When Kael came back with pudding and pumpkin juice, he happened to see a Durmstrang boy standing in front of Conna, seemingly trying to invite her to dance.
But Conna turned him down, and the boy didn't insist—he simply walked over to another Gryffindor girl nearby. Kael vaguely remembered her name was Parvati or something; she was in the same year as Harry anyway.
"Have some juice." Kael walked over and handed her the things in his hands. "Someone recommended this pudding—it's supposed to be pretty good."
Conna took the pudding and took a bite. After dancing three songs in a row, her cheeks were slightly flushed.
"Hogwarts has never been this lively before, has it?" she said. "Everyone looks so happy. This is easily the best Christmas ever."
"Yeah," Kael replied.
Of course, it would be even better if a certain someone would stop staring at him all the time.
And by "someone," Kael was talking about none other than Professor Snape...
While he was dancing, Snape's gaze had briefly disappeared, but as soon as he'd gone to get drinks, that prickling feeling on the back of his neck returned.
Kael turned his head—and sure enough, there was Snape, standing by a table not far away, staring at him unblinkingly.
Standing next to Snape was Karkaroff, who looked anxious and kept gesturing towards the doors, as if he had something urgent to discuss with Snape.
Curious, Kael tilted his head, trying to overhear them, but with the distance and the noise, he could only catch bits and pieces.
"You know... Severus... this is important..."
"We've talked about this already... Igor, you're overreacting..."
"Hi." Just as Kael was eavesdropping with great interest, a Beauxbatons girl suddenly stopped in front of him. "Would you like to dance with me?"
"Sorry, I think I need to recharge a bit," Kael said, lifting his pumpkin juice and taking a sip.
The girl looked a little disappointed.
"But I can recommend someone else." Kael continued, nodding towards the dessert table, where someone was rapidly demolishing Butter Beer. "Harry Potter—ever heard of him? I noticed no one's invited him yet."
"The famous Savior?" The Beauxbatons girl looked curious at first, but after getting a good look at Harry, she seemed doubtful. "He looks... a little different from the stories."
"Maybe he's just hungry. Or maybe, since no one's invited him, he's compensating with food."
"Really?" the girl said, half convinced, and walked over.
When Kael turned back, he found Conna giving him a rather odd look.
"A Hogwarts ball doesn't come around very often..." Kael shrugged and explained, "It would be a waste to just spend the whole night eating buffet."
"That's not what I meant."
For some reason, Conna's face turned even redder. She glanced at the cup in Kael's hand and said in a very small voice, "That drink... I already had some earlier."
"Sorry—well, guess this cup is mine now," Kael said, grinning. "Dancing is exhausting. I really don't want to go back for more."
"O—okay..." Conna replied, so softly she was barely audible.
"Thanks."
"Well, well, seems our Champion really likes pumpkin juice." A cold voice sounded from behind them.
Snape had somehow appeared at Kael's side, snatching the cup from his hands without asking, and rudely shoving another cup of pumpkin juice at him instead.
Because Snape was so forceful, some of the juice spilled out, splattering Kael's dress robes.
"If you don't feel like moving, I can get it for you," Snape said coldly. "Don't be shy, drink up."
"Uh... Professor." Kael gave a nervous laugh. "I just drank some... uh... for now, I'm good, thanks."
Like hell he was going to drink something handed to him by Snape, even if he had ten lives to burn.
"Is that so..." Snape drawled.
He seemed like he wanted to say more, but just then, a noisy argument erupted nearby, catching his attention.
Snape glanced over and, seeing that it was Hermione and Ron quarreling, quickly looked away... Clearly, he had no intention of intervening there.
"If you ever feel like having pumpkin juice, come find me—there's always enough," Snape said with a greasy smile, before returning to his previous spot. He looked just like an owl on sentry duty.
He didn't force Conna to leave the ball—which, presumably, was because there weren't many people in the Hufflepuff Common Room at this hour, anyway.
At least here, he could keep watch and step in if anything happened.
So now Kael was being targeted. He couldn't go anywhere, couldn't dance, couldn't leave the auditorium—he had no choice but to join Harry's buffet squad.
But it didn't seem Harry and Ron were doing any better. Hermione had already disappeared, and Ron was complaining about something before he and Harry left the auditorium, too.
Kael and Conna sat down on the far side of the table, as far from the dance floor as possible, and nibbled on pudding and muffins while chatting aimlessly—about the Triwizard Tournament, the second task, Cedric's hopeless dancing... anything that came to mind.
Judging by Conna's expression, she seemed pretty content with how things were going.
People still came by now and then to invite them to dance, but they both found excuses to say no.
An hour later, the ball had turned into Fred and George's show. The twins had each ditched their dance partners and started an extremely energetic bit of tap dancing, paying zero attention to anyone else.
The Weird Sisters were drawn in, too—the slow music instantly turned into lively drumbeats.
When people noticed what was happening, everyone joined in... This time, even Kael and Conna couldn't keep sitting; Cedric and Cho dragged them out to the dance floor, tossing them straight into the revelry.
The ball had officially reached its peak.
...
At the stroke of midnight, the Weird Sisters stopped playing.
Everyone gave them another hearty round of applause and started heading for the entrance hall.
"That was brilliant..."
"I love the Weird Sisters! I can't believe the school got them to come..."
"Hope we get to do this again—every Christmas would be amazing..."
"Doubt it. Don't forget this was the Triwizard Tournament ball..."
"That's why I said 'I hope'..."
The group chattered cheerfully as they walked into the entrance hall.
Karkaroff finally seized his chance, pulling a red-eyed Snape outside to the castle grounds.
"Phew, he's finally gone," Kael said with a dramatic sigh.
Conna giggled behind her hand. "It's okay—maybe there'll be another ball next year."
"If that happens..." Kael glanced towards the main doors of the castle. "I just hope the Headmaster gives Professor Snape something to do in advance—just as long as he's not at Hogwarts."
Because he obviously has zero interest in dancing, wouldn't you say?"
...