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Harry replied, "Go invite Ginny, why?"

Zicomo rolled his eyes and said, "It's the girls' dormitory's wash-up time now. If you don't want to live, then go ahead and barge in."

Harry then realized that he had almost rushed into the girls' dormitory.

"By the way, speaking of washing up, do you know the riddle inside the golden egg?" Zicomo changed the subject.

“No, what does it have to do with washing up?” Harry asked.

“Hmm, you could try taking it for a bath,” Zicomo didn’t tell Harry directly.

For things like decryption, hints can be provided.

But it's not very interesting to get the answer directly from someone else.

It was time to wash up, so Harry went back to his dorm to take a bath with his golden egg.

Since the dormitory only had showers, and Zicomo meant bathing, Harry carried the golden egg to an empty washroom.

He took the golden egg and went into the bath.

Harry opened the golden egg, and a beautiful song came from inside.

"Come to the source of our voice and find us."

We cannot sing on the ground.

You have only one hour; you must find it.

Let's find what we took!

Harry knew it was the voice of a mermaid.

Hagrid mentioned these creatures in his Magical Creatures class; they were ugly and ferocious, but had beautiful songs.

One interesting point is that mermaids are officially recognized as humans by the wizarding world.

Initially, the Wizarding Council, the predecessor of the Ministry of Magic, defined "human" as "only creatures that can speak human language," thus classifying mermaids as beasts.

Later, the wizards discovered that mermaids could actually speak underwater.

So they changed the mermaids into a special human species, just like the centaurs.

Now, when the International Federation of Wizards convenes, merfolk are invited to participate.

Incidentally, Zicomo prefers to call them fishmen rather than mermaids.

Because they don't fit Zicomo's image of a mermaid at all.

Of course, not all mermaids are so ugly.

According to Newt?毥?逥晧垥凥?驥猣?譨以?试?芨恧???以?淦?譨?

For example, the Irish Mermaids and Scottish Selkimers from the north are known for their ugliness, while the mermaids from the warm south, such as the Caribbean, are true beauties.

It can only be said that oranges grown south of the Huai River are sweet oranges, while those grown north of the Huai River are bitter oranges.

However, Harry wasn't concerned about the mermaid's beauty or ugliness; what mattered to him was the message conveyed by the song inside the golden egg.

The lyrics essentially tell him to go to the mermaid's lair, which means to go underwater to find something.

And with a one-hour time limit, this was undoubtedly a challenge for Harry.

After all, you can't speak underwater, which means Harry can't cast spells that require incantations.

With Harry's current abilities, he cannot cast spells silently.

Although the Bubble Head Curse can solve this problem, that thing has no defense whatsoever and breaks with a single poke.

Harry knew that merfolk were a ferocious species, and if he were to accidentally have his bubble head curse broken by a merfolk, he might drown underwater.

So Harry decided to look for a potion that would allow him to breathe underwater.

In other words, he set his sights on Snape's inventory.

But that's all after the Christmas ball; the most urgent thing is to find a dance partner for the ball.

Just as Harry was thinking this, Myrtle suddenly emerged from underwater and started groping him.

It's just like a lovesick girl taking advantage of her crush.

Although ghosts generally cannot touch people, when they do, they bring a chill to the person.

The feeling was like someone stuffing a ball of snow down your back in the dead of winter.

Harry shuddered. He had almost forgotten that Myrtle frequented this bathroom; no wonder no one came here to bathe.

The thought of being completely naked made Harry quickly grab a towel from the edge of the tub and wrap it around his body.

They fled the washroom in a panic.

…………

Christmas Eve arrived in the blink of an eye, and most of the students below the fourth grade, except for a few who stayed at school, boarded trains to go home.

However, Hogwarts' popularity did not decline due to the decrease in students; on the contrary, it was more lively than usual.

At the venue where the Hogwarts ball was being held, young wizards from the three schools began to enter in pairs.

Of course, many students are still making their final preparations.

Take Harry, for example. He's just changed into his formal robes and is about to brush his teeth.

To prevent Ginny from smelling something strange if I get too close to her later.

He had just returned from brushing his teeth in the bathroom when he saw Ron standing in front of the mirror, looking at himself in the clothes his mother had sent him.

When Ron saw Harry return, he moved closer to Harry.

As she showed Harry her clothes, she said, "Look, the lace, the ripped collar, and even the weird smell. It's the worst dress robe I've ever seen!"

"It is indeed quite retro and traditional."

Harry silently took two steps back, then said, "And why don't you wash it?"

To be honest, he didn't quite understand why Ron hadn't washed the robe after having it for so long.

"Uh, I forgot. You know, it's so shabby, I haven't touched it since the day it arrived."

Ron said somewhat awkwardly, "Never mind, just help me turn it into the way I want it to be."

As he spoke, Ron picked up a photograph from beside the bed and handed it to Harry. It showed a modern formal gown.

Harry took the paper and looked at it for a while, then took out his wand.

Instead of immediately deforming Ron's tuxedo robe, he first used a cleaning agent to freshen it up and remove any odor.

Lest Ron's dance partner can't stand the smell and runs away halfway through the dance.

Harry then changed the robe to resemble the one he had seen in the photograph.

Ron walked back to the mirror, admiring his newly transformed suit and robe.

As soon as he turned around, he realized something was wrong.

“Harry, where’s the design on the back of my clothes?” Ron asked.

He specifically chose a tuxedo in a magenta style that matched Gryffindor, with a cool lion pattern on the back.

"What pattern on the back? You didn't give me a picture of the back of the dress," Harry asked, puzzled.

Ron slapped his forehead; he seemed to have forgotten about the back when he took the photo.

However, this one without any patterns looks alright.

With the ball about to begin, he was too lazy to let Harry cause any more trouble.

"Let's go, our dance partner must be getting impatient."

Ron straightened his clothes a little and beckoned Harry to walk out of the dormitory.

On the way, Ron asked, "I've been wanting to ask you this ever since, why is your dress green? Are you a Slytherin?"

Harry rolled his eyes and said, "The school doesn't have any rules about the color of formal wear. Besides, do you think finding a well-fitting formal wear is an easy thing to do?"

Harry recalled the scene when he went to the clothing store in Hogsmeade to buy clothes.

At that time, he brought his mother along specifically to choose an item that suited him.

As a result, his mother dragged him to try on all the clothes in the store before finally choosing the one he is wearing now.

Harry swore it was the most agonizing day of his life.

He'd rather fight a Hungarian Tree-Peak Dragon than go shopping with women again, especially his mother.

Chapter 216 The Bold Hermione and the Unyielding Lani

Harry and Ron were walking toward the venue, chatting and laughing.

However, Ron's smile soon faded.

As soon as he entered the venue, he saw Ginny greeting Harry.

Ron, forgetting about finding his dance partner, grabbed Harry by the shoulder and pulled him aside, asking, "Why is Ginny here?"

Harry replied, "I asked her to be my dance partner, so what?"