Our Quidditch win was quickly overshadowed by another important discussion topic, at least in teenage standards, as January comes to a close and February opens in a blizzardy storm.
Valentine's Day had come to Hogwarts and the excitement was palpable.
For some of us.
"So what are you going to wear?" Meg asks, at dinner one night, about a week before the holiday. As soon as the plans for a Valentine's Day Hogsmeade trip were announced, James announced to me that he'd made plans for the day for us...but had so far refused to give me any details, much to my frustration.
"I dunno," I shrug, but I mean, it's winter in Northern Scotland, so... "Probably jeans, boots, and my parka?"
She fixes me with a flat stare. "Absolutely not,"
"There's a blizzard!" I protest. "It's going to be cold. James won't care what I wear! In fact," I add, after the smallest pause to think. "I'll go so far as to say that anything I wear will be a disappointment after what I wore to my mom's last wedding, since I will most definitely be wearing underwear next weekend!"
"Ugh," Lou groans in disgust.
"I care!" Meg cries, ignoring him completely.
And there it is.
I exchange a look with Lou, who's now snickering into his hands. "Well is there something you'd prefer I wear then?"
"That was a mistake," Lou shakes his head.
"Well, in my head, I thought maybe that denim skirt with a cute top, but if you're so insistent on staying warm," She waves her hands around like that idea is the crazy one. "I guess I can take another look,"
I shake my head. "Don't make that face at me. I don't know what you wear for these things. This is my first Valentine's Date."
"Seriously?" She tilts her head, searching my face for the lie. "Not even one? You date so much!"
Yeah, except. "Do I really seem like a "Valentine's Day" person?"
"That might be the most accurate description of yourself that I've ever heard," Lou snickers.
Cheers, Lou.
"What are you doing for Valentine's Day this year?" I ask Meg, rather hesitantly, before she can start talking shit about me again. She's been doing good recently since the break-up with Tim, but she has her days; we'd all been unsure if Valentine's day would be a trigger to send her backsliding.
"Oh, Freddy, Dan, and I have booked ourselves for the 10am tour of Honeyduke's to see how they make everything and then we'll probably just hang at the bar," She shrugs.
"What?" I cry outraged, and look over at James, who merely waves me off, knowing exactly what I'm upset about.
"We're booked for the 2pm tour," He reassures me, before turning back to Freddy.
Oh. Well good.
"Lou, I take it from your lack of invitation that you finally manned up and are taking Maeve out," I beam. Fucking finally.
Meg gasps. "Louis William! How dare you not tell us immediately?"
"Uhh, well, there was nothing to tell," Lou responds nervously. "Because I'm not taking her,"
It's literally the worst thing he could have possibly said.
"Sorry, what?" I ask.
"Are you still not talking?" Meg demands.
"What do you mean didn't ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you? How dumb can you be?" I
"I panicked! She's so pretty!"
"You're part veela!" Meg cries. "You're so pretty!"
"Well this got weird," Freddy nods.
"How long were you listening?" I ask.
"Long enough," James agrees, with a smirk on his face. "And you're right; underwear will be disappointing,"
I laugh as Meg glares at him. "You are ruining my Valentine's Day, James! That is the least romantic thing you could have said!"
"You are not even a part of this relationship!" James protests.
"Yes, but someone has to put the romance in your relationship, since you and Carson obviously won't!" Meg huffs.
"Screw you!" James says, as Freddy, Lou, and I watch the two of them go back and forth, fascinated. "I planned a great date that Carson is going to love!"
"Ooooo," Lou pulls a face. "That's setting the bar high."
"Yeah, Carson doesn't really love anything," Freddy adds.
"That's not true!" I protest. "I love lots of things!"
"Beer doesn't count," Lou adds flatly.
"Honestly, I'm feeling personally attacked right now," I respond, as they all start laughing. "Where is Maeve to tell you all to stop being mean to me when I need her?"
"Oh, uh, still avoiding Lou, apparently!" Meg sasses, to immediately duck a slice of toast Lou throws at her.
"She's not...completely avoiding me," Lou mutters, looking down.
The four of us exchange a look, concerned about how downtrodden he looks. "Sure she's not," Freddy says, supportively rubbing Lou's back. "She's just-" He cuts off, looking to us for help, his eyes comically wide.
"A little unsure," I fill in.
Lou side-eyes me and Freddy hisses. "I don't think that was helpful!"
"What? We talked about this. He needs to talk with her!" I shrug.
"I agree!" Meg says. "We've talked about this in length!"
"You guys talk about me behind my back?" Lou cries, outraged. "I take it back, of course you do. Help me figure out what to say to Maeve,"
"What are you doing?" James asks loudly, as we come up behind Lou and Dan acting super sketchy on the walk to Hogsmeade.
"Uhhh," Lou hesitates.
"Danny?" I look over.
"He's stalking Maeve," Dan answers immediately.
"Louis!" I scold.
"Stalking is a strong word," Lou says. "I am...casually following her to build up the nerve to talk to her."
"That sounds a lot like stalking," James nods.
"Not very Gryffindor," I add.
"I said the same thing," Dan shakes his head.
"I thought you were going to Honeydukes!" I frown at him. "What made you volunteer to come along with Lou?"
"I didn't volunteer, Meg volun-told me because she was worried Lou would do something stupid," Dan looks over at Lou, who's pulling his hat down lower over his head in an attempt not to be recognized as we get closer to the village. "Which..." He trails off, but he doesn't need to finish; the words aren't necessary.
"Probably for the best," I agree, wondering briefly if Freddy realizes the opportunity he's just been handed.
Probably not. That boy is oblivious.
"Well," James jumps in at just the right time, before this can go any deeper. "We should go,"
"Yep," I slip my hand into his. "Got plans for the day,"
"Yeah, yeah," Lou brushes us off, peeking around the group in front of us.
Dan looks at us and his message is clear. Don't leave me. "You sure guys?"
"Sorry, mate," James grins easily.
"You'll be fine," I agree. "Just...don't let him do anything stupid. Or illegal," I add, as an afterthought.
"I think that's easier said than done," Dan says dryly, but goes to catch up with Lou and stop him from trying to hide in a pocket of Third Years, including James' sister and her friends.
"No!" I stop at the threshold of the pink entrance, refusing to step inside of the pink door James is holding open for me. "Absolutely not!"
He grins back at me easily. "Come on! This is the place for dates!"
"No!" I shake my head, looking at the pink sign, reading Madame Pudifoot's. Why is everything here pink? "This is the worse place I've ever been, and we haven't even stepped foot inside,"
He lets the door close, stepping closer to me instead. "We went to your mother's wedding a month ago and this is the worst?"
"Fine," I relent. "Sixteenth worst,"
James frowns. "It was her twentieth wedding, was it not?"
"Yes, but in fairness, some of the locations of those weddings weren't terrible, even if she is,"
James looks like he wants to laugh at me, biting his lip to keep the noise in, but as usual, he commits to his bit. "I, for one, would love to return to Florida. A vacation of froco hunting sounds absolutely brilliant,"
My eyes wander up over to the frilly curtains in the window in front of us (magenta curtains, which is technically a shade of pink). "I'd rather be eaten by a froco than go inside this restaurant," I sigh dramatically.
"Probably still too soon, maybe?" James shrugs.
I ignore him and move toward the door. "Let's just get his over with," Silence follows the statement and I turn around to see James with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face and his hands tucked into his pockets. "Oh, you motherfucker,"
"Come on," Somehow, the grin grows. "You didn't really think I'd take you to a place like this?" He gestures to the tea shop.
"You motherfucker," I repeat, leaping at him in an attempt to tackle him into the cold snow as payback.
It fails, as he merely catches me midair and spins me around. "Would you like to see where I'm really taking you?"
"That depends," I say snarkily, extremely glad he ignores me when he pulls me down a side alley to a set of metal doors that look like they lead to the crawl space of the old brick building they're built into.
Instead, we climb down a ladder and are greeted with upbeat flamenco music, the familiar smell of Mexican food, and a brightly colored sign that reads La Escalera.
The smile starts growing on my face before I even take the whole room in. "This is awesome," I beam, looking all around.
"Better than tea?" James grins cockily, knowing he's done exactly what he said he would-planned a great date that I do love.
But for once, I don't even feel competitive with him. There's no desire to one-up or make a sassy comment.
I'm just...totally and completely happy. Happy to be here, happy to be with him.
I've never really seen the appeal to Valentine's Day with anyone before, but James is making a strong case for the holiday.
So I slip my hand back into his, ready to find our table (and more importantly, start eating). "Way better than tea,"
"You sure you want to pop in there?" I ask James, as he makes his way over to the spirits shop.
So far, he'd crushed this date. La Escalera had been phenomenal (my new favorite restaurant in Hogsmeade for sure), and the Honeydukes tour was not only informative, but also entertaining, and had also been filled with free samples, making it a highlight of my year.
He gives me a look, catching the tone instantly. "What are you trying to say?"
"Just that...your first attempt wasn't very good," I try to say as gently as I can, which is probably not as gentle as, say, Maeve or Lizzie could have said it. To say that James and the boys' first attempt at making whiskey had been terrible would be an understatement. Luckily for them, they still had more barrels brewing in their room...and ideas about what to change to make it better.
He grins. "Exactly! That's why I need more supplies. Practice makes perfect," He grabs my hand to pull me into the shop, but I remain rooted on the spot as a blonde head catches my eye.
Actually, that's two blonde heads.
"What are you-"
"Sh!" I shush him, eyeing wildly for anything to hide behind, so they don't see us, and then shoving him behind the only available option-one of the thin lantern poles in the street, which is doing shit all to hide us, so hopefully Lou and Maeve are too preoccupied to notice. "I'm trying to listen!"
"To what-fuck!" He mutters, catching on. "Are they finally-"
"I don't know!"
James rests his forearms against my back as we peer around the lantern pole. It's really, most unfortunately, too far away to hear anything. James had rifled through his pockets for an Extendable Ear, only to come up empty. Meanwhile, Maeve's hands move from her hips, to tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, to flying through the air after Lou must say something particularly stupid.
And the entire time, he's staring down at her, rapturously in love, like the sun, moon, and stars revolve around her.
Her rant stops, and I can see her mouth form the word. "What?"
"Nothing," Lou (almost definitely) says back, with the softest smile I've ever seen on his face.
Whatever he says next is lost due to my unfortunate lack of lip-reading skills, but it doesn't matter. It makes Maeve's jaw drop and her eyes widen and it's so cold that we can see all the air that comes out as her chest practically collapses, but Lou is right there to catch her and pull her into his arms, and then finally, finally, he kisses her.
James and I could have been hiding behind a brick wall, but at that kiss it wouldn't have mattered; they would have known exactly where we were.
It turns out, though, that they don't even care. They break apart and look over. Maeve is still so shell-shocked she can't do anything more than beam and Lou merely flips us off. "Oi!" He shouts. "Cut it out!"
"We're so happy for you!" James calls back. "And us too, Herbology is going to be much more pleasant!"
"Go fuck-" But Lou's cut off when Maeve pulls him in for another kiss and that's when James and I take our leave.
There will be time to get the details later. For now, we'll let them have their moment.
Coming Up Soon: Some Valentine's Day aftermath, a birthday, the next Quidditch match