The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people. Dumbledore smiled happily as the champions approached the top table, but Karkaroff wore an expression remarkably like Krum's as he watched Ron and Hermione draw nearer. I noticed Ludo's absence right away, and scanning the crowd, I found Amy and Andrew, who were talking to the twins. Amy pointed up at the front, so this was what they were on about. Clearly, Ludo had never intended to pay up and had known Amy would refuse the unbreakable vow.

"Ludo's done a runner" I said.

Harry nodded. "Make sure you get justice"

Madame Maxime, who had changed her usual uniform of black satin for a flowing gown of lavender silk, was applauding them politely. But Mr. Crouch was not there. The fifth seat at the table was occupied by Percy.

"Where do you reckon Crouch is?" said Harry

"No idea, let's ask Percy"

When the champions and their partners reached the table, Percy drew out the empty chairs beside him, staring pointedly at us. We took the hint and sat down next to Percy, who was wearing brand-new, navy-blue dress robes and an expression of such smugness that I thought it ought to be fined. Amy, Demelza, their partners, Luna and Magda were sitting on the other side of the hall, and I can't lie, I was frustrated that I was having to sit with my stuck up older brother instead of them.

"I've been promoted," Percy said before we could even ask, and from his tone, he might have been announcing his election as supreme ruler of the universe. "I'm now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm here representing him."

"Why didn't he come?" Harry asked

"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. Naturally, he dismissed her immediately afterward, 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 — 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."

"Has he stopped calling you Weatherby yet?" I said, and Harry and I both sniggered, with Percy's face going red. He didn't answer the question.

There was no food as yet on the glittering golden plates, but small menus were lying in front of each of them. We picked ours up uncertainly and looked around — there were no waiters. Dumbledore, however, looked carefully down at his own menu, then said very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!"

And pork chops appeared. Getting the idea, the rest of the table placed their orders with their plates too.

"Hermione doesn't seem too concerned this time" Harry said, looking at she and Ron in the middle of the next table.

"Thank Merlin" I replied. "This would have been much more complicated for the house elves"

Viktor Krum seemed to have gotten over his near miss of Hermione and was now talking happily to his Slytherin partner, on the table to the other side of us.

"Veil, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable, I am thinking," he was telling her. "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!" said Karkaroff with a laugh that didn't reach his cold eyes, "don't go giving away anything else, now, or your charming friend will know exactly where to find us!"

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Igor, all this secrecy . . . one would almost think you didn't want visitors"

"Well, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff, displaying his yellowing teeth to their fullest extent, "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?"

"Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets, Igor," said Dumbledore amicably. "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"

Was he joking? Dumbledore did have a decent sense of humour. I decided that I would try to find out at some point.

"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."

Harry snorted into his goulash and I burst out laughing.

"Yes my love" I told him, patting him on the back, "when you need the toilet during a match now you know where to go!"

"You play seeker occasionally too" he shot back, though he was smiling.

Meanwhile Fleur Delacour was criticizing the Hogwarts decorations to Roger Davies, two tables down. "Zis is nothing," she said dismissively, looking around at the sparkling walls of the Great Hall. "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. 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.

Roger Davies was watching her talk with a very dazed look on his face, and he kept missing his mouth with his fork. "Absolutely right," he said quickly, slapping his own hand down on the table in imitation of Fleur. "Like that. Yeah"

"Honestly!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes. "Veela are not that perfect, especially only part veela, her in particular!"

Delacour shot me a glare and Davies snapped "well you're a girl, of course you wouldn't think so!"

"Excuse me" said Delacour "what have I ever done to you? It is not my fault I ave Veela in my bloodline!"

"Just existing really" I said.