A/N: A bit of light-hearted babble and a little romance -sort of! Comments at bottom! Enjoy and review, review, review!

Chapter Four

With your gorgeous grin

You have the world sucked in

Believing in everything you say

Watch out

He'll charm you

-Leona Naess

Ginny awoke Saturday, February 14th, opened her eyes, and immediately let them fall back closed. Saint Valentines Day was most definitely her least favorite day of the year.

"Ginny! Wake up!," Parvati Patil cried, running into Ginny's room, shrieking excitedly. Ginny wasn't very close to Parvati, but the two did talk on occasion and Ginny knew that Parvati placed Valentine's Day at the top of her list of holidays, even above Christmas.

"I'd rather wallow in my misery by myself, thanks," Ginny groaned, rolling over and swaddling herself in her thick crimson quilt.

"No misery!," Parvati exclaimed far too cheerfully. "Come look at what I did to the common room!"

Ginny reluctantly allowed Parvati, who was clad in bunny pink robes, to take her by the wrist and drag her out of the sixth-year girl's dorm and down the winding staircase to the common room.

At first Ginny thought that her eyes were just too blurry with sleep. Then she thought maybe it was just a scary nightmare of some sorts. But nope, she was awake, and yes Parvati had outdone Gilderoy Lockhart in the Valentine's tackiness department.

The circular room was covered from floor to ceiling with giant, grotesquely pink hearts and flowers. Parvati had enchanted some of them to float around after people. When they caught up with one, they would attach themselves and lay on a huge kiss. Ginny was just wrestling off a particularly feisty paper daffodil when she heard a stifled laugh behind her. She turned, expecting to see Parvati, but apparently the girl had run off to wake up and torture other Gryffindors, because she was nowhere in sight.

Harry, Ron, and Seamus Finnigan stood at the foot of the stairs. It was Ron's snicker that she had heard a moment earlier and he was now practically asphyxiated from laughing so hard. Harry was just staring around as if he wasn't sure if it was some terrible dream or not. Seamus on the other hand seemed quite excited.

"I reckon this is Parvati's work, eh?," Seamus asked, a huge grin never leaving his face.

"What ever made you guess?," Ginny cracked sarcastically. She just shook her head and brushed past her brother and Harry. "I'm going back to bed."

She was so tired she didn't even notice a pair of sapphire blue eyes following her every move.

---

"I can't believe what Parvati did," Hermione laughed as Ginny joined her at the lunch table later that day. She had slept until almost noon and had only gotten back out of bed because of the deep growling in her stomach. Now she was busily spooning mouthfuls of potatoes and chicken into her mouth, eager to get back to the common room and be lazy again before dinner.

There was the sudden flapping of wings and everyone, as was custom, looked up as several dozen owls swooped into the room. Ginny glanced up, but quickly turned her attention back to her food. She didn't really feel like seeing all of the other girls get their little valentines. It was simply depressing.

She had just taken a sip of pumpkin juice when something landed in front of her. She stared at it in amazement, not certain if it was for her. A single orange rose, still closed in a bud, lay on her plate.

Hermione gaped at her too. "Ginny! Somebody sent you a rose!," she exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly, eyeing the bud. "Open the card!"

It was only then when Ginny realized that there was a small note attached. The outside had her name scrawled on it in long, spidery handwriting. She opened in a rush, eager to know who it was from.

She was however, very disappointed, when it only read: "Happy Valentine's Day".

"Who's it from? What does it say?," Hermione inquired, trying inconspicuously to look over Ginny's shoulder.

"It doesn't say," Ginny murmured, setting the note back down on the table and picking up the rose. "I wonder why someone would send me a closed rose," she pondered out loud. "And an orange one at that."

Hermione suddenly got one of her intellectual looks on her face. "Ginny, this is actually really good, you know that?"

"How so?"
"Well, did you know that all roses have different meanings?"
"No, do enlighten me, oh smart one," Ginny replied, knowing she really had no other choice. When Hermione got on a roll like that, it was best to sit still and avoid showing fear. It was quite similar to having a wasp land on your arm.

"Well," Hermione began, "In the harems of the Middle East, there was a special rose language invented as a secret way for lovers to communicate their love for one another. Each different kind of rose had a different meaning. Don't you realize what this means?," she intoned, pointing at the rose.

"Erm…no," Ginny admitted.

Hermione sighed, swooned almost. "A rose bud, that means budding desire, Gin!"

Ginny's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? How come it's orange then? Because of my hair, maybe?"

"No, colors have meaning too," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "Orange signifies…erm…," she seemed to be thinking hard, then her face brightened. "Now I remember! Orange means fascination. Somebody is fascinated with you!"

Ginny stared at the rose with a growing fondness. "Wow…," was all she could mutter.

"Now you've just got to figure out who would have put that much thought into a gift," Hermione said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Who do you think it was?"

"No clue," Ginny replied truthfully. "I only wish I knew."

---

On the other side of the Great Hall, Draco was having an equally odd Valentine's Day. He hadn't woke to find his common room covered in grotesque decoration, nor had he received any anonymous gifts. No, this Valentine's Day was odd, because for the first time, he actually had sent someone a Valentine.

Draco didn't usually attend lunch, preferring to eat in the common room with his friends, but he had come down here to see her reaction.

He didn't know what exactly had possessed him to send that rose to her. After they had agreed to use each other's first names, it was almost as if they had met each other all over again, but for the very first time. He no longer thought of her as "Weasley", but as Ginny. And he was sure that she felt the same way. They weren't exactly friends. He still didn't acknowledge her off of the Quidditch pitch, nor did she acknowledge him, but there was no more of the hostile atmosphere that had initially tainted their lessons.

He thought vaguely of the night before. They had been flying around, passing the Quaffle back and forth, talking about Quidditch and a few other things, when he had suddenly realized that they were having a conversation. Not an argument, not an insult fest- but a full-fledged, human to human conversation. He was listening to her, she was laughing at his stories…it was weird.

"You going to eat that?," Crabbed growled from Draco's left, breaking him out of his memory. Draco looked down at the untouched food on his plate and impatiently shook his head. When was the damn mail going to come?

As if the owls had read his thoughts, there was the sudden flutter of wings. Draco picked up a huge, gaudy red envelope, no doubt from his mother, and opened it, pretending to read the magical card in front of him, but in actuality staring over the top of it, all the way across the hall to the Gryffindor table. He saw the school owl he had borrowed that morning swoop over and drop the flower onto Ginny's plate.

A small smile, for once not a smirk, crossed his face as he watched her expression turn from shock to amazement to happiness as Granger animatedly talked about something. The entire time, Ginny never took her eyes off of the rose. It was indeed an achievement.

But now what was this? That Irish bloke, Seamus Something-or-the-other, was sliding down onto the long stool next to Ginny and smiling at her. She was smiling back at him and suddenly she looked down at the rose and then back up at The Irish Louse (which Draco had already decided to call him) and nodded in reply to something he said. Even from all the way across the Great Hall, he could see Ginny's cheeks flame a burning pink as The Irish Louse got up and walked away to join Weasley (the elder and more annoying) and Potter at the end of the table.

Malfoy stood up quickly, nearly knocking over a startled first-year seated to his right. He had every desire to go over and curse the daylights out of The Irish Louse. He just knew that The Irish Louse had claimed that the rose from him. Just knew it. Clenching his fists tightly, knowing that he would give himself away, he quickly turned on his heel and strode out of the Great Hall.

Reaching the highly arched entrance hall, he leaned back against the cold stone wall. He didn't need to get so upset, really. He didn't like Ginny. Not like that. He was just doing something nice for someone. And really, what was wrong with that?

----

Ginny walked back to the common room after lunch, hoping that her cheeks weren't glowing too much. She couldn't believe her day had gone from terrible to absolutely fabulous in the course of one meal. After Hermione had finished talking about the rose, Seamus had walked over and sat down next to her. She had been so absorbed in the rose that she hadn't even noticed him at first, not until Hermione had elbowed her in the side.

"Ginny," Seamus had said, his blue eyes focused on her brown ones. "How are you?"

"Great," she had replied, starting to wonder if maybe he had been the one to send it to the rose.

"You seem to like that rose," he had remarked, looking down at it. He had an odd expression in his eyes. Ginny had just nodded eagerly, too petrified to say anything. "Look…erm…I was just wondering, Gin…we have a Hogsmeade day tomorrow. Doyawanageabuterberwitmeorsomthn?," he had finished in a rush.

"Pardon?," Ginny had questioned in confusion. What on Earth…?

Seamus had taken a deep breath. "Do you want to get a butter beer or something with me? Tomorrow, I mean. Kind of like…a date, I guess."

Of course she had said yes, Ginny reflected with a grin. She had always thought that Seamus was cute. She couldn't believe it. An actual date. Now what was she going to wear?

---

Ginny had just closed the door to her dormitory later that evening and was walking down the circular stairway, off to meet Draco, when she felt a hand fasten securely around her elbow.

She turned around, startled. "Hermione! You gave me a fright!," she exclaimed, holding a hand over her heart. Hermione didn't answer and seemed to be on the edge of words. "What's wrong?"

"Where are you going?," Hermione finally said.

Ginny gulped nervously. She had hoped that Hermione had forgotten about the fact that she wasn't around for an hour or so three or four days a week. Apparently not. "Oh, just for a walk, 'Mione," she replied, hoping she sounded cheerful.

"Ginny," Hermione said warningly, "tell me the truth."

Ginny sighed. "I'm going to practice my flying," she finally said, crossing her arms over her chest. "It was supposed to be a surprise."

Hermione's face flashed with some relief. "Flying? You're not out…cavorting with gypsies or anything?"
"Gypsies?! Honestly, Hermione, where do you come up with this rubbish?," Ginny exclaimed, staring at her friend. "I just want to make the house team."

Hermione nodded. "I know. I'm sorry I'm acting so weird. It's just that it's been over a month and you keep disappearing and not telling anyone where you're going and I think that your brother is starting to suspect that something is going on. He thinks that you have some secret Hufflepuff boyfriend or something."

At that, Ginny had to laugh. Ron would wish that it was some Hufflepuff boyfriend when and if he found out who she had really been with - and the fact that she really didn't dislike the person she was with at all. "I'm fine," she said reassuringly. "I'm just really determined to surprise everyone. Please don't tell, Hermione."

Hermione nodded and started back up the stairs towards her dorm room. "I won't," she replied. "But Gin…if there's anything else you need to tell me, don't hesitate."

"I won't," Ginny answered, for the first time wishing that there was someone who she could talk to. Then she turned on her heel and rushed down the stairs, eager to get the practice done with, and back upstairs to get her beauty rest for her date the next day with Seamus.

A/N: As always, I am eternally grateful for all of you who reviewed. I luuuuuurve you. You're the greatest:

ice angel , goodgirlsbadboys (I'll try not to), Simply Bewitching 1 , rupretsweethart15, Robbie Dobbie Doo Dah , elen, Ginny001 , Sakura1287 , ElvenJen, cat, Eleoopy, rebel, FeiraMenina, Darco'sGirl furiya, draco's gurl, karen, frananddragon, seekerpeeker, V, DIE PURPLE COW!!!!, Crystal, gohansfan, and KeeperOfTheMoon. I am SOOOOOOO grateful. Your comments and reviews and suggestions and questions and what not really keep me going in this story.

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