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The Yule Ball started like a bad joke with Harry coming up to the Entrance Hall accompanied by Tracey Davis who, despite her normally decent taste in outfits, had taken Pansy's advice and worn a dress with what looked like the ridges of a tapeworm, a fat bow on the small of her back, and, worse, in the shade of yellow-pink bile. Seeing the looks everyone was giving her, Tracey had turned, bawling, and rushed back down into the dungeons and refused to come back up no matter how much Harry begged and insisted she looked pretty and everyone was just jealous.

Then he panicked, realizing he was in a desperate situation without anyone to dance with when he was opening. He rushed back up the Entrance Hall to ask for help from Theodore, but stopped upon realizing how much of a git he would seem if he asked Theo for help. He then spotted Millicent and decided anyone was better than showing up with no one. Rushing up to her, he was about to ask her to attend with him when he saw Crabbe and Goyle together, both looking rather sullen over not having dates. The Gryffindor in him won out and he told Millicent how much Crabbe had found her pretty and really wanted to attend the Ball with her. She had turned very pink at this confession and not long afterwards was seen talking to Crabbe about attending together. By the elated look on Crabbe's face, Harry had done the right thing. This still left him without a date...and Goyle was still single.

Grumbling at how much Theodore would pick on him if he ever found out what Harry had done, Harry rushed down into the dungeons to find Rachel, who hadn't gone to the Ball as she was a third year and not invited by anyone. He told her about Goyle and how the guy was really nice and wouldn't ask someone to the Ball unless he meant it (Harry felt he was getting good at this lying thing and could probably show off to Theodore later if he survived this Ball) and soon she had changed into a dress that her friends were able to fix up real quickly and returned with Harry up to the Entrance Hall where she went and hooked arms with Goyle as if she had been planning to attend with him the entire time.

Exhausted from the trips up and down the stairs of the dungeon passage, Harry's eyes cast about the Entrance Hall at the pairs of people there. Hermione was with Krum, much to everyone's shock, Pansy (giggling over what she had done to Tracey) with a smirking Draco, Daphne with Blaise, Ron (in a set of robes that looked like it came from an age ago) stood with what looked like Fleur Delacour, who was criticizing his outfit, Diggory with Cho Chang, Neville was with Ginny...even Goyle and Crabbe had someone now!

He spotted two Ravenclaw girls (Padma and Lisa if he was correct) from his year, standing together and viewing the gathering with contempt. Before he knew it he was standing in front of them and asking if either wanted to go with him as his date had ditched him for a dress mishap. Lisa upturned her nose and Padma seemed about to do the same until Harry added that he had to make sure the girl he was with was pretty or Professor Snape would have his head, therefore he had thought to ask them.

This seemed to work on Padma and she agreed despite Lisa's scoffs.

New date in hand, Harry got in line with the other champions before he was yelled at by Professor McGonagall, who had been searching the Hall for him whilst he had used the crowd to hide him while he had been searching for a date. Finally, everyone entered the Great Hall to attend a special dinner. Harry had done his best to make conversation with Padma, but as neither of them really knew each other this proved rather fruitless and vain. In the end, Harry was subjected to light taunts from Ronald, which seemed to please Fleur, and some compliments from Cho Chang that Harry swore were flirtatious. All the while, his eyes kept flicking around to the other tables in a mad hunt for Theodore. Had the other boy not been able to find a date? Or had he simply decided not to attend? Harry's anxiety rocketed up when the dancing began and he fumbled with the steps, nearly stepped on Padma's foot twice, and almost tripped on his own robe.

He had intended to stop dancing when the first song had ended, but apparently Padma liked this next song and (since she had accompanied him despite being a Ravenclaw and asked last minute when his own date had been unable to come) he found himself dancing song after song after song with her, all apparently her favorites. It didn't take him long to figure out that she simply wanted him to keep dancing with her, rightfully afraid he'd ditch her as soon as he got away from the dance floor.

Then the worst happened...worse than Tracey ditching him, worse than hooking Goyle and Crabbe up with dates, worse than hunting for his own date, worse than getting stuck with Padma Patil, worse than dancing, worse even than fighting a dragon...

He caught sight of Theodore with a Durmstrang student dancing.

His gut wrenched inside of him and he was suddenly walking off the dance floor.

"Where are we going?" Padma asked, shocked by his abrupt decision to leave.

"Getting a drink and some fresh air." Harry answered shorter than he had meant to. "It just got really stuffy in there."

"Okay." She seemed to like this idea and, after quickly acquiring some butterbeers, the took to outside where they found a bench to sit on.

They didn't talk, but Padma did sit rather close to Harry, which made him uncomfortable instantly. Before he could try to say anything or move away, he heard the familiar voice of his Head of House.

"...don't see what there is to fuss about, Igor."

Then came Karkaroff's voice. "Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening! It's been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am becoming seriously concerned, I can't deny it..."

"Then flee." Snape snapped. "Flee...I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts."

He interrupted what was probably a snogging session between a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff and then glared in Harry and Padma's direction. "And what are you two doing?"

"Sitting." Harry replied in a tone colder than he had meant, but it fit the ice filling his chest.

Snape gave a sneer, but with nothing to hold against Harry or Padma, he moved on, Karkaroff tailing him. Then Padma asked to go back inside to dance. He really didn't want to, but he felt bad for having her tag along with him when she could be finding herself a partner who actually wanted to dance with her.

Back inside, Harry instantly felt queasy at the sight of Theodore in a corner of the room with the Durmstrang student, chatting with their faces rather close if Harry was to be a judge of it. He went out to the dance floor one more time, but his eyes kept wandering over to Theo, whose face seemed to be getting closer to that Durmstrang boy's.

"I can't dance anymore." Harry finally admitted, stomach convulsing inside of him. "I'm sorry, Padma. You're more than welcome to dance with anyone else you want. Thank you very much for attending with me. It was really great." He left out the "of you."

She beamed at this and thanked him before rushing off to Lisa, most likely to tell her "all about" the great time she'd had, and Harry turned to check on Theo...and felt the blood draining from his face.

The Durmstrang boy's lips were pressed firmly against Theo's and his arms were pulling the younger, shorter boy up against him. It was a wildly fervent kiss, enough to make Harry gag with the lead dropping into his stomach and bile rising in his throat. The only saving grace was Theo shoving the Durmstrang boy away, hard. There were a couple heated words exchanged between them, but they didn't part ways. Instead, they seemed to make up and that did it for Harry.

He marched over to them and grabbed Theo around the wrist, his grip tighter than it should have been. Dragging his friend behind him, Harry could hear the Durmstrang give a surprised comment and Theodore reassured him with, "Talk to you later, Jarek. Right now, my friend needs me."

Harry halted so fast, Theodore collided with him, nearly sending them both to the floor, but Harry caught himself and spun around to glower at the Durmstrang named Jarek. "Don't you dare go snogging him again, you hear?"

"Harry..." Theo sighed in exasperation, but kept his eyes downward as if he didn't want to look at Harry. "Is really none of your business, isn't it?"

Glowering at Theo, Harry did his best not to say something derogatory back and instead shot at Jarek, "Back off."

"Vat is the meaning of this?" Jarek asked, clearly confused.

Theo, irritated at this point, shot out, "Harry Potter angst as usual."

"As usual?" Harry rounded on Theo. "What's that supposed to mean?"

But it was clear at this point that embarrassment and anger was taking over Theo as, eyes still downcast, he growled, "Couldn't come with someone you'd have chosen because of some inner emotional problems, so now you're taking it upon yourself to make sure I don't have fun either."

"Have fun?" He couldn't restrain the scoff. "You were shoving him away!"

"Had already resolved the issue, Potter." Theodore hissed. "Bad timing...as usual."

"Another 'as usual'? How many other things about me are you tired of?"

"Could name a few." Theo wrenched his wrist from Harry's, but still did not take his eyes from the ground. "And this isn't the place to discuss it. I am talking with Jarek."

Fuming, Harry stormed from the Great Hall, done with the drama that had begun to transpire. He was half-way to fifteen! He shouldn't be dealing with this kind of stuff! Marching into the dungeons, he stomped all the way down to his dormitory, where he found Millicent and Vincent in a bed snogging. They shoved off the moment he came in though without saying a word, probably grateful it hadn't been Snape.

Once he had changed into his pajamas (ripping his dress robes in the process), Harry got under all of his blankets and hid with his head tucked under as well. Embarrassment was kicking in. His thoughts were replaying what he had done and the taste of bile filled the back of his throat. What had he been thinking? Why had he done that? It had been stupid and girly and desperate and wrong. He sunk deeper into his blankets when he heard people enter, but it was only Draco and Blaise.

"I got Pansy to do some things." Draco was snickering. "You wouldn't believe what she was willing to do...oh, but it was worth it."

Blaise snorted. "Did you know that Daphne's left breast isn't as big as her right?" He gave a disgusted scoff. "It was weird to the point of disgusting. I had to close my eyes and imagine something else."

Draco laughed. "You're so hard to please, Zabini."

"I only believe that I deserve perfection."

They made a few more disgusting jokes about their girls and what they had "done" for them before the crawled into bed and settled down. Harry simply lay there in bed not ever wanting to look at Theodore again as he couldn't even imagine the taller Slytherin wanting to be friends anymore after such a humiliation.

"You see Nott with that Durmstrang boy?" Draco suddenly whispered over to Blaise.

"Only the once." Blaise replied slowly. "They looked like they were headed for an abandoned classroom, no doubt for...you know."

Harry's heart was beating so loud he was afraid the other two boys would hear it.

"Gross, don't you think?" Draco continued. "That Durmstrang is an adult by wizarding standards. They're three years apart."

"Bit." Blaise agreed. "Could get them in trouble if they're caught. Nott could get expelled."

Harry flew out of his bed and was running in his pajamas out of the dormitory and out into the cold dungeons. Why he thought he could find Theodore in this castle with its endless number of abandoned classrooms, Harry had no idea, but he felt an insatiable desire to try.

Thankfully, he didn't have to as he ran into Theodore in front of a painting of fruit.

"Theo!" Harry gasped, eyes wide with shock. "W-where's..."

"He went back to the Durmstrang ship." Theodore answered in a chilled tone. "What do you want?"

Harry flinched at the sharp words and realized abruptly that he didn't want to be looking at Theodore right now. His eyes fell to the floor. "I...Draco...and Blaise...they were saying some pretty crass things about you...and J-J-J..."

"Jarek." Theodore finished for him.

"Yeah..." Harry felt a shiver run through him. "I was worried...because of some of the stuff they'd said...and..."

"You thought he and I shagged or something?"

Jumping, Harry gave Theodore's furious face a single glance before resting his eyes sternly on the floor. "That's what they were saying and how it could get you expelled and I just wanted to make sure that didn't happen...that you didn't get expelled."

Theodore exhaled and scratched at his head. "I didn't. Am not stupid, you know."

Relief dripped down into Harry's gut and he nodded. "That's...I didn't think you were stupid. I just...I was worried."

"You're really tired, Harry." Theodore informed his friend. "And when you get tired, you get unreasonable. I saw you running like a chicken with your head cut off all over the Entrance Hall, hooking up everyone but yourself."

The heat coming to Harry's face made him see stars.

"And I know you were stressed to begin with for loads of reasons, but you have to understand I'm stressed too, Harry. Things are really intense for me, what with taking Arithmancy and having Ancient Runes after everyone else is done with classes. Not to mention, I keep giving any of my free time to help you. It's not that I mind, but it takes a lot out of me and you...well, you're you, Harry, and you don't notice how much people put forth effort for your sake because you're too caught up in your own head and your own problems. It's something I'm getting used to, but it doesn't make it any less annoying or difficult to handle. Then to top it off, I start having a decent time and you decide to get all selfish and that...it was really uncalled for."

Harry was sure he'd faint from shame if he wasn't standing there willing himself not to. All he could muster was an, "I'm sorry."

"It's...fine." Theo shifted and then mumbled, "I think...I think you were right though, Harry. I wasn't really having fun."

Harry peeked a look at his friend and inquired, "Why do you say that?"

Fidgeting, Theo admitted slowly, "Because I think I was wishing too often that Jarek was you."

This brought a tiny smile to Harry's lips, "Even though I'm probably the worst friend ever?"

Rolling his eyes, Theo gave an irritated sigh, "And there you go again with the Harry angst." But a gleam of amusement had returned to his eyes. "Come on. I was about to get something from the kitchens. I haven't showed you this before."

And feeling significantly better, Harry agreed, but quickly whispered into Theo's ear before the entered the kitchen, "I was wishing I was with you too, you know."

He barely caught the abashed murmur, "I know..."

Wouldn't be Harry Potter without some (a lot) of Harry angst, but this would be the first time anyone's pointed it out to him, so one can hope it never resurfaces right? :D Hope you enjoyed. Review if you want.