Draco Malfoy's partner was, unsurprisingly, Pansy Parkinson. She wore light pink robes full of ruffles and clung tightly to Malfoy's arm, looking like she wished she could hang from him completely.
Crabbe and Goyle both wore pure green dress robes. Seeing them, Ron felt quite satisfied because neither of them had managed to find partners—they looked like two large green boulders.
Although these three hadn't bothered them for quite a long time, Ron still found them unpleasant to look at.
After Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, the Hufflepuff students also emerged from underground. Ron immediately bent his knees slightly and hid behind Harry because Fleur Delacour was walking over.
She wore silver-gray satin robes and was stunningly beautiful. Beside her was Cedric. After they'd walked away, Ron straightened up again.
"What are you doing?" Luna asked, puzzled by Ron's actions.
"Nothing... nothing..." Ron felt a bit embarrassed.
"I know, you're hiding from her, aren't you?" Luna suddenly showed an expression of sudden realization. "I heard from Ginny that you were rejected when you asked her to be your partner."
Ron: "..."
He suddenly turned to look at his sister, glaring at her angrily. Ginny, who usually wasn't very afraid of her brother, felt somewhat guilty today and turned her head away.
"Luna, actually..." The kind-hearted Harry was about to change the subject when the oak front doors were opened.
Everyone turned to see the Durmstrang students entering with Professor Karkaroff. Viktor Krum, Toby Thorsen, and Lucas Polyakov, the three champions participating in the Triwizard Tournament, walked in front. Each of them had a rather nice-looking girl by their side.
Harry didn't know if it was his imagination, but Krum seemed even more sullen than before.
After them, the Beauxbatons students also entered with Madame Maxime. Since Fleur Delacour had already left with Cedric, the ones leading were the ordinarily built Loy Levan and the slightly slender girl Philly Raven.
Without Fleur's presence, Madame Maxime instead became the most noticeable person from Beauxbatons, mainly because she was so tall and large.
As Harry looked at her, his gaze involuntarily passed over their heads, and he suddenly noticed that a patch of lawn in front of the castle had been transformed into a grotto, sparkling with fairy lights.
"There are hundreds of fairies in there," Cho Chang explained, noticing Harry's gaze.
At this moment, they were either sitting in magically conjured rose bushes or fluttering their wings on top of statues—statues of Father Christmas and his reindeer.
"Why haven't Sherlock and Hermione come down yet?" Ron looked around and couldn't help asking.
Harry also thought it was a bit strange. Just then, Professor McGonagall's voice rang out. "Champions, please come this way!"
"Go on, Harry, Cho!" Ginny said.
Cho Chang smiled slightly and said "See you later" to the little group, then pulled Harry, who seemed not to have reacted yet, forward.
The chattering crowd spontaneously opened a path for them to pass through.
Today Professor McGonagall wore a red tartan robe with a rather ugly wreath of thistles decorating her hat brim. She had the champions wait by the door while letting the others enter first. After all the students were seated, they would then file into the hall in pairs.
Cedric and Fleur stood closest to the door. When they saw Harry and Cho Chang, Cedric's gaze swept over Cho Chang, his eyes showing a flash of admiration.
"Hello, Harry!" He revealed a smile. "Hello, Miss Chang!"
Both Harry and Cho Chang nodded and smiled at Cedric in a friendly manner. Fleur, however, kept her face expressionless and said nothing. Even so, this didn't diminish her beauty.
Cho Chang, who had just outshone the Patil twins, couldn't overshadow Fleur at this moment. Veela blood was terrifying indeed!
"Where's Sherlock? Hasn't he come down yet?" As others filed into the hall, Cedric couldn't help asking.
"He's still waiting for Hermione," Harry answered. He also found it strange—why would they need to wait so long?
Cho Chang smiled and said, "It seems Hermione values tonight's ball very much."
"She really does value it," Harry said unconsciously. "She went back to get ready from around five o'clock..."
Cho Chang nodded. "Mm, I did too."
These words made both Harry and Cedric turn their gazes to Cho Chang again. The difference was that Cedric only glanced once before withdrawing his gaze, while Harry couldn't take his eyes off Cho Chang.
Even though she was his own partner, Cho Chang felt a bit embarrassed at this moment and softly reminded him, "Harry!"
Only then did Harry react, noticing that the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons champions and their partners were all looking at him with seemingly amused expressions.
At this moment, Harry almost wished he could find a crack in the floor to crawl into.
"Sorry, Professor, we're late."
Just then, Hermione's familiar voice came through.
"It's fine, everyone hasn't entered yet," Professor McGonagall said.
Harry silently thanked the perfect timing, then turned around. Suddenly, his mouth dropped open in surprise.
He'd already seen Sherlock in dress robes before, so what could surprise him this much was naturally Hermione. The stunning impression that Sherlock had already known about now hit the champions of all three schools and their partners like a bomb.
Her carefully styled brown curly hair, elegantly pinned up in a chignon, gleamed with a healthy luster. That dreamlike light purple-blue flowing robe made her look like an innocent water nymph.
That face, shed of its bookish awkwardness and radiating with youthful brilliance—fair, delicate, with clear eyes, even carrying a kind of gentle serenity she'd never shown before.
Speaking purely of beauty, Hermione couldn't compare to Cho Chang and Fleur, or even match the Patil twins. But the impact caused by this dramatic contrast was explosive.
Was this really Hermione?
Harry couldn't help rubbing his eyes. He seemed to somewhat understand why Hermione had spent so much time getting dressed up.
He wasn't the only one doing this. When the Great Hall doors opened, students passing by them all looked at her with extremely shocked expressions.
Parvati Patil, Hermione's roommate who spent day and night with her, suddenly covered her mouth when she walked over with Fred. She gasped, her eyes wider than Galleons, her body involuntarily stepping back a bit, as if wanting to confirm she hadn't mistaken the person.
Another roommate, Lavender Brown, also froze in place, her jaw nearly dropping to the floor, her eyes full of shock and bewilderment. She unconsciously turned to look at Parvati, her gaze revealing a questioning look.
When Ron and Luna walked past, they similarly widened their eyes, staring at Hermione with undisguised doubt. At this moment, Hermione demonstrated in the most direct way what it meant for a girl to undergo a dramatic transformation.
The shock was even enough to temporarily overshadow the amazement brought by Cho Chang and Fleur. For everyone who knew her, this was a completely revolutionary re-recognition of a person.
This kind of attention made Hermione a bit shy at first, but when Gemma smiled and greeted both Sherlock and her, she saw encouragement in Gemma's eyes. At this moment, Hermione's eyes showed gratitude, and she also straightened her back, ignoring those gazes.
After a while, when everyone was seated in the hall, Professor McGonagall had the champions and their partners line up in pairs and follow her inside.
The three Hogwarts champions were at the front, filing in toward a large round table at the front of the hall where the judges sat.
When Cedric and Fleur, leading the group, entered the hall, people applauded warmly.
The hall walls were covered with sparkling silver frost, the ceiling showed a star-filled night sky, and hundreds of garlands woven from mistletoe and ivy hung down. The four House tables had disappeared, replaced by a hundred small tables lit with lanterns, each seating about a dozen people.
Sherlock and Hermione were the second couple to enter the hall. It must be said that Hermione's transformation won them applause no less enthusiastic than that for Cedric and Fleur.
Almost everyone stared at Hermione with shocked expressions. At this moment, Sherlock, whose arm she held, was completely ignored. The great detective titles of Sherlock Holmes meant nothing in this setting compared to the attraction of an ugly duckling becoming a swan.
The third pair was naturally Harry and Cho Chang.
However, Harry wasn't as calm as Sherlock. At this moment he was extremely nervous and had to concentrate carefully not to trip.
Cho Chang, holding his arm, noticed this and deliberately slowed her pace while saying softly, "Relax, Harry, it's okay."
Hearing Cho Chang's gentle comfort, Harry finally breathed a sigh of relief and let Cho Chang lead him forward.
At this moment, he was extremely grateful that his partner was Cho Chang—only she had the patience to accompany him like this.
As they approached the head table, he saw Ron and Luna, Neville and Ginny. All four were waving hard at him. This relaxed his nervous mood somewhat more.
After this came the three Beauxbatons champions and the three Durmstrang champions.
The young wizards all looked enviously at the champions' partners, wishing they could take their place and become the focus of everyone's attention.
A strange and even somewhat frightening thought even popped into Ron's head: Who said a boy's dance partner had to be a girl?
Finally, all nine champions and their partners arrived in front of the head table.
Dumbledore, sitting in the middle, smiled happily, especially when looking at Sherlock and Harry—his smile was brilliant to the extreme.
Karkaroff, whether infected by Krum or not, wore the same sullen expression.
Madame Maxime had removed her usual black satin uniform and wore a light purple flowing gown, which was unexpectedly quite charming. Ludo Bagman tonight wore bright purple robes printed with large yellow stars, and he applauded as enthusiastically as the students.
Only Alastor Moody looked utterly ordinary—no, not ordinary, he looked exactly the same as usual, appearing out of place on this occasion.
Under Professor McGonagall's direction, the champions and their partners approached the table. Everyone stayed far away from Mad-Eye Moody, which made the area beside him relatively spacious.
Seeing this, Sherlock immediately led Hermione over without a word. After hesitating for a moment, Harry lowered his head and said something to Cho Chang, and they also walked over together.
Seeing this, Dumbledore gave Sherlock and Harry an approving look.
The golden gleaming plates were still empty of food, but a small menu was placed in front of each person. Some people picked up their menus and then looked around—there were no waiters.
But Dumbledore quickly demonstrated for them. He looked carefully at his menu, then very clearly said to his plate, "Sherbet lemon!"
What he ordered appeared immediately. Everyone else at the table understood and followed suit, ordering their favorite foods onto their plates.
Although he knew it wasn't proper, Harry still couldn't help but raise his eyes toward Hermione, wanting to see what she thought of this even more complex new dining method. After all, it surely meant the house-elves would have to work even harder.
However, for the first time ever, Hermione seemed to have forgotten all about S.P.E.W. She discussed the menu with Sherlock. "How about some French food, Sherlock? What do you think of this one?"
"We can try it."
Cho Chang glanced at the menu and shook her head somewhat regretfully. "Too bad there's no Japanese food."
"Beautiful young lady, Japanese food is indeed delicious, but it's much more difficult to prepare. However, I have tried some at school."
The speaker was one of the Durmstrang champions—Harry recalled he seemed to be called Polyakov.
"Oh? Does Durmstrang have house-elves too?"
Hearing Cho Chang's question, Polyakov, who had been staring at her all along, perked up immediately and began talking enthusiastically. "Of course! We also have a castle, but I don't think it's as big as this one, or as comfortable. Because ours only has four floors, and we can only light fires when casting spells..."
Both Harry and Cho Chang frowned. Cho Chang looked apologetically at Harry—if she'd known he'd react this way, she wouldn't have asked.
Neither wanted to talk much with him, but out of politeness, they couldn't interrupt, so they listened as this gentleman continued enthusiastically, "...but our grounds are more extensive than here. Unfortunately, the days are very short in winter, so we can't play on the grounds. In summer, we fly around outside every day, over the lake, over the mountains—"
Just as Harry's frown was growing tighter and tighter, someone finally interrupted him.
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