When the big day arrived everyone was prepared and had a date for the dance. Everyone spent their Christmas Eve morning and afternoon prepping for the dance tonight while enjoying the start of their winter break. Something all needed after being swamped with homework and tests.
Ness spent his free time time reading comic books Tracey had sent him with Professor Kale, who enjoyed Ness's presence while he worked on test papers or homework assignments.
"So, excited for the dance?" Professor Kale asked in between doodling on some paper out of sheer boredom, "Not really," Ness admitted, turning the page to see what Super Man would do next against Lex Luthor and his robot of the week.
"Honestly, I'm more excited for getting some answers."
"About?"
"Just, anything, why me and a bunch of other underage wizards are involved and who entered us."
"Ah, the big question almost everyone's been asking."
Ness glanced up and spotted a new issue of Mystic Informer on Professor Kale's cluttered desk, "What about you? Found any interesting dance partners?"
The man slumped slightly and adjusted his glasses with a look of pure annoyance on his face, "I want to skip the bloody dance before I can make a fool of myself."
"Two left feet?"
"And easily tongue tied around pretty girls."
"Ouch."
"My friends relentlessly teased me about it." Kale said giving a dramatic sigh before he resumed his work, allowing the two to fall back into an easy silence Before dinner started, forcing Ness to join his classmates and endure the buzz of excited students eagerly chatting among themselves or mentally preparing themselves for the big night with their dates.
Ness was doing the latter while Ron grumbled something about needing to keep an eye on Alexander, Ginny's date for the night, causing the poor boy to cringe and look at Ness for help who sadly, couldn't give any at the moment since he had no idea how to properly handle Ron when he was annoyed or upset about something.
"Dude. We are literally wearing nightgowns over tuxedos." Ness complained, pulling at his satin red collar with disgust when he spotted Harry in a plain black dress robe and Ron's moth eaten, patch stained dress robe over a faded tuxedo.
"These aren't nightgowns." Ron argued, "Their dress robes!"
Harry just kept his mouth shut as he admired Ginny's dress robe.
Which was just a spaghetti strap gown colored a light pearl red with small vibrant pink ribbons at the hem, forming swooping designs as Ginny fiddled with a pink satin ribbon belt, trying to adjust it so it didn't draw more attraction to her.
"Someone's dressing to impress." Ness teased, grinning as Ginny shot him a weary glare as Ron stiffened and shot Ginny a look.
"One of these days," she muttered, pushing a bang of hair out of her eyes as Harry coughed and finally looked away, looking a little embarrassed.
"Where's Hermione?" Ness asked, glancing up toward the girl's dormitory as people filed out to collect their dates or to head to the ball.
"She said not to wait up for her." Ginny explained, "She's fighting with her hair at the moment."
"To fancy for a ponytail?" Ness asked.
"Not in the dress she's wearing," Ginny smirked and nudged Ron, "Look likes she has a very important someone to impress tonight."
Ness frowned as Harry sheepishly glanced down at his polished shoes while Ron stiffened, "Did you to get into a fight with Hermione or something?" Ness asked as they stepped outside and walked down the darken hall, the dim lights casting a soft glow on them as they followed the crowd down the first few flight of stairs.
"Ron may have asked her to be his date and offended her when he asked who she'd plan on taking." Harry explained.
"Sounds like someone else I know." Ness mused glancing at Ginny who shot him a glare and picked up the pace.
"Well, we have the Patil twins to pick up," Harry said moving toward a corridor with Ron, "See you inside Ness, Ginny."
"See ya," Ness said before he turned to Ginny, "Where are you meeting Alexander?"
"In front of the Great Hall doors, Luna?"
"Ravenclaw tower." Ness replied frowning slightly, "Uh… Where's the Ravenclaw tower at?"
"First floor, back door that leads to Hagrid's cabin but through the open hallway." Ginny explained, pointing down the grand staircase to a dimly lit hallway.
"Thanks!" Ness chirped, jumping over the trick stair and hurrying toward the tower where a girl with light blonde hair pulled into a French braid while her lavender star speckled ball gown glowed in the faint torchlight. She reminded Ness of a fairy queen waiting for something as the girl rocked on her equally lavender purple dress slippers and rubbed her bare arms.
Ness slowed down slightly and frowned when the girl spotted him and grinned in recognition, "Hello Ness!" she chirped, sounding wide awake as Ness tilted his head and managed a confused, "Hi…?"
"It's me! Luna!"
Oh, that made a lot of sense now that Ness thought about it, he blushed in embarrassment and said, "Sorry, I'm so used to you looking normal before, or actually sounding awake."
"I've never been to a dance with a boy before, or at any dance since I keep losing my slippers." Luna replied, glowing with excitement as she grabbed Ness's hand and dragged him to the Great Hall eager to see what the fuss was about.
"Whoa." Luna breathed as they pushed open the double oak doors which normally lead to the Great Hall only to find a winter wonderland themed dance hall in its place, the windows were replaced with giant open doors that lead outside onto a small garden pathway lightly dusted with snow, the always moving celling was still and almost impossible to see as twinkling snow crystal decorated chandlers illuminated the dance floor were other students waiting for the light yet slow music to pick up into a dance number as they mingled with other classmates or stood off to the side.
Ice sculptures of snowmen, Santa Claus who wasn't wearing his traditional red coat or, pretty much anything Santa Claus related, (Europe's version of Santa was weeerrriid.) couples frozen mid turn as they danced to a song only they knew and a couple smaller statues of fairies stationed beside the concert area where instruments were playing themselves, playing a soft, formal tune as they waited to spring into something more lively.
Off to the side were an array of tables all decorated with gold plates, ice blue tablecloths and various centerpieces on the tables. Ness easily spotted the Champion's table since it was covered in sliver table clothes and pushed together to make room for the seven champions, the headmasters and the judges.
"Are all balls like this?" Ness wondered aloud as he and Luna made their way to the grand table set up and sat beside Cedric Diggory and his date, Cho Chang with Flur and a boy Ness didn't recognize seated across from them.
"Sup?" Ness greeted as Luna waved hello at Cho who returned it before looking at her plate then an illuminated menu with pictures of snowflakes on the side.
Ness was about to do the same when Luna nudged him and pointed toward the third table where two boys in red suits that looked fit for a prince, breezily stating "Looks like Ginny's having a fun time."
Ness followed her gaze and bit back a laugh as Ginny sat stiffly and tried her best to ignore her older brother.
Percy who was oddly sitting next to Mr. Bagman while Alexander nervously struck up a conversation with a bored Victor whose date was missing.
"Looks like Crouch got sick." Ness noted biting back a laugh as he heard Flur mutter something, "Probably from all this heavy food we've been having." And earn a nod of agreement from her starstruck date.
"Speaking of food, how the heck do you order?" Ness asked, turning his menu over and frowning at the lack of instructions on how to order. He really wanted to try a Garlic Marinated steak with a forest salad but of course, he couldn't.
Until he glanced up and saw Dumbledore look up from his menu and say, "Pork chops." Without a care in the world and smiling as pork chops appeared on his plate.
"…Well, that's one way to reduce wait time." Ness stated as the other confused students quickly followed the Hogwarts headmaster's lead. Luna ordered an odd combination of Beef Bourgugnon and Ricotta Gnocchi looking pleased that she had managed to mix French and Italian cusion together.
Flur shot daggers at Luna for most of the night when she spotted Luna's Beef Gnocchi but Luna of course, didn't care as she rambled on about a Moon bear that would bring good luck to those who spotted them on a full moon and bad look to those who saw them on a new moon.
Ness happily asked question about the unbelievable animal until Cedric cleared his throat, looking a little nervous.
"Something wrong Cedric?" Ness asked as he spotted Adaliz eating dinner with a Hufflepuff and chatting with Harry who was trying his best to reply while looking at Bagman, who was seated by Karkaroff who didn't seem to please about the agreement as he talked to Hagrid, Madam Maxine's date about some monster.
"No, just er, wondering about something." Cedric started when Flur's date interrupted him, asking how he got the idea to use Ventus Jinx against the sluggish Dewdrop Dragon.
"It was easy once I realized it used breath base attacks." Cedric recalled, forcing a smile to hide his irritation as Cho pressed for more information, effectively trapping Cedric into a recount of the fight and how he managed to do it.
Ness frowned since whatever Cedric had to ask sounded urgent but decided to wait, maybe he could get Cedric to tell him once they were out on the dance floor and able to sneak away without any trouble, since it didn't seem like he was going to be able to sneak away now. Not with how Madam Maxine and Karkaroff were sweeping the table with suspicious looks every now and then, probably wanting to ensure that their champions weren't letting any secrets slip about the next challenge.
Just how determine to win were they? Ness wondered as he resumed eating his dinner and did a couple scans of the table himself, grinning when he saw Hermione beside Victor, looking proud of herself as she and Ginny chatted and ignored Percy who was talking to Alexander about something dull since the usually nervous boy was tapping his hand against his chair in an irritated fashion.
"Ness," he glanced up at Flur who had her lips pursed about something, "Yes Flur?" he questioned as Luna glanced up from a forkful of noodles coated in meat and spaghetti sauce, "You're from America, correct?"
Ness nodded and jokingly said, "You have an alien among you guys." Earning a snort from Luna while Cho and Cedric shot him slightly amused looks.
"Are your parents from around here? New England, Paris, Berlin?" Flur questioned.
"No, not that I know of." Ness replied, frowning in confusing at the question, "There both from America. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, is this about that rumor Flur?" Cho asked, quickly hinting at what the French girl was asking.
"What rumor?" Ness started to ask when Flur's date spoke over him in realization, "Ohhh, that one about American wizards almost not existing."
Ness looked at Luna for confirmation, but she looked surprised by this news, "Hold on, the United States were in the Wizard World Cup," Cedric pointed out, "So they do exist."
"So, I've heard," Flur reluctantly agreed, "But I've also heard and read about wizards from America being much weaker in terms of power." She looked down at Ness with a small frown, "That's why you used your 'baseball' bat against your dragon, correct?"
Ness nodded deciding to go along with it and replied, "I'm terrible at magic, so I just focused on relying on my muggle strengths to win."
"You got really lucky then," Cho noted, "I thought you were a goner when the Spiked Tail Mountain Dragon tried to roast you alive!"
"Yea, I got really lucky then," Ness said before he forced himself to resume eating as questions started to rise. Was Belinda from America? Were there actually wizards in America? He'd always figure it was just Europe that had wizards and super natural creatures.
Then again, given the yearlong witch hunt in Massachusetts wizards probably did exist, or were seen enough to put the idea of witches being real into muggles heads.
"As usual, more questions and little answers." Ness thought, biting back a groan as he decided to focus on something less stressful, like watching Harry squirm as he tried to talk to his date without boring her to death.
He was probably relieved when a band called the Weird Sisters stepped onto a polished stage and started to play.
Signaling the champions to get up with their date and head for the middle of the floor, "I offer no apologies if I step on your feet." Ness shamelessly said as he and Luna awkwardly bowed/curiosity to each other and got into position, feeling everyone's eyes on them as the music started and they tried to dance to the music.
"Don't worry, I have two left feet." Luna assured him, proving her point as they turned and she stepped on his foot.
"And yet you have a right shoe on," Ness teased, trying his best to focus on the rhythm and their steps as they danced, awkwardly trying to follow along the weirdly classical beat which didn't seem to be classic music given the weird instruments the Weird sisters were playing. Judging by how unhappy they were with the music it was clear that they were used to playing something a bit faster than this slow song.
"Please let this end." Ness begged, feeling a little unnerved as he and Luna spun and caught a glimpse of the watching crowd who were standing up, forming a loose circle around them and watching with awe at the Champions beauty and grace.
Yea, this was nothing like his school dances, which had people either sitting, goofing off, pretending to be teenagers and having make out sessions while party songs mixed in with a couple lovey dovey slow songs blared from the stage, causing the entire gymnasium to pulse and vibrate with youthful energy and music.
This had a stifling sense of elegance and formal, the fancy décorations almost ordering him to try and fit in while the music filled their air with a grown-up aura, one strong enough to make everyone watched in a hushed and polite manner.
It felt like eons before the song ended, allowing the younger Champions to bow or curtsey to their partner and look for a small escape route to hide from the watching eyes. Of course, that plan failed since another song started up, slightly faster than the first and brought the rest of the dancers to the dance floor, some of them swapping partners with the Champions to get five minutes of the spotlight.
Ness quickly lost Luna in the crowd of swirling dresses- Dress robes worn by witches as he found himself dancing with a Ravenclaw girl who wasn't as forgiving as Luna was when it came to him stepping on her foot, "Sorry," Ness offered with a sheepish smile as they broke apart and went to find new dance partners.
Or, escape from the dance floor, "Are all wizard dances so formal?" Ness asked, sitting beside Selvis who shot him a glare and spat, "Did you just realize that?"
"Selvis, I come from America, which has a bunch of upbeat songs and goofy love songs. When we do formal, there's always a bit of fun mixed in to liven up the party at the end." Ness deadpanned looking around the table and waving to the Slytherins and their dates.
For some reason, Selvis's date was a fifth year Ravenclaw who seemed quite pleased with herself despite being completely outnumbered by the Slytherin girls.
"Hey!" Ness chirped, spinning around to properly face them as he recognized a Slytherin from Potions- Aaron Stone and a couple older Slythrin members.
"How are you guys enjoying the dance so far?"
"It was going great until we got two buffoons at our table." a boy curtly said, shooting Selvis's date and Ness a glare. The girl merely smiled as Selvis groaned and rested his head on his elbows, mumbling something about the universe hating him for some reason.
"Ah yes, the joys of being an outsider." Ness joked before he turned to Selvis's date with a grin, giving a small bow as he said, "The infamous Ness Earthbound at your service miss!"
"Emma Crowdia, the only person who can seem to get a date with a Slytherin," Emma joked reaching out to shake Ness's hand when Selvis slapped it away hissing, "Don't touch the American blight!"
"Hey Selvis,"
Selvis shot him a glare then yelped as Ness poked him and quickly got up gleefully calling, "Have fun you guys!" as he disappeared into the crowd, snickering at the quiet fuming Selvis was doing as he tried to murder Ness with death glares.
"And now, to find Luna," Ness started when he bumped into someone, "Sorry! Off in la la la land." Ness apologized looking up and pausing as he realized he had bumped into Percy who was looking mournfully at his spilled drinks.
"Percy! Nice to see you!" Ness said with a small grin, as he tried to figure out who Percy was bringing wine to, "Bringing Mr. Crouch something to drink?"
The answer was an obvious no as Percy puffed up with slight pride and looked at Ness with his glasses slipping slightly down his nose, giving him a haughty expression.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Crouch is sick, probably due to all the stress from the World Cup fiasco and has asked me to take his place instead."
"He's sick?" Ness questioned, hoping his expression was surprise.
"Didn't I just say that?"
"Yes, but when I saw him at the first trial he seemed perfectly healthy. Is there some sort of bug going around or something?" Percy pursed his lips, clearly not happy with this question prompting Ness to shrug it off and say, "Well, I hope he gets better. See ya Perce!"
"It's Percy." Percy grumpily corrected as Ness headed back to the Champions' table to get some water, a little relieved to see that Luna was happily chatting with Ginny and a confused Alexander who was doing his best to follow along the conversation.
"Oh! There you are Ness!" Luna chirped grinning as Ness sat beside her, "We were just talking about the Mono Pixies!"
"I still do not understand them." Alexander said, sending Ness a pleading look, "Why do they steal the color of winter when it's clearly just mother nature performing her job?"
"Because, they're mother nature's helpers." Luna explained, "Like the Guardian trees!"
"The… 'Whomping Willow' is a guardian tree?" Alexander questioned.
"No, it's just a grumpy old tree." Ness replied taking a sip from his cup as he watched the couples dance under the snow colored lights. "You know… as pretty as this is, I was sort of expecting something more," Ness admitted.
"More? This is a lifetime event!" Alexander exclaimed.
"And so far, all it reminds me of is a formal party with fancy decor." Ness replied, "Nothing too amazing."
"Says the guy who proclaimed that the first game of Qudditch last year was playing in Hurricane weather." Ginny retorted earning a glare and a curt, "They. Were." from Ness before he stood up, "I'm going to go for a walk before I get completely bored. Coming Luna?"
"Sure! Maybe I can find Sliples!" Luna exclaimed earning a groan from Alexander who still had no idea what Luna was talking about. Although that was probably for the better given how much information Luna had on these exotic creatures.
"Looks like the Weird Sisters are picking up the pace," Luna noted as they walked past the stage to see the performers slowly get into their music as it sped up completely losing the classical edge to it.
"I wonder if they can play the Cha-Cha Slide…" Ness started to muse when they bumped into someone, "Sorry!" Ness chirped while Luna muttered something about a Pushu creature being nearby.
"No, no, it was my mistake," the someone- Victor Krum exclaimed waving his apology away, "I was busy looking for 'Ermione."
"You mean, Hermione?" Ness questioned with a slight frown as Victor nodded.
"Have you seen her?"
"Not since dinner." Luna answered, "We've sort of been lost in the crowd."
Victor gave a slight dejected "Oh," and turned to leave, only pausing when Ness asked, "Did you need to ask her something? If so we can give her the message if we see her."
"O-oh, it's nothing." Victor replied with a slight blush, "I just… didn't wish to seem rude to my date."
"Dude, I got myself separated from Luna, invaded the Slytherin table and is now considering bribing the Weird Sisters into playing an American song," Ness deadpanned, "You're doing waaaaay better than me at the moment."
Victor slowly blinked at him before a slow smile formed, "You Americans have such a weird sense of humor." he commented before he resumed his search for Hermione.
"...Now I really want to know where Hermione is." Luna admitted as they watched Victor disappear into the crowd, where a bunch of girls quickly swarmed him, hoping to get a dance from the Qudditch player.
"Yea… It's not like her to just disappear during such a formal event." Ness said, a slight frown appearing on his face, "I mean, she's head nerd around here!"
"...Nerd?"
"Never mind, let's just go find the disappearing alien known as Hermione." Luna bit back a laugh as the dove into the crowd, trying to catch a hint of Hermione's bubbly pink dress as they weaved around the dancers.
"Now I'm really starting to think Hermione's an alien." Ness muttered as they turned their attention outside, heading for one of the gaping doorways when they bumped into Harry and Ron who jumped in surprise.
"Great, now we have three dates to find." Ness said, throwing his hands up in mock exaggeration as he quickly realized that Harry and Ron were without their dates.
"We don't need help finding our dates!" Ron spluttered, his ears turning a bright red as Luna mused, "I wonder how many other people lost their dates tonight."
"Wait, three? Who else is missing a date?" Harry questioned, nervously looking over his shoulder as Ron folded his arms in a huff.
"Victor Krum, he lost Hermione somehow." Ness explained peering around them to see the possible monster that was freaking Harry and Ron out, "Did you guys get in a fight or something?" he asked when he couldn't see anyone.
"Let's just say we learned a lot of things we probably shouldn't have." Harry answered.
"Like?" Luna pressed, peering around Harry then over him to see who was the culprit.
"Like Snape and Karkaroff being buddy-buddy." Ron replied, causing Luna and Ness to exchange silent looks of worry before they focused on Harry and Ron, "You two know something about this?" Harry questioned as the two Thirds pushed Harry and Ron back outside and into a corner, the cold winter winds gleefully blowing snowflakes into their hair as they huddled for warmth and began to speak in hushed whispers.
"How can you tell Snape and Karkaroff were friends?" Luna asked, her excited expression which had effectively destroyed her dreamy expression sharpening slightly.
"They weren't 'lively' about it." Ron admitted, "But, they both had the mark."
"...You mean a gang tattoo?" Ness questioned since he wasn't sure Ron exactly meant by a mark. Ron frowned in confusion as Harry hurriedly explained, "Death eater mark, all of Voldemort's servants get it when they swear allegiance to him or something. We knew Snape was a Death Eater but Karkaroff…" Harry trailed off as Luna mused, "Huh, we knew Karkaroff was a Death Eater, but I never suspected Snape."
"Same, although that probably explains why he hates your guts Harry." Ness pointed out.
"Hold on, how did you know about Karkaroff?" Ron asked, "We just learned about it today!"
"And we knew about it since I became a champion." Ness explained with a small shrug, "A slytherin boy was muttering about it to his friend during Potions' class, saying how cool it was to go to Durmstrung with a anti Muggle born headmaster."
"He was also arrested and gained a looooot of enemies thanks to ratting out his fellow Death Eaters." Luna added, "We figured he might be the person who entered you and Ness in the tournament."
"That would make a lot of sense." Harry grimly said, "Especially since Karkaoff was whispering something about the mark activating for some reason."
"Looks like Voldemort did find a Phoenix Down." Ness scowled slightly as everyone, but Harry shot him baffled looks, "Revival item in a video game." Ness deadpanned as Luna offered, "Or, we could just have a new Voldemort."
Harry and Ness looked at Ron for confirmation. The redhead shrugged his shoulders, "All I know about You-Know-Who comes from the stories mum and dad told me, how he was a powerful dark wizard and stuff. I don't think we could have a new You-Know-Who since he was one of a kind."
"What if he had an apprentice?" Harry questioned earning a frown from Ness. So far, all he's heard about Voldemort just painted him as a giant bully who couldn't stand Muggleborns. Would a jerk like him, who was killed by a mere baby have an apprentice?
"No, Voldemort was the top dog when he was alive. So, he probably wouldn't pass on his teachings unless he was desperate. And judging by how we're just getting the news of Death Eaters stirring up small trouble means that Voldeyworts was MIA or something." Ness finally said.
"So... that means he's somehow alive." Luna murmured, frowning as Harry and Ron exchanged a look of worry, "You don't think that ritual Professor Quirrell performed actually worked, do you?"
"Who is Professor Quirrell, and what ritual?" Ness started to ask when Mr. Bagman appeared his cheeks a rosy red as he spotted Harry. "Ah! Just who I wanted to see!" Bagman exclaimed, his voice a little slurred from heavy drinking. Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise then muffled a groan as he was dragged back inside the hall to have a little talk about the upcoming challenge.
"So… the ritual-," Ness tried when Ron's date appeared and shot him an evil eye, prompting Ron to shoot them an apologetic glance before he went inside to appease her.
"Does Professor Quirrell ring a bell to you Luna?" Ness asked groaning as the girl shrugged her shoulders, "He might have been mentioned by the older students in my first year but after the Chamber of Secrets opened and we had a celebrity as a teacher no one mentioned him." she rubbed her hands and added, "I do know he was a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher but that's it."
"Time to bother Selvis then." Ness sighed as a gust of cold winter air encouraged them to go back inside to the now wild music playing.
"I don't think we'll have a lot of time," Luna said, pointing to the clock which was near the midnight.
"Well, we'll just have to make time-," Ness started when they bumped into someone, "Where do these people come from?" Ness grumbled before he quickly apologized and saw who he bumped into, "Oh! Cedric, lost Cho?" Ness questioned.
"No, not really she wanted to take a break from dancing." Cedric admitted with a faint blush before he snapped out of it, his posture straightening as he quickly looked around, "Listen Ness, when you get a chance, tell Harry to open the egg under some water."
"Under water? Why-,"
"Just, tell him to try it, alright?" Cedric urged, "As a thank you for the dragon hint."
Ness was about to ask why Cedric just didn't tell Harry himself but then he saw another crowd of people around the poor boy and changed course, "Sure! I'll tell him right after the dance." Ness promised, making a mental note to relay the information to Adaliz and Alexander as Cedric moved on to get drinks.
"So, it is a challenge underwater." Luna mused as they hurried to the last table Ness had seen Selvis, "Which leaves limited options for everyone."
"I wonder what challenge you could possibly have underwater?" Ness murmured. The only thing that came to mind from their last Boundless brainstorm session was searching for treasure surrounded by deadly sea creatures which would give them their final hint for the last challenge.
But, was that even possible? Then again… this was a school for wizards which apparently encouraged deadly challenges and taught deadly curses. So that probably wasn't off the mark.
"Why can't wizards just have oh, I dunno. A NORMAL sports school festival instead of crazy challenges?" Because that would make sense and wizards didn't make sense. Just chaos.
They arrived at Selvis's table which only had Emma who was reading a book and humming contently to herself. "Did Selvis ditch you or something?" Ness asked, happily sitting down and watching Luna as she inspected the underside of the table for Pine Woodrats (Don't ask.) before she to, sat down.
"He didn't want his friends to be 'tainted' by the Ravenclaw." Emma replied with a small mischievous grin, "So, he's off 'finding drinks.'"
"Which means he's probably lurking listening in on people's conversation." Ness said, leaning back to try and catch a glimpse of Selvis before he turned back to Emma, slowly realizing that she was at least a fifth year.
"Hey Emma, do you know Professor Quirrell?" Ness asked a hopeful smile on his face as Luna added, "He was a Defense Against the Dark arts teacher."
"Quirrell? Why do you want to know about him?" Emma asked with a small frown, "He's dead."
The room seemed to quiet greatly around them despite the loud music visibly causing the goblets and empty plates to shudder, "Dead?" Ness repeated as Luna asked, "How did he die?"
"According to Dumbledore, he was trying to find the secret of the school which was hidden on the third and guarded by some horrible killer monster." Emma started, her polished nails tapping the cover of her book. Charms of the Ages.
"No one's really sure what happened, but we do know that Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and oddly enough Neville Longbottom, are the only people who know what happened to him."
"Was he involved in anything...shady?" Luna questioned, gleefully dropping her voice as she glanced around, trying to see if anyone was listening in.
"I'm not sure…" Emma admitted with an annoyed frown, "Apparently he was involved by several incidents happening around the school, a troll attack, Potter's broom going out of control or something and killing a unicorn for its blood."
Luna's eyes widened in horror as Ness asked, "Unicorns are real?" then face palmed at the obvious answer, "Of course magical fairy tale horses are real. It makes sense at Hogwarts." he grumbled earning a laugh from Emma, "I know, it's mind boggling at all the magical creatures that used to just be fairy tale creatures."
"You didn't know either?" Ness asked frowning in disbelief as Emma nodded and whispered with a twinkling smile, "I'm a muggleborn."
"How on earth did you bribe Selvis to take him?" Luna asked with clear disbelief in her voice.
"He didn't know until after he pestered me into being his date." Emma said with a smug grin before she changed the subject, "Now why are you two trying to find out about Professor Quirrell?"
"Just wondering since he was some sort of Death Eater." Ness said, hoping his fib was believable as Emma sent him a scrutinizing look before she brightened slightly and scoffed, "Quirrell wasn't a Death Eater, he was merely a bullied kid looking for power in the wrong place."
"Which got him killed." Ness deadpanned.
"Yup, Harry and his friends confronted him and had to kill him in self-defense," Emma finished glancing up as the music stopped and Dumbledore took the stage to end the ball, "About time," Emma sighed, "I've been dead on my feet all day."
The closing of the ball was bright as the ornaments above exploded in bright balls of soft snow colored light.
Leading the way toward the stairwell as everyone prepared for bed. Their minds ablaze with the 'magical' night and the air filled with chatter wishing the Yule Ball could have kept going.
Ness tuned them out as he mulled over Emma's explanations about Professor Quirrell. Something wasn't right with Emma's story, but he wasn't sure what. He had no idea what Unicorn blood did exactly or what he had been chasing that had been his ultimate demise by a ground of First Years.
Actually, why was Harry even involved in the first place? Had he found something out about Quirrell? Or, was it just his destiny to be involved in every mess at Hogwarts?
"Just how many secrets is Hogwarts hiding?" Ness murmured as he and Luna said goodbye and headed to their respective common rooms.
You know, I thought writing about the Yule Ball would be easy since I went to a school dance once and read about them in a bunch books, but then I remembered that balls were much more fancy and that there was actually an order to this ball, meaning I had a loose guide line to follow. Plus, my brilliant idea of putting chapter 21 in google docs so I could work on it during school backfired thanks to the weird enter spacing google docs had when I copy-pasted it back into the main document and the weird pauses that happened when I tried to write on my school computer.
Oh well, happy Halloween everyone!