"So are you going with me or not?"
Hermione looked up and realized Altair was watching her with a smile on his face. For some reason, that smile had reminded her a little of her father.
"I'd actually be willing to," Altair said, "but... witches and wizards don't seem to have the same customs Muggles do."
Hermione froze for a moment. Then she thought about it and let out a gloomy sigh.
"That explains it. My roommates didn't prepare anything either, and the professors only put up some pumpkin heads. Nobody's wearing ghost costumes or anything..."
"Forget it, forget it. Just give it back to me."
Hermione held out her hand, intending to take the white bedsheet back.
"Consider it a Halloween gift instead. If you want sweets, you could always try asking Headmaster Dumbledore. I think he'd probably enjoy that kind of game."
Dumbledore was very good with children. If Hermione really went around asking for sweets in a ghost mask, he would probably be quite delighted.
"Then come with me."
Hermione's eyes turned thoughtfully, and she looked at Altair with an almost pitiful expression.
Altair smiled and agreed. He turned his head and glanced at Quirrell on the professors' dais, and a strange smile entered his eyes as well.
...
The next day was Tuesday.
That morning, Slytherin and Gryffindor had a Transfiguration lesson together, while in the afternoon the Gryffindor first-years had a History of Magic class.
This Transfiguration lesson was fairly simple for Altair, but for everyone else, it was much harder.
This time, the transformation involved living creatures.
Professor McGonagall asked them to turn slugs into rings. The more refined and intricate the pattern on the ring, the higher the evaluation of the transformation would be.
After only a brief look at the task, Altair successfully transformed his slug into an exquisitely made hollow gold ring. The design on it was the symbol of Slytherin.
A coiled little serpent.
"I find myself having to say it again, Altair. You are a genius at Transfiguration! Ten points to Slytherin!"
Professor McGonagall looked at Altair with satisfaction, her eyes full of approval.
By now, Professor McGonagall no longer worried that Altair might go bad. Since the term had begun, aside from his clash with Pansy at the very start, Altair had not broken a single school rule, nor had he shown any bad habits.
Whenever any teacher mentioned Altair, they praised not only his talent, but also his manners and gentlemanly bearing.
The only thing that worried McGonagall was that Altair and Hermione seemed a little too close.
Although they were both from Muggle families, and although they had known each other before entering Hogwarts, they were still far too young.
Still, Professor McGonagall treated this as a side effect of Altair's wand. Ollivander had told her that a wand made with Dementor nerve would make Altair yearn more deeply for beautiful things.
Was love a beautiful thing?
Though Professor McGonagall herself had been hurt in the past, she had always believed that love was one of the most beautiful emotions human beings could possess.
Because of that, she felt the only thing she could do in this matter was guide them carefully.
Seeing Altair successfully turn his slug into a ring, Hermione could only sigh inwardly at just how overwhelming his talent for magic was. Then she quietly began encouraging herself.
After several attempts, Hermione took a deep breath. Her wand traced an arc through the air, and at the same time she recited the spell:
"Slug to Ring!"
A flash of light passed over it, and the slug in front of Hermione began to change. In the end, it became a grayish-brown ring. The surface of the ring was very smooth, but there were no patterns on it at all.
It looked more like a plain copper band.
"That's already very good."
Altair offered a word of encouragement. Standing nearby, Professor McGonagall heard him and broke into a fond smile. She nodded and said, "Altair is right. To complete a cross-species transfiguration this quickly, Hermione, your Transfiguration talent is excellent as well! Five points to Gryffindor!"
Even though both Altair and McGonagall said so, Hermione was still dissatisfied and kept trying to improve it.
By the time class ended, the ring Hermione had made had turned silver-white, and faint patterns could now be seen on its surface.
Aside from Altair and Hermione, Malfoy had actually managed it too. Still, his first result was not even as good as Hermione's. The ring he produced was the same color as the slug had been, though at least it was recognizably a ring.
As for Harry and Ron, the two of them had only managed to transform half of theirs.
Either the slug's head turned into metal, or its tail did. Even so, the two of them were delighted with the result for quite a while.
After class, Hermione was still a little downcast.
She felt that the gap between herself and Altair was only getting wider.
"Are you still going to the library later?"
Altair put his textbook into his bag and looked at Hermione, who was still determinedly waving her wand around.
"No. The prefects told us to help decorate the sixth and eighth floors of the castle, and the Great Hall too. Tomorrow is Halloween, after all... and there's a feast in the evening."
Hogwarts did not actually have that many students enrolled, only a few hundred or so. Even with magic to help, decorating the entire castle was still quite a troublesome task.
So all the little witches and wizards had to pitch in.
Slytherin had been assigned duties too, but they were responsible for the dungeons, part of the first floor, and the entire second floor.
"All right, then. See you at lunch."
After leaving the classroom, Altair headed straight back to the Slytherin common room, which was also underground.
Some of the older students had already finished decorating it. Since it was located underground and close to the Black Lake, it was usually gloomy enough already. Now, with pumpkin heads, ghosts, skeletons, and other decorations added in, it looked even more eerie.
It felt like a great tomb.
Still, Altair thought it looked rather good. At the very least, it was more pleasing than the usual sea of little snake emblems. That might have had something to do with his necromancer tendencies.
When he returned to the dormitory, Malfoy and the others were already there waiting for him.