Saving Valentine's: Prologue

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine as they all belong to JKR. Also this story is AU for HBP and DH.


Hermione Granger loved Valentine's Day.

She adored every part of it. She enjoyed how everything and everyone was decked out in all shades of pink. It gave her the perfect excuse to wear the color, and she thought she looked quite fetching in pastel pink. She loved all the decorations that floated around. It was true that the heart garlands that adorned the halls of Hogwarts didn't look the slightest like actual hearts, but that wasn't the point. All the decorations made everything seem softer and fuzzier and a bit warmer. Hermione didn't even mind too much how the week before the holiday, most of her classmates worked themselves into a furor either over what they would be doing with their boyfriends or what they would say to land the boy they liked. She thought it was nice to have a day set aside for couples to work on their relationships. And Hermione liked best of all the idea of having one day a year where you were encouraged to gather your courage to confess to the boy you fancied. It was a risk, of course, but at least if the boy didn't like you back, you would have plenty of company. The way Hermione looked at it, Valentine's was perfect for bringing people together even for those who despised the holiday. Valentine's Day haters always seemed to congregate together on the day and share their misery. Perhaps it was a twisted way to look at it, but Hermione imagined that it had to be comforting to know that you weren't alone.

However those closest to Hermione did not share her love of the holiday. Certainly she had been raised to disdain it by her parents. Her father would tell her that it made his teeth ache just thinking about how many chocolates and sweets were sent around the world on that day. Her mum would tell her that there was nothing good about being with a man who would only make an effort to romance you one day in the entire year. In a way, her love of the holiday was a sort of rebellion against her parents' practical ways. Nothing they said could make her think badly of Valentine's Day.

Her best friends were more ambivalent towards the day. Neither of them was truly fond of it. Harry always woke up on Valentine's Day with a feeling of dread in his stomach. Some of the cards and presents he had received on the day in years past were truly embarrassing. Furthermore, if he were to be honest, ever since meeting Umbridge he had an aversion to the color pink. Seeing it virtually engulfing Hogwarts literally made him nauseous. As for Ron Weasley, he had always been slightly suspicious of the holiday. He thought it was some sort of grand scheme by all the women in the world to keep their men in line. He also could never figure out just what to give to the girl he fancied on the day. It wouldn't have made Ron sad if the holiday permanently disappeared from the calendar.

No, if one wanted to find someone who loved Valentine's Day as much as Hermione did, one would have to look farther afield. In fact, you would have to look at her rivals because the only person at Hogwarts who adored the day as much as she did was Draco Malfoy.

That was right. Draco Malfoy absolutely loved Valentine's Day. He loved the fact that it was the one day of the year that it was all right for anyone to wear pink. He rarely had an excuse to do so, and he was certain that he looked very handsome and suave in the color. He enjoyed how the holiday drove everyone to distraction the week before it occurred. That always made for the most entertaining accidents in Potions class, and every year Slytherin House made its greatest advances against the other Houses in terms of House point totals. The thing Draco loved the most about the day, however, were the presents. The amount of presents he received from his various admirers almost rivaled Christmas for him. Of course Potter's pile was always larger but the fact that Potter was too much of a Gryffindor to use Weasley as a guinea pig for questionable presents the way Draco used Crabbe and Goyle more than made up for the fact. Every single year at least one of Draco's gag gifts wound up being opened by the other wizard, and Potter would be left looking like a fool.

Hence both Hermione and Draco were taken by surprise during the first prefect meeting they chaired in the month of February when Pansy Parkinson suggested doing away with Valentine's.

"Excuse me? Could you repeat that again?" Hermione asked. She looked suspiciously at her co-head and wondered if Malfoy had set her up. When she had opened up the floor to the prefects so they could suggest activities for the current term, she hadn't thought that anyone would mention outlawing Valentine's Day. It smelled like a rat though, and it was probably planted by the bastard currently sitting beside her.

"Ever consider getting a trim for that bird's nest you wear about your head?" the other witch said, openly scoffing at her.

"Five points from Slytherin for talking back to the Head Girl," Hermione said. She was used to having to do that by now. At least once during each prefect meeting, a Slytherin would insult her and she would be forced to take points for them. They were lucky that she didn't share their Head of House's temperament, otherwise their house point total would be negative. "Now seeing how you weren't serious about that, are there any—"

"But I was serious! I do think that it would be a grand idea if we banned the celebration of Valentine's Day!" Pansy interrupted her.

Hermione sighed and then glanced over at Malfoy. Clearly he had put Parkinson up to it. Leave it to Malfoy to do his best to destroy one of the most enjoyable holidays of the year. She glared at him, silently promising all sorts of dire consequences if he didn't stop this nonsense now.

"Ha, ha, very funny, Pansy," said Malfoy as he lounged back in his seat. Hermione relaxed slightly as evidently her unspoken threats had worked their magic once again.

"I'm not joking, Draco," Pansy insisted. "I think that for once it would be nice to get through the month of February without having to worry about tripping over those damned garlands in the corridors."

Hermione blinked as the other witch continued on with her rant against Valentine's Day. She had thought that the Slytherin witch would have dropped the subject once Malfoy vetoed her, but now Hermione wondered whether or not Malfoy was the source of the idea.

"That's all very nice, but I personally think it would be cruel if we were to cancel it. Think of how disappointed all the younger students would be," said Malfoy as Pansy's rant came to an end.

"I think it's a brilliant idea myself." To Hermione's horror, those words had come from none other than Ginny Weasley. "It's a waste of time and resources. Think about all the work the House Elves have to do in decorating Hogwarts for this one day, only to have to clean it up the day after," added Ginny in a blatant appeal to the Head Girl.

Hermione twitched her nose as she realized she was backed into a corner. She personally adored the holiday, but she didn't like the idea of making the House Elves do so much work. "Well maybe we all can take care of the decorating ourselves," she suggested.

"Well I think that you're all barking," said Malfoy sharply. He stood up abruptly. "This is how it's going to be. No, we are not canceling Valentine's, and there is nothing you can say to convince me otherwise. I, for one, am not going to waste any of my time decorating Hogwarts, not when there are House Elves capable of doing an adequate job. That is final." With that, he strode out of the room in a huff.

Hermione sighed once more and rubbed her temples. It seemed that half of their meetings ended with Malfoy walking out like the drama queen he was. She swore to herself that once she was finished with Hogwarts and could no longer be expelled, she would come up with the perfect hex to cast upon Dumbledore, Snape, and anyone else who had a hand in picking that intolerable git to be Head Boy. Malfoy was good for looking pretty and that was about it.

But at the moment, she had other things to attend to, such as making sure that her authority wasn't eroded by the way Malfoy chose to make his exit. "I agree with Malfoy," she said. "We are not going to unilaterally cancel a holiday that so many students are looking forward to. As to your suggestion about the decorations, Ginny, I will speak with Professor Dumbledore to ensure that no House Elves are forced to decorate. I am certain I can find volunteers who are willing to take on that task" Hermione nodded her head, thinking that she could count on her dorm mates to help her out. Satisfied with the solution she had reached, she rose to her feet. "I guess this meeting is adjourned then. Do continue to think about what activities we might plan for this term. We'll bring up that topic again in our meeting next month."

With those words, Hermione began packing up her things to go to the library to study. All around her the rest of the prefects were doing the same, chatting amongst themselves. The room was still half full when Hermione left, and she didn't spare another thought for the ludicrous suggestion Pansy had made.

Pansy fumed as she gathered her belongings. She had hoped that Granger would see things her way and overrule Draco once he had left the room. While Pansy knew there was no way Draco would agree to her request, given how much in love that boy was with receiving presents, she had assumed that Granger wasn't the type who believed in the nonsense that was Valentine's day. Unfortunately it looked like she was wrong. I should have known that things would not go my way, she thought to herself. They never did, especially when it came to Valentine's Day. I hate that damn day!

"For the record, I thought it was a stunning idea." Startled, Pansy looked up to see Ginny Weasley slipping into the seat next to her. "Valentine's Day is just a load of…" The female Weasley used a word that Pansy would never stoop to using herself, though she very much agreed with the other witch's stated opinion. She scanned the Weasley witch's face, looking for any sign that she was being mocked by a witch deemed beautiful by many a wizard. To Pansy's surprise, she found none.

"You really mean that, don't you?" she said, instantly regretting afterwards that she hadn't thought before giving voice to those particular words.

"Yes I do, thank you very much," sniffed Ginny haughtily. "I don't know what your parents told you about us, but my parents instilled the value of telling the truth in all of us."

"Then how do you account for your brothers?"

"You mean the twins? They're demented and enjoy torturing all other members of our family equally. Is any other explanation needed?"

"No, I suppose that would do." Pansy decided to take another chance, then and there.That's not really like me, she thought. Taking two big chances in just one day. It's like I'm becoming a Gryffindor. But no…I have to take advantage of such an opportunity when it presents itself.

"So it doesn't seem that Granger is willing to help me out in banning Valentine's," Pansy said hesitantly.

"Dear Merlin, no. She'll never admit it, but I think she actually enjoys the day," said the other witch.

"And here I thought she had a little bit of common sense," Pansy remarked. "But no matter. It might work out better this way."

"What way?"

"I'm not about to give up. If they won't give me an official ban on celebrating that heartless holiday, then I'll get people to boycott it instead."

The ginger haired witch's eyes lit up with understanding. "I see. That might work better. If there was an official prohibition on celebrating Valentine's in any way then inevitably some students would go on and do so just to be contrary."

"Exactly. A boycott that's spread throughout the masses on the other hand…"

"I like the way you think very much," Ginny said, a smirk showing up on her face.

"Thanks," Pansy replied modestly. "Now here's what I was thinking we can do…"


Author's note: I know it's a bit silly and light-hearted, but it seems oddly appropriate for the day. Please review. I would love to know what you thought of this one.