Dear readers, as you can surmise from this update, I'm still alive...
After God knows how long, I'm finally publishing the new chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord" story! Yes, I know the wait was way too long, but right now I'm experiencing some difficulties with *real life*, my mastery project to be exact, so my writing time is limited and my inspiration is on a long-term vacation. Still, I'll try updating my stories as often as I can.
* Review response:
Penny is wise, Rake1810, The Sinful, Naginator, animekingmike, Grimjowx, Lord Mortensen, ceo55, twilightnemo, nopparitari, r1ncewind1, Wyrtha, McGeezel, Gruffard, JPElles, Zobx, ElementalMaster16, Orchamus, DarkHeroV, thedad1961, kageskage176, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Joe Lawyer, one, where in the seven hells did you get the idea that Neville is going with Fleur to the ball? Didn't I make it quite clear the previous chapter that Victor Krum was her date? As for Harry and Draconica, hopefully, this chapter will clear some things up for you.
The Swordslinger, no, the wave of bans is over, and this story, despite having some mature content, is pretty safe as for the most part it fits well within T or even K-plus ratings.
Sk8ernv, yeah, good stories (thanks for thinking about this one as one of those) are getting updated less and less often... Not that I do much to change that, but look at what I've written at the very top of the page for the reasons for the lack of updates from me.
Akuma-Heika, fully uncut? I posted everything I have (save for that promised one-shot with Violet which I just cant make myself to finish) that I wrote posted here. Or is that your way of asking for more lemons? ;)
CMVreud, Kairan1979, not sure if I will have it evolve into anything more than partners-for-convenience, but, yes, they are interesting to see together.
skywiseskychan, yes, that happens you start reading the story after several chapters have already being posted...
Silver Heart11DOOM, I've answered this question at least three times already. Until the end of this story, Draconica will be Harry's only wife. The spot for the lady Potter will be vacant. I may post my own musings on how inheriting lordships may work - either within some chapter or as an appendix to one, but... anyway, yes, Harry will eventually (though you won't see it) have at least two wives all to himself. )
* AN: Beware, this chapter contains too much vanilla stuff ^^
* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form. Same with "Freezing" anime/manga series.
"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"
messages
chapter 63: Yule ball
From the very moment when the Yule ball was announced Draconica knew that Harry would ask her to be his date. And, to be honest, the blond girl couldn't really see herself going to the ball with anyone else, yet she knew that her father would not approve them. At least without her convincing him that it all was done just to give house Malfoy some positive limelight: she'd be shining among those few opening the ball, after all...
Thus, with her 'excuse' ready in her mind, 'Nica began her preparations for the ball, desiring to have everyone impressed speechless. That task, thankfully, wasn't all too heavy as she had been gifted a very special dress robe for her birthday this year – the one she could color any way she needed with but a single simple charm. She just needed to coordinate with Harry, so that their robes don't clash. Other than that, she just needed to make sure that the two of them could dance together flawlessly, and the blond witch was quite sure that the Chamber of Secrets will prove to be fantastic place for them to practice...
Harry was surprised how the professors managed to keep the student body in check – well, mostly in check – and still studying during the last week before the Yule ball: just about everyone had nothing but the said ball on their minds. And he himself as well as his friends weren't that much different truth to tell as they too had to prepare. Or, in case of Neville and Hermione, to explore their newly-found relationship as well.
Anyway, with everyone so busy with their own preparations for the ball, it had been ridiculously easy for the young Potter and his blond partner and lover to sneak into the Chamber unnoticed for their private dancing practices.
Harry, through his memories from Tom and his own studies of pureblood customs, was quite sure that he wasn't all that bad when it came to dancing, but even he himself could see that he had improved tremendously because of these practices. Draconica was in agreement with him there, and as a show of her appreciation of his efforts, during their last practice – on the last day before the Yule ball – she had them 'practice' several rounds of 'horizontal tango' as well...
Of course, studying through the last days of the classes that semester and practicing his dancing for the ball was not all that the green-eyed wizard was doing. He was quite sure that him, a Gryffindor, having a Slytherin girl as his date will cause some outcries from the more prejudiced member of both houses, so he prepared some 'pretext' as to why he had chosen 'Nica as his dancing partner.
And just in case, he also sent an owl to Violet, telling her to keep an eye on the media, in case they decided to create some scandal from the events of the ball. In the same letter, he also asked, how the things were with collecting a dirt on Dumbledore and with the champions' collective lawsuit against the organizers of the Triwizard tournament for withholding some important information from them.
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Surprisingly, the morning of the Christmas day passed rather quietly. Sure, there still were some people trying to find themselves a date for the ball, but there weren't many of them, and the noise they produced could be easily ignored. Tuning out the girls worrying about not fitting into their dress robes was a bit harder, but still nothing impossible... Especially for Harry, whose mind was going over the reply he had received from Violet that morning:
The blond barrister had confirmed his suspicions that the Ministry for Magic was still doing their best to stall the lawsuit against them. And, despite the best the group of three barristers the champions had working for them, the Ministry was rather successful. Though, according to Ms. L Bridget, it was not likely that they will be able to stall the lawsuit for much longer.
As for the situation with Dumbledore, well, if it was anyone else, then, according to Violet, they had evidence twice over to send that person into eternal disgrace. But as Dumbledore was worshiped like he was the second coming of Merlin by the general public, the blonde was still not sure that they had enough evidence of the man's misdeeds to oust him from either of his three major positions, much less from all three at once...
Shaking his head, Harry folded the parchment and put it into the inner pocket of his robes: the letter sure didn't have the greatest of the news in it, but... but Ms. L Bridget was doing what she could to give him the results, and it was enough for him.
Since there were no classes this day and the weather was pretty nice, the majority of the Hogwarts students went outside and had a massive snowball fight out there. The young Potter wasn't among them, though, as he chose to do some catch-up on his extracurricular reading – he had pretty much abandoned it in the recent days.
Thus, he found himself sitting on a magically-warmed windowsill of an enormous arched window overlooking the castle's yard with one of the Salazar's handwritten tomes about healing potions in his lap... Before long, he was joined by Draconica, who was holding a steaming cup of hot chocolate with her both hands. The blonde quietly took a seat at the other side of the windowsill and continued drinking her beverage in small, cute sips.
This peace and quiet lasted only for so long. Till 'Nica was done with her drink, to be precise. Once the empty cup was given to the house elf, the blond girl decided that she wanted some attention and so she started making pass at Harry by distracting him from his read. The green-eyed wizard tried to ignore his lover's sudden playfulness, but after a couple of minutes he grew tired of it. Bookmarking the page he was reading, the young Potter set the book aside and without any warning pulled his blond witch into lying atop of him, before proceeding to to tickle her mercilessly...
"So... What brought this on?" The young wizard asked, when they both had calmed down a bit. He was still sitting – more like half-lying – on the windowsill with the Salazar's book back in his hands. Draconica was lying atop of him with her head resting on his chest, her eyes closed as she enjoyed their closeness.
"It's Christmas, Harry." She replied almost lazily. "You shan't lock yourself in an old moldy book on a day like this." Moving his left hand off the tome's cover, Harry ran it up against 'Nica's flat stomach, stopping it just underneath her breasts. He didn't gave those a squeeze, though – not only they were in public, but it also was something that the blonde would want and he was still a bit annoyed at her for the interruption in his reading.
"Oh, don't worry, we will have all of the fun tonight at the ball." The green-eyed Potter replied. "...Speaking of which, we still need something to occupy our afternoon. Up for some last-minute dancing practice?" He asked, receiving a silent nod from Draconica for the answer.
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Aside from getting a glimpse of the Great hall's decorations for the Yule ball and spending a couple of hours in an enjoyable slow dances with Draconica down in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry's afternoon passed rather quietly... At half past four, the blond witch, though, had to head back to the Slytherin common room in order to start getting ready for the ball – which was scheduled to start with a feast at seven in the evening – and the young Potter, after seeing her off, headed back to the Gryffindor tower. Of course, being a boy, he didn't need two hours to put his dress robes on, so he had some time do a bit more of his reading.
At six in the evening, though, Harry put his book aside, deciding that it was time to start getting ready for the ball himself – as a champion he was among those opening the ball and, thus, had to be down there and absolutely ready before the clock stroke seven... His costume was deep bottle-green in color and, just like Mr. L Bridget's back then, appeared to be a mixture between wizarding robes and muggle suit. It wasn't the easiest thing to put one, but the green-eyed teen still managed it with some time to spare. And he definitely looked pretty good in it, which was a good raise to his self esteem as not all of his classmates were just as lucky with their dress robes – Ronald's looked more like a dress than like robes, and the boy's attempts to rectify that only made the things worse there...
Still, as watching the Weasley boy fight a losing battle against his clothes wasn't what he had in his plans for tonight, as soon as he was ready to go, Harry left the Gryffindor tower and headed to the entrance hall... And as soon as he reached the ground floor, he was intercepted by professor Vector, who directed him towards a corner designated for the tournament's champions, where Cedric was already chatting with his date, Ravenclaw fifth-year witch Cho Chang. Greeting the Hogwarts champion, Harry leaned against the wall lightly as he settled in for waiting for Draconica...
Some five minutes later, the entire Beauxbaton delegation, walked through the castle's front doors, madam Maxime and Fleur at the head of the procession. Almost immediately they were approached by professor Vector, who exchanged some words with the French champion. Nodding to the Hogwarts' Arithmancy professor, mademoiselle Delacour parted with her schoolmates and joined Harry and Cedric in the 'champions' corner'.
Just as the last of the Beauxbaton students entered the Great hall, the Slytherin students filled into the entrance hall from the dungeons, though with how crowded the hall was getting, he couldn't see his Draconica just yet. Though he needn't to have worried about that, as not a minute later she was guided to the 'champion's corner' by professor Bubbling.
"You look stunningly beautiful tonight, milady." Harry said, after spending a moment to admire his date: she was wearing a nice malachite-green dress, and while her hair was done the same way it usually was, there now were two thin druidic braids circling around her head. Taking 'Nica's hand, he laid a brief kiss on her palm's back.
"And you look handsome yourself, mi lord." The blond beauty replied as moved to stand by the young Potter's side...
About five minutes before the ball was scheduled to begin, the Durmstrang students arrived, led by headmaster Karkarov. They too were approached by professor Vector, and soon she had Victor join the other champions... Looking over his fellow champions and their dates, Harry was now sure that he and Draconica indeed were looking the best together: Krum's full-dress version of Durmstrang uniform, which looked like red, brown and bronze version of grenadier's grand suit from seventeen century, looked rather strange next to Fleur's baby-blue satin dress; and Cedric's deep-blue suit actually clashed with bright-pink robes that Cho had chosen for herself.
His further musings were interrupted by the Hogwarts professors loudly ushering the rest of the students into the Great hall: apparently, the ball was about to start. And, indeed, once the entrance hall was clear, the champions were approached by professor McGonagall. She then told them toget in line in pairs with their partners and to follow her into the Great hall.
The walls of the hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people. And professor McGonagall was directing them to the large round table at the top of the hall, where the headmasters and the judges were sitting.
The evening had started with a feast. A feast that was quite different from any other that Harry had been to: everyone was given a menu, from which whatever dished that stroke one's fancy could be ordered. It was cool, the green-eyed wizard had to admit, but, likely, it gave the castle's elves so much more work... And while everyone was eating, the other three champions began comparing their schooling experiences.
At some point headmaster Karkarov even stepped in and told Victor to keep the details at minimum – the man, apparently, was afraid that the others might deduce the location of the Durmstrang castle. In turn, this made the headmasters start their own discussion about the ways of protecting the legacies they had been entrusted with when they became the heads of their respective schools... Next to them, Percy Weasley, who was attending the ball in place of his superior, Barty Crouch Sr., was doing his best to ignore Ludo Bagman's attempts to strike a conversation about the tournament's possible winners or some similar things.
Once the dinner was finished, the ball itself began. The large open area in the center of the Great hall was now bathed in a golden light, while the lanterns on the tables were dimmed... Harry offered Draconica his hand as they rose from the table. A moment later, the other two pairs too left the table, and they all headed onto the dancing floor. Once they all were ready, Dumbledore waved his wand, and the music started playing...
While he had spent a lot time waltzing with 'Nica in his arms during their practices, the dark-haired teen quickly noticed that dancing when hundreds of eyes were focused on him and his date was not as easy as it was when they were comfortably alone in the Chamber of Secrets. And by far the worst distraction were the twin hate-filled glares coming from the Dumbledore's 'chosen one' and the young Malfoy heir: both boys were quite displeased Harry and Draconica choosing each other as their dates for tonight... Still, those two could easily be ignored – and it was even easier to do with the other people – and so the two of them continued gliding across the dancing floor...
Eventually the opening dance ended, and the three pairs were give some polite applause by the audience. Then, everyone moved onto the dancing floor and the music resumed as a bit faster tune. Harry and 'Nica exchanged smiles and, adjusting their holds on each other for the new dance, began twirling across the hall again. With everyone dancing now, the pressure of being observed so attentively was lifted from the duo and they began slowly losing themselves in each other, slipping towards a more passionate and intimate, though not yet inappropriate, version of the current dance...
Their private little world, though, didn't last long and was shattered to pieces the moment the music stopped. And with being thrust back into the reality, the realization of just how physically close to each other at this moment they were came. Yet the two teens, now sporting some noticeable blushes on their faces, didn't immediately jump apart, choosing to slowly put some (very short) distance between themselves instead.
Shaking his head, Harry looked around. Much like it could have been expected, they had ended up somewhere among older students that, if they even were from Hogwarts, neither he nor Draconica had known well. Though, maybe a dozen feet away the young Potter could spy his classmate Theodore Nott with a younger and very familiar girl as his partner.
"Mhm... isn't that Tori over there?" The green-eyed wizard asked the blond beauty that he had the honor of calling his date. Without even glancing back, 'Nica replied:
"Yeah, Daphne had insisted on Theodore bringing Astoria to the ball as his date." Somehow, Harry had a gut feeling that there was more to this than what his lover was sharing with him, but decided against asking for more details... Meanwhile, after a short pause the Malfoy heiress continued: "But, anyway, I think, Tori would love it if you ask her for a dance." His eyes widened a bit as the meaning of what his lady was saying registered within his mind, but she just kept talking: "And I'm sure Hermione would love as well, as would you other female friends. Just save the last dance for me, OK?" Giving him a warm smile, Draconica twirled around, before striding away towards the table with punch... Sighing lightly, Harry headed to where the younger of the Greengrass sisters was. And as he got there, the green-eyed wizard gave Theodore a polite nod for a greeting, receiving a similar nod in return.
"Heir Nott." The young Potter said. Damn, how did he hate those pureblood protocols sometimes... "Would you terribly mind if I borrow this fine young lady you have the honor of calling your date for a dance?" Before the Slytherin boy could say anything at all, Harry found himself with an armful of a very happy dark-haired girl. Sometimes, Astoria just refused to behave like a lady she was supposed to be... The two males shared a long glance, before Theodore nodded.
"Looks like I don't have a choice here." He said lightheartedly. Silently thanking the other boy, the messy-haired Gryffindor gave the exited little witch a hearty twirl. Then, moving his left hand onto her waist and taking her own left hand with his right one as was appropriate for the current dance – the music was already playing – he had them join the other students in the whirlwind of dancing.
Not a minute after Draconica had parted with her Harry, the annoyance in the form of her younger brother decided to once again enter her life. Indeed, Basilius was storming towards her, obviously ready to her a piece of his mind about her association with the last Potter. Tailing the blond boy was his betrothed, Pansy Parkinson, who looked decisively unhappy with him – she'd rather be dancing with right now. Alas...
"What do you think you're doing, associating with that half-blood bastard? What a disgrace to..." The Malfoy heir raved. Draconica, though, paid him little to no mind. Honestly, how with his level of subtlety and no cunning to speak of did her brother end up in Slytherin? On pure ambition, whatever his was? Or was it simply because he lacked the qualities of the other houses? Unlike many of her fellow dungeon Snakes, 'Nica knew and understood that Hufflepuff was not the place for 'leftovers'.
"Well, dear brother..." The blond witch replied softly. She might have not listened all that well to Basilius's rant, but she had a good idea of what it was about. "Being there, shining among those few opening the ball tonight certainly was a good way to show myself and house Malfoy off, don't you think? Besides, lord Potter had been quite a nice date and, so far, he hadn't left me wanting."
Finishing her glass of punch in one go, the blond beauty turned around on her heels and started walking away, making it abundantly clear to her brother that their little talk was over, no matter what he might want. And his threats of informing their father about her supposed misdeeds did nothing to change her mind.
Bidding the Greengrass sisters a good evening – after sharing a dance with Astoria, he had one with Daphne, who had joined them by then, as well – Harry let his legs carry him around the Great hall. His rather mindless wandering didn't last quite that long though, as soon he came across another couple of very familiar faces: Neville and Hermione were sitting at one of the tables, resting a bit between the dances...
And whereas the green-eyed teen had no troubles with recognizing his male friend, it took him several seconds to understand that that pretty girl next to the young Longbottom was their normally bushy-haired Hermione. Somehow, for this night she managed to tame her hair into being almost straight and had them arranged into a neat hairdo that made her look very different from her usual self. Her pale-blue dress too was not at all like the Hogwarts uniform or muggle casual clothes that Harry normally saw his bushy-haired girl friend in.
"Man, Neville, you're one hell of a lucky bloke." Harry said as he took a seat next to his friends. Despite how his confidence has grown in the past three and a half years, the heir Longbottom still blushed and mumbled something barely intelligible in response to what his dark-haired pal said. The green-eyed Potter paid no mind to that. "Hi there, guys. Having a good time?" He received positive answers from both of his friends. They had some idle talk while the current dance was closing towards its end, and once it did... "Neville, would you mind if I dance with your lady for a bit?" And even though the boy was now known to be quite possessive – still in a good way – of his girlfriend, he nodded.
"Only for you, Harry." Nodding, the young Potter walked up to Hermione and offered her his hand.
"Milady, may I have the honor of sharing the next dance with you?" The now-not-bushy-haired witch chuckled nervously, apparently not at all used to be treated like a pure-blood princess, but accepted the offered hand.
"It'd be my pleasure, Harry."
The music had stopped, indicating that the dance was over, and the young lord Potter was escorting Hermione back to her table when, unfortunately, their path crossed with Ronald Weasley's. And the redhead appeared to be not in a good mood, which was probably why he immediately lashed out at his two classmates:
"What are you doing with the traitor, Granger! Get away from him before he corrupts you with his slimy evilness!" Then he took notice of how Hermione had her hand in Harry's – even though she was now with Neville and the two of them were kind of standing apart now, the green-eyed wizard next to her was still one of her closest friends, so it was alright. "No! You... You... You are already corrupted by his dark ways!" Turning his attention back to the young Potter, Ron continued his angry tirade: "How dare you turn Hermione evil, Potter, you bastard! Slimy traitors like you don't belong in the noble house of Gryffindor! I... -eek!"
Apparently, the brunette had grown tired of the redhead badmouthing her friends and had used a stinging hex to shut him up, while getting ready to give him a piece of her mind. Harry saw that and gently squeezed her hand to calm her down.
"Don't argue with idiots. It's unbecoming of a lady you sure will be, Hermione." He told her. Then he gave the Weasley in front of him a hard glare. "I'm not sure what is your problem there,.." What a lie – the young Potter was absolutely sure that the 'chosen one' still was on his anti-Slytherin quest. "But you shan't see that as a reason to ruin this fine lady's night."
While Harry appeared to be absolutely calm and made no movement to draw his own wand, even someone as thick as the redhead in front of him could feel that if pressed into it, the green-eyed teen would not hesitate to hex the offender of his or his friends' honor into the next century. For some very long time Ronald just glared at him, as if trying to turn him into ashes with just his eyes, but as the young Potter didn't bulge, the youngest Weasley boy eventually gave up and stalked away seething with anger or something... Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, which was followed by another round of silence.
"Well..." The dark-haired wizard finally said. "I guess, I have kept you away from Neville for far too long. Let's not keep waiting any more." The brunette just nodded and allowed him to continued escorting her back to her boyfriend.
Once Hermione was safely back with the heir Longbottom, Harry decided that it was about time he rejoined his own date – sure, there still was quite some time before the last dance of the ball, but he already felt that he had been away from Draconica for long enough. Scanning the tables nearby with his eyes, the green-eyed Potter couldn't see his blond lover anywhere, and walking around the Great hall didn't help him find her. This meant she likely was out there in the rose garden, which had been specifically created in the castle's yard for this night.
Walking through the front doors stood open, Harry found himself in the magical garden that was filled with fluttering fairy lights that were twinkling around majestic rose bushes, large stone statues or in the winding ornamental paths. He could hear splashing water, which sounded like a fountain. Here and there, people were sitting on carved benches. Or, if his eyes weren't deceiving him, at least one couple was hiding behind the bushes in the far corner of the garden, no doubt doing something rather naughty...
Ignoring them, Harry continued his searches as he walked through the garden. Soon, he found his beautiful lady, nursing a glass of punch as she sat serenely on one of those rather gaudy benches in a small alcove hidden among the rose bushes... Almost as if she felt him approaching, Draconica looked up at him with her enamoring blue-gray eyes and smiled, before moving aside a bit to give him some place to sit down to.
Without saying anything – no words were necessary – the green-eyed wizard smiled back, before taking a seat. Almost immediately he felt his blond beauty lean against him lightly with her head resting on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her waist... For some time hey just sat like that, enjoying their closeness to each other.
And it was this time when Harry noticed that despite everything the music from the Great hall could be heard pretty well out there, and so an idea entered this mind. He waited till the current dance ended and while the band was getting ready to start playing the next song, he gently removed his arm from around his lover's waist and gently stood up.
"Milady?" He said as he offered his hand to Draconica, who was eying him with her eyebrow raised in a silent question. Now, though, she could clearly see what was on his mind and, setting her glass on the edge of the bench, she accepted his hand as he helped her onto her feet. The music started playing again, and the couple took a stance that was appropriate for the current dance, before they started moving – almost gliding – across the paved path of the garden.
They were pretty much in their little world now – all others were either in the Great hall, or just too busy with each other to pay them any attention – so Harry and 'Nica stopped restraining themselves with inhibitions, and soon they were engrossed in their dance which became more than just that, something very intimate and full of almost erotic passion. And those were just growing stronger as the dance progressed towards its finale...
With the music in its final accords, the young Potter pulled his pretty minx closer to himself, their bodies pressing firmly against each other; and with his hands low on her waist, just like hers wrapped tightly around his upper chest, the two of them found themselves locked in a fierce kiss. A kiss that lasted until they were reminded by their bodies that they needed to breathe... Parting their heads slight, but still holding each other in a tight embrace, the two blushing teens were looking, no, staring, into each others eyes for what could as well be an eternity. Then, their lips connected again, in a much softer but just as impassioned kiss.
That's all, folks!
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