Chapter 491: Dance Couple (Edited)

Soon, vacation was a week away.

Even the sophomores who hadn't been able to attend the ball had mostly opted to stay and spent their time frantically searching for a senior to take them to the ball, it didn't matter who it was, even Crabbe and Goyle had found a date.

It wasn't until that moment that the two idiots, Harry and Ron, started to get anxious, discussing in panic how to ask a dance partner, but the two discussed this for a few days, but still took no action.

The students who found dance partners were so excited that they were even distracted in class.

But with the exception of a few teachers...like Flitwick, most teachers continued to keep the students busy, not only filling each class with content, but also giving them lots of homework.

Of course, Fish, who already had a shorthand pen, was able to handle this level of homework with ease, and some students even began to consider whether they should go to journalist Rita Skeeter and get one of those pens for their assignments.

This year, because students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were invited, Hogwarts was decorated with lights and decorations early, and the grandeur was much greater than in previous years.

The marble staircase banisters were hung with icicles that would never melt, and the usual twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall were decorated with everything from glittering holly berries to live golden owls that kept hooting.

The suits of armor were enchanted, as long as someone walks by, they'll sing carols, it's just that they only know half the words, so they can't sing in the middle of the song every time.

Peeves used to hide in the armor, and when the armor couldn't sing, he would make up his own words to fill in the gaps, which were very crude and unpleasant.

In response to this, the caretaker, Filch, went to Fish and got Fish to warn Peeves once before the problem was fixed.

In this atmosphere of general anxiety, the group had their last day of school before the vacations....

Harry and Ron still hadn't found a partner....

To be precise, neither of them had gone looking for a partner.

"Even if you don't have a partner, you won't make a fool of yourself like me," Harry said with a desperate look on his face. "I'm going to dance with Fish and the others at the ball."

It was clear that Ron didn't think so and would rather not go to the dance if he couldn't find a partner.

"Harry... we're going to have to bite the bullet." Ron said to Harry in a tone of impending heroism, "We should all have a partner by the time we get back to the common room tonight.... Deal?"

"Uh... okay." replied Harry.

In fact, even if Ron didn't say so, he had to find his partner as soon as possible, because according to Professor McGonagall, Champions were required to have a partner.

It would be a great shame if he was the only one of the four Champions without a partner, so even if his partner was Millicent Bulstrode from Slytherin, Harry would have to dance the first dance.

What he didn't know, however, was that even Millicent had already found a partner, Gregory Goyle, who was very close to her in size.

...

"Harry, Ron, what's wrong with you? I didn't see you in the Great Hall."

?(?ΦωΦ?)?

Fish had finished dinner and went back to the common room with Hermione, as soon as he entered, he saw that these two guys who hadn't had dinner were sitting in the corner with downcast faces, their faces were pale and their eyes were dull.

Fish thought about it for a moment, and felt that now the two of them felt as if they were octopuses accidentally tossed ashore by a wave and then dried up by the sun.

"Why are they still unhappy if the vacation starts tomorrow?"

Fish puzzled.

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes and looked at Fish without replying, before returning their gaze to the ground, as if nothing around them could attract their attention.

"I don't know what happened to Harry," Ginny said as she followed Fish back to the common room, "But Ron...," she seemed to be trying desperately to stifle a laugh, "I saw him ask Fleur to be his dance partner earlier in the foyer.... Well, of course, he failed."

With that, Ginny finally couldn't hold back a giggle.

Ron looked up and glared at her, but that didn't stop Ginny's giggles.

"I don't know how I could do that!" Ron gasped, looking confused, "I was talking to Diggory... the hall was full of people... suddenly I couldn't help myself... and I went up to her and asked her."

Ron groaned, covering his face with his hands. He kept talking, but his words were barely audible.

"She looked at me like I was a stranger or something. He didn't even bother to answer. And then...I don't know...I snapped out of it and ran away."

At that moment, Harry snapped out of his "sun-dried octopus" state and tapped Ron on the shoulder, reminding him, "Have you forgotten she's a Veela? I think she was using her charm on Diggory, and you were walking by and she hit you..."

Harry assured bitterly, "But your efforts are in vain this time, Digory and Cho Chang will go together."

Ron looked up.

"I only asked her to come with me," Harry said dryly, "And she told me."

Ginny suddenly stopped laughing.

"This is ridiculous," Ron said, "It's just the two of us left without a dance partner...even Neville has asked Ginny..."

"Because I'm not even a fourth year yet!" Ginny explained a little panicked, "I hadn't been asked before either...and I wanted to go to the ball, so I had to say yes!"

She looked a little crestfallen at first, but soon put her foot down.

"They probably think that if they ask, no girl will say no, otherwise why would they leave it to the last day?". said Ginny grimly.

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but didn't know what to say, and Ron glared at his sister, but Ginny didn't give a damn.

"So nya...," Fish cocked his head to the side, "Fish can't help you."

?ω?

Fish flapped his ears, blinked again, gave them both a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and ran out to the fireplace, transformed into his cat form, jumped onto a chair and lit the fire.

Hermione shrugged helplessly at Harry and Ron, then transformed into cat form and jumped up next to Fish.

"Hmph!"

Ginny grunted in disgust and walked over to the fireplace, then dragged a chair over and sat down next to Fish and Hermione, concentrating on Fish.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and returned to their "sun-dried octopus" state.

But this didn't last long, because a little later, Parvati and Lavender returned to the Common Room, and Harry approached them to invite them over.

As it turned out, Parvati accepted Harry's invitation and helped Ron invite her sister Padma.

It was actually quite amazing, as the Patil sisters were not bad looking and tended to be popular with the boys, but they still hadn't found a mate....

Harry had only tried to ask, but he hadn't expected to succeed.

But anyway, Harry had avoided the embarrassment of not having a partner on the day of the ball, though he felt his insides twist at the thought of Cho Chang dancing with Cedric....

And Cedric had led the Hufflepuff quidditch team that had beaten them last year.

Even though Harry knew it was wrong to think that, he couldn't help but hate the other team.

For this reason, even after the vacations, Harry hadn't had much fun, but Ron, who had been so carefree since he had confirmed Padma as his mate, had spent the vacations at the Ravenclaw table to talk to her at dinner, as if he wanted to prove something to Fleur, who was also at the Ravenclaw table.

But it was even harder for Harry.

He couldn't help but follow Ron every time he ran to the Ravenclaw table, and then, as if he were a thief, he would quickly withdraw his gaze when he saw Cho Chang.

It was during this torturous time for Harry that Christmas finally arrived.