I do not own Harry Potter! I really, really wish I did but I don't they are
J.K. Rowling's!
Chapter 1
The Successful Love Potion
Hermione woke to sunshine coming in though the window. And from there her hopes fell. She had just realized it was the day before Valentines Day and love was going to be all anybody talked about. And once again she would be spending Valentines Day as just friends with Ron and Harry, that is, if they didn't have dates.
It was late so she dressed quickly and went downstairs for breakfast. When she got down she was bright red from running down the stairs. And quite out of breathe. She entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Ron.
"Hello Herm!" he said brightly.
"Hello," she said still panting from the sprint down the stairs.
Just then Harry, who had been talking with Fred and George about their up coming Quidditch game against Ravenclaw, spotted Hermione.
"Hermione! It as nice of you to come and see us!" said Harry; "You were up there so long we thought you were dead."
"Well I assure you I am not!" said Hermione.
"That's good," said Fred, "cause we wouldn't want you to miss out on tomorrow night!"
"Why?" asked Hermione, "What's happening tomorrow night?"
"Yeah!" said Ron and Harry together, "out with it!"
"Well," started George, he and Fred snickered, "we have gotten permission from Professor McGonagall to throw a Valentine's Day party in the Gryffindor Common Room!"
"That sounds like fun!" said Ginny, who was sitting nearby. "What time will it start?"
"It will start all little after the Valentine's Day feast ends," said Fred, "but loads of us are going up early to get ready. Every Gryffindor needs to be up at least five minutes before the feast ends so Professor McGonagall can check to make sure we are all there. The condition is if we leave anybody out, we can't have it!"
"Count me in!" said Harry.
"Me too!" said Ron.
"Me, I guess," said Hermione, a little less excited than the others.
She felt like if she went she would just embarrass herself because nobody would like her. She wasn't very pretty, certainly not as pretty as the other Gryffindor girls like Angelina, Alicia, or even Ginny. She was just plain old Hermione Granger and she felt lost.
Ron was looking at Hermione. He was worried about her. It wasn't like her to completely ignore her breakfast, unless she was going to start on about S.P.E.W. again. But on the other hand Hermione was acting different about a lot of things. It started a little after their fight about the Yule Ball and Viktor Krum last year and things had gotten steadily worse. Ron had of, of course, invited Hermione over to his house over the summer. But she had declined, saying that she had too much homework to do. He looked at her right now as she sat there thinking to herself, eyes shining.
"Wow she looks really pretty right now," he thought to himself.
He stopped right there. This was Hermione his best friend! Why was he thinking these things? To stop himself he started talking to Harry, Fred, and George about their Quidditch match.
"Ravenclaw has a new Chaser. Her name is Grace Lee, transferred here about three weeks ago from a magic school in Japan," said Fred.
"You should see her too," said George, "she is unbelievable!"
"She is good, but us girls are even better!" said a voice behind the three Gryffindor boys.
They turned around. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie all in their Quidditch robes stood behind them. Angelina smiled at Fred and he smiled back. Fred and Angelina had been an item ever since this year's Yule Ball. George smiled at Alicia and Alicia looked down quickly at the floor and turned rose colored. Everyone knew that George liked Alicia, but no one could really tell whether she liked him back, or was just being a flirt.
"OF COURSE!" said Fred, he jumped up and put his hand around Angelina's shoulders, "and with these three very fine looking chasers we'll blow the Ravenclaw team away! And of course we owe that in large part to the new captains this year."
"Oh yes," chimed in George, "the wonderful, charming, inseparable, compassionate, fearless pair, Fred and George Weasley!"
No one applauded.
"Oh Bravo! Bravo!" said Angelina sarcastically.
"Honestly! You two!" said Harry, "if you loved yourself any more Fred Angelina would be out!"
"Thank you for the moral support Harry!" said Angelina.
That's when Angelina spotted Hermione sitting for the most part alone picking at her plate. She motioned to the girls and they went over to her side pf the table leaving the guys to keep making fun of how much they loved themselves.
"Hello Hermione!" said Angelina cheerfully as she sat down next to her. Alicia and Katie sat down with her too.
"Hello Angelina, Alicia, Katie," said Hermione trying to sound cheerful and hopelessly failing.
"What's wrong dear?" asked Alicia.
"Well with Valentine's Day around and I feel sort of, you know, left out," said Hermione plainly.
"Ah! Hermione!" said Katie, "you are so above all this, you have no reason to feel left out sweetie! You have Harry and Ron!"
"Yeah but they have their own plans this Valentine's Day," said Hermione looking at Harry flirting madly with Ginny.
She turned back to the three girls looking at each other nervously.
"What?" she asked.
"Oh! Nothing!" said Angelina quickly.
"What makes you think they have plans?" asked Katie.
A spot on the floor suddenly became very interesting to Hermione and she stared at it.
"Well Harry has Ginny and Ron has.well.I don't know who Ron has, but I am sure he has someone," said Hermione. "Besides people won't think that I am spending the holiday with my friends if it is one friend and he's a boy! People will talk!"
"And that's bad?" asked Alicia.
Hermione looked up from her spot on the floor.
"Yes!" she said with alarm.
"They couldn't possibly know that I like him?" she thought frantically to herself.
"Besides," she stated matter-of-factly, "I have a reputation not to get mixed up in these sort of things."
"Oh! Come on Hermione! This party it will be fun, you will have fun, and feel bad that you ever thought you wouldn't," said Katie, "Trust me!"
"Fred and George said they have loads planned, I can't wait!" said Angelina.
"I can hardly say I feel the same," said Hermione looking back down at her interesting spot on the floor.
"Well! You're coming though, right?" asked Alicia.
"Yeah, I have to or else they can't have the party, you heard what Fred said about Professor McGonagall," said Hermione.
"Well, you will have fun, I promise," said Alicia and she looked at the others. "The bell's about to ring."
And the bell rang.
"See you later Hermione!" called Angelina as the three of them rushed out of the Great Hall.
Hermione got up and started walking out as well towards their first class, Herbology. Just as she walked out of the Great Hall she heard two sets of running feet coming up from behind her.
"Hermione, weren't you going to wait for us?" asked Ron as they came up to her.
"We've always walked to class together," said Harry.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" said Hermione. "I guess I'm just out of it today."
"Well come on, let's go or we'll be late," said Harry.
As they crossed the field to the greenhouses were Herbology was taught Ron and Harry had stopped talking about Quidditch and started talking about the Valentine's Day party.
"So what kind of things do you reckon Fred and George have in store for us?" asked Harry.
"I don't know, they wouldn't tell us anything!" said Ron in disbelief. "Nothing at all!"
"Do the girls know anything Hermione, did they tell you anything?" asked Harry, turning to her.
"No," said Hermione truthfully, "they were just talking to me about how excited they were. They were wondering as well."
"I heard that we are the only house having a party, none of the other houses thought of it," said Ron. "Fred and George must be real pleased with themselves."
By this time they had reached greenhouse six with two minutes to spare. They went to an empty table and sat at it. All three of them were still talking about what they thought would happen at the party. But their happy discussion was cut short when the Slytherins entered the greenhouse. Among them was Draco Malfoy. He spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione and smiled wickedly. He brought his two goons Crabbe and Goyle and went to the table next to them, clearly they wanted to have a little fun.
"So I hear that Gryffindor will be throwing a Valentine's Day party," said Draco, them he added sarcastically. "Sounds exciting!"
"Yeah well your not invited!" said Ron.
"Oh well actually that sounds good to me, who would want to be invited to a party just to sit their and watch Granger and Weasel kiss in the corner!" said Draco, Crabbe and Goyle laughed deeply behind Draco.
Hermione went deep red. And Ron's face turned the color of his hair. He turned his hand into a fist but before he could act Professor Sprout walked into the room.
"Good Morning Class!" she said brightly.
"Good Morning Professor Sprout," the class repeated in unison, all except Ron and Draco who were still glaring at each other.
"Today we are going to learn about the Ovaculus plant, now can anyone tell me what, when the plant is boiled down to liquid, the plant is used for?"
Hermione raised her hand, then a look of terror crossed her face, and she began to lower her hand. But too late, Professor Sprout had seen her.
"Yes Miss Granger," said Professor Sprout.
"The Ovaculus plant," Hermione started nervously, "is the main ingredient in a common love potion."
When she ended her face went red and she looked down at the floor. She could just hear Draco whisper into Ron's ear, "I wonder how she knew that!" And she could also hear that Ron took a good swing with his arm and had hit Draco in the stomach.
"Correct 10 points to Gryffindor!" said Professor Sprout.
Hermione smiled weakly still not daring to look up from the floor.
"Well today, in honor of tomorrow's holiday I thought I would assist Professor Snape in his lessons with you today," informed Professor Sprout.
Everyone looked around. Had they just heard correctly, Snape was working with love potions. There must be a mistake.
"Yes, in your next lesson of the day for both houses, you will be taking the juices from your lesson today and use it in your love potions," continued Professor Sprout.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron all heard Draco snicker in their direction. Hermione groaned, Harry rolled his eyes to the back of his heard, and Ron let out a long depressed sigh.
"Now every listen up and look up here," said Professor Sprout grabbing a plant that looked very much like a cross between a rose and a tulip. "You take the petals lightly in one hand and the stem firmly in the other and you twist your hands in opposite directions to squeeze out the juice. The juice will come out of the flowered part so when you have your beakers be sure to put it under the head of the flower."
Ron unfortunately had heard none of the instructions. He was looking at Hermione. Her hair was tied back into a loose ponytail with wisps of hair that fell, framing her face. She looked very pretty.
She started handing out the plants. Two to each table. When she handed the two plants to Harry he looked at Hermione with a look saying "I have no idea what I'm doing!" pasted clearly on it.
"Oh! For Heaven's Sake!" she said and she grabbed a plant from Harry. She motioned for Ron to hold the beaker under the top of the plant. It was a disaster. Ron had no idea where to put the beaker, because of course he wasn't listening, so Hermione made a "tisk" sound with her tongue.
"Honestly, you two!" she said as she attempted to take the beaker from Ron. As she did her hand fell on top of Ron's and they both started to blush furiously. But luckily only Harry was looking at them to notice. It seemed that a lot of people had not been paying attention and Ovaculus juice was spurting out everywhere. Yet in the end Hermione, Ron, and Harry were the first ones done. They had two beakers full of Ovaculus juice and when everyone else was finished they only had one.
"This is really good," said Hermione as they were walking with their beakers from Herbology to Potions, "we will have an extra chance. Making love potions is very difficult and usually people do not succeed, now we have two chances!"
Both Ron and Harry did not find this to be good news however. Both were nervous about being in Snape's class, and nothing even the thought of the Valentine's Day party could lift their spirits.
As they entered the Potions classroom a musty smell meet them. It seemed that somebody from the previous class had done something terribly wrong with their potion.
"Everybody, in!" Snape called to the class, "sit down in your Herbology groups quickly!"
Soon everyone was settled.
"Now," Snape started, "as you must know from your previous class, you will be making love potions today."
As Snape said love a look crossed over his face that Neither Ron, Hermione, or Harry could determine whether it was boredom, depression, or utter disgust.
"You all have your Ovaculus juices, don't you?" asked Snape and numerous people, including Hermione, held up their beakers.
"Good," said Snape. "Now go to your lab tables and await your instructions."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all went over to an empty table in the second row up to the left. There on the table was a cauldron and various colored potions in vials on a stand. Ron wondered which of these they would have to use.
"Now," said Snape, "you will add your beaker of Ovaculus juice to the cauldron."
Everyone did so.
"Now look at the vials set up on your tables," droned Snape, "the red one who can tell me what this ingredient is called.
Hermione picked up the red vial and examined it closely before raising her hand.
"Yes, Miss Granger," said Snape pointing at her.
"Bat Blood," said Hermione, "it is used in some of the most common potions, but is very difficult to come across."
"Yes," said Snape unhappily, "now as Miss Granger said it is hard to come across so I do not want anyone wasting any of it!"
A mixture of people around the room said "Yes" or "Okay."
"Now you will add that vial, quickly now and be sure to stand back away from the cauldron once you have poured it in, do not jump or you might break the vial and that will be a detention," said Snape.
Ron, Hermione, and Harry all certainly did feel like jumping for when Ron poured in the bat blood (being careful not to break the precious vial) there was a large cloud of red smoke that rose up from the cauldron. From the red cloud a gold dragon flew out of it swooping very close to the heads of Ron and Harry and disappeared only a few inches from Hermione's face.
"Not very romantic," she murmured and Ron and Harry laughed.
As Ron looked around the room he noticed that there were indeed some broken vials and some spilled potion. He saw Snape walking up and down the isles handing out detentions here and there.
"Mr. Longbottom that will be detention for you," Snape passing by Neville and Dean's table, "and for you Mr. Thomas. And 5 points from Gryffindor!"
Ron let out an exasperated noise that sounded very much like a snort.
"Always taking points away from Gryffindor, if that had been a Slytherin it would have just been a detention, if anything!" he complained.
"Is there a problem Mr. Weasley?" asked Professor Snape coming to their table.
"No, Professor," said Ron, "Nothing at all, were fine!"
"Well I see that you have managed to add you bat blood correctly," said Professor Snape grimly.
Then he turned to the rest of the class.
Now can anyone tell me what ingredient we put in next. When no one else raised their hands Hermione raised hers. Professor Snape turned around saw her, and then proceeded up to his desk at the front of the class.
"I see no one knows," he said with a small glance toward Hermione who put her hand down. "The next ingredient is ground snake fang, every will see it on the table."
Luckily they had Hermione because neither Ron nor Harry had any idea what ground snake fang looked like.
"Honestly," said Hermione, "don't you two read."
"Do Quidditch books count?" asked Harry.
The comment was rewarded by a death stare from Hermione.
"No of course not," said Hermione, "this was all in 'Potions to Remember,' I gave you two both a copy for Christmas, where are they?"
"In my bookcase at home collecting dust," said Ron truthfully, earning himself a death stare from Hermione, even though Ron could see that it was quite less of a death stare than Harry's had been.
They added their ground snake fang and their potion began to bubble. They looked around. It seemed that Mr. Malfoy had accidentally put death salts rather than ground snake fang. And Ron could just see Professor Snape give him another beaker of Ovaculus juice and add the bat blood and ground snake fang for him.
"That is so unfair," said Hermione when Ron had pointed it out. "We would have given us detention."
"You're right," said Ron, "and he would have probably taken points away from Gryffindor too!"
"Next add Wolfsband," said Professor Snape, "quickly twenty minutes left before lunch."
Hermione wound up doing the entire potion herself, even though Ron had handed her a few things from the table that she need and could reach from where she was standing.
Soon, after twenty minutes hand gone by, they were walking out of the classroom with a large vial of love potion.
"Can you believe the only successful love potion in the whole class," said Harry. "All thanks to Hermione of course!"
"That's my girl!" said Ron putting his hand over Hermione's shoulders, which made both of them blush, and Harry tried to keep down his giggles. Then Harry too turned beat red when who should come along the hallway, but Ginny.
"Hello Ron!" said Ginny who eyed Ron and Hermione curiously, "Hello Hermione! Hello Harry!"
She said Harry's name very flirtatious.
"Hello Ginny," he said back and was Ron mistaken or did Harry just bat his eyelashes?
"So what are you three up to?" asked Ginny eyeing Ron and Hermione.
"Just congratulating Hermione on making the only successful love potion in Potions class," said Ron proudly making Hermione blush.
Ginny whispered so only Harry could hear, "That's not all the love that has been successful."
Obviously Ron and Hermione had both heard.
Ron nervously took his arm from around Hermione's shoulders and he turned very red, as did Hermione.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After dinner Ron, Hermione, and Harry walked upstairs. All the Gryffindors were talking about who they wanted to find out whether they liked them or not and other things like that. Ron and Hermione for the most part remained silent.
When Hermione went up to the girls dormitory she opened the door to see Ginny, Lavender, Parvati, and a couple other Gryffindor girls sitting talking and giggling.
"What?" asked Hermione.
"We were just talking about the Valentine's Day party," said Lavender as Hermione walked toward her bed.
"Well that seems to be all anybody is talking about, doesn't it," said Hermione and she went to her dresser and pulled out a long, plain, lilac nightgown. She slipped it over her head and then went over to her bed.
"Oh! Come on Hermione!" said Ginny who was sitting on Lavender's bed, "come and chat with us."
Hermione reluctantly went over and sat on Lavender's bed as well.
"So as I was saying," said Parvati, "I hope that Dean will come to his senses and ask me out tomorrow at the party."
"I heard from Neville that Seamus was talking about me last night when the boys were talking about their Valentine's Day plans!" squealed Lavender.
"Well Harry has been awfully flirty with me so I am hoping he will carry it further," said Ginny dreamily, "I hope I am not giving off the wrong message."
"Trust me Ginny!" said Hermione, "when it comes to you and Harry I don't think either one of you have the wrong message. You both like each other, it's as plain and obvious as that!"
"You really think so?" asked Ginny, still with that dreamy look in her eyes.
"Yes, It's very evident whenever he looks at you he does this," said Hermione and she imitated Harry's eyes getting all big and glazed over. All the girls started to giggle.
"Well, what about you Hermione," said Parvati, "who do you hope notices you at the party?"
"No one really," said Hermione, but she could tell her face was turning pink.
"Oh! Come on Hermione," said Ginny exasperated, "it is totally obvious you and my darling brother have a thing for each other!"
"We do not!" said Hermione, defiantly, "we are just.friends."
"Oh really," said Ginny, in that 'I've got you now!' tone of voice. "Then why was his arm around your shoulders while you were walking today."
All the girls started to giggle, Hermione started to blush even more.
"He was proud of me," said Hermione, "I made the only successful love potion in Professor Snape's class. This comment was reward with lots of giggles and kissing noises. "What?"
"Could I possibly be that you made it so well because Ron was one of your lab partners?" asked Lavender, "I was sitting behind you in Herbology and Ron was sticking up for you when Malfoy came along."
"We always stick up for each other!" said Hermione.
"Yeah, because you liked him always!" said Parvati.
"Well Harry sticks up for me too!" said Hermione, "you don't think we like each other!"
"Well has Harry ever belched slugs for you," asked Ginny with a wide grin that covered her whole face, "or been knocked off a giant chess piece of doom for you, or faced a giant spider for you!"
Her list was continuing and with every new entry Hermione felt her ears get pinker and pinker.
"Well," said Lavender when Ginny had finished, "it sounds like you both are madly in love with each other!"
"We are not!" said Hermione and with that she got up from Lavender's bed walked over to her own slipped inside the covers, blew the candle out and drew the curtains around her bed. She heard the others do the same and soon the room was in complete darkness and when she was sure everyone was asleep and could not hear her she said quietly to herself, "I think."
Meanwhile in the Boys Dorm.
"So," said Dean, "I bet you 10 sickles that you kiss Lavender by the end of tomorrow evening."
"I don't think he has the guts!" said Harry, "I'll take that bet!"
"Hey! Give me some credit!" said Seamus.
"Hey Ron! How 'bout you, you in on 'the Seamus bet'?" asked Dean shaking a top hat, labeled "The Seamus Bet," full of money at him.
"No," said Ron, "its kind of mean, betting on love."
"Oh I'm sorry Ron," said Seamus, "so we won't be betting on you and Hermione then?"
"What's that suppose to mean?" asked Ron putting his right hand in a fist.
"Just that we were going to be that you and Hermione end up as a couple before the party ends tomorrow night!" said Dean. "Who's up for the bet!"
"I am!" said Neville, the first thing he had said to them since they came up from dinner. "I know for a fact they will get together."
Neville dropped in the second hat, labeled "The Ron Bet", 20 sickles.
"Wow! Neville! What makes you so confident?" asked Seamus, taking out his own money.
"Just that I've heard Ron at night," said Neville turning pink, then he looked at Ron and said very seriously, "you got to keep your voice down when your dreamin' about Hermione, gets quite disgusting!"
They burst out with laughter. Even Harry held his stomach because it ached from laughing so hard. He felt bad for Ron, he really did, but it was just too much!
"I do not!" shouted Ron, then he turned to Harry, who was desperately trying to keep down his laugh, "tell them Harry. I don't dream about Hermione!"
"I am sorry Ron, but I am not really good at lying!" said Harry truthfully and started laughing again with the others. "You are loud too, I agree with Neville. Keep it down will you!"
Ron turned beat red and stormed off toward his bed. He was just about to close the hangings around his bed when he heard Seamus yell, "So I should put in 30 sickles for them snogging in the corner by the end!"
Everyone started laughing as Seamus ducked a flying book that came from Ron's direction. Ron, with a loud swish, shut the hangings around his bed. He laid down furious and when he finally heard the other boys settle down and get into bed he blew out his candle.
"I don't dream of Hermione," he thought furiously to himself.
And as he drifted to sleep, he pictured Hermione, and then suddenly realized they were right.
J.K. Rowling's!
Chapter 1
The Successful Love Potion
Hermione woke to sunshine coming in though the window. And from there her hopes fell. She had just realized it was the day before Valentines Day and love was going to be all anybody talked about. And once again she would be spending Valentines Day as just friends with Ron and Harry, that is, if they didn't have dates.
It was late so she dressed quickly and went downstairs for breakfast. When she got down she was bright red from running down the stairs. And quite out of breathe. She entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Ron.
"Hello Herm!" he said brightly.
"Hello," she said still panting from the sprint down the stairs.
Just then Harry, who had been talking with Fred and George about their up coming Quidditch game against Ravenclaw, spotted Hermione.
"Hermione! It as nice of you to come and see us!" said Harry; "You were up there so long we thought you were dead."
"Well I assure you I am not!" said Hermione.
"That's good," said Fred, "cause we wouldn't want you to miss out on tomorrow night!"
"Why?" asked Hermione, "What's happening tomorrow night?"
"Yeah!" said Ron and Harry together, "out with it!"
"Well," started George, he and Fred snickered, "we have gotten permission from Professor McGonagall to throw a Valentine's Day party in the Gryffindor Common Room!"
"That sounds like fun!" said Ginny, who was sitting nearby. "What time will it start?"
"It will start all little after the Valentine's Day feast ends," said Fred, "but loads of us are going up early to get ready. Every Gryffindor needs to be up at least five minutes before the feast ends so Professor McGonagall can check to make sure we are all there. The condition is if we leave anybody out, we can't have it!"
"Count me in!" said Harry.
"Me too!" said Ron.
"Me, I guess," said Hermione, a little less excited than the others.
She felt like if she went she would just embarrass herself because nobody would like her. She wasn't very pretty, certainly not as pretty as the other Gryffindor girls like Angelina, Alicia, or even Ginny. She was just plain old Hermione Granger and she felt lost.
Ron was looking at Hermione. He was worried about her. It wasn't like her to completely ignore her breakfast, unless she was going to start on about S.P.E.W. again. But on the other hand Hermione was acting different about a lot of things. It started a little after their fight about the Yule Ball and Viktor Krum last year and things had gotten steadily worse. Ron had of, of course, invited Hermione over to his house over the summer. But she had declined, saying that she had too much homework to do. He looked at her right now as she sat there thinking to herself, eyes shining.
"Wow she looks really pretty right now," he thought to himself.
He stopped right there. This was Hermione his best friend! Why was he thinking these things? To stop himself he started talking to Harry, Fred, and George about their Quidditch match.
"Ravenclaw has a new Chaser. Her name is Grace Lee, transferred here about three weeks ago from a magic school in Japan," said Fred.
"You should see her too," said George, "she is unbelievable!"
"She is good, but us girls are even better!" said a voice behind the three Gryffindor boys.
They turned around. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie all in their Quidditch robes stood behind them. Angelina smiled at Fred and he smiled back. Fred and Angelina had been an item ever since this year's Yule Ball. George smiled at Alicia and Alicia looked down quickly at the floor and turned rose colored. Everyone knew that George liked Alicia, but no one could really tell whether she liked him back, or was just being a flirt.
"OF COURSE!" said Fred, he jumped up and put his hand around Angelina's shoulders, "and with these three very fine looking chasers we'll blow the Ravenclaw team away! And of course we owe that in large part to the new captains this year."
"Oh yes," chimed in George, "the wonderful, charming, inseparable, compassionate, fearless pair, Fred and George Weasley!"
No one applauded.
"Oh Bravo! Bravo!" said Angelina sarcastically.
"Honestly! You two!" said Harry, "if you loved yourself any more Fred Angelina would be out!"
"Thank you for the moral support Harry!" said Angelina.
That's when Angelina spotted Hermione sitting for the most part alone picking at her plate. She motioned to the girls and they went over to her side pf the table leaving the guys to keep making fun of how much they loved themselves.
"Hello Hermione!" said Angelina cheerfully as she sat down next to her. Alicia and Katie sat down with her too.
"Hello Angelina, Alicia, Katie," said Hermione trying to sound cheerful and hopelessly failing.
"What's wrong dear?" asked Alicia.
"Well with Valentine's Day around and I feel sort of, you know, left out," said Hermione plainly.
"Ah! Hermione!" said Katie, "you are so above all this, you have no reason to feel left out sweetie! You have Harry and Ron!"
"Yeah but they have their own plans this Valentine's Day," said Hermione looking at Harry flirting madly with Ginny.
She turned back to the three girls looking at each other nervously.
"What?" she asked.
"Oh! Nothing!" said Angelina quickly.
"What makes you think they have plans?" asked Katie.
A spot on the floor suddenly became very interesting to Hermione and she stared at it.
"Well Harry has Ginny and Ron has.well.I don't know who Ron has, but I am sure he has someone," said Hermione. "Besides people won't think that I am spending the holiday with my friends if it is one friend and he's a boy! People will talk!"
"And that's bad?" asked Alicia.
Hermione looked up from her spot on the floor.
"Yes!" she said with alarm.
"They couldn't possibly know that I like him?" she thought frantically to herself.
"Besides," she stated matter-of-factly, "I have a reputation not to get mixed up in these sort of things."
"Oh! Come on Hermione! This party it will be fun, you will have fun, and feel bad that you ever thought you wouldn't," said Katie, "Trust me!"
"Fred and George said they have loads planned, I can't wait!" said Angelina.
"I can hardly say I feel the same," said Hermione looking back down at her interesting spot on the floor.
"Well! You're coming though, right?" asked Alicia.
"Yeah, I have to or else they can't have the party, you heard what Fred said about Professor McGonagall," said Hermione.
"Well, you will have fun, I promise," said Alicia and she looked at the others. "The bell's about to ring."
And the bell rang.
"See you later Hermione!" called Angelina as the three of them rushed out of the Great Hall.
Hermione got up and started walking out as well towards their first class, Herbology. Just as she walked out of the Great Hall she heard two sets of running feet coming up from behind her.
"Hermione, weren't you going to wait for us?" asked Ron as they came up to her.
"We've always walked to class together," said Harry.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" said Hermione. "I guess I'm just out of it today."
"Well come on, let's go or we'll be late," said Harry.
As they crossed the field to the greenhouses were Herbology was taught Ron and Harry had stopped talking about Quidditch and started talking about the Valentine's Day party.
"So what kind of things do you reckon Fred and George have in store for us?" asked Harry.
"I don't know, they wouldn't tell us anything!" said Ron in disbelief. "Nothing at all!"
"Do the girls know anything Hermione, did they tell you anything?" asked Harry, turning to her.
"No," said Hermione truthfully, "they were just talking to me about how excited they were. They were wondering as well."
"I heard that we are the only house having a party, none of the other houses thought of it," said Ron. "Fred and George must be real pleased with themselves."
By this time they had reached greenhouse six with two minutes to spare. They went to an empty table and sat at it. All three of them were still talking about what they thought would happen at the party. But their happy discussion was cut short when the Slytherins entered the greenhouse. Among them was Draco Malfoy. He spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione and smiled wickedly. He brought his two goons Crabbe and Goyle and went to the table next to them, clearly they wanted to have a little fun.
"So I hear that Gryffindor will be throwing a Valentine's Day party," said Draco, them he added sarcastically. "Sounds exciting!"
"Yeah well your not invited!" said Ron.
"Oh well actually that sounds good to me, who would want to be invited to a party just to sit their and watch Granger and Weasel kiss in the corner!" said Draco, Crabbe and Goyle laughed deeply behind Draco.
Hermione went deep red. And Ron's face turned the color of his hair. He turned his hand into a fist but before he could act Professor Sprout walked into the room.
"Good Morning Class!" she said brightly.
"Good Morning Professor Sprout," the class repeated in unison, all except Ron and Draco who were still glaring at each other.
"Today we are going to learn about the Ovaculus plant, now can anyone tell me what, when the plant is boiled down to liquid, the plant is used for?"
Hermione raised her hand, then a look of terror crossed her face, and she began to lower her hand. But too late, Professor Sprout had seen her.
"Yes Miss Granger," said Professor Sprout.
"The Ovaculus plant," Hermione started nervously, "is the main ingredient in a common love potion."
When she ended her face went red and she looked down at the floor. She could just hear Draco whisper into Ron's ear, "I wonder how she knew that!" And she could also hear that Ron took a good swing with his arm and had hit Draco in the stomach.
"Correct 10 points to Gryffindor!" said Professor Sprout.
Hermione smiled weakly still not daring to look up from the floor.
"Well today, in honor of tomorrow's holiday I thought I would assist Professor Snape in his lessons with you today," informed Professor Sprout.
Everyone looked around. Had they just heard correctly, Snape was working with love potions. There must be a mistake.
"Yes, in your next lesson of the day for both houses, you will be taking the juices from your lesson today and use it in your love potions," continued Professor Sprout.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron all heard Draco snicker in their direction. Hermione groaned, Harry rolled his eyes to the back of his heard, and Ron let out a long depressed sigh.
"Now every listen up and look up here," said Professor Sprout grabbing a plant that looked very much like a cross between a rose and a tulip. "You take the petals lightly in one hand and the stem firmly in the other and you twist your hands in opposite directions to squeeze out the juice. The juice will come out of the flowered part so when you have your beakers be sure to put it under the head of the flower."
Ron unfortunately had heard none of the instructions. He was looking at Hermione. Her hair was tied back into a loose ponytail with wisps of hair that fell, framing her face. She looked very pretty.
She started handing out the plants. Two to each table. When she handed the two plants to Harry he looked at Hermione with a look saying "I have no idea what I'm doing!" pasted clearly on it.
"Oh! For Heaven's Sake!" she said and she grabbed a plant from Harry. She motioned for Ron to hold the beaker under the top of the plant. It was a disaster. Ron had no idea where to put the beaker, because of course he wasn't listening, so Hermione made a "tisk" sound with her tongue.
"Honestly, you two!" she said as she attempted to take the beaker from Ron. As she did her hand fell on top of Ron's and they both started to blush furiously. But luckily only Harry was looking at them to notice. It seemed that a lot of people had not been paying attention and Ovaculus juice was spurting out everywhere. Yet in the end Hermione, Ron, and Harry were the first ones done. They had two beakers full of Ovaculus juice and when everyone else was finished they only had one.
"This is really good," said Hermione as they were walking with their beakers from Herbology to Potions, "we will have an extra chance. Making love potions is very difficult and usually people do not succeed, now we have two chances!"
Both Ron and Harry did not find this to be good news however. Both were nervous about being in Snape's class, and nothing even the thought of the Valentine's Day party could lift their spirits.
As they entered the Potions classroom a musty smell meet them. It seemed that somebody from the previous class had done something terribly wrong with their potion.
"Everybody, in!" Snape called to the class, "sit down in your Herbology groups quickly!"
Soon everyone was settled.
"Now," Snape started, "as you must know from your previous class, you will be making love potions today."
As Snape said love a look crossed over his face that Neither Ron, Hermione, or Harry could determine whether it was boredom, depression, or utter disgust.
"You all have your Ovaculus juices, don't you?" asked Snape and numerous people, including Hermione, held up their beakers.
"Good," said Snape. "Now go to your lab tables and await your instructions."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all went over to an empty table in the second row up to the left. There on the table was a cauldron and various colored potions in vials on a stand. Ron wondered which of these they would have to use.
"Now," said Snape, "you will add your beaker of Ovaculus juice to the cauldron."
Everyone did so.
"Now look at the vials set up on your tables," droned Snape, "the red one who can tell me what this ingredient is called.
Hermione picked up the red vial and examined it closely before raising her hand.
"Yes, Miss Granger," said Snape pointing at her.
"Bat Blood," said Hermione, "it is used in some of the most common potions, but is very difficult to come across."
"Yes," said Snape unhappily, "now as Miss Granger said it is hard to come across so I do not want anyone wasting any of it!"
A mixture of people around the room said "Yes" or "Okay."
"Now you will add that vial, quickly now and be sure to stand back away from the cauldron once you have poured it in, do not jump or you might break the vial and that will be a detention," said Snape.
Ron, Hermione, and Harry all certainly did feel like jumping for when Ron poured in the bat blood (being careful not to break the precious vial) there was a large cloud of red smoke that rose up from the cauldron. From the red cloud a gold dragon flew out of it swooping very close to the heads of Ron and Harry and disappeared only a few inches from Hermione's face.
"Not very romantic," she murmured and Ron and Harry laughed.
As Ron looked around the room he noticed that there were indeed some broken vials and some spilled potion. He saw Snape walking up and down the isles handing out detentions here and there.
"Mr. Longbottom that will be detention for you," Snape passing by Neville and Dean's table, "and for you Mr. Thomas. And 5 points from Gryffindor!"
Ron let out an exasperated noise that sounded very much like a snort.
"Always taking points away from Gryffindor, if that had been a Slytherin it would have just been a detention, if anything!" he complained.
"Is there a problem Mr. Weasley?" asked Professor Snape coming to their table.
"No, Professor," said Ron, "Nothing at all, were fine!"
"Well I see that you have managed to add you bat blood correctly," said Professor Snape grimly.
Then he turned to the rest of the class.
Now can anyone tell me what ingredient we put in next. When no one else raised their hands Hermione raised hers. Professor Snape turned around saw her, and then proceeded up to his desk at the front of the class.
"I see no one knows," he said with a small glance toward Hermione who put her hand down. "The next ingredient is ground snake fang, every will see it on the table."
Luckily they had Hermione because neither Ron nor Harry had any idea what ground snake fang looked like.
"Honestly," said Hermione, "don't you two read."
"Do Quidditch books count?" asked Harry.
The comment was rewarded by a death stare from Hermione.
"No of course not," said Hermione, "this was all in 'Potions to Remember,' I gave you two both a copy for Christmas, where are they?"
"In my bookcase at home collecting dust," said Ron truthfully, earning himself a death stare from Hermione, even though Ron could see that it was quite less of a death stare than Harry's had been.
They added their ground snake fang and their potion began to bubble. They looked around. It seemed that Mr. Malfoy had accidentally put death salts rather than ground snake fang. And Ron could just see Professor Snape give him another beaker of Ovaculus juice and add the bat blood and ground snake fang for him.
"That is so unfair," said Hermione when Ron had pointed it out. "We would have given us detention."
"You're right," said Ron, "and he would have probably taken points away from Gryffindor too!"
"Next add Wolfsband," said Professor Snape, "quickly twenty minutes left before lunch."
Hermione wound up doing the entire potion herself, even though Ron had handed her a few things from the table that she need and could reach from where she was standing.
Soon, after twenty minutes hand gone by, they were walking out of the classroom with a large vial of love potion.
"Can you believe the only successful love potion in the whole class," said Harry. "All thanks to Hermione of course!"
"That's my girl!" said Ron putting his hand over Hermione's shoulders, which made both of them blush, and Harry tried to keep down his giggles. Then Harry too turned beat red when who should come along the hallway, but Ginny.
"Hello Ron!" said Ginny who eyed Ron and Hermione curiously, "Hello Hermione! Hello Harry!"
She said Harry's name very flirtatious.
"Hello Ginny," he said back and was Ron mistaken or did Harry just bat his eyelashes?
"So what are you three up to?" asked Ginny eyeing Ron and Hermione.
"Just congratulating Hermione on making the only successful love potion in Potions class," said Ron proudly making Hermione blush.
Ginny whispered so only Harry could hear, "That's not all the love that has been successful."
Obviously Ron and Hermione had both heard.
Ron nervously took his arm from around Hermione's shoulders and he turned very red, as did Hermione.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After dinner Ron, Hermione, and Harry walked upstairs. All the Gryffindors were talking about who they wanted to find out whether they liked them or not and other things like that. Ron and Hermione for the most part remained silent.
When Hermione went up to the girls dormitory she opened the door to see Ginny, Lavender, Parvati, and a couple other Gryffindor girls sitting talking and giggling.
"What?" asked Hermione.
"We were just talking about the Valentine's Day party," said Lavender as Hermione walked toward her bed.
"Well that seems to be all anybody is talking about, doesn't it," said Hermione and she went to her dresser and pulled out a long, plain, lilac nightgown. She slipped it over her head and then went over to her bed.
"Oh! Come on Hermione!" said Ginny who was sitting on Lavender's bed, "come and chat with us."
Hermione reluctantly went over and sat on Lavender's bed as well.
"So as I was saying," said Parvati, "I hope that Dean will come to his senses and ask me out tomorrow at the party."
"I heard from Neville that Seamus was talking about me last night when the boys were talking about their Valentine's Day plans!" squealed Lavender.
"Well Harry has been awfully flirty with me so I am hoping he will carry it further," said Ginny dreamily, "I hope I am not giving off the wrong message."
"Trust me Ginny!" said Hermione, "when it comes to you and Harry I don't think either one of you have the wrong message. You both like each other, it's as plain and obvious as that!"
"You really think so?" asked Ginny, still with that dreamy look in her eyes.
"Yes, It's very evident whenever he looks at you he does this," said Hermione and she imitated Harry's eyes getting all big and glazed over. All the girls started to giggle.
"Well, what about you Hermione," said Parvati, "who do you hope notices you at the party?"
"No one really," said Hermione, but she could tell her face was turning pink.
"Oh! Come on Hermione," said Ginny exasperated, "it is totally obvious you and my darling brother have a thing for each other!"
"We do not!" said Hermione, defiantly, "we are just.friends."
"Oh really," said Ginny, in that 'I've got you now!' tone of voice. "Then why was his arm around your shoulders while you were walking today."
All the girls started to giggle, Hermione started to blush even more.
"He was proud of me," said Hermione, "I made the only successful love potion in Professor Snape's class. This comment was reward with lots of giggles and kissing noises. "What?"
"Could I possibly be that you made it so well because Ron was one of your lab partners?" asked Lavender, "I was sitting behind you in Herbology and Ron was sticking up for you when Malfoy came along."
"We always stick up for each other!" said Hermione.
"Yeah, because you liked him always!" said Parvati.
"Well Harry sticks up for me too!" said Hermione, "you don't think we like each other!"
"Well has Harry ever belched slugs for you," asked Ginny with a wide grin that covered her whole face, "or been knocked off a giant chess piece of doom for you, or faced a giant spider for you!"
Her list was continuing and with every new entry Hermione felt her ears get pinker and pinker.
"Well," said Lavender when Ginny had finished, "it sounds like you both are madly in love with each other!"
"We are not!" said Hermione and with that she got up from Lavender's bed walked over to her own slipped inside the covers, blew the candle out and drew the curtains around her bed. She heard the others do the same and soon the room was in complete darkness and when she was sure everyone was asleep and could not hear her she said quietly to herself, "I think."
Meanwhile in the Boys Dorm.
"So," said Dean, "I bet you 10 sickles that you kiss Lavender by the end of tomorrow evening."
"I don't think he has the guts!" said Harry, "I'll take that bet!"
"Hey! Give me some credit!" said Seamus.
"Hey Ron! How 'bout you, you in on 'the Seamus bet'?" asked Dean shaking a top hat, labeled "The Seamus Bet," full of money at him.
"No," said Ron, "its kind of mean, betting on love."
"Oh I'm sorry Ron," said Seamus, "so we won't be betting on you and Hermione then?"
"What's that suppose to mean?" asked Ron putting his right hand in a fist.
"Just that we were going to be that you and Hermione end up as a couple before the party ends tomorrow night!" said Dean. "Who's up for the bet!"
"I am!" said Neville, the first thing he had said to them since they came up from dinner. "I know for a fact they will get together."
Neville dropped in the second hat, labeled "The Ron Bet", 20 sickles.
"Wow! Neville! What makes you so confident?" asked Seamus, taking out his own money.
"Just that I've heard Ron at night," said Neville turning pink, then he looked at Ron and said very seriously, "you got to keep your voice down when your dreamin' about Hermione, gets quite disgusting!"
They burst out with laughter. Even Harry held his stomach because it ached from laughing so hard. He felt bad for Ron, he really did, but it was just too much!
"I do not!" shouted Ron, then he turned to Harry, who was desperately trying to keep down his laugh, "tell them Harry. I don't dream about Hermione!"
"I am sorry Ron, but I am not really good at lying!" said Harry truthfully and started laughing again with the others. "You are loud too, I agree with Neville. Keep it down will you!"
Ron turned beat red and stormed off toward his bed. He was just about to close the hangings around his bed when he heard Seamus yell, "So I should put in 30 sickles for them snogging in the corner by the end!"
Everyone started laughing as Seamus ducked a flying book that came from Ron's direction. Ron, with a loud swish, shut the hangings around his bed. He laid down furious and when he finally heard the other boys settle down and get into bed he blew out his candle.
"I don't dream of Hermione," he thought furiously to himself.
And as he drifted to sleep, he pictured Hermione, and then suddenly realized they were right.