Chapter One: The Day After Valentines: Boys Tell All
The day after the commercial holiday of Valentine's Day was always a day to relax, chill, and feel the gloom that came along when one didn't not have a special sweetheart. The day was normally raining, ironically, and classes at Hogwarts were either extremely time-consuming or surprising short.
But after all the classes and the long dining hall supper the broken hearted and cupid-hit gathered around in the common room to either complain about last night or dream about last night. It became a natural ritual to the boys at Hogwarts who had already finished Potions homework and completed studying for a simple test the next day.
Some kid would always start the fireplace, usually the one who knew the spell for fires…suck-up… and a random upper classman would call all the storytellers and the story listeners to a leather couch or corduroy recliner. Thus, the "Day after Valentines" ritual began, without warning to those who kept their mouths shut.
Three or four boys usually came to the common room early; the ones who had a good story to tell and those who wanted to make it look like they had a good story to tell. Ron and Harry just happen to be early but if it was up to them they would have rather not attended at all. They had just happened to come from supper and Ron liked hearing cheesy stories; he could get some tips for next year.
Ron took off his wool, slightly aged and covered in whatever he ate that night, robe and set it on the couch to claim his seat. Harry took noticed that the chair farthest away from the fireplace was open, farther way …farther from the conversation. The boys already there were smiling and acting like boys act when around other boys, classified as a jerk.
"Harry, boy am I excited …I love the day after Valentines: things go on sale, I have to make-up a story to tell the guys…a good one this year, I promise, and all the ugly lassies suddenly don't care if you pick your nose when you think no one is looking," whispered Ron who had a big smirk on his face.
"Make sure the story this year is more realistic, I don't think anyone bought the fact you had a date with 5'8 supermodel half fairy half genius half giant half dragon," laughed Harry, rolling his eyes. Ron shrugged and giggled at the fact as well.
"This year Harry I have claimed to either gone on a date with a house-elf, big one at that, or have convinced Granger to finally check out my super pecked out bod, yeah!" Ron shouted flexing his arms up and down to give his chicken wings a bigger physical appearance. Harry again could not help but choke on his own spit.
"One, Hermione hates you, two Hermione hates you, three Hermione hates you and four the house-elf excuse was used two years ago by yours truly," corrected Harry. By now many of the boys had made it to tonight's meeting and the good thing was the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffles were doing the same thing somewhere else.
The hazel grandfather clock struck eight and every lad was sitting in a chair or sitting near the fireplace. The rain began to die down and many of the pictures, the women pictures that is, had left to purposely not be in the room during the conversation.
The eldest boy, Rockford Henderson (he retook two years)…classified as strong to the ladies and dumb ass to the boys, began the long night of dates and staying home tales. He sat in the biggest chair with his gold locks combed back, purposely, and his fancy velvet rope loosely fitted on his muscular body, full of it.
"Well, lets start with the oldest shall we…oh dear my, I am the oldest…chuckle…, again ironic…pish posh ironic, and my date was slamming because I went out with three gals," suavely drawled Rockford so that every boy in the room could envy his charm.
"You went out with three girls, in the same night!" screamed a first year who was important or people would have remembered his name. Rockford smiled and winked several times. Harry moved farther into his seat and glared at Rockford with extreme jealously and yet a hatred for a guy who would do that to three girls. He was jealous of course because last night him and Ron stayed in their dorms all night, he secretly was making out with his pillow while Ron practiced on the nearest picture, which happen to be a man.
"Did I mention I went out with the three at the same time, oh dear my I shouldn't have revealed that…oops…chuckle," Rockford laughed, still trying to sound …irresistible. Ron at that moment just gave up on his story which was sharing tongue with a unicorn because Rockford had just won over everyone.
"No more further comments…chuckle…next story…chuckle," Rockford commanded giving himself a smack on the back. Many boys who were excited earlier just lost hope in getting interest from everyone else. Harry knew it was wrong to look at love as a game but he was a man, or so he knew, and men had work their way up before winning; but for Harry he wasn't even on start and he felt like he was never given a "jail free card".
The night went on and many had already gone to bed, the hopeless ones and the ones who had already revealed, but Harry, Ron, several of the virgins and the two boys who both claimed to have been with Moaning Myrtle the night before stayed quietly in the common room. The room was silent except for the boys arguing and the fire was slowly moving closer to the bottom of the firewood. The dreaded day after Valentines was finally over and then Harry would have to wait until next year.
Rockford had already gone to bed after a long time of chuckling his signature chuckle and siftings his fingers through his perfect mane of curls made from a curling iron. Harry never liked Rockford but yet he idolized him just like everyone else but Harry started wondering how someone like Rock could get the girls to like him. Harry tried everything from flowers to holding open doors, it had to be his stupid scar…and Hermione told him it was attractive to make him feel better.
Ron was having the same dilemma but different then Harry's. Ron was dirty, rude, never thought first, spoke out, perverted, probably stupider then Rockford, no attempt to groom himself and his ego showed he thought he was everything. The several others, still sitting in the common room with their shoes off and their minds set on how much better next year would be, had the same problem just different cases.
"What if guys like us could have a guide to how to be like Rockford, who lads know, something to keep up us searching for dates," shouted Harry out of no where. Every boy, still in the room, turned and looked at the boy with a big black glasses…partially sweating.
"Like a group of people who keep someone motivated to go be with a girl," Neville Longbottom replied first out of the gloomy bunch. Ron was still scratching his head and picking at something on his elbow.
"Yeah, like all of us have the goal to go get a date before the end of the year and we can keep up on each others tabs once a week, like a support group," cried Tyler Cummings, some dirty boy with pink highlights.
Harry nodded and it started to turn his gloom into something better then gloom but still less then happiness. All of the boys, but the lads arguing over a ghost, started nodding and showing smiles to their faces.
"Okay, we meet tomorrow after everyone is asleep and we lay out the plans to at least get kissed," Harry shouted and the boys shouted back. Ron shouted but he wasn't listening, he just liked shouting. Harry felt good about this and got up to go to his cot while managing to take Ron with him.
Outside the boy's common room, a girl was listening in on the door. She had gone up there to tell her Valentine goodnight but she overheard a much better and funnier conversation dealing with shouting. She was going to go on her way to the girls' day after Valentines long conversation, which always started a little bit later then the guy's ritual when she thought about talking to her boyfriend.
Instead of knocking she overheard lads shouting and the only voice she recognized just happen to be the most famous dork of them all Mr. Harry Potter. She removed her ear from the wooden locked door and skipped her way to the girl's common room with something very humorous to tell the other girls.