179 Chapter 46, Utopia

Ice and snow fell from the sky in pieces, and the winter of 1940 came as promised.

Christmas Eve. Hoffa stood before the mirror in the public bathroom, head bowed.

A clear, glistening slime dripped from the marble floor, and emerged from under the cupboard, then slowly, slowly wriggled across the floor.

Looking up again, I saw myself in the mirror with high cheekbones, pale skin, and darker eye circles than ever before. He looked like an ascetic monk after excessive self-torture, and like an evil spirit struggling in purgatory.

The self in the mirror showed a slight smile, with a mouth full of sharp teeth. On the forehead, sharp horns grew out little by little.

Startled, Hoffa shook his head vigorously, and the hallucination disappeared.

The self in the mirror returned to normal, thin and naked. Just an ordinary gray-haired boy who was tired, depressed, and about to take a shower.

"hateful."

He rubbed his temples.

For nearly four months, he hadn't seen Dumbledore, hadn't gotten any help. Almost every night, he would have some weird nightmares, and even have some hallucinations and auditory hallucinations from time to time.

He used to be able to eliminate the weirdness in the sea of ​​consciousness through meditation, but now, he can't explore any abnormalities in his body.

He felt like he might be crazy.

boom! !

There was a crisp sound from next door.

William, who was also naked, poked his head out and grinned: "Let's go take a bath."

It's the last day of the semester, and the students who have finished their weary life of the semester have come to the public bathroom, and Hoffa and his roommates are no exception. Because of the long-term refining of potions, they all have a strange smell of medicine.

Antonio turned around from the other side and handed him a white towel timidly.

Hoffa closed the cabinet and silently took the towel. Nod to Antonio.

Antonio asked with some concern: "Are you okay, you were talking in your sleep again last night."

"What did I say?"

"Can't hear clearly."

Antonio faltered.

"Did it disturb your sleep?"

Hoffa tied the towel around his waist as he walked.

"Pour. Pour no."

"Hey, what are you talking about?"

William poked his head out from the corridor again and waved to them. "Hurry up."

Hoffa stopped talking and walked straight to the bath. As he passed the marble corridor, he felt something watching him and looked up.

On the head of the statue of the wizard Manikos, a strange black and white cat is looking at him. That cat looks very strange, its face is half black and half white, just like a picture of Taiji, it just looks at itself like this, as if talking to itself.

Who keeps pets running in the bath?

Hoffa thought.

The boys bathroom is a very large place, smoky and steamy.

The water surface was a little hot to the feet, and many boys sat on the marble and could only tentatively submerge below their knees in the pool. When they saw Hoffa coming, they greeted him one after another.

"Yo, Bach."

"Sit here."

"Sit here with me."

Hoffa smiled and did not sit between them. He soaked straight in, and the hot water flooded up to his neck.

Since he had a fight with Sherlock on Halloween, these students now regard him as a spiritual idol, and they hug him wherever he goes.

Countless girls wrote to him to express their love. Countless boys tried their best to get into Hoffa's "circle".

But the attention of others did not bring Hoffa the joy of vanity and dignity. On the contrary, he felt the pain of losing his freedom. No matter where he went or what he did, there were a group of people staring at him.

Did he really beat Sherlock?

Hoffa knew no. It was Fatil who defeated Sherlock. But no matter what he said, the other students didn't think so, and they refused to believe other answers.

On the other side, William greeted the group of bathers one by one, and then sat among them.

Contrary to Hoffa, William is extremely satisfied with all this. He makes friends everywhere with great enthusiasm. He regards himself as Hoffa's closest friend, pulls up a huge social network, and becomes the actual leader of the network, meeting regularly, Eating, bathing, secret activities. In order to stabilize the cohesion of the group.

William: "Yesterday, the president of the Gryffindor Transfiguration Club greeted me and wanted to invite us to play in the Transfiguration Club."

"Who's going?" A Hufflepuff boy lazily leaned against the bathtub.

"There isn't a single girl in Culver's Transfiguration Society, and mules can't get in."

William disdained: "I want you to go, but people still don't invite you."

"Let me go and I won't go."

The boy rolled his eyes: "Hey, speaking of it, our school recently opened a herbal medicine club, and I would like to invite you to come and have fun, do you want to go?"

"How beautiful is it?" William asked with sideways eyes.

"There are too many, half of the beauties above the third grade are here."

"real?"

"Why did you lie to you?"

"Hoffa, are you going?"

William asked loudly, and threw a handful of water at him to attract his attention.

Hoffa soaked in the hot water motionless, letting the drops of water slide off his head, and said in a low voice, "Why don't you go?"

He has absolutely no comprehension of how this group came to be, which is far from his comfort zone. Out of politeness, he habitually gave the other party an affirmative answer, but he didn't want to go.

William laughed, slipped into the water, and said to the Hufflepuff students: "You are lucky, boy. It's rare that Hoffa is thoughtful and participates in your club activities."

"What does Hoffa usually do?" Two boys asked curiously.

"As usual, the library, ah~"

William, whose whole body was immersed in the bathtub, let out a satisfied groan, and suddenly thought of something:

"Oh, that's right. I heard that the baths used by the prefects are much better than the ones we use here."

Taylor asked: "The prefects have gone to train the dragon, so is there anyone still using the bath?"

Antonio said: "No one is using it."

"Prefect.?"

William sneered disdainfully. "It's just a defeated general."

"Nobody needs it, so it's a waste." Antonio sighed with emotion.

"I really want to go and see it. I heard it's much more luxurious than those used by ordinary students like us."

"Tch, when Hoffa in the fifth grade becomes a prefect, we can do whatever we want." William said solemnly.

Several students taking a bath nodded in agreement.

"That's right, it's a certainty."

"Fifth grade must be a prefect."

"I guess you can go directly to work with the Minister of Magic after graduation."

Hoffa felt that if Hogwarts did not fall and developed according to normal logic, his life path seemed to be no different from what they said.

Became a prefect in fifth grade, and went to work in the Ministry of Magic after graduation, starting as a secretary at a high level.

After a few years, he became the director of a certain affairs department, gave birth to a bunch of children, and worried about making a living all day long.

But where did this inexplicable fear come from, where did this invisible pressure come from?

He didn't know, he soaked half of his head in the hot water, trying to use this action to make himself feel the temperature and let the sweat and pressure out of the pores.

But he couldn't feel anything, not a single drop of sweat dripped from his head, it was as if he was locked in a cement-sealed cage.

In the past month, his spirit has become more and more sensitive, but his body has become more and more dull. He has almost lost his sense of taste, touch, and of course he can't feel the high temperature.

After several people discussed heatedly for a while, William touched his chin:

"Let me tell you, Hoffa should be a prefect now. Last year he was a teaching assistant, and he beat Sherlock this year. If he became a prefect this year, we can go to the prefect's bathroom now."

He seemed to take a great interest in the prefect's bathroom.

"Come on."

A Hufflepuff said lazily: "

"The prefect is also Hoffa, not you. How can you go to the prefect's bathroom."

Everyone covered their mouths and snickered, William immediately retorted:

"You know what a roommate is, huh? Hoffa, don't you?"

He tried to find a positive answer from Hoffa, but the gray head had disappeared on the smoky water.

William muttered in wonder, "Where did it go?"

"But the rules seem to be only for the fifth grade."

said another Gryffindor, bringing William back to his senses.

"So you're a Gryffindor, too."

William leaned on the marble and sneered: "Don't Gryffindor take pleasure in breaking all kinds of rules?"

The people in the bath roared with laughter, echoing in the air, full of joyful atmosphere.

The Gryffindor student seemed to be humiliated, and he blushed: "You Ravenclaws still claim to be smart, do you dare to enter the senior bathroom now?"

William disdained: "Just go, do you dare to come tonight?"

"Hey, aren't you afraid of being discovered?" Antonio asked nervously.

"Who will find out." William pouted: "Half the professors in the school stay in the Ministry of Magic every day."

"You said, what if you don't go tonight?"

"Hey, you want to bet?"

"Just bet."

"How much to bet."

"Twenty Galleons."

William's eyes rolled: "Twenty Galleons is too boring."

"Then how much do you want?"

"I want you to ask all the Gryffindor girls out to hang out."

Everyone clapped their hands with great enthusiasm, excited about William's suggestion.

The Gryffindor students yelled unwillingly:

"What about you, there are many girls in Ravenclaw!"

A few ripples appeared in the corner of the pool, but no one noticed. Amidst the lively party, Hoffa had already left the bathroom.

The purpose of cleaning the body has been achieved, and it is a waste of time to stay any longer. He didn't want to participate too much in the youth feast of a group of thirteen-year-old children.

Whether it is a wizard or a Muggle, boys of this age will inevitably be affected by hormones, and they are frighteningly energetic.

If it was last year, maybe he would still be mingling in the crowd, making a fake smile. But this year, under the huge pressure of survival, his energy has already been robbed.

Dry yourself off and put on your wizard school robes.

He comes to the library.

The library is deserted, with almost no one in sight. This year, students' interest in independent learning has disappeared.

Turning a corner, he heard a groan. Walking over to see it, it turned out that a senior boy was pressing a girl on the bookshelf, and he didn't know what he was doing.

Sensing that someone was coming, the two hurriedly adjusted their clothes. The boy was about to get angry when he found out that it was Hoffa. He immediately showed a smile in embarrassment.

Hoffa's habitual muscles pulled the corners of his mouth into a slight smile.

The two breathed a sigh of relief, lowered their heads and passed by Hoffa.

Looking at their backs, the smile on his face disappeared without a trace. He rubbed the muscles of his face, feeling like he was wearing a thick mask on his face, which was extremely uncomfortable.

This wasn't the Hogwarts he had imagined. His ideal school is a school where ideas can be exchanged, everyone is different, everyone has an interesting soul, and everyone can understand and tolerate each other.

But now, Hogwarts is like a graveyard. A lively cemetery. All become the same kind of person. No characteristics, no goals, drunk life.

He shook his head, pushing those unrealistic thoughts out of his mind. He took out a book about spiritual wizards from the bookshelf, flipped through it, and tried to find a solution to his mental problems.

But these tomes discuss how to manipulate other people's spirits, and rarely penetrate into the existence of self-spirituality.

After flipping through it roughly, he changed another one.

Time flies by just looking around.

In the middle of the night, Hoffa looked at his watch. It was already eleven o'clock. He pressed his head against the bookshelf, and closed his eyes a little bored.

Another day with nothing to gain, when will I be able to solve the problem, and when will I be able to live happily.

No one can tell him the answer.

He walked out of the empty library, through the empty magic staircase, and he returned to the dormitory.

William's bed was empty, and the beds of the others were all empty. He didn't think much about it, and wanted to go to bed after taking off his clothes.

But just as he was about to lie down and sleep, a few people ran into the dormitory noisily, and knocked the door open with a bang.

"Hoffa Hoffa Hoffa.!"

Antonio yelled his name like a running train.

Hoffa turned over impatiently and got up: "What's wrong?"

In the darkness, Antonio's pale pockmarked face was covered with sweat, and he said nervously, "William is missing."