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Chapter 732: Peeves the Poltergeist and the Vanishing Cabinet
Chapter 732: Peeves the Poltergeist and the Vanishing Cabinet
In the wizarding world, many witches and wizards enjoyed hosting various balls and dances, especially the ancient pure-blood families, who held them several times a year. Birthday balls and Christmas dances, for example, had become regular events, though the focus of most of these gatherings was rarely on dancing.
This occasion was no exception. The music in the room never ceased, but very few people danced.
Most guests merely spun around symbolically a couple of times before starting to chat with those around them, drink in hand.
It had to be said that Professor Slughorn had quite the extensive social network, having invited numerous well-known individuals.
In addition to the famous author, Gilderoy Lockhart, and the vampire, Sanguini, whom Kyle had met before, there was also a professional Quidditch player, the current Chaser for the Montrose Magpies, Bruce Wildrod, and a reporter from the Prophet, a male wizard who was not Rita Skeeter.
According to Slughorn's introduction, this reporter was responsible for most of the exclusive interviews with the Minister of Magic and above.
Kyle also spotted the owner of Honeyduke's Sweetshop... Yes, his signed photo was in Slughorn's office, and with the school so close to Hogsmeade, there was no reason not to invite him.
Even so, Slughorn still seemed to feel that it wasn't lively enough. According to him, Halloween was just a simple get-together, and the real highlight would be Christmas. He reminded Kyle and Connor not to miss it.
However, the two of them had very different opinions.
The pair found an excuse to get away from Slughorn and went to the beverage area, which was relatively less crowded.
But Kyle came here just to get away from the crowd and didn't drink anything from the table.
Ever since he found out that someone in the school had bought a love potion, he decided not to touch anything of uncertain origin.
"Kyle, I didn't expect to see you here."
A few minutes later, Harry, finally free from Gilderoy's entanglement, joined them. He must have said quite a bit, as he immediately picked up a cup of butterbeer and took a big gulp.
Kyle observed for a moment and disappointedly found that it was just a normal cup of butterbeer.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"What...?" Harry didn't react at first, thinking that Kyle was talking about the ball. He shook his head. "It's terrible. I can't believe Hermione insists on coming every time."
"Maybe she's used to it," Kyle said along with him. "Why didn't you find an excuse to refuse him?"
Like Kyle and Connor, Harry didn't want to attend Slughorn's dinner party and had been looking for various excuses, such as Quidditch training.
As the captain, he could easily schedule training sessions during the dinner parties and had avoided many of them this way.
"I came with Ron. He really wanted to see this ball," Harry said.
"Can you invite boys to the ball?"
"Yeah." Harry nodded. "I just wanted to try, but Professor Slughorn didn't object.
"Oh, by the way, have you seen Ron? I've been looking for him."
"No," said Kyle, "but you can go and look at the other end of the room."
"Okay," Harry said, holding his cup of butterbeer and walking towards the other side of the dance floor.
Shortly after, Kyle met with Professor Sybill Trelawney, who was drunk.
As one of the professors at Hogwarts and a descendant of the famous seer Cassandra Trelawney, she was somewhat well-known.
Slughorn had probably mentioned that the ball would provide free sherry, which was why she came.
There was also Luna, who was discussing with Neville whether Scrimgeour was a hidden vampire and whether he was secretly plotting to manipulate the Aurors and use the Gum-Bleeding Curse to collapse the Ministry of Magic from within.
Neville looked shocked, but Kyle couldn't help but laugh out loud, almost sucking honey mead up his nose.
"The Gums Swelling Jinx, now that's something worth developing. I think it's more useful than the Tongue-Tying Curse," Kyle said with a laugh.
As for Scrimgeour being a vampire, that was even more ridiculous. If he were, the huge Foe-Glass in the Auror office would have been ringing nonstop.
The fact that no one in the Ministry had complained about him causing a disturbance was enough to prove Scrimgeour's identity.
It had to be said that some of Mr. Lovegood's statements were quite interesting, and he always managed to come up with perspectives that others would never think of.
If you didn't consider the logic and just looked at it for entertainment, The Quibbler was indeed a pretty good magazine.
Kyle decided to subscribe to it when he got back. It would be something to read when he was bored.
After Luna and Neville walked away, the ball became boring again, until there were only ten minutes left before curfew...
Kyle had thought the ball was over when, suddenly, Peeves the Poltergeist burst in from outside.
He flew on the ceiling, holding a bunch of water-filled balloons, and indiscriminately attacked the students below who were still reacting to his sudden appearance.
In an instant, it was as if it had rained in the room.
Everyone screamed and dodged the water balloons falling from the sky, creating chaos in the room.
"Ha, I always felt that something was missing, but now it's fine," Kyle said with a laugh. "After all, how could a place as lively as this do without Peeves?"
He moved his finger slightly, diverting a flying water balloon elsewhere.
"But Professor Slughorn is still here, and Peeves has never dared to provoke professors, has he?"
"He just dares not provoke the four heads of houses. The other professors are just given face."
Kyle flicked another water balloon away and then tugged Connor towards the door. It would be best to leave while most people were still caught off guard, before they started crowding the exit.
Soon, the two of them reached the corridor outside.
Connor lifted her arm to sniff her sleeve and scrunched up her nose. "I was just about to say, do you smell something sour?"
"It's vinegar," Kyle whispered. "Actually, I'm the one who suggested it to Peeves. Adding vinegar to the water increases its damaging effects."
Connor shot Kyle a disapproving look.
"Don't look at me like that," Kyle shrugged. "It was a long time ago. Back then, I asked him to help me find a ghost, and that was my payment for the favor. After all, new students often made mistakes during the dueling practice, and it seemed a waste for all that vinegar to be sprayed around aimlessly..."
"Those who got hit by Peeves' water balloons must hate you now," Connor remarked.
"Just blame Filch, why don't you?" Kyle said with a laugh. "He didn't hesitate to cause trouble for the students on Umbridge's orders last year. This is just a little payback for him."
As they made their way down the stairs, they could hear a commotion behind them, with voices and spells being cast... It seemed most people had recovered from the surprise attack and were now trying to drive Peeves away.
However, Peeves had already thrown all his water balloons and was now making a swift escape.
Just as Kyle and Connor reached the first-floor entrance hall, they ran into the poltergeist.
"Oh, it's you, Kyle, kiddo. I didn't notice you were here earlier," Peeves said cheerfully, but then he seemed to remember something and was about to fly off again.
"Hey, they're coming after me..."
"Wait!" Kyle called out, stopping him in his tracks. "It's been a while, how's that thing I asked you about?"
Peeves' translucent body came to an abrupt halt. After a moment, he stiffly turned around, his usual grin replaced by a rare serious expression. "Well, you asked me to find a witch who can't smile, and I think she's left Hogwarts."
"Impossible," Kyle shook his head confidently. "Madame Grey wouldn't leave Hogwarts."
"But she's not in the castle," Peeves insisted. "Even the Bloody Baron is looking for her, but he hasn't found her either. She must have run away."
Although he didn't get the answer he wanted, Kyle wasn't too disappointed as he had expected this outcome from the start.
"Never mind, then," he waved it off and turned to continue towards the common room.
"Hey, Kyle, kid, I'm not just giving you lip service here," Peeves, unaware of Kyle's thoughts, quickly explained, "I've been looking for her, honestly... Oh, I think she might have been kidnapped by the Bloody Baron and locked up in a room without a door on the second floor."
"Oh?"
Kyle stopped in his tracks and turned back to face Peeves. "A room without a door on the second floor?"
If it were on the eighth floor, it would be the Room of Requirement. But on the second floor... Could there be a similar room there?
"Yeah," Peeves' face lit up with pride, "No one knows this castle better than me, and there's a place in Hogwarts that's very mysterious, hiding treasures from students throughout the ages. But no one knows where it is."
Hearing this, Kyle was certain that Peeves was referring to the Room of Requirement, and the second floor mention was probably a mistake on the poltergeist's part.
At that moment, Connor piped up, "But Peeves, didn't you just say that the Bloody Baron is also looking for Madame Grey?"
At the mention of the Bloody Baron, Peeves shuddered, but he stood his ground. "He's just pretending to confuse people. Half an hour ago, I saw that Slytherin kid suddenly appear at the door of a storage room on the second floor, muttering something about 'it's gone, I can't find it.'
"I bet the Bloody Baron sent him to check, and by then, Madame Grey, who can't smile, had already escaped."
Peeves nodded vigorously, convinced of his own theory. "Yeah, that's definitely what happened."
Whether Kyle believed him or not, Peeves seemed convinced, and the Bloody Baron did have a motive. All the ghosts knew that he was the one who had murdered Madame Grey of Ravenclaw, and who's to say he wouldn't get the urge to reenact the scene?
Peeves wore an earnest expression, his belief in his theory growing by the second.
However, no matter what, Kyle, even if he didn't know the truth, wouldn't believe Peeves' story.
Madame Grey had disappeared with the Diadem of Ravenclaw, which contained a portion of Rowena Ravenclaw's memories. What could the Bloody Baron possibly do with it?
And there was no way a storage room could contain a ghost that could walk through walls.
But then, Kyle thought of something else.
"Wait, Peeves, you said you saw a Slytherin student on the second floor. Who was it?"
"Let me think..." Peeves stroked his chin, "I remember him arguing with Potter in the corridor. I was hoping they'd start fighting, but then they ran into McGonagall. Oh yes, Potter called him Malfoy.
"I tell you, that Malfoy kid must have been acting on the Bloody Baron's orders..."
Peeves rambled on, but Kyle had stopped listening.
Was he looking for something, or was there something there that he wanted?
But the storeroom only contained useless things, like tables and chairs that couldn't be fixed, or old brooms that had been discarded. What would Malfoy want with those things?
Kyle pondered, feeling that he had forgotten something, but he couldn't quite recall what it was.
No wonder Dumbledore always kept a Pensieve in his office. After experiencing so many things, it was sometimes necessary to sort through one's memories...
"Kyle, what's wrong? Are they coming?" Connor's voice broke through his thoughts, along with the loud chatter of the crowd.
Coming back to his senses, Kyle realized that Peeves had disappeared, and at the same time, Slughorn was running down the stairs with several professors and students.
He was at the front, and whether it was due to his vigorous movements or because he had eaten too much at dinner, the lavish violet robe he wore looked ready to burst at the seams.
"Kyle, Connor... Have you seen Peeves? Someone said he went towards the entrance hall," Slughorn said angrily. "That annoying ghost ruined my ball!"
"He went that way." Kyle casually pointed in a random direction, not knowing where Peeves had gone.
"What? He went back upstairs?" Slughorn looked at Kyle, who was pointing towards the library on the second floor, and felt his legs go weak.
Ghosts could fly, but he couldn't. After running up and down the stairs several times, he was completely out of breath.
"Children..." He turned to the students behind him. "Go after Peeves and catch him. Whoever brings him to me will receive a small bottle of Felix Felicis."
At the mention of Felix Felicis, the students' eyes lit up. They patted their chests and rushed back upstairs.
Having been drenched in vinegar-laced water, they had already wanted to get back at Peeves. Now that Slughorn had offered Felix Felicis as a reward, they had no reason to refuse.
The group hurriedly rushed back upstairs.
Slughorn leaned against the railing and caught his breath. He couldn't help but complain:
"Armando really should have listened to me and kicked Peeves out of the castle. That poltergeist only knows how to cause trouble, and everyone in the castle has had enough of him..."
"Yes, that's still true." Kyle agreed.
"Now, child, aren't you going to give it a try?" Slughorn looked at Kyle and said, "I think you have a good chance of catching that troublemaker and getting my reward."
He took out a small corked bottle from his pocket, containing the golden liquid of Felix Felicis.
Kyle couldn't help but glance at the bottle, but then shook his head and said, "Sorry, Professor. Even though I really want this reward, I think I had too much to drink at the ball, and I'm feeling a bit sleepy. I just want to go back and get some rest."
"You know, I think I remember you staying by the drink table most of the time." Slughorn tapped his head. "Listen to me, Kyle. Even though you're of age now, you should still practice moderation. Or you could try mead, I personally quite enjoy its flavor."
"I will, Professor." Kyle said. After some perfunctory replies, he and Connor made an excuse and left.
As they returned to the Gryffindor common room, Kyle's thoughts were still on Malfoy's purpose for going to the Room of Requirement.
It was obvious that he didn't just wander up there idly; he must have had a reason... But what could it be?
"Kyle, thank goodness you're back. I remember you have a copy of 'Transfiguration and Vanishing Spells', right? Can I borrow it?"
In the common room, Ryan, who was working on his homework, spotted Kyle and immediately asked.
"Sure." Kyle casually replied, "It's in the cabinet in our dormitory. You can go look for it..."
"Wait." Kyle suddenly snapped his fingers.
Cabinet... Vanishing Cabinet?
He finally remembered that in their third year, Nearly Headless Nick had tricked Peeves into dropping a cabinet onto Filch's office to help Harry, who had been caught by Filch.
And that cabinet was the Vanishing Cabinet.
Additionally, Nearly Headless Nick had mentioned that the Vanishing Cabinet had been kept in a storeroom on the second floor.
Filch knew it was a Vanishing Cabinet and intended to use the damage to school property as a reason to expel Peeves from the school.
Of course, Dumbledore wouldn't expel Peeves, or rather, no one could expel Peeves from the castle.
Eventually, this incident was swept under the rug, as if nothing had happened.
The severely damaged Vanishing Cabinet was supposedly disposed of by the house-elves.
However, in reality, that was not the case.
The truth was that Kyle had taken the Vanishing Cabinet before the house-elves arrived... What they had disposed of was just a normal cabinet with a Disillusionment Charm cast on it.
Aside from Kyle, no one else knew about this.
......
Could the Vanishing Cabinet be what Malfoy was after?
If so, how did he know about the Vanishing Cabinet in the storeroom on the second floor? Had he been there before? But he was only in his second year at the time, so it was unlikely that he would have gone to a dirty storeroom.
But if not, then what else could he have been looking for...
Kyle pondered as he sat down in an armchair. Connor, unaware of his thoughts, quietly sat beside him.
......
(End of Chapter)
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