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Hermione and Ron had been the ones to think of the idea: a holiday party for the seventh and eighth years. It was partially also to celebrate no longer having to worry about Voldemort (specifically for the three of them) each and every year. Harry had to admit, he did like the idea. He was also having the most normal year of schooling since finding out he was a wizard. While he did love his time at Hogwarts, he really wished some of his other years could’ve been this calm. Even with all the homework.
Which Ron complained about endlessly.
What was nice was that the inter-house relationships were a lot better with Slytherins now that those that didn’t support Voldemort didn’t have to hide or pretend they did.
The three of them being fast friends with Draco, Blaise, and Pansy possibly helped with that too.
Because, no matter what, a lot of the other students seemed to take their cues from Harry specifically and would somewhat copy him.
He hated his fame and how others reacted to it most of the time.
“So, we’re thinking Room of Requirement, right?” Harry asked Hermione as they talked about the final details of the party. “It’ll be as big as we need it to be and we won’t have to worry much about decorations and furniture and everything else.”
Hermione nodded. “Yes, it’s the perfect place. We saw how well it worked when we had DA meetings. And most of the seventh and eighth year students already know where it is since so many of them were part of the DA.”
“When exactly should we have the party then? Most of us are going home for the actual holiday break,” Ron added. That was true, especially with all that’d happened during the war. A lot of parents had still been hesitant to allow their children back at Hogwarts.
“I’m thinking the weekend before everyone leaves. There won’t be too much homework that’ll need to be done because of how close to holiday it’ll be so it should be the perfect time,” Hermione said, writing on the piece of parchment she was using to keep track of what they’d planned. “Should we make invitations or just pass it along through word of mouth?”
“Word of mouth should be good,” Harry said, thinking about it. “I mean, we’ll already be letting the Gryffindors know and Draco, Blaise, and Pansy can let the Slytherins know. Luna’ll make sure Ravenclaw knows, as will Parvati since she’ll tell Padma, and we can tell a few Hufflepuff students so they can let the rest of their housemates in the correct years know.”
Hermione nodded and wrote that down, too. “I’m also going to see if the Room of Requirement can make sure nobody younger than seventh year can get in. We got permission to do this party because it’s only the older students who are largely of age anyways, and I don’t want it compromised by younger students finding out about it and/or trying to get in. Especially if someone tries to spike any punch we have out, which will likely happen.”
Harry and Ron laughed at that. It would probably be a Gryffindor or Slytherin that would do it, too.
~~~~
The date of the party seemed to come up fairly quickly, the trio so caught up in homework for their NEWT classes that they were a little startled by it. They’d already told the others and word had spread to the rest of their seventh and eighth year classmates. There were only a few they knew of that wouldn’t be coming to the party.
When the day of the party finally arrived, the trio made their way to the Room of Requirement a bit before the party, opening the door to find the perfect space for their party, large enough for all those attending with plenty of room to spare. There were tables set out for the drinks and food (courtesy of the kitchens) and plenty of couches and chairs for people to sit down and relax or talk there. There was also an area for people to dance if they wanted to with music ready to be played and even an area for people to play games if they wanted. There were even a couple sets of Wizard Chess set out.
Decorations were also laid out for them to put up however they wanted, which the three of them did using some magic to aid them. Especially for decorations they wanted higher up on the walls or hanging from the very high ceiling. They didn’t have to do much else thanks to how the room had set itself up.
Harry really loved magic and Hogwarts specifically because of things like this room.
After a little while, others started showing up to the room at the appointed start time of their party. While most showed up shortly after the start time, there were others that streamed in afterwards since they didn’t specify that everyone had to be there at the exact start and there was no specified end time, either. Though most would likely be leaving by the time curfew hit.
The others would probably just stay in the room until the following morning or risk getting in trouble by sneaking back to their dorms. A lot of them knew some passages to avoid any patrols in the halls. Especially after using some of them during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Shortly after the party truly started with people talking and eating and drinking (some even started dancing), Harry found himself sitting in one area of the room with Hermione, Ron, Blaise, Pansy, and Draco. They were just relaxing for a bit and talking.
“So, seems like the firsties aren’t following you all around everywhere anymore,” Blaise said, looking at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The three of them just groaned in response.
“It may seem like that, but I can almost always feel at least a few of them just staring at me whenever we’re in the common room and it’s annoying,” Harry commented, tilting his head back in annoyance. “I just want to be normal for once.”
He heard snorting in response and looked back up with a glare on his face.
“No offense, but you’re never going to be normal,” Pansy said, a slight smirk on her face. “You defeated Voldemort multiple times, most of which were before you were even 17. And you’re the one who finally got rid of him for good. That staring is never going away.”
“They stare at us too, but not as much as Harry,” Hermione added, crossing her arms a little. “We had to use our position as Prefects to get them to stop hounding us, Harry especially, for photos and autographs. They were really annoying when we’d be doing homework.”
“Of course that’s what you’d be worried about,” Pansy chuckled, looping an arm around Hermione’s waist where they were sitting together and pressing a kiss to her cheek. Ron and Harry both grinned at each other as they watched Hermione blush a bright red.
“What about you? Any first-years in Slytherin giving you the same kind of treatment?” Ron asked the Slytherin trio. Draco scowled and crossed his arms in response.
“Partially,” he eventually said, some disdain obvious in his voice, “but some of it’s because they know we’re friends with you lot. And that there are relationships between the four of you.” Draco looked pointedly at Ron and Blaise, who looked completely non-repentant, and Hermione and Pansy, who were blushing lightly. Blaise shrugged his shoulders.
“Doesn’t really bother me much. I just glare at them until they leave me alone. That’s also what Draco usually does. Nobody wants to piss off anybody even remotely connected to Harry Potter and the rest of the trio,” Blaise said, smirking at the collective eyeroll of said trio.
“Y’know Harry, I finally somewhat understand why you always hated being famous,” Ron said, looking over at him. Harry just gave him a strained smile back.
“Unfortunately I’m never going to escape it, and you guys probably won’t either just from being my friends.”
“You’re technically family, mate,” Ron said, looking at him. “Mum’s basically adopted you. You’re her favourite son.”
That made the entire group laugh, though both Ron and Hermione claimed it was entirely true. Harry agreed just a little based on how much she fretted over him after the Battle. It was nearly the same amount of fretting she did over Fred, George, and Ginny, all of whom got hurt worse than Harry had.
Though she’d also thought Harry was dead for a bit like everyone else had, so he guessed that made sense.
They talked for a bit more while the party continued on, the group eventually splitting up a bit. Hermione was dragged over to dance by Pansy and Ron and Blaise were playing a game of Wizard Chess. Both of them were quite good so it was a fair match as opposed to when Ron played literally anyone else that they knew.
Draco and Harry made their way over to the refreshments where some of the others were mingling, grabbing snacks and drinks. Harry wasn’t feeling overly hungry, but he did grab a cup of punch, as did Draco. The two of them made their way back over to where they’d been sitting and started sipping their drinks as they talked.
As they talked and drank more of their punch, Harry noticed he felt a little… off.
Which meant the punch probably got spiked.
Though he didn’t think it was with alcohol since that typically was easier to taste and feel the effects of. Whatever this was didn’t have any sort of flavour to it…
“What’s on your mind?” Draco asked, noticing the look on Harry’s face. “You’ve got that cute look you get when you’re thinking about something pretty seriously.”
Harry’s eyes snapped to look at Draco when he called him cute and he noticed that Draco’s eyes had gone wide. He apparently hadn’t meant to say that.
“You think I’m cute? How long has that been a thing?” Harry found himself asking after a moment and Draco answered immediately.
“Of course I do. I’ve had a crush on you since fourth year when I saw your dress robes,” Draco answered, eyes still wide and a hand immediately moving to clap over his mouth. Harry was a little gobsmacked at the information that Draco had liked him for years just as Harry had. Then Harry realized that Draco hadn’t meant to answer those questions either and he realized what exactly was going on.
Oh no…
There was Veritaserum in the punch.
Maybe Harry could leave now before Draco realized the same thing and asked him something-
“Do you have any feelings for me? Romantic ones?” Draco asked before Harry could act on his thoughts of leaving.
Damnit.
“I’ve had a crush on you since fourth year too,” Harry said, the Veritaserum making him answer whether he wanted to or not. He hadn’t planned on telling Draco this, at least not until they’d graduated. He wasn’t sure Draco had feelings for him or wanted to date, though from what Draco admitted earlier, that wasn’t really a worry at this point.
Draco’s eyes widened just as Harry could feel his own do, before a slight smile spread across his lips, eyes dragging up and down Harry’s body and he felt himself suppress a shiver.
“I’m pretty sure there’s Veritaserum in the punch,” Harry eventually got himself to say, and he saw that Draco had come to the same realization as he nodded. Harry had no clue who’d added it, though. He had a few ideas but nothing concrete.
Hermione and Ron should probably be warned.
And then he was going to leave the party with Draco and sneak him into the Gryffindor dorm so they could talk more about this away from prying ears and eyes.
He got up from where he’d been sitting, telling Draco what he was going to do. He let both his friends and their partners know (Hermione had immediately marched over to the refreshment table and banished the bowl of punch before anyone else could drink it aside from those who already had) before heading back over to Draco, grabbing his hand, and leaving the room.
He failed to notice the knowing smirks on his friends’ faces.
Taking out his Invisibility Cloak, Harry draped it over the two of them so he could sneak Draco into his dorm without anyone else knowing. Especially since there would still be people awake and about in the common room.
Luckily, nobody paid much attention to the portrait opening just slightly to let the two of them in, and they were able to get to the stairs leading up to the dorms without encountering anybody. Everybody in the common room was engrossed either in homework, Exploding Snap, or their conversations.
Once in his dorm room, Harry pulled the Cloak off them and moved over to his bed, putting the Cloak away and dragging Draco onto his bed with him, closing the curtains and spelling them to stay closed and to block sound from getting through so if/when his dormmates came back, they wouldn’t hear their conversation and therefore wouldn’t know Draco was here.
“So, now that we’re alone and have some privacy, how about we talk some more about the feelings we apparently have for each other and never found out about?” Harry asked after a moment, watching as Draco smiled.
“Sounds good.”
~~~~
Harry woke up slowly the next morning, taking a few moments to realize where he was and why he was cuddled up with someone.
Party. Spiked punch. Veritaserum. Draco having feelings for him.
He then remembered that the two of them had come back to Harry’s dorm, laid in his bed and talked about things for a bit before deciding they were now boyfriends and snogging for a good long while until eventually just curling up together and falling asleep like that. Harry wasn’t even sure if his dormmates had returned from the Room of Requirement. They’d fallen asleep by the time curfew hit, but he knew Ron and Hermione at least knew the secret passages. Neville knew of a couple now, too.
Looking up, he noticed Draco already awake and watching him. He smiled as their eyes met (though Harry’s sight was still a bit blurry without his glasses), and Draco leaned in for a gentle snogging session. One which Harry enthusiastically responded to.
He’d worry about the repercussions of Draco being in his bed and his friends having likely noticed them leave together later. Right now he was going to enjoy just snogging his boyfriend as though they were the only ones in the room.