When he went outside, he had climbed to the third floor of his tower and then taken an extremely long bath that lasted nearly three hours.
Immediately afterwards, without checking the date or time, he had flung himself onto his bed and closed his eyes instantly.
He had slept for a full day, uninterrupted, without waking.
When he woke up again, he saw that it was close to evening, then turned to the only moving object in his room, namely the moving painting, and then gently asked, "Lady Mavis, can you tell me what date it is?"
Inside the painting, he was speaking to a woman. This woman was about forty-one years old, but her skin was quite smooth, making her look perhaps twenty-five, with black hair and eyes, and a beautiful, plain dress.
It had to be said that she was quite beautiful.
This woman, Mavis, answered Noah's question with "The thirtieth day of October." Noah then lay back on the bed and said, "Tomorrow is the Halloween dinner..."
At that moment, he saw someone watching him from his bedroom door. The door was half-open, and the person watching Noah was Peeves himself.
"Peeves, what are you doing here?" Noah said. He was good friends with Peeves, a chaotic creature.
When Peeves heard his question, he took it as permission to come in and threw himself inside, dancing a bit foolishly, then stopped and said, "Those Weasley twins kept asking about you, they were driving me mad!!"
Peeves probably wasn't joking; Noah was the only person besides the professors who could get away with this, and that was because the two were good friends.
It was common knowledge throughout Gryffindor House that when Fred and George couldn't find Noah, they would verbally harass Peeves.
When Noah heard these words, he took a deep breath, stood up, approached Peeves, took a lollipop out of his spell bag, and offered it to Peeves.
"I'm sorry, Peeves, and thank you for letting me know. I'll warn them again," Noah said. Immediately afterwards, he got ready to change his clothes.
Peeves took the sweet he had been given, performed his silly dance, left the room first, and then left the tower.
After dressing properly, Noah tied his long hair back and, not wanting his eyes to look even worse due to his tiredness, put on his glasses and left his room.
After leaving the tower, he began walking through the wide corridors of Hogwarts.
Outside, it looked like there was an unusually heavy downpour.
Noah reached the Great Hall shortly afterwards and found Fred and George. As always, many eyes in the Great Hall were fixed on him. It would be fair to say he was really used to it.
Especially since he was a Ravenclaw, he was quite popular with everyone in the Ravenclaw house, at least because he had been sorted into that house.
After the young man came over to Fred and George, he sat down next to them and then said, "I told you how many times not to bother Peeves. You really don't listen to me."
Fred and George had simultaneously retorted, "We did not!"
"Yeah, yeah, now, tell me, why were you looking for me?" Noah had asked with great curiosity. Whenever the twins sought him out, it was either because they were in trouble or because they needed help with their lessons.
It could be said that Noah wished the latter reason wasn't the case right now; with the school year just beginning, he couldn't be said to be particularly eager to help them with their studies.
"You are seriously asking this?" Fred had said. He looked at Noah with a puzzled expression.
When Noah rolled his eyes, Fred picked up one of the fried potatoes from his plate, popped it into his mouth, and waited for an answer.
"You didn't come to see us at the start of the school year. Even though you waved at us when we saw you, you were practically half dead, and then you disappeared for half a month. I think it's natural for us to worry about our own brother, so I'll keep quiet," George had said.
It could be said that the twins and Noah got along well because they were the same age. Although Noah had turned fourteen on the first day of last month, that wasn't a detail that needed to be added at this point.
"I had things to do, you kn—" Noah hadn't even finished his own sentence when Percy joined in, sitting down on the chair looking even more restless than usual. "Yeah, yeah, as usual, you were making potions, working on formulas. We're used to it at this point, Noah."
Noah smiled after hearing these words and then said, "Whoa, our dear prefect is mad at something, isn't that new?"
When Noah said this, Percy took a deep breath and said, "Don't ask, we don't know what's going on, but many of the plants I've been observing for my Herbology class are rotting and withering. I need to visit Professor Sprout tomorrow and ask what's going on."
When Percy said this, Noah frowned and said, "You don't need to do that."
Percy replied curiously, "You don't understand, I can't fail this class. It will put my prefect badge in danger."
Noah gestured for Percy to slow down and then said, "I'll take care of this. I'll speak to Professor Sprout on your behalf. You're not responsible for the rotting. Hagrid is experiencing the same thing... Though I don't know about the wilting. Could you have been neglecting them, Percy?"
Percy blushed at this question and blurted out, "I did not do such a thing!"
This behaviour drew the attention of the Gryffindor table. Fred and George began laughing incredibly loudly, while Noah, though not laughing, smiled seriously enough to show his teeth.
After the four of them chatted for about two more hours, it was getting late in the evening and, naturally, the great hall was slowly emptying.
Noah, curious, approached Professor Snape, who was standing in the area where the Professors ate, before returning to his room.
Snape was not alone; he was chatting with Quirrell.
"Professor, I had a question for you," Noah said politely, making it clear to Snape that this was a private matter.
Quirrell, as if noticing this, stood up and said, "W---well th—then Se-Severus, wish you a good night! You too, No—Noah," and then left the area.
Snape then turned to Noah and asked, "What?"
Noah then took out the jars filled with rotten plants from his magical bag and said, "I will be seeing Professor Sprout tomorrow, but I didn't want to go to my room without informing you, as you know, dark magic," placing the jars in front of Snape.
Snape examined them for a moment without opening them and then said, "Precisely, it is dark magic. Weak, but it is dark magic."
Noah took a deep breath and asked, "Do you have any idea how long it might have taken for these to get to this state?"
Snape raised his eyebrows and said, "No idea. Professor Sprout would be better placed to help you with that," and then stood up.
After putting the jars he had placed on the table back into his magic bag, Noah shook his head and left the great hall.
He went to his room and slept until dawn. When the clock struck eight, he woke up, changed his clothes immediately, and set off for Herbology class.
He had to speak to Professor Sprout as soon as possible.