Apologies for the long wait, I haven't abandoned this. I also apologize in advance: I haven't proof-read this chapter enough, particularly the last part.
Young Justice and the Pentawizard Tournament
Between the excitement of the Yule Ball coming up and the break from classes that winter break would bring, the students of Hogwarts were not really in the right mindset to carry on with their classes. All of the professors noticed this, and yet only a few of them actually let them get away with lazing off in class.
For example, Professor Flitwick, being the understanding man he was, had allowed them to chatter and practice simple charms through his last class, while talking with Harry about the marvelous summoning charm he'd performed during the First Task. Hagrid, too, was being way more lenient with letting them do nothing in his classes. Though that probably had something to do with the fact the Blast-Ended Skrewts were now too large for anyone except him and Conner to handle, so the most they did in class was pick out random food to give the beasts while the Houdini student convinced Hagrid the Skrewts needed a bath. Hagrid had been eager to try out Conner's suggestion, and the girls were treated to the sight of Conner Kent's muscular chest when, during the end of the class, he took off his dripping shirt to try and wring it out.
Hermione had gotten a few glares when she offered to dry it via magic, which she had ignored with cheeks red as tomatoes. That particular class had been a bit strange.
And the weirdness did not stop there, either. It was expected of professors like McGonagall and Snape to continue drilling their class until the very last second of class, and no one had doubted they would, even if they were annoyed and disappointed by it. But while the students in the Potions classroom worked tirelessly to try to get the concoctions in their cauldrons dark green, there was something missing in the atmosphere.
Harry wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't been in the class himself. Professor Snape, well known for his blatant favoritism towards his own class and his intolerance for misbehaving, had failed to deliver his daily quota of at least ten snarky remarks to the Gryffindor half of his class. Half of that quota was usually directed at Harry, but while the Potions Master would sneer disdainfully when his eyes landed on Harry, he had not been as unpleasant as usual.
"That's not going to work, dude, the book says you need to slice it into even parts."
"I know what the book says. I also know that mincing it into fine bits will work best than just adding thick slices to the mix. See, I made some notes about that last class—"
"Yeah, yeah, I read them. I know where you're coming from, and it would make for more efficient use of ingredients, but you can't switch that up without unbalancing the whole reaction. You're just going to end up with a big mess-"
"No, man, just listen: that's why I asked you to bring the extra dusted beetle, because its properties—"
"They will even out the effect of the knotgrass while still adding potency to the product! Awesome."
"Glad you appreciate my genius. Make sure to grind it well, I want that powder as thin as you can make it."
"I'm on it. Think it will work?"
"Well, if it doesn't, at least it's not explosive."
"Good enough for me."
Harry glanced up from the cauldron he was stirring to look at the table two rows front and to his left. Normally, whispering as loud as that was met with heavy point deduction, unless the students in question were Slytherins. As it was, Professor Snape not only ignored the excited whispers, but lingered around the front of the classroom to keep his eyes on the pair of students that were causing it.
He didn't know how Wally and Dick had done it, but they'd somehow gotten into Snape's good side. A side the students hadn't been aware existed.
A dubious-looking Wally and an easy-going Dick had popped up into their first Potions class almost a month ago, shortly after arriving to Hogwarts. Snape had taken one look at them, and his lip had twisted nastily when he caught sight of West's red hair. He'd told them, in a none-too-hushed tone, he was not going to let ignorant fools into a fourth-year class if they had no previous experience in the subject. He'd also added, rather scathingly, that they should consider joining the first-years instead.
It had been an obvious jeer, and everyone knew it, even Wally and Dick. But rather than turn away from the class and never return, which Harry would have done after his first Potions class if he'd been given the option, the pair had taken his words as a challenge.
It wasn't until today that they joined the fourth year class, both wearing white lab coats, rubber gloves, and plastic goggles that Dick always left hanging around his neck, despite Wally's persistent nagging to pull them on. They looked as out of place as they had when they first walked into Hogwarts, and they got several curious looks from the students as the class dragged on.
Every so often, Wally would raise a gloved hand into the air, and proceed to ask hushed questions to Snape when he came over. Professor Snape would inspect their work with a scowl, before finally giving a few biting words regarding their performance.
Harry was considering the possibility that Snape had a secret code only the Houdini students could understand, because rather than look put-out by his words, Wally would smack his own forehead and Dick would get a glint in his eye, and they were back to animated whispers, as if instead of being handed thinly-veiled insults, Snape had just given them a precious epiphany. For all the rest of the students knew he might as well have.
"It's highly advanced Potion-Making Theory," Hermione relied on to him and Ron later that evening, at the Gryffindor common room. "It's the sort of thing you need to know to be a Potions Master – theory towards creating or enhancing new potions."
"So you're saying Wally and Dick are Potion Masters?" Ron asked with disbelief, and Harry furrowed hise yebrows. He knew both of them were smarter than average, but this seemed a bit over-the-top.
"Of course not, they're too young. But they're using the theory to experiment with their coursework."
Harry lifted his gaze from his book (Flying with the Cannons) to give Hermione a dubious look, but she hadn't even looked up from her own book, which made Harry's look like a thin magazine. It looked brand new, or would have if not for the dog-eared pages it was already sporting in its pages.
"What are you reading?" he asked, because the freshly-bound leather book didn't look like it belonged in the Hogwarts' Library. He immediately regretted the question when his friend looked up, a strange light in her eyes.
"Oh, it's very interesting! It's called The Magical Core: a Metaphysical Look into Magic, by Alan Fletcher. He's a muggleborn, Harry, but he's been studying magic from a scientific standpoint for the past twenty years. Most of what's in this book is just theory, and it's really hard to understand, but—"
"What?" Ron interrupted, and his pause allowed the castle of Exploding Snap cards to blow off right in his face. He coughed and pushed away the remains of the cards, not yet noticing his eyebrows had been singed off. "You, finding a book hard to understand?"
Hermione became flustered, pushing a few strands of wild brown hair behind her ear.
"Yes, well, I haven't read much about physics since coming to Hogwarts, so I don't understand most of it." Harry had no doubt she would fix that as soon as possible. "But It's a very refreshing point of view on magic! Wally gave it to me just a few days ago as an early Christmas present."
"Why would he give you a present?"
They were on friendly terms with the Houdini students, yes, but that was a bit too familiar.
"Remember when Professor Snape didn't want to admit them into his class a few months back?" Harry and Ron nodded. "I told Wally about some books in the library they could use to study. One in particular that I found very helpful, about the basics of Potions Theory. They must have liked that one and got advanced books on the subject. He must have wanted to return the favor."
"I didn't figure Wally the type to give books for Christmas," said Ron, a note of disappointment in his voice.
"Would you drop that book already, Kid Prat?"
"Well, someone's learning some new insults." Wally closed the book anyway, and they all huddled together a bit closer under the large oak for their mission discussions. Normally, these took place at the Bioship, but they had recently discovered the ship's limitations when it came to prolonged exposure to chilling temperatures.
It wasn't like the ship sustained any sort of damage from being permanently parked on the snow that surrounded the castle, but they might turn into popsicles if they had to spend another night sleeping in it. Oh, the ship could modulate it's temperature, but that required energy they might need later for a quick escape. This was the first time they'd taken the ship to such a long-term mission, and also the first they'd used it as living quarters. So they really hadn't known what to expect.
"Can't we talk about this inside?" Artemis sighed, revealing the reason for her irritation as she rubbed her arms through her thick jacket.
"Not until Zatara makes sure our rooms haven't been magically-bugged," Dick piped, graciously unwinding the scarf around his neck to hand it over. Superboy's hulking shape was good enough to shield him against the wind, anyway. "You know, since there's people at the castle that would do that."
Despite nearly two months of stake-out and investigation, they still had a list of suspicious people to look out for that was longer than they'd prefer. Two of those people, Alastor Moody and Severus Snape, happened to be at the castle all around the clock.
"This might be our chance to keep a closer eye on them," Kaldur pointed out. Out of all of them, he seemed to be the most at ease in the cold.
"Snape's a tame beast; he's also got an alibi for the time when someone could've put HP's name on the Goblet," Wally informed them.
He'd found his first zone of intellectual comfort within the magic-science that was Potions, so of course he was a bit biased, but Dumbledore had also told them the bare bones of the man's story early into their investigation. After plenty of interactions with the Potions Master, Dick was inclined to agree with Wally: the man wasn't much of a threat to anything but his own hair. And the self-esteem of the more impressionable younger years.
"I've got Moody covered," Dick offered. Which wasn't completely true, but he was getting there.
Their latest plan for spying on Mad-Eye had failed. Evidently, his eye could see even invisible objects, so they were lucky M'gann had been trying to approach by foot and not flying.
Wally had been talking to the professor after he'd come out of his last class for the semester, while an invisible M'gann approached quietly from behind. Moody had turned around and thrown a Finite at M'gann so fast, the girl had been startled into visibility. They got told off with a lecture on CONSTANT VIGILANCE; they'd also been told to "stop going along with Grayson's childish games," because they weren't going to get one over him.
Well, Dick thought, challenge accepted.
"Do you require our cooperation for anything?" Kaldur asked, which was appreciated, but it wouldn't do for Moody to be suspicious of the whole group.
"I've got some ideas, but nothing you guys should get involved in so far."
"If you need anything at all, we'll be happy to help," M'gann assured eagerly, and Dick gave her an easy grin in response.
"Which leaves Karkaroff, Crouch, and Bagman."
Other than the two shady professors at school, their list of suspects still included most of the judges for the Tournament. Madame Maxime's background check had come up clean, so they had decided to focus on those with criminal ties or, in Bagman's case, troublesome debts. Zatara's contacts in the magical world were proving to be as useful as Batman's information network back home.
"Bagman's obviously rooting for Potter," Artemis said immediately, her nose scrunched in disgust. "I'll bet you anything he'd sell the kid off to Death Eaters for the right price. He could've been paid to put in his name, too. People do all sort of stupid things when they're desperate for money."
"Karkaroff used to be on the enemy's side, though," Conner finally joined the conversation. His arms were crossed firmly over his chest, and he hadn't complained once since they'd come to sit here, but they could tell he was cold too, because he didn't say anything when Dick and M'gann perched closer to him. "And he's always acting like he's got something to hide."
"Anyone would be fidgety if they saw you starting at them like you usually do, dude," Wally pointed out, almost vibrating in place and looking like he pretty much wanted someone to be perching against him instead. The idea of cuddling with Kaldur or Artemis didn't seem as appealing to him, though.
"So your money's on Crouch?" Artemis sounded dubious and a bit challenging. Crouch had a questionable past, but it wasn't so much about him as it was about his dead son. The only reason he was still a suspect at all was his importance to the Tournament.
"No way; my money's on Moody." Which was why he was Dick's best bro. "I'm just saying, Conner needs to be a bit more subtle when he's on surveillance."
"Because you're all about subtlety."
"I'll have you know I'm great at surveillance!"
"We're getting off-track," Kaldur chided them, raising an eyebrow at the bickering duo. Wally rubbed at his reddening nose, and Artemis just huffed and pulled Dick's scarf higher on her face. "Wally, if you feel a different approach might be useful on Mr. Karkaroff, you may keep tabs on him instead."
Before Wally could even protest the decision, Conner was nodding his approval with a nasty little smirk on his face. "I could use a break from that."
So that was settled. Wally grunted about having to keep watch over a freaking freezing boat in the middle of a freaking freezing lake, but at least he had a good book to read during his breaks.
The remaining week leading to Christmas went by in a blur. Harry did not make any progress with either his homework (an enormous amount of it, too, as thought the professors considered the long essays a good present for the holidays) or the golden egg, which continued sitting at the top of his school trunk, unbothered. But then, he hadn't made much progress in any other front, either.
Cho Chang, the pretty Ravenclaw seeker he'd been meaning to ask to the Ball, was going with no other than Cedric Diggory, the Hogwarts-Hufflepuff Champion. Parvati Patil said he'd go with him when he asked later, and her sister would go with Ron, but it just wasn't the same. It was almost enough for him to give up on his dancing lessons with Richard, but the only thing more embarrassing than learning ball dances from a thirteen year old boy would be not to know how to dance at all in front of the whole school.
So every day after lunch, he'd drop by what was now dubbed "The Houdini Common Room", which was little more than a magically-expanded classroom near the Entrance Hall the Houdini students would be using as dorm rooms for the remainder of the cold months. Their lodging place had some heating problems, and Professor Dumbledore had only been too happy to give them housing in the castle.
The small group of six students (no one had any idea where their Deputy Headmaster resided) were in charge of themselves and the password for the tapestry concealing the classroom door. Within the week, Harry had heard over a dozen different passwords, which meant they had to be changing it at least twice a day. Most of the time, they didn't even tell each other what the new password was, but the tapestry always provided a clue in the form of a single sentence.
When asked about it, Wally said they weren't being paranoid, they just had nothing better to do but come up with increasingly ridiculous code words for the tapestry.
Last Harry had heard, it was "scaly undies." He didn't know the story behind that, but it had Richard's cheeks burning and his friends snickering when they thought he wasn't looking.
They'd cut the dancing lessons short that day.
He didn't see Dick or any of the Houdini students until the next day, which happened to be Christmas. Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived to breakfast in the great hall to see the Houdini students crowded at the Gryffindor table rather than Hufflepuff's.
"Merry Christmas!" Megan greeted them, looking more cheerful than they'd ever seen her, and holding out three lumpy packages towards them. "Presents for you!"
She looked eager to see their reaction, so they opened the packages to find hand-knit wool scarves with strange patterns in Gryffindor colors. Harry could see similar scarves being worn through the Hufflepuff table, a few more among the Ravenclaws, and he thought he'd spotted a familiar lumpy package sitting next to Millicent Bulstrode at the Slytherin table. The brutish-looking girl looked less disgruntled than usual that morning.
"Thank you," Hermione said while pulling it around her neck. The wool was very soft, so Harry put it on too, and even Ron followed along when Wally caught his eyes and gestured meaningfully.
They sat down next to them on the table, and Harry noticed Megan wasn't the only one looking unusually cheery. The holiday spirit seemed to be high in the small group, and even Conner Kent was smiling broadly as he chatted with Kal Durham. Wally was handing out Kit Kat candy bars to everyone he knew, and Harry's group also got Snicker chocolate bars. Ron looked intrigued with the muggle candy, so Wally handed him a few extra to mail home. In return, Harry and Ron promised to share what Mrs. Weasley had mailed them later.
"And this is from the rest of us, with a special something for Ron" Dick said at last, passing over two boxes of fancy chocolates for Harry and Hermione, and a wrapped gift for Ron.
Their friend's ears were red, but he didn't waste time tearing away the neat wrapping paper. Whatever he found inside left him speechless, and Harry tilted his head to look into the box. He laughed, though Ron paid him no mind, instead pulling the cloth out reverently.
"New dress robes. Without cuffs!"
Looking over at Dick, Harry found him grinning impishly.
"Harry might have mentioned your predicament once or twice during our lessons."
Ron didn't speak, but the Houdini students were likely his favourite people in the castle right then. He promised he'd get them something from Zonkos next time they were allowed to go to Hogsmead, even when both Dick and Kal reassured him it wasn't necessary. They returned to their common room for the rest of the morning, where Ron alternated between eating through half of Harry's chocolates and admiring his new dress robes.
Harry wanted to send the remaining fancy chocolates to Sirius, but wasn't sure the muggle treats would last the whole trip via owl (he didn't even know how Dick and Wally had gotten their candy stocks delivered, because they never got owl mail in the morning), so he shared the rest with Neville, Seamus, and Dean. He used the remaining time before lunch to write a letter to Sirius, and after lunch the Weasley twins roped him and Ron into a snowball fight outside the castle. Hermione left early to get ready for the Ball, but Harry and the rest didn't follow until there was only an hour left for preparations.
Despite the fact that all of them had proper dress robes for the evening, Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus all looked very nervous after changing into them. Ron kept glancing from his new robes to the old set he'd left lying atop his trunk, obviously gathering courage from the comparison.
When they went down to the common room, Ron's older brothers were quick to take note of his new robes.
"Wherever did you get those glimmering robes from, Ron?" Fred asked, eyebrows raised.
Ron looked down in alarm, as if fearing his globes were indeed shining, and George examined the fabric by rubbing a sleeve between his fingers. "Good quality, too. Don't tell me you begged Mom and Dad to buy you new ones?"
"We were looking forward to seeing you in lace," bemoaned Fred.
"Shut up, you prats," Ron said, jerking his arm away from his brother. "It was a gift."
"Richard Grayson paid for it," Ginny offered, walking up to them while fussing with the hem of her sleeve. She looked very nice in her pale robes and hair held up with cutesy hairpins.
"How'd you figure that?"
"Crock and Morse came to ask me and Hermione advice on what type of robe to get you. Crock said we didn't need to worry about prices, because Grayson would be paying for it. She said he was loaded."
Harry's eyebrows arched. Dick didn't act like a rich kid. But then, when Harry thought 'rich', his first thought was Draco Malfoy, who couldn't be more different from the Houdini Champion if he actively tried.
"Is he now?" Fred asked, sharing a look with George.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Of course, dear brother." They straightened each other's dress robes pompously with matching, growing grins. "We need to have a talk with our future possible investor tonight."
"Richard is a fellow prankster, isn't he?"
"I don't know. And what do you mean, investor?" Ron repeated, looking warily between his older brothers. He got a pat on the head for his efforts.
"Nothing you need to worry about, Ronnikins. Go and enjoy the Ball as you would."
"Yes, Harry, I believe your cute date's waiting for you over there."
And so she was. Parvati stood by the portrait entrance, looking pretty in her pink robes, dark hair speckled with gold, and gold bracelets hugging her wrists loosely. Wally had been listing off proper compliments to use with cute girls all week, but in that moment, Harry forgot all of them. He did manage an awkward "You look nice," though, and that seemed to please Parvati.
Hermione was nowhere to be seen, but Padma would be waiting for them at the entrance hall and it was getting late, so they made their way downstairs quickly. The large hall was crowded with people from all the houses just waiting for the doors of the Great Hall to open. Most of Beauxbaton's students were already there, including a very stunning Fleur Delacour.
Little over two weeks ago, Ron had asked Fleur to the Ball in the middle of a packed hallway (something Harry assured him was because of the girl being part Veela), so his redhead friend almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to stay out of her view.
Padma Patil, who'd found them almost as soon as they arrived, seemed to find this very funny. She laughed as she pulled Ron's arm for him to straighten, patting wrinkles away from his brand new robes. Ron's ears turned red, but being so close to a girl as pretty as Padma seemed to take his mind off the incident with Fleur momentarily.
Students continued arriving to the entrance hall, but no matter how much he craned his neck, Harry couldn't spot Hermione.
"Champions over here, please!" Professor McGonagall's voice came over the crowd.
Harry and a beaming Parvati said, "See you in a bit," to Ron and Padma and walked over to the professor. Most of the Champions were already there. Fleur Delacour was the closest to the door, accompanied by Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain. Cedric and Cho were next to them, and Harry purposefully avoided looking at them, instead focusing on the little group he hadn't noticed past the crowd before.
It seemed to be a custom already, but the Houdini students stood in a loose circle next to their champion, chatting amiably and looking completely out of place. The two girls in the group had come not with robes, but elegant dresses; Megan's dress didn't look completely muggle-made, though, with its flowing dark cloth that shimmered like tiny stars had been woven into it. All of the boys wore dark suits, except for Wally: the redhead stood out among his friends in a pure-white suit he looked quite proud of.
"You look ridiculous," Artemis was informing him when Harry and Parvati got there.
"You say that, but inside you seethe with jealousy," Wally smirked, fixing his black bow-tie while Dick snorted into his closed fist.
"Oh, Hermione! You look so beautiful!"
Harry turned around upon hearing Megan's excited squeal, and turned around to see her holding a pretty girl's hands and almost jumping in excitement. Hold on.
"Hermione?" Harry blinked. Yes, the pretty girl standing in front of Megan, next to Viktor Krum himself, was Hermione. But she looked completely different than usual, wit her hair sleek and shiny and pulled back into a knot, and the floaty periwinkle-blue robes she'd donned for the night. She was smiling nervously, but Megan's fuss over her appearance was obviously encouraging her.
"Thank you, Megan," she said, and then she caught Harry's eyes and smiled at him too. "Hi, Harry! Hi, Parvati!"
"All the Champions and their companions are to wait here," McGonagall's voice pulled them back to reality a moment later, giving no time for unbelieving stares of any sort. "You will enter the Great Hall in procession on my signal, once everyone else is seated."
The doors to the Great Hall were then opened, Harry and Parvati quickly stepping out of the way of the waves of students walking in. More than one unbelieving stare passed over them, all of Krum's fan club glaring Hermione's way with pure loathing. Others gaped instead, but Ron didn't even glance at Hermione as he walked past, even when Padma craned her neck back to continue giving her an unbelieving stare.
Once everyone was inside the Great Hall, McGonagall told them to get in line in pairs and prepared to guide them into the Hall. Parvati slung her arm over Harry's, and everyone was ready to move, but McGonagall stopped suddenly and looked at something over Harry's shoulder.
"Mr. Grayson," she chided, eyes narrowing skeptically. "What's the meaning of this?"
Harry didn't know what she meant until he turned around, and found himself face-to-face with a pure-white suit.
"What?" Dick asked innocently from his spot next to Wally West.
Conner snorted, smirking in amusement at something no one else in the table could hear.
The doors to the Great Hall opened just enough for a person to slip through, and a prim-looking Wally jogged his way towards their table, pretending not to notice all the attention he was gathering.
"Well, so much for that," he mock-sighed, pulling back the chair next to Kaldur's and sitting down with great care for his suit. He looked expectantly between M'gann and Artemis, eyebrows raised. "Who's up for it, then?"
"I'll go," said Artemis, already standing up.
The whole Hall followed her trek to the large oak doors, and a few moments after she disappeared, the doors swung open, the five champions and their companions trailing in after Professor McGonagall. Artemis marched with her arm draped over Dick's, fighting back snickers as Harry, in front of them, was almost dragged along by his date like a show dog. All of the students clapped enthusiastically in their wake.
"Did she actually say you couldn't be Richard's companion for the night?" Kaldur wondered over the noise, eyeing the still-flustered McGonagall reach the top table.
"Nah. I don't think the Professor even knew what to say," Wally admitted, eyeing the menu in front of him hungrily. "Dick took pity on her and told me to get one of the girls instead."
"But why would he ask you to come with him in the first place?"
Conner had completely forgotten that Ron and his date had come to sit at their table, with how gloomily silent the redhead was being. It was obvious his date had been listening to their conversation, though. Wally gave her a confused smile, obviously without a clue as to who she was.
"Just a practical joke."
M'gann and Kaldur shared a weird sort of look Conner didn't feel like deciphering, so he turned his attention to the front of the hall instead.
Dick and Artemis had grabbed seats between Potter's date and Hermione Granger, close to Igor Karkaroff and Percy Weasley, who apparently was serving as stand-in of Mr. Crouch. His eyes narrowed as he tuned out the unwanted voices and-
"-sorry they didn't let Wally accompany you instead." He couldn't see very well from this position, but he thought Hermione looked offended for some reason. Dick's laughter – normal laughter, not the creepy one he used as Robin – filtered over the unwanted noises.
"It's cool, Hermione. I wasn't serious, anyway." He still sounded somewhat disappointed whatever prank he'd planned with Wally hadn't pulled through.
"I'm afraid to say Mr. Crouch isn't well, not well at all. Hasn't been right since the World Cup. Hardly surprising -" Conner frowned, and paid special attention as Weasley informed Harry of things he probably shouldn't be saying in public. Artemis appeared to be talking to Potter's date, but the tilt of her head suggested she was also listening in.
He missed the moment when they gave out instructions, but everyone was suddenly ordering their meals to their own plates. Conner blinked, tuning in to the conversations at the table. He picked the menu off the table, and murmured to M'gann while the rest of the table was distracted picking what to eat.
"Crouch's feeling under the weather. Sounds suspicious."
M'gann nodded, passing on the message to Kaldur, who would eventually pass it on to Wally, if no one was watching. Hopefully he'd get the whole message.
It was moments like these, when they were stuck playing broken phone with each other, Conner really missed their mental link.
As M'gann explained it, the strong magic in the air acted like strong noise whenever she tried to reach out and communicate with them, and it only got worse when the number of wizards and witches present increased. Not only that, but people who were well-versed in mind-magics (whatever those were), such as Albus Dumbledore, could feel a foreign mind and track it back to M'gann. It was too risky, and so they had been getting along without it for the past few months. It was getting frustrating, particularly at times when Dick had to go solo for Tournament activities and they had no way to reach him.
Dinner was over sooner than he'd expected, with Wally only having had three servings of the magically-appearing meals, and they got up so the tables could be cleared away for the dancing part of the night. The band was formed by a group of hairy guys wearing clothing that might have fit in one of the zombie-apocalypse movies Artemis was so fond of, and despite their stage name, "Weird Sisters", Conner couldn't spot a single girl among them.
"Wizards are weird," Conner confided to Wally.
He laughed. "I've been saying that since we got here, man."
The band of hairy men began playing a slow tune, and all the champions along with their dates marched into the brightly lit dance floor. Under the expectant gaze of the whole Hall (and with more than one person snickering at something or another), five pairs of dancers began twirling around the floor.
Despite the height difference, Dick and Artemis were arguably the best dancers on the floor. This was Richard Grayson, son of Bruce Wayne, Conner realized, watching his short friend lead Artemis in wide arcs and twirl her around with ease. Artemis seemed to be enjoying herself, too.
Conner didn't realize he was staring until other dancers began to join, and someone gave a sound of protest next to him.
"Get on with it," Wally was telling Ron, and didn't stop prodding him until he'd grudgingly led his date into the dance. Wally's gaze fell on him next. "You, too. Kaldur and I have the rest covered."
He grunted, but offered his hand to an eager M'gann anyway. Harry hadn't been the only one getting dancing lessons.
Despite his initial reluctance, Harry had allowed Parvati to keep them in the dance floor for a couple more songs, even the faster one that had him almost stumbling once or twice. But by the end of the third song, he had reached his limit, and felt pretty certain he would start stepping on her feet if he had to keep spinning around like that.
"It's getting a bit crowded," Harry lied, leading Parvati away from the crowd and towards the table he'd seen Ron sitting at earlier. Parvati must have been pleased with his performance, because she followed along without complaint.
Kal Durham was still seated at the table, but there were no Ron or Padma anywhere.
"Hi," he offered the dark-skinned student, and let his eyes trail back to the dance floor. He thought he saw Padma's turquoise-colored robes flicker somewhere amidst the dancers, but lost them from view when he saw Artemis and Dick squirm their way out of the crowd. At some point during the second song, Dick had shed his suit jacket, and now had it slung over his shoulder.
"You really got the hang of it, Harry!" he said, his blue eyes dancing with amusement.
"You both danced beautifully," Parvati responded for him, and Harry nodded along. In truth, he hadn't even thought of glancing at Dick: he'd been preoccupied by his feet the whole time.
"Thanks. Your sister's doing a pretty good job of teaching Weasley on the fly," Artemis teased good-naturedly. She sat down next to them, eyeing the bottle of butterbeer Kal was offering her before taking a good gulp of it.
"Where's Wally?" Dick asked, accepting a bottle himself but not sitting down.
"Out for some air. Durmstrang's Ship looks magnificent under the moonlight."
"Oh." Dick sent a look towards the entrance hall. "Got it. I think I saw Conner and Megan across the Hall, near the top table."
The conversation went right over Harry's head, because he had just spotted Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang at the dance floor, laughing at something one of them had said. He felt the sudden urge to kick something, so he turned away from the scene altogether.
"Do you mind, Harry?"
"What?" He turned to his left to see Parvati already standing. A boy from Beauxbatons had come over to ask her to dance, and she was obviously eager to go. Harry didn't really mind: he was done dancing for the night. "Go ahead. I'm beat." And off she went.
"Very noble of you," a floating butterbeer bottle said in front of him, and Harry gave Kal a wry smile.
"Aren't you going to dance?" he asked, realizing for the first time that the good-looking upper classman had no date to speak of. Harry wouldn't have thought him the type to struggle with those things.
"I'm not much of a dancer." It was as good a reason as any: Harry would have spent the whole ball seated if he hadn't been a Champion.
Hermione dropped by with Victor Krum a while later, but Harry didn't see Ron again until they had both gone back to the dance floor. He sent a sour look towards the dance floor and occupied Artemis's empty seat, since the blonde female had disappeared a short while ago to wander around the hall. Padma, who hadn't looked eager to sit down yet, had left to join her sister and the Beauxbatons boy, who called one of his friends for her easily.
"Can you believe her?" he asked.
Harry frowned, because he hadn't thought Ron had any interest in either of the Patils before this Ball. "She did ask if you minded."
"I'm not talking about her," Ron snapped. "Hermione! What does she think she's doing, fraternizing with the enemy?"
Dick, seated just across the table, coughed very loudly and obviously into his hand. Ron's ears turned red but he continued hotly:
"It's not the same! Durmstrang – everyone knows that school is obsessed with Dark Arts! And he's Karkaroff's student, isn't he?" he added in a lower voice meant for Harry. "You know what Sirius said. He must be trying to get closer to you – get inside information or get near enough to hex you. He knows who you hang around with."
Harry wasn't completely sure of that. In the short time Hermione and Krum had sat at their table, Krum hadn't been interested in anyone but their bushy-haired friend.
"Weasley, you're so ridiculously transparent, you've nearly turned into Wally." Artemis had come back, and she must have gotten something from Ron's ramble that Harry hadn't. It must have upset her, because she completely ignored his offended splutters and spoke to her friends instead: "The top table's empty. Megan and Conner are back in the dance floor. Professor Moody sends his regards to Dick over a bottle of butterbeer. Seriously, that guy's way too paranoid for his own good."
"Did you just say butterbeer?"
If Harry hadn't been facing Dick when he asked that, he wouldn't have caught the predatory look that crossed in his eyes.
"Well, yeah. They can't serve anything stronger in a school dance, I suppose."
But Dick wasn't listening to her anymore. His eyes were somewhere far away, his fingers loosening his baby blue tie absently. "He slipped, huh..."
"What are you guys talking about?" Ron asked, fed up with being ignored.
"Nothing." Dick stood up, mentioning how he didn't think either Megan or Conner had had anything to drink since they began dancing. He grabbed two drinks and rounded the table to head for the dance floor, but paused just as he passed next to them. "Hey, Harry. Be careful around Moody, would you?"
He was gone before anything else could be said, and Harry followed his trek through the Great Hall. He went right past the dance floor and towards the Weasley twins, who had just been brushed off by Ludo Bagman.
"What's his problem?" Ron huffed in disbelief.
Harry didn't know what to say. He had the unsettling feeling he was missing something important.