Severus watched closely as the students brewed their potions. One wrong move and the whole class would blow up. A knock on the door had all of them looking up curiously. Colin Creevey peeked his head in and his eyes landed on Harry.
"Hi Harry! Mr. Ollivander is finally here to weigh the Champions wands! They're asking for you." Severus clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"I will be joining Mr. Potter so class is canceled! Everyone will be receiving a passing grade for today. This is a one time exception so don't get used to it." The students cheered and packed up their bags.
"You don't have to come with, father." Harry said but his eyes sparkled with happiness.
"Of course I'm coming! What if something happens? I know you have the other Champions to rely on but they're still students. You need a competent adult." Harry just smiled at him and he couldn't resist ruffling his boy's hair. He still couldn't believe how well the first task had gone. He tried not to get his hopes up for the next one. He had an emergency bag packed for any possible outcome. Granger had helped him think of everything that could go wrong.
"Mr. Potter! How nice of you to arrive." Ollivander said as he peered at them. The other Champions were standing with their Heads and jumped up when Harry walked in.
"Harry! Why is your wand maker so creepy?" Fleur said loudly as she stood by his side.
"I think they're all like that?" Severus disguised his laugh as a cough when he caught the irritated wand maker's expression.
"Can I begin, children? I would have been here soon but I had a very important convention." Viktor leaned over and whispered "I've heard about that. All of the wand makers get drunk and fight." Cedric laughed loudly. Rita Skeeter was lurking in the corner as her photographer snapped pictures of the Champions talking together.
"Mr. Krum, you'll be first." Viktor stood up and handed over his wand.
"It seems you take care of your wand. Not one of my creations but beggars can't be choosers, I suppose." Severus saw Igor scowl at him but held his tongue. It was a good thing he did. Ollivander hadn't been swayed by the Dark Lord or Albus during the first war. The man was an absolute maniac so the two men came to a silent agreement to leave the man alone.
"Ah Miss. Delacour, I'm assuming the Vella hair is from a relation?" The girl gave him a frigid look before saying "it was a gift from my grandmère."
"How nice. I find Veela hair to be rather temperamental but to each their own." Severus could feel a headache coming on as the wand maker continued to insult everyone in the room.
"Mr. Diggory! Finally a worthy wand to judge. I see you take care of it?"
"Er yes sir." He shuffled in place as Ollivander continued to rave about his wand.
"And finally Mr. Potter." Harry stood up and placed his wand on the table. Ollivander's eyes widened before he said "Mr. Potter, this is not your wand!"
Hermione eagerly grabbed the newspaper and looked at the front page. It was a lovely picture of the Champions laughing together before the wand weighing ceremony.
"My Dear Readers, this young journalist" Hermione huffed and muttered "young, my arse" before continuing to read "had a front row seat to the prestigious wand weighing ceremony! I'm sad to say our very own Ollivander behaved quite rudely to the foreign students' wands while waxing poetry about his own creations! I understand we can't all be impartial but perhaps insulting children isn't the smartest thing to do!" Hermione skimmed the article until she got to the good part.
"And our last Champion was Harry Potter! Mr. Potter is an old friend so I might be a little biased when I say his wand weighing was the most interesting! When Mr. Ollivander finally looked at it, what did he find? Mr. Potter was not using his wand. He positively identified it as Heir Malfoy's wand! As the wizarding world knows, the two boys are the Hottest Hogwarts Couple with Snack coming in second and Marcy coming in third! A little wand lore for my Dear Readers, the wand chooses the Wizard. You might be able to use your partners or child's wand but it will not work as well for you as it will its original owner! Of course that doesn't include wands where the owner has died or wands won in battle. Mr. Potter confirmed that they switch their wands often and have no negative reactions. That means that their wands recognize both of them as owners! There has never been a case of a wand splitting their allegiance and I'm confident in saying there will never be another case like this before! Magic herself has blessed the union of these two Houses and I can't wait to see what the next few years hold for them! This journalist has only one thing left to say: Drarry forever!"
Hermione set the newspaper down in satisfaction. She knew Rita was itching for a wedding invitation so she was keeping her nose clean. If she kept it up, Hermione would personally deliver it to the older woman. Neville came up beside her and said "Herm! Are you ready for our spa day?" They had decided to take over the prefect's bathroom again. She followed Neville in and froze when she saw a half naked Cedric floating in the water.
"Merlin's pants!" He screeched before covering his chest and sinking in the water. She rolled her eyes and said "please Cedric, you have nothing I haven't seen before." Neville's cheeks turned red at her comment.
"What are you guys waiting around for? Oh hi Cedric!" Harry said happily as he walked in carrying his egg.
"This is the prefect's bathroom! You can't just barge in!" Harry started shucking off his clothes and she followed suit.
"If you didn't want us to join, you should've locked the door!" Harry splashed in the water and Cedric got as far away as possible.
"Harry! Draco will cut my limbs off if he finds out we're bathing together!" He said. Someone cleared their throat and they all looked up to find Tonks and Draco watching them.
"You are correct, Diggory. I would have ripped out all of your toenails but Harry invited me to join him. I met Tonks on the way here so I suppose it's not your fault." Cedric looked relieved as he stopped trying to claw his way out of the giant tub. Draco and Tonks joined them and she giggled when Draco scooted closer to Harry.
"Now what are we doing?"
"Fleur told me to put my egg underwater for the clue for the next task!" Harry announced and pulled goggles out of his bag.
"I always carry around an extra pair, in case Bubbles manages to break his." He explained and ducked his head under the water. Cedric just clenched his eyes shut and joined him. They came up a few minutes later and Cedric whimpered.
"Merpeople. The second task is in the Great Lake!" She shared a look with Harry and then both squealed "mermaids!"
The months flew by and it was a week before Yule. The school had announced a dance so they wouldn't be going home. For the first time in a century, the annual Malfoy Ball was cancelled. Mummy Malfoy said she would not hold a party when someone was actively trying to hurt him. Harry was rather touched by the gesture. She had made herself in charge of the Yule Ball though so he knew it would be tasteful. Professor Sprout had called an emergency meeting.
"Alright badgers! All of the Heads are responsible for teaching their students how to dance. I want you to line up over her if you know how to dance and over here if you don't." Everyone lined up and Tonks ended up being the only one who had no clue how to dance.
"Mum said I didn't need to learn another way to hurt myself!" She defended herself and Ernie snorted.
"That's so true, buddy!"
"Now, everyone grab a partner." Harry ended up being the only person who didn't have a partner so he paired with Professor Sprout.
"Sorry Harry! We all know how Malfoy would react if one of us danced with you." Justin said and the whole House shouted their agreement.
"How are you doing, Harry?" Professor Sprout asked softly as they waltz around the room. He was thankful Kreacher had taken it upon himself to teach him different styles of dance.
"I'm doing okay. I just wish they could figure out who put my name in." She nodded seriously.
"We will, dear. Once we do, they'll regret it."
After they're dance practice, Harry decided to go find Draco. They hadn't actually talked about the dance, so he had to make sure they were going. He turned the corner and stopped abruptly. One of the Durmstrang students was talking to his fiancé. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and stepped closer. Draco was motioning something with his hand and Harry saw the girl reach forward to set her hand on his chest. He rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward. Before he could show her just who she was trying to mess with, Daphne Greengrass tackled her to the ground.
"I know you haven't been here long, love but Draco is off limits. We all made a pact to keep our favorite couple together and we won't stand by as some outsider tries to ruin that!" Ginny skidded around the corner and was shouting encouragements to Daphne.
"I will go then!" The other girl ran away quickly.
"Merlin, she said she was lost! I can't believe how forward she was." Draco was raving as he cast a cleaning spell on his sweater.
"I know! Thank Merlin I was here."
Ginny gave her girlfriend a kiss before saying "yeah! You kicked her-" she made eye contact with him and squeaked out "oh hi Harry!" Draco spun around and gasped out "Harry darling!" Harry narrowed his eyes on him before storming away. He needed to speak with Hermione.
Draco was pacing outside of the Gryffindor entrance. He had heard from Ron that Harry had immediately searched out his Vice President. He needed to assure his beloved that he had not consented to that girl's touch or her advances! He couldn't imagine what it had looked like from his love's position. The portrait opened up and Harry waved goodbye to someone inside before running into him.
"Oof Draco, what are you doing here?" He took Harry's face in his hands and stared deeply into his eyes.
"Harry my heart, I know what it looked like but you must believe me! I was trying to give her directions." He begged and Harry blinked before patting his shoulder.
"I know. I heard you guys talking." That made sense, he had heard them ta-
"Wait, you looked furious before you stormed off!"
"Well I was mad but not at you!" Draco slumped his shoulders in relief.
"I had an idea and I needed to run it by Hermione. That's why I ran off. I'm sorry if I worried you." He held his darling close and said "It's fine, love." Harry shimmied out of his hold and stepped back.
"I was actually about to go look for you. Follow me!" He pulled him to the Astronomy Tower and covered his eyes. He could feel Harry's heart beating and liked to think his heart was in sync.
"Okay, open your eyes!" Harry whispered in his ear and took his hands away. Hanging in the starry sky were words that spelled out "Draco, will you go to the Yule Ball with me? Love Harry"
"I wasn't sure about the spell but Hermione helped me with it!" Draco could feel his eyes watering and fanned his face. Harry was asking him to the dance! Merlin, he was the luckiest person at Hogwarts.
"Of course I'll go with you!" Harry grabbed him around the waist before lifting him up and twirling them. He couldn't help his shocked laughter.
"Put me down before you pull something, darling." Harry pulled their faces together before rubbing his nose against Draco's.
"I love you, Draco."
"I love you too, Harry."
Fleur hid behind the suit of armor before Ron could spot her. She had been trying to ask him to the Ball for three days now and hadn't been able to get up the nerve. What if he said no?
"What are you doing?" Gabi whispered in her ear and she jumped causing the armor to clatter to the ground. Students stared at her before quickly looking away.
"I was admiring the decor!" She said briskly and walked away from her sister. Gabi followed her closely and said "it looks like you're stalking Ron." She flushed and kept walking.
"No I'm not!" They rounded the corner and she saw a group of girls standing in front of Ron.
"Oh you don't have a date yet? You might want to hurry." They giggled nastily and she saw his shoulders slump.
"Hello Ron. Would you go to the Yule Ball with me?" She heard someone say and realized it was her! Merlin, she couldn't have brought him flowers or something? Ron spun around and gawped at her as the girls did the same.
"Fleur?" She walked closer and held his hand.
"I'm sorry for springing it on you. I've been too embarrassed to ask. I hope you'll say yes." She peeked at his expression and he was wearing a soft smile.
"I'd be happy to go with you." He kissed the back of her hand and she stared at him.
"Merlin Fleur, you're smoking! You're going to melt the floor at this rate. Hi Ron! Fleur is like obsessed with you." Gabrielle informed him before dragging her away.
"Wait what did you just say?" She gave her a horrified look. Gabi just rolled her eyes.
"Fleur, you've been driving everyone mad with your brooding! No offense to Ron but he doesn't seem to realize you like him so I thought I'd give him a nudge in the right direction."
"You didn't nudge him, you pushed him right off the damn cliff." She screamed and her hands caught on fire. She chased after her sister and was annoyed with how easily she dodged her fireballs. Maybe she was getting rusty?
