Chapter 620: You're About to Start Getting Ready for the Christmas Ball (Edited)

"Please, I implore you to behave according to your age!" Professor Flitwick wore a frustrated expression as he tiptoed and sharply tapped the blackboard, causing all the young, distracted wizards to look up.

The word "distracted" seemed to have nothing to do with the subject of "Charms," as Professor Flitwick was skilled at capturing his students' attention, maintaining a very dynamic class pace. But today, some young wizards had truly become distracted in his class.

The reason was simple: the class was about to end. Everyone had completed their task in the classroom and copied the homework from the blackboard. They were all eagerly waiting for the bell to ring so they could go to the dining hall for lunch.

In this situation, even stern teachers like Professor McGonagall would allow students to be distracted for a brief moment. If it weren't for the fact that some of the boys at the back of the class were practicing wand fencing...

After the first event of the Triwizard Tournament, Fred and George's joke wands had become extremely popular at Hogwarts and sold out in the form of surprise boxes. Even Ravenclaw students were no exception, and many purchased several surprise boxes, eagerly opening them to see the joke wands inside.

Before the Transfiguration class, some of them had the brilliant idea of taking out their joke wands and practicing fencing at the back of the classroom, which eventually led to Professor Flitwick coming down and stopping the situation.

Once everyone had calmed down, the joke wands seemed to sense the atmosphere and began shouting and transforming into different animals: cats, mice, snakes...

Professor Flitwick: (￣ω￣;)

(*＾ω＾)——"Accio joke wands!"

Instantly, several joke wands flew from hands, pockets, and school bags, soaring towards Professor Flitwick.

The boys let out miserable and desperate cries: "Professor, no, please!"

"You see, this is the ingenious use of the Summoning Charm: I deliberately extended its range so I could find all your hidden joke wands!" Professor Flitwick placed the joke wands under his desk and gave them a discreet glance before smiling in satisfaction.

"Ravenclaw loses five points. I must remind you that joke wands are now on the list of prohibited items, so confiscating them is reasonable and fair." As if fearing that students from his own house might misinterpret him, Professor Flitwick added an unnecessary explanation.

The young wizards in the audience were left dumbfounded, then hung their heads, disheartened, considering themselves unlucky.

"At least learn something from Cedric and the Gryffindors. Look at them..." Professor Flitwick wanted to praise someone as an example, but he found that Tom and Hermione were also up to mischief.

Although there were no joke wands on their desks, they had two Golden Knight figurines. These were clashing with a formidable appearance, and Tom's figure toppled Hermione's.

Professor Flitwick: ...

Hermione turned red immediately and quickly stashed the two figures in her backpack, then lowered her head and pretended to be reading a book seriously. However, the occasional sound of collision and the strange bulge sticking out of her backpack ruined all her efforts.

Professor Flitwick covered his face and sighed.

Well, they're all at the age of being children. That's what he told himself for consolation.

"By the way, I have something more to tell you." Suddenly, Professor Flitwick remembered that he still had an announcement to make. This had been planned by the headmasters and other teachers so that everyone would announce it at the same time, to achieve maximum fairness and surprise.

(Hopefully, Professor Snape's, Professor Trelawney's, and Professor Binns' students receive the message in time)

"In a few weeks, it will be Christmas. Following the tradition of the Triwizard Tournament, we will be hosting a Christmas Ball during the holidays to encourage interaction between students and foreign visitors. Believe me, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Professor Flitwick said cheerfully and animatedly. "But the ball is only open to fourth-year students and above; however, participating students may invite a younger student..."

The students in the audience displayed somewhat ambiguous expressions. Was it really a formal dance? After all, the fourth year was a threshold when students were generally over fourteen years old...

In other words, it would be legal...

Cough, cough! Tom was overthinking it.

But looking at the reactions of his classmates, it seemed he wasn't the only one overthinking it.

"You'll need to wear your formal robes. The dance is scheduled for Christmas night at eight o'clock in the Great Hall and will end at midnight." Professor Flitwick's expression wasn't entirely natural either, and the Ravenclaw girls in the audience lowered their heads, struggling not to burst into laughter. Tom noticed several people looking at him with deep meanings in their eyes.

Hermione tightly squeezed Tom's thigh under the table, causing him so much pain that he almost screamed.

"Cough, anyway..." Professor Flitwick cleared his throat. "The Christmas Ball is a great opportunity for us... Yes, let your hair down, relax, words of Professor McGonagall! Well, class is dismissed!" Professor Flitwick felt like he was getting himself into more trouble, so he seized the opportunity of the end-of-class bell to usher all the students out of the classroom.

Once all the students had left, Professor Flitwick looked around to make sure there was no one else and took out the confiscated joke wands, activating them one by one.

In an instant, the classroom turned into a wheat field, filled with the sounds of croaking frogs.

Professor Flitwick looked at the activated joke wands and began counting his gains quickly.

"Mice, calves, tiger cubs, all here... Ah, fire-breathing dragons! I always wanted one, but I was never lucky... Foals, calves..."

Finally, Professor Flitwick activated a joke wand that could transform into a unicorn, and he became quite excited.

"Super rare limited edition! It's said that only ten were released. Hehehe!" Professor Flitwick laughed happily.

Today was a stroke of luck! Not only had he collected all twelve standard joke wands, but he had also acquired two limited models: the unicorn and the "sniffer." He was going home with his hands full.

As a popular toy throughout the school, the professors were not exceptions. Except for professors like Snape, who were hated by everyone, and Professor Binns, who was a ghost, all the other teachers participated in the game of collecting joke wands.

At first, the teachers had some reservations about it, but then they found out that the great Dumbledore was also collecting these little things, so the teachers joined the carefree bandwagon.

But, after all, they were teachers, and it wasn't appropriate for them to go buy large quantities of surprise boxes. Fred and George, those two scammers, had even limited the daily sales of surprise boxes. They claimed it was because the production capacity wasn't enough, which made everyone grind their teeth in frustration.

But the teachers were good at improvising. Since the usual approach seemed incapable of completing the entire collection, the teachers classified the joke wands as prohibited items and easily confiscated a bunch of them.

"Well, aside from my own set, I still have a lot of leftovers. I could trade with Minerva and Pomona..." Professor Flitwick stored his "loot" and left the classroom with light steps.