Chapter 611: Unexpected Challenges
The news that Hogwarts would hold the Yule Ball was like dropping a bomb on the calm water.
In the past, the number of people who stayed at school at Christmas was always very small.
This year was different. Everyone in the fourth year and above seemed to be eager to participate.
As for the first to third year students, they were also trying to get themselves in. Everyone was obsessed with the coming ball, or at least all the girls were.
The boys were amazed how many girls Hogwarts seemed to be going.
They are all dressed up and became more beautiful and more attractive than ever. The girls were giggling and whispering in the corridors. Whenever boys passed by them, they shrieked with laughter, and they excitedly compared notes on what they were going to wear on Christmas night...
"I really don't understand these girls!" said Ron with a sigh.
"Yeah … why do they have to move in packs?!" Harry said as a dozen or so girls walked past them, sniggering and staring at Harry and Ron. "If this is the case all the time, how are you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?"
"Lasso one!" Ron hesitated and said, "Got any idea who you’re going to try?"
Harry didn't answer. He knew perfectly well whom he would like to ask, but working up the nerve was something else.
In fact, Cho Chang was a year older than he was; she was very pretty; she was a very good Quidditch player; she was also very popular, and she seemed to be...
"I haven't thought about who to invite, but you should have no problem, Ron!" Harry finally said. "You’re a champion. You’ve just beaten a dragon. I bet they’ll be queuing up to go with you."
"I hope so. Evan is definitely going with Hermione; he doesn't have to worry about this!"
Ron’s prediction was simply not accurate, and Evan was also getting upset about it.
He thought Hermione would invite him. After all they had gone through together, he felt he had to be Hermione's partner.
However, this was not the case. Hermione had not said anything about this since the day the news was released.
She didn't talk about the dance with Evan and even left whenever he mentioned the topic.
The way Hermione looked was purely as if nothing had ever happened, concentrating on studying house-elves.
What on earth was going on? The girl’s mind is really hard to guess!
Evan was not short of an invitation from a girl, he just wanted Hermione to invite him.
With Evan’s fame and performance in school, too many girls wanted to have him join in.
Just as he and Colin rushed to Transfiguration class, a fifth-year Ravenclaw girl to whom he had never spoken in his life asked him to go to the ball with her. This was the third time today.
Evan refused without even thinking about it. The girl walked off looking rather hurt.
"She was quite good-looking," said Colin fairly, looking at the girl's back.
"Forget it; she’s much taller than me. I don't like girls taller than me!" Evan replied.
"If only someone had invited me. My brother and I want to go to the ball too."
Colin and his brother Dennis had other worries about the Yule Ball. They were not old enough, so they had to find senior girls who were willing to invite them. Otherwise, they would not be able to attend the Yule Ball and would have to go home. Or even worse, lie in the bedroom on Christmas Day...
Both Colin and Dennis did not give up and were actively looking for opportunities.
But in fact, their chances of attending the ball were very low. There were obviously more boys than girls in Hogwarts.
Girls in years one to three also faced the same problem, but their condition was better.
In terms of the proportion of boys to girls, many of them might have the chance to go to the ball.
In this case, it was necessary to take the initiative, and the juniors girls were looking for suitable candidates.
Krum, for example, was the most popular. Many girls liked him because he was a champion, and had a great reputation.
They surrounded Krum, looking for every possible opportunity to rush up and introduce themselves...
Ginny didn't run around the castle with her peers looking for popular candidates.
Colin didn’t understand, but Evan knew what was going on with Ginny.
She liked Harry, and so far, she hoped to be his partner. This possibility was very low. Harry had no idea about Ginny’s feelings at all.
He and Ron are now together every day, muttering, planning for Ron and doing some useless things.
"Quiet!" Professor McGonagall patted the table and said unhappily, "I know what you're thinking, but please don't bring this mood into the classroom. If anyone doesn't listen attentively, I'll invite them out!"
The blackboard was full of text. The main content of this lesson was: ‘Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches’.
This was very important content, but everyone's mind was not on it.
Professor McGonagall made a speech and after seeing that everyone was not focused, and then continued to turn around and explain the main points.
During the group practice, she did not let the students idle until the last second before class was over.
As Christmas approached, the students’ mood was getting harder and harder to stabilize.
It was becoming more and more difficult to concentrate on listening to lectures.
Some of the teachers, like Professor Flitwick, saw that the students were obviously absent-minded, so they simply stopped trying to teach.
But many professors, like Professor McGonagall, were not so generous.
Nothing would ever deflect Professor Binns, for example, from plowing on through his notes on goblin rebellions. As Binns hadn’t let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, they supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn’t going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy’s cauldron-bottom report.
Not to mention Snape, who adjusted the contents of the Potions classes for all years to make antidotes.
Staring nastily around at them all, he informed them that he would be testing them on poison antidotes during the last lesson of the term.
Chapter 611: Unexpected Challenges
The news that Hogwarts would hold the Yule Ball was like dropping a bomb on the calm water.
In the past, the number of people who stayed at school at Christmas was always very small.
This year was different. Everyone in the fourth year and above seemed to be eager to participate.
As for the first to third year students, they were also trying to get themselves in. Everyone was obsessed with the coming ball, or at least all the girls were.
The boys were amazed how many girls Hogwarts seemed to be going.
They are all dressed up and became more beautiful and more attractive than ever. The girls were giggling and whispering in the corridors. Whenever boys passed by them, they shrieked with laughter, and they excitedly compared notes on what they were going to wear on Christmas night...
"I really don't understand these girls!" said Ron with a sigh.
"Yeah … why do they have to move in packs?!" Harry said as a dozen or so girls walked past them, sniggering and staring at Harry and Ron. "If this is the case all the time, how are you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?"
"Lasso one!" Ron hesitated and said, "Got any idea who you’re going to try?"
Harry didn't answer. He knew perfectly well whom he would like to ask, but working up the nerve was something else.
In fact, Cho Chang was a year older than he was; she was very pretty; she was a very good Quidditch player; she was also very popular, and she seemed to be...
"I haven't thought about who to invite, but you should have no problem, Ron!" Harry finally said. "You’re a champion. You’ve just beaten a dragon. I bet they’ll be queuing up to go with you."
"I hope so. Evan is definitely going with Hermione; he doesn't have to worry about this!"
Ron’s prediction was simply not accurate, and Evan was also getting upset about it.
He thought Hermione would invite him. After all they had gone through together, he felt he had to be Hermione's partner.
However, this was not the case. Hermione had not said anything about this since the day the news was released.
She didn't talk about the dance with Evan and even left whenever he mentioned the topic.
The way Hermione looked was purely as if nothing had ever happened, concentrating on studying house-elves.
What on earth was going on? The girl’s mind is really hard to guess!
Evan was not short of an invitation from a girl, he just wanted Hermione to invite him.
With Evan’s fame and performance in school, too many girls wanted to have him join in.
Just as he and Colin rushed to Transfiguration class, a fifth-year Ravenclaw girl to whom he had never spoken in his life asked him to go to the ball with her. This was the third time today.
Evan refused without even thinking about it. The girl walked off looking rather hurt.
"She was quite good-looking," said Colin fairly, looking at the girl's back.
"Forget it; she’s much taller than me. I don't like girls taller than me!" Evan replied.
"If only someone had invited me. My brother and I want to go to the ball too."
Colin and his brother Dennis had other worries about the Yule Ball. They were not old enough, so they had to find senior girls who were willing to invite them. Otherwise, they would not be able to attend the Yule Ball and would have to go home. Or even worse, lie in the bedroom on Christmas Day...
Both Colin and Dennis did not give up and were actively looking for opportunities.
But in fact, their chances of attending the ball were very low. There were obviously more boys than girls in Hogwarts.
Girls in years one to three also faced the same problem, but their condition was better.
In terms of the proportion of boys to girls, many of them might have the chance to go to the ball.
In this case, it was necessary to take the initiative, and the juniors girls were looking for suitable candidates.
Krum, for example, was the most popular. Many girls liked him because he was a champion, and had a great reputation.
They surrounded Krum, looking for every possible opportunity to rush up and introduce themselves...
Ginny didn't run around the castle with her peers looking for popular candidates.
Colin didn’t understand, but Evan knew what was going on with Ginny.
She liked Harry, and so far, she hoped to be his partner. This possibility was very low. Harry had no idea about Ginny’s feelings at all.
He and Ron are now together every day, muttering, planning for Ron and doing some useless things.
"Quiet!" Professor McGonagall patted the table and said unhappily, "I know what you're thinking, but please don't bring this mood into the classroom. If anyone doesn't listen attentively, I'll invite them out!"
The blackboard was full of text. The main content of this lesson was: ‘Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches’.
This was very important content, but everyone's mind was not on it.
Professor McGonagall made a speech and after seeing that everyone was not focused, and then continued to turn around and explain the main points.
During the group practice, she did not let the students idle until the last second before class was over.
As Christmas approached, the students’ mood was getting harder and harder to stabilize.
It was becoming more and more difficult to concentrate on listening to lectures.
Some of the teachers, like Professor Flitwick, saw that the students were obviously absent-minded, so they simply stopped trying to teach.
But many professors, like Professor McGonagall, were not so generous.
Nothing would ever deflect Professor Binns, for example, from plowing on through his notes on goblin rebellions. As Binns hadn’t let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, they supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn’t going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy’s cauldron-bottom report.
Not to mention Snape, who adjusted the contents of the Potions classes for all years to make antidotes.
Staring nastily around at them all, he informed them that he would be testing them on poison antidotes during the last lesson of the term.
