บท 224: A Dance to Remember

Oleandra didn't end up eating very much, just like Fleur, who was trying to watch her weight. If there was going to be dancing (and perhaps fighting), then she'd rather not eat to bursting.

"I trust that you've all had your fill," Professor Dumbledore said as he stood up. "So, it is now time— time to dance! If you'll please stand up—"

With a wave of his wand, every table in the Great Hall flew off to the sides, where they stacked themselves on top of each other precariously, clearing enough space in the middle to hold the Ball. He then conjured a stage on one side of the Hall, and Filch along with a few other staff members set some musical instruments upon it.

Supposedly, the Weird Sisters, a band famous in the Wizarding world, had been invited to play for the occasion. And it seemed the rumours were right; true to their name, the strange-looking furry women strode onto the stage under a thunder of applause and took up their instruments.

"Come on," said Oleandra, extending a hand to Ron. "Shall we dance?"

Ron accepted her hand and they walked down to the dance floor, followed by Delacour and Davies, Krum and Hermione, and finally, Harry and Ginny. Thankfully, the Weird Sisters started them off with a slow waltz song, to give the dance partners a chance to get used to each other's pace. Oleandra and Ron weren't the most practised dancers, since Oleandra had never attended any fancy noble parties when she was young and Ron's family had been barred from them.

Oleandra was a quick study, though; she was already quite adept at moving her limbs due to her needing to adopt stances for her magic, so she soon got into the rhythm. Dancing was just like magic for her! As for Ron, he was much clumsier; though thankfully, he thought to himself, he wasn't nearly as bad as Neville was.

"I'm inside Dumbledore's office," Daphne's voice rang inside Oleandra's head. "The portraits… they're all looking at me. Is Dumbledore still in the Great Hall?"

"It's a good thing you're disguised, then," Oleandra responded. "And let me see…"

Once the champions had begun dancing, they were quickly joined by the rest of the school, student and teachers alike. Oleandra could see Astoria, who was disguised as Daphne, dancing with Colin Creevey. Ah, and there he was: Professor Dumbledore was somehow waltzing with Madame Maxime, despite her being more than a few heads taller than him.

"It's fine, he's still here," responded Oleandra. "You'd better still a few other things, so that he won't suspect you're specifically after the Phoenix ashes. Wait…"

Professor Dumbledore had suddenly stopped dancing; he had now retrieved something small from a pocket and held it up to his ear. A mobile phone? No, it couldn't be, electronics didn't work in Hogwarts, and the object was too small…¹

"He's walking towards the exit; I think he's onto us!"

"How did he know?"

"I don't know; he must have some sort of secrecy sensor in his office, or something! Take what you can and get out of there!"

Meanwhile, the Weird Sisters' song had just ended.

"That was sort of fun, wasn't it?" said Ron. "Do you want to go again?"

"Yeah," said Oleandra with a sort of strained smile, watching Dumbledore stride towards the double doors that led to the Entrance Hall. "Sure thing."

The Weird Sister's second song was much faster than the first one; naturally, the rate at which they needed to dance was equally higher. The Hall was filled with laughter as couples twirled and gyrated together. Nobody noticed Professor Dumbledore bounce off the invisible wall that kept him from exiting the premises.

By the end of the song, Ron's face was turning pink and he was audibly breathing; his dress robes weren't nearly as breezy as Oleandra's. It had to feel like a sauna in there, to be sure.

"I need a breather," Ron puffed. "Wanna sit down for a minute?"

Oleandra agreed, and they headed back to the champion's table, where they found Harry and Ginny. Ginny was looking rather disgruntled, and Harry didn't look too happy either; following his gaze, Oleandra found that he was looking at Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory, who were dancing with each other. A few seconds after Oleandra and Ron sat down, Hermione approached the table.

"It's hot, isn't it?" said Hermione, fanning herself with her hand. "Viktor's just gone to get some drinks."

It certainly was getting hot in the Hall. To her surprise, Oleandra noticed that her glass had been refilled with a burgundy red liquid. For every single one of her meals since the day she had visited the Hogwarts kitchens, the House-Elves had never once forgotten to fill her glass with grenadine, made with fresh pomegranate and red currant, and to bring Daphne her favourite key-lime pie.

"Is that your glass?" said Ron, pointing at Oleandra's glass, which was the only one on the table. "Mind if I have a sip? I'm a bit thirsty—"

"Help yourself," said Oleandra distractedly, her eyes trained on Professor Dumbledore's figure at the other end of the hall.

"So," said Ron quietly while taking a sip of Oleandra's fruit juice. "Viktor— How'd that happen?"

Professors Dumbledore, Moody and McGonagall were now assembled before the great door, waving their wands in an attempt to dispel the enchantment that was holding them inside, and the dancers closest to the exit were already beginning to notice their efforts. Too bad for them; runic magic had a tendency to be extremely resilient; until Oleandra gave the go-ahead, no adult was leaving this room!

"Well, there I was at the library, as usual," Hermione began. "I was actually hoping he'd go away; he's constantly surrounded by these squealing girls, you see— and to my surprise, he told me the reason he'd been at the library was to build up the courage to ask me out—"

"Right," said Ron thickly, who was beginning to turn a bit red in the face. "Fraternizing with the enemy, innit? You do know he's competing against Harry and Oleandra, yeah?"

"Ron, you're turning purple," said Hermione with a worried expression. "Are you… Are you feeling quite all right?"