Another song ended, Harry panted and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Are you tired?" He looked at Ginny and asked, "How about we take a break?"
Ginny was still a little reluctant to leave, so she stretched her sore ankle and tried to force herself to continue jumping.
However, Harry glanced outside the dance floor and saw that Ron had stopped dancing with Midgen early and sat in a seat outside, looking a little unhappy.
Although Harry felt a little unsatisfied, he still pulled Ginny out of the dance floor because he was worried about Ron.
"How was your dancing today?" Harry asked Ron, as he sat down and opened a bottle of Butterbeer that was on the table.
Hogwarts was well prepared for this dance. There were several banquet tables next to the dance floor, with different types of drinks on them, so that students who were thirsty after dancing could come here to replenish their drinks.
Ron still sat there motionless, in no mood to answer Harry's questions. He just glared angrily at Hermione and Krum who were dancing nearby.
"He's been sitting like this for a long time." Midgen sat beside him with his arms crossed and his legs crossed, one leg shaking to the beat of the music, as if he hadn't danced to his heart's content.
"Ever since he saw how good-looking Granger was, he's been distracted," she said. "We just had a dance today. He wasn't a very good dancer to begin with, and when he was distracted, he wasn't even much better than Longbottom."
Midgen was obviously somewhat dissatisfied with Ron.
No matter which girl it is, if her dance partner does not concentrate on dancing with her at the party, but instead keeps paying attention to another girl, it is impossible for her to be generous and understand.
In comparison, Midgen is considered to be extremely open-minded.
If it were someone else, it's hard to say whether Ron would be sitting here intact now...
"Ron, I admit that Hermione's outfit today is indeed... well, incredible, but there is no need for you to be so surprised, right?" Harry said carefully.
"Don't ask, Harry." Ginny said coldly beside her, "Haven't you figured it out yet? This guy is obviously jealous because he saw Hermione dancing with Krum."
"I didn't!" Ron's face flushed, and he turned back to glare at Ginny, "I... How could I be jealous of them? What do you think our relationship is?"
"We are brothers, do you understand? You girls don't understand how we brothers get along with each other!" He said in a stern voice.
"Yes, yes, when Hermione didn't pay attention to her image, you always treated her as your 'buddy'. Now that she has become beautiful, you realize that she is a girl." Ginny mocked mercilessly.
"You don't need to remind me. I always knew she was a girl!" Ron said stubbornly.
"Then why didn't you think of asking Hermione to be your dance partner before?" Ginny pouted and continued, "You had to wait until Krum invited her before you thought of asking her to be your dance partner... In your eyes, it's impossible for Hermione to find a dance partner, right?"
"I'm not... I, she also..." Ginny's words made Ron begin to speak incoherently.
"And there's something else." Ginny pressed on. "Didn't you say in the common room that you'd rather go to the Yule Ball alone than invite Hermione?"
"I didn't... I just didn't mean to invite girls who were... not very pretty," Ron stammered. "I'd rather go to the Christmas ball alone than dance with those girls."
"Huh?" Hearing this, Eloise Midgen, who was sitting with her legs crossed, could no longer sit still and asked, "Do you mean that Hermione is not pretty, or that I am not pretty?"
"I saw it when Professor Dracula arranged dance pairs for those without partners in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. You were originally very reluctant to become my dance partner, right?"
"I'm not..." Ron was so anxious that he was about to cry.
He was indeed not very satisfied with Midgen's acne and crooked nose, so he had never thought of inviting her as a dance partner, but he had never dared to express this idea in front of Midgen.
Now that he was provoked by Ginny, Ron blurted out his previous criteria for choosing a dance partner. As expected, Midgen noticed it sharply.
"I shouldn't have invited you, come here, Wes!" Midgen had no intention of listening to Ron's explanation. He changed Ron's name from his first name to his last name and said coldly.
After saying that, she stood up from her seat and sat at another banquet table.
Soon, other boys came over and invited Midgen to dance with them. Midgen agreed without hesitation.
"Ginny, what have you done..." Ron said with a sad face as he watched this scene.
"You did it all yourself," Ginny said without showing any weakness. "You'd better find a way to apologize to Midgen these days, otherwise I can't be sure that she won't turn against you."
At this time, Hermione came over from the dance floor and sat in the vacant chair in Midgen.
She hadn't realized that a war had almost broken out here. She kept fanning herself with her hands, and her face turned slightly red from dancing.
"Good evening, Hermione." Harry was the first to greet Hermione.
Ron shut his mouth and said nothing.
"Good evening, Harry... It's hot, isn't it?" Hermione said, wiping her sweat with a tissue on the table. "Viktor went to the next table to get a drink... Hey, where's Eloise? Isn't she your dance partner?"
Ron gave Hermione a sour look, his attention completely focused on the way Hermione addressed Krum.
"Viktor?" he said. "Did he ask you to call him 'Wiggy'?"
Hermione looked at him in surprise.
"What's wrong with you? Are you in a bad mood now because of the conflict with Eloise?" she asked.
"If you don't know," said Ron tartly, "I don't want to tell you."
Hermione looked back at Harry, surprised and confused.
Harry didn't know what to say, so he could only shrug helplessly.
"Ron, what are you—"
"He's from Durmstrang!" Ron suddenly shouted. "He's Harry's rival! A rival of Hogwarts! You - what are you -"
He was obviously racking his brain for words strong enough to describe Hermione's crime. "You're pro-enemy, that's what you did!"
Harry, who was sitting next to him, couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't know why he was involved in this.
He pulled on Ron's arm, trying to stop him, but Ron remained unmoved.
Hermione's mouth dropped open in shock.
"Don't talk nonsense!" She retorted after a moment, "Pro-enemy! Who is the enemy? To be honest, who was so excited that he couldn't control himself when he came? Who was obsessed with getting his autograph? Who put up his model in the dormitory?"
Ron decided to ignore the comments and asked a different question: "He probably invited you while you were both in the library?"
"Yeah, that's right," said Hermione, her dancing blush growing brighter. "So what?"
"How did it happen?" Ron asked sharply. "You were trying to get Harry to tell you something?"
"No, it's not!" Hermione retorted loudly, "If you really want to know, I'll tell you, he... he said he came to the library every day just to talk to me, but he never got the courage!"
"Really?" said Ron sourly. "Well, that's what he said."
"Well, will you tell me what he means, please?" asked Hermione impatiently.
"Isn't it obvious? He's Karkaroff's student, isn't he?" said Ron. "He knows who you've been hanging out with all the time - he just wants to get close to Harry and steal his information; or get close to Harry and cast a poison spell on him..."
"Shut up, Ron!" Ginny interrupted him loudly, "Are you done yet? You keep making up excuses like this!"
"I just hope she knows that Krum is our enemy!" Ron also shouted excitedly.
"Ahem... Ron, I actually don't think it's a big deal if Hermione and Krum dance together." Harry, who was standing between the two of them, trembled, trying to be a peacemaker.
But Ron ignored Harry's thoughts and asked:
"Then why don't you go find Vicky now? He might get worried if he can't find you."
"His name isn't Vicky, Ron!"
Hermione was shaking with anger, and without waiting for Krum to bring the drinks, she walked straight across the dance floor and disappeared angrily into the crowd.
Ron looked at her back with a mixture of anger and relief on his face.
"Let's go too, Harry," Ginny pouted and took Harry's hand. "Ron has always had a period of time when he gets upset with us at every age, from childhood to adulthood."
"Wait, I haven't talked about you yet!" Ron turned his head and looked at them, "You two haven't told me what's going on with you? I'm your brother, Ginny..."
However, Ginny didn't want to pay any attention to him. She pulled Harry onto the dance floor and danced with him to the next fast-paced dance song by the Weird Sisters.
However, Harry had no mood to dance, he was absent-minded and his steps were not keeping up with the beat. He was always worried about his friend.
At this time, a tall figure and another short and fat witch came to him and Ginny while dancing.
Harry discovered that Professor Dracula's dance partner had changed from Professor McGonagall to Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff House, at some point.
He never thought that Professor Sprout, a witch who had been working in the greenhouse all year round and made herself look dirty, could actually dance quite well.
But compared with Professor Dracula's tall figure, her figure looks a little funny...
Of course, if compared with the height difference between Dumbledore and Ms. Maxime, the difference between Professor Dracula and Professor Sprout is quite harmonious.
"Potter, if you don't stay focused when your dancing skills are not good enough, your dance partner will probably be angry." Dracula's voice sounded beside Harry.
Only then did Harry realize that he had stepped on Ginny several times and quickly apologized to her.
Fortunately, Ginny also knew that Harry was distracted by his friend, who was her brother, so she generously forgave him.
"What's wrong? Did you have a conflict with your inseparable friend again?" Dracula asked with interest, "I remember you two just reconciled not long ago?"
"Not this time..." Harry said, "Ron and I didn't have a quarrel this time."
He was still hesitating whether to tell Professor Dracula about Ron's situation, but Ginny spoke first.
"Professor, this time it's not Harry and Ron's problem, it's Ron and Hermione." Ginny complained, "He's probably jealous and has started to quarrel with others again... First it was Harry, then Hermione. This has happened twice this semester. He never stops!"
Ginny thought that Ron was her brother after all, Hermione was her good friend, and this also involved Harry, whom she admired.
Now those two people are in conflict, maybe the almighty Professor Dracula can find some solutions.
However, Dracula had no intention of helping them solve the problem. Instead, he just wanted to watch the fun.
"Oh? Weiss is jealous of Granger? Interesting!" He said with great interest, "Come on, tell me in detail what happened between the two of them. I love to hear it."
"Uh..." Harry was stunned, feeling that Ginny's idea of asking Professor Dracula for help was totally unreliable.
Fortunately, in addition to Professor Dracula, there is also the amiable Professor Sprout dancing here.
As the head of Badger House who is most enthusiastic about helping others, Professor Sprout looked at Harry and Ginny with a smile and said to them, "Are you talking about the boy from the Weisley family? I know that the youngest boy in the Weisley family is not very worrying."
Hearing this, Harry blushed a little, feeling that he was one of the people that Professor Sprout mentioned who were not so troublesome.
"It's okay," Professor Sprout said with a smile, "When I was teaching Arthur and Molly, they were actually not very worrying either - especially Arthur, who was even hung up and beaten by the janitor at that time!"
Seeing that Sprout was willing to help, Ginny quickly told her in detail what had happened between Ron, Hermione and Krum. Dracula, who was dancing with Professor Sprout, was watching with great interest.
"I see," Professor Sprout said with a gentle smile, "Perhaps you haven't thought that this isn't just his problem?"
"Ron has to compete with so many outstanding brothers at home. Harry, you are his best friend and so famous - every time people see you, he is left out, and he endures it silently without saying a word. I think this time it just made him unbearable..."
"It's similar to what happened with Hermione. Miss Granger has always been so outstanding. No matter how indifferent he appears to be, he will always feel inferior in his heart."
"You know what? Ron is probably a child who lacks confidence and is insecure."
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