Harry's 3rd POV
Today was Hermione's turn to leave extra early in the morning, for her Beta Studies group. There were quite a few people who were missing in Transfiguration, and Harry was wondering about who in Hufflepuff were beta's too. Not that he minded much, but he was just keeping an eye for anyone who he particularly seemed to like.
The class went along, painstakingly slow, which was surprising, since he found Transfiguration one of his more better, and more fun, classes. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he and Ron really struggled, without Hermione's intelligence to help.
He felt that the day would have gone by much easier, if he had taken a sip of the Liquid Luck he had been given. Hermione had scolded him the day before, when Harry wanted to take a sip before dinner. He and Ron were really craving Pumpkin Pastries and the elves hadn't made any in weeks.
Then he had gotten an entire lecture about how rare it was to find perfectly brewed Liquid Luck, and how he'd regret throwing away this chance. The entire Gryffindor table had watched the closest thing the Golden trio had to a fight, in amusement. It was apparently very entertaining to watch.
The day was all well and fine, nothing too stressful, other that the boat load of homework, and a surprisingly normal day all things considered. He hadn't been signed up for anything, and he hadn't had an encounter with anything remotely frightening.
There had, however, been a request of his presence by Dumbledore, up to the tower where the Headmaster's office was. That was surely what was going to break Harry's normal year streak, but he had wished for a normal, casual meeting with the Headmaster of his Wizard School.
He waited till there was barely anyone in front of the gargoyle statue, before whispering "Acid Pops", and proceeding to clamber up the stairs.
"Hello, Harry," Dumbledore said upon his arrival. "I can see you've really grown over the summer."
This could only be taken as a reference to Harry's Alpha status, which he was proud of, but soon getting annoyed by how many times this topic was brought up.
"Yeah," Harry replied, not really sure what he was supposed to say in return.
Harry assumed that this meeting was definitely about Professor Slughorn, after that one trip Dumbledore had taken him on. Looking back, Harry really regretted taking a little sip of his Liquid Luck. He'd taken a sip right before entering the Headmaster's room, in hopes of not breaking his normal year streak. Looking back, there really wasn't much hope for him.
"Now, I'm sure you know why I've summoned you here," Dumbledore continued. "I was wondering if you were attending the dinner-party that Professor Slughorn is hosting for some his favourite students. I'm sure Miss Weasley wouldn't mind being on your arm for tonight's event."
Now, Harry was totally not opposed to having a date, in hopes of finally finding a mate, but he did not want to consider actually taking Ginny. As much as he appreciated their fling, Harry had no doubt that Ginny was not his mate, and it seemed she had moved on too, considering the fact that she had found herself a boyfriend in a certain Hufflepuff.
"I didn't know of this plan, but, um, I think Ginny has another date tonight," Harry said uncertainly.
"Ah, well, my boy. I'm sure you will be able to find your own 'date' as you put it. But I must insist you go, to get Professor Slughorn closer to considering joining the Light Side."
Harry nodded, and excused himself, in order to find an adequate date, and get ready for the party. He jogged back to Gryffindor, taking out a suit and tie from his trunk (which he had brought just in case he had a fancy date.)
He opened the dorm door, and bellowed, "Who wants to be my fake-date for a pretentious Potions meeting-part thing?"
Most people laughed, going back to their tasks after disagreeing.
"You know, he doesn't mind taking a guy, so this is your chance, ladies and gentlemen!" Ron shouted too.
"Yo, Harry, just take Ron then," Dean replied.
Ron shook his head, and shrieked as he ran up to the dorm.
"Oh yeah, I forgot he was trying score Zabini," Dean shrugged, going back to playing Exploding Snap with Seamus.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine! I'll go alone!" He sighed.
After bribing Hermione to do his tie, Harry headed out of the Gryffindor common room, and down into the corridors leading to the Slytherin side of the castle. Slughorn's Potions dungeons were suited in Slytherin territory after all.
Harry made his way through the doors, into the very fancily-decorated room, which had a pleasant, yet aristocratic feel. There were a few students holding flutes of Muggle champagne, which Slughorn must have taken a liking to.
The smells of cooking food wafted through the room, along with the clean scents of cologne and perfume too. Harry found the whole thing very pretentious, and the amount of people there made Harry pretty nervous too. Everyone seemed to have dates, except him.
He decided to step out before Slughorn caught him first. He recognised a couple of Slytherins in the mix, but there were barely that many. Harry made the assumption that Slughorn was prejudiced against them, for very poor reasons. Everyone, Light or Dark, was equal after all. He hadn't said things like that in public, as Harry had been told to remain a very Light Side-y person.
He stepped out back into the corridor, before meeting a certain blonde sitting in the middle. The entire corridor was made out of smoothed stone, and there had been a section hollowed out to make way for a seating area. Harry knew that this was purely Slytherin territory, as he had seen many sat there in between breaks.
"Hey, Malfoy," Harry sighed, sitting next to the boy.
"Hi, Potter," Malfoy replied softly back. He looked pretty tired, and there were bags under his eyes. Malfoy's face was also very pale, and his lips seemed very cracked.
This was going to be an interesting conversation.
A/N Finally done with this chapter! I thought everyone would like a nice, long and eventful chapter, after a week back to school, if you guys do that. I got a cold, and a shitload of homework, and was really very late in updating. Thank you for everyone's comments and votes and love and everything, I really appreciate it. I hope people still have hope in my book, so here's a 1000 word chapter. See you soon, for Draco's POV next! Also, I haven't checked any of the grammar and stuff, so if you find something wrong with it, please just comment about it :)