Chapter 82: Chapter 80 - The Yule Ball Pt. 3
***** Regular Chapter ***** A/N: Currently Wine drunk on my way back from a Winery for a work trip. Excuse the grammar mistakes but I'm writing this on my phone on the bus LOL. Also Weekends have been super busy lately. All my stupid friends are getting to the age of marriage and kids. So now I have all these dumb obligations! Anyways, Chapters will probably be later in the day this week, as I'll be writing them all after work as a result! Hope you all enjoy! *****
"And now entering, are the Champions of the Triwizard Tournament, escorted of course, by their dates, not to mention, the lovely Professor McGonagall!" Khan heard Lee announce overhead, as they entered the Great Hall in procession, as instructed. "Lets give them a nice warm welcome!"
Following McGonagall, they all entered the Great Hall in procession, everyone in the Great Hall welcoming them with warm applause as they walked.
The walls of the Great Hall had been all covered in Sparking silver frost, with hundreds upon hundreds of Mistletoe and ivy floating under the starry black ceiling.
The four large House Tables had vanished, replaced instead with over a hundred smaller, lantern-lit round ones, each seating a dozen people.
As the champions and their dates were all smiling around at everyone, while admiring the unique transformation that had been done to the Great Hall, McGonagall then started leading them towards a large round Table at the top of the Hall, where Khan noticed that the judges, and surprisingly Natsai, were currently sitting.
Dumbledore smiled happily as the champions and their dates approached the top table, Natty seated by his side. Dressed in a sharp suit and matching Tilly hat, his outfit together with his new trimmed haircut and beard combined to make Dumbledore make appear decades younger, even with all his wrinkles.
(A/N: Closer in looks to Fantastic Beasts Jude Law's Dumbledore, just with more wrinkles)
In contrast, Natsai was seated by Dumbledore's side, carrying a small smile on her otherwise stoic and imposing looking Face, as she watched Jordan walk towards the Judges and herself, seated at the Judges table. She was dressed in Royal African Robes of Deep green combined with matching Headdress, appearing quite like an African Queen, especially with her royal demeanor and imposing looking Witch Staff.
As they all grew closer, Khan finally also noticed the other judges who were also seated at the head table.
The other headmasters, Karkaroff and Maxime, were both there of course, cheering on their respective champions.
Unlike Maxime however, who had been applauding Fleur and Jordan rather boisterously, clearly happy with her choice of date, Karkaroff did not appear engaged, and instead appeared distracted with other thoughts, staring off into space absentmindedly, as he clapped along politely.
Bagman was obviously present as well, not one to miss a party. He was dressed in Dress robes of Bright purple, with Large Yellow Stars, and was clapping as enthusiastically as any of the other watching students.
Khan noticed however, that Mr. Crouch appeared to be strangely absent. Instead, in his place was..... Percy Weasley, looking very proud, and quite self-important.
"They will be sitting alongside the five Judges for this Triwizard Tournament...." Lee continued where he left off, as the Champions and their partners finally reached the head table. "As well as another honored guest!!!"
"As some of the 'eagle'-eyed students may have already noticed, we have another person sitting at the Head Table, that is seemingly not a Judge, nor involved with the Triwizard Tournament!" Lee announced, obviously referencing Natty. "Well.... lucky for all you curious students, you will all be finding out shortly!"
"She is JUST someone who is known publicly to be Headmaster Dumbledore's only mentor!" The listening students were all stunned! "And as impressive as that title alone sounds, that's surprisingly not all! She also graduated from Hogwarts in 1893 as a member of the Great Gryffindor House, and Head-girl of that graduating class!"
"Going on to serve in the Ministry as the previous Chief Witch of the Wizengamot, she eventually passed that title onto her protégé, moving on to serve as the Headmistress of the Prestigious Wizarding school, Uagadou, for the next 60 years, before recently retiring!"
Khan listened in slight shock, not knowing that Natty was also the previous Chief witch before Dumbledore.
"Now, in her retirement, she simply spends her time, roaming the African plains, serving as the Primary Diviner in her spare time, for not only the Entire African Continent, but the European Continent as well!"
"Here today as Dumbledore's Guest of Honor, Please give me hand in welcoming, Grand Diviner Natsai Onai!"
Similar to Jordan, the listening students were all very impressed with her accolades.
As a result, Natty was greeted with the loudest cheers and applause yet!
Surprisingly, they (the cheers) were even louder than Khan's were, as he entered the Great Hall just earlier. Whether that was due to Fleur being his date, due to the fact that the students were growing used to Jordan Khan and his celebrity status, or simply due to the fact that they admired Natty more than him, only the students would ever know.
Natsai stood up, temporarily waving to the crowd in greetings and thanks, before sitting back down, pulling out a seat wandlessly for the approaching Khan to have a seat.
Jordan himself, felt quite happy listening to the student's applause and recognition of one of his best-friends, as he pulled out Fleur's own chair first, before thanking Natsai for pulling out his chair, and having a seat, thinking about the many impressive titles his friend held.
Khan was already impressed with Natsai's previous resume, and that was with him only knowing that she was the previous head-girl of their graduating year, as well as that she was the previous Headmistress for Uagadou.
But Ex-Chief Witch of the Wizengamot? Grand Diviner of the entire African and European Continents?! He had no idea she had accomplished so much, and was so recognized around the world!
He looked towards his long time friend, face still in slight shock, as she grinned at him, her nose held high, Natty obviously proud of her accomplishments, while also taking pleasure in her little surprise at her old friend's expense.
"Seriously Natty? Couldn't have given me a heads up?" He familiarly joked with her, just as had done, all those years ago.
"Where's the fun in that?" Natty fired back with a grin, just as feisty as Jordan remembered from the past.
When the applause finally died down, it seemed like it was finally time to eat, as Lee was done with his announcements, with magical menus appearing before them on their glistening golden plates.
Khan took a quick glance over the menu, before looking up and looking around in slight confusion. It occurred to Jordan, seeing no waiters upon entering, that it would be difficult to order their food, with the lack of wait staff on hand.
Looking over to Dumbledore however, who was carefully looking down at his own menu before proceeding to order his own food, Khan quickly learned the 'secret' behind ordering.
"Fleur... what are you thinking of having?" He turned to his date, who was looking over her own menu in happiness, intending to order for her, as a proper gentleman should.
"Oh Jordan, Look! They have French Food Items!" She exclaimed. "As much as I've come to like English food, it is very heavy, and I was rather worried about fitting into my Yule Ball Dress!"
Khan's eyes were drawn to Fleur's dress as he listened to her complain about fitting in said dress; specifically the part of the dress where it partly covered her ample cleavage.
Fleur, who had obviously noticed where Jordan was unashamedly staring, proudly stuck out her chest in response, and continued nonchalantly speaking about the food.
"It all looks soooo good, but I think I'm going to have a French Onion Soup, and a Boeuf Bourguignon!"
"...."
"What about you dear?"
"Sorry?"
Khan finally woke up out of his trance, Half-hearing Fleur's question about his own food, before actually processing it a few moments later.
"Right.. I'm Probably going to order a Filet Mignon.... Nothing like a good steak, after all!" He embarrassingly responded to her, face growing slightly red, as he made eye contact with a very coy looking Fleur.
"A French Onion soup, and a Boeuf Bourguignon, for the Lady!" Looking carefully at their plates, he clearly annunciated their order. "And a Filet Mignon, Medium for myself please!"
And in short order, a perfectly cooked looking steak accompanied with a Baked potato and veggies, appeared on his plate, with a very nice looking French Onion Soup, and Boeuf Bourguignon appearing nearby on Fleur's place.
"Oh very good, this looks wonderful!" Fleur announced, before breaking into the cheese covered soup. "Simply Superb! How is yours dear?"
"Fantastic! Compliments to the House-elves!" Khan announced, heartily digging into his bacon-wrapped steak, before he glanced absentmindedly at Hermione to see how she felt, himself thinking about all the extra work this meant for the House-elves.
It seemed however, that she had yet to noticed, as she was currently seated close by, alongside Harry, both of them listening to a bragging Percy, who was seated next to them.
"-ight since the World Cup, though its hardly surprising with the amount of work done for that as well as this tournament! He's not quite as young as he once was, though still very brilliant of course, his mind still remaining as great as it ever was!"
Khan, realizing Percy was speaking about Mr. Crouch, started to listen more intently. After all, he knew that Voldemort was secretly controlling Crouch, and wanted to learn a little bit more about what he could be up to, with regards to the rest of the tournament.
Especially now, that Crouch Jr. has died off, and Voldemort has lost one of his pieces.
"But the world cup was a fiasco for the Ministry, with Mr. Crouch Personally suffering a huge shock with the misbehavior of that house-elf of his, Blinky, or whatever her name was. Naturally, he dismissed her afterwards, but I do think he's getting on in age, and he needs some looking after. And with that elf gone, I think he's found a definite drop in his home comforts since she left."
"It's Winky!" Hermione huffed. "And I should think that he deserves everything that is coming to him, and more, if the way he treated her is any indication, of the way he runs his departments!"
"Mr. Crouch is a good man, and very hard working!" Percy rebuked her, before continuing on, never missing a chance to brag. "We had this tournament to arrange, and that was in the aftermath of the World Cup! Combined with that revolting Skeeter woman buzzing around, and well, I'd say the poor man has earned a nice quiet Christmas, without any Ministry duties. I'm just glad he knew he had someone he could rely upon to ta-."
Khan stopped listening to the bragging Percy at that point; with him not giving any relevant information about Crouch and his whereabouts, Jordan did not want to listen to any more of Percy's verbal diarrhea.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Turning back to his date, he proceeded to ask Fleur how she was feeling, as she ate.
"Oh yes, the food is wonderful, and I always enjoy myself with you!" Fleur complimented. "Although, I must say, I was expecting the decorations to be a little bit more... impressive.
Looking around at the sparking walls of the Great Hall, Khan saw that she looked a bit disappointed, for some reason.
"What do you mean?" He had to clarify.
"Well at Beauxbatons, it is more like a palace, than an old castle, with Ice Sculptures all around the dining chamber during Christmas, appearing like huge statues of diamond. And we also have choirs of wood nymphs, to serenade us, as we eat! Can you imagine it? All of them glittering all over the Palace, with a peaceful chorus to eat your food too?"
"That does sound rather divine, truth be told." Khan admitted. "I look forward to seeing it some day."
Jordan fully intended to travel for a bit after school, adventuring, looking for Sebastian, and learning along the way, from all the various magical schools and obscure books around the world; Naturally Beauxbatons was one of them, especially with his growing relationship with Fleur.
"Maybe this Summer?" Fleur suggested excitedly. "I will be more than happy to accompany you on your adventures and show you around France, while we are there!"
"Well what about you? Aren't you going to be also graduating? Do you have anything you want to do?" Khan was rather flattered that Fleur appeared to insinuate that she wanted to accompany him in his adventures as well as support him in his endeavors.
"Of course I'm going to be graduating.... as for what I want to do, I just told you! Accompany you on your adventures!" She replied, as if this were a matter of fact.
"Well ya... but like besides that! When we're adventuring and touring around, do you have anything you want to do? Anything you want to see or study?" Khan elaborated.
Like her, he also wanted to do his best, to support Fleur with her future goals, and not just have her support him.
Although his father was very much the businessman, primarily supporting the family monetarily and running the empire, his mother also maintained her own very successful Potions Researching career.
It was not that she had to work to support their family; it was more like his father made more than enough to support the family with all the family businesses, and in turn, pushed her to pursue her own interests.
And if she truly wanted to work, to work in something she enjoyed.
"I have a few things I want to do, of course, but we will have more than enough time to worry about me and my interests after the Khan family is reestablished!" Fleur told Jordan dismissively, before holding his hand and asking him concernedly. "Where is this coming from dear?"
Fleur did not realize yet, but this Christmas, in addition to sending his Phoenix to her Parents in France to retrieve their presents for her, he also sent Sol back there earlier that same day, after he had bought that protective necklace for Fleur.
As was proper, Sol delivered a notice from the head of the Khan house (himself) notifying the Head of the Delacour House (Fleur's father) of his intention to romantically court his daughter.
As a result, Khan was thinking more seriously about his future, and in turn, Fleur's future part of it.
Similar to his parents, Khan also wanted to develop a similar relationship for himself and Fleur, especially with themselves growing more serious, not to mention his formal notice to her father.
Growing serious, he grabbed her hand back tightly, looking at her directly in her eyes.
"Fleur...."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sudoku
Sudoku Sorry for the minor Cliff, but the ride home from the winery is done, and Im ready to pass out. Not to mention we're already at 2500+ words lol.
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