The Admiral of Hogwarts

Although Hugo and Hermione both reminded Hagrid, Hagrid clearly didn't take this matter to heart. At least, he didn't think Rita Skeeter could do anything to him.

For a period, most people's moods seemed much better than before. Not to mention Veneto becoming a star at school, with people discussing her last match wherever she went.

Even Harry's popularity rose more than one level.

At least, in that Triwizard Tournament dragon challenge, almost all the students admitted that Harry was indeed a qualified champion, and also believed that the person who put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire probably wanted to kill him.

The only thing that made everyone feel uncomfortable was the elusive Rita Skeeter. Although Headmaster Dumbledore had forbidden her from entering the school, students would occasionally see her figure.

However, soon, everyone stopped paying attention to Rita scurrying around in recent days, because around mid-December, news about the Yule Ball began to spread throughout the school.

After Charms class ended that day, Professor Flitwick kept all the Ravenclaw students behind after class, and then earnestly conveyed the news to everyone.

"The ball is a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament, and also an opportunity for us to enhance our relationship and friendly exchange with foreign guests. All fourth-year and above students can participate.

As for those lower-grade students, if a senior student is willing to invite you, you can also participate in this Yule Ball as a dance partner…"

The students below the stage instantly became lively. For these young wizards in their adolescence, the ball was definitely a highly anticipated event. Many boys began to stir, while the girls chattered about topics related to ball attire.

"You will need to wear your dress robes," Professor Flitwick said with a smile after letting everyone discuss for a while. "The ball will be held in the Great Hall at eight o'clock on Christmas night, and will end at twelve o'clock midnight."

"Also, Vittorio Veneto, as Hogwarts' champion and the pride of our Ravenclaw House, you need to dance the opening dance with your partner."

Hearing this, Veneto nodded to Professor Flitwick amidst the envious gazes of everyone. When it came to dancing, the ship girls could proudly say they were professionals, so she wasn't worried about this.

News about the Christmas ball spread throughout the castle like wind, and almost all Hogwarts students were mobilized, especially the girls.

The girls giggled and whispered in the corridors, squealing with laughter whenever a boy passed by, excitedly exchanging ideas and discussing what clothes they would wear on Christmas night…

Among so many people, the most popular were naturally the four contestants, especially the two foreign students. Krum was always followed by a large group of girls, while many boys initiated attempts with Fleur.

As for the two Hogwarts champions, the situation was different. Harry was single-mindedly focused on inviting Ravenclaw's Cho Chang, so he rejected several girls who took the initiative to invite him.

And no one came to invite Veneto. One reason for this situation was that everyone knew the relationship between Veneto and Hugo, so the students of this school were generally unwilling to make fools of themselves at this time.

Another reason was that although Veneto's appearance was considered top-notch among Hogwarts students, she looked a little too young, so many people were worried that inviting Veneto would cause others to question whether there was something wrong with them.

However, somewhat unexpectedly, although Hugo invited Veneto at the first moment, he was directly rejected by Veneto. And the reason for this made Hugo feel speechless.

"Of course, I hope to attend the ball with the Admiral, but it shouldn't be the ball at Hogwarts," Veneto said in the Room of Requirement. "Otherwise, it would be unfair to the other sisters."

"So I think after the Christmas ball, we can all get together and find a chance to hold our own ball. At that time, Admiral, you can dance with whoever you want."

Of course, another reason Veneto didn't say was that the dance partner at the Christmas ball was likely to be the hostage in the next match. As ship girls, they couldn't allow their Admiral to run underwater alone.

For Hugo, this was a tragic event of 'too many cooks spoil the broth', but fortunately, there was still some time before the ball. As the youngest recipient of the Order of Merlin, he didn't think he would be so miserable that he couldn't find a dance partner.

Moreover, he also had a lot of problems related to what Massachusetts and the others encountered in the American wizarding world that needed to be dealt with, because as the ship girls' power expanded, all kinds of unexpected things would happen.

For example, Salem accidentally discovered a dangerous organization composed of Squibs and ordinary people not long after school started this year. As a result, after directly transforming and swallowing that organization, he discovered that this organization was called the Third Salem.

That's right, this organization was composed of the descendants of those Scourers in America. Although the Second Salem organization was completely destroyed during Grindelwald's era, this organization has re-emerged in the last ten years.

However, unlike the Second Salem, due to the changes of the times, most of the outer members, except for a very small number of core members, were just conspiracy theorists or novelty seekers.

After all, for ordinary people born in the ordinary human world in the 1970s and 1980s, a series of cultural products such as "The Lord of the Rings" and DND series tabletop games made it difficult for people to have a strong sense of aversion to magic or wizards.

Even many people in the new Third Salem organization believe that magic is a very cool thing, and it is very interesting to trace the traces of magic.

The Third Salem had no way to deal with this trend. Unless they were those pure rednecks who usually didn't have much contact with the outside world, it would be difficult to cultivate hatred for wizards and magic.

So now the Third Salem has changed its tactics. They use interest groups or hobbyist associations as cover to recruit a large number of peripheral personnel to serve them, while the core personnel are responsible for various attacks.

Because of this organizational structure, the ship girls were able to take over this organization almost completely in a very short period of time. They only needed to reveal the facts of the organization to all members, and then convert or clean up the core personnel.

This is why the American ship girls invited Hugo and them to go to America after the ball, because there were many things about the future development of this organization that needed to be discussed.

Of course, taking this opportunity, the ship girls would also get together, and hold some balls or parties to relax.

Although specific matters could only be dealt with in America, there were still many things that could be dealt with directly through the Admiral Network. Therefore, Hugo naturally spent a lot of time dealing with these matters.

In this way, when Hugo finished all the things and began to consider a dance partner for the Christmas ball, there was only a little more than a week left before the Christmas ball.

After a simple inquiry, Hugo found that at least half of the people had already found dance partners, including his sister Hermione. It's just that Hermione didn't tell Hugo who her dance partner was.