Harmony Advent Prompts — The Yule Ball
Living Yule Truths
OoOoO
Once Harry and his companion arrived together at the designated waiting room for the champions, they braced themselves.
They knew the battle was about to begin. They stepped in tandem as an unified front.
Harry watched Professor McGonagall stepped over to them, with a look of pleased pride. “Oh, my. Two of my lions! Both of you look resplendent. Please take your places with the rest of the champions.”
Harry and his companion glanced wryly at each other.
Each wearing custom designer dress robes that fitted them perfectly. His companion cocked her head and smirked knowingly at Harry who simply nodded back, a sly grin of his own ghosting across his face.
A part of Harry would enjoy this. It was a long time coming.
“Actually, ma’am, as fetching as Ms Weasley looks this evening,” he paused for a beat to watch Ginny pink a bit with a coy smile. He smirked before returning his even gaze back to McGonagall. “I’m afraid that I must correct you. Our actual dates have requested that we await them here,” Harry patted Ginny’s hand, still lightly placed on his elbow. “I was merely playing at being her humble uncomely escort until they arrive and she can be presented properly to her chosen.” He cocked his head with a wry shrug, all while smiling pleasantly.
Ginny lightly slapped his shoulder. “Please, like you won’t break your chosen’s mind and blow her away once she arrives.”
Harry looked mock-aghast. “Ginny! You know I worked really hard on my attire this day and I had honestly believed my appearance to have barely reached almost adequate but why didn’t you tell me I still looked that bad, Ginny? I thought we were friends!”
Ginny covered her amused snort with one hand and slapped his shoulder again with the other. “Arse.”
McGonagall scrunched her face in utter confusion for a moment but refocused. “But-surely not. You are supposed to be each other’s dates, as I made to understand, Mr Potter. Ms Weasley. I will have you know that this is not the time for pranks, in spite of what either of your ignominious relations would say.”
Harry’s lips twitched. “While the infamous Marauders or their proudest successors, would vehemently and mischievously disagree with you, ma’am. I will say that this is no prank, Professor.” He looked McGonagall steadily in the eyes. “As I said, Ginny is not my date. My task was to escort Ginny here where we would both meet our dates who have yet to arrive.” He looked at his designer watch, a gift from Hermione. “Once that occurs, then we will proceed.”
McGonagall tried to glare Harry into submission, but he let it brush off like water. Her opinion had long lost its value to Harry anyway.
McGonagall bristled at his apparent unwillingness to capitulate. “Mr Potter. This- this behavior is outrageous. You are a champion and we have been waiting long enough. And we both know your date is Ms Weasley. I will have you know that I’ve been given assurances—”
Harry scoffed, then raised a hand, his audacity causing the room to collectively gasp. His prior air of amusement was gone, replaced by a palpable sense of righteous intensity. “Please, ma’am, allow me to stop you right there, ma’am, before you only dig yourself a deeper ditch.”
At McGonagall’s shocked recoiling, Harry cocked his head. “Now, I am well aware of what assurances you’ve likely been given. I am also well aware of whom it was that likely gave them to you. I am also well aware of the actual validity and significance of that— that man’s… assurances. The assumptions he frequently makes, often based on pretentious presumptions, while even lacking the courtesy and dignity of a simple confirmation.”
Harry allowed the statement to linger while he studied McGonagall’s face as it went through a veritable kaleidoscopic of colors.
Harry leaned forward. “So let me make you aware of this: if that man’s assurances actual held the value he and his ilk purport that it does, then I would’ve had the childhood my dead parents would’ve wanted for me. I did not, of course. Not that you would know anything about that, ma’am. After all, I wouldn’t want to make any unfounded assumptions. That would make me foolish, after all.”
Harry watched McGonagall carefully, he could see she had a myriad of emotions jockeying for position on her face. The important thing was that her anger at his implied disrespect for Dumbledore had been subsumed by her shame in her part in his disastrous upbringing. Good.
“Well said, Harry.”
At the sound of Hermione’s voice behind him filled with proudly affirming affection, Harry’s cold ire simply flowed out of him like low tide. He grinned, then turned toward her, only to be struck speechless.
Harry swallowed.
He had no words.
Hermione was sparklingly dressed in periwinkle perfection, from her sparkling shoes and gorgeous gown all the way to her matched jewelry, including necklace, earrings and tiara straight from his family vaults.
She looked like a witch princess from a fairytale kingdom just passing through on her way to somewhere so much greater.
He was simply in awe.
He barely felt Ginny next to him, nudging him with her elbow, but he still could only stare at Hermione, eyes wide, mouth agape. He saw her face pink, but he could say nothing.
He barely remembered to breathe.
A second, harder bump jarred him enough to reinvigorate him. “Dreaming…” Harry stumbled forward toward her, before catching himself. He flushed, as everyone just looked him oddly.
Hermione’s eyes filled with concern. “Harry?”
Harry flushed scarlet but straightened. He looked directly at her, and just smiled softly. “I meant, you look just like a dream. My favorite kind. The best kind. The kind that I’d never thought would ever, could ever, see come true.”
Hermione’s eyes misted. “Oh. You. Just… Too much.” She then kissed him adoringly, with such tender promise that it stole his breath from him.
Again.
She pulled him close in a loving embrace; he felt her breathe into his ear. “Thank you, Harry.” She pulled back to look at Harry in full. “You look so very dashing yourself, by the way.”
He just pulled her in close and hugged her tighter in return, lightly caressing her exposed back, letting his actions speak. When the moment ended, he pulled back briefly, cradled her face in his hands. Harry simply looked Hermione in her eyes and gently kissed her for a long moment, before leaning his forehead against hers, slowly breathing her in, as she did the same.
Just outside of his awareness, Harry only barely noticed Daphne as she walked past him. “Good boy. Very good.”
He saw Daphne gliding toward Viktor, who greeted her with a gentlemanly nod and a pleased smile.
Harry was glad to see that friendship was going strong as well.
He also heard Luna walk over to Ginny with a bright grin on their face. “I was going to say you look like a yummy pudding, but a dreamy pudding seems more apt now, yes?”
Ginny reddened. “Luna!” She kissed them sweetly anyway.
With that, all of them broke out in a fit of giggles.
When they recovered, Harry finally had the wherewithal to greet his arriving friends properly. He paused to take in the other two.
Daphne Greengrass was beautiful as expected in her classic attire, the epitome of a pureblood princess. She’d been a real friend over the last several weeks, beginning with her offer to immediately support him regarding the tournament.
Harry was glad he had agreed to her offer to arrange for the bespoke tailor as well.
This was their coming out party, after all.
Harry smiled warmly at her. “Exquisite as usual, Daphne.”
Her amicable returned smile was genuine. “Why, thank you Harry. Hair aside, I’d say the same of you.”
He chortled in spite of himself. “Well, sleek easy can only do so much, right?”
At her amicable giggle, Harry turned and gave fraternal nod toward Victor, who understood the unspoken message.
Viktor would be on his best behavior, not that Harry had expected otherwise. Or else he and Hermione wouldn’t have set them up in the first place.
Harry turned to Luna and sighed with an amused grin. He could only shake his head. “Well, well… if it isn’t Lovegood, Luna Lovegood.” Harry’s sorry attempt at a Connery impression made Hermione chuckle and was surprised to hear Viktor and Daphne as well. “Your Muggle tuxedo is quite suave and debonair, the perfect fantasy groom you said you had wished to be.”
Luna had the nerve to curtsy quite demurely, despite wearing an outfit that wouldn’t been out of place on James Bond. “Why thank you, my Lord Harry.”
Harry rolled his eyes, ignoring McGonagall’s gasp at his title, and snorted at Luna. “I can also see why you asked to borrow my extra frames the other day.”
Luna smiled with wide eyed innocence that fooled no one while they played with the pair of glasses. “Well, I did playact as you when we were children, quite often in fact. Why, I must have married Ginny hundreds of times, just over and over and over-…” a gaping Ginny tried to kiss Luna quiet with a face as red as her hair.
Harry wasn’t faring much better. Their friends were having quite a bellyaching laugh at both of their expenses though.
He could admit that seeing an utterly flabbergasted McGonagall almost made it all worthwhile.
Almost.
Especially since Ginny’s desperate ploy didn’t work, because as soon as their sweet kiss broke Luna just continued as if they hadn’t been interrupted at all. “-Over and over and over. So, I have your story to thank Harry, for helping us get to where we are today.” Then Luna had the nerve to just beam at both Harry and Ginny, looking like their namesake breaking out from behind some clouds at midnight.
Harry could only facepalm with both hands. A certain sound told him Ginny wasn’t far behind him, though he could still hear her muffled whining of Luna’s name, which Luna regarded with a proud smirk. “Yes, dearest.”
“Nothing… just- nothing.”
“Yes, dearest.”
Harry shook his head and looked at Hermione, who wore the same amused look he knew he had. He just smiled at her. “Hello, gorgeous.”
Hermione looked at him, looked away and blushed. Then returned.her eyes to him once more and grinned with her whole heart. “Hello, handsome.”
“Ms Granger? I. This. You are Mr Potter’s date? But —?”
Harry felt Hermione sigh against him. “Yes, Professor. We kept it a secret for a variety of reasons, especially once we found out some things.”
“What things might those be?”
Harry turned to look at McGonagall then, firmly holding Hermione’s hand in his. “The kind where certain crooked nose busybodies have massively overstepped and taken liberties they had no right to take. So there were somethings that needed to be put back right. Now they are. Now we are free to be truest selves. To live how wish and love how we wish. No matter what meddlers might believe or what utterly worthless betrothals they might have penned or how that type of fraud might be penalized.”
He saw McGonagall paling, she understood his implication. Good. Not like he was being very subtle anyway. “And by we...” He turned his face to overtly glance towards Luna and Ginny who beamed back while holding each other tighter. “I do mean all of us.”
Hermione nodded emphatically and beamed at him with a pride that warmed his heart and invigorated his soul.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see that McGonagall had finally recovered enough to potentially challenge them again. So he prepared his second salvo for the evening.
Reaching into his inner pocket, he handed an ornate piece of parchment to McGonagall, Hermione watching the proceeding steadily, ready to back him as needed. Her hand was in his, firm and resolute.
The knowledge both settled and inspired him.
“What is this, Mr Potter?”
Harry gestured with his unaccompanied hand. “That is how we will be officially introduced for tonight’s events.” Harry paused as he noticed Luna and Ginny forming up in support, with Daphne subtly leading Victor over as well. Their backing warmed him further.
It was good to have real friends.
Harry watched the moment when the full significance of what was written had crashed down on McGonagall. “What- what is the meaning- you — too young- how did- this cannot- what?!”
Harry glanced at Hermione briefly with a smirk ghosting across his expression before looking back toward the Deputy Headmistress.
He did see Hermione’s rueful head shake with the slightest of smiles on her own face. “To put it simply: being forcibly coerced by legitimate authorities into competing in a deadly competition expressly restricted to adult magicals does have ramifications that create opportunities. This is one of those.”
Harry watched McGonagall flounder for a bit while trying to absorb more of his accusatory subtexts before feeling Hermione squeezing his hand once more, suggesting he put her out of her misery. He sighed. “Look, Professor. It’s done. We both know who’s crooked nose is going to be bent out of shape about it, but it’s already over.”
Harry watched McGonagall struggling to rally. “He is still the Headmaster as well as your magical guardian.”
Harry shook his head with confidence while gesturing at the parchment in her hand. “Dumbledore no longer has legitimate authority over me anymore outside of school, and even that is also over since the Goblet functionally expelled me.”
Harry heard Cedric, Cho and Fleur gasp at this. He looked over and saw their array of flabbergasted faces. He’d honestly forgot that they weren’t read in on this whole thing before hand, the show must have blown their minds.
Harry turned back to McGonagall and raised an eyebrow when he heard Hermione loudly snort, the sound of which caused McGonagall to stare at her incredulously.
Hermione’s follow up scoff echoed about the room. “Not like that man ever did, or even once used that authority to actually help Harry over the last few years. Or any of us, for that matter.”
Harry nodded toward the paper once more. “That thing about my current Hogwarts standing also applies to all under my aegis, by the way.”
McGonagall, demonstrably discombobulated by Harry’s cutting remarks backed by Hermione’s acerbic tone, struggled to find her footing on surer ground. “We can resolve this at a later time. But you and your party have delayed us long enough.” Feeling more sure, McGonagall turned toward Luna. “And you, Ms Lovegood, even if you are under Mr Potter’s auspices, your attire is not even remotely appropriate. I must demand—.”
“Please allow me to stop you there, Professor. First it is Mx Lovegood. Since I am embracing that I am truly neither Ms nor Mr, my proper and preferred form of address would be to call me a Mx, yes.”
McGonagall was thrown off once again, and definitely wrong footed. “Say what again?”
Luna’s smile widened. “Oh yes. Hermione introduced me to this wonderfully inclusive idea.” They looked at Hermione who smiled back proudly. “I’ve decided to stop limiting myself, especially to myself. I am a Mx, thus is both the sum of me, yet only just the beginning.” Luna raised their head and grinned beatifically at McGonagall.
Harry could only subtly cover his smirk as he enjoyed watching Professor McGonagall’s stunned face. To Harry, she seemed to resemble a gobsmacked version of her animagus form, one who had just discovered that her breakfast plate had been laced with catnip soaked in Fire whiskey.
Harry snorted as she attempted to reboot her brain a couple of times by shaking her head, trying to reconcile what Harry had come to affectionately think of as a ‘Luna moment.’ This one, though, was a classic.
“Well I say, ms— I mean — Mx— I — whatever do you — I — ”
“It’s okay, Professor. I know it can be quite an adjustment. Sometimes, a perfect portrait might have some blurred lines yet still be genuinely true, nonetheless. Our dear Hermione helped me there as well. She told me about all these wondrous creatures who fluidly shift their identities to significant degrees to all live their own truths, as it were, as they feel it to be.
“For example,” Luna’s voice in that reminded him so much of Hermione’s lecture speak that Harry did a double take. “Did you know that muggles have discovered that an aquatic species known as the Clownfish are a matriarchal society where if there happens to be a lack of a female for a given time, a male will then spontaneously switch genders to become female in order to assume power and maintain order for the good of the group, and no one even bats an eye?”
Harry could see Hermione’s blushed preening. He could only shake his head with a wry smile. How he adored the both of them.
McGonagall could only goggle at Luna, who nodded back emphatically, seeming to intentionally misread McGonagall’s expression. “I know, right?” Luna’s face shined with excitement. “That doesn’t even mention the curious case of the Welsh Dragon. Did you know that they sometimes have a penis and sometimes don’t? Truly, it all depends on how they wish to present themselves on a given day, but a dragon they always remain. We’ve covered ourselves the phenomenon in the Quibbler, though the Ministry was still skeptical despite our thoroughly documented evidence.” Harry fought back a smile at Luna’s disgruntled expression juxtaposed against the gobsmacked look on McGonagall’s face.
Luna shook it off quickly, they were so excited to share they actually started bouncing in place. “Though Hermione informs me that the same issue has become somewhat of a thing in Muggle media of late. Something regarding heraldry I believe.”
Luna looks at Hermione, whose amused nod affirmed the statement. Luna turned back to McGonagall. “Yes, it was accurate depictions in terms of heraldry.”
Hermione’s lips twitched. “It’s an absolutely fascinating story, Professor. Truly.” Harry could see Hermione was thoroughly enjoyed herself, barely tamping down on a canary eating grin.
Luna turned toward Hermione with an eerily similar expression before looking back at McGonagall. “That’s not to mention my Lord Harry’s newly reconciled dear cousin whom I believe was a favorite pupil of yours even though they were sorted into Hufflepuff?”
Harry watched McGonagall as the penny inevitably dropped. “Oh. Oh you mean Ms Tonks, yes?”
Luna nodded back. “Yes, I’m referring to Tonks, though they also prefer to use Mx as well, for similar reasons as I. Though Tonks and the Welsh Dragons can express all aspects of themselves much more fully than I ever could, given their natural powers and all. Mores the pity, that.” Luna shrugged. “Still, I am still me, and I am most happy to be.”
McGonagall shook her head clear, trying to adjust to a world that must seem as if it were changing far too quickly for her tastes.
Harry looked at McGonagall as she was on the ropes, struggling to rally. His stare filled with such boldly audacious resolve. “The fact of the matter is that you can choose to live your own truth or you can let yourself die in someone else’s lie.” He paused, demonstrably clasping Hermione’s hand in one hand while caressing her cheek with the other. “This is my truth. Our truth” He enjoyed Hermione’s lovingly proud smile before he gestured to Luna and Ginny. “That is theirs. And I am so very proud to just— just to be here and bare witness, to affirm them however I can whenever they need me and just— just be part of them claiming their truth for themselves.”
Harry beamed at them, enjoying their touched heartfelt expressions, broadcasting his pride and joy for all to see.
Luna moved, rushing to hug him tightly, burying their head in his shoulder. Ginny followed, sandwiching Luna between them. Luna and Ginny looked at one another then back at him. “We love you big brother.” Their soft whisper still carried perfectly loud and clear.
Harry hugged them both closely, followed by Hermione who grabbed them up in her trademark, with Daphne closing in at the end to complete the giant group hug.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
After, McGonagall took a long breath and just stared at all of them as if seeing them for the very first time.
She blinked several times, looked away then looked up, narrowed her eyes, before blinking again.
She sighed. Then looked at Harry with a bittersweet forlorn expression that it took Harry aback.
McGonagall shook her head. “You look so much like your father that I am guilty of overlooking just how much your mother’s son you truly are. Until moments like this make it clear.”
Harry tilted his eyes and blinked. “Ma’am?”
“You win, Mr Potter, son of Lily. You win.”
Harry looked at Hermione, glanced back at their friends and allies, then looked back at McGonagall.
“No, ma’am. We win. That’s what tonight is about.”
OoOoO
Some time later, they waited their turn to be announced. Victor and Daphne were just ahead of them. Harry felt slightly anxious, not unlike his pregame jitters from first year.
Hermione looked at him then. “Nervous?”
Harry looked at her, he raised a hand and waggled it slightly. “Kinda,”
Hermione nodded. “More than sneaking off to see my parents?”
Harry’s eyea furrowed. “Now that you mention it…”
Hermione tilted her head and raised a brow.
“Well, there was a bunch of nerves then. Worried about getting there, worried about not screwing up.” He shrugged helplessly.
“So what are you worried about now?”
“That officially announcing it makes you a target.”
“I was already a target, Harry. And you know that. All announcing it like this accomplishes is that it just lets everyone know that this particular target is no longer an easy mark and that she has far more teeth with much sharper claws then expected.” She looked over her shoulder at Luna and Ginny. “Not too mention backup.”
“Here here.” He heard Ginny and Luna affirm Hermione’s declaration.
“Ah, stronger together, like you always say. You know, you’re right.”
“Of course I am.”
“Yes, dear.”
“Don’t start.”
“Yes, dear.”
“Ooohhh. Harry James—”
Then he leaned over and kissed her sweetly for a long moment. He pulled back to look her in her slowly reopening eyes. She leaned forward to breathe him in, before giving a sensual little shudder, her face delightfully flushed.
Her eyes narrowed playfully. “You know, that won’t always work.”
He smiled. “Guess I need more practice, then.” Then he stole another kiss once more, just before the spotlight shined down on all four of them.
Harry only had eyes for Hermione though.
In the background, he heard McGonagall’s voice.
“Now presenting, Lord Harry James Potter-Black, escorting his betrothed, Lady Presumptive Hermione Dagworth-Granger, attended by their House Potter-Black protectees, Miss Ginerva Weasley and - and Mx Luna Lovegood.”
They all grinned at one another.
Harry winked. “Show time”
The silence when they stepped out was spun gold.