---------------
"Tomorrow's Valentine's Day and the Dance, you know, Harry."
Seamus Finnegan lay sprawled comfortably across Harry Potter's bed in the
Gryffindor dormitories during lunchtime, eating orange and raspberry flavored
Chocolate Heartz with relish.
"Mm-hmm." Said Potter did not even look up from his reading, (One-hundred and
One "Quiddich" Positions), which irritated Seamus to no end. Seamus sighed, ate
another Heartz, and persisted.
"Valentine's, you know. THE Tine's. Also a very, very big deal!" He looked
meaningfully at Harry, who didn't even bother pretending to listen this time.
He simply turned a page, humming softly to himself, not paying Seamus one speck
of attention.
This was baaaad.
Seamus tossed his candy on the floor in disgust with his occasionally dumb
boyfriend. He took a deep breath and said loudly, "IF YOU DON'T FUCKING ASK ME
TO THE VALENTINE'S DANCE, THEN WE'RE THROUGH!!!"
That made Harry look up. He winced, set down his book carefully, and pulled his
legs out from their position under Seamus's.
He had totally forgotten about the bloody dance. Telling Seamus that though, of
course, would be no good. "Seamus," he said soothingly, "I love you. You know
that."
He shuddered in horrible anticipation of what he was going to say next. "And
even though I was hoping against hope you would forgot about the dance- -"
Seamus shot daggers at him, "—I would of course love to escort you to the ball,
Cinderella. That is, if you'll have me," he finished.
Seamus smiled happily, and moved to sit in Harry's lap. Twining his and Harry's
fingers together, he said delightedly, "I accept."
He twisted around to face Harry. Right before their lips met, he whispered
softly, "You'll have to get me a gift, though, of course," he said, staring
meaningfully into Harry's jade eyes.
Dear God, Harry thought.
--------------
"And so Father told me I had better get Pansy to--" Draco was talking loudly to
Crabbe and Goyle on as they made their way to supper.
Harry chose that moment to conveniently crash into a suit of armor. The hunk of
metal actually reached out one rusty arm to push him forward roughly, sending
him sprawling toward the group of Slytherins. He landed with an "Oooff!"
on the hard stone floor at their feet.
The suit of armor chuckled hollowly.
Harry looked up into the three Slytherins' angry faces. "Pardon me," he said
innocently, attempting to stand, but he found himself being pushed back down by
a designer dragon hide boot belonging to a certain Draco Malfoy. The
blond male looked unpleasantly at Harry for a moment, before curling his lip in
disdain and turning to his friends.
"Go on, boys," he told them.
They looked back at him dubiously, obviously wondering why they hadn't been
told to beat the crap out of Harry, but submitted and left, turning the next
corner soon thereafter. Draco waited until they we were out of earshot
before removing his foot from Harry's back and allowing him to stand up.
Harry opened his mouth, but before he could utter a single sound, Draco had
pulled him into the empty room they were standing near and shut the door. "What
do you want, Potter?" he asked.
Harry's voice, calm moments ago, now sounded almost hysterical. He wrung his
hands exasperatedly.
"Drac, this is really bad! I totally forgot about the dance, and Seamus was
really pissed, but he's okay now, but the problem is, he expects me to get him
a present! And I haven't the slightest fucking clue what to get him!"
Draco actually snickered.
"What??" Harry demanded indignantly. This was a very big deal, and here was the
only person he knew to go to for help laughing at his situation!
Draco stopped sputtering long enough to manage- "Have you always been this
feminine, Potter, or did Finnegan do this to you?"
Harry glowered at him. "I don't know, Drac," he said sarcastically. "We dated
last term. Don't you remember?"
Draco seemed unperturbed, however. "I guess not," he replied, shrugging
gracefully. "But as for Finnegan… he wants jewelry, of course."
"He does?" Harry asked in surprise.
Draco nodded sagely. "'Course," he stated. "Silver, preferably. It will look
good on his skin." He paused, and peered at Harry. "On yours, too, actually.
You'll look cute together. But then--" He stopped suddenly.
Loud voices could be heard right outside the door. Draco and Harry listened
intently, and then Draco started visibly. "Shit, I have to go now, Potter." He
flashed a sudden, genuine smile at Harry. "Gotta convince Pansy I really love
her. She says she wants to break up, but that won't do at all." He moved
forward suddenly, and kissed his ex-boyfriend on the cheek. "Good luck with
Finnegan, okay?" he said softly.
He moved swiftly out the door at Harry's grin, and Harry could hear him begin
to persuade Pansy to take him back in a loud voice that echoed through the
halls.
Harry sighed profoundly. Well, at least he had made some progress.
Truly, quite a bit. He'd discovered what to get his materialistic lover for
Valentine's Day, the reason he had fallen in love with Draco in the first place
(something Harry had wondered about for almost a year now), and that he would
look good in silver.
Honestly.
Harry turned and left the bare room also, heading in the opposite direction of
Draco. Seamus was worth skipping lunch for.
--------------
"Yeah, I like it, but you wouldn't happen to have it in silver, would you?"
Harry questioned for the fiftieth time.
It wasn't incredibly difficult to sneak off Hogwarts grounds, and as Harry had
been taught to Apparate last year at the climax of Voldemort's reign, he had
deemed the situation of Operation Seamus Present a dire emergency, and had
sneaked into Diagon Alley for the afternoon.
He was currently sitting on a tall stool in Madame Markle's Magical
Accessories. He'd spent the last half our convincing Jerelle Markle that no, he
did not want the special gold bracelets on sale for 10 galleons off. He wanted
silver.
Finally, Jerelle gave in. "If Misteer Potter will wait here, I will bring out
our finest silver jewelry," she said stiffly, walking to the storeroom behind
the counter.
Harry fiddled with a loose thread on the thick tapestry covering the table for
a moment before fingering a box of earrings that Jerelle had brought out
earlier, incidentally containing both silver and gold ornaments. He hadn't even
looked at those, for the simple reason that Seamus's ears were not pierced, and
Harry wanted him to put whatever Harry ended up buying on right then.
Now, however, Harry picked up a thick silver hoop thoughtfully. There wasn't a
rule that said one could not get oneself a present while shopping for another,
was there?
Harry looked up when Jerelle returned with a small ornamental box. "Hey,
Jerelle?" he said.
"Yes?" She carefully set the box down on the counter in front of Harry and
looked up at him.
He held up the hoop. "Do you pierce ears here?"
She actually smiled then. "Of course," she said simply. "Would you like it
done?"
Harry gulped and nodded. "I think so, yeah. Just one ear though. At the top. My
right one."
Jerelle nodded and reached over and under the counter to retrieve a long black
needle. It was extremely sharp, and Harry sucked in his breath involuntarily.
"Calm, Misteer Potter. You will feel almost nothing."
Harry seriously doubted that but said nothing. He handed the hoop to the
brunette, closed his eyes, and told himself the inevitable pain would be worth
it.
Jerelle seemed to spend an inordinately long amount of time positioning the
needle against his ear. Then-
Harry felt nothing for a moment, and then all the pain came rushing to him as
Jerelle positioned the earring in his ear. He could hear her saying something
softly, and the burning discomfort fled to almost nothing. He lifted his hand
up gently to touch his new piercing.
Jerelle led him over to a full-length mirror in the corner. A tall, lean young
man with black hair, striking green eyes and a silver earring in his right ear
stared back at Harry. He wasn't wearing his detested Hogwarts uniform, and he
did indeed look very attractive.
Seamus'll like this…
With a start, Harry realized he needed to buy Seamus's present quickly, so he
would have time to make his Divination lesson at 2:00. He hated to admit it,
even to himself, but he had a definite gift with that class.
Jerelle stood near him, looking pleased with her handiwork. "Misteer Potter is
pleased, yes?" she asked when he looked over at her.
"Yeah, I am. Thanks," Harry responded, walking over to the counter once more
and beginning to examine the contents of the box, Jerelle following.
There were silver bracelets, some more silver earrings, silver necklaces,
silver anklets… none looked quite right though. Harry was about to seriously
freak out when his hand touched something cold and shiny. It was smooth all the
way around, so it wasn't an earring; he pulled it out.
It was a lovely silver ring, with two hearts delicately intertwined engraved
into it. This is perfect… Harry thought happily. He looked up at Jerelle. "I
think I want this one," Harry stated, holding the ring lovingly.
"Excellent decision, Misteer Potter. Will that be all?"
Harry nodded. "Yes. How much?"
She looked carefully over her customer's purchases. "Eight sickles for the
piercing, a galleon for your earring. And another galleon for the ring."
"Splendid." Harry dug into his pockets. There was a definite upside to being
orphaned young and rich. No parents, and loads of money.
--------------
The next evening, Harry stood uncomfortably in front of a mirror in the guys'
bathrooms. He wore green robes that perfectly matched his eyes and enhanced his
slim figure. In his hand he held a small black box.
He reached up unconsciously to fiddle with the earring he'd so far managed to
hide from Seamus. He wanted it to be a surprise, along with the Valentine's
present.
"HAR-RY! Come on!"
Harry started, quickly pocketed the box, and hurried out to meet his waiting
friends. At the bottom of the stairs, in the Common Room, they all sat in a
small circle.
Hermione was seated next to the Ravenclaw prefect Terry Boot, whom she had sneaked
inside in a very un-Hermione like way. Ron sat with his arm around Lavender
Brown, his current girlfriend. Parvati Patil cuddled comfortably in Dean
Thomas's lap. Ginny was nowhere to be found, presumably off with her girlfriend
from Ravenclaw.
And Seamus… well, he looked nothing short of stunning. Black robes accentuated
his pale skin and medium blonde hair, and a slender silver cord around his
waist completed the outfit. Seamus grinned when he saw Harry, and stood. He
walked over to him, and stood on tiptoes so they were eye level.
"You look gorgeous, Harry," Seamus hissed softly.
He tilted his head slightly, and their lips met for a moment before a cough
from Ron broke them apart. He looked slightly embarrassed to interrupt them but
looked at the clock and said, "Er, shall we get a move on? The feast is about
to start."
"Hang on just a second." Harry fumbled in his pockets for the box while Seamus,
Ron, and the rest watched expectantly. He opened the small container, turned so
the others could not see the contents, and took out the ring. Hiding it in his
hand, he reached for Seamus's left ring finger.
Harry slipped the ring onto Seamus's finger. It was a perfect fit, and a
beautiful ring for a beautiful boy.
Seamus smiled delightedly at Harry, and his hand. "It's perfect." He breathed.
Realizing everyone else was staring at them, he held up his hand. Ron,
Hermione, Dean, Lavender, Terry, and Parvati smiled.
"I love it, Seamus," Hermione said.
Seamus smiled happily and laced his right hand with Harry's left. He reached up
to adjust Harry's earring, which Harry had totally forgotten about. "I want one
too!" he said. Of course.
Harry pulled his boyfriend toward the portrait hole. All of their friends
followed, talking cheerfully. He glanced at Seamus who smiled at him. They were
almost in the Great Hall when Harry said, "Love you."
"Love you, too."
And from then on, Harry realized that dances really weren't so bad after all.