"So, are you her friend?" Harry decided to change tactics for a strategic approach, "Are you really okay seeing your good friend sitting there all alone, without anyone inviting her to the party?"
"Oh." Ron belatedly responded with an "Oh", "If you say it like that, I do think indeed... hmm, wait, watch me."
With that, Ron stood up, cleared his throat, and then sat next to Hermione.
"Ahem." He coughed twice more, trying to attract Hermione's attention.
"Do you have a cold?" Hermione asked expressionlessly, looking up.
"Oh, no." Ron cleared his throat again, "You see, Hermione — Professor Slughorn said the club members should bring dates to the party, and look, I just so happened to realize, you're a girl."
Harry, eavesdropping from afar, slapped his own face.
Seriously?
Bro? Do you even hear yourself?
"You're a girl," and "just so happened to realize"?
"I'm glad you realized that!" Hermione was clearly enraged.
"So, wanna go to the party with me?" Ron opened his arms, "You know, it'd be a shame if no one invited you to the party—"
"Ha!" Hermione slammed her spoon down, furious, "I'd rather go with a Flubber Worm than accept your invitation!"
With that, she turned and left.
"It's over." Ron said mournfully, turning his head to look at Harry, "I actually... I actually didn't plan to say it that way, but when the words came out, they changed..."
"I have nothing more to say." Harry sighed, "You're hopeless, dear buddy..."
At eight in the evening, he arrived at the entrance hall, noticing an unusually large number of girls lingering.
Annie had already been standing there, wearing a simple long dress, looking elegant and tranquil.
Seeing Harry arrive, Annie naturally stepped forward and linked arms with him.
The girls all rolled their eyes and fiddled with their fingers as if believing they could outshine Annie.
Neville also went over to Luna, and Harry noticed Luna wearing a robe adorned with silver sequins, which incited some stifled laughter, but overall she looked quite nice.
Harry thought it was actually not bad — at least she wasn't wearing her radish earrings, Butter Beer cork necklace, and her Demon-Repelling Glasses.
"Let's go." Harry suggested, "We should be heading to Professor Slughorn's office."
"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Annie glanced around, curiously asked.
"Oh, them." Harry suddenly looked embarrassed, "They both got angry, decided not to talk to each other, and each thinks the other is unreasonable... I think Ron plans to attend the party alone, as for Hermione... Hermione definitely won't be coming."
"That's really a pity." Annie shook her head, "I thought they would make up before the party, guess I was wrong."
Turns out true, Harry saw Ron hesitating at the doorway as he reached Professor Slughorn's office.
"Buddy." Harry patted Ron, "I think if you want Hermione to go with you to the party, say something nice — anyways, I'm out of ideas."
Ron reluctantly smiled, "Forget that, let's just go in together—"
With that, Ron pushed open the office door and walked in.
Harry was quite certain the room had been enchanted with the Traceless Stretching Spell — the other professors' offices never seemed as large as Slughorn's.
The ceiling and walls were draped with emerald, deep red, and gold curtains, as if inside a giant tent.
The room was crowded and stuffy, lit by a golden lantern hanging from the center of the ceiling, casting a warm glow.
Real little elves flickered inside the lamp, each one a bright light point.
A corner far away rang with loud, mandolin-accompanied singing; several old wizards deep in conversation enveloped in pipe smoke haze; a few house-elves scurried through the forest of legs, carrying heavy silver trays that hid their bodies, appearing like wandering tables.
"Harry, my child!" As soon as Harry and Annie entered, Slughorn called out in a booming voice, "Come in, come in, there's so many people I want you to meet!"
Slughorn wore a velvet hat with tassels that matched his smoking jacket perfectly.
Without allowing refusal, he led Harry into the crowd, gripping Harry's arm as if he was about to Disapparate him.
Harry linked his arm with Annie and walked forward with her.
"Harry, I want you to meet Elder Worple, my former student, author of 'Blood Brothers: My Life Among Vampires' — and of course, his friend Xue Ni."
Worple was a short man wearing glasses, eagerly shaking Harry's hand.
The vampire Xue Ni was tall and thin, with dark circles under his eyes, looking weary, with a group of girls standing around him, curious and excited.
"Harry Potter, I'm thrilled!" Worple said, staring up with his near-sighted eyes at Harry's face, "I just mentioned to Professor Slughorn the other day, we're all eagerly anticipating a biography of Harry Potter, could I possibly write one for you?"
"Certainly." Harry smiled slightly.
"Ah, Mr. Potter." Worple said cheerfully, "If I could write your biography, it would indeed be an honor — I heard from Professor Slughorn that you have a close relationship with Lady Grindelwald, the prominent European Ministry of Magic minister recently?"
"She's my girlfriend, Mr. Worple." Harry replied with a smile.
Worple leaned back tactically, showing respect.
"I see..." he said admiringly, "No wonder Lady Grindelwald keeps praising you so highly, turns out the relationship between you two is like that... Well, allow me — many people are eager to know, to understand the real you, Mr. Potter... if you could accept my interview, a few hours per day, for several months the book could be finished..."
"Sounds good, Mr. Worple." Harry said kindly to Worple, "But please allow me to decline, as I'm still a student at Hogwarts, until graduation in seventh year, I can't devote much time."
He then turned to Professor Slughorn who was standing and eating snacks beside him: "I need to complete assignments from the professors, and that already occupies most of my spare time, doesn't it?"
"Haha, indeed!" Professor Slughorn laughed, patted Harry's shoulder, and said to Worple: "If you're really keen on writing such a biography, I advise you to wait until Harry graduates to think about this matter, for now... Harry is still a student, what he needs most is to focus on his studies, right?"
"Alright." Worple shook his head, "Sorry, I was presumptuous."
"But it's okay, at least you know Harry Potter now, right?" Professor Slughorn said with a smile, "Oh, by the way Harry, there's someone else I'd like to introduce to you, you should be quite familiar with this person, actually an old friend—"
Quite familiar? Old friend?
Harry immediately became interested.
Professor Slughorn smilingly led Harry over to an elderly lady.
"Remember him?" Professor Slughorn asked the lady, smiling, "Madam?"
The lady raised her head, the cloudy eyes following the direction Slughorn pointed, suddenly bursting with brilliance.