Compared with the lively atmosphere at Defense Association headquarters, the shelter felt deserted, utterly devoid of any holiday spirit.
No, it would be more accurate to say that they had no intention of celebrating Christmas—or at least, no intention of celebrating Christmas in the shelter.
Many underage wizards were unable to attend the Yule Ball because of their age and harbored considerable resentment toward Albert. When they learned that Albert had come to the shelter, they fixed him with resentful stares, leaving him rather speechless.
Albert could understand it. Anyone forced to hide in the shelter all day would suffer physically and mentally, but...
"You seem to have forgotten your situation. The moment you attend the Yule Ball, the Trace on you will completely expose Association headquarters to the Death Eaters' eyes. And besides..."
The expression on Albert's face grew increasingly strange as he asked, "Why don't you hold a Yule Ball yourselves?"
Everyone was stunned by that. Clearly, none of them had expected Albert to say such a thing, nor had they considered that it could be done that way.
Why not hold a party in the shelter?
Right!
Why not hold their own Yule Ball?
But... many of them felt that something was off.
As for what exactly was wrong, they could not put it into words for the moment.
"That may be true, but we have nothing here. How are we supposed to hold a Yule Ball?" someone muttered softly.
Everyone immediately came to a realization!
That was right!
They had nothing here. How could they hold a Christmas party?
"Are you sure you really have nothing?"
Albert raised a hand to suppress the surrounding clamor and swept his gaze across the crowd.
"As long as you are willing to spend some time clearing out the hall,