* Valentine roses *
It started their first year at Hogwarts. A girl from Slytherin had called her mudblood, she got angry and hexed her with a Bat-Boogey hex her aunt Ginny had taught her during the summer. Headmistress McGonagall sent a letter to her parents, mostly to inform them of the incident. She wasn't that hard on the girl. She knew that particular word was a delicate subject in her family. Her mom had gotten to school in the morning to talk to her about it. They had a long conversation about what happened. Belle got out of that meeting quite upset and walked through the portrait hole to the common room where one of her best friends was eagerly waiting for her on the couch. She looked at him and he instantly knew that she had been crying all the way there.
"Was it that bad?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders.
"She wasn't mad, just disappointed on my behaviour, but she understood why I did it. She said dad did something similar when a classmate of hers called her that." she explained. He just looked at her and she sighed. He drew his wand and cast an advanced spell for their level: orchideous. A single red rose emerged from the tip of his wand. He grabbed it and handed it to her, gently.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Belle." he said, smiling a little. He was hoping to cheer her up a bit, let her know that he was there for her. She took the rose in her hands, smiled a bit at him and sniffed.
"Thank you, Adam. Happy Valentine's Day to you too." she said, and she kissed his cheek lightly, feeling some kind of butterflies in her tummy.
For the next 2 years, every Valentine's Day he performed the same spell and gave her a red rose as a friendly gift. In third, they spent the day in Hogsmeade. This time, he gave her the rose during lunch, and as the previous years, she kissed his cheek as a thank you. That same year, she learnt a spell to keep the flower from wilting.
Fourth year was their first as a couple, and the first thing he did when he saw her in the common room that morning was casting the spell and giving her a rose. This time, she kissed him on the lips, but she felt the same butterflies in her stomach as the first time he gave the flower to her.
Five years later, she was at work against her boyfriend's wishes. He didn't want her on her feet too much as she was eight months pregnant. That morning, she had had an argument with him about that subject. She was putting some books in a shelf and talking to her mother who had popped in to check on her and the baby when he walked in the shop. Slowly, she went to the door and stopped before him. They stared at each other for a few minutes, then he drew his wand and cast the spell again, the same one he had cast for nearly ten years on that very same days. This time, he produced two red roses and handed them to her with a timid smile. She smiled as well.
"the fact that we had an argument this morning doesn't mean I don't remember what day is today." he said. She looked at the fowers.
"Two?" she asked. His smile got bigger.
"One for each of my valentines." he said, then he leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed him back as Hermione looked at them from a distant shelf, smiling at the picture.
When Belle got home that afternoon, she put the roses in a big bouquet. It contained every rose he had given her since their first year at school.