The Enemy's Ball

16. Colors

Harry:

The day went by quickly, and before he knew it, Harry was already back in the common room. They hadn't started brewing the potion yet, only gathering the ingredients. Harry winced as he remembered the unfortunate dropping incident that had caused them to not be able to start brewing.

It was exactly as it sounded. Neville had dropped an ingredient bottle of some kind from the potion's store, and the vial had smashed on the floor. At first, nothing happened, but then the floor began to smoke purple. The purple smoke rose to the top of the ingredient store, and billowed out into the room in a giant purple cloud. Neville ran from the room and Snape instructed everyone to stand outside as he vanished the potion. But it was already too late, and the smoke had reached the top shelf, and it must have mixed with something else, because it caused an explosion big enough to make Seamus jealous.

The class had evacuated the classroom, but the damage was done. The combination of whatever Neville dropped and the things it mixed with in the store, had caused everyone's hair to change to a random color. Hermione's was dark purple, and Ron's was yellow. Harry laughed at his friends, and they weren't very happy about it. Ron proclaimed it was unfair that Harry's favorite color was dark red, because his hair had barely changed from its original black.

Then Harry noticed Draco trying to cover his own hair. But he was shoved by his classmates, and when he looked up again, Draco was gone. From there, the day had gone on without too many interruptions. Draco had showed up in the next class, and his hair was sky blue.

But that bugged Harry. Because when he had glanced at Draco during the accident, he could have sworn Draco's hair was forest green.

Draco:

Stupid Longbottom. That's the thought that occupied Draco's mind for most of the day. Well, that and the fact that Harry looked positively amazing with wine-colored hair. But he didn't really like the implications of that thought, so he focused on "Stupid Longbottom".

Somehow, Neville had managed to create an appearance altering potion, which caused whoever was exposed to it, to somehow change. This potion seemed to be a hair-color changer, which changed the wearer's, which in this case was the entire class, hair to their favorite color.

Draco realized all this when he smelled the mint in the air. At this point, he covered his hair and tried to escape.

No one needed to see that his favorite color matched Harry Potter's eyes.

And though he doubted that anyone other than Snape and him knew what the potion was, he didn't want to take that chance. So he placed a glamour on his hair, changing it to an almost unnoticeable shade of baby-blue.

The problem with this particular potion is that if not brewed properly, (which it obviously wasn't because Longbottom destroyed it), it couldn't be reversed. All the 8th year students, and Snape, whose hair had stayed black, Lucky, had to wait until the effects wore off. This was an even bigger issue for Draco because glamour spells only lasted a few hours before needing to be re-casted. And everytime one was cast, its magic would get weaker.

The potion was set to last two days. Which meant Draco needed to find another way to cover up his green hair.

So Draco spent the entire day cursing Longbottom's clumsiness, and trying to find a way to hide his hair. Now, all the eighth years were in the common room, admiring and making fun of each others' new hair. Draco rolled his eyes and went up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.

"Quiet down!" Hermione said over the buzz of the crowd, "I read up on this potion, it causes the wearer's hair to change to their favorite color." Draco froze, Great, now there's no chance of not hiding it. "And- it takes two days to wear off!"

The students had mixed reactions to that new information. Some seemed overjoyed, and others groaned their protests. Weasley was pulling on his hair, trying to get a good look at it. Draco snorted. His year-mates were honestly, all idiots. He rolled his eyes and continued up the stairs, smiling.

Harry:

Harry was standing next to Hermione when she explained the reason everyone's hair was different colors. His ears were still ringing from her shrill announcement. He looked around the room, seeing quite the array of colors. He laughed at Ron, who was trying to see his own hair.

"Tell me it's not bright yellow mate, please." Ron said desperately. Harry grinned and shrugged at him. Ron groaned, "Ever since first year, mate. That's why I wanted to change Scabbers... I look like a bloody hufflepuff." He moaned after catching a glance in the mirror. Harry snorted at him. "At least yours isn't that noticeable. 'Snot fair." Ron whined.

Harry just laughed some more. He looked in the mirror Ron was holding, and examined his own hair. Ron was sort of right, it wasn't obviously different, but Harry could see the red. He grinned and tried to find his other friends to see what colors they'd been tortured with. As his eyes swept the room, he caught a glimpse of pale blue.

"Ah. Ron- I'm gonna go now. I want to see my own hair in the mirror." Harry pushed through the crowd and ran up the stairs after Draco, not waiting for Ron's answer.

"But didn't you just look in...?" Ron asked to an empty space, holding the small mirror in his hand. Students swarmed into Harry's previous spot, all asking to use the mirror. "Alright! Form a line here people!" Ron shouted, "A galleon a glance."

Harry snickered. Ron was using that tiny mirror to his advantage. Though, as soon as the eighth years realized they could just go up to their dorms to see their hair, Ron would be in a pickle. But Harry didn't really care about that because he had arrived in front of his door and the noise had faded to a dull murmur in the background.

Harry walked into the room. "Hey-" Harry started. Draco grabbed something off the bed and pulled it over his head. Harry raised an eyebrow. Harry sat on the desk, crossing one leg over the other. "Any reason you're wearing my beanie?" Harry asked.

Draco turned pink, "It's not yours-" he pulled it off with one hand, revealing light blue hair. Harry didn't notice Draco holding his wand in the other. Harry grinned at him. Draco was indeed holding Harry's beanie. "It's... cold." Draco said.

Harry smiled at the obvious lie, but didn't push the issue. Draco set the hat on the bed and flopped onto it. Harry yawned. It was already late, and classes had been long and boring today. Draco yawned a few seconds later. Harry heard him mumble something about "contagious and tired." Harry grabbed some pajamas and went to the bathroom to shower. He was tired too.

When Harry left the bathroom, Draco was already asleep. He'd wrapped himself up in all the blankets. Harry frowned, maybe Draco wasn't lying? Maybe he had really just been cold? So he grabbed the item nearest him, which happened to be Harry's beanie? Harry shook his head, shrugging it off. Draco looked warm now, so it was fine.

Harry climbed into the bed, pulling some of the blankets from Draco's grasp. He flinched as the other boy rolled over. "Shh- shh." He whispered. Draco seemed to still be asleep. Harry faced away from him and tried to get to sleep. He couldn't, he felt bad for making fun of Draco earlier. The Slytherin probably was just cold. Now that Harry thought about it, Draco did always look cold. But maybe that was because of his pointiness.

Harry sighed and flipped over, grabbing the beanie that was on his nightstand. He faced Draco and inhaled sharply. Draco's face was mere centimeters away from Harry's. So close. Harry blinked and pulled his head back. It was not the time for those thoughts. He gently pressed his hands to Draco's chest, pushing him a couple inches away. They were still close enough for Harry to feel Draco's breath. He carefully slid the beanie over Draco's hair, which looked more teal than blue. Harry blamed it on the lighting.

He stared at the sleeping boy, and without thinking, brushed a strand of blue hair from Draco's porcelain skin. Harry relaxed into his pillow, deigning to turn away again. He withdrew his hand from Draco's face and stared at the sleeping Slytherin. He smiled softly, and lazily closed his eyes. Harry found that it was extremely easy, almost too easy really, to fall asleep when Draco Malfoy was lying beside him. 

Updated: February 19th, 2021