"What? But— what?" Ron didn't seem to know how to react to that.
"He asked me, I said yes. Neville's nice." Her voice dared him to argue.
The portrait hole opened, and Hermione walked in, eyeing the scene with confusion. "Why weren't you two at dinner?"
"Things to do," Harry replied vaguely.
"Ron got turned down for the Yule Ball," Ginny piped up, a little more viciously than she would have before Ron said something about Neville.
"Oh? Eloise Midgeon starting to look a little more attractive, now?" Hermione asked icily. "All the good-looking ones taken? I'm sure you'll find someone, somewhere who'll have you."
Ron scowled. Then his face did a bizarre 180 of emotions, staring up at Hermione in hopeful realisation. "Hermione. You're a girl."
"Really? I hadn't noticed."
"Well, you can just come with me, problem solved." Ron continued as if she hadn't spoken to him. Hermione huffed. "Just because you didn't realise I'm a girl, doesn't mean no one else did. I already have a date." She was smiling the tiniest amount through her anger, and Harry eyed her in consideration. He had a sneaking suspicion who that might be; a suspicion that was all but confirmed when Hermione refused to tell Ron who it was.
"I need to find someone," Ron moaned desperately. Harry thought about it for a moment. Just about everyone he knew already had someone; Ron had left it a bit last-minute. If everyone in their year truly did have a date, that didn't leave many options.
"Hey, Ginny," he said eventually. "Did Luna stay for Christmas?" The blonde third year wasn't able to go unless one of the older students asked her. Harry hadn't spent much time with the Ravenclaw girl, but she seemed nice, if a little odd. Ginny liked her, which was enough for Harry.
Ginny pursed her lips. "She did, yeah. Said her dad's off in Hungary looking for… some sort of creature." She glanced down at her brother, then back up at Harry, starting to catch on. "Really?" She made a face. Harry shrugged.
"It'll get her to the ball." She didn't have to actually stay by Ron's side the whole time. Ron would get a date, Luna would get to come to the ball and hang out with Ginny, it was a win for everybody. Especially Harry, who wouldn't have to listen to Ron's griping about not being able to find anyone to go with for the rest of the holidays.
"I'll ask her," Ginny agreed with a sigh. "Only so that Luna gets to come too." Ginny looked like she'd be perfectly happy to see her brother go alone to the Yule Ball. Harry was honestly right there with her — especially with Ron's awful dress robes. But it would be nice for Luna to have fun.
"There you go, Ron," Hermione said, tone still a little cold. "Problem solved."
Ron didn't look thrilled about potentially taking Luna Lovegood to the Yule Ball, but he kept his mouth shut. It was the smartest decision he'd made all day.
.-.-.-. Luckily, Luna was happy to go with Ron to the ball, promising to owl her father to send her some dress robes before he left on his creature hunt. Ron was still sulking about it — Harry couldn't figure out if his problem was going with a third year, going with Luna specifically, or having had to be set up by his little sister just to get a date — but despite their tentative truce, Harry still didn't spend much time with the redheaded boy, so he didn't care.
The weekend before the ball was a Hogsmeade weekend, and Harry took the opportunity to go down and finish off his Christmas shopping. That was his hope, at least; he'd owl-ordered for most of his presents, but there were still a few people he hadn't found the perfect gift for yet. Draco being one of them.
The dilemma of what to get his boyfriend for Christmas was one that had been plaguing Harry for longer than they'd actually been dating. Even when they'd just been friends — and Harry had had a crush the size of Scotland — what did you get the boy whose parents could and would buy him anything he wanted?
He'd already thought of and then promptly discarded a dozen ideas. He wanted the present to mean something. He wanted it to be special. But what would be special to Draco Malfoy?
Harry was alone in the village, not wanting any of his friends to question who he was buying for, but there were crowds of Hogwarts students filling the streets. By the looks of it, Harry wasn't the only one who had left his shopping until the last second. Teenagers in various states of panic rushed past him, and Harry ducked into the nearest shop to avoid the press of people.
Draco wasn't the only person he had to buy for still. He still needed to get something for Susan to thank her for going to the ball with him, and… he wanted to buy something for Snape, too. He never thought he'd say that, but there he was. Snape was part of the family now, and Harry wanted to get him a Christmas present.
The shop he'd taken refuge in seemed to be a jewellery shop of some kind, and Harry looked around curiously. Draco might appreciate something shiny? Maybe? He shrugged helplessly to himself; it was worth a shot. Browsing the glass-fronted cases, Harry let his eyes trail over the pieces. Suddenly, his eyes landed on something. A small silver pendant of a curled up dragon, its body wrapped securely around a pale blue gemstone. His thoughts didn't turn to Draco; no, he was thinking of the boy's mother.
Perhaps it was cliché. Perhaps everyone gave Narcissa Malfoy dragon-related jewellery because of her son's name. But there was something about the necklace that just felt… right.
Harry glanced up at the middle-aged witch behind the register, offering a polite smile. "Excuse me? Could I take a closer look at this, please?"
If he was going to start ingratiating himself to the Malfoy matriarch, he'd better start early.
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