A/N – I'm going to post a Valentine's story this year, although I have to warn people that it's not exactly a fluffy, romantic story. It's also not a story for Ginny lovers, as she does not come out of this story looking good. This story is also more of an ensemble story, featuring several different people. I've marked it as Draco/Hermione as in all my stories they are a couple, and I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, so I don't want people reading it and complaining about the couple. However, they're not always the main focus of the story with other people heavily involved in the story. But I still hope people will enjoy the story.
Updates will be daily, and since it has 7 chapters, it will finish on Sunday.
Ginny Weasley had been in love with Harry Potter for as long as she could remember. Although if she was being honest, her feelings for Harry had started as a crush before she'd even gone off to Hogwarts. However, once she'd gotten to know Harry, which she had done the summer before she'd started school, her crush had turned into real feelings and she'd been head over heels in love with him ever since.
Sadly for Ginny, those feelings had seemingly never been reciprocated. In the early days she could understand why, as looking back she could see she'd acted like a lovestruck fool around Harry, and had even struggled to hold a decent conversation with him as she'd been so starstruck. However, as she'd grown older she felt as though she'd started to disguise her feelings for him better, meaning she wasn't so nervous around him. However, Harry still didn't seem to notice her in the way she would have liked.
As they had grown older, she felt safe saying Harry considered her a friend. In fact he seemed to treat her exactly the same way he treated her brothers, aside from Ron whom was his best friend and therefore they had a deeper bond. Ginny had hoped her inclusion in the Gryffindor quidditch team, which led to her spending more time with Harry, would arouse his interest in her when he saw how good she was at his favourite pastime. However, it changed nothing between them, and Harry still hadn't seemed to notice her as more than a friend.
In a bid for Harry to see her as more than just another Weasley, Ginny had started dating other boys, in the hopes that once Harry noticed she was dating, he would realise she was girl. However, not only did Harry not seem to notice when she dated other boys, but none of her relationships lasted past a few weeks as she could never stop comparing the wizard she was dating with the wizard she wanted to be with. As such she'd already dated several boys in school, and was fairly sure none of them were going to stack up in comparison to Harry.
Ginny might have wondered if Harry wasn't interested in girls and dating if he hadn't had a very obvious crush on Cho Chang in his fourth year, and had actually dated her briefly in his fifth. Since then he'd been single and hadn't had a serious girlfriend, but he had been on a few dates and Ginny knew plenty of the girls at Hogwarts found him attractive and wouldn't say no if he asked them out.
The previous year, Ginny had even started to worry about Harry's best friend, Hermione Granger being competition for his affections. It had never bothered Ginny that one of Harry's best friends was a girl, as for years it had seemed that Hermione and Ron liked each other and would get together. But then the previous year, her brother had started dating Lavender Brown, whom he was still happily together with. With Ron out of the picture, Ginny had worried that Hermione would turn her attentions to Harry, but luckily Hermione's attention fell elsewhere and only a few weeks into the new year she'd been caught in an embrace with her fellow head, Draco Malfoy.
So with Hermione now happily dating the blond Slytherin, Ginny didn't have to worry about her stealing Harry. She just had to grab Harry's attention, which wasn't proving easy. She'd been trying to do so for the last five and a bit years, and had so far proven unsuccessful. She was hoping now she was older things might change as Ginny knew she was a very attractive girl. But still Harry seemed oblivious to her charms.
Still, Ginny clung onto hope that sooner or later Harry would see what was right in front of him. He would see that she was the perfect with for her. And she might well have carried on believing that all she needed was time, if it hadn't suddenly been brought to her attention that her time to grab Harry's attention was rapidly running out.
The incident that brought the situation to Ginny's attention occurred over the Christmas holidays, during her sixth year. Being a year older than her, Harry and Ron were in their final year at Hogwarts, and a conversation one afternoon about what the future held for the pair shocked Ginny to her core when Harry revealed that his godfather, Sirius Black, was encouraging him to travel over the summer and see something of the world before he settled down. Ron had immediately jumped on the idea, and he and Harry began to seriously discuss going away for the summer, and that was when it had hit Ginny that she was losing Harry. If he went away, and she was stuck up at Hogwarts, he would meet someone else and he would never notice her.
Overcome by the situation, Ginny had fled to her bedroom before anyone realised she was upset. Only her mother, Molly, had noticed she was upset, and had followed Ginny up to her room to check on her only daughter. And that was when Ginny had told Molly everything. How much she loved Harry, how she had tried to grab his attention over the years, and how she was now so very close to losing him.
"I think I may be able to help," Molly told her after Ginny had bared her soul. "Give me two minutes."
Leaving Ginny to pull herself together, Molly left her daughter's bedroom and returned a few minutes later, clutching a small vial of bright pink potion.
"What's that?" Ginny asked.
"A love potion," Molly answered.
"You want me to use that on Harry?" Ginny gasped in shock, hardly able to believe her mother was suggesting such an underhand thing.
"I'm not suggesting you use it on him forever," Molly replied. "Just use enough to get his attention. Once he's under the power of the potion, take full advantage of the fact."
"And what about when the potions wears off?" Ginny asked sadly.
"By then he'll be totally in love with you," Molly predicted. "Believe me, once he's got you, he's never going to let you go. Boys might not be the smartest when it comes to love, but I do think Harry has enough wits about him to know when he's onto a good thing."
"And what if he finds out I've drugged him to get him to like me?" Ginny asked.
"Why would he find that out?" Molly questioned with a chuckle. "All you're doing is giving him a helping hand, Ginny. You're opening his eyes to what he's got right in front of him. One dose of the potion will get him interested in you, and by the time the potion wears off, he'll have had a taste of what being with you is like and he won't want to lose it."
"And what if it doesn't happen like that?" Ginny asked quietly. "What if when the potion wears off, he no longer likes me?"
"Of course he'll like you," Molly tutted, clearly not allowing for any other consideration. "Why wouldn't he like you? You're a catch, Ginny, and Harry will be lucky to have you. As I said, you're just giving him a helping hand. Sometimes wizards need a push in the right direction."
"I don't know," Ginny sighed, gazing at the potion in her mother's hands and wondering if she dared use it.
"Take it just in case," Molly insisted, pressing the vial into her daughter's hand and closing her fingers around it.
"How do I use it?" Ginny asked. "If indeed, I do decide to use it," she added hastily, still not at all sure what she was going to do.
"You dilute the potion with water. Two drops of potion to one drop of water," Molly explained. "This has to be done on a full moon, and you must mix the potion with your wand. That's how the potion binds itself to your magic, therefore making whoever digests the potion develop feelings for you."
"Digest?" Ginny repeated. "So Harry has to digest the potion?"
"It's the only way it works," Molly answered. "You have to get it into something he's going to eat or drink. But don't forget, you don't want to be caught doing this, so no trying to slip it into his food or drink in the middle of The Great Hall. You'll have to be a bit sneakier about it. Maybe lace some of his favourite treats and give them to him as a present."
"How long does the potion last for?" Ginny asked.
"It depends on how long you want it to last," Molly explained. "Two drops of potion to one drop of water will last a couple of hours. So four drops of potion would last about four hours and so on. You judge how long you think you'll need to win Harry over."
"And you don't think it's dishonest?" Ginny questioned. "Would you do it?"
"As I said, sometimes wizards need a push in the right direction," Molly said, not really answering her daughter's questions. "And you my sweet, are the right direction for Harry. But this has to be your choice. Take the potion, and I know you'll make the right decision."
As Molly headed back off to join the rest of the family downstairs, Ginny gazed at the potion in her hand. She had no idea if she dared use it, but at least now she had some hope blossoming back in her heart. Maybe her mother was right, and all she needed was a gentle nudge to push Harry in the right direction. Maybe she just needed a little bit of help to get him to notice her. Although if she was going to use the potion, she knew she would have to do it soon. Time was running out and if she wasn't careful she would lose her chance with Harry for good.
Several weeks later, Ginny was sitting huddled on a wall, opposite the sweet shop, Honeydukes, contemplating using the potion her mother had given her over Christmas. So far she'd restrained herself from using the potion, and had continued trying to catch Harry's eye the traditional way. But yet again her efforts had failed, and she was no further forward with her brother's best friend.
Ginny still might not have been considering using the potion, if it wasn't a week until Valentine's Day, and she was surrounded by romance. All the shops in Hogsmeade were promoting the special day, and what was worse, everyone around her was couple up. That was aside from Harry, who was back up at Hogwarts not feeling great. Or maybe he'd just known that all their friends had romance on their mind and he would be a spare part.
As usual Ron and Lavender were stuck together like limpets, and Ginny struggled to get a coherent response from either of them. Her closest friend, Luna Lovegood, was currently caught up in a blossoming romance with Neville Longbottom, and even though Ginny was sure they weren't officially an item, they only had eyes for each other and were content in their own little world. And as for Hermione, she and Malfoy were a lot more discreet than Ron and Lavender, but they were also in a world of their own. Their heads were constantly together, whispering about something or another that more often than not brought a blush to Hermione's cheeks.
Surrounded by all that romance, Ginny had wandered off on her own, and now sitting outside of Honeydukes she was eyeing up the valentine's chocolates in the window, seriously considering using the love potion in her possession. And it was perfect timing as the full moon, which was needed in the brewing of the potion, was two days before Valentine's Day.
Before she had a chance to second guess herself, Ginny got to her feet and wandered into Honeydukes. Making her way over to the valentine's display in the corner, she perused the boxes of chocolates on offer and tried to decide which one Harry would like. However, as she looked at the options, she realised she didn't know what sort of chocolates were Harry's favourites. She knew he liked chocolate as she'd seen him eat it, but she didn't know what would appeal to him the most. Did he like milk, white or dark chocolate? Did he prefer fruit centres, or nuts or something else like caramels or truffles?
After perusing the selection for almost fifteen minutes, Ginny settled on the largest box on display, which she just had enough money for, even if it would leave her very little for the rest of the term. The largest box contained a selection of every sort of chocolate, so she was confident there would be something in it that Harry liked. The box was also shaped like a red heart, which she felt was very appropriate given what she hoped to achieve with the chocolates.
After paying for her purchase, Ginny headed back up to Hogwarts, knowing that her friends wouldn't be bothered by her departure. They all had plenty to occupy their thoughts, and quite frankly, so she did. She had a potion to brew and chocolates to dose. She was finally going to get the man of her dreams, and what better time to do so than Valentine's Day.