"Good brother! I'll go find a reference right away!"
Ron thumped Harry on the shoulder, didn't even bother finishing his breakfast, and bolted out of the Great Hall.
As for where he planned to find a dress-robe reference at this hour… that was anyone's guess.
Arthur noticed Harry turning his head again, staring in Cho Chang's direction.
Only then did Harry suddenly realize something important.
It was called a ball for a reason.
You had to dance.
And when it came to dancing, Harry could only say this:
nine out of ten doors were open—and the last one was nailed shut.
Hermione spoke up from the side.
"Don't worry too much. I heard Professor McGonagall will be holding special classes to teach everyone the basics."
As McGonagall's student, Hermione had reliable inside information.
Harry immediately let out a huge sigh of relief.
Arthur, however, looked puzzled.
"Then why were you dragging me to practice so urgently before?"
Hermione snorted.
"Hmph! I like dancing. Is that not allowed?"
As if she'd ever admit, in front of so many people, that she just wanted to dance more with her cousin.
Arthur chuckled and rubbed her head.
"Alright, as long as you like it."
Watching the two of them interact so naturally, Harry felt like he'd been force-fed dog food.
He suddenly found it hard to swallow his breakfast.
He wanted sweet romance too.
In his heart, Harry made a firm decision:
once he learned how to dance, he would invite Cho—
Unfortunately for him, Arthur had no idea what Harry was thinking.
Otherwise, he would've told him mercilessly:
Kid, you're already out.
Harry, of course, still had no idea that Cho Chang had already been claimed.
He attended McGonagall's dance class with great enthusiasm.
During the lesson, Ron was distracted, clearly lost in thought about redesigning his dress robes. McGonagall caught him almost immediately.
As punishment—or perhaps mischief—she invited Ron onto the floor as a demonstration partner and danced a round with him.
Fortunately, Ron showed some talent.
At the very least, he didn't stomp on McGonagall's toes.
Once the dance lessons ended, Hogwarts students began inviting their crushes left and right.
That was when Harry and Ron fell into despair.
Harry didn't know how to invite Cho.
Facing groups of girls together, he couldn't bring himself to step forward.
Ron, on the other hand, had no idea who to invite.
He briefly considered Fleur—and even acted on it.
Unfortunately, the line of people inviting Fleur stretched from the Gryffindor common room all the way to the Slytherin one.
She rejected every single one.
In the end, Fleur personally invited Arthur to be her Yule Ball partner.
At almost the same time, Ravenclaw prefect Penelope Clearwater did the same.
Both were rejected.
Because long before either of them asked, Arthur had already been claimed by Hermione and Ranni.
Yes—Arthur had two partners.
After all, no one seriously expected Ranni to go find a different dance partner.
Even if she were willing, no one would dare accept.
Once Ranni stepped away from Arthur, her aura alone was enough to suffocate ordinary students.
Interestingly enough, Penelope and Fleur ended up becoming each other's dance partners.
Arthur played a small role in that outcome too.
Both girls had approached him at the same time. When he declined, he casually added,
"Why don't you two go together? The school never said dance partners have to be opposite sexes."
That suggestion struck gold.
Neither Penelope nor Fleur wanted to dance with anyone other than Arthur anyway. With no better options, they immediately agreed.
Hand in hand, the two left together to discuss outfits for the ball.
As for the boys who'd planned to invite them?
If they found out, they'd probably curse this as an unforgivable waste of resources.
After all, one was Ravenclaw's most admired girl, and the other was Beauxbatons' undeniable school beauty.
That evening, Harry arrived at the study room looking utterly dejected.
He dropped into the seat beside Ron and said gloomily,
"I failed. She was already invited."
Ron knew exactly who "she" referred to.
"Come on, Harry," Ron comforted him. "There are so many girls across three schools. Why fixate on just one? You're a champion who beat a dragon! If you can't find a partner, people will laugh."
Harry buried his face in his hands.
"You think I didn't try inviting others? Most of them already had partners. What about you, then? Found one?"
Ron was completely choked by the question.
He hadn't found one either.
Seeing Ron's silence, Harry immediately understood.
The two of them turned to look out the window, where the Black Lake was visible.
Arthur was there, fishing with Hermione and Ranni.
Somehow, word had spread that Arthur had two partners.
That alone reignited hope among the girls.
If Arthur could have a second partner, why couldn't they be the third?
Groups of girls kept approaching Arthur one after another—even while he was fishing.
They were all rejected.
What they didn't realize was that Arthur had already turned down both a house beauty and a school queen. There was no chance he'd accept them.
Still, the girls didn't give up.
Because nearby was another champion: Viktor Krum from Durmstrang.
Krum was jogging along the lake, training.
Failing with Arthur, the girls immediately redirected their attention to Krum.
Harry and Ron looked away from the window and exchanged a glance.
Then they both sighed heavily.
They wanted to be popular too.
"At this rate, it'll just be us without partners," Harry muttered.
"Not necessarily," Ron said with a grin. "There's still Neville. He could always dance with himself."
They'd once returned to the dormitory to find Neville passionately dancing alone—in pajamas, wearing polished leather shoes.
"You didn't know?" Harry frowned. "Neville already found a partner."
Ron took critical damage.
Even Neville had a date?
At that moment, Fred slid a note across the table to Ron.
Move fast, or all the good ones will be gone.
Ron looked up.
"You already got one?"
Fred answered by demonstrating the concept of instant action.
He walked straight over to Angelina Johnson and invited her.
As fellow Gryffindor Quidditch players, they got along well—and unsurprisingly, she accepted.
Ron stared, shocked, urgency flooding his veins.
He grabbed Harry's arm.
"No good. We move now. We must find partners—deadline is tonight, before returning to the common room. Agreed?"
Harry nodded firmly.
"Agreed!"
Then both of them were promptly seized by the heads.
Today's study hall supervisor was Snape.
He'd been watching them whisper for ages.
Without hesitation, he threw them both out.
If they had no intention of studying, they might as well go hunt for dance partners.
That evening, Ron returned to the common room beaming.
Clearly, he'd succeeded.
"Harry! How about you?" Ron asked excitedly. "Found someone?"
Harry lay sprawled on the sofa like a salted fish who'd lost all hope.
"No. You?"
"Good news!" Ron grinned. "Lavender invited me."
Lavender Brown—same year, same house.
Ron hadn't expected it at all and was still riding the high.
"Oh. Congratulations," Harry replied weakly.
"Thanks. I'm going to work on my dress robes. Good luck."
Ron skipped off toward the dormitory.
At that moment, Arthur returned from a full day of fishing by the Black Lake.
Harry sprang up instantly and rushed toward him, startling Arthur badly.
Arthur took a step back.
"What are you doing?"
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