I yawned softly as I stretched my arms above my head.
"Morning sleepy head," Ginny said, throwing her lace pyjama top at me. My eyes were still malfunctioning from a long and restful sleep so the shining sun that made its way through our window wasn't much help. I kept one eye shut and squinted through the other. She looked very pretty, her hair was slightly straighter than usual and I could tell she had a soft rosy lipstick on.
"What's the occasion?"
"Are you dumb?" she asked. But I could sense in her tone that she thought I was playing.
"No really? Why are you all fancy?"
"Ok first off, I'm not all fancy. It's a subtle fanciness, okay? Get that right. And second, you should be getting fancy too. Get up."
I plopped back down instead.
After several pillows to the face from Ginny, I rolled out of bed. I put on my uniform and Ginny stood there supervising the whole time.
"Can I help you?" I asked, uncomfortable by the constant stare.
"Oh honey," she said, looking me up and down, "it's about how I can help you."
I frowned as she smiled broadly, bringing over her hairbrush.
We descended the stairs, me at my normal morning energy level, but Ginny at an unusually giddy level. She sorta pulled me by my sleeve like a little pet. Hermione came out of her room just then and we gave each other a little nod to say hello. She didn't look too happy - just my type of morning person.
At the bottom of the stairs Ginny let go of my arm to put her hands up to her face, acting all surprised as she trotted over to Dean who also looked a little fresher than usual. He handed her a pretty little flower and a gift box.
Then, I heard someone clear their throat. I shifted my gaze away from their little romantic scene and turned my focus towards my own surprising little romantic scene. There stood Harry, also looking fresh and handsome, holding a cute little bouquet of red flowers. He gave me a soft smile and offered them to me. I grabbed them gently and smiled back. I was completely confused though.
"They're lovely," I said, smelling them. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Valentine," he said, blushing a little. The top part of his hair started to poke up again and he tried to smooth it back down.
I was confused only for a second more before I released it was February 14. The realization must have showed up on my face because Ginny yelled from across the room that she thought I'd been joking when I asked her what the occasion was.
Dean looked very proud of Ginny's affection for him. She had her arm linked in his and I noticed she clung on even tighter when Ron walked by, probably in spite of the last time Ron got mad at her public display of affection.
He walked right past her though, searching the room almost frantically. I noticed that Hermione had a very unflattering scowl across her face and she left the room at once, heading out for breakfast. Ron left too, but it didn't look like he was following her - more like he was trying to escape the common room.
Harry laughed. "Yea so Ron's gonna try and avoid Lavender today."
"That'll never work, she's attached to him," I said matter-o-factly.
"You don't say?" he said, playfully sarcastic. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and spun us around so we could head out for breakfast as well.
Right as I was about to step through the portrait hole, I was taken by surprise as a little curly haired goblin ran up behind me, punched my raised foot back to the ground, and made an odd sort of battle cry. It then pushed me to the side, sending me crashing into Harry, and ran out the portrait hole, chasing after Ron.
At this, I was able to get a better look and I noticed that the goblin was Lavender.
"Oh my God," I said, alarmed.
"Yep, Ginny was right. You've got a vengeful manic after you," he said, in the same matter-o-fact tone I'd just used.
"Oh great," I said, laughing weakly. "That's gonna have to stop. I swear I thought she was a real goblin. My foot hurts now."
He just laughed at me.
"I'm serious, she pushed me hard! I didn't even know she could make a screech like that! I'm disturbed," I said seriously.
"I'll take you to therapy," he said laughing at my situation.
*
Breakfast was great. We had pancakes with light pink maple syrup topped with strawberries and whipped cream. I didn't have too busy of a day today; It was Friday so I had the weekend ahead of me to catch up on work - plus, I was ahead.
"Okay, so I'll pick you up after your last class?" Harry asked me after taking his last sip of pumpkin juice.
"I'll be waiting," I said with a smile. He smiled back and kissed by forehead as he stood up.
"Alright, see you Bells," he said, swinging his bag over his shoulder. I finished the last bit of my juice as well and gathered my things to head to class.
As I was walking down the hall I saw Hermione sitting with Parvati and I just hoped she wasn't feeling too down. It would probably be some consolation for her to know that Ron was avoiding Lavender. I made a metal note to talk to her about it later.
As I continued out, I took a quick glance at the Slytherin table. I didn't see Draco, but he might have been there, I just glanced too quickly to be able to take everything in - I didn't wanna stare too long. Although, I did manage to see Blaise pocketing some strawberries and a small can of whipped cream with a sly grin on his face.
As I continued out the doors, I crossed paths with Pansy who practically shouldered me out of the way. She looked ridiculously moody and I rolled my eyes at her rudeness. I don't know how Draco could stand her.
I missed Draco. He cancelled on our usual Friday plans last week in a weird little meet in the hallway during class time. But he did say that he'd make it up to me on the next Friday...
Up until that moment I completely forgot that today was that "next Friday" I was longing for; Today I would get to see Draco again. I can't believe I'd forgotten. Normally I count the days until the next time I could see him. I guess it got all messed up since the last Friday was a no-go.
Half of me was really excited, but the other half started anxiously thinking of a way to sneak out tonight since Harry would probably want to spent the time with me.
I felt a twinge of guilt in my stomach, feeling bad for Harry. I didn't wanna hurt his feelings by not spending the day with him, but I really needed to see Draco again.
As I walked, I came to the conclusion that I'd spend all day with Harry and most of the evening too. Once night comes, I'd fein exhaustion and 'head off to sleep.' Hopefully it won't be too weird and I'd be able to make it out with no suspicious raised.
*
"Oh come on, ten more minutes?" Harry said, pleading. "I'll serenade you! Is that what you want?"
"No you weirdo!" I said giggling, pushing his hand off of my arm. "I'm really tired, please."
"Okay, I'll serenade you with a lullaby!" he said, as if he had just found the solution to all his problems. He stared to sing a Muggle lullaby but it was in such a loud and gallantly tone I smacked him a few times on the leg until he stopped.
"Please," I said, half begging this time and moving myself to the the other side of the couch.
"Noooo," he moaned, falling forward onto the couch so that he was almost laying on his stomach to be closer. "Why do you want to leave so bad?"
"I don't, I'm just crazy tired," I said, speaking to him like a little kid. "If anything, it's your fault. I had too much fun with you."
"Oh don't blame anything on me," he gasped, jokingly offended.
"Alright fine, I won't blame you.. out loud," I said as I learned forward to kiss his head as a solidified goodbye.
He grabbed my wrist as I was about to go. "One more kiss and I'll let you go," he negotiated.
I laughed and sat back down, lifting his chin up to kiss him on the lips this time. I pulled away quickly but he grabbed me once more.
"Alright, alright," I said afterwards. "For real now, I'm going to bed."
"Okay," he moaned like a little child. "I'll go too."
We were the last two to head back to our dorms so when I was sure he was in his room, I snuck back down the stairs and was able to make my way out secretly.
I was feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement as I walked to the door. I tried to steady my breath and I combed my hair with my fingers so that it would sit straight.
In my nerves, I hadn't been paying attention to my loudness and I'd been letting the heels of my shoes clank on the floor. A portrait shushed me loudly and the sudden noise was so scary that I practically crawled out of my skin.
Fortunately, he wen't back to sleep immediately and I wasn't caught. I hurried my pace though incase Filtch's cat was around and I made sure to do so quietly.
Finally, I rounded the corner. I hadn't even stood in front of the door before it began to materialize all by itself. Maybe I was getting good at this because I swear my mind was too busy being anxious to think really hard about what I needed for it to open for me.
I couldn't exactly say why I was feeling nervous. I'd grown very close to Draco over the last month so it wasn't that. I think it had to do with the whole "I'll make it up to you" thing that he said was going happen tonight- I just didn't know what that meant.
And if I really tried to explain the nerves, they probably had less to do with Draco and more to do with Harry; A subconscious part of me felt bad for ditching him and the guilt gave me a little nervous twitch as I stood before the door, watching it take sold form.
I pushed it open with my right hand and took a step forward.
My jaw dropped.