Disclaimer: Usual disclaimers apply. It should be intuitively obvious that I have no rights to Harry Potter or anything associated with it, but on the off chance it is not, the reader should know that I in fact have no such rights.

Chapter 2 – Hearts Afire

February 12, 1996.

Another staff meeting, thought Dolores Umbridge as she took her seat in the makeshift meeting room on the first floor of Hogwarts castle. They had alternated meetings between the Headmaster's office and the staff lounge until Dumbledore replaced that useless fraud Trelawney as Divination professor with that filthy half-breed Firenze. Really, as if a half-horse was fit to teach the witches and wizards of tomorrow! It was simply more evidence of Dumbledore's senility, as far as she was concerned.

Dolores was the last to arrive at the meeting, as there was no reason that the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts should wait for any other teacher. Looking around the room, she saw the same looks of boredom on the faces of most of the staff. It was obvious from the first meeting before the Welcome Feast back in September that no one really enjoyed these biweekly meetings, and everyone tried to make them go as quickly as possible, but Dolores had begun to find them useful in gauging staff opinion on the state of the school, and in seeing who was really loyal to the Ministry, and who was merely pretending to be so.

Dolores placed Dumbledore firmly in the latter camp, and suspected that if he made any overt moves against the Ministry, or if the Ministry were to remove him, McGonagall would back him up. Firenze was certainly Dumbledore's man, given his hiring by the Headmaster and Dolores' obvious dislike of the centaur. Hagrid was undoubtedly in Dumbledore's camp, although his periodic replacement, Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, was unlikely to do anything to jeopardize her career if the Ministry were to remove Dumbledore. Babbling, Sprout, Sinistra and Vector were the same, which made all four of them potentially reliable as far as she was concerned. Pomfrey and Pince were too concerned with their own narrow departments to be involved in school politics. Filch could almost certainly be counted upon to support the Ministry in any dispute. Flitwick was very amiable and well thought-of by the Board of Governors, but Dolores didn't know which way he would go if there was an overt break with Dumbledore, and the Charms professor was friendly enough with the old coot. His part-goblin ancestry probably made him unreliable in any event. Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies professor, was probably unreliable due to her outspoken criticism of attitudes she claimed Wizarding society held towards Muggles and Muggle-borns, even though Dolores thought Burbage, as a pureblood herself, should have been above such concerns.

The real wild card on the staff was Severus Snape. Dumbledore trusted him implicitly, but everything Dolores knew about him told her that Snape was unsympathetic to most of the current Headmaster's beliefs and aims. According to everything she had heard, he was certainly no fan of Harry Potter, correctly describing the little troublemaker as an arrogant mediocrity enamoured with his own celebrity. But Snape had expressed no opinions of any kind on the Ministry, and had been a Death Eater back when You-Know-Who was alive. She simply had no idea where Snape's loyalties lay, if indeed he had any to anyone or anything other than himself.

Of course, if he was loyal only to himself, that could be useful in its own way...

The meeting began as pointlessly as usual, with Dumbledore muttering platitudes about how privileged they were to shape the minds of the wizards and witches of tomorrow. The professors then had their usual discussion going over budget targets, whether there were any procurement or supply issues, and how that half-breed was fitting in as the new Divination professor. Discussion then turned to the upcoming Valentine's Day feast.

"I don't see why we're bothering with a feast," she said. "Valentine's Day simply distracts hormonal children from what they should be focusing on – their education and future in our society."

"I quite agree," said Snape.

It was obvious the rest of the staff did not, however. "Valentine's Day is always a excellent feast!" objected Flitwick. "It's fun for the whole school ‒ "

"Not for those students who focus on their classwork instead of their classmates," interrupted Snape.

The diminutive Charms professor ignored the interruption. " ‒ it's the only regular feast of the winter term, and it give enterprising students a chance to make charmed Valentines for their sweethearts. It's a wonderful holiday."

"It's a pointless distraction," Dolores reiterated.

"It's simply a harmless feast," McGonagall said. "It gives students the opportunity to express young love. Surely you see that, Dolores. It's not like they get many other chances."

"I still think we should have a Valentine's Dance this weekend," added Burbage. "You know the children would love that. Look at how much they enjoyed the Yule Ball last year."

"And look at the number of detentions I had to give to overly amorous students that night," said Snape, who was seated beside her.

"Oh, Severus, you're not helping," said Burbage quietly. The Potions Master merely raised an eyebrow at her.

"I think I've made it quite clear we will not be having any dances this year, Professor Burbage. It is well within my power as High Inquisitor to cancel the Valentine's Day feast," Dolores pointedly added.

"The Valentine's Day feast is a Hogwarts tradition that goes back well before my days as a student," said Dumbledore. "Thousands of married couples in our world look back on their Valentine's Days at Hogwarts as moments that brought them together. I hardly think that suspending that tradition would be looked upon kindly by the public, Dolores, and they would likely let Minister Fudge know that."

Damn, thought Dolores. The old coot is probably right. The Minister wouldn't want me to do anything that will have people sending him Howlers – there's already too many of those coming in as it is.

"Still," she pressed on, "Professor Snape raises an excellent point. Dances and activities that encourage romance among the students serve mainly to increase discipline problems."

"I hardly think that's fair," said Sprout.

"I can show you the detention statistics if you wish, Pomona. Class disruptions are the most common source of detentions – this includes incomplete homework – while spells cast in the hallways are the second. The third, however, is couples caught behaving inappropriately. "

Flitwick said, "And detentions for that kind of thing have skyrocketed this year. In previous years there were comparatively few detentions given for overly romantic students."

Dolores scoffed. "Simply proof of the lax standards prevalent before the Ministry appointed me."

"I don't think that's quite true, Dolores. Stories of students caught in flagrante delicto in the broom closets are greatly exaggerated in number, no matter how irritating to Argus those rare cases may be," Flitwick said, nodding to Filch. "Simple kisses in the hallways are now offences worthy of detention by your rules. That alone accounts for the increased numbers of detentions this year."

"It's hardly 'simple kisses'. In the last two weeks, Zachary Stonetower and Ramona Cale, and Jeremy White and Serena Shaughnessey were each given detention for being overly amorous in the hallways, and you yourself, Filius, gave Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood a detention for groping one another in the hallways," she said with a smirk.

Dumbledore's eyebrows raised at that, while Flitwick retorted, "They were hardly groping one another. It was a simple kiss that last year simply would have earned them a request to move along."

"That's not what the other girls present said. The poor girls were traumatized by the shocking display in front of them."

The short professor's voice raised in response. "Poppycock. Those 'poor girls' were taunting Miss Lovegood when Mr. Potter stepped in to defend his girlfriend and show how he felt about her. While it may not have been the ideal time and place for him to do so, the only trauma those girls felt was from someone standing up to them."

"You will pardon me, Filius, if I choose to believe three fine students over a seriously unbalanced girl and a fantasist who is a terrible student to boot," she said in a falsely sweet manner she hoped would irritate the bothersome little man.

"Miss Lovegood is not 'unbalanced' in the slightest, Dolores. She is a bright, imaginative young witch who is consistently one of the best students in her year. And Mr. Potter, while not as dedicated to his studies as we might wish, has shown tremendous enthusiasm lately in Charms, and can't be described as terrible by any stretch of the imagination. Isn't that right, Minerva?"

Before the Transfiguration professor could speak, Snape let out a derisive scoff, which made Dolores smile and McGonagall to scowl (which made Dolores smile even wider). "I quite agree, Filius. While Mr. Potter could stand to apply himself more, he has always been a fine student and an upstanding young man. And until your revisions to the curriculum, Dolores, he always excelled at Defence Against the Dark Arts," McGonagall said with a pointed look at her.

"Then why does he have to take Remedial Potions twice a week with Severus?" Dolores shot back.

Before anyone could respond, Dumbledore interrupted. "Edifying as this discussion is, I think we simply need to accept that some students will perhaps be overly affectionate at times, and that while they should be disciplined, this is simply a fact of teaching teenagers. Unless, of course, the Ministry wants to ban student relationships, and given how many couples in our society met at Hogwarts, I don't think that would be an adequate solution to the demographic problems the Ministry's Statistics Department routinely raises. Unless and until you have some contrary directions from Minister Fudge, Dolores, let's move on, shall we?"

Dolores glared at the old Headmaster, but didn't object.


Not for the first time, Ronald Weasley found himself envious of his best friend.

For a while in the previous year, after Harry was named the fourth Triwizard Champion, Ron was extremely jealous of him – it wasn't enough that he had the fame, the money and the popularity, he had to try and get the glory of being a Champion. Looking back, he was ashamed that he could assume that Harry actually wanted any of that, and worse, that Ron had let his jealousy nearly tear himself apart from his best friend, and lose out on his companionship and all the fun they had, and would hopefully continue to have. He actively strove after that not to let the occasional jealous feelings he had interfere, and he'd been very successful. He hoped.

No, the envy Ron was feeling was different than that all-consuming jealousy of last year. Ron was envious of Harry's new relationship with Luna Lovegood.

It wasn't that he wanted the blond Ravenclaw girl for himself. While Luna's strange personality and bizarre habits had grown on him in the last few weeks, the girl was far too weird for Ron. He had stopped calling her 'Loony', out of a genuine wish to try and connect with the girl for his friend's sake, and even stopped thinking of her as such, but there was a reason she was called that by her classmates beyond mere childish cruelty, as far as Ron was concerned. She could be amusing, she was pleasant, if far too blunt (and he got more than enough of that Hermione!), but not someone Ron could see himself being attracted to.

But Harry was clearly over the moon about the girl. That quite frankly baffled him – beyond her oddness, she wasn't what Ron considered physically attractive, what with the bulging eyes and stringy hair, and those weird earrings and butterbeer cork necklace, although his friend obviously disagreed, seeing as he was wearing a similar necklace himself these days. Harry was far happier over the last month than Ron had seen him since before You-Know-Who returned, and Luna's dreamy nature seemed to rub off on him after their time together. He smiled more, he laughed more, and he brooded far less than he had before Luna entered his life. That alone made Ron approve of the relationship between the strange girl and his friend, and he was genuinely happy for Harry.

He did miss all the time they used to spend together, although with Ron's prefect duties, Harry's Occlumency lessons with Snape, and the D.A., there hadn't been nearly as much time for the two friends as there had been in the past. Harry spending so much time with Luna cut into that. It was hard to begrudge him that time, though, given how happy she made him. And the snogging, of course.

Ron was envious because Harry had a girl in his life, one who made him happy, and Ron did not. Harry had someone, and Ron was sure that Hermione's friendship with Viktor Krum was more intense than she let him know. The twins had their girlfriends. Even his little sister Ginny had a boyfriend, albeit that prat Michael Corner. And Ron had no one.

He'd only been one date before, with Padma Patil to the Yule Ball. That had gone far worse than he had hoped. He actually expected that he and Hermione would end up at the Ball together, but she went and got asked by Krum, which Ron had not expected at all. So he and Harry took the Patil twins, which should have been lots of fun – two best mates double dating two twins? That should have been wonderful. Ron had a terrible time, though, and at least he wasn't alone in that – none of the other three enjoyed themselves either.

Ron's reasons were different, though. Hermione looked amazing that night – it's like she was a whole new girl. A new woman, even. Viktor certainly noticed it, and Ron had kicked himself for not noticing it earlier. Oh, his mother would make comments about how pretty Hermione was, and what a nice girl she was, and what a great witch she would become, and Ron always nodded his head politely and went back to his food, but he really noticed his Muggle-born friend that night.

He kept noticing her after that. Not just how she looked, but her laugh, and her smile, and the way she carried herself. She really was something else. But she always carried that book Krum got her, and the two continued to exchange letters, and she was planning on seeing him at Easter in Spain, and would likely be hanging out with the Bulgarian Quidditch star on the beaches, wearing some cute little bikini, maybe a nice blue one like her Yule Ball gown, all laughing and looking just so...

Best not think about that, thought Ron to himself.

Anyway, there was no possible way Ron could compete with a guy like Krum. He was a famous handsome Quidditch star, for Merlin's sake, and what was Ron? A decent keeper, to be sure, sort-of handsome, and a good friend to her, but she was always pointing out how lazy he was, or that he spent too much time goofing around, or that he wasn't serious, or that he was entirely too concerned with food. She clearly didn't think he was anything compared to the likes of Krum. So amazing as Hermione was, and nice as it was to think that someday she might really see the real Ron... that wasn't really in the cards for now.

After seeing how happy Harry was, Ron wanted some of that kind of happiness for himself. And with Hermione's crack a few weeks ago about how out of place Ron would be at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shoppe, well, it had become a matter of honour now, hadn't it?

Ron had noticed how Lavender Brown was paying far more attention to him lately, and how she perked right up at the last Hogsmeade trip when Ron told her that he wasn't on a date with Hermione. He'd never thought a lot about Lavender, other than asking her for help with his Divination homework occasionally, but he'd been paying attention since then. She'd certainly made herself hard to avoid lately!

He found that Lavender was a smiling, giggly girl who loved gossip and fashion and girly things like that. She always seemed to be having a good time at whatever she did, and although her best friend Parvati Patil would give him dirty looks occasionally on behalf of her sister Padma, Lavender never did. She'd begun greeting him with a breathy "Hi, Ron!" every time she saw him, and as they were year-mates and housemates, that was a lot.

She had also turned out to be a decent duellist, much to his surprise.

He also couldn't help but notice how she'd blossomed in the last year. He'd noticed she looked cute enough at the Yule Ball last year, but this year she was far more striking. All that perfectly curled dark blonde hair, full lips always breaking into a smile, sparkling blue eyes, and a lush figure that really made him take notice of her... and she certainly was noticeable. She'd made it quite clear she had noticed him, too.

So if Hermione wasn't an option, why not go for the girl who was?

Ron made up his mind then and there that he would ask Lavender to Hogsmeade for this weekend. Everyone else seemed to be happy. Why not him?


February 14, 1996

For the first time in his life, Harry Potter actually paid attention to Valentine's Day. There would be a feast in the evening, where sweethearts would eat together, but breakfast in the Great Hall was the traditional time for exchanging of Valentine's Day cards and gifts. Harry and his friends had come down early for breakfast that morning, along with most of the rest of the school if seemed. He carried the charmed card he had made for Luna with a heart-shaped box of Honeydukes chocolates. Harry looked over at his friend Ron, who looked uncharacteristically nervous as they entered the Great Hall, although when he asked what was going on, the red-haired boy refused to say.

Harry saw Luna sitting in her usual place, alone at the end of the Ravenclaw table, and made a beeline straight for her. Sitting down in front of her, he held her hands for a moment and smiled at her. He wished he could have given her a good morning kiss, but Umbridge had strictly forbidden that in the Great Hall, although he understood that rule was to be relaxed somewhat during the evening feast.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said to his girlfriend.

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too, Harry," she said with a wide smile. "I got you this." She handed him a blood-red heart-shaped card with "To My Harry" written on it in Luna's angular script. As he looked at it, the ink changed colour from black, to lemon yellow, to light pink, to an almost fluorescent orange, and back again. Little purple hearts would appear on the card and fade out at random. The colours clashed outrageously in that Luna Lovegood way, and it almost hurt his eyes to look at it for too long.

Harry thought it was one of the nicest things he had ever seen.

"I hope you like it. I've never made a Valentine for anyone before," she said shyly. Further down the table, her roommates Dierdre Cholmondeley and Melanie Maxwell, who had obviously been eavesdropping, let out little snorts at that.

Harry shot them a look that he hoped said "Mind your own business," and turned back to Luna and said, "It's wonderful. I like how the colours keep changing." He pulled out his own card, and the red box of Honeydukes wrapped in a pink ribbon. "These are for you."

She looked at the card first. It was a simple red heart with "To the Prettiest Girl in Hogwarts" written on it in white block letters. She blushed brightly looking at it, and then opened it up. Chimes started playing a tune that took her a moment to recognize, but when she did, her usually wide eyes grew even bigger. She looked straight at Harry, unblinking, and whispered in a surprised voice, "That's my mother's tune!"

The black-haired boy grinned. "Good, I was hoping I got it right! Do you like it?"

She nodded vigorously. "It's wonderful, Harry, thank you so much!" She reached over and squeezed his hands again. She then looked at the inside of the card again. Harry had handwritten in it, "To Luna on our first Valentine's Day," and signed it in his scratchy scrawl. "Was it difficult to charm?" she asked.

"No, once I had the tune worked out, it was quite easy. I've had that tune stuck in my head since we had our date by the lake a few weeks ago. I actually got the idea from my Uncle Vernon, of all people."

The blonde looked even more surprised than she usually did. "You told your uncle about me?"

Harry laughed. "No, although I can imagine his reaction when he finds out I have a girlfriend who's a witch. No, the last Valentine's Day I was with the Dursleys, Vernon got my aunt some gaudy card that when opened, played some really tinny-sounding song. Petunia thought it was so romantic. They may hate me, but they do love one another."

"How do Muggles charm a card?" she asked.

"It's not charmed, there's some microchip – that's a piece of electronics - ," he said by way of explanation, although he saw it didn't really help Luna understand, "that reacts when the card is opened. I used the same principle with your card. Do you like it?"

She beamed at him. "It's wonderful, Harry. It's the first Valentine I've ever got from anyone other than my parents."

"These are for you, too," he said, giving her the package of chocolates.

She opened them up excitedly, and said, "These are lovely! Do you know if there are any pumpkin creams in here? They're my favourites."

"They're the crescent-moon-shaped ones." Seeing her smile, he said, "I actually didn't plan that. That's just how they came. I've never had a pumpkin cream. They're good?"

Luna nodded. "They're even better than orange creams, although they look the same. Maybe I'll give you one later."

"Later?"

"I don't want to spoil your breakfast, Harry," she said playfully.

"Speaking of which, I should go and eat. Stop by the Gryffindor table on your way out?"

She nodded, and grabbed herself some pancakes as the Harry left and the morning owl post arrived.

Harry made his way back to the Gryffindor table, where he was surprised to see Lavender Brown stand up and give Ron, who was standing next to her, a tight hug and say, "Yes!" rather loudly, as Ron turned a bright shade of red.

Harry sat down next to Hermione and helped himself to some waffles. They were cut into the shape of hearts, and the combined with the red berries and whipped cream he piled on them, they looked very appropriate for the holiday. He looked at his brunette friend, and the small pile of valentines in front of her. "You've got quite the haul today. Any secret admirers?"

"No, just from friends," Hermione said. "You, Ron, Neville and Colin Creevey each gave me a nice card."

Harry pointed to a large professional-looking card written in what he guessed was Bulgarian. "And that one?"

"That's from Viktor. It says 'Be My Valentine'. I think. My Bulgarian's still not very good."

"It looks like it says more than that," Harry said.

"Oh, you're a linguist now?"

"No, but I can count, and that's a lot more than three words."

"Every language is different, Harry."

"So why does it look like there's two sentences there?" he asked, grinning.

Knowing she'd been caught, Hermione threw up her hands, and said under her breath, "Fine. If I'm translating it right, it says, 'To the fairest rose in England. Be My Valentine'."

"Always a charmer, that Viktor," said Ron, who had sat down opposite Harry somewhere in the middle of his best friends' conversation. He had a slight frown on his face as he said that.

"Well, he's not the only one, apparently," Hermione said, gesturing down to table towards Lavender, who was proudly showing Parvati and sixth-year Ramona Cale a bright pink card with "BE MINE" written across it. She pointed down the table towards Ron and held the card to her heart.

"What?" Ron said, looking at his friends. "I asked her to Hogsmeade with me for the weekend."

"Cool," said Harry.

"Lavender, Ron? Really?" Hermione said.

"There's nothing wrong with Lavender," Ron said defensively. "She's nice, and good at Divination, and fun."

"Easy on the eyes, too," Harry added. "Not as much as Luna, mind you…"

That got him an eye roll from his friends.

"I just didn't think she'd be your type," Hermione said. "I thought you were into more serious girls." When she saw her friends' eyes on her, she added weakly. "You know, like when you took Padma Patil to the ball."

Ron groaned. "Don't remind me. Just because Lavender's fun, doesn't mean she's not serious enough – at least her hexes are. Anyway, it's just a date. We'll see how it goes and if we get on together."

"Be sure to try Madam Puddifoot's. Luna and I liked it a lot," Harry added helpfully.

"I plan on it," Ron said with a pointed look at Hermione.

"I do hope you have fun, Ron," Hermione said sincerely.

"Me too."

"And thank you for the valentine. It was surprisingly sweet," she said, holding up the small white card upon which Ron had written, "To Hermione. What would we do without you? Happy Valentine's Day, Ron".

The redhead gave his friend a small smile.

Luna dropped by the three friends shortly thereafter. "Daddy sent me a valentine too!" she said eagerly, giving it to Harry.

He looked at the card, which showed a nasty-looking rust-red creature standing upright, with sharp fangs emerging from a vicious looking maw, and four arms each tipped with a set of nasty claws. Below the creature was a smaller looking version on the same running between its legs.

"What the hell is that?" asked Ron.

"They're Umgubular Slashkilters," Luna said patiently.

"Why would your dad put them on a valentine?"

"In addition to being ravenous predators – that's why Minister Fudge keeps them around, you know – they also have very close family units. The father Slashkilters help the mothers raise the children. You must not pay much attention in Care of Magical Creatures, Ron."

Before Ron could respond, or Hermione could give her opinion on the matter, Harry interrupted. "They don't teach us about Slashkilters in fifth year, Luna," he said.

Luna took that in stride. "I'm sorry, Ron, I thought they would have taught you that already. Maybe next year. Anyway, that's why Daddy always sends me a Slashkilter valentine. Open it up and read it, Harry."

He did, somewhat apprehensively, as he feared the inside would show a Slashkilter feasting on a Snorkack corpse, or something equally strange. It did not. On a plain background, Xenophilius Lovegood had written,

Happy Valentine's Day, Moonbeam, although it sounds like I'm not your only valentine this year! Thank you for the letter and the surprising news. I look forward to questioning your boyfriend extensively when I next see him, to check out his story and make sure he's right for you. Truth will out, after all.

Love always, Daddy

Harry looked at Luna. "Does this mean what I think it means?"

She nodded happily. "We're on for Saturday." She held out the box of chocolates to Harry. "Pumpkin cream?"

He tried one of the moon-shaped chocolates. Like so many magical candies, it was an odd flavour that seemed very strange at first, but the more the taste lingered, the better it became.

Just like Luna, he thought.


Luna Lovegood arrived early to her History of Magic lecture right after lunch that day. Like most students, she thought Professor Binns' class to usually be a pointless waste of time, but she wanted to get a good mark in the class, so unlike many students, she tried to pay attention. Today's lecture was going to continue Binns' lecture series about the West Country Goblin Revolt of 1685, which Luna found herself strangely interested in, partly because the goblins had timed their revolt with a Muggle revolt that was happening at the same place and time, which Luna thought was quite an ingenious move on the goblins' part, but mostly because it took place where she lived, and was curious whether anything happened around Ottery St. Catchpole. So she organized her parchments, quill and inkwell, and got ready for class.

While waiting, she dug out the valentine and chocolates Harry had given her that morning. She smiled looking at the red cardboard heart, opening it to hear one more time the chimes it played. She was quite impressed that Harry had remembered the tune she liked to hum, and was filled with a familiar warm feeling looking at the first real valentine anyone had given her. She once again marvelled at how her life was going recently.

Popping a chocolate in her mouth (crystalline pineapple cordial, she thought), she thought ahead to Saturday's interview. She hoped Harry and Daddy would get along well. She didn't think her father was the overprotective type, but from talking to Ginny, who had told her about the evil looks her brothers had given her boyfriend Michael Corner, she knew that family members could be surprising that way. Still, she didn't really see Harry being intimidated by her father, and considering the respect Harry showed her, and to her beliefs which he sometimes didn't share, she thought her father would be impressed by the young man.

She didn't want to think about what would happen if Daddy didn't like Harry. Not only would that be a severe blow to her personally, it might colour the interview irreparably. She popped another chocolate into her mouth (almond cluster this time), and noticed disappointedly that there were only two left.

Students began to trickle into the class. History of Magic was one of the two that the fourth-year Ravenclaws shared with Slytherin house (Defence Against the Dark Arts being the other), and children in green-and-silver ties began to take their seats along with ones in blue-and-bronze. Georgina Vector gave Luna a curt nod as she entered, which Luna returned with one of her dreamy smiles, and sat down a few rows behind her. As the classroom filled, no one sat next to Luna as usual, but Duane Chase, a blond Slytherin boy, took his usual seat two chairs across from her. They hadn't spoken more than four sentences to one another since the start of the year. He got out his supplies, and then looked over to the valentine and chocolates Harry had given her.

"Who would get you chocolates, Loony?" he said derisively, the very act of talking to her surprising Luna.

"Oh, those are from my boyfriend, Harry Potter. He got me this lovely valentine, too." She held the box over towards the Slytherin boy. "Would you like one? The only ones left are chocolate caramels, and I'm not too fond of them, I'm afraid."

Duane looked sceptically at her. "How do I know you haven't done something to them?"

She shrugged. "You don't, I suppose. Just like I don't know nothing was done to them before Harry gave them to me. I simply trust that he wouldn't do anything like that. If you don't want one, that's o.k.," she said, pulling the box back.

"I'll have one," he said quickly, grabbing a chocolate. He gingerly popped it into his mouth, and after a couple of chews, muttered "thanks" to Luna.

"Oh, you're quite welcome," she said. "They taste nice, but I don't like the way they stick to my teeth."

She heard a strange squealing sound from behind her, as Duane pointed and said, "Uh Loony, your card..."

Luna spun her head 'round, and saw the lovely valentine that Harry had made her being burned by flames, the charm that made the tune making an eerie wailing sound as it was consumed. She quickly extinguished the flames with her wand, but by that point the card had been half-destroyed by the fire, the printing on the charred front of the card now reading "ettiest... gwarts".

Luna looked around the classroom and was unsurprised to see her primary tormentors this year, the Slytherin gang of Lucretia Marquand, Jocasta Drake, and Anne Venders, pointing and giggling at her. Jocasta had a particularly nasty smirk on her face.


It was a very subdued Luna Lovegood who sat beside Harry at the Gryffindor table for the Valentine's Day feast, a fact that Harry immediately picked up on as he slid his arm around her waist. "What's the matter?" he asked, taking her hands.

Luna told him all about what had happened before History of Magic, and watched as his expression grew increasingly upset.

"So you think it was Jocasta who burned your valentine?" he asked.

Luna nodded. Lavender Brown, who was sitting opposite Luna and beside Ron, nodded as well, and said, "Well, that makes sense." When Luna raised her eyebrow at the other blonde, Lavender went on excitedly, "Well, you see, I heard from Parvati, who heard from Susan Bones, who heard from Priscilla Kempe (she's a fourth-year Hufflepuff – you probably know her, Luna) that Jocasta Drake has a major crush on Duane Chase, and was hoping he'd want to sit with her at tonight's feast. Well, seeing him taking one of Luna's chocolates probably made her green with envy, seeing as Prissy says that Chase doesn't pay much attention to Drake at all." Seeing the looks on Luna, Ron, Harry, and Hermione, who was seated on the other side of Harry, Lavender asked, "Didn't you guys know that?"

"No, I didn't. It explains a lot, though," Luna said.

Lavender shrugged. "I pay attention to things."

"It doesn't excuse what that little viper did, though," said Harry vehemently. "We have to do something about it – she can't get away with it."

Ron spoke up. "You, me and Ginny – she'd be glad to help – can corner Drake and her little friends and then - "

"No hexings, Ron!" Hermione interrupted.

"Why? They deserve it for what they did to Luna here. They can't get away with doing that to one of ours."

"I'm not a Gryffindor," Luna pointed out.

"No," Ron said, "you're not, but it's like Harry said in the meeting" (he whispered that phrase) "a few weeks ago. We're all on the same side in the you-know-what. And you're one of ours."

Luna smiled a wide smile at him.

"And I bet Ginny's Bat-Bogey Hex would work wonders on Drake."

"Hermione's right, though," Luna said. "It's nothing I haven't dealt with before, you know."

Luna had noticed that sometimes people reacted uncomfortably when she spoke about how others treated her. The others at the table had that reaction now.

Harry spoke quietly to her. "I hoped they'd back off once we were together, but obvious they won't. We need to do something, Luna."

She shook her head. "Thank you for wanting to defend me, Harry, but I'm sure hexing her will only make things worse. And you can't do anything that might earn you a detention on the weekend."

"Big plans, you two?" Lavender said excitedly.

"Yeah," Harry said quickly. "But it's not something I can talk about." Seeing the questioning look on Lavender's face, he said, "It's Luna's birthday next week, and I wanted to treat her in this weekend." Turning back to Luna, Harry said, "I don't have to hex her. I can just talk to her. I'll think of something."

"Don't say anything that can get you in trouble," Hermione warned.

The teens began eating the feast prepared for them, heaping roast lamb, turkey, potatoes and turnips on their plates, and making small conversation among themselves. Luna said to Lavender, "I didn't think you normally ate with Harry and his friends."

The blond Gryffindor blushed slightly. "Ron asked me to Hogsmeade and gave me the most lovely valentine today," she said breathlessly, "so I thought I'd eat with him today." She looked at him adoringly.

"That's nice," she said. "I don't normally eat here either, you know, although I stop by more these days. It's quite pleasant eating here, and I don't feel that I'm intruding too much."

Luna saw she had made everyone uncomfortable again. "You don't intrude at all, Luna," Harry said softly. Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement at that.

"It's too bad you're not going to use magic on Jocasta Drake, Harry," Lavender added, earning her an unpleasant look from Hermione. "You wouldn't even have to hex her. I know if I were trying to attract a boy, what I'd fear most is someone using a modified cosmetic charm to ruin my complexion, or make me turn blue or something."

Luna watched Harry's eyes light up. "That's it! Thanks, Lavender. That's a great idea."

"Please don't use that on her, Harry," Luna pleaded.

"I won't unless I absolutely have to. I promise I'm only going to go talk to her," he said sincerely.

"I don't want you to use it at all," she said, trying to look stern. "Sometimes we're going to have to use magic in fights, Harry, but I don't want you to go hexing other students just because they're mean to me."

"She destroyed the card I made you!"

She fixed him with long, unblinking stare.

"Fine. I won't use it," he said, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Or ask anyone else to."

"I promise," he said.

Luna then looked at Ron, and knew that while Harry wouldn't ask Ron to do hex anyone on his behalf, Ron might very well take the initiative on his own. Realizing that while she had little influence over what Ron did, Harry would follow her wishes, she gave Harry a warm hug, and whispered, "Thank you, I know how hard that must be," in his ear.

When dessert arrived, in the form of pink and red heart-shaped cupcakes, Harry said, "I'm sorry about your card, Luna. Were the chocolates good, at least?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "They were delicious. The pumpkin creams were the best, of course."

"We'll have to get some more on the weekend. And I'll make you a new card. Fireproofed, this time."

She laughed, and squeezed his hand once more.


February 15, 1996

As the last class of the day ended, Harry Potter marched determinedly through the hallways, trying to intercept the fourth-year Slytherins and Gryffindors as they left the Divination tower. When he saw them exiting the classroom, he smiled at Ginny Weasley, who was talking animatedly with some of her classmates until she saw the look on Harry's face. He and Ron had told Ginny what happened earlier that day after she returned to the common room, having spent the feast with Michael Corner at the Ravenclaw table. Ginny was appalled but unsurprised at what happened, and seeing Harry about to talk to Jocasta Drake, decided to loiter in the hallway in case he needed back up.

Lucretia, Jocasta and Anne exited the Divination tower chatting among themselves and laughing to one another, no doubt over some misfortune that had befallen someone. They saw him and their backs stiffened apprehensively.

"Your little freak girlfriend doesn't have Divination with us, Potter," said Lucretia, a pretty brunette, in a mock-helpful tone. "She's probably out looking for wrecksprods or some other nonsense."

"Quiet," he said severely. "I'm here to talk to Jocasta."

Jocasta Drake, a short thin girl with shoulder-length hair almost as black as Harry's, smirked and said, "Tired of Loony already, eh? Well, you're not my type. Anyone who'd fall for Loony's love potions isn't someone I'm interested in."

"Get real," he said dismissively. "I know what you did to the valentine I gave Luna, Drake."

Her features froze into determined visage. "I don't know what you're talking about, Potter."

"You set it on fire."

The black-haired Slytherin laughed. "Prove it."

"Luna and I like to give one another charmed gifts," he said, seemingly changing the topic. "I charmed that valentine to play a tune when opened."

"You want a medal for that, Potter? Tell it to Flitwick."

He continued. "You can put other charms on things. Did you know that you can put defensive charms on objects? There are charms that, for example, will countercharm someone who attacks or destroys an object. Almost any countercharm can be placed. Like say, one that will turn the attackers' hair green and skin orange." He now showed a nasty grin to Jocasta. "You can set a delay on it, too, of say, three days. You can even make it so the countercharm is very hard to dispel, requiring a lengthy hospital stay. And you can put your own dispelling trigger in it, which will get rid of the countercharm. Say, an apology by the countercharmed person."

"You didn't."

He shrugged. "Have you been reading what the papers say about me? They say I'm unbalanced. Mad, even. I wonder what someone like the Prophet writes about would do to someone he could prove harmed his girlfriend? I bet it wouldn't be pleasant." He then laughed, a little madly. "Good thing the Prophet's got the story wrong, eh? Still, if you find the person who set Luna's card on fire, tell them if they don't want to turn green and orange, and then have that fellow the papers write about reacting poorly, they might want to apologize to Luna. They could even do it privately. That's all it would take to dispel the countercharm."

He waved at the Slytherin trio. "I'm off to find my girlfriend now. Say hi to Duane for me, will you Jocasta? I hope he likes green hair..."

As he left the worried-looking girls behind him, muttering fearfully to one another, Ginny began walking beside him. "Did your plan work?" the red-haired girl asked.

He shrugged. "I hope so. If it doesn't, I'm going to have to figure something else out. I'm not breaking my promise to Luna."

"Let's hope it works then." Ginny looked at Harry, and sighed wistfully. "Luna's very lucky, by the way. I don't know if Michael would stick his neck out for me."

Harry shrugged. "If he wouldn't, he may not be the right guy for you, Ginny. You're worth sticking your neck out for. If Michael doesn't see that, there's plenty of good, brave, unattached guys out there who do. Some may be right under your nose."

They walked on in silence, as Ginny contemplated what Harry said.


February 16, 1996.

Luna was waiting for Harry when he left the Great Hall after dinner. "Walk with me?" she asked sweetly.

He took her hand, and they walked the hallways of the castle for a few minutes.

"Jocasta apologized to me after Defence today," Luna said abruptly.

"Oh?"

"Yes. It was a quiet, half-hearted apology, and I'm sure she'll be back to being horrible tomorrow, but she apologized."

Harry smiled. "Good, I'm glad."

"She then said the strangest thing. She said, 'and tell your crazy boyfriend my hair better not turn green!' What do you suppose she meant by that?" She looked at Harry meaningfully.

"Oh, I dunno, she's probably just paranoid or something."

Luna continued to look at him. "Yes, that must be it. You didn't cast any spells on her, did you?"

He stopped and looked deeply into Luna's eyes. "I promised you I wouldn't. You trust me?"

She nodded. "I do. More than I ever thought I would trust anyone, really." Harry blushed intensely at that. "Anyway, whatever you said, thank you. People rarely apologize when they're mean to me. It's quite refreshing."

"Is that still happening?"

"Oh, not as much. None of my things have gone missing in a few weeks. And my roommates haven't said anything terribly mean to me lately. Deirdre and Melanie still send Morgana nasty looks when she tries to talk to me, but it's been quite uneventful, really," she said.

"I hope your Dad likes me," Harry said after a few minutes of silence.

"He will."

"If this thing works, I may actually miss the Prophet saying I'm crazy."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"When talking to Jocasta, it came in handy."

"Yes, it can, can't it?" she said dreamily, holding him close as they walked towards the Ravenclaw common room entrance.


[A/N: Thanks to MandibleBones for betareading.]