Chapter Fourteen: The Valentine and the Kick Around

The next few weeks were spent going to classes, doing homework, Quidditch practice as well as Harry and Ron's exercises and Karate. However, there was a new excitement in the air as Valentine's Day was approaching. Harry wasn't all that fussed about it though, but Seamus and Dean thought the whole thing was funny as they decided to send Valentine's to all the girls in their year.

'Even the Slytherins?' asked Ron.

'No, well, maybe Greengrass,' replied Seamus.

'You'd better not send one to Hermione, because I am, got it?' said Ron.

'Yeah, got it …'

'Greengrass, which one is she?' asked Harry.

'She's the blond one, she's a bit snooty, but pretty,' replied Seamus.

'Right, we'll leave you to it …' said Harry as he and Ron left the dormitory.

As they walked Harry asked, 'Are you really giving Hermione a Valentine's card?'

'Yeah, why?' replied Ron.

'Well, you are only friends,' said Harry.

'I like her, Harry, as you know.'

'Yeah, I do …'

'What about you, are you sending any Valentine's?'

'No,' said Harry flatly.

Harry and Ron did not say any more on the subject as they met up with Hermione in the common room.

When Valentine's Day arrived Hermione could not honestly say that she was all that excited or interested. Of course Lavender and Parvati more than made up for Hermione's lack of interest. They had been squealing in excitement for a few days as they were expecting at least one card each. Lavender was hoping to get a card from Seamus and Parvati was hoping that Harry might send a card her way. Unfortunately, she was to be disappointed, although she did receive a card from Seamus and Dean each, as did Lavender.

Once she was dressed for the day, Hermione left her roommates to go down to the common room. She was met by Ron and Harry who each gave her a hug before Ron said, 'Happy Valentine's, Hermione,' as he gave her an envelope.

'You got me a card?' asked Hermione surprised.

'Yeah …' said Ron as his ears turned red.

Hermione opened the envelope and took out the card as Ron said, 'Sorry it's hand-made …'

Hermione looked at the card. The front of it had a heart drawn on it with the words Happy Valentine's Day written on it, she then opened it and read what was written inside.

Dear Hermione,

For the prettiest and most brilliant girl in the world, will you be my Valentine?

Love Ron

'Do you like it?' Ron asked tentatively.

Hermione had a tear in her eye as she looked up at him and nodded before she hugged him and Ron hugged her back.

When they broke apart Hermione put the card in her bag and then took Ron's hand before the three of them went to breakfast.

After lessons were over it was decided that there would be a small party in Gryffindor tower for Valentine's Day so Fred and George took care of the refreshments as the radio was tuned to a station that was playing love songs for the day.

The older students seemed to be getting into the spirit of things as they danced with their boyfriends and girlfriends respectively, as there was plenty of snogging too.

Harry thought the whole thing was pointless so he went to bed early along with Neville who had not received a Valentine from anyone either. Fred was dancing with Angelina while George was dancing with Alicia. Other notable dance partners were Oliver Wood and Katie Bell, who had had to punch the annoying McClaggen kid who had been bugging Katie to dance with him, but she had said no to him and it had taken a solid punch from Wood to make the git understand. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione had spent the evening dancing together, although after a while Hermione wanted to have a rest so Ron agreed and they sat down in the corner with Hermione on Ron's lap.

'Is Valentine's Day always celebrated like this at Hogwarts?' asked Hermione.

'Yeah, according to my brothers and Sirius, it's a big deal no matter what year you're in, there's always been a tradition for it, especially in Gryffindor,' replied Ron.

'Thank you for the card this morning, Ron. I've never gotten a Valentine before,' she said quietly into his chest.

'It was no problem, Hermione …' he murmured into her hair as he rested his head on hers.

They did not speak for several moments but then Ron lifted his head off of hers and she looked up at him and gave him a smile.

Ron smiled back at her before brushing her lips with his own as they shared a soft kiss before deciding it was time to go to bed, but before they went their separate ways for the night, Ron and Hermione shared one last hug and kiss goodnight.

The following evening all the first year boys were in the dormitory talking about the things from home they missed the most.

'My sister and my parents,' said Neville.

'Playing and watching football,' said Dean.

'I didn't think you liked football,' said Ron.

'What, of course I do! I support West Ham!' said Dean.

'That's what I meant,' said Ron. 'It could be worse though, you could be a scummy Arsenal fan.'

'Eurgh, gooners,' said Dean with a shudder.

'If we had a ball we could have a kick around …' said Ron.

'I've got a ball, I brought one from home!' said Dean.

'Cool, so shall we have a kick around on the Quidditch pitch?' suggested Ron.

The other boys agreed and so they planned to go on Saturday afternoon after they had put out the word so more people could join them and by the time Saturday came along they had enough for five-a-side. Along with Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus, they had Fred and George and they were joined by Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie McMillan and Anthony Goldstein.

When they came to play they used jumpers for goalposts and picked teams. On one side there was Harry, Ron, Fred, George and Neville, while on the other side was Dean, Seamus, Justin, Anthony and Ernie.

Neville went in goal while Fred and George would be his defence while Harry and Ron would be up front, as the opposition would have Ernie in goal, with Dean and Anthony in defence and Justin and Seamus would be up front.

As they played they were drawing quite a crowd as the bleachers began to fill and Lee Jordan was commentating despite the fact he did not know much about the game, although with all high fiving between Ron and Harry as they scored goal after goal Lee soon picked up on things.

Teachers too stopped to watch for a few moments before moving away as the game progressed. It was clear that best players were Ron, Dean and Harry, while Seamus had some skills too.

Those watching included Hermione, Lavender and Parvati from Gryffindor, Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones from Hufflepuff, Padma Patil from Ravenclaw. The girls could not help being impressed with the skills on display as they gushed and giggled amongst themselves and Hermione could not stop looking at Ron.

Unfortunately, it appeared their fun was going to be ruined by the gang of Slytherins approaching them, but then the gang of Slytherins sat down to watch the players as they passed the ball to one another and scored goals, in fact some of the Slytherins were asking what the point of the game was and who was winning. As to who was winning it was Ron's team and by quite a margin too.

Then another group of Slytherins came along and this group had Draco Malfoy among them, which made the vast majority of the crowd groan, including some of the Slytherins.

'What in the name of Merlin are you doing?' he drawled.

'Minding our own business, perhaps you should give it a try, slime ball,' said Ron.

'Yes, go away, Malfoy!' shouted Harry.

'Are you playing some stupid muggle game?' asked Malfoy.

'No, we're playing football, moron!' shouted Dean as he made a pass to Seamus but he was robbed of the ball by George who passed it to Harry who crossed it to Ron who volleyed it past Ernie for another goal and applause from the crowd.

'Was that supposed to be good, Weasel?'

'Why yes it was rather good, chicken shit,' said Ron who had just received the ball back and then used a shimmy to go past Anthony and then placed a side foot shot past Ernie for another goal and applause from the crowd.

'You think you're clever, don't you, Weasel?'

The ball was again at Ron's feet but this time instead of passing to his teammates or going for goal he paused and said, 'Here you go, Malfoy, see if you can do better,' then Ron smashed the ball as hard as he could at Malfoy who had no hope of being able to control it and so the ball hit him in a very sensitive area.

Malfoy dropped to the ground holding himself as his eyes started to water in pain and this drew applause and cheering from those watching.

Ron then stood over Malfoy and said, 'I must be good to be able to hit such a small target from twenty yards!'

This made the crowd laugh as Dean collected the ball and those who had laid down their jumpers collected them and everybody left leaving Crabbe and Goyle to take Malfoy to the Hospital Wing.

As they walked back from the Quidditch pitch, Dean turned to Ron and asked, 'How did you get so good at football, Ron? I mean you're a pureblood, right?'

Ron simply said, 'I'm good because I am, Dean, and yeah, I'm a pureblood, I understand that most purebloods are pretty ignorant of muggle culture and sports, but I was practically raised by Harry's parents and so with his mum being muggle-born and everything …'

Ron then gave Hermione a one-armed squeeze before they re-entered Gryffindor tower.

A/N: Yeah, this chapter, not my best work, I know, sorry.