I thought that after the first task, everyone would have at least a period of peace, considering that the second task wouldn't start until February. However, Longbottom and the others had already started trying to order things like garlic from Hogsmeade or by owl post. They thought that Potter's second task would involve getting past a banshee that kept shrieking.

There were clues in the golden egg. Although the champions were repeatedly told that they had to solve the riddle on their own, this didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the students to offer help at all. On the night when everyone was celebrating Potter's successful completion of the first task and getting a high score, all they could hear from the golden egg was the spine-chilling screams. And then the girls spent quite some time convincing Longbottom that using the Cruciatus Curse on the champions was illegal.

But soon, not many people cared about the golden egg anymore. A week after the first task, during Transfiguration class on Thursday, Professor McGonagall casually informed us that this year, Hogwarts would hold a Christmas Ball in accordance with the tradition of the Triwizard Tournament. Students in the fourth year and above could attend, and they could also invite younger students if they wished.

The classroom was immediately filled with the girls' giggling. Professor McGonagall had to raise her voice to tell everyone that they needed to wear dress robes to the Christmas Ball. And although this was a holiday relaxation event, she still hoped that the Gryffindors could display the excellent demeanor of their house.

"What about you?"

"No one has invited me yet," Hermione said calmly, turning a page of her book. "They'd rather dance with a stunningly beautiful but vicious woman than an ordinary - looking girl."

She didn't sound very happy, as if she was about to lose her temper with someone, so I decided not to continue this topic. Every night, the girls excitedly exchanged information: who in which house already had a dance partner, who had rejected whom, who had stood up whom. The relationships in the whole castle seemed to have never been this complicated. The girls seemed to have a ranked list in their hands, with their "preys" neatly arranged. One name after another was crossed out. The girls with dance partners sighed that they should have had better choices, while those without dance partners waited anxiously and made inquiries. The bolder ones would even take the initiative to stop the boys they fancied.

Taurus Black was undoubtedly at the top of many girls' "prey lists", especially after everyone was sure that Diggory had invited Cho Chang from Ravenclaw. He was like a nimble furry animal, freely shuttling through the girls' longing and expectant gazes. He was stingy with words except for his lazy and indifferent smile, and just shook his head in response to invitations.

A few third - year boys I didn't know came to invite me before. I just asked them, "Are you sure? Professor Snape will also be at the Christmas Ball." That successfully made them give up the idea of inviting me.

"Hello, could you, leave for a while?" I had just taken out my dad's notebook and was about to look through it when Krum appeared in front of Hermione's and my table and spoke to me. His eyes were on Hermione, who had a few strands of disheveled hair hanging in front of her ears and was frowning as she read.

Although Hermione also looked quite confused, she still motioned for me to leave and said to me, "This is the Hogwarts Library. What can he do? It's okay."

I happened to have a letter to send to my mom, so I left the library and went to the Owlery to find Vivian. She seemed to have grown a bit more. She no longer had to struggle for a long time to fly out from among a large group of adult owls and rub against me.

"Vivian, do you have a dance partner?" I stretched out my index finger and gently stroked her beak. She narrowed her eyes, made a low cooing sound, opened her beak, and gently nibbled at my finger, then flew away with my letter.

The third heavy snowfall of this winter was falling outside. I watched from that small window as she gradually became a tiny dot in the sky. I felt that the strange, constantly swelling melancholy in my heart was still increasing. It had started to expand in the bottom of my heart since Professor McGonagall announced the Christmas Ball to us. Every time I opened the wardrobe and saw that light - green dress robe, that strange emotion grew a little more.

"Hey."

I turned around and saw Potter standing at the entrance of the Owlery. There were still quite a few snowflakes on his head.

"What a coincidence," I nodded at him. "Are you here to send a letter too?"

"It's not a coincidence," he seemed a bit ill - at - ease, as if he was wringing his hands to stop himself from fixing his hair. "Uh, I asked someone where you were. Ginny said she saw you walking this way just now."

He took a deep breath, and I already knew what he was going to ask me.

"Go to the ball with me?" He spoke almost as fast as casting a spell and almost bit his own tongue.

For a split second, I actually thought about diverting his question. For example, pretending to suddenly be very interested in the Quidditch match, like why he could think of using the spell that he had never succeeded in during class a few days ago when facing the Hungarian Horntail. On this day, when facing Harry Potter, I realized that I didn't dislike him as much as I did at first. In fact, the source of my emotions towards him was mainly from the past between our fathers that we didn't know very clearly. Looking back, there were actually very few interactions that truly belonged to just the two of us that I could recall.

"I don't think it's a good idea," I said to him. "There are many girls who are good at dancing. They'd surely be willing to be your dance partner. The opening dance is very important, and my dad... Uh, Harry, I really hope you all have a wonderful Christmas."

I felt a bit uncomfortable. He shouldn't be standing outside the Owlery. Why didn't he come in? There were only the two of us here, yet he insisted on standing outside, making me watch the snowflakes fall one by one onto his messy hair... Why couldn't I reject him half - jokingly like I did those third - year boys I didn't know? I felt my face turning red, not because of shyness, but because I knew I was lying. Even if Dad didn't like my choice of dance partner, he wouldn't rush out and poison my partner at the Christmas Ball. What's more, Mom wrote saying she would try her best to come to Hogwarts on Christmas night.

"Actually, before coming to see you, I had already thought that if you mentioned something like Professor Snape, I'd reply that I could dance with you with a bezoar in my throat - he taught me that in the first year. God, I can't believe I've remembered what he said for so many years." He said in a deliberately light - hearted tone. "Thinking about it now, it's really strange. I bet the taste of a bezoar isn't suitable for a ball, is it?"

I was amused by his words. I remembered the first Potions class we had, when my dad had a stern face and gave him a hard time. He confidently claimed that he didn't know anything, while Hermione waved her hand beside him, saying that she could answer all the questions. A group of us, including me, stared blankly at my dad as he deducted five points from Gryffindor. At that time, Hermione wasn't his friend, and he definitely wasn't my friend either.

We looked at each other for a while. I didn't know what to say. Anything I said would probably make me seem like a loathsome person who had been drenched from head to toe in Mimbulus mimbletonia juice, being both hypocritical and disgusting. It was he who spoke first, "It's okay. Alright, I just - it's okay. Don't take it to heart."

He disappeared from the entrance of the Owlery. Hedwig let out a loud hoot. Seeing me looking at her, she flapped her wings a few times and then turned her body away, showing that she didn't want to pay attention to me.

When I went back to the library to get my schoolbag, I found Hermione sitting there in a daze. This surprised me a lot because she regarded every second in the library when she couldn't acquire new knowledge as an unforgivable waste. But now she was clearly absent - minded. The quill in her hand was randomly dotting on the parchment. I looked at the chaotic patterns on it. She had probably been in this state for quite a while.

The sound of me packing my schoolbag woke her up. She stood up and started shoving the things on her table into her pockets. After she tried to throw an uncapped ink bottle directly into her schoolbag, I finally asked her cautiously, "What happened?"

Her face turned red, or rather, it had been red all along.

"You can't tell anyone," she looked around and took several deep breaths.

"Okay, I promise," I said, looking at her abnormal behavior with concern.

"Viktor Krum asked me to be his dance partner," Hermione said to me slowly, enunciating each word. "I - I thought he was making fun of me, but he seemed serious... He actually seems to want me to be his dance partner."

My mouth fell open. "I thought he was going to give you trouble - so does he actually like you?"

Hermione's face was so red that it seemed blood might drip from it. "He just thinks, uh, it's not like that, just..."

"Did you say yes to him?" I asked her curiously in a whisper.

Hermione fidgeted with the cover of the thick book in her hand. "Well - I mean, he's the only one who invited me. It seems I don't have any other options."

She gave me a smile, then lowered her head and wiped her eyes.

As I'm now recalling this part of the past (it's taking me much more time to remember this story than I thought. I originally thought I could just mention it in a few words), I realize that she was like me at that time. We thought we were different from those chattering girls, but in fact, we still had a list in our hearts, with certain names we both knew well.

As the days passed, everyone's criteria for choosing a dance partner gradually lowered. Every day, the girls talked with relish about the new news. If the protagonists weren't around, they would discuss it merrily and loudly. If the protagonists were present, they would crowd around until they found out who invited whom and where. I felt relieved when I heard that Harry and Ron Weasley had invited the Patil sisters. Parvati Patil seemed much more suitable for the opening dance than me. I had seen her practicing dance steps with Brown in the dormitory.

"Go to the ball with me," McLaggen stopped me when I was about to climb into the Gryffindor common room. He said to me in an extremely confident tone, "You don't seem to have any other choices either - and I'm not afraid of your father. Although he doesn't seem to like me, he surely doesn't hate me either."

"Uh..." I was thinking about how to reject him gently. "Actually..."

"Potter is going to the ball with Patil, and Malfoy is going with Greengrass. Unless you want to dance with some younger kid who isn't even as tall as you - the senior Gryffindors won't invite you. I've already told them that I'm going to invite you."

The latter part of his words sounded blurred to me, and I couldn't hide my expression.

"Don't you know yet?" McLaggen's tone sounded triumphant. "He didn't tell you who he invited? Then your relationship doesn't seem to be as good as you thought - those so - called noble pure - blood families expose their hypocrisy in formal occasions. I'm different from them."

"Are you, like those girls, still waiting for Black?" My silence didn't stop him from chattering on. "Black, he - "

"I'm not waiting for anyone," I said to him calmly. "But I don't want to go to the ball with you either."

"Then who are you going to go with?" he asked aggressively. "I've told you, you don't have any better - "

One of Hagrid's Blast - ended Skrewts, maybe," I climbed into the Gryffindor common room. "I'd rather pick one of them as my dance partner."