"Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention!?" Professor McGonagall's irritated voice cracked like a whip through the Transfiguration class on Thursday, and Harry and Ron both jumped and looked up.
It was the end of the lesson; they had finished their work; the guinea fowl they had been changing into guinea pigs had been shut away in a large cage on Professor McGonagall's desk.
Neville's still had feathers on it; they had copied down their homework from the blackboard.
Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches.
The bell was due to ring at any moment, and Harry and Ron, who had been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George's fake wands at the back of the class, looked up, Ron holding a tin parrot and Harry, a rubber haddock.
"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age," Professor McGonagall said with an angry look at the pair of them as they head of Harry's haddock drooped and fell silently to the floor.
Ron's parrot seeming to have severed it moments before - "I have something to say to you all."
"The Yule Ball is approaching - a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests, outside of the Great Hall!"
Gazes wandered over Lucifer for a moment, and he felt many others, even some of the boys turned to look in his direction, "Now, the ball will be open only to Fourth Years and above - although you may invite a younger student if you wish-"
Lavender Brown suddenly let out a shrill giggle.
Parvati Patil nudged her hard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not to giggle.
Hermione looked at them and they had looked around at Lucifer, and Professor McGonagall ignored them, 'Why is she not shouting at Lavender? Doesn't seem fair to tell off Harry and Ron and not her....'
"Dress Robes will be worn," their Head of House continued, "and the ball will start at Eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing just after midnight in the Great Hall. Now then-" she stares deliberately around the class.
"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to - er - let our hair down," she said, in a most disapproving voice.
Lavender giggled harder than ever, with her hand pressed hard against her mouth to stifle the sound.
Hermione actually saw what was funny that time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense.
"But that does NOT mean," she went on, shouting a word as she did, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way!"
The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders.
Professor McGonagall called above the noise, "Potter, Morningstar- a word, if you please."
Lucifer and Hermione walked slightly behind Harry to have a chat while Ron hung back and waited.
"So, I was wondering when the Yule Ball would be mentioned," Lucifer said.
"Well, at least it's officially announced, now," Hermione said, remembering what Lucifer told them on the train when he figured out that it was the Triwizard Tournament they'd be hosting at the School, "Are you excited for it?"
"I am looking forward to it...what about you... still nervous?"
"I used to have dance lessons back when I was Six and Seven. I'm sure I've gotten horrible over the years of not practicing, though..." Hermione was still in her lamenting phase.
"You heard me, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said, causing Harry to frown and stomp out of the room. "I suppose you two will be attending together?"
Lucifer asked his girlfriend. "It'll be a lot of pressure, and I don't want to force you into anything."
"Of course I will. I told you, I'm with you to the end, through thick and thin," Hermione said, a large grin spreading across her face, "And who knows, maybe this'll be fun!"
"???" Lucifer...did she just?
"Miss Granger, Can I assume you have informed Mr. Morningstar about performing with the Champions?"
"Of course, Professor"
"Then you shall both have to wait in the Entrance Hall until you are beckoned forth, on the day of the Ball," McGonagall said. "You may go."
xxxxxxx
"Why do they have to move in packs?" Harry asked Lucifer and Ron.
A dozen girls had just passed by them, all giggling and flicking their hair as they went. "How're you supposed to get one of them on their own to ask?"
"Lasso one?" Ron suggested.
"Confidence?" Lucifer said, wrapping an arm around Hermione, who was sat on the wall beneath an arch in the courtyard.
He hopped up beside her, allowing the girl to rest her head on his shoulder as she read a book about past Triwizard Tournaments.
"Haven't got any of that, mate." Ron said sadly. He turned to Harry. "Got any idea who you're going to try?"
"Cho Chang," Lucifer answered for him, "Don't tell me you haven't seen the way he looks at her... like a prize to be won. He even spit out a goblet full of pumpkin juice at yesterday's lunch when she walked in, didn't you see?"
"Did not! I-I just happened to choke at the same time she walked-" Harry was cut off by Lucifer's hand flying up and pointing behind Harry's head.
"Its Chang, Harry!"
Harry spun around as fast as he could to find no one there.
"Sorry, must've been someone else. What were you saying, Harry? Something about not caring about Cho Chang?"
"Oh, screw you, Lucifer. Just because you have a girlfriend, doesn't mean you get the right to mock people who don't. Especially us."
"Aww... but it's fun!" Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.
"I mean... I'm terribly sorry for the hurt you are feeling, would you like me to ask Chang out for you? OW!! Bloody Hell Hermione!"
Hermione shot a glare towards Lucifer as Ron laughed, but stopped when he saw another group of gossiping girls pass by.
"What about one of them?" He asked.
"I don't know..." Harry grumbled.
"Look, you won't have any trouble asking someone, or one of them coming up to you, as being a Champion, even if it's against your will, but survived against a Hungarian Horntail...."
"Yeah, and if I recall, you basically took care of the Peruvian Vipertooth and saved loads of people in the stands when that chunk of rock was about to kill them," Ron pointed out, "face it, you won't have a problem either. Except for girls maybe being afraid to walk up and ask you."
Ron, for once, turned out to be correct as not even five minutes later, a fellow fourth year girl called Fay Slater walked up to the quartet and asked Harry if he wanted to go to the Yule Ball with her.
Harry, rather rudely in Hermione's opinion, didn't miss a beat before he said 'no' and sent the girl on her way.
"That wasn't very nice," Hermione said when the girl got out of ear shot. "That was a very brave thing she just did and you go and treat her like that. At least pretend to think about your answer. Can you imagine if that was you asking Cho, and she did that?"
Harry sighed in annoyance, before chasing after Fay and apologising for being an 'absolute, despicable asshole that deserved to get a good kick in the balls'.
Yes, he was following Hermione's script.
And yes, Fay obliged with the kick.
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry wheezed, clutching onto his nether regions and scrunching up his face in pain.
"You're very welcome," she smiled politely. "Now don't do it again, girls have feelings too."
"Never," Ron said sarcastically.
Harry's next participant was a small second year named Charlotte Forest, who had matching forest green eyes that stared up into Harry's lime green ones.
He looked to Hermione for assistance, but assistance never came.
"Umm... er... I'm sorry?" Harry said. Charlotte ran off crying, but not before she sent a swift kick to the crown jewels. "Eugh! Again!??"
"Why do you look like you're enjoying this?" Lucifer whispered to Hermione.
"Because I am," she whispered back.
"Look." She put on display the book that she had previously been reading.
It was closed!
And she had been watching each of Harry's encounters with joy in her eyes, "He needs to learn about women, and if he needs it the hard way, so be it."
xxxxxx
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