The atmosphere became awkward for a moment. Professor McGonagall had never expected Eda to resist attending the ball.
As Professor McGonagall herself had said, every girl had a sleeping swan within her heart. She had never imagined that the most beautiful swan of them all would want to stay asleep forever.
Harry had not expected it either. He certainly had not expected Eda to sell him out the moment she opened her mouth. What happened to the loyal Twist?
It was not only Eda who did not want to attend the ball. Harry did not want to either, unless his partner was Cho Chang from Ravenclaw. But Cho Chang was already taken. How could she possibly accept Harry's invitation?
Quite a few people already knew that Cho Chang was Cedric's girlfriend, but Harry obviously did not. The innocent first love of a fourteen-year-old boy had ended before it had even begun. Such was the charm of youth.
"Miss Twist, even if you break one leg by Christmas, you'll still attend the ball with a crutch and open the dance," Professor McGonagall said seriously. "If you unfortunately break both legs, then you'll tie yourself to a stretcher and attend the ball anyway."
Professor McGonagall's meaning could not have been clearer. As long as Eda and Harry were still breathing, they had to attend the ball. Even if they died, they could only die at the ball.
The moment Harry realized Eda would not escape either, his mood immediately improved. With someone there to share his misery, the Christmas Ball suddenly did not seem nearly as unbearable. Especially after seeing Eda's long face, Harry became even happier.
Serves you right for selling me out!
Before long, news of the Christmas Ball spread throughout the school. Even though it was December and heavy snow was falling outside, Hogwarts Castle felt as warm as spring.
Everyone knew that when spring arrived, all things grew. It was a season filled with pink.
The girls were completely captivated by the upcoming Christmas Ball. In the corridors, groups of girls giggled and whispered to one another, then burst into shrill laughter whenever a boy walked past.
Back in the common room or the dormitories, they discussed which boys were more handsome, whose dancing looked the best, and openly rated all the boys.
Sometimes they even showed off, talking about which boys had invited them that day, or how many invitations they had received. They also asked their friends for advice about why the boy they secretly liked had not invited them.
Whether those stories were true remained open to question, but that was simply the state of Hogwarts' girls.
Even Angelina and Alicia were no exception. Whenever they had free time, they huddled together, whispering about what makeup they would wear for Christmas and which brand of magical perfume they should use.
The girls were like that, but the boys were not much better. The girls were always moving around in groups, and that troubled the boys of Hogwarts greatly. Ron even suggested that Harry use a lasso to rope one in.
Unfortunately, Hogwarts was neither built on a prairie nor located in the Wild West, so there were no cowboys with lassos.
Harry already had someone in his heart, so encouraged by Ron, he went to invite Cho Chang. She turned him down, and he learned that Cedric Diggory was the escort of the girl who had captured his heart.
To be fair, Ron had not been wrong. Harry was a champion, and plenty of girls would have lined up to be his partner. But everything had its order, first come, first served. Besides, stealing Cedric's girlfriend was hardly an easy task.
Ron was in an even worse position than Harry. He did not even realize he had someone he liked. He did not have anyone in mind at all.
Then misfortune struck.
One day, while Ron was standing absentmindedly by the roadside, he happened to run into the enchanting Fleur Delacour. Summoning every ounce of his courage, Ron went to invite Fleur, hoping that this flower of the royal court would become his partner.
Then... there was no "then."
Ron fled in embarrassment, while Miss Delacour had not even noticed the inconspicuous Mr. Ronald Weasley. Fleur's attention had been fixed entirely on Cedric.
It all happened because Ron took one extra glance through the crowd...
As Christmas drew closer and the ball approached, the entire castle fell into a frenzy. Many boys no longer cared whether there was a crowd watching. They openly invited the girls they liked in front of everyone, sometimes succeeding, sometimes being rejected.
Some girls also began taking the initiative. Krum, Harry, Cedric, and Roger Davies of Ravenclaw were the four boys who received the most invitations from girls.
Until then, Eda's side had remained completely quiet. Not a single boy had come to invite her.
Eda had even thought she had escaped disaster and would not have to deal with being surrounded by admirers.
What she did not know was that the boys had refrained from making any rash invitations because they were still observing.
After observing for several days, the bolder boys finally confirmed one thing through careful observation.
Eda had neither invited anyone herself nor accepted anyone else's invitation.
Now that they had confirmed it, the boys who had been itching to make a move reacted as if they had heard the starting pistol. They swarmed toward Eda and began asking her to the ball.
Some staged chance encounters in classrooms. Some conveniently wandered past Gryffindor Tower. Others lurked along the route Eda always took to the library.
In short, every kind of invitation imaginable appeared. One boy even hid outside the girls' bathroom entrance and nearly got arrested by the girls for being a pervert.
Thankfully, no one stood outside Gryffindor Tower surrounded by candles while holding a bouquet of flowers. That approach was just too cheesy. If Eda had seen something like that, her first reaction would have been that the guy was performing some kind of ritual.
Eda could not understand it. It was just about finding someone to attend the Christmas Ball with. Why was everyone acting as though they were making a confession of love? They were only choosing dance partners. Was there really any need to treat it like they were asking out the girl of their dreams?
It was not as though choosing someone for the Christmas Ball meant spending the rest of your life with that person. Why make such a grand production out of it?
After the Christmas holiday began, not even mountains of homework could dampen the students' enthusiasm. As more and more people found partners, those who were still alone became increasingly anxious, running around like ants on a hot pan.
That evening in the Gryffindor common room, for some reason, the twins had gathered with Ron and Harry. At this point, neither Harry nor Ron had a partner. Harry looked utterly dejected, while Ron looked equally miserable.
"So... you guys still haven't found partners?" Fred teased, giving them a look that practically said, Come on, little brothers. What's wrong with you? Can't even manage that?
"No," Ron replied impatiently, waving Fred away as though he were shooing flies.
"I'm telling you, mate, you'd better hurry up. Otherwise all the good girls will be taken," Fred said earnestly. Acting decisively might fail, but hesitating was guaranteed to lose.
Ron looked thoroughly unimpressed because he knew the twins did not have partners either.
"Don't just talk about us," Ron shot back. "Who are you going to the ball with?"
"Angelina," Fred answered without a second's hesitation, completely unembarrassed.
"When?" Ron asked in surprise. "I never heard about that. When did you ask her?"
"Excellent question," Fred said.
He turned toward the other end of the common room and shouted, "Hey, Angelina!"
Angelina was chatting with Alicia beside the fireplace. Eda and Katie Bell were there too.
Hearing him, Angelina looked over at Fred and called back, "What is it?"
"Want to go to the ball with me?" Fred asked while swaying back and forth in an exaggeratedly goofy manner.
Angelina gave Fred a thoughtful look before saying, "All right."
Then she turned back to continue chatting with Alicia. The two of them were discussing whether Cedric or Krum was the better catch.
"There," Fred said to Harry and Ron. "Easy."
What the hell...
Fred's move left Harry and Ron completely dumbfounded. You could ask someone to the ball like that? Wasn't it supposed to be some formal invitation? How could he just casually shout it across the room?
More importantly, Angelina Johnson had actually agreed!
Still unwilling to believe it, Ron decided it had to be a fluke.
"George, what about you? Who's your partner?" he asked.
The moment the words left his mouth, Ron regretted them.
"Hey, Eda!" George shouted toward the other end of the common room.
Apart from calling a different name, he copied his twin brother's method exactly.
"If you've got something to say, say it. If you've got bullshit, spit it out!" Eda replied without even looking up, continuing her conversation with Katie.
"Want to go to the ball with me?"
Eda still did not look up or glance at George.
"Sure."
...
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