I wrote this chapter as a bonus, but it is actually one of my favorites. -Kittyhawk
It was the norm for whoever the prefects were, usually the girls, to decorate the common room for Valentine's Day. In years past the Slytherin common room had been adorned with tasteful arrangements of green roses, lacey white tablecloths knit of buffalo-spider silk, and French music from the 1940's playing softly from an enchanted gramophone.
Pansy Parkinson made sure no such thing occurred this year.
The common room remained untouched by any semblance of romance this February 14th. It could have been an honest oversight- but, more realistically, it was Pansy's attempt to stifle any reminders of her own romantic shortcomings. If Pansy was anything like her sister Penny, I could clearly picture her saying 'If I can't enjoy today, then no one else can'.
I almost felt bad for her- but I really didn't give a Gremlin's right nut about whether the common room was decorated or not. Valentine's day didn't mean much to me. In fact, I rather hated it. Students gazed a half-a-second too long at each other today, sending each other romantically charged glances with as much accuracy as a drunk playing darts. Greta, Evelyn and Penny always tried to sneak chocolates into the bags of the boys they liked while I watched, wholly disinterested and uninvolved.
On top of that, on Valentine's Day the Medical Wing was overrun with sufferers of love potions. Love potions were forbidden to be brewed outside of class, but students still got their hands on them somehow. Last year Penny had shown me a catalogue of store bought love potions, so I knew almost all of them, as well as their effects.
Cupid Crystals had the 'love at first sight' effect on the user which made them temporarily lust after the first person they saw. Kissing Concoction caused an obtrusive, nagging urge to snog just about anyone, and was often used in practical jokes. Beguiling Bubbles was another one used to embarrass its victim, as it could make anyone overly flirtatious and raunchy, even if they were usually reserved and shy. And lastly, there was Twilight Moonbeam. Penny was most interested in that brand, as Twilight Moonbeam was akin to veritaserum. Whoever ingested Twilight Moonbeam was inclined to profess their love to the person they truly desired. All of these store bought potions were scandalous, but Twilight Moonbeam especially caused some students quite a bit of heartache last year.
I didn't understand why someone would feed someone else a love potion; whether it be for a practical joke, or wanting actual love, it seemed cruel. They always ended up getting dropped off at the Hospital Wing by the end of the day, leaving Madam Pomfrey and I to wrangle the lovesick victims.
There was also a strict 'no visitors' policy in place today. There were too many humping incidents last year.
I waited at a table in the Common Room for noon to roll around, which was when Madam Pomfrey told me to come by. I had to get ahead of my schoolwork before then, as I would likely have no time for anything but Medical Wing duty once students started exchanging their gifts.
"Rather depressing in here, isn't it?"
I looked up from my transfiguration reading as Draco took a seat across from me, neatly crossing one black clad pants leg over the other.
"The common room always looks like this," I stated, turning the page of my textbook.
"I know. But today is that... holiday," Draco said distastefully. "Usually there are doilies and such strewn about."
"I never took you as a fan of the romantic aesthetic," I replied with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not," he replied sharply. "I despise most things about this holiday. Tacky ambiance, desperate characters, the constant nagging fear of having my food poisoned with Amortentia...." he trailed off with a snarl, likely remembering all the past lunacy this day has wreaked upon him. As one of the most attractive boys in the castle, I wouldn't be surprised if he had his fair share of love potion horror stories.
"Oh, good," I sighed, "I'm relieved to hear you say that, actually." Draco hated Valentine's Day just as much as I did- so his expectations for the day were low.
"At least things won't be entirely torturous this year."
I absentmindedly scanned the page of the textbook with my finger. "How so?"
"Because I'll have you."
I looked up and met Draco's eyes, blushing furiously. Draco held my gaze, his expression glassily placid, resting his chin in between his thumb and forefinger.
I shook my head, lowering my view back down to the textbook on the table. "I'll be busy in the Hospital Wing. I'm sorry."
Draco seemed slightly disgruntled by that. After a stiff pause, he asked, "Well, can I come with you?"
"No, you can't," I said, almost laughing at the fact that Draco was so smitten with me that he was willing to spend Valentine's Day in the Medical Wing. "We have a strict no visitors policy today. Someone like you would get eaten alive- which, reminds me- don't eat anything anyone gives you today."
A smile edged its way up his cheek. "I won't. Not unless it's from you."
I rolled my eyes. "Drugging my boyfriend. How romantic."
The large, iron-hand clock upon the fireplace mantle chimed. It was noon.
I closed my textbook and shoved it into my bag. "Time to wrangle some horny toads."
Draco stopped me before I left. "Will I see you at all today?" he demanded.
I sucked my cheek rather regretfully. "It takes a long time for love potions to wear off," I informed him sadly. "Last year I was working until well after curfew."
Draco let me leave, gloomily muttering something about spending extra time on the Vanishing Cabinet today. Despite our mutual indifference to the holiday, I felt a little bad for leaving him high and dry when he very clearly wanted to be with me. But medical work waited for no one; and I had a job to do.
The Hospital Wing was absolute chaos when I arrived.
The room was noisy with the whines of boys and girls crying out for those who bewitched them, their arms and legs strapped to the beds and unable to move. Every other bed was already occupied, some with two people, and to my dismay somebody's robe lay on the floor right inside the entrance.
"Erica!" Madam Pomfrey cried out to me. She had a 6th year Hufflepuff boy restrained with a binding charm in one arm, and was holding a Hufflepuff girl in a headlock with the other. "Thank Merlin you're here! Almost all of Hufflepuff House has ingested cookies laced with Kissing Concoction!"
She wasn't exaggerating- it seemed someone had thought it was hilarious to bake chocolate chip cookies spiked with love potion and leave them in the middle of the Hufflepuff common room. At least twelve Hufflepuffs unknowingly ate them; and some even ate more than one. Now they were running around the Medical Wing wildly, snogging anyone they could find- and as soon as I wrenched them apart, they somehow found their way back together like a bunch of loose magnets.
Professor Sprout came by and offered to help, but the poor woman was immediately scared off by the sight of a room teeming with aroused teenagers.
After helping Madam Pomfrey get everyone restrained and into a bed, I immediately got to work lining up antidotes that Slughorn had dropped off that morning. There was just barely enough for everyone currently in the Medical Wing to get a full dose.
"Oh, dear," Madam Pomfrey looked at the 14 antidotes, and then at the 15 patients. And more students were trickling in every hour. Although I was already exhausted, I rushed off to Slughorn's office, collecting additional antidotes and begging him to please make more. When I returned, more beds were filled. I continued hustling about the castle for countless more trips to Slughorn's office to fetch antidotes as soon as he brewed them, returning always to find more lovestruck students in the Hospital Wing. It was like we were fighting a war with Cupid and losing.
"Take the medicine, Theodore," I implored Theodore Nott, a 6th year Slytherin boy who had ingested not one, but two love potions today.
Theodore gazed at me with dilated pupils and laughed. "I don't need it, darling."
"I think you do," I grumbled, gripping the vial in one hand, getting ready to shove it down his throat if he continued resisting.
Theodore's eyes roamed all across my face, and then down at my body. "My god, what did Draco do to win himself such a gorgeous creature?" he said flirtatiously.
I frowned. "You don't know what you're saying."
"What?" he grinned. "Surely you must know how cute you are. Even before you started dating Draco, every boy in Slytherin had their eyes on you." He saw my irritated expression but continued blabbering. "Please- a shy little healer like you? With that ass? You could have had any boy you wanted." His voice lowered to a raw whisper. "Any boy you wanted-"
"Silencio," I snapped, silencing Theodore. Theodore Nott was usually so quiet, never causing any trouble for anyone- so seeing him under the effects of what I assumed was the Beguiling Bubbles love potion was vexing.
I leaned over Theodore, who was strapped to the bed. "I'm going to pretend I never heard any of that," I said to him quietly. I forced the antidote into his mouth, and ignored the stiffness in his pants. He would likely be very embarrassed when the love potion wore off.
"Erica, you've been running around like a rabbit all day," Madam Pomfrey said to me as I gathered up the empty vials of antidote from everyone's bedside tables. She dabbed sweat from her brow with her sleeve. "You skipped supper, didn't you?"
The day caught up with me, then, when I realized that the sky outside the large windows was dark.
"Wh-what time is it?" I asked groggily.
"Eight-thirty, dear."
I flattened my lips, thinking sadly about how I had somehow let the entire day slip by me. The thought of Draco also spending the day alone made my heart ache.
Madam Pomfrey smoothed her apron. "You're relieved for the day," she said to me. "I can handle the rest."
I frowned. "But- there's still more students who need antidotes-"
"No, there aren't," Madam Pomfrey smiled. "You've cured them all."
I looked around at the now quiet room and could feel my shoulders crumple with relief. "There may be a few extra stragglers who wander in during the night, but... I've got it. You've done your job, now go," she said, the corners of her eyes crinkling.
I slowly set down the vials I was holding, unsure what to do with my newfound freedom, but thinking only of Draco, and where he could be-
"Mister Malfoy stopped by earlier," Madam Pomfrey informed me with a lowered voice and a sneaky gleam in her eye. "He said he would be waiting for you in the Astronomy Tower, whenever you were ready."
My heart fluttered. I hurriedly thanked Madam Pomfrey, then checked again if she was certain she would be fine if I left. After she almost pushed me out of the Hospital Wing, I ran straight to the Astronomy Tower, my robes billowing behind me.
I breathlessly climbed the final flight of stairs to the tower and gasped the freezing night air into my lungs. It was dark in the Astronomy Tower, but I could see the outline of Draco's slim, black silhouette standing on the balcony in the moonlight. He turned, the whites of his teeth glinting like stars.
"Glad you could make it, my love."
I ran to him, throwing my body onto his and wrapping my legs around his midsection, pressing my open mouth onto his, so happy to see him I could have cried. His hands firmly gripped my thighs, holding me tightly in his arms as he returned the impassioned kiss.
"Careful where you throw yourself, Thorncroft," Draco chuckled. "You could have knocked us both off the tower with that flying leap of yours."
"I'm sorry," I breathed, a cloud of hot breath rising between our faces as he held me onto him. "I came straight from the Hospital Wing. I-I just wanted to see you."
Draco chuckled darkly. "If I get a say in how I die, being taken out by one of your kisses is how I would like to go."
"You have a talent for saying things that are so sweet, yet so morbid."
Draco's mouth crashed into mine again, and he pushed my back up against the wall of the Astronomy Tower, still keeping me on his hips. My hands went to his soft platinum hair, and one of his hands grasped my chest, the other slipping under my robes and skirt to hold my ass.
As Draco's mouth wrapped around my neck, I purred, "Did you invite me up here just so we could shag?"
Draco rocked his hips against mine. "No," he replied, his hands holding me firmly in place, "But you have to be a good girl for me before you get your gift."
"Gift?" My eyes widened. "I-I didn't get you anything-"
Draco smirked, kissing me along my jaw. "Letting me fuck you atop the Astronomy Tower is a gift enough."
I hastily uttered the contraceptive charm, barely getting the final word out before Draco unzipped his pants and pressed himself against my groin.
"I'm so hard for you, darling," Draco said through gritted teeth, but he didn't have to tell me, for I could feel him poking against me.
"Does fucking me in a public space turn you on?" I whispered teasingly, which made him press into me harder.
"Yes," he growled, his eyes flicking from my eyes, to my lips, to my throat. "I want the stars to watch while I make you scream."
Draco made love to me against the wall. I cried out as he entered me, and then moaned into his shoulder, singing what I knew was his favorite song. He asked for more, rolling his body against mine, and he forced every moaning note out of my throat each time he thrust into me in the dead of night. I was cold before, but it was impossible to be cold now, with Draco's arms wrapped tightly around my body, and his breath breathing life into my mouth, my neck, and my chest.
Draco slowed, looking into my eyes in the moonlight. "You're so pretty, baby," he whispered.
I blushed. He sounded so earnest, so gentle- this wasn't like the usual teasing sex talk we had.
"D-don't say those things while you're inside of me," I objected softly. "Did you accidentally take a love potion today after all?"
Draco's lips parted into a smile. "I can't help it, Erica. I don't think you understand, exactly, how much I adore you."
I wrapped my fingers around his neck, shyly burying my face in his shoulder. "The adoration flows both ways, you know."
Draco's grip upon me tightened, and he continued making slow, passionate love to me until we were both arriving at exquisitely powerful orgasms, the kind that made our eyes shut tightly and our lips tremble. Draco gradually set me down, placing gentle kisses across my cheeks and nose.
"I think you deserve to see your present now," he said.
"O-oh," I stammered with uncertainty. "You...you really shouldn't give me anything."
Draco smirked, leading me back to the Astronomy Tower balcony where the cold air whipped at our faces. "Relax. It's nothing big," he said, producing an old-looking vial on a string from his inner coat pocket.
I gazed at the glowing, diamond-shaped vial. Inside was gelatinous liquid that was dark as ink, sparkling with gold and silver specks of light that swam around like little fish. I was mesmerized.
"Wh-what is that?" I asked. "It looks like... unicorn semen."
Draco threw his head back in laughter, making me feel foolish. "It would be easier to show you," he said, taking out his wand.
He pointed his long wand at the entrance of the vial, and one of the specks of light floated out to rest at the tip. He capped the vial, put it away, and pointed his wand to the sky.
"Stella Nativita."
I couldn't help but gasp as a powerful but thin beam of light shot out from Draco's wand. The light fragment travelled at a breakneck pace like a bullet from a gun, headed into the inky abyss of the sky, leaving yellow strings of light in its wake.
It was like a shooting star.
My eyes followed the fragment of light until it faded into a pinpoint in the atmosphere, and I thought that was it.
"Wow," I said, completely awestruck. "That was-"
"Wait for it," Draco muttered.
Just as he finished his sentence, the beam of light he shot into the sky flared. I covered my eyes with my hand- it was glowing even brighter than the moon. The point of light flared for a few seconds, and then settled into a flickering luminosity, remaining as a brand new freckle amongst all the other stars in the sky.
I gawked wordlessly up at it for a full minute, before finally asking, "Is- is that permanent?"
Draco also looked at the star, and then at me. "Of course it's permanent," he said, as if that should have been obvious.
"Draco, you.... you just made a star for me," I said, hardly fathoming what occurred before my eyes. "You said your gift was 'nothing big'!"
A smile found its way onto Draco's face. "Making stars isn't as hard as people think. My family's been putting stars in the sky for generations. All it takes is a little lux aurumque."
"...The unicorn semen?"
Draco laughed again. "Yeah, that. It's liquid light and gold. That's what stars are made of." He side-eyed me. "Don't ask how much it's worth. You wouldn't like the answer."
I crossed my arms, feeling joyfully irritated. "This isn't fair. You've given me something priceless. How can I possibly measure up to that?"
Draco smiled at me, and reached out to stroke my hair. "It was the only thing I could think of that was even close to your worth." His smile turned smug. "And I just so happen to be the best gift giver in the world. You just have to deal with it."
I lightly bumped a fist against his chest. He pulled me close to him, gazing down into my face.
"It does need a name," Draco said, nodding to the beacon shining above our heads.
"What- I get to name it, too?" I asked incredulously. My mind buzzed, not knowing what to choose. "That's a lot of pressure, Draco."
"Well, Muggle scientists will likely give it some boring name that's just numbers, if that makes you feel better," Draco said to me. "So whatever you want to call it, it'll be known only by us."
Picking the name wasn't too difficult. I had to think of something that reminded me of both of us. Salazar would be the obvious choice, after the founder of Slytherin house- but I had the feeling that this star was feminine. And then I remembered a portrait in Madam Pomfrey's office of a healing witch who was killed by her father in the 7th century, and was immortalized as a saint.
"Dymphna," I said finally, after many long minutes of deep thought. "I want to name the star Dymphna, after the Saint of Healing."
Draco tilted his head, considering the name. "Dymphna," he repeated, feeling it out on his tongue. "Good name for a star. But a horrible name for a person."
"Well, it's a star, not a child," I replied, rolling my eyes. "By the way, don't you have a star up there somewhere?" I asked, knowing full well that my teasing question was going to get a rise out of him.
Draco looked extremely offended by my feigned ignorance. "It's not just a star, it's a whole constellation," he retorted. He pointed to the sky, and I followed his finger as it traced around the stars. "It's the constellation of the dragon. The head begins there, with the stars Eltanin, Rastaban, and Thuban...."
I had top marks in astronomy, and already knew most of what he was telling me, but it sounded so much better coming out of his mouth, so I let him talk. I listened to Draco rant about astronomy until we couldn't feel our fingers and noses. I memorized the placement of our new star, Dymphna, gazing at how it flickered steadily, like a heartbeat. I didn't want to ever stop looking at it.
The permanent reminder of our love, immortalized in the sky for all to see.
Note: St. Dymphna is the patron saint of mental illness, anxiety, and depression.
Happy New Year:) -kittyhawk