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Chapter Text

Harry looked upon the poster that was tacked to one of the columns in school; his eyes briefly flickered to the retreating forms of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil who were spelling posters against the wall promoting the upcoming Winter Ball.

Not to say that he was overly excited at the thought of dancing, but imagining himself dancing in familiar arms sent a pleasurable tingle down his spine.

He knew exactly who he wanted to go with and if his crush didn't want it to be a date, he could always ask him to go as friends.

The only downside was that he was pretty sure that more than half of the Hogwarts' female population had the same idea as he did.

Here, his eyes shifted to the forms of Bellatrix and Pansy Parkinson.

The two girls were scarily obsessed with his best friend.

But even so, Harry knew that he had more of the upper hand with successfully asking his friend out.

Tom was sure to accept his proposal. But first, he needed to do a bit of preparation.

He knew that Tom would hate if he did it dramatically, therefore, he would try to be as simple yet meaningful as possible.

What could go wrong?

He decided to ask his friend the big question tomorrow. For the rest of the day, he watched as many girls and some boys got rejected by Tom who maintained an air of barely contained aggravation at all the requests.

Harry had to wince as each proposal was viciously shut down one after the next with Tom's posse looking on in amusement.

Malfoy and Rosier had gleeful looks on their faces whenever one of the girls ran off in tears.

He could honestly say that their behavior just made him hate both boys even more but a small part of him felt vindictive satisfaction at seeing Tom reject everyone.

It meant that he still had a chance to ask the other boy instead.

Tom might be too frustrated if he were to ask today so he contented himself with asking tomorrow.

In the meantime, he focused on completing his Charms and Herbology homework so that he had one less thing to worry about while preparing to attend the Ball with Tom.

Thinking about all the preparation he would have to do left him on edge because Tom was a perfectionist whose tastes were on the higher end of the spectrum so he knew he would have to spend a considerable amount of Galleons to be presentable.

He almost groaned out loud, only managing to hold himself back lest Madam Pince kicked him out of the Library.

And for the rest of the day, Harry studiously completed all of his essays before spending some time with Tom who was eager to have a duel in order to let off some steam.

If he sustained more bruises than he could count, it was more than worth it to see the satisfied smile on Tom's face.

..

The next day, Harry woke up earlier than usual to begin preparing to ask Tom out. He wanted to do it in the Room of Requirement so that he could take some of the burden off of his shoulders to make everything as perfect as possible.

He passed by the Kitchens to get something to eat even though his stomach was fluttering due to nervousness.

There was no use in going hungry and embarrassing himself if his stomach groaned in the middle of his asking Tom.

He could almost imagine the look of consternation that would appear on Tom's face.

No thank you.

So after eating a light breakfast, he headed towards the Library to find a Charm that would teach him how to crystallize a rose.

Yeah, he should've done the research yesterday but doing all of his essays took up a lot of time.

And while it was a bit sappy, it was the least he could do to be a bit romantic with his proposal.

On the way to the Library, he bumped into Thaddeus Nott, the big bookworm that he is and an idea came to him.

"Hey, Nott," he greeted, smiling pleasantly when the Slytherin looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Potter? What do you want?" He asked bluntly, stopping a few feet away from Harry who closed the distance in a matter of seconds.

Harry was unperturbed by the other boy's attitude.

Nothing could ruin his day.

"Well… I know that you're great at studying so I was wondering if you knew any spells that could crystallize a rose." If anyone knew about such a spell then it would more than likely be Nott.

For his part, the other boy rolled his eyes and glared at him. "That's what you interrupted my morning walk for? That's such a basic Charm."

'Basic for who?' Harry couldn't help but think snidely. Outwards, he just shrugged. "I'm not that good at studying."

Nott simply sighed. "Well if you must know… " he started haughtily. "... Look for the book Spells, Charms, Curses, you name it by Elizra Grimbly. The Information would be in there."

A broad smile stretched across his face. "Thanks a lot, Nott! You're a lifesaver."

Nott huffed.

"Don't tell me that you're going to ask Riddle to go to that useless Ball with you.."

Harry grinned. "Okay, then I won't tell you." He sped off after that, not seeing Nott's raised eyebrows.

…

Harry didn't have to look too long to find the book and locate the spell. It also didn't take long for him to learn and crystallize the rose while still in the library.

Things were moving along great. All he needed to do now was get Tom to the room of requirement to ask him the big question.

He could always change the room when he got there instead of doing it before.

The outcome would still be the same.

So now, he focused on locating Tom. The Marauder's Map would've been of great help right now but Fred and George were still using it.

A dejected sigh escaped his lips. "Oh well," he couldn't help but mutter.

Well there was no use crying over spilled potion, he would just find Tom the hard way.

He could always use the locator spell but that wouldn't be too exciting after all.

Thus, off he went.

He made sure to ask some of his fellow students if they had seen Tom and while most of them said no, a few of them pointed him in the direction of the Great Hall.

Of course he would eat breakfast before he went about his day.

Harry really needed to get a grip of himself.

It had to be the excitement.

He had made sure to hide the rose within his robes as he didn't want to reveal his plan too early.

He wanted to enjoy the look on Tom's face when he asked him out.

And on his way to the Great Hall, he didn't pay much attention to Lestrange who looked as if he had sucked on one of Dumbledore's lemon drops.

The other boy always had a disgruntled look on his face after all.

…

When Harry eventually reached the Great Hall, he sat down at the Gryffindor table and began scanning the Slytherin table for his best friend who would more than likely be reading the morning paper.

His eyes ran over both familiar and unfamiliar students but he still didn't see Tom's impeccably styled hair.

That was weird. The students told Harry that Tom was here.

But then again, he might've already left in the time it took Harry to arrive.

So while he was a bit disappointed, it was still very early so he would find Tom in no time.

With that thought in mind, he excused himself from the table, not seeing the eyes following him out of the Great Hall.

Not like he cared either way.

His next stop was the Library as Tom would more than likely try and finish the rest of his Potions essay there as Slughorn had the penchant of grading him to a high standard.

It was understandable yet unfair.

He scuttled along towards the Library, almost bumping into Carrow who glared at him before briskly walking away.

"What crawled up his butt and died," he couldn't help but mutter.

But even so, he was not to be deterred and pretty soon, he was entering the Library under the watchful eyes of Madam Pince.

He walked throughout all the rows and couldn't find Tom.

"If you're looking for Riddle, he sped out of here like two minutes ago."

Harry turned to look at Oliver Wood who had a thick book about the rules of Quidditch in his hands; he smiled at the other boy who happily returned it.

"Thanks a lot, Oliver. Did you see where he went?"

Oliver shrugged. "I think I heard him say that he was heading towards the Great Lake."

"Okay, thanks a lot."

"You're Welcome, Harry."

He left the Library in lifted spirits.

To the Great Lake he goes.

…

Unfortunately, the rest of the day went the very same way. He would arrive at a new location looking for Tom only to hear that the boy had left minutes later.

It was more than frustrating for Harry and even more weird as he had never seen Tom change locations this quickly.

He had gone back to the Great Hall for lunch and still didn't see Tom.

It was aggravating.

So aggravating that he decided to get the Map from the Weasley twins who were more than happy to loan it to him for a day or two.

They had of course teased Harry who had turned as red as a tomato at their spot on analysis.

He managed to escape their teasing and activated the map to see Tom's footprints in the Astronomy Tower.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he closed the Map and headed to the tower.

It was great as they would be alone and he could always take Tom to the RoR without anyone overhearing.

Things were finally looking up.

…

Again, Harry missed the other boy again and he had to activate the Map once more to see Tom now in the third floor corridor.

He frowned.

What the heck was the other boy doing there?

A sigh of annoyance escaped his lips but still, he decided to take some shortcuts to get to that corridor in case he missed the other boy.

30 minutes later

Harry was no closer to finding Tom than he had been at the start of the day and he was growing tired of the constant running around.

Dinner was around the corner and he still hadn't located the boy, so he decided to change tactics.

He went back to the Gryffindor common room for his Invisibility Cloak so that he could walk around with the Map without anyone seeing the contents.

The only other person who knew about its existence was Filch even though the caretaker couldn't activate the magic of the map.

If the other students discovered it, it might get confiscated by the Professors and that was the last thing Harry wanted.

And now with the cloak hiding him from view, he happily checked the map to see that Tom was now at the Seventh Floor corridor.

It was wonderful.

At least he was at the correct place.

And making sure to hide the sound of his footsteps with a neat spell taught to him by the twins, he headed towards the Seventh floor corridor.

On his way there, he came upon the sight of Malfoy and Selwyn looking around at each student with furrowed eyebrows.

That was so weird.

But Harry didn't pay them any mind and instead continued towards his destination where Tom still had not moved.

However on his way there, he kept running into Tom's friends who seemed to be looking for someone in particular.

And it was when he came upon Walburga and Orion that he discovered exactly what was going on.

"You would think that Potter would give up on finding Tom but no, the stubborn fool is so persistent," Walburga complained softly, eying the form of Colin Creevy with barely restrained disgust.

Orion hummed and twirled his Wand between his fingers. "I admit that I find it confusing on why he doesn't just reject him instead of running about the Castle whenever Potter gets close enough."

"Well they are best friends. It is probably not to hurt the fool's feelings," she responded, looking even more annoyed than before. "He hasn't even gotten a chance to ask Greengrass with the way Potter has him running around like a common Muggle."

Harry left before hearing Orion's reply.

…

His chest hurt so much.

Was that normal?

He didn't think it was.

After confirming that all of the Slytherins were on the lookout for him to warn Tom of his approach, Harry headed back to his dorm room.

Nott probably told Tom after Harry left to go to the Library. It was the only explanation.

While some part of him was angry with the other boy, a bigger part of him was more focused on the fact that Tom wanted to reject him so badly but because they were best friends, he would rather throughout the Castle just to get away from him.

That stung quite a bit.

A soft snort of derision escaped him as he climbed the steps to his dorm room.

Tom wanted to go with Daphne Greengrass.

Who was he kidding? Why did he think that Tom even liked him back and returned his feelings?

Tom was everything a Pureblood strived to be; he made a striking figure, he was unfairly smart and everyone knew and looked up to him.

Well everyone except Dumbledore that is.

When he finally got to his bed, he closed the drapes and spelled them shut before taking off his invisibility cloak and pulling the rose from within his robes.

It was so striking in its crystallized form but even so, he banished it before he had any second thoughts about keeping it.

And despite not being rejected to his face, he still felt embarrassed that he was literally chasing someone who didn't want him whatsoever.

At that thought, he couldn't quite contain the tear which slid down his cheek.

He clapped his hand against his mouth before a sob could escape and quickly casted a silencing Charm.

If anyone heard him breaking down, it would be all over the school in minutes.

He was embarrassed enough to last a lifetime.

He would skip Dinner and lick his wounds in peace.

…

The next day

Harry woke up feeling groggy with dried tear tracks on his face and not up to attending Potions class whatsoever.

But knowing Slughorn, points would be deducted for tardiness and Harry wasn't about to become a martyr for losing Gryffindor their hard earned points.

Wood might just strangle him if they lost the Cup.

So it was with trepidation that he scurried off to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

15 minutes later

Harry quickly got dressed and headed towards the Great Hall, a pinched look on his face when he passed Nott and Selwyn on the way.

He wasn't about to make a scene just because his best friend didn't want him.

He wasn't that pathetic.

So it was with saddened eyes that he entered the Great Hall and inconspicuously handed the Map off to the Weasley twins hidden in a Mokeskin pouch.

The twins grinned and took it from him with a one handed salute. "Pleasure doing business with you, Harry."

He cracked a smile then walk a few steps away towards where his year mates were slowly but surely filling the empty seats at the table.

"Hey there, Harry," greeted Neville, a tired smile on his face. "Haven't seen much of you yesterday."

Seamus chimed in. "But we did hear that you were running around the Castle looking for Riddle who was also running around doing who knows what."

Harry's chest tightened but he groaned outwardly and feigned dejection. "Tell me about it. Tom had me looking for him the entire day… I bought him a gift as usual for scoring high on the exams but I couldn't find him at all. Not to mention, I finally found a spell to crystallize food but again, I couldn't find him to taste test for me."

At these words, his friends laughed and Dean patted him on the back in pity. " Well at least he's here this time so you can finally torture him with sweets."

Harry's head whipped around to look at the Slytherin table and in no time, he was able to locate Tom who was surrounded by his posse as usual, all of them looking noticeably tense; he just huffed and turned back around.

Tom didn't have to worry about Harry chasing after him anymore.

"I don't even wanna give him any more. Do you guys want to do the taste test instead?" he drawled, scowling slightly.

At least he could act as if this was his intention all along.

It was better than being rejected in front of the entire school.

"Sure!" Seamus instantly agreed, Neville nodding eagerly next to him while Dean just snorted.

"Great! So I've been thinking of doing Rose petals first. I think those look more visually pleasing before I try anything else." Here, he tapped a finger to his lips. "I can try making different types of candy too."

"Yeah, that would be very appealing and you could also leave the rose on the stem…"

They continued trading ideas back and forth while eating breakfast.

Harry felt significantly lighter than he had and he couldn't help but be thankful for having such amazing friends.

20 minutes later

Breakfast was over and they were finally heading to Slughorn's class with Tom and his posse joining them.

He immediately fell back so that he was walking next to Tom who noticeably tensed.

It hurt. Not as much as last night but it was still there.

He already thought of acting normal so that he didn't make things awkward for everyone.

As soon as he reached Tom, he playfully punched the other boy's arm and scowled at him. "Where the heck were you yesterday? You had me running around looking for you. I probably lost all the weight that I've barely managed to gain this semester. Next time I am not going to buy you another gift." He continued complaining all the way to Potions, observing the way Tom relaxed the more he refrained from bringing up the Ball.

"Not to mention…" Here, he moved closer to Tom as if to make sure that no one heard his next words. "If you're going to the Ball, watch out for Bellatrix and Parkinson if they haven't cornered you already. They might even run the risk of Imperio'ing you to get you to go with them." Here, he snorted and slapped his hand over his mouth to contain the sounds.

Tom's eyebrows furrowed and he looked at him through narrowed eyes. "And you're not planning on attending the Ball?"

Harry shrugged and composed himself. "Not particularly, I was planning on asking someone but he might not go for me since we're in different houses and all."

"Oh? Do tell," Tom murmured stiffly.

Harry could almost see the rising tension in the Slytherins while his fellow Gryffindors continued chatting away with an annoyed looking Rookwood and Bulstrode.

He shrugged and moved closer to Tom, ignoring how he became tense.

"Don't go yapping to everyone that I told you this. But… Do you think Zabini might be interested or available to be my date?"

Tom's eyes briefly widened and he could see how the other Slytherins looked at each other almost wide eyed at his question.

"Zabini? You're interested in Zabini?"

"What's wrong with him?!" he asked almost defensively. "I've discovered a way to crystallize a rose and I want to give it to him to ask him out. I wanted you to do a taste test first but I couldn't find you anywhere." He began whining and grabbed Tom's shoulder. "I hope no one has already asked him or I'm going to hate you the rest of my life since you made me have to wait an extra day."

The rest of the conversation went smoothly and rather quickly, everything returned to normal.

And while Harry was assured that Zabini was still date free, he couldn't help feeling sad at the way Tom was obviously happy that he wasn't the intended target.

Nott kept looking at him strangely while he returned with a confused expression on his face until the other guy just huffed and looked away.

He guessed that this crush would just have to die with him.

It was as if he could hear his own heart shattering into pieces at how animated Tom looked now that he didn't have to worry about Harry's confession.

Sometimes it wasn't always the rejection that hurt but the awkwardness that followed.

He would never try confessing ever again.

The heartache would definitely not be worth it much less losing his best friend forever.

Chapter Text

Weeks passed since Harry discovered that Tom was in no way interested in him but during that time, strange things started happening. 

He couldn't quite explain it but what he had no doubt about is that Tom seemed to now be somewhat hyper aware of him. 

If he slung one of his arms around the other boy's shoulder, he would tense almost unconsciously. 

Whenever he nicked any pieces of food off of Tom's plate, he would stare for a couple seconds before he continued eating. 

The worst was when they were making a potion and the other boy flinched when Harry's hand brushed against his. 

It was frankly getting ridiculous. So in that time, he focused on preparing for the Ball with Blaise Zabini as his date. 

Not to say that Zabini wasn't charming, he was, but he just wasn't Tom. 

In that time, Harry actively focused on trying not to compare the two. It wasn't fair to Zabini to be compared to someone who didn't want him in any romantic way of the sorts. 

But still, he was pretty sure that Zabini wasn't interested in him whatsoever. 

The only mystery was who the other boy was actually interested in as he was pretty good at looking unbothered by any and everything. 

Even so, Harry had already ordered his robes for the ball after agreeing with Zabini on the colors they would wear. 

He chose white with green trimmings while Zabini chose green with white trimmings. The other boy had a peculiar look on his face when he chose his own robe but Harry didn't pay much attention to it as it was probably due to the pricing of the robes. 

They cost a couple thousand Galleons after all. 

The following days after owl ordering their robes was spent with Zabini helping him look for helpful spells to tame his hair and brewing potions to help with his poor eyesight with Slughorn's help. 

Harry was aware that there were potions to fix his eyesight but because his dad didn't see a problem with it and also wore glasses, he didn't find it that important even though they were most likely the only people in the entire Wizarding world that needlessly wore glasses. 

The potion had a delicate brewing process and as much as he was good at the subject, Zabini had convinced him to get Slughorn's assistance. 

And as Zabini was the one who brought the whole matter up, Harry had tasked him with convincing Slughorn which was way easier than he expected but came with them unfortunately having to participate in the next Slugclub meeting which they had evaded since first year. 

This was the first time that Harry saw such a sour look on Zabini's face but the other boy didn't complain at all. 

It was probably because it was his idea in the first place. 

Harry didn't want to go because Tom was a current member of the Slugclub and interacting with the other boy these days was almost painful to watch. 

He made everything so awkward. 

Over the next couple days leading up to the Ball, they had both agreed with having one of the girls style his hair. 

Parkinson's younger sister Pansy had intruded while they were in the library, stating that she could do it using her family's personal spell. 

Of course they didn't believe that the spell would work as they had tried everything up to using all sorts of potion until Parkinson did a demonstration that had them staring  in disbelief as Harry's hair was instantly tamed. 

They quickly accepted her help even with the smug look on her face which Harry still hated to this day. 

After finishing with their preparations, they went their separate ways until the ball which was one week later. 

They had already brewed the eyesight potion which Harry would take the night before the ball. Parkinson would style his hair literal minutes before they went to the Great Hall. 

He breathed a sigh of relief that he could finally take a break but had to clench his teeth seconds later when Walburga began whispering to Orion about Tom apparently asking Daphne Greengrass to be his date. 

His mood was sour for the entire day. 

… 

6 days before the ball

Surprisingly, Tom mentioned asking the witch out to Harry who just nodded and congratulated him on finally getting a date. 

There was a brief frown on Tom's face at his words which was gone seconds later as he thanked Harry and began walking with him to their next class. 

Harry didn't think that it was that big of a deal; he was really starting to regret even mentioning his interest in Tom to Nott in the first place. 

He was pretty sure that their friendship was not going to last when they left Hogwarts and wasn't that sad. 

All because he thought of asking Tom to a ball. 

Never again would he think about confessing his attraction to anyone ever again if this was the outcome. 

… 

5 days before the ball

Harry woke up with a fever which had him almost coughing up his lungs; he could only groan as he was levitated to the Hospital Wing. 

Madame Pomphrey had taken one look at him, tsked and sent a note to Headmaster Dippet about him skipping classes for the day. 

He couldn't even be happy with how much he felt like crap. 

For the next few hours, he was visited by Zabini who spent lunch with him before leaving for his class.

Neville, Dean and Seamus also visited him with the latter of the three wanting to skip class to keep him company. 

Madame Pomphrey had promptly shut that down. 

Harry managed a slight laugh before a cough forced it's way out of his throat which had the Mediwitch kicking his friends out and forcing a potion down his throat which knocked him out for a couple hours. 

When he eventually woke up, it was to the sight of Tom lying on his arms at the edge of his bed. 

His heart skipped a beat but he forced himself to remain unaffected. 

The other boy was probably worried about him as a friend after all. 

He bit his lips and carried fully sat up on the bed, groaning softly when his back popped at the action. 

He breathed a sigh of relief that he no longer felt as if he was going to die after every cough, he begin observing Tom, mildly surprised at how worried he looked even in his sleep. 

Harry continued looking at the other boy before he began raising his hand to touch either Tom's hair or his shoulder before the sound of feet coming closer caused him to retract his hand as if burned. 

Seconds later, the face the Madame Pomphrey appeared next to his bed after pulling away the drapes. 

She tsked when she saw a sleeping Tom. 

"He's been here for hours no matter how much I've reassured him that you just had a nasty cold which is easily treatable." She shook her head and flicked her hand at Harry before pulling a potion out her pocket and handing it to him which he downed with a grimace on his face. 

Slughorn's apprentice Snape always managed to make potions taste more horrible than they should even though the effectiveness was much better than the originals. 

He then leviatated Tom on the spare bed next to Harry's before wishing him a goodnight and going back to her office. 

And after drinking a glass of water from the jug on the bed stand, he lied back down and stared at Tom until he fell asleep, content in the knowledge that Tom still cared about him even a little bit. 

It was the best sleep that he's had in weeks. 

… 

4 days before the ball

When Harry woke up the next day in the Hospital Wing, his eyes immediately flickered to the now empty bed which previously held Tom's sleeping form. 

He was a bit disappointed but didn't let that stop his happiness at being discharged.

On his way back to the Gryffindor dorms, he was met with lots of well wishes on him getting better. 

It made him feel even better at the fact that even though things had been awkward with Tom, there were a lot of people that still cared about him. 

Maybe it was best not to get caught up in the past. It had already happened so he should work on moving past it and fostering new feelings whether it be platonic or romantic. 

And even while attending classes, the smile on his face persisted.

Tom sat next to him without saying a word about his brief stint in the Hospital Wing due to being sick but Harry wasn't bothered one bit.

He knew that the other boy cared for him and that was enough for him. 

You can't force someone to like you back after all. 

They worked on practicing the Avifors Charm for the rest of the class. 

And if he unconsciously moved closer to Tom without the other boy flinching sent a wave of happiness through his body, then nobody had to know. 

… 

3 days before the ball

Harry noticed that Tom no longer flinched or acted awkward whenever he got close; he wondered if it was due to his hospitalization but overall, he didn't much care, glad to have his best friend back. 

He did notice however that Bellatrix and Walburga tended to glare at him when they thought that no one was looking while Malfoy looked as if he bit into a lemon. 

It was very weird but he didn't pretend to care about what Slytherins thought about him even though they were from Influential families. 

He wrote to his Mum and Dad that day, getting them up-to-date on the happenings of the last couple of weeks. He made sure to refrain from mentioning anything about his brief falling out with Tom. 

And after eating breakfast, he practically skipped to Ancient Runes class. 

Him and Tom were two of six people in that class. No one wanted the added stress of passing the class which Harry could admit wasn't the easiest unlike Care of Magical Classes. 

As expected, Tom was seated in their usual seat but this time, Daphne Greengrass was seated next to him. 

He almost tensed up, obviously finding the girl's presence to be unwelcome but not wanting to make a scene, he went and sat next to Zabini who he almost forgot even attended the class. 

The other boy was too quiet for his own good. 

"You're here earlier than usual," Zabini commented off-handedly. 

Harry just shrugged. "Nothing much to do before coming here."

"Hmm."

Zabini went back to reading his Runes textbook and Harry who realised that he forgot his moved closer to the other boy without realizing to look at what he was reading. 

For his part, Zabini didn't make a big deal out of it and instead pulled the book down so that Harry could read it easier. 

He finally realised how close they were seconds later and was about to move when Zabini wrapped and arm around his waist. 

"You don't need to move."

Harry almost gaped but nodded instead. 

Sitting this close to Zabini was surprisingly nice. What wasn't nice was the stinging sensation at the back of his neck. 

It was almost like someone was glaring at him but he was too stubborn to turn around. 

He instead spent the entire class pressed up against Zabini who smelled as if he had taken a bath in Amortentia with how good he smelt. 

Harry decided that he could get used to that smell even if all they stayed as is friends. 

… 

2 days before the ball

The closer it came to the ball, the more agitated the students became. 

Agitated enough that lots of points were being deducted for due to lack of attention in class. 

Thankfully, Harry wasn't amongst the ones who were losing points almost every second as he didn't think that even he could withstand all the glares from his fellow Gryffindors. 

Oliver looked seconds away from dropping dead from all the point loss. 

Harry wouldn't be surprised if he was admitted to the Hospital Wing anytime soon. 

During this time, he was either holed up in the Library with Tom or out flying with Zabini who was now referring to as Blaise the closer they got. 

And even though the other boy wasn't romantically interested in him, he was pretty great to hang around. 

He didn't mind how affectionate Harry tended to get which was a plus in his book. 

He was raised with parents who dotted on him every second as well as extended family or family friends who had the habit of hugging or cuddling with him every chance they got. 

Harry loved showing affection which everyone had gotten used to sooner or later after being in his presence for so long. 

The only person who didn't seem happy at how close Harry became with Blaise was Tom which was peculiar in itself. 

As much as he wanted to get to the bottom of Tom's reaction, he instead focused on completing his homework in an effort to distract himself. 

He already made up his mind to not be overattentive to Tom. 

It would help with getting over the other boy. 

He was proud to say that it was coming along very well even if Tom was becoming more affectionate with him. 

His willpower would not waver. 

… 

1 day before the ball. 

Walburga, Orion, Malfoy, Nott, Lestrange, Carrow, Selwyn and Bellatrix were hospitalized. 

It came out of nowhere and had the entire school talking about it every second of every hour. 

And as much as his cousins were now hospitalized, Harry couldn't find it in himself to care. 

What he cared about was the fact that Tom seemed obviously agitated at what happened to his friends who were still unconscious. 

He stated glued to the other boy's side which Tom seemed to appreciate if they way he wrapped his arm around Harry was any indication. 

He made sure to squash any happiness at being this close to the other boy who was obviously deeply affected at what  happened. 

Nothing had been released to explain what had happened to the students but Harry did see the pinched looks on his relatives' faces as they visited Walburga, Orion and Bellatrix. 

His parents had also came and informed them that the trio would stay in the Hospital Wing for further treatment instead of going to St. Mungos as it didn't seem to be life threatening. 

Classes were canceled that day with some people feeling scared at what had happened to the Slytherins while others were scared about the ball being canceled.

It wasn't, surprisingly. 

Though Dippet did try from what he heard but Professor Dumbledore managed to convince him not to so as not not lower the students' morale in lieu of the hospitalization. 

Everyone was relieved even though some tried to appear as if they weren't bothered. 

The only ones that seemed to be scared were the First, Second and Third years. 

It wasn't surprising as they would not be attending the ball along with the Fourth years who were more worried about the upcoming exams. 

Harry didn't know how Dippet managed to calm them down but he was more focused on comforting his friend who looked as if he was seconds away from throwing up. 

He didn't expect Tom to be this affected but no matter how long it took, he would continue keeping the boy company. 

Blaise smiled at Harry reassuringly when he passed on their plans to spend time next to the Great Lake. 

Tom looked significantly brighter after that. 

… 

The day of the ball

As it was Saturday and thus no classes, everyone was running around in preparation for the ball that same night. 

Harry had forgotten to take the potion for his eyesight which required him to have uninterrupted sleep for 12 hours so he woke up at 6am and spelled his drapes shut after writing a note to dissuade anyone from looking for him; he then drank the potion and went straight to sleep while it worked on permanently fixing his eyesight. 

The ball began at 8pm so he had more than enough time to get ready. 

He would wake up at 5pm which gave him three hours in which he would take a Pepper-up potion to help with any grogginess.

He had already told Blaise so the other boy didn't worry about his absence while he had someone tell Tom that he would be busy for a while. 

He didn't know why but he warned the other boy to be surprised at him not wearing glasses after years of chiding him to get his eyesight fixed as it was a hazard when dueling. 

Harry had never thought that far ahead which he why he never cared to follow through due to the delicate brewing process and the fact that the pre-brewed potion was more expensive than it should be regardless of how long it took. 

12 hours later

When Harry finally woke up, the only thing that he could focus on was how hungry he was. 

And even with the fact that he could now see without his glasses which were sat atop his bedside table, he instead called on his personal House Elf to bring him food which he demolished in minutes before asking for seconds. 

After eating his fill, he got up and cleaned his bed before going to the bathroom to get cleaned before appearing in front of people. 

When he was finished, he spelled the glass in his classes to be the nonprescription type so that he could continue fooling everyone until the ball began. 

He then left his dorm room and went down to the GreatHall where Dinner would soon start. 

His fellow Gryffindors hadn't arrived yet so he headed to the Slytherin table where a frazzled looking Tom immediately caught his eye, a look of relief on his face. 

Harry almost snorted when he saw how much Tom was trying not to stand up and chastise him for running off to do who knows what for so long. 

When he finally reached the table and sat down next to Tom, he was bombarded with questions after question which he calmly answered. 

And after satisfying Tom's curiosity, he turned his head and almost did a double take when his eyes landed on the Slytherins who had previously been hospitalized.

They all looked as if they had a bad run-in with a Dementor evn though all run-ins with Dementors were nothing less than horrible. 

Even Malfoy looked pale and that was saying something. 

None of them were speaking or looking at anyone but they did respond to Tom whenever he asked a question or made conversation. 

That was good enough for Harry to continue minding his business. 

Time passed quickly after that and in no time, everyone was rushing around to get ready for the ball which was starting in less than an hour's time. 

Harry had gotten Parkinson to style his hair before she became too busy then went to his dorm room to begin getting dressed. 

Blaise had agreed to meet him at the Great hall for the ball instead of arriving together; he would be standing at the door when he arrived inside. 

He didn't mind that at all as he took his time to get ready even with his dorm mates rushing around knocking things over while cursing softly when something happened. 

In no time he was dressed in his owl, ordered robes which fit him like a glove and then finally banished his glasses which he no longer needed after this time. 

When he checked the time, he realized that he had ten minutes left before the ball so after making sure that he looked presentable, he was off. 

Minutes later

When Harry finally arrived in the Great Hall, the interior surprised him so much that he had to do a double-take. 

It looked amazing and resembled a Winter wonderland. 

But even so, that didn't distract him from the fact that he was supposed to meet up with Blaise who was nowhere to be seen. 

He had half a mind to Accio the other boy but he didn't want any accidents that would ruin the ball for everyone and cause him to be hated. 

He instead stayed by the door, ignoring the wide-eyed appreciative looks he garnered when people laid eyes on him. 

As much as he tried to deny it, the attention did bolster his confidence. 

Minutes later, his name was called and he breathed a sigh of relief that Blaise had finally arrived even though he was five minutes late. 

He turned with a smile on his face only to gape in shock when he locked eyes with a devilishly handsome Tom.

A devilishly handsome Tom who was wearing the robes that had been ordered for Blaise. 

"W-What?" he sputtered in shock. 

Tom smiled at the look on his face before moving close enough that Harry could see the battling colors of Grey and blue in his eyes. 

"What's going on, Tom?" 

For his part, the other boy remained unperturbed. "Nothing much other than a change in dates."

And even though Harry's heart was threatening to beat out of his chest, he managed to glare at the other boy. 

"You already made it apparent that you weren't interested in me so what the heck is going on?" he said through gritted teeth. 

Tom winced and ran his fingers through his hair. "I wished that I could say that I have no idea what you're referring to but that would be a lie."

Harry was about to argue when he continued. 

"To tell you the truth, I didn't know that you were interested in me nor that you wanted to ask me to the Ball. Nott and the others did their best to make me as unaware as possible. I only found out yesterday when I overheard Walburga and Bellatrix talking about it."

Harry felt as if his world was making a sharp pivot on its axis at Tom's words. "You sent them to the Hospital Wing," he whispered hoarsely. 

Tom grimaced and looked agitated and casted the muffling spell before he answered.. "They manipulated me into hurting you, Harry. I couldn't allow them to think that they could walk away unscathed. I didn't even realise what their plans were as they dragged me throughout the Castle looking for Selwyn's Kneazle . I had nothing better to do and as it had an anti-summoning spell on it, we had to track it using the locator spell. I did find it weird that it was moving so quickly but I didn't really make any sort of connection."

Harry almost stumbled as the explanation continued. "You kept flinching away from me. Explain that."

"I was nervous," he muttered, an embarrassed blush on his face. "I wanted to ask you out for so long until you confessed that you were asking Zabini to go with you. I of course was relieved that you were interested in guys but afterwards, it sank in that you were going with someone else. I admit that I was short with you as I had expected that you would've been aware of my feelings and was doing this as a pseudo-rejection. It took everything in me not to strangle Zabini even though he assured me that he was not interested in you or any guys romantically. When I discovered what happened yesterday, Zabini was there when I cursed all of them within an inch of their life. He was the one who suggested that we should switch dates as he was interested in Daphne, who I planned on going with as a friend if I wasn't able to with you. He said that he had ordered the robes for me already and that he would take the ones that I was planning on wearing with Daphne."

It explained a lot but Harry still wasn't convinced even if his heart was fluttering at Tom's confession. "You started being affectionate with me again before you found out what your friends did."

Tom flushed which irked Harry's curiosity.

"What?"

He cleared his throat and responded, looking anywhere but at Harry. "After finally accepting that you were going with Zabini. I realised that maybe you were not aware of my feelings so I had planned on staging an accident for Zabini to be hospitalized for at least two weeks of which I would then swoop in and ask you out when he somehow discovered my plan and informed me that you more than likely liked me back and he would appreciate if I didn't try killing him due to jealousy. What happened afterwards, you could surely fill in the blanks."

And Harry did. By doing so, he began understanding Tom's actions now that said boy was filling in the gaps. 

He felt partly relieved and partly pissed because of what the Slytherins had done. 

They really went through all of this because Harry was a Half-blood. If they knew that he was a descendant of Godric Gryffindor would they start treating him like royalty as they did to Tom? 

He didn't care much either way as he wasn't looking for validation from anyone. 

And back to the matter at hand. Tom looked at him, a hopeful look in his eyes which had caused his stomach to clench in nervousness. 

It was now up to him to decide which direction he wanted them to go. 

After years and years of pining after Tom, regardless of the setback from the interfering Slytherins, he still found the decision rather hard to make. 

On one hard he wanted to press up against Tom and snog him within an inch of his life and on the other hand, he wanted to play things by the ear. 

There was no guarantee that if they got in a relationship, it would last. 

He had done his self-reflection and realised that he needed to gain more confidence in himself. 

To be able to move forward after thinking that he had been rejected would take some time as he still found it difficult to believe that Tom had been unaware all this time. 

Tom was way too intelligent to not have an idea what was happening. 

Was he too smart for his own good? Or was his ego that inflated that he never once thought that his followers/friends would manipulate. 

Harry couldn't decide what was worse but when push comes to shove, he would rather the truth be that Tom was so smart that he never expected such simple manipulations to be effective against him. 

"While I'm willing to move past this," he started slowly, maintaining eye contact with Tom to show him that he was serious. "I think that it would be best to take things slow after this and get to know each other in a romantic setting. But before that, let's enjoy the Ball without having any expectations on how we want the night to end. Let's live in the moment."

Tom had no choice but to agree if he wanted to start something with Harry. 

He knew his worth and even though he had harbored a crush on Tom for years, he wouldn't just rush in anything after the shit show he had almost found himself in. 

"Very well."

Harry smiled and held his hand out. 

"Let's dance, shall we?" 

To new beginnings after all.