s as he watched Krum and
Hermione draw nearer. Ludo Bagman, tonight in robes of bright purple with large
yellow stars, was clapping as enthusiastically as any of the students; and 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, Harry suddenly
realized, was not there. The fifth seat at the table was occupied by Percy Weasley.
When the champions and their partners reached the table, Percy drew out the
empty chair beside him, staring pointedly at Harry. Harry 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 Harry thought it ought to be fined.
"I've been promoted," Percy said before Harry 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. He wasn't looking forward to being lectured
on cauldron bottoms all through dinner.
"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
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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."
Harry wanted very much to ask whether Mr. Crouch had stopped calling Percy
"Weatherby" yet, but resisted the temptation.
There was no food as yet on the glittering golden plates, but small menus were
lying in front of each of them. Harry picked his 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. Harry glanced up at Hermione to see how she felt about this
new and more complicated method of dining - surely it meant plenty of extra work
for the house-elves? - but for once, Hermione didn't seem to be thinking about
S.P.E.W. She was deep in talk with Viktor Krum and hardly seemed to notice
what she was eating.
It now occurred to Harry that he had never actually heard Krum speak before, but
he was certainly talking now, and very enthusiastically at that.
"Veil, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable, I am thinking,"
he was telling Hermione. "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. Possibly it is only accessible
at five-thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at the quarter moon - or when
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the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder."
Harry snorted into his plate of goulash. Percy frowned, but Harry could have
sworn Dumbledore had given him a very small wink.
Meanwhile Fleur Delacour was criticizing the Hogwarts decorations to Roger
Davies.
"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. Harry had the impression that Davies was
too busy staring at Fleur to take in a word she was saying.
"Absolutely right," he said quickly, slapping his own hand down on the table in
imitation of Fleur. "Like that. Yeah."
Harry looked around the Hall. Hagrid was sitting at one of the other staff tables; he
was back in his horrible hairy brown suit and gazing up at the top table. Harry saw
him give a small wave, and looking around, saw Madame Maxime return it, her
opals glittering in the candlelight.
Hermione was now teaching Krum to say her name properly; he kept calling her
"Hermy-own."
"Her-my-oh-nee," she said slowly and clearly.
"Herm-own-ninny."
"Close enough," she said, catching Harry's eye and grinning.
When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the
students to do the same. Then, with a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed
back along the walls leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform
into existence along the right wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello,
and some bagpipes were set upon it.
The "Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause;
they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully
ripped and torn. They picked up their instruments, and Harry, who had been so
interested in watching them that he had almost forgotten what was coming,
suddenly realized that the lanterns on all the other tables had gone out, and that the
other champions and their partners were standing up.
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"Come on!" Parvati hissed. "We're supposed to dance!"
Harry tripped over his dress robes as he stood up. The Weird Sisters struck up a
slow, mournful tune; Harry walked onto the brightly lit dance floor, carefully
avoiding catching anyone's eye (he could see Seamus and Dean waving at him and
sniggering), and next moment, Parvati had seized his hands, placed one around her
waist, and was holding the other tightly in hers.
It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Harry thought, revolving slowly on the spot
(Parvati was steering). He kept his eyes fixed over the heads of the watching
people, and very soon many of them too had come onto the dance floor, so that the
champions were no longer the center of attention. Neville and Ginny were dancing
nearby - he could see Ginny wincing frequently as Neville trod on her feet - and
Dumbledore was waltzing with Madame Maxime. He was so dwarfed by her that
the top of his pointed hat barely tickled her chin; however, she moved very
gracefully for a woman so large. Mad-Eye Moody was doing an extremely
ungainly two-step with Professor Sinistra, who was nervously avoiding his
wooden leg.
"Nice socks. Potter," Moody growled as he passed, his magical eye staring through
Harry's robes.
"Oh - yeah, Dobby the house-elf knitted them for me," said Harry, grinning.
"He is so creepy!" Parvati whispered as Moody clunked away. "I don't think that
eye should be allowed."
Harry heard the final, quavering note from the bagpipe with relief. The Weird
Sisters stopped playing, applause filled the hall once more, and Harry let go of
Parvati at once.
"Let's sit down, shall we?"
"Oh - but - this is a really good one!" Parvati said as the Weird Sisters struck up a
new song, which was much faster.
"No, I don't like it," Harry lied, and he led her away from the dance floor, past
Fred and Angelina, who were dancing so exhuberantly that people around them
were backing away in fear of injury, and over to the table where Ron and Padma
were sitting.
"How's it going?" Harry asked Ron, sitting down and opening a bottle of
butterbeer.
Ron didn't answer. He was glaring at Hermione and Krum, who were dancing
nearby. Padma was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, one foot jiggling in
time to the music. Every now and then she threw a disgruntled look at Ron, who
was completely ignoring her. Parvati sat down on Harry's other side, crossed her
arms and legs too, and within minutes was asked to dance by a boy from
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Beauxbatons.
"You don't mind, do you, Harry?" Parvati said.
"What?" said Harry, who was now watching Cho and Cedric.
"Oh never mind," snapped Parvati, and she went off with the boy from
Beauxbatons. When the song ended, she did not return.
Hermione came over and sat down in Parvati's empty chair. She was a bit pink in
the face from dancing.
"Hi," said Harry. Ron didn't say anyt