Draco: I hate you!

Trinity: Oh come on, your so cute!

Draco: I still hate you!

Harry: (snigger) Severs you right!


Chapter 9: Party Time

Harry and Draco are becoming…friends. Yes, I am shocked to say it myself, but it can no longer be denied. They push each other to their limits- and have fun doing it. Their unexpected and newly founded friendship seemed to have been sealed when Draco actually forgave Harry for something that occurred last year. I have yet to see Draco truly forgive anyone for every hurting him. But still, I am a bit worried that Draco is perhaps using Harry's kindness and concern.

This party deal however, brings up an excellent opportunity to watch my Knights in the open without being suspicious. All my studies on the Shadow Knights have only proven that they are more secretive than any other class of Knights. Perhaps Harry will give me a glance of their secrets tonight…

The news of a party spread among the student body like wildfire. Several of the students decided that a date would be necessary for the even, so people from other years were invited to join. Soon, the guest list went from sixth years only to double the length with a verity of seventh, fifth, and even forth years promising to go. Even Ginny was going, incited by Neville. The part was looking like it was going to be the occasion of the year.

But while the news spread quickly, the day progressed oh so slowly. Lavender and Parvati were biting their lips in anticipation as the clock ticked slowly, ever so slowly, toward the end of their last class and dinner time. The bell rang at last at six o'clock, announcing dinner time for students, but the girls ran out of their classrooms and headed for the dormitories at high speeds instead. They skipped dinner all together to prepare for the party.

Harry, on the other hand, avoided the dormitory like it was the plague. There was no way he was going to do anyone's hair under such hectic conditions. Six girls in less than an hour, after waiting for them to get dressed? Impossible. Instead, Harry did his usual wondering through the castle corridors, with a lot more ducking into hiding than usual as he avoided the other people coming down the hall.

When their were just ten minutes left until the party, Harry decided to head for the Room of Requirements. He was sure Ron and Hermione would need help to finishing the decorations of the room. He was just wonder what theme Hermione decided to decorate the room in when he heard hushed voices coming form around the corner. Panicking, Harry ducking into the nearest classroom to hide.

"Come on Jared."

"N-no! People will see us!"

"Nobody's here. No one will bother us."

"G-Glen!"

Curiosity got the best of him. Harry peered through the crack of the open door and saw shy boy Jared with his back pressed against the wall, looking not-so-shy-and-even-less-innocent with another boy. Jared had one hand clutching the black robes of the one called Glen and the other tangled in his dark hair. Glen had his hips pressed against Jared's as he nuzzled and kissed the smaller boy's neck, talking in a husky voice. Jared, through still trying to protest verbally, gave up fighting Glen off of him, looking thoroughly pleased.

"You're naughty. Leave me alone."

"But we're having so much fun," Glen whispered into his ear. Jared shivered.

"We're in public. We'll get caught…"

"Then how about that lovely classroom over yonder?"

Harry jumped. Glen was referring to the classroom Harry was currently hiding in. Harry looked around for another way out while the two boys made their way over as quickly as they could with their faces attached at the lips. The door was practically kicked down and the two stumbled in, but Harry had somehow found himself in the hallway, standing outside a convenient second door out of the class.

"Nng, quit it," Harry heard Jared moan, "If you don't, I won't bring you to the party."

Harry heard, and could almost imagine, Glen pout as he streaked down the hall and up flights of stairs. I can't believe what I just witnessed! That was…that was… Harry slammed on the brakes and screeched to a halt, standing alone in the hall with a large tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and a highly polished door. That's what the fan girls want me and Draco to do! Harry shivered in fear.

Harry looked up at the polished door, wondering how the Room of Requirements had been transformed this time. Remembering he was supposed to be helping Hermione decorate the place (since he was sure Ron wasn't doing a thing), Harry turned the brass handle and pushed the door wide open and was practically knocked off his feet by the spectacle.

The room's walls were of dark grey with patterns of brown stone in the walls and floors. Lights of red, blue, yellow, green, and pink hung from the ceiling. There was a stage in the back with a DJ mixing table in one corner and a piano in the other. The bar to the right was stocked with butterbeer and other bottled drinks with a cluster of tables and booths in the left side of the room. Streamers hung from the ceiling and balloons littered the dance floor.

It was a club. A Muggle club. Possibly for high school students.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked impatiently when Harry walked into the room.

"I was, uh, avoiding girls." Harry said. It was the truth for the most part.

"Well, get over here and help me hang this crystal ball."

Harry nodded. Ron was busy stocking the bar, which had an eerie black light glowing underneath the hanging countertop. Harry spotted another Ginny poking around the DJ table with curiosity. Harry next noticed the Creevey brothers sitting in a shadowy booth with a camera in their laps, watching Harry with their creepy smile. Harry was reminded about the time he spent with Draco in that bathtub last month and shivered violently.

I don't want to know if they have pictures of that.

"Is this the last touch?" Harry said once Hermione properly attach the ball to the ceiling.

"No. Go into the storage room. There's a surprise for you in there."

"Um, okay."

Harry went to the black door Ron was bustling in and out of. Behind the little black door was a huge service room filled with walls covered in shelves. There were tons of boxes filled with steamers, balloons, and bottles of drink, so they could party all night long. It looked like nobody even remembered they had classes they would have to go to the next morning. Harry vaguely wondered where they got all the drinks from in the first place.

Harry strolled through the rows of shelves, until he came to the back to the room. There was a stack of thin, white boxes with names written on the side pushed into a corner, on the bottom shelve. Growing excited, Harry found the box with his name on it on top. Hermione appeared at his shoulder as Harry ripped the box apart like a child on Christmas morning. When he finally tossed all the paper tissue aside, his jaw dropped.

"What the bloody hell?" Harry roared.

"What is it?" Ron shouted, running into the storage room.

"Terror. Evil and Fear manifested."

"Oh come on. It's not that bad."

Harry glared over his shoulder at Hermione and she took a step back, giggling like mad. Ron tried to get a better look at "it." Harry held up the box so Ron could get a better look at what he considered to be an abomination against all male kind. When Ron laid eyes on the contents of the little white box, he practically had a nose bleed.

"It" was an outfit for Harry that Hermione had made herself.

The tight, black shirt had no back, and instead the front extending up and wrapped around so the neck like a collar. Small, silver bands were used to attach the long, wavy sleeves to the collar, leaving his shoulders and collar bone exposed for the most part. His pants were just as bad. A pair of low-cut, short shorts in the same, tight black cloth, with the thin silver band attaching the flowing leggins just above the knees so his lovely thighs were exposed as well.

And just to add insult to injury, there were what looked like parts to a Halloween dog costume- dog ears headband, dog tail, and even boots and gloves for the dog paws.

"I think it's adorable," Hermione said, looking into the box with admiration.

"I think it's tiny," Ron said, holding up the shorts.

"I think it's Evil and Fear manifested. We should burn it," Harry growled. The clothes were embarrassing enough, but the dog accessories were just too much for him.

"It's really, really tiny. I don't think Harry could fit into this," Ron said, letting the shorts drop into the box. A smile was creeping onto his lips as the initial shock wore off.

"Ron, I'm a witch," Hermione said, rolling her eyes, and holding up the shirt. "I can tailor it magically. How do you think I made this? Harry's gonna wear it tonight!"

"I am not wearing this. Thanks for the gift, but not a snowball's chance in hell will I ever wear this in public," Harry said.

"It's for the entertainment!" Hermione argued. "You're gonna be like our mascot!"

"No chance!" Harry said, as if it was final.

"Well, you can either wear the outfit, or you can get on stage to sing and dance for us," Hermione said, pulling out her wand. Harry gulped

"I…I don't have to wear the dog stuff, do I?" Harry asked nervously. "It's so…weird."

"Of course not! I have a spell I wanna try out on it that would do the trick. It'll be absolutely perfect!"

"Spell? What spell?"

"Bwah ha ha ha! Y-you're gonna be a…a puuuuuppy!" Ron said, shrieking with laughter. Clutching his sides, Ron fell over, pointing and laughing at Harry.

"You have a box too," Harry said indignantly, pulling Ron's little white box out of the pile. Ron stopped laughing immediately.

"Oh yes!" Hermione said cheerfully, "I got an outfit for you, Seamus, Dean, Ginny, and myself! Oh don't look so devastated. It's only a bartenders uniform."

After much fussing, Hermione helped Harry into his outfit. Momentarily distracted, she helped Ron when he somehow got tangled in the brown vest he was supposed to be wearing over his white button-up shirt, which was inside out. It took a while, but after finally getting the two boys straitened out, she took a step back to admire her work.

"Wonderful! Ron, go out and make sure no one's stealing drinks from the bar. You are to serve everybody, and I mean everybody! Oh, and could you send Dean and Seamus in here if you see them?"

Ron left the storage room grumbling. When he opened the door, Harry heard the thumping music and lights flashing in different colors. They had been in the storage for so long, the party started without them. Hermione beamed what she considered to be her party, since she was the on who actually organized it, the cheers rising in approval as more and more people entered the room.

"Okay, Harry, let's make this quick," Hermione said, raising her wand. "I want to get out there and dance."

"Have you tried this before?" Harry asked nervously.

"On my cat."

Before Harry could protest, Hermione waved her wand and Harry was hit with the spell. The strange feeling of his flesh boiling and melting over took him. His ears burned, withdrew into his skull, and popped out again, reformed and sticking out of his hair much higher than they were before. Harry arched his back as his seemingly worthless tail bone was put into use as a furry tail sprouted and poked out of from under the bottom of his shirt. Most painful of all was the rearranging of his bare feet into large paws. Padding appeared underneath his toes and fur ran from his ankle down.

Harry stumbled to the side as the sensation of melting and reforming stopped all at once. Harry steadied himself on his new feet, balancing on his toes and swaying slightly. The new position of his ears disorientated him somewhat and the new weight of his tail hanging from his backside wasn't helping much. His glasses failed him as well, making his eyesight much worse and giving him a pinching headache, so he took them off.

"Nice job!"

Harry looked up to see Seamus strolling into the storage room with Dean and Neville. Dean gasped and Neville blushed at the combined sight of his bright green eyes and new outfit. Seamus, grinning excitedly, walked a circle around Harry, nodding his approval. Harry's tail caught his eye, and Seamus pulled the extra appendage out of curiosity. With a startled yelped, Harry jumped back and growled at Seamus, baring his teeth.

"Wow, he's perfect! He's even got the fangs and claws!" Seamus said excitedly.

"I did a good job if I say so myself." Hermione said. "Here. This one is yours."

Hermione handed Seamus his little white box. Bouncing up and down excitedly, Seamus ripped off the top, tossed all the paper tissue aside and squealed like a school girl. His outfit was pure white, and just as suggestive as Harry's. The shirt had a long right sleeve that fanned out, but no left one. The pants, on the other hand, had a long left leg and an extremely short right one. Harry figured he was going to be some animal-human hybrid too, since there were no boots.

"I'm gonna be a cat!" Seamus said happily, pulling out a leather collar with a little bell.

"You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?" Harry said with a sigh.

"Of course!" Seamus said as he tossed his robes aside "It's not everyday you get to dress up like this!"

Harry shook his head with half-exasperation and left the storage room. He stopped in the doorway and looked around the party already in progress. Ron was standing behind the bar, serving up the drinks, and several of the guests were lounging in the booths. A nice mix of techno and piano moved through the air and forced some people to their feet to dance. Harry noticed the Creevey brother's had disappeared, and he figured they were already in position in the shadows, taking tons of pictures of him.

Seamus and Dean appeared at Harry's shoulder, grinning and looking around the in excitement room. Dean immediately went over to bar to join Ron as the second bartender. Seamus drifted to the dance floor, getting several stares of surprise and awe. Feeling out of place and unsure what to do, Harry slid over to the double doors and thought about leaving. A crowd quickly formed around him and he just managed to squeeze past them and escape into the hallway.

"H-hello, Mr. Potter."

Harry turned and saw Jared standing in the doorway, wringing his hands nervously as usual. Harry was surprised he could hear his small voice over the thumping music, but figured his hearing had been boosted as well. Harry went and leaned against the wall opposite the door, a slight tilt to his head. Jared got the message and joined him, standing next to him. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and Harry suddenly wondered if he brought his boyfriend along to the party.

"Um…nice-nice outfit Mr. Potter," Jared said, glancing at him and back down at his feet.

"Wanna trade?" Harry said, looking enviously at the boy's simple T-shirt and jean shorts.

"No, thank you, sir." Jared said with a giggle. "I still prefer my robes, but a friend lent me some muggle clothes. Told me it would be better."

"They are, for this party. Robes would get in the way of any dance, except classical. As you can tell, this isn't a real formal party."

"No, I suppose not. The party is very different from what I expected it to be."

"Jared, do you come from a wizarding family?"

"Yes. Well, my mother is a half-blood, but we live with my father's family."

"Jared."

Harry and Jared looked up. Standing in the doorway was none other than the young man Harry spotted with Jared earlier. Now with a closer look, Harry could see he was a lot taller than himself with hair as black as Harry's and a lot neater than his, without Jared's fingers strewn through it. He had stormy blue eyes, with a little electric blue ring around each iris. He was tall, probably a seventh year, and wore a suit, which made him seem like a person of business, now that he wasn't molesting Jared.

Actually, he looks like a Slytherin, Harry thought to himself.

"Um, Harry. I-I don't suppose you know…Glen Crones…" Jared said, growing nervous and shy again. "He's, um…well, he's my…significant other."

"I'm his lover," Glen said with a sly grin. Jared gave a small squeak.

"Really?" Harry said, trying to act like he hadn't already seen them together before.

"Yes. And you're Harry Potter." Glen's eyes shot up to his forehead, peering through his bangs before Harry's twitching ears distracted him. "Who did that to you?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Ah yes. The best of the sixth years, or so I've heard. I've never seen a spell like that. Did she develop it herself?"

"I hope not," Harry said, his ears laying flat against his skull in sudden fear. "I would prefer not to think of myself as her test subject..."

Glen hooked an arm around Jared's waist and it was time for them to go. They were eager to get back to the party, so Jared said good bye and slipped away, disappearing into the crowd inside the Room of Requirements within seconds. Harry was left standing alone in the hallway outside the party. He peered wistfully into the room, watching the people move to the music and chat happily with their friends.

As he stared, Harry saw Ron abandoned Dean and the bar, heading for an occupied corner of the room. He went over to Hermione and Ginny who were giggling like mad and joined in their conversation, yet his eyes constantly glancing around the room. Harry grinned and used his newly heightened hearing to listen in on the conversation.

"…can't believe you did that, Hermione. He must be so uncomfortable."

"But he's so cute!" Hermione squealed.

"Men don't want to be 'cute'! We wanna be sexy, all-powerful studs!" Ron said, puffing up his chest slightly.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Ginny said, concealing her laughter. Ron deflated immediately and glared at her. " I don't see what the problem is. Everyone loves him!"

"That is the problem. He doesn't like this kind of attention, remember?"

"Look, I'm just trying to get him to loosen up." Hermione said, taking a sip of her butterbeer. "He's been so nervous and suspicious lately."

"Yeah, this party was for fun, wasn't it?" Ginny said, shrugging. "Everyone here is having a great time. Look at Seamus!"

"But Harry's not in here, is he? I bet he's already left and gone wondering around the castle again." Ron said, glancing around the room again.

Harry ducked down to avoid detection, tugging his ears down. He stood behind the open double doors, where nobody could see him. Leaning against the wall, he could feel the music thumping against his back, the bass moving through the stone. Harry gave a little sigh. This party is just for fun. So why aren't I out there, being the party animal I'm supposed to be? The only answer he could think of was one he wouldn't acknowledge.

"Hey Draco." Harry said dejectedly as the blond rounded the corner, surprising himself by picking out the familiar scent in the air.

"What's the matter with you, Potter?" Draco said, frowning at him. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. "Aren't you supposed to be in there, playing the role of the life of the party? Finnegan is hogging your spotlight, you know."

"I don't really like the spotlight," Harry admitted. "He can have it."

"But he's tainting it," Draco said, glaring at Seamus over his shoulder.

"When did you get here? I didn't see you come in."

"Or course not. That abnormally large crowd blocked the rest of us from your view," Draco looked Harry up and down. "And sadly, I missed you in that adorable outfit."

"Gah! Don't call this abomination against nature 'adorable'! It's anything but!"

Draco took up his favorite hobby of teasing Harry. Everyone around the doorway ignored they're arguing, completely used to it, and simply moved away. Harry felt semi-normal now that he was back to fighting with Draco, back to their twisted relationship. Of course, that wasn't going to last long. Something weird always had to ruin his fun. Something unpleasant. Something like voices.

Louder and stronger than before, the eerie sounds that hadn't been heard for months pierced Harry's mind. The whispering voices overlapping one another and rang in Harry's ears. Clutching his head, Harry doubled over in pain and staggered to his right, then fell sideways. Draco jumped and stooped to catch Harry before his head smashed into the stone floor. Harry squinted through eyes narrowed in pain and growled, the low rumble in Harry's chest startling Draco.

"Harry? Harry! What's wrong!" Draco shook Harry's shoulders slightly

People who were closest to the door looked around at the sound of panic in Draco's voice, surprised and worried. A few started to surround Harry as Ron pushed his way toward them. He dropped to his knees next to Draco, but no one could help Harry now. Waves of the wispy voices drifted through his mind, sending pricks of pain through his body. He felt like he was under attack, and he simply couldn't take it anymore. His body stiffened, shuddered, and then went slack.

Harry blacked out on the cold, stone floor.


Draco: (cursed to be a white puppy) Why must I suffer so?

Harry: I quote: "Screw you." At least now you know how I feel about being a puppy boy!

Draco: ...Shut up...

Trinity: Heh heh heh. You derserve it.

Draco: (hold up to PLEZ REVIEW sign)