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Chapter 623: The Dance
🕑 Added 2019-10-13 05:38:44 +0000 UTC
Percy was wearing brand-new, navy-blue dress robes and a smug expression on his face.
Evan stared at him for a while, wondering why Barty Crouch hadn’t come!
Ron was also surprised. Seeing Percy draw out an empty chair beside him, he sat down hesitantly.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked in a low voice.
"I’ve been promoted!" Percy said arrogantly, and from his tone, he might have been announcing his election as supreme ruler of the universe. "I’m now Mr. Crouch’s personal assistant, and I’m here representing him.â€
"Oh, why didn't he come?" Ron continued to ask.
In fact, he wanted to leave, and he wasn’t looking forward to being lectured by Percy on cauldron bottoms all through dinner.
"I’m afraid to say Mr. Crouch isn’t well, not well at all. He hasn’t been right since the World Cup. It’s hardly surprising because of overwork. He’s not as young as he used to be… though still quite brilliant, of course; the mind remains as great as it ever was. But the World Cup was a terrible fiasco for the whole Ministry of Magic, and then, Mr. Crouch suffered a huge personal shock with the misbehavior of that house-elf of his, Blinky, or whatever she was called. Naturally he dismissed her immediately afterward, but… well, as I say, he’s getting on, he needs looking after, and I think he’s found a definite drop in his home comforts since the house-elf left. And then we had the tournament to arrange, and the aftermath of the Cup to deal with… that revolting Skeeter woman buzzing around … no, poor man, he’s having a well earned, quiet Christmas. I’m just glad he knew he had someone he could rely upon to take his place."
Percy said a lot in one breath, and Ron did not listen to a word, but was annoyed.
He looked up at Hermione again, as if he had just met her, and he realized that she was so beautiful!
Ron was a bit off the mark and couldn't help wondering if Hermione or Fleur were his partner.
"So, Mr. Crouch’s stopped calling you Weatherby?!" he asked subconsciously.
"Listen, Ron, you've done a good job this time, becoming a champion and earning glory for yourself and your family," said Percy, not answering Ron's question. "You have to be prepared. There's been an accident in the first task, and Mr. Crouch and the Ministry will definitely take special measures for the second task to ensure that nothing goes wrong."
"What is it?!" Ron turned to look at Percy, wondering what special measures were in place.
"I can't say, it’s top secret. You’ll know it in time!" said Percy proudly. "By the way, have you figured out the meaning of the golden egg?"
"It’s still early. If you don't want to tell me anything, then don't say it!" Ron retorted.
Because of the Triwizard Tournament, Percy had been keeping his appetite for the whole summer vacation.
Now he was no longer interested in continuing to listen to him, and his attention had returned to the beautiful girls.
At the same time, Evan and Hermione were also discussing the reason of Percy’s presence.
There was no food yet on the glittering golden plates, but small menus were lying in front of each them.
"Strange, I don’t see the waiters!" said Harry, picking up his menu uncertainly and looking around.
"Very simple, just say what you want to eat!" Evan leafed through the menu and said.
Just then, everyone saw Dumbledore carefully looking down at his own menu. Then he said very clearly to his plate, “Pork chops!â€
Then he looked at his plate and said very clearly, "Pork chops!"
And pork chops appeared. Getting the idea, the rest of the table placed their orders with their plates too.
The atmosphere in the Great Hall immediately warmed up and everyone began chatting happily.
On the table opposite them, Hagrid was waving to everyone. He looked terrible back in his horrible hairy brown suit.
Then they saw him quickly gazing up at the top table. There, Madame Maxime waved to Hagrid, her opals glittering in the candlelight.
The conversation naturally shifted to Hagrid and Madame Maxime, as well as Beauxbatons.
Gabrielle told them about Christmas in Beauxbatons. "At this time of the year, we have ice sculptures of different shapes all around the dining chamber. They do not melt; of course … they are like huge statues of diamond, glittering around the place. And we have choirs of wood nymphs, who serenade us as we eat.â€
More than half an hour later, when all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same.
With a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed back along the walls leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set upon it.
The Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn.
They picked up their instruments, and everyone had been so interested in watching them that they had almost forgotten what was coming.
Just then, the lanterns on all the other tables had gone out, and the four champions and their partners stood up.
"It's time to dance!" Everyone was looking forward to it. It was the highlight of the ball.
Ron looked very nervous. When he stood up, he stepped on Lavender's robes and almost tripped.
At this time, the Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune. The champions walked onto the brightly lit dance floor and began to dance softly.
The four champions had different dance levels, the best being that of Fleur and Roger Davies.
The two of them looked very experienced, and Davies was staring at Fleur with a very dazed look on his face.
He was really, again, a foolish guy confused by Veela’s blood.
Beside them, Cedric and Cho did well too. They must have practiced secretly.
Cho was amazing in a set of cheongsam with oriental characteristics.
She and Cedric danced very gracefully on the rhythm, on the dance floor.
Compared with these two pairs, Krum and his partner were slightly worse, mainly because Krum's movements were not coordinated. And he seemed a little absent-minded and always looked out of the court.
As for Ron and lavender, their performance was even worse, but it was not as bad as expected.
Under Lavender’s control, they slowly circled in place. It was to say that they had managed with effort not to look like fools.
