Over the next few weeks, Draco thought he and Harry did a rather good job of keeping themselves professional in front of the students. Surely, with no further incidents since That Night, they would let it go.
Unfortunately, with Valentine's Day coming up, he was afraid they might be paying closer attention.
Still, when the fourteenth of February arrived, he left a vase of flowers on Harry's desk for him to find later — although he'd made sure to include no roses, and no reds, pinks, or purples. It didn't look, at first glance, like a declaration of love, but that was just how Draco wanted it. He left a small card attached to the vase and left for his first class.
~*~
Harry had decided against doing anything festive for his classes this year, and was simply continuing to work with his Fourth Years on shield charms.
They had done excellently when paired up, so he told them they could leave early after he handed back their essays. He opened the door to his office, and stopped in surprise.
A vibrant bouquet of yellow and orange flowers sat in a vase on his desk. He carefully moved them over so he could grab the stack of essays, and a small card fell off of the vase.
I already feel like saying forever. Happy tackiest holiday, love.
P.S. I know you don't know what they mean, so ask Neville.
"What does it say?"
Harry turned to see the class watching him through the doorway. He stuffed the note in his pocket, grabbing the essays and shutting the door.
"Nothing."
~*~
Needless to say, many of the students had been intrigued by the flowers in Professor Potter's office, and they were delighted when Professor Longbottom announced that, in the spirit of the holiday, they would be studying what certain plants symbolised. The flowers had to be from Professor Malfoy, and they were itching to know exactly what they meant.
Neville was shocked by how studiously the class took notes that day.
~*~
The Fourth Year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in both Professor Potter and Professor Longbottom's class filled in those who hadn't taken Herbology during lunch. The only problem now was that somebody had to go in and identify what the flowers were. There had definitely been sunflowers, but there had also been others. Eventually a Gryffindor volunteered.
After his final lesson, the brave Gryffindor headed up to the Defence classroom, and knocked on the professor's office door.
"Jamie? Can I help you?"
"Erm, yes, I had some questions about my essay."
"Okay, come in."
Professor Potter sat back down at his desk. Luckily for Jamie the flowers were still there, although they had been moved off to the side.
He asked a few simple questions about what he could improve and left. He needed to get to the library and talk with the others.
~*~
The students crowded around a table in the back of the library.
"Okay, so there were sunflowers and yellow honeysuckle, but I don't know what the other type was. They were orange and yellow, and each had a big cluster of petals."
A Hufflepuff held up a book and slid it over to Jamie.
"An illustrated flower identification book. I thought we might need it," she said proudly.
He flipped through for a while. "I'm not sure if it's even in here. Wait— it looks pretty similar to this one, maybe from a different angle. And the colours are different."
"A dahlia flower," someone said. "That definitely could have been it, and they come in lots of different colours."
"Okay, now we just have to find these in our notes. I already looked up sunflower, since we knew that one. Then I looked it up in a book too to see if it was more specific. Professor Longbottom just said loyalty, but look at what this says." A Hufflepuff boy held out a book and pointed to the bottom of the page.
"Sunflower — tends to symbolise loyalty, adoration, and longevity," Jamie read aloud for the students that couldn't see. "Okay, has anyone found honeysuckle yet?"
"Yes! My notes said it could mean upcoming nuptials, and this book says 'Honeysuckle - shows love, tenderness, and the giver's unending affection. Can also symbolise a happy life or upcoming nuptials.' Well isn't that interesting. I really want to know what that card said."
"Woah, that's intense. What does the dahlia mean then?"
"It's not in our notes, I already looked."
Pages were being flipped frantically.
"I found something! Oh, this is good," a Gryffindor girl spoke up.
"What?" several people asked at once.
"It says 'Dahlia — generally sends a message meaning 'forever thine', and signifies an eternal bond.'"
"Wow. I wonder if they're getting married?"
"No. If they can't even tell us they're together, then there's no way they're already getting married," someone decided.
"Okay. Let's just wait and see what else happens at dinner."
~*~
Harry watched as Draco sat down next to him and a gentle shower of red and salmon rose petals fell over him.
"Hmm, must be a leak in the ceiling," he said casually.
Draco laughed.
"You're a fool." He looked down at the rose petals and blushed, raising one eyebrow. "Red and salmon? I should've known that would be the extent of your knowledge."
Harry shrugged, unbothered.
"I do what I can."
Draco smiled and placed a hand on his knee under the table. Harry covered Draco's hand with his own and intertwined their fingers.
Harry ate with his left hand for the entire meal, and he wasn't even angry about the gravy it caused him to spill down his front.
When the desserts started appearing, Draco picked up one of the salmon coloured petals and held it up, raising one eyebrow again at Harry.
"Do we really need dessert?"
"I think I'll be fine for one night."
"Good. I'll leave first. Follow me in five."
Harry smiled.
"Because it definitely wouldn't do to just admit what everybody already knows."
"It's none of their business," Draco sniffed.
"Okay. Leave now so I can escape too."
~*~
The students convened again in the library after dinner.
"I couldn't see hardly anything," a Gryffindor complained.
"Yes, Hufflepuffs are almost right in front of them, so what happened? I saw confetti or something when Professor Malfoy sat down, and then they left early. Well, they left separately, but it was soon enough, I'm sure they just thought they were being sneaky," another Gryffindor contributed.
Several students laughed, and a Hufflepuff boy began explaining.
"That wasn't confetti, it was rose petals, and they were different colours. Different colours mean different things, but I'm not sure exactly what. There was definitely some red, which I think is just love. And then Professor Potter was only using his left hand, so I think they were holding hands or something-"
"Or something," a Seventh Year Gryffindor butted in with a smirk. "Beth! I've been looking for you. Are you lot all talking about Potter and Malfoy?"
"Yes, Professor Potter had flowers in his office this morning, and we did research on them, and now we were trying to figure out what happened at dinner."
"Hmm, fill me in on the flowers first." The Seventh Year looked speculative.
"This morning he went into his office and there was a big bouquet of yellow flowers, and he was clearly surprised. There was a note but he wouldn't tell us what it said. We did some research and the flowers were honeysuckle, sunflowers, and orange dahlias. Those basically mean love and loyalty and eternal affection."
"Oh that is interesting. Not as interesting as what happened at dinner, though. It's funny how they think they're being all inconspicuous."
"Okay, but what happened?"
"So they already told you about the rose petals and the hand, but the colour of the petals is important. They were red and salmon. Red, of course, is for true love, and—"
"How could you tell they were salmon though, that's so specific? Couldn't they have been pink or orange? I couldn't tell, and you were further away," someone interjected.
"I wasn't sure at first, but it was what Professor Malfoy did that tipped me off."
"What?" several of the students asked.
"At the end of the meal, he picked up one of the non-red petals and raised an eyebrow at Professor Potter. Then they both left. He wouldn't do that with an orange or a pink rose petal."
"Why? What does salmon mean?" Beth asked her older sister.
The Seventh Year gave a sly smile.
"Desire."
"Oh. Oh." Comprehension dawned on Beth's face.
"You don't think they're...you know?" Jamie asked.
"I wouldn't doubt it," the Seventh Year said gleefully.
"Oh. Oh Merlin, I don't want to think about that," Jamie replied, sounding pained. "No. They're my teachers, how am I ever going to look them in the eye again?"
"Ugh, I still wish I knew what the card said though," Beth whined.
"Well, how did he act when you asked?"
"He whipped his head around like he didn't know we were watching and shoved it in his pocket. Then he just told us it was 'nothing' and shut the door."
Her older sister laughed.
"It was probably something dirty."
"Really? In flowers?"
"Professor Malfoy does seem like he could be a bit of a freak, if you know what I mean."
"Urgh, can we please stop talking about our teachers', er...extracurricular lives? I'm starting to regret being nosey," one of the Hufflepuffs complained.
"Please, we all already knew, it's just being confirmed." The Seventh Year paused and began to giggle again. "Or did you really think Professor Malfoy had an unfortunate run-in with a badger a few months ago?"
"Oh. Now that you mention it..."
