A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

The pork chop appeared immediately.

The students suddenly realized what was going on and picked up the small menus to choose their favorite foods.

Not far from Harry and the others, Roger Davis was caught between Collins and Fleur, looking conflicted. Fleur was criticizing Hogwarts' decor and furnishings to him and the Slytherin student council president.

“That’s nothing,” she said dismissively, glancing at the star-studded walls surrounding the hall. “At Beauxbatons Castle, our hall is filled with ice sculptures at Christmas. Of course, they don’t melt… The food is superb too. We also have the Mountain Fairy Choir, who sing serenades to us while we eat…”

The expressions of the male student council president and Roger Davis next to her grew increasingly rapturous, and Harry guessed they weren't paying any attention to what Fleur was saying. As Davis smoothed his hair with his fork, Collins next to him let out a loud snort.

He tried to smooth things over, stammering, "I think both schools have their own unique beauty. Hogwarts' Black Lake has giant squid, and in the summer you can swim in it and even pretend to drown so the giant squid will come to your rescue; and then there's Beauxbatons, I mean... although I've never been there, just from Fleur's description I know how wonderful it is."

As a result, he offended two girls at once. Collins and Fleur both turned their heads away, which made Davis a little embarrassed.

Collins moved her chair away, leaned over from the next table, and whispered to Ron, who was closest to her, "Have you solved the secret of the golden egg?"

“What?” Ron asked sullenly, as he stared at Krum and Hermione—they seemed to have cleared up the misunderstanding and were having a good chat.

When he came to his senses, he saw Collins glaring at him fiercely. He felt a chill run down his spine and frantically tried to recall the question he had just asked: "Uh, not yet, but soon, probably in the next few days."

Collins looked at him with suspicion, then quickly said to Ron, "...If...we try it in the water..."

"What did you say?" Ron didn't hear clearly and asked quickly, but at this moment Dumbledore stood up with a wine glass in his hand, and Collins moved his chair back.

“What did she say? Did you hear it?” Ron asked his nominal dance partner.

Padma rolled her eyes at him and said angrily, "I don't know."

"Ding!"

The crisp sound of a fork striking glass pierced the noisy hall, reaching everyone's ears precisely. The crowd quieted down, and they all turned to look at Dumbledore on the platform.

"Please stand up, students. I need to move your tables to make room for the dance floor," he said with a smile.

Then he waved his wand, and all the tables flew to the wall with a "whoosh," leaving an empty space in the middle. The students stood with their dance partners, and Harry noticed that Parvati's arm was wrapped around his arm again. He tried to break free subtly a couple of times, but couldn't.

Then Dumbledore cast a spell and conjured a long, narrow stage on the right side of the Great Hall against the wall, on which were placed a drum set, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and several organs.

The lights around the auditorium went completely dark, leaving only the central dance floor brightly lit.

"Students, professors, and guests from afar—enjoy the wonderful music!" Dumbledore said with outstretched arms. At that moment, the Strange Sisters rushed onto the stage, and the audience erupted in thunderous applause.

With his left hand behind his back and his right hand extending an invitation to Mrs. Maxime, Dumbledore glided onto the dance floor and began to dance to the soft, soothing music.

Felix was very glad that his seat was near the steps and not in the area to be moved. He sat comfortably in his chair, watching with great interest as the eccentric sisters, dressed in bizarre clothes, picked up their instruments and turned to the last page of the menu.

“Opera,” he pronounced clearly.

The next second, a delicate and tempting chocolate and coffee frosting cake was placed in front of him. He picked up his fork and then noticed a stern gaze.

“Do you know what you should do at this time?” Professor McGonagall asked, pursing her lips.

Felix paused for a moment, looked around, and then stood up, bowing slightly as he politely asked, "May I have the honor of dancing with you, madam?"

“Of course,” Professor McGonagall said with a smile, extending her hand. “Put down that fork, Felix.” She whispered.

The two walked toward the dance floor.

At this moment, Felix's mind raced, and everything in the Great Hall seemed to slow down—he could see Dumbledore holding Mrs. Maxime's hand, the tip of his hat just touching her chin; Mad-Eye Moody dragging Professor Sinestadt along, looking at him like an unfortunate dark wizard who had been arrested; and he could even see Ludo Bagman laboriously bending over to invite Professor Sprout…

He took the magic of accelerating thought to its extreme.

Everything that happened in the auditorium flashed into his mind. Basic postures, dance steps, hand-holding gestures, matching the beat... After walking those dozen or so steps from the faculty seating area to the dance floor, he had transformed from a complete novice into a dance prodigy.

“Waltz, Minerva?” Felix asked, casually flicking away a flower fairy that flew down from the ceiling. The unfortunate little creature stumbled and landed on Harry’s stiff-faced shoulder.

“Of course,” Professor McGonagall said.

The two danced gracefully. As Felix moved, he continued to absorb the essence of everyone's dance moves. To his surprise, he discovered that Dumbledore was the best dancer.

As expected, being older has its advantages, Felix thought to himself, this strange idea swirling in his mind.

A few minutes later, the dance ended, and Professor McGonagall smiled and said, "So you can dance, and you dance so well. I thought you were unfamiliar with it."

Felix subtly wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "I haven't really practiced much before." He glanced toward Snape, who was standing at the edge of the arena; Snape's black robes had disappeared.

The eccentric sisters in the corner started playing another cheerful dance tune. "Shall we continue?" he asked politely, glancing out of the corner of his eye as Hagrid devoured his Opera cake and headed toward Mrs. Maxim, who had parted ways with Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall smiled and said, “It seems you’re not very familiar with these things. You can’t spend the whole ball on one person; all the good girls are waiting.”

"what?"

Professor McGonagall took two steps back. Just then, a pretty girl suddenly appeared. "Professor Hyp?" Bethny blinked, looking at him expectantly. Felix then extended his hand in an inviting gesture, and Bethny readily agreed.

The style of the dance music had completely changed, and Felix had to speed up his thinking and try his best to catch the movements of others. A few seconds later, he skillfully led Besni in a joyful circle on the dance floor, drawing a long and beautiful trajectory.

As the song ended, Besni's face flushed red.

She tiptoed slightly and whispered, "You jumped so well, and... thank you for saving me." Her lips lightly touched Felix's cheek.

Besni drifted away.

He looked up and saw Furong standing in front of him. "Are you good at this piece?" Furong asked playfully. At that moment, the ancient sister duo's performance transformed into a more lively and energetic polka.

Felix: "...Of course."

After exchanging seven or eight dance partners, Felix found himself in front of Hermione.

"Oh, Professor, I saw it all from the side. You jumped so well."

"Thank you, and more than one person has said that."

Felix said he silently counted down the new songs of the quirky sisters, and when the music started, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, finally getting through the song and no longer having to think too fast.

He strolled and twirled effortlessly on the dance floor, exuding elegance.

At the edge of the dance floor, Seamus and Dean sat at a table, eating desserts by themselves. Seamus stared wide-eyed and said, "I didn't expect Professor Hyp to be proficient in so many dance styles... He must have stayed on the dance floor the longest, right?"

“Yes, how did he do that?” Dean was also surprised.

"Who was that girl dancing with him? Beauxbatons or Durmstrang's student?" Seamus asked, squinting.

“What’s wrong with your eyes? She’s Hermione!” Dean shouted.

Simon stared at Dean, who pointed to the dance floor: "Look at her big front teeth, they're so obvious..."

In the center of the dance floor.

Hermione bit her lip and asked in a low voice, "Do you know that Valentine gave me a Christmas present?"

“I know,” Felix said.

"Was it your idea?" Hermione asked shrilly.

“Of course not,” Felix explained, not quite understanding her meaning. “I spent the whole day unwrapping gifts and writing replies, and it wasn’t until almost evening that I discovered you had also prepared a gift for Valen. He was very happy because no one else had thought to give him a gift, so he gave me one in return…”

“But the gift is too precious!” Hermione said.

“Precious?” Felix laughed. “No, Granger, it’s just a souvenir. I’ve examined it; there’s no way it can be repaired.”

“Is that so…” Hermione thought for a moment.

At that moment, the ring on Felix's left hand began to vibrate, and he frowned.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Hermione asked cautiously.

“Someone must be trying to contact me,” Felix said calmly. At that moment, the music came to an end, and Felix led the final pose before leaving with Hermione.

Others approached, their faces showing eagerness. "Sorry," Felix politely declined.

He nodded to Hermione and hurried away, clutching a bronze knuckle between his fingers. It was a pair with the heated knuckle he had given Dobby, which Dobby would infuse with magic whenever he was about to give a report, thus notifying him in advance.

But this time, the coin was so hot that he wondered if it was going to melt.

Felix quickly walked out of the auditorium and into the courtyard. With a soft "whoosh," Dobby suddenly appeared, looking extremely flustered, his large eyes filled with fear.

Most importantly, he was also carrying a house-elf who had fainted.

After confirming that Dobby was alright, Felix felt a little relieved. He then crouched down and examined the house-elf that Dobby had brought over. In his opinion, it should be a female house-elf.

"What's going on, Dobby?" he asked softly.

"Dobby doesn't know either! Dobby was only thinking about inviting friends over for Christmas. Dobby knows that Sparkle has an owner, so she deliberately chose a very late time. They should all be asleep. Dobby knows that her owner isn't in good health..."

Chapter 415 Dobby and Gilgamesh

"Her name is Shanshan? Who is her owner? What happened to you?"

Hot tears streamed from Dobby's big eyes as he said tremblingly, "Her name is Flashy. We've known each other for a long time, back when I was still a member of the Malfoy family..." He shuddered.

“Go on, Dobby.”

“Her master is Mr. Crouch, Mr. Barty Crouch—” Dobby said, and Felix frowned. Dobby continued, “I went to Mr. Crouch’s house. It was dark there, but Dobby had been there before and knew the way… Dobby found Sparkle, and Sparkle was scared and told Dobby to leave quickly. Dobby didn’t know why. Our talking woke up the owner of the house.”

"You mean Barty Crouch?"

“Dobby’s not sure!” the house-elf said, trembling. “It was so dark, there weren’t even any magic lamps there! They were so outdated!”

Felix almost laughed, but thankfully Dobby got to the point.

“I heard a cold voice say: Something has broken in, a filthy house-elf, kill them.” Dobby’s eyes widened: “Dobby has never heard such a cold voice before, never! But the next second, Mr. Crouch came out, and he was chanting a spell on us, not just me, but also Sparky!”

"Spelling evil curses?"

"No, no... The dazzling green light, filled with the aura of death, it's that spell!"

"The Killing Curse?" Dobby nodded repeatedly with his eyes closed, and Felix's eyebrows twitched violently.

"And then? You escaped?"

"Then... the spell went astray, and Dobby used the defensive item Mr. Hyp gave him to block a very powerful cutting spell. Then Dobby took Gilgamesh and ran away, but Gilgamesh didn't want to leave. She wanted to plead with Mr. Crouch... Dobby couldn't leave her alone! So Dobby knocked her unconscious."

Dobby's thin chest heaved as he spoke, breathless. He shakily pulled a dark yellow sock from his pocket, from which he poured out a dull amulet, its surface cracked and clearly unusable.

Felix crouched down, stroking the spiderweb-like cracks covering the amulet, then pointed at the unconscious house-elf.

"Recover quickly."

Shiny's slender neck twitched, and she blinked hard, opening her large brown eyes. She sat up unsteadily. Looking around blankly, she wasn't quite fully conscious. When she saw Dobby and Felix crouching beside her, her eyes widened suddenly, and she let out a loud scream—

"Sparkle has to go back! Sparkle has to leave this place!"

Her body suddenly became ethereal. Felix slightly raised his finger, and the sprite flickered incessantly as if there was a bad signal, but it couldn't escape the area.

Dobby looked at Felix with awe and cried out, “Blink, we’re safe now.”

"No, Shining wants to go back, back to her master!" she struggled desperately.