"What's going on there?" Theo pointed to the sorry-looking hunch of Slytherin, bent over a pile of pink leaflets that littered the table in front of him, they emitted clouds of hearts that squeaked about love before disappearing. The sorry figure was none other than Anroses' boyfriend, Sebastian.

Anrose was known for her particular taste and grand expectations and in the build-up, to any special holiday, it was common practice for the poor lad to withdraw into a deep spiral of Seasonal fliers that promised the most wonderful experiences for a loved one. As their relationship had progressed the options available had lessened considerably till he was left with only the measliest of pickings. Nothing but the best would do for his Anrose and no experience, no matter how wonderful or extravagant could ever be repeated.

"It's that time of year again," Blaise commented, glancing over the top of his copy of the Quibbler and giving Sebastian a sympathetic look.

"Oh yes, how could I forget, dear old Anrose. How's it going, old chap?" Theo asked, casually picking up several of the leaflets and flicking through them, waving the hearts away.

"Fuck off Nott," Sebastian mumbled; forehead resting on the table.

"It can't be all that bad…can it?"

"Are you kidding me," the dark-haired boy looked up, eyes red and bags weighing dark and heavy below them, "I've done everything. Romantic carriage rides? Done. Romantic tea for two? Done. Special sweet experience?"

"Ooo that sounds delightful," Theo mumbled picking up the corresponding flier and giving it a peruse.

"Yes, it is, she loved it. But now, I've got nothing. There's just too many holidays and not enough of this crap to do." He lifted the entire contents of the table and let them fall in a hapless pile, burying his head in his hands.

"Well, there's got to be something. What you think Pans, what would you want to do?" Theo called over, ignoring Pansy's' curses. She had been magically adding flowers to her already purple nails, which was a delicate and painstaking spell, now she was staring down at the arm of the chair that had small blossoms painted all over it.

"Nott you…"

"Come on Pans, help your fellow wizard. Sebastian's sanity is on the line here."

"Urgh fine, but you are sorting this out." She jabbed her finger into the arm of the chair as she got up with a huff. Blaise offered her a small tight smile as she passed, his behaviour towards her balancing on the precarious edge of civility. They weren't quite back to where they'd been before, but it was a start and it made Pansy's heart warm as she offered her own smile in return and made her way over to the valentines-wreck-of-a-wizard.

"I'm not sure how much help I'm really going to be," she shrugged, instantly drawn to the Valentine Firework Bonanza that smattered the sky above Hogsmeade in romantic delights every year. The small town would light up with different colours and couples would hold each other beneath the display, matching warmth in their eyes. Pansy would never admit it, but the sight had always filled her a longing to do the same.

"What would you want to do?" Blaise's question caught her off guard and she lowered her head, ignoring him as he came to stand behind her, peering over her shoulder. "Well?"

"It's not about me." She hoped she sounded casual as she threw the leaflet on the table, refusing to meet his curious gaze. She couldn't understand why she was so aware of him. When he was close all her thoughts would stray back to that night and how knee-wobblingly wonderful his kiss had been. As always it made her wonder at her own reluctance to pursue anything further with him. Would it be so bad? Really? Sure there was their friendship to consider but hadn't that always been solid and certain? Pansy shook her head allowing the daft thoughts to dislodge and fade into the background where things that would never be belonged. She had made her choice and she wouldn't risk hurting him by flip-flopping about like some emotionally driven Hufflepuff.

"What does Anrose like?" Blaise asked, perching on the corner of the table and folding his arms, the Quibbler rolled up like a club as if there were some bludger in need of beating away.

"Anything expensive and new," Sebastian groaned, rubbing his eyes and giving each of them a bleary look, "its official, I've finally run out of ideas, she's going to leave me."

"Now, now, old chap, don't sound so defeatist. There's more than one way to a lady's heart."

"And you would know this because?"

"Might I remind you, Blaise, I have a girlfriend and you do not?"

"Nott don't be a dick." Pansy spat, ignoring Blaise's searching gaze.

"Just stating a fact, no need to bite my head off." Theo held up his hands.

"Alright ladies-man, what's on the agenda for the lucky Greengrass?" Blaise asked.

"Well, I was thinking start the daylight, a couple of thoughtful and sweet presents to let her know she is the sweet presence in my life,"

"Sickening but go on." Blaise motioned for Theo to continue, watching with mild amusement as the love-sick Slytherin got more animated as he carried on.

"Then it's off to Hogsmeade for a delightful tea for two."

"Obviously."

"Then we shop to her heart's content, sampling all Hogsmeade has to offer,"

"Do not envy you," Sebastian murmured, a faraway look in his eye that suggested he had been through such horrors and come out the other end a changed Slytherin.

"Then it's Butterbeers and rounds off the day with a stroll, followed by a quiet place to sit back and watch the fireworks, maybe make some of our own." Pansy scoffed as Theo wiggled his eyebrows.

"So Valentines by numbers," Sebastian murmured with disdain.

"Ay, piss off, I'm trying to help here. Besides what's important is that you get to spend the day together, who cares about what the activities actually are?"

"Anrose," Sebastian stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Maybe he has a point – now hear me out," Pansy added when Sebastian began to protest, "what if we look at this from a romance angle rather than a Galleon angle."

"I'm not following."

"I think what Pansy means, mate is that if you give Anrose a new romantic experience that caters to just her then maybe she will like it just as much as all the fancy things you've taken her to."

"I'm listening, so what's this romantic experience?"

"Well I can't give you everything, she's your girlfriend what does she like doing?" Pansy scowled, frown softening a little when Sebastian once again buried his head in his hands in defeat.

"Urgh fine I'll give you my idea." Blaise finally said, standing up from the table, "but you tell no one and you can't use it every year."

"But what about your date?" Sebastian mumbled a little dazed.

"You have a date?" Pansy asked, the question out her mouth before she had time to wonder why she had asked it. Of course, he had a date, he always did this time of year.

"Yes, and you need it more than I do. Lucy will have to make do with Valentine by numbers, she'll never know the difference."

"Lucy? Lucy Runeth?" Pansy could hardly believe her ears.

"Problem?"

"No, I just, isn't that a long way for her to come?" Blaise shrugged at her question.

"She said she wanted to see me, so why not. Besides she said she likes the fly."

Pansy felt as though she'd been punched in the gut with some serious force. Lucy Runeth? She would admit to anyone that the girl was pretty in a dark and gloomy kind of way, and from the interactions they'd had with one another, she guessed she was nice. But not someone that Blaise would spend time with. Besides that, any previous interest that Lucy had shown him had always seemed to make him uncomfortable. She couldn't understand why he would suddenly change. It shouldn't bother her, they were friends and she should be happy for him, happy that he was happy. But she didn't feel happy, she felt as though someone had transfigured her stomach to lead and she was sinking into the floor and out of existence.

"So, what's the plan?" Blaise leant forward, pausing a second to wave off Pansy and Theo.

"Urgh, what? We don't get to know."

"No you flipping don't, a guy has gotta have some secrets."

"What for?" Pansy felt her heart stutter in her chest when Blaise looked directly at her, dark eyes serious.

"For future dates."

Pansy couldn't believe how she had been so stupid, numbly making her way to the sofa with a grumbling Theo in tow. How could she have not realised that her rejection of him would mean that he might go on to find someone else, someone he might actually want to be in a relationship with instead of her. For a minute she couldn't breathe not entirely sure that she would be able to cope with some other girl being closer to him than her, some other girl having secret inside jokes with him. There was also the niggling hurt that maybe his feelings for her had not been as deep and meaningful as he had claimed, he'd moved on pretty fast for someone that had only recently wanted to be with her and only her. She watched Blaise lean over and whisper in Sebastian's ear, pushing the hurt down till it hardly registered. They were two different people, she assured herself, two different people, who were allowed to have their own interests and secrets. Still, she couldn't help the growing fear that maybe this was the beginning of a great rift between them, a rift that would be filled with new interests, new loves and lots of secrets.

"You're a genius," Sebastian exclaimed, standing up so quickly that his chair fell back into the waiting arms of the suit of armour that, in a cheery, tinny voice demanded a kiss from a fair maiden.

"I don't like it," Theo commented, pulling his wand out his robes, setting to work on turning the sofa back to its original colour, "he shouldn't hide something like that from me."

"Worried he had a more magical day planned than the one he spent with you?" Pansy joked, trying to smile as her chest tightened.

"You can laugh, but it's not like Blaise to keep secrets. I mean, Lucy Runeth? Who'd have thought it."

"You know you're starting to sound like me." Pansy pointed out, letting out a small humourless chuckle when Theo bristled, the arm of the chair turning bright purple.

"I am not, I just – he normally tells me these sorts of things that's all."

"I know what you mean," Pansy replied quietly as Blaise headed back over to sit with them.

"So cupid returns, mighty bow in hand and one less arrow in your quiver," Theo muttered sarcastically.

"You know I've known some green-eyed monsters in my time, but none in the upholstery business. What colour is that, exactly?" Theo looked down at his handiwork and cursed under his breath.

"A sort of mustardy yellow. That's beside the point, what's so awesome about this valentine date that you can't tell your old friend." Blaise opened his magazine with lackadaisical slowness, knowing the suspense would be killing Theo.

"I mean it's pretty awesome, revolutionary some might say."

"You're a dick."

"I know." Blaise laughed at Theo's forlorn face and finally conceded, "I will tell you later okay. But it stays between us."

"Not even Veritaserum could tug it from my lips," Theo assured happily, going back the difficult task of returning the sofa to one colour, a task that seemed to be getting harder by the second as the discoloured patch had grown a significant amount since his first attempts.

"Oh I see, so I can't know?"

"No." Blaise didn't even look at her.

"And why in Merlin's name not?"

"Reasons." Pansy opened her mouth to argue but paused when Crabbe and Goyle entered the common room, their heads pressed together in what looked like a serious conversation as they so often were these days.

Pansy had noticed of late that the two boy mountains had drawn away into their own little world, much like Draco had done. There was something different about them, the changes were subtle and hardly worth waving a wand at on their own, but together they hinted at issue that seemed to revolve around Umbridge. The pink woman seemed to have found something of value in the pair that everyone else who knew them had overlooked. Pansy had thought it over but still had yet to pin-point the mysterious quality. She had attempted to approach them on the subject, but Goyle had kept both himself and Crabbe tight-lipped on the subject. What little she'd managed to weasel out of Crabbe in his weaker moments, his pudgy face lighting up with excitement, did little but lead to more questions, the most notable being; what was Umbridge up to?

"Ahh, Crabbe, Goyle, old chaps, any plans for valentines?" Crabbe shook his head but Goyle scowled over at Theo before muttering something to his companion. They made their way across the common room, not acknowledging the others present and heading up to their rooms.

"Take that as a no." Theo shrugged.

"What's up with them recently?" Pansy muttered, watching them leave.

"Oh no, you don't. Don't you start that crap again!" Blaise shook his head, placing the Quibbler on his lap and levelling a disapproving stare at her.

"What crap again?"

"I'm almost certain that the whole thing with Draco started with that exact sentence," Theo confirmed, propping both his elbows on the arm of the chair and placing his chin in his palms and batting his eyelids quickly "what's up with him recently, he's been so distant," Theo mimicked, voice high and breathy.

"I do not sound like that."

"If the broom flies," Blaise muttered.

"They're being weird."

"Weird is just another Pansy way of saying 'distant'." Theo pointed out.

"Fine they're being distant too, don't you think that's strange."

"Weird, distant whatever, they have every right to be. Merlin Pans, it's Crabbe and Goyle, the problems start when they aren't acting weird." Theo nodded his head in approval.

"Blaise is right, you are talking about weird personified here, they eat bat's wings for Merlin's sake."

"You cannot say a word, Knott," Pansy sniffed.

"What?" Theo asked innocently.

"Gnome-poop, you guzzle that stuff like it's going out of fashion."

"That is not the same thing. Look we are getting off track here, the point is that they, whatever their deal is, have every right to it without us sticking our noses in. I mean what happened with Draco and his weirdness, not on the agenda anymore?"

"It's part of who he is, we must accept it and move on," Pansy countered, waving off his statement.

"Any chance we can fast forward your new project to that level acceptance, it will save us all a lot of time."

"Oh har har."

"I'm with Theo on this, Pans."

"No surprises there." Blaise rolled his eyes.

"Look, even if by some miracle those pair did have something going on beyond the usual nothing, why in Merlin's name would they tell us?"

"We're their friends. Besides they don't necessarily have to tell us for us to find out."

"You just can't be happy unless someone is being investigated. Is it some weird fetish of yours, getting your kicks through rifling through people's private lives?" Theo's asked, his eyes widening when his spell began to turn the sleeve of his jumper a sickly yellow.

"So dramatic. It's not a fetish, it's just that I happen to care about my friends, and I want to know that they are okay and not being drawn into someone's schemes."

"What like you are trying to draw us into yours?" Theo's whole jumper had now turned yellow and the arm of the chair was sporting a rainbow of the worst colours that Pansy had ever seen in her life.

"My schemes are always for the greater good."

"I'm sure many evil wizards have thought the same." Blaise sniffed, licking one finger and turning the page in his magazine with a deliberate slowness that suggested he thought his statement incredibly clever.

"That's not even a fair comparison. I'm genuinely concer…"

"Concerned we know. You've mentioned several times, but maybe you should stop banging on about your little schemes and actually lend a hand to a friend that actually needs your help because I'm a little worried that this is never going back to its original colour." Theo gestured to his jumper and Pansy let out a laugh.

"What in Merlin's name did you do?"

"I don't know, I got distracted by your nosiness."

"Whose been nosy?" Daphne asked, tucking her blonde hair behind one ear and smiling broadly when she noticed the state of her boyfriend's jumper and the sofa in front of him. "Well, I would ask what's been going on but it's all so terribly clear," she giggled lightly at her own sarcasm and kissed Theo sweetly when he wrapped his arms around her.

"Not to kill the mood or anything guys but thought I might butt in before the clothes start coming off and remind you that the state of Theo's jumper is only spreading." Theo looked down and cursed when he noticed that the skin on his arm had now begun turning a light purple.

"Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks."

"Indeed."

"How did you manage this?" Daphne asked, pulling out her own wand and quickly fixing the issue with a flick of her wrist.

"Pansy was talking about her usual paranoia and I got distracted, the more I tried to fix it the worse it got," Theo explained quickly.

"Paranoia? Didn't peg you for the type, Pans."

"I'm not, it's just what these arseholes like to call caring."

"There's caring and then there's sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," Blaise countered, and Pansy bobbed her tongue out at him.

"Well where exactly are you sticking your nose?" Daphne asked, sitting next across from Pansy as Theo went back to the sofa to finish what he'd started, waving off Daphne's offer to sort I out for him, determined to prove himself magically after the emasculating fiasco of the sweater.

"Well I think Crabbe and Goyle are acting strange," Pansy asserted, and Daphne leaned forward.

"You know, I had noticed that. I wondered if it was just my imagination."

"Oh sweet, Merlin, there's two of them," Blaise commented, using his rolled-up Quibbler to point between them accusingly, "do not start."

"Well I'm sorry but she has a point, the pair of them have been distant and Goyle only had two helpings of pudding the other night," Daphne stated, one finger tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"You're right, I did wonder what that was about. Murdridge said he saw Goyle early hours of the morning, when he followed him, he found out he was running laps of the quidditch pitch."

Murdridge was a long-suffering insomniac, whose allergy to Flobberworm Mucus rendered every sleeping draught available off-limits. As such he was known to frequent the common room, reading books and earning galleons by completing various bits of homework for those that had left it to the last minute. He also happened to be a small wizard that blended nicely into most rooms, full or empty and had become quite talented at spying, a talent that Pansy had capitalised on. She had struck a deal with the insomniac that she would put in a good word with Ehrman (Murdrigde's crush) in exchange for information.

"So? He's cutting back, trying to get in shape, good on him. It's that time of year he probably wants a girlfriend." Theo shrugged.

"No I don't think it's that, he seems, - well, they both seem – too determined," Daphne mumbled.

"Right," Pansy agreed, unable to hide her delight.

"Sweet Salazar, too determined? A guy can be determined to get a girlfriend you know, that is a thing and he has every right to do it without certain people speculating."

"Come on Blaise, have you ever known him to be interested in girls? In fact, have you ever known either of them to be interested in girls?"

"So it's to impress a dude, each to their own. Good luck to them, now butt out."

"I think Pansy is trying to say that their behaviour might not be down to romantic reasons," Daphne clarified, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"We know what she's suggesting, my lovely," Theo said, settling on the sofa by her side and admiring his handiwork, the sofa now fully returned to its original colour, "we're just suggesting its none of her business."

"I think it's Umbridge," Pansy stated with confidence, giving little credence to the daggers that both Theo and Blaise were sending her way.

"It makes sense, all of this did start when she turned up. And look how much she's messed up other things around here, everyone's on edge because of it."

"We need a plan."

"I couldn't agree more."

Blaise and Theo turned to each other at the same time, matching wide-eyed stares of disbelief on their faces. They were being swept up in another scheme again, another instance of Pansy's best intentions apparating well over the line of appropriate and landing squarely in stalking territory.

"This looks like a discussion I want to skip out on," Draco commented dryly as he sauntered into the common room, a wide grin plastered on his face. It was something that had piqued the curiosity of both Blaise and Theo, having known Draco to be many things but smiley didn't even come close to making the list. Both Slytherins had kept this observation to themselves, the only thing worse than a nosy Pansy was a smug Pansy.

"It would appear that Pansy has a new ally," Blaise nodded towards Daphne, who was nodding her head seriously along with whatever Pansy was saying.

"Well, that can't end well."

"I know right," Theo said grimly, nabbing the Quibbler from off Blaise's lap and flicking through it, "what's with you anyway, thought you'd have been a bit more umm…" He looked to Blaise for help and his friend sighed, double-checking that Pansy wasn't listening.

"We heard that there was a whole thing at Azkaban. Your Aunt?" Draco scowled, sitting back and eyeing them both up with amused distaste.

"You sure Daphne isn't Pansy's only ally, you two on a mission for her?"

"Sod off, mate. Was just making sure everything was…I don't know, forget we asked." Draco shook his head, letting out a sigh at Blaise's words.

"Honestly I couldn't give two drops of gnome poop," Draco shrugged.

"Well that felt like a personal dig," Theo muttered, doing his best to look hurt.

"My mom hates her always has and this Sirius dude isn't exactly my dad's favourite person so I can't see what her breaking out of prison has to do with my family."

"Well, she is technically your family."

"And technically I don't care. Honestly whatever crap is going on I want to stay as far away from it as I possibly can." He joked, but Draco meant it. Reading the article had filled him with dread. He could practically see the Dark Lord pulling the strings behind the scene, laughing as his father danced at his command. The fact that they were pinning it on Sirius Black just showed how out of touch the wizarding world was with the dark reality of their future. Draco didn't want to focus on it though, his and Hermione's relationship was moving along in leaps and bounds and they had solid plans for Valentines, even if they were in the evening.

"Smart move," Blaise agreed, propping his feet up on the table.

"What crap are we staying away from?" Pansy asked, her hands splayed on the table as Daphne continued with adding small flowers to her nails.

"Nosy witches who don't know when to quit asking questions."

"You're so amusing Blaise, honestly I don't think I've laughed so hard in my life," Pansy commented drily.

"I do try."

"So Draco, any plans for valentines?" Theo asked chirpily, baulking somewhat when Draco's face broke out in a grin, cheeks turning pink.

"I might do."

"Good plans by the looks of it," Blaise commented.

"Very good plans. What about you guys?" Draco quickly asked, noticing Pansy's curious gaze was trained on his face and not moving. The last thing he wanted was her asking questions again, not when he had so many of his own. For instance what Hermione was doing on Valentine's day that was so bloody important that she couldn't spend it with him. Still, he had the evening with her and that was enough.

"Well Blaise, the dark horse that he is, has a date with Lucy Runeth."

"And Theo is throwing the book at Valentine's, leaving no heart-shaped rock unturned."

"Oh that sounds lovely," Daphne glowed, snuggling into Theo's side as he gave Blaise a smug smirk.

"So Runeth huh, didn't think she was your type?"

"I don't have a type," Blaise bristled.

"Sure you don't, because the long line of brunettes dating back to first-year was just, 'coincidence'."

Pansy felt her heart race at Theo's comment, glancing at Blaise who had lowered his head to hide a blush. When she thought about it, Theo did have a point; every one of Blaise's dates, the ones that she could remember, had all been brunettes, almost the exact shade as hers. Did that mean that his feelings for her went back that far?

"I've just gotta go and get something," Pansy mumbled, unable to meet anyone's gaze as she walked out of the common room and down the stairs to the girl's dormitory. Her mind reeled, wondering if these feelings Blaise spoke about weren't as new as she'd imagined and if they weren't then how had she missed it. And how could she not have noticed how much she cared about him too. The thought of him spending Valentine's with Lucy made her wonder whether she had made a terrible decision, that maybe she had ruined her chances of having something wonderful. The thoughts were so consuming that she didn't even have time to worry about what hole Draco was digging for himself and jumping into feet first.