Harry Potter stood outside the main entrance beside Andromeda Tonks, greeting his incoming guests. He was bored. The seemingly never-ending train of incoming partygoers was going through the same repetitive, overly formal, antiquated Victorian greetings. He was trying to memorize the names and faces of people he had never met nor would most likely see again for a long time, if ever. Count Falmouth, Lord Hebride, Earl Grey—no! that was a tea. Earl Stinchcomb. Lord Nott, Madame Bones. Names and faces coming and going in an endless cycle, exchanging the same repeated words and phrases, that, in the past hour had ceased to have any meaning to him. Until—
"WHAM!"
A Bludger came out of nowhere and hit him in — he wasn't playing Quidditch.
"Owww!" Harry said, rubbing the back of his head after his aunt's smack ripped him back into reality. "Aunt Andy, what was that for?" Harry's complaining made the guests who had been greeting him titter and laugh.
"The Minister was addressing you, Harry. I know this is boring, but pay attention. It's rude," his aunt chastised.
"Quite," said the Minister. Dressed once again in his ridiculous green pinstripe suit and matching bowler hat, he said, "Don't worry, Lord Potter. We've all been there. These old traditions are not friendly to an active young man such as yourself, far too stuffy even for my tastes." Cornelius Fudge said before striding into the ballroom with his—wife? On his arm. Harry assumed she was the man's wife, but she was at least 20 years his junior.
Mister and Missus Granger approached with Hermione. Mister Granger spoke first, bowing slightly. "Greetings, Lord Potter. We of the, uhh, new House of Granger?" He paused but continued at Andromeda's nod. "Thank you for inviting us into your hall. We look forward to this evening's festivities."
"Welcome, Mister Granger. It's a pleasure to welcome you to my home, my hall, and these celebrations. Come in, we have food and wine aplenty," said Harry in a ridiculously official tone of voice, that got him another smack to the back of the head. "Worth it," he whispered to Hermione as she passed, causing her to snort in a most unladylike fashion.
The Malfoys came next, and Harry was treated to Andromeda giving a stilted greeting to her sister and promising a more personal chat inside. While Lucius and Draco Malfoy addressed Harry and repeated the traditional greeting and thanks. It was dry, and Draco was most unwilling to greet or give anyone thanks until he earned a sharp smack to the back of his head by his mother. And finally, "I thank you, my lord, for your generous invitation tonight," Draco spat the words out like they tasted foul in his mouth.
Finally, after another hour of greetings, thanks, and introductions of a mix of magical and Muggle parents to classmates or schoolmates of his or whatever society members or highly placed members of the ministry Andromeda had invited, he sat at the high table with his family and honored guests: Minerva McGonagall, the Malfoy family, the Greengrass family, the Minister and his attaché, and the Grangers. It was time to speak to his guests for the evening to start things off. Harry sat for a time, watching his guests as they toyed with the triple-tiered, glass trays covered in golden platters engraved with the Potter coat of arms that sat in the center of the large tables. After about 15 more minutes during which his guests had time to introduce themselves to their table mates, Harry decided it was time to begin. So, after standing and ringing his glass to gather everyone's attention, he began.
"Greeting my guests, friends, and family. I am beyond honored to have you all here in Blackstone Hall for the first time, not only in my life but as I understand it, for the first time in nearly 30 years. It was a time-honored tradition in the Potter family to welcome the members of high society of the magical world into our home for a night of merriment and to celebrate both the closing year and the coming year. I have chosen to revive and slightly alter this tradition. As many magicals have noticed, we have many guests here from the Muggle world. They are all the parents of Muggle-born schoolmates, and I welcome them just as warmly as I welcome the more traditional members of our society.
Now, with that introduction out of the way—" and here Harry clapped his hands together. "Tuck in!" and he spread his arms wide to the enchanted crowd as all at once every platter on every table became heavily laden with every type of food from roast beef, steak, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, platters of potatoes (fried, mashed, stuffed and stewed), glazed carrots, bowls of salad, boats of gravy, and charcuterie boards decorated with the finest meats and cheeses. Enchanted, ever-filling casks of Potter family wine, plates of bread and rolls, and saucers of softened, spreadable butter. Everything looked and smelled delicious, and as accustomed to it as the magical guests were, the Muggle guests were awestruck by the sight, and all spent a while turning the dumbwaiters and picking out everything to taste and try. He got the attention of the headmistress and called out, "You were right, that is very fun!" causing the table to laugh at his exuberance.
The Potter family house-elves were popping hither and thither to fill special requests: a whiskey here, some rum there, some special flatbread that the Patils had requested. Harry spent his time talking to Hermione and Daphne, who was seated next to him, eating, and most of all, watching his guests have fun talking to each other. Andromeda had done well with the seating arrangements. He watched as one Muggle woman—Dean Thomas' mother, he suspected—looked around in search of where the music that filled the hall with a quiet and soft musical cadence was coming from, only for Madam Bones to get her attention and point at the grating at the bottom of the walls and gesticulate as she explained. Watching the muggle woman's mouth drop open at the explanation was very funny. After an hour or so, dinner and dessert had been devoured, and it was time for him to do something he really didn't want to do, as he knew it would most likely hurt Hermione's feelings. He stood, rung his crystal glass again to gain the attention of the room.
"With everyone fed and watered, I believe it's time to open the dance. For anyone who is in need of more refreshment, fresh air, or a place to light their pipe, there is the "Pot and Bottle" lounge upstairs. Now, since they are the family with the closest formal alliance that has a daughter, it would be my honor and pleasure to invite Daphne Greengrass to open the ball with me." And Harry held his hand out to help her stand. Daphne took his hand and stood but did not walk. Instead, she turned to her father for a second and then guided his hand over to Hermione before blowing a kiss to him and sitting down. Hermione, beaming at Daphne, stood in her beautiful periwinkle dress and took Harry's hand at Mister Greengrass' laughing nod.
Harry pulled a nervous Hermione to the center of the dance floor, held her left hand high in his and bowed low as Andromeda had taught him, and Hermione returned with a nervous curtsy. What followed was a nervous and stilted yet passable opening dance in a traditional ballroom style. Harry and Hermione had received a rather harsh crash course on ballroom dancing by Andromeda; she had, with Hermione's parents' permission of course, corrected their movements the way her parents had corrected her own when she was learning, with a switch. Which Harry and Hermione turned out to be thankful for; it made them learn the proper steps all the faster. So, Harry held Hermione as they danced across the ballroom floor. The children beet red with embarrassment danced for a whole two minutes before the dance opened. Seamlessly, the magical side of Harry's guests entered the dance floor, and Harry found himself trading partners every thirty seconds or so—from Andy to her sister Narcissa, to Lavender Brown, Susan Bones, and even Daphne Greengrass and Mrs. Granger. Although she was very clunky in her dance, never having done a ballroom dance before, the lively cello-led music could have anybody flowing into a dance. Harry wasn't in the right circuit, but he saw Professor Weasley weaving through the dance floor like a pro.
At the end of the song, he found himself joined with Hermione again as the whole group bowed to the left and right as one, getting a rousing round of applause by the people who remained at the tables.
Several women and girls approached him to punch his dance card. But Harry decided a break was warranted; he was kind of dizzy from all the spinning. So he walked around and found Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and Neville Longbottom, Harry's dorm mates at school, sitting together looking awkward.
"Hello, gents, enjoying your time?" asked Harry, approaching them.
"Oh, aye, fine shindig, Harry. Great food and the women are pretty enough and all, but I don't fancy having a go on the dance floor," said Seamus Finnegan awkwardly.
"Why's that Seamus?"
"Well I just don't fancy looking like a poof like you, with those dance moves of yours, You look like a sparkly princeling spinning around out there" Seamus said with a joking smirk.
"Ahhhh, I see, so in other words you don't know how to dance and don't want to look stupid in front of the girls?" This caused Dean Thomas to snicker on his friend's behalf.
"I think you hit his nail on the head Harry" called Dean.
"Ey! Ain't no one hit my nail yet."
"And no one will if you're sat there all night. Go dance with someone! Lavender is looking over here every 2 seconds! You'll only look like an idiot in front of everyone you know, and we already know you're about as smart as a dull troll." Called back Harry.
Harry then turned his attention to Ron who had surprisingly been silent so far. "Hey Ron, you clean up good."
"Yeah."
"Having a good night?"
"Yeah."
Enjoy dinner?
"Yeah."
Harry looked at the others and cocked an eyebrow, causing the others to shrug.
"Right. Well. Ron, why don't you go dance with someone?"
"Can't."
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"I can't dance! Unlike you, we don't have the money for lessons!"
"It wasn't about money. My aunt taught me and Hermione. And besides, I understand not ballroom dancing, but look." And he pointed to the dance floor. "That's a slow dance. It's just spinning in a circle. Go try. If you do a bad enough job, I'll tell Fred and George to sneak you some wine." And he patted Ron on the back as his friend kind of mindlessly drifted over to the group of girls. Harry got Hermione's attention and mimicked dancing, pointing between the two. Hermione, cottoning on, captured the nervous redhead's hand and dragged him to the floor. Watching her manhandle Ron into position had the others laughing until a group of girls stormed up and ripped the rest from their seats. Neville looked to Harry for aid. Harry just laughed and shook his head, walking away.
'Speaking of Fred and George?' Harry thought to himself and looked around, seeing two familiar twin heads of red hair dancing on the floor with what appeared to be Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell, members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Harry walked the floor for about ten minutes, talking to whichever guest seemed open to having him intrude on their conversations for a bit. He was introduced to the Lords Crabbe and Goyle Sr a bit more personally by Lucius Malfoy. The two human boulders were mirror images of their sons, only bigger and meaner-looking. He tried to set up a meeting for them to discuss another business deal, but Harry begged off and asked him to schedule everything with Andromeda.
After mingling for a bit longer, Harry decided to dance a bit more, this time cutting in on Draco Malfoy, who was trying to dance with Daphne Greengrass. He knew he would most likely get something said to him at the very least for being rude, but since it was Draco, Harry thought it'd be worth it, especially after the relieved smile he got from Daphne.
"Thank you, Harry. That brute kept stepping on my feet!" said Daphne, stepping into a slow dance that had struck up.
"No problem, although I do feel for him. It's hard not to step on people's feet. I did it a few times to Madam Bones earlier at the opening," said Harry with a chagrined smile.
"Well, you're still learning. At least I know for a fact Narcissa has had Draco in dance lessons since he was five. All heirs are. It seems he's as good a dance student as an academic one. Oh my!" Daphne called as Tracey Davis, Daphne's half-blood best friend, stepped into their dance and peeled Daphne away, laughing.
"Share, Daphne!" she called, cackling as she and Harry began to dance together.
"Hi, Harry! Sweet party you're throwing! Have a good Christmas?" said Tracey, still giggling at her own rudeness.
"Er, well, it was all Andromeda. You know she threw everything together. I don't know much about these fancy parties, and yea! I got a whole bunch of awesome presents and Hermione and I went to the theatre in London to watch a muggle play called The Nutcracker, I'll have to show you tomorrow. Your lot is taking a guest room right?"
"Yea we'll be here in the morning, I think most of the Hogwarts kids are. At least the ones that like you that is." Tracy said with a wide smile.
"You know, I think Daphne might be a bit cross with you for cutting in?" he said as the current song wound down and they separated.
"She'll get over it. I'm sure there's more time to dance anyway."
"Speaking of dancing," and he held up his dance card, "I have a number of partners to get to."
Thank all the gods there are for cushioning charms. Harry danced with almost thirty partners over the next hour and a half, taking breaks to dance with Hermione and Daphne so they wouldn't feel like he was ignoring either of them. Not to mention he liked dancing with those two more than any other partner. Just before 10:30, he found himself dancing with Ginny Weasley. He hadn't had much chance to get to know her at Hogwarts, and knowing she'd had a rather crummy first year so far, he took it upon himself to walk up to the shy, pale redhead and politely drag the blushing first-year onto the dance floor. He was gently guiding her through the motions of a very slow ballroom/waltz hybrid when he spoke.
"So, are you having fun yet? The dress looks very nice, by the way."
"Oh, thank you, Harry. It was very nice of you to do all that for us. I'm having a blast. Yeah, Neville asked me to dance, but we had to stop halfway through the song. He broke my toe. Dad had to Episkey it, but it's much better now!" she said quickly in response to what she rather correctly assumed was going to be Harry apologizing for dragging her out on an injured foot.
"Well, that's good then. And are you all better from—er," Harry stopped awkwardly.
"Being possessed? No, I'm not all better. But I get better every day, and tonight has helped immensely."
"Good, I'm glad. Maybe when we get back to Hogwarts, you can experience what Hogwarts is really like."
"I'm not going back, not until whatever it is is dealt with. I'm doing at-home learning and will have to test into my second year during the summer. If it's been dealt with by then.. If it hasn't then I suppose we'll all have bigger things to worry about."
"Yeah, I suppose so."
After that long bout of dancing, Harry needed a break, so he made his way to the upstairs lounge to go to the outdoor balcony and take in the winter landscape as it was currently gleaming under a foot and a half of snow again. When he heard his name, he looked over, seeing Andromeda, Ted, the Malfoys, and the Minister, who had been the one to call him. All the men were smoking cigars that Andromeda had provided.
As Harry approached, the Minister stuck out his hand to shake Harry's. "Harry, my boy, what's this I hear about you claiming family rights on the contents of that locked chamber under Hogwarts?"
"Oh, yes, well, as you know, the Potters are an ancient family. We are direct descendants of the Peverells, so was Slytherin. As I'm the closest living relative, not to mention Smara, wherever she is at the moment, was Slytherin's familiar as well. I felt I had a significant enough connection to lay claim to the contents of that chamber. Most of everything needs a Parselmouth to activate it anyway," replied Harry coolly, causing Andromeda and Narcissa to smile.
"Well, that just won't do. My goodness, those artifacts could be dangerous and will need to be studied by the Department of Mysteries. They are much too dangerous for private ownership."
"With all due respect, Minister," supplied Harry. "There is no way you could know that for certain. And I am not willing to argue about it tonight. When the time comes, we can argue for it in front of the Wizengamot if you feel the need to take it that far, which I hope you do not."
The Minister seemed rather put out by Harry's obstructiveness. "Yes, well, I guess you might be correct. I guess we shall see once that confounded door has finally been opened. Minerva tells me they will be ready soon. Shame we'll have to delay the start of school back by... I believe two weeks. I have several Unspeakables working at Hogwarts who specialize in ritual magic. I believe you will have to be there as well."
"Are you sure this isn't the doing of the girl, minister?" spoke the cool voice of Lucius Malfoy. "The girl is the daughter of Arthur Weasley; it could be that his private sentiments are showing themselves in his daughter. After all, what true pureblood would willingly draft that Muggle protection garbage?"
"Now, now, Lucius, I have it on several key authorities that little Ginevra is a victim here. I watched her treatment personally. I used to work in Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, after all. I know the signs and after-effects of possession better than most."
"Yes, Minister, I don't doubt you do. I was merely making a suggestion."
"And a poor one, Lucius," said Harry, scowling. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get some air." Harry said as he walked away from the group as they started on the topic of Ministry taxes. As he walked across the long lounge, passing people whose names he'd already forgotten and people like Cyrus Greengrass and Augusta Longbottom, he chatted quietly as the smooth music filled the room with a soft but lively melody. Harry thought that it was jazz, but he didn't have enough experience with different types of music to be sure.
He greeted those that met his eyes with a silent wave or a nod of his head as he made his way to the outside balcony. The music still filled the air here as well as a crisp chill that soothed his hot lungs; dancing was a tiring thing, and the cool air felt like a balm to his whole body.
Harry stood there by himself for a while, looking over the countryside that surrounded his manor. The night sky was clear and lovely tonight, and he watched the snow drift in the light wind that seemed to pervade the area constantly.
'Click'
The soft sound of the door opening and closing passed his ears and suddenly there were people on either side of him. Tall and stocky. The twins.
"Hey, Harry, good Christmas?" said Fred—at least Harry thought it was Fred.
"Hey, Fred," Harry said back, taking a chance. It led to a moment of silence from the twin terrors.
"And just how do you do that? You know, I don't think you've been wrong once at addressing us? Not even Mum can do that," George complained, and Harry just shrugged.
"Well, be that as it may, we saw our magnanimous host sulking his way up here, and we thought we'd come and check on you," said Fred.
"Yeah. So, what's eating you, Harry?" continued George.
"Err, nothing really, guys. Thanks. I'm having a blast, just too many people, I guess. I'm used to this place being more or less empty, so it's odd, I guess."
"Yeah, I suppose if you're used to the quiet."
"A party like that could frazzle you a bit."
"But don't worry,"
"One more Quidditch season with us and we'll have"
"You schmoozing through parties"
"Like a pro," the twins finished together after speaking in turn for a minute.
"You two make my head hurt when you do that, you know?" complained Harry. This caused the twins to laugh.
"Oh cheer up Harry! You're starting to look like Ron. And he's an ugly specky git and we can't have our team's golden boy looking like that."
"I have it on good authority, young Lord Potter, that at this moment there are at least two fine looking young ladies searching for you" said George.
"Speaking of the team. I have something to show you lot ingots sent for Christmas. It'll make you sick, it's so cool!" supplied Harry.
"Well, we can't wait to see that, can we George? It's almost 11:30. Harry, go give them one last dance." Fred pushed him back in the direction of his party.
"Oh and avoid the custard creams! We're testing something!" They said in unison as Harry turned to leave.
Harry arrived back just in time to grab Daphne's arm as she was about to bite into a custard cream, and yanked the treat from her grasp and threw it aside. If looks could kill.
"Sorry, twins warned me off those." he said in way of explanation.
"Oh darn!" Called out Hermione. "You couldn't have been 20 seconds faster? I'll kill them if I end up belching fireworks or whatever they enchanted those things to do."
"Don't worry, Hermione. We'll see what they did, and then I'll have my elves punish them accordingly." Harry said, making both witches smile. "Now, I believe I owe my two friends a final dance? Daphne?"
"Oh, thank you, Harry," and she took her offered hand, and the two danced together for the whole of the next song to play. Before Harry returned to Hermione and took her hand as well and returned to the dance floor one last time. The lights turned down lower, and the floor cleared to make way for the master of the house to close out the night. A slow but rich melody filled the air, and the two young ones performed the steps of a foxtrot across the dance floor both now more comfortable with the movements.
"I had a lovely time tonight, Harry. I find myself excited for next years ball as well," said Hermione as they went through their dance.
"I had an amazing night as well; you are by far the best dance partner," Harry smiled.
"Oh, please, Daphne is far better than me, Harry. You two flow together so well, and—" but Harry cut her off.
"You're my best friend, Hermione. Daphne is great, yes. But I like dancing with you more."
"A tiny bit more?" said Hermione.
""Even 10 percent is a mile of difference to the scale." This caused Hermione to laugh, snort and blush.
"Smooth, Harry. Very smooth."
"Thanks. Bill gave me a book, '12 Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches." This caused Hermione to laugh even more throwing her head back.
"Did he, really?" she asked
"No, he gave it to Ron. He told me in his last letter that Bill told him he'd need it next year." Harry said, chuckling. The two continued to dance in silence, and when the song finished, they bowed to the applauding crowd as the lights came back up.
"Five minutes till midnight," said Hermione, sitting next to him at a small table. "How are we ending this grand ball, Lord Potter?" she continued with a teasing smirk. They were both standing on the upper balcony where they had been for ten minutes now, coming up for fresh air after dancing. Looking out at the expanse of Harry's property. "Your property is absolutely gleaming in the snow, Harry, it really is beautiful."
"Thank you, it means a lot that you like it here so much. We're doing a fireworks display; we contracted Doctor Filibuster's for a giant fireworks display. It should be great. It'll start precisely one minute after midnight." Said Harry, pointing to a small group of wizards milling around six large, brightly colored boxes on a medium-sized wooden platform a few hundred meters away from the manor.
Hermione let out a large sigh. "Come on, we should get back down before my dad sends a search party." They arrived back at the ballroom with one minute on the clock to the new year.
50 seconds: Hermione sidled closer to Harry as they accepted some non-alcoholic champagne from Andromeda.
40 seconds: All of Harry's family gathered around him as the magical "clock" that Andromeda and ted set up in the center of the now empty dance floor displayed 11:37.
30 seconds: Tracy pushed Daphne over to stand next to harry, both girls beaming in the glow of the room. As the adults in the room started to sing "Auld Lang Syne,"
20 seconds: "She's being too shy right now, Harry, but Daphne and I had a great time tonight!"
10 seconds: All the couples in the room started to look into each other's eyes. It was almost awkwardly quiet, and Harry looked between Hermione, Daphne, and the "clock."
5 seconds: Harry had a sudden realization that one or both girls were expecting him to kiss them for Happy New Year's, and he started to panic and froze.
""HAPPY NEW YEAR!" called the crowd, and Harry's dilemma solved itself as first Hermione on his right and then Daphne on his left pressed long and almost lingering kisses to both of his cheeks before saying "HAPPY NEW YEAR, HARRY!" in his ear in unison. Some of the adults around them clapped and cheered teasingly, but Harry saw Mister Granger and Cyrus Greengrass talking to one another, looking at the trio. Harry looked around to see a blushing Millicent Bulstrode standing very close next to Ron, who had an absolutely horrified look on his face. Then he found Neville with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott rather mirroring Hermione and Daphne's positions on harry post-cheek kiss. He was flaming with blush, and he wished the two girls a happy new year, his blush getting even deeper (if that was possible) when he decided to repay the girls in kind—first Hermione, then Daphne.
That was when the first multicolored explosion went off, drawing everyone outside and into an enchanted area of comfortably warm air. There they all stood and watched the magical fireworks burst in vivid purples, lurid oranges, and bright pinks. Fantastical shapes and moving images of roaring griffins and flying dragons fueled one another in sparking displays of faux fire. Knights in radiant silver armor fought over a princess or battled the dragons. More familiar fireworks were on display during all this—short-lived bursts of beautiful colors, all flashing through the sky for a solid 10 minutes, culminating with the words "Happy New Year 1993" flashing through the air.
The children all gathered around after this, the boys discussing how dancing wasn't so bad after all, and the girls—Hermione and Daphne in pride of place of the conglomerate—discussing the boys: who were good dancers, who wasn't, who was too shy or too cute, who did what, who kissed who, and, most importantly, who would they all fancy kissing for New Year's next year.
There was a minor kerfuffle when a portion of the party seemed to age 100 years and all the hair on their bodies turned bone white. And another portion seemed to fall asleep standing up.
The adults started to gather their charges around 1:30 in the morning when more than a few kids had fallen asleep at the tables. Harry said goodbye to Daphne and the Greengrasses before guiding an extremely tired and almost-asleep Hermione to the room she had picked out for herself when they first came there. On their way there, they passed the guests who had elected to stay the night at the manor. Most of the Muggle families, as well as the Malfoys (as Andromeda and Narcissa had been chatting and reconciling more and more all night), and the Weasleys. Ron had barely been able to lift his arm to salute a good night to his two friends, who were leaning heavily on each other as they walked past.
"Harryyyyy," Hermione said in an exhausted whine as they reached her door. "I had a f-f-fantastic time, you know? This has been the b-best New Year's e-e-ever," she said through a stretch and a yawn as they arrived at her door.
"Yeah! I know what you mean, it's been great. This is definitely a tradition I want to keep up with." Harry grinned, still with a manic energy from having such a fun time.
"I'd very much like to do something, but maybe right now isn't the best time. I'm so sleepy I can't keep my eyes open a second longer," Hermione explained through her delirium.
"Err? That's okay, Hermione. You can show me later, yeah?" said Harry uncertainly. "Good night, Hermione."
"Good night, Harry." Just then, Emma Granger seemed to swoop in out of nowhere and guide her daughter into the large room and into bed, calling out a friendly,
"Good night, Harry!"
Harry stood still for a second, hearing the two Granger women giggle distantly before setting off back down the hall past the room the twins were using he could hear missus weasley screaming at the twins and harry stoped to listen "half of them had white hair and the others could barely stay awake how dare you dise anymody with an experimental potion especiallyhere of all places you've been nothing but an embarrassment to this family ajd ive had enough of it. Tomorrow you are both apologizing to harry and then you are going to scrub that ballroom from top to bottom. WITHOUT MAGIC!" hearing some feeble excuses from the twins Harry continued on his way up the stairway, and into his private rooms. Toppy was there with a fresh cup of chamomile tea. He quickly ordered all his elves not to touch the ballroom tonight and to leave it for the twins. "serves them right." Harry thought, and then realized they'd be in even more trouble when hermione gets up and then Harry drunk the small mug of tea quickly, It probably had something a little extra to help calm Harry's overly excited mind and allow him to sleep because it wasn't more than ten seconds later that Harry was asleep on the comfortable couch in his private sitting area. Before tuppy came and levitated him over to the master bed. Harry slept well that night. And dreamt of dancing with hermione in a golden ballroom, Hermione in a golden dress spinning her around in the grand empty room as music filled the air with a broken sorrowful yet wonderful melody.
A/N: I can't find any information on if British people use the term switch Or not but for those unaware, here is the states we use switches which Are a single flexible twig or sapling striped of leaves to whoop children who misbehave. Or well we used to corporal punishment is general frowned upon nowadays.
Closest thing I can find in Britain is a birch rod and evem to me who believes in corporal punishment that seems…… excessive.