Professor Minerva McGonagall, a tall and aging witch with features set in seemingly constant stern disapproval, was many things. She was strict and well known for not tolerating the antics of troublesome children (at least not often, lest she felt there was a very good reason not to use her authority in the matter. She was under no delusion that every single child would respond well to her strict demeanour, particularly the younger, home-sick and more easily frightened first years.)

She was the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the trusted right-hand to Albus Dumbledore, Wizening Wizard of Wonder as one particular biography chose to christen him, and Headmaster of the school. She was the transfiguration professor who could keep any class in line and, most prominently in regards to tonight, she was the Head of House for Gryffindor.

This last title was what was related to her current emotions of concern and agitation, something not many would notice beyond her normal stern features, yet those who knew the transfiguration professor more intimately would be able to spot the tighter draw of her lips, the slight constant twitch of her right brow and the very subtle tapping of her fingers against the side of her empty wine glass.

One could be forgiven for assuming this might be something related to a certain red-headed set of Weasley twins in her house known as Fred and George (or, and only privately in Minerva's mind, 'Potter and Black Mark 2') but for once they were not the cause of her concern, beyond how they most certainly were watching the entrance to the hall far too eagerly for her taste.

Perhaps she would do a sweep of the hall again to search for any pranking items if she had a chance, but she hoped she had impressed upon them enough how much she would not tolerate things going wrong tonight. She had been taking this seriously, drowning in paperwork when Dumbledore was unavailable to attend to it himself, sorting out every last accommodation from making sure the elves brought more culturally friendly snacks for the other houses to ensuring their was not a single thing to be found around Hogwarts castle that could potentially spark a diplomatic incident where the other schools took offense to something that was culturally inappropriate to them.

She wouldn't stand for one of their ill-thought out pranks jeopardizing all that work, nor would she stand for the long held traditions of the Triwizard Tournament to be besmirched by her own students acting foolish, when it was one of the few things guaranteed to be agreed upon by the schools that could be enjoyable without high chances of any bad blood coming to the school!

After the incident with Harry Potter being chosen as the fourth champion, that relationship was already on tenterhooks now, and though she would admit that at the end of the day, she'd choose Harry's safety long before Durmstrang or Beuxbaton's happiness, that didn't change what her assigned role in all of this was.

Which was why when Potter himself, the (albeit unintentional) cause of the first worrying incident that could ruin relationships between the two foreign schools with Hogwarts, had begun complaining about the dance, she had felt her already short fuse half itself in size for the conversation that followed.

Harry simply had to bring a date, and of course he had to lead in the opening dance, The first incident was problematic enough with him ending up in the tournament, going on to disrespect the traditions of it would surely be seen as belittling and mocking the other two schools and those who set up the tournament to no end!

...Still, she supposed she could have taken more time to actually explain that to the boy rather than how she'd snapped at him. In hindsight her irritable attitude probably hadn't endeared the student to the whole idea. He seemed rather reluctant to the idea of being put on show, and with a start Minerva recalled how pale the boy had been the day he'd been chosen.

This was yet another event he had the choice taken away from him in the participation of, despite having never agreed to being part of this. A small well of guilt began to build in her chest. She couldn't abide by him not following the traditions, but in hindsight she found herself cursing her own lack of support for the boy when he needed it.

Perhaps—

Before her thoughts could continue on "what ifs", or concern about just what exactly Potter might do (a growing concern was taking over her, as she realized she hadn't taken the time to ascertain Potter did indeed have a date, something she should have seen to before now. She merely hoped he wouldn't find anything to cause a flashback to how his father often acted in school…), her worried musings were interrupted by the swishing sound of a billowing black robe, followed by the hook-nosed and sallow-skinned Severus Snape, head of Slytherin house, sitting down beside her.

"Severus." She greeted curtly and quietly, getting an amused nod back from the man. Already, she felt her frustration grow a bit more. Contrary to popular belief, Minerva did not outright fail to acknowledge that Severus wasn't always the most enjoyable of people. In fact, of any of the teachers, Minerva was the most aware of how unpleasant he could be when he wasn't reigned in.

For he was a Slytherin who still fully believed in house rivalry, and she was a Gryffindor with a prideful streak. The mixture could only ever result in one thing, even at their ages where they often did their best to move past it and act maturely…

"Minerva. I see you've not been able to relax tonight." He greeted silky, and already she could hear a building superior tone that left her wishing to vacate her seat, yet she kept herself calm as she sighed.

"It merely occurred to me I forgot to ascertain that the Weasley twins haven't set up some undesirable pranks in the entrance area, in hindsight, something I should have done. I will not be pleased if I have to empty out the Gryffindor hourglass of all its points if they cause an incident."

"Oh, I'm certain those two will cause many incidents. They are as dim-witted as they are dangerous to the student body." Snape sneered, making Minerva turn a glare upon him.

"Severus." She began in a warning tone, not in the mood to hear his crude comments. She couldn't discipline him for them when said in private, and she'd never heard them said while she was present in class, something she hoped was always the case else there would be far bigger issues to deal with. What the man said in private however was entirely his own business whether she liked it or not and today was a private affair not within school hours.

"Then again, I doubt the misadventures of those two would be as big a deal to you if not for the certain lack of sport this year." Snape carried on conversationally, as though he'd said nothing unsavory at all. Minerva turned to him with a raised brow but felt her annoyance triple, sensing where this was going. "I merely mean to say, you're only keeping the Quidditch cup within your office at the moment because of the lack of games, and it must be eating at you to know that with the only thing for Gryffindor to be able to prove themselves with now being the house cup, well... You said it yourself, you're more likely to take out the whole hourglass."

Oh for the love of…

Minerva did a mental count to ten in her head, ignoring the clear smirk and baiting of her younger colleague, deciding the best course of action rather than rise to his ridiculous smug baiting was to merely turn her focus back to the door.

She was prideful, but she was also not one in favour of the house rivalry as Snape was. She found it childish and problematic overall, and little more than a way for friendships and potential to be ruined between people due to something as simple as where someone slept and what colours they wore, not even of their own volition but as dictated by the school.

She found it even more troublesome than this whole international peace-keeping role she was assigned. At least she only had to do this for a year, and adults had enough maturity to realize that not being in the same camp didn't mean you couldn't be on the same team,

She'd watched many good Slytherins and Gryffindors together, and the strain from all sides against them was ridiculous when it occurred. Even more so, she merely just wanted her students to be able to be just that, students, and learn without fear of their own classmates hating them for traits out of their control.

That was the whole thing they'd strived to fight against in the last war, and seeing it happen anyways in the houses never failed to hurt, showing that the hate just went on regardless. So she ignored Severus and his ridiculous postulating about her motives or some house allegiance driving her thoughts.

What she wouldn't give for that smirk to be knocked off his face… With a sigh she shook her head, just hoping that she could move soon and the night would be over, hopefully without incident. 'Potter, I do not need any more reasons for irritation tonight, you better have found a partner…'

Suddenly, Dumbledore rose and the whole hall turned to look at him, and Minerva felt her heartbeat spike. The Weasley twins looked far too excited and eager about something for her liking, especially as they clearly had not let their little brother in on whatever was making them so excited.

Though, why did it seem Mister Malfoy seemed so annoyed, sulking by his lonesome nearby while glaring at them? Was he aware of this? Oh if they caused a house incident as well, she was going to be breathing fire soon…

"Everyone, I apologize for the wait, we were just sorting out something outside, clearing a… technicality if you will about if a champion was allowed to do what they have done."

"Oh no..." Minerva muttered, fear lacing her tone. She wasn't sure if she was more terrified about whatever Potter was about to walk in with (it had to be Potter, it was simply always him when these things happened), or more frightened by the very clear amusement and excited twinkle in the headmaster's eyes.

"Now, without further ado, let me introduce our champions and their dates!" He called amusedly and Minerva gave him a look of confusion he did not return with any kind of explanation. This wasn't what she expected. She'd been under the impression they'd enter all at once. Why would he do them individually?

"Firstly, Roger Davies of Ravenclaw, accompanying Beuxbaton's champion Fleur Delacour!" The smiling headmaster announced as the doors swung open for the students to all watch as Roger Davies, a sixth year Ravenclaw with a dumbfounded and slightly out of it expression on his face that Minerva couldn't be sure whether it was due to a magical effect or simply being stunned with whatever occurred outside. His slightly glassy eyes implied the former however and having been informed of Miss Delacour's heritage, the concerned headmistress found her eyes shifting instead to study Fleur for clues about what had occurred outside.

What she found only left her with more questions. She was wearing a highly amused smile, constantly glancing back over her shoulder to the entrance from where she just came from, a spring in her step showing a level of excitement Minerva couldn't remember her having displayed at all in her whole time here, yet there was a worrying hint of mischief to it she knew how to detect from years of being a teacher. It was as though she knew something disruptive was coming and was eager to see the results.

Why, though? What on earth could be both disruptive and hopefully not extremely upsetting to the other schools? She really hoped she wasn't reading into this too much, but she was at this point now just more stumped than anything.

Whatever it was, she could only hope Fleur's reaction was not unique amongst her peers, else there would truly be some hell to pay for whoever had caused this. At least Minerva felt she could find less suspicion in the Headmaster's decision to call them out individually now when he pulled out two chairs with his wand, and Minerva noticed the amount of unmarked seating. Someone had clearly overdone the amount needed in case of extra dignitaries so perhaps it was just so each champion was aware of where to sit?

She wouldn't be surprised if it was a bid to keep Potter in the Headmaster's line of sight, nor would she blame him if it was so.

"Next, I present to you all Hermione Granger of Gryffindor, attending with Durmstrang champion, Victor Krum!"

Minerva's ears picked up on a quiet crash and turned to scowl at the youngest Weasley, Ronald, for dropping his drinking glass he wasn't meant to even be holding yet, quickly waving her wand and fixing it, promising to chew him out later and ignoring the confused and scandalized look on his face.

She could already sense she'd have to keep an eye on some kind of fallout there based on his reaction, yet she couldn't even begin to fathom where the issue was in this Weasley seemed to be taking with Miss Granger's choice of date. Minerva was rather proud of her for stepping out of her shell and…

...And oh merlin she was suddenly very glad she wasn't related to the girl, since even just as her Head of House with a fondness for Hermione did she feel a lump in her throat seeing how changed and grown up the girl looked walking in. It was truly regrettable that there wasn't a camera present. The girl's parents should have had a chance to see this glimpse into a proper woman Hermione Granger was blossoming into.

Subtly shaking herself out of her reverie, the Gryffindor Head of House forced herself to hone in on her students expression and found that it was… odd. There was the unmasked delight and smugness shown at walking in with Victor Krum of all people that Minerva could hardly blame the girl for (and if Snape made a sneering comment about her over this Minerva planned to 'accidentally' step on his foot when she got up soon), yet there was more.

There was amusement, at other's reactions for sure, but also at something she was also clearly more subtly glancing back at, exasperation also prominent on her features, which only confirmed Minerva's worries Potter had done something. Yet then there was also more delight, that didn't seem to be just for herself, meaning whatever it was, Miss Granger didn't entirely disapprove…

And Krum himself seemed beyond amused, grinning like an enchanted fool, his eyes only for the girl in his arms, yet also seemed to be shaking with a silent kind of laughter not many would pick up on if they weren't looking for odd signs like Minerva was. They too sat and rather quickly fixed their eyes to the door, confirming for a fact something was coming Minerva had to brace herself for.

"Next, I am pleased to introduce Cho Chang, accompanying Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore called out, that frustrating twinkle growing far brighter than Minerva felt it had any right to, as it often did when topics like Peeves came up. A sudden horrendous vision of Potter and Peeves attending together came to mind and she quickly decided she had to stop guessing before she gave herself nightmares, she just had to wait for the results of whatever had occurred.

Miss Chang appeared conflicted, a definite amusement in her features yet also some kind of agitation Minerva simply couldn't understand the source of. It didn't seem directed at Diggory but what on earth could Potter have done to upset her but not Diggory himself, who was grinning far too broadly, looking as entertained as a Weasley twin with an unlimited pack of prankster gear? The fact both turned to the door with genuine eagerness on both sides however, and the fact all the champions seemed heavily amused by whatever was waiting left Minerva swallowing a lump in her throat, as her own eyes turned worriedly to the door.

As she did, she also did a really quick headcount of her own students present and faltered briefly to realize they were all present now aside from Potter himself. Was his date from another house?

"Finally, I am beyond delighted that our fourth champion has elected to bring Milicent Bulstrode—"

The sound of heads turning was audible as many Hogwarts students whipped around to look at the headmaster like he was mad, Minerva included, as she felt certain she had misheard him. Snape was staring at the man with a confused expression he didn't even try to mask this time, clearly as thrown as anyone else.

Yet Dumbledore didn't cease, and the shock only grew when he continued and Potter's name didn't follow but instead "—Lily Moon, Astoria Greengrass—"

Several jaws dropped in disbelief at what the Headmaster was claiming, everyone assuming he was making this up as some joke, for varying reasons, Snape's face twisting slowly to an angry lack of amusement.

Until the sound of several footsteps reached them and all heads whipped back to the door as more jaws dropped and many glasses fell victim to the floor, when first came the pattering steps of a girl much smaller than her actual age would lead one to believe.

After all, Lily Moon only stood at a little under a hundred and fifty centimetres in height, making her extremely minute for a fourth year student, especially with her being rather skinny as well. She was wearing large rounded spectacles with slytherin green frames, a dress that stopped just below her knees in a lace pattern, with a frilly Y pattern on the cut from above the bust that led to frilly straps that wrapped around her arms but left the dress otherwise sleeveless. The irony of the earrings that looked like the sun Minerva doubted was lost on anyone.

She had long flowing brunette hair that went down to her chest and back in length, though one could see from her roots atop her head her hair had been dyed and the brown wasn't the natural colour, yet Lily seemed unconcerned with this as she smirked at the crowd, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, her ocean blue eyes swimming with muted happiness as she did her best to maintain a dignified composure walking down the hall. Were anyone to look closer, they'd have even been able to see her glasses had three little points, all indicating the unusual set of freckles she had, a single one dotted upon her nose and one upon either cheek.

This was a joke surely? The other names were a gag, and Lily was just the extremely unexpected choice of—

But heavier footsteps cut off her line of thinking. All eyes trailed to see Lily holding hands with a burlier girl much taller than the smaller date, Millicent Bulstrode herself stepped in and… Well, the shy demeanour she was holding, trying not to meet anyone's eye as she went along with an entire surprise in of itself as she let Lily drag her past. Not that Minerva would ever try to be rude about someone she didn't know, especially a student, but the headmistress had to admit she was surprised the girl hadn't done much to cover up her imperfections. Her face was spotted and held a faded scar beneath one eye, her short brown hair and one sided bang doing nothing to cover them up, nor the beauty spot above her lip. Or was that a mole? Minerva couldn't tell from here. She had bushy brown brows, that were hardly unsightly but merely surprisingly large if rather well styled, and had some chub to her face. One could hardly see her chocolate brown eyes due to how she refused to meet anyone's gaze with her furious blushing face of embarrassment.

Either way, she was wearing a sweater dress of sorts, that ended halfway down her large and powerful looking thighs yet still covered her more than enough, especially with the tights she had elected to wear beneath, plus she had put on a white hairband into her hair for the contrast, and upon her feet were simple black flat boots.

And then, McGonagall noticed on the other side of Lily, leading a second line was Astoria Greengrass herself, with incredibly long and yet extremely well-kempt fanciful hair that McGonagall knew from experience was not unique to this night but something the girl somehow found time to do on the daily, with a large ponytail that went down to behind legs, large enough to cover up her whole back with its poofy nature, held together at the bottom by a pink metal clasp. She also had a set of twin tails made of her bangs, which were separated at the top of her forehead and came down in front of either shoulder into two navy clasps on either tail.

Her bright blue eyes held a more haughty air then either either Lily or Millicent's did as she looked around, not even bothering to smother her smugness unlike Lily who was at least making an effort, whether she was succeeding or not, Astoria merely seemed to have a look that told the room she knew what they were thinking and she was revelling in it.

As for her outfit, it was a navy ball gown, with pink trims, that matched the pink lipstick she wore and the ever so slight pink shadow of her eyes. An interesting thing to note however, at least to Minerva, was the rather large bandage that went from her left forearm all the way up to her shoulder and likely bust, wrapping around her neck but only covering one side of her body. It didn't seem to be covering any wounds but it was certainly an odd stand out feature Minerva simply couldn't hope to guess the purpose of.

Yet the shock didn't conclude there, as somehow Dumbledore kept going.

"—Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass—"

Behind Astoria, Minerva could indeed see Tracey Davis holding the more prim and proper girl's hand, whereas Tracey was… Well, the transfiguration professor got the distinct impression Tracey had borrowed her white tea length dress and equally spotless white dress shoes from one of the Greengrasses, as even without her in her house she'd heard tales of how far from ladylike Tracey could be. Judging by her looking more bemused by the reactions and constantly shifting her shoulders as if she wanted out of the dress she was in, Minerva was forced to conclude this dressing up act was done for the sake of her date… dates? And not for herself.

But that didn't stop her from giving them all a smirk with so much cockiness infused in it that Minerva swore James Potter had just been briefly reincarnated solely to scare the daylights out of her with that look, even if it was in reality just a girl trying to put up a confident front. Knowing she also happened to be a quidditch fanatic only beaten by the likes of Oliver Wood made her fear the hall would be blown up before the night was over if she truly was with Harry.

She had a slight hint of makeup to her in a smoky eyeshadow and a hint of red lipstick, the shadow helping make her otherwise brown, nearly black orbs become infused with just enough life that they glittered with a warm, almost tender look instead of a cold hardness like a certain Slytherin head of house's eyes showed. She had short brunette hair, although unlike Millicent whose hair mostly stuck together until it spiked out at the end, Tracey's was somewhat wavy and messy, with bangs at the front covering up her head she'd made no effort to do up for the night.

On the other side of the line, holding Millicent's hand in the line was a platinum blonde girl who Minerva could pick out on sight, mainly due to having to get far, far, far too many male students into trouble regarding their actions towards her appearance. She had the exact same bright blue eyes that Astoria had and there could be no doubt that, despite their wildly different hair colours and builds, with Astoria being far more shapely whereas this one was rather thin with only one or two areas of any… 'endowment', she most certainly was Astoria's twin sister Daphne.

She wore a beautiful silvery glittering mermaid-silhouette dress made of sequins, that hugged her tight and only served to add to her already ever present glow of natural beauty she seemed able to carry wherever she went. She had a kind smile on her face, almost looking more to her dates with amusement at their own actions rather than addressing the hall at all, as though the thoughts of those around her didn't matter one ounce in her mind, only the thoughts of the ones she came to be with.

And McGonagall could see with ease she was holding hands with the man of the hour himself, but it wasn't Tracey Harry was holding hands with on the other side, oh no. In a ruffled and somewhat old fashioned one-shoulder dress, with many folds in the brownish-orange outfit she had elected to wear, with black solid heels clinking along the floor as she moved...

...by far the most shocking part of this all, as Dumbledore announced...

"And Pansy Parkinson!"

The pug-faced mean girl of Slytherin herself held Harry's other hand almost… tenderly, and Minerva felt her entire world shake watching how she had eyes for Harry and quite literally only Harry, not anything else in this whole hall as they all walked down, ignoring or revelling in every stunned face, in the quiet yet present laughter of the clearly pre-warned Weasley twins, the shocked blinking gaping of Ron Weasley and the complete confusion and bewilderment of everyone else…

They finally reached the top table as Dumbledore finished with the one thing that was surely on everyone's stunned minds, no one able to figure out this absolutely mind-boggling turn of events as he declared:

"These six are the dates to champion Harry Potter!" He declared, waving his wand for the seats Minerva had mistaken as extras for dignitaries, now understanding their purpose. The group of seven sat down and all just smiled at the hall, which was stunned speechless.

A noise like a strangled bird escaped Severus beside her, and Minerva turned to him to see his wild expression of disbelief. Despite the fact she had a lot to say, Minerva couldn't help smiling for just a moment.

It seemed she'd gotten her wish of knocking the smile off Severus' face after all.