Magic of the All Hallows Eve

A Yule Ball?!

"What?! You want me to keep a ball?!", James thought that could be the last request her wife would ever make.

"Yeah, what's the big deal?", she answered casually as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

" 'What's the big deal?' What's not the big deal? Why all of a sudden do you want me to flaunt my wealth and stroll about as if I'm the richest man in the country?", James groaned as he ate silently. He was late yet again, trying to read through the tiring report of instances of seeing Peter Pettigrew in his office.

"Well, I was thinking that Harry is growing up and —"

"And he's grown up too big for the ceiling to fit right? And tomorrow he'll be too big to sleep in a master room", he joked, still trying to make sense out of her strange request all of a sudden.

"James! What I was saying is that Blaze's actual size is too big for the street in front of us, let alone the manor", and James got his soup in the wrong pipe.

"Yeah, his wingspan was that of a private jet! So, instead of Blaze wasting his magic and staying small, we could have him live in his normal size"

"But is he tamed in his full size?", at Lily's nod, he continued, "but why do we need to keep a ball for Merlin's sake if we are moving to our ancestral house?"

"Firstly, I think that setting up everything at the Manor and shifting all our stuff there would clearly take us a lot of time, so I suggested on doing it during the summer holidays. This would just be an upstart event to make the cleaning and decoration stuff done rapidly.

And second and most importantly, Malfoy always keeps a ball at Christmas which is the place to be for all elite witches and wizards in the holidays, and with Fudge being in his pocket without him even having a seat in the Wizengamot, it'd be good speculation why Fudge didn't attend a Potter ball held by the Director of the DMLE?"

"And then hopefully this way we can make the Minister stay away from Malfoy and his office to conduct a raid on his home! It is like really really risky, but if all goes to plan. . .", he sighed happily and stood up.

"Come on, Luv! We've got a ball to prepare!"

The headline of tomorrow's Prophet bore the so called "biggest sensation" of the year.

JAMES POTTER ANNOUNCES A YULE BALL!

By George Poker

Last night, the Head of the DMLE, the Man-Who-Conquered, stormed through the Daily Prophet's headquarters in Diagon Alley and demanded the press to be shut down. What could have led to such a disaster?! A Yule Ball!

As a man of a few words, he quickly described about a ball open to all MoWs, HoDs, Secretaries and Undersecretaries of the MoM, and many prominent families of the Wizarding World — including the Minister of Ireland, France, Italy an Bulgaria. Speculations indicate this as a direct challenge to the Malfoy Ball held every year on Christmas Eve too, however James Potter admonished all these claims by happily stating how he got the sudden and short-notice idea in the first place.

"I returned to my home after a tiring day at the DMLE, when my dear Lily announces how Harry had finally learnt to dance properly and how she wished that she'll see him dance at the Ministry's Summer Ball. I said 'Why? Let's just keep a ball at ours next week' and apparated directly to your doorstep", which certainly did explain the tired and flustered looks on his face.

He gave his warm regards to everyone invited and wished that they'll "grace us with your presence". This is the first time the Potters have ever kept a ball at any occassion, so we'll get to see exclusive photos of the Potter's ancestral home.

To see speculations about 'prominent families' invited, turn to Page 3, to hear more about the Malfoy vs Potter rivalry, turn to Page 7

"Dad! Mom! When did I learn how to dance exactly?", Harry shouted when he read the paper.

"You've known since you were 9"

"And you just went to the Prophet and told them that I learnt just now?!"

"What's the big deal, son?"

"Now that greasy Malfoy won't let me go without saying that you kept a ball just because 'Potty learnt to dance' or something"

"That's certainly much better than what the bigger Malfoy would say, son. Believe me", James said, his eyes dark from the lack of sleep last night.

"And you'll get to invite your 'pen friend', won't you?", Lily winked at him.

"Should I really?", at their collective nods, James added, "And the other pranking empire, too. I want to discuss with them about the Marauder exclusive scholarship if they're really as good as you say"

"Ok, then. Should I write to Granger formally or casually?", at this opportunity, Lily said, "I'll help you, let's go"

And the next hour went through mostly Harry being made to speake about Granger instead of actually writing the letter. But when he sent the letter anyways, he felt good, so to speak. The more prominent fear right now was of sustaining himself in the overly crowded area without getting tired, really.

And James was having the time of his life. He'd gotten his Gringotts account manager Sharptooth to write the letters formally and was now conducting a meeting with the top Aurors and Hit Wizards in the country for the biggest raid in the history of his career.

"So, we have to attack Fudge's main house, the Ministerial residence, the Malfoy Manor and Delores Umbridge's office. And out of all of that, only and only should the Malfoy Manor be public. At our success, surely I'll give all of you a week off if all goes well. Not a soul, including your family and friends or even the other auror in this very group should be aware of what you are designated. Decentralisation is always the key to the success of such big missions. Remember, w are apprehending the biggest corruption criminals in our era. You may go"

"Yes Sir!", they saluted him and left. James lifted the muffliato spell and the privacy wards and sat down. If all goes to plan. . .

The following days passed by in a wink. What with renewing the enchantments of the ball room, updating the ward stones, arranging the orders for renting house elves for the big event, and the all-time high correspondence flooding the house, Harry had nothing else to think about except his nerves. He had never gone to any balls not because of his dancing skills, but the fact that people will watch him, stare and ask him about his father and tell him to introduce themselves to the 'Man-Who-Conquered' or whatever rubbish hyphenated name they've given him.