Saving Valentine's: One Day Left
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine as they all belong to JKR. Also this story is AU for HBP and DH.
Draco still felt somewhat miffed over the way Granger had left him last night. She hadn't even had the good manners to say good bye before she had stalked off. Of course he supposed that might have been partly his fault. He had been doing his best to get her to admit that she had been wrong and he had been right. It would have been a rare coup if he had succeeded. However he hadn't and he had been left standing, talking to air, when Granger made her escape.
Because of that he wasn't feeling very charitable towards the Gryffindor witch when he received her summons demanding that he be present for some sort of meeting in the abandoned Alchemy classroom. Draco very much wanted to tell her where she could stick her demand but he refrained from doing so. Granger was his only ally in his attempt to save Valentine's, and it simply wouldn't do to alienate her especially as Valentine's was practically on him. He sighed to himself. It was pathetic really. He had spent the rest of the evening afterwards and a good portion of today on trying to convince witches that it was quite all right to go ahead and send him a present for Valentine's. He had wheedled and pleaded and argued that Pansy and her posse wouldn't really do anything to anyone, but it was to no avail. He had only stopped when he realized how close to begging he had come. And that wouldn't do.
Because Malfoys never begged. It was true that much of the Malfoy code of conduct had been rewritten ever since his father was sent to languish in Azkaban. However some things were simply not done, and begging was one of them. Draco had become resigned to the fact that he wouldn't be receiving anything for Valentine's which was truly a pity. He liked knowing that there were witches out there who admired him by receiving all manners of sweets and presents from them. When he had come back for his sixth year, he had been hesitant for fear that he would be outcast because of what his father had done. He had followed his mother's example and done his best to not act superior on the basis of his blood status. It had taken some getting used to but the end results had been worth it. He had found himself being popular amongst his fellow students, and he rather enjoyed the feeling. He knew it was childish to require tangible evidence that he was well-liked by others but he couldn't help it. That was part of the reason why he decided to comply with Granger's request.
That being said, he did take his time getting there and wound up being twenty minutes late.
"Oh good. I'm glad to see that you're here," said Granger to him as he entered the room.
"Do I detect a note of sarcasm in your voice?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "If you do then you're imagining things. I am glad to have you here. I think it will take our combined efforts to convince all attendees that we will protect them from any repercussions. Honestly! People should be able to celebrate Valentine's without fear of retaliation. I can't believe that Ginny agreed to such a plan."
Draco wisely stayed quiet instead of mentioning a certain Valentine that Potter had received in their second year. The best thing about that particular debacle was that he hadn't even sent it. Indeed he hadn't thought of bad Valentines as a way to torture Potter until after She-Weasel had shown him the way. "So what is it that we're doing here exactly?" he asked, trying to find a safe topic.
She rolled her eyes as though he had asked an exceedingly stupid question. "It's a support group meeting. To help convince people that it's all right to celebrate Valentine's anyway you like. I figured that I would go first, talking about all the things I like about the day and you could…" Her voice trailed off as she remembered their earlier conversations about what was it that Draco liked about the holiday. "Oh. Right. Well I don't want this meeting to be used by you as a way to solicit presents. Perhaps you could cover what measures we'll take if we hear of any retaliation by the boycotters?"
"Fine." He didn't see any need to mention that his earlier attempts to convince students of that fact had not been successful. "So when exactly are you planning on holding this meeting?" he asked. That was a very good question. Tomorrow was Valentine's, and it was already evening. Granger was an eternal optimist. He didn't know how they would get word out in time to have anything but the shortest of meetings. He began rocking back and forth in his chair, occasionally balancing it on the rear two legs as he thought of what options they had open to them.
"Here of course. We were supposed to start five minutes ago but you were late and so…."
Draco looked around the room. No one else was present. "Did you tell anyone about this meeting?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Of course!" replied Granger, looking affronted. He thought it was a good look for her. "I handed out pamphlets all day. I'm rather surprised you haven't seen any." She handed one to him.
Idly he looked over her pamphlet. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a copy of the one that Pansy was circulating. A swift comparison of the two showed that Granger had neatly countered each and every point that Pansy had made in hers. Maybe this would work after all, he thought. He frowned. Did these get distributed though? Because I would think there would be more people here already.
"Are you certain that people got these? And read these?" he added.
That earned him another roll of Granger's eyes. "Of course Malfoy. Who do you think handed them out? And while I know some people just threw them away as soon as my back was turned, others were very taken with them and started reading right away."
"Oh," he said. Well who is on time to these sorts of things anyway? he thought.Merlin knows the only reason why I'm here right now is because I'm twenty minutes late. "So do you want to wait a few more minutes?" he asked.
Granger glanced down at her watch. "No," she replied, shaking her head. "It's now ten minutes past our start time so let's go ahead and get going."
"Granger. Have you lost the plot? Take a good look around you. Do you see how many people are here?"
She shrugged nonchalantly. "There are more people here than at some of my S.P.E.W. meetings, and that's never stopped me before."
Draco, who at the moment had been leaning precariously back in his chair, toppled over at those words. He landed with a thud on the floor. He gingerly got up, rubbing his head. It ached and was tender to the touch.
"Malfoy! Are you all right?" He looked up to see Granger worriedly looking down at him.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine, thanks for asking," he replied. "I think the question should be if you're all right in the head! Do you mean to tell me you've actually held spew meetings with no one there?"
"It's S.P.E.W.," she corrected him. "And yes, of course I have."
Now his head was beginning to pound, and Draco reconsidered his decision to work with Granger. True she was the only one who seemed to care as much about Valentine's as he did, but clearly she had problems. Major problems, he amended. Who is crazy enough to hold a meeting when you're the only one in attendance? Evidently Granger is. Funny. I don't think she was always this loony. Maybe it's because she spends so much time with those goons she calls friends.
"I'm not crazy," she suddenly told him. Guilty he looked up, wondering how she could have known what he had been thinking. "Oh honestly! The expression on your face told me all I needed to know about what was running through your head. I don't need to take a trip to St. Mungo's to have my head examined, thank you very much. And of course I still held those meetings even if I didn't see anyone else there! Haven't you ever heard of extendable ears? Just because I can't see anyone doesn't mean that there's no one listening."
Funny. My mother's said that to me on more than one occasion too, thought Draco.
"Now if you don't have any other complaints?" Granger tapped her foot impatiently. Draco reflected that he must be getting on her nerves, given how many times she has rolled her eyes at him amongst other indicators. And he hadn't even really been trying to annoy her. It was good to know that he still had his magic touch. He quickly buried the thought that Granger looked best when her cheeks were flushed with exasperation.
"All right. Let's begin then. I think I'll start about how Valentine's is wonderful for couples. While it is certainly possible to over-emphasize the day, you should take it as an opportunity to evaluate your relationship and ponder on how you can grow closer to your significant other…."
Draco tuned out as Granger went on and on about the benefits to Valentine's Day. If there is anyone listening, I wonder how long they'll last before they decide it's not worth the effort. It was kind of funny. He had had the opportunity to observe Granger's tutoring methods, and she was rather engaging when she was trying to teach her fellow students. However when she started talking about a subject near and dear to her heart, she was a completely different speaker. Draco rather thought that her current lecture reminded of many he had suffered through in History of Magic. It was dry and dull and completely non-interesting.
"One question," he asked, waving his hand in the air lazily to grab her attention.
"Oh! What is it?" She perked up and looked rather excited at the prospect at getting to answer a question. It was rather unnerving at that.
His bigger problem at the moment, however, was the fact that he didn't actually have a question to ask. He had simply wanted to interrupt her monologue before he was forced to take more drastic measures, such as throwing himself out the window. Frantically he searched his mind for something, anything to ask. Wait a minute, he thought. The pamphlet! He looked down at the pamphlet that Pansy had produced. Draco coughed nervously a few times as he frantically read one of the points the other side had brought up. "Not everyone who sends a Valentine is appreciated and some have even been mocked," he said. "So why risk it? Especially for someone who has been burned once before?"
He mentally winced. That hit close to home. Naturally that had been the first thing he had seen. In his past, he had sometimes been cruel to those who he thought were inferior to him when they sent him anything on Valentine's. He had been trying to be better about that. His mother had made it clear to him that he already had plenty of enemies based on who his parents were, and so it would be best if he didn't go about giving more reasons for society to hate him.
However Granger didn't mention how he was guilty of being cruel to some of those who had sent him Valentine presents, nor did she take umbrage at the fact that he had relied upon Pansy's pamphlet to formulate a question. Instead she smiled brightly at him and answered. "Yes I know that can be hard. But if that happens…well you've already won, in a sense, because you were brave enough to take a chance on love like that. And you shouldn't let that stop you from trying again. Just because you had no luck one time doesn't mean that you'll always be rejected like that."
Draco looked critically at the witch, but it appeared that she was in earnest. He shook his head, partly out of disbelief and partly out of admiration. It was no act. Granger was really that good, and evidently she had no problem with being that way. She made it look easy and made him feel like less of a wizard for not being able to do the same.
"So out of curiosity, have you ever sent a Valentine that you believe wasn't truly appreciated?" he asked. There had to be some chink in her armor. If she was speaking from personal experience then surely she would still show some ill effect from it.
"Yes actually," she said. Her face burned scarlet. "Not to go into any details, but I doubt the wizard in question can even remember my name these days."
This was good. Draco leaned forward in his seat. "So who was it?" he asked. It was possible that it was him, he reasoned. He had received his fair share of anonymous Valentines over the years.
Granger's blush only spread. "I would rather not say."
"Come on," he said. "You can tell me. I won't tell anyone else."
"It's not that. All my closest friends already know about it," she replied. "I would rather not deal with you laughing at me for it. It is still rather embarrassing to think of how silly I was back then."
That only encouraged Draco. If she still felt lingering traces of embarrassment, then it had to be good. "Please," he whined.
"No."
"I'll give you my word that I won't laugh."
She regarded him skeptically. "Your word, Malfoy? I'm not sure that's worth much at all."
"You wound me, Granger," he said. "Trust me. It's well-known how much a Malfoy's word is worth."
"Absolutely nothing?" she suggested.
He sighed dramatically. "No. I suppose you don't know because you're Muggle-born but—"
"Oh? On that again? I'll have you know that even though I'm Muggle-born doesn't mean that I don't belong or I don't fit in or—"
"Relax," Draco said. "I was simply referring to the fact that other pure-bloods would know how much a Malfoy's word is worth because of their long association with our family. You don't have that sort of history to draw upon and so naturally you're suspicious."
"Oh." She paused to mull over his explanation. "Okay. I suppose I owe you that much for doubting you."
"Thank you." He inclined his head and waved his hand to indicate that she should continue.
"So about that Valentine I sent…." She looked down at her hands and began twirling her fingers around. "I was very young, you see, and much taken with…well I was easily fooled."
"So who was it?"
She bit her lip and shifted to-and-fro before answering. "It was Lockhart."
"Wait a second? You sent a Valentine to Gilderoy Lockhart?" Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Yes. It was back in my second year and…I thought he was the most handsome, charming wizard on earth. And he seemed so understanding and…."
In the back of his mind, Draco pictured how it must have happened. Granger must have worried herself to pieces when figuring out what to send. The thought of the buck-toothed, bushy-haired witch spending the entire night trying to compose the perfect Valentine to that peacock was hysterical. He couldn't help himself and burst out laughing, so hard that his sides ached. It was hilarious, the funniest thing he had heard in years. It was too bad his friends weren't here to hear it also.
"I can't believe you!" Granger said, stomping her foot. "You promised! You gave me your word you wouldn't laugh!"
"Oh come off it, Granger!" he said in between bursts of laughter. "Everyone knows a Malfoy's word is only good until he changes his mind! That's common knowledge, you silly bint."
By now Granger's entire face was bright red. "I should have known better," she said. Something about her tone blunted his merriment, and he looked up to see her practically steaming. "You're the lowest, most foul creature that I know. I should have never trusted you."
Then she glared at him, and with a shake of her head, looked away as though he was nothing. "You know what, Malfoy. I really don't get it. I don't see what anyone sees in you. It's beyond me why so many witches fancy you. You're not the best at anything, not even in your House and your year. You're not the most handsome wizard. That's Blaise Zabini by far. You're not the smartest wizard either. Theodore Nott is way ahead of you, and I still wonder why he wasn't made Head Boy instead of you. You're not even the tallest or the strongest! That belongs to your goons, Crabbe and Goyle."
Her eyes snapped forward once more, and he couldn't look away from the blazing portrait of anger they painted. "The only thing special about you is how cruel and mean-spirited you are. Certainly there isn't the slightest thing about you worth anything at all."
His laughter and the reason for it now seemed so far away. Draco swallowed heavily as he sought for something to say in his defense. He couldn't find anything.
What she had said wasn't anything that he hadn't thought about himself before.
He stood up, more shakily than he would have liked. Her words hurt but it wasn't anything he hadn't dealt with before. He knew the best way to deal with the pain—ignore it. "Of course. You are absolutely right as usual, Granger. If you will excuse me, I must be going." With that he turned tail and fled.
Hermione sighed as she surveyed the Great Hall, a large box full of decorations floating behind her. She didn't know where to start. If she was being honest with herself, she would have to admit that her heart wasn't in decorating for Valentine's Day. She didn't think she was the best choice to decorate for the day. For all that she was a proponent of it she had done an absolutely miserable job in defending it. She had been completely blindsided by Pansy and Ginny's smear campaign, only learning about it when it was much too late because she had been so self-absorbed in her own studies. She had also been absolutely horrible to the only other person who seemed to care about the holiday as much as she did. True, she thought Malfoy wanted to preserve it for the wrong reasons. But who was she to judge? None of her counters to any of Pansy's arguments against the holiday had even sounded that good.
The truth of the matter was that Hermione was very fond of the holiday because how silly it was. It was cute, and she liked that. Usually she was a very serious witch and she liked having the excuse to act otherwise once a year. Unfortunately her fondness of the holiday seemed to pale in comparison to others' hatred of it. She wasn't very certain that it was worth trying to decorate at all. Probably anything she put up would be torn down first thing in the morning.
"Good evening, Miss Granger," sounded a voice from behind him. Startled she jumped, then turned around. It was Professor Dumbledore.
"Good evening, sir," she replied.
"It's rather late to be out and about, isn't it?" he asked.
Hermione only nodded her head. It was at that. She supposed he was going to tell her to get back to her dormitory. At least he wasn't likely to take points or reprimand her, unlike other professors she could think of.
"Love heart?" he asked.
"Excuse me?" Hermione looked up to see what he was talking about. Dumbledore was holding out a small heart-shaped treat with words printed on it. "Oh. No thank you," she said.
"Ah, that's right. I had quite forgotten about that." He reached into his robes and pulled out a small bag. "Let me try again. Sugar-free love heart?"
"They have those?" she asked. Feeling that it would be rude to refuse, she reached forward and took a sweet from the bag. 'Cheer up,' it read. Sighing, she popped it into her mouth. She didn't think that was likely.
"Yes. I was shocked to discover that I had accidentally procured a bag of the sugar-free variety." He looked at her critically. "I must say that I found them not at all to my taste. I much prefer the regular sort."
"It's an acquired taste," said Hermione, shrugging her shoulders.
"Most things in life are." Dumbledore looked around at the empty Great Hall. "It does sadden me, however, to think that there will be none of the usual festivities this Valentine's Day. I do look forward to the holiday."
Hermione's shoulders slumped forward. That made her feel even worse. She hadn't thought it possible. But not only had she let her fellow students down, she had also let down one of her favorite professors at the school. "I'm sorry," she said.
"You have nothing to apologize for Miss Granger." The old wizard regarded her with a critical eye. "You haven't let down any of your fellow students. If anything, they have let themselves down. If they truly want to participate in the holiday with their loved ones, then they should let nothing stop them."
She sighed heavily. "I suppose so. But I still feel as though I should have fostered a better environment for Valentine's and all."
"You and Mr. Malfoy have both been doing a splendid job of being leaders for all the students here," Dumbledore said quietly. "It would do you a world of good to remember that the best way to lead is by example." He suddenly stepped forward and shoved the bag of sugar-free treats into her hand. "Here. You can have the entire bag. I find that they really do not suit my taste." Then with one last wink he headed off, leaving Hermione quite literally holding the bag.
She looked down at it and took another heart. 'Good luck,' it read. She smiled to herself. Suddenly she was struck by a brilliant idea on how to apologize and set an example too.
There had been one thing Dumbledore had left out, however. Good leaders may tend to lead by example but the very best ensured that the odds were stacked in their favor.
Author's note: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I would appreciate if you would leave a review to let me know what you think. The last chapter should be up some time tomorrow. Finally my thanks goes out to sm, Snowe, Simply Lily, iluv2dance, and Torry-Riddle for reviewing the last chapter. It's great to know that people are enjoying this silly bit of fluff. :)
