This was the time friends(or enemies)confess their crush, but not with Harry and Tonks, nor did it apply for Ron and Hermione. Nothing was going on between them, true?
Unluckily, yes. Although Harry did have a nice morning because of a random talk with Ginny.
Miss Weasley, remembered as the girl who wrote Harry a love letter in her 1st year faced some big changes these months. She was shy at an early age and later became the fierce and brave Gryffindor. Wonderful, wasn't it?
Nah, her points had to be taken off for a huge crush on Harry Potter. It was not her fault, but she got targeted by some other girls that also liked the boy who lived. Those other girls didn't include Nymphadora Tonks, of course, she was, well, hard to explain. And Ginny still loved him, maybe in a different way?
When she sat beside him, not just a few students believed she was handing out another love letter. Today was Valentine's day after all. Romilda Vane screeched "Don't you dare touch my Harry, he belongs to me!" Loud giggles were heard from behind.
"Harry belongs to nobody!" Ginny retorted, "What do you want from him? Fame? Money? If it includes and of those, you'd better be off my sight."
Her words earned many claps. They realized that the little girl grew to be strong, and yet wonderful. She did change greatly in their eyes, which was a good thing, months earlier she was still chasing him, and now everything stopped. What made her?
Romilda wouldn't back down, "Why are you sitting so close to him then?"
Oops, definitely a wrong move, very wrong that made Ginny Weasley angry. "Can't normal friends sit close to each other? If not, you're insane!"
"Not as much as Loony Love-"
She cast the Bat-Bogey Hex before she could even finish. Now Romilda had gotten too far, who in world would call the beautiful angel Luna that nickname?
"No fighting in the Great Hall, Miss. Weasley and Miss. Vane, 20 points from Gryffindor and detention." They were unlucky enough to meet Professor Snape, the last person they wanted to see.
"And Mr. Potter, 10 points and detention for not stopping the fight." Harry almost groaned, Snape used every chance he got to give him detention, "The three of you come to my office at 9 o'clock today." Their punishments were unfair, but it was how they had to deal with the potions master, now the Defence of the Dark Arts professor.
"Who gives detention on Valentine's day?" Ginny complained.
"The one and only professor Snape," Harry replied easily, "So what do you want to talk about?"
"Remember at Christmas, I told you that you may have placed your trust in the wrong person. I'm taking it back actually, she's a great friend and Auror, go for her if you like to."
"Go for her?"
"You heard me right. She's really special and can give you a lot more than me. After all, you two have some sort of connection, I feel it."
"I see many people are pairing her and me together, why?"
"Tonks is the girl you spend the most time with, after Hermione! Not just that, both of you blush when others mention it. Make a move or you'll probably regret it later." Ginny finished, hoping she could convince him.
"She already wants someone, and the someone is not me."
Ginny frowned, "This is the exact reason why you should ask her out soon(as long as you're sure about it), she might be taken once you realize that you do love her. Does she like Remus?"
"Yeah..."
"Alright, answer me one question first. What do you really feel for Nymphadora Tonks?"
Difficult, very difficult. He was not ready yet, "Honestly, I don't know. I supposed she's nice..." he couldn't think of any other words to say, because he had no clue on answering her question, especially when he was asking the same himself.
"Not the answer I've been looking for."
"I thought we are nothing more than friends but after you and Ron pointed some facts out, I began to rethink about Tonks and me as something else. We should stay that way right now I guess."
Looks like Ginny was still not happy with Harry's lines, "Yeah, stay that way right now and the next day she's with Remus. Cool?"
"Do you expect me to go and tell her, 'Hey Tonks, wanna be my girlfriend?' "
"This was literally how I asked Michael Corner out, so if you have the nerves then do it!" she argued, "Be quick, you don't want to miss the golden date!"
"Very funny."
"Yes it is."
"But seriously Ginny, I can't. I don't think I love her, even though we might be able to start dating and see how can it develop, things could get messed up once we find out that we aren't right for each other, breaking up with a girl kinda hurts them." Harry disagreed, searching for the imperfections in her idea.
"Exactly! You wouldn't dream of hurting her, just like all lovers!"
"Ginny..."
"Sorry, it's the truth."
Harry reached out to his pumpkin juice, not forgetting to cast the detecting spell which Tonks had taught him, so Death Eaters couldn't slip poisonous liquids into his drink. He used this spell every time before eating or drinking, to be safe.
If the drink turned red, then it was safe. But if the color was blue, he must stop drinking and check what potion was in it. He waited for it to turn red, nothing could be put into his cup, correct? Nah, he watched in horror as the blue-ish color spread. Uh oh, that was not how everything was supposed to go. The drink he held was harmful.
"Ginny, I have to get Tonks right now!"
"Why is your pumpkin juice blue?"
"No time to explain, I gotta go, bye!" he called, dashing through the crowd looking for Tonks' office. It seemed that fate once again wanted to play with him, the small room where Dora stayed was completely empty. Where could she be?
Just as he was about to leave, a piece of paper caught his eyes. At least she left him a short letter. It said;
Right, Nymphadora Tonks doing an order mission when she could have had fun. True Hufflepuff, hard work, loyalty, and kindness. Even she was busy, she didn't forget to write a note to Harry stating where she was.
Harry laughed at "she-who-must-not-be-named". Only Tonks would write something like that. Beside the letter, a small box of chocolate was placed on the desk, with "take it please" written on it. What a wonderful surprise, Harry thought. At the same time, he did remember that his purpose here was asking about being potioned. Since she was not there, all he could do was leave this place and close the door behind.
Back to the Great Hall, Ginny waited for him worriedly. "Have you found her?"
"No, she was not there, busy working for the order," he whispered the last part.
Professor McGonagall was walking in the Great Hall just as Harry and Ginny were talking. "Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley, do you need any help?"
"You see, my drink has a potion in it..."
She pulled out her wand and muttered a spell under her breath. After a minute, she said frowning, "I'm afraid it's a love potion!"
The students gasped, was it even legal? They guessed who gave put it in, "Maybe it's Romilda Vane, she lusted after him for months already!"
"It's Weasley, she had always wanted to be his wife." Another student shouted.
"Silence!" professor McGonagall stopped the guesses as she performed another spell, "This couldn't be..."
"They set Harry up for whom?" questioned Daphne Greengrass, the Slytherin "Ice Queen".
"Ginny Weasley."
"But professor," Harry argued, "That doesn't mean Ginny gave me a love potion."
"Who else? I'd expel her if I'm Dumbledore, you trusted her way too much! I knew she isn't clean from the beginning!" Romilda exclaimed.
"Harry, I swear, it's not me. I would never-"
"I know, you can't potion me when you're trying to make me date she-who-must-not-be-named!"
"Well, I'll inform professor Dumbledore once he gets back." professor Mcgonagall spoke, "This settles then."
Some students went back to have breakfast. Susan came and told Harry and Ginny not to worry, and they'd solve the mystery when it was time. He didn't really understand what she meant and thanked her anyway.
A young girl jumped up and down until she reached the Gryffindor table, dragging her elder sister. "Hi, my name is Astoria, you can call me Tori."
"Astoria-" her sister warned.
"I have a theory on who gave you the love potion." she began excitedly, "You surely wanna hear!"
"Mr. Potter doesn't have time for your stupid theories." Daphne interrupted.
"Aren't we trying to help him Daph? It may not be real but there is a possibility..."
"Yes we are, " her sister sighed, looking very tired, "Start ranting will only make things worse, now leave with me."
Harry watched the pair of Greengrass sisters, without having a hint of what they were doing. Daphne stopped Astoria from speaking to him, why?
"We are sorry for wasting your time, Mr. Potter, "the Slytherin girl nodded towards him curtly, "Please always keep hope and look at the bright side. Thank you."
She grabbed Astoria's hand and took her away before she could utter a single word.
Harry was confused by Daphne's lines at last. "Always keep hope and look at the bright side," what was she trying to say to him? He watched her blond hair flying in the distance, this girl was certainly hard to guess. And Astoria, her one year younger sister sorted in Hufflepuff, what was her so-called "stupid" theory? Were they helping him in their own way?
Dennis Creevy stopped him from thinking more, "Is Ron and Hermione not here with you because they are too busy snogging and don't want to be disturbed?"
His innocent question brought Harry no answer.
Recommendation: TRULY REALITY by BlackHairedWeasley2. Your book is wonderful, I hope more people will read it!