* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *

PART THREE

The Eighth Year

Chapter 30: The Yule Ball

It was Christmas Eve, and Hogwarts looked beautiful, both inside and out. The grounds had been coated with a covering of fluffy new snow the night before, the mountains in the distance were pure white, and the sky was bright and wintery. Inside the castle, there were several large Christmas trees covered with fake snow and decorated with multi-coloured jewels, the halls were freezing, but the air was alive with Christmas spirit.

Several people were staying for the Yule Ball this year, so the Hogwarts Express was leaving at 12.30 that night, meaning that it would be an overnight train and it would arrive in London in the early hours of the morning on Christmas day. That meant that everyone got to spend Christmas day with their families. It had taken a while, but Harry had finally decided what to do for Christmas, he along with Draco, Daphne, Hermione, Neville, Hannah and Susan, would go to Potter Manor after the Yule Ball.

On Christmas day, they were having a big dinner at the Manor. Harry was nervous because he had invited Daphne's Mother and sister to this dinner. Andromeda, Narcissa and Teddy were also invited, as were Hermione's parents. He had already told Kreacher of the plans, and the elf was excitedly awaiting their arrival.

Being eighth years who didn't obey the rules very much, they didn't intend on spending the whole night on the Hogwarts Express. Instead, they were going to apparate straight from the ball to Potter Manor, where they could sleep in real beds.

The day of the ball ended up being very similar to the day of the Halloween ball. They all had a long lie, then a Christmassy brunch, and after that, the girls asked nicely if they could use Harry and Draco's dorm to get ready, then they vanished. Harry, Draco, Neville, Theo and Dean were at a loss of what to do for the next few hours because it was only going to take them half an hour to put their dress robes on and sort their hair.

"Why don't we have a snowball fight?" Harry asked, and the others agreed, just because they were bored and wanted something to do. They all geared up and headed outside to a part of the grounds with lots of fresh snow. It started fairly Muggle, they were just making snowballs and throwing them at each other, but after 30 minutes, it became a wizard's snowball fight.

Harry had 'built' a massive tower-shaped fort out of snow, complete with cannons that occasionally sent out huge snowballs in all directions. Not to be outdone by the Gryffindor, Draco was sitting on an icy throne in his own snow palace while cannons magically shot out snowballs for him. Only Harry understood Dean, who had given himself a snow machine gun, rapidly shooting smaller snowballs at everyone.

Neville and Theo had not wanted to be left out had formed their own snow creations. Neville had built himself a snow tank; Harry knew a witch had raised him, so he had no idea how he knew about tanks, but he suspected that it was Lilly's influence.

Theo had tried to outdo Harry's fort and Draco's palace by building himself a snow watchtower with cannons and machine guns, even though he didn't know what a machine gun was until Dean told him. He was much higher than them, so his aim was better, and in the end, he won after he had demolished Harry's fort, Draco's palace and Neville's tank. Two giant snow cannonballs had long since knocked Dean out. With the game over, they had shaken hands, made their way back into the castle and showered.

They still had some time to kill, but Harry and Draco couldn't get into their room, so they all ended up hanging out in the room that Neville, Theo and Dean shared with Ernie and Justin. The two resident Hufflepuff lovebirds were away for a pre-ball bath in the prefect's bathroom, so they had the room to themselves. Harry quickly made himself at home by falling onto Neville's bed with a groan, "I can't believe McGonagall wants us to open the ball with a dance. I thought I'd never have to do that again after fourth year."

"What's the problem?" Dean asked from where he was lounging on his own bed, "You can dance; you did it at the last Yule Ball."

Draco snorted, "He can't dance. Did you see him at the Yule Ball?"

Harry didn't bother getting offended because he knew it was true, "See! I was terrible! I was stepping on Parvati's feet and making a right idiot of myself."

"Why did you go with Parvati?" Theo asked curiously.

Harry frowned, that had come out of the blue, "Um, because I couldn't find anyone else to go with, and I needed someone to dance with."

"Wow, Potter, you're such a romantic," Draco teased.

"You went with Pansy even though you fancied, Daphne," Theo retorted.

"And you went with Millicent Bulstrode," Draco cut in.

"I know," Theo grimaced, "It was a tough time. At least I didn't go with Ginny Weasley, though."

"Oi!" Harry, Neville and Dean said in unison.

Dean snorted, and Neville raised an eyebrow.

Theo barked out a laugh, "Oh! All three of you have shagged her? Wow, that's awkward."

"Thank God, Ron isn't here," Harry sniggered, "Can you imagine?"

"That's my sister, mate!" Neville said in a terrible impression of Ron that made the others laugh.

Harry shook his head in amusement, "Anyway, what am I going to do about this dance? I can't believe McGonagall only told us about it yesterday."

Only the day before, McGonagall had told Harry, Hermione and Neville that as war heroes, they, along with Ginny, would be opening the ball with a dance. Hermione could dance, and so could Draco, so they weren't particularly bothered. Neville and Hannah could also dance, so there were no issues there, and Harry knew that Ginny was a good enough dancer to cover it up if Blaise was terrible. Then again, he highly doubted that Blaise would be a terrible dancer since the other pureblood Slytherins were good. No, the issue here was with Harry.

"How's Daphne when it comes to dancing?" Harry asked absentmindedly.

Theo and Draco shared an amused look; Harry knew that was never a good sign.

"Well," Theo began.

"She's a pureblood-"

"- who was brought up to be the perfect woman-"

"- so that she could be presented to a man suitable for her."

"Which means she went to etiquette school before Hogwarts-"

"- where they teach you how to hold a knife and fork properly-"

"- and how to curtsey properly-"

"- and how to speak when conversing with men-"

"- and how to dance like a true lady."

Harry grabbed Neville's pillow and put it over his face, "I am so fucked!"

Neville chuckled in amusement at Harry's despair and lifted the pillow from his face, "First of all, stop getting your drool on my pillow."

"Hey, you could sell that now!" Theo commented.

Dean laughed loudly, cottoning on, "You'd get millions for a pillow with the saliva of the precious boy who lived!"

Harry glared at them both, "Shut up, you two! Neville, what's second?"

"We can teach you how to dance," Neville said as he looked around their group of friends.

"I can't," Dean said. He raised his hands, "I don't dance, man."

Theo shook his head, "I dance, but I'm not teaching you."

"Draco and I will teach you then," Neville said.

Draco opened his mouth to say that hell no, he wasn't dancing with Potter but instead, what came out was, "I suppose."

He cursed his brain for defying him like that and sighed as Harry grinned, "Great! Where do we start?"

Dean and Theo shared a grin as Neville put some music on. They had a feeling this was going to be fun to watch.

"Draco, you're the woman," Neville said once he had gotten both Harry and Draco to stand facing each other in the middle of the room.

Dean and Theo cackled in the background, "What! Why?"

Neville rolled his eyes, "Because Harry needs to learn how to dance with a woman, not a man."

"But I am a man!"

"So pretend to be a woman," Neville said, "Shouldn't be too hard for you," he teased, which caused Dean and Theo to giggle even more.

"Can't believe you're making me do this fatbottom," Draco mumbled as he cautiously took a step closer to Harry.

"Okay, that's not original at all, and I'm the same weight as you now, Draco," Neville told the Slytherin. He looked both amused yet slightly exasperated.

"Don't give me that look, Neville," Draco warned.

Neville frowned, "Uh, what look?"

"That one!" Draco said as he glared at the Gryffindor, "The exasperated look, I get that all the time from Hermione."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Harry asked himself in a whisper.

"Oi, shut up, pothead."

"Wow, Draco, your insults are so imaginative today," Harry said sarcastically.

"Ladies! Stop flirting and dance, please," Neville said through his laughter.

Both men shot daggers at him, but Neville was unfazed as he continued, "Right, now Harry, place your right hand on Draco's waist."

Harry made a face as he stepped forward and put his hand on Draco's waist. There was a wolf whistle from behind them, and in unison, they yelled, "Shut up, Theo!"

"Draco, put your left hand on Harry's shoulder," Neville ordered, and Draco did so, but both boys were keeping as far apart as they could. Neville rolled his eyes at his two friends and said, "Harry put your left hand in Draco's right hand."

"I'm not holding hands with that slimy git!"

"I'm not holding hands with scarhead!"

"OI!"

"Children, please," Dean teased from his spot on his bed. He was watching them with extreme amusement.

"It's just a dance, Draco," Theo said with a wink.

"Just get on with it," Neville said as he tried to conceal his amused smile.

"When did he get so assertive?" Draco asked. He narrowed his eyes at Neville suspiciously.

"Since he reformed an army, took on an evil regime and killed a giant snake which turned out to be a Horcrux," Dean said as if this was something casual and no big deal at all.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Whatever, let's just get this over with."

"You need to stand closer together," Neville said. He pushed Harry with one hand and Draco with the other.

"This is so awkward," Harry muttered as he tried not to look at Draco, who was doing the exact same thing, "Yeah, just a bit," he said sarcastically.

Dean had taken out his wizarding camera and was snapping pictures silently, "How much do you think I'd get if I sold these to the prophet?" he asked in a whisper.

Theo grinned, "About 1,000 galleons, I reckon. What do you say we half the profit?"

Dean nodded and made sure the pair weren't looking before he shook the Slytherins hand, "Deal," he said.

"Draco, you know how to dance, don't you?" Neville asked.

"Of course I know how to dance, Longbottom," Draco said with an eye roll. He then took charge.

"Alright, Potter. Take two steps back, then two steps forward, then two to the left and two to the right."

The only part Harry remembered was two, so he ended up stepping on Draco's feet every couple of seconds.

There was a lot of cursing from Draco and a lot of laughter from the other three boys in the room, but Neville wouldn't let them give up. In the end, it paid off.

After an hour of dancing and prancing around the room, they finally had it, and they decided to give the whole dance a go at full speed. Draco and Harry elegantly swept around the room, and when they had done the last step, Harry whooped.

Dean and Theo shared mischievous looks as Dean stashed the camera with the pictures on it under his bed. It looked like they were going to have a windfall in the future.

The boys found themselves waiting for their girlfriends in the common room once more that night. Just like they had at the Halloween ball, all of them looked beautiful.

Daphne came down first, her long blonde hair flowed behind her, and Harry smiled, "You look beautiful."

Daphne grinned and eyed Harry's blue dress robes and mask, "You look extremely charming yourself."

When Hermione came down the stairs, Draco's breath caught a little even though he had already seen her dress.

"Looking even more gorgeous than usual," Draco said. He kissed Hermione and held his arm out to her.

Hermione smiled, "You look like a Slytherin prince in those robes," she teased as she took his silver-clad arm.

Next to join them was Sadie, who looked fantastic in her classical style dress and mask. She had put her hair up and curled it slightly like Hermione's had been at the Yule Ball in their fourth year. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Theo bowed deeply to her and offered her his arm, "M'lady," he said with a cheeky grin.

Sadie laughed and took his arm, "Why, thank you, Mr Nott," she said in an old fashioned posh English accent that made the others chuckle.

Theo looked extremely grand and king-like in his golden robes, and when Sadie commented on it, he winked at Draco and said, "You know me, I don't like to be outdone by anyone."

Draco rolled his eyes; he was a bit miffed that Theo had stolen his idea, but they both pulled off their wacky dress robes. Harry had complained that they got to wear cool robes while he had to look like a Beauxbatons reject.

Hannah was the next down the stairs in her pale yellow and silver dress. Neville smiled at her when she reached him and took his arm, "Looking amazing as always," he said, which made her blush.

"You look great," Hannah said, her eyes darted from his new black and silver robes to his black and silver matching mask, "Very enchanting."

Neville winked, "I try."

Lastly, Tracey descended the stairs in her short black dress with gold and silver sequins. She looked as good as she had when she had tried it on in the shop. Her matching mask was black, and there was a swan with a gold beak in the centre.

"I swear you get prettier every day," Dean remarked as his girlfriend took his arm and grinned mischievously at him.

"I'm not telling you my secret," She joked with a wink.

"Are we ready?" Draco asked on behalf of the group.

When the reply was a resounding "Yes" from all present, the group began to make their way down to the entrance hall.

"How do you feel about the dance?" Daphne asked Harry. She didn't understand why Neville, Dean and Theo had to hold back sniggers at this comment or why Harry and Draco glared at them.

"Fine, actually," Harry said, "Draco and Neville taught me earlier."

"Well, Neville told you what to do," Dean said, "Draco physically taught you," he winked at Harry.

Daphne burst out laughing, "You two danced together? Seriously?"

Harry and Draco both looked sheepish and embarrassed as they nodded. This caused a new bout of laughter to go around the group, which echoed around the grand staircase.

For the rest of the 10-minute trek to the entrance hall, Harry and Draco got teased and mocked senselessly by the others. They both made a mental note to get Dean and Theo back for this later. Neville had only tried to help; the other two were exposing them. Although in the end, they had to admit that there was a funny side to it and if it had been anyone else, they would have laughed and mocked them too.

When they reached the hall, it was packed with excited students, and McGonagall ushered Harry, Daphne, Hermione, Draco, Neville, Hannah, Ginny and Blaise to the large doors leading into the great hall. She briskly put them in position so that on one side, Harry stood with Daphne next to him and across from them stood Hermione with Draco next to her. Next to Harry and Daphne stood Neville with Hannah by his side, and across from them stood Ginny with Blaise by her side. The only person in the group of eight who looked at all nervous was Harry.

The doors to the hall slowly opened, and all of the students filed in, smiling and wishing luck to the war heroes as they passed. Daphne kept her head down, and Harry thought he knew why. She didn't think she deserved this position of honour. Harry noticed that Draco was similarly staring at the ground; after all that he had done in the war, he knew he didn't deserve to be standing here with the war heroes.

Once all of the students were lined up in the hall, McGonagall motioned for the 'heroes' to make their way into the hall. Harry was first, Hermione second, Neville third and Ginny fourth. They walked down the hall, smiling at everyone and getting applauded and then when they reached the dance floor, the music started, and Harry took a deep breath and placed one hand on Daphne's waist and the other in her hand. She smiled encouragingly at him, and then they started to dance. Daphne didn't say anything but Harry could tell she was impressed, both with the way he danced and the fact he got the timing perfect.

Truthfully when it ended, he couldn't have been happier. Other couples made their way onto the floor, and the focus was off of him. He breathed a sigh of relief and slowed down a little.

Daphne grinned broadly at him, "That was amazing, you were amazing!"

Harry smiled at his girlfriend. He was glad that he hadn't made a complete fool of himself like he had thought he would earlier. He shot Draco and Neville a grin; he was grateful to have such amazing friends. As the first dance finished, everyone made their way off the floor to get drinks, and as they stood in line to the non-alcoholic punch bowl, it became a game to try and guess who everyone was through their masks.

Daphne quickly recognised Astoria in a long white dress and a white and black mask. She smiled and hugged her sister before telling her that she looked fantastic. Astoria's date was Dennis Creevey, and Harry seriously suspected that he was her boyfriend since this was the second dance they had attended together. Apparently, Daphne did too from the look she gave the boy when he walked over to her with her sister.

Blaise looked dark and broody in black dress robes and a black gothic style mask. Next to him was Ginny, who was wearing a floor-length strapless black dress, it was very tight and figure-hugging with a black skirt and a black bust dotted with gold spots. Her matching mask was black with gold outlines around the eyeholes and the edge.

Luna looked more beautiful than Harry had ever seen her. She was wearing a strapless silver ball gown fitting to her figure and was subtle but elegant. Luna's matching silver mask was decorated with silver glitter, a multi-coloured beaded outline and a silver flower on the right-hand side of the mask.

Justin and Ernie had gone to extremes which didn't surprise anyone at all. Ernie was dressed in bright red dress robes with a very over the top mask. It was red and covered in sequins with huge feathers coming out of the top and a big feather outline around the whole thing. Next to him, Justin was wearing bright green dress robes and a white mask that again was covered in sequins and had two huge green feathers coming out of it and white feathers around the whole mask. The group got on well with Ernie and Justin, but even they had to shake their head at their chosen outfits.

Gabrielle had come to the ball alone, and she looked perfect as usual in a strapless, floor-length and primarily dark blue dress.

Susan was fluttering around the room in her sexy dress, flirting with any single man she could find. Lilly was with her, and she looked positively miserable about the fact she was dateless at the last ball she would ever attend at Hogwarts.

Their attention didn't stay on the outfits for long because their minds were on other things like dancing and having fun. So that was exactly what they did. They danced, they laughed, and they certainly had fun.

Rita Skeeter was sneaking around taking pictures of the event, and she got front-page news when McGonagall danced with Kingsley, who was only the Minister for Magic after all. Skeeter grinned and snapped photos, and Harry smiled because he found himself feeling happy for McGonagall and Kingsley.

As the night went on, something odd had been happening; Harry felt himself getting fuzzier and fuzzier. He knew it couldn't be alcohol because there was no alcohol at this ball, in the punch or otherwise. He assumed it was the heat of the hall with all of the people dancing, so he made a mental note to grab a few minutes outside in the rose garden at some point to cool down.

Harry had a brief moment of awkwardness on his way to the rose garden, however, because he bumped into the honorary guest of the evening nearby the doors of the great hall. That honorary guest happened to be the ex-girlfriend of Cedric Diggory, who this ball was, of course, in honour of. The awkward part was that Cho Chang also happened to be his ex-girlfriend.

"Hey, Harry," Cho said with a friendly smile.

Harry smiled, "Oh, hey Cho, how are you finding tonight?"

"The memories are flooding back," Cho admitted. She looked around the hall, which was decorated with snow-laden Christmas trees and snowflakes and fake icicles, just like it had been the first time.

Harry nodded, "I can imagine."

"It's getting better now, though," Cho admitted, "It's getting bearable."

Harry smiled genuinely at her, "I'm glad. I hear you've kind of dropped out of the wizarding world."

Cho shrugged, "I've been at Muggle University. I'm studying history, actually. It's interesting to get a Muggle take on it all."

"What university are you at?"

"Exeter," Cho replied, "I love it there, it's so far away from home in Scotland, but I like the independence."

"I can't say I know the feeling," Harry said wryly, "I'm pretty sure my cousin goes to Exeter University, though. I think he's studying economics; he wants to make it big in business."

Cho nodded as he spoke, "I work with a lot of economics students. They cross over a lot, history, economics, politics, those kinds of subjects. I don't know anyone with the second name Potter, though."

"Oh, he's not got my name; his name is Dursley, Dudley Dursley."

"Dudley is your cousin?" Cho asked, quite alarmed by this news.

Harry frowned, "Yeah, you know him?"

Cho nodded, "He's a really good friend, actually."

Harry was taken aback by this at this, "Wow, that's surprising."

"Is it?" Cho asked curiously, "I was bullied when I started at Exeter. Dudley stuck up for me, and we've been friends ever since."

Harry smiled slightly. So Dudley had stuck up for the victim of bullying instead of being the bully? Well, he was glad to see that the boy was maturing, "That's great. You two should come to my New Year's party. You can introduce him to some of our wizarding friends."

Cho's face fell, and Harry realised, "Oh...he doesn't know you're a..."

He trailed off, and Cho nodded. Harry sighed, "Well, he's alright with me being one, even though his father hated it. He doesn't talk to him anymore though, does he?"

Cho shook her head, "No, he's moved to London, and Dudley lives on campus in Exeter now. It's just his Mum back in Surrey."

"You should probably tell him. He's changed, but he used to be a pretty bad person and after everything that happened...I had nightmares about Cedric, and I talked in my sleep. He teased me for it, you'll need to explain everything to him," Harry said, he was aware that he sucked at giving advice, but Cho smiled gratefully at him and thanked him anyway.

Harry was about to say it was no problem when someone pushed past him. She was snivelling as if she was crying. He frowned as he saw Lilly dart away into the grounds, "Sorry, Cho, that's Ron's girlfriend. Do you mind if I...?"

"No, of course," Cho said with a wave of her hand, "It was nice talking to you, Harry."

"You too, Cho," Harry said honestly, he shot her a smile, and then he followed Lilly into the rose garden.

"Lilly, are you okay?" Harry asked when he sat down next to the girl on a wooden bench in the rose garden.

Lilly had been crying, her eyes were bloodshot, and her makeup was streaky from tears, "No, I'm not okay! Nobody asked me to the first Yule Ball, so I stayed in my dorm room alone, feeling miserable! This time I had a boyfriend, I thought somebody wanted me, but nobody ever does Harry."

"Why didn't Ron come tonight?" Harry asked, "Did you two break up?"

"I don't know what we did or what we are," Lilly said bitterly, "He wouldn't come because he wanted to spend the whole night with his family. He wouldn't even show up for an hour. That was all I asked for, an hour!"

"Look, Lilly. His brother died in the final battle. This will be one of the first times in a while that they will all be together," Harry told her, "He's probably not thinking straight because of that. He'll be thinking about his family and not you, which I agree isn't right, but he's a one-track guy. He doesn't do multiple trains of thought, and that's not me saying he's stupid because I'm the first to admit that he's not. He's bloody brilliant, but he's also a bit clueless, and he's a scatterbrain."

"It has something to do with me too," Lilly said quietly, "I know it's his family, but what's an hour, Harry?"

"Yeah, he should have given you that hour," Harry said with a nod, "He's my best friend Lilly, but that doesn't mean I agree with all of his decisions. Do you want my honest opinion here? Are we being frank?"

"We're being frank," Lilly said.

"Then I don't think this is going to work out between you two," Harry said with a slight frown, "Just like it wouldn't have worked out between Ron and Hermione. In many ways, when he goes into relationships, he's looking for someone to have his children, cook his meals, and keep his house clean because that's what his mother does. But you are brilliant, just like Hermione. You want more from life than that. Let's face it; you're never going to want to settle down and pop out seven children. You're going to want a career, and that's exactly how you should think because otherwise, you'd be completely wasting all your brilliance."

"Thanks, Harry," Lilly said, and with no warning at all, she leant over and kissed him. Harry pulled away in seconds.

"Woah, Lilly," Harry said, his head spun once more, "No, I know you're upset with all this Ron stuff, but this isn't the way to fix things."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," Lilly said tearfully.

"It's alright, it's fine," Harry said gently, "But I'm with Daphne. I'm very happy with Daphne. Like, pretty much in love with her."

Lilly smiled weakly, "I know, I know you are. I'm so sorry, Harry; I think I'm just going to go to bed."

"Will you be alright?" Harry asked her as he got to his feet and helped her up.

Lilly nodded, "I'll be fine," she said, and she disappeared from the rose garden.

When Harry re-joined the others in the hall, he felt a little awkward, but it wasn't the time or place to tell Daphne what had happened, so he tried to act normal. As honorary guests, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum had been invited to the Yule Ball. Fleur was pregnant and had brought Bill along with her.

Viktor Krum had gotten softer and less grumpy over the years. He scanned the ball for any single ladies to talk to or dance with and found only one that caught his eye. She leaned against the wall by the food table, watching the couples dancing when he walked over to her.

"Hello, beautiful lady."

Susan Bones raised an eyebrow at the pro-Quidditch player, "Hi," she said simply.

"You are by far the most attractive woman at this event," Viktor flirted, which made Susan laugh, "You flatter me, but no, I will not sleep with you."

Viktor frowned, "I was going to ask you to dance with me, not sleep with me."

"I don't date Quidditch players," Susan said, walking away towards the drinks table. She left Krum standing in her wake in complete shock; no one had ever refused him before.

He hurried after her, and she turned around in amusement, "Are you stalking me?"

"Why do you not date Quidditch players?"

"Because they're intimidated by the fact I'm better than them," Susan said simply.

"You play Quidditch?" Viktor asked in surprise.

Susan nodded but said no more, so Viktor asked, "In what position do you play?"

"I'm a beater," Susan said. She surveyed him and waited for the inevitable reaction of disgust.

Instead, Krum seemed impressed, "A female beater?"

Susan nodded, "Does it turn you off?"

Viktor shook his head and eyed her with sparkling eyes, "Not at all."

"Really?" Susan asked. She raised an eyebrow at the Bulgarian man.

Viktor nodded, "But as you already said you wouldn't sleep with me, I suppose it is redundant," he smiled, "So, do you care to dance?"

Susan's facade broke, and she smiled, "Fine, one dance," she agreed, she took his hand and made her way onto the floor with him.

They ended up dancing all night.

After the last dance of the night, nobody wanted the ball to end because they had all had such a good time. The students were all told to go to bed if they were staying for Christmas or to begin to board the Hogwarts Express if they were going home. The eighth years made their way back to the common room to grab their things, and in the process of doing this, they hit a slight snag in their plans.

"Uh guys," Sadie said as she poked her head into the room Hermione, Daphne and Susan shared with Gabrielle. Draco and Harry were there too because they were helping the girls pack.

"What's up?" Harry asked the girl.

"Something's wrong with Lilly," Sadie said quickly, "She's throwing up in the bathroom."

Harry frowned and shared a glance with Hermione. They were the only two who knew about the Ron situation, so they were the first up the stairs and into the bathroom where Lilly was hugging the toilet.

"She's drunk," Daphne said with a frown as she cast a diagnostic charm.

"How?" Hannah asked, "There wasn't any alcohol."

"There was a little bit," Theo said sheepishly. He had been helping Sadie pack in her room, "Dean and I spiked one of the punch bowls."

"How much punch did you have, Lil?" Hermione asked gently as she knelt next to the girl.

"A lot," Lilly said weakly.

"Theo!" Daphne hissed, "Why would you and Dean do that? You've made Lilly really ill-"

"We just thought-"

"Ugh, get out!" Tracey snapped. She pushed him out of the dorm and snapped the door shut.

Harry sighed as he sat down on the edge of the bath, "Sorry, Lilly, I should have realised earlier and given you a sober up potion."

Lilly just shook her head as Hermione brewed up some strange concoction in the sink. Daphne frowned at the interplay between Harry and Lilly but didn't say anything.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked Hermione as Lilly began to throw up again. He made a face and held her hair.

"Homemade sober-up potion," Hermione said offhandedly, "Does anyone have any aspirin?"

Hannah threw Hermione a packet, and she dissolved an aspirin into the potion before throwing the packet back to Hannah, "Alright, Lil, I'm going to have to force this down your throat."

"Go for it," Lilly croaked.

Hermione tipped her friends head back and forced her to drink the entire potion. She wretched but didn't throw up and colour returned to her cheeks slightly after a few minutes.

"Feeling any better?" Harry asked as she grabbed her wand and muttered a cleaning charm.

"Slightly," Lilly said shakily, "I just feel freezing."

"It's an after-effect," Hermione sighed, "I'm going to kill Theo and Dean for spiking that punch."

"I'm going to kill Ron for being the prick that didn't show up," Harry said irritably.

"What's going on here?" Daphne asked, looking between them.

"Ron being a dick is what's going on," Harry sighed, "He and Lilly have sort of broken up because he wouldn't come to the ball with her."

"Oh," Daphne frowned, "That sucks, Lilly."

"It is what it is," Lilly said as she leant against the bathroom wall.

"Well, we're heading back to Potter Manor for the night," Daphne said carefully, "Do you want to come with us? I think you could use a roommate tonight."

"I could use someone to snuggle with," Lilly said as she got to her feet shakily, "But my ginger prick of a somewhat boyfriend isn't available."

"I'm ginger," Susan piped up, "I'm not male, but it's close enough, right?"

Lilly laughed and let the redhead steady her on her feet, "Yeah, you'll do, Suse."

Harry chuckled, "Come on, then, let's get out of here."

They easily snuck through the school, which was empty now that the Hogwarts Express had left. Once they reached the gates, they apparated to Potter Manor. Susan took Lilly via side apparition just in case. After the ball, everybody was exhausted, so they got in, and Harry showed everyone to their rooms. The lights went off, heads hit pillows, and everyone was asleep instantly.

Well, almost everybody.

In the darkness, Harry held Daphne close to him in their comfortable bed, "Lilly kissed me earlier," he whispered.

"I knew something had happened," Daphne whispered back through the darkness.

"I was trying to be comforting about the whole thing with Ron, and she was probably pretty drunk by that point too," Harry admitted, "You can use Legilimency, right?"

"Yeah," Daphne replied, confusion in her voice, "Why?"

"The memory is at the front of my head. Just pop that lamp on and have a look," Harry yawned, "I can't be bothered recounting the whole thing, and this way, you see the truth."

"You're so open about things anyway," Daphne yawned as she turned the bedside lamp on and grabbed her wand, "So the fact you're telling me is enough, but if you insist."

"I insist," Harry said, "I want you to know that you can trust me."

"Alright," Daphne said. She looked into his eyes and said the incantation. Suddenly, Harry could feel her inside his head, watching the memory as he relived it. He shut his eyes and found himself watching the memory back with Daphne standing next to him. She said nothing; she simply watched with interest until Harry told Lilly that he loved Daphne. Her eyes widened, and she cut the spell short, disappearing from Harry's head.

In the real world, she looked at him in surprise, "You love me?"

"Yeah," Harry said honestly as he looked at Daphne. She was lying next to him in her pyjamas, her hair was down and wavy, she wasn't wearing any makeup, and as he looked at her, he could only concur that he loved her more like this than ever.

"Yeah?" Daphne chuckled, "That's all you've got to say?"

"Well yeah," Harry said in amusement, "I love you, Daphne. What more is there?"

"I was expecting some grand speech," Daphne admitted in amusement.

"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly.

"It's okay," Daphne laughed, "Simple is good. I just thought you'd give me some big speech about how you love me, and then I'd just ruin it all by going, yeah, me too."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her, "Yeah, me too? Is that all I'm getting?"

Her eyes sparkled playfully, and she propped herself up on her elbow to look at him, "No, it's not. Of course, I love you, Harry. Honestly, I don't think I've ever loved anybody like I love you, and I understand what you were trying to do tonight with Lilly."

"I just wanted to make her feel better about it all," Harry sighed, "I feel like Ron is my responsibility. It's stupid, but I feel like it was the fact he was my best friend for years and that he was always in my shadow that made him bitter. I feel responsible for all of his fuck-ups."

"Well, you shouldn't," Daphne said matter of factly, "His fuck-ups are just that, his. You can't spend the rest of your life fixing his messes."

"I know," Harry sighed.

"But you will anyway," Daphne smiled, "Because that's just who you are."

"Does that bother you?" Harry asked her.

Daphne laughed, "I just told you that I love you, wasn't that a dead giveaway of how I feel?"

"I suppose," Harry grinned, "And it was very nice to hear, by the way."

"Good," Daphne said simply as she leant over and kissed him, "Now can we please go to sleep? I'm bloody knackered."

"Definitely," Harry murmured as he snuggled up with her, "Night Daph."

"Night, Harry," Daphne said sleepily as she got closer to him.

Harry smiled slightly as her hair tickled his face. At that moment, despite all of the little difficulties, he felt that his life had been changed, and entirely for the better too, by Daphne Greengrass.

* ~ TBC ~ *