Okay okay I know it's been a month. I'm terribly sorry! You can all slap me over the internet! I do have assignments that have been dragging me down so that's why! And I went on a camp. But no more excuses. All of that is over. I shall write more.

I only really posted today because it is Fred and George's birthday.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, then I would probably procrastinate so much that it never got published. Yeah. . .

Updated: 28/5/2014

Chapter Fourteen: Toxic Valentine

It wasn't long after Christmas that everyone started to settle down and feel safe again. There had been no attacks since the double attack on Justin and Nick. The weather seemed to reflect the situation as the snow slowly disappeared and the sun started to shine weakly over the grounds. Calm descended over the school; all of whose occupants thought that the monster had stopped altogether.

The one disadvantage to the peace at Hogwarts was how smug Lockhart acted. It took all of Grace's self-control not to scream his secret out at the breakfast table as she overheard him brag to Professor McGonagall about how the attacks had stopped because of him. Her noticeable scowl was brought to attention by Fred only a few seconds later.

"What's with the face, Grace?" he asked.

"Upset you haven't got a date for Valentine's?" George added.

"How could I be when you two don't have dates either?" Grace smirked.

"That is where you are wrong, Gracie, my dear," Fred said. "There happens to be two lovely Hufflepuffs who I'm sure will accept a candlelit dinner for four in the kitchens."

"Right," Grace nodded, tossing her bag over her shoulder and pushing her leftovers towards the boys. "Good luck with that. You coming, Miranda?"

Once they were out of earshot of the boys, Miranda turned to Grace and asked.

"What were you actually scowling about?"

"Lockhart."

"Oh."

"But being single on Valentine's Day doesn't make me happy either."

Hphphphphphphphphphphphphphp

On February 14th Grace walked into the Great Hall behind Trina and Oliver, desperately trying to ignore their romantic talk but once she got a look at her surroundings she stopped in her tracks.

The walls were covered in soft pink flowers, matching the heart shaped confetti falling from the light blue ceiling. Grace's mouth fell open before splitting into a wide grin. No matter how lonely she had felt moments before she couldn't help but feel giggly at the sight.

Contently floating down the hall, Grace moved to sit next to Miranda. Opposite her Hannah and Lara were batting the confetti away from their food, laughing all the while.

"As lovely as all of this is," Grace started. "How did it happen?"

Miranda simply pointed up to where Lockhart was waving for attention, dressed in the most disgusting pink robes Grace had ever seen. None of the teacher's seemed as happy as he did; Snape even looked like someone had force-fed him poison.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" he shouted. "And may I thank the forty six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you- and it doesn't end here!"

Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors of the Great hall marched a dozen dwarves all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

"My friendly card-carrying cupids!" Lockhart beamed. "They will be roving around school today delivering your Valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a love potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

Grace felt bad for Professor Flitwick as he buried his head in his hands. Then again she couldn't wait to ask Snape for a lesson in love potions.

"I hope I don't ever have to see those dwarves again," Miranda muttered, sprinkling sugar on top of her porridge. Her eyes pointed to something behind Grace and her eyebrows rose. Grace spun around to see a Hufflepuff boy from the year below them standing nervously in front of her. She recalled his name to be Kurt Samuels.

"Hi Grace," he waved weakly. "I was wondering if maybe you . . . erm . . . wanted to-"

Kurt broke off looking over Grace's shoulder; his eyes widening in slight terror. Grace turned her head but only saw Fred and George hastily shoving sausages in their mouths.

"You know what never mind," Kurt shook his head. "It's not worth it."

Grace watched with wide eyes as Kurt walked away from them.

"What the hell was that about?" she said, looking between Miranda, Hannah and Lara for answers.

"Beats me," Lara shrugged. "The guy looked like he had the hots for you."

"Then why'd he run away?" Grace frowned.

Lara and Miranda shrugged while Hannah mirrored her frown. Grace sighed, still wanting to know what had just happened.

Hphphphphphphphphphphphphphp

The halls outside of Defence the Dark Arts classroom were ringing with the sound of off-key singing dwarves. Students shoved against each other trying to get away from the horrid creatures. Lockhart was standing in the doorway of his classroom, grinning broadly and keenly unaware of the mayhem his 'cupids' had caused.

Grace and Miranda leaned against a wall in an alcove nearby, watching the stream of students make their way downstairs for Potions. There would be no point trying to leave until the corridors were empty. At least that was their excuse for not wanting to be early to Potions.

Across the hall from them was a group of Hufflepuffs that they shared DADA with. Two of them, Elliot and James appeared to be arguing over something. Every few seconds one of them would glance over at the pair of Gryffindor girls; Elliot even going so far as to gesture over at them.

"Is it just me or are James and Elliot staring at us?" Grace wondered.

"Well nah, Gracie, they think the tapestry behind us is interesting," Miranda smirked. She laughed when Grace turned around to examine the tapestry in question.

Just as Grace turned her head back around, Elliot sauntered over to them. He turned around to laugh at James halfway there.

"Hey Grace, Miranda," he greeted. "My mate, James over there thinks you're pretty nice, Miranda. He wanted to ask you to be his Valentine."

"Why didn't he ask me himself?" Miranda questioned.

"Well . . . you know the rumours, right?"

Grace and Miranda exchanged a confused look.

"What rumours?" Grace asked with a frown.

Elliot seemed stunned for a moment then continued in a slightly hushed tone. "This is awkward. . . Heaps of people are saying that any guy who goes out with you two or any of Fred and George's friends for that matter gets pranked by them. And if it ends badly then the prank will be so humiliating the boy will be the talk of the school for weeks. Some people are even wondering whether they'll end up pranking Lee or Oliver."

"So James is scared of Fred and George?" Miranda said.

"If you weren't friends with them, wouldn't you be?" Elliot reasoned.

Grace acknowledged his point with a nod and a grimace.

"Yeah but I am friends with them," Miranda pointed out. "Which is why I don't give a crap if they don't like me dating boys. So you can go over there and tell James I would love to be his Valentine. Fred and George can deal with that."

Elliot grinned, nodding his head. He turned around to walk back to James but stopped after a few steps.

"Hey Grace, if you don't have a one already, would you like to be my Valentine?"

"I would love to," Grace agreed with a sweet smile.

"Lockhart's throwing a Valentine dinner at 8. Meet you there?"

Grace nodded. Miranda and her watched him break the news to James whose face split into a wide grin. He jumped onto Elliot ecstatically. His eyes wandered over to Miranda and, after noticing that they were watching, looked sheepishly at the ground.

"Looks like we're not alone anymore," Grace smirked, raising her eyebrows at a happy Miranda.

"You know what, Fred and George probably still are."

Hphphphphphphphphphphphphphp

That night the fourth year girls' dormitory was a flurry of activity. Hannah and Lara sat on their beds, flipping through magazines and occasionally looking up to comment on an outfit or hairdo while the others whirled around the room getting ready for their dates. Lee had decided to take Ciara down to the kitchens with Fred, George and their dates but Oliver had gone with the more romantic option of a starlit picnic on the quidditch pitch.

"Hey Grace, how long have we got to go?" Miranda asked as she carefully finished using her wand as a hair straightener.

"Fifteen minutes," Grace replied. She was perched on the end of her bed, having been completely ready for half an hour now. "Ciara, when are you going down? I wanted to talk to Fred and George before we left."

"Right now!" Ciara said, emerging from the bathroom. "Miranda, Trina, you coming?"

Both of them grumbled at being rushed but still grabbed their bags and met them at the door.

"Have fun!" Hannah called.

"Don't be too nice to those boys!" Lara warned.

"Don't be sure about that," Miranda muttered.

"Is my hair alright?" Trina asked. She adjusted the plaited bun that she had put her hair in only a few minutes before. "I think it's falling out a bit."

"Here, let me help," Ciara offered, pulling her friend closer.

Grace ignored them both and continued down the stairs; her only concern was confronting Fred and George. Through the whole of potions and afternoon studying, her mind couldn't stop thinking about how rude it was for the twins to think they could do something like that. It didn't even occur to her that they might be trying to be protective friends. She let her rage at their interference simmer over the day until she entered the common room and let it boil over the top at the sight of them.

"Fred and George Weasley!" Grace snarled as she reached them. "Is it true that you two prank anybody who goes out with me, Miranda or any of the girls?"

Fred and George shared a worried look.

"Is this a trick question?" George ventured to ask.

"No, it's not. Honestly I can't believe you two would do that. It's not like we go around and tell girls not to date you because we'll do something horrible to them. So why would you ever feel the need to do it to us?"

"Because we're not going to get as hurt over a girl!" Fred defended. "You and Miranda were both upset when you broke up with your boyfriends. We just paid them back for it!"

"Do you know how heartless that makes you sound?" Grace questioned. "Of course, you'll get hurt over a girl!"

"Eventually, yes, love," George agreed. "But we don't want to see you get hurt over a guy."

"Or Miranda," Fred added.

"Or Ciara."

"Or Trina."

"Okay, okay we get it, you don't want any of us to get hurt by a guy," Miranda nodded, exasperated with the whole situation.

"Ahh you get the point," Fred said.

"Just lay off a bit would you?" Grace suggested. "Not that I don't find it sweet or anything but it would be nice if you stopped."

"By the way, boys, I'll have you know that you didn't scare off my date tonight at all," Miranda mentioned, leaning against Grace.

"W-what?" George spluttered. "You have a date?"

"We both do," Grace linked her arm with Miranda. "So have fun tonight. . . if you managed to get those dates."

Grace and Miranda swept their way out of the common room, leaving behind a pair of spluttering twins.

"You do realize that James was scared of Fred and George right?" Grace wondered.

"Yeah but they don't have to know that."

Ten minutes later Grace and Miranda turned up outside the Great Hall to meet James and Elliot. Both of them waited by the stairs in button-down shirts with flowers in their hands. At the sight of the girls their eyes lit up, almost comically.

"Wow, Miranda, you look beautiful," James said in awe. Miranda looked down at her red dress that split into pleats and adjusted the silver bracelets that lined her wrist.

"You don't look so bad yourself, Grace," Elliot commented.

"Thanks?" Grace replied, flattening out her body-hugging lace dress. She wasn't entirely sure if that was a compliment or not. Elliot didn't seem sure either so he passed her the rose he had in his hand.

"Sorry, that came out wrong," he apologized. "You really do look good."

"Told you purple looked good on you," Miranda whispered in her ear as they walked over to the Great Hall.

Thank you for reading! Again I'm sorry! And I know the ending was kind of terrible but I'm in a rush. I will write as soon as possible which I swear will be soon! Please review with any comments, questions or advice!