Inside the Umbrella Room, the fireplace crackled, casting the whole room in warm, bright light.
Wade was writing the lesson plan for the next spell study group session—since Antoine was planning to publish a book, his own teaching content couldn't be too casual, and he had to prepare carefully.
Michael had just finished a paper. He tossed aside his quill, rubbed his wrist, and turned to ask, "Wade, I heard you invited Natalia? That girl from Koldovstoretz ?"
Without looking up, Wade kept writing and casually asked, "It hasn't even been that long—how did you already know?"
"The whole school's talking about it!" Michael replied. "Two champions becoming dance partners—you two might be the only pair!"
Wade: "..."
If everyone spent half the time they used on gossip to study, their spellcasting skills would improve at least twofold.
Michael then turned to Harry: "Hey, Harry, have you found a dance partner yet?"
Harry slumped over the desk gloomily like a mushroom and muttered, "I hate Cedric!"
Theo immediately lifted his head from his book, looking anxious. "You two had a fight? Why?"
"No." Harry sighed bitterly. "I just asked Cho Chang to the ball, and she told me… she already said yes to Cedric."
Wade turned his head and let out a soft sigh as well.
It seemed that even though he had reminded Harry in advance, Harry still missed his chance.
Or perhaps Cho Chang had already liked Cedric to begin with? After all, the guy was indeed very handsome.
The tension faded from Theo's face, and he gave a couple of awkward laughs. "Uh… don't take it too hard. There are still plenty of great girls at school!"
Harry buried his face in his arms, unwilling to talk.
Just like before, when he had confided in his godfather about how hard it was to invite someone, Sirius had been surprised and said, "Dance partners… need to be invited?"
At that moment, the door opened. Hermione and Padma walked in with books in their arms.
Harry mustered his courage, suddenly sat up straight, and asked, "Hermione, can I invite you to be my dance partner?"
Hermione's face flushed crimson instantly. Padma rolled her eyes beside her.
"You Gryffindors are all the same, aren't you? Only after bumping into walls everywhere do you finally open your eyes and realize there's such a great girl right beside you? Too late!"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked blankly.
"Neville and Ron already invited Hermione!" Padma said bluntly. "But nope—Hermione's already agreed to go with someone else!"
Harry's eyes widened in shock. "With who?"
"That I can't tell you." Padma blinked mischievously. "You'll find out at the Yule Ball. By the way, who's the girl you're opening the dance with?"
"No one yet. I've been rejected—twice," Harry groaned, then asked offhandedly, "Padma, do you have a dance partner?"
The room suddenly went quiet. Everyone who was pretending to read pricked up their ears.
"Hmm…" Padma's eyes flickered, as if she was looking at someone—or maybe she was just squinting with a smile. "No."
"Great…" Harry sighed in relief, then quickly added, "Oh, I mean… May I invite you? I don't want to go alone…"
He looked at her with pitiful, pleading eyes.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the common room turned subtle. Michael froze halfway through straightening his parchment, and even Wade lifted his head, his gaze shifting between the group.
Only Harry remained completely oblivious to the change in mood, his mind consumed with nothing but the desperate wish not to stand on stage and embarrass himself.
Padma's lips curved slightly, and she cheerfully agreed: "Sure!"
Harry let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks… really, you've saved my life."
Perhaps because his whole demeanor was like a child trying to escape homework, Padma couldn't help but giggle.
Michael silently crumpled the parchment he had accidentally smeared with a long streak of ink and stuffed it into a drawer.
…
In the blink of an eye, the term came to an end.
Since all fourth years and above had chosen to stay at school, and most of the younger students hadn't gone home either, this year's Christmas holiday was livelier than usual at Hogwarts.
It was Wade's first time staying at school for Christmas. Out of habit, he decided to finish all of his holiday homework first, arriving at the Umbrella room every morning before anyone else.
Though Wade never asked them to, the others trickled in one by one as well, with Michael grumbling while scribbling furiously.
"Seriously, what's wrong with taking a couple of days off first?" he wailed, slamming his face into his Transfiguration textbook. "We've studied for an entire term—don't we deserve a breather?"
"Of course you do." Wade flipped through his book as he spoke. "Isn't there a long line over at the Maze? You could ask a few people to go with you."
"That's the problem!" Michael suddenly sat bolt upright, slapping the table in outrage.
"With you buried in your books, how could I possibly enjoy myself with a clear conscience? Can't you slack off for a few days too—for the sake of our mental health?"
Neville secretly nodded in wholehearted agreement, and watched them with hopeful eyes.
Finally, Wade lifted his gaze from the pages and looked at Michael in disbelief. "Be reasonable, Michael… Do you even hear yourself? Does that sound human to you?"
Michael: "..."
He turned and threw his arms around Neville, mock-sobbing. "I'm breaking up with this study machine! Breaking up!"
Neville patted his back and said, "All right, all right. It's about lunchtime anyway. Let's go eat together?"
…
The Great Hall was as lively as ever, with the SSC group sitting together as usual.
Before long, Harry came in from Quidditch practice—even though there was no House Cup competition this year, the teams still kept up regular training.
Then Hermione and Padma arrived, apparently after a makeup lesson with an upper-year girl. Theo and Ryan followed, having just helped Professor Sprout transplant some plants. Fred and George, ever boisterous, plopped down nearby as well.
What had been a quiet stretch of the long table suddenly became the liveliest spot in the hall.
Just then, Wade had taken a bite of a custard biscuit when he suddenly felt a strange swelling sensation—
"Pffft!"
Ryan nearly toppled out of his chair, biting down on his spoon in shock as the spot beside him, where Wade had been, was suddenly empty. In his place stood only a large golden canary. Ryan's eyes went wide, utterly dumbstruck.
"Hahahahaha—!"
The Weasley twins immediately doubled over in laughter, while Harry quickly flung the biscuit in his hand away.
In less than a minute, the canary's beautiful feathers began to fall. Once the feathers were gone, Wade gave a soft pop and turned back into himself.
He wasn't angry—he simply picked up one of the feathers from his seat, gazing at it thoughtfully.
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