CHAPTER EIGHT

Ron Will Be Obese One Day

When everyone who was planning on attending the masquerade appeared present, Dumbledore, who was standing at the front of the Great Hall, clapped his long fingered hands to get everyone's attention.

"Hello everybody!" He began. "Tomorrow is the day before Christmas break begins, so use tomorrow to do all of your packing and scheduling, for we must take a well deserved break and - er - party!"

All the students clapped enthusiastically, and a few hoots could be heard from the crowd. Harry and Ron were not alone thinking that it was very funny hearing a 157 year old man talk like he was a hip teenager.

Professor Trelawney, however, looked quite worried, sitting along with all the other teachers at the staff table. She was examining every inch of the Great Hall with her small beady eyes, which, Harry could see, looked nervous behind those great big spectacles that made her look like a grasshopper. Did she know something that the other teachers did not?

Right then, Harry's thoughts were drawn back to reality as the Weird Sisters mounted a circular platform, the hangings of their artfully torn robes swaying as they walked. "Way to go, Ron!" Harry and Hermione said together, leaning over to give Ron a pat on the back.

"How did you manage to book the Weird Sisters?" Hermione asked Ron, looking over at Ron in awe.

"My little secret," Ron said, putting two of his fingers to his lips as a sign that he wasn't going to tell.

Then they struck up a song, a very fast one, and as everyone could see, the one playing the electric guitar was leaning back and forth, jumping around, and putting lots of emphasis on their music. A few couples slowly got out of their seats and began to dance, snapping their fingers and twirling in time with the music. "Vood you like to dance Herm-own-ninny?" Krum asked Hermione in a surly voice, standing up.

"Okay," Hermione said brightly. "See you in a minute, everybody," she added to Harry, Ron, Cho and Mandy.

Ron then realized that this ball also had a feast, so, he looked at his menu, looked down at his plate and said, "STEAK!" enthusiastically. He very much enjoyed this method of dining, and also enjoyed it in his fourth year during the Yule Ball. Soon afterward when Ron had finished his steak and everybody had eaten, Harry asked Cho to dance and Ron asked Mandy.

The Weird Sisters struck up a slow song. All the couples danced once to the song, including Harry, who was feeling a bit nervous with Cho. The next song, however, turned out to be another song which Harry liked much better. He felt the blood pounding in his ears as he walked over to Hermione, who was sitting down, drinking hot apple cider.

"Hermione, want to dance with me?" Harry asked, hoping his voice sounded much braver than he felt. Hermione looked quite surprised at this, and she turned around to face Krum, who had just told his plate to give him more potatoes.

"Viktor, do you mind?" Hermione said in a hopeful-sounding voice, which Harry was happy to hear. "No, Herm-own-ninny," he said cautiously, turning to look up at Harry. "I don't mind." So Harry led Hermione out onto the dance floor, and they started to dance.