It was Monday, February the fourteenth. Valentines Day. When Harry arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast that morning, prepared for another long day of school, he could hear the students talking with cheerful excitement about what plans they had for the day, and as he walked closer towards the Slytherin table, he caught glimpses of hundreds of couples happily seated together at their own tables. All he could really think to himself, as he tried to avoid looking too determinedly for Tom where the Death Eaters sat, was that he hated this day of the year almost as much as Christmas. It just reminded him of the freedom he could not have. The struggle of relationships in general was bad enough without an annual reminder, in his mind.
He had talked to Tom a few days ago about the idea of Valentines Day, and along with both agreeing upon how much they hated the holidays anyway, they had settled with the procedure of not getting each other anything, to avoid questions. This plan suited Harry just fine, and he felt far less nervous with this in mind as he sat across from Tom on the Slytherin table. Harry looked up at Tom, and they silently communicated their feelings for the day by reading each other's subtle expressions. Dolohov, who was sitting two seats to Tom's right, soon interrupted Harry.
"You got any plans for the day?" he asked.
"No," Harry replied.
"Good, because we're all going to go to Hogsmeade together, and we need an even number. You'll make us have fourteen people."
"Why do you need an even number?" Harry asked curiously.
Dolohov smirked, "It's a surprise."
Dolohov joined another conversation, and Harry didn't think to read his thoughts before his eyes were averted. He turned to Tom. "Are you going?"
"Yes," Tom replied.
"Do you have any clue why it matters how many of us there are?"
"From what I can tell, my friends have some sort of plan … they do this occasionally, and don't inform me so as to be sure that I don't stop them beforehand."
"You never guess?" Harry asked, thinking of Legilimency.
"I can never find an objection," Tom replied, "and I must admit that it is often quite amusing."
Harry wasn't really sure what Tom meant by this, but he also wasn't that bothered now he knew Tom would be there too. He guessed that maybe the Death Eaters were planning on gambling again, and they needed an even number of people to do so. As breakfast ended, the students within the Great Hall piled into the corridors for the lessons that would be held for the first half of the day. The day passed relatively quickly for Harry, who was in no rush to be anywhere.
When lunch too came and passed, Harry found himself walking across the school grounds with a dozen Death Eaters and Tom, heading towards Hogsmeade. It was a relatively sunny day, even if some clouds still hung over of the castle now and then, and when they arrived in the heart of Hogsmeade, sunshine shone happily upon the houses and buildings of the town.
"This seems like a perfect day to ruin someone else's day," Avery laughed as they headed through the streets.
"We aren't ruining no one's day," Mulciber said, smirking, "We're just making our own more enjoyable."
"I dare you to say they when people start to get annoyed," Avery said.
"Nah, I'll hex them if they dare start to get annoyed," Mulciber replied.
A few of the Death Eaters sniggered at this, before Nott said, "They can all leave if they don't like us being there."
"Where are we going, exactly?" Harry asked.
A few of them grinned at this, and Avery replied, "We'll be there in a minute."
Harry was slightly surprised when they passed the Three Broomsticks at this point, and he tried to think where else might be a preferable spot for the company he walked with. He contemplated the Hog's Head, though they were going in the wrong direction for that.
"Here we are," Dolohov said as they turned another corner.
Harry looked up at the street ahead of them, seeing Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop and Dervish & Bangs amongst a few other places. It was only after scanning the scene a few more times that Harry saw another shop, and he suddenly realised that this was exactly where they were heading.
"We're going to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Yup," Dolohov replied. The Death Eaters were all grinning at this point, and a few of them laughed at Harry's reaction.
Harry suddenly understood exactly why they were going here. There was doubtlessly going to be tens of couples crammed into this shop, and none of them would expect over a dozen of the school's most feared students to barge right in there and ruin the day. Harry himself couldn't help but like this idea a little, for he had hated this unbearably tacky tearoom since his fifth year at Hogwarts. He wondered what the Death Eaters had in mind as he smiled a little.
When they walked into the shop, Avery, Nott and Dolohov were leading the way. The Death Eaters were all sniggering quietly whilst viewing the bewildered looks on the faces of all the other students within the room, and Harry saw many conversations stop amongst tables as people turned to look at the new arrivals.
The room was as vulgarly decorated as Harry had ever known it to be, with it's tables and walls decorated in frills and pretty pictures, and with the same plump, golden cherubs throwing pink confetti around the room which Harry remembered only too well. It was also just as cramped and congested as ever, even with many of its tables still free.
Before any of the Death Eaters could decide upon where they were all going to sit, a waitress had walked out from the back room of the shop, and was now staring at Harry, Tom and the Death Eaters. She seemed lost for words for a few minutes, as she watched them all with disapproving eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said, "but only couples are allowed within this shop."
"Don't worry about it," Avery replied, smirking, "we're an even number."
The waitress scanned the laughing Death Eaters again, who had decided, at these words, to divide into pairs. Harry felt someone move to stand besides him, and he looked up to see Tom with a light smile upon his lips. Avery was left alone at the front. "There are seventeen of you," the waitress pointed out.
Avery looked a little surprised at this, and he turned around to look at the people behind him again. "Oh, I forgot about the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs…"
"So either one of you leaves, or you all do," the waitress confirmed, doubtlessly hoping for the last suggestion.
Avery thought about this, before turning around again and moving to stand between Harry and Tom. He put his hands around both of their shoulders, saying, "We're a threesome."
Harry heard the Death Eaters break out into fits of laughter at this, as the waitress appeared completely solemn. "But not one of you are an actual couple–"
"We're in two's, aren't we?" a Death Eater asked.
The waitress seemed annoyed further with this, and she was no doubt about to point out the main mistake in this statement, before she viewed the looks on the faces of the Hogwarts students seated elsewhere in the room. Perhaps she had heard a rumour or two about a particular group of mostly Slytherin boys causing much havoc up at the school, for her own expression changed to one of curious fear as she looked at the new arrivals again.
The Death Eaters took this to mean they had won, and everyone split up to find their own tables. Harry watched a few actual couples leave the store as soon as the Death Eaters moved further into the room, and the waitress looked upon them with great dismay, knowing she was loosing customers with this, and also knowing that she wouldn't be able to throw out the Death Eaters in any simple way. Students had soon vacated an entire corner of the room, where most of the Death Eaters, along with Harry, Tom and Avery, were headed. This left almost everyone to sit in a way that offered conversation for all to join in.
Some of the real couples were frozen with confusion at their tables as they watched the waitress reluctantly walk over to the main corner of the room, holding her quill and parchment to take orders. Avery had stolen a chair from an empty table, and he now sat with little room next to Harry, who was surprised to find this all quite amusing. Tom, on Harry's other side, was watching Mulciber attempt what looked like a vivisection on one of the flying cherubs.
"What do you want to order?" asked the waitress, a little impatiently.
"I dunno," Avery, who was closest to the waitress, said, "what have you got?"
"Well coffee, of course, then cake –"
"Coffee and cake it is!" Avery interrupted.
The waitress closed her eyes for a few moments as if it was a struggle to ignore such a rude gesture. "What kind of cake would you like, sir?"
"Me? I'll have something with chocolate and vanilla in it, and – what do you want Jonathan?"
"I'll have treacle tart, if they have any," Harry replied, smirking.
"You got any of that?" Avery asked the waitress.
"We have every variation of cake known to the Wizarding world, as long as it has been listed within the global glossary of-"
"Lovely," Avery cut across the waitress again. "What do you want, Tom?"
"The same as Jonathan, I suppose," Tom replied.
"What about you Nott, Lestrange?"
"Blackberry for me," Lestrange decided.
"'I'll have one of them cherry bakewell cakes," Nott replied.
Avery then asked eleven more Death Eaters what they would be having, and after a while they each began giving more and more difficult orders. Avery looked around the room a few more times to see whom he had missed, and he spotted Dolohov on the complete opposite side of the room.
"OI, DOLOHOV!" Avery shouted, to the waitress's shock. "WHAT KIND OF CAKE DO YOU WANT?"
This left many of the Death Eaters in fits of laughter again, and Harry himself couldn't help but join in. Dolohov's voice soon drifted across the room, louder than truly needed from a lack of care.
"I WANT A TENTH STRAWBERRY, A TWENTIETH WHITE CHOCOLATE, A FIFTIETH CHERRY, A SEVENTH APPLE AND A FOURTIETH OF NORMAL CHOCOLATE!"
"You cannot order that," the waitress said, her tone cold, "it is mathematically incorrect."
"So?" Avery asked.
"So," said the witch, "you cannot have a cake with one hundred and twenty seven percent of anything out of one hundred!"
"DOLOHOW, DID YOU HEAR THAT? WHAT'RE WE GUNNA DO ABOUT THAT LAST TWENTY-SIX PRECENT?"
"I DUNNO," replied Dolohov. "PUT IT ON THE SIDE, I SUPPOSE!"
"Please, stop shouting!" said the witch loudly.
"Hark who's talking," a Death Eater commented from a few tables away.
"We are in a public teashop," the witch reminded them, sounding a little hysterical. "There will be no raising of voices here!"
"Dolohov said 'put it on the side', if you didn't catch that," Avery clarified, ignoring everything else she said.
"What?" she snapped.
"Impatient much," a Death Eater mumbled.
"I notice you didn't write it down yet," Avery explained, "He said he wanted a tenth strawberry, a twentieth white choc-"
"I know very well what he said!" the waitress barked, just as annoyed as ever. She had evidently never endured such difficult customers inside her shop before.
"Did you also definitely write down what I changed about my own cake?" Avery asked.
"Yes, sir, I have written down all that you changed about your cake."
"We'll see about that," Avery replied, pretending to glare at the witch.
She turned to leave, and headed straight for the back room of the shop. Avery turned to look at Harry and Tom as if he was surprised with her reaction, "I can tell you for sure that I'm never coming here again." His voice was loud enough to carry across the whole shop. "So impatient!"
"How long d'you reckon it will take her to get all of those orders?" Nott asked Avery with a smile.
"Better not take too long," Avery replied, "or I'll have to write to my aunt who works in the Department of Control and Regulation of Magical Bakery to shut down this place."
"The what?"
"You know, the Department of Control and Regulation of Magical Bakery at the Ministry of Magic!" Avery replied in a carrying voice.
"Don't let her hear you say that," Nott said in mock concern.
"Ah, true," Avery returned, "we don't want anyone to know about my aunt. She's basically a Ministry spy. It's a family secret, you know."
"How long have you been planning this?" Harry asked, laughing with the other Death Eaters.
"Well," Nott answered, "we've had the idea of ruining some students' Valentines Day for a long while – we do it almost every year. We got the idea to come here only this week, though. We heard some Gryffindors talk about it, and know it was the perfect place."
Harry heard even more students leaving the teashop, as they had been doing every few minutes. It was especially amusing to watch new people walk in, only to see this ill company. "Don't any of you have girlfriends to spend the day with?" Harry asked.
"Not yet, mate," Avery grinned, "but we will in a few hours."
"For a few hours," a Death Eater Harry didn't recognise added.
A few of them laughed again at this.
"To be more serious, not all of us are here," Avery said, "and my own girlfriend, Nancy White, wants to spend the day with her friends because–"
"Keep dreaming," Mulciber cut in. "Nancy will never be your girlfriend!"
"What?" Avery asked, his tone disbelieving. "I'll have you know she will be my girlfriend soon! Only yesterday she was telling me about–"
"I bet you ten galleons you can't get in her pants by tonight," Mulciber interrupted.
"I'll bet you twenty galleons I can!" Avery replied.
"I'll bet you forty galleons she'll report you to the headmaster of the school," Lestrange said.
"You're on," Avery replied, "and if I win, I'll be richer and will be with the hottest girl in school, and then you'll be sorry!"
Just then, the waitress appeared from the back room of the shop, levitating seventeen cups of coffee and a cake to go along with each. These orders landed upon each table, in front of the Death Eater who had asked for it. The Death Eaters all smiled, and picked up the spoons that came with their coffee.
"Enjoy," the witch said, before turning to leave again.
"Excuse me, miss," said Rosier, who sat a few tables to Harry's left. "I believe this order is incorrect."
The waitress turned back to look at Rosier, her eyes resting upon his Ravenclaw robes for a minute, before she said, "That is impossible."
"I said I wanted cherries."
The waitress looked back down at the parchment on her hands. "It says here that you claimed 'I don't want cherries because they're sour'."
"Exactly," said Rosier.
"I don't follow you," said the witch. "It clearly states here that you didn't want cherries-"
"No," Rosier interrupted, "I said, 'I don't want cherries because they're sour'. By that, I didn't mean; 'I wish for no cherries at all because they are sour in taste'. In fact, cherries aren't sour at all! I meant that I wanted them, and not just because they are sour. Get your facts straight!"
The waitress stared at Rosier. "You wanted cherries, and not because they are sour?"
"Yes," Rosier replied. "I didn't want cherries because they are sour; I wanted them because they are sweet."
"Then you should have made that more clear," the waitress said, still very confused.
"The customer is always right!" Rosier argued. "That sentence made perfect sense!"
The witch seemed very annoyed with this double meaning. "Would you like me to change your order?" she asked unkindly.
"No, thanks. I'll stick with what I've got," Rosier replied. "You've ruined cherries forever for me."
They laughed again as she turned to leave, looking both confused and embarrassed. Harry wondered whether any of the Death Eaters had understood the two meanings of that sentence, yet he wasn't sure if it even mattered for them. He felt Tom's leg brush against his own under the table, and he looked at him for a minute, smiling a little before turning back to the treacle tart in front of him. The Death Eater's carried on talking, their loud voices amongst the only thing to be heard in the progressively emptying shop.
They stayed in the teashop all afternoon, ordering cake after cake, coffee after coffee. Harry could see the Death Eaters becoming progressively more hyper with the amount of sugar they were all eating, and after a few hours groups of the Death Eaters began laughing at nothing at all for large amounts of time. It was around five o'clock when an event occurred that got all seventeen Death Eaters thrown out of the shop.
Avery and Mulciber were arguing, laughing and shouting insults at one another from their tables. Mulciber was taunting Avery about how he could never go out with Nancy White, and Avery was arguing back retorts until he stopped, and picked up a strawberry cheesecake from a random table, lobbing it at Mulciber. It hit him right in the face, and he was just about to pull out his wand before the owner of the shop got involved.
"CLOWNS!" She shouted, "GET OUT OF HERE YOU MUGGLE CLOWNS! I WILL NOT HAVE SUCH FOOLISH CHILDREN IN MY TEA–CHOP! OUT!"
"Tea-chop!" Nott managed through breathless laughter. "Tea… chop…"
She grabbed a broomstick and began beating the Death Eaters out of their seats, until they headed for the door. They were howling with laughter and stumbling away from the owner of the shop as they piled onto the street. When everyone was standing, and the laughter died down a little, someone spoke.
"Oi," Avery said, "who is gunna pay for that if she kicked us all out? We have to have spent at least thirty galleons on cake."
Harry knew that thirty galleons were similar to around one hundred and fifty Muggle pounds. The Death Eaters all looked at each other, contemplating this.
"I say we run," Nott said, laughing.
"Quick then!" Dolohov said, laughing more.
The Death Eaters started walking at a quick pace, running away from the teashop. They made their way along the road that would lead them to the High Street. They continued laughing as they made their way past Gladrags, Zonko's, Honeydukes and the Owl Post Office, heading vaguely back towards the school. They stopped near the end of the street.
"I say we go to The Three Broomsticks!" Lestrange declared.
"Yeah!" agreed the Death Eaters with great enthusiasm.
"I mean, what else can we do with all the extra money we have?" Avery grinned.
So they made their way towards the Wizarding pub, and ordered the finest oak matured mead, butterbeer, firewhisky, gillywater, red currant rum, and even cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella. It was late when as the Death Eaters staggering again inside this shop, this time due to a grand assumption of alcohol instead of a rush of sugar. Some of the Death Eaters had found other groups within the pub to follow back up to Hogwarts, and it was around ten O'clock when Tom quietly offered Harry to retreat to the castle too. Harry accepted; glad to get away from some of the rowdy Death Eaters.
They made their way slowly along the path that would lead up to the school. Neither Tom nor Harry had consumed quite as much sugar and alcohol as the Death Eaters, so they were quite a lot calmer and more focused as they talked to one another. The torches and fires within the school ignited Hogwarts, thus it was easy for the two boys to know their way back up to the castle, even as the night was so dark.
As Harry looked up, he was happy to realise that the sight of the castle looming in the distance in the darkness didn't scare him as much as usual. He knew he could never get over the trauma of the war fought here, but it was a relief to view Hogwarts close to how he had viewed it as a child. Hogwarts was his home, no matter what happened around it.
"I'm surprised they let the students stay in Hogsmeade so late," Harry commented as they walked ever closer to the school.
"It's only the seventh years that can stay out of the school this late," Tom assured him. "They can't really stop us now that we are all of age to do whatever we want to."
Harry dwelt upon this thought for a while, realizing for the first time that he had never really been able to take advantage of the fact that he was now able to use magic and make his own choices even outside of school. When he was on the run with Ron and Hermione, there had been just as many, if not more, regulations and rules placed upon the use of magic and so on, just so they could stay alive… He tried to think of a new subject, to get his mind away from reflecting upon that right now.
"It's been a pretty hilarious day," Harry said, smiling as he glanced at Tom.
Tom smiled too. "My friends never fail to amuse me with such endeavours."
"They do this every year?"
"With a new variation, yes," Tom replied.
"They surprise me with their dedication to accomplish a goal, sometimes," Harry said. They had arrived at the entrance to the castle now.
"That's what being a Slytherin is all about."
They talked more as they made their way down towards the dungeons. Harry was slightly surprised to see how empty the Slytherin Common Room was when they walked past the fictional wall that opened only when the password was given. He had expected a few of the Death Eaters at least to be here. Harry and Tom headed for the dormitories, after Tom's suggestion. There was no one there either, but Harry suddenly wasn't so determined to understand where they could all be…
Harry had walked further into the room than Tom, who closed the door firmly behind them. Tom cast two charms upon the door, and Harry turned around to look at him when he heard this. His mind became foggy as he tried to think about what these spells were for. Tom began to walk towards him slowly. He seemed to understand Harry's confusion for the use of magic here.
"A locking charm, to avoid interruption," Tom said quietly. He was getting closer to Harry, who looked up at the handsome boy, barely daring to think. "An Imperturbable Charm," Tom whispered, as he stood next to Harry, "to avoid eavesdroppers."
Harry stared into Tom's deep, grey eyes, not knowing what he could be planning for the night as a whole. Tom leant forwards and kissed Harry gently. Tom kissed him again and again, slowly, with his soft lips, taking his time, and causing Harry to be the first to use his tongue. Tom allowed the kiss to deepen at this, before he smoothly began to push Harry backwards.
Harry felt one of the posts of his own four-poster bed touch him at this point, and Tom pressed him against it, his every touch leaving Harry breathless. Harry was about to move his hands from Tom's shoulders to feel his thick, dark hair, before he felt Tom pull away slightly from their embrace. Tom kissed Harry on the lips again once, before he moved lower to brush his lips against Harry's chin, and slowly along his jaw.
Harry could feel his excitement build as Tom moved closer to his ear, pressing his body against Harry's as he whispered his name. Harry could feel his own breath become less controlled as Tom kissed the sensitive skin upon his neck. He began to flicker his tongue against Harry, tasting him as his hands pressed against Harry's chest. Harry wanted to groan as Tom bit him lightly, his hands moving up his chest to find his tie.
"Tom…" Harry whispered.
He could hear the need in his own voice, and he felt Tom become even more excited with it. Harry had never experienced any emotion so powerful in his life as he felt Tom kiss his way up his neck again, reaching his ear and whispering, "This is your first time, isn't it?"
Harry could hear his own heart pound in his ears past Tom's whisper. "Yes," he replied, not trusting his voice to be more than a hiss.
Tom gave a hum of what could either have been amusement or desire, Harry wasn't sure. As Tom used his tongue to place Harry's earlobe within his mouth, sucking on it gently, Harry could feel a powerful shiver run up his spine, causing him to give a throaty groan that he couldn't have suppressed even if he wanted to. He heard Tom's breath break out unevenly, before he found Harry's lips again, kissing him with uncontrollable passion…
Then, they heard someone banging on the door to the dormitory. Tom backed away from Harry a little, and stared down into his emerald eyes. They gazed at each other, confused. Whoever was outside banged on the door again, but Harry couldn't hear any voices.
"They can't hear us, and we can't hear them," Tom said quietly, guessing Harry's confusion, "but we both hear the door being moved."
Harry looked up into Tom's dark grey eyes at this. "Do we have to answer it?"
Tom thought about this for a second, but decided it would only cause problems as the noise carried on. "I'm sorry," he said, as he stepped back from Harry more. He threw two counter curses at the door, and Avery stumbled inside.
"Finally!" he said, laughing vaguely as he straightened up to see who was in the room. When he saw only Harry and Tom, he looked a little surprised. "I though you was with a girl or something," he sniggered. "Why'd you lock the door?"
"We didn't, it got stuck," Tom lied.
"Oh," Avery said, nodding at this as though he should have known it before. After a pause he gave a great sigh and said, "I am tired!"
Harry and Tom watched in silence as Avery loosened his tie, laughing, and fell onto his bed. "I'm rich, you know," he said vaguely before he fell into complete silence.
Harry and Tom waited a few minutes after this, to be sure that Avery wouldn't wake up. Harry couldn't believe that they had been interrupted again, and he looked at Tom expressionlessly as they stood together, listening to the sounds of Avery falling asleep.
"So much for 'Imperturbable'," Harry commented.
Avery moved a little in his sleep at Harry's voice.
"Another time," Tom hissed in Parseltongue.
"Can't we just…" Harry began, but he could take this no further.
"We can't exactly knock him out and lock the door again," Tom said, unsmiling, "the others will be here soon anyway."
He read Harry's expression for a minute, before walking forwards and kissing him lightly once more. "Another time," he hissed.
