With a giddy feeling rising in the pit of his stomache, Harry rounded the corner to where the entrance of the ballroom laid. He stopped abruptly, taking a deep breathe and looking down at his clothes to make sure everything was in place, then made his way into the room.
He caught his breath when he saw how much thought Louis had put into the date. The castle's windows were open, letting in a natural light. And instead of the cliche decorations, Louis had artfully created a center piece on a small table near one window— Icicles formed in a circle, all surrounding a beautiful snow flake that glimmered in the light.
Louis cares more than he lets on. Harry thought, smiling to himself like a blazing idiot.
"Like it?" A voice said, causing Harry to flinch and quickly turn around to where the voice came from.
"Oh, Louis!" Harry said, laughing to himself before continuing, "Yes, it's absolutely amazing. I can't believe you did all of this for me."
Louis' smile faltered for a moment, but grew once more as he took Harry's hand and led him over to the table, pulling out a chair for Harry and pushing it in once Harry was seated.
"No one has ever cattered to your needs before?" Louis questioned, a bit sad that Harry had never been treated to a nice dinner date in his life.
"Well i'm a servant, so it's my job to catter to everyone else. I suppose there's just never time to worry about me."
"That's a shame, everyone deserves someone to worry about them every now and then," Louis said, smiling at a waitor pouring Harry and himself some water.
"Until now, it's just been me and my sister. We've cared for each other as much as our jobs allowed us to, but we're only alotted so much time to ourselves— let alone to our family."
Louis was shocked. He had been so busy thinking about his own needs that he hadn't even thought about how hard it must've been for Harry and the other servants. Guilt ate him up inside, but he made a note to himself that he would change the extent of labor the servants did once he was king.
"You don't have any other family?" Louis asked, not being able to stop the insensitive question before it slipped out of his reckless mouth.
Harry was unfazed though, as he smiled and chuckled at Louis as he waited for a reaction, "Once upon a time, yes. My father used to be a soldier at the castle, and my mom was a servant. My father died in line of duty, we're still not sure what exactly happened, but he died protecting your family. He honored our family name, and we were so proud of him."
"I'm so sorry. And your mother, where is she?"
"She got cancer, and by the time we realized how sick she was, she was already dying and it was too late to do anything. My mother was a fighter, so much that she hid how sick she was. She didn't want to burrden us. Not that it would've mattered if we did know, because no sensible Doctor would've helped a sickly servant girl."
Harry grimaced, bitter. Louis' heart dropped as he realized how horrible the servants had it, yet they never complained one bit. He made another mental note to make sure the servants were better taken care of medically when he became king.
"I'm sorry, Haz. That's not okay, and I don't want you to ever think it is. I'll change all of that one day," Louis promised grabbing Harry's hand from across the table and squeezing it gingerly.
Harry smiled, then ripped his hand away from Louis quickly in shock. Louis was offended before he noticed the snow falling from the palm of Harry's hand, then he was just embarrassed.
"Oh my god, i'm so sorry! Fuck, i'm such an idiot."
"It's okay, Lou, i'm fine!" Harry assured him, taking his hand once more and soothing him, "It just startled me, is all."
"It's weird, either I have complete control over my powers around you, or none at all. You have a weird effect on me, Haz."
"You called me Haz again," Harry grinned from ear to ear.
"Did I? I didn't realize I was doing it. I can stop if you don't like it?" Louis rambled.
"No, I like it... it's our little secret, between you and me."
And Louis, for the first time in what seems like forever, laughed a real and happy laugh.
