Chapter 38: Ballroom Dancing
Albus finished giving the two newest workers of Hogwarts a tour of the kitchens and to explain what they were expected to do. He then left them in the capable hands of the other house-elves before he left. While Dobby took this new life as a free elf like a fish to water—Albus was more concerned with Winky. He knew that it was often difficult for a house-elf to readjust to a new environment after being freed, some took it harder than others. He had told Dobby to take care of her for them… a task that Dobby would no doubt take seriously.
Albus headed to bed that night only to happily. After everything that has happened lately, he was looking forward to a good night's sleep for the first time in weeks.
He chose to check in with his portraits one last time before he turned in early however.
"He went up to send this long letter to Sirius," Everard told him with a smile and a shrug. "I have to say he sure looks a great deal happier than I've seen him all year. You can hardly tell he's the same person than the gloomy and troubled model we've seen since Halloween."
Albus smiled as well, "Well, that is a relief to hear. I was starting to worry that he forgotten what it's like to be happy. And I know that Sirius would be relieved to hear that as well. I don't think that we need to worry about him breaking into the castle yet."
"You aren't going to send a message to him first?" Dilys asked him in surprise.
"Oh, no," Albus chuckled at her. "I think that he would prefer it if his godson told him instead of hearing it from me first. And I think that Harry would also appreciate it if he got to write that letter."
"They should be heading back down to the common room at any second," Everard exclaimed. "He was with his two friends again. Which is good—they just didn't look right when they were apart."
"That's true," Dexter said in a wheezy voice. "I don't think this separation has been easy for any of them."
"Good," Albus answered as he took of his hat and thought longingly of the soft bed that was waiting for him. "Knowing the Gryffindor's, they'll be celebrating all night. That should give us all a peace of mind for tonight at least."
Phineas huffed in annoyance, and Albus had gone to bed smiling, knowing that Phineas has always disapproved of any party. But he wasn't concerned about that at all… the only thing on his mind was of his head hitting that pillow.
*Morning*
Albus had slept like the dead all night, and awoke feeling energized for the first time since Halloween, and he was laughing with the rest of his portraits when he heard of the party last night.
He was glad to hear that the boys had made up and he chuckled merrily when he heard that they opened the golden egg. When it was decided what the Second Task would be, he had gone down to the lake and asked the merfolk if they would be kind enough to help them out and partake in the tournament. He had enchanted those eggs to remember the voices it heard and in this case, it was the merpeople's song. It was hollow and completely empty… filled only with their song… one that can only be heard underwater.
"They had no idea what it was," Armando went on with a yawn. "They suggested everything from a banshee to the Cruciatus curse but they didn't come anywhere near to guessing it right."
"I would've been surprised if they did, but they still have a few months to figure it out," Albus told him calmly.
He was about to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast, feeling properly hungry again, but just as he reached the door, Armando shouted out, "Oh, and the Weasleys turned Longbottom into a canary!"
*Later*
Winter had come to the castle and, as it did every year, the castle became cold as the sudden drafts of snow and wind would come in. He had quite a job to do to keep Warming Charms up all over the castle to prevent it from getting any worse. But he got a shock late one evening after the fourth years had a Care of Magical Creatures class.
"Rita Skeeter was at Hagrid's hut today," Dexter told him angrily. "At least that's what I heard our favorite trio talking about on their way back up to the common room. She just showed up halfway through class as they tried to help Hagrid nail the Skrewts into boxes. Personally, I don't see why he's trying so hard to save them."
"Don't complain," Dilys said hopefully. "If they don't hibernate it could kill them all!"
"At least those boxes won't be put to waste," Phineas said in his usual bored tone.
Albus on the other hand, wasn't happy about this interview with Hagrid about the "Blast-Ended Skrewts" and asked for every detail his portraits knew. He also grew angry when he specifically said that Rita wouldn't be allowed onto the grounds anymore. How did she get in?
"Oh, I need to ask. Does the Prophet really do a zoological column every Wednesday?" Dexter asked and Albus blinked in surprise.
"Not that I'm aware of," he answered carefully.
"Well, that's proof that she's lying," Dexter finished with a shrug. "That's the excuse she gave to Hagrid…"
"This isn't going to be good," Albus said biting her lower lip anxiously.
"It's not as if you'll be able to get rid of that oaf anyway, so I don't see what the problem is," Phineas yawned and Albus shot him a warning look.
"I'll have to have a few words with him not to say anything that would get into trouble, or even to just cancel it all together," Albus said anxiously.
"Well, I didn't want to end things on a grim note," Dexter went on, "So how about the House-Elf Liberation Front?"
"The what?" Albus asked, a smile coming back to his face for a moment.
"The trio went down to the kitchens and I overheard Weasley mention a new name, though I think that it was more sarcastic than anything," Dexter smirked. "The boys thought that Granger wanted them to burst into the kitchen and stop the house-elves working."
"Which they didn't, I'm hoping," Albus said at once.
"No," he assured him. "She just wanted them to see Dobby."
Albus laughed again. "Oh, I am certain that Dobby loved that."
"They were down there for awhile before they went back upstairs with the usual sweets," Dexter said with a grin. "Whatever she may say, I'll take Ron's name over SPEW."
The rest of the room laughed at that.
*Week before Christmas*
Everything seemed to be going smoothly now. The days just seemed to fly by, and now it was only just one week before the Yule Ball and Hogwarts was pulling out all the stops to decorate the school and have everything ready by then.
Everyone was determined to impress Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, as well as make this a Christmas no one will forget. He admired all the non-melting icicles had been attached to the banisters of the marble staircase; the bedecked twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall and so much more… he had been at Hogwarts for most of his life, and he couldn't remember seeing it in such a magnificent state. He was thinking if it would be worth all the trouble to do this for next year as well.
But his favorite part was without a doubt all the interesting rumors about what was planned for the Yule Ball this year. That Hogwarts had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta—not that they would give it to any of the younger students. And then there was the tale of the enchanted white stags that would be flying over everyone's heads while they eat… oh, but the best had to be the one with the giant-sized diamonds that will be floating in place of the usual candles…
In his opinion, there was no greater enjoyment than the active minds of excited children.
Everything seemed to be looking up now that the First Task was over, and his worries seemed to have lessened greatly as well and he was able to enjoy himself again. But unfortunately, his worries started to pick up again after he failed to convince Hagrid to turn down the interview.
Hagrid was so excited about the idea of being able to share to the world how wonderful his Blast-Ended Skrewts were, he wasn't thinking things through. But as Albus expected, the interview was really just an excuse for Rita to ask about Harry. From what Hagrid said to him, she just wanted to find out anything horrible about the boy.
"She most likely wants to write about a disturbed, mentally-unstable boy," Albus said to himself softly.
"Well, if she wanted that, then she should've interviewed Snape," Dilys yawned. "I'm sure that he would've been only too happy to help her out."
Albus hardly heard her. And while he wasn't happy about this arrangement at all, he chose to ignore it for now. As there wasn't much he could do about it anyway. So instead, hoping to get his mind of it, he asked about how everything was going for the ball.
"Yeah, the other teachers have everything under control. I don't think you need to worry; looks like it's going to be fixed up perfectly by the ball," Dilys said dreamily. "Wish I could go…"
"Oh, you should've seen all the idiots asking that Fleur girl to the ball," Everard laughed suddenly. "I just saw it now… that Weasley was just another one of her victims?"
"He fell for her Veela charm most likely," said Albus lightly as he looked out at the snow-covered grounds. The carriage was just in his sights and he could see Madame Maxime and her students returning from the castle. His eyes left them and to the tiny flicks of snow that would ensure a white Christmas drifty lazily passed the window.
"Oh, and Sirius finally wrote back to the boy," Everard finished up… "I think I heard them mention it, though I'm not so sure I heard right."
"Yes," Albus nodded, "That's a relief to hear." To be honest, Albus had been worried lately, just last night he had received a very angry letter from Sirius as well. After Sirius had called him every curse word that is known to the world, he finished by writing a threat saying that he was lucky that Harry survived the First Task. And that if he does get hurt in this tournament, he won't live to see the next dawn.
"I guess I should count myself lucky that he hasn't come here to kill me personally," Albus said to himself as he began looking through his drawers for a spare bit of parchment. Everything fell silent for a moment… and then Dilys asked slyly, "So, who're you going to the ball with?"
"It's inappropriate for a teacher to take a date to such an event," Albus burst out laughing. "We don't want the rumors to become even wilder do we?"
*Christmas*
The rest of the week had passed in a flash, and before they knew it, it was the evening of the famous Yule Ball—a tradition almost as celebrated as the Tournament itself. Albus dressed in his best robes of royal blue and headed down to join the rest of the schools.
He couldn't help but admire all the work now that it was the night of the ball. No expense had been spared when the castle had been transformed so that it was full of hundreds of fairies that were sitting in the dozens of rosebushes and statues. The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with enchanted snow falling from the starry black ceiling. He joined the high table where the other judges and Champions would so join. But to his greatest surprise—sitting in the fifth seat was Percy Weasley.
Percy noticed him and jumped up importantly and made a bow. "Professor Dumbledore," he then said pompously, and he didn't sit back down until Albus sat as well.
"Well, young, Mr. Weasley," Albus said politely. "It is a pleasure again to see you. But please, what has happened to Barty? I know that he has always disliked parties but…?"
"Ah, professor," Percy said excitedly. "I'm afraid that Mr. Crouch has been feeling under the weather lately, so I have been asked to fill in for him tonight." He puffed out his chest proudly, "He really is starting to rely on me these days. Not that he can't manage on his own, of course, he is as amazing as ever, but still… I think he deserves a quiet Christmas."
Albus nodded, but he couldn't believe what he was hearing. It is true that Barty hasn't been looking that well since the Quidditch Cup… but the Barty Crouch he knew would rather lose an eye than miss a day of work. Even if he doesn't approve of parties of any sort… the idea that he would miss something as important as this boggled his mind.
But he was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the front doors open and suddenly the rest of the three schools coming in, dressed in every color of the rainbow. Every shade imaginable walked through the doors, and everyone stared around them in amazement at everything from the enchanted snow and giant icicles from the ceiling and the glistening white dance floor.
Albus smiled as he leaned back and watched them all decide which tables to sit at and waited patiently as they took their seats. At last, once everyone else was settled in the Hall, Minerva walked in with the champions and their partners lined in pairs behind her. All at once, the entire Great Hall broke into applause as soon as they entered.
He looked up to see the four champions looking embarrassed as they walked across the floor. Harry was in ink-green robes and was accompanied with Miss Parvati looking very pretty indeed in light pink and gold. Harry seemed to be very uncomfortable in this environment; though Miss Parvati seemed to be enjoying herself as she was beaming around at everybody, steering Harry forcefully up to the table.
Roger Davies wasn't looking at anything but Fleur Delacour beside him, looking stunning in robes of silver-gray satin. Miss Delacour was smiling around at everyone and seemed to be in her element in this atmosphere. Albus's eyes next fell onto Cedric and Miss Chang who were walking hand in hand, looking happy, and finally onto a pretty girl in blue robes and Viktor Krum.
He then blinked in realization when he realized that it was, in fact, Miss Granger. Though she looked so different that it wasn't that hard to see why he had trouble seeing that it was her. Miss Granger had always been a bit of a Tomboy, so seeing her in beautiful periwinkle-blue robs, and her hair done up elegantly, it was a startling change.
Albus merely smiled happily at them as they all took their seats before he turned to talk to Madame Maxime, and asked for her opinion on the Hall.
"Eet ees surprisizng," she said after a moment. "Not what we 'ave at Beauxbatons of course. But you did rize to ze challenge."
Albus beamed at her and tilted his head. "So long as you and everyone else is comfortable and enjoying yourselves."
"I've been promoted," he heard Percy's tone across from him. Albus looked over slowly as Percy went on explaining to Harry, "I'm now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm here representing him."
"Why didn't he come?" Harry asked curiously. Albus listened carefully as well, not even noticing what Ludo was saying, though he was looking right at him.
"I'm afraid to say Mr. Crouch isn't well, not well at all. Hasn't been right since the World Cup. Hardly surprising - overwork. He's not as young as he was – though still quite brilliant, of course, the mind remains as great as it ever was. But the World Cup was a fiasco for the whole Ministry, and then, Mr. Crouch suffered a huge personal shock with the misbehavior of that house-elf of his, Blinky, or whatever she was called."
Albus sighed. This did not sound like Barty Crouch all. He didn't know what it was; but something didn't seem right.
"Naturally, he dismissed her immediately afterward," Percy went on, "But, well, as I say, he's getting on, he needs looking after, and I think he's found a definite drop in his home comforts since she left. And then we had the tournament to arrange, and the aftermath of the Cup to deal with - that revolting Skeeter woman buzzing around."
Albus privately agreed with that last remark. "No, poor man, he's having a well earned, quiet Christmas. I'm just glad he knew he had someone he could rely upon to take his place."
Albus wasn't so sure about that, but instead of letting them know that he was listening in, he picked up his own menu and looked over it. While everything looked delicious, he made up his mind and said very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!"
Once everyone started eating, he busied himself with talking to Madame Maxime for some time until he heard Viktor Krum speaking for the first time, "Veil, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable, I am thinking," he was telling Hermione. "Ve have just four floors, and the fires are lit only for magical purposes. But ve have grounds larger even than these - though in vinter, ve have very little daylight, so ve are not enjoying them. But in summer ve are flying every day, over the lakes and the mountains -"
"Now, now, Viktor!" Karkaroff boomed loudly, though there was a bit of a warning in his deep tones. "Don't go giving away anything else, now, or your charming friend will know exactly where to find us!"
Albus smiled again, and said lightly, hoping that this wouldn't ruin the festivities. "Igor, all this secrecy… one would almost think you didn't want visitors." Truthfully, the way that Viktor described it, it sounded truly beautiful.
"Well, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff almost as smugly as Percy, smiling widely, showing his yellowish teeth. "We are all protective of our private domains, are we not? Do we not jealously guard the halls of learning that have been entrusted to us? Are we not right to be proud that we alone know our school's secrets, and right to protect them?"
Albus chuckled at that. Him? Learn all of Hogwarts' secrets? Oh, no, he learns something new about the castle every day. To think that anyone could know everything about Hogwarts is laughable. He then told him good-natured, "Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets, Igor."
He then decided to tell him the incident that happened to him just this morning. "Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished. But I must keep an eye out for it. Possibly it is only accessible at five-thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at the quarter moon - or when the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder."
He heard Harry snort and started to laugh. He looked over to see Percy was frowning at him, but Albus just winked in amusement. Not long later, he could hear Miss Delacour criticizing the Hogwarts decorations to Mr. Davies.
"Zis is nothing. At ze Palace of Beauxbatons, we 'ave ice sculptures all around ze dining chamber at Chreestmas. Zey do not melt, of course… zey are like 'uge statues of diamond, glittering around ze place."
Albus raised his eyebrows, well that was something to think of next time.
"And ze food is seemply superb. And we 'ave choirs of wood nymphs, 'oo serenade us as we eat. We 'ave none of zis ugly armor in ze 'alls, and eef a poltergeist ever entaired into Beauxbatons, 'e would be expelled like zat." She slapped her hand onto the table impatiently.
He chortled as he the food feel from Mr. Davies kept dropping the food from his fork back onto his plate so that he kept sticking his empty fork into his mouth.
"Absolutely right," he said quickly, slapping his own hand down on the table as well. "Like that. Yeah."
It was truly funny how men act when they are with a pretty girl. The rest of the meal went on smoothly until he stood up and announced, "If we are all finished with our delicious meal, I ask you all to stand up and please join us for the main event!"
Everyone stood up at once, and he pulled out his wand to move all the tables out of the way for the dance floor. He then conjured up a platform as soon as the band, 'The Weird Sisters' appeared. One by one, the champions all walked to the center of the room and began dancing to a very slow waltz.
Albus watched them all dance for a short time, before he graciously asked Madame Maxime for a dance, which she excepted graciously. As he had expected, she was a remarkable dancer, moving across the floor splendid grace. He focused on enjoying himself, sometimes he would look up at the others to see who was dancing with who. He fought the urge to laugh when he saw the nervous Aurora Sinistra dancing with Alastor.
It was good to see him enjoying himself as well. Once the first dance was over, he bowed low to Madame Maxime, who curtsied back and went off to dance with Hagrid. This went on for the rest of the night, and he then enjoyed a much faster, less graceful dance with Pomona, who was slightly uncomfortable with dancing as well.
It truly was a wonderful time, stopping only to have a quick drink before he would return to the dance floor, glad to see just how much fun everyone was having. But he couldn't deny that he was truly relieved when midnight came and it had ended.
He wasn't as young as he once was, so after he bade everyone a Merry Christmas and good night, he left the hall exhausted. As much as he loved the holidays, he was glad they only came once a year. As soon as he headed for the stairs however, he heard shouting.
"Hey-Harry!"
He looked to see Cedric Diggory running towards Harry who was going back up with Ron. He watched them talk for a brief moment before Cedric turned and went running back to say goodnight to Miss Chang. Harry on the other hand stood there for another few seconds, looking completely baffled, but then turned and headed back up the stairs, looking quite relieved to be leaving as well.
Too tired to think too much about it, Albus sighed tiredly, looking forward to bed again. But as he also started to head up, he heard a familiar voice speak from behind him, "Headmaster."
Surprised, he looked back to see a very grim Severus coming towards him from the grounds; it had started to snow again from the snow that was starting to melt on his shoulders.
"Severus?" he asked politely.
"I wish to talk to you," he said softly when he came up to him. "About…" his head gestured to his left arm and Albus understood at once. He nodded and they both hung back, waiting for everyone else to leave. They waited their patiently until only a few stragglers remained.
"Well?" he asked softly.
Severus sighed and whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Karkaroff's Mark is becoming darker too. He is panicking, he fears retribution; you know how much help he gave the Ministry after the Dark Lord fell. Karkaroff intends to flee if the Mark burns."
Albus didn't look at him, he had been afraid of this. So the Dark Mark was slowly starting to darken as well. His good mood fading to one of anxiety; more proof that Tom was making a comeback. But what was going through that mind of his former student? What was he planning now? He knew that whatever Tom had up his sleeve, it almost certainly involved Harry and the Tournament… the question was… how?
"Does he?" he asked as Miss Delacour and Mr. Davies came giggling in from the grounds; but he hardly noticed them. "And are you tempted to join him?"
"No," said Severus said after a moment of silence. "I am not such a coward."
"No," agreed Albus sincerely. He then turned and headed up the stairs. "You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon…"
He smiled, having a good idea to what Severus looked right now. All in all, not the best way to end a party…
(Sorry for the wait. But like I said, it's becoming harder to write this story the further we go into the years.)
