Fleur's mind really was a bit dazed.
Mainly because Link's words had shaken her worldview.
After all, Fleur's family background could only be considered excellent, but far from reaching the level of a great family.
According to her past life experience, those so-called pure-blood young masters and ladies should all be foolish types indulging every day in feasts and pleasures, the "why not eat meat porridge" kind of idiots.
Of course, pure-blood supremacy was also one of their most obvious traits.
These people were only lucky to be born into great families. When it came to ability, they could only be called trash.
Someone like Link was absolutely a special exception.
But now Link had told her that, in fact, those rich young masters and ladies were even more hardworking and diligent than ordinary people like her.
If that was true, then what meaning did her efforts as an ordinary person even have?
Fleur took deep breaths for a long while before she could force herself to accept this cruel reality.
And only then did she realize, Link had already slipped away.
Luckily, Link hadn't gone too far. Fleur quickly caught up with him in just a few steps.
As for this tagalong he couldn't shake off, Link sighed and simply ignored her, letting her follow behind him in silence.
Link and Fleur, one was the most handsome, dashing, strongest Hogwarts champion who had just shone brilliantly in the dragon task not long ago.
The other was sweet-faced, arguably the most beautiful foreign girl at Hogwarts right now.
The two walking together naturally drew the stares of everyone around them.
Fleur, however, showed utter calm.
Because of her looks and veela bloodline, she had grown up surrounded by people's eyes.
Men's gazes at her were always filled with greedy desire, women's with endless jealousy, hatred, and malice. She had long been used to it, and even stopped caring.
Compared to her, Link seemed a little less composed.
After being swept by dozens of disgusting gazes, Link suddenly stopped, and said helplessly to Fleur, "How long exactly are you going to keep following me?"
The moment he said this, the crowd of onlookers that had been secretly trailing along exploded in barely suppressed exclamations.
Link could already foresee that soon a twisted version of the story, Fleur pursuing and entangling him, would spread throughout Hogwarts.
That was also why he deliberately stopped to speak in the Great Hall.
This way, he could clear his name and put Emily's mind at ease.
The only downside was that it wouldn't be good for Fleur's reputation.
But judging from her look, Fleur didn't seem to care much about her reputation either.
Completely ignoring the strange stares, she flicked her bangs and said, "This year Hogwarts will hold a Christmas ball, as part of the Triwizard Tournament to strengthen international student exchange."
"As champions, we must choose an appropriate partner to attend. On that night, we champions must, as representatives, dance the opening dance with our partners."
"You should have heard of this, right?"
Link nodded.
It would have been hard not to know.
Professor Sprout, though messy in her own dress, had exploded with great passion over the ball. Not only had she been nagging Link about it for weeks, she had even personally designed him a set of dress robes.
Of course, those robes Link would never wear, even if he died.
Because Professor Sprout's taste was… peculiar.
Simply put, it was just an extra-long grass skirt.
As for why Fleur brought this up, he wasn't sure…
Sure enough, Fleur smiled sweetly and went on, "Link, would you be my dance partner? In this castle, you're the closest male to me. Besides you, I really don't know who to ask."
As she spoke, an invisible, faintly pink charm magic began drifting from her body. It only showed up in Link's supersensory spell vision, which had been upgraded to level 5 thanks to that free skill point from the dragon incident.
That pink haze quickly enveloped Link.
Unfortunately for her, Link's gaze remained perfectly clear.
He looked at Fleur expressionlessly, and slowly shook his head.
No matter what Fleur's plan was, for now, she was bound to fail.
Because Link preferred Emily anyway, and besides, Madam Flamel had already long since chosen Emily.
In fact, just a few days ago, Madam Flamel had specially sent owls to deliver sets of dress robes to both Link and Emily, with a style that perfectly matched the Flamel family's taste.
Seeing Link shake his head, Fleur grew angry.
Her face hardened, ready to speak, yet Link cut her off first, "Why do you have to do this?"
Link's voice was very gentle, but carried a touch of regret.
Fleur froze. Looking up, she met Link's bright eyes, which seemed to see straight through her thoughts.
If she had known anything about Ministry-restricted spells, she would have realized this was the Legilimency charm in effect.
But she didn't know, so she only lowered her head in grievance.
After the first task ended, Madame Maxime had found Fleur and plainly told her about her plan, to use a beauty trap to lure Link to Beauxbatons.
If she searched her heart, she actually did have some fondness for Link.
That wasn't strange at all, after all, Link was handsome, powerful, wealthy, and most importantly, he despised pure-blood purity theories and didn't discriminate against her.
Also, Gabrielle liked Link too.
For a French girl like Fleur, actively pursuing Link wasn't hard to accept. She just didn't want to appear too lowly, that would shatter her self-esteem, already fragile from her veela bloodline.
If anyone else had told her to humble herself, flatter, or even seduce Link, Fleur would have slapped them instantly.
But the one who told her was Madame Maxime.
A woman who never discriminated against her veela blood, who raised her as her own daughter.
For Madame Maxime's requests, Fleur would do anything.
And so came today's scene of her inviting Link to the ball.
But now that Link had refused, similar acts of pleasing him would surely be needed even more.
If Link knew nothing, Fleur felt she could have kept going.
But now…
The more she thought, the sadder and more unwilling she felt.
Her eyes were already red, but she still forced a smile, pretending indifference, "What are you talking about? I don't understand at all."
Her pitiful "pear blossoms in the rain" look softened Link's cold eyes.
He wanted to comfort her, but didn't know what to say.
While he was torn, Fleur's charm power, stirred by her emotions, slipped out of control and drifted into the nearby crowd.
"Ah!"
A miserable scream rang out.
Then Link saw Ron, eyes bloodshot, forcing his way through the crowd, throwing himself at Fleur's feet. With a voice full of frenzy yet dazed, he shouted, "B-beautiful lady! I'll be your partner! I will… please, please go to the ball with me!"
The surroundings fell silent.
Everyone, including Link and Fleur, stared dumbly at Ron, not understanding what had possessed him.
After a moment, Fleur reacted first.
Because Ron, sprawled on the ground, was reaching out to grab her foot.
Two bright red patches spread from Fleur's cheeks across her whole face and neck.
Furious and embarrassed, Fleur stomped hard on Ron's hand, then turned and strode off.
As she went, she cursed angrily, "In your dreams!"
Her furious cry was like thunder, snapping everyone awake.
Laughter rippled through the crowd.
In an instant, joy filled the Great Hall.
Link quickly dispelled the charm still lingering on Ron, then, together with the hurriedly arriving Harry, helped Ron up.
Ron was still dazed. Staring blankly at Link and Harry, he muttered, "I… what did I just do?"
Harry opened his mouth, but didn't know how to explain.
Instead, Link sighed and said guiltily, "Fleur was aiming at me. She tried to use her veela magic to bewitch me, but ended up hurting you instead! It's all my fault!"
"Link, don't say that!"
Harry actually began comforting Link. "We all know it wasn't your fault!"
While they spoke, Ron finally realized what a terrible fool he had made of himself.
His face went even redder than Fleur's earlier, and with a scream, he fled the hall amid the laughter.
Harry quickly apologized to Link, then chased after him.
Link only shook his head, then under the crowd's newly admiring and envious stares, slowly returned to the Room of Requirement.
Emily was still waiting for him to try on the new dress robes together, being late would be troublesome.
———
On the other side, perhaps fueled by shame and anger, Ron ran so fast he vanished in an instant, leaving Harry searching from morning till dusk without finding him.
Finally, after Hermione finished her "preaching" to Krum and joined Harry, the two of them found Ron at dusk on the Astronomy Tower.
"I'm so stupid, really stupid…"
Curled in a corner, Ron ignored Harry and Hermione as they approached, just repeating the words over and over.
Hearing this, Harry winced, quickly crouching to comfort him, "It's really not your fault. You heard Link, Fleur used magic. I bet she wanted to bewitch him, so he'd go easy on her in the next task. You were just unlucky."
At this, Ron seemed swayed. He lifted his head, wet eyes fixed on Harry, as if asking, 'Really?'
But before Harry could answer, Hermione sneered, nearly mocking, "You're just an idiot! How else could you be bewitched by that Beauxbatons girl's magic? Link didn't fall for it!"
"You..."
Her words were like pouring gasoline on a dying fire. Ron roared in anger and nearly sprang up, but Harry pulled him back just in time.
Yet Hermione didn't stop. Arms crossed, smug, she continued, "Your urgent task now is to find a ball partner! But with your conditions, it'll be hard to find a good one. Like George said, good girls have long been taken!"
"Good girls? You mean yourself?" Ron finally found a counterattack, sneering. "Ah, that's right! Our Miss Know-it-all is different now. With Krum doting on her, of course she's a good girl!"
He paused, then raised his voice, "But you don't really think Krum likes you, do you? He only talks to you to spy on Harry and Link! To him, you're just a tool!"
"Krum isn't like that!"
"Oh! Looks like our Miss Know-it-all really fell for Krum! So you'd betray Harry and Link just to be his partner?"
"I did not!"
Hermione sounded half-mad. "Krum did invite me, but I didn't agree! I don't like him! I only talk to him to recruit him into the Rights Association!"
Ron suddenly went quiet, then said in a low voice, "Link won't agree to be your partner either."
"What did you say?"
Hermione's eyes widened. She looked like she hadn't heard clearly, or like she had, but didn't dare believe it.
Harry had already realized, desperately trying to cover Ron's mouth.
But Ron broke free, sneering, "Hermione, you know it, don't you? You have no chance of being Link's partner. His only partner will be Emily Victoria."
Harry closed his eyes in despair.
Hermione liking Link wasn't really a secret to them, her disguise skills were poor.
But for Ron to say it aloud now was just too cruel.
Harry could already picture her furious explosion.
But it didn't come. Instead, Hermione said quietly, "What exactly are you trying to say, Ron?"
"Hermione, don't you get it? No one truly wants to invite you to dance."
Ron said smugly, "If you don't want to be alone at the ball, you should apologize to me. Then maybe Harry and I might agree to be your partners."
"So you said all this just to make me your partner? That's how you invite someone?" Hermione laughed coldly.
"Let me tell you the truth, I won't be Krum's partner, I don't care to be Link's partner either! Most of all, even if I go alone, I'll never choose you as my partner! Want to dance with me? In your dreams!"
"What did you say!?"
Though his memory was hazy, Ron still remembered Fleur had said the exact same words to him earlier.
That instantly set off his nerves.
But before he could move, Hermione had already stormed off the Astronomy Tower.
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