Chapter 209: Crazy Dance

When they got what they wanted, sat down contentedly, and started to eat a little to pad their stomachs, Harry noticed Krum entered the venue. He was wearing red formal wear like a military uniform, with a faux fur single-sided cloak on his left shoulder, paired with his originally firm face, which looked quite handsome.

It is said that because Krum didn't have particularly deep expression management, Karkaroff told him that with his temperament, he only needed to keep a straight face, and he would always look good.

Or perhaps, he was genuinely unhappy from the bottom of his heart, which was why he kept a straight face. Because beside him, Renata, with long light golden hair and wearing a silver evening dress inlaid with crystals, was also cold as ice.

Renata wore long white gloves, and her red formal wear with Krum looked very bright. The two of them made a cold and indifferent expression of "strangers stay away," which also looked very cool. Many people couldn't help but be attracted by this combination, because setting aside the expressions, they were indeed very good-looking.

Eight o'clock arrived. The champions needed to lead their partners to the judges' bench to salute the judges, and then sit at the table on the side. Harry and Zhang Qiu stood up very naturally, and Zhang Qiu also tidied up the ribbons hanging from her arms.

Cedric and Fleur walked at the very front, and both of them smiled brightly. Harry looked at the large area of snow-white skin exposed on Fleur's back and couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, which caused Zhang Qiu to pinch him.

Harry tried hard to make himself not make a fool of himself; in fact, he did very well. Madame Maxime praised him for "having demeanor," while Karkaroff said he was "like a Muggle." However, for most people, "like a Muggle" couldn't be counted as a critical sentence.

When Luo En and Elena saluted the judges' bench, Madame Maxime couldn't help but giggle, and Deng Buliduo also said with a smile: "You are dressed very well." In fact, Deng Buliduo himself was dressed very flamboyantly.

Next were Krum and Renata. Karkaroff and Vaskov said in unison: "Have fun, children." But their serious expressions still didn't improve at all.

After everyone was seated, Harry finally had the heart to look at everything in the auditorium in detail. The walls here were twinkling with starlight, the ceiling was hung with mistletoe twigs and ivy-woven wreaths, and the surroundings were full of ice sculptures, shining like diamonds. The Forest Fairy Choir was standing in a corner of the auditorium, singing hymns melodiously. A very comfortable and warm feeling surged in his heart; it turned out that all the stories Clara told to coax him to sleep were true.

He also noticed that Fleur was speaking in a low voice, while Cedric was focused on cutting a piece of steak. He was initially a bit worried that the two were not getting along well, but when Cedric handed the cut steak to Fleur, Harry smiled with satisfaction and then moved his gaze away.

Luo En and Elena were chatting very happily; Elena's smile never disappeared, and the expressions of the two were slightly exaggerated. As long as Harry pricked up his ears, he could still hear their conversation: "... Donald is going crazy again, look at him, 'I have already picked up the initial napkin!', look at his expression, that action."

"Just as he said himself, I need to hand him a cigarette, and then he will go crazy elsewhere," Elena laughed and made a gesture of handing a cigarette with a french fry.

Harry couldn't help but glance at another table below. Donald was holding a napkin with a very flamboyant posture; perhaps this was a joke from one of his stories, Harry didn't understand much, but he felt it was very interesting.

Just on the judges' bench, Prince Mountbatten was also sitting, and he was also dressed in a decent white shirt and bow tie, talking to Clara. But what made Harry couldn't help but widen his eyes was that there was more than one student sitting on the judges' bench—Hermione.

Donna was sitting beside Barty, and the two seemed to be getting along quite well. This made him feel very difficult to understand; clearly, Barty's Scottish accent was belittled by her as worthless—or conversely, didn't she find a partner before? Harry found it difficult to understand; this was truly too crazy.

And Jack Harkness, who caused the discussion of Beauxbatons students, restrained himself from finding a male partner, but took away Barty's female assistant. Although she was black, she wasn't actually very black; perhaps she was Hispanic or something. In short, after some dressing up at this time, she also had a unique style.

Harry's gaze turned a circle and returned to the champions' table. The conflict between Renata and Krum clearly hadn't been resolved; they were facing each other, but eating their own things without saying a word. Krum was breaking a piece of roasted garlic; Harry felt that eating garlic before the dance, besides quarreling, had no other explanation; Renata was eating cheese-soaked yogurt, which didn't seem much better than roasted garlic.

He noticed that in order to make herself look compatible with Krum, Renata wore a pair of very, very high heels; Harry could hardly imagine how she walked in steadily.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but lower his head to look at Zhang Qiu's heel, which was not very high, but not low either. Her calves seemed to emit a strange luster, soft, smooth, fresh, and bright—when he realized this was a kind of flesh-colored silk stocking popular in East Asia, he had already received a head-on blow from Zhang Qiu.

"What are you looking under the table for!" she scolded.

After eating some things absentmindedly, at Madame Maxime's signal, the Forest Fairies began to play dance music. The four groups of champions led their partners to enter the field first and began their first dance.

Harry and Luo En were quite at ease; thanks to the dance party that Ivy had stirred up during the summer vacation, they had all tempered their dancing skills well, unlike Cedric, whose dance steps were completely manipulated by Fleur.

What was even more outrageous was Krum. Renata seemed determined to dance a very difficult kind of tango, and Krum, although he didn't know how to dance, relied on his strong physical fitness and athletic nerves, stomping on the ground with his leather shoes in a fit of pique, making a dull sound, seemingly wanting to crush Renata's toes; while Renata moved her feet away just right every time, and the high heels knocked out a crisp sound on the auditorium floor, the two stepped out a unique rhythm, inadvertently attracting the attention of many people.

After the first dance, men and women began to enter the dance floor one after another. Krum and Renata seemed to intend to continue their quarrel and have another tango confrontation. However, others all decided to rest for a while and continue later.

Harry and Zhang Qiu walked to the side to find a place to sit. Suddenly he saw a figure that looked familiar, so he sat beside him—this was also to give Luo En and Elena more time alone.

"Hello, I remember Donna called you Sean." Harry greeted him.

"That's right, I am Sean Temple." The boy who was left alone replied in accented English.

"Why did Donna go to dance with Professor Crouch?" Zhang Qiu asked curiously. The two of them seemed to be cooperating quite well on the dance floor.

"Vanity of girls, I guess." Sean said with a bitter smile. "She found that the champions' partners were all outstanding, so she didn't want to look like she was behind the times."

"You are also very handsome, and I think dancing with you can't be counted as falling behind," Zhang Qiu said.

"And why would she find Crouch?" Harry scratched his head. "He is not the most handsome professor either."

"Because Professor Crouch has a wife; she doesn't want me to feel uncomfortable," Sean said. "I saw a letter he wrote halfway in the office last time; although I couldn't understand most of it, he called that person 'dear Batov,' and many ambiguous words appeared in the letter."

"Batov?" Harry pondered. "This name is also very strange; is it Asian?"

"No one in Asia takes such a name either." Zhang Qiu shook her head.

"Hey, in short," Sean shrugged. "Professor Crouch is not interested in this kind of dance party. Donna promised me that after dancing the first dance with the professor, she would come to accompany me."

"Will you feel uncomfortable?" Harry asked curiously. "You look quite happy?"

"I don't care," Sean

Harry subconsciously glanced at Hermione, who was spinning in circles under Donald's lead; he felt that this sort of thing was still quite worrying.

"I'm going to the restroom." Xiao En seemed to feel a bit awkward and left with an excuse.

"It's so hot." No sooner had he left than Ailina plopped down right beside them. "Luo Nade went to get drinks."

"You're sweating a bit." Zhang Qiu touched her shoulder; the thin gauze was currently clinging to her arm, appearing transparent.

"Luo Nade?" Harry was stunned for a moment. "I haven't called him by his full name in centuries. Didn't he ask you to call him Luo En?"

"He did, but I think Luo Nade sounds better; three syllables are always better than two."

"Then you can call me Khalifa," Harry said, and Zhang Qiu couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Ailina also let out a string of silver-bell-like laughter.

"You two are simply a pair of clowns," she said. "I just love this kind of humor."

When Luo En arrived, he was carrying a large ice bucket with several bottles of pumpkin juice stuck inside.

"You're all here. Have you seen Cedric?" he asked.

"No." Harry only then noticed he had brought six bottles of drinks. "They might not drink this."

"Right, they'll prefer those drinks for adults, like butterbeer or even champagne," Ailina said sourly.

Harry suddenly realized that Hermione had been emphasizing unity among the champions, and perhaps the reason was—Fleur and Ailina simply didn't like each other.