If It's a Party… You Have to Look the Part
After parting ways with Fleur and her rather strange request to be his dance partner, or rather, as always, the way he had managed to steer the conversation until she ended up inviting him, Harry seemed to be in quite a good mood as he walked through the castle corridors.
He even stopped every few steps just to laugh quietly, making the people passing by look at him oddly for a moment. But honestly, at this point, anything strange coming from Harry's group was already becoming the norm.
When he arrived at his room in Ravenclaw, the first person he saw was Draco, who seemed to be thoughtfully staring at two outfits for the ball. One was completely white, and the other followed the same style but entirely black.
Draco turned slightly when he noticed Harry entering, before going back to studying the outfits.
"What do you think would be better? I feel like full white is a bit too much… but I can't deny it has style. The black one… I like it, but not completely," Draco said.
Harry, who had been walking past, paused for a moment to look at him.
"I think you're trying too hard," he said with a slightly teasing tone.
"What?" Draco's ears turned slightly red. "Of course I'm not. I just want to look good. After all, we're the ones opening the ball, right?" Draco replied quickly, trying to keep his face serious and unreadable.
"Mm. Whatever you say," Harry answered calmly. "Maybe the super white one with black pants would look good," he added anyway.
"You think so?" Draco said, nodding slightly as he considered his friend's suggestion. Then he turned a bit more and noticed Harry's faintly pleased smile, raising an eyebrow. "So… looks like you got what you wanted."
"Oh, yeah. As always," Harry replied with an arrogant, proud smile.
Draco rolled his eyes at his words.
…
On Christmas morning, a sudden scream woke Harry up. He sat up abruptly and looked around in all directions until his gaze landed on his roommate, Draco. Meanwhile, Terry, startled, fell out of bed and got up looking completely disoriented, immediately striking a rather ridiculous defensive pose.
Their other roommate, Michael Corner, kept sleeping peacefully. At this point, maybe only a cannon blast could wake him.
Harry ignored that and focused on where the scream had come from. It was Draco, who seemed to have woken from a nightmare… or rather, when he opened his eyes, the nightmare was right in front of him in the form of two large glowing eyes staring directly into his face, attached to long ears and a tiny body.
"Dobby. I told you not to do that," Draco said to his house-elf.
"Dobby is sorry, master. You allowed Dobby to visit whenever he wished, and Dobby came to bring you presents, sir," Dobby said immediately, clearly not understanding Draco's reaction.
"Yes, but I told you not to get that close to me. It's… creepy," Draco replied.
At this point, he should have been used to his house-elf, but to be honest, getting used to a Dobby was not an easy task.
Terry, still standing in his overly dramatic defensive stance, seemed to recognize Malfoy's insane elf and simply let out a long yawn before giving a weak greeting to Harry and Draco, who were already awake.
"Did the presents arrive already?" he asked, looking toward the foot of each of their beds, where the packages were neatly arranged.
Of course, the piles in front of Draco and Harry were far larger than his own. By a lot. But that didn't spark any envy in him. On the contrary, like a true gossip addict, he always enjoyed helping open his roommates' gifts, curious to see who had sent them.
In fact, he had already prepared himself to help open theirs before even touching his own.
Harry and Draco, seeing Terry's usual behavior, didn't seem to mind. Many times, some of their gifts that didn't have a clear sender ended up in their roommates' hands anyway. Shared suffering weighs less, even when it isn't yours… like the time Terry ended up drinking amortentia that had been meant for Harry.
Harry ignored whatever Draco was saying to Dobby, probably trying to teach him how to wake him up in a more… reasonable way. But honestly, he himself believed that Dobby learning that would be about as likely as Red learning how to behave like a normal dragon.
Meanwhile, he walked over to his gifts, and without even opening them, just one glance was enough to tell what each one was and who it came from.
For example, the one shaped like a dagger was surely from Sirius. The obvious book wrapped up was from Hermione. The package that was making a strange noise, like it might explode at any moment, was from Daphne. Sweets from Luna and Astoria. Another rather eye-catching package that looked dangerous to open right now was definitely from Tommy. An amulet from Billy.
Then there were the gifts from his mother and his aunts, which seemed to be clothes… although he was slightly afraid to see what kind of outfit Aunt Pandora had given him, considering the package looked like it was about to burst.
One thing that stood out was a small statue of him, made of gold… completely covered in saliva… which made it pretty obvious who it was from.
That made him let out a light laugh.
After casually looking through the gifts, Draco and Harry went downstairs, where they ran into Daphne and Hermione, who were talking about going later to find their aunts and mothers so they could help them with their hairstyles.
And the boys couldn't get a word into the conversation, ending up pushed to the side as they all walked together toward breakfast.
After that, they wandered around the castle for a while, spotting the Weasley brothers starting a full-blown snowball fight, which eventually turned into a collective mission to hit Tommy. He, of course, took full advantage of his speed, attacking everyone and running off, making it pretty difficult… until Billy and Harry managed to catch their brother and buried him in the snow, building a snowman on top of him.
The girls left much earlier than the boys, who kept throwing snowballs until nearly seven. They had really gotten into it, turning it into a full battlefield, leaving plenty of casualties behind.
It honestly felt like the whole thing only escalated because the girls had left the boys alone, and the "war" only ended when Professor McGonagall came out, shouting that everyone needed to go get changed for the party.
Back in their room, Harry, Draco, and Terry put on their formal robes, all of which looked like high-end pieces. Especially since Headmaster Sirius Black had donated quite a number of them so every student could look perfect.
Even though Draco and Harry already had their own, the quality was practically on the same level. Sirius had clearly spent a ridiculous amount of money making Hogwarts look as perfect as possible.
"I don't get it," Terry said, wearing a slightly bitter expression as he looked at Harry and Draco's outfits.
Draco was wearing a white upper piece with black trousers, fitted perfectly to his body, making him look like he had walked straight out of a noble family portrait. A gold chain hung from his front pocket, attached to his gold watch, which he shared with his friends, and his hair was styled to the side, only adding to his appeal.
Meanwhile, Harry wore a black suit, with a red shirt beneath his vest. His hair was brushed back, and the chain of his watch ran from his pocket to his belt as he adjusted his sleeves.
"What don't you get?" Harry asked lightly, adjusting the black bow at his neck, which didn't seem to fully convince him.
"They're supposed to come from the same store… so why do you two look amazing and I look like a monkey in a silk suit?" Terry said, staring at himself in the mirror.
It really was a very good formal outfit… but just like he said, it didn't suit him at all. It was like the more expensive it was, the more obvious it became that it simply wasn't made for him.
"Well, there's a simple answer," Draco said, looking at him with a faint smile.
Terry immediately looked interested. Maybe he could look great too if he knew the secret.
"What is it?" he asked.
Then Harry gave him an amused smile.
"Genetics."
And just like that, the small spark of hope that had been forming in Terry's heart shattered.
Terry's shoulders slumped as he let out a defeated sigh.
Meanwhile, Harry simply gave a faint smile at his reflection in the mirror.
After all… the night was just beginning.
Harry and Draco finished getting ready and gave Terry a pat on the shoulder, who still looked depressed, now with very little desire to even leave the room.