Unfortunately, I think Draco is quite OOC in this. :(

I wrote this for a contest on DeviantArt and it's taken way longer than it should have... I'm not actually that happy with it either... But I hope you like it anyway!

Best Laid Plans

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray"-The Mouse by Robert Burns

"I've got it all planned out. It's going to be perfect. Nothing can go wrong."

Those short sentences, spoken to Ron and Hermione with such enthusiasm and confidence, could not have been further from the truth. Harry had, of course, not known that he had made the declaration, but it was certainly not matching up with the reality right now.

As Harry sat in the empty common room, studying yet another charm book, mistakenly under the impression that a different book would give a much simpler method of casting the charm, groaning occasionally in frustration before trying to concentrate again, he realised that hadn't considered how difficult this charm would be. He had included it in his plan without ever actually trying the charm beforehand. Harry had thought it would be a simple matter of getting the chocolates and casting the spell but this had ended up more complicated than he had ever considered. He admitted now that he should have considered it, but knowing that now wouldn't help him all that much. He should have know it wouldn't be that easy.

After another half an hour, Harry paused his work and checked the time and found, to his horror, that he had now been studying the damn charm for over 2 hours straight, not to mention the time he had spent struggling with it the previous night. Sighing in aggravation, the brown haired boy flopped ungracefully onto the floor behind him and closed his eyes. Breathing in deeply and exhaling, he reassured himself that he still had time and, even if this didn't work, there was still the other part of his plan. 'There's nothing to worry about', he told himself.

Breathing deeply in and out again, he sat up, determined to figure it out.

When Ron and Hermione returned early from Hogsmeade, they were greeted by a steady stream of cussing from behind the portrait hole to the Gryffindor tower. Exchanging confused looks, they approached the painting and spoke the password. They knew that Harry was the only Gryffindor who didn't go to Hogsmeade that day, planning instead to work on the charm he had been trying to learn, so what could be going on in the common room?

As the door swung open to reveal the scene behind, Harry's friends couldn't stifle the laughter fighting to escape them. Harry was sat in the middle of the room with books spread out across the floor around him, muttering swearwords. The reason for his anger was obvious – the air surrounding him was full of coloured smoke and his face a myriad of colourful soot.

"Bloody hell mate! I thought blowing stuff up was Seamus' job!" Ron said between laughing and panting for air which earned a scowl from the brown haired boy who was still coughing occasionally from the smoke.

"What happened Harry?" Hermione asked in her usual straight to the point way.

"Thought I finally had the charm figured out so I cast it and it... kind of exploded..." Harry mumbled, a little ashamed of his ineptitude. This just renewed Ron's laughter and Hermione had to nudge him in the ribs to make him stop... or try to at least. He still let out snorts of barely suppressed laughter whenever he looked at Harry's still rainbow soot covered face. Hermione cast a simple cleaning charm on the irritated boy, hoping it would help both him and Ron to calm down.

"I... I've screwed it up, 'Mione." Harry said glumly, staring down at the ground and Hermione and Ron realised how upset he really was about this.

"It doesn't matter Harry. It's an advanced charm and you still have the other part of your plan. Just calm down, Harry." Hermione tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, Harry, it's just the Ferret. It doesn't matter." Ron said carelessly.

"No Ron, don't you get it?! It's because it's Draco that it matters so much!" Harry yelled.

"Ignore Ron. You know he doesn't think before he speaks." Hermione spoke with a glare at the ginger boy.

"Yeah, sorry mate. I know you really like him." The youngest Weasley boy mumbled by way of apology, receiving an approving glance from Hermione and a grateful one from Harry.

"Thanks guys. I just want it to be perfect, you know?"

"Yeah, we know."

Best Laid Plans

"Silence!" Dumbledore called easily over the voices of the hundreds of chattering students. After a few residual mumbles, the hall fell quiet. "Due to unforeseen circumstances, the trip to Hogsmeade this weekend has been cancelled. Now you may all return to your common rooms. Good night." The elderly wizard announced in his usual cryptic manner and whispers had already begun throughout the hall before he had even finished speaking. Rumours were being spread in hushed voices about the possible reasons for the cancellation amongst the typical exclamations about the injustice of it all.

"-maybe You Know Who is back-" "-could be because of all the snow we've had recently-" "-can't believe they're cancelling the trip on Valentine's weekend-"

Conversation filled the hall and corridors as the students flooded back to their house common rooms but Harry heard little of it, his mind instead screaming at his contingency plan being ruined. He had worked so hard to make everything perfect yet the entire plan was just falling apart; first the charm and now this.

"Are you ok Harry?" He heard Hermione ask but he just muttered a vague response.

In a slight daze, he followed the other students until he heard a familiar drawling voice that drew his attention back to the present. Turning sharply, he scanned the crowd for the shock of platinum blond hair he knew would be nearby. Spotting him amongst some other Slytherins, Harry strode over and, briefly considering the people surrounding them, grabbed the front of Draco's perfectly uncreased robes. Pulling on the fabric, the dark haired boy dragged the blond away from the masses and into a scarcely populated corridor that wasn't en route to any of the houses' common rooms. He thought he heard people calling out to him from somewhere behind but he didn't stop to find out, just continued pulling Draco down corridors until he reached one that was completely devoid of anyone.

"What the hell are you doing?" Draco snapped when his robes had been released and he had regained some of his composure.

"Do you realise it's Valentine's day tomorrow?" Harry said in a tone that sounded more accusing than inquiring which just showed how much the stress was affecting him. He almost never used an angry tone with Draco when they were alone together.

"Yeah, so?" The Slytherin replied dismissively and it annoyed Harry far more than it should have. He'd put so much effort into arranging the perfect day for them to spend together and for what? Draco couldn't care less about it, even though it was their first Valentine's day. Surely he had to care at least a little. Harry had been excited about this day all year and he'd been thinking of ways to make it special and memorable for them both.

"So? So I was going to apologise to you because my plans for our Valentine's together fell through but it's obvious that you don't care so I suppose there's no point." The brown haired boy's voice raised but he couldn't help it. He had put so much effort into it and Draco didn't care.

"I didn't know we were even celebrating Valentine's Harry. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well I thought it might be a nice surprise but that was before I knew you didn't give a damn anyway. If I'd known I wouldn't have spent so much time planning it and worrying about if you'd like it. I spent over a month trying to make everything perfect and then it all got fucked up but I suppose it doesn't matter." Harry yelled, stress, anger and disappointment getting the better of him.

"You've been planning it for over a month? Why are you trying so hard?" Draco asked, curious, but in Harry's angered state it seemed negative, like an accusation.

"Because it's you, you prat! I wanted it to be amazing and special because it's for you and I love you!" The Gryffindor shouted before realising what he'd said.

As soon as he did, his anger dissipated immediately and his hands flew up to cover his mouth despite it obviously being to late to stop the words escaping. Draco's expression was one of surprise, with his jaw dropped a little, but he seemed generally calm.

"You love me?" Draco asked softly, as if he doubted that he'd heard correctly.

Harry nodded hesitantly. "I wanted to tell you at dinner tomorrow night..." A slight pink tinge coloured his cheeks and Draco stepped closer to the embarrassed boy before him.

"You didn't need to do any of this. It's incredibly sweet that you did but any time you told me you loved me would have been special, even if it was yelled at me in a corridor." Draco smirked. "I love you too Harry and I thought you already knew that. I didn't think we'd be doing anything for Valentine's day because every day I get to spend with you is amazing to me without any fancy, expensive plans – I get enough of that at home and it could never mean as much to me as just spending time with you." Kissing the other boy softly on the cheek, Draco pulled him into a tight hug.

They stood, just enjoying the closeness, for a while before Harry broke the silence that had fallen over the corridor.

"Hey Draco."

"Yeah?"

"Do you really not want to do anything for Valentine's day?"

"As long as I'm with you, I really don't mind."

Smiling, Harry settled back into the embrace and the peace of the empty hallway.

Best Laid Plans

Oh dear, this did not turn out anywhere near as well as I'd planned it. I actually might consider re-writing it some time...