Chapter Two; The Valentine's Day Dilemma
Thanks Scrappy!
Harry and Jessie sat down at Tobey's and Eve's table while Teddy and Heather sat down at the table beside them with Ron and Hermione. "Hey Harry, where's Ginny at?" Eve wondered.
"She had to go to the bathroom. Look what I got for her though for Valentine's Day." Harry said with a grin before he removed a little red velvet box out of his pocket.
"Oh my God! Is that what I think it is!?" Eve exclaimed as Harry popped the lid open with his thumb.
"Well sort of, it's a promise ring." He said as he revealed the shiny silver ring inside of it that had a green gem in the middle of it with the words Harry & Ginny forever engraved in it. "It's a pre engagement ring because I know that I want to marry her someday when we're old enough and more prepared to start a family, and I want to show her how much I love her and that I'm committed." He explained. "I also got her some everlasting roses and chocolates of course."
"Wow Harry, Ginny's going to flip when she sees that." Ron said when all of a sudden she entered the great hall and headed towards their table.
"Oh no she's coming! Hide it!" Hermione snapped inside a whisper as Harry quickly shut the lid again and put it back inside his pocket.
" So are you ready to say grace?" Harry asked her as she sat down beside him.
"Grace." Ron said before taking a bite of his drumstick.
"Grace." Ginny said as she did the same thing while Teddy and Heather followed suit but Hermione just simply shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"That's not what I meant." Harry said firmly trying to hide a grin.
"Don't worry Harry, God knows their hearts are in the right place." Hermione told him.
"Really? Because it seems more like their stomachs to me." He said heaving a heavy sigh and closed his eyes and folded his hands together for a short silent prayer before he started eating his meal along with everyone else. "You really are a bunch of boneheads, you know that?" he questioned them after he had swallowed his bite of chicken and then took a sip of his pumpkin juice.
"Can't help it," Ginny began with a shrug. "it's in my blood." She told him before she took another bite.
"But you still love us anyway don't you?" Heather asked him as he smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head.
"Yes of course I do." He told her.
"Good because that's what Valentine's Day is all about." She said as Eve heaved a heavy sad sigh and hung her head.
"Please don't mention Valentine's Day." She told her.
"Why not?" Heather asked her.
"I think I know." Ron began. "It's because of Jerry isn't it? He's a muggle, so he can't be your Valentine or go to the dance with you." He finished.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! Tell him what he's won Johnny!" Eve exclaimed before she leapt up from the table and started walking away.
"What does Johnny have to do with this?" Heather wondered while Harry stood up and started hurrying after his sister.
"Eve wait!" he called when suddenly his father got into his path and blocked him.
"Harry what is it? What's wrong with Eve?" he asked him.
"She's upset because she misses Jerry and she doesn't have a Valentine to go with her to the dance." He told him.
"Here's a thought why doesn't she just ask someone?" his father suggested.
"That's just it, I think she's scared and I don't think she knows who she wants to ask. However I do know who wants to ask her. Tobey told me that his friend Carlos has a major crush on her. I bet he would go with her if she just got up the courage to ask him." Harry told him.
"I'll go talk to her, just go ahead and go back and eat your supper with your friends." His father told him before he patted him on the shoulder and walked away. He found Eve sitting down on the bench in the courtyard and slowly walked up to her before sitting down next to her. "Hey," he began. "can I talk to you for a second?" he wondered as she simply just shrugged at him.
"How did you know that I was here?" she wondered as he stifled a laugh and placed his hand on top of hers and gently started rubbing his thumb over it.
"This seems to be the place to go when you're depressed, even if it's in the middle of winter." He told her. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I know exactly how you feel." He said.
"You do?" she questioned him with uncertainty and disbelief.
"I have spent more than one Valentine's Day alone. Believe me." He told her.
"Oh because you mean that Mum's in Heaven?" she inquired.
"That, and when your mother and I were little she liked this other boy. A boy by the name of James Potter." He told her.
"I know, he's Harry's real dad right? I mean his biological one." She said as he nodded at her.
"It wasn't until Harry was four years old that she realized how much I loved her and that she was able to return it." He told her.
"So what did you do on Valentine's Day then?" she wondered.
"Well there's many kinds of love, and even though Valentine's Day seems to be more about the romantic kind doesn't mean that it can't be about friendship." He told her.
"So, you're saying that you think I should ask somebody that I consider to be a friend of mine to be my Valentine and date for the Valentine's Day dance?" she inquired.
"I don't see why not." He told her with a grin and a shake of his head.
"But what if they say no?" she wondered.
"Then just ask somebody else,.. or put a bat boogey hex on them. Mind you that is the father side of me talking on that one. The teacher side is telling me to let me do it instead." He told her with a grin as she giggled at him.
"Oh Daddy!" she exclaimed as he stifled a laugh and planted a wet kiss on the top of her head.
"You're a very beautiful girl though, and I can't imagine why any guy wouldn't want to go with you." He told her.
"Thanks Daddy, I love you." She told him.
"I love you too angel." He told her as he kissed her again. "Now go ahead and go back inside and warm up and finish your supper." He said as she stood up and walked back inside the castle. "And make sure you have all your homework done by the time you go to bed tonight!" he called.
"I will!" she called back as she went back inside the great hall.