The boys had a rough time that night in the Gryffindor tower dormitory. Neville, having never used glue before, managed to paste one hand to his cheek and the other to Dean's poster of the West Ham football team. Furious that Neville might tear the paper, Dean refused to let the other boy unglue himself until someone tracked down Hermione in the library and brought her up to perform the Waddious Unfusious charm.
"You really ought to learn this one, Dean" Hermione said expertly as she swished her wand at Neville, who, aside from being an unbecoming shade of scarlet, was glaring at Dean with an uncharacteristic look of murder in his eyes. "It's a variant of the Waddiwasi charm Professor Lupin showed us third year. Mrs. Weasley's told me it's a must have when Fred and George are around . . . "
And try as he might, Harry just couldn't get Ron to understand the concept of drawing a picture that wasn't supposed to move.
"This looks horrible" Ron moaned as he stared as the mess of purple squiggles he had made on the green paper. Drawing implements in the wizarding world, unlike Muggle markers, were bewitched to make anything they drew look as if it were in motion.
Harry sighed and tried to explain once again. "No, look. See, here's the problem. You can't draw a waving banner by making four different rectangles in different places and thinking they'll somehow come together. Make the line wavy, like this." Harry demonstrated. "And forget about the hopping frogs."
Ron muttered something dark and unpleasant. "They're supposed to be fairies."
Still, the evening passed pleasantly enough as they drew and grumbled and gorged themselves on the chocolate hearts that Seamus' Muggle father had sent. Harry entertained the others by telling them about the Valentine cards he had used to make for Dudley. "I got sent home from school for that one, of course" he remembered, grinning nostalgically. "The teacher couldn't understand how I had made it stink like an actual pig sty. Although" he looked thoughtful. "Neither could I, then, for that matter . . ."
But he fell asleep that night with a funny feeling in his stomach. He hadn't told the others everything about his old Valentine's Days. There had been the stinking swamp mud Dudley had stuffed in his school satchel one year (which had ruined a meticulous project on the Battle of Hastings he had spent days on), and the way his classmates had always given him the smallest and meanest pieces of candy, accompanied by looks of scorn that told him he would have received nothing at all if it wasn't a rule that every student had to give something to everyone else. Not that they had really disliked him, of course, but anyone marked by Dudley's gang was a pariah.
Harry sighed and studied the moonlight that played against his bed curtains. He knew it was silly, but he was actually looking forward to having a normal Valentine's Day. It would be nice, something to help him forget things he'd rather not remember. And who knew? Maybe Cho would make him something, and they'd go for a walk, and one thing would lead to another . . .
Annoyed at his own sappiness, Harry shook himself, pulled his blankets tight about him, and buried his head in his pillow.
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"Harry" Ron panted the next morning, hopping around the dormitory while trying to pull on one shoe, too lazy to untie the knot he had left in the laces the night before. "Grab those cards for me, will you? I need a hand here."
Harry, sleep-eyed and tousled, grunted and made his way over to Ron's bed, which was littered with the Valentine's cards his friend had made the night before. Yawning, he started gathering the haphazardly scattered papers into a neat pile.
The dormitory was empty except for him and Ron; Neville, Dean, and Seamus had already descended to the Gryffindor common room. Harry could hear laughter and shouts and squeals drifting up the spiral staircase. Apparently, the card-swapping frenzy had already begun. They'd better hurry up.
As Ron struggled to pull a knotty sweater over his head, Harry ticked off the cards he had saved from disappearance, making sure he hadn't missed any. There was one for Neville, Seamus, Lavender, him (of course), Parvati and Padma, Dean - he was getting to the end of the pile now - Ginny, Fred and George . . .
"Hey, Ron" he said, looking up with a frown. "I can't find Hermione's."
Ron muttered something incomprehensible through the wool smothering his face.
"What"
Ron got the sweater over his head with a final vicious jerk. "I said" he mumbled, spitting blue fuzz out of his mouth"that I didn't make her one."
"Why not" Harry asked, surprised.
Ron started gathering his parchment and quills together. He shrugged one shoulder. "C'mon, Harry" he growled"you saw how she was acting last night at supper. Just where does she get off"
The defensive bitterness in Ron's voice surprised Harry. His two best friends had been goading each other since the first day the met. He didn't know why Ron was taking it so personally all of a sudden. "Yeah, well, that's Hermione, you know . . ."
"And I'm sick of it" Ron snapped, drawing his school robes about him in a dramatic flourish that didn't fit their patched state of disarray. He marched over to Harry and snatched the cards from his friend's hands. His voice went high in a poor imitation of Hermione's: " 'Really, Ronald, can't you even manage to chew correctly! Your shoes are untied, Ron! Ron, must you breathe like a Neanderthal?' And honestly, Harry, you heard her last night. She doesn't like the holiday. I bet she doesn't even want anything."
Harry privately disagreed, but decided to say nothing as they walked down the spiral staircase.
The common room was a riot: pink, red, and white streamers dangled from the ceiling like jungle vines, and in every direction Harry looked there were mountains of chocolates and candies. Ron's eyes went dreamy once they entered the room. "Oh, wow, someone got Vampire Hearts! You've got to try these, Harry, they give you fangs that grow longer the more you eat. Our cousin Lionel once grew his all the way to the floor. Of course, they were so heavy he couldn't move until they shrunk again, and Fred and George tied him to a broomstick and "
"Harry! Ron!"
Harry turned to see Hermione and Ginny almost skipping toward them. Hermione had an armful of cards carefully wrapped in bows and a bright, silly smile plastered on her face. Ginny was clinging to her arm and laughing, and both girls looked like they were having a splendid time.
Harry couldn't help grinning back. "Hey," he said as they skidded to a stop in front of him.
"Hi," Ron mumbled.
"Harry," Ginny managed through a mouthful of chocolate, "I have a card for you." She shoved a piece of bright green paper at him, wiping crumbs of chocolate from her lips with her free hand. "And one for you, my sourpuss brother," she grinned at Ron, who bared his teeth and growled at her. She giggled and punched him in the arm.
Hermione was meticulously removing two cards from her beribboned bundle. "Harry, Ron, these are for you," she said happily, handing them over.
"Wow, Hermione." As usual Harry was amazed at the effort his friend put into her projects. Her card was beautiful, a light pink piece of paper covered with delicate ink drawings of hearts and flowers and fantastical creatures. It looked like the medieval manuscripts he had seen once at the British Museum. "Thanks, it's really pretty. I didn't know you could draw so well."
The compliment made Hermione glow.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw that Ron's card was just as beautiful, if not more so. Ron was staring at it with glum eyes. He wondered what his friend was thinking.
"Yeah, thanks, Hermione," Ron muttered, shoving the card roughly into his robe pocket. A puzzled, hurt look flashed briefly in Hermione's eyes, but vanished just as quickly.
"Well," Ginny said expectantly, draping her arms about Hermione's shoulders from behind and resting her chin on the older girl's shoulder. "Where're ours?"
"Yeah," Hermione chimed, reaching back to encircle Ginny's waist. "Not that we're expecting much artistic talent from Quidditch lumps like you." She grinned to show she was teasing.
Harry shuffled his feet and cast a nervous glance at Ron. "Uh, here you go," he muttered, handing the two girls the cards he'd made. Hermione shoved Ginny off her in order too leave her hands free.
"Thanks, Harry!" she said, looking it over and smiling. "It's real pretty." She leaned forward to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Harry ruffled her hair absently in response.
"Yeah, thanks, Harry," Ginny said. She made an awkward movement, as if she too was going to give him a kiss, but then she caught herself, stepped back, and coughed nervously. "Oh, look!" she cried a little too loud and cheerfully. "There's Luna! I'm going to go say hello." And she scurried away, red hair flying behind her. Harry was glad to see her go.
"Well, Ron," Hermione was saying mischievously, looking at Harry's friend with an amused look in her face. "Don't you have something for me?"
Ron's face was an unbelievable shade of scarlet, but he did his best to speak nonchalantly. "Actually I don't, Hermione. I must've forgot. Sorry."
"Oh," she said in a small voice.
"I mean," Ron began in a rush, "after everything you said last night, I didn't think you'd even want . . ."
"Of course," she replied rather vacantly. "I did say those things, didn't I?"
"If I'd known - "
"Never mind, Ron," Hermione interrupted quietly, making a swift, dismissive gesture with one hand. "You don't have to apologize."
Harry breathed an inward sigh of relief. After the row Ron and Hermione had had fourth year after Yule Ball, he'd been expecting a noisy scene full of stomping feet and furiously raised voices. But Hermione seemed to be taking it remarkably well.
Until he saw her eyes, that is.
Harry knew that look. He suspected he must've have worn it most of the time growing up at the Dursley's. It spoke of nothing more than the deepest disappointment.
"Hey, Hermione," he said cheerfully in an attempt to change the subject. "Have you seen Fred and George's flying cupid yet? The bewitched it so that it'll poke you with a sharp stick until you go kiss someone. It's really something. Must've taken them hours -"
Hermione gave a somewhat shaky laugh. "No," she said. "But Parvati was telling me about it. I've been meaning to ask them to catch it and put it away." A confused look came over her face. "We don't want anyone's eye getting poked out . . ."
Silence fell. Harry glanced awkwardly from one friend to the other. Ron was staring determinedly off into space, and Hermione was tugging viciously on a strand of curly hair.
"Um," she said finally. "I'm going to go find Lavender, all right? I wanted to ask her something about class . . ."
She fled.
Ron let out a whoosh of air, his lanky frame deflating. "You see, Harry," he said haughtily. "I told you she wouldn't care."
Harry turned to his friend to if he was really that dense. But Ron wouldn't meet his eyes.
Harry sighed. "C'mon," he said, putting a steering hand on Ron's shoulder. "Let's go find Neville."