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Chapter 733: The Vanishing Cabinet Found by Malfoy
Chapter 733: The Vanishing Cabinet Found by Malfoy
"Excellent, Harry..."
After the Halloween Potions class, Professor Slughorn gazed at the cauldron in front of Harry, a hint of surprise flashing across his face.
"The color is perfect, and the taste is impeccable. I assure you, even the most fiery-tempered person would become calm after taking just three drops of the Calming Draught you brewed."
"Thank you for your praise, Professor," Harry said, unable to hide his excitement. "So, do I pass?"
"Pass?" Professor Slughorn exaggerated, "This is a perfect potion, no doubt about it. Gryffindor gets ten points!"
Harry was so excited that he almost jumped up. This was the first time in six years that he had earned extra points in Potions class. For a moment, he felt that Professor Slughorn was a lot more agreeable.
"I knew it! You must have inherited your mother's exceptional potion-making talent, but Severus never helped you discover it." Professor Slughorn smiled, "Keep up the good work, and I look forward to your performance in the next class."
Harry nodded vigorously.
Beside him, Hermione let out a cold snort through her nose.
Her potion was also completed, but the color was slightly lighter compared to Harry's.
This wasn't a problem initially, but after the comparison, her minor flaw was magnified.
Professor Slughorn glanced at her cauldron without any comment, said 'not bad', and then left.
This made Hermione even angrier.
"You're cheating!" After class, Hermione said sternly, "You shouldn't keep looking at that notebook."
"It's just a notebook. How can it be considered cheating...?" Harry argued, "And the steps in it have proven to be completely correct."
"But you didn't come up with it on your own."
"But you also read the textbook. What's the difference?" Ron also spoke up in support of Harry.
"Think about it, that's Connor Prince, the youngest member of the Exceptional Potioneers Association. How could the notes she approves of possibly be wrong?"
"But..." Hermione wanted to say something.
"Wait, Hermione, are you jealous of Kyle?" Ron's voice rose slightly.
"Why would I be jealous of him!" Hermione couldn't help but raise her voice.
"Of course you're jealous because his grades are better than yours, and he's discovered so many little tricks that you don't know."
Seeing Hermione's reaction, Ron became more certain of his guess. "I think you should try it out. After all, the content in the book was also written by other wizards. Maybe in a few years, these little tricks will also appear in the books.
"Do you remember what Kyle said before? 'Advanced Potion Making' hasn't been updated in a long time, and many of the steps are outdated."
Hermione took a deep breath and remained silent.
Ron assumed that she knew she was at fault and didn't pay much attention. Instead, he continued discussing the contents of the notebook with Harry.
"It's strange. I was following the instructions in the notebook, but why is the result not as good as yours?"
"That's because you weren't focused enough." Harry said, "The size of the flame used for brewing potions is also important. I remember when you added the moonstone powder to the cauldron, you went to chat with Seamus, completely forgetting to reduce the flame."
"It does seem like that... But why didn't you remind me at the time?"
"I just realized it now."
"Never mind, it's just a minor issue." Ron laughed, "What do you think, if I continue to brew potions according to the notebook, will Professor Slughorn invite me to his party by Christmas?"
"Definitely," said Harry.
Although his intuition told him that a couple of good Potions class results wouldn't change Professor Slughorn's view of Ron, he decided it was better not to dampen Ron's enthusiasm at this moment.
After getting Harry's affirmative answer, Ron became even more excited, and his voice rose involuntarily.
"Great, Weasley! Do you feel like you've become famous now that you've received Professor Slughorn's invitation?"
A cold voice came from behind them, "You can put a stupid scar on your head, and maybe you'll also be welcomed by the Scar-Head Fanatics like Potter."
A burst of laughter filled the room.
"I don't think we were talking to you, Malfoy," Harry said with a straight face. "I noticed you weren't at the ball last time. Were you not invited?"
"Or maybe Professor Slughorn doesn't know the Malfoy family," Ron added next to him.
"Do you think you're funny?" Malfoy's face turned cold instantly, "Even if he wanted to invite me, I wouldn't attend his stupid and boring ball."
"You're just jealous of us," Ron scoffed, "You must be jealous out of your mind."
"Jealous of you?"
Malfoy, feeling insulted, said harshly, "You probably don't know this, Weasley, but our family holds a ball every Christmas..."
"Oh, I forgot. You definitely wouldn't know because the guests we invite are all high-class people. A pure-blooded family like yours would never receive an invitation."
Malfoy turned his gaze to Hermione, "And, of course, a Mudblood like you wouldn't be allowed to set foot in my house either..."
"Shut up, you bastard!" Harry clenched his fists, ready to charge at Malfoy, but was held back by Hermione.
"Don't, Harry, you'll get expelled if the professors see you!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I don't care!" Harry waved his fist, "Let me go, Hermione, I'm going to beat him up today!"
Hermione ignored him and continued to hold him back.
Meanwhile, Ron was also restrained by several other Gryffindor students, not allowing him to intervene.
It wasn't that they were afraid of trouble, but Malfoy was not alone; he had Crabbe and Goyle with him.
Those two large men looked like young giants, and Ron would definitely be at a disadvantage if he went up against them.
Malfoy sneered when he saw this, feeling secure with Crabbe and Goyle by his side, surrounded by a group of Slytherin students.
Just as Malfoy was about to mock them further, a balloon filled with liquid suddenly fell from the sky and hit him right on the head.
His carefully styled hair was instantly drenched, and the dark brown liquid dripped down his hair, accompanied by a strong acidic smell.
"This is vinegar..."
The people around him instinctively covered their noses and backed away, even Crabbe and Goyle took a step back.
Malfoy was stunned, standing there in a daze.
"Hahahah, do you like your new hairstyle... hahahah..."
A loud, piercing laughter echoed from above, and Peeves was seen holding his belly, laughing uncontrollably.
"Well done, Peeves!" Harry shouted from below.
He had thought that Peeves had been caught by the angry Slughorn yesterday, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
Not only was Peeves not caught, but he also brought a big surprise.
He had thrown a balloon filled with vinegar right onto Malfoy's head, an action that was even more satisfying than beating him up.
Malfoy, on the other hand, was furious, smelling the strong acidic smell emanating from his body.
"Peeves, I'll kill you!" he roared, but a few drops of vinegar fell into his mouth, making his face turn pale.
He didn't dare speak, tightly closing his mouth, and took out his wand to teach Peeves a lesson.
Everyone thought Peeves would run away like before, but instead, he took out an even bigger vinegar balloon and threw it down when Malfoy took out his wand.
Coincidentally, the balloon landed right on Malfoy's outstretched wand and burst.
Another large amount of vinegar splashed out, scattering everywhere.
This time, almost everyone was affected, with Malfoy being the closest.
Moreover, this vinegar seemed to have something extra added to it, making it not only acidic but also smelly.
"Ugh!" Malfoy instinctively covered his stomach and dry-heaved.
The next second, he felt his wand being taken away.
"Stop, Peeves!"
Malfoy didn't care about the complex smell on his body anymore and quickly chased after the escaping Peeves.
Everyone didn't expect things to turn out this way, and by the time they reacted, Malfoy had already run far away, chasing Peeves.
"Draco..." Crabbe and Goyle quickly ran after him.
"Hahahah, did you see that, Harry? Malfoy's face was priceless," Ron said, laughing. "Peeves did a great job!"
As he spoke, he glared at the surrounding Slytherin students.
Now that Malfoy and his friends were gone, the Gryffindor students were more numerous, and Ron wasn't afraid at all.
"Let's leave, Ron, the smell is too bad," Hermione said, frowning.
Ron subconsciously took a breath and almost threw up.
"Peeves must have added dung bombs to the vinegar..." he said confidently. "I thought Fred and George were the only ones who did that after they graduated."
As they spoke, they quickened their pace, leaving the corridor behind. The smell would soon attract Filch, and they wouldn't be able to explain themselves if they got caught.
The three of them headed towards the Gryffindor common room, planning to change their clothes before going to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Do you think Malfoy will get his wand back?" Harry asked curiously as they walked up the stairs.
"I hope he doesn't," Ron said. "It would be best if Peeves hid his wand where no one could find it, or better yet, just broke it."
"That's impossible," Hermione said. "Don't forget that this is a school, and the professors won't let Peeves get away with stealing a student's wand. They'll definitely help Malfoy get it back."
"Peeves is afraid of the professors, he definitely wouldn't dare go too far."
"That's a real pity," Ron whispered.
Harry had the same thought.
...
Meanwhile, Malfoy had chased Peeves to the second floor.
Although he ran very fast, Peeves could fly, and every time Malfoy was about to catch up, Peeves would nimbly dodge... or perhaps Peeves was doing it on purpose, just to tease Malfoy.
However, Malfoy's extreme anger clouded his rationality, and he didn't consider all this. He was determined to catch Peeves and retrieve his wand.
The two of them ran from the sixth floor all the way down to the second floor, the distance between them growing.
"You're already tired? Tch, this is so boring." Peeves looked at Malfoy, who was panting heavily from exhaustion, and lost interest.
"Here, take it back." He casually threw his wand to the side and disappeared around a corner.
"I must tell Professor Snape... and get you expelled from school!" Malfoy shouted after Peeves, but he received no response.
Obviously, Peeves had already run far away.
Malfoy cursed for a while, searching back and forth on the ground. Soon, he found his wand at the end of the corridor, in front of a storage room.
For some reason, the storage room was not locked, only slightly ajar. Malfoy barely touched the wand as he picked it up, and the door creaked open.
Malfoy didn't pay much attention at first, but when he stood up to wipe his wand, he suddenly noticed a cabinet inside the storage room.
The cabinet was placed right by the door, easily visible at a glance.
Malfoy suddenly became tense and excited. He pushed the door open.
Now he could see it more clearly—it was a cabinet about the height of a person, with golden patterns on its surface.
A surge of joy washed over Malfoy... the thing he had been searching for several days was right here!
"Draco!"
At that moment, Crabbe and Goyle also ran over, panting heavily.
"That... damn... ghost..."
"Forget about the ghost for now," Malfoy said, "You two, carry this cabinet away."
Crabbe and Goyle looked in the direction Malfoy was pointing, their faces filled with confusion.
"Draco... have you gone crazy?" Goyle whispered, "It's just an old cabinet. If you want one, you can buy a new one."
"You don't understand, this is a treasure," Malfoy said.
"A treasure?" Crabbe frowned, calling a broken cabinet a treasure. It seemed Malfoy had indeed gone crazy.
"You two idiots, just do as I say," Malfoy didn't bother explaining further. He gently caressed the golden patterns on the cabinet.
This was the Vanishing Cabinet he had seen in his memories; he was sure of it.
It must have been his first year. After obtaining the Hogwarts Map and finding it interesting, he wandered around the castle during the weekend and accidentally bumped into this cabinet in the dark. He even bruised his forehead.
At the time, he worried for a long time, fearing he would become a Scarhead like Potter. So, he remembered it clearly.
But back then, he thought it was just an ordinary cabinet. It wasn't until recently, when he saw another identical cabinet with golden patterns at Borgin and Burkes, that he realized the cabinet he had bumped into was a Vanishing Cabinet.
Moreover, the two cabinets were likely a pair.
However, when Malfoy excitedly searched for the cabinet at school, it had suddenly disappeared.
He had searched for a long time, even suspecting that someone had taken it. He never expected it to be here, and now he realized he must have remembered the location incorrectly.
After all, it had been five years ago, and it was normal for his memory to be a bit fuzzy.
Malfoy didn't think too much. He immediately directed Crabbe and Goyle to move the cabinet.
"Be careful," he said solemnly, "This cabinet is very important, related to... that person... If you damage it, you'll face punishment!"
Crabbe and Goyle were a bit resentful, but seeing Malfoy bring up the Dark Lord, they dared not argue. They lowered their heads and struggled to carry the cabinet out of the storage room.
Malfoy looked in the direction where Peeves had disappeared and burst into laughter.
"Draco, why are you laughing?" Crabbe asked, puzzled.
"I'm laughing at Peeves," Malfoy said, "He thinks he's tricked me, but he's actually helped me a great deal. If my guess is correct, that person will be able to enter Hogwarts effortlessly."
Malfoy suddenly became excited, "Then I'll be the greatest contributor. I must kill Peeves!"
Just because of a broken cabinet, could that person enter Hogwarts?
And kill a ghost? Crabbe and Goyle simultaneously looked at Malfoy, who was emitting a strong smell of vinegar, and then glanced at each other.
Both saw the same thought in each other's eyes...
Malfoy had indeed gone crazy and started talking nonsense.
(End of Chapter)
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