On Valentine's day morning, Rose realized that McLaggen had sent her chocolates and a quick inspection showed her that they were full of Love Potion, a very strong one.
She was grateful for the extra studying she had done to be able to check for this sort of things herself. She had gotten the idea after Christmas, when Sirius said he had burned all of the candy he received from people he didn't know just to be safe. She had worked hard to be able to detect the most common and famous love potions that existed and was glad for it today because it saved her some embarassement, though it angered her that he did try.
Instead of burning them, she got an idea and smirked a smirk that would have made Fred proud. A quick call to her brother with the mirror confirmed that he, too, got some chocolates from a couple of girls, one of them being Cho Chang. Rose told him not to throw them away and not to eat any and to meet her in the common room.
"I got chocolates from Cormac too, you want them for whatever you've got planned?" Hermione asked and, with a smile, nodded.
A quick inspection confirmed that Harry's and Hermione's had been filled with Love potion too. Ginny had gotten a box as well.
By now, Fred and George had joined her.
"What are you going to do with them?" They asked her.
"They gave chocolates filled with love potion, they must want attention, I say we give it to them by handing the chocolates to every single person we find on the way to the Great Hall, boy or girl." Rose smirked.
"Oh, I love this idea!" George clapped his hands cheerfully.
"Oh, I just love the way you think, my love." Fred declared before he kissed her.
"Plus, seeing the two of you with us, they'll know it's not normal chocolate, so only people who don't mind a joke will take them and eat them." Rose added.
Mixing the different chocolates and spreading the lot between them, they rushed in the corridor leading to the Great Hall and everytime they saw someone who was single, they handed the chocolates. Of course, seeing Fred and George Weasley and knowing their reputation, the people who took the chocolates had to know something was up, but they took them anyway, proving they weren't against a little bit of fun on such a day.
"Handing out chocolate on Valentine's day? Where's mine?" Sirius asked when he saw them.
"Oh, you don't want this one." Rose smiled, stoping him from placing one of the chocolates in his mouth.
"Why's that?" Sirius frowned.
"They're the chocolates we all received for Valentines day. They're filled with love potion. Cormac sent a box to me, another to Hermione and another to Ginny. He wants attention so much, he'll get it. Giving only one chocolate each won't make it last too long, but enough to teach him a lesson. Some girls gave chocolates to Harry too so we added them in there." Rose explained.
"I shouldn't have burned the ones I got, I should have given them to you for this! It's a great idea!" he chuckled.
"It is, but being a teacher, I don't think you should be approving us." Harry chuckled.
"You're teaching people a lesson, and we did say that we'd be a little more loose on discipline today." Dumbledore declared from behind them, surprising them all.
"Professor!" Rose exclaimed, surprised.
"Don't worry, go ahead and do teach your lesson. I approve and you won't get in trouble for this. The people who placed the love potions in candy and gave them to you will be the ones in trouble." Dumbledore told them as he pointed to Crabbe and Goyle coming their way.
Smirking, Fred handed both Slytherin a chocolate that had been given by Cormac McLaggen. They both seemed surprised by this gestures but shrugged their shoulders and grabbed them, either because it was sweets, or because they didn't mind a bit of fun.
Once all the chocolate had been given, they walked in the Great Hall and saw that the Daily Prophet was indeed speaking of the Manticore being loose in Hogsmeade and there was even a picture of it. The monster was trying to attach several men who were trying to cast curses at it.
As soon as they were done reading the article, they saw Cormac McLaggen trying to escape several people who wanted to kiss him, including Crabbe and Goyle. The sight was pretty funny. A couple of older girls were in the same situation. Of course it only lasted half an hour, but everyone had stayed to watch. Once it was over, Rose went to McLaggen and declared in a loud voice:
"The chocolates filled with love potion you gave Ginny, Hermione and me, even though you know we're in a relationship and not interested in you, we handed them out. Next time you try to poison us like this, we'll do something much worst. Same goes to you Romilda Vane, and you Cho Chang. You know my brother is in a relationship, you shouldn't have gone this far. Next time anyone sends any of us Love potion, we'll get revenge in a much more humiliating way." Rose declared.
"Love potion is forbidden in this school! Romilda Vane, Cho Chang, you're getting a detention and a warning! Cormac Mc Laggen, you've been warned before about harassment of girls! Come to my office right away, it's time for a serious meeting with your parents to discuss your options." Minerva McGonagall spoke loudly, grabbing the Gryffindor student on the way and dragging him to her office, lecturing him on the way.
Rose and Fred had agreed on no gifts for Valentine's day, though they did plan on spending the entire day together, from breakfast to after dinner, just together.
.
While the Hogwarts student went safely about their free day in the castle, Remus and Tonks were in Hogsmeade, officially looking for a Manticore but also waiting for a potential attack from Voldemort.
"I'm sorry, this isn't exactly the first date I had imagined." Remus apologized to Tonks with a small smile.
"Don't worry, it's still a fun date." She replied with a wink, happy that he had finally admitted his feelings and agreed to a relationship.
"Because you're still counting it as a date?" He asked her, surprised.
"Of course, aren't you?" She replied, making him chuckle.
"Anything you want." He winked at her, making her blush.
"Here, look!" She whispered, pointing to a baby manticore a bit further away.
"I'll signal for help." he warned her before sending red sparks up with his wand.
Once he had signaled, they tried to catch the baby monster without harming it too much. They had already captured all the other babies, this was the last one, though the mother was still around somewhere and much harder to catch.
10 minutes later, Remus and Tonks heard a large commotion from main street and rushed there, thinking the Manticore had attacked. Only it wasn't the mother monster, it was Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband and her brother in law, Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew and a few other Death Eaters, including Dolores Umbridge, who had escaped Azkaban along with a few others.
Since many Aurors had been dispatched to catch the Manticores, the town was well protected and nobody got hurt.
The Death Eaters had still been about about to get the upper hand, after a few reinforcement arrived, when the mother Manticore arrived, followed by Aurors, and scared them away.
"It's real, fall back!" Bellatrix screamed, popping away.
"They're training Manticores to attack now!" Umbridge spat before she apparated away.
"Not so fast Wormtail!" Remus screamed, managing to Stupefy Peter before he left with the others.
"Well, not too much of a waste today. At least we got one and we've finally got all the Manticores. Now we just need to find out how they got here." One of the Aurors declared.
"Probably someone who wanted to illegally sell it and didn't know how to rightfully transport them." Remus suggested, knowing the truth behind the presence of the monster in town.
"Probably." He nodded.
"Umbridge remark isn't too bad, though, isn't it? Fights would be over faster of we started training Manticores to help." Another Auror commented, making them chuckle.
"I'm not sure the Wizenmagot would agree, but I find this idea brilliant." Remus chuckled.
"So, I'm off until tomorrow afternoon. Dinner?" Tonk suggested with a smile and Remus nodded, grabbing happily her hand, happy that this day had gone so well.
"Rose will be happy to know our first date was such a success." Remus whispered Tonks much later, after they had exchanged their first kiss.
"She's great." Tonks nodded.
"Yes, she is. I... I never thought I'd have children, because I'm a werewolf and I'm afraid of passing it on and when James and Lily asked me to be her Godfather, I thought that this was it, my only chance to have a child in my life. Then she died and after that James and Lily... I closed myself off. Finding her again, having this relationship with her... I never thought I'd be able to have that." he admitted.
"You don't want children?" She frowned.
"It's not that I don't want them, it's that I don't want to curse them to this life..." he shook his head.
"What if I told you that we can handle whatever comes, that I love you enough to want a child with you eventually." She asked, serious and sincere.
"Dora..." He started shaking his head.
"You don't know if the baby would be a werewolf, there is no record. I... I've been researching it and... I even went to question some of Greyback's rape victims, the ones who survived obviously. None of them got pregnant, though they took the necessary potions to make sure it didn't happen and I think we can understand that... We don't know what could happen, but the child could be normal." She insisted.
"I... You're right but... I... I'm going to lose this argument too, aren't I? In the long run, you and Rose will unite against me and manage to convince me." He sighted, making Tonks chuckle.
"Absolutely. If you resist, I'm sending her a letter tonight as soon as I get home. It's time you stopped burrying yourself in self pity and that you realized that you deserve the same as everyone else!" She nodded, unashamed.
"I guess we'll see what comes. You're right, we'll be able to handle whatever comes and we're not alone." he nodded.
"Great, now, let's plan our next date." She decided.
.
The next morning, Rose received a letter from Remus, telling her about his date, thanking her for her advice and assuring her that he'd try not to let his fears run his life anymore. In her reply, Rose told him all about her great day-date with Fred.
Liked it? Hated it? Do you think they went too far with the Manticore thing?
I liked making Remus just give up on his arguing because he knew Rose and Tonks would eventually win and convince him.
Lorelei Candice Black