･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. .**.☽ .*
The time was nearing. That day that most people dreaded, the girls cried too much, and only a few people actually had a good time.
That's right, Valentines day.
The year before, Caroline had a relatively good time on Valentines day. Despite there being a Hogsmeade trip that she'd never go to, Julian would made a huge deal out of it and gave her her favourite sweets and flowers and kiss her...
And now she had no one to do that.
She was glad Julian wasn't with her anymore, of course she was, but sometimes being single made her feel lonely and she was ashamed of that. Why couldn't she just be okay on her own? But it was always nice to know someone cared about you, wasn't it?
Tyler had a similar feeling this Valentines day. But he wanted one person in particular to show him he cared. His best friend. He had had the biggest crush on Archie since perhaps the moment they first met, but he had always suppressed that and tried to focus on his other crushes, such as Alice Fortescue who he desperately tried to let occupy his mind instead of Archie. He tried to forget his feelings.
But every time Archie would date someone else, it was like the cruciatus curse on Tyler's heart.
This Valentines day would be different. Finally Tyler would tell Archie how he felt.
"Hey! Hey Arch, I uh, I have something for you," Tyler said, sitting beside Archie in the near empty courtyard as he studied his potions text book.
"Oh, really?" Archie raised an eyebrow as Tyler crossed his legs underneath him, "well actually, before that, I was thinking of something I needed to talk to you about."
"Can I give you my thing first?"
Archie grinned and shook his head, "no you gotta hear this."
Tyler shifted his body to face him and sighed, "fine, what is it?"
"Did you do the Herbology essay due Monday?"
Tyler felt his shoulders slump in disappointment, but nodded, "yeah I did it last night."
"Good," Archie smiled.
"Why?"
"Because then you'll have time to go on a date with me tomorrow."
Tyler inhaled sharply out of shock so violently that it ensued a coughing fit that made him turn away from Archie who just laughed.
"Really?" Tyler said after a final cough.
"Yes, you idiot," Archie snorted, "so what do you say?"
"I-yeah, yes! Of course," Tyler nodded furiously, "I can't believe that...that you..."
Archie pushed a loose curl out of Tyler's face, "of course I do. Now, what were you gonna give me?"
Tyler flushed pink, and shook his head, "it's stupid, but uh...I actually came over here to tell you I, um...that I like you in a...in a more than friends way and I...brought you this..."
From his robe pocket he pulled out a pink rose and held out to Archie who looked at the flower as if it was a ring that Tyler had just used to propose to him or something.
"Wha-is, is something wrong?" Tyler asked.
Archie just looked up at him, into his blue eyes before grinning and pulling him by his Hufflepuff tie into a long-awaited kiss.
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽
"Evening."
Caroline jumped and looked up at Sirius, "Sirius it's past curfew, I'm on duty."
"I know I know, please don't give me a detention again!" He exclaimed, holding his hands up and walking towards her.
She rolled her eyes and laugh, "I won't, but you should hurry with whatever you want to say because Filch has started to come down here to check on things."
"To check on things or to check you out?" Sirius asked, "he's a fucking creep I'm telling you-"
"Sirius," she interrupted him calmly, "what did you want?"
"Oh," he cleared his throat, "well I couldn't seem to get you alone all day and I just wanted to...um...you know it's Valentines day tomorrow?"
She nodded slowly.
"Well, I was just wondering if you maybe, um...if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me?" He asked, desperately trying not to avert his eyes in his nervousness.
He had never felt this nervous asking out a girl before. What was it about Caroline that made him like this?
"Oh," she said.
Oh?
"Oh?" He repeated, "if you don't want to it's absolutely fine I just-"
"No Sirius I do! I do want to, I just...I never go to Hogsmeade, it's like, it's the day when no one's here and I can mentally recharge I guess. I know it sounds stupid but I normally rely on staying at the castle."
As soon as she said those words it felt less like a reason and more of an excuse in her own head and she felt terribly guilty because she didn't want him to think she really didn't want to go with him because she did.
"Oh, ok," he nodded before smiling briefly, "that's fine."
He turned to walk away and she watched his retreating back, her heart sinking.
"Wait!"
He turned round quickly and looked at her.
She cleared her throat, "w-would you want to, uh, stay at Hogwarts with me?"
"But what about your mental recharge?"
She shook her head, 'it's okay, I want to be with...I...it's Valentines day."
He laughed softly, "it is Valentines day."
And she sighed before saying, "and I wouldn't mind sharing it with you."
"Really?" He asked, his grin wide now.
She nodded before turning shyly away from him, "yes, now go back to your common room before I do really give you a detention."
She glanced at him once more, her eyes shining at him happily. He nodded and winked at her before turning round and walking away.
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽
"So, where are we going first?" Sirius asked Caroline as she walked, looking as if she knew where she was going, as if she had a plan.
"Just follow me," she said, taking his hand in hers and leading him down the emptying corridor.
"You know I thought the boy's supposed to be the one to organise what to do during a date," Sirius said as she dragged him along.
"Come on Sirius, it's the 70s," she said, a smile on her lips, "girls can do what boys can."
"I know, that's now what I was-"
"Shush, just trust me."
She lead him through a familiar set of doors.
"The library?" He asked, "Really?"
She carried on leading him through it, ignoring his protests and sarcastic remarks. She went far far back into the depths of the huge school library, and went down the aisle that said 'Biographies of Giants' until she reached the large window at the end of it.
"Caroline seriously where-"
"This is my safe place," she said, letting go of his hand and walking ahead of him.
"Woah."
She pushed the window and after a moment it swung open like a door. It led to what looked like a small garden, with stone benches and flowers everywhere. The walls around it were the same stone that the rest of Hogwarts was made out of, but it was barely visible because of how much it was covered with ivy and colourful plants.
"How are there so many secret places in this school that I never knew existed?" Sirius breathed.
"What's another secret place?" Caroline asked as she pushed through the leaves of a drooping willow tree.
Sirius looked at the weeping willow tree cautiously, but after a moment decided it probably wouldn't attack him like the other willow tree he knew, and went under the leaves as Caroline did.
Underneath the tree at the roots were loads of cushions and what looked like a thick picnic blanket covering the dirt, and hanging on the branches were little unlit lanterns that Caroline was going round and magically lighting.
"This is amazing," Sirius said softly, shaking his head, "how did you find this place?"
"I found it in my first year," she said, lighting the final lantern, "some Slytherin fifth years had found out I was a halfblood and started yelling things at me and tried to curse me and I was confused and overwhelmed, and I just...ran."
"And you ended up here?"
"Pretty much," she said, sitting down on one of the cushions, "are you gonna sit or just stand there all day?"
"Oh, right," he said, coming to sit beside her, "so what do you do here?"
"I read, sometimes play a bit of guitar-"
"Wait," he turned to look at her, "you play guitar?"
She nodded, "and piano, I prefer piano."
"Is there anything you can't do?"
She thought about it for a second before shrugging, "I can't dance."
He laughed, "I don't know, you were dancing pretty well at the Gryffindor party a couple weeks ago."
"Oh don't talk about that," she giggled, "I had drank way too much."
He barked with laughter and nodded, "yeah it was brilliant."
"Do you want a coffee or a hot chocolate or anything?" She asked.
"I could go for a coffee," he said.
She nodded and took an empty cup out of her bag, before tapping it with her wand and watching as it filled up with steaming black coffee.
"Oh beautiful," he smiled widely, taking it from her.
"So do you play any instruments?" She asked as she poured herself a hot chocolate into another empty cup.
He nodded, swallowing the bit of coffee he had just drank before speaking, "yeah I play guitar too."
"Oh really?!" She exclaimed, almost spilling her hot chocolate, "how long have you been playing?"
"Since I joined Hogwarts, I was able to sneak in a guitar and practice in the dorms because I wasn't allowed music at home," he said."
She frowned, "why weren't you allowed music at home?"
"Just another stupid rule my parents had, they hated music."
"Why...did they hate it so much?"
"Because so much of the music that everyone listens to nowadays come from muggles, and they're offended by that for some reason," he shook his head, smiling a smile that didn't fully reach his eyes, "I remember one time I was in my room, doing homework, singing We are the Champions by Queen, you know it?"
She laughed and nodded, "yes I love Queen!"
He smiled at her fondly for a moment before looking away again, "well, I was singing that song, and the house elf...Kreacher, he heard me and told the parents and...you know, it didn't end well."
"What happened? Oh, you don't have to answer-"
"No it's okay," he faced her, before pushing back his long, dark hair to reveal a white scar trailing along the length of his jawline down his neck, "this is why I keep my hair long...and because it looks badass, of course."
"Of course," she laughed softly, but looked at the scar sadly, wishing she could do something.
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like I'm an abandoned puppy on the side of the road," he said, letting his hair fall past his ears again and looking away, "I'm fine, seriously.
"I just-"
"This is why I don't ever let people see this kinda stuff I hate people feeling sorry for me-"
She leaned forward, and put a hand on his jaw, turning his face to her, "Sirius. Sirius look at me."
He sighed before letting his blue eyes look up and lock with her brown ones.
"I just care about you," she said softly, keeping her hand against his cheek and stroking her thumb against the soft skin.
"You do?"
She nodded, smiling softly at him. He felt his heart swell.
"Thank you," he whispered.
"You don't have to thank me."
Their faces were so close that she could feel his hot breath against her lips. He made the move to close the gap but out of panic she moved back slightly, the moment dropping.
"Sorry," Sirius said.
"No, I'm..." she trailed off looking at him, "so you play guitar?"
"I, yeah I do."
"Accio," she pointed her wand up and a guitar floated down and landed in her lap, "don't laugh, I keep a guitar stored safely in the tree. Wanna play it?"
"Sure," he smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as she handed it to him.
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽
"Shall we go in here?" Tyler asked.
"Yeah okay," Archie nodded, squeezing the boy's hand and leading him inside the three broomsticks.
They waved at Jane who was sitting with Marlene and Dorcas from Gryffindor, she waved back excitedly. Finally the boys were going out, it had been a longgg time coming.
"Here's a good spot," Archie pointed to a tucked away table in the corner of the pub.
They sat down, both of them feeling the tension settle in a thick cloud around them.
Tyler exhaled and looked up at him, "you know I've never gone on a date before, you're gonna have to help me out here."
"Wait," Archie held up a hand, laughing slightly, "you've never gone on a date before?"
"Don't laugh at me," Tyler whined, nudging him away.
Archie slid closer to him in the booth, "sorry, no more laughing, I was just surprised!"
"Why?"
"I mean, have you seen yourself?" Archie asked raised an eyebrow.
"What..."
"Ty, seriously, do you know how attractive you are?"
Tyler's cheeks flushed, his eyes widening, "I'm not...you are! You're so..."
Archie's eyes shined in amusement as he fought to keep the smile off his face, "So what?"
Tyler shook his head, looking down at his lap, "You're perfect, Arch."
"I'm far from perfect," Archie said softly, putting a finger under the boy's chin to make him look at him, "but thank you."
"Arch I've fancied you since I was about 12 and I really don't want fuck this u-"
Archie kissed him, stopping the anxious rant in its tracks. Tyler sighed into the kiss, pulling him closer as if it was all he needed, as if kissing Archie was his oxygen.
When they pulled away, both of them slightly dazed, Archie spoke up, "be my boyfriend?"
Tyler was so stunned he couldn't answer, so he just nodded and kissed him again.
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽
"Well," Caroline said, stopping in front of the door before the Ravenclaw common room, "this is me."
"Today's been really great," Sirius said, rocking back on his heels, "thank you."
"No, thank you," she said, shaking her head, "it's....there aren't many people that I can feel as comfortable with as I do when I'm with you. Is that weird to say?"
"It's not weird at all," he said, taking a step closer to her, "I feel exactly the same."
"Oh," she looked surprised, "really?"
"Yes," he smiled.
"Well..."
She stepped towards him to almost close the gap between their bodies.
"Good night, Sirius."
She kissed him on the cheek, a lingering kiss that lasted maybe a moment longer than could be considered just platonic.
"Good night, Caroline," he breathed, fighting the urge to place his hand over the spot she had just kissed.
She turned to the doorknob who glared at her, already knowing she would get the riddle.
It began to speak, "The one who has it does not keep it. It is large and small. It is any shape. What is it?"
She smiled almost immediately, "a gift."
The doorknob sighed before the wooden door it was attached to swung open.
"How on Earth did you get that?" Sirius asked.
She just winked at him and stepped through the door, "night, Sirius."