Chapter Thirty-Six

It was the evening of Saturday, January 16th, and Harry couldn't calm his nerves. He was pacing around the room, hands shaking, palms sweating, and the fact that he had tried to flatten his hair seventeen times already and it still didn't look right certainly didn't help. Around him, the other boys in the dorm were chattering excitedly as they got ready.

Neville was adjusting his dress robes, shifting the fabric to sit perfectly on his broad shoulders. Ron kept running his fingers through his hair, even though Harry couldn't find a single strand that was out of place. Dean was fixing Seamus' tie while glancing backwards every now and again to talk with the other two boys.

As Harry passed by the mirror, he stopped and took a good look at himself. He was wearing shiny black dress shoes with a white button up tucked into black trousers. He'd thrown on his color shifting dress robes, which he'd managed to find a matching tie for. His outfit, in his opinion, was impeccable. At least, by Harry's standards. The problem was solely his hair, which, despite the huge amounts of product he'd put into it, refused to stay tamed. Harry sat down at the edge of his bed and let out a groan of frustration.

"You alright Harry?" Ron asked, glancing away from the mirror.

"I've tried everything and it doesn't work!" Harry complained, pulling a strand of his messy hair down and glaring at it. "I brushed it, gelled it, I even tried a hair charm that Hermione showed-"

"You're nervous," Ron said, smiling. He gave his hair one last comb and then plopped down next to Harry on his bed.

"I'm not nervous," Harry protested weakly.

"Yeah, you are," Seamus chimed in from across the room. "It's alright to be nervous. I mean, you are about to reveal your relationship with Malfoy to the whole school."

Over the past two weeks since Harry returned from winter break, a lot had changed. For one, all of Harry's friends were now in the know. It'd taken a few days to have that awkward conversation with all those closest to him, but surprisingly, everyone had accepted it. Ginny hardly seemed surprised, and Harry had a sneaking suspicion that Luna may have mentioned it to her. The news took Neville by surprise, but after the initial shock wore off, he was supportive. Seamus and Dean were slightly taken aback; nonetheless, they wholeheartedly accepted it. The only person who was still slightly uncomfortable with the relationship was Ron, but Harry could tell he was making an effort. Harry had been meaning to tell Hagrid, and write to the Weasleys, but he figured both would figure it out by tomorrow morning. After all, Hagrid was chaperoning the Ball, so it'd be pretty hard to miss the fact that Draco was Harry's date, and Harry presumed that his new relationship would be the front page of the Daily Prophet the next morning, so he didn't need to worry about telling anyone at the Burrow.

Even though the number of people who knew of his relationship with Draco was still small, it felt like a massive weight had been lifted from Harry's shoulders. He had people he could count on, people who he knew would support him when others wouldn't. Yet, this didn't make him any less scared for tonight.

"Call him Draco," Harry corrected. For the last week, he'd been trying to get his friends to call Draco by his first name, but the only person who seemed to manage it was Luna, and she was already friends with Draco to begin with. "And thank you for reminding me," he added sarcastically. Seamus gave an apologetic smile.

"Hey," Ron said, causing Harry to turn towards him. "You know it's going to be alright, right? We've got your back."

"Thanks mate." Ron nodded while Harry stood up and made his way over to the mirror. He gave his hair one last glance and sighed. "I give up." Ron laughed.

"Your hair looks fine," he reassured Harry, giving him a pat on the shoulder. Then he turned to the other three boys. "Are you all ready to head down?" They all nodded.

"As I'll ever be," Harry muttered.

The five boys whisked out the door and into the Gryffindor common room, where Ron sat and waited for Hermione to come down. Seamus, Dean, Neville, and Harry waited with him.

"Does my tie look alright to you?" Ron asked for the hundredth time since they'd gotten downstairs. His hands flew to his collar.

"You look great," Harry said, swatting Ron's hands away from his tie. "You just need to relax and-" Harry lost his words when he caught sight of Hermione descending down the stairs.

She looked stunning. She wore a deep violet gown, with trails of golden sparkle trekking down the skirt. Her skin literally glowed in the light, and Harry thought she might have dusted some sort of gold glitter across her collarbones. She radiated confidence and beauty in a way that he'd never seen before. But this was different from the Yule Ball in fourth year; this time she still looked like Hermione.

She wore makeup, but it only emphasized the features of her face rather than disguising them. Her hair was gorgeous, but it wasn't straightened or done up. She wore it down, as bushy and curly as ever, with two front pieces pulled back into twists. It was like she had finally realized that she could be beautiful, and be herself.

"Wow." Harry found that he quite literally didn't know what else to say. He knew that if he was this stunned by Hermione's appearance, Ron must be floored. Except when Harry glanced at Ron, he noted that Ron hadn't actually noticed Hermione making her way down yet, as he was facing Harry. "Turn around," Harry whispered to Ron.

The red head spun around to see Hermione and his jaw dropped. Hermione watched his reaction and covered her mouth with her hand to hide her laughter.

"I… you… and- the… you're so-" Ron sputtered, his eyes so wide Harry was worried they might just pop out of their sockets.

"You too," Hermione responded, smiling. They looked at each other as if there was no one else in the room, like they lived in an entirely separate world. Harry grinned. To think that there had been a time when Hermione and Ron weren't in love seemed laughable now.

"I think what Ron meant to say," Harry said, interrupting the moment (although to be fair, he had given them a full minute to just stare at each other). "Is that you look beautiful Hermione."

"Thank you," Hermione beamed at Harry. "I think we just have to wait for Ginny to come down and then we can go to the Great Hall."

"No need to wait!" Ginny called from the top of the stairs. She raced down to the bottom step. "I'm here."

Ginny was breathtaking in her dress. The gown was constructed from a deep red fabric that hugged her curves and shimmered as it moved. It was off the shoulder and short sleeved, showing off her muscles. Strands of her flaming red head had been pulled from her crown braid to frame her face. She was regal, powerful.

"I have to admit," Ron said begrudgingly. "You don't look half bad Gin."

"And those dress robes are certainly an improvement from the Yule Ball," Ginny retorted. Harry rolled his eyes. The day that any of the Weasley siblings complimented one another genuinely was the day the world ended.

"You look amazing Ginny," Neville chimed in. Ginny gave him a smile. Then her eyes wandered to Harry and she gasped.

"Harry! Your robes are incredible!" She walked over to him and touched the fabric. "It changes colors?" Harry nodded and switched his position so the light shifted. Sure enough, the red hue of the cloth transformed into an emerald green.

"Are we ready to go?" Neville asked. His tone was light and polite, but it was obvious he was anxious to meet Hannah. Everyone nodded and they left Gryffindor tower.

"Are you scared?" Ginny whispered to Harry as they navigated the corridors, Hermione and Ginny's heels clicking against the floor. Harry would never understand how anyone could even stand in heels, much less walk in them.

"A little." Harry normally wouldn't admit that, but this was Ginny he was talking to.

"Don't be," she said, rather assertively. "We all love you no matter what, and if anyone decides to be a git about it, just let me know and I'll teach them a lesson."

Harry started to laugh, but with one look at Ginny's face or the way her hands were balled into fists, he knew she was deadly serious.

"Thank you, but I don't think that'll be necessary," Harry reassured her, hoping to avoid any violence. He would've said more, but they'd reached the entrance to the Great Hall, and Harry spotted something - someone - that rendered him speechless.

Draco, unlike most of the other boys, wore a full suit instead of dress robes. This might've struck Harry as odd, considering a suit is usually considered a Muggle garment, but all rational thought had gone out the window when Harry looked at the blonde Slytherin before him. His blazer, trousers, and tie were all made from the same gold and silver shimmering fabric. The light bounced off of him softly, giving him an angelic glow.

Draco turned and locked eyes with Harry, and suddenly Harry understood the way that Hermione and Ron looked at each other. Time had come to a stand still. The chatter that surrounded Harry had died down to a faint buzz, and Harry swore his heart skipped a beat. It was like walking a tightrope: the joy and exhilaration of being so high in the air, feeling like you could be capable of anything, but the fear of falling ever present. The thing was, Harry wasn't sure he was so afraid of falling anymore.

The moment ended as a student passed between them, and they approached each other. Harry thought he heard a Ravenclaw student whisper to her friend: "Oh Merlin, they're going to kill each other!" and laughed.

"Hi," Harry tried to say once they'd met in the middle of the entrance way, but his voice came out raspy and weak. It was hard to talk when he was trying to focus on keeping his knees from buckling underneath him. He cleared his throat. "Hello."

"Hello," Draco repeated, and Harry was relieved to see that Draco looked just as nervous as he felt. He also noticed Draco's hair.

"That's new," he commented, his voice still dry as he pointed towards Draco's hair, which was swept back into a tousled wave.

"You like it?" he mused, his confidence returning. Harry smiled.

"I love it." Harry reached up to touch the front strands, but Draco swatted his hand away.

"No touching," he protested, a smirk playing on his lips. "Not all of us have naturally wavy hair, you know." Harry instinctively reached up to pull a few pieces of his own hair.

"I tried to flatten it down but-" Harry let a piece go and it bounced back into its regular semi-curly pattern. "No luck."

"I like your hair like this," Draco stated matter-of-factly. "It's cute." He ruffled Harry's hair, and Harry heard a few surprised gasps around the room. Harry chose to ignore this; this moment belonged to Harry and Draco alone.

"So you can mess with my hair, but I can't mess with yours?"

"Precisely."

"And I'm not cute!" Harry protested jokingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You're right," Draco bowed his head, pretending to be deeply remorseful. "You are handsome, radiant, breath-takingly gorgeous, incredibly beautiful-" Harry rolled his eyes while Draco continued his over-dramatic speech. "-the most amazingly fantastic Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One, the o'Mighty-"

"I hate you," Harry said, chuckling as he cut Draco off. Draco smirked.

"You love me."

Draco smiled like he expected Harry to laugh, but Harry didn't. Instead, he let himself peer into Draco's eyes, which reflected the light of the glittering chandeliers above. There were so many reasons why this, why he and Draco, shouldn't work.

They grew up in entirely different worlds: Draco being in Slytherin, Harry being in Gryffindor, Draco surrounded by pureblood elitists, Harry surrounded by all sorts of bloodlines, Draco knowing only darkness, and Harry stepping out into the light. They hated each other; of course it wasn't true now, but years of animosity could never be entirely erased or forgotten. Yet, despite all of that…

"I do." The words slipped out of Harry's mouth and Draco cocked his head in confusion. Harry took a deep breath, calming his nerves and smiled as he watched Draco's face. "I love you."

In the back of Harry's mind, he recognized the voices of his aunt and uncle screaming out to him. Disgusting. Wrong. Take it back. Harry squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and pushed those thoughts out of his head, reminding himself of his friends and their words of love and acceptance.

"What?" Draco took a step backwards. His face had grown wary and his shoulders tightened as he watched Harry. Harry's heart stopped. He hadn't thought of what he would do if Draco didn't feel the same way.

"I love you," Harry said again. Draco blinked rapidly and Harry sighed. "And… you don't have to say it back. I understand if you don't-"

"You love me?" Draco questioned. At first Harry thought Draco was repeating his words, but as he looked into Draco's eyes, he realized the question was genuine.

"Of course I do."

"I…" Draco seemed at a loss for words. "I love you too." They shared a smile before Draco grimaced. "Merlin, you've turned me sappy," he grumbled and Harry laughed.

"Well then, you sappy Slytherin," Harry held out his arm. "Shall we dance?" Draco smirked and rolled his eyes.

"We shall."

The next morning, when Harry picked up the Daily Prophet, he prepared himself for the worst. The Ball had been incredible, but that didn't mean that Harry hadn't noticed the other students and even teachers gawking at him and Draco. Luckily, no one had been bold enough to actually approach either boy, but both Hermione and Ron insisted that they'd been fending off curious on-lookers the entire night. Harry knew that by morning, his and Draco's relationship would be the talk of the wizarding world.

When he flipped the page, he frowned. Sure enough, there was a giant picture of Draco and him dancing the night away, but the headline wasn't what he expected. Maybe it was because of his previous negative experiences with the Daily Prophet, but Harry assumed the reporters would do their absolute worst when they discovered that the Saviour of the Wizarding World and a former death eater were currently in a relationship. They'd proved him wrong.

The headline read:

The Love Story No One Expected: The Boy Who Lived, and the Boy Who Had No Choice