Chapter 175

When Halloween rolled around, Harry was feeling considerably less alone and sad than he had felt last year, despite the somber atmosphere brought forth by Hannah's petrifaction and the unrest in the school. Whether that was because he finally had a group of friends to support him, or just a sign of him getting older, he did not know, but being able to laugh and talk and make merry with people he cared about was something he decided that he enjoyed very much.

The stone inner vest had kept giving him Str points for quite a few days. The time between each plus point to his Str kept growing and growing, until one day, it just stopped, leaving Harry's stats in strength at a very solid number.

STR-33

10 points, all from one tiny cheat in the game that he'd discovered in a party half a year ago. It was way more than he'd expected, and an overjoyed Harry couldn't wait to work out what the cheats for all the other stats were.

He and his friends had finally had their first meeting for the Game Project the previous Sunday, in which they had worked out the Minimum Scanning Distances of most of the magical creatures using that handy XXX rating book that Professor Kettleburn had given him at the start of the school year.

Furthermore, the design had progressed too. Harry had always wanted to use the Hologram spell; from those Memory orbs that were used to store prophecies; for the Battle part of the game, but Dean had thrown out an idea about using the Memory Orb itself. He'd pointed out the idea that each Orb could be used to scan one creature, and the player could use the creature's Orb to send or call back the creature in Battles.

It was a fantastic idea, which proved to him that bringing his friends in as his team was a good move that was paying off already.

There had been no more attacks, although the tensions between Slytherin and the rest of the school remained as strained as ever. The Mandrakes that Professor Sprout was making them tend to and grow were starting to develop acne, which meant that they were now entering their pre-pubescent days, and only a few months later Hannah would be cured and would join the school again.

All that and many more slightly optimistic thoughts passed through Harry's mind as he dug into his Halloween feast.

The decorations this year were brilliant, with lively flying bats, little clowns on top of the pumpkin cakes, and the occasional jack in a box that would pop out and scare the eating students. The older students had chosen to wear some costumes, and Lockhart had joined them with his flashy robes and long beard, portraying Merlin the ancient sorcerer. Dumbledore, not to be left behind, had decided to dress as what could only be a purple neon super wizard, with robes that had actual neon tube lights on them.

Everything was going smoothly as Harry laughed and chatted and fed himself up, and for a moment, it was almost as if the Heir and Chamber business didn't exist, and they were just a bunch of kids at school having a good time.

But alas, it was not to last.

Just as Harry had finished his last piece of chicken, the door of the Great Hall opened with a bang, and Peeves the Poltergeist came shooting out, screaming at the top of his lungs,

"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAAACK!"

Harry pushed down the weird sense of deja vu that he was getting, and quickly turned to look at the Head Table, where Dumbledore was already whispering back and forth in a hushed tone with Professor McGonagall and Nearly Headless Nick, who had zoomed in right behind Peeves and headed straight to Dumbledore.

Their conversation ended soon before the two Professors stood up as one and pointed their wands at the small door beside the Staff table that led to the small closed off antechamber to the side of the hall.

With a few waves of their wands, the door started expanding in size until it took up almost four times the space in the wall than it did earlier. Then, they walked into the antechamber, and a few of what looked like some huge space expansion charms later, the whole antechamber was almost as big as the Great Hall itself.

Briskly walking out of the now massively expanded space, Professor Dumbledore announced, "Students. Calmly enter the antechamber and do not attempt to get out. Sir Nicholas is of the opinion that there is likely danger outside. Prefects, follow your professors to the location. Your assistance is needed. There have been multiple attacks."

As soon as the last line escaped the Professor, a hush fell over the Hall, and Harry's head swiveled around the hall to make sure that his friends were all there and safe. After making sure that they all were safe, he followed the Professor's instructions and shuffled his way along with the crowd into the antechamber.

As soon as all the non-prefect students were inside the antechamber, Professor McGonagall shrunk the door back to its regular size and locked it shut from the outside.

And all that was left to do was wait.

Less than ten minutes later, a third year Gryffindor who was leaning alongside the wall called in his direction, "Hey Potter! Call for your Phoenix man. Let's go see what's happening!"

"Yeah!" another guy joined in, seeing some merit in that idea "You have a phoenix don't you? Call her mate! Bet we could go out there and investigate! Maybe even help out!"

Harry shook his head, disappointing the dozen students that wanted to get out of the room, "We're too far from the tower. I can't call her from here."

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