Chapter 53: Chapter 53: How Stinky Can Socks Get After a Month Without Washing?
Time rolled back a bit, and Harry and Ron were enjoying the Halloween feast in the Great Hall.
Watching the bats flying in the sky, sitting in the huge pumpkin house, and eating delicious pumpkin cakes, Harry was extremely happy. To him, Hogwarts was simply paradise, and he loved it here!
Here, he didn't have to endure the bullying from his aunt's family or see Dudley's stupid face every day. He could enjoy delicious food every day, live in spacious dormitories, and lie on soft beds. Most importantly, he had his good friend Ron here, playing with him every day.
It would be even better if people didn't run up to him every time, shouting to see the scar on his forehead.
Actually, he didn't mind others wanting to see the scar on his forehead. He casually showed it to Ron the first time they met on the Hogwarts Express. But the problem was, those people just couldn't stop. They looked during the day, they looked at night, they looked today, and they would still want to look tomorrow. No matter how good Harry's temper was, those people made his scalp tingle, and he felt like swearing at them.
Just as Harry was indulging in the present, envisioning the future, and silently complaining a bit, an untimely loud noise interrupted his thoughts.
Their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor—Professor Quirrell—burst open the doors of the Great Hall.
He staggered to Professor Dumbledore's table and exclaimed loudly, "Troll... in the dungeons... thought you ought... to know..."
With that, he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Harry was curious. Quirrell indeed looked like he would faint in the next second, and indeed, he did faint. But why could he still shout so loudly? And seeing him so nervous, he must have run all the way here. But why wasn't his scarf on his head disheveled at all?
Come to think of it, Harry had never seen Quirrell's scarf in a mess. No matter when, the scarf would always be neatly wrapped around Quirrell's head. It was truly magical.
Harry saw Professor Dumbledore staring at the fainted Quirrell with widened eyes, wondering what he was thinking.
So, what was Dumbledore thinking?
Actually, he was thinking: 'Damn it!'
How come he hadn't noticed before how stupid Quirrell was!? With this exaggerated acting, he could only give him a maximum of 3 points, no more. By the way, out of 100 points. Even at this point, he still remembered to give him an extra point for pretending to stutter, otherwise, he would only get 2 points.
And now Quirrell fainted right in front of him like this, should he help Quirrell up? Or just leave him be? Leaving him would seem like he, as the headmaster, didn't care about his subordinates, leaving the professor lying on the cold floor. But helping him up... what if he accidentally knocked off that troublesome big scarf on his head? With so many people watching, he would have to figure out how to handle it in the end.
So, these young people nowadays, they have no idea how to be considerate of this over-100-year-old man.
Dumbledore let out a long sigh in his heart, but he was indeed an old man with over 100 years of life experience. Soon, he adjusted his mood and went along with Quirrell's act.
As for the details, he put them all aside. After all, they were just a bunch of young wizards, very easy to fool.
Dumbledore stood up and loudly declared, "House prefects, lead everyone back to their respective common rooms. Professors, go search for the troll."
Harry got up and prepared to return to Gryffindor's common room with the crowd. He planned to ask the prefects in detail what a troll was so that he could be prepared in case he encountered one in the future and hold it accountable. He had only eaten half-full, and just when he was enjoying his meal, he had to stop because of a troll's fault!
Looking at the delicious pumpkin cakes and sweet pumpkin juice on the table, Harry felt murderous.
Just as Harry was thinking about this and that, Ron suddenly grabbed him from behind.
Ron pulled Harry to a corner where no one was around and whispered, "Hermione doesn't know about the troll, we have to go tell her!"
Whether out of guilt or fear of being caught by the professors talking behind someone's back and being heard by the person themselves, Ron decided to take Harry to find Hermione.
Harry thought about it for two seconds and thought it was a good idea, so he went with Ron to find Hermione...
However, after sneaking away from the main group, they suddenly realized they didn't know where Hermione was! They had heard from Hermione's roommate that she was crying in a girls' bathroom. But the problem was, Hogwarts had so many girls' bathrooms, who knew which one it was! They should've asked Hermione's roommate earlier.
Unfortunately, neither of them was named "Should've Asked". Helplessly, they chose the nearest one and hurried over.
"Ron," Harry suddenly covered his nose, "do you smell that stench?"
"Yeah, it's like the smell of Simon's socks that haven't been washed for a month."
Ron also covered his nose.
"Why would Simon not wash his socks for a month!? Isn't it enough to just put them in the laundry basket, and they'll automatically become clean? Why didn't he put them in? No wonder I've been smelling something strange in the dormitory lately. I thought it was someone hiding rotting food."
Harry looked at Ron in amazement, even forgetting about the stench due to shock.
"Just last month, Simon said he was curious how stinky socks could get, so he decided to challenge it. Maybe you were busy with detention for Snape's potions class and didn't notice."
"What happened in the end? Wouldn't wearing socks for a month without washing be uncomfortable for him?"
"Who knows what he's got in his head. In the end, it was so smelly that even Simon couldn't stand it and gave up the challenge. To be honest, if he hadn't given up, I would've taken out my wand and cursed him. It was really too smelly!"
Engrossed in their conversation, the two continued walking as if nothing had happened. Then, at the next corner, they encountered... a troll.
The troll lowered its head and looked at the two little things that suddenly ran up to it. It was very familiar with these two little things.
Although the troll's brain wasn't good, it could remember something it had just seen two minutes ago. Especially something that left a deep impression, it could remember for a full 20 minutes!
"Hehe~"
However, the troll was a bit curious. Weren't these two little things supposed to be behind it? How come they suddenly ran up to block its way? It hadn't done anything bad yet!
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