A New Snake

Chapter 35

With the Yule Ball approaching fast, and Harry's nerves over discovering his feelings for Lily, there was little time for anything besides preparing for the dance, Quidditch games, and classes. Not to mention he'd had little time to think about the wolf that had been coming and going at strange times ever since he was in the hospital wing. He didn't know what it was but she seemed so... familiar. And trustworthy. Why he should trust a random wolf, he did not know. It was just something about her eyes. He'd never heard of eyes quite that shade of green on a wolf before.

He'd been in the Slytherin Common Room with Theseus and the wolf, finishing up an essay for Potions, when he realized that he didn't have any dress robes. His dress robes from the Yule ball before were too small now, the reason being that he had grown over the summer. But how was he supposed to get them? The ball was coming before the next Hogsmeade trip and ordering clothing by owl was simply too risky so close to the Ball. Perhaps he could transfigure some of his other clothing into dress robes?

Harry dropped his work and stood, accidentally knocking the wolf's sleeping head off his lap. He hastily apologized and raced to his dorm to find any clothing he could spare for the evening of the Ball. But upon opening the door to his dorm, he found a set of dress robes already set out on his bed with a slip of parchment on top.

He picked up the note and it read:

"Harry,

I asked my father to buy these for you. I figured that you would have outgrown your dress robes from last year's Yule Ball. These are equipped with a charm that lets them grow with you so you won't have to buy more until these wear out. Please enjoy them, and don't bother trying to pay my father or me back for them. Just call them a Christmas Gift.

Yours Truly,

D. Malfoy

Harry set the note down in shock. He knew he and Draco had been becoming better friends, but this was totally unexpected. If it had been Lily and Professor Snape, he would have expected it. Simply because Lily would be the type to get her father to buy him some dress robes. But that it was from Draco and Lucius Malfoy was so strange, Harry simply stood there, holding the dress robes and staring at them.

It was only when he heard someone clear their throat that he looked away. He turned to the doorway of his dorm and saw Draco standing in the doorway, sporting lightly flushed cheeks.

"Thank you, Draco."

"Whatever," He snarked, cheeks flushing more even in the darkness of the Slytherin Dorm, "I just didn't want you to make a fool of our house by wearing robes that were too small or--Merlin forbid--robes you'd transfigured from other clothes."

Now it was Harry's turn to blush. He turned away from the other boy, who had moved to his own bed where some textbooks and homework was waiting, he proceeded to carefully remove his new dress robes to a safe space in his wardrobe.

As he was leaving to return to his work in the Common Room, he paused in the doorway, "Thank you, again, Draco."

But the other boy, well into his work once more, had his face buried in a textbook and simply waved Harry away.

Harry decided that he must be busy and returned to his own work. What he didn't know, was that Draco was simply hiding a small, pleased smile and a blush behind his textbook. Finally, for the first time in five years, he was making friends with Harry Potter. Who knew that the trick to making friends was simply to be nice?

~ ~ ~ ~

And then came the Yule Ball. The night most girls look forward to and most guys dread. And for Harry, it was a little bit of both. He was looking forward to a night with friends and Lily. But he was also dreading it. What if Lily found out how he felt? Especially if she didn't feel the same way. What if something happened? Voldemort has been rather silent this year. What if he was simply planning something for the night of the Yule Ball when everyone would be in one place? That would be the most logical thing for him to do. Oh, Merlin. What if he attacked the school. What if his friends got hurt? What if Lily got hurt. What would he do? What could anyone do?