Valentine
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, although if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction now would I? They are the sole property of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Warner Bros.
A/N: blinks…I'm really amazed at all of the nice reviews that I received for the first two chapters. Believe me, I didn't think this story was good enough to merit a review. Feel free to comment and review. I'd love to hear more things from you. By the way, this is the final concluding chapter of Valentine. Hope you enjoy it. And sorry for the late posting of this. I was hoping to have it all up before V-Day, but that didn't work out.
Thanks to: The entire Wonky/HOAF crew for helping me get through the good times. BtC for getting me in a bad mood in the first place, which led to the writing of this. And my best friend, Christina for being an H/Hr fic fiend. Oh, and Jere for listening to my ranting and raving. And ALL of my friends, actually.
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Chapter Three: Love Is…
Love is something completely indescribable. It's not something that can be defined simply, although Hermione had tried that several times. It's a whiplashing whirlpool of emotions coursing through each and every nerve of your body, wrecking havoc upon every sensible thought in your mind. It may not be the most positive of analogies, but it sure was accurate. When their eyes locked in the Great Hall on the morning of St. Valentine's Day, it could possibly be compared to a cosmic connection. It was something that only the two involved could notice. Everyone else that morning was busy gushing over their valentines or else scoffing at the disgusting display put on by Professor McDiarmid, who was now twirling about the room while playing lurid love songs on a small harp. Hermione hardly took notice of these things. It was only Harry, just Harry.
She wanted to run towards him with all her might, jump onto him, and start snogging him senseless, but she managed to restrain herself at the last moment. Hermione sauntered down the aisle, not unlike a bride walking towards her groom, closing the gap between her and Harry. The butterflies began to rise in her stomach once more and her cheeks were steadily becoming as red as the head of a Weasley.
Harry's brilliant green eyes twinkled with delight as he saw her enter the Great Hall. He vaguely felt a familiar tug on his nerves, but hardly took notice of it. He tensed slightly as she sat down on his right, flashing a bright smile as she did so.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Harry," she said calmly, trying to feign her nervousness.
"Happy Valentine's Day," he replied. He held her gaze for quite awhile until remarking, "What's wrong? You look a bit flushed."
"Oh, it's nothing," she said a bit too quickly for it to be entirely true. "Just a bit of Valentine jitters."
Ron looked up at the pair and grinned knowingly. Seeing them here together after learning the truth of their romantic developments, did something inside of him. It made him realize just how much they were right for each other. He found himself amazed that he didn't figure it out much sooner. Looking back on the past 5 years, Ron could now identify several moments, which may have seemed insignificant at that time, that led up to this moment. They were small things that led to a much larger picture. He only wished that he could experience something as special as this with someone else.
He glanced over at the Ravenclaw table, hardly able to stop himself. Luna was dreamily drifting off to space, staring into nothingness. Ron sighed to himself. 'Yeah, she'll do,' he thought.
"You know, I could always leave if you two lovebirds want me to?" Ron said, setting down his utensils with finality. He rose a bit out of his seat, fully expecting to leave them to their "love business" alone. To be quite honest, he wanted to leave. Best leave now before he loses the remainder of his breakfast while witnessing them snog inappropriately. He turned around; eyes catching sight of Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson do just that. Ron shuddered and nearly lost his breakfast right then and there. If anything could put somebody off of Valentine's Day forever, that sight certainly would do the trick just fine.
"Only if you want you," Harry said, catching onto Ron's obvious discomfort.
"I think I ought to," Ron nodded. He got up steadily from his seat. "Besides, I have some other business to attend to." He threw a wink in Harry's direction and grinned. Hermione was looking back and forth between them, wondering what on earth they were talking about.
"What was that about?" asked Hermione curiously.
"Oh, nothing," said Harry, giving her a wide grin. "Only that Ron received a valentine a few moments ago from none other than Luna Lovegood."
Hermione, who had been taking a large swig of pumpkin juice, choked. Patting her chest, she said, "Are you serious? You're kidding, right?"
"Does it look like I'm kidding?"
She surveyed him for a few moments, determining whether he was playing around with her. Finally, she sat straight up and took another drink. "No, of course not. Well, this is a surprise."
"You can't tell me that you didn't expect it to happen?" He placed an elbow on the table and swiveled in his seat to look directly. "You're the smart one after all. Miss Know-It-All." He playfully pinched her.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, tossing her hands on her hips indignantly. "I resent that attack on my character, Harry Potter. Shame on you!" She pointed a finger in his direction jokingly.
Harry's face glowed with laughter. One of the many misconceived notions about Hermione Granger was that she was always serious and never had enough fun. How wrong that turned out to be. Sure, she worked and studied extremely hard to the point of exhaustion, but she knew when to put aside the quill. It was simply one of the many things he adored about her.
"Shame on me?" Harry questioned. "I'm not the one who sent 6 bloody valentines to Gilderoy Lockhart, thank you very much." He crosses his arms over his chest smugly.
"That was 4 years ago!" Hermione retorted. She took a small bite of toast and continued. "And while we're on the subject of Valentine disasters, need I remind you of your disastrous date with Cho Chang last year?" With this, she smiled slyly, knowing that she had him cornered and right where she wanted him.
Harry plopped his head down hard on the table. The result was a loud thud, that caused everyone in the vicinity to stare at him with wonder. He lifted his head and saw Hermione grinning wickedly at him. "Must you keep torturing me by bringing that up, Hermione?"
"I'm your girlfriend, Harry," she commented, setting down her toast to talk to him. She leaned in closer to him. "Therefore, it's my job to remind you of embarrassing escapades of your ex-girlfriends. Or in your case, it would be one ex. But, if you want me to stop, I'd gladly do so."
"Yes, please," said Harry, gladly appreciating the change of subject. How could he forget his first and last date with Ravenclaw Cho Chang? He was forcefully reminded of it, much to his disliking, every time he was face-to-face with her on the Quidditch pitch or else trying to avoid her in the hallways. She might be easy to avoid, but the memories certainly were not. She was his first love. You can never forget something like that no matter how hard you try.
As for Hermione, she couldn't help but be glad that Harry resolved his crush with Cho, even though it did end less than amicably. It was during this relationship that Hermione began to realize where her true personal priorities lie. She could still feel the sharp pang of hurt within her when he described Cho kissing him under the mistletoe last Christmas. The ache in her heart that evening told the true story of her feelings. She had been pleased when their date was abruptly cut short and even more ecstatic when she had learned of Cho's new romantic developments with Michael Corner. Hermione disliked how Harry had to divide his attention between two girls, but now she didn't have to worry about such a thing. She hated to feel selfish, but she didn't want to share him with another.
Abiding by Harry's wishes, Hermione quickly changed the subject. "Eat up, Harry. You look terribly flushed." She had just noticed all of the color draining from his face and he now stuck his hands firmly in his robe pockets.
"I'm not hungry," he stated simply, picking up his fork and stabbing his food senselessly. 'Just give her the bloody valentine,' his mind snapped. 'No, not now,' the other half replied. 'Bloody hell, I'm talking to myself.'
Hermione continued to study Harry curiously, narrowing her eyes a bit. Finally, she casually went back to her breakfast. "That's unlike you," she said softly, concern etched all over her voice. "Normally, you only get that way before a Quidditch match, or right before…oh." She diverted her eyes off to the side, blushing furiously.
Harry noisily cleared his throat. "Er-Hermione?" he stammered. " I want to talk to you…in private," he hastily added to the end of his sentence.
"Alright," she said, abandoning her meal and following Harry out of the Great Hall and up the staircase towards Gryffindor Tower. There was no better place to go, since everybody else were either eating breakfast or preparing elsewhere for their first class.
When they arrived inside the common room, Harry began pacing rather nervously to and fro. He kept his hand clamped over the valentine in his pockets, as if he were afraid that it might be lost. "I know it's not much," he said quietly, hardly able to look her in the eye, for his knees might give way at any given moment. "It's the thought that counts, right?" He pulled out the valentine to show to her.
As disastrous as Harry thought his valentine was, Hermione didn't think it was a monstrosity at all. On the contrary, she thought it was quite sweet. It was a bit rough around the edges, but that could be easily overlooked. Creativity and thoughtfulness was what truly shined in the valentine. Unlike most cards, Harry's wasn't heart-shaped. Hermione suspected that he wanted his to be set apart from the crowd; and indeed, it was. Small, moving pictures of hippogriffs decked with heart wreaths around their necks, were flying gracefully over the valentine. Hippogriffs always seem to hold a special place within their hearts ever since the pair had helped to rescue Sirius a few years ago from the jowls of the Ministry. Small touches of sentimentality here and there brought it to life. In the midst of all this was a poem, written in Harry's own hand.
How much do I love you? You're asking me.
My answer -
endlessly.
I love you endlessly.
No matter how much I try to deny it, only to find out that I can't
and in fact that I don't want to
I do.
You do so much for me -
and what's my thanks?
Love. That's all. And that's enough.
More than enough.
All these little quirks and habits that only you have
make me love you even more.
You only look at me with that look of yours
trying very hard to hide a smile,
and my words are echoed to me then -
I'll love you endlessly.
Hermione couldn't help but draw a tear as she read the poem. It was unarguably the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done for her. She brushed her hand across her face gently and looked up at Harry, who was startled to see tears on her face.
"Is it really that bad?" Harry asked uneasily. "I knew it was horrible. We can always burn the thing if that makes you feel better."
"And why would I want to do a thing like that?" Hermione asked rhetorically. "I adore it, Harry. Sometimes you're too sweet for your own good." She grinned and Harry's heart felt dramatically lighter than air.
"You really like it?" Harry questioned her curiously. "You're not just saying that so you wouldn't hurt my feelings, right?"
Hermione laughed. "I thought you knew me better than that by now. I'm an honest person, Harry. I tend to speak the truth. Besides, I wouldn't lie about something like this. Now, I definitely think a 'thank you' is in order."
She leaned over to him and kissed him gently on the cheek. They hadn't quite yet moved to the point of kissing each other on the lips. They subconsciously felt that they ought to take things slow in the beginning. The pair had plenty of time to speed things up later, if they wish. But, not at the moment.
"Thank you, Harry."
"For the valentine? You're welcome."
Hermione shook her head to and fro, her hair whipping around her face as she did so. "No, not just for the valentine. For everything. I can't imagine spending a better Valentine's Day with anybody else other than you."
The mood within the common room shifted subtly. It was so subtle, that both of them hardly noticed a change in the winds at all. Their heads were bent close together from before, not moving away and inch, but growing even closer. Suddenly, their lips found each other's and every thought flew out of Harry's mind in a daze.
It wasn't Harry's first kiss, but it was certainly living up the expectations as being the most memorable thus far. Unlike his tryst with Cho Chang, this kiss was less desperate, less needing, and thankfully not as wet. Hermione's eyes were fluttering as their kiss continued to linger. Harry could tell that Hermione was feeling the same exact emotions: warmth, love, comfort, and everything else in between. They both could have stayed there for an eternity, but found themselves abruptly interrupted by a noisy crowd of Gryffindors making their way into the common room. Harry and Hermione both broke off the kiss just in time. That saved a lot of awkward questioning and curious looks.
"I always knew there was something straining to get out behind that mysterious façade of yours," Hermione said breathlessly, her heart still racing from the kiss. "Hope you have a few more of those tricks up your sleeve, because if any of them are like what just happened, I'll be looking forward to many of those in the future."
Harry laughed. "You can count on it." Thank God for Valentine's Day.
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A/N: Well, that was the final chapter of Valentine. Sorry about posting this last bit post-Vday, but that's fine..right? Oh well, too late now. The poem from the valentine was an excerpt from the loffly and talented Nitya's wonderful poem Endlessly. Like last time, I thought she deserved some recognition…especially since she constantly puts herself down!