"Peridot figured it out," Steven said quietly to Harry. "It wasn't all that different than the problem we had translating the wailing stones message from audio to video."
"We're supposed to use machines to understand the next task?" Harry asked suspiciously. "that doesn't sound like something Wizards would expect at all."
"No," Steven said. "You just have to find a way to muffle the message so it makes sense."
"Cover it with a blanket?" Harry asked.
Hermione stared at both of them disapprovingly. "Champions are supposed to do this on their own."
Steven shrugged. "I'm not in this to win. I won't try to lose just to satisfy some people who don't think I have to be here, but I really just want everybody to be safe."
"He'll tell the other two the same thing he's telling me," Harry said. "just to be fair."
Steven nodded. "The more time everyone has to prepare, the more likely everybody will get through everything all right."
Hermione hesitated, then said, "We tried covering it with blankets. It'd have to be something better. You'd almost have to immerse it in...water?"
Steven grinned and didn't say anything.
"Thanks, mate," Harry said.
"It was actually Winky who came up with the solution," Steven said. "Plopped it right in the gems pool and everything got clear as a bell."
"I can't imagine the gems liked that much, what with Ruby and Sapphire still being in there."
"They complained," Steven admitted, "but Peridot stood up for her. Winky's getting a little more brave now than she used to be; she still won't stand up for herself, but she'll stand up for Peridot."
Hermione shook her head. She hadn't approved of Steven's enslavement of Winky, but her visits to the gems temple had showed a house-elf who was gradually improving and regaining her zest for life.
"None of us can actually give her clothes," Steven said. "But Pearl showed her how to make herself a leather hat and goggles. Peridot is still weird about clothes that aren't part of your body."
Apparently giving elves clothes wasn't allowed, but letting them make their own was. Most Wizarding masters never chose to give their elves anything more than rags, which firmed Hermione's resolve that something had to be done.
Even Winky only wore clothes inside the temple. She reverted to typical House-Elf attire when she was in Hogwarts.
Hermione had asked her about it once, and she'd replied that she didn't want the shame of being thought a free elf. The horror of the thought had made the elf shudder and revert to her previous gloomy demeanor, and so Hermione hadn't pressed her any further.
It did make her reconsider her idea about leaving clothes around for the house-elves to find. She might be able to free some of them, but if they were to become more miserable and unable to find work, she wouldn't be improving their lot much.
It sounded like she was making excuses, but the Hogwarts elves probably had the best lifestyle of any House-elves in Britain. They had their own community, they worked away from Wizards and they weren't abused.
They were hardly representative of the average house-elf, from what she'd seen. Dobby and Winky were proof that abusive wizards existed, and there was no one to protect the house elves from them.
Steven had promised to help her get more protections and rights for the house-elves. It was the laws that needed changing, and she wouldn't accomplish that by freeing unwilling house elves one elf at a time.
She needed to make big changes.
"The champions will be dancing for the yule ball." Professor McGonagall said firmly. "And that's that."
Harry had tried arguing, but it hadn't worked. Professor McGonagall was intractable. The fact that he didn't know how to dance or even how to ask a girl to be his date didn't seem to matter to her at all.
He tried Hermione, but Steven had already asked her. Steven probably could have asked anyone except a Slytherin and had a fairly good chance of getting a date, despite being the smallest in his class. He was increasingly popular.
Some girls were asking Harry out, but Harry felt that it was just because he was famous. He was a little reluctant to accept and just be a trophy for some girl to brag about.
Fortunately, Professor McGonagall gave them a few perfunctory lessons in how to dance. Harry felt that he was stumbling all over his feet, but Steven seemed to be graceful.
Later, Steven admitted that he'd been taught to dance by the gems. It was an important component of some sort of magical ritual; Harry wasn't sure he understood exactly.
Steven reassured him that when he had first been learning to dance he'd been awkward too. He'd stepped the wrong way, zigged when he was supposed to zag and had done everything wrong.
"The important thing," he said, "Is to have a sense of humor. Even if you step on a girl's feet, if you can both laugh about it, it'll be all right."
Harry wasn't as certain, but he did get his courage up to ask Cho. Steven encouraged him to ask sooner rather than later, lest someone ask Cho in advance.
To his delight, she said yes.
This was unexpected, and made him nervous. The few lessons he'd had from McGonagall hadn't been nearly enough and he was convinced that he'd make a bad showing of it.
Steven suggested that he and Ron, Hermione and Neville come to the temple, where Pearl could teach them more about formal dancing. He warned them not to listen to Amethyst, as the kind of dances she'd teach would get them in trouble.
Ron for some reason seemed intrigued by this, but let it pass without comment.
Pearl, surprisingly, turned out to be a good teacher. She was an excellent dancer, and Harry could see where Steven had learned his skills.
Neville, surprisingly was the one who took the training most to heart. Even after they left the temple he kept practicing on his own.
While Ron rolled his eyes and kept trying to find a date, Neville kept practicing.
Ron had gotten a date with Padma, who looked less than impressed with the horrible outfit that he was wearing. It was centuries out of date and was hideous, with ruffs and fringes.
Steven was sympathetic, but didn't know of any way to make things better. He's spent the first fourteen years of his life wearing variations of the exact same outfit, and had only branched out since coming to the Wizarding world.
Even the gems weren't experts on clothes. They effectively went everywhere naked, as their clothes were actually just parts of their body and they had no need of clothing for warmth. Pearl's clothing skills mostly existed from mending rips and tears Steven had made in his own clothes.
So Ron was stuck.
Steven tried to convince him to ignore it. Harry suspected that if it had been Steven, he'd have been the life of the party whatever he was wearing. His story about putting on a dress and singing in a competition on a beach in his homeworld proved that he wouldn't have been self-conscious.
Ron, however, wasn't as confident in himself, and he seemed self conscious.
Harry was just happy that he'd taken the extra time to practice dancing. He was looking forward to dancing with Cho and only hoped that he'd be able to remember all the steps of the dances.
Cho and Padma joined them, and thankfully Cho seemed much happier than Padma. They were making small talk with Ron and Steven, and everything seemed normal. Once Hermione arrived, they'd go into the ball.
Cho was the first to fall silent, followed by Padma and then Ron. Steven noticed next, turning and staring. His pupils visibly dialated.
Harry turned and found himself staring as well.
Hermione was at the top of the stairs, but this wasn't a Hermione Harry had ever seen before. She looked like a different person. She'd done something with her hair that made it sleek and shiny and swept back. Her robe seemed more like a dress, with a blue color that seemed to enhance her looks. She even seemed to hold herself differently; she stood more proudly, more confidently.
She was beautiful.
Harry could hear Cho gasping slightly beside him, and a moment later Steven was sweeping past him to take her hand.
It almost looked like Steven had grown inches taller in the moment since Harry had taken his eyes off him. For Steven, this certainly wasn't impossible, although from what Harry had heard he couldn't maintain it for the entire evening. His robes were still well fitted though, which meant they were enchanted somehow.
They looked good together. Steven had done something to his hair as well, and he looked thinner and older as well. He actually had a neck. He looked as old as Hermione, and for once he was taller than she was.
She smiled up at him, and it was radiant.
Dancing wasn't nearly as bad as he'd thought it would be. The lessons from pearl helped a lot, as did Steven's advice about not taking any of it too seriously. It helped that he was dancing with Cho, who he'd liked for a long time.
Steven had even convinced Ron to give dancing a try, badgering him into dancing especially once the Weird sisters started playing faster music.
He'd visibly shrink between songs; whenever he went to sit down and rest he'd revert to his old look. He admitted that it was easier to maintain his size that way, without any risk of reverting to a baby.
Harry would have expected Steven to be all over the place, encouraging reluctant couples to dance, making shy people feel more at ease, and generally being there for everyone. That was his usual way of behaving.
Tonight, though, he was completely focused on Hermione. He danced with her over and over again until her face was flushed. When he sat with her at the table, he made them all laugh, but his eyes kept going back to Hermione.
It wasn't until one particular song though that something strange happened.
Harry was sitting with Cho, exhausted. They'd been dancing all night, and without Quidditch practice he had to admit that his endurance wasn't what it once had been.
Steven and Hermione were dancing closer than they had been all night, and it looked like Hermione was whispering something in his ear.
There was a glow from somewhere within Steven's robes. Steven laughed, and a moment later Steven and Hermione began to shine.
Their forms began to meld and shift and change.
There were screams from the people around them, who stumbled back, leaving a growing circle of empty floor space around them.
Teachers were already moving toward them when the light faded.
Steven and Hermione were gone, and where they had danced, someone else stood.