also finished, but it was a little lighter in color than Harry's.
Originally this was not a problem, but after comparison, this insignificant shortcoming of hers was infinitely magnified.
Slughorn glanced at her cauldron without any comment, said something good and left.
This made Hermione even angrier.
"You're cheating!" Hermione said stiffly after class, "You shouldn't continue to read that notebook."
"This is just a notebook, how can it be considered cheating..." Harry retorted: "And it turns out that there is no problem with the steps above."
"But you didn't do it alone."
"But you also read the textbook. Does it make any difference?" Ron also spoke to Harry.
"Think about that Connor Prince, the youngest member of the Association of Extraordinary Apothecaries. How could there be something wrong with the notes that even she agreed with."
"But..." Hermione wanted to say something else.
"Wait a minute Hermione, are you jealous of Kyle?" Ron's voice rose slightly.
"Why should I be jealous of him!" Hermione couldn't help shouting.
"Of course I'm jealous that his grades are better than yours, and that he has discovered so many little tricks that you don't know about."
Seeing Hermione's reaction, Ron became more certain of his guess. "I say, you should give it a try. After all, the content in the book was written by other wizards. Maybe in a few years, these tips will also appear in the book.
"Remember what Kyle said before? "Advanced Potion Making" has not been revised for a long time, and many of the steps above are outdated."
Hermione took a few deep breaths and said nothing.
Ron just assumed that she knew she was in the wrong and didn't care, and continued to discuss the contents of the note with Harry.
"It's really strange. I obviously followed what was written in the notes, but why is the result not as good as yours?"
"That's because you weren't attentive enough." Harry said, "The size of the flame when brewing the potion is also important. I remember you poured the moonstone powder into the crucible and then went to chat with Seamus. You completely forgot to adjust the fire. It’s a small step.”
"That seems to be the case...but why didn't you remind me then?"
"I just realized it."
"Forget it, it's just a small problem." Ron said with a smile: "Tell me, if I continue to brew the potion according to the contents in the notes, will Professor Slughorn also invite me at Christmas? I’m going to his party.”
"Definitely," said Harry.
Although his intuition told him that one or two excellent Potions class results could not change Slughorn's view of Ron, his intuition told him that it was better not to displease Ron at this time.
After receiving Harry's affirmative answer, Ron became even more excited and couldn't help but raise his voice a lot.
"I'm glad, Weasley. Do you think that getting Slughorn's invitation means you are also a celebrity?"
A cold voice came from behind a few people, "You can get a stupid scar on your head, and maybe you will be as popular as Potter with scar-obsessed people."
There was a burst of laughter all around.
"We didn't seem to be talking to you, Malfoy." Harry said with a stern face: "I noticed that you were not at the last ball. What, you were not invited?"
"It could also be that Professor Slughorn doesn't know the Malfoy family." Ron said arrogantly next to him.
"Do you think you are funny?" Malfoy's face turned cold instantly. "Even if he wants to invite me, I will not go to his stupid and boring ball."
"You are just envious of us." Ron curled his lips, "You must be crazy with jealousy."
"I envy you?"
Malfoy seemed to be insulted and said viciously: "You probably don't know, Weasley, that our family holds a dance every Christmas...
"Oh, I forgot, you must not know, because the guests we invite are all upper-class people, and it is impossible for pure-blooded scum like your family to receive invitations."
Malfoy turned his gaze to Hermione again, "Of course, even the Mudbloods can't step into my house..."
"Shut up, you bastard!" Harry clenched his fists and was about to rush over to beat Malfoy, but was hugged tightly by Hermione behind him.
"Don't do this Harry, you will be expelled if the professor sees you!" Hermione persuaded loudly.
"I don't care!" Harry waved his fist, "Let me go Hermione, I will beat him today!"
Hermione turned a deaf ear and still dragged him.
Ron on the other side was also stopped by several other Gryffindor students, preventing him from running past.
It's not that they don't dare to cause trouble, the main reason is that Malfoy is not alone now. He has Crabbe and Goyle beside him.
Those two big guys looked like young trolls, and Ron would definitely suffer a loss if he went there.
Malfoy on the other side also sneered after seeing this. Now that Crabbe and Goyle were there, and there were a group of Slytherins around, he was not afraid at all.
However, just when Malfoy was about to taunt him again, a balloon filled with liquid suddenly fell from the sky and hit him directly on the head.
The hair that had been carefully taken care of was soaked in an instant, and dark brown liquid dripped down his hair, accompanied by a strong sour smell.
"This is vinegar..."
The people around him subconsciously covered their noses and stayed away from him. Even Crabbe and Goyle took a small step back.
Malfoy was stunned, standing there in a daze.
"Ho ho ho... do you like this new hairstyle... ho ho ho..."
At this time, there was a burst of piercing laughter in the air. Peeves covered his stomach and laughed forward and back.
"Well done, Peeves!" Harry shouted from below.
He had thought Peeves had been captured by an angry Slughorn yesterday, but now it seemed that he had not.
And not only was he not caught, he also brought himself such a big surprise.
He directly put a balloon filled with vinegar on Malfoy's head. This behavior was more satisfying than beating him up. If Hermione hadn't pulled his arm, he would have applauded.
Malfoy on the other side obviously didn't think so. He smelled the strong sour smell emanating from his body, and his whole body was about to explode with anger.
"Peeves, I'm going to kill you!" he roared angrily, but a few drops of vinegar just fell into his mouth along his hair, making Malfoy's face turn a little paler in an instant.
He didn't dare to speak anymore, closed his mouth tightly, and took out his wand to teach Peeves a lesson.
Everyone thought that Peeves would run away as before, but what they didn't expect was that instead of doing this, Peeves took out another bigger one while Malfoy was holding the wand. The balloon was thrown down.
I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but the balloon happened to land on Malfoy's outstretched wand and was popped immediately.
Another large ball of vinegar gushes out, falling to the ground and splashing in all directions.
This time almost everyone was affected, with Malfoy being the closest one bearing the brunt.
What’s even more frightening is that this time there is something else added to the vinegar, which is not only sour, but also smelly!
"Ugh!" Malfoy subconsciously held his stomach and retched.
The next second, he felt that his hand was empty and the wand had been snatched away.
"Stop, Peeves!"
Now Malfoy didn't care about the complicated smell on his body, and quickly chased after Peeves who was running away.
No one expected that things would turn out like this. By the time they reacted, Malfoy had already chased Peeves away.
"Draco..." Crabbe and Goyle quickly ran after him.
"Hahaha, did you see, Harry, what Malfoy looked like just now was so interesting." Ron laughed and said, "Well done Peeves!"
As he spoke, he glared at the Slytherins around him provocatively.
After Malfoy and the others left, there were more Gryffindors now, and he wasn't afraid at all.
"Okay Ron, let's get out of here quickly." Hermione frowned and said, "The smell is too bad."
Ron subconsciously took a breath and almost spit it out.
"Peeves must have put dung eggs into the vinegar..." he said with certainty: "I thought no one would do this after Fred and George graduated."
As they spoke, they quickened their pace and left this corridor. This smell would soon attract Filch, and it would be hard to explain if they were caught.
The three of them walked towards the common room together, preparing to change before heading to the auditorium for dinner.
"Do you think Malfoy can still get his wand back?" Harry asked curiously as they went upstairs.
"I hope he can't get it back," said Ron. "It would be best if Peeves could hide his wand somewhere where no one can find it, or simply break it."
"This is impossible." Hermione said, "Don't forget this is a school. The professors cannot let Peeves steal the students' wands, and they will definitely help later.
"Peeves is afraid of the Professor, so he won't dare to go too far."
"That's a real shame," Ron said softly.
This is what Harry thinks too.
…
Meanwhile, Malfoy had chased Peeves to the second floor.
Although he ran very fast, Peeves could fly and could dodge nimbly every time he was about to be overtaken...or maybe Peeves did it on purpose, just to tease Malfoy.
But the extreme anger diluted Malfoy's reason, so that he didn't think so much at all, and he wanted to catch up with Peeves and get his wand back.
The two ran from the sixth floor to the second floor, and the distance became farther and farther.
"You can't run anymore? Tsk, that's boring." Looking at Malfoy who was panting from exhaustion, Peeves suddenly lost interest.
"Give it back to you." He threw the wand aside and turned around and disappeared.
"I must tell Professor Snape...let him kick you out of school!" Malfoy said harsh words behind him, but received no response.
Apparently Peeves has run away.
Malfoy cursed for a while longer, looking back and forth on the ground, and soon found his wand at the door of a storage room at the end of the corridor.
For some unknown reason, the storage room was not locked and the door was just ajar. When Malfoy picked up the wand, he just touched it lightly, and the door creaked open.
Malfoy didn't pay much attention at first, but when he stood up to wipe his wand, he suddenly saw a cabinet in the storage room.
The cabinet is placed right next to the door, and you can see it at a glance.
Malfoy suddenly became nervous and opened the door excitedly.
Now he could see it more clearly. It was a cabinet almost as tall as a person, with golden lines on the surface.
A great joy washed over Malfoy's heart... He had been looking for something for several days, but he didn't expect it to be here!
"Draco!"
At this time, Crabbe and Goyle also ran over panting.
"Where's that... damn... ghost..."
"Never mind the ghosts for now," Malfoy said, "You two, take this cabinet away."
Crabbe and Goyle looked in the direction of Malfoy's finger, their faces full of confusion.
"Draco...are you so angry?" Gower whispered: "It's just a broken cabinet. If you want it, can't you just buy a new one?"
"What do you know? This is a treasure." Malfoy said.
"Baby?" Crabbe frowned and pointed to a broken cabinet and said it was a treasure. It seemed that Malfoy was really pissed off.
"You two idiots, just do as I say." Malfoy didn't bother to tell them that much, and stretched out his hand to gently touch the golden lines on the cabinet.
This was the disappearing cabinet he had seen in his memory, it was unmistakable.
It must have been when he was in first grade. Because he just got the Hogwarts map and found it very interesting, he took advantage of the weekend to wander around the castle and accidentally came to a storage room.
Because it was too dark inside, he couldn't see his way clearly and bumped into the cabinet, cutting his forehead.
He had been worried for a long time at that time, fearing that he would become a scar like Potter, so he remembered it very clearly.
But at that time, he only thought it was an ordinary cabinet. It was not until he saw another identical cabinet with golden patterns in Bojinbok not long ago that he realized that the one he hit was a disappearing cabinet.
And those two cabinets are probably a pair.
But when Malfoy came to school excitedly to look for it, he found that the cabinet suddenly disappeared.
He searched for it for a long time, thinking that someone had taken it away, but he didn't expect it to be here. Now that he thought about it, he must have remembered the wrong location.
After all, that was five years ago, so it's normal for the memory to be a little fuzzy.
Malfoy didn't think much and immediately ordered Crabbe and Goyle to move the cabinet away.
"Please be gentle." He said with a serious look on his face: "This cabinet is very important, and it affects... that person... If it gets damaged by knocking it, just wait to be punished!"
Crabbe and Goyle were a little dissatisfied, but seeing that Malfoy had moved the Dark Lord out, they did not dare to object. They could only lower their heads and move the cabinets out of the storage room with a groan.
Malfoy looked in the direction where Peeves disappeared and suddenly laughed loudly.
"Draco, why are you laughing?" Crabbe asked doubtfully.
"I laughed at Peeves." Malfoy said, "He thought he was playing a trick on me, but he actually did me a big favor. As long as my guess is correct, that person can easily enter Hogwarts."
At this point, Malfoy suddenly became excited, "I will be the biggest hero then, and I must kill Peeves!"
Can that person enter Hogwarts with just a broken cabinet?
Also, killing a ghost?
Crabbe and Goyle both looked at Malfoy, who smelled of vinegar and stench, and then looked at each other again.
Both of them saw the same thought in each other's eyes...
Malfoy was really pissed off and started talking nonsense.