Chapter 045: Halloween Eve

"That broken vanishing cabinet, are you still useful?" Catherine asked suddenly before opening the door.

"Unless Dumbledore pays for it, it's just rubbish." Filch wiped his nose and pouted, "What do you want to do?" ”

"Study how it works." Catherine smiled.

"Take it!" Filch waved his hand casually and said, "Don't lose it completely, lest someone remember it and won't find it." ”

"I see." Catherine smiled and opened the door and left Filch's office.

As soon as the door closed, Filch opened the drawer, took out the two cards that Catherine had given him, and quickly made a decision.

That night, Filch asked Dumbledore for leave, and then left Hogwarts with Lady Loris, and because he was usually elusive, few people knew that he was no longer in the school, until the students found that the dirty floor had not been cleaned for two consecutive days, Peeves ran to investigate and confirmed that Filch was really not at school, and then Hogwarts boiled.

Although the other faculty members are still there, they all have their own responsibilities and have little time to keep an eye on the students, and they don't realize Filch's importance until they realize that the castle is being messed up by mischievous students.

Dumbledore immediately wanted to get him back, but he couldn't contact Filch, so he had to let all the faculty members share his tasks, but the professors were busy with classes and homework, and the ghost portraits could only act as eyes and ears, and the remaining three:

Hagrid, though able to manage the Forbidden Forest, was lucky not to be overwhelmed as soon as he entered the castle, let alone staring at his students; Madam Pomfrey has enough prestige, but now is the flu season, and the patients in the medical wing have completely dragged her down, and she can't come out at all; Mrs. Pince also had to watch the library, and the whole library was like a boiling pot when she left, and she did not dare to let the fate of the castle repeat itself in the books she regarded as treasures.

So Dumbledore could only put aside some of the foreign affairs and began to patrol the castle. In front of the headmaster, the students naturally became well-behaved babies, but behind the scenes, there were naturally people who did not miss this opportunity to oppose the headmaster, so the castle became even more chaotic, and the only place that could still be kept relatively tidy was the Slytherin territory.

On the one hand, the Slytherin students are very particular about face engineering, on the other hand, Snape secretly gave orders, so they all took the initiative to maintain the cleaning of their own territory, and if they wanted to make trouble, they had to run to Gryffindor's place, although Gryffindor also reciprocated, but most Gryffindors did not have the habit of cleaning, so the Gryffindor Tower became the dirtiest place, even if Professor McGonagall reprimanded him many times, it did not get better.

"Guys, what do you have to say?" Dumbledore reluctantly called a meeting of the entire staff to discuss, "Halloween is less than three days left. ”

"You can call the house-elves to take care of it." Snape said coldly, he felt it was a complete waste of his time.

"No, we can't indulge these kids!" Professor McGonagall shouted sternly, "They must be held accountable for their actions!" ”

"Let's do a big cleaning!" Professor Sprout advised, "No magic. ”

"Define where everyone is responsible," Professor Flitwick added, "so that if you don't do it well, you can go directly to the person in charge." ”

"Then each house will sort out its own territory first," Dumbledore was not going to favor his own house this time, because Gryffindor really had to go too far, "as for the rest ......"

"Principal, don't worry, I will definitely arrange it!" Lockhart suddenly jumped out and shouted, "I promise to restore Hogwarts to its fullest glory before Halloween party." ”

"That's it!" Dumbledore pushed his glasses, "Then I'll trouble you, Gildero." ”

"Yes!" Lockhart patted his chest in response, and the rest of the faculty and staff looked at each other with a look at the joke.

The four deans either have a long history of prestige, or they have a good relationship with the students, and when they give an order, the students of the four colleges naturally honestly pick up mops and brooms and clean up their own turf, but in this way, Gryffindor will be miserable.

Although Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are not as particular as Slytherin, they are not as troublesome as other houses, and they are not bad, but Gryffindor is miserable, after all, almost all of the students who like to mistreat are in this house, and the problem is that they are basically unaware of their wrongdoing, and blame Slytherin for everything.

When Lockhart gathered the students of the four houses to clean up the rest of the castle and assign Gryffindor and Slytherin to adjacent positions, a scuffle began.

Although it is stipulated that magic cannot be used, the broom mop is also a good fighting tool, and it can also twist a wet rag into a stick, and all the anger accumulated from history to this day will explode, directly turning more than a dozen corridors into battlefields.

This kind of scene is not at all a few rhetorical words, and no matter how loud and loud Lockhart shouts, he can't stop the students who are fighting, and he wants to use magic, but a brush that flies from that corner knocks his wand away, and he has to rush into the crowd to look for it, and then he never comes out.

It wasn't until Catherine, who was assigned to maintain order here, forcibly separated the boys who were fighting in the two houses, that she found Lockhart, who was lying on the ground and had received many punches and kicks, and her body was completely skinless.

Catherine didn't have the slightest sympathy for him, and if it weren't for Lockhart's blind command, Gryffindor and Slytherin wouldn't have fought, and she wouldn't have been assigned here to do something offensive.

Catherine directly asked the Gryffindor boys who had just been involved in the fight to carry Lockhart to the medical wing, because they were also colorful, and she thought it would be best for Madam Pomfrey to take a look, as for whether they would be scolded for it, it was not within her consideration.

As for the Slytherin boys who were also involved in the fight, Catherine ignored them completely, she believed that these guys would never die of injury, so there was no need to go to the medical wing to trouble Madam Pomfrey now, but they did not care about the image of Slytherin and fought at will, but they needed to be punished, so they had to stay and continue to clean the hallway.

The rest of the place basically uses the same method - find an excuse to get rid of one side, except that the Ixissi and Slytherin chiefs are the ones who drive away the Gryffindor fight, while the heads of Percy and Gryffindor years are all Slytherins, although the two sides bump into each other along the way and still make a lot of noise, but once they reach the medical wing, both sides are clearly and actively away from each other, and they don't want to provoke the biggest boss here.

It's just that so many people who were injured in the fight came at once, which still made Madam Pomfrey angry, so everyone was ordered by her to stay in the medical wing for one night, and she poured a bottle of very unpalatable nutrients, as for the culprit Lockhart, Madam Pomfrey thought that he was "seriously injured" and needed to recuperate, and directly wrapped him into a mummy.

Lockhart was left in the medical wing, and Dumbledore naturally had to take over the task, reassigning the Slytherin and Gryffindor responsibilities to the farthest apart, and then putting the power in the hands of the prefects of the four houses, so that all the students would obediently do the cleaning work seriously.

After three days of cleaning, Hogwarts was finally restored before Filch returned for the party, and the students understood his hard work, so much so that Filch was greeted with enthusiastic cheers as soon as he appeared at the castle gate, and the twins even gathered a group of people to carry him into the Great Hall, frightening him to think that this was some new kind of prank.

"Argus! That's great! You're finally back! As soon as Dumbledore caught a glimpse of Filch, he immediately rushed down from the professorship, "I have approved the list of new sanitary appliances you have purchased, and have instructed them to deliver them tomorrow morning, so you remember to sign for them." He clasped Filch's skinny hands and said with tears in his eyes.

"Ugh! Oh! Okay, Headmaster! Filch looked around in shock, wondering how he could become so popular after just over a week away.

"Let's go! Tell me about your trip! Dumbledore took Filch's hand and walked towards the professorship, where Professor McGonagall took the initiative to move her chair aside and called for the house-elves to buy Filch chairs and cutlery.

"Headmaster! What the hell is going on? Filch asked in alarm, knowing that there was no place for him in the professor's chair, and unless it was some celebratory holiday, such as tonight, he would be given a temporary seat at the end, because he was a squib.

"Because I suddenly discovered," Dumbledore said to Filch affectionately, "that every person at Hogwarts has a meaning to exist, and the absence of any one would make the school impossible to function." He turned his head and looked earnestly at each of the staff members in the professorship.

"Thank you! Headmaster! With tears in his eyes, Filch squeezed Dumbledore's hand with excitement, followed him to the professorship, and sat down, and looked at Catherine's place, ready to thank her, but found that the girl had not yet come to the Great Hall.

After noticing that half of the Slytherin students were gone, Fairch remembered that tonight was the traditional first day of the hunt, but when Ixissi arrived in the auditorium with the others, Catherine still didn't show up, and not only her, but also three Slytherin second-year people still had empty seats, including Draco.

Realizing that the two children he cared about were nowhere to be found, Snape immediately looked at Ixissi, who knew what he meant, and immediately walked to the professorship as soon as he entered the auditorium.

"When we're coming back—" Ixissi whispered as she leaned over Snape, "Catherine suddenly rushed out, and Draco and the other two followed, so they didn't catch up. ”