harry potter book of crimes

The teachers and students of Hogwarts continue to show their desire to impress the guests of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and they seem determined to show off the castle in its best light this Christmas.

The school has been decorated with great care by everyone. It can be said that the castle has never been so beautiful!

The handrails of the marble stairs are covered with icicles that will never melt, and the twelve Christmas trees customarily placed in the auditorium are decorated with all kinds of baubles, from shiny holly berries to various

Golden owl stopped hooting.

The armors are enchanted and will sing Christmas carols whenever someone passes by.

To be honest, it's really funny to hear an empty helmet singing "Oh, come on, you pious people".

Originally, the armor only knew half of the lyrics. The gatekeeper Filch had to pull Peeves out of the armor several times because Peeves was hiding inside. Whenever the armor couldn't sing, he would

Make up some lyrics of your own to fill in.

Believe me, those are some very rude words.

However, while everyone was busy preparing for this Christmas, Hermione was hiding alone in the bedroom, looking at the flat gift box on her bed without saying a word.

This gift box had no ribbons or decorations, but was tied with a thin rope - this was obviously not a gift given to her by someone else.

There is a line of text printed on the lid of the gift box: Wear elegant clothes and become the "best" wizard!

This was delivered by an owl early this morning.

When the package containing the gift box was gently placed in front of Hermione by a trained owl, she didn't even finish her breakfast and returned to the dormitory holding the package.

But until now, she has not opened this exquisite gift box.

"...It shouldn't be, now is not the time to think about this." She murmured to herself, raised her hand, and then gently put it down.

After going back and forth like this a few times, she simply picked up the gift box again and stuffed it under the bed.

Hermione was worried, and Harry and Ron were not having a good time either - they were already very anxious.

Even if Ron didn't have a dance partner, he wouldn't make a fool of himself like him. But Harry was different - he had to take the lead and start dancing with the other warriors!

"I think Moaning Myrtle is always there." Harry looked a little defeated.

"Harry - we have to grit our teeth and fight." Ron sounded like they were planning to breach an impregnable fortress, "When we return to the common room tonight, we must all find our dance partners -

That's a deal?"

"Um...okay," Harry said.

That day, Harry saw the cute and charming Qiu Zhang several times.

He remembered it very clearly, three times in total!

Once during recess, once during lunch, and once on the way to the History of Magic class. However, every time I saw her, she was always surrounded by many friends.

Did she never go anywhere alone? Maybe he could ambush her when she went to the bathroom? No - even when she went to the bathroom, there were four or five students with her!

But if Harry didn't take action, she would definitely be invited by someone else.

During Snape's Potions test, he found it difficult to concentrate and forgot to include one of the main ingredients - bezoar - which meant he got the lowest possible score.

But he no longer cares about this. Now he is busy mustering up the courage to take decisive action!

As soon as the bell rang, he grabbed his schoolbag and rushed towards the door of the underground classroom.

"See you at the dinner table," he said to Ron and Hermione, who was more silent than usual, and rushed upstairs.

"Just ask Qiu Zhang alone, it's that simple... it's that simple!"

He hurried through the crowded corridors, looking for her. Unexpectedly, he saw her almost as soon as he turned a corner. At this moment, she was walking out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Um - Qiu Zhang? Can I say a word to you?"

The Ministry of Magic should introduce a new law that prohibits people from giggling! Because all the girls around Cho Zhang started giggling.

Fortunately, Qiu Zhang himself did not laugh.

She said "Okay" and followed Harry to a place out of earshot of her classmates.

Harry turned to look at her, and suddenly there was a strange convulsion in his heart, as if he had missed a step when going downstairs.

"Hmm." He hesitated.

He couldn't ask, he couldn't even open his mouth...but he had to ask! Qiu Zhang was standing in front of him now, looking at him with a confused look - the arrow was already set on Zhang Man's hunting bow.

!

The sentence blurted out from Harry's mouth, and it was said incoherently, and he didn't even have time to pronounce the words correctly.

"Be company... follow me!"

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Qiu Zhang was stunned for a moment.

"Would you - would you like to go to the ball with me?" Harry asked.

This sentence was finally asked clearly by him, but why was he blushing? Why!

"Oh!" Qiu Zhang's face flushed, "Oh, Harry, I'm really sorry," she looked at him honestly, "I already agreed to go with another person."

"Oh," Harry said.

This feeling was really weird: a minute ago, he felt that his internal organs were squirming like a snake; but now, suddenly, he felt as if his internal organs had been hollowed out.

"Oh, okay," he said, "It's okay."

"I'm really sorry." She said again.

"It's okay." Harry said.

They stood there looking at each other, and then Qiu Zhang whispered: "Then, let's do this -"

"Okay." Harry said.

"Okay, goodbye." Qiu Zhang's face was still very red. She took two steps back, then turned and left.

Harry called her from behind - he didn't want to do it, or in other words, he didn't have time to stop himself from doing it.

"who are you going with?"

"Oh—Cedric," she said, "Cedric Diggory."

"Oh, okay." Harry.

His internal organs seemed to be back again, but he felt as if they had just been taken and filled with lead, and now they were sinking in his stomach.

Harry had forgotten all about dinner. He slowly walked back upstairs to the Gryffindor common room. With every step he took, Cho Chang's voice echoed in his ears:

"Cedric—Cedric Diggory—"

Yes, yes... Cedric is the seeker and captain of the Hufflepuff team, that's no worse than him... Cedric is tall and handsome, which he can't compare to... Cedric is gentle to others and more popular.

It's much better than him... Cedric...

"But I am the warrior of Hogwarts!"

Harry suddenly thought with dissatisfaction: Cedric is actually a useless handsome guy, his little brain is not enough to fill an egg shell!

"Alas -" he couldn't help but sigh as he thought about it, "Well, I also got this warrior status inexplicably..."

"The light of the fairy mirror." He said dryly to the fat lady - the password was changed the day before.

"Yes, yes, dear!" she said in a trilling voice, stroking her new gold and silver headband, and turned forward to let him in.

Entering the common room, Harry looked around and was surprised to see Ron sitting in a far corner with a stiff face. Ginny sat next to him and spoke to him in a low voice, as if to comfort him.

"What's the matter, Ron?" Harry asked, walking towards them.

Ron looked up at Harry with a frightened look on his face.

"I'm so anxious..." he said absentmindedly, "I've been thinking about my dance partner, and I don't know why just now-"

"What?" Harry asked.

"He - um - he just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him." Ginny seemed to be trying hard not to laugh, but she still patted Ron's arm sympathetically.

"What's wrong with you?"

Harry wanted to say - what are you crazy about, but that would be too disrespectful to his good friend. But, who would have thought, that would be too stupid.

"I don't know how I could do this!" Ron sighed heavily. "Who am I kidding? There were people there - so crowded - I was so dizzy -

Everyone is watching!”

"I met her as I was walking through the hall - she was standing there talking to Diggory - and I couldn't help myself - I went up and asked her!"

He looked annoyed, rubbed his face vigorously and said, "Maybe after that day, everything went too smoothly... I feel like I am... arrogant."

"Oh, I remembered...she does have part Veela blood," Harry said, "You were right - her grandmother was a Veela."

"Listen, it's not your fault - I bet she was doing that spell on Digory and you happened to be walking by and you got hit -"

"But..." Harry couldn't help but pause for a moment before continuing, "Her efforts were in vain this time, because Digory went with Cho Chang."

Ron suddenly raised his head and looked at Harry in surprise.

"I just asked her to come with me," Harry said dryly, "and she told me."

Ginny next to her suddenly stopped smiling.

"The only two of us left without a dance partner -" Ron said, "Oh - by the way, except for Neville! But to be honest, Neville has been not quite right this semester, and he even asked for leave to go home last time -

-I asked him, but he refused to say anything."

Just then, Hermione climbed in through the hole behind the portrait.

"Oh - Hermione -" Ron suddenly looked away, because now, he felt guilty as a thief.

"Why don't you two go to dinner?" She came over and sat in the armchair next to her.

"because--"

Ginny had just begun to speak when her brother hurriedly covered her mouth.

"Nothing!" Ron shook his head vigorously, even though he didn't know why he was doing this - hadn't he already decided to give up?