The Other Side

Chapter Eighteen

The beginnings of winter had just barely begun to show themselves around the Hogwarts grounds. The air had turned crisper, the dirt solid, even frosted over in the mornings. Students wore their robes tighter, swapping ties for scarves, slipping mittens over bare knuckles.

The first snowfall had come this morning, an acute reminder of the impending winter holidays, and an even impending reminder of the gathering that Professor Slughorn had organized for his most elite students.

The Christmas Party.

He was swooped up by Slughorn for a picture. It was almost a painful ordeal, with his hand heavy on his shoulder, a grin almost aching in nature stretching his face. The flash was bright, almost dizzying, but then it was over.

In retrospect, he should've really considered asking Draco to accompany him. He didn't want to. It was taking every ounce of effort to stay in the party, and not walk out. He had zoned out of the conversations. Without a partner, he was forced to small talk.

He had to focus on the task at hand: Get the information out of Horace Slughorn – The missing piece to the puzzle that was set before him. The Professor remained reluctant to share any kind of information with him. Dumbledore was growing impatient, and that made him a lot more determined to get the information out of Slughorn.

He sipped his drink absent-mindedly and glanced around the room. Harry grinned, as his eyes rested on a particular red-head. She was dancing with Luna Lovegood, swaying gracefully across the floor.

It was awfully dull without Draco, but he was hesitant to sort it out. Harry had refused to so much at even glance at him the entire week or acknowledge his presence and had chosen to stew in his misery. Draco was with Nott at nights, on the Astronomy Tower. Harry supposed that it was hardly affecting him.

Ron offered to hex Nott and coerce Draco into sorting this quarrel, but he had politely rejected it. As tempted as he was to pry on the conversations between them, he had decided against it. He groaned inwardly, dismissing his thoughts.

"Fighting with him, are you?"

He almost jumped.

Luna was standing beside him, with a drink in her hand. He hadn't noticed her wandering off to his side. Luna wore a high-low dress that sat around her knees at the front and reached the floor at the back, the fabric a light blue at the top before fading to lilac and then to a soft orange, like a sunset. The dress was covered in the black silhouettes of embroidered flowers and light beading.

She wore a delicate black beaded necklace. Her long blonde hair was tied up and decorated with beautiful flowers.

He gave her a small smile, and nodded. "He isn't doing any better without you, Harry." Luna said slowly, fiddling with her bracelet.

He snorted. "Trust me, he is better off without me."

She shook her head, mumbling incoherently. Harry cocked his head to the side, watching her curiously. Then, she smiled. "No, he isn't. You can't believe that."

He did.

Harry wasn't going to apologize to him. He didn't suppose that Draco was planning on it either. Not that he cared. He was too enraged to even care. "Luna, have you seen him lately? He is perfectly content without me."

"Pfft. With Theo Nott? No, he isn't." Luna said, the smile lingering on her face. "He has been asking about you, and he can't keep his mind off you, Harry. He'll come around."

To be perfectly honest, he wanted to talk it out but he was too proud to do so. "I'll have to wait for a while, if I want him to come around."

"Then wait," She said. "Because even if you're torn apart, you always find your way back to each other."