New Year Tradition

New Year Tradition

By: Fateless Faith

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New Years eve wasn't the most celebrated holiday at Hogwarts. Very few did at all. Harry Potter never thought about celebrating New Years until Hermione suggested a New Years party.

"Come on, we should have one. I really miss them," Hermione said with a pout, trying to convince Ron that it was an excellent idea.

Harry completely agreed with it, he thought that it would be fun but Ron was in a bad mood lately because Percy was causing problems yet again in his family.

Ron sighed. "Fine, Hermione, if it'll make you happy I'll agree."

Hermione beamed and hugged him so tight that Ron turned purple. "Herm--can't.... breath... need air," he said gasping as Hermione let go of him.

"Sorry," she said with a happy sigh. "Okay then." She turned to Harry. "Harry, you can get the butterbeer for the party, I'll send out the invitations and, Ron," she paused for a second with a thoughtful look upon her face, "you can blow up balloons and hang up streamers with Ginny!"

Ron's eyes got wide. "Blow up balloons? That sounds dangerous," he said in a slightly weary voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Balloons, Ron, and it isn't dangerous, I'll demonstrate it for you when it comes time to decorate. We have a week, so we should start on the invitations and the guess list. Since it's still Christmas vacation it narrows the list down a bit," she said pulling a piece of parchment and a quill out of her bag.

Harry sighed and sat back in the oversized chair.

Hermione started the list. "How about we invite Cho Chang?"

Harry's eyes got wide and he shook his head profusely.

"Okay then...." Hermione said scratching off Cho's name. "Zacharias Smith?"

They all seemed to agree.

"You know, how about we just shorten the time of going through everyone we know who is attending? All of the DA members that are at Hogwarts get invited--except Cho," Ron said intelligently.

Hermione nodded. "And all of the Gryffindors. What about the Slytherins?" she asked, her face contorting up into disgust. "I mean Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass are okay but what about Blaise Zabini and Malfoy?"

"Not Malfoy," Harry stated clearly. Ron nodded in agreement. "Blaise... she's okay."

Hermione crossed off Malfoy and continued. By the time that they were done with the list it was midnight and the list was as follows:

*Gryffindor*

- Lavender Brown

- Neville Longbottom

- Seamus Finnigan

- Colin Creevey

- Amanda Higgs

- Dennis Creevey

- Katie Bell

- Malcolm MacConville

*Slytherin*

- Tracy Davis

- Daphne Greengrass

- Blaise Zabini

- Theodore Nott

- Emma Dobbs

- Morag MacDougal

*Hufflepuff*

- Zacharias Smith

- Ernie Macmillan

- Hannah Abbott

- Orla Quirk

*Ravenclaw*

- Luna Lovegood

- Padma Patil

- Terry Boot

- Mandy Brocklehurst

- Megan Jones

"I think it's promising. What do you think?" Hermione asked with a yawn.

Harry shrugged. "It's good." He yawned and looked over at Ron, who was asleep on the couch next to Ginny--she was looking very peeved at her brother. "I think I'm going to go to bed," Harry muttered as he pulled Ron of the couch and woke him up.

"Night, Harry, Ron," Hermione called.

"G'night, Herm, Ginny," Harry called back as he and Ron ascended the staircase to the boys dormitory.

?

The New Years Eve party was nearing (just hours away) and Harry had to visit Hogsmeade to get the butterbeer as planned.

He took the Marauder's Map and his wand, along with some money to pay for the Butterbeer. He touched the map with his wand muttering, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

Instantly the map formed and he walked towards the direction of the statue of the humpbacked, one eyed witch.

He scanned the map for Snape and saw him in his office. Filch was on the seventh floor with Peeves and Mrs. Norris.

Harry turned the corner scanning the map once more for the statue of the humpbacked witch and noticed a figure next to it. He squinted to read the name... Blaise Zabini. He sighed in annoyance--great, now he had to wait for her to go. She looked like she was pacing in front of the witch.

He turned another corner and saw that she was indeed pacing in front of the one eyed witch. Please God, make her leave. I have only a few hours to get the butterbeer and come back.

"G'afternoon," Harry said politely to her.

Zabini looked up at him. "Oh, afternoon...." she said slowly, her face looking very confused at the moment.

He saw that she was clutching the invitation in her right hand. "What is this party all about, Potter, because I'm slightly baffled on why Granger would invite me to it," Blaise said leaning up against the one eyed witch.

Harry sighed. "Because you're one of the nicer Slytherins and Hermione wanted to be fair." He wished she would leave.

She sighed and shrugged. "Okay, so what are you up to? I would think that you would be helping her get stuff ready for the celebration," she said shoving the invitation in her pocket.

He shrugged in response. "Ron and Ginny are helping her put up decorations."

The corner of Blaise's lips turned upwards into a small teasing smile. "Ooh, and Gryffindor's forever-helpful Golden Boy isn't complying to his title? That's a shocker."

Harry grinned. "No, I'm just going to get supplies for the party."

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Supplies? Where? Hogsmeade?" she asked. "Are you going to venture there without permission cause it most certainly isn't a Hogsmeade weekend?" She grinned. "The Golden Boy breaks his title!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to Hogsmeade--the kitchens is where I'm headed," he lied.

"The kitchens are that way, Potter." Blaise pointed to the direction that he came from. "Now, since you seem to be vacant of any supplies at the moment you must be heading to Hogsmeade since the direction you're heading is towards the Entrance Hall."

Harry gave a short laugh. "Can't get anything pass you, can I?" he asked teasingly.

She shook her head. "No, but if you are sneaking into Hogsmeade I would like to tag along. I need to get some potion supplies for my extra credit homework."

Harry looked up at the statue of the one eyed witch and debated on going through it as opposed to taking to long way. He sighed and made his decision. "Fine." He pulled her behind the one eyed witch.

"I thought we were going to Hogsmeade?"

He nodded and tapped the hump of the witch muttering, "Dissendium!"

He pulled Blaise through opening in the witches hump and it closed behind them. "What in the world? Potter? Where are we?" she asked, lighting her wand.

"We're on our way to Hogsmeade," he said with a mischievous grin.

She looked around with raised eyebrows. "Is this a secret passage?" she asked and he nodded. "No way! Wicked!" Blaise smiled.

"Honeydukes is this way," he said lighting his wand and crouching low to keep from bumping his head n the ceiling of the passageway.

Blaise crouched next to him, looking wide-eyed at the surroundings. "I would have never thought in a million years that that witch was a passageway. How did you find this?"

Harry shrugged. "I stumbled upon it in third year," he partially lied since most of it was true.

"Cool," she said approvingly. "It must come be useful to have your own exclusive passage into Hogsmeade."

"Yeah, just don't tell anyone," he said moving a cobweb to the side and continuing through to Hogsmeade.

She laughed. "You mean I can't tell anyone that Harry Potter has been sneaking into Hogsmeade and the title of Golden Boy doesn't suit you anymore?" she asked teasingly.

"Where did I get that title anyway?" Harry asked in a bemused tone.

She shrugged. "It's just a name to mock. Golden, because it sounds very light and flamboyant but it also means that you are favoured, much like gold--you have got to remember that we also can say that Golden can also mean fools gold. You are also a boy, not yet a man. We refer to you as a child and very naive--that is most certainly an insult, so Golden Boy rather suits you. You do nothing wrong and when you do, you never get in trouble but this is very interesting... I always thought that your troublemaking was myth." She laughed again. "This just goes to show me how wrong I was."

Harry didn't know if he was insulted or complimented. "Okay then, so you're saying that is why I'm the Gryffindor Golden Boy?"

Blaise nodded and they both hit their heads on the trapdoor simultaneously. "Ow!"

He rubbed his head and looked up at the trap door. "Welcome to Honeydukes," he said with a small laugh.

Blaise rolled her eyes. "Very welcoming," she said sarcastically. "I really do enjoy it when I walk headlong into a trapdoor."

Harry shushed her and opened the door, helping her out after himself. She looked around. "Must be the storage room," she muttered. "So how do we get out without being seen, genius?"

Harry rolled his eyes and pulled her along by her sleeve. "This way," he said letting go of her sleeve and opening the door.

Blaise followed him out of the store. They had a bit of trouble sneaking passed the lady behind the counter, but they made it all the same.

Harry turned to her. "I'm going to get the butterbeer for the party; you said that you needed to get potion supplies?" Blaise nodded. "Okay, meet me at The Three Broomsticks when you're done." She nodded again and walked down the street to Thailf and Hails, a store that sold potions supplies.

An hour later they were both on their way back to Hogwarts. Blaise helped him carry the large amount of butterbeer to the east tower, where they were having the party. Ron looked like he was going to pass out from blowing up too many balloons; he was very delirious at the moment.

"What is up with Weasley?" Blaise asked Hermione as she set down a few six packs of Butterbeer.

Hermione shrugged. "He's a bit light-headed from blowing up all of the balloons." She gestured the room full of balloons and streamers. If he didn't get light headed from blowing up all of those, something was wrong with him because the amount of balloons in the room was estimated to at least 500.

Blaise laughed. "I would think," she paused and looked down at her bag of potions supplies. "Though I think I better get this nightshade on ice right now or it will lose its potency. See you at the party!"

Harry waved and Hermione looked at him, very bewildered. "Why did she help you? I mean did you meet her on the stairs or what?"

Harry shrugged. "It's too complicated to explain, let's just go to the kitchens to get some food for the party. Did you order those fireworks from Fred and George?"

Hermione sighed and nodded. "Yeah, why don't you have Ron go with you? Me and Ginny have to get dressed for the party," she said grinning.

Harry shrugged and pulled Ron (who was harbouring a headache) along with him to the kitchens for even more supplies.

?

Harry walked up to the boy's dormitory to change his shirt and pants. Ron ended up spilling pumpkin juice all down the front and he didn't intend to go the rest of the night stinking like pumpkin juice and smelling just as bad.

Seamus was inside getting ready; he was applying Spikysmooth gel (a brother line to Sleakeasy) on his hair and fixing it. "Hey, Harry, getting ready for the party?"

Harry shrugged.

Seamus smiled. "I am. I don't know if Lavender knows it, but I certainly am hoping to get that kiss into the New Year."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "Kiss into the New Year?" he asked as he pulled on a different, clean pair of pants.

"Yeah, getting a New Year's kiss is practically tradition," he paused and applied cologne. "I thought you knew that?"

Harry shook his head, straightening the shirt that he just put on. "No, I didn't. Who would I kiss anyway? I don't have a girlfriend."

Seamus shrugged. "I know that, but you don't absolutely have to. It's just a tradition."

Harry shrugged in response. "Can I borrow some of that?" he asked pointing to Seamus' cologne.

Seamus grinned. "Sure mate," he said. "Help yerself."

?

The party was getting on excellently; almost everyone dressed up for it. Harry and Ron didn't dress up for the celebration but they fit in the crowd perfectly.

Hermione dressed in a casual blue party dress and had her hair up into a celestial patterned bun. Lavender dressed in a sparkly milky white dress and curled her brown hair in ringlets. Seamus couldn't stop beaming at her.

Harry took a seat and watched the people dancing on the floor while he sipped his butterbeer. "Hey, great party." Harry turned his head to see who said that and smiled at Blaise. She sat down next to him and smiled back.

She was not as dressed up as most were but she did spice up her look a bit by styling her hair and changing her clothes. She--unlike most of the girls--was wearing pants and a silky dark green blouse. He had to admit; she did look pretty.

"Thanks," he said after snapping out of his state of stupor and realizing that he was staring at her. "You look--erm, nice."

Blaise smiled. "So do you." She turned her head toward the dance floor as another song came on then turned back to him. "Would you like to dance?"

The song was rather slow and the beat seemed like it was easy to dance to. "Erm--sure," he said grabbing her hand and walking to the dance floor.

Blaise smiled. "You don't dance much do you?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "No, not much."

She nodded, taking both of his hands and placing them on her waist. "Just move with the beat," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

They moved around the dance floor; Harry was very aware of the looks that hey were getting. It wasn't everyday that a Slytherin and a Gryffindor were seen dancing together. Hermione looked nothing short of shocked and Seamus beamed at him, giving him a thumbs up.

Blaise grinned up at him and he looked down at her. "You're pretty good at dancing for a beginner," she commented.

"Thanks," he said nervously.

The song ended and they pulled away from each other. The clock was deadly close to midnight and Hermione got up on a chair. "Ready for the countdown?"

The crowd cheered.

"19! 18! 17! 16! 15..." They continued.

Blaise reached over and grasped his hand gently. He looked down at her to see that she was smiling.

"9! 8! 7! 6! 5..." The world seemed to be playing in slow motion.

"You know, it's tradition to get a New Year's kiss," she said keeping her smile.

Harry smiled back. "Yeah, I know."

She stood on her tiptoes and he leaned down; their lips met as the crowd counted, "1!!"

His world exploded, and it wasn't just from the fireworks that Ginny and Ron were letting off. The moment that his lips met hers he felt like he was in heaven.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. His hands fumbled slightly and rested on the small of her back.

She smiled into the kiss and pulled away, still in his arms. "Happy New Year, Harry," she whispered.

He licked his lips savouring the taste of her lips that still lingered upon his own. "Happy New Year, Blaise," he whispered back to her.

Truly it was the happiest New Year Harry had ever experienced.

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