Grindelwald's Burden (Books 1-7)

61. The Yule Ball

Despite the very heavy load of homework that the fourth years had been given for the holidays. Y/n was in no mood to work or spend much time in the common room when term ended, he instead chose to spend the majority of his days of the week leading up to Christmas inside the Room of Requirement alone.

Gryffindor Tower was hardly less crowded now than during term-time, it seemed to have shrunk slightly too, as its inhabitants were being so much rowdier than usual. Fred and George had had a great success with their Canary Creams, and for the first couple of days of the holidays, people kept bursting into feather all over the place. Before long, however, all the Gryffindors had learned to treat food anybody else offered them with extreme caution, in case it had a Canary Cream concealed in the center, and George confided to Harry that he and Fred were now working on developing something else. Harry made a mental note never to accept so much as a crisp from Fred and George in future. He still hadn't forgotten Dudley and the Ton-Tongue Toffee.

Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with a series of rich, warming stews and savory puddings, and only Fleur Delacour seemed to be able to find anything to complain about.

"It is too 'eavy, all zis 'Ogwarts food." they heard her saying grumpily as they left the Great Hall behind her one evening after dinner and Ron was skulking behind Harry, keen not to be spotted by Fleur. "I will not fit into my dress robes!"

"Oooh there's a tragedy." Hermione snapped as Fleur went out into the entrance hall. "She really thinks a lot of herself, that one, doesn't she?"

"Hermione... who are you going to the ball with?" said Ron. He kept springing this question on her, hoping to startle her into a response by asking it when she least expected it.

However, Hermione merely frowned and said. "I'm not telling you, you'll just make fun of me."

"You're joking, Weasley!" said a voice behind them and they turned to see Malfoy standing with Atticus, Grabbe and Goyle. "You're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball? He laughed.

"Who would ask a Mudblood to the ball..." Atticus asked looked disgusted by the very idea. "Especially one like you Gra..." But Atticus was never given the chance to finish his sentence.

"Stupefy..." A tired voice said and Atticus fell forward, passed out before he even hit the ground. The six all quickly looked to see Y/n standing with his wand raised.

"How dare you!" Malfoy cried.

"Would you like to be next Mr Malfoy?" Y/n stopped him and turned to him his wand still raised. "My patience is running dangerously thin these days, So...I suggest you take your friend...and leave." He continued not even attempting to refer to Atticus as his brother anymore.

"You'll be hearing about this." Malfoy scowled as he motioned to Grabbe and Goyle to help Atticus up and carry him away.

"I look forward to it..." Y/n said dryly and with that, the Slytherins left taking Atticus with them.

"Y/n that was brilliant!" Ron grinned now to him.

But Y/n put away his wand and walked past him, Harry and Hermione without saying a word to any of them and headed up the stairs.

"What was that all about? He stuns his brother and then walks away like nothing happened?" Ron asked the two confused.

"He was out late again, heard him sneaking back into the common room at three o' clock this morning." Harry said.