"Daphne, would you do me the honour of accompanying me for a stroll around the grounds?" Harry asked politely, pointedly ignoring his friends' reactions.

Neville and Theo were both grinning with amusement. Despite being traditional, they tended to be a lot more laid back about it than the rest of them and found the formality that Harry and Daphne employed hilarious.

Draco, on the other hand, was frowning disapprovingly. "Around the grounds?"

"We will stay within sight of my distinguished cousin of course." Harry added, inwardly rolling his eyes. Did they really have to go through this every single time he and Daphne took a walk? Surely Draco knew that them staying within sight of the group was a given.

"Thank you, Harry." Daphne inclined her head. "I would be delighted."

Harry stood and offered his hand to help her to her feet. Then he held out his arm for her to take and began to lead her down the hill.

"What do you suppose that Draco is afraid we will do?" Harry asked, once they were out of hearing distance of their friends.

Daphne looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. "I think he enjoys teasing you."

"You think it is all an act?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Of course." Daphne giggled. "Draco isn't nearly as…"

"Stuck-in-the-mud as I am?" Harry offered with a grin.

"Not exactly the words I was looking for, but close enough." Daphne admitted. "Though it isn't just you. I am just as 'stuck-in-the-mud' as you."

"So he's mocking us?" Harry asked. "How had I not noticed?"

"I suspect that it is because you would likely do something similar in his position, only you would be sincere about it." Daphne pointed out.

"Because I'm stuck-in-the-mud?" Harry grinned down at her.

"Your words, not mine." Daphne smiled prettily.

Harry laughed and reached across to pat the hand that she had tucked into his arm. "You are lovely."

Daphne's cheeks pinked and she looked away. "Thank you."

They walked in silence for a minutes, before Harry finally worked up the confidence to ask her the question on his mind.

"Daphne, would you do me the honour of accompanying me to both the Hogwarts's Yule Ball and the Malfoys' Yule Ball?" Harry looked down at her hopefully.

Daphne smiled up at him, before glancing away shyly. "Of course. I would be delighted."

"Wonderful." Harry declared with a broad smile. "I talked to Sirius and he has given me permission to offer you any of the Potter or Black jewels for the occasions. If you want, we can visit Gringotts next week and you can pick out the ones that you like."

Daphne's gaze flew to his face. "Really?"

"Of course." Harry stopped walking and turned to face her, her hand dropping from his arm. "You are my betrothed. All that belongs to me is yours."

Daphne looked down and curtsied. "You do me great honour, Harry."

Harry reach out and grasped both her hands, before drawing them up to his mouth and touching her gloves to his mouth. "As you do to me."

Daphne was blushing again, but she squeezed his hands. "Thank you."

Harry smiled down at her, before spotting a bug in her hair. "Hold still a moment." He released one of her hands, before carefully capturing the bug in his fingers.

"What was it?" Daphne asked in confusion.

Harry brought down the hand that was now holding the bug and opened his fingers so that she could see it. "Not your usual hair ornament, I think."

Daphne's nose wrinkled, but she giggled. "Certainly not."

As though sensing an opportunity to escape, the bug quickly took flight and flew towards the lake. Harry offered Daphne his arm again. "Shall we?"

29-29-29

Having secured his own date for the Yule Ball, Harry couldn't help but feel entertained by the desperate flurry that most of the other students' seemed to be in. All of Harry's friends had found dates, except for Takashi who would be in Japan over Yule anyway. Draco and Theo were taking Astoria and Natasja (since they were betrothed to them), Neville had asked Luna, Blaise had gotten special permission for his betrothed, Ines, to accompany him, and Fred and George were taking two of the Gryffindor Chasers.

Other students didn't seem nearly as organised and Harry took particularly enjoyment from the fact that neither Ron Weasley, nor Harry's dorm-mates, seemed to have a date. Better yet, rumour had it that Ron had actually asked Fleur Delacour to be his date – Harry wished that he had been there to witness the spectacle.

Harry knew it was petty, but the night after Daphne had agreed to go with him, he'd considered rubbing it in his dorm-mates faces – even though it would break his policy about not interacting with them. Thankfully he managed to talk himself out of it, after all it was hardly appropriate behaviour for someone of his station, but was almost grateful when the Daily Prophet did it for him the next day. Though he almost choked when he saw the headline.

'Young Love at Yule: Boy-Who-Lived Romances Girlfriend'

Well, grateful and surprised. How had Rita Skeeter known about their agreement? Harry hadn't seen her since the First Task and he knew that none of his friends would have spoken to her. What was most surprising though was the detail in the article. Somehow, Skeeter knew about his offer for Daphne to wear any of the Potter or Black jewels – something that they hadn't even told their friends.

Still, as perturbing as the article was, it certainly had an effect on his dorm-mates and in the days after Anthony began loudly boasting about how he was going to ask Fleur, accompanied with snide comments regarding how much hotter Fleur was than any other girl at the school. Harry listened in amusement – he knew for a fact that Fleur had already agreed to accompany Cedric Diggory.

Anthony's boasting stopped after the first few evenings, presumably because Fleur had turned him down, and a few days after that he started crowing about having scored Cho Chang as a date. Harry didn't know what there was to boast about taking Chang, the older girl had been a bit of a social outcast ever since he and Draco had used a potion to punish her for bullying Luna, but from what he could gather Anthony was mostly just excited that she was a year older than he was.

29-29-29

George Weasley wasn't exactly sure how Harry Potter and his little gang of snooty traditionalists had become his and Fred's friends. Sure, he remembered finding Harry sitting with Lee on the Hogwarts' Express over three years ago, but how had he ended up with Harry becoming one of his best friends? At first it had just been fun to show the kid around – not an entirely altruistic act on his and Fred's part, after all, Harry was the boy-who-lived.

But over the years that friendship had grown and George had no idea how. Of course, the fact that Harry, Draco and Luna were the Maruaders' Apprentices probably had a little to do with it – not that George and Fred had ever let the younger prankers know that they had figured it out. The only reason they had figured it out was because of the Maruaders' Map (and yes, George did see the irony in that). Finding out that Harry was one of the people engaging them in a prank war had been surprising and had definitely vaulted Harry out of 'sweet, younger kid' status and into 'clever kid' status.

Then Harry had lent them him brooms (and really, who needed two Nimbus 2001 brooms?) to play in the Under 17 Quidditch League, had offered to partner with them to start up their dream shop, and had invited them learn how to be an animagus with him, and somehow they had been drawn into his little gang.

It would have been weird being two years older, except they all acted so grown up and mature most of the time and Takashi Nado was normally there too. Probably the weirdest part of it was how traditional they all were.

George had never spent much time with traditionalists, there had never been much opportunity to – he was a Gryffindor and a Weasley and neither of those things tended to attract traditionalists. He'd always considered traditionalists to be weird, formal snobs, which they were, but there seemed to be more to it than that. They actually seemed to enjoy the traditions, not because it made them better than anyone else (though Draco Malfoy certainly seemed to think that it did), but because it was their normal.

Hanging out with them had been awkward at first. Some of the kids (well, mostly just Draco Malfoy) had been so scathing of their being Weasleys with all that that implied, and it had been bizarre to realise that maybe some of the weird traditionalist things had a purpose. He had no idea how meditation had ended up being lumped in with traditionalism – it was amazing! And learning to do it had not only made it possible for him to begin learning how to be an animagus, but he was learning wandless magic too. Not to mention the comments his teachers had been making regarding his newfound ability to concentrate in classes and his improved wandwork. Why wasn't it compulsory for all parents to teach their children to meditate? Or, at least, why didn't Hogwarts' teach all first years how?

Still, as awkward as it had been at the beginning, George had found himself coming to like the weird, formal snobs and he knew that Fred felt the same way. It had been strange to realise that Harry and his friends found non-traditionalists just as weird as George and Fred found traditionalists. It had been actually sort of horrifying to discover that his family's anti-traditionalist stance basically made them the equivalent to the Malfoys, just on the other side of the cultural divide.

It was hard to swallow, especially with the whole drama between their mum, Bill and Charlie. How could their mum be so prejudiced? Weren't the non-traditionalists supposed to be the good guys? The ones who accepted everyone as they were – regardless of their blood status or culture?

Strangely having their mum and Ron spewing anti-traditionalist nonsense actually brought George and Fred closer to Harry and his friends, and by the time Christmas Break was approaching George often found himself preferring their company over some of his Gryffindor friends.

Because of this, he couldn't help but be pleased when Harry invited them to come to the Come and Go Room on the last night of term for one last animagus practise. Despite the fact that Fred and George were planning on staying at the castle over the holiday, Sirius had warned them not to practise their animagus transformations without supervision since they had reached a stage where that was dangerous.

George and Fred had both readily agreed, neither of them wanted to get stuck in a partial transformation, though Harry had seemed to find the entire conversation hilarious and had called his godfather a hypocrite.

They all met in the Come and Go room after dinner and immediately settled down to work on their transformations. George, whose animagus form was a Jack Russell Terrier, immediately began working on transforming his left arm. Once he'd managed it, he transformed it back into his human form and began again. According to Sirius, who had become their instructor of sorts, it was important to learn to do each individual change quickly.

It was interesting to note the different amounts of progress they had all made. He and Fred had made the least progress overall, something that Sirius put down to the fact that they had only just learnt how to meditate that year. Harry was ahead of them all and he could transform all four of his limbs simultaneously.

As had become their custom, they practised for two hours before sitting around on the couches that the Come and Go Room had provided for them and drinking the butterbeer that Sirius brought.

After they had been talking for a while, and during a lull in the conversation, Fred spoke up.

"Did you hear about Percy, Harry?"

"Which part?" Harry asked, tilting his head to the side. "His betrothal or his new position as your brother's heir?"

"Either." George shrugged. "It's all pretty…"

"…unbelievable." Fred finished for him.

Draco narrowed his eyes in thought. "I'm presuming that this 'Percy' is one of your multitude of brothers?"

George nodded. "He's the one who…"

"…graduated last year."

"Wears glasses…" George continued.

"…kind of prattish." Fred added.

"And he's betrothed?" Theo looked confused. "I didn't think your family did that sort of thing."

"We don't." George chorused with Fred.

"But then he's not a Weasley anymore." Fred went on.

"He changed his name to Prewett," George expanded. "And Bill…"

"That's Lord Prewett." Harry added.

"…has made him his heir." George finished, shooting Harry a grateful look. Sometimes he forgot that the others weren't well versed with their family.

"Who is he betrothed to?" Daphne asked curiously.

"Anahita Burke." Fred answered, with a shrug. "Apparently she was a Hufflepuff in Percy's year."

"As in the youngest daughter of Lord Burke?" Draco asked, an eyebrow raised sceptically.

"That's the one." George agreed, before watching as the others all seemed to exchange glances.

"No wonder he changed his name to Prewett." Theo whistled. "Lord Burke's a stickler for traditionalism. I'm surprised that he agreed to betroth her to a non-traditionalist."

"Except turns out, Percy's not so non-traditional after all." George commented neutrally, he still wasn't sure what he thought about Percy's decision. On the one hand he understood where Percy was coming from, but there was a small part of him that felt a little betrayed and abandoned by his older brother.

Harry apparently hadn't known that. "Really?"

"Well, he was." Fred admitted. "But apparently Anahita showed him the light or whatever."

"A traditional Weasley," Draco smirked. "Good Merlin, what is the world coming to."

"Prewett." Fred corrected.

"Not that we mind either way." George added quickly, in case they took offence. "It's just that our mum is, uh…"

"Bloody bonkers." Fred finished harshly.

"I could have told you that years ago." Draco muttered quietly.

"She's gone off her rocker." Fred continued. "Swearing to disown Percy if it's the last thing she does."

Blaise looked at them in confusion. "Is the House of Weasley matriarchal?"

"No," George sighed. "And that's where she's having problems. Dad's refusing."

"And so he should." Draco nodded firmly. "Imagine, disowning your child because they decided to be traditional."

"My mother tried to disown me for being anti-traditional." Sirius commented, from the armchair where he had been watching quietly.

"Yes, but there is nothing wrong with being traditional." Draco argued.

George shook his head, Draco's inability to see things from the perspective of non-traditionalists was almost amusing – well, it would be if it didn't remind George of his own mum's view of traditionalists.

"I don't think that's quite how they see it." Sirius sounded amused too.

"So what will happen?" Harry asked.

"No idea." George's shoulders slumped. "Dad's never held his ground against mum for more than a day, so I don't see him lasting long. Chances are Percy'll be disowned by Christmas and then Mum'll start on the rest of us."

"That's why we're staying here over Christmas." Fred explained.

"Yule!" Draco corrected passionately. "The approaching holiday is called Yule! Not Christmas and certainly not Hanukkah, or whatever I heard a muggleborn going on about yesterday. It's Yule! And it's got nothing to do with Christmas trees, or stockings, or bloody Santa Claus!"

Harry threw Fred a dirty look. "See what you've done?"

"If you're staying here over the holiday how will you buy new robes for the Yule Ball?" Daphne asked, breaking into Draco's tirade firmly.

George looked towards Fred in confusion. What did that have to do with anything? "Eh, Mum bought us some second hands ones over the summer. They're not too awful…"

"…definitely not as bad as Ron's…" Fred added with a grin.

"…and we're going to transfigure them a bit." George finished smoothly.

"Certainly not." Daphne shook her head. "Harry and I cannot have our friends attending public events in second-hand robes."

George shifted uncomfortably at the disdain in her tone, he didn't think he was wearing anything that wasn't second hand. He could feel Fred bristling beside him.

"See, Harry?" Draco asked primly. "This is exactly why we shouldn't befriend blood traitors."

Fred stiffened, but George just elbowed him. There was no point in taking offence at Draco's anti-non-traditionalism. They knew that he didn't really mean anything by it.

Harry seemed to study them quickly, as though to ensure that they weren't too offended, before he turned his attention to Draco. "There are more important things in life that dress robes, Draco. Though I agree that appearances can be very important when you are trying to make the right impression."

"But we're not trying to make any kind of impression." Fred protested. "And, as Draco said, we're blood traitors. Nobody is going to care what we're wearing."

"What do you think Miss Johnson and Miss Spinnett are going to think?" Daphne asked haughtily.

"They're non-traditional too." George pointed out. "I honestly don't think they'll care. Just so long as we look presentable."

"Well, I care." Daphne told him. "Has your brother officially accepted you into the Ancient and Noble House of Prewett yet?"

George exchanged another look with Fred. "Uh, no?"

"At least, we don't think so." George added.

"Well, you would know if he had." Harry told them. "There's a whole ritual which involves kneeling and a magical oath."

"Then no." George answered much more firmly. "We haven't even seen Bill since he became the lord."

"Though I've got to say," Fred was looking a little wide eyed. "You didn't make it sound all that enticing."

"That's another matter," Daphne waved a hand dismissively. "If you are not officially members of the Ancient and Noble House of Prewett then Harry will buy you new robes. Send me your measurements and I will arrange for them to be owled to you."

George knew that his mouth had probably dropped open. "Uh, that's very kind of you, Daphne…"

"…always nice when someone offers to spend someone else's money…" Fred added a little snidely.

"…but we're fine." George finished, elbowing Fred in the side again.

"Harry doesn't mind, if that's what you're worried about." Daphne assured them.

"I really don't." Harry confirmed. "What's mine is hers and all that."

"Nevertheless," Fred shook his head. "We really can't accept."

"Yes, you can, and you will." Daphne told them firmly. "Harry and I are pleased to be your friends, but being our friend isn't like being friends with any other plebeian."

"We, uh," George started unsurely. "We…"

"I'll talk to you guys about it later." Harry told them quickly, as he took hold of Daphne's hand. "But it's getting pretty late, we should probably go to bed."

Theo pulled out his wand and cast tempus. "Merlin, its past curfew."

"I'd offer to write you a note, but I'm not actually a professor." Sirius told them apologetically. "Best advice I can give you though is not to talk. Portraits tend to sleep at the same time that we do, but if you make enough noise they'll wake up and might tell a professor that they saw you. It really depends on the portrait."

George, who was out after curfew more often than not, watched as all the Slytherins left together and Harry waved Takashi and Luna ahead of him.

"Fred and George, mind staying behind for a while?"

"Sure." Fred answered for them both.

"I'll be off then." Neville told them. "Merry part."

"Merry part." Harry agreed.

"Cheerio." George waved.

"I'll walk you back." Sirius told Neville with a grin. "The Fat Lady is usually pretty good about not narking on students, but I'm sure my presence will help."

Once they were gone, Harry turned towards them. "Sorry about Daphne."

"It's fine." George shrugged. "I'm sure she meant the best."

"She did." Harry agreed. "And she's not entirely wrong."

"Oh, not you too." Fred groaned. "We're not traditional, Harry. Just because Percy's decided to be, and all your other friends are, doesn't mean that we're suddenly going to decide that we want to spend the rest of our lives bowing and scraping to people."

"I get that." Harry assured him. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're friends with traditionalists."

"But why does that have to affect us?" Fred asked in frustration.

"Look, if we were just normal traditionalists it wouldn't be so much of a problem," Harry began.

"I think your girlfriend called them plebeians." Fred pointed out caustically.

"Betrothed." Harry corrected. "Or fiancée if you prefer."

"Whatever." Fred waved a hand dismissively. "You know, Harry. As much as I like you, sometimes you sound exactly like Draco."

Harry sighed. "That's because Draco and I actually agree about this stuff. The only two differences between us is that I am a bit more formal about the traditions than he is, and he cannot comprehend why anyone might choose not to be traditional – I can."

"You're more formal than Draco Malfoy?" Fred asked in disbelief that George silently echoed.

"Yes."

"Merlin." Fred slumped back against the couch. "I didn't even know that was possible."

"So why is it important that we wear special robes at Yule?" George asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "It's like Daphne said, she and I have appearances that we have to keep. Well, maybe not have to – appearances that we want to keep. This time next year I'm going to be Lord Potter and then in three more years we'll get married and she'll be Lady Potter, and we'll have a lot of power and influence – if we play our cards right."

"And you have to start playing your cards now?" Fred asked with a frown.

"We started playing them when we were eleven." Harry answered. "Though I wasn't great at it back then, and she didn't know that she was playing her cards for the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter."

"What does this have to do with us?" George asked patiently.

"Continuing the card playing analogy," Harry started. "One of the cards that we play is our friends. Who we choose to befriend, and that sort of thing."

"And we're not good enough to be your friends, is that it?" Fred asked aggressively.

George elbowed him with a sigh. "Just listen."

"It's definitely not that." Harry denied passionately. "You guys are great, but people will judge Daphne and me by your actions."

"Us being non-traditional isn't going to help with that." George commented evenly, he'd never really considered what impact their friendship might make on Harry's life. But then he doubted that Harry had ever considered how their friendship would impact their lives either

"No," Harry agreed. "Though you being scions of the Ancient and Noble House of Prewett will, if you decide to do that. Anyway, your clothing isn't a huge deal, except if you go to the Yule Ball in old robes people will gossip about how I don't care for those under my protection."

"Under your protection?" Fred repeated in disbelief. "What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"

Harry groaned. "Listen, it's nothing bad. It's just like Sirius and Remus."

"Weren't you saying that Remus had sworn a fealty oath to Sirius or something though?" George asked uncomfortably.

"Only just this year," Harry defended. "And only because he wanted to. He's the one who asked Sirius to do it."

George nodded. "Alright, so explain this protection thing."

"If you had been accepted into the Ancient and Noble House of Prewett it wouldn't be so much of an issue." Harry started. "Then your actions would reflect on your House and Lord Prewett, but since you're not it's a different story. Basically, you are from a lower class than I am and, because we're friends, people expect that to mean that you are under my protection. It's the same with Luna and Blaise."

"A lower class than you." Fred repeated, his face growing red. "What is this? The seventeenth century?!"

Harry seemed to wince at the volume of Fred's voice. "In a way, yes. We're called traditionalists because we still follow the traditions that were used back then."

"So Daphne's going to buy us robes, so that nobody thinks you're a bad liege lord." George concluded.

"I'm going to buy you robes," Harry reminded them. "Daphne's just going to order them. But yes."

"And we're supposed to be alright with this?" Fred asked, his face still red.

Harry clenched his jaw. "Merlin! It's not as though I'm asking you to do anything awful, I'm just asking you to accept a gift of new dress robes to support me on the pursuit of my dreams."

George personally didn't see anything wrong with that, but he waited to see what Fred would say. Fred had always been the more passionate and aggressive one out of the two of them.

Fred eventually nodded. "Well, when you put it like that how can we refuse?"

"I understand that all this probably seems really weird to you." Harry admitted with a sigh. "In a way we live in two very different worlds, but this isn't about me thinking that you're not good enough to be my friends."

"We get that." George assured him. "We should probably be thanking you really. It's not every day someone asks us to let them spend a dozen galleons on a gift for us."

"Don't you mind Daphne just volunteering your money like that though?" Fred asked.

"No," Harry shook his head. "We're betrothed. It's all going to be hers in a few years anyway."

"Yeah, but Draco's betrothed too, isn't he?" Fred asked. "And I don't see him letting his betrothed spend his money."

Harry grinned. "No, but Draco and Astoria have a very different relationship than Daphne and me. It's...well, the best way that I can describe it is that Daphne and I have decided to acknowledge our relationship publically and begin working towards it now. I'm courting her, but because our marriage is a foregone conclusion our courtship looks a slightly different than your courting Alicia and Angelina."

"Woah!" Fred held up hand quickly. "I'm not courting Angelina. I'm not even dating her. We're just going to the ball together – as friends."

George nodded in agreement. Not that he would mind dating Alicia, it was just that with everything going on with their family…

"My apologies." Harry inclined his head. "I shouldn't have presumed."

"People can go to a ball as friends!" Fred continued defensively. "Neville and Luna are going as friends."

"No, they're not." George argued, how had Fred not noticed that they were dating?

Fred gave his brother a disbelieving look. "What?"

"Neville is courting Luna." Harry clarified. "He has all the appropriate permissions from his Great Uncle and Mr. Lovegood. It just so happened that his asking Luna to allow him to court her coincided with the announcement of the Yule Ball."

"Really?" Fred looked astonished. "But she's so…"

"Crazy?" George offered jokingly.

Harry laughed. "She's not really. She just sees the world differently."

Fred rolled his eyes. "I think that could quite possibly be a definition of the word crazy."

29-29-29