Disclaimer: I own nothing yada yada yada.
AN: This was written in response to a challenge set by one of my friends. Here are the guidelines:
Must be post death of Voldemort.
Must contain a ball.
Must have one of the little known slash pairings.
There must be at least one unexpected twist.
The title must contain a colour (my title is the name given by fictionalley for the slash paring in this fic.)
One of the male characters must, at one point, wear a dress.
No character death.
No angst (which was just added because my friends and I are so in tune with our inner-emos.)
Should bring back one dead character.
The ending must be happy.
Silver and Steel.
Severus was having the worst day of his life, and he hated most days.
Ever since starting Hogwarts, he'd considered his luck to have a sort of yoyo effect. The first time he'd noticed was when he'd fallen in love with James Potter, and James had fallen in love with him. Once they left school, he seemed to be perpetually unlucky, until, much to everyone's surprise, Voldemort was hit by a bus. People were outraged that the prophecy appeared to be false, but, in a strange twist of events, it turned out that it was Harry driving the bus at the time, and so everything was set right with the world.
Well, it was, until people started coming back from the dead. In fact, everyone who died at Voldemort's hand returned to walk amongst the living, including, much to Severus' abject horror/utter delight, one James 'Prongs' Potter. He and his wife went separate ways, and Severus and James ended up back together.
However, as the unquestionable power of the yoyo had decided in its infinite wisdom, it was time for some bad luck. And that was why they were having a costume ball.
It was James' idea, of course. Severus didn't know anyone else who'd think something as moronic as this would be fun. Or at least he thought he didn't, until they received the invitation reply slips. Severus presently decided that he no longer had any friends and that they were all associates of James, who had spent three hours dressing as Elvis while Severus had spent three hours thinking of a discarding excuses as to why he couldn't possibly make it to the dreaded event. Finally James emerged from the bathroom.
"Severus! The party starts in five minutes and you're not ready!"
"I beg to differ." James looked at him sceptically.
"What are you then?"
"I'm a bat. Let's go." He grabbed his hand and tried to force him towards the door.
"You didn't even attempt to buy a costume!" Severus sniffed indignantly.
"I'll have you know I bought these robes especially for the occasion."
"No you didn't! You bought them for your court case!" Much to James' amusement, Severus had been arrested a year ago for hexing Madame Malkin. "Nobody's even going to know what you're supposed to be." Severus, annoyed at the whiny tone in James' voice, strode to his desk, wrote 'bat' on a piece of parchment and pinned it to his robes.
"There. Happy? Now let's get this over with."
Bdbdbdbdb
Severus sat, scowling, with his arms folded as James flitted amongst the guests. At the moment he was talking to Dumbledore, who was wearing a big red suit and laughing heartily at random intervals in the conversation, Minerva, who, in a moment of madness, had dressed as Alice in Wonderland, and Lupin, who made everyone call him Shakespeare and insisted on reciting tedious monologues.
Most of the guests had arrived (and Severus only recognised a handful of them), but James glanced at the door occasionally, waiting for his son, hoping he hadn't had the same trouble with his boyfriend as he'd had with Severus. Sometimes the man really was a cantankerous git, even if James had been thoughtful enough to throw him a party.
Hermione, Draco, Ron and Harry arrived at the same time, Hermione fussing because they were fifteen minutes late. James had no idea who Ron and Hermione were supposed to be, but complimented them on their costumes anyway, Draco looked impossibly elegant as a vampire, and Harry…
"You're a woman, Harry." Harry beamed, and Severus snorted as he made his way over to them.
"Do you like it?" He twirled and the skirt of his white evening dress billowed. He was also wearing heels and a long dark wig. He looked far too convincing as a girl.
"Well it's…different." Harry laughed and wandered off to speak to Hagrid (who was dressed as a blast-ended screwt.) James nodded at Ron and Ron smiled back uneasily.
"Hello, sir."
"You can call me James. I hope you're looking after Harry." Ron looked slightly confused.
"Erm…of course I am. He's the most important person in my life." James' features softened slightly and Severus tried to contain a sneer.
"Good. So when are you planning on getting married?" Ron glanced at Hermione, evidently uncomfortable talking to the friendly yet slightly imposing man.
"We're thinking of some time in July." The conversation descended into talk of weddings and Severus got bored and wandered away, unconcerned that he was being impolite. James found him sometime later, staring contemplatively at a glass of wine.
"Something wrong?"
"I'm considering getting drunk. If I do get drunk, I can forget this whole nightmare, and that's very inviting. But on the other hand, there'll be nobody to make sure you're okay when you get twice as drunk." James thought that Severus was reading too much into the whole alcohol business.
"You've just inadvertently implied that you care about me."
"Did I? I'm sorry, rest assured that I don't give a damn about you." James nudged him half-heartedly.
"Bastard."
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It wasn't until they sat down to eat that Severus started to enjoy himself. However, that was also about the time everybody else wished that they were somewhere else.
It started when Ron kissed Hermione. James looked furious, and glanced from Ron to Harry expectantly, sure that Harry must've seen.
"Harry!" Harry looked at his father, slightly startled. "Aren't you going to do something?"
"A...about what?" James' eyes widened.
"Ron just kissed that…that tart!" Hermione squealed indignantly. The first hint of a smirk pulled at the corners of Severus' mouth.
"Well, they're both adults. I think it's their decision." Harry was the very picture of bafflement, and Ron's ears had gone red.
"So you don't care! Is your attitude towards romance really so relaxed?"
"Erm…I'm sorry Dad, you've lost me. What are you talking about?"
"Your boyfriend kissing that…that…floozy!" Ron coughed into his drink and Harry blinked several times. Severus started to cackle quietly.
"Dad, I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding." The hall was silent as people from other tables stopped talking to listen to the argument. "Ron and I aren't…erm…dating." Just to prove this, Ron slipped his arm around Hermione's shoulders. James frowned.
"You aren't?" Harry shook his head. "Then why did he say that you're the most important person in his life?" Ron blushed when he realised that he had contributed to James' confusion.
"He is, but not in that way. He's my best friend."
"And why did you talk to me about your upcoming wedding?"
"Not our wedding." Ron indicated himself and Harry. "Our wedding." he pointed to himself and Hermione. James swallowed.
"Oh." Harry became awfully aware that everyone in the hall (some two hundred people) were listening intently, and lowered his voice to a whisper.
"I'm not gay." Severus' laughter grew louder when he registered the disappointment in Draco's face.
"You're not?" Harry looked at Draco, taken aback by his irritated tone.
"No." Draco stood up, his chair clattering to the floor.
"Then what the hell am I doing here? I'm going. And Harry, I hope you realise just what you've missed out on." He strolled form the hall, followed not-too-subtly by Neville. Severus stomach hurt with barely contained laughter. James was still trying to work out what was going on. He pointed at Ron and Hermione.
"You two are a couple?" Hermione nodded slowly.
"So let me get this straight.(AN: No pun intended.) Harry and Ron aren't gay?" Harry shook his head.
"I think Draco might be though." Ron snorted and Severus wiped tears from his eyes. James threw his hands into the air emphatically.
"Great. All this time, I thought that… never mind. It doesn't matter. It's not like you need to tell me anything about your life" Harry raised his eyebrows.
"I didn't realise I had to come out as straight." James looked thoroughly flustered.
"Anybody else want to tell me that they're heterosexual? Anyone!" Everyone looked slightly scared. "Remus? Albus?" Remus shook his head and Albus started to say that he did, in fact, prefer women, but thought better of it. Remus touched James' arm lightly.
"James, I think you're overreacting a bit." James ignored him.
"I think it's about time we got everything out in the open. How about you Severus? Men or women?"
"Well, unless there's something you're not telling us, I'd say I'm definitely gay." He managed to say between bouts of laughter.
"And let me guess. Minerva's a lesbian?" McGonagall sat up huffily.
"I am, actually." Pomona Sprout, looking ridiculous in an extremely 'imaginative' sprout costume, smiled slightly and looked McGonagall up and down.
"Really?" Everyone but Severus, whose laughter was perfectly audible by this point, looked startled at this new development. James stood up.
"All I wanted to do was throw Severus a party for his birthday, and I end up getting ridiculed and humiliated in front of my friends. Well, thank you very much." He stormed from the hall, embarrassing Neville and Draco, who seemed to be fused at the lips. Neville looked at the bemused faces in the hall, and closed the door again.
Severus leaned back in his chair, looking immensely smug despite the fact that James evidently (and unduly) blamed him for tonight's festivities. Slowly, the guests started conversing again. Severus considered getting drunk. If he did get drunk, he could forget the whole night, which wasn't as inviting as it had been. But on the other hand, who would make sure James was okay?
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"Did you know that Harry was straight?" Severus raised an eyebrow.
"Of course I did."
"And you didn't tell me? You just let me make a complete fool of myself!" Throughout their lives, Severus had perfected several ways of deflecting James' anger, and when he used them depended on the extent of how annoyed he was, and what he'd done to piss James off in the first place. At that moment, Severus decided that the only way to calm him down was to kiss him. Being the shallow, emotionally stunted man that he was, Severus saw it as just that. A kiss. But for some reason James saw so much more in it, and it always worked best when he wasn't exactly sure if he was to blame.
James dropped his head onto Severus shoulder and wrapped his arms around his waist, all signs of rage gone. "Well, I am a bastard." Severus whispered. James smiled sadly.
"I just wanted to throw you a simple party. I wanted you to enjoy yourself for once."
"I did enjoy myself. Even if I was the only one. Besides," he released James and held up a bottle of wine. "We can have a party of our own."
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"Draco or Lucius?"
"Lucius."
"Lucius or Albus?"
"Lucius."
"Me or Lucius?"
"Lucius." James sat up and hit Severus with a pillow.
"You bastard!"
"I told you we shouldn't play this game. You may end up learning something about me that you don't like." James prodded Severus in the stomach sullenly.
"I don't like anything about you anyway. You're a-"
"A bastard, yes I know." Severus laughed. James lay back down, using Severus as a pillow as his actual pillow was still in his hand.
"I was going to say tosser, but if the shoe fits…" Severus kissed James' forehead. The alcohol was gone (as were the guests presumably, seeing as it was after three in the morning), the candles had burned down and flickered meekly, and Severus birthday was well and truly over. Severus had never really cared when his birthday was over. As a child it was generally ignored, and, although he was treated no worse than on normal days, it felt worse because it seemed that nobody would've missed him had he never been born. And although he now knew that he was wanted by at least one person, that person wasn't going to go away when his day was finished with for another year. No, James would stay by his side regardless of the day or how old he got, just as he would stay with James.
"Severus?" James' voice was muffled as he fought to stay awake. "Do you love me?"
"You know I do."
"Then say it."
"I love you James Potter. More than anyone."
"Even Lucius?" Severus laughed lightly.
"Well, maybe not everyone." James frowned, but he was too tired to do anything else. Besides, those few words held more sentiment than he'd gotten out of Severus for a while, and he would have to be content with that.
Severus considered extinguishing the candles, but didn't want to prevent himself from being able to see James' sleep-softened features, and so left them to splutter and die as he fell into oblivion. His last coherent thought was that maybe a costume ball hadn't been such a bad idea after all.