Angry was angry, but Link and Emily still didn't hurry back to Hogwarts, instead took advantage of everyone being busy watching the excitement to buy the needed pumpkin soda and pumpkin pies.
Worth mentioning is, when Link was paying, the Duke of Bees boss with the two small mustaches expressed great confusion at Link buying so many pumpkin products.
Because today was Halloween, this was the festival of pumpkins.
And facts were just as he said.
As soon as Link and Emily returned to Hogwarts, they found the whole castle had already completely changed appearance.
Especially the Great Hall.
Inside, the lighting was no longer floating candles, but instead hundreds and thousands of pumpkin lanterns.
Near the magical ceiling hung many orange-yellow banners, they floated like colorful water snakes, and in between, from time to time, large groups of bats would fly through.
Students who just returned from Hogsmeade village were quickly organized into the Halloween feast.
Countless pumpkin pies and roasted meats filled the long tables of the four great houses. These foods were mostly Halloween specialties, only seen once a year.
It's just a pity that most upper-grade students' stomachs were already filled with Duke of Bees' candies and all kinds of snacks from Hogsmeade, so it could only benefit the lower-grade students.
Of course, out of care for the lower-grade students, everyone also took out part of the candies and snacks brought back from Hogsmeade village and piled them on the tables for everyone to share.
This made the others extremely delighted.
Then, looking at Cedric who was handing out candy, Link suddenly had his eyes roll with mischief and spoke with bad intentions, "Cedric, how did the date with Cho Chang feel today?"
The long table immediately quieted, and everyone turned their gaze toward Cedric.
Among them, John and a few Quidditch team members were seriously holding back laughter.
Cedric opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if organizing his words. Only after a while did he finally say, "Very nice!"
As soon as this was said, the crowd immediately erupted, surrounding Cedric and started asking for more date details.
You should know, Cho Chang, as Ravenclaw's Seeker and Hogwarts' only female Seeker, was called "Ravenclaw's Pearl" by the little eagles.
Whether in the Muggle world or the magical world, young boys are always especially interested in gossip involving goddesses.
Luckily, Cedric had extremely high EQ and IQ. Not only did he not reveal any of Cho Chang's private matters, he also handled the crowd very pleasantly.
This made Link deeply feel he couldn't learn that.
At the end of the Halloween feast, came the usual performance segment.
Regrettably, because Fudge had the Dementors seal off all of Hogwarts, this year's banquet performance Dumbledore didn't invite popular idols like the Banshee Band who often appeared on wizard radio.
So the Halloween performance turned into Hogwarts' resident ghosts performing their talents.
They emerged from walls, tables, even people's bodies, formed square formations to perform ghost dances, and "Nearly Headless Nick" even reenacted the scene of his beheading.
Truthfully, their performance wasn't exciting, because even without this public performance opportunity, they would still show this same act to everyone they met every day.
Everyone was already bored of it.
But on this festive day, everyone still very enthusiastically applauded them.
Once the feast ended, only then did everyone cheerfully return to their own house common rooms.
Throughout the entire feast, the Weasley twins and Professor McGonagall did not appear.
This made Link very satisfied, belching as he left together with the group.
Only after walking a few steps, Link noticed John quietly slipping away from the group and entering a dark corridor.
This made Link involuntarily frown.
Recently, John's behavior had been very strange. First, arguing with Cedric over Hogsmeade Development Day, and now acting all sneaky today.
John's personality was cheerful, but also easily impulsive.
Link originally didn't want to dig deeper, but by now, the strong curiosity forced him to unconsciously follow.
"Hey, John."
Following John into a small side path, Link finally couldn't hold back and spoke.
This gave John such a scare his whole body violently trembled. Seeing it was Link, he patted his chest and complained, "Link! People scaring people can scare someone to death!"
"Yo! You even know that old saying?"
Link couldn't help but tease. "Know a bit, know a bit."
"Enough of that, I won't waste words with you," Link patted John and said, "What sneaky thing are you doing today?"
Hearing this, the smile on John's face instantly disappeared.
He stood stiffly struggling for a while, then finally took out from his chest a black wooden box tied with ribbon. After opening it, inside was placed a flashy, full-of-Lockhart-style peacock feather quill.
So tacky it was painful.
"Feather quill made from Firefinch tail feathers, cost me most of my semester's pocket money."
John drooped his head, somewhat depressed, and said, "I wanted to give it to Lillian to ask for her forgiveness, just that I... I don't know if she'll be willing to accept it."
"Lillian?"
Link murmured the name, and then in his mind appeared the image of the Ravenclaw girl who, back in that Defense Against the Dark Arts class, was indirectly confessed to by John and then socially died.
Then, Link exclaimed, "You haven't even officially confessed to her yet?"
"Confess what! After what happened, she must hate me to death!" John angrily knocked his own head and said, "Now I just hope she can forgive me."
"Idiot."
"Huh? Link, why are you calling me names?"
"Because you really are an idiot!" Link rolled his eyes at him and said, "Let me ask you, after that Defense Against the Dark Arts class, did your Lillian ever clearly show dislike or rejection?"
"I didn't dare go find her since then, but she does seem to have never done so."
"Exactly, in normal cases, people would immediately cut ties with you in that situation! If she didn't do that, doesn't that mean you still have a chance?"
Hearing this, John's expression became very animated.
First surprise, then doubt, and finally an uncontrollable happy smile emerged.
"I'll go find her now! Give her the gift!"
John shouted and was about to run, but was pulled back by Link.
"You really are a fool!" Link scolded him like he hated iron for not becoming steel. "You give such a Lockhart-y gift, don't you think it'll just make it worse?"
"Then… then what should I give?"
John looked dull, his eyes lifeless.
Seeing him like this, Link stopped teasing, smiled and took out a bottle of syrup-like golden potion, poured it into a twisted figure-eight shaped small glass bottle, and assembled a special pendant.
"National flower of Bulgaria, Champagne Rose's concentrated extract, one of the materials for love potion, the flower language is, I only adore you. Meeting you is the greatest blessing of my life. Without you, I am like a ship lost at sea."
Link said in a poetry-like tone, and when he said the flower language, John shivered fiercely.
"Give her this, just say it was handmade by you, she'll definitely understand your feelings!"
John, with trembling hands, took the pendant, stammering,
"L-L-Link! You're the best friend of my life!"
Link didn't reply, only tilted his head and smiled proudly.
And right at that moment, Dumbledore's familiar and serious voice suddenly resounded inside both Link and John's heads!
"Everyone! Return to the Great Hall immediately!"
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