Disclaimer: You recognize it, I don't own it.
A/N: Damn, I'm cutting this close...GAH WHY do I always do that? Anyway, hope you like the story, and good luck to my fellow order members! Just a note, per the rules of the main competition, prompts used are underlined throughout, sorry. It took me awhile to come up with this, but I think I got it eventually. I've written quite a few Valentines stories before, but none quite like this. Also, it must be stated that I still ship Oliver/Katie like no tomorrow, but I think this growth of romance between him and Alicia will fit nicely in my headcanon. Anyway, please let me know what you thought! Written for:
Grand Battle Challenge: Trio Gen rnd 1: Dialogue: "If you truly loved me, you would let me sleep." (3); Characters: Draco Malfoy (6, one bonus point for Dark Mark), Oliver Wood (7), Fred Weasley (5, no George mentions), Seamus Finnegan (6); Pairing: Oliver/Alicia (5); Potion: Draught of Peace (8, no word prompts); Spell: Episkey (4, Gryffindor must cast), Orchideus (6); Theme: Valentine's Day (10); categories comp 2: trio gen;
All's Fair
It was dark in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor, and if the prisoners were quiet and still enough, Draco Malfoy could pretend that his family wasn't actually keeping prisoners. Real people, locked in a dark room with little food; it was like something he had read as a child. The deepest of crimes that people were placed in Azkaban for.
He hadn't known he lived in a family of criminals until they had started committing crimes. Even after the Department of Mysteries, and his planned execution of Dumbledore, but he had always kept it locked away. They were his family; they loved him. They were supposed to, after all. But now it just became all the more clear.
Ollivander had given him his wand when he was eleven. He had gone in to the shop and experienced the excitement and even though Father told him the man was an old coot, he had given Draco magic, and the man couldn't have many years left, after all. Draco thought of his mother; would he want her to spend the last years of her life in a cold, starving environment? Of course not.
And then there was Luna and Dean. They were students, kids his own age. Sure, they believed all the wrong things, and were on Dumbledore's side, but did they deserve to die?
Draco felt the sting of the dark mark on his arm. The people he had tortured, did they deserve what they went through? Draco had thought they did, had thought he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be great, but he knew these people. They weren't strangers, they were real people who had love in their hearts and people who cared about them more than word could say, but they might die here.
He hardly believed it himself sometimes, but Draco knew he had a heart. And on Valentine's Day in the middle of a war, he found it, just a little.
Some of the greatest moments of Fred Weasley's life had been spent in this very alley. If ever he picked his most vivid memories, they consisted of jokes and pranks with friends and family, summer excursions that Fred could remember every moment of, and each time he remembered them, they were accompanied by light.
This was all in an incredibly stark contrast to what it looked like outside at the moment. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was dreery and sad, and the way it used to light up the Alley had disappeared completely. The shops were empty, the people were lifeless, the joke shop was fading into the memories as the rest of them were. Fred had come back to the shop for the first time in a month, he spent all of his time with his family these days.
After all, how long until he couldn't see them anymore?
Just that fact that he was thinking like this told Fred everything he needed to know. He had always been the positive one, never giving in or letting go, but he was alone now, there were no expectations, no mother and sister to protect and no brothers or father to worry about. They were constantly on his mind, but just for a moment he thought it be nice to return to a place that he put his heart and soul into and loved practically more than anything else.
The shop was his pride and joy, and the fact that he shared it with one of the people he loved most made it all the more special. He wished he could keep everyone and everything he held dear in this shop, in his own little world where the war outside didn't exist.
Then he would never have to worry for his family, whom on this day he should treasure a little more, and he wouldn't have to laugh and let go to ease the tension at every turn. He would laugh and let go because its what he was born to do and there wasn't anyone to stop him.
"Orchideus," he said finally, casting the spell with a wave of his wand at the same time that he was startled by the sound of his own voice in the silence. Ginny and him used to play it all the time: she hated pull my finger, so instead of farting, he would make flowers appear behind his back. When he was too young to cast the spell, he would pick them first so he could cheer her up.
It never failed to bring a smile to her face.
And despite himself, Fred smiled too.
Lying low was not the way Oliver Wood had planned to act when War came. He had planned on being out in the thick of things, with his friends and family fighting so that something, anything might get better. There wasn't anything he wanted more than to actually make a difference.
But Oliver wasn't in danger. He wasn't Muggleborn, and he wasn't in official member of the DA or Order. The only thing he could do was hold on and hope that there would be some way for him to be helpful in the future. To risk something now would be detrimental to everyone's cause; it would mean making people who aren't in danger targets and give those who are already fighting one more thing to worry about.
At this point, there were people counting on him. Oliver could never do that to his parents, or his friends who had joined him in waiting until something happened. No one wanted to be alone right now.
First it was Will, his best mate from Puddlemere. Angelina came next, they had always been close, and then a week later Alicia came to stay. The girls took the other room while Will bunked with him. It was nice, being surrounded by people he knew he could count on. They were all just looking for something to do, in a time and place where that was nearly impossible.
The days were filled with small talk and short fuses, but mostly silence and want. None of them would voice it, but all they all wanted to do was go home.
He wished there were more noise; they were all such good friends, it seemed obvious to Oliver that there could be more than just quiet.
The only person he had grown close to, now, was Alicia, whom he had been friends with before, of course, with her being on the team, but he told her things now, because she was the only one willing to say anything.
Tonight, Alicia slept stretched out beside him on the sofa where he sat upright, a draught of peace next to him on the side table. Will had travelled with it in the first place, he thought it might come in handy. It did. She'd been having anxiety for days before Oliver suggested the potion; she had accepted only this afternoon.
"For Valentine's, of course," he had said cheekily, handing her the serving.
She had laughed and shook her head. "Only you, Ollie."
Oliver couldn't help but stroke her hair in these late hours, she seemed so at ease, but he had to wake her eventually, because she hadn't eaten anything.
Slowly but surely, he attempted to nudge her awake. A few minutes later, a muffled reply came his way.
"If you truly loved me, you would let me sleep."
"It's a good thing I only partially love you then, isn't it?"
Alicia laughed silently, working her way into a sitting position and looking at him until her eyes went into focus. "What demands my attention at this hour, hmm?"
Oliver held up his hands defensively. "Just one meal, and then you can go back to bed, I promise."
She looked ready to argue, but then her stomach rumbled loudly, and they both laughed out loud.
Ready to get up, she leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "Not for you, but sure."
Oliver placed his hand on his cheek in disbelief.
It should have been just another mission, but Seamus was worried. He had gone out on missions without Lavender and Lavender had gone on missions without him, but the fact that this time, nearly every single one of his fellow Gryffindors had gone out for the DA, simply because right now, he was sick as hell.
And of course, they didn't have any pepper-up left.
Seamus hated a lot of things, but the top of the list newly belongs to not being able to kiss his girlfriend on Valentine's Day. Second, not being able to be there for his friends.
And it was probably the culmination of all these things that gave him the awful feeling he had about today.
Of course, he was right.
They should have been back fifteen minutes ago, and now the only thing all the other DA members could do was sit and wait.
And hope.
After what seemed like forever, the door to the room of requirement opened. There they were, no one brutally injured, all alive.
Lavender's blonde hair was all that Seamus could see though, and he rushed forward just at the time Ginny had turned around and said "Episkey."
Lavender cried out a little as her nose snapped back into place, and Seamus moved forward to clean the blood from her face and fold her into his arms. She gave Ginny a hug and then readily accepted him. Seamus pulled her off to the side.
"What happened?" he asked, unable to keep the anxiety from his voice. Lavender shook head, wiped her eyes, then spoke.
"It was nothing, I promise." She sniffled. "It was just... it was so stupid, so late, too... we were just running, and I tripped, you know? Fell flat on my face, held everyone else back. We all has to stop and I had to stop the blood from flowing while we were moving quickly, it was awful."
"It's not stupid," he shook his head assuredly. "You guys did great, don't be hard on yourself."
Lavender took a deep breath and hugged him closer. "I hate this," she said to his shoulder.
He kissed her hair. "I hate this, too."
It was the fourteenth of February in 1998.
A young man who wanted to cry out in agony held it in until he couldn't feel it anymore.
A fun loving wizard tried to remember all the most fun loving moments he had ever had, because time was running out.
A romance kindled as war raged outside.
A pair of teenage loves held each other close.
And for these moments, the world was still.
I actually really loved writing that, I'd love to hear what you think!