Looking at Hermione, who was still a bit bewildered, Amortens patiently explained.
"At the beginning of this school year, the school sent a notice to students in grade four and above, asking them to bring a formal suit for this dance –"
Hermione suddenly remembered, during the time when she and Harry went to Hogsmeade to see Remus Lupin, Harry had accidentally bumped into a warrior from Beauxbatons. Fleur had been quite injured at the time, and as an apology, Professor Brenn had bought a formal dress and asked her and Harry to deliver it.
At the time, she was indeed confused as to why Professor Brenn had thought of giving a formal dress as a gift. It turns out it was for the Christmas dance!
"But the school never issued an official notice," Hermione complained with a look of bitterness, her tone somewhat resembling 'I dare not speak out despite my anger,' "we were not informed, Professor Brenn."
"Now you know, right?"
Amortens raised the corners of his lips, glanced at the slightly nervous Crumple, and added.
"Remember what I said, Miss Granger, the dance is to be opened by the four champions and their partners. We don't have any requirements for the other little witches attending the dance, but the champions must find their own partners. This is a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament, and I believe it's not a difficult task for all of you excellent young people..."
As he looked at Hermione, who was silent and didn't say anything, Amortens smiled faintly.
"So. That's it, I apologize for interrupting your conversation, gentlemen, I have other matters to attend to and must leave first. You can continue your discussion as you please, however --"
Amortens looked again at the book in Hermione's arms, which caused Hermione to clasp her arms more tightly.
"Learning is important, but it's even more important to strike a balance between work and rest. Don't waste your youth solely in the library. Such a beautiful day, I suggest you take a walk outside on the field --"
He is truly a kind-hearted person--
Looking at the back of Professor Brenn as he walked away, Crumple thought wistfully. However, remembering the illustration on the first page of the stack of manuscripts that Brenn professor was holding, his just-unfurled brows tightened again.
Professor Brenn did not scold himself for investigating privately, which relieved Hermione greatly. However, as she thought about the dance and the requirement for partners that she had just learned, Hermione's face turned bright red from her cheeks to her ears. Her toes were tightly clenched in her boots, as if trying to dig through the ground.
This was simply too embarrassing!
The library was almost deserted of little witches today, and Hermione, having found some potentially useful materials, was about to immerse herself in the satisfying reading environment for the day. Little did she expect that Crumple would suddenly walk into the library as well.
Perhaps the joyous atmosphere on the snow-covered ground outside, which had always followed Crumple behind, was not present today. As soon as Crumple saw himself, he was taken aback for a moment before happily running over to invite her to go outside and talk.
Hermione still thought Crumple was going to talk about the Golden Egg with her!
Because of the first task, she didn't want to accept help from others anymore, and she was prepared to firmly refuse if Crumple really brought up the topic. Little did she expect that Crumple would immediately invite her to be his partner at the Christmas dance, and before she could even figure out what was going on, Professor Brenn walked out.
Alright, now she knows the whole story.
This is quite out of her expectation.
Hermione would never think that Crumple came to her because he couldn't find anyone to accompany him to the dance. Just looking at Crumple's fan base, Hermione had a clear idea of how popular he was. Even without her own two fanatically obsessed Quidditch friends, she knew!
But he actually came to her. Hermione felt her ears were so hot that they could smoke. To be honest, she had a good impression of Crumple.
During the chaos of the Quidditch final in the summer, she was trapped in the top tier box with Harry, Remus Lupin, and the Weasleys. When she asked a Bulgarian Quidditch team member for help, only Crumple responded to her distress call. And before the first task of the competition, Crumple also gave her some tips.
But what would Harry and Ron say if they knew about this?
"I don't understand."
Hermione, with her face flushed red, lowered her eyes to the tip of her toes and spoke softly.
"I don't understand either, how a wizard like Mr. Brenn could..."
Crumple replied in a low voice, which surprised Hermione and made her raise her head. She noticed that Crumple was still staring in the direction of Professor Brenn's departure, his naturally gloomy face displaying seriousness and unwilling to believe.
So, Hermione immediately understood that she and Crumple were talking about completely different things.
"What are you talking about, Viktor?"
The blush on Hermione's face faded away, and her sharpness returned to her brown eyes.
"Oh, I mean --"
Crumple looked hesitant, but, in front of a girl he greatly admired, he decided to tell the truth.
After confirming that no one was around, Crumple lowered his voice, his expression both tense and puzzled.
"I don't understand, how could a powerful wizard like Amortens Brenn go worship the Dark Lord?"
"Professor Brenn worships Voldemort?"
Hermione almost screamed out, her eyebrows furrowed, revealing an expression of incredible disbelief and anger. Her beautiful brown eyes were fixed on Viktor, as if he wouldn't give a clear answer, she wouldn't let up.
"Oh, no!"
Crumple quickly waved his hand.
"No, it's not the one we call the Dark Lord in our country. I mean --" Crumple's tone was dark, "-- it's Gellert Grindelwald."
Gellert Grindelwald?!
Hermione, her mind tensed to the maximum, took only a second to gather all the information she had about this wizard from her mind. It was not as difficult as it had been when she, Harry, and Ron had searched for Nicodemus in their first year. The name was almost as bound up with their headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, even now that Professor Brenn's fame echoed throughout the magical world, and could not completely overshadow his glory.
Many people would consider that defeating Gellert Grindelwald was one of the greatest achievements in Albus Dumbledore's legendary life.
But Professor Brenn worships Gellert Grindelwald?
The absurdity of this seems no less than that of Professor Brenn worshiping Voldemort!
"You noticed the illustration on the first page of the stack of parchment he had in his arm just now, didn't you?"
"What?"
Crumple's tone was unpleasant, but Hermione's was even harsher. For some reason, she didn't like Crumple anymore at the moment. So, even though she knew what pattern Crumple was referring to, she acted as if she hadn't seen it.
"That's it!"
Crumple pointed in the air in front of Hermione a few times, his expression gloomy.
"If anyone else showed me that symbol, I swear, Hermione, I would duel them!"
"What's wrong with that symbol, Crumple?"
Although unhappy, Hermione had to admit that she was a bit curious about it.
"It's Grindelwald, that's Grindelwald's symbol!"
"Crumple's cheek muscles moved as if he was chewing something, then he said,"
"Grindelwald killed many people, my grandfather was one of them, of course, he didn't have much power in this country, they said he was afraid of Dumbledore-- that's true, look at his last end, but that symbol --"
Crumple pointed at Hermione again.
"--is Grindelwald's symbol, I recognized it at once. Maybe you don't know, Grindelwald studied magic in Durmstrang, and he put it on a wall there when he was studying there. I passed by that wall every day, so I wouldn't mistake it."
Crumple said coldly,
"In school, some fools copied the symbol onto their books, clothes, trying to scare others with it to make themselves seem important -- later, those of us who lost relatives because of Grindelwald gave them a lesson."
"But we all know that there are still such fools outside the school. They gather around this symbol as a mental symbol. They miss the dark days of the wizarding world under Grindelwald's rule and dream of being able to do whatever they want in the future someday."
(Chapter End)
