A knock on her bedroom door and Pansy left to go and greet someone else, who turned out to be Millicent Bulstrode. Harry tried not to cringe at the sight of the tall, broad, almost square-shaped girl being confined in a mandarin satin dress. He was sure that it would have looked lovely on absolutely anyone else. The dress did absolutely nothing to flatter her, it wasn't the right cut for her body shape and the colour was completely wrong for her skin tone, hair and eye colour. Whoever had chosen the dress for her, whether it was the seamstress, her parents, or Millicent herself, they really needed to put more thought into such things in the future. "What do you think?" Blaise leaned forward to whisper into his, Draco's, and Theo's ears. "Would you rather fuck her face-to-face in that dress, or suck off Dumbledore?"
The three of them all made disgusted noises and pulled faces and Draco pushed a laughing Blaise away.
"That is utterly foul." Draco insisted as Pansy and Millicent did the whole girl greeting at the opposite end of the large room.
"I know one thing for sure." Harry said, pausing to gain the guys' full attention. "I'd look better in that dress."
That set the four of them off laughing, loudly. He got a hand on the knee as Theo bent forward, trying to hold himself up. Draco flung an arm around his shoulders and Blaise punched his shoulder, his purple eyes wet with tears of mirth. Harry just laughed and revelled in the feeling of being accepted, despite the odd circumstances. He was the only Gryffindor here, after all.
The door knocked again before Pansy and Millicent could make it over and Pansy opened the door again to let in the lumbering forms of Crabbe and Goyle. The boys greeted Pansy and Millicent and then came right on over, the two girls following.
"Are we waiting for anyone else?" He asked curiously.
"No, the adults have started milling about downstairs, though." Pansy told him.
They spoke to one another, laughing and joking, Harry keeping mostly to Draco, Blaise, and Theo, but when he noticed something that didn't sit right with him, he nudged Draco and nodded to a totally excluded Astoria, who was staring at the group of older girls on her left in an imitation of being included in their conversation, despite all of their backs being turned to her. It must have been awful for her to be sitting on her own as everyone else formed groups around her, it was only because she was the youngest, he was sure.
"Astoria, I feel like a drink. Would you mind accompanying me down to the ballroom?" Draco stood to ask, offering her his hand.
The younger girl looked so pleased with the offer as she accepted Draco's hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet before she brushed the back of her dress down and agreed to accompany him. She slipped her arm through Draco's and they both left Pansy's bedroom to go down to the ballroom that would, by now, be filling up with the adults.
"I suppose that it's time to go down now." Pansy said as she stood and checked her reflection in her mirror before leading the way.
Harry walked with Theo and Blaise, laughing happily. At least until he reached the ballroom because it was nearly impossible to miss Xerxes, he was towering over everyone else and Harry knew, that if Xerxes was here, then so too were Rhadamanthus, Rodolphus, and Rabastan. He immediately turned and walked in the opposite direction.
"Are you okay?" Blaise asked him, turning with him to follow.
Harry smiled and nodded, trying to ignore the people staring at him.
"Yes, Draco went for a drink, so if he's anywhere, he's going to be at the drinks table."
"Good thinking. I saw you trying to play matchmaker." Blaise winked at him.
"I just thought that it was sad that Astoria would be excluded just because she's younger. She is Draco's betrothed after all. I just gave him a shove in the right direction. A shove that shouldn't have been needed as he should have taken the initiative and done it first, without any prompting, I might add. She's his betrothed, he should have noticed her needs before I did."
Blaise wrapped an arm around him and pulled him to the drinks table, where they found Draco and a very happy Astoria in a discussion about the latest home styles.
"Would you…would you allow me to decorate our home when we're married?" They arrived to overhear Astoria ask a little timidly.
"Of course." Draco replied amiably. "As long as I can have a personal study to my tastes." He compromised and Harry beamed at him for taking his advice and showing an interest in Astoria's interests.
"Oh Draco, thank you." Astoria gushed. "I'm thinking more and more that I want to do home decorations as well as robe and dressmaking."
"I think you'll be very successful with that." Harry told her, smiling as she spun around startled. "You obviously know how to put an outfit together, perhaps you could use Draco to trial your robe making skills."
Astoria's face lit up and she turned back to Draco shyly "Would you let me practice my robe making skills?"
"I don't see why not, but I have particular tastes and my colouring makes for very few combinations that don't look ridiculous."
"I would, of course, take in all of your opinions and wishes." Astoria said excitedly.
"You never know. I might be bringing my children to you in the future to get their robes." Harry teased.
"Is it true that you have the gene?" Astoria asked. "It's been so long since a boy has been born with the gene and I overheard what you said to Pansy."
Harry nodded. "Yes, I tested positive. It helps that I like men too." "I'm a man." Blaise said with a smirk.
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