Harry Potter and The Boy Who Had No Choice

The Boy Who Lived, and the Boy Who Had No Choice

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.