The news that Dudley was going to the Yule Ball with Luna Lovegood had spread like wildfire around the school. Dudley was surprised that quite a few girls were annoyed by it. Susan Bones was rather cold towards him during their Muggle Studies lesson. And Hermione said she overheard Lisa Turpin from Ravenclaw saying she wished she had asked Dudley sooner. Tracey Davies from Slytherin glared quite nastily at Dudley during their next potions class.
Malfoy, predictably, was scathing. "You're really taking that to the ball?" he sneered, his eyes glinting maliciously. "Cant say much about your taste, going with Loony."
It was only Ron, Dean and Neville holding him back that stopped Dudley driving Malfoy's head through the wall.
"I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it mate," Dean said. "But do it when Snape isn't around."
"I swear, if he makes one more jab about Luna, I'm going to wring his neck ... no matter who is nearby." He glared at Malfoy who stared insolently back.
"Cocky little git," Ron said, in a carrying whisper. "Maybe he needs another beating from Roger Davies."
Now it was Malfoy's turn to go red.
"Remember when Davies threw him in the lake?" Dean said, loudly. Dudley laughed, loving the chance to put Malfoy in his place.
"Listen," Malfoy spat. "One more word and ..."
He trailed off as Snape entered the room but looked furious.
Malfoy wasn't the only one to run his mouth. Dudley ended up slamming Ernie into a wall and threatening to punch his lights out for making a comment about how "Loony is clearly the best he could do."
Hermione, who was usually the first to speak up against Dudley's temper and bullying, said nothing, much to Dudley's surprise. When Dudley asked her on this, she shrugged.
"Luna's a really sweet girl. It's horrible the way some people tease her and pick on her. You can't really just stand by and let Macmillan say things like that," she said.
"I thought you didn't like when I beat people up," Dudley said. "I haven't done it for like a year."
"I don't like when you start fights and go around beating people up for no reason. I've no issue with you defending Luna—just, don't get carried away," Hermione said.
Peeves too taunted Dudley, following him around singing "Dursley loves Luna! Dudley loves Luna!" at the top of his voice.
Luckily, others were more supportive.
"Ignore them, Dud," George said, bracingly. "Luna's really pretty—and good company too."
"Yeah, you're guranteed a laugh at the Yule Ball," Fred said. "Lunas's great fun."
Ginny too was extremely pleased. "I'm so glad you asked her Dudley! You wouldn't believe how excited she is. She's asked me to help pick her dress!"
Dudley felt relieved at that. Ginny was quite clued in with the current trends. If left to her own devices, he knew Luna would pick something ludicrous—possibly with a lion hat or a stuffed Raven or radish earrings. But then, Dudley couldn't talk, he had Lockhart's outfit to wear.
Loclkhart, it turned out, was very excited about the Yule Ball too. He had informed Dudley during their latest practice session (Dudley was improving, he could now keep the charm active for 20 minutes) that he was planning to attend with a date. "Of course I got invited. I'm the official mentor for one of Hogwarts' champions—I've attended a lot of these high-class affairs, Dudley! The tip is to make a good impression right from the start. Dress to impress—that's my motto. You'll certainly make an impact with the outfit I selected for you. I have matching one of course!"
Dudley half felt he was going to end up looking like a miniature lockhart.
As term ended and the holidays began, the whole house was in an upbeat mood. Fred and George had had a great success with their snacks and not a day went by without someobody bursting into feathers.
Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with a series of rich, warming stews and savory puddings, and only Fleur Delacour seemed to be able to find anything to complain about.
"It is too 'eavy, all zis 'Ogwarts food," they heard her saying grumpily as they left the Great Hall behind her one evening. "I will not fit into my dress robes!"
"Oooh there's a tragedy," Hermione snapped as Fleur went out into the entrance hall. "She really thinks a lot of herself, that one, doesn't she?"
"Hermione - who are you going to the ball with?" said Ron.
He kept springing this question on her, hoping to startle her into a response by asking it when she least expected it. However, Hermione merely frowned and said, "I'm not telling you, you'll just make fun of me."
"You're joking, Weasley!" said Malfoy, behind them. "You're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball? Not the long-molared Mudblood?"
Dudley and Ron both whipped around, but Hermione said loudly, waving to somebody over Malfoy's shoulder, "Hello, Roger!"
Malfoy went pale and jumped backward, looking wildly around for Roger Davies, but he was still at the Ravenclawn table.
"Jumpy little wart, aren't you, Malfoy?" said Hermione scathingly, and she, Dudley, and Ron went up the marble staircase laughing heartily.
"Hermione," said Ron, looking sideways at her, suddenly frowning, "your teeth..."
"What about them?" she said.
"Well, they're different...I've just noticed..."
"Of course they are - did you expect me to keep those fangs Malfoy gave me?"
"No, I mean, they're different to how they were before he put that hex on you...They're all...straight and - and normal-sized."
Hermione suddenly smiled very mischievously, and Dudley noticed it too: It was a very different smile from the one he remembered.
"Well...when I went up to Madam Pomfrey to get them shrunk, she held up a mirror and told me to stop her when they were back to how they normally were," she said. "And I just...let her carry on a bit." She smiled even more widely. "Mum and Dad won't be too pleased. I've been trying to persuade them to let me shrink them for ages, but they wanted me to carry on with my braces. You know, they're dentists, they just don't think teeth and magic should mix.
On Christmas Eve, Dudley and his friends had a massive snowball fight with the twins and Lee Jordan. Hermione had a huge success, using a shield charm she had been working on to protect herself from the snowballs.
"Getting quite sneaky," Fred said, shaking snow out of his hair. "Maybe the hat should have put you in Slytherin instead!"
A furious Hermione used wingardium leviosa to deposite a huge amount of snow all over him.
On Christmas Day, Dudley woke up to see a big pile of presents at the foot of his bed. He threw one of his slippers at Ron and one at Dean to wake them, and together they started opening their presents.
Hermione had given Dudley a book on quidditch teams, Ron a bulging bag of Dungbombs. Luna had given him a necklace with a pointed crystal on the end. A handwritten note explained that it was supposed to light up if a dark creature was nearby and that he shouldn't wear it around Cornelius Fudge.
"Why can't I wear it near Fudge?" Dudley said, bemused.
"She probably thinks he's a troll in disguise," Ron muttered.
"Or a bunch of goblins stacked on each other," Dean suggested.
Dudley laughed and slipped the necklace on. It was quite nice really. He glanced at the note again. Luna dotted her eyes with little flowers.
They had another snowball fight with the twins, this one, Hermione chose to sit out and just watch instead with Luna and Ginny. Ginny had finally been asked to the Ball three days ago by Terry Boot of Ravenclaw. Dudley felt glad she was going to be there. Ginny was good fun and was just as mischievous as the twins, just much more sneaky about it. She had been the only one so far who had managed to slip them both a bit of Canary Cream by putting some in their cereal.
At 5 o'clock, Hermione announced she was going to go and get ready.
"What, you need three hours?" said Ron, looking at her incredulously and paying for his lapse in concentration when a large snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head. "Who're you going with?" he yelled after Hermione, but she just waved and disappeared up the stone steps into the castle.