Authors Note!

Wonderful Thankies to my beta… XD

I'm sorry about the lateness but I have had probably the MOST stressful time of my life. I go away on holiday with my friends *good*

But I get swine flu out there *bad*

Then I go out when I get back *good*

And my drink gets spiked *bad*

I crash my car *bad*

I get done for drink driving *VERY BAD!!!!*

Disclaimer – Y'all know the usual jargon!

Warnings – I might as well keep the same warnings as in the other chapters… xD

There is a time skip in this chapter and I have changed a little bit in the first chapter, the story now begins near the beginning of the year, not June… What was I thinking starting a story at that time anyway!!!!!????

Chapter 12 – Looking Well and Dressed To Kill

As September turned to October, Harry began to really enjoy his time at Hogwarts. He was up to date on all of his school work, he was able to brew a decent potion by himself and understand why each ingredient was needed and he was finally receiving less grief from his former housemates. All of this progress was due to his friends, some old and some new. Harry, Draco, Blaise and Hermione spent a lot of time together around the school. They could be found studying in the library, out by the lake chatting or sitting together in lessons. Hermione began to feel like the ultimate Fag Hag, but that didn't faze her. She enjoyed being able to talk about anything and not have to worry about the gossip girls spreading her secrets.

Harry's stay in the Slytherin dorms hadn't gone unnoticed by anyone in the school. The other Slytherins were, for the most part, shocked to see Harry Potter sitting on the sofas in their common room. The fact that he was laughing and joking with Draco and Blaise made it all the weirder, yet more understandable. After his first night, Harry awoke to find a green and silver tie sitting with his school robes and a Slytherin badge in the place of the Gryffindor badge. He put it on and when he asked Professor Snape why he had it, the only answer he received was "I will not tolerate any red and gold in my house, you may as well fit in a little more, don't you think?" Day by day, other students began to become accustomed to seeing Harry sitting at the Slytherin table, wearing Slytherin robes, walking with Slytherins and sitting with them during lessons. At first they were worried as to why it had happened but after seeing that he had not been harmed, they calmed and their stares were lessened.

October turned out to be a pretty normal month for the group. Well, as normal as it could be for the friends. Harry and Draco were getting closer and were able to confide in each other quite often and continued to send notes throughout classes, some more serious than others. Some of their notes caused them trouble with their professors due to inessential laughter from the two boys, both of which had to serve several hours of detention for their disruptions.

.HPDM.

"Harry, guess what?" Blaise cooed as he sat next to the brunette.

"What?" Harry said, adjusting his position so that he could face Blaise.

"Well, as you know, tomorrow's time for our first Hogsmeade visit," Harry nodded for Blaise to continue, "Well, I wanted to let you know that Draco and I are giving you a make over." Blaise began clapping his hands triumphantly.

"But I don't…"

"That wasn't a request, Harry" Draco cut in, sitting on the sofa opposite the two boys. "It was a demand. We are telling you that we are going to drag you through several stores tomorrow and you will enter this castle a new person." Draco smirked.

"Oh. Ok then. I guess this could be fun." Harry managed to say through his shock.

Blaise began to bounce up and down on the sofa, "So, Harry, first off we're going to get your hair done, and then off to find you new clothes, because frankly, you need an entirely new wardrobe. You'll get casual outfits and some more formal suits and robes. We could stop at some point for lunch, but I'm not sure yet. We'll have to determine that one while we're out. I usually have too much fun shopping that I forget that I need food to function." Blaise suddenly stopped and began breathing deeply to himself.

"Well done, Draco, you got him babbling. And what's wrong with how I look?" Harry asked standing and circling for extra measures.

"Nothing." Draco said. Nothing at all, I love how you look. Draco added on in his head. "You just need a little tidying up. We're not going to do anything too drastic, don't worry. Just a bit of neatening and tailoring. You'll have fun, I promise." He smiled to Harry, who blushed and returned the smile.

"Fine. I'll try to have as much fun as I can. I have to tell Hermione about this, I think I'm gonna need her help tomorrow." Harry laughed as he moved to the other side of the table to sit next to Draco, leaving Blaise in his calm trance.

"Oh, she already knows. She's known for about a week. Blaise asked her about it in potions. I believe her exact words were, 'I can't believe I didn't think of that a long time ago.'" Draco said, laughing more at the fact that Harry's cheer seemed to die down.

"What? Why didn't she tell me?!" Harry said through his newly donned 'betrayed look'.

"Blaise asked her not to…"

"And Blaise always gets what he wants!" Blaise cut in, out of his trance, yet still seemingly calm.

The smirk Blaise directed at Harry began to worry Draco; it seemed, almost, predatory.

"Oh, really, does he?" Harry replied, sending back the same look to Blaise.

Okay, that worries me a little more, Draco thought.

The three friends sat and continued to chat through the rest of the evening until they decided that it was a good time to go to bed. According to Blaise, they needed their beauty sleep, especially Harry, since he had to look his best for them to find his best looks.

Harry and Blaise slept peacefully, anticipating the day ahead. However, Draco was lying awake still mulling over the look he watched his two friends share. Blaise knows I like Harry, He wouldn't do that to me, would he? Draco drifted off to a restless sleep after a few hours of emotional conflict.

.HOGSMEADE.

Harry awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and content. He stretched his body as he sat up and grabbed his glasses off of the bedside table. As he slipped them on to his nose he found himself looking directly at a very awake Blaise, who was sitting cross legged on his own bed, completely ready for the day. That's when it dawned on Harry. It was makeover day. He had been hoping that it was all a bad dream and that he's just be going to Hogsmeade to have fun with his friends. But no. There would be no fun for Harry today. Apparently, Harry was not allowed to have fun.

They all made it through breakfast happily; laughing about Blaise's supposed plans for Harry. Most of which happened to be exaggerations just to give the Gryffindor a little scare. It took Harry a while to realise that it wasn't going to go exactly as Blaise had been making out, then again, Harry didn't realise it by himself, he received a little help. After a while, once Harry had become so mortified by Blaise's talk of waxing that he refused to touch his breakfast, Draco decided that they had tormented poor Harry enough and said, "He is joking, you know."

Harry gave a little nervous laugh, realising that he should've noticed that point. Blaise, still in the throng of all his best 'makeover tips', carried on listing things that Harry could have done, this time Harry joined in and laughed along, knowing that it wouldn't really happen like that.

After they had finished their breakfast, they all ventured back to their dorms to collect their cloaks and their money and travelled back up to the main entrance, where Hermione was waiting for them. Harry sent a mock glare her way, which caused her to give out a little laugh.

"I can't believe you were in on this 'Mione, you're supposed to be my best friend." Harry said to her, trying to keep his scowl, which was proving to be difficult as a smile was threatening to break through.

"I am your best friend, Harry. I really think you need this. You need to get out of Dudley's hand-me-downs and get into something a little more… You. And besides, no matter how much everyone seems to love the messy look of your hair. We need to desperately need to control it. I'm sure I've seen your hair start moving on its own."

"'Mione, you have spent way too much time listening to Blaise. You sounded so much like him. Hang on, did he tell you to say this to convince me to actually want this makeover?" Harry said, sending a look directly to Blaise, who held his hands up, claiming to have nothing to do with it all.

"Well, is it working?" Hermione said, taking a step closer and leaning her head on Harry's shoulder.

"A little, I guess."

"Well, Blaise didn't tell me to say that at all, and you know it's true." Hermione said, placing her arm around his waist.

The carriage ride's conversation topic consisted of Blaise's order for the day. He had formulated a short list on a piece of parchment:

Makeover Day for H.

Hair at Wizard Cuts

Clothing at every decent store Hogsmeade has to offer

Shoes at Dragon Hide Etc.

"…And then its should be time to go back to Hogwarts." Blaise said after reading his list to the group.

"Blaise, there's no mention of a time to stop and eat. What about lunch?" Harry said

"We will eat if, and only if, there is time for it. This could be a long day unless you cooperate. Shall we make a deal? If you enjoy yourself and help us when we ask, you get to eat. Deal or no deal?"

"That's a little mean, don't you think?" Harry stated, receiving three identical smirks. "Fine, deal. But it's a very mean deal. I'd say it was verging on blackmail"

And so it began. They stepped out of the carriage and Blaise grabbed Harry's hand and began to drag him off to their first stop on Harry's journey from drab to fab. Wizard Cuts was the best salon in Hogsmeade and was the sort of place that was appointment only, weeks in advance. Blaise had, in fact, booked the appointment as soon as Harry had settled into Slytherin. He had planned this day since then, and managed to keep it quiet for that long, for which he was incredibly proud of himself.

The four friends stepped through the doors and were immediately attended to by a very excitable hairdresser.

"Mr Zabini, I was delighted to get your call when I did. It is an honour to be working for someone such as yourself. And to be asked to cut the hair of one Harry Potter, you have seriously made my life complete. Pleasure to meet you Mr Potter. Mr Malfoy, good to see you again. And, you are?" The hairdresser said, finally motioning to Hermione.

"This, Roman, is Ms Hermione Granger, the other person I was talking about, you said you may have time to fit another person in, just for me." Blaise said, giving his sweet little smile.

"Of course, of course. I saved our dear Carmen to see to Ms Granger."

Hermione suddenly realised what was going on. "Blaise, you didn't!" She gasped.

"Oh but he did." Draco said, smirking. "We thought you'd like to finally be able to get a brush through your hair without excruciating pain. Your hair needs looking after too. And they'll give you products and teach you spells to change it up after it's sorted. Trust us, okay?"

Hermione nodded with a little smile as she was led off to a seat and the hairdresser began her work.

"I freed my entire day so that I could style your hair myself, Mr. Potter."

"All day? It's not really going to take that long, is it?" Harry said with a slight tone of disbelief in his voice.

Roman laughed, "Of course not, Mr Potter. Your hair shouldn't take long; I just thought I may need the rest of the day off to recover from the shock and excitement." Harry and Draco both rolled their eyes at this comment.

Harry was led off to sit in a chair and stare in wonder at what Roman was doing. He really was magic. With his wand, he was chopping, lengthening and styling Harry's hair. By the time he was finished, Harry was pleasantly surprised. Roman had been able to control his unruly hair, not to say that he had completely lost his look, Harry now had a flattened fringe that swept across his forehead, just edging over his eyebrows, covering his tell-tale scar. The rest of his hair had been calmed. It kept its messy look but it looked neat. Roman mentioned that Harry could still style the back of his hair like it was before, but it was best to sort it out first, since it was a bit of a nightmare before. Once Hermione was finished, everyone looked to her with big grins on their faces. Her wild, frizzy hair was now replaced with loose, bouncy curls. Her hair also had snippets of colour a shade lighter than her own, 'just to bring out the natural highlights'. She had been taught by her stylist how to make her hair straighter and how to tighten the curls, so she could have her hair however she felt.

"Roman, you have really outdone yourself this time," Blaise said as he gazed between Harry and Hermione.

"I agree, this is definitely better. Much better," Draco added.

They paid the receptionist the money that they owed and after a large collection of 'Thank you's' were shared between customer and stylist alike, the friends were off for their next stop. Blaise ended up taking Harry through each and every clothes shop that he believed worthy, which happened to mean nearly every shop except the one that sold second-hand garments. Harry began to participate as the day wore on, trying to choose things for him self and even enjoying trying the outfits on and waiting for the opinions of the others. By the time they had finished, they had successfully brought out every shop of anything in Harry's size, giving Harry a completely new wardrobe full of both casual and formal outfits, muggle and wizarding alike. After this, shows seemed to follow the same pattern, Harry even received an emotional moment from Blaise, who ended up teary eyed and 'so incredibly proud of what he had created'. With this moment came a group hug, two of the four people more happy with the proximity than the others.

"Now, Harry. I know it's too late for lunch, but I don't want to back down on my end of the deal, so I guess its food time. Where do you want to eat?" Blaise said, linking his arm through Harry's.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not overly hungry. But I could do with a drink."

"Broomsticks anyone?" Draco said bringing himself and Hermione to their level and joining them on to form a chain.

They then set off for the Three Broomsticks and spent the rest of their day there, laughing and joking about things that had come to pass over the last month that they had spent together. Hermione enjoyed hearing about things that she wasn't around for, and couldn't believe some of the things the boys had done.

"I think its time I finally give in and let my bladder take over. I really need to pee" Harry said, standing up.

"I'll join you Harry, I think you've spurred my bladder on. Thank you O' Mighty One!" Blaise laughed, taking Harry's arm and leading him off to the toilets.

"You don't mind me going too, Hermione? All this talk about piss has got me needing to go," Draco said, looking apologetically towards her.

"Sure, go pee, and here I thought it was only girls who went in groups." Hermione giggled as Draco left the table.

Her giggle was cut off when she suddenly saw a slightly angry, slightly upset Draco storm out of the toilet, being pursued by a flushed Harry shouting for him, followed by a smirking Blaise.

What. The. Hell? Hermione thought as it looked as though disaster had struck.