Chapter 208: The Game of Partners

Led by Hermione, Cedric and Luo En, who were determined to send out dance invitations, along with Harry, who was responsible for giving Luo En courage, and Zhang Qiu, who came to watch the fun, the group walked toward the library noisily.

When Hermione brought Fleur and Elena out of the library, Elena looked a bit confused, but Fleur's eyes lit up.

"Hi, ladies, we came to discuss some things," Harry said, poking Cedric.

"Yes, I wanted to ask, Miss Delacour," Cedric tried his best to make his tone not so nervous, "would you be willing to be my partner?"

"I am of course willing," Fleur's tone carried obvious joy. "This is a wonderful thing."

"Then, Miss Kaslana," Luo En took a deep breath and said loudly, "would you be willing to be my partner?"

"Me? You?" Elena was clearly a bit surprised, but soon she noticed that Harry was clearly very intimate with Zhang Qiu. "I understand, you wait a moment."

"Hermione, what kind of person do you think Luo En is?" Elena asked directly in front of everyone.

"Er, he has a sense of humor, is an upright but mischievous person," Hermione deliberated her words; she neither wanted to speak ill of Luo En nor particularly wanted Elena to agree to him. "Sometimes he gives people a feeling of not growing up; if I had to say, it's future-promising."

"If Hermione says you are upright, then I am relieved," Elena blinked with a smile. "And, don't you think I am also a mischievous person? Hahaha, looking forward to dancing with you, Mr. Weasley."

Only Hermione looked a bit embarrassed, and at this time, everyone seemed to have suddenly realized that there was still one person left here who didn't have a partner.

"In this way, you can still agree to be Krum's partner," Zhang Qiu suddenly said. "This would form a situation where five champions are united, while Renata is isolated."

"Eh? Why do you—" Harry was a bit surprised; he had always felt that China should be biased toward the Soviet Union.

"Renata is a typical revisionist; we don't want to see such people appear," Zhang Qiu whispered. "We wish the Soviet Union were all Trotskyists."

"But if you say that, you actually also fell into revisionism," Harry retorted righteously.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked uncomprehendingly.

"In short, there is no harm in you agreeing to Krum," Zhang Qiu said. "First, he is silly and simple, has no schemes, second, it can disgust Renata, this is a very clever move, and finally, actually you are also looking forward to dancing with him, right?"

"This won't do," Elena said. "The more you feel Krum has no schemes, the more easily you will accidentally let important information slip."

"What important information do we have?" Fleur blinked.

"Speaking of this, Tang Tang Nade has already sold all the clues," Hermione spread her hands helplessly. "He said, anyway they will find out sooner or later, it's better to tell them early and get some peace."

"What?" Elena revealed an incredulous look.

"He told me that Krum's invitation is very likely a series of conspiracies planned by Renata; she wants to use Krum to catch shadows and fabricate some evidence of Fleur fixing the match," Hermione said. "Compared to this, telling them the clues in the dragon egg doesn't matter."

Fleur's expression was listless; she said with dissatisfaction: "Renata is truly too unscrupulous; I now really feel that isolating her is correct, let her take the blame herself."

"Then what about your partner?" Harry said somewhat worriedly. "If you can't give Krum a chance to take advantage, who do you intend to dance with?"

"Relax, I'm not necessarily going to dance," Hermione revealed a slightly reluctant smile, but soon, a slightly abnormal flush rose on her face. "But, I suddenly had another idea."

Almost everyone saw Hermione's flushed face, so they didn't ask more tacitly. After this slightly chaotic day passed, almost everyone was looking forward to the arrival of the Christmas dance—although it was not held on Christmas Day.

Finally, December 15th arrived. Beauxbatons would invite all students to enjoy the Christmas banquet on this day, hold a dance, and start the holiday from the 16th, not continuing classes until January 19th.

"Saying I'm not envious would be a lie, such a long holiday," Harry sighed after reading the schedule.

"I thought you liked Hogwarts very much," Zhang Qiu laughed.

"Of course, but by comparison, I like Hogwarts without classes more," Harry said.

"Yes, and the days without classes are always the happiest," Luo En echoed. "Think of the Mirror of Erised, think of Avalon, and then think of the Firebolt."

"Yes, and exam week is always the most torturous," Harry said. "Think of Quirrell, think of the Basilisk, and then think of the Azkaban mass breakout."

"Don't say depressing words on such a good day; let's go, we should go to lunch," Cedric, although he didn't understand some of their words, didn't hinder him from trying to liven up the atmosphere.

Honestly, among the current group of four, Cedric was the most excited and nervous one: he was about to dance with a beautiful girl he didn't know before, and their story might not end with the end of the dance.

Lunch included at least a hundred turkeys and a pile of Christmas puddings, which greatly covered up those French dishes that were not very accustomed to. Luo En didn't have to endure fish stew, garlic roasted snails, or weasel leg meat anymore; he was holding two chicken legs and attacking from both sides, eating heartily.

"How about you, found a partner?" Donna walked over and asked with a grin.

"Of course, I will dance with Fleur," Cedric almost couldn't wait to say this news.

"That's truly great; what about you, Luo En?" she said.

"I regret it a bit," Luo En put down the chicken bone in his hand. "I invited Kaslana."

"Ah, being rejected is indeed very sad..."

"She agreed."

"Oh, alright," Donna shrugged, acidly saying, "Luck always favors those with courage."

In the afternoon, they had a snowball fight outside. From beginning to end, no one saw Krum and Renata, and naturally, no one mentioned them.

At five o'clock, Zhang Qiu said she was going to prepare for the dance, and then returned to the carriage.

"Girls always take a long time," Harry rubbed another snowball. "As for me, I just need to change into a dress."

"I am still worrying about this," Luo En scratched his head. "My robes are a bit too flamboyant."

"Don't say that; the French kings of the Middle Ages dressed like this," Harry said, holding back laughter. "You just pretend you are doing as the Romans do."

"And then cut off the head, right?" Luo En said with a bitter smile. "Actually, I don't really want to have anything to do with Kaslana; she looks like that kind of, how to say, we are people from two worlds."

"At least you can leave a wonderful memory," Cedric patted his shoulder. "It's better than really finding Donna to pull strings."

Time flew to seven o'clock. They returned to their carriages to change into their formal robes. Then Harry saw Zhang Qiu in the corridor.

She wasn't wearing Hanfu but a tight long dress with a light yellow base, painted with silver patterns, and a golden ribbon wrapped around her sleeves. Harry stared at her slender waist almost without blinking, and it took a long time before he remembered to look at Zhang Qiu. He found that Zhang Qiu was exceptionally charming today; perhaps this was the magic of the makeup spell.

When she took Harry's arm, he noticed that Zhang Qiu was almost as tall as him at this time. She was wearing high heels, and the skirt at her calves was slit. Harry finally remembered the name of this clothing; it should be called a cheongsam.

"Look, they are out," Donna, wearing a light purple silk long dress, stood at the door. She also looked radiant, and standing beside her was a handsome boy wearing black velvet robes.

"I promised to bring you to see the champions of Hogwarts," she said to the person beside her. "This one wearing a tailcoat is Harry; he dressed himself like a Muggle; this is to convey the political philosophy of being close to Muggles; this one wearing robes over formal wear is Cedric; this will be the type Fleur likes; this is Luo En, he..."

"He is paying tribute to Louis XIV," Donna rarely didn't mock.

When they walked out for a distance and came to the front of the castle, Harry noticed three girls waiting on the only way.

Hermione was wearing a light purple small western dress, and Fleur was wearing a silver-gray off-the-shoulder evening dress, both very beautiful and stunning, but the one who truly attracted everyone's attention was Elena.

She was wearing a blue and white skirt, with thin gauze sleeves and a low-cut neckline, covered with lace and rose-style decorations. The skirt was layered, with pleats, lace, and decorations, all of which were present. She was also wearing bright blue small high heels and pure white silk stockings, which was very fresh for European students accustomed to black stockings.

"Ah, it seems there is a reason for this. Alright, I'll go in first," Donna muttered, then pulled her partner and left.

Luo En felt for the first time that his sauce-purple robes were so suitable and pleasing to the eye.

"Oh, it seems we thought of the same thing," Elena said smoothly, taking Luo En's arm, her mouth chattering endlessly. "This is my most beautiful dress; it's called the Corridor of Dream Memories; what do you think?"

"Great, enough to suppress Renata," Tang Tang Nade suddenly popped out from some shadow. He was wearing pink long windbreaker and dark purple pants, paired with a slightly curly golden wig, which was also inexplicably catchy.

"Oh, Professor, you are here," Hermione said, very naturally taking his arm.

"What?" Luo En couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"Ah, Miss Granger arranged the partner for the champion so perfectly that she missed the invitation herself," Tang Tang Nade said lightly. "Then, as a professor, I naturally have to help the student out of the predicament."

"Bad, he succeeded," Harry and Zhang Qiu couldn't help but hold each other's hands tightly. ===== CHAPTER 209 =====

"Oh no, he's succeeded." Harry and Zhang Qiu couldn't help but grip each other's hands tightly.