Chapter 4: The Yule Ball

After Professor Snape mentioned that incident with Moody to Headmaster Dumbledore, Ronald Weasley was called into the Headmaster's office. Hoping Dumbledore would punish Harry and/or Moody for their 'betrayal', Ron confirmed everything Snape already told. Dumbledore's reaction, however, was quite different from expected. "Mr. Weasley, I'm very disappointed with you." Dumbledore scolded him. "The Triwizard Tournament's objective is to promote international cooperation. We can't accomplish that by assaulting visitors. Especially Harry Potter, who didn't even want to be here in the first place."

Ronald grunted in a way that clearly meant 'yeah, right' to Dumbledore's last statement.

"It's true, Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore insisted. "If not for whatever Voldemort did to force Harry into the Triwizard Tournament, the Boy-Who-Lived wouldn't have returned."

Ronald Weasley was shocked at the mention of Voldemort. Not about the name being mentioned since, like most wizards, he only feared hearing that name coming from people who weren't Albus Dumbledore but because it never occurred to him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named could be involved. "Y-You-Know-Who?" He asked in fear. "Inside Hogwarts?"

"Maybe not directly, Mr. Weasley, but I'm sure one of his Death Eaters tampered with the Goblet of Fire to force Harry Potter into the tournament." Dumbledore explained.

"I bet it's Snape!" Ron quickly exclaimed.

"Professor Snape, Mr. Weasley, and I trust he's not the one responsible for that." Dumbledore corrected.

"But he's a Death Eater!" Ron pleaded. "Moody said that."

"Former Death Eater, Ronald."

"Then it's Moody." Ron guessed. "You seem to have bad luck picking them. My first year, a Death Eater; my second year, a fraud whose only talent was tampering with people's memories so they couldn't denounce him for taking credit for their good deeds; my third year…"

"Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore interrupted him. "I didn't bring you to discuss who might be helping Voldemort to kill Harry. I've brought you here to help me to convince Harry to stay in Hogwarts after the Tournament is over."

"What?"

"Mr. Weasley, the greater good depends on Hogwarts depends on Harry Potter staying in Britain to defeat Voldemort for good." Dumbledore replied.

"Why must he be the one to defeat You-Know-Who?" Ron asked while wondering what made Headmaster Dumbledore so determined to have Harry Potter do that. "Sure, he saved us once but you are the only one You-Know-Who fears."

If there was one thing Albus Dumbledore hated to do was telling something to someone he felt wasn't ready (or didn't need) to know, which usually meant anything to anyone, but he felt he had no choice that time. "Back in 1980, a prophecy has been made describing the one with the power to vanquish Voldemort and that was the reason he targeted the Potters."

"He believed Potter was his prophesized vanquisher!" Ron exclaimed.

"Correct, Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore said with a smile. "That Harry Potter survived that fateful night his parents met their demise only cemented that belief."

"But why couldn't you be the one, Sir?" Ron asked in hopes of not having to convince Harry to stay in Hogwarts.

"Unfortunately, the prophecy speaks of someone born to parents who have thrice defied Voldemort and, as someone older than him, I don't fit." Dumbledore sadly explained.

"My parents were in the Order of the Phoenix, Sir." Ron replied in hopes of becoming famous as the savior of the Wizarding World. "Maybe I could…"

"No, Ronald." Dumbledore sadly replied. "Voldemort's prophesized savior is someone born by the end of July."

"But what could I do, Sir?" Ron asked in confusion. "I didn't exactly give him a good impression either before he left or after he returned."

"Then you'd better apologize." Dumbledore suggested. "And then suggest he takes your sister to the Yule Ball."

Meanwhile, Amelia Bones was questioning Ludovic Bagman. "This is an outrage!" Bagman protested.

"Mr. Bagman, I know you've lost a lot of money with your gambling habits and tried to cheat the goblins by paying them with leprechaun gold." She replied. The problem with leprechaun gold was that it eventually vanished. "You'd better cooperate."

"Okay, Amelia." Bagman said in a defeated tone.

"It's Madam Bones to you, Mr. Bagman." She stated. "Now, Mr. Bagman, did you tamper with the Goblet of Fire's enchantments?"

"No." He answered.

"Did anyone ask you to either do that or leave the Goblet of Fire unguarded?" She asked.

He was about to say 'no' again but then he remembered. "Well, Auror Moody wanted to add special protections to the goblet and didn't want anyone seeing what he did out of fear any of us would undo his work."

"Didn't you find it suspicious?"

"It's 'Mad-Eye' Moody we're talking about, Am… Madam Bones." Bagman dismissively replied. "His paranoia is well known."

"Anybody else?"

"No."

"In that case, did you take any bets on the Triwizard Tournament's outcome?" Amelia asked in hopes it wasn't the case. Bagman's hesitation did nothing for her hopes.

"Y-yes."

Meanwhile, back at Hogwarts, Harry Potter couldn't believe what he heard. Not only he, as a Triwizard Champion, was expected to bring an escort to the Yule Ball, he learned it from Weasley, who was trying to get him to go with Ginny Weasley. Harry then looked for confirmation from Professor Snape. "Yes, Mr. Potter. That's one of the duties of the Triwizard Champions. I guess people forgot to tell you that in the middle of all this mess."

"Now what do I do?" Harry asked in desperation.

"Just ask somebody to go with you, Potter." Snape said as if it was easy. "Surely your Godfather taught you some tips on what he'd usually do while flirting to girls and you'd know how to do the opposite."

"He only tells me to use my natural Potter charm and make my Dad proud, Sir." Harry replied.

"Yes, that sounds like something Black would say." Snape commented with a frown.

"Can't you help me, Sir?" Harry pleaded.

"Well, I'm not a sociable person but I'll see what I can do." Snape said and then led harry away from his office and to the Slytherin Common Room. "Attention, girls." Snape commanded. "Harry Potter has just learned he must take a girl to the Yule Ball. Any volunteers?" Several girls responded and harry decided to pick the one who showed less enthusiasm. "Congratulations, Miss Bullstrode."

"Is this some sort of joke, Potter?" She asked, refusing to believe she'd be picked among all those others.

"No, I just wanted someone who didn't seem to be more interested on this ball than I am." Harry explained.

"In this case, let's properly introduce ourselves." She suggested. "My name is Millicent Bullstrode."

"And my name is Harry Potter."

End Chapter.