After HP shared the dream, Lao Fu was conquered by me

Lavender Brown gave a shrill, silly laugh. Parvati Patil poked her, her own face straining as she fought to suppress a laugh.

They both turned to look at Harry, but Professor McGonagall ignored them, which Harry found particularly unfair since she had just been scolding him and Ron.

"You must wear your formal gowns," continued Professor McGonagall. "The ball will be in the Great Hall at eight o'clock on Christmas evening and will end at midnight. Listen—"

Professor McGonagall looked over the class calmly.

"The Yule Ball certainly gives us a chance to—uh—let our hair down and relax," she said disapprovingly.

Lavender laughed even harder, clapping her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. Harry knew what was funny this time: Professor McGonagall's hair was always tied in a tight bun; she never seemed to let it down.

"But that does not mean," Professor McGonagall continued, "that we will relax our expectations of behavior among Hogwarts students. I would be deeply distressed if a Gryffindor student brought the school into disrepute in any way."

The bell rang for the end of get out of class, and as usual, everyone stuffed their books into their backpacks and threw them over their shoulders. The classroom was in a commotion.

Professor McGonagall raised her voice and shouted above the noise, "Potter and Nocturne, please stay for a moment. I need to say a few words to you."

Harry supposed it must be for his headless rubber haddock, but he couldn't figure out why Lamia was left behind.

And Lamia didn't care, even though she didn't know what was going on.

Professor McGonagall waited until all the students in the class had left before saying, "Warriors all have their own partners—"

"What partner?" said Harry.

Professor McGonagall looked at him suspiciously, as if she thought he was joking.

"The partner you took to the Yule Ball, Potter," she said coldly. "Your partner."

Harry felt as if his insides were twisting and shrinking.

"Dance partner?" He felt his face flush. "I don't dance," he said hastily, glancing at Lamia and feeling relieved when he saw she had no expression.

"I'm afraid you'll have to dance," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "I was just about to tell you that, traditionally, the Ball is opened by the Champions and their Partners."

Harry's mind suddenly appeared a picture of himself wearing a black top hat and a tuxedo, and there was a girl next to him, wearing a gorgeous gown, spinning around him.

"I don't dance," said Harry awkwardly.

"It is tradition," said Professor McGonagall firmly. "You, the champion of Hogwarts, as a representative of the school, must act as expected. So, you must find a partner for yourself, Potter, and of course, the same goes for Nocturne."

"But—I don't—"

"You heard me, Potter!" said Professor McGonagall in an undeniable tone.

"Well, that's it, Nocturne. Your dean will tell you more."

Lamia thought it was some big deal, but it turned out to be about the dancing, but Professor McGonagall was kind enough to inform her about it even though she wasn't a Gryffindor.

Lamia didn't believe that Snape would tell her more than that. At most, he would just find a random student to inform her about it.

A week ago Harry would have said that finding a dance partner was a piece of cake compared to dealing with a Hungarian Horntail, but now he had defeated the Horntail and was faced with the challenge of finding a girl to dance with.

He felt that he would rather fight the fire dragon for another round.

Lamia didn't know many of her classmates who were registered at Hogwarts for Christmas. She didn't like interacting with too many people, and there weren't many students at school during Christmas.

But this year was different. All the students above the fourth grade seemed to want to stay, and from Lamia's perspective, they were all very obsessed with the upcoming dance - at least all the girls were.

The girls giggled and whispered in the hallways, the girls shrieked with laughter every time a boy walked by, the girls excitedly exchanging ideas about what to wear on Christmas Eve.

"Why do they hang out in groups?" Harry asked Lamia, as a dozen or so girls walked by, looking at him and giggling. "How can you wait until they're alone and then snatch one up and ask for something?"

"I don't know, or you can lasso one." Lamia said with a smile.

Harry didn't answer. He knew who he wanted to invite, but whether he could muster up the courage was another matter. "Lamia, if neither of us can find a partner..."

Lamia seemed to see right through Harry's heart.

"I'm afraid not, Harry," said Lamia. "Warriors have partners, and that means we all have partners."

"Look, you're not going to have any trouble. You're a warrior. You just beat the Hungarian Horntail. I bet they'll be lining up to dance with you."

Ron jumped out from behind. It turned out that he had never left.

Ron kept the bitterness in his voice to a minimum in order to preserve their newly restored friendship, and Harry was surprised to find that Ron's judgment was proven correct.

The very next day, a curly-haired girl from the third year of Hufflepuff, whom Harry had never spoken to before, took the initiative to invite Harry to go to the ball with her.

Harry was so surprised that he refused without even thinking, and the girl walked away looking hurt.

"Harry, why can't she?" said Lamia.

"She...Anyway, oh well, I'll find someone else." Harry said a little unhappy.

The following day, two more girls came to invite him, one was a second-year student, and the other was a fifth-year student. Looking at their expressions, it seemed that if Harry dared to refuse, she would knock him unconscious.

"She's quite pretty," Ron said impartially, when he had finished laughing.

"She's a foot taller than me," said Harry, still in shock. "Imagine dancing with her. I'd make a fool of myself!"

Harry often thought of Hermione's words about Krum: "They only like him because he's famous!" Harry doubted whether the girls who asked him to dance would be willing to go to the dance with him if he were not the school's champion.