As the silver-green Christmas garlands hanging from the ceiling of Hogwarts' Great Hall swayed gently, the rousing dance music performed by the Weird Sisters had pushed the Hogwarts Christmas Ball to its climax.
The air was filled with the sweet fragrance of hot chocolate mingled with the fresh scent of fir branches. Candlelight danced atop gilded candelabras, bathing everyone's faces in a warm glow.
Most of the high-backed chairs at the head table had long been vacated.
Professor Dumbledore's signature silver-white beard swayed gently with his dance steps. He had just finished a dance with Madame Maxime and then paired up with Professor Sprout.
Not far away, Ludo Bagman was twirling Professor McGonagall by the hand. Her usually severe bun had come slightly loose, yet a rare soft curve graced the corners of her mouth.
Professor Lupin was gentlemanly supporting Professor Sinistra's waist, their steps relaxed as they occasionally exchanged quiet words.
In short, the normally serious professors had all shed their restraint today, thoroughly immersed in the ball's merriment.
However, the most eye-catching pair in the entire hall remained Hagrid and Madame Maxime.
These two imposing figures navigated nimbly through the students waltzing around them.
Hagrid's hideous suit jacket hung open, while Madame Maxime's velvet gown unfurled with her movements like an enormous dark flower bud.
Their dance steps were bold and sweeping—feet landing heavily on the ground as they advanced, then retreating with perfectly measured steadiness.
Each step was wide and sure, fierce yet harmonious, ultimately carving a broad path across the smooth dance floor.
Though the surrounding students had to stop dancing and move aside, they still smiled and applauded continuously.
Moody continued scanning the entire hall with his magical eye while his other hand rested lightly on the back of Professor Flitwick's chair.
The two occasionally exchanged quiet words, peacefully admiring the spinning figures in the dance floor.
Only Karkaroff and Snape had vanished at some point.
When the last note of another song fell, the people on the dance floor broke into enthusiastic applause once more.
The applause and cheers intertwined, nearly lifting the hall's roof.
This time, Harry and Cho Chang, who had danced three songs in a row, were both somewhat tired.
Fine beads of sweat had appeared at Harry's temples, and Cho's cheeks were flushed with a delicate pink.
She gently tugged at Harry's sleeve, saying softly, "Shall we rest for a bit?"
Harry nodded, and the two walked off the dance floor side by side.
As soon as they reached the resting area by the wall, they saw Gemma sitting on the sofa with Hermione waving vigorously at them.
The two immediately walked over quickly.
"Hey, where's Sherlock?"
Seeing these two members of the opposite sex who were on good terms with Sherlock sitting together while Sherlock himself was nowhere to be seen, Harry couldn't help asking curiously.
Gemma set down her glass of butterbeer, a faint smile at the corners of her mouth. "He went to dance with Miss Lovegood—it's been ages, Harry, Cho!"
Her gaze swept over Harry's bow tie and landed on Cho's hair ornament, her eyes full of warmth.
"It really has been ages."
Cho smiled as well.
Actually, she had known about Gemma coming to Hogwarts long ago—she'd heard it from the already-graduated Penelope Clearwater.
Even though Clearwater had left school, Cho Chang still kept in touch with her.
When she learned that Gemma had come as a dragon handler to assist with the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, Cho couldn't help but marvel for quite a while.
The world was both large and small.
Fate worked in mysterious ways.
"Dancing with Luna?"
Harry was slightly taken aback.
"That's right, look, they're coming over!" Hermione suddenly pointed toward the dance floor entrance, her voice carrying a hint of amusement.
Harry quickly looked in the direction she indicated and happened to see Luna pulling Sherlock by the hand toward them.
"Harry, Cho, you're here too!"
Seeing Harry and Cho, Luna's eyes lit up immediately, looking extremely pleased.
She released Sherlock's hand and sat down next to Cho in one motion.
From dancing, her cheeks were flushed a lovely peach color and slightly warm.
She gently fanned herself with her palm while saying to everyone present, "It's still more fun dancing with Sherlock. Ron doesn't know anything at all and couldn't keep up with my rhythm at all."
Harry remained silent.
He mourned for Ron in his heart for three seconds, then couldn't help asking, "So where is Ron?"
"He couldn't keep up with my dance steps and wouldn't admit it, so I told him to go invite that Beauxbatons champion captain. But he said he didn't need to, and his face turned red. So I stopped paying attention to him and went straight to find Sherlock."
Harry remained silent again.
This time, he mourned for Ron in his heart for five seconds.
His mate really had it rough—not only was his dancing scorned by Luna, but salt was being rubbed in his wounds.
"So you don't know where he went either?"
Harry asked again, wondering in his heart whether Ron might be sulking in some corner.
"No idea!" Luna blinked, stating matter-of-factly, as if Ron's whereabouts had nothing to do with her.
"He's with Miss Lavender Brown," Sherlock suddenly spoke. "They're resting now, but from the looks of it, they'll probably continue dancing."
"Lavender?"
Harry and Hermione quickly exchanged glances, immediately thinking of Uranus.
In a sense, this could actually be considered a decent outcome.
Just then, Luna suddenly waved vigorously in a certain direction. "Ginny, come over here!"
Hearing Luna's voice and seeing her and the several people nearby, Ginny breathed a sigh of relief while her eyes lit up, and she immediately quickened her steps toward them.
"Ginny, where did you go? I haven't seen you at all!"
Luna pulled Ginny's hand and said, "Let's go dance together next... Hey, what happened to your dress?"
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Ginny.
Below the hem of her dress were several obvious black footprints.
Some deep, some shallow, still carrying a bit of dust, looking rather conspicuous.
Seeing this, Ginny's face reddened. "It's nothing, someone accidentally stepped on it just now, it doesn't affect anything..."
Gemma smiled slightly and directly pulled out her wand. "Scourgify!"
Ginny's dress immediately looked as good as new.
"Thank you, Miss Farley." Ginny quickly expressed her gratitude, her voice full of appreciation, while secretly breathing a sigh of relief.
"No need for thanks." Gemma put away her wand, smiling and shaking her head.
"From the size and depth of the footprints, they were made not long ago by Neville. His shoe soles have a diamond pattern," Sherlock suddenly said.
Ginny fell silent.
I was already covering for him, why did you have to say it out loud?
However, everyone present was quite familiar with Sherlock's behavioral habits, so hearing him say this wasn't particularly surprising.
But Luna immediately dealt a critical blow, tilting her head and asking, "Does this mean Neville is even clumsier than Ron? At least Ron wouldn't step so obviously..."
The air instantly quieted, and the scene became rather awkward for a moment.
Ginny's face grew even redder, her fingers clutching tightly at her skirt, not knowing what to say.
Seeing this, Cho quickly changed the subject. "Ginny, how about you dance the next number with Harry?"
"Dance with Harry, me?"
Ginny pointed at herself, her expression one of disbelief.
Dancing with Harry—of course she desperately wanted that.
From the moment she learned about the Christmas Ball, she had secretly fantasized about it several times.
But she never imagined that Cho would be the one to suggest it.
In fact, from the moment Harry took the initiative to invite Cho as his date, she knew that in the near term, her approach to Harry should be to remain still rather than make moves.
But she also hadn't planned to give up.
For precisely this reason, she had accepted Neville's invitation to come to the Christmas Ball.
At the very least, she needed to get an entry ticket.
Maybe there would be a chance to dance with Harry.
But she hadn't expected the opportunity would come so quickly.
Even more unexpected was that this opportunity was actually being offered to her by Cho herself.
Harry also showed a surprised expression.
Clearly, he too hadn't expected Cho would make such a suggestion.
"That's right!"
Cho's gaze swept across Harry and Ginny's faces, taking in their expressions, then smiled and said, "I'm a bit tired anyway, so you can accompany Ginny for the next dance."
Harry hesitated slightly, looking at Cho's gentle expression, then at Ginny.
He saw her looking at him with eyes full of expectation, and finally nodded, saying softly, "Sure."
Ginny looked deeply at Cho, her eyes full of gratitude, her voice gentle. "Thank you."
After sitting and chatting briefly, Harry and Ginny, along with Sherlock and Hermione, entered the dance floor once more.
After all, Hermione was Sherlock's date today.
Though it wasn't necessary to keep dancing continuously as Luna had just mentioned, only dancing one number would definitely be unacceptable.
"It's a bit stuffy in here. How about we go outside for a walk?"
Just then, Cho suddenly spoke to Gemma.
Hearing this, Gemma looked at Cho thoughtfully, revealing a contemplative expression.
"Sure!"
"We're going outside for a stroll. Luna, do you want to come?"
"I'm not going!" Luna said without turning her head. "Watching them dance is so interesting! Ha, Neville stepped on that girl's foot again! That girl looks like she's about to cry!"
Watching Luna giggling there, Gemma and Cho exchanged smiles.
The two edged around the dance floor and quietly slipped out the door into the entrance hall.
The front doors stood open, and cold wind mixed with the fragrance of roses blew in.
As they descended the steps, they could clearly see the fairy lights in the rose garden.
Those tiny, glowing fairies danced among the flowers, illuminating the entire garden with a hazy glow.
All around grew low shrubs strung with tiny Christmas lights.
The elaborately decorated winding paths were paved with cobblestones that made soft crunching sounds underfoot.
Enormous stone sculptures stood in the garden corners, and in the distance came the splashing sound of water.
That was the fountain in the center of the garden spraying water, the streams glinting silver in the moonlight.
Occasionally they could see pairs of dance partners sitting on ornately carved wooden benches, speaking in low voices, the atmosphere extremely peaceful.
The two followed a winding path, slowly making their way through the rose bushes. Red and white roses scattered faint fragrance in the night, their petals still carrying a bit of dew.
After walking just a few steps, Gemma suddenly stopped, looking at Cho's profile and asking softly, "Doing this... are you really okay with it?"
"It's better to channel than to block."
Cho didn't inquire what Gemma meant by "doing this," but directly gave her answer.
She turned to look at Gemma. "Never mind me, aren't you the same?"
"I understand what you mean, but though my situation is similar to yours, it's not entirely the same."
Gemma shook her head. "Sherlock has absolutely no thoughts in that direction. And my return to Britain this year, coming to Hogwarts—it was all completely accidental. I originally thought that after graduating, I'd never see him again."
"So you'd already prepared yourself to accept the possibility of never seeing him again?" Cho was somewhat surprised.
"You could say that. Before graduating this past summer, I actually already talked with Hermione about it once."
Gemma didn't avoid the topic with Cho at all, directly recounting the content of her conversation with Hermione.
Hearing this, Cho couldn't help but be even more surprised. "Why tell me all this?"
In her view, she and Gemma weren't particularly close.
"Probably because our situations are similar? We both carry someone in our hearts..."
Gemma smiled. "The only difference is that the Wizarding World's Savior's feelings for you are already quite obvious. I think that if he took the initiative to confess and ask you to be with him, you wouldn't refuse, would you?"
After a moment of silence, Cho nodded. "I really wouldn't refuse."
From the moment Harry invited her to be his date, she had known her own feelings for Harry and could sense Harry's care for her.
"If that's the case, why did you give Miss Weasley that opportunity?"
Gemma tilted her head to look at Cho. "Could it be that you don't even have possessiveness in this regard anymore?"
Hearing this, Cho couldn't help but laugh. "This has nothing to do with possessiveness. As I just said, it's better to channel than to block. Even if I hadn't mentioned it just now, Ginny would definitely have invited Harry in a little while. Rather than put Harry in an awkward position between us, it's better if I take the initiative. That way everyone's more comfortable."
Gemma looked at Cho with surprise, her eyes full of admiration, saying sincerely, "Cho, your heart is truly too kind. You and Harry are simply a match made in heaven!"
Hearing this, Cho's cheeks flushed slightly, and she couldn't help smiling. "Talking about being a match made in heaven is a bit premature. We're only fourteen or fifteen years old now. There's still such a long road ahead. Who knows what the future holds? Maybe in a few years, our thinking will be different."
"Love born in school is often the most beautiful."
Gemma said with considerable feeling, "There's none of the complexity of the adult world, no calculation of interests, only the most innocent, purest affection. And the intention to think of the other person—that feeling might never come again. If you can really end up together..."
She was about to continue when she suddenly stopped.
Cho also turned her head, and the two looked toward the rose bushes together, their expressions grave.
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