Chapter 205
Tension began to spread through the school as the ball approached, and rumors spread about the ball and the celebratory ceremonies, but Harry did not believe any of them. All this tension led to some teachers not paying attention to their lessons, except for Professor McGonagall and Moody, who insisted on completing the work until the last minute of class time. Snape, however, let them play games in class, and all he told them was that he would test the Anti-Venom Potion at the end of the semester.
Ron said in distress, "What a villain... he will test us on the last day of the semester so we have to keep revising our lessons until the last minute."
Hermione said after taking her seat in the common room, "Hmm... so you're not preparing for it, Ron?"
Albert said casually, "It's Christmas, Hermione."
Hermione turned to him, saying, "I thought you would be doing some serious work, Albert."
Albert asked, "Like what?"
She whispered to him, "That egg!"
Albert answered her, "Hermione... take it easy... I have time until the twenty-fourth of February." Albert did not want to tell her that he knew the secret of that egg and what the second task was.
Albert had kept the golden egg in his trunk upstairs since the celebration of his victory in the first task, as there were still two months left until the next task. Hermione said:
"But it might take weeks of work on the riddle inside it. You'll look like a fool if everyone knows what the next task is and you don't."
Albert smiled at her a charming smile, saying, "Don't worry, Hermione, I can somehow figure out the riddle of that egg."
As soon as Hermione saw Albert's bright smile, she felt intense shyness, which made embarrassment appear on her face.
Ron said, "Leave him alone, Hermione, he deserves some rest."
Here, Fred and George came to join the conversation, saying, "A great look, Ron... you'll look like a donkey in the celebration robes."
George asked, "Ron... can you lend us Pig?"
Ron said, "No... she's delivering a letter... why?"
Fred said sarcastically, "George wants to invite her to the ball!"
George said, "We want to use her to send a letter, you idiot!"
Ron asked, "Who are you constantly corresponding with?"
Fred replied, pointing his finger threateningly, "Keep your nose out of it, Ron... or else?"
Then he directed his speech to Albert and Hermione, saying, "Have you chosen a partner for the ball yet?"
Hermione cast a quick glance at Albert, who was looking at Fred.
Ron replied, "No."
Fred said, "Well... you'd better hurry, or the good ones will disappear."
Professor McGonagall shouted during the Transfiguration class on Thursday, "Potter!!... Weasley!! Can you pay attention to me?"
As soon as Harry and Ron heard her, they turned towards her quickly.
The class ended after they had written down the required homework from the board, and they waited to hear the sound of the bell that announced the end of the class, in which they had transformed a bird into a small pig, and Harry and Ron ran into problems because of Fred and George's trick wands, which led to Professor McGonagall being angry at them before she said, "I have something I want to tell you all. The Christmas Ball is approaching, and it is a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to connect with our foreign guests, and this ball will be open to students from the fourth year and above, although you can invite younger students if you like!"
Lavender Brown let out a loud laugh, and Parvati Patil tried to stifle her laugh as they looked at Harry, but Professor McGonagall ignored them, which made Harry feel wronged about that, as she had reprimanded him and Ron because of their fake wands. Then the Professor continued, "You will have to wear celebration robes, and the celebration will start at eight on Christmas Day and end at midnight, in the Great Hall, and now..."
She stared at the class students before continuing, "The Christmas Ball will be an opportunity for everyone to... uh... to choose who will accompany you during the celebration, and the girls can let down their hair!"
Lavender burst out laughing again, putting her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound of her laughter. Harry saw what was making her laugh this time. Professor McGonagall always kept her hair in a bun, as if she had never let it down at all.
Professor McGonagall continued, saying, "But this does not mean that we will be lenient with the behavior of Hogwarts students. I will deal strictly with any Gryffindor student who embarrasses the school in any way."
The bell rang, announcing the end of the class, and the same noise emanated due to the movement of chairs and students putting their belongings back into their bags. Professor McGonagall shouted, "Black!... A minute, please."
Albert thought the matter was related to something he did inside the classroom that he was unaware of, so the Professor wanted to reprimand him. He headed towards her desk. Professor McGonagall waited until the rest of the class students left, then said, "Black... the champions and their partners..."
Albert asked foolishly, "What partners?"
She looked at him suspiciously, then said, "Your partners for the Christmas Ball, Black... your dancing partners."
Albert asked, starting to feel nervous, "Dancing partners?" Then he felt his face turn red as he continued, "But I don't dance." Albert had forgotten that there was a dance party before the second task began, so he did not expect Professor McGonagall to talk to him about this subject.
Professor McGonagall continued, "Really?... Anyway, I wanted to tell you that the champions and their partners are the ones who open the ball."
Albert imagined himself dancing with one of the girls, wearing a hat on his head, and she wearing a shiny dress like the one princesses wear in kingdoms, so he said, "I don't dance."
She said sharply, "It is one of the traditions of the competition, Albert, and you are the Hogwarts champion, and you will do what you are supposed to do as a representative of the school, so make sure to choose who will accompany you in the dance, Black."
"But I... no."
She returned to saying, "You heard me, Black," and she left him and departed the place, considering the matter finished.
Albert did not have much experience dealing with girls in such matters, so he felt nervous and shy about these things, to the point that this was the second time he felt fear when thinking about the subject.
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Throughout the previous week, Albert thought that choosing a partner for the dance would be a trivial matter compared to the dragon he had faced before, but now he preferred another confrontation with the dragon to asking a girl to join him in the dance at the celebration.
Albert did not know many people who spent Christmas at Hogwarts because he usually returned to Privet Drive during this time if he did not want to stay at school, but this year it seemed as if the students from the fourth to the sixth grades would stay at the school due to this ball...
Or at least all the girls cared about the matter, and it was the first time Albert had noticed all this number of girls in the school. He began to see them all the time in all the school corridors, whispering and laughing as the boys passed in front of them, even when they passed in front of them, he usually heard his name coming out of their mouths, which increased his shyness and redness on his face.
Harry asked Ron and Albert as some girls passed in front of them, laughing and pointing at Albert, "Why do they always move in groups? How can you talk to one of them and ask her?"
Ron said, "Have you thought about who you will try with?"
Harry did not answer. He had always known exactly who he would ask to dance... it was Cho... she was a year older than him, and she was beautiful, a skilled Quidditch player, and famous among her classmates.
Ron seemed to know what was going on in Harry's mind, so he said, "Listen, you're not supposed to cause any trouble, so my friend, I see that you have a chance to find the girl who will dance with you!"
Harry remained silent for a while, while Ron asked Albert, who was distracted, "Albert... tell me... have you found your partner for the ball?! With that face you have, my friend, I bet all the girls will pounce on you to get a chance to dance with you!!"
Albert cast a quick glance at Ron, then laughed loudly, saying, "Unfortunately... hahaha, no girl has come yet... I think I'm the one who should search, isn't that right?"
The next day, a third-year Hufflepuff girl, whom Albert had not spoken to before, came and asked him to accompany her the next day, but Albert did not give himself any chance to think and said, "No." The girl walked away from him, looking sad. The day after that, two girls asked him, one from the second year and the second... from the fifth year, to the extent that Albert thought she might hit him if he refused. Ron said after he stopped laughing, "But she was beautiful."
Albert said, "She was taller than me... Can you imagine how I would look dancing with her?"
Hermione's facial features echoed in Albert's mind, and the redness on his face began to appear quickly as he said in a low voice, "No... not now!!... What if she rejects me?! I won't have a face to show in front of her afterward!!"
Meanwhile, all Malfoy cared about was pointing to the Daily Prophet articles, which were about Hagrid this time.
Hagrid answered when Harry, Ron, and Hermione asked him about his conversation with Rita Skeeter:
"She didn't seem to care about magical creatures. All she wanted from me was to talk about you, Albert, and I told her that we have been friends since he used to teach me and study with me inside the hut, so she asked me about your behavior in classes and whether you were committed or not, and when I told her you were committed, she did not seem happy, so it seemed to me as if she wanted me to tell her that you had terrible behavior."
Albert answered in a low voice that no one heard, "I think I should reveal her truth to the Ministry!"
Ron said, "Your words did not please her. She wanted to say that Albert was crazy or something."
Hagrid said, "But he is not."
Harry smiled, saying, "You should have met Snape. He would have told her that Albert Black oversteps all bounds and rules since he arrived at this school!"
Ron, Albert, and Hermione laughed, while Hagrid said, "Are you saying that? Well... it's true that you don't adhere to some rules, Harry, but you're alright, aren't you?"
Ron asked, "Will you attend the Christmas celebration, Hagrid?"
He answered him, "Maybe... I think you will open the dance, Albert, won't you?! Who did you choose?"
Albert's face flushed with redness again as he said, "No one yet."
As soon as Hermione heard these words come out of Albert's mouth, she felt relief spread throughout her body.
Ron asked, "And who will be your partner then?"
Fred answered briefly, "Angelina."
Ron backed up in astonishment, saying, "What? Did you ask her already?"
Fred turned around, shouting, "Angelina!"
Angelina, who was talking to Alicia, turned towards him, saying, "What?"
"Would you like to accompany me to the celebration?"
She looked at him in surprise before saying, smiling, "Alright."
Fred turned towards Harry, Albert, and Ron, saying, "There it is."
Then he stood up, yawning, saying, "Well... maybe we will use one of the school's owls then, George, let's go."
Albert was surprised by Fred's courage to ask a girl to dance with him. Albert's weakness since his previous life was expressing what he felt in front of a girl...
Therefore, he was looking at Hermione with quick glances without Hermione catching him off guard.
But Albert did not know that these same feelings were oscillating within Hermione at the same time.
Hermione was also thinking about Albert's partner who would be with him, saying to herself, "^Hmff... I bet all the girls in this school will want to dance with him since he is handsome, so Hermione, you have no chance with him!! Forget about him, Hermione... but no!! Why can't my mind always stop thinking about him?! Is this what they call love??^"
Fred and George left the place before Ron said, "Do you know? We have to move... we have to ask one of them... he's right, I don't think we'll be happy if we end up with two dwarfs."
She shouted at him, saying, "Two what? Excuse me?"
Ron's voice cracked as he said, "Well... as you know, I prefer to go alone than to go with Eloise Midgen, for example."
"She has improved a lot recently, and the spots on her face have started to decrease."
"But her nose is still crooked."
"Ah... I see, so you will choose the most beautiful girls even if she is ugly in character?"
"Uh... yes... that seems right."
Hermione stood up to look at Albert and headed out of the room, saying, "I'm going to sleep."
To be continued...
(What do you think of the chapter?? I know very well that I'm stupid at writing romance, I'm really not good at it, what do you think of it?! 😭😭)