My Felix Valentine

Hermione made her way downstairs, to the Great Hall, rather unwillingly that morning. This year, Valentine's Day was going to be particularly awful, and she knew it.

Ginny was sitting at the Gryffindor table when she got there; she was alone and looking prettier than usual.

'Hi, Hermione!' she greeted her, beaming.

'Hi, Ginny. Have plans, I see,' she pointed out, feeling happy for Ginny.

'Well, of course! It's Valentines, after all. Dean and I are going to Hogsmeade together.'

Ginny spotted Hermione's blue mood behind her sincere but faltering smile. 'And... what are you up to today?'

'What would you expect me to do?'

'Oh, I don't know, going on a date with McLaggen?' Ginny asked maliciously.

Hermione snorted.

'Of course. I'll stay here; I've got a thousand of things to do.'

'Don't you want to join us later?'

Ginny seemed resolute against Hermione spending all the day alone. Probably not because she thought she would feel affected by not having a date on Valentine's Day, Hermione was beyond that; but because she knew Hermione was aching, no matter what she told Ginny, and it was her own brother's fault.

'No,' Hermione said categorically. 'I could never be the third party on a date! I'm fine, really.' She picked a toast and spread marmalade on it.

'And... do you know what Harry will be doing? Won't go out to take some fresh air? Or... or maybe he has a date?' Ginny asked casually.

'No, I don't think so. But he isn't in a cheerful mood either; he'll probably spend the whole morning wandering about the Room of Requirement.'

Ginny nodded absent-mindedly.

'I'm fine,' Hermione repeated. I'll have breakfast now, then catch up with my homework and relax doing some reading in the library.'

Ginny didn't said a word, but it was obvious that her idea of relaxing was not an evening spent reading, at least not in the grimy library.

'And with some luck,' Hermione added in a smaller, disdainful voice, 'I won't have to bear the disgusting pair of slugs, one of whom is a relative of yours, thrashing about all around the common room.'

'That's it! Luck! You haven't used your Felix Felicis yet, have you?'

No, she hadn't. Ever since she had won the potion with her Draught of the Living Dead, Hermione had kept the small vial as a treasure, magically protected just in case, and hidden in her trunk. She had failed at finding some reasonable use for it, and therefore, the bottle stayed untouched.

'Ginny,' she started calmly, 'I won't waste the Felix Felicis today because it won't give me luck, and I have nothing to accomplish or anything like that that can't wait for some other day. I told you I'm perfectly—'

'Bitter. You really need to have some sunshine and relax—for real, by the way.'

'What sunshine are you talking about? It'll be snowing again in no time,' Hermione retorted in amusement.

'Listen, I know you're right at being upset, but is everything you told me to do worthless for yourself? You did great for Christmas, to be honest, even though the chosen date wasn't very...'

She didn't know how to complete her sentence, and Hermione took her chance to retort again. 'I didn't have a good time, and no, it doesn't work for me because my situation has nothing to do with yours,' she said, almost in a whisper, as she attacked her bowl of crisps and milk.

'Well, if you insist on that, I better leave you before your bad mood becomes contagious to me.' Ginny stood up, stretched, and looked down at Hermione with a stern expression. 'But you better consider it, because you've disappointed me, Hermione Granger.'

After that, she walked away to meet Dean, her long red hair swinging about her back.

Ginny had a point; Hermione couldn't risk her head, she couldn't spend the rest of the year caring about Ron. Eventually, she would get over him and they'd be friends again, her logical self was sure of that. And her situation was not the same as Ginny at all. It was only a matter of time until Harry realised he fancied Ginny and saw that she truly fancied him back. Hermione already suspected about his feelings for her.

Hermione folded her napkin and thought. She had meant it when she said she didn't want to waste a potion like Felix Felicis on something like that, especially when she might need it in the future and wouldn't be able to make more on a short notice. But then, what would she do? Be bored... when she had in her hands the key to turn a depressing day into a fun one?

Her eyes focused again, unfortunately just to see Lavender dragging Ron to the other end of the table.

Pretending not to have seen them, an ability she had managed to improve over the past months, Hermione escaped into a random passageway before reaching the common room, and then hurried to climb up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

Parvati was there, getting dressed with a sour face and did not speak to Hermione. She combed her hair for something to do as her roommate put on her shoes and left.

This was her chance: Hermione bent over her trunk and rummaged her orderly stuff until she found what she was looking for. The small jewellery box her mother had given her now contained the vial with the golden liquid, which Hermione took and uncorked carefully. She would not drink all of it, a few hours of fun would be enough to cheer her up. The warm brew crossed past her lips and slipped down her throat. At once, Hermione felt a huge weight disappeared from her stomach. Why had she been so worried about in the first place? Valentine's Day suddenly did not look as bad as she had thought, and she felt the urge to go to Hogsmeade. Hermione had no idea who she would go with or what would she do there, but acting on impulse, she changed her current jumper with one she didn't remember to have ever worn before; it was dark red and hand-knit. After pulling her hair into a bun and grabbing an umbrella just in case, she went downstairs, where she found Harry.

'Hey Harry!'

'Hi, Hermione. I thought you were staying.'

'Hm, no, I've made up my mind. Do you want to come? You look rather pale.'

'No, I'll stay,' Harry said, frowning curiously at her. 'Have a nice day, though.'

'Oh, I will!'

He waved at her as she disappeared through the portrait hole.

On her way downstairs, she found Luna walking through a corridor and hurried to catch up with her.

'Luna, hi! What are you doing?'

'Oh, hi! Just having a walk, I don't have much to do... I was thinking of visiting Hogsmeade, actually. Are you going there? Do you have a date?'

Hermione gave a singsong laugh. 'No, I don't. But I was heading to Hogsmeade, as a matter of fact. Would you like to join me?'

Luna beamed. 'Yes, let's go!'

As they crossed the winged boars guarding the gates to Hogwarts, Luna commented, 'I'm glad you overcame your feelings for Ron. Ginny slipped something, and I've spotted he no longer seems happy with Lavender.'

Hermione said nonchalantly, 'Well, serves him right. As for me, I have no interest in who he dates or whatsoever.'

Luna looked at her with a curious expression, but didn't add anything.

The day had cleared up beautifully: the wind had ceased, the snowflakes had stopped falling and the weather felt warmer with the presence of weak sunbeams. Hermione took the lead toward a parallel road, despite that she could not think where to go other than The Three Brooms.

But Luna went ahead of her and suggested, 'Why don't we go there? Dad is friends with Madam Pudifoot.'

'You want us to go to Madam Pudifoot's?'

If they didn't have a date nor were they meeting anybody else, she could not see how they wouldn't look ridiculous there. And yet Felix was urging her to go after Luna without complaining, as the girl seemed not to find anything odd with the plan.

The two girls entered to the incredibly hot place, where some couples were already sitting, and Luna took Hermione to where the owner was merrily taking requests.

'Oh dear, hi, how are you and that handsome father of yours?' The woman said, giving her a brief hug over the counter. 'And what brings two fine young ladies here today, waiting for a couple of suited lads?' She winked at Luna and Hermione.

'No, we don't have any dates, actually, but The Three Broomsticks is always too crowded and noisy, while this place is brighter. I thought we could have a cup of coffee here instead,' Luna said, as if it was the most natural thing.

'Oh, sure,' Madam Pudifoot replied quickly, although she looked slightly puzzled. The idea of two single girls who were not in a date and wanted to stay at a place with only the sight of other people snogging around them was not odd for Hermione alone. 'Maybe you'll end up meeting somebody, after all. Choose any table you like!'

As Hermione took seat and began examining the place, she couldn't help but think again of how silly they must look there. Everything was pink and golden, with ribbons, flowers and cherubs floating in the air, throwing paper hearts over their heads. Hermione wondered whether it was specially decorated for the day or if it looked the same all the 365 days of the year, and she decided that this was not her conception of romanticism.

They were having cupcakes filled with strawberry mousse (curiously, Hermione's favourite taste) and coffee when the door opened and McLaggen entered with a friend. As much as she disliked him, Hermione was suddenly glad of seeing him there, and before she could consider what she was about to do, she waved at him as he made his way through the tables. Cormac blinked, evidently puzzled; they hadn't talked at all after Slughorn's party. Hermione had done a good job avoiding him since then, and he had looked offended. But now that she seemed to be offering him a chance...

'Well, hi, Hermione! Waiting for a date?' he asked at reaching their table.

'Not really. Luna and I didn't have where to go, and therefore we came here. What about you?'

'We were looking for a friend, but I see he's over there... wanker,' McLaggen added scornfully, even though it was clear he would have wanted to be the one inside his friend's blonde companion's throat. 'So... Monty and I have nothing to do either, would you mind if we join you?'

Before Hermione's rational head could give it a second thought, the potion was blurting on her behalf, 'Of course, that would be great!'

She did not suspect how was McLaggen going to make her day lucky—she had no intentions on going as far as being left alone with him again—but she found out minutes later, as the two boys were drawing chairs to their small table. The door opened with a ring of bells and Lavender came through it, looking radiant and dragging Ron, who was tugging at the collar of his cloak in an attempt to hide. He followed Lavender reluctantly to a table close by Hermione, Luna, McLaggen and his friend. They seemed not to realise of the others' presence, since McLaggen's wide back hid them from sight, but only one table separated the groups.
Hermione drew her attention back to her table, where McLaggen had been speaking at length about how stupid Valentine's Day was.

'Yes, you're right,' Luna piped up, much to Hermione's surprise. 'You shouldn't need an excuse to show your love to somebody.'

'Well, yes, but somehow it's a special day, like your birthday,' Hermione said absent-mindedly.

Luna shrugged, but McLaggen settled his elbows on the table, leaning closer to Hermione.

'So, you like it?'

'Maybe I would if I had that special some one, but for now...' She shrugged too, as she strained her ears to hear Lavender say, 'Two Special Sweetheart chocolate ice-creams,' ignoring Ron's complain of, 'Ice-cream? It's bloody freezing!'

When Madam Puddifoot went away, Lavender leant across the table and whispered something in Ron's ear. Hermione wished she hadn't seen it, but to her relief, Ron wrinkled up his nose and gave a smile that was truly more of a grimace.

'—get you don't have a date?' McLaggen's voice reached her suddenly.

'Sorry?'

'I get you don't have a date at all, then?' he asked again, somewhat annoyed.

Hermione smirked slightly.

'No, I don't. Why?'

'If she'd got a date, I doubt she'd be talking to you,' Luna said nonchalantly.

To Hermione's amusement, Luna's singsong voice drew Ron's attention, and she saw him briefly over McLaggen's shoulder.

McLaggen had turned red, but Hermione laughed loudly and placed a hand over one of his own.

'I'm sorry, but you're too much for me.' McLaggen smiled arrogantly, and was about to say something between the lines of 'Of course I am!' But Hermione added, 'Too much of a prat for me.'

She caught Ron smiling covertly, as he was making an effort to listen to their conversation, but Lavender saw him too and followed his gaze; her eyes narrowed toward Hermione before she grabbed Ron's face and pulled him to a snog.

Cormac was now glaring at Hermione, whose face felt bloodless.

'You have no idea how lucky you were, going to that party with me. Most of the girls who were there would—'

'—gladly turn you down, yes,' Hermione completed. McLaggen's friend, who hadn't said a word, at least that Hermione had heard, chuckled.

'What's so funny?' McLaggen barked at him.

'Oh, maybe a Wrackspurt is paying a visit to him,' Luna pointed out, looking suddenly interested.

'Weirdos, both of you!' McLaggen spat, standing up. All the couples were looking at them and even Lavender had released Ron to see the scene. 'You're no as pretty as to get past your bitchy mood—'

'Oh, don't worry, I'm sure lots of girls will get past your obnoxiousness only because of your lousy performance as a Quidditch player,' Hermione replied, yawning pointedly.

'And your lack of style,' Luna commented casually, winking at the cherub floating above them.
McLaggen finally kicked his chair aside and strode away toward the door. Ron stuck out a leg as Cormac walked past, making him and he stumble. In return, Cormac looked murderously at him and stormed out of the place.

Everybody laughed after that before resuming what they had been doing. Cormac's friend, even though he had sniggered rather visibly, stood up and said, 'Er... sorry about that, Cormac is quite hot-headed. Have a nice day,' and he left as well.

'Bye, see you,' Luna said vaguely. 'Hey, isn't that Ron?'

Hermione rolled her eyes, but looked in his direction nevertheless. Lavender had drew her chair so that it was perfectly visible for them to see that she had her hand on his shoulder as she tried to stuff spoonfuls of ice-cream into Ron's mouth. He looked as if he wanted to be swallowed up by the earth and resisted Lavender's intentions rather viciously.

The couple sitting at the only table that separated them soon left the place, and so Hermione moved her chair by inches and incredibly found herself with her back to Lavender and Ron.

'Nice jumper. I like how the maroon colour suits you, and it looks warm. I think I'd never seen it before on you.'

The sound of a spoon hitting china was clearly heard after Luna's comment.

'Oh, thanks. I have no idea where I got it; I just found it this morning with my stuff.' Hermione looked down at it. 'It's comfortable, but I think it's larger than me—'

'Of course it is, you shameless cow!'

Hermione turned round and saw Lavender standing behind her, with her cup of ice-cream on her hand as if it was a grenade and giving off sparks from her eyes. 'That's one of Ron's jumpers!'

'What?' Ron and Hermione exclaimed together.

'It's like the jumpers your mum knits; it's nearly the same as the one you're wearing right now!' Lavender explained to Ron, who remained sitting and looked confused.

'Oh. Oh yes, now I get it; Molly must have mixed it with my clothes when she did the laundry over the summer,' Hermione said, almost to herself.

That was the reason she had become so fond of the jumper.

'Over... the summer?' Lavender said through gritted teeth. 'You see each other even... even over the summer?'

Ron sighed heavily and looked longingly toward the window, hoping he could jump out of it and disappear. Hermione was the one to answer Lavender.

'Actually, yes. I've spent... what, three summers with the Weasleys?' she said, omitting the detail of Harry's shared stay.

Lavender looked infuriated as she turned back to Ron.

'Aren't you going to tell her to take off your jumper?'

He looked at her in disbelief. The remaining couples had turned their attentions toward them once again.

'Do you want me to tell Hermione to take off her jumper?'

Luna giggled.

'I... no, of course not! I will. You, take off my boyfriend's clothing. Now!' Lavender demanded.

'I will return it as soon as I get back to the castle,' Hermione said, frowning.

'Lavender, it's freezing outside!'

'It's not that cold! You won't take it off? Okay then.'

Lavender held up her cup of ice-cream and dabbed it on the jumper Hermione was wearing.

'Keep it,' she said, putting down her cup and smiling triumphantly. 'Ron, we're leaving.'

Lavender took his hand and tried to drag him again at her command, but Ron didn't move.

'What now?' she growled.

'Are you serious? That was stupid.'

'Ron, we'll discuss it later,' Lavender said sharply.

'Discuss my pants,' Ron snapped, and rushed outside.

Lavender threw a last glare at Hermione and hurried to follow him through the door. Luna and Hermione burst into laughter before she was even out: she had a big stain of chocolate on her rear.

Hermione felt her sides splinching from so much laughter, and accepted that ice-cream on her jumper wasn't that bad.

'Why don't we go back to the castle?' she managed to say to Luna, eventually.

'Yes,' Luna said, standing up, already composed.
The two of them went out to the bright white streets and, as they walked past The Three Broomsticks, she had the sudden feeling to take a look inside.

Ginny, Dean, Neville, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbot and some of their other friends were sitting at a close table and waved at them.

'Hermione, Luna, why don't you join us for lunch here?' Ginny called them out.

'Sure,' Hermione said, beaming, and they made their way through the crowd of chairs and tables.

Ginny pointed to a chair next to her, and when Hermione took seat, she said in a low voice, 'So what convinced to come?'

Hermione smiled. Ginny would soon hear about the Felix Felicis; after all, it had been her idea. But she didn't want her gloating about it in that moment, so she merely shrugged and said, 'The nice weather.'

Surprisingly, Ginny didn't ask further.

Hermione had an entertaining meal. However, she had barely finished her pudding when she felt the urge to leave.

'Where are you going, Hermione?' Neville asked, somehow startled by the haste she jumped to her feet.

'Oh... I've eaten enough and I remembered I've got to talk to McGonagall,' Hermione responded quickly, waving toward them all and leaving.

When she stepped out, it started to rain. Hermione opened her umbrella, silently thanking her idea of bringing it in the first place. She felt like having a short walk around the village before going back to Hogwarts; she loved the smell of wet earth, and looking at the water drops falling around her.

Her feet took her close to the Shrieking Shack before she could understand where she was going. In the distance, she spotted a tall, lanky figure leaning against the crooked gate in the cold drizzle.

'Ron?'

He jumped and turned round.

'Oh, hi. You're speaking to me.'

'Have you noticed it's raining?' Hermione gestured at their surroundings.

'Yeah,' Ron mumbled. He seemed indifferent and somewhat uncomfortable, but not because of the rain.

'What are you doing here, then?' Hermione insisted.

'Getting soaked. And... escaping from Lavender.'

Ron looked awry at her, not wanting to meet her eyes.

Hermione approached him and held her umbrella high over both of them.

'Thanks.' Ron gave her a half-hearted smile before adding, 'Too late for it to make any difference, though.'

'Don't you want to go back to Hogwarts?' Hermione suggested, feeling more benevolent towards Ron than she had felt in months. 'If Lavender's still somewhere here, I suppose you have a better chance of hiding in the castle...'

'Yeah, why not?'

They set on towards the road leading to the school. As they walked, a warm feeling spread through Hermione's body whenever her arm brushed Ron's, who made no attempt to avoid it.

They made it all the way back to school almost in complete silence, until Ron said, as they crossed the gates, 'Do you still have ice-cream on that jumper?'

'Oh... no, I've cleaned the stain,' Hermione replied, drawing her cloak aside for him to see. 'I'm sorry, I really had no idea it was yours. I'll return it to you as soon as I have it washed.'

'Never mind that. I just hope I don't have a jumper of yours in my stuff, or I'm going to kill mum.'

Hermione laughed, forgetting about the former state of her friendship with Ron.

'You know, I hate Valentine's Day,' Ron told her. 'Well, I hate this Valentine's... Actually, I hated this Valentine's...'

Ron ran a hand through his dripping hair, looking uncomfortable.

'I mean, I've had some fun...'

They reached the Entrance Hall and stopped. Ron looked at her, lightening up with a smile.

'Oh Granger, here you are! And Weasley!'

McGonagall was approaching them with a sheaf of parchments.

'I am sorry to give you work to do on this holiday,' McGonagall said when she caught up with them, 'but I need somebody to go over this list of banned items and update it with this new one Filch made, and omit those that don't even exist anymore.'

'Why us?' Ron asked, frowning.

'I don't know, Weasley, maybe because you are the prefects, aren't you?' McGonagall scowled at him over her spectacles. 'I'm afraid you'll have to do it yourselves, since I was not able to find any of the other prefects.'

McGonagall handed the heap of papers to Ron, making a disapproving noise. 'You can use the professors' room, you will be more comfortable there.'

'Could you go first, while I change out of this?' Hermione asked Ron once the teacher was out of sight, pulling at the collar of her jumper.

'Yeah, sure.'

Ron quickly crossed out something he had been writing on a piece of parchment when Hermione met him minutes later.

'I've made some progress,' Ron informed her quickly. 'Up to the C.'

'Oh, good.' Hermione took seat next to him, after spotting that all the other chairs were crammed with old robes, folders and some of their parchments.

'You haven't run into Lavender, have you?' Ron forced himself to ask.

'No. But I found Dobby, and he gave me these when he went for the jumpers.'

Hermione put two heart-shaped cupcakes on the table. 'Everybody makes such a big deal about this day, don't they?'

'Yeah. Can I have one?'

'Help yourself.'

Ron stretched out a hand but stopped halfway.

'What's wrong?'

'I didn't realise—you're supposed to share it with your—eh, your sweetheart,' he said awkwardly.

Hermione chuckled.

'Then please eat it before it gets too old!'

Ron grinned.

'Right, but you take the other.'

'I'm not a big fan of chocolate, actually. Unless it's filled with some strawberry mousse—' Hermione replied, taking out her ink and quill from the bag she had brought with her.

'Then it's your lucky day.' Ron handed her the other cupcake while showing her the insides of his own, or what was left of it.

They worked for about two hours, in which Hermione was glad to see that the work was not as bad as she had thought, all to Ron's enthusiasm.

'Well,' said Hermione finally, leaving her quill and sighing, 'we're done here.'

She took her half cupcake and ate it, savouring the sweet mix of chocolate and strawberry. She then gathered all the stuff and stood up.

'Wait,' Ron called her out, unmoving. 'You've got a bit of cream there.'

'Where?' Hermione turned to him, running a hand vaguely over her face. Ron brushed his thumb gently over the corner of her lips. He realised how dangerously close they were just in time for a retreat, but he didn't. Instead, he leaned in, covering the inches that separated them, and kissed her. It seemed ridiculous, but she had started imagining how it would feel like to kiss him just in the past months... at least consciously. Now he was kissing her, in an exploring-sort-of way that seemed almost uncertain of her response. Hermione covered the hands cupping her face with her own palms, but he parted from her in haste and turned round, rubbing his red ears.

'Bloody hell—I'm sorry, I shouldn't—I got... mixed up,' he spluttered, without looking at her. Even in her state of confusion, Hermione thought she had never seen Ron acting that awkward—obviously, they had never been in such an awkward situation before—and it amused her how calm she felt in comparison, even without counting the pace her heart was working at inside her rib cage.

'It's all right,' she replied calmly, turning to leave before adding, 'Who isn't confused nowadays?'

Without a word, he strode in front of her and, on inertia, she walked into his arms and into his mouth again, with all the sheaves of parchment pressed and crumpling between them.

'What a way to spend Valentine's Day, uh?' Hermione said, minutes later, smiling at the feeling of his arms around her.

'Well, it could have been any other day, right? With some luck...' Ron replied, oblivious.