Christmas Day had been going pretty well. Awoken with a start by Dobby, who had very graciously taken some of Uncle Vernon's old socks, followed by presents and a huge Christmas lunch in the great Hall, Harry had been enjoying himself. He wasn't not looking forward to the Ball - it is a party after all, after one dance he could chill and eat and just hang out with his friends, he'd have fun. Or at least that was what he was trying to assure himself.

He'd entered the Hall behind the other champions, Parvati in a very pretty pink on his arm. He wasn't disappointed. Parvati was nice, and could hold a conversation without bursting out giggling every two seconds. He was glad he'd asked her and not Lavender Brown; he'd passed her and Ron as he'd walked in and she hadn't looked totally happy. Ron's robes were admittedly awful. Brown and pink, tatty and stringy, it really wasn't a good outfit. That, and it was way too long on Ron. It was clearly a hand-me-down but with how tall Ron was already, Harry couldn't imagine the size of the cousin he'd inherited these from. Ron also didn't look too happy. He was stood by Neville and Ginny, a pairing which had surprised Harry, though he supposed it meant Ginny could come to the ball and Neville wouldn't be on his own. He doubted there was much more to it than that.

Hermione, surprising them all, had glided in before Harry, hanging on the arm of Viktor Krum, adorned in a sky blue dress, a perfect match to the frozen aesthetic of the hall. After all the complaining she'd done about him at the beginning of the year, Harry's nerves at dancing in front of everyone was probably the only thing stopping his jaw from falling to the floor. He could imagine the comments Cleo would be making now, The red-head is so annoyed because he wanted to be the one on the seeker's arm. Cleo only remembered names she cared about apparently. Since he'd conjured her, Harry was the only name she'd taken note of, that was until the Gryffindor Party after the First Task. After spending the night with Marissa, she'd apparently taken a liking to the Slytherin Girl and decided she had a name worth remembering too. Harry had asked her if she knew where Marissa had disappeared to the day after the party, but apparently all that had happened was a handover from Marissa to Draco - that was all Cleo knew.

Cleo remained in Harry's room tonight - he had been somewhat concerned about leaving her alone, he'd become really attached to his new pet, but she'd assured him she wanted to be nowhere near the noise of the dance. As he danced with Parvati in the centre of the hall, he couldn't deny that having Cleo on his arm would've been something of a comfort. She was good at sensing when he was nervous and though she couldn't do much, the slight squeezes she gave and sarcastic comments she threw his way did make him feel better. He had to admit, it was probably a bad idea to be dancing with someone while carrying a snake on his arm - he couldn't imagine Parvati, or anyone else taking it well. Despite his nerves dancing in front of everyone though, the first dance had gone fairly well. It had gone by quicker than he'd expected and his partner had clearly enjoyed herself, grinning widely and somewhat leading the dance as she showed him off to the room.

He looked over to Marissa; she was sat with other Slytherins, including Theodore Nott. Their outfits actually matched; though Nott's suit wasn't completely different to anyone of the other boys, he was wearing a gold tie, and his suit was trimmed with red. Marissa was wearing a dress of Gryffindor red, a vibrant scarlet standing out dramatically in the blue of the hall and decor around her; she'd accessorised with gold, including small golden rings looped in her hair, curls bouncing around as she smiled and laughed with the people around her. Marissa was normally quite pretty, obviously Harry had recognised that, but he had to admit, he was completely speechless now.

He thought back to their practice dance sessions in the room of requirement. When he'd admitted he had no idea how to dance, she'd assured him it wasn't difficult to learn a 'simple waltz' as she had put it and had dragged him to what was quickly becoming her favourite room in the castle. They'd spent a couple of hours a day during the first week of the holidays in that room and surprisingly Harry had eventually begun having fun. Initially, he was very embarrassed of his clumsy footwork and complete lack of rhythm.

You have two wrong feet. Cleo, as helpfully as always was offering commentary.

"It's left feet, two left feet," Harry grumbled.

No, that would suggest at least one of your feet is in the right place. These must both be wrong. Marissa let out a laugh, "Don't tell me that even she's bullying you now."

"How would you even know that?" Harry continued to frown. Marissa kept trying to get him to lead but he had no idea where they were meant to be going. Her hand in his, though she hid it well, he could tell she would get slightly impatient and start pulling him one way or the other.

"It's all over your face," she smiled and stopped dragging him around the dance floor. A small sofa appeared behind them, "Come on, let's take a break." Harry, thankful for the respite, sprawled himself out onto the sofa.

"Ok, drama queen," Marissa came over and lifted his legs so she could sit down, allowing him to rest them in her lap.

"I can't do this," he sighed. Glad we can agree.

"Of course you can, you're just in your own head." He sighed again, "Harry, you faced a literal dragon but you can't face a dance?"

"No-one would've cared if I messed up the dragon, everyone's going to see me mess up the dance."

"Confidence is everything. Make a mistake and pretend it was what you meant to do. Trip on your feet and turn it into a new move. If you tell yourself you know what you're doing, you'll know what you're doing." Harry pulled a pillow onto his face and groaned. "I could also just polyjuice myself to look like you, I'm sure you'd like Theo as a partner for the dance." Harry dropped the pillow and stared at her, like he was actually considering the idea. "I'm joking Harry, you're going to do this." He swung his legs down and sat properly next to her.

"So…" he smiled at her, "Theo?"

"Yeah, he's nice, we're friends so I thought it would be fun. Less stressful than an actual date."

"Oh."

"You sound disappointed. Are you that invested in my love life?"

Harry sighed, a very loud and depressed sigh, "I thought I'd finally have something I could tease you over, you know, other than you being in the loser house." She laughed, "I'm sure you'll find something."

"Yeah I mean, there's plenty I don't know about you yet," Harry turned to face her.

"True, true," she spread her arms wide open, "I'm an open book, ask me anything."

"Ok, let's start easy. What's your last name?" Her smile faltered. Well done, Champion. Harry had been somewhat embarrassed to say he didn't even know the full name of the girl he'd spent so much time around this year but he hadn't seen it on her books, he'd not heard anyone say it, he just didn't know it. "Sorry," he probably should've just asked Draco.

"It's ok, I didn't tell you," her smile back, "It's Delaney. Marissa Delaney." She bristled a little.

"It's a nice name," the air felt awkward. Harry found himself wanting someone else to fill the silence. Even Cleo was choosing to keep her mouth shut at this point.

"It's Irish."

"You're Irish?"

"My mum's Irish. Anyways, my turn, what's the deal with you and fame. I get that you didn't ask to have all eyes on you, but considering the kinds of stuff you've faced, its crazy that social situations seem to scare you so much more than like, literal death itself."

"I think I'm just more introverted than people expect. I'm not scared, not really. Just nervous." Harry would pretend to not notice the sudden subject change, it didn't feel right to push right now.

"That's fair, at the very least, the way you stepped up to ask Parvati and Lavender took some courage." Yeah, its real brave to condemn yourself to an evening with the giggle girls. Cleo very much had not taken a liking to Harry's classmates it seemed.

"Come on, that's enough of a break. Up on your feet, the more we practice, the better you'll feel about it." Harry groaned as he dragged himself to his feet.

She was right. Now, though Harry was far from a professional dancer, he definitely hadn't been doing the worst job of leading Parvati around the room. And she clearly had some dance experience. He supposed they had looked ok. He'd eased up a little as the music continued to play. Every now and again, he'd caught sight of Hermione and Krum. They looked great. They were both smiling, and Hermione would laugh at something Krum would say every now and again. He was glad she was having fun. During the dinner though, after the dance, their main conversation did seem to focus on how to pronounce Hermione's name. Riveting, he'd thought to himself, before Parvati had once again dragged him onto the dance floor. More students had joined the centre of the room; the Weird Sisters starting with a slower song, not dissimilar to the initial waltz the champions had started the ball with. Without so many eyes on him, Harry was sure he'd not be so nervous. Then the sound of laughter broke him from his musings as he desperately hoped it wasn't anyone laughing at him. He hadn't made a mistake, had he?

He looked over to the source of the sound, Marissa again. Her arm linked with Theodore, laughing at something or another, he was grinning too. Harry frowned. He wondered what they were laughing about. She was good at that. Personable. Social. Funny. She just seemed to get on with everyone. The Slytherins were generally stereotyped as being fairly moody students - that wasn't necessarily incorrect, their famed scowls and sneers were good cause for the other students to find them intimidating. But when Marissa was around, he could swear everyone around her seemed to lighten up. He was glad they were friends, even in fairly serious situations, he was always happier to see her.

When he'd received his latest letter from Sirius, she'd been fairly intrigued. As much as Hermione and Ron hadn't really become any less uncomfortable with her knowing what they saw as very private intel, Harry trusted her, she wouldn't tell anyone, he knew that. Her curiosity was understandable. Sirius was known as this escaped convict, mass murderer, responsible for Harry being 'the-Boy-Who-Lived'; so for Harry to claim this man was the closest thing he has to a father figure? It was understandable for her to be interested.

He'd written to Harry just after the First Task. Ron's tiny owl Pigwidgeon happily delivering the letter to the Gryffindor common room. After reading it through with Hermione and Ron, he'd mentioned it to Marissa who'd asked to see it for herself.

Dear Harry,

Congratulations on getting past the Horntail! I heard you used a Basilisk and had it fight the dragon for you. I wish I'd been there to see that, what a show! Whoever put your name in the goblet shouldn't be feeling too happy right now. Be careful though, don't get complacent. Whoever it is clearly has it out for you and has plenty more opportunities to hurt you. Keep your eyes open, stay wary of the person we discussed, keep yourself out of trouble.

Sirius

"Do you see what I mean? Very Moody-esque." Harry said. Everyone, from Professor Moody, to Hermione, to Sirius seemed to think Harry was just a sitting duck right now.

"I suppose," she'd reread the letter a few times, Harry started pulling it away from her - it really wasn't that long, "But he is right, if I hadn't pushed you to solve the egg you'd probably wait until the day before the next task."

"Nuh-uh."

"That's your defence? Merlin, Harry why didn't you use 'Nuh-uh' against the Horntail. It would've been on the floor in seconds.''

Harry chuckled to himself a little thinking about it; the song finally began drawing to a close. As he returned his attention to his dance partner, he noticed her eyebrows furrowed and her face in a frown. Was he that bad of a dancer?

"Sorry, I haven't practiced much." He ran a hand through his hair, smiling sheepishly.

"Huh?" She looked confusedly at him before shaking her head, "Just- if you wanted to take someone else, you didn't have to make it so obvious. You could've at least tried talking to me." She stormed off towards the table her sister was sitting at. A group of girls without dates had come as friends. Harry made his way over to Ron, expecting some teasing at how angry he'd made his date. He'd been focusing so much on not stepping on Parvati's feet, he must've forgotten to talk to her, he thought to himself. He hadn't meant to make her feel like he'd rather be here with someone else. She did have something of a point though, he had only gone with her because no-one else was available. Ron however, didn't seem to be in a teasing mood, his glare fixed on Krum and Hermione as they began their second dance. It seemed Lavender had already joined the girls table Parvati was now sitting at.

Harry followed Ron's gaze to the dance floor and caught sight of a flash of red. Marissa was clearly enjoying herself, the next song picked up and so did her smile as she danced with Nott. As the night continued, and Ron was making for bad company with how focused he was on…other things. Harry found himself wishing Marissa would get off that dance floor so he could talk to her. The songs were getting more and more upbeat, feeling less like a formal waltz and just like a normal party. At one point, he saw Nott and Malfoy swap partners seamlessly. They clearly had all the practice in the world, growing up in pureblood families like the Malfoy's probably meant learning all the do's and don't's of events like these. Was Marissa a pureblood? Harry wondered. Not that it mattered, he was just curious. He felt like he knew her, he just didn't know enough about her. He wanted to.

Draco seemed to have had enough of the dancing, he even bowed to Pansy before making his way around the room, eventually arriving at Harry's fairly silent, fairly awkward table. "Wow, what happened to Gryffindor's being the light of the party?" Between Ron's glaring and Harry's boredom, the table's atmosphere had definitely taken a dip. "Shove off, Malfoy," Ron didn't break his glare. Before Draco could reply, Harry jumped to his feet, "Let's go for a walk, Draco, I need some air." Taking the hint and deciding against poking an angry lion, the two boys began edging around the dance floor before leaving through the entrance hall.

"Parties not your thing, Potter?"

"They're clearly yours," Harry half-laughed.

"I just know how to win," Draco smirked.

"At…parties? There isn't a winner of a party?"

"Sounds like something a loser would sa-" Draco cut himself off as they began walking down through the winding paths of rose bushes that surrounded the castle grounds now. Hushed voices could be heard arguing.

"You're paranoid, there isn't any need to fuss, Igor." Harry recognised that, very unpleasant voice.

"Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening! It's getting clearer and clearer-" Harry leaned in to hear more before being dragged aside by Draco. "Hey!"

"It's a private conversation. None of our business."

"What? That they're definitely both Death Eaters and clearly something is happening." Draco flinched a little, before forming a firm scowl on his face.

"And what are you going to do? Run to Dumbledore? You think he doesn't know? That Professor Snape doesn't tell him everything? Can you think before acting for once?"

"I wasn't going to tell Dumbledore!" Harry half-yelled.

"Wasn't going to tell Dumbledore what?" A voice came from behind them. "I saw you guys sneaking out, you didn't even offer me a dance, Harry," Marissa crossed her arms in mock-anger. He smiled a little. "So come on, what? What aren't we telling Dumbledore?"

"That EX," Draco said pointedly to Harry, "Ex-death eaters are at Hogwarts."

"Huh," she looked over at Harry, "Dumbledore's useless anyways, you'd be better off dealing with them yourself." Before Harry had a real chance to think about what she said, she grabbed at his arm, "Come on, you owe me a dance." She dragged him back to the dreaded dance floor, but despite the weirdness of the evening, he did find himself enjoying the rest of the night.

A very long chapter but I think it was a good one to start 2024 off with! I'm having fun writing this so I hope you guys are having fun reading it :) As always do remember to leave a comment letting me know what you think ~