My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 497, Section 494: Lynn's Invitation

Hermione has been in a bad mood lately.

Harry and Ron could both see this, because Hermione was making them spend more and more time doing their homework, like right now.

"The Summoning Charm isn't difficult at all. I'll emphasize again, not because I'm particularly smart, but because this charm is genuinely of normal difficulty. Any normal student with diligent practice could master it in two days, and then just need to use it more to become more proficient. The fact that you two haven't learned it after all this time has nothing to do with being stupid; it's because you haven't put your heart into practicing and have only been lazy and playing around. Today, I'm watching to see that you two must learn the Summoning Charm!"

Hermione emphasized to Harry and Ron with a dark expression.

"If you can't learn it, then I won't let you use any of the homework Professor Binns assigned in your History of Magic class!"

Poor Harry and Ron were forced to endure Hermione's inexplicable bad mood. The two had been painfully practicing the Summoning Charm in the common room all morning and had no time to go out and fool around.

Hermione's bad mood was naturally for a reason.

There are only three days left until the Christmas ball, but she hasn't seen Lynn since then. The ball is about to start, and he hasn't invited her to be his dance partner.

Do I really have to be the one to speak up, girl?

Hermione thought angrily.

She decided to give Lynn another day. If he still hadn't contacted her by tomorrow night, she felt there was nothing she could do about it.

Hermione got even angrier thinking about this!

Unable to do anything to Lynn, she could only torment Harry and Ron.

As she watched Harry and Ron practice the Summoning Charm in the common room, a Gryffindor student suddenly ran back into the common room from outside.

"Fleur, the warrior of Beauxbatons, publicly invited senior Belloc to be her dance partner."

A gasp rippled through the entire Gryffindor common room, and everyone began to discuss it loudly, including Harry and Ron.

"Hibiscus inviting Lynn seems quite reasonable," Ron said, scratching his head.

Harry nodded in agreement. "That makes sense, but I wonder if two champions could be each other's dance partners for the Christmas dance."

However, before they could finish speaking, they suddenly heard a loud "bang" in front of them, which startled Harry and Ron.

Hermione in front of him had an extremely dark face, and she looked like she had been cheated on, as if she wanted to tear someone's flesh apart!

"Despicable, shameless, and vile!"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, completely bewildered as to why Hermione was suddenly so angry.

Hermione ignored their reactions, clenched her fists, stood up from her seat in the common room, and walked toward the exit.

Although Harry and the others didn't understand what Hermione was going to do, they excitedly winked at each other.

Hermione is now free, having left them.

Lynn arrived at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. He was the student council president and had great prestige in all the other houses, but as a Slytherin student, he naturally couldn't just enter and leave the common rooms of other houses.

Just as Lynn was about to ask a young Gryffindor wizard to help call Hermione out of the common room, he saw Hermione storming out, her face as dark as when she had just returned from her vacation in France.

"I was just about to have someone call you out when you came out on your own," Lynn said with a smile, taking Hermione's arm.

Hermione stared at Lynn with a stern face, her arms crossed over her chest, saying nothing, just glaring at him.

Lynn looked at her with a puzzled expression: "What's wrong with you? Did you eat a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean that tastes like earwax?"

"You're the one who tastes like earwax in your jelly!" Hermione glared at him sourly. "How come you just ditched her after she invited you to the ball?"

Lynn then realized what Hermione was angry about. He hadn't expected the news to spread so quickly. He had come to find her immediately after rejecting Fleur, but she already knew before he arrived.

"Are you jealous? Hibiscus invited me, but I rejected her in front of so many people."

"Pah! You're the one who's jealous!" Hermione retorted, head held high, but the sourness in her voice was unmistakable. "You rejected her, so why are you telling me? I'm not your dance partner. Don't explain to me, go explain to your dance partner!"

Although Lynn is sometimes clueless when it comes to relationships, it doesn't mean he's emotionally clueless. At this moment, he naturally understood what Hermione was angry about.

He spread his hands and smiled, then clapped them lightly, drawing the attention of the young wizards who were already secretly watching them from around them to himself.

"Alright. Everyone, look at me first, I have something to announce."

Hearing him say that, everyone's attention naturally turned to Lynn.

Lynn bowed, put one hand behind his back, and twirled the other hand in a gentlemanly gesture toward Hermione, speaking clearly in a voice that everyone could hear.

"Excuse me, would you be my date for the Christmas ball, beautiful, lovely, pretty, brave, generous, witty, and intelligent Miss Hermione Jane Granger?"

Incredulous gasps once again rang out from the young wizards!

They never expected that the matter of Lynn's dance partner would take so many twists and turns today. First, Fleur extended an invitation to Lynn, and then Lynn extended an invitation to Hermione.

Hermione kept her head up and her face stern, but anyone could see the barely suppressed smile on her lips.

She hummed twice, as if reluctantly speaking.

"Since you've extended this invitation so sincerely, I'll reluctantly accept it to give you face."

As she spoke, she placed her small hand into Lynn's hand.

The surrounding noise grew louder, but after Hermione agreed to Lynn's request, the two of them held hands and went off somewhere.

However, the news did not only spread among Gryffindor students. With the existence of the Hogwarts Forum, the news was known to almost everyone in the school within three minutes.

Initially, the forum was flooded with posts about Fleur inviting Lynn to dance, only to be rejected. But before long, the posts dominating the forum were all about Lynn inviting Hermione to be his dance partner.

For a time, almost every student in Hogwarts was talking about this.

(End of this chapter)