Disclaimer: You know already, all HP characters don't belong to me.

Author's Note: This is an alternate universe where there's no Voldemort, Hermione is a pureblood and Harry's parents are still alive.

Author's Note: Those words in italics represent French.

Thank you all for your reviews! Happy Valentine's Day!

Chapter 5: Valentine's Day

Time passed quickly and soon it was February, which meant Valentine's Day was coming. Everyone in Hogwarts started to get into the mood for the celebration of love. Even the teachers seemed to be in dreamy mood. Once during breakfast, Hermione and Ginny noticed that Professor Sprout was talking to Professor McGonagall, but the Transfiguration professor didn't seem to be listening, she seemed to be staring dreamily at Professor Dumbledore, who was sitting two seats away and was laughing merrily at Professor Filtwick's joke.

"Looks like Professor McGonagall is in the mood for love too." whispered Ginny to Hermione, giggling.

Hermione just sighed in frustration.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" asked Ginny.

Hermione gave Ginny a look. "Well, I'm not in the mood for love."

"Why…" started Ginny and she remembered something. "Oh… it's Harry, isn't it?"

Hermione nodded miserably. Harry had been avoiding her lately. He hardly spoke to her for the past two weeks. Every time Hermione saw him in the common room, he was busily talking to his friends. He began skipped his meals during mealtimes. He always came back to the common room late at night and was too tired to talk to Hermione. And every time Hermione tried to talk to him during class, Harry claimed that he was too busy with the class to talk. Yeah right, if he was busy, why was he writing on his textbook when he should be listening to his teachers during classes then?

"Does he have to be so busy?" complained Hermione.

"Come on Hermione, at least he isn't hanging out with one of his admirers." said Ginny.

"I guess." said Hermione grumpily. Ever since Harry removed his glasses (he didn't need them anymore, since his eyesight had been restored), his number of admirers increased. They didn't bother about his messy hairstyle at all.

"It's just that, I feel so left out…" said Hermione slowly.

"Ah…" said Ginny, as if she understood. "I got the same feeling too. Sometimes Neville practically spends his whole month in the greenhouse and I seldom get to talk to him. Love is selfish after all. But Hermione, although Harry is now your fiancé, he still has his own personal time and he has the right to spend it in any way he likes…"

Hermione understood that perfectly, Harry had the freedom to do whatever he likes, he wasn't hers entirely anyway. But somehow Hermione felt that Harry should at least pay a bit of attention to her, she was his fiancée, after all.

On the day before Valentine's Day, Hermione smiled at her reflection in the mirror in the dormitory. She had her hair tied up with a big, lovely hair band with a white rose. She looked much prettier with her hair off her face.

"Surely Harry would notice my new look." said Hermione to herself and she went downstairs.

Harry was looking at a sheet of paper when she came down. Quickly, he hid the paper away and got up.

"Hi Harry." said Hermione cheerfully, tossing her head slightly as she did.

"Hi." said Harry. "Listen, I got to go, I have an emergency meeting with my Quidditch team, yeah, that's it! I, err, I see you tomorrow."

He moved towards Hermione and gave her a goodbye kiss on the cheek.

"By the way, nice hair band."

He left.

Hermione sighed in disappointment and sat down on the chair. Harry didn't even notice her new look.

Just then, Ginny came into the common room. "Hey Hermione, that's a cute hairstyle."

But Hermione was too surprised at Ginny's sudden appearance to listen. "Ginny? What are you doing here?"

Ginny giggled.

"Well, this is the Gryffindor common room, isn't it?" she said.

"Aren't you supposed to be in a Quidditch meeting?" asked Hermione. "Aren't you the Chaser of our team?"

"What meeting?" asked Ginny blankly.

It took no time for Hermione to realise that Harry had lied to her. "It's okay, I understand now."

Hermione looked so pale and upset that Ginny couldn't help feeling a little concerned. "Hermione, are you okay?"

Hermione nodded. Then she tore her hair band away from her hair.

Harry didn't come back to the common room until 11pm and when he did, he found Hermione sitting on the chair, staring into the fire in the fireplace. The light from the fire made her glow slightly and her back was facing him.

Smiling lovingly at Hermione, Harry went to his fiancée and put his arms around her from behind. "Good evening, darling."

He was about to kiss her when Hermione got up and walked away.

Bewildered, Harry asked: "What's wrong?"

Hermione turned and Harry backed away from her, she looked mad and oddly enough, upset.

"Hermione, is there anything wrong?" asked Harry in alarm.

"I will tell you what's wrong, Harry Potter!" snapped Hermione in French. "Where were you just now?"

"Me? I…. I told you, I went for a meeting." stammered Harry, not quite looking at his fiancée.

"Liar." said Hermione immediately. "Ginny came in the minute after you left and she told me there was no meeting!" Well, that was not exactly what Ginny said, but Hermione didn't care.

"She did?" asked Harry rather lamely. "That was because, hm…."

"Why did you have to lie?" asked Hermione. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"Err… no." said Harry.

It was so obvious that Harry was lying.

"Really?" asked Hermione, her eyes narrowing.

Harry hesitated for a while and he nodded.

Hermione bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming in frustration. She was certain that Harry was lying. She closed her eyes and opened them again.

"I'm going to ask you one last time, are you hiding something from me?"

"No." said Harry immediately, who was beginning to sound annoyed.

"Are you going out with another girl?" asked Hermione suddenly.

Harry looked extremely offended. "Hermione, I may be your fiancé, but I have the right to keep my own secrets, so just mind your own bloody business."

Hermione was hurt by Harry's sentence and her face showed her feelings clearly. Harry realized that his wrong use of words and quickly said, "Sorry, I didn't mean that, really…"

Too late. Hermione yanked her engagement ring off her finger. "You don't want me to mind your business, fine! The engagement is off then, don't you ever come near me again!"

She threw her ring on the carpet and ran upstairs. Harry began to chase after her but he stopped at the stairs because he knew that boys wouldn't allow on the stairs that led to the girls' dormitory.

Harry called in English: "Hermione, I didn't mean it, I…"

Then he sighed in frustration and sat down. He wished he could tell Hermione what he was up to, but he just couldn't. He stared at the ring on the floor, crawled to it and picked it up. Staring at the ring, Harry seriously hoped that Hermione would put it back on tomorrow.

Hermione yanked her bed curtains aside and threw herself on her bed. She began to weep. Harry had just told her rudely to mind her own business, and that hurts. That was just the same as telling her to jump off the Astronomy Tower.

This 'engagement' thing was wrong and for once, Hermione was glad that they were not officially engaged.

On Valentine's Day, Hermione looked totally exhausted and gloomy. Anyone who took a look at her would realise that she was not in a good mood. Some guessed that she had a quarrel with Harry, and some guessed that she had too much pressure from her schoolwork.
Hermione sat near the lake and stared out at the waters during a break. She wondered what she and Harry would be doing now if they haven't quarrelled (if you counted what happened last night as quarrelling)

"Well, what do we have here?" said a voice.

Hermione looked up. It was Draco Malfoy, whose family was as rich as hers and like her family, the Malfoys were purebloods. He was handsome but he was very arrogant and selfish.

"You looked as if someone in your house had just died." commented Malfoy.

"Go away, Malfoy." snapped Hermione.

"Oo, not very friendly, are we? I heard a rumour about you and Potter, something about you two breaking up, isn't it?" asked Malfoy.

"It's not a rumour, it's true." muttered Hermione.

"Oh well," Malfoy sat down beside her without asking, "Since you and Potter have broken up, why don't you go out with me then?"

Hermione turned to look at him. Suddenly she didn't care who she wanted to go out with anymore. Okay, Malfoy was Harry's rival, but so what? Harry wanted Hermione to mind her own business, so Harry should mind his own too…. But then again, Harry was her first love, a fact which was hard to forget at the moment…

"Let me think about it for a few days." said Hermione finally.

"What's there to think?" asked Malfoy, rolling his eyes. "You and I have a lot in common; we are both rich, good-looking and purebloods…."

"Just because you are rich, handsome and a pureblood doesn't mean I must go out with you, Malfoy. Now leave me alone." said Hermione in frustration.

"Fine." said Malfoy, got up and left.

At dinner time, Hermione arrived to the Gryffindor table and found Harry missing. Hermione tried not to care. She turned her attention to the Great Hall, which, oddly, looked as gloomy as the dungeons below. Hermione was so depressed that she wished she could just go back to the common room but she couldn't fight with her empty stomach, so she sat down beside Ginny.

"Look at Professor Dumbledore." said Ginny, who was trying to cheer Hermione up.

Hermione looked and found Dumbledore staring at Professor McGonagall. McGonagall caught him staring and smiled. Dumbledore simply reacted by dropping his fork.

Ginny giggled and Ron laughed, but that didn't cheer Hermione up. Hermione sighed instead and tried to eat her dinner.

"Oh come on, Hermione, things will get better." said Ginny.

"Easy for you to say." said Hermione and looked at her left hand's bare fingers. "You know what? Maybe I will go out with Malfoy after all."

"What?" gasped Ginny.

"Going out with that slimeball? Are you nuts?" asked Ron.

"Don't, Hermione, he's a bully, a demon." said Neville.

Just then, Dumbledore stood up and said, "Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! I hope every couple out here have celebrated their special day happily."

"Not me." said Hermione quietly.

Ginny looked sympatric at her words while her brother and boyfriend looked uncomfortable.

"But that's not all. I have granted a special permission to Mr Harry Potter to perform a special Valentine's Day item. Take it away, Harry."

"Huh?" said Hermione, looking up. "What's going on?"

Ginny shrugged.

The teachers left the high table and with magic, Dumbledore removed the table and replaced with a stage.

The students looked at each other curiously but then the girls started to scream and cheer when Harry came walking down the Great Hall with a guitar in his hand.

Harry stepped up to the stage and swallowed nervously. Slowly, he turned and faced the school.

"G-good evening, everyone." he started.

Hermione could hear Malfoy laughing, but she didn't care, she wanted to know what's Harry up to.

"I'm here tonight to perform a special item for Valentine's Day. I have practiced my song in secret for days and nights." Harry's voice was getting louder and stronger. "Because of that, I neglected my friends and school work."

At that, Malfoy laughed louder and shut up immediately when he saw McGonagall glaring at him.

"I'm now going to perform my song. But before I start, I would like to say something to my girlfriend Hermione Granger, whom I'm dedicating this song to."

Harry stood in tiptoe to search for his girlfriend at the Gryffindor table until he found her. Everyone who knew Hermione turned to look at her. Hermione blushed slightly.

"I kept avoiding you and I even lied to you last night because I want this whole thing to be a surprise for you. I didn't mean it when I said 'mind your own bloody business'. Please forgive me."

Looking at her directly, Harry took a deep breath and said clearly: "Je vous aime, ma cherie (I love you, my dear)."

Any student who understood French either sighed in envy or stared at Harry, impressed by his courage. Malfoy just stared at Harry, irritated.

Harry tested his guitar and started to sing. Harry's voice was weak at first, but then it got stronger as the song went on. Girls were staring at Harry as if he was a famous rock star and some of them even had their eyes closed as they listened.

After Harry had finished, the students clapped and some of the girls screamed excitedly. Hermione was blushing furiously, but she couldn't help smiling as well. So that's why Harry had been avoiding her! Suddenly, everything in the Hall seemed cheery again.

Harry got down from the stage and made his way to Hermione. Hermione got up and when Harry reached her, he put his guitar down. Students were now gathering around him and Hermione.

Clearing his throat, Harry dug his pockets and took out Hermione's ring. "Hermione, would you put this back on again?"

Hermione extended her hand. Happily, Harry took it and pushed the ring through her finger. After that, they just looked at each other, smiling.

"Oh come on, just kiss already!" called Ron and everyone laughed.

"But…" started Hermione, embarrassed.

"Kiss kiss kiss." started Dean Thomas and so did other students, who started chanting.

Malfoy scowled and left the hall in disgust and the teachers didn't do anything.

"Should we stop them?" asked Snape to his colleagues. "This is getting out of hand."

"Stop them? Have you gone mad?" asked Madam Hooch in horror.

"Let them be." said McGonagall, smiling in amusement at her students.

The students were still chanting.

Harry grinned, pulled Hermione to him and gave her a long, passionate kiss. Clearly embarrassed, Hermione resisted, but then she gave in and kissed her fiancé back.

As the students whistled and cheered, Hermione thought that this was the best Valentine's Day she ever had.