Through your black hair, my hands

Chapter 161- 169

161.

Hogwarts tied with Durmstrang in the first task with Beauxbatons in third place. Durmstrang held a mini-celebration banquet, inviting all the members of house Slytherin, even the ghosts, to attend, Richard prepared a bottle of Claret to express his gratitude to Harry, who almost ended up drunk. Gryffindor house was also particularly festive, the celebrations lasting all night with James in the thick of things, the focus of everyone's attention with a beaming Lily beside him, even though he tried to restrain himself from drinking too much he still got completely smashed.

"It's too bad that Karkaroff only gave you a 6, otherwise you would be in first place and not tied with Colson." Lily was leaning docilely in James' embrace as she sighed over this, a butterbeer in her hand. James performed perfectly on this occasion, his plan flawless, but the High Master of Durmstrang had shown blatant favoritism and robbed James of his position of first place.

Like Lily, James was unhappy with Karkaroff's scoring today, he had obviously performed better than Colson but because he was from Hogwarts Karkaroff had been unfair, Durmstrang truly had no good wizards. But at least on the surface, he had to pretend to not be upset, after all it was a joyous time and Lily should be happy and celebrating instead of upset over the unfair treatment he had received. "It doesn't matter Lily, it was only the first task right? There are two more tasks and I am confident that I'll be able to get ahead of Colson and win the Tournament. Don't you trust me?" He raised he brow and feigned an arrogant sneer.

Amused by his antics, Lily laughed and punched him in the shoulder, only hard enough to swat a fly. "Look at that sneer, it's disgusting." Then she turned solemn, "Of course I believe in you James, you're the best."

Their faces drew closer and their lips finally met. They had been going out for a year and the fiery and passionate James had often been unable to control himself, but Lily had always turned him down. With her muggle heritage she had often witnessed indiscriminate sexual liaisons between young men and women, drug abuse, despair and even degeneration, she didn't want to become like those people, at least while she was a student, she wanted to stay away from carnal engagements. When she arrived in Hogwarts, she found that the youth of the magical world were the same as those of the muggle world and she grew ever more vigilant, constantly warning herself that she could not be swept away by the tide of peer pressure, that she must uphold her own standard of chastity and propriety. James supported his girlfriend's decision but sometimes he also regretted it very much.

The Saturday after the completion of the first task, Voldemort announced the holding of a massive Yule Ball at a Slytherin house meeting, informing the students that they would need to be attired appropriately when they attend. The interest of the students was immediately ignited, they had attended balls before had even hosted them, but this was the Tri-wizard Tournament Ball and that had a whole other meaning.

After the students drifted away, Voldemort put his arm around Harry's shoulder and led him to their sofa. "Do you want a partner for the ball?" He asked.

Harry shook his head. He had no real interest in dancing and he was quite bad at it. "I suck at dancing, no girl would want to have me as a partner."

"If it was Sofina Marceau?" Voldemort asked evenly as he looked at the ceiling.

"I don't think it will happen, I think I have made my intentions clear." Harry watched Voldemort with some amusement over the man's continued ire over that girl's behavior.

"If she invites you, you must inform me." Voldemort did not dispute Harry's words, instead he reiterated his request, "No matter if you accept or not, you must tell me, it is my right."

Harry didn't know whether he should laugh or get upset, "Alright, alright, I will tell you." Although he did not believe for a moment that Sofina would invite him, in the past month he and Sofina had had almost no contact whatsoever.