Chapter 297 Before the Christmas Ball
The Christmas ball started at eight o'clock. Draco calculated the time and went to Durmstrang's wooden boat at half past seven to pick up his dance partner Della.
He was wearing a black velvet high-collared dress robe. The clothes were very straight and made of good material. They shone smoothly under the moonlight. Draco was of average height among his peers, and his body shape was elegant due to the influence of his parents. Overall, he was a handsome little boy in the eyes of others.
Draco himself thought so too. He looked at himself in the mirror many times in different ways before leaving the dormitory. He felt that he looked absolutely handsome today and was looking forward to Della's praise when she saw him.
Then, he met Mikhail Komyurov on the road, who was also going to pick up his dance partner Sadolin.
Mikhail is nearly 1.9 meters tall. His genes and the years of playing Quidditch with Zhou Yushi have given him a strong body. His slightly bulging muscles reveal a hidden sense of power under his black suit, and he has a unique masculine charm.
"What a coincidence, Mr. Malfoy," the young acting headmaster of Kodostoriz greeted Draco, "Are you going to Durmstrang to pick up your dance partner?"
"Yes," Draco had to tilt his head up to meet Mikhail's lowered blue eyes. He glanced at Mikhail's perfect shoulder lines and unconsciously tightened his arm muscles, which bulged a little, but this was not reflected much on his clothes. "I'm going to pick up Della." There was a subtle frustration in Draco's tone. He suddenly felt that he was too thin. Would Della like a more masculine type?
"Miss Riddle? It's really enviable to have a dance partner like that." Mikhail didn't notice Draco's little boyish thoughts. He was five or six years older than Draco and would have just smiled it off even if he noticed it. As a person in society, he looked at people of this age as if they were children. "I'm going there too. Let's go together."
"Yeah." Draco responded deliberately briefly, with a serious expression and a low voice, trying to appear more mature.
On the way, Draco kept secretly glancing at the muscles on Mikhail's arms that were swinging slightly, and he was dissatisfied with his own thin arms countless times.
If he had not become a seeker because he wanted to compete with the youngest seeker savior Harry Potter, would he be in better shape now if he chose to become a beater or a goalkeeper?
Draco thought about his first and second years and was horrified at how many of the choices he had made back then had nothing to do with Harry.
Alas--
He felt a chill, and when he saw Della dressed up in a gorgeous dress, he still had goose bumps on his body, but it didn't matter, because he was instantly captured by the cool and stunning Della, and he couldn't think of anything else except the glamorous girlfriend in front of him.
Oh, no, Draco's gaze still swept across Mikhail next to him. He subconsciously straightened his chest, still a little worried that he could not compare to others in front of Della.
His worries were completely unnecessary. Della actually focused all her attention on him, just as Draco expected. She immediately came over with a smile and took his arm.
"The dress is nice," Della's hand slid over Draco's forearm and she immediately felt that it was good material. She raised her eyes and looked at Draco, "My dance partner is not bad either. Let's go, Draco."
"I also have the most attractive dance partner tonight." A blush crept up Draco's face, and he smiled shyly and proudly, holding Della's hand and walking forward.
"Mr. Malfoy, you took my sister away without asking me, your brother, for permission," a lukewarm voice came. Maggie, who was held by Lytia, appeared in the darkness, and the mask on her face shone silver in the moonlight. "I'm also at the ball tonight, so you'd better not make a move in front of me."
Lytia next to him covered her mouth and sneered. Draco turned around and responded awkwardly like a mouse seeing a cat. Della muttered "Don't bother with him" and pulled Draco away quickly.
"My sister dislikes me," Lydia said in her charming voice, "Love is a normal behavior. Why do you care so much?"
"You can't just sit there and do nothing," Maggie let out a sigh, her eyes falling on Sadolin who had awkwardly put her arm around Mikhail's shoulders. "You're an unexpected, barely qualified dance partner. Have fun, Sadolin."
Sadolin tensed up when Maggie spoke to her. She nodded timidly. Mikhail, who was evaluated as "barely qualified", was dissatisfied with the evaluation, but he gave Maggie a fake smile and walked away quickly with the extremely nervous Sadolin.
"Don't be nervous," Mikhail said softly to Sadolin after walking a hundred meters. "Don't worry, everything planned for the dance will be very natural. We have the most reasonable catalyst..."
Two pairs of men and women left one after another. Maggie took out her pocket watch with the hand that was not held by Lytia and checked the time. "How long will they take?"
He had just been given several sets of clothes to try on, and after choosing the clothes in two or three attempts, he could only wait outside the women's cloakroom for each lady to come out. Maggie had just met her dance partner, and his bodyguard Leah and Annika, who was ready to give orders, had not come out of the cloakroom yet.
"They don't have any dance partners. They are wallflowers, so of course they have to dress up more carefully," Lydia frowned and said as a matter of course, "This way they can show the outside world that it's not that they can't find dance partners, but that others are not worthy of them."
"Would anyone care about this?" Maggie asked.
"Even if I'm the only one who cares, isn't it good to do it to satisfy myself?" Lytia raised her other hand to admire her irregular nails with rose marks on them.
"Forget it. Anyway, we are not the protagonists of the opening dance. We are late, so it will be the finale." Maggie said indifferently. She did not want to follow the logic of Lydia who did not care about her. She casually started the next topic, "How does it feel to be back in Hogwarts?"
"You have exonerated me, will you let the people in Azkaban out?" Lydia's hand stopped in mid-air, and her light gray eyes looked at Maggie. "I feel a little lonely in Hogwarts without Bella."
"Bella? Bellatrix Lestrange?" Maggie had read the file of this Death Eater. "Probably. The people inside have to be released eventually, but not now."
It is Voldemort's turn to do it after he is resurrected. Maggie and Della cannot take over now.
"Lestrange?" Lydia pouted with disgust. "She really shouldn't have listened to her family and got married. I really hope she will always be Black. Bellatrix Black's arrogance was my favorite thing to watch when I was in school. But after she got married, although she is still arrogant, I don't know why she is getting crazier and crazier."
"Are you a bachelor?" Maggie asked her, looking down at Lytia carefully for the first time.
"You can't say that. If I really want to get married, I will. I can get divorced after marriage. My father will support me and he will never let me put myself in a difficult position." Lydia's voice was full of coquettishness, as if she was still a child who had not grown up and was spoiled in front of her father. "But Bella's family marriage was tied up by interests. It's really pitiful. She must have been driven crazy by the reality that could not be changed."
Maggie looked at Lytia, wishing Della could have the same awareness as Lytia. He felt that Della and Draco's relationship was another deformed one that was purely tied up by Della's sense of responsibility. It was a relationship with countless shortcomings and should be broken up.
To be honest, it's not entirely his fault that he dislikes Draco, right?
Doesn't Draco, who is arrogant, childish, stupid and shallow, have any responsibility at all?
Tsk, a guy with all kinds of flaws.
"We're done," Maggie greeted Draco again in her heart. The wallflowers who had been waiting finally arrived. Annika, who was one year younger than Della, wore a classic black and white Lolita-style dress. The neckline and hem were decorated with all kinds of light lace. She looked sweet and elegant. She smiled shyly, "Sorry, Mr. Riddle, Miss Abate, I kept you waiting for a long time."
"It's my fault that I spent too much time on the accessories." Maria, who was wearing a light blue halter-neck dress of the same color as her eyes, glanced at Maggie and then lowered her head shyly. The flowers and sequins on the dress and the laurel leaf-shaped hair accessory in her hair shimmered together.
"And my shoulders ruined both skirts," Leah, who finally came out in a men's black robe, smiled helplessly, "But it doesn't matter. A bodyguard's job isn't to wear a skirt on the dance floor. I'll stand by."
"Leah, this is what I want to tell you. You need to be a bodyguard today without being too obvious. Nominally, you are a guest who is invited by the newspaper to interview and attend the dance." Maggie turned her eyes from Leah to Annika, "Think about your statement and take good care of Leah, Annika."
"Let someone take care of the hired bodyguards?" This was the first time Leah heard this statement.
"Because this is a reward for the job, just think of it as an adaptation to the magical world. Wouldn't it be better if someone guides you?" Maggie smiled, and without waiting for Leah's answer, he adjusted Lydia's arm around his and walked forward first. "Let's go now that everything has been explained. The ball is about to start, and I still want to see Della's opening dance."