CHAPTER EIGHT: COMPLIMENTS, CRUSHES, AND CONSPIRATORS

“I don’t know, Bill,” Harry declared with trepidation, checking out his outfit once more in the full length mirror hung on the back of Bill’s door. “I like the clothes and all, but I’m just not sure if I feel comfortable wearing them out anywhere,” Harry explained, feeling nervous about revealing the outfit he and Bill (though mostly Bill) had picked out for him to wear to the club tonight.

Bill rolled his eyes for about the eighth time, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Harry, how many times do I have to tell you? You look great. The clothes look great. And you’ll fit in way better looking like this than you would if you decided to wear your ‘normal’ clothes,” Bill assured for about the tenth time in the past five minutes. He knew Harry was self-conscience, but this was beginning to take it a bit too far.

“I know, I know. It’s just...I’m not used to dressing...hip,” Harry alleged, biting his nails as he looked himself over one last time. “Okay, I guess I’m ready to face everyone. I swear, though, if they don’t react well to it, I’m changing,” Harry asserted.

Bill held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, willing to agree to just about anything so long as Harry would just relax a bit and finally dare to show his face to the rest of the group. “They’re not going to say you look bad, but if they did, I wouldn’t make you wear the outfit out,” Bill conceded. Putting a hand on his hip and shifting his weight to the opposite leg in a gesture of impatience, he continued: “So, are you going already?”

Worrying his lip, Harry reluctantly nodded, before allowing himself to be ushered through the door by Bill. Being led down the stairs, Harry almost lost his nerve as he approached the landing, where he knew everyone would be waiting to see the results of his ‘make-over.’ He felt incredibly silly, not only for getting made-over, but also for so desperately wanting to chicken out.

Deciding that if he could face Voldemort numerous times, then he could most certainly face this, Harry gathered his courage and walked the rest of the way down the stairs, pausing as all seven pairs of waiting eyes landed on him. He gave a halfhearted smile, somewhat unnerved by the attention, though he really should have been used to it by now with being the ‘boy-who-lived’ and all.

Becoming uncomfortable, Harry decided to break the silence. “So...what do you think?” he questioned, a worried look unavoidably crossing his face as he glanced around the room and idly scuffed his toe on the hardwood floor as he awaited an answer.

No one spoke, all too busy at the moment taking in Harry's appearance. Not only did he have on a new outfit, consisting of a pair of loosely fitted dark wash jeans and an acid green tee-shirt with the DC logo in black on the front, but he also had a new pair of green trainers to complete the outfit, along with spiky, gelled hair with green tips. He was missing his glasses too, which was a vast improvement, a sight enhancing spell [1] making them unnecessary for the next twelve hours or so. [2]

“Merlin, Harry! You look amazing!” Ginny was the first to exclaim, her face lighting up with excitement at the astonishing transformation.

“Yeah, way better than your old clothes, mate,” Fred piped up, his twin beside him nodding in agreement.

“Definitely better than those old, ratty hand-me-downs those good-for-nothing relatives of yours gave you,” George added in unnecessarily.

Harry blushed lightly, ducking his head down in embarrassment at the shower of compliments. Truly, though, he was relieved by the praise, which helped reassure him about the outfit and the whole make-over in general, making him feel more confident about the prospect of going out in public with the new look.

Charlie was the next to comment, seeming very impressed with his brother's work. "You did a brilliant job on the hair, Bill," he complemented before turning back toward Harry. "It all comes together really well."

Percy [3] was a little more reserved in his observation, though still complimentary. "The green color really suits you, though I'm not sure about the spiky hair."

Coming out of his shock, Ron seemed somewhat offended by the last comment. "What do you mean, 'green suits him'? Green is a Slytherin color!" Ron declared in protest.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron's behavior, she too finally coming out of her flabbergasted state. "Really, Ron! Could you be any more prejudice? It's just a color. Besides, it happens to look good on Harry; it brings out his eyes. Not to mention the fact that you could at least give Harry some praise before you start off on Percy," Hermione berated, sounding quite aggravated with Ron by this point.

"Well, you're one to talk!" Ron pointed out with gusto, reveling in revealing Hermione's hypocrisy.

Before the argument could really escalate, Harry cut in, feeling the need to stave off the oncoming headache his two best friends were causing with their ceaseless bickering. "Can't you guys just give it a rest for at least one night?" Harry pleaded, not really in the mood to deal with the two at the moment.

Hermione looked abashed, while Ron blushed scarlet. "Sorry," they both blurted at the same time, turning to glare at one another for that fact.

"Look, Harry, I'm sorry about my behavior. It won't happen again tonight," Hermione announced contritely, smiling as she added, "You look absolutely smashing, by the way."

Not to be outdone, Ron felt the need to speak up as well. "I promise I won't let Hermione get to me for the rest of the night. And loosing the glasses was definitely a good touch. No offense or anything, but I always thought they made you look sort of...dorky," Ron announced truthfully, hoping that his friend wouldn't be offended by this news.

Harry wasn't upset, though he was somewhat disappointed with his friend. "You mean I've been walking around all this time looking like a dork and you couldn't have told me that sooner?" Harry questioned, half-serious, half-joking.

Ron merely shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of apology as Harry rolled his eyes, smiling good-naturedly to let his friend know that he was only kidding around. Bill shook his head at the two, finding the whole scene amusing, but at the same time wanting to get going. It was already 10:30 and it would take them at least a half an hour to get there.

"Alright, now that we've all had an ample opportunity to take in Harry's new look, I think it's about time that we head out," Bill announced, heading for the door. Turning back toward his sister and Percy, he added, "We'll meet you in front of the Apparation Centre, Gin, Perce," waving in farewell.

Casting a warming spell on himself as the rest of his little entourage did the same, Bill headed outside, thankful that he couldn't feel the crisp autumn air as he did so. Hopefully the spell would last until they got to the club.

"I still can't believe mum actually agreed to let us go," Ron suddenly spoke up from the back, amazement lacing his voice. "Either she likes Gin a lot more than I assumed, or our sis has become quite the negotiator."

Charlie could certainly agree with that. "Yes, my hat certainly goes off to Gin. She seems to be proving a lot more mischievous than we all gave her credit for," he added with pride.

Fred and George exchanged a look at that. "You do know--" Fred started, knowing that George would know what to say in addition.

"--that she gets it--" George continued, smirking at his brother.

"--from us," they finished together, seemingly quite pleased with themselves.

Bill could only laugh and shake his head in response to the twins' antics. "That may be true," he allowed them, before countering with: "But you forgot to mention the fact that you two got 'it' from me."

Harry was bowled over by that revelation. "Really!" was his astounded response.

Bill raised an eyebrow in mock offense at Harry's shock. "Yes, really. I may not have had a twin to help me with my mischief making, but I was definitely a prankster in my youth," Bill revealed with pride, smirking at the continued surprise still registered on Harry's face.

Hermione too seemed taken aback. "I thought that you were Head Boy," she remarked, her image of Bill as a likable and offbeat, but straight-laced fellow completely shattered.

Bill chuckled lightly, knowing what was going through her head. "Just because I was Head Boy doesn't mean that I was all prissy and anal about following rules and such. Sure, I was somewhat of a trouble maker, but I didn't harm anyone or anything. Just innocent jokes," Bill informed them, feeling quite satisfied with himself for once again finding the chance to break someone's misconceptions concerning him and his character.

"Yeah, you shouldn't judge someone just by the fact that they were Head Boy. After all, Tom Riddle was Head Boy," Harry pointed out, causing a solemn atmosphere to settle over the group.

Not wanting to dwell on such things for the time being, Charlie broke the tense silence. "I hear Celeste is supposed to be spinning tonight," he commented in what was supposed to be a nonchalant manner, though his blatant change of subject was rather transparent.

Bill nodded. "Yeah, she's supposed to be pretty good, though I've never actually seen her spin before," he elaborated. Coming to an abrupt stop, he spun around so that he was facing the rest of the group. "Okay, we're far enough out by now that we should be able to apparate with no problems," Bill announced.

"Alright, I'll go first, then Ron, the twins, Hermione, Harry, and finally Bill," Charlie declared, before disappearing with a slight 'pop' as he apparated away, presumably to the Apparation Centre in Diagon Alley.

Letting out a sigh, Ron mentally prepared himself before he too disapparated. The twins followed suit, one bowing while the other saluted, Harry couldn’t tell which one did which as he didn’t get a good enough look at them before they were gone.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the twins’ antics, before gathering her focus and vanishing with a light swish of her wand. Which left just Harry and Bill standing together in the empty field a little over a kilometer away from the burrow.

“After you,” Bill intoned somewhat mockingly, bowing low and gesturing for Harry to go ahead in front of him with a flourish.

Harry shook his head slightly, feeling embarrassed at having Bill treat him as if he were a lady, even if it was only in jest. “You don’t have to tease me all the time,” Harry suggested in mild irritation, blushing as the request left his mouth.

Bill raised an eyebrow at that. “I don’t?” he questioned, smirking slightly as he joked around, before turning serious. “If it bothers you, I won’t tease anymore. But you should know, I only tease people I like,” Bill revealed with a twinkle in his eye.

Harry gaped, wondering if Bill had really meant what he thought he meant. Before he could formulate some sort of response or question, Bill spoke up again. “You’d better get going before they all start to wonder what the hell happened to us,” Bill informed Harry, smiling at him in a mysterious sort of way that made it so that Harry couldn’t decipher just what he was thinking.

Deciding not to dwell too much on it at the moment, Harry lifted his wand, pushing all thoughts of Bill aside as he poured his concentration into apparating himself to Diagon Alley; he really didn’t want to splinch himself after all. He didn’t really care too much for apparating, though it was a lot more preferable than flooing, and certainly a lot more convenient than the standard muggle methods of travel.

Apparating always left him a bit disoriented, sometimes dizzy, though the feeling usually went away within a few seconds. By the time Harry shook himself clear of the aftereffects of apparating, Bill had already popped up at his side and he could see that Percy and Ginny were there as well.

“Now that we’re all here...” Ginny trailed off, having gotten her point across. She shivered slightly as she hurried off in the direction of Argent Alley; Percy hadn’t thought to cast warming charms on them and the idea had slipped her own mind as well.

Bill waved his wand and cast a warming charm on his sister before she even realized what was going on. As Ginny turned around with grateful surprise, Bill smiled, smirking slightly in amusement at her and his brother’s absentmindedness.

Chuckling slightly as he looked over at Percy, Bill cast a warming spell on him as well, causing Percy to blush with embarrassment. “Sheesh, you’d think that someone as high up on the ministry’s food chain as you are, Perce, would at least be able to cast a simple warming spell,” Bill teased mercilessly, knowing that opportunities such as this were rare with Percy since he was usually such a stick in the mud.

Percy huffed slightly, but didn’t bother to respond, knowing that his brother was right, and feeling rather daft. Instead, he changed the subject. “That’s it, right?” he asked, gesturing ahead toward a building where a few people were heading in and a few others were hanging about outside. They were already starting to be able to hear the music even from a distance away.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Ginny answered for him, her eyes lighting up. “So, are you excited, Harry?” she inquired, twisting to face the green eyed boy.

Harry nodded a tad uncertainly. “Yeah, although I’m kind of nervous...I’ve never been to a club or anything before...and I can’t dance,” Harry nearly whispered the last, all his earlier courage practically evaporating as he thought about how he was sure to make a fool of himself.

It only took a moment for Ginny to think of a suitable answer to Harry’s predicament, and if it wouldn’t have tipped Harry off, she would have smirked with pride at her quick thinking. “Well, the main thing is just to move and keep moving. We’ll let you know what looks good. And Bill’s an excellent dancer, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind helping you out, showing you a few moves and all,” Ginny spoke as innocently as she could manage, carefully gauging Harry’s reaction.

Harry was sporting a faint blush, though it was somewhat hard to tell in the dark. He was also gaping at Ginny, which was a bit more obvious, and seemed fairly unnerved by her suggestion.

Inside Ginny cheered. Before Harry could voice any objections, she hastily called her oldest brother over. “Bill, Harry’s nervous about having to dance, and since you’re the best dancer out of all of us, I thought that you should be the one to help him out,” Ginny informed her brother, smiling sweetly up at him.

Bill seemed a bit suspicious of her motives, but wasn’t about to turn away from the opportunity. “Yeah, I’d love to. Don’t worry, Harry, by the end of the night no one will even be able to tell this is your first time.”

Harry smiled in gratitude, feeling somewhat silly having Bill know that he was a terrible dancer. If things continued on the way that they were, Bill would begin to think he was some hopeless loser beyond help, that is if he didn’t already think that by now. Harry silently berated himself for his negativity, knowing that Bill would never think that of him, even if it did happen to be true.

Trying to quash his doubts, Harry smiled up at Bill. “Thanks,” he spoke in reply, glad that he had Bill here to help him out.

“No problem,” Bill replied, returning Harry’s smile and throwing an arm about his shoulders in a friendly gesture, which made Harry somewhat uncomfortable, though not necessarily in a bad way.

Ginny smiled as she took note of this, nearly beaming. Bill caught her eye, shaking his head in a disappointed sort of way, though the fact that he rolled his eyes afterward let Ginny know that he was only kidding.

So it seemed that Bill had figured her out. Not that Ginny had expected to be able to keep it from her brother forever. After all, he knew her too well. But maybe it was better this way. He obviously wasn’t mad, and it would seem he had realized that he had a crush on Harry and accepted the fact. Ginny didn’t doubt that Bill could handle things from here on, but working together would certainly make things go a lot quicker.

Sneaking a quick wink and a smirk at her brother, she silently informed him that she was planning on continuing to help set them up. Bill rose in eyebrow in response, but Ginny merely shook her head. She wasn’t going to be put off so easily. Finally, Bill shrugged, smiling slightly at his sister, who only rolled her eyes.

Unbeknownst to the two conspirators, George had witnessed the entire exchange, finding the whole thing rather intriguing. He would have to discuss it with his brother later, though now wasn’t really the time as they had just made it to the entrance of the club. [4] Paying their two galleons each and receiving a magical stamp on the back of the hand each, they made their way inside, unaware of what the night had in store for them.

1) I find it somewhat odd that nothing like this is ever mentioned in the books. Glasses just seem so...muggle to me. You'd think there would be a wizarding world alternative. So I decided to make one up, because it works well in the fic and it makes more sense to me than contacts. It's not a permanent fix, though, which I hope makes it more realistic. Resume Reading

2) I know Harry getting a make-over and suddenly becoming all hott and everything is totally overdone, but I tried to do it with my own twist and make it at least halfway believable. It's not like he just suddenly turned into a stud overnight or anything. I just hope you're not all sitting there rolling your eyes thinking, 'Well, that was predictable!' Resume Reading

3) I know that Percy wasn't talking to his family and all in the fifth book (I still haven't read the sixth book, so I don't know what was revealed in there, plus I started writing this before the sixth book even came out), but I decided that in my fic Percy finally came to his senses and he and his family were able to reconcile their differences. Resume Reading

4) I’ve never actually been to a club before, so forgive me if some of the club stuff seems a bit off. I’ve been to some raves, some of which are sort of like clubs, so that’s what I’m going to be basing it off of. Resume Reading