Disclaimer: If you think I own them, you should consider going to a psychiatrist.
Author's note: This is just a Valentine's fic I had to do! I was planning to post this on Valentine's day but hadn't counted on how much work this would give me. I hope you all enjoy this! Read and review!
Warning: Slash! Not going to say the couple yet because that would ruin it but it isn't hard to figure out.
An unlikely loveHarry wasn't a big fan of Valentine's day. To him it was just a load of crap, an occasion for shops to sell stuff at much higher prices than they normally did. People bought it and why? Because it was Valentine's day. Because they wanted to surprise the people they loved.
Even their school was participating. They were selling roses that would be delivered to the classes on Valentine's day. If anything, it was embarrassing to get a rose delivered. Some people liked it but Harry would curse the person who ever send him a rose. Not that they would but anyway.
Harry sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked through the room which seemed a lot more red than it used to. Knowing his sight was rubbish without his glasses, he decided that was the problem. Yet when he put on the glasses, he saw the room was more red. The cause of that was the ceiling. From it hung a whole bunch of paper hearts, attached to fine strings.
Harry groaned and let himself fall back on the bed. Wonderful. The Valentine crap had reached their dorm.
"Awful, isn't it?" Ron asked from his bed.
Harry looked at his red-headed friend and nodded in agreement. This was horrible.
"Want to know who did this?" Ron asked, sounding quite annoyed.
"Dobby." Harry guessed, knowing the house elf was capable of these things.
"No, Hermione! She came in like ten minutes ago and bewitched the ceiling. I tried to take them down, burn them down, spray them with water to destroy them but nothing worked! I'm going to bloody kill her! Where does she get the idea?!"
Harry smirked. Seeing Ron get so worked up about this was actually funny. He knew his best mate fancied Hermione and he knew the feeling was mutual, yet his two friends were too oblivious to see the signs. It was annoying to say the least.
"Oh, and she brought us this." Ron took two envelops from his night table and threw one to him, "I'm almost afraid to open it."
"Yeah, me too." Harry agreed. Nonetheless, he carefully opened the envelope. In it was a card. On the front of the card was a moving picture of the three of them, standing by the lake with their arms around each other and smiling widely for the camera. Hermione was standing in the middle. She had her arms around their waists. Harry's arm was around her shoulder while Ron's was around her waist. He could make out a slight blush on Ron's face.
Harry smiled softly, remembering clearly when the picture had been taken. It had been the beginning of the school year. They had a free period and decided to spent it outside by the lake as it had been a warm day. Some of their Gryffindor friends had joined them, among them Ginny who'd had a free period as well. She'd taken an old camera with her and had been taking pictures of everyone. Hermione must've asked her for it.
He opened the card. Hermione's neat handwriting covered the entire right page of the card. He read it through, his grin growing with every word.
Dear Harry,
Don't think this is a letter to confess my love to you because it isn't. Well, in a way it is. I just wanted to say how glad I am to have met you and to be your friend. I know we've had our differences and our fights but I always know you're there for me when I need you and that's the most important thing. I know you're there to back me up even if I don't need back up.
I still remember clearly when we met on the train. You and Ron were sitting there and I could already tell you would end up friends. What I didn't know was that I would be part of that friendship and I am very glad for that. The both of you helped me through a lot of things even if you didn't realize you were helping.
I hope our friendship will continue to grow over the years and that we'll always be friends! Know I'll always be there for you, like I have been in the past. You'll never be alone. When you have to face you-know-who, I'll be there by your side, just as I know Ron will be too.
I love you a lot! (As a friend that is) And I hope I'll never lose you!
Love,
Hermione
Harry was teary eyed when he'd read it all. This was incredibly sweet. He looked at Ron who seemed to be in the same state.
"Makes you regret we didn't do anything for her, doesn't it?" Ron spoke, looking at him and sniffing slightly.
Harry looked down at the picture of the three of them and smiled.
"Yeah. How long do we have before we need to meet her in the common room?"
"20 minutes. You think that's time enough to write something back?" Ron asked, already hopping of the bed and going in search of a quill and parchment.
"If we do it together, yes." Harry replied as Ron came over to the bed. Harry grabbed one of his books to use as something to write on.
"It's better if you write. My handwriting is a mess." Ron said. Harry nodded his agreement because it was. Not that his was so much better but it was better readable anyway. They started to work on the letter and were done fifteen minutes later.
In the letter, they thanked her for her kind words and said how glad they were to be her friends. They'd also mentioned that even though they upset her sometimes, they didn't mean it and really loved her. They ended with saying she was the smartest witch they knew.
Harry reread the letter with a satisfied expression on his face.
"Looks good. I hope she likes it."
"I still think we should've bought her something." Ron said, taking the letter from him and reading it on last time.
"I think I may have something." Harry said as he jumped out of bed and went through his suitcase. Ron watched him from the bed with a curious expression. Harry threw shirts, pants and books out of the way and finally surfaced with in a box of chocolates in his hand and a triumphant smile on his face.
"Where did you get that from?" Ron asked grinning widely.
"Hogsmeade or something. I can't remember. It was a while back but I'm pretty sure it's still good though." Harry replied as he opened the box to sniff the chocolates. They smelled alright so he supposed they were.
"Great!" Ron exclaimed happily, "Let's get dressed and give her these. I'll give the box, you the letter."
The boys dressed quickly. One minute and twenty second later, they stood in the bathroom, straightening out their robes and checking to see if they hadn't put anything on backwards.
Next they headed downstairs. The common room was decorated with little hearts and flying cupids which zoomed through the room, annoying everyone. They saw found Hermione sitting by the fire, reading a book.
"Hey Hermione." Harry greeted as the boys stood in front of her, "We wanted to thank you for those cards and we have something for you too."
They handed over the letter and the chocolates. Hermione looked absolutely delighted at this. She started with reading the letter and by the end of it, she was in tears.
"Oh, Harry, Ron, this is brilliant!" She exclaimed as she first hugged Harry and then Ron who turned bright red and enthusiastically returned the hug.
"That's so sweet of you guys!" she said beaming at them, "I'm going to put this away and then we can head for breakfast. Oh, chocolate?"
"No thanks." The boys replied. They watched her bounce through the room and up the stairs.
"Well, that went well." Harry concluded, smiling. His red headed friend nodded his agreement and smiled dreamily. Harry rolled his eyes.
Their female friend was back soon and the trio headed for breakfast. All the way to the Great Hall they encountered portraits and ghosts shouting 'happy Valentine's day' at the passing students.
The Great hall was like usual decorated. The enchanted ceiling had been set to raining little red hearts. Heart shaped papers were stuck to the tables and were impossible to get loose. Like in their common room, cupid like things flew over everyone's heads.
The atmosphere in the Great Hall was definitely relaxed, warm and welcoming. Many people were chatting happily with their friends or making out with their lovers. Harry couldn't help but smile. This whole thing was actually kind of fun. It was just a day to celebrate your love for your lover or friends. Yes, you could show them you cared throughout the year but this day had something special, something more magical than the magical world already was.
Ginny and Dean joined them at breakfast. They were smiling at each other like lovesick fools. For once, Ron wasn't glaring but seemed genuinely happy for his little sister.
Harry cast a careful glance at the Slytherin table were Pansy was doing her absolute best to draw Malfoy's attention to her which, from what he could tell, was failing miserably. That girl couldn't take a hint. Malfoy wasn't interested in her. He had no clue why this made him smile.
Twenty minutes later, they were on the way to their first lesson of the day which was Charms with Professor Flitwick and as a bonus, the Slytherins.
Harry thoroughly disliked lessons with the Slytherins because every lesson ended with a shouting match or glaring match between him and their leader, Malfoy. After five and a half years, it was getting pretty annoying. On several occasion he'd wanted to propose a truce but he knew he couldn't do that. They were enemies. They didn't make truces unless when it served both of them well. Plus he had the feeling Malfoy had too much fun with annoying him.
Like usual, the Slytherins sat at one side of the class and the Gryffindor sat at the other. Harry avoided eye contact with any of them as he didn't want to let his day get ruined by that worthless lot.
The lesson started with Professor Flitwick wishing them a 'Happy Valentine's day' and wishing them much luck in love. At that Harry nearly sorted. He had no luck in love whatsoever. Yes, there were many girls he could get but he wanted none of them.
The only girl he wanted had a boyfriend and happened to be his best friend's sister so he couldn't exactly go confessing her how he felt about her. That and the fact she was more like his little sister than his girlfriend. Having a relationship with her would be just too weird. So whatever feelings he had for her, he had to ignore them. Perhaps they were just protective feelings which he misinterpreted. He didn't know and he wasn't about to analyse them any further because that wouldn't do him much good anyway.
A loud noise in the hall way startled the whole class and drove professor Flitwick to silence.
"Oh no." Ron groaned as the door flew open and heart shaped birds flew in the room. Then a cupid entered with a bunch of roses. Cupid shouted names and handed roses to the right person.
"Harry Potter!" the cupid yelled. Harry groaned and raised his hand. The cupid came over to him and handed him a red rose with an envelope.
"Thanks." Harry muttered and turned as red as the rose. Everyone was all of a sudden watching, even Malfoy and his annoying friends.
He opened the envelope. In it was a paper.
Will you be my Valentine? Meet me tonight at six by the owlry.
"Who's it from?" Ron asked.
"I don't know." He said as he let Ron and Hermione read the note but made sure no one else could read it.
"Are you going?" Hermione asked.
"No! I really don't want to know who it is." Harry said.
"Oh come on! You have to, mate! Perhaps you'll find your true love." Ron encouraged.
"I'll go with my invisibility cloak. That way I can leave again if I don't like who it is." Harry whispered.
Hermione nodded. "Good idea."
The rest of the lesson passed with Harry trying to figure out who on earth would send him a rose. The bad thing was that he could imagine too many people and knowing some girls were obsessed with him it seemed likely it was on of them in which case he didn't feel like turning up. But what if it was someone he actually liked? He should go, just to see. If he didn't like the person, he could leave again. No harm done.
The lesson ended soon and Harry remembered nothing of it. The trio grabbed their stuff and headed out.
"Hey, Potter!" came Malfoy's voice, "Who's your Valentine's sweetheart?"
"I don't know, Malfoy and even if I did, it's none of your business."
"Oh, come on. Not so rude, Potter. We should enjoy this day. Let's call a truce. So truce? Good! Bye bye!" Malfoy was off before Harry could answer. He raised an eyebrow and looked at his friends who looked equally confused. Malfoy? Suggesting a truce? He must've gotten hit on the head.
Harry shook his head and together with his friends and fellow Gryffindors headed to the next lesson.
The rest of the day passed in a blur for the raven haired Gryffindor. He couldn't stop thinking about who the paper was from. Whenever he saw someone look at him strangely, he imagined it could be her. He realized neither of them were probably the person.
Perhaps he'd meet his soul mate, perhaps he'd fall in love with her. He couldn't be sure but what he was sure of was that he had to go meet the girl.
At five pm, the trio were in their common room, sitting by the warm cosy fire that warmed the entire room and cast a romantic glow.
"You know, I really wonder who it is." Hermione said, putting the book she was reading down to watch him thoughtfully.
"You're not the only one." Harry muttered, checking his watch for the umpteenth time to make sure he left on time. He didn't want to be late in case she would leave and he'd miss his chance.
"Be sure to be back soon. If I happen to be asleep, just wake me up." Ron said grinning.
"Sure, Ron." Harry said smiling at his friend. They talked about other things for the remaining time. At a quarter to six, Harry went to get his invisibility cloak. Ron and Hermione waited for him by the portrait.
"Hey, guys. I think we should make a deal. Since I'm going to meet this person, it's time you two find your Valentine's sweetheart as well." Harry said, smirking slightly. Hermione's eyes narrowed and she glared dangerously, obviously seeing what he was getting at. Ron was a little more clueless.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean it's time the two of you got together."
Ron sputtered while Hermione turned a deep shade of Gryffindor red. Harry chuckled and left before either of them could protest. He really hoped it would be the opening they needed to get together because he was getting sick of them dancing around each other like that.
He wrapped the cloak around himself and headed of to the owlery which was pretty much at the other side of the large castle.
The feeling of excitement returned with full force. On top of that, a feeling of nervousness went through him, making him shiver and make goose bumps break out over his skin. It made his stomach turn and made him feel as if he was going to be sick.
His pace slowed down as he got closer. He paused and stood still for several seconds, just listening to the sounds. He didn't hear much. He'd hoped to hear a person approaching. She was probably already there then. Realizing he had no choice, he continued his walk and reached the final stairs heading up to the owlery. He took a deep breath and headed up the stairs.
Whether she was there or not, she couldn't see him. He could leave or he could make himself visible. He had nothing to worry about.
Once upstairs, he could peek inside. A lone figure was standing staring out a window, back turned to him. Harry took a step closer but stopped abruptly. The blonde hair was unmistakeable that of his sworn enemy, Malfoy.
What was he doing here? Had he somehow read the note and decided to come here to find out who she was too? He could see Malfoy capable of that. Stupid git! He was about to make himself visible and start yelling at Malfoy when the boy turned around and Harry saw the rose he was holding.
Harry's mouth fell open in shock. No, it couldn't be, could it? Perhaps Malfoy was meeting up with someone here as well. Yeah, that would be it. No way in hell could it have been Malfoy who sent him the note. No way! Malfoy wasn't gay and neither was he. Plus they were enemies. No, it was impossible.
But then Malfoy spoke. "Come on, Harry. Where are you?"
Harry stumbled back and ran down the stairs. He stopped there to catch his breath and stop his heart from thundering out of his chest. Draco Malfoy was the one who sent the note? Shit! This was seriously screwed up. Him and Malfoy? No, that was wrong. Then why did he still feel that feeling of excitement. He knew who the person was and didn't really mind.
Okay, he was deeply shocked but anyone would be. What should he do? Go away and pretend he hadn't noticed or go up and talk to Draco? The second one sounded like the best option. If he walked away, Draco wouldn't forgive him easily. He didn't want Draco to be angry at him over this because as weird as it may sound, the thought of a relationship with Draco didn't scare him or disgust him. If anything it turned him on.
So he should go back up and face Draco. He could do that. He took another deep breath before he pulled of the cloak and slowly folded it. He knew he was merely delaying the inevitable by this action. He was going to talk to his enemy about this.
"I can do this." He whispered to himself before heading up the stairs. When he reached the small room which was normally filled with owls, Draco was once again standing with his back towards the door His shoulders were slightly sagged as if he were thinking he wouldn't show. A glance at his watch told him it was a quarter past six. He stood downstairs longer than he'd thought.
"Draco." He spoke softly, intentionally using his first name, not last. Last thing he wanted was to sound hostile. He didn't want Draco to go denying everything because that would ruin their chance.
The blonde turned and Harry saw the relief in his eyes. He also saw uncertainty and something else that he wasn't quite sure of what it meant. It was weird to see emotion in Draco's eyes because he wasn't used to such emotion.
"Harry. I was afraid you wouldn't show." Draco replied, coming over to him and giving him the red rose, blushing slightly.
Harry smiled and took it. "Thanks. And I wasn't planning on when I saw you but I figured I have nothing to lose." He realized that sounded wrong as soon as he'd said it. The expression in Draco's eyes hardened.
"You don't have to be here if you don't want to. We can forget this ever happened."
"No, no, no. That's not what I meant. I want to be here. If I didn't, I would have left."
"But you considered it."
"Yeah, well, it's the first time I get sent a rose from a boy who also happens to be my enemy since our first year." Harry said.
Draco smirked. "Alright, I understand the reluctant attitude. I suppose you want an explanation?"
"I do because I honestly don't know what to make of this."
Draco nodded his understanding and moved back to the furthest window and stared outside. Harry put the rose down, followed and stood net to him, staring out instead of staring at Draco. He had the feeling this would be easier for Draco to tell.
"I've never hated you. I've never even disliked you. It's just… my father, you know he's a Death eater. He hates you because you caused the Dark Lord's downfall all those years ago and because he knows you have the power to do so again. Because he hates you, I am supposed to hate you too, you know?"
"But you don't?" Harry asked, finding this little bit of information had to grasp.
"No. Quite on the contrary in fact. The last year or so, I've started developing feelings for you. Feelings that don't go away. It's come to a point that I can no longer ignore them which explains this little action. I just had to know if I had a chance but I couldn't go put my name on the paper or everyone would know at once and that wouldn't have ended well."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. That made a lot of sense.
"I could've sworn you really hated me." Harry stated, glancing sideways at Draco.
Draco shrugged. "I've gotten really good at pretending."
"Must've been hard." Harry said ad he turned to rest with his back against the stones so he could watch Draco.
The Slytherin stared briefly at him before responding. "After a while, it doesn't really matter anymore. After a while, you become the person you don't want to be."
Harry felt pity for Draco. After hearing all this, he realized Draco's life wasn't easy either. On the contrary. He was struggling with his own issues. A feeling of protectiveness rose in him. He wanted to protect Draco. Or at least give him a chance to be himself so he didn't lose himself completely.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't pick up on this earlier. You should've come to me sooner."
Draco laughed humorously. "And do what? As far as I'm concerned, you hate my guts."
"I don't hate you. Never have. I just responded to what you said and did. That's all."
Draco's relief was again visible although his companion refused to meet his eyes.
"Where do we go from here?"
"I don't know," Harry replied honestly, "I don't know what to do. I've never been in a relationship with a guy before. And I'm not entirely sure about my feelings for you just yet. I'm still processing all of this."
"So that's a no then." Disappointment sounded through in the other's voice.
"No, it isn't. I'm just very confused about all this. It's not easy to go from enemies to a relationship." Harry spoke trying to look into Draco's eyes but the Slytherin stubbornly avoided looking at him, "I'm not turning you down, Draco."
"It sounds like that."
"Who would've thought you'd be this stubborn?" Harry asked rhetorically and rolled his eyes.
Draco chuckled. "That's hardly stubbornness, that's insecurity… Don't look at me like that. I'm a very insecure boy." He said overly dramatising it.
Harry laughed but knew Draco wasn't totally fooling around about this. He did look insecure.
"Shit, Draco. You're not making this very easy for me." Harry spoke seriously, running a hand through his messy hair. The idea of a relationship with Draco seemed to tempting but could he handle being with a boy.
"You've got to do what you think is right for you." Draco replied as he turned to him. That sounded very wise to Harry but not very helpful. There was one easy way to determine if it could work. He'd seen it plenty of times in Muggle movies. It was to share that first kiss and see what happened. In the movies, it always ended well. He realized this wasn't a movie and that this was reality but he could try.
"I want to try something." Harry said leering.
Draco's expression was one of suspicion. "What do you want to try?"
Harry grinned and turned so he was facing Draco. He placed a hand against Draco's cheek and caressed the soft flesh. Draco leaned into the touch and Harry saw his eyes flutter closed. He leaned forward and pressed his lips on Draco's, softly at first but slowly applying more pressure. Draco responded immediately. The kiss remained gentle.
This must've been Harry's best kiss so far. It was literally the perfect kiss. His heart started to beat wildly and it seemed as if fireworks went of. It was so cliché that it wasn't even funny.
When he pulled back, he was breathless. Draco was too.
"That was…" Draco trailed off, at a loss for words.
"It was." Harry agreed smiling, "I think I've made my decision."
"Which is?"
"I want to try this with you. The kiss said it all."
Draco's smile was genuine and very beautiful. Harry had never seen him smile like this before and it made his heart skip a beat. He'd never noticed before how beautiful the Slytherin boy was. He had the most perfect hair you could imagine. He had gorgeous clear grey eyes that were now watching him intently and making him shiver slightly. His face was slightly pointed and pale but it looked great on him. He had the perfect height and seemed to be quite skinny. He was perfect. He couldn't understand how Draco could fall for someone like him. He might've doubted his feeling for the Slytherin boy but didn't anymore. It was clear he did have those kind of feelings for Draco. It had taken a kiss to show him.
"Are you sure about this?" Draco asked.
"I couldn't be more sure of anything." Harry answered.
Draco nodded. "What do we do now? We can't exactly go telling everyone."
"Worries for another time, Draco. Let's just enjoy this night and us." Harry answered and looked out over the castle grounds. In the distance, the sun was setting. Since it had been a clear day the sunset could be clearly seen.
"That's beautiful, isn't it?" Harry spoke dreamily. Draco laid an arm around his shoulder and pulled him a bit closer so Harry rested his head against Draco's shoulder.
"It is."
They watched the rest of the sunset in silence, enjoying each other's company. It was over soon though and moment of awkwardness passed between them as neither was sure what to say.
"Oh, before I forget, I brought us some food from the kitchens since I figured we didn't have time to go to dinner before or after this." Draco said as he grabbed a basket that stood forgotten on the ground and that Harry hadn't noticed yet.
Harry grinned and felt his stomach rumble. That was good timing.
"Don't expect a full dinner. I decided to skip that and just pick out some desert." Draco explained as he put the basket carefully on the window-sill between them. He opened the basket. It in were several pies and a lot of chocolate cake. All of which that happened to be his favourite deserts.
"I might've observed you a little to know what I should get." Draco said grinning.
"How long have you been planning this?" Harry asked amazed. Draco definitely couldn't have gotten that from one night of observing him.
"I don't know. A few weeks, I guess. I was watching you one day and just decided I had to do something so I figured Valentine's day would be the perfect day."
"I can't believe I didn't see it." Harry said as he took a piece of chocolate cake. Hogwarts cake was definitely the best there was. The chocolate cake was so great. It had the right amount of chocolate to make it the best cake there was.
Draco grabbed another slice and broke off a small piece before putting it in his mouth. He repeated that until the slice was finished. Harry watched him with a smile.
"What?"
"Nothing." Harry replied and took another slice of the delicious cake. Luckily Draco seemed to have taken a lot of the cake with him. It was what he ate most as a dessert.
They talked while eating. Time seemed to fly because when Harry checked his watch it was nearly ten pm.
"Wow, we've been up here for quite a while."
"Yeah, and we should probably head back." Draco said regretfully. Harry nodded. Ron and Hermione were probably waiting up for him and he was quite curious about whether they had gotten together or not.
"I really had fun, Draco. I got to know another side of you tonight and I really think we can make this work, regardless of the fact we're supposed to be enemies and such."
"I think so too. I've always known we could make it work. I just never knew whether you wanted to make it work or not."
Harry smiled and leaned forward to capture Draco's lips in another kiss. The night had been al about talking but now Harry was in the mood for a bit of making out although he was supposed to be heading back. A couple of more minutes wouldn't hurt.
He wrapped his arms around Draco's neck while Draco's came around his waist. There bodies were pressed tight together. He felt Draco's lips open under his and a tongue pressed against his lips. Harry opened his mouth with a moan and let Draco's tongue caress his and explore his mouth.
Harry pulled away soon however, feeling his body respond. He wasn't ready to go further but he knew that if they kept this up, he wouldn't say no. He pulled away completely and watched Draco who's eyes clearly showed lust.
"I should probably go."
Draco nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Harry leaned in for another short kiss and then grabbed his cloak and the rose. At the entrance to the owlery, he paused and looked back. They smiled at each other and Harry left.
On his way back to the common room, he very much felt like singing and dancing but decided against it. He reached the common room fairly quickly. After giving the password, the portrait swung open and he could enter his lovely common room.
He didn't see his two best friends at first but then discovered they were sitting cuddled up by the fire. Hermione was lying in Ron's arms, head resting against his chest. His arms were protectively wrapped around her. Hermione was reading a book while Ron was staring into the fire and stroking her arm.
"Hey, guys. I see you've finally decided to get together." Harry spoke grinning widely. This really was the perfect ending to a perfect day.
"We have. How was your blind date?" Hermione asked curiously.
"It was great." Harry answered smiling happily.
"So who was it?" Ron asked, obviously burning with curiosity.
Harry laughed spontaneously.
"You're never going to guess who it is."
"Which is why I'm asking. Who is she?"
Harry smiled. She? They didn't have a clue. He was going to enjoy telling them.
"First it's a he and second, you know him really well."
"A he? When did that happen?" Ron asked shocked.
"Tonight. I hope you guys don't mind." Harry said for the first time feeling uncertain about telling them.
"No, we don't." Hermione answered quickly, "Of course we don't. So is he a Gryffindor?"
Harry's smile widened again. "Slytherin."
"Slytherin?" Ron asked sounding even more shocked, "Who do we know that is Sl… Oh my god!"
"Malfoy?" Hermione shrieked.
Harry nodded. The expression of shock on their faces was priceless. He then proceed with telling them about his night and what Draco had told him. His friends were still in shock when he was done telling but were happy for him and that was all that mattered.
He was in love with Draco Malfoy and Draco was in love with him. What more could he want? For the first time, his life was perfect.
So what do you think? Let me know! Sorry for grammatical errors and such. English isn't my first language.