In the days after the Christmas Ball was announced, Hogwarts Castle seemed especially lively compared with the same period in previous years.
The girls started moving around in groups, which put a lot of pressure on many boys. Whenever they wanted to invite a particular girl, they often had to face the scrutiny of an entire group of girls.
Besides the girls traveling in packs, rumors also came one after another;
For example, Dumbledore had supposedly ordered over a thousand barrels of fragrant Mead for this Christmas Ball;
And the amount of sweets Dumbledore had ordered also seemed astonishing. According to so-called "reliable sources," Honeydukes' storerooms had all been emptied.
However, according to verification by the Hufflepuff students, most of the rumors had only one purpose—to exaggerate how extravagant the Christmas Ball would be, attract more students to stay at school, and thereby increase the chances of inviting a dance partner.
"How did it go?" Seeing Anthony Goldstein return to the Ravenclaw table, Michael Corner hurriedly asked, "Did you succeed?"
"I failed..." Anthony rubbed his hair, sat down in his seat, and sighed. "Lini already has a partner."
"Who's her partner?" Michael asked. "Is it Andrew Kirk from Gryffindor?"
"You! Did you already know?" Anthony glared at Michael and had already pulled his Wand from his pocket, as if he were about to cast a spell in the next moment.
"Listen to me!" Michael hurriedly raised both hands high. "I only found out from Justin this morning..."
"Zacharias actually told Andrew Kirk about it too. And I heard the news about Lini from Zacharias before."
"Zacharias?" Anthony raised an eyebrow, stood up, and looked toward the Hufflepuff table, as if confirming something. "You mean that Zacharias Smith?"
"Yes! That's him!" Michael hurriedly nodded, then saw Cedric's ears turn a