Two Houses (HarryxDraco)

Chapter 24

Ron plopped the leafy garland on his head and sighed as his miserable reflection stared back at him in the mirror.

"I stand corrected—this is worse than my robes for the Yule Ball," he declared mournfully.

"The costume isn't that bad," Harry offered kindly, scrutinising his own appearance in the mirror before giving his reflection a quick nod of approval. "I guarantee there'll be crazier costumes than yours out there tonight."

"I doubt that," Ron mumbled under his breath, tugging at the clingy velour material. He turned to inspect the obscenely large glittery wings that completed the look and grimaced. "Urgh, this costume doesn't even make sense! Hermione knows what fairies look like and it's nothing like this."

"Well, it is supposed to be a Muggle interpretation of fairies," Harry reminded him. "You'll get less grief if you just roll with it, mate."

Ron grumbled something incoherent in response before he squared his shoulders and turned to face Harry. "Alright, I can't think of any other way to improve this monstrosity. Let's make tracks and get this over with."

"Try not to get too excited about the party, Ron," Harry joked as they exited the boys' dormitory and made their way down the spiral staircase.

"Shut it or I'll transfigure your outfit to look like mine," Ron warned.

Harry chuckled but thought better than to continue winding up his best friend: he knew that Ron had been teased mercilessly from a young age for being too tall and gangly, his hand-me-down clothes, and flaming red hair. While he had grown into his looks over the years, his physical appearance had always been a sensitive topic of discussion and he still couldn't help but take people's opinions to heart.

Hermione, Ginny and Neville were waiting for them in the Gryffindor common room, already dressed in their costumes and ready to attend the evening's festivities. Harry thought Neville looked quite dashing in his medieval suit of armour, while Ginny—sporting a brown bomber jacket, tan trousers and aviator goggles—looked impossibly cool in her Amelia Earhart costume. The three friends stopped chatting and turned as Harry and Ron appeared at the doorway. Hermione gasped when she caught sight of Ron and hurried over to his side.

"Oh Ron, you look wonderful!" she beamed. Ron, however, looked less than convinced.

"You really think so?" he asked uncertainly.

"Oh yes, you look very regal with your crown. And quite handsome, if you don't mind me saying."

"I don't mind that at all," he grinned, looking instantly more relaxed than he had moments before. Hermione took a step back, extended her arms and turned on the spot.

"Well?" she inquired. "How do I look?"

Ron's eyes grew impossibly large as he took in the sight of his girlfriend. While she wore the same style of fairy wings and garland as he did, she had paired it with an elegant floor length dress of silver silk. Her normally wild brown hair was styled into soft ringlets with little flowers braided throughout (Luna's doing, Harry suspected), and her large, brown eyes were decorated with glitter eyeshadow.

"Wow Mione, you look really beautiful," he replied before quickly adding, "I mean, not that you don't always look beautiful..."

"Nice save, Ron," Ginny joked but Hermione looked pleased by the sincerity of the compliment nonetheless. She hooked hers and Ron's arms together and stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered before addressing her friends. "Shall we head down to the party?"

Ron walked arm in arm with Hermione out of Gryffindor Tower with his head held high. Clearly, it no longer mattered what anyone else thought of his costume so long as his girlfriend liked how he looked.