AN: Thank you for reading so far. This is my first fanfic so I really appreciate any reviews. Thanks. :)
"You look lovely, Pans." Draco said, taking in Pansy's long legs and dark tousled hair. She was wearing a deep plum coloured swing dress, it hit just above the knee and mirrored the colour of her lipstick.
"Thanks," Pansy replied, smiling at the sincerity of Draco's compliment, "as do you."
Draco had chosen to wear a slim fitting pair of black trousers, a matching blazer and a skin tight polo neck underneath. He looked clean and put together, a complete contrast to how he'd looked an hour before. He'd been frantically pacing his room muttering about having nothing suitable to wear, so he and Theo had tore through his trunk of near identical suits and settled on the one that was "Classy enough, but still flattering on the arse."
He nodded in response to Pansy's compliment, feeling extremely insecure. His pale hands were clamming up so he was constantly having to wipe them on the front of his jacket.
"Just relax, Draco," Pansy said calmly, taking his hands in her own, "this is Potter we're talking about here, messy-haired, scar face Potter, who always looks as though he's crawled through a hedge. You'll be fine."
Draco let out a hollow laugh and managed a small smile. She was right of course, Harry did normally look extremely dishevelled, his hair was especially unkempt, but that was part of the appeal in Draco's opinion. Harry had the ability to act and look charming just by being himself, there was no falseness masking a stone cold heart, he was just warm and kind to the bone. Draco believed himself to be quite the opposite, in order to charm others he found himself putting up a mask of niceties when it suited the situation, but beneath it he wasn't prone to extending large amounts generosity. But he must have some interesting qualities, otherwise Harry wouldn't have reached out to him, right? It was maddening. If he wanted, Harry could probably say the same thing to everyone in the entire school and somehow make each individual feel special. He just had this positivity that seemed to radiate from him. This of course could work in quite the opposite way too, Draco himself had felt the salty pain that came with knowing you were one of the only people Harry wouldn't make an effort with. But that had changed...or so Draco hoped.
"C'mon, let's take a look at Blaise's work, shall we?" Pansy suggested, tugging at Draco's sleeve.
The Slytherin common room was decorated from ceiling to floor in excessive amounts of violet and fuschia. Balloons hung over them, floating towards the ceiling and the dark oak tables were scattered with rose petals. Blaise was in the corner of the room fixing up a speaker when Pansy rushed over, hugging him from behind.
"It's perfect! Thank you, Blaise." She said breathlessly.
Blaise smiled as he turned round to give her a proper hug, "Happy birthday." He said, and gave the top of her head a quick kiss before facing Draco and smirking, "How are you doing, loverboy?"
Draco rolled his eyes with very little passion and strode over to a nearby mirror, flattening his hair.
Been better, he thought dryly.
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It was an hour later when groups of teens from other houses began filtering into the Slytherin common room. Since inviting Harry, Pansy had extended the invitation into an open invite- "the more the merrier, right?"- and it seemed that many sixth years were keen to let loose for a night.
At around 9:30pm the common room was brimming with people, it was probably one of the biggest displays of 'house unity' Draco had ever seen, which was rather comical now, he realised.
He'd lost Blaise, Pansy and Theo to the crowd of teens bobbing up and down in unison with the 'weird sisters'. The music was thumping round the room in time to Draco's pattering heartbeat, as he eagerly scanned the room for Harry's signature messy head of hair. He was clutching a red plastic cup filled with….actually he wasn't quite sure. Pansy had thrust it into his hands wordlessly, giving him a quick wink, then swished away to greet some new arrivals.
He felt strangely isolated in the ever-growing crowd, hips were swaying and hands were waving all around him yet he couldn't seem to find anyone to join in with. He also realised with a tinge of bitterness that Harry would most likely be bringing Granger and Weasley so probably wouldn't even want to look in Draco's direction.
He began making his way up the stairs and towards the door, with the intent of lingering in the cool corridors for a while, when he heard his name called softly from behind him.
He spun on his heel and was met with the dreamy blonde Ravenclaw he knew to be Luna Lovegood.
"Er..hello." He greeted, feeling rather confused as he and Luna had never truly been on speaking terms.
"Quite a good party, wouldn't you say so?" She asked, in her soft irish accent.
"Yes. Quite."
"What's that you're drinking?" She queried with a small tilt of her head.
"Oh um.." Draco lifted the plastic cup to his lips and took a quick sip of the golden liquid. As soon as it hit his tongue and sloshed down his throat he felt an unmistakable flaming prickle, "Firewhiskey." He supplied, attempting to clear his throat of the hot tingling sensation.
Luna simply hummed in response. Draco noticed she was wearing radish earrings, a butterbeer cap necklace, and had a sprig of wheatgrass clipped into her wavy hair. He'd always figured Luna was rather eccentric but the look she'd assembled, in his opinion, was rather brave.
"Well, I won't bother you any longer as I figured you were initially on your way out. Besides, I should probably go find Neville." She said with an absent minded smile playing at her lips.
"Oh, I saw him a few minutes ago, down by the drinks station. He was talking to some Hufflepuff about Devil's Snare."
"Ah yes, that sounds like Neville. Thank you, Draco. Enjoy the rest of your evening." She gave him one last tranquil smile before turning round and dissolving into the crowd.
She seems nice enough Draco thought, remembering that Harry was quite fond of Luna. Becoming friendlier with Harry's 'crowd' was something he'd have to do if Harry were to even consider a real friendship with Draco.
He walked through the doorway and was rounding the corner when he smacked into something hard.
"Merlin's bloody tits!" He spat, leaning against the cold stone and clutching his arm.
"Shit!" Harry exclaimed. Of course it was Harry. When wasn't it?
Draco steadied himself before straightening his suit, his vision was tilted slightly but he was persistently blinking his eyesight back to normal.
"Shit, I am so sorry Draco." Harry said, in that adorable flustered way of his.
Draco was silent for a moment as he took in Harry's appearance. He'd chosen a light blue t-shirt, a loose fitting flannel and some slim jeans. Bloody prat thought Draco, of course he'd smack into me and still manage to look that handsome.
Harry ran one hand through his thick mop of hair and let out a shaky breath.
"Are you alright?"
The words were, once again, weighted with concern for Draco. It gave him a pure feeling of bliss that almost made up for the throbbing pain in his arm.
"I'm fine." He replied with a curt nod.
There was a moment of stillness where Harry simply surveyed Draco with his eyes. Those brilliantly green eyes that seemed as though they held all the answers to questions Draco didn't even know he wanted to ask. The colour was so clear and bright that it could suck the vibrancy out of a field in spring.
"You're not leaving, are you?" He asked, a line forming between his brows. Was that line concern or disappointment? Draco wished he could read it, translate it like he would a rune, and be that much closer to figuring out completely, how Harry thought and felt all the time.
"Where's Weasley and Granger?" Draco asked, ignoring Harry's question. He wanted to prepare himself for the attack of buck teeth and fiery hair as soon as possible.
"Oh, they're already inside."
Draco raised his right brow. Granger and Weasley leave Harry's side while he ventured into the Slytherin's domain? Not bloody likely.
Harry smiled knowingly and Draco was sure he had just read his thoughts.
"They wanted to make sure this whole party thing wasn't some elaborate prank, to trap me in Slytherin territory alone and defenceless."
Draco pursed his lips and lifted his head in approval of the very cautious and strategic minds of Harry's friends.
"Well it's not, but I'm surprised we've never thought of that one."
Harry chuckled lightly and it was all bright teeth and squinty eyes and gently juddering shoulders. He looked so carefree in his baggy flannel and one strand of dark hair covering his famous scar. He looked like a teenager going to a party to have fun.
He looked like Draco's downfall wrapped up in warm skin and a gorgeous smile.
"Well, shall we?" Harry asked, motioning towards the flashing room which now seemed particularly welcoming.
If Harry was going to cause Draco's demise then it was one hell of an appealing way to go.
"We shall."