"Alright. Seems you've thought plenty, then."

"I try to do all my thinking over break, so I can turn my brain off at school."

That gets a laugh out of her. "School doesn't need more thinking, then?"

Ellie makes a dismissive noise.

Hair ruffle. "Maybe we can get an exception so you can graduate early, then. Go on to some challenging university."

"Only if you take me, too!"

"As if we could possibly leave you."

Snuggle. "Good."

Hee.

No time to waste; there's a monograph to read and celebratory food to eat!

A great ending to the task.

The next morning, the announcements reiterate the scores and rankings from the day before. Dumbledore praises all the champions for trying their all, and reminds everyone of the time and day for the Second Task - as well as for the Yule Ball, which will happen the night of the Saturday after Yule on December the Twenty-Fourth, before classes resume on Monday (he does admit it'd be more traditional to hold the ball on Yule itself, but he doesn't wish to cut down on students' time with their families over the winter holiday).

After the announcements, Professor Flitwick approaches Ellie to quietly inform her the Ministry representatives have apparently decided all four Champions will need to attend and find a date to the Ball, rather than simply going on their own - or just avoiding the dance altogether.

...Right.

Nothing's ever just easy.

...Yeah. That's a pretty annoying requirement. Especially since a lot of people would make a big deal about it... Unless Ellie has someone she wants to go with?

Eh. Not really. Probably once the rumor gets around someone'll offer.

Yeah. Might be annoying if they think it's a serious thing, but - Ellie can just say no to annoying people.

Yeah.

Anathema thinks about this over the next few days - especially as a couple of people who would definitely be annoying about it approach her to ask how they should ask Ellie out. She tells them not to try.

...Perhaps a bit harshly sometimes, but the repetition and disruptions are getting really annoying.

Then it occurs to her - there's no gender limit on who can take whom, of course, since the Yule Ball's a traditional thing, and the most stubborn traditionalists consider banning same-sex stuff an overbearing muggle invention. But the muggleborn students seem mostly kind of oblivious to that, and Ellie's muggle raised and might not have actually realized she can ask Anathema, and Anathema definitely won't be obnoxious about it or take it too seriously...

So she goes to find Ellie just after lunch, sitting down beside her and saying: "So, I thought of a solution to the date issue - "

"The date-? Oh, yeah. Uh, that's taken care of already."

" - Oh? It is?"

"Yeah, Viktor Krum asked me the other day, he doesn't want to go with anyone at Drumstrang and hasn't really made good friends here. Two birds, one stone, right?"

"...Sounds efficient, yeah."

"We only have to do the first dance together, so we can still hang out during the ball."

She nods. "Okay." Shrug. "I'll just be hovering around, then."

"You could ask someone too, if you wanted."

Shrug. "Maybe."