The entrance hall was packed with students; the doors to the auditorium had already been closed, and everyone was milling about outside, meeting up with their partners from other houses and waiting for eight o'clock to arrive.
When Kael and Conna walked over, they naturally attracted quite a bit of attention.
Luckily, at that moment Fleur arrived as well, dressed in a long silver-grey satin robe, looking breathtakingly beautiful. The instant she appeared, she drew everyone's gaze.
Everyone instinctively looked at her partner beside her…
"Fred?" Conna couldn't help calling out.
"No, that's George…" Kael said.
"Spot on, it's me." George winked at them. "But seriously, Kael, how do you always tell us apart?"
"Because Fred told me he already asked Angelina to be his date."
"Oh, how did I forget that." George slapped his forehead.
The oak front doors swung open. Everyone turned to see the Durmstrang students walk in with Karkaroff; Krum led the way, escorted by a pretty girl in blue robes.
"Wait a sec…" George rubbed his eyes, "Am I seeing things, or does that girl look a lot like Hermione?"
"You aren't seeing things," said Kael. "That is Hermione."
"Merlin…" George smacked his lips. "Hermione's really that pretty? Balls are magical, all right…"
George wasn't wrong—after Hermione had tamed her bushy hair, she really did look like a different person altogether.
In fact, when she walked past them, Harry didn't even recognize her and kept asking, "Where's Hermione…"
Too bad he didn't bring his camera. If he could have taken a picture of this, it would have been pretty funny.
Just then, the auditorium doors opened, and Professor McGonagall's voice rang out.
"Champions, this way, please!"
Conna nervously smoothed her dress, took Kael's arm, and walked forward. The chattering crowd parted to let them through.
"Wait here for now." Professor McGonagall led them to the entrance of the auditorium, beside a Christmas tree, and let everyone else go in first.
They waited for quite a while, but since everyone there was familiar, it didn't feel awkward.
Once everyone was seated, Professor McGonagall came back, told the champions and their partners to line up two by two, and led them inside.
They filed in, greeted by enthusiastic applause from the people inside the auditorium. Kael even heard someone whistle. He looked over—sure enough, it was Fred.
George instinctively wanted to respond, but after getting a glare from Professor McGonagall, he immediately behaved himself.
The auditorium had been totally transformed; sparkling silver frost covered the walls, the ceiling was a starlit night sky, and hundreds of tiny mistletoe and ivy garlands were hanging overhead.
The biggest change was that the four house tables had vanished, replaced by over a hundred small lantern-lit tables.
The staff table was arranged the same way. The five judges were sitting there, beaming at them.
Kael originally wanted to sit next to Chris, but before he'd taken two steps, he felt his hand grasped tightly. He had no choice but to follow Conna and take a seat next to Professor Dumbledore.
To be honest, Kael really didn't want to sit here… Nothing against Professor Dumbledore, but Snape happened to be sitting directly behind this spot.
Everyone else was chatting and laughing; only Snape sat there, his face so dark you'd think someone had stolen his prized magic potion collection.
And judging from his expression, Kael honestly couldn't guarantee Snape wouldn't slip something else into his food later.
But while he was distracted for just a moment, all the other seats had filled up, and he had no choice but to sit here.
As it turned out, Kael's concern wasn't entirely unfounded. The moment he sat down, he felt a cold chill creep up his neck.
Just like the transformed auditorium, dinner tonight had a novel twist too.
Once the champions sat, Professor Dumbledore picked up the menu beside his plate, and said clearly at his plate, "Pork chops!"
Pork chops instantly appeared.
Table service… not unfamiliar to Hufflepuff students, but this was the first time it showed up in the auditorium.
But Kael didn't really have much appetite; the malicious vibe from behind was just too obvious. If he put a Peeping Mirror on the table, it'd probably spark, or even drill a hole right through.
He couldn't help straightening his collar, and really wanted to ask Professor Dumbledore whether Snape had been in the kitchens earlier.
But unlike Kael, who couldn't relax, everyone else seemed fine. George chatted with Fleur about funny things that had happened at school; Fleur looked genuinely interested and even asked about the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
This magical position was famous, even in Beauxbatons.
George suddenly started stammering; it was all true, but he still wanted to save Hogwarts' reputation a bit, so he just skimmed over the topic.
Meanwhile, Krum was telling Hermione about Durmstrang, but halfway through Karkaroff stopped him.
He clearly didn't want anyone to know too much about Durmstrang—he was worried Krum would say enough for people to guess its location.
"Igor…" Dumbledore said with a smile, "If you guard your secrets so closely, people might think they're unwelcome to visit…"
"Ah, Albus…" Karkaroff replied, "We all want to protect our little corners of the world, don't we…"
"Hmm…"
At that moment, Kael heard a laugh behind him—unconcealed at all.
It was Professor Moody. He might have his back to everyone, but Kael was sure that magic eye of his was staring right through the back of his head at them.
"Dumbledore…" Moody said, "If I'd known Hogwarts was your private domain, I would have demanded a pay raise."
"Hogwarts never belongs to any one person—it belongs to all its students…" said Dumbledore, "Of course, that doesn't affect your reasonable request for a raise. I'll consider it."
After Professor Moody broke in, Karkaroff lost all interest in continuing the conversation.
"It was just a joke, Professor Moody." Karkaroff said with a smile, but his eyes were cold as ice.
Half an hour later, dinner was over.
As the last bit of Kael's barely-touched Hungarian beef stew disappeared from his plate, Dumbledore stood up and called for the students to rise too.
He waved his wand, and the tables vanished. In the middle of the auditorium, a massive stage appeared, along with all sorts of instruments.
Amid a storm of screams, the Weird Sisters leapt onto the stage.
As the only band ever to be featured on a Chocolate Frog Card, they were wildly popular throughout the Magic Realm. Just their appearance was enough to set the auditorium on fire.
And when they picked up their instruments, the champions rose as well.
Their first song was "Glorious Griffin." Kael walked out under the bright lights of the dance floor, feeling more nervous than he had before the first Triwizard Tournament task.
He took Conna's hand and placed his other on her waist.
He could clearly feel Conna's body stiffen for a moment, but then she relaxed again.
The chill at his neck grew even sharper, but Kael had no time to care.
He recalled the moves Professor McGonagall had shown him. When the music started, he led Conna forward, step by step.
When they actually began to dance, Kael found that he wasn't as nervous as before. His movements grew more graceful, and soon they were twirling in place.
It was strange—even though all three champions were dancing, and Fleur and Krum were just as eye-catching, most people's eyes never left Kael and Conna, as if the stage had been built just for them.
"How wonderful…" Dumbledore's eyes shone as he tilted his head ever so slightly, using the excuse of cleaning his glasses.
Professor McGonagall looked absolutely proud.
The ones dazzling the room tonight were her students… as for Professor Flitwick and Nearly Headless Nick—they were only teaching assistants, not worth mentioning by name.
Of course, where there's joy, there's also gloom.
With a snap, Snape broke the dinner knife he'd been holding. His eyes were glued to the dance floor, not even noticing Sirius Black flitting around beside him.
Maybe he was bored; seeing that Snape was ignoring him, Sirius didn't keep provoking. Instead, he found Professor McGonagall and—like a gentleman—invited her to dance.
She accepted with pleasure.
By halfway through the song, more people had joined the dance floor. The champions were no longer the focus, though people instinctively left the center empty—where Kael and Conna were dancing.
Soon, the song ended.
Then came the second number, much faster in rhythm.
"It's 'Magic Things'," Kael said. "Their most popular song—the one that got them onto the Chocolate Frog Card."
As he spoke, Kael let go of Conna and switched to another lively dance step.
…
They danced three songs in total before finally leaving the dance floor.
They weren't tired; Kael had only learned steps for those three songs, so if he stayed, he'd be making it up as he went along.
He glanced at the flushed, out-of-breath Conna and asked, "Want something to drink? How about pumpkin juice?"
Conna nodded.
Kael walked over to the round table with drinks and desserts, and there he saw Ron and Harry stuffing themselves with pudding.
"You… are you two really just hanging out at the dessert table?"
"Yeah," Harry swallowed a huge mouthful of pudding and said matter-of-factly, "It's not like we have to dance, right?"
"I'm just glad I'm not a Champion. If I had to start the night with a dance…" He shuddered, as if he'd suddenly remembered something terrifying, then quickly changed the subject, "Try this, by the way—creamy fruit jelly pudding. Ron and I both think it's the best dessert here."
Kael raised an eyebrow—good grief, these two really were treating this like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
But he still took Harry's advice, and along with the pumpkin juice, grabbed a serving of pudding.
After all, Harry had been here eating through three songs; anything he recommended was probably solid.
…