23

Harry scowled as he yanked the front of his beanie down, trying to hide his lightning scar. He, Hermione, Ron and Neville had spent the better part of the previous day attempting to fix his hair, but to no avail. They had despaired at around midnight however, and Harry had been all ready to skive the next day's lessons in order to spend more time trying to undo the hex, until Hermione had finally gotten around to telling him her news. Of course Malfoy had had to choose the day before the other schools arrived to piss around with Harry's hair. Any other day just wouldn't have been quite embarrassing enough.

And so it was that Harry had ended up stood in the crowd of students waiting for the visitors wearing a black beanie that did not, to his dismay, quite cover his scar.

"Harry, mate!" Ron called, walking up behind Harry with Hermione and Neville in tow, "We've been looking for you everywhere!" Harry turned and opened his mouth to respond, but didn't get the chance as he was interrupted by a dreamy voice to his left.

"I can fix that for you, if you want," it said. The speaker was a petite girl with long, blonde hair, and she was looking pointedly at Harry's beanie. "I mean, unless you like it that way," she added thoughtfully, idly playing with the butter beer top necklace around her neck.

"You can?" Harry near squealed in excitement, "Fuck yes!" He punched the air, attracting the attention of several people around him who looked on in bemusement. Most, however, had grown used to the antics of the new Harry Potter over the last month, and were trying their hardest to ignore him, lest they get dragged into some insanity.

"How? We tried all yesterday, and I looked through all the books I could think of..." Hermione seemed torn between being indignant, that a student younger than her new something that she did not, and eagerness for new knowledge.

"It's quite simple, really," the girl answered absently, fixing Hermione with a piercing stare for a second before turning back to Harry, "Of course, I'll have to ask the nargles for some help, but that should be alright- they really like you, you know." Harry cocked an eyebrow, wondering what on earth a nargle was and how it could help his hair.

"Ok then... Can you do it now then? Or do we have to like, wait 'til later when we can find some of these nargles?" He asked, praying that he didn't have to wait too long- his beanie was really starting to itch.

"Oh, the nargles are already here," the girl leaned forward to add, conspiratorially, "They're everywhere, you know." Behind Harry, he heard Ron stifle a snigger, and Hermione tut and mutter something that sounded distinctly like 'honestly'. Harry himself grinned openly- he liekd this girl already.

"Cool. Let's get to it then," Harry said, whipping off his beanie. The girl quirked her eyebrow and smiled.

"Well, usually I get to know a guy before I get to it with them, but I suppose I can make one exception." Harry chuckled and she pulled her wand from behind her ear and pointed it towards his head, muttering under her breath. After thirty seconds of muttering, Harry's hair began to stick up out of its slicked back style and after a minute his roots began to darken to black. After a minute and a half of allowing the strange girl to cast spells on him, Harry suddenly began to doubt the wisdom of his decision. This could, of course, have been because the blonde suddenly had a very mischievous look on her face.

"Wait! His hair wasn't like that before!" Hermione screeched and Harry began to panic, reaching up to feel his hair with both hands. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt that a) he still had hair and b) it wasn't slicked back anymore but frowned when he felt that it was c) a hell of a lot longer than it had been before. He opened his mouth to protest but was once again cut off before he could begin.

"I always knew you'd look good with long hair," the blonde girl said with a dreamy smile before turning and skipping off into the crowd.

"Bu-... Wh-..." Harry spluttered for a minute before a terrifying though crossed his mind. Holding a few strands of his shoulder- length hair gingerly, he turned to Ron and Hermione with a pained expression on his face.

"Guys," he began, "We've been friends a long time and I trust you more than anyone to tell me the truth. So I'm going to trust you to be honest with me on this. How much do I look like Sirius right now?"

"Too much, Potter," a silky purr said from behind him, "In fact, if it weren't for your eyes I would swear that your father and Black had had a lovechild." Ron choked slightly at this, gaping between the two of them in horror.

"I suppose it's lucky for me that I have my mother's eyes then, else I don't think you would have been able to control yourself and you would have probably killed me on sight," Harry grinned cheekily, ignoring the whispered reprimands from Hermione. Snape's expression was indecipherable when he spoke.

"Indeed. Now, if we could stop this chit chat and turn to greet our guests, Mr Potter. We do not, after all, wish to appear inhospitable now, do we?" And with that he swept away to retake his place by the headmaster's side.

What the bloody hell was all that about, mate?" Ron asked as soon as the professor was out of earshot.

"I'll tell you later," Harry chuckled, redirecting his attention to the grounds where, sure enough, an enormous, powder blue carriage was landing in front of the crowd of students. Seconds later, a Hagrid- sized woman (although she was far slimmer than he was) stepped out and made her way towards the headmaster a gaggle of mostly blonde and mostly gorgeous girls following her.

"I think I should have gone to Beauxbatons," Harry said to Ron with a grin. Ron nodded absently, his eyes following the girls as they made their way into the entrance hall. Hermione tutted and hmphed, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance.

"You're beautiful too, Hermione," Harry reassured her with a grin, "I just have a thing about blondes lately. Ron on the other hand," here Harry leant in to whisper in her ear, "has always rather liked intelligent brunettes."

"What are you two whispering about?" Ron suddenly asked, looking between them suspiciously. At Ron's words, Hermione had leapt back, a red blush covering her face at the implication of Harry's words. Harry himself turned calmly to face his oblivious friend and winked.

"Oh... A bit of this and that, mate," he drawled, grinning, "Come on, if we keep chatting we'll miss the other wankers arriving. Fuck I want a cigarette," he added absently, wondering if the teachers would mind. After only a second's consideration, he decided that not only would they most likely mind very much, but McGonagall might hang him for giving a bad impression of the school, Boy-Who-Lived or not.

After five minutes of restless waiting, one of the students spotted something in the lake and the entire school watched as a boat sprung up from underwater. The students from Durmstrang, Harry supposed as they headed towards them, were just as handsome as the girls from Beauxbatons had been (although in very different ways) but they did not, unfortunately, satisfy his recent blonde fetish as well as the French did. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Ron whispering "Krum, Harry! Viktor Krum!" Harry rolled his eyes and grinned at his excited friend, dragging him after the foreign students who were heading into the Great Hall.

When they arrived inside, however, Harry was annoyed to see Malfoy looking smug as the famous Seeker took a seat opposite him. Glancing around, he saw the girls from Beauxbatons beginning to head towards the Ravenclaw table and quickly moved to intercept them.

"Mademoiselle," he greeted the blonde at the head of the group, "My name is Harry Potter and it is an honour to have you all as guests in our school." He shook his now long, shaggy hair out of his eyes and grinned charmingly at her before bowing his head to kiss her hand. "Would you like to join me and my friends for dinner?" The girl smiled and glanced back at her classmates for confirmation, many of whom were tittering about the dashing boy.

"We would be delighted, 'Arry," she answered throatily before following him back to the Gryffindor table where she sat between him and Seamus as the rest of her classmates scattered themselves between the Hogwarts students. Harry was happy to note that although Malfoy was still chatting to Krum, the smug look had disappeared and the blonde was sending occasional glares in his direction.

It seemed like only minutes had passed before it was time to go to bed- the feast was over and the Triwizard cup had been unveiled.