Windows of the Soul

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: This story ignores HBP and DH; it starts the beginning of the summer before Harry’s seventh year. Thank you to my beta Sometimeselkie for all her hard work.

Chapter 22 – New Years Eve Surprises

New Years Eve came along bright and early. All of the fifth, sixth and seventh years had returned to school the day before.

Pansy, Hermione, Hannah, Susan, Ginny and Luna had moved all their outfits into Elli’s rooms, as they had decided to get ready in there with her.

Harry, Draco, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Blaise, Dean, Theo and Justin had put all their things in the Room of Requirements, which had changed into a large room with ten beds dotted around the place.

Harry and Draco had decided to go together, but they were also taking Elli too as she hadn’t got a date.

Neville finally plucked up his Gryffindor courage and asked his secret crush out, even though Elli was the only one to know who the lucky guy was.

It was a group decision that they would all meet their dates outside the Great Hall. With everyone wearing the magical masks, it would be very difficult to find your partner, as the masks change the wearer’s eye and hair colour. The boys had each bought their dates a gift that they would recognise.

The closer the ball got, the more nervous Harry got. Draco had once mentioned that he loved to dance, and as Harry was terrible at it, he had asked Neville and Professor McGonagall to help him learn. Neville was happy to help, whilst the Professor was surprised but also happy that Harry wanted to improve himself. Draco had no clue; Harry wanted to surprise him at the ball.


Remus smiled as he watched Severus walk up the stairs from the dungeons. He couldn’t wait to see everyone’s reactions when they saw them both. Severus looked over at Remus and smirked when he saw his husband’s face as they made their way to the Entrance Hall.

In the Entrance Hall outside the Great Hall there were many students waiting for friends or their dates for the evening. Severus spotted a large group of boys who he deduced were his sons and their friends who were waiting for the friends.

Remus took a deep breath and smiled as he smelled his son. Taking Severus’s hand he led him over to the group and stood behind a youth with blonde hair wearing black dress robes which were trimmed in silver. His mask was black with silver swirls, and Severus could see that his eyes were the palest blue - they were almost white. Remus put his hands on his son’s shoulders.

Sev smiled as he watched Harry lean back against his husband and relax. He started to quietly chuckle as the boy who stood at Remus’s side took Harry’s hand and gently pulled him towards him. This boy had black hair with black eyes, and if Severus didn’t know any better, he could have called him his son. He also wore black dress robes, but his was trimmed in gold and he carried himself differently from the others, Severus knew that this was his godson, Draco.

The boys had all been given masks too; even though theirs had all been black, each had a slightly different design on it. They had all decided to wear normal black standard dress robes, with each trimmed in a different colour: bronze, red, purple, green and yellow.

Harry felt rather than saw when his father’s arrived. He turned and felt his jaw drop as he took in his father’s appearance. Severus, or who he thought was Severus ,stood at the side of Draco was wearing a black mask and had brown hair, blue eyes, but was the most surprising was he was wearing deep burgundy robes which were trimmed in gold. Harry turned and took in his dad. He was also wearing a black mask and he had blonde hair and deep blue eyes and he was wearing deep green robes with silver trim. Harry couldn’t believe that they were wearing the others house colours, looking over at Draco; he saw that his fiancé was stunned, too.

Seamus coughed and everyone looked over at him. He had gone a lovely shade of red and his mouth was hanging open, Harry started to laugh until he looked in the direction of Seamus’s eyes and then his jaw fell open at the sight coming down the main stairs.

There were six girls coming down the stairs in dresses of various colours and styles, but they were all showing a lot of skin.

Remus felt his wolf becoming quite agitated over the thought that one of these girls was his daughter. Severus scowled at the young women coming towards their group; he would definitely be having a serious talk with Andromeda and Molly later.

Draco smiled as he saw one of the girls hanging at the back; she was wearing a pale green mask with an emerald in the centre of it. Her dress was the same colour, and so long it was trailing on the floor, had halter neck straps and the front was very low with four thin strips holding the dress together over her breasts, showing a large amount of cleavage. Her hair fell in blonde ringlets around her face, and Draco could just see her eyes, which were green. He knew it was Elli as she was carefully making her way down the stairs as the others were walking quickly towards the boys. Draco left his fiancé and walked towards her.

“Hello, beautiful lady. May I escort you into the ball?” Standing in front of her, he smiled as he saw her face break into a grin.

“Well, I don’t know, kind sir. Do I know you? My parents always told me not to speak to strangers,” she replied with a laugh in her voice.

Draco jumped as he felt a hand on his back. “He might be strange, but he’s no stranger.” He turned and smacked Harry as he heard Elli laugh.

Harry kissed Draco’s cheek and took one of Elli’s hands. “May we both escort you in?” Elli smiled and held her other hand out, which Draco took and with a boy at each side, they guided her towards the group standing at the doors waiting for them.

The girls were smiling at the boys’ expressions as they walked closer.

Pansy was very nervous as she had never worn anything as revealing as this before. Her dress was midnight blue, and the top was almost a bikini top attached on to the skirt by four strips of fabric. it was covered in shiny sapphires all over, matching her mask. Her hair had been turned auburn and she had deep blue eyes. She spotted her date as he had told her he would be wearing green trim. She smiled as she saw he had his mouth open and was gaping at her as she walked up to him. This was the only time that they could be together as she was a Slytherin and he a Gryffindor; she mentally thanked the headmaster for the masked ball.

Neville put his hand under Seamus’s chin and pushed his mouth shut. As Pansy came up to them he grabbed Seamus’s hand and placed it in Pansy’s. He smiled at Pansy. “Don’t worry; he’ll be back to normal in a little while. You look wonderful.” With that, he left the couple to walk over to his date, who was gaping at his best friend.

Ron could not believe Hermione. She was wearing hardly anything. He went over to tell her, but he stopped suddenly when he saw the look in her eyes. The colour might be different, blue now instead of brown, but the look was the same and Ron might be dense in some areas, but he knew not to push Hermione when she was wearing that look. He had to admit that she was looking fantastic; if only there was a bit more of the dress. It was spaghetti strapped, backless dress with the top decorated as a butterfly with lace-covered pieces cut-outs at the waist. The skirt carried on the butterfly design with a slit up the front. It was in magenta as was her mask, which also had a ruby in the centre, and her hair was jet black with red streaks running down it. It had also been made curly not frizzy and fell lightly around her face. Hermione smiled as her date bowed before her and took her hand and waited for the others without a word between them.

Luna laughed as Justin stood in front of her and offered his arm. They were not together, as they both liked someone who had already left school; they had decided to go together so as not to be alone. Justin looked over at Luna and smiled. There was no way that her crush was going to be able to resist her. Her mask was lilac and had an amethyst in the centre and her dress was a Grecian design in pale lilac, which just reached her ankles. It was sleeveless, with thick shoulder straps and, an outer dress in a slightly darker lilac than the slightly shorter inner dress. It was very demure, but totally Luna and she looked stunning with her long hair turned black and put up with tendrils of hair escaping around her face. She was wearing a small baby beetroot as a necklace, typically Luna. Her man would be caught tonight. Justin sighed as he knew that he didn’t stand a chance with his, but he could always hope. He smiled sadly as he felt Luna squeeze his arm in understanding.

Dean held Ginny’s hand and grimaced inwardly. It wasn’t that Ginny didn’t look good, but he hadn’t seen her since just before school finished and he had realised over the holidays that she wasn’t the one he wanted to be with, but didn’t know how to finish with her without hurting her. He looked over at her. She was wearing a cream sari that she had picked up in India on holiday with the Patil twins and she really did look good, but she wasn’t for him anymore.

Blaise was meeting his boyfriend at the ball, as his boyfriend was one of the chaperones, so he didn’t need a date.

Ron and Neville stood together holding hands as Neville had finally plucked up courage to ask Ron out. Ron nudged Neville and lent close to him. “Nev, look.” He pointed over to where Hannah and Susan were standing together. “Do you know if they have dates, or are going together?”

Neville shook his head, and his eyes widened when Ron asked, “Would you be upset if we asked them to walk in with us?”

Neville smiled at his boyfriend (he could not get over that). “No. I don’t mind, Ron. Shall we go and ask them then?”

Kissing Ron lightly on his lips, he took his hand and walked over to the two girls.

The two girls looked at the boys approaching, smiling as they saw that the boys were still holding hands.

Neville nodded at the girls. “Hello, Susan, Hannah. We thought that we would come over and see if you both had dates for tonight. If you hadn’t, then we would offer our services.”

Susan looked at Hannah, who nodded at her. Susan cleared her throat and looked at the boys whilst reaching over and holding Hannah’s hand. She was very nervous. They had both talked about coming out for the ball, but she was still scared. “That’s a lovely idea, thank you, but we both have decided to go with our girlfriends.”

Ron’s eyes bulged as he saw the joined hands, whilst Neville rubbed his boyfriends back with his other hand. “Congratulations. You two make a lovely couple. Have a great evening.” With that, he manoeuvred Ron towards Harry, Draco, Elli, Remus and Severus.

As they approached the family they picked up some of the things Remus was saying to Elli. “...showing too much skin...should go and change...how could they pick something like this...will talk to her later.” Elli just stood and let her Papa rant. When he was finished, she smiled at him. “Now that you have finished, shall we go in?” With that, the two boys on either side of her led the group into the Great Hall, leaving an amused Severus dealing with a stunned Remus.

The Great Hall was decorated with holly and ivy and it had a large Christmas tree in one corner. The house tables had been removed and smaller round tables had been placed in their stead around the Hall. One side of the Hall had food and drink tables set. There were quite a few students already there, but there came a deathly quiet as the group entered the Hall and walked towards a group of tables near the corner, ignoring everything. The girls sat down and the boys went to get them drinks.

Elli felt her wrist heat up; she carefully ran her fingers over her bracelet and read the message there. No one else could see the bracelet, as Zaytche had placed glamour on it to keep it hidden. Elli carefully stood up and waited for a few seconds until she could hear Neville’s voice coming closer. When he got back to the table, Elli held her hand out. “Nev, can I have a minute please?”

Neville looked at Elli and he saw that she had been rubbing her wrist where he knew she wore her bracelet. He leaned over to Ron. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes, love.” Ron looked at Elli, then Neville, and nodded. Neville took Elli’s hand and they left the Hall. Neville stopped in the hallway. “Where does he want to meet?”

Elli clicked her gift on and looked at Neville. “His message said to meet him outside the main entrance,” She said with a puzzled expression on her face. Neville had an equally puzzled look on his face.

“I hope he has a good plan for not being recognized, otherwise he could be either caught for being a Death Eater or exposed as a spy.”

Elli sighed, “So do I.” Neville walked her out of the main doors and they stood a little way away from the doors, but within shouting distance. Nev looked at Elli. “Do you want me to stay until he turns up?” Elli shook her head. “No, that’s okay Nev. You go back to Ron and enjoy yourself, I’ll be in soon.”
Neville sighed and kissed her cheek. “Scream if you need me.” And with that, he turned and went back inside.

Elli turned around. “You can come out now. He’s gone.”

There was a swish of a cape and then a chuckle, “How long did you know that I was there?”

She smiled as he leant down and kissed her gently on the lips. “The moment we stepped out of the castle, I felt you.”

He chuckled again and gently grasped her shoulders and moved her further into the light to get a better look at her outfit. He frowned as he took in her dress. She smiled as she saw his outfit. He didn’t realise that she had her gift on as the mask changed her eye colour. He was wearing black robes, but they were trimmed with Hufflepuff yellow and his hair was black and his eyes - she felt a tear slip from her eye when she realised his eyes were the exact colour hers were usually, amber brown.

Zaytche looked at his lover. He couldn’t understand how he had never seen that she was this beautiful, and oh he knew that she was beautiful, but seeing her like this made him realise she was extraordinarily beautiful. Even though she looked fantastic she also looked young, and with that, the green hand of jealousy gripped his heart. His fingers started to bite into her shoulders as he started to imagine all the boys drooling over his...HIS Elli.

Elli started to struggle in his grasp as she saw his eyes harden and felt his fingers dig into her shoulders. “Oh, you’re hurting me. Zaytche, what have I done wrong to make you so upset?”

Zaytche looked down at Elli. He had to take a deep breath and unclench his fingers, and he saw that her skin had already started to bruise underneath his fingers. He let her go abruptly, and she staggered back with a surprised look on her face. Zaytche suddenly pulled her towards his chest and she could hear him whispering his apologies and his love. She slipped her arms around him and pulled him closer to her, and they stood like that as the music played in the Great Hall. Neville put his wand back in his cloak and slipped back to his boyfriend.

The music had started in the Great Hall and Draco looked over at Harry, who was trying not to look out of place as couples started to get up on the dance floor. Albus and Minerva were one of the first couples to dance; even Remus and Severus were dancing together. Draco knew that Harry hated dancing; he had been at the Yule ball and had seen Harry’s pitiful dance.

As Albus spun Minerva round past Harry she smiled her encouragement at her adopted grandson, who seemed to take a deep breath and grab some of that Gryffindor courage and walked up to his fiancé.

Harry stood in front of Draco who was looking at him with a puzzled look on his face; Harry held his hand out. “Will you do me the honour of joining me for this dance?”

Draco stared at Harry. “You don’t have to do this. I know you hate dancing.”

Harry nodded. “Yes I do, but you don’t.” With that, he took Draco’s hand and pulled his resisting body on to the dance floor. He put his arms round his fiancé, taking one hand in his and placing the other on Draco’s hip and when the music played he started to dance with Draco. Harry smiled as all the dance lessons with Neville and Minerva paid off, moving closer to Draco and laying his head on Draco’s shoulder as they danced.

Harry smiled as he felt Draco kiss his head and whisper, “I love you.”

Harry replied, “Love you too.”

Ron grinned at how happy both of his best friends were. Hermione was laughing as she was swung around the dance floor by Theo Nott (another bloody Slytherin), and Harry was dancing nearly in the same space as Draco, they were dancing so close.

He jumped as he felt a pair of arms go round his waist, but settled when he heard Neville’s husky, “Hello, gorgeous.”

Ron leant back. “Hello yourself.”

Neville had only asked Ron out two days before, but it felt to both the boys that they had been together forever. Maybe it was fate or karma - maybe there was something in the myth of soul mates. Ron didn’t care. He only knew that he wanted Neville. The two boys stood holding each other, watching their friends dancing and enjoying themselves.

Pansy was dancing with Seamus. Ginny was at the drinks table, trying to convince her father to let her try the punch, but with no apparent success, whilst Dean seemed to be dancing with...Ron looked closer, he wasn’t too sure of who that was. He looked up at Neville. “Nev, do you know who that is dancing with Dean?”

Neville nodded. “Yeah, I think it might be Millicent Bulstrode. Elli said that they had to help her with her dress as the one her mother bought her made her look quite bad.”

Ron looked at the girl with Dean and tried to think how badly. She was only about five foot three and she was quite heavy set, but not fat. The dress she was wearing was black with a silver halter neck bodice. Two streaks of silver ran down the skirt, making her look very feminine as usually she was very tomboyish. She had her hair cut short, but it suited her. Neville guessed that Pansy and Hermione had been at her with a make-over, probably with help from Molly and Andromeda.

A/N: Sorry this was such a long chapter, I hope this was okay; I’m not too good at describing things. I actually found the dresses on a wonderful website call The Rose Dress, the girl’s dresses can be found there, I’ve put the links below. I did change some of the colours, but you can get a good idea of what they look like.
http://www.therosedress.com/picupload/Image5LG/CD1039pic1.jpg -Elli’s dress
http://www.therosedress.com/picupload/Image1LG/AD8790pic1.jpg - Pansy’s dress
http://www.therosedress.com/picupload/Image1LG/AD8801pic1.jpg - Hermione’s dress
http://www.therosedress.com/picupload/Image1LG/AD46927pic1.jpg - Hannah’s dress
http://www.therosedress.com/picupload/Image1LG/AD46926pic1.jpg - Susan’s dress
http://www.therosedress.com/picupload/Image4LG/CD1037pic1.jpg - Millicent’s dress