Chapter 174: Valentine's Day is coming

The life of the new semester begins like this, everything is the same as usual, without any fluctuations.
　　 "Severus Snape" returned to Hogwarts Castle only a day later, and Matthew saw him in the guest seat at breakfast; he didn't look anything unusual.
　　 Matthew frowned slightly, staring at the mysterious transformation teaching teacher, and soon fell into thinking.
The resistance of the house elves seems to have stopped. For at least a month or so, the three meals at Hogwarts have not encountered any major problems; most people have forgotten about this, perhaps only Hermione. Except for Granger, she seemed to be closely concerned about everything with the house elves.
　　 The horses and fairies, there is no news, at least in the "Daily Prophet", Matthew did not see any records.
　　It's not just Hogwarts, but the entire magical world seems to have fallen into a strange calm...
　　 As the behind-the-scenes agitation of this series of events, what the Order of the Phoenix did seems to be meaningless.
　　……
　　 With the end of the cold January, spring is here.
　　Everything has recovered, and the originally harsh climate in the Scottish Highlands has gradually become milder. The sun shone on Hogwarts Castle again, and the gloomy atmosphere of the winter began to fade away...
　　 Every time they take herbal medicine class and pass the garden, they can smell all kinds of charming fragrance from there.
　　 One day in mid-February, when Matthew came to the auditorium and saw the dress around, he realized that today is a special day
　　 It's Valentine's Day again.
The walls around the auditorium are decorated with a variety of beautiful pink flowers, full of a festive atmosphere; whenever someone passes by the door of the auditorium, there will be heart-shaped confetti falling from the sky; On the long table of the college, there are piles of brightly colored roses that exude a delicate fragrance...
　　 Of course, none of this has anything to do with a sophomore like Matthew Wickfield. Only students in the fourth grade and above are eligible to celebrate Valentine's Day...and therefore they can get a one-day holiday.
　　 As for the students in the third grade and below, in principle, Valentine's Day has nothing to do with them.
　　 But there are some exceptions this year, because this year’s Valentine’s Day is on Sunday... Principal Grindelwald would not give students in grade 4 and above a holiday for this.
　　 In addition to the decoration, the Valentine's Day atmosphere in the auditorium is very strong. Even with Matthew, you can see many couples cuddling together...
　　 This makes people feel very tired.
　　 Matthew finished his breakfast quickly.
　　 When he came to the corridor, he saw many students walking towards the garden...
But compared to this time last year, there are a lot fewer people...Because it is Sunday, Hogsmeade is also open to all teachers and students for an extra day; many couples choose to go to Hogwarts to spend their Valentine's Day... …
　　 Mrs. Patil’s small tea house is very popular with couples.
　　 Matthew will naturally not go to Hogsmeade. After experiencing Tom Gunter's incident, he has a "psychological shadow" over there.
　　 But in the garden, he would be interested to see it.
　　 (The description of Hogwarts Valentine's Day in the previous chapter is somewhat different from the previous article. It has been changed, sorry!)
　　……
　　 The dress in the garden is also very ambiguous.
The sun hanging in the sky is heart-shaped, apparently the ceiling has been enchanted; rose petals can be seen everywhere; there are also some golden little angels (a kind of elves with special magic) in mid-air Flying around...
　　 is surrounded by lovers cuddling together, and Matthew quickly walked away from them. At the same time, try not to disturb them...
　　 I have to say that the scenery in the garden is beautiful...Under the careful care of the herbal medicine teacher Professor Sprout, you can see many wonderful and rare flowers...
　　 The smell in the air is also very intoxicating.
　　 Five minutes later, Matthew arrived at his destination.
　　 The area where Flor flowers and Highland Daisies are planted...
　　 He approached, sniffed vigorously, and after noticing that there was no peculiar smell in the air, he walked over with confidence.
　　 Although in theory the highland daisy can fully neutralize the pollen of the Flor flower, Matthew thinks he should be more cautious...After all, the pollen of the Flor flower is still very toxic.
　　 The blooming Flor flower is a light blue flower; I have to say that it is indeed very beautiful.
　　 But Matthew was not here to appreciate its beauty... While there was no one around, Matthew bent down and took out his wand.
　　 As fast as possible, he dug a Flor flower rooted out of the soil.
　　 A flor is close to two feet in height. It is still very difficult to bring such a "behemoth" directly out of the garden... At the gate of the garden, Mr. Pringle is staring at the students who come and go.
　　 The plants in the Hogwarts Garden are not allowed to be picked easily, let alone taken out of the garden!
　　 Fortunately, just over a month ago on Christmas Day, Neville Longbottom gave Matthew a magical little wallet.
Although the space inside 　　 is small, it can hold items a bit larger than it.
　　 Matthew carefully stuffed the Flor flower into his wallet, not damaging its roots and stems as much as possible.
　　 Just after Matthew finished all this, a strange couple suddenly came over.
　　 They gave Matthew a suspicious look.
　　 Matthew pretended that nothing happened, bit the bullet and walked away.
Honestly speaking, when Matthew Wickfield hurried out of the garden, he felt a little guilty for such "stealing"...Especially the owner of these flowers, Professor Pomona Sprout, who was usually very kind to them. of……
　　 He could only comfort himself with the clumsy excuse that "I was so exhausted and exhausted and spent more than half a year to plant this flower."
　　……
　　 Matthew left the garden easily, Mr. Pringle's level did not cause any hindrance.
　　 After all, Mr. Pringle would not use a plant detector to search them carefully.
　　 This also made Matthew a little relieved.
　　 Just when he was about to return to the Slytherin common room--
　　 "Matthew!" A shout made Matthew almost startled.
　　 For a moment, he almost thought that it was his own behavior just now, "East window incident"...
　　 Besides, it was Professor Holas Slughorn, Dean of Slytherin College, who called his name.
　　 "Hello... Slughorn... Professor..." Matthew asked nervously.
　　 Fortunately, Slughorn didn't come for just that.
　　 At least he didn’t mention--
　　 "It's another Sunday, isn't it, Matthew, my child..." The potions professor blinked at Matthew, "Are there any plans for the evening?"
　　 "No," Matthew shook his head, "I'm in the second grade, and I'm not yet the age to participate in Valentine's Day...We are not eligible to participate in the Valentine's Day celebration party..."
　　 "That's great!" Slughorn looked smiled. "That being the case, Matthew, don't forget our party...a slug club party..."
　　 Matthew realized that he had fallen into Slughorn’s language trap because of his nervousness.
　　 "...If I remember correctly, you haven't been here for a long time... Ha ha, not positive at all..." Slughorn complained.
　　 "Sorry..." Matthew tried to find excuses for himself, "..."
　　 In fact, after the new semester, because of the foreboding that something terrible is about to happen at Hogwarts, and Draco Malfoy’s warning... Matthew has tried to draw a clear line from all "dangerous people".
　　He is in school now, very low-key!
　　Of course, including Horace Slughorn.
　　 Although Matthew believes that Slughorn’s smoothness is unlikely to be too deeply connected with dangerous things...but it’s better to be cautious.
"...Tonight there is Professor Grindelwald’s Valentine’s Day celebration... Those senior students will definitely not come," Slughorn shook his head, "You must be there by then, don’t forget, Matthew! Don't let our party be too deserted!"
　　 At this time, Matthew really couldn't find an excuse, so he finally nodded.
　　 After that, he turned and left.
　　……
　　 As it was Valentine's Day, Sunday's fighting club activities were temporarily cancelled.
　　 Matthew stayed in the library for an afternoon... Now Hogwarts is probably in the library, and he won’t get dog food anytime...
　　 After all, if you dare to show affection in the library, you have to be careful of the anger of Mrs. Pince, the administrator.
　　It wasn't until six o'clock in the afternoon that Matthew reluctantly put down the book about "Dementors" in his hand, and then stood up...He had to go to Slughorn's dinner.
　　 Ten minutes later, Matthew came to the door of the potions teacher's office.
　　 knocked on the door lightly, and soon the door was opened.
　　 "Welcome, Matthew..." Slughorn said eagerly. He was wearing a dark green down jacket, which looked particularly bloated, "Come in..."
　　 As Slughorn guessed, today's Slug Club dinner was a bit shabby.
　　The number of club members present was very small...
　　 There is no doubt that this is related to Professor Grindelwald’s Valentine’s Day celebration... Those senior slug club members, whether there are couples or not, obviously they don’t want to miss the celebration held by Professor Grindelwald...
　　 And the number of members in the lower grades is not much.
　　 The original two long tables have been reduced to one; beside this only long table, there are a few students sitting scattered...
　　 Slughorn did not give Matthew a greeting as before; he seemed to have something else.
After 　　 opened the door, he turned around and started talking with an adult man
　　 Matthew knows him, he is one of several Aurors resident in Hogwarts at the Ministry of Magic... I vaguely remember his name, it seems to be "Derishi"...
When Dawlish graduated from Hogwarts, all his s test scores were excellent. After graduation, he became the Auror of the Ministry of Magic... Although his performance in another world line was terrible, he had to be said that he was indeed excellent. It’s not surprising that he has a close relationship with Slughorn.
　　 They seemed to talk for a long time, and the Dawlish still raised his hand to show something.
　　He didn't hurriedly leave until after Matthew took his seat.
　　……
　　Hermione Granger did not attend this banquet.
　　 Hermione was still very sensible when she didn't communicate the bait with those senior wizards.
　　 She also remembered the warning to Slughorn that Matthew had told her before.
　　 In addition to Matthew, there are only Neville and Malfoy, as well as Braith Shabini.
　　 There is only one Elaine Shafik in the first grade.
　　 plus three third-year students...
　　All the members of the Slug Club are here...There is no doubt that even Slughorn can't make up a table.
　　 "It's embarrassing, isn't it..." Neville whispered.
　　 Matthew nodded thoughtfully.
　　 But Professor Slughorn didn't seem to feel embarrassed, on the contrary, he seemed to behave very pleasantly.
　　 Maybe this is just in disguise.
　　 "Cheers to our pocket party!" He held up the mead and shouted.
　　 Matthew took a sip of his mead, not sure why... He suddenly felt that today's mead tastes better than before.
　　 "How is your grandfather's body, Draco!" Since there were not many people, Slughorn could have a friendly conversation with them one-on-one.
　　 "His dragon pox is still under control...no recurrence..." Draco Malfoy replied respectfully, "I have been staying at home for several years..."
"That's good..." Slughorn nodded and said with regret, "Poor Abraxus, a lot of years old actually got dragon pox, it's really pitiful... "
　　 "Right, Cormac..." He turned his gaze to Cormac McLagen again, "I think your uncle's body should be pretty good, right?"
　　 "Of course," McLagen said carelessly, "He can eat three catties of beef for a meal now!"
　　……
　　 To be honest, this slug club dinner was a bit boring.
　　 Horace Slughorn has been chatting with the lower grades about their parents and grandparents... Matthew, without a doubt, could not wipe his mouth with a word.
　　 But he couldn't be idle either.
　　Because Elaine Shafik was pulling him and asking about it, Matthew who asked was very bored; but it was difficult to refuse.
　　 There is not even time to quietly communicate and gather with Neville.
　　 Now he just wants this party to end soon,
　　 He almost lived like years--
　　 Finally, these nightmarish two hours finally passed.
　　Professor Slughorn also began to get a little tired.
　　 Actually it's time to leave.
　　The students from each college left one after another.
　　 Suddenly, Elaine Shafik held his head in pain, as if something went wrong.
　　 "Oh, damn, Elaine..." Slughorn's face changed.