I am looking for a Beta! Been for months actually...

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe and all the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

People slowly danced with each other over the large, spacious zone the wing provided for them. Some people were doing really well, others less, but those were already being instructed by Daphne, Cormac, and the others.

He momentarily stopped scanning the people around him for anyone in need of his help, and looked through the crowd of students. Quickly finding the recognizable body of Daphne as she gave pointers and tips to a pair of students that had been moving decently, albeit a bit stiffly. Using her hands, and body to help explain her instructions.

Daphne had been particularly adverse in their last meetup in the Chamber. It was nothing new but this time she had asked-no, pleaded with him to stop, and wait until he met her father. Saying that he would make him understand.

Harry had thought about it multiple times up till now, but only a few things came to mind as to what it could mean. None of those ideas were very impactful however, so in the end he was left clueless.

Daphne obviously wasn't going to tell him until then. He had already asked more about it, but she refuses to say anything further about it.

The Holiday was nearing and his visit to her family after Christmas would be even longer than that. He was a bit curious, and impatient.

He was about to continue his patrol when someone bumped into him from behind, making him stumble forward a step, luckily he quickly managed to catch himself.

"Don't stare at her bum to intensely, Harry. It won't come flying to you no matter how hard you try."

"Tracey?" He asked after he heard the voice and turned to the auburn haired girl for confirmation. "And how can you be so sure? I've been known for the occasional bout of magic you know. Wishes might come true."

She grinned at his reply. "I'll make sure to tell her you said that."

"Please don't, she'll never shut up about it if you do." Harry said a bit quickly, knowing that she'll run her mouth unashamedly again no matter the company.

"Heh, thought so." She said sounding a bit smug before she took his hand. "Let's dance for a bit if we're here anyway, Harry."

"Sure." Harry said going along with her.

"I guess I should give you a thank you." Tracey said shortly after they begun.

He frowned a bit in thought as to why she felt like thanking him. "Why?" Harry asked after nothing came to mind.

"Well, Daphne and I are used to celebrating a good part of Christmas together. Me coming over to her or Daphne coming over to me. We started doing it in second year or so after our families became more acquainted with each other."

"That's uh, great?" He said a bit vaguely, wondering where this was going.

"Oh, sorry I'm not really being clear here." Tracey said as she smiled apologetically. "It's just that I thought you would have wanted to spend it with her. Alone. By either coming over or taking her wherever you would be. You know, since you are her boyfriend now and all. But I heard from Daphne that you didn't, or at least partly. So I'm grateful that me and her can still do it this year."

"Well, I thought that she too would have wanted to celebrate it with her family and friends. Coming over myself or bringing her with me doesn't feel right. Mrs. Weasley hasn't even seen her yet, and her own parents are still strangers to me." Harry said with a bit of a smile himself.

"Guess that it would be pretty awkward for you too, yes." Tracey said with a thoughtful look before seeming to realise something. "It's not that I don't want to you celebrate Christmas with her in the future though! Next year I could stay with my own family, and come over the year after that, or maybe we could do it all together, or-"

"-It's okay, I get what you mean." Harry interjected reassuringly. He could understand that she wanted to celebrate it with Daphne. She had done so for years. Sometimes he too felt a bit jealous of Hermione celebrating it with her own family and wished for her to be there with them in the Burrow.

"You two spend it this year, and next year we'll celebrate it together. All of us if possible. It's not something for just me, and Daphne alone. It's for family and friends right?" Harry replied, genuinely hoping that something like that would be possibly between the Weasleys and their families in the future.

"Yeah, that would be great. Imagine the chaos." She said with a small laugh before she looked a bit embarrassed. "Ergh, I only now realize that I probably sounded pretty selfish this whole time. Basically saying that I'm happy about the fact that you wouldn't be coming over during those days this year.."

"Don't sweat it. If anything I'm the one intruding here." Harry said, shrugging it off.

"Now you're being a bit harsh on yourself." Tracey said, sounding relieved that he hadn't been offended by her.

"Hm." Harry hummed in response, not really giving a clear reply before switching to something else. "Say, Tracey." He began still half in thought.

"Yes?" She asked curiously as to what he had on his mind.

He doubted that it would be of much use, but decided to give it a try anyway. She might know more about it than he currently did. or at least have some kind of clue. "I don't know how much Daphne tells you about the meetings we have, but as of recent we tend to slip into.. debate about my 'training'"

Tracey's expression fell a bit at his words, signaling that she knew, and had caught on.

"She asked me to put it on hold, saying that she needed show me something that would make me reconsider it all. I asked for details, or just.. something, but she won't tell me more than that, she looked quite troubled however, like it was some kind of last resort."

"And you want me to tell you more about it?" Tracey asked with a look, making a long story short.

"Yes. Whatever you think you can tell without betraying anyone's trust of course. I'm not here to cause any fights." Harry replied not beating around the bush. He was curious, yes, but didn't want to cause any problems for Tracey.

"Pretty Slytherin of you there, Harry." She said with a small inclination of her head before looking thoughtful for a moment. "I can't say I know for sure, but my guess would be that it's about her own family and their past with the Arts. Especially her father. But that's just my guess. I could be completely wrong."

"Her father? He didn't do much with the Arts right? He rejected it early on." Harry said looking back to her in slight surprise.

"Early on? Well it depends on what you view as early, but I think it had been during the end or mid his teen years… However I can't say for sure. I think you can understand that it never was a subject we talked much about. Not even during all the years that I've known them."

"I'm pretty sure that Daphne told me otherwise." Harry mused. Did Tracey remember it wrong, or had Daphne given him.. misleading information about her family to begin with? Either way the fact that it seemed to involve her own father personally felt more likely now.

"Oh. Then I guess I already said too much, eheh." Tracey said sheepishly. "But don't worry about that stuff! You have much more pressing matters at hand young man!" She energetically continued as she suddenly gave him a tug in another direction as if it would allow her to change topics.

"How so?" Harry asked a bit distractedly as he nearly bumped into a few others.

"The party, you silly! It's only a few days away from now!" Tracey said in a mixture of shock and disbelief at him.

It hit Harry in a rush as soon as she said it.

"Oh, yes! Of course. I just momentarily forgot. The days just fly by you know." Harry said laughing it off awkwardly, imitating the same sheepishness she had displayed a moment ago.

"Uh-huh.." She replied in an unconvinced manner. "You better comply to her every whim throughout the whole evening you know, Daphne probably doesn't show it in front of you, but she's been counting down the days very impatiently. She always smiles a bit wider every morning whenever she looks at the new date. It's so adorable." Tracey continued with a grin at the memories.

Harry also smiled at the thought and nodded. "Will do. She put a lot of effort into it, that's for sure."

The last remaining days quietly passed by after that. He continued to check on Malfoy's position from time to time, watching him disappear from the map as he went into the Room of Requirement while Crabbe and Goyle remained outside.

During the times in the Chamber of Secrets he and Daphne spend their time looking through the immortality section of the book for info. Sadly much useful information regarding their case wasn't seen yet, and it would soon have be put on hold with the Christmas break was coming.

His exercises with Somniamency however, were coming along decently. Having to concentrate on unpleasant memories wasn't all that great but doing it would serve him in the future for when the real training would start. Which wasn't too far away anymore.

Harry heard the ruffling of clothes from Neville and Ron in the background as they were occupied with getting dressed while he looked at his reflection in the mirror and twisted his upper body to get a better look of his new clothes.

Clothes that fitted perfectly, signaling that Daphne's measurements had been spot on..

Its colour scheme was a dark red with simple black. Much like Daphne said they would be at the very beginning. He had only gotten them from Daphne just hours before as she had thrusted the package of carefully folded fabric into his hands before disappearing again to get ready herself, telling him again he would look 'dashing'.

She probably waited for the last moment on purpose so that he didn't have any other choice but to wear them. Always the hard way with her.. It didn't matter either way, he would've worn them for her regardless.

"Wow, Harry. It's quite different from the Yule Ball." Neville said in slight surprise after he made the final adjustments to his own bowtie. Neville; whose hair was a bit slicked back tonight, wore a tuxedo robe that looked pretty simple and standard with a few, small design changes that deviated from the usual.

"It is.. Thanks." Harry simply said as he looked back one last time to his reflection, feeling mixture of discomfort and liking to the style.

It wasn't anything like a tuxedo. Nor was it a robe like Dumbledore always wore. It rather looked like a mixture of the two of them. His sleeves weren't all that long and flappy. His legs also weren't hidden underneath cloth like a robe normally would do.

He had some sort of overcoat that went just past his hips from the front while the cloth was longer at the back, much like a small cloak that ended in a tip.

The colour design was simple and he found that it blended with the attire perfectly. Not plain but nothing extravagant or ridiculous looking either.

The end of his cuffs and rimming's of his clothes were embroiled with red linings that almost seemed to shine and light up a bit in contrast to the jet black background it was crafted on.

It wasn't anything he would have picked out on his own, the style was much too different than the standard tuxedo he initially would have gone for, these were real high standard wizarding clothes and fashion.

But he didn't hate it, Harry had to admit that, he would be lying otherwise. Daphne was right and had good taste..

"Good thing it's you in those, mate. Anyone else would have given me the rich snob vibe from a mile away." Ron said as he tugged at the collar of his robes, already disheveling them a bit to get more comfortable.

Harry turned away from the mirror as everyone was ready, not even bothering to try and tame his hair. It was a lost cause anyway, any time spend on it would be wasted.

"I think you will be getting that feeling regardless tonight, Ron. Slughorn chooses his company carefully.." Harry replied in response. It was unlikely that he would be the only one like this. Or at least he hoped so. He didn't want to stand out like some kind of peacock either. The scar on his head already did enough in that regard.

"Ah, yeah of course." Ron said unenergetically before quickly looking at himself through the mirror behind Harry with a somewhat uncertain gaze. "Say.. this doesn't look stupid on me, right?"

Harry took another quick look at him and shook his head truthfully. "They're fine, Ron."

Ron wasn't wearing any brand new ones. Harry's own tuxedo from the Yule Ball had never been much of an option for Ron as they all had grown considerably with Ron still being the tallest. Simply getting him in them without ripping it in two would be a considerable challenge.

A good guess would be to say that he had gotten some old robes from either of the twins again. Luckily for Ron, they weren't all that flamboyant and looked pretty inconspicuous. A big improvement from the last ones if he said so himself.

"Yeah, a lot better than the Yule Ball's." Neville said in reassurance after a look, voicing Harry's thoughts aloud.

It seemed to relive Ron somewhat as his shoulders relaxed a bit.

"Good. I don't want to embarrass Hermione throughout the whole evening by looking like a complete twat again." Ron with a bit of a smile.

"I don't think that isn't much of a problem to her." Harry said only half-jokingly. Thinking about the times at dinner where Hermione would try to converse with Ron. But then again, his eating habits have gotten a bit better as of late.

"Yeah, she's probably used to it by now." Neville supplied, joining him.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. Let's all make fun of Ron! Wankers." Ron grumbled good naturedly before moving away toward the door. "Let's just go and wait outside. We started pretty late, they should be nearly done by now… right?"

Harry briefly exchanged a look with Neville who simple shrugged in response as if to say that he kind of agreed before following Ron.

Harry made to follow them, but stopped himself when he noticed that he had almost forgotten something.

Turning back to the mirror he quickly picked up the mask that he had placed there earlier and briefly inspected it again.

Fred and George had done a great job on making the masks to the descriptions Harry had given them as he now held a mask that definitely had the theme of a raven, and mostly consisting of black and red colours with gold and dark red serving as the fine linings and details.

It covered more than half of his face, leaving only his mouth and chin uncovered and had small black feathers at the top, but lacked the beak like form masks like these usually had so that it was 'Snog-Compatible' as the twins had described in a note.

Even Daphne had given words of appreciation and admiration for their work when he had handed over hers.

"You coming, Harry!?" He heard Neville call out from the back of the room with a beckoning gesture. Indicating that he needed to get a move on.

"Yeah!" He called back, idly hoping that the mask would help him from being swarmed by curious and questioning people as he moved to follow Ron, and Neville with a flutter of his clothes. Better not risk Daphne getting there first..

He exited the changing rooms and quickly rejoined them in what seemed to be a waiting area as there were multiple seats and couches lined up to the wall. A few feet away stood a large door that would likely lead them to the heart of the masquerade.

He, Neville and Ron weren't the only ones waiting here, there were also other males silently waiting for their dates by either leaning against the wall in a relaxed pose or sitting somewhere while they twiddled their thumbs impatiently.

Harry couldn't see their faces, they were all wearing their masks already, making it hard for him to judge their age, but he could tell that it ranged from their own age to that of adults judging by their builds.

Knowing that now was the right time to do so, he put on his mask, smiling a bit when he saw that Ron, and Neville followed suit with their own.

Having it on quickly fell to his liking as it gave him the same sense of security like the invisibility cloak, even if it was only in a lesser form by having his scar and face concealed from being out in the open.

"So, I just.. stick this to my face?" Ron said slowly, eyeing the inside of his mask suspiciously like it would explode in his face if he tried it on.

"Yeah, they all have a small Sticking Charm on them. Don't worry, they don't malfunction.. Most of the time at least, there have been a few reported cases in the past, but nothing major." Neville replied from behind his black and white mask that mostly hid the area around his eyes and forehead, ending up not being all that reassuring toward the redhead.

"It's fine, Ron. I specifically asked them not to do anything to them for once. They owe me." Harry said, briefly removing his own mask for proof before putting it on again to show that it was perfectly fine.

"I'll kill them if my face ends up being blue tomorrow." Ron muttered before finally putting it on. showing a mask with a more wide design, matching his attire in an odd way. Letting out a small sigh of relief when nothing happened in the first few seconds that passed.

Harry guesses that Ron had gotten a lot of items from the twins throughout his innocent youth that did more than just that, growing up to be highly suspicious of any kind of item the twins produced and handed over willingly.

Harry looked back at Neville again as a sudden but obvious thought came to him.

"..Who are you going with, Neville?"

The young man clad in black and white was about to reply but closed his mouth again as he seemed to notice something behind Harry.

"Geez, Harry, You're so blind sometimes. Waiting with your friends, but unaware of who is coming with them?" The voice of Tracey chastised in a fake indignant tone from behind him as she poked him in his side, catching him unaware and causing him to twitch in response.

"Ouch.. sorry, sorry. I'm not.." He began apologetically only to trail off in amazement as he turned, and got his first look at them.

Tracey had her usually straight, chestnut brown hair up in a bun, and was wearing a simple, smooth yellow dress. Over her dress were multiple lines of small stones that sparkled alongside the ones on her mask that strongly resembled a rabbit as two pointy, fluffy ears were included.

"Y-you look stunning, Tracey." Neville kindly offered with a small blush, still stumbling a little in complimenting girls so directly.

She smiled brightly at his words. "Thanks, Neville!"

Hermione was a whole different sight again in her dark blue dress with frills on the shoulders and hips. He could easily see her shiny and straight hair from behind her heart shaped mask. Definitely some magic there, he thought idly as he ran a hand through his own hair in wonder.

"You two look great!" He truthfully complemented them as Hermione went to a sputtering Ron, who was trying to bring out the same words so that he could compliment her while Tracey went to stand next to Neville, silently answering his earlier question.

"Thank you, Harry." Hermione said with a shy smile as she simply took Ron's arm. Luckily taking his loss of words as a compliment.

Tracey gave a little courtesy with her dress in response. "You guys aren't too shabby yourselves."

"Was Daphne nearly done when you two left?" He asked, even more curious for his own date now that he had seen them.

"Never spur on a lady, Harry. For us, getting ready is like cultivating a flower bed. We need delicacy and time." Tracey said with a raised finger before dropping it and shrugging. "Or something along those lines. Daphne was the one who said to pass that along to you."

Harry crossed his arms. "I do hope she means normal flowers and not the ones from Herbology. Those often put up quite a fight."

"Well, you can ponder about that in the meantime, we'll see you two inside." Hermione said with a knowing look to Tracey before they and their partners left him behind as they entered the doors with another masked pair that passed by.

Harry sighed, and continued to wait after that, watching other pairs go through the doors, causing sounds of glasses, feet, laughter, and chatter to burst out energetically whenever it opened again. From time to time he seemed to recognize a few people, but it was hard to be absolutely sure when most of their features were hidden.

So far things were looking good. Nobody seemed to recognize him like this. They just went about their own business and only saw a young man waiting for his date whenever they looked his way. No Boy-Who-lived or Prophesized one. That was enough for Harry.

It was also an relief to see that some pairs also had matching suits, indicating that he and Daphne wouldn't be the only ones to show their status of partnership-or rather, relationship.

"You know; patience is a petty form of agony, disguised in a shell of value." Came the all too familiar voice in a light tone, causing him to turn his head to the direction it came from.

Harry was about to reply with words already on the tip of his tongue, but suddenly found himself empty mouthed as he took in her appearance.

He had little facial features available to recognize her by, but he had no need of them. The form of her body, way of moving, smell, manner of speech, and tone could only belong to one person.

She was wearing a red and black, floor length dress with occasionally designs of black flowers running over the entire length, and around the midsection. Her neckline showed some of her cleavage that was already distracting to him as she usually either wore their school uniform or some form of a closed shirt. Detailed straps went over her shoulders and around her neck to hold her dress up, her upper back was open and on one side of her dress was a slit for her leg with black lace side panels.

Her hair looked clean as always and was wavy with soft curls at the tips of her hair, at the side he saw something glint, and realized that she was wearing the Frozen Luck they had potted during their Herbology lesson weeks ago. It must've bloomed not too long ago, after which she had probably left it untouched for this night specifically.

"Do I know you?" She asked with a bit of a smug smile on her red lips, seemingly peering through him with slightly darkened eyes of her make-up, making her blue eyes stand out all the more from behind her mask that looked much like his own except for the fact that it was shaped more elegantly.

"Yes, you do. Or I hope so at least." He said with a light laugh. He wanted to tell her a thousand times how good she looked, but didn't. Not yet. Instead he just took her appearance in and answered her questions.

Azure eyes shone with amusement at his reply. "Do you know me?"

"I do. Luckily." He replied with a genuine smile, ignoring the occasional glances from the few people around them.

Briefly a small, but wistful smile formed on her lips before it was replaced by a more happy and genuine. Making him wonder whether or not he simply imagined it.

He silently offered his arm to her, which she took in her gloved hands without thought or hesitation, only organic movements and decisions.

"You look beautiful. Breathtaking." He said softly to her. Just between the two of them before opening the door.

Her grasp on his arm became a bit more secure while she looked sideways to him from the corner of her eyes as the multitude of sounds from the party assaulted them.

"Of course I do. Its me after all." She said with certainty, but he could see the corners of her mouth twitch in a suppressed grin of the compliment, and her eyes give him the simple 'thank you' her mouth couldn't utter.

Harry smiled at her, and looked back in front of him to see one of the most… interesting sights of his life so far.

There were quite a lot of people in all kinds of attire, some wore the simple, traditional black and white tuxedo like Neville. Others were dressed much like Daphne, and himself in expensive and good looking attires, while the occasional odd ones seemed to take a turn to the more amusing side of the coin as he saw masks of all kinds of animals, and creatures pass by with either matching or completely different suits ranging from dull grey to rainbow mixed colour schemes.

The whole space of the room was obviously enlarged to encompass them all much like they had planned to do. In the distance he could see open doors leading to more different rooms, likely for some peace to talk with food and drinks.

Everything seemed to be in the theme of the 18th or 19th era as the floor, tables and walls were all finely detailed and mostly consisted of brown, red, and beige colours. In the air some feet above everybody's heads, lazily floated orbs of light as an additional source of light besides the candle posts.

"Look up." Daphne said from his side, already staring up at something.

He followed suit and saw what could only be described as an enormous painting depicting a room very much like their own with a lot of inhabitants of the paintings in Hogwarts dancing and partying with each other.

"I guess that the paintings were jealous of the Yule ball and complained?" Harry commented whimsically.

"They did actually. Some Sir Cadogan suddenly came up to me some time ago, and started preaching about it in word puzzles as soon as he discovered that I was one of the representatives." Daphne revealed to his surprise. "I simply presented it to Horace. Seems like he found it to be a good idea."

Harry smirked a bit in memory of the eccentric knight and looked back down again. "It looks great in any case."

She didn't comment, and silently turned back to him with a look of excitement in her eyes.

"Come on, Let's go." Daphne said with a sudden burst of energy, grasping his hand and pulling him more toward the center of the room where other couples were dancing.

"Whoah, there. We still have the whole evening!" Harry replied without any real seriousness in his voice, laughing a bit at her sudden sprint.

"Time will fly by. You'll see." She retorted with a soft giggle before putting one of his hand behind her back while she held on to one of his hands and placed the other on his shoulder. "Come on. You know this one."

Daphne was bursting with energy and luckily he could comply by taking her in a fast Quickstep, sweeping with her across the dance floor, half of the fun being the task of avoiding others while staying in rhyme with their own.

"Tracey, not so fast! I'm nearly losing my shoes here!" Came the distressed plea of Neville as he and Tracey suddenly emerged from behind a few other people.

"Oh, don't be a wuss, we're totally fine!" Came the dismissive and laughing voice of the leading girl before noticing her other friends nearby with a smile. "Hey guys! Finally decided to join did we?"

"Best for last." Daphne shot back with a grin before saying her goodbye her again as they spun away. "See ya!"

"Help me, Harry-!" Called out Neville's drawn out, and already fading voice from inside the background noise of chatter and music.

Sorry, but you're on your own now. Harry thought, giving him a mental salute.

"There's Ron and Hermione." He said after a few seconds of moving, already seeing the other pair of their group in a much more controlled pace than Tracey and Neville. Slowing himself and Daphne down a bit as they got closer.

"Hey guys. Looks like it's going pretty smooth." He complimented them, although mostly Ron as he had made the most improvements during their lessons, having started off the worst.

"The food here is great, Harry! you should try it." Ron said while nodding in amazement.

"You already ate something?" Was the first question that came to Harry's mind.

"Pff, duh!" Ron responded with a face that said it was the most important, and logical thing to do in a situation like this.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her partner. "A better way to word it is to say that it looks great in here, so fancy and spacious! The Enlargement Charms must've have been used in great abundance. Or few, but powerfully."

"I'm pretty sure that Horace knows a few Wizards, and Witches who are specialized in that area, and called them over to help out." Daphne answered, likely having been let in on a thing or two, before pulling him along again. "Anyway, we'll see you later at the beverages in the next room."

"Couldn't wait again?" He asked raising an eyebrow questioningly, before realizing that she likely couldn't see it with his mask on.

"Patience is a lesser form of agony." She replied simply raising her chin in a sign of defiance, having caught on to his tone nonetheless. "You wouldn't want me to suffer, right?"

"Well, I did promise Tracey to try and listen to you tonight, so I guess I'll keep it for tomorrow." He replied in an uncaring, and lazy tone.

She smiled disbelievingly while giving him a penetrating, and knowing look simultaneously from underneath her mask.

"You can't even fool yourself by saying that." Daphne replied before coming a bit closer, her smile changing into that signature devilish grin again. "You'll always comply to my wishes, Won't you, Harry?"

He grinned in response. "That's probably how it will be at the end of the day."

She didn't bother to say more after that and continued to dance with him.

She and Harry continued to dance for some time, but eventually got tired and left the floor for some refreshments, starting a new discussion between them.

"Its fine, Harry. I can hold my drink." Daphne said in response to his needless concerns grabbing the small glass from his hand with the red liquid in it. "Have one yourself too."

"Hmm.. I remember it quite differently from during one of our Slug-Club's, namely you going red in the face from one or two glasses, but if you say so." Harry replied with a skeptical glance toward her, completely unconvinced.

"I didn't go red in the face." She retorted at him. Ok, she might've have gotten a little warm in the head, but that was all..

"Look." She said for emphases before downing the glass in one go. Feeling her throat burn, and eyes water as she fought to keep herself from coughing so that she didn't show her blunder.

"Yeah. Nailed it." He remarked sarcastically as he nodded, unfortunately having caught on to her internal battle.

"Something just got in my windpipe.. that's all…" Daphne tried as she felt a bit woozy from downing it so quickly, but found that Harry only gave her half an ear by now as he turned back to her with a small glass of water.

"Want some?" He offered more as strong advice rather than a question as he brought it closer and closer to her.

"No, I.. Well.. I guess I'm still a bit thirsty.." She said only after a moment of hesitation, silently, and gratefully drinking the water to calm her throat, and head.

"Over here, Neville!" She heard Ron call out, looking behind her to see Hermione next to him while he waved over the Longbottom heir and her own friend to their position.

Well there goes the alone time.

"There you are, have you even seen some of the people around here!? I could show up here in my pyjamas and not stand out!" The redhead said with a laugh. "I swear that I saw someone dressed like a garden gnome moments ago. I almost kicked the man on reflex."

She watched as Harry laughed in response, and gave his friend a reply she didn't quite catch.

Daphne didn't really know what to think of Ron. She knew that for a long time he held her in a hostile point of view without really knowing her. Fortunately that slowly changed as he got to know Tracey better during the lessons, and realized that they weren't all murderers in secret.

Daphne knew that she probably had been the reason for a few of the clashes Harry had with his friends in the recent past, but seeing Harry talking and smiling again with Ron; the one who likely reacted the most extreme almost had herself question that thought.

Harry was probably just too kind, and forgiving for those he cared about.

She and Ron were by no means best friends, but rather shared some sort of neutral ground. His initial hostility told her that at the very least he was protective of what he currently had, and it was good to know it was for that simple reason.

"Everything going according to plan?" Her auburn haired friend asked with a smile after she grabbed a bit of food from a nearby table.

"Yes, I suppose it's quite satisfactory thus far." She replied in an overly calm tone, acting like it was just within her bounds before returned the question back to them. "Having a good time yourselves?"

Tracey mischievously looked at her exhausted partner that currently stood with Harry, and Ron to rest up. "Neville can keep up quite decently tonight."

"Ron also stopped stepping on my feet somewhere during the lessons so that is one concern less. For now I'm mainly keeping him from taking in too much booze." Hermione answered with a knowing smile before taking a closer look at her.

"Is that the Frozen Luck from the Herbology lesson?" She continued with a look of surprise on the features that she could still see after recognizing what the accessory on her hair actually was. "Do you notice anything from it? Mine completely failed during the lesson.. I'm not too sure about Ron's. I think it's still growing."

Daphne unconsciously touched the small flower she had attached onto her hair a few hours prior. She didn't notice the effect all that much, but at least it looked beautiful. It had six leaves spread out in a symmetrical shape, each of the leaflets were seemingly made out of crystals, since they were unbendable and glittered in an wide array of colours whenever light would shine upon it in the correct angle.

"I don't know." Daphne began earnestly in response to Hermione's question and Tracey's curious gaze. "I can't say that suddenly everything is going ten times better than before, I'm sure that I would have enjoyed everything up till now just as much without it."

"I guess that's a good thing overall." Tracey replied with a small shrug while Hermione smiled.

"Oh by the way, I've seen Trelawney around here in a costume oddly reminiscent of a death reaper." Hermione said warningly to her before elaborating when Daphne simply gave a confused look. "Harry used to take Divinations, Trelawney will predict his doom, and death in all kind of manners whenever the opportunity arises. Suffice to say that he didn't have to think long on what subject he wanted to drop."

"I guess Harry was able to make one predicted future come true at least; never returning to that class." Tracey joked.

"Thanks, I'll look out for her." Daphne answered already scanning the nearby crowd. Hearing predictions on how Harry would die wasn't something she would ever be in the mood for. No matter the legibility, and source.

"How did everything go with Hermione by the way? I take it you managed to ask her out a bit decently?" She heard Harry ask his red-headed friend when she focused a bit on him again.

"Fantastic, mate! I took her to the lake some days ago, just the two of us like you said, it was cold as hell with all the snow, but I guess that only made it all look pretty romantic and stuff."

"Who would've thought.." Came Neville's slightly sarcastic reply in response to Ron's answer.

The Longbottom heir was really starting to speak up more often, she thought it to be a good change for him. Having some friends was doing him good.

"Ah, Harry m'boy! So here you are, come with me, come with me, I have people who are just dying to meet you!" Suddenly boomed the voice of Horace Slughorn as he pressed himself through a few people to get closer.

It was hard not to notice his presence now that he was in the vicinity. Their Potions Professor was wearing a mask that was mostly brown with long appendages at the top with some sort of eyeballs dangling at the end. It looked very much like a snail, or dare she say... slug. To complete the look he also wore a brown robe with a wrinkly pattern that came to his knees, and ended in loose threads.

Well, Horace finding them had to happen sooner or later, they actually managed to stay under the radar longer than she initially expected.

"I better go before I lose Harry for the rest of the evening." Daphne said apologetically as she secured her spot next to Harry by taking his arm again and smiling at the cheerful man.

"Good luck." She heard Tracey call out.

Horace briefly narrowed his tipsy looking eyes at her in concentration when he got close enough before laughing, and extending his hands to both of them in some sort of hugging gesture.

"And Daphne, of course! I must say that you look absolutely marvelous tonight! Both of you do, it's even better that the two of you are together, like spells and incantations, a matching pair! I believe Eldred, and Sanguini to be just a few steps away. You might know them? 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' say anything? No? Oh well enough time to chat about it!" Horace excitedly rambled as he gripped one of Harry's shoulders and led him away from the others.

"There are old colleagues of mine all around here. Not to mention important tradesmen, and women for all kinds of goods. Remember the embalmed Grindylow I talked about? Tonight is the perfect opportunity to have some of those goods yourself! There is also Adrian for pictures of course. We have to capture these moments." Slughorn continued, completely deaf to the protests that came out of her boyfriend.

"Horace!" She called out, quickly relaxing again when she noticed that she had gotten his attention. "Harry and I would still like to have time for ourselves tonight."

"Oh! Why of course, of course. The night is long, there'll be plenty of time left, this will take only a moment." He replied in a surprised tone, likely not even having considered the thought.

"How did he even know it was me?!" Harry briskly whispered to her, not all that happy about his hidden identity failing him.

"I'm not even going to try and think about it too much, he can probably sniff you out from a mile away like a bloodhound." Daphne replied nonchalantly… Truth was that she had given Horace a description beforehand. Can't expect the man to go to such lengths for them without a reward.

"That's good to hear, Horace. The maximum is three people." She said with a sweet, and calm tone of finality, focusing back on her Professor.

"Three what?" Asked the leading Professor questioningly to her response.

She stuck up three of her gloved fingers for clarity. "We will meet, and greet three people of your choice. No more." Complying to his wishes didn't mean for the whole night of course. She too still had things she wanted to do.

"Three!? You're horrible Daphne! This is like having to choose between your own mother and father!" Horace exclaimed looking absolutely appalled in response, having likely thought about showing them off to around thirty people or so instead of three.

She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "We won't disappear from the face of the earth. There will be plenty of chances in the future."

"Three people.. what to do, who to pick.." Mumbled the Professor in contemplation as he already was in his signature pose of twirling his mustache, before making up his mind, and pulling them in a different direction. "One of them should be Eldred, he is willing to write a whole book about you, imagine the publicity! Next should be Tiberius, you might remember that he is Cormac's uncle, as for the last one.. Well, we'll just have to wait and see what comes up!"

"Yes, I can't wait." Harry said unenthusiastically, giving her a look of great anguish and pain of what was to come, only making her laugh a bit.

"Neither can I, m'boy, neither can I." Horace sighed longingly, not catching on to Harry's sarcasm.

Lemme know what you think!

It's been 5 whole weeks! I hope that 26 had been entertaining to read.

blueper: went back and corrected it (hopefully) had no idea those were 2 different words!

Next chapter will be part 2 of the party... I can't fit it in one chapter!

One of the ideas I currently have for my next story is to have it centered around vampires. Female vampire lead with Harry actually remaining human instead of also turning into one. But that is all just loose ideas for now, I won't start writing a new story before finishing this one first.

References:

Multiple small ones throughout the chapter, but nothing of major importance.