In the common room, Niffler Valen enjoyed a special treat.
After sending off a group of people who came to see the fun, the Trio sat in the corner and took their usual spot. Ron and Hermione did not feel like talking because Valen had seen their embarrassing side, Harry thought or felt that it would be easier to talk to Valen.
“Want some candy?” He asked.
Valen shook her head, as she pulled a box of Exploding Snap cards out of her pocket, her dark eyes looked at them. Which suggested, do you want to play cards?
Hermione, who had been silent, laughed, “Valen, you learned this?”
Ron winked at her and whispered in a tone of revealing secrets, ” I will show you a new way to play; My original creation … not the Classical playing method, nor the Patience playing method, look!”
He unwrapped the box and quickly used the exploding cards to build the base of a castle, “Next is the second layer, keep stacking up, this time your hand must be steady … oh …” Ron made a long face as the second layer of the castle has begun to sparkle up.
Valen deftly leaped up from the table, jumped into Hermione’s arms, and stared back at the two-story crude castle.
“Bang!”
The entire castle of cards Ron had built exploded, a cloud of sparks and black smoke rose from the table, and Valen watched it all with great interest.
Harry and Hermione wanted to laugh but did not dare do so; Ron wiped his dirty face haphazardly with his sleeve and said bitterly: “It’s actually quite exciting, isn’t it? I recommend you to play with the professor, if you play with another person, you will eventually win the game. Trust me, I’m on your side!” He swore to Valen.
“Oh, right.” Hermione said suddenly, holding up Niffler so that her eyes would meet hers, “Valen, you know that hourglass, the one you traded to Harry?” She passed Harry a look.
Harry understood and pulled a gray hourglass out of his pocket and held it out in front of him, “That’s the one. I heard Hermione say, er, she actually only heard Professor Hap mention it once, that you robbed the Gringotts goblin of his gems in the middle of the night and were then ordered by the professor to return them …”
Niffler stared at the hourglass for a while, she didn’t remember much, this kind of thing doesn’t have much appeal to her, what happened then?
Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched Niffler gesticulate, and they guessed almost the whole thing.
“So, you returned all the gems, but somehow, the hourglass remained … later when counting your treasure, you did not take it seriously.” Hermione concluded.
Niffler nodded and continued to gesture.
“You have too many treasures … to notice this hourglass?” Hermione asked with some difficulty, and Valen nodded vigorously, yes, that’s right. At the side, Ron’s eyes widened as he stared at Niffler’s Pocket, “How many things are you hiding, I guess I could just check–”
Valen immediately turned her head away.
“–well, I see what you mean.” Ron said.
At that moment, Ginny came over and sat next to Hermione, “Yo, little Valen, it’s you …” Hermione brushed her fur, while Ginny teased Niffler as she asked in a careless tone, “Have you thought about it, whether to take the initiative and invite your ball partner first or to wait for others to invite you? Well, you know it would be better to think ahead than to end up being left alone.”
Harry and Ron’s eyes widened, they were worried about this matter. Yesterday, during Friday’s Transfiguration class, they finished their classwork early – turning chicken into guinea pigs – and decided to play a dueling game. Harry and Ron were holding two fake wands, and Ron’s turned into a tinned parrot, and Harry’s became a rubber hedgehog, then the two of them were competing back and forth in the back of the classroom like a fencing match. (*the fake wand that was created by twins in an earlier chapter*)
Hermione looked at them with an annoyed look on her face as she was organizing her transfiguration notes, “Gentlemen, can’t you do something appropriate for your age?”
“As you can see, we’re practicing our fencing skills, following the footsteps of our first Head, Godric Gryffindor.” Ron justified his childish behaviour while taking advantage of Harry’s lack of attention to attack vigorously.
“Yeah, well, Do you know Gryffindor’s favourite spell?” Hermione asked softly.
Harry and Ron paused and looked at each other.
” Sharp Edge(*made-up spell*), this spell can add magical properties to a weapon, making it drastically sharper and tougher, like the effect of a Severing Charm; but of course, much better. When Gryffindor wielded his goblin sword, he could easily cut through the dragon’s hide.” Hermione explained while finishing the last part of her notes.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall came over and looked at the tinned parrot Ron carried – Harry’s rubber hedgehog’s head broke off in the scuffle – and she pursed her lips without saying anything.
With that, she turned and walked up to the podium and announced the Yule Ball to everyone.
“The Ball is only for 4th years and above, so if you plan to, um … loose your hair and relax,” Professor McGonagall said after a moment of indifference, “you’ll have to find yourselves a date! … Of course, it’s okay to invite your underclassmen …”
Lavender Brown made a loud giggle, but she wasn’t alone, Parvati Patil jabbed her with force and they both turned their faces to look at Harry. In fact, more than half of the girls in the class were eying Harry at that time, and Harry had never felt such a burning gaze.
At the end of the class, Professor McGonagall left Harry, Hermione, and Ron with a staggering announcement.
“You should already know.” McGonagall said dryly.
Harry watched in confusion as Hermione nodded like it was natural, he then looked at Ron, who was also confused, Harry thought Professor McGonagall had kept them for his headless rubber hedgehog, but now it seemed his understanding had gone out of whack.
“Potter, all the Champions should be accompanied by their own partners–” Professor McGonagall said.
” Partners – what!” Harry took a breath and interrupted her.
“Partners, date, whatever you prefer,” McGonagall said, noticing Harry’s blush with an understanding smile, “Yes, it is traditional that the ball is started by the Champions and their partners.”
Harry remained frozen, as he tried to muster up a bit of a cheerful expression since Professor McGonagall obviously thought it is an honour and privilege that belonged to Champions, but he could only imagine the comical sight of himself in a large bowler hat and tuxedo for a moment, and then he felt eager to throw that honour out the window.
Maybe Ron would love the idea, Harry thought, but he soon realized that Ron is also one of the Champions, along with Hermione.
When they emerged from the classroom, both Harry and Ron felt a bit listless, which made them not notice the equally jittery Hermione on the side, and Professor McGonagall’s last words hit them like a whip and cracked their heart –
“As the most important representatives of the school, you must do what we expect you to do. Therefore, you must find yourselves a dance partner.”
As they walked toward the great hall, Ron said a little bitterly, “Harry, you don’t have to worry, you have always been popular, the girls can’t wait for you to ask them or maybe … someone will ask you instead. It would be much harder for me, and, did you hear what Professor McGonagall said? Everyone must wear a formal dress … Damn it! I only have that dress which looked like embroidered by grandma …”
In fact, Ron’s words made sense, and Harry truly is more popular than he thought. The very next day – that is, this morning, while he and Ron were having breakfast in the great hall – a curly-haired third-year girl from Hufflepuff House asked Harry to the Yule Ball, and he had never even spoken to her before.
It was a bit of an awkward scene. He was discussing with Ron about a dance partner, and they both fretted about it, and Ron even pessimistically suggested that they should use Incarcerous to get one, “Let’s not, that’s our most powerful spell.” Ron said with a deep feeling.
Harry let out a snicker while stuffing his mouth with pumpkin porridge when that girl came up to him and invited him.
“Oh, uh, what did you say … sorry, I haven’t thought about it yet.” Harry looked at her in surprise, and because it was so sudden, he declined without thinking.
The girl walked away with a deeply hurt expression on her face.
After that, Hermione, who had hurried downstairs, dragged them towards Ilvermorny’s quarters, “We were looking for a dance partner, Hermione!” Ron complained at the time, but Hermione dismissed his excuse on the grounds that there is still half a month before the Yule Ball, and both Harry and Ron also felt like escaping, so they followed Hermione – until they were extremely bored while squatting in front of Ilvermorny’s quarters for two hours.
If you ask him now, Harry couldn’t tell you which was scarier, to challenge a dragon or to invite a dance partner or a two hours of squatting in the icy snow, but the scary part was that it was now late in the evening when he was ready to take a shower and go to bed after hosting Niffler Valen, Ginny’s question instantly brought him back to reality.
…
When he lay in bed at night, all could do is rolled around without being able to sleep, as Ginny’s comments to Hermione echoed in his mind: “Have you thought about it, whether to take the initiative and invite your ball partner first or to wait for others to invite you? Well, you know it would be better to think ahead than to end up being left alone.”
He originally had a name in mind, but he knew it was just his own delusion, yet a vague thought told him, what if, what if Cedric hadn’t invited Cho Chang, that Collins is quite pretty, isn’t she?
But now, he wasn’t that sure.
————
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