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The four contestants of the Triwizard Tournament entered the ball with their partner, hand in hand. Everyone was on the side watching as they came in, whispers were heard all around remarking on either the beauty of each girl or boy that came by.
They stood in place, in the centre of the room and waited until the music was orchestrated. It was, to say the least, embarrassing for Harry to be just standing there before anything happened. Looking at Parvati, he smiled awkwardly at her not knowing what to do or say and she returned one back. He let his eyes scan the room and the first person he saw was Cho in her beautiful gown who was looking longingly at Cedric.
His feelings for Cho had still hung on and stayed strong throughout the years, watching them have fun only grew his jealousy. If Harry had mustered the confidence and asked her earlier maybe he could have been where Cedric was now. There was nothing he could but watch from a distance as it seemed he had no chance now. He sighed and looked away before anymore thoughts of what was going on between them entered his mind.
He continued to look around and surprisingly the hair of someone platinum blonde with a very snobby expression caught his eye. Draco was standing there next to Pansy, assuming to be his partner, and they were casually chatting however he must have felt someone looking at him because he immediately looked in Harry’s direction. They locked eyes, his sharp silver eyes looking at him with curiosity before turning away and turning a bit more pink then he usually was.
He was wearing a classic tuxedo with a white bow instead of a black one. The tux had outlined his physical physique and it hadn’t been then until Harry realised how broad his shoulders were as well as his height, he was certainly taller than Harry. His hair was swept to one side and with the enormous amount of gel he put on it was still sleek as ever.
Harry felt a sudden twinge in his heart which was rather unusual but he shook it off and presumed it was nothing but nerves. Professor Flitwick stood on the stand so he was able to read the music, his baton at the ready as he faced the musicians. He flicked his wrist with one swift motion and the music started playing which signalled the four couples to start dancing.
Harry locked eyes with Parvati and she smiled confidently placing his hand at her waist and proceeded to put her hand on his shoulder. They waltzed around in time to the music and Parvati was clearly leading the dance. Harry wished he wasn’t so nervous or terrible at dancing as he looked around the room, all eyes were on him. Being the boy who lived didn’t come with any special privileges.
As the dance progressed, waltzing slowly became more natural to him and he even lifted up Parvati a couple of times.The music was crescendoing and soon other couples came onto the dance floor. It was only a matter of time before everyone was ballroom dancing, twirling and being lifted into the air in a synchronised manner.
As Harry was dancing, he became unaware of his surroundings and had accidentally bumped into someone. He was about to turn around and apologise until he heard the all too familiar voice.
“Watch where you’re going, Pottah ,” sneered Draco with in the background Pansy giggling as she watched the scene unfold.
“If you weren’t in the way maybe I wouldn’t have bumped into you, Malfoy ,” said Harry who was now irritated but tried to not let it ruin the mood. He turned his attention back to Parvati who had a confused look on her face. Harry dismissed it was nothing and they continued on waltzing.
After a while the music changed to a much more upbeat and lively song and everyone cheered since they were getting tired of the constant 1 2 3 beat of the waltz. They all let loose and were dancing much more comfortably now, even the professors had joined in, Professor Mcgongall’s once tidy bun was let out and messy. However, it had the opposite effect on Harry. He tried his best to enjoy it and the sudden energetic jingle but it was simply draining him, he simply wasn’t cut out to be a dancer.
Near the ending of a song he decided to get out of the dance but before leaving, he apologised to Parvati saying he wasn’t going to join in anymore to which she responded with a very annoyed face and walked off to find a better partner.
Harry sighed not knowing what he could have done instead and walked off the dance floor and to his surprise he found Ron sitting there with Padma. She looked annoyed, her foot was tapping in time to the beat of the song since she was itching to dance but it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon with the way Ron was acting, taking casual sips of his butterbeer.
With Ron’s constant ignore of Padma, she eventually got up and walked off to find a suitable dance partner that wouldn’t be sitting down the whole time. Harry grabbed a butterbeer before he sat down next to Ron. He tried to start a conversation however Ron only ignored him and continued staring at Hermione and Viktor dancing.
The silence between the two was suffocating and Harry didn’t know what else to say. He took off his jacket as a way to pass time and get out of the awkwardness with Ron but then Hermione came over. She seemed a bit puffed but had a happy expression.
“It’s a bit hot isn’t it,” she said whilst cooling herself down. “Viktor just went to get some drinks for us.”
“Surprised you haven’t started calling him Vicky yet,” remarked Ron with a snarky tone.
“What are you on about?” Hermione asked, now very perplexed. She looked over to Harry to see if he knew what was going on but he simply shrugged and took a sip of his butterbeer.
“He’s the enemy, Hogwart’s competitor! And here you are going around and and fraternising with him,” spat Ron trying to find his words.
“Honestly that is so dumb Ron, he hasn’t even asked about anything,” said Hermione who was starting to get angry.
“Then he’s probably only getting close to you to use you on how to open the egg, spending those times together in the library,” snapped Ron,
Hermione flushed, the pink on her face getting darker. “For your information Ronald I would never do such a thing. I want Harry to win the Triwizard Tournament, you know that right Harry?” She asked, looking at his direction.
“Yea I don’t mind you going with Kr-,” Harry was cut off before he could say anymore.
“Why don’t you go find Vicky, I’m sure he’s looking for you,” sneered Ron, his arms now crossed.
“Don’t call him that!” said Hermione, now very angry she stormed off into the crowd of dancers.
They both watched as she walked off and after a couple of minutes Ron asked if they could get out of here to which Harry agreed. They both sneaked off, pretending to grab more drinks and out they went. They headed to the Gryffindor’s dormitory, they were at the painting until Harry cursed, just realising he had forgotten his jacket back at the Ball. Ron told him to go get it and he proceeded to go into the dorm
Down Harry went, making sure the stairs were facing the right way so he didn’t accidentally go somewhere he wasn’t supposed to. The music was loud enough, he heard it on his way down. As he got near the entrance, he went inside and looked at the place where he had misplaced his jacket.
Trying to avoid the crowd of dancers, he made his way across and retrieved it, putting it on so he didn’t forget it. On his way out, he saw Peeves hovering near the drinks with something held in hand. Peeves had a very mischief expression, as he watched people grab a drink, it made him cackle. He assumed it was another one of his dumb pranks, as long as it didn’t involve him, he didn’t care.
Finally walking out of the cramped space, he saw a shadow of a person leaning to the side of the wall with something in his hand. At first Harry hesitated to call out to them but he plucked up the courage to.
“Who’s there?” Harry asked.
The figure in the dark moved towards Harry saying something incoherently. They walked closer and it wasn’t until the light bouncing off the shiny hair did Harry realise who it was.
“Malfoy?”
Draco had one hand on the wall to keep his balance and the other hand was held onto what seemed to be a beverage. His once neat hair now all over the place and he reeked of alcohol.
“What have you been drinking?” questioned Harry, pinching his nose so he didn’t have to smell him.
“Just some butterbeeeeeerrr,” slurred Draco who was obviously intoxicated.
Butterbeer was a non-alcoholic drink, if he had drank it, how was he so drunk? Harry now linked the pieces together and it was clear to say, Peeves was definitely behind this. It explained why he was there as well as the bottle in his hand, spiking people’s drinks and unfortunately Draco was one of them.
“Your drink was spiked. You’re drunk,” said Harry.
“I just drunk butterbeeerr, I’m onlyyy tipsy,” replied Draco. He tried to walk towards Harry but failed miserably and ended up falling. If it weren’t for Harry, he would have fell onto the ground.
“What are youuu doing Potter? Get off me,” and he attempted to shove Harry out of the way but it only made him fall.
Harry chuckled, he wasn’t used to seeing this posh snobby boy suddenly act all vulnerable and weak. Harry crouched down to his level and looked at him straight in the eye. Draco stared back and then said something Harry thought he would never hear him say.
“You knowww, you’ve always had such beautiful green eyes,” commented Draco.
Harry was taken back, he blushed and moved away from him. He wanted to leave him there, alone on the ground, after all it’s what he deserved after all the things he’s done but there was a small voice telling him to help him up. Somehow that small voice at the back of his head was what controlled his movements.
Harry attempted to lift him up but he was heavier then he looked. Draco groaned and whined, saying the cold floor was comfortable and after minutes of struggle he agreed in getting up. He wouldn’t have been able to without Harry’s support.
He took one step and immediately lost balance. Harry sighed and murmured something along the lines of “hopeless git” and got him back up again except this time he piggybacked him so he couldn’t fall again. It was rather uncomfortable but Harry’s been through worse.
Draco wasn’t used to being lifted and immediately protested but after a while he got too tired to and laid his head on Harry’s shoulders as he walked to find his way to Slytherin’s dorm. Harry’s done it once so it couldn’t have been that hard.
“You’re pretty strong for someone so smallllllll,” said Draco.
“Wow thanks,” responded Harry.
“You’re also really hottttt, why are you so hotttt?”
“Cuz I’m carrying you, you nitwit. You’re not a feather.”
“You know, I don’t get what the big deal about you is. Sure you’re cuteeee but that’s really it.”
Harry immediately halted, trying to process in what he just said.
“Did you just say cute?”
“You’re still deaf with me talking right next to you.” Even with Draco drunk he was still able to make his witty remarks. He continued on with his little talk.
“I guesss I’ve just been really shy around youuuu, so I tease you because whyyyy nottt,” said Draco, completely unaware of his words.
Harry was so stunned to hear what he was saying, was this all really true?
“I’ve been dating Pansy for a while but it doesn’tttt feel right, it’s likeeee they’re not the right oneeee. So I’m going to say somethingggg that feels right.”
He moved his head up higher as if he was making an announcement to the whole world. “I, Draco Malfoy, like Harry Potter,” he said in the most drunk manner and he slumped back down onto Harry’s shoulder. He could feel Draco’s heart race and soon realising his heart was doing the same.
Harry hadn’t moved after Draco was going on about his whole rant and after hearing what he had just said, he blushed and his cheeks became a shade of dark red. Luckily no one was there to witness any of it.
“Wow you’ve gotten even hotter then before, let me coolllll you down,” and Draco leaned in and gave Harry a little kiss on the cheek before completely blacking out.
Now Harry’s face looked like a tomato, his face so red he didn’t know what to do. He simply stood there with shock while Draco was sleeping on his back. Taking his time he replayed the whole scene of what happened in his head. His heart started beating faster and it was then that he realised deep down he had also liked Draco.
He had surprised himself. Him liking Draco, was that possible? Liking the same gender, it was unheard of. He traced his thoughts back to how he had thought about Cho. Now he was beyond confused, he had fallen for both. Questions flooded his mind. He thought about it for the remainder of the journey.
Finally arriving at the Slytherin dormitory, Harry had realised he didn’t plan this out properly since he didn’t have a password to get in. Even “pureblood” wasn’t the right answer and he couldn’t leave him here alone. Luckily Pansy had showed up with a very disgusted look on her face.
“Why are you carrying Draco?” she questioned now quite suspicious of what was going on.
“Uhh long story,” said Harry, it was the best answer he could come up with.
He tried to take Draco off his back but he had held on, the arms around his neck not budging.
“I don’t want to let go,” he said childslishy, it was like watching a child not wanting to leave the candy store.
“You have to let go,” told Harry with a rather stern tone but Draco was stubborn and continued to hold on.
Pansy tried to help him get Draco off but she wasn’t doing much better herself.
For what felt like forever, Draco was finally off Harry’s back, he was wobbling side to side. He still hadn’t regained his balance. Harry started to leave but then Draco called out from behind. Harry turned around and Draco was there, using Pansy as support.
“What is it now,” Harry asked wearily, it had been a long night.
Draco gestured to Harry to come closer and when he was close enough Draco pulled him in and kissed him. Harry was so shocked yet he didn’t pull away. Pansy was heard gasping in the background, now confused at what happened. Draco let go, his face red.
“That felt right,” he said, smiling.
Attempting to walk back to Pansy (who had the most bewildered expression), tripping every now and then, he waved goodbye to Harry with a huge dopey smile on his face.
Saying the password, they both walked into their dorm and the painting covered the entrance once more. Harry just stood there in complete disbelief of what he had just done. It had felt like a dream, all just a fantasy Harry had conjured up in his head but fortunately it wasn’t.
Walking back to his own dorm, the questions came back. However he had no idea how to answer them, what even could be the answers to them. He was debating on whether he should ask Hermione what this could mean until he remembered that she and Ron were still fighting. It would feel like he was betraying Ron so he kept in the back of his head.
When he had returned back to his dorm, Ron was sitting on the armchair waiting for him. He had gotten out of his dress gown and into the pyjamas his mum had made for him.
“What took you so bloody long?”
“Oh uh I was just caught up with some things,” lied Harry, he had to keep himself from blushing otherwise Ron would doubt what he said.
That whole night, he didn’t manage to sleep once. That scene just replayed over and over again and when it was morning he had giant eye bags.
The conflict between Ron and Hermione wasn’t solved yet so there was an awkward silent tension between the three of them. Harry walked in the middle of them but it didn’t bother him since he already had something else in his mind.
As they entered the Great Hall to eat their breakfast, Harry glanced over to the Slytherin’s table where Draco was sitting. The alcohol must have hit him hard since he looked very hungover. Pansy on the side of him, talking very quickly, probably asking him questions about what was going on last night. Draco glanced up and saw Harry looking over at him.
They both turned red and looked away. It had seemed like Draco had remembered the events of last night
“Why are you looking over there ?” asked Ron, picking up on his weird behaviour.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” he responded, brushing off the topic.
Hermione gave Harry a perplexed look but didn’t think much of it. The day went on as it usually did for everyone else but for Draco and Harry, it was the start of a blossoming romance.