"I'm just glad to see you happy." His hazel eyes turned mischievous. "You, uh, might want to learn some glamour charms, though."
Harry's cheeks burned as he slapped a hand to his neck, where he was sure there were several love bites. Damn it, Draco! Neville snickered. The dormitory door slammed open, and Ron came stomping in with a dark look on his face. "Where have you been?" he asked Harry rudely. Harry resisted the urge to glare.
"None of your business," he replied automatically, his good mood deflating instantly. "I'm going to bed."
He didn't blame Dean and Seamus for hardly ever being in the dorm these days, if this was what Ron was like all the time. Hopefully things would get better after Christmas.
After the little Christmas celebration with his family (and his boyfriend) the day before, Christmas Day itself was somewhat underwhelming for Harry, though he did appreciate the visit from Dobby, managing to find a pair of Uncle Vernon's socks to gift the elf. Ron was in a foul mood, but Harry was happy to leave him to it, heading down to breakfast with the other three boys from his dorm. They chatted excitedly about the evening's plans. The rumour going around the school was that the Weird Sisters had been booked for it, and Harry — who had gotten into the habit of putting his Wireless on in the background while he read in the dorm — was hoping it was true.
"Still can't believe you're going with Susan Bones, Harry," Seamus said with a shake of his head. "Now there's a girl with some serious curves." He made a lewd gesture at chest-height to emphasise his point, wiggling his eyebrows. Harry hadn't really noticed, and he shrugged awkwardly. "She's nice," he said. "And she doesn't mind having to dance in front of everybody." He had assured her that he'd had lessons, and wasn't going to make a fool of either of them. Susan was being very trusting in taking his word for it. "Besides, Lavender's pretty too."
"Don't know how I managed that one," Seamus agreed. "Thought for sure she'd go with that Slytherin bloke in the year above, but I figured I might as well chance it." He smirked wickedly. "She's been all secretive about her dress robes, won't tell me what they look like. I'm just wondering if I'll get to see what she's got underneath them!" He chuckled, and Dean punched him in the arm. "Not if she hears you talking about her like that, you won't," he scolded. Seamus shrugged.
"You can't say you're not hoping for a little private goodnight with Lisa," he teased, speaking of Dean's Ravenclaw date, Lisa Turpin. The dark-skinned boy ducked his head sheepishly.
"I mean, I won't say no," he drawled, earning a laugh and a punch from Seamus.
"Exactly! What about you two, eh? Gonna sneak your dates off into the courtyard to hide in the bushes?" Seamus wiggled his eyebrows, and Harry made a face. "Susan and I are just friends," he said for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Ginny has way too many older brothers around for me to even think about anything like that," Neville piped up fearfully. Dean winced.
"Yeah, mate, you don't wanna get on the wrong side of the twins. Not with all that stuff they've been inventing lately." The twins were loving having everyone at school for the holidays; plenty of unsuspecting people around to test their inventions on. Everyone in Gryffindor had learnt to be very wary of accepting food from others.
The conversation turned less crude as they strode in to breakfast, Harry smirking when he saw Snape was conspicuously absent from the head table. Dean and Seamus broke off to go sit with Parvati and Lavender, while Harry and Neville wandered towards the twins. "Morning, boys!" the redheads greeted, shuffling down to make room. "Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas," Harry replied. "Thanks for the present!" They'd given him a selection box of some of their latest inventions, with a note encouraging him to use them on their youngest brother when he was being a prat.
"You too, mate!" George said, grinning. Harry's present for the twins was a voucher for Slug and Jigger's apothecary, as he knew how many potion ingredients they went through making their products and pranks.
"All set for the ball, are we?" Fred asked, passing the orange juice Harry's way. "Ready to dance your little socks off in front of everyone, champion?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Harry said, shrugging. "I figured once the first dance is out of the way, it won't be so bad." Professor McGonagall had promised him that the champions only had to open the dance by themselves; one song, and then everyone else would be dancing and he didn't have to step foot on the dance floor again if he hated it. He didn't think Susan would let him get away with that, but it was a nice hope.
A thought occurred to Harry, and he turned to George. "Who are you going to the ball with?" he asked, realising he had no idea. He'd seen Fred ask Angelina, but George had been surprisingly quiet on the matter.
George's face turned almost as red as his hair, and Fred's lit up in a grin. "Our dear brother is crossing enemy lines," he teased. "Going with that bloke from Durmstrang, the one who reffed your quidditch match."
"Boris?" Harry checked, humming thoughtfully. The Durmstrang boy was very handsome, and he seemed to have enough of a sense of humour to keep up with George for a night. "Nice one, well done." George grinned, though he was still pink. "Figured I'd do my bit for international cooperation."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll be cooperating with him plenty," Fred ribbed, nudging his brother in the side.
"Is it true you got asked by Adrian Pucey?" Neville cut in, not batting an eyelash at the news that George was going with another boy. George snorted.
"Yeah. Probably would've said yes if I hadn't asked Boris already," he admitted. "Felt a bit bad about turning him down, actually."
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