[A/N: In the spirit of St. Valentine's Day, I made this teeny ficlet. =)
Harry Potter and co? Not mine. Plot (or lack thereof), Anne, Carrie, Sue, Eric, Ben, Hailey? Mine. Well, you should know disclaimers by now XD
Versions of the origins of Valentine's Day mentioned in the story are from one of the more wonderful channels, the History Channel, more specifically, this site right here: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/valentine/?page=history
If you are, like me, not with anyone special at the moment, then the fic is for you =) If you are with someone special right now, then I am seriously wondering what the heck you are doing online reading this. Get going, you! … but in any case, if you read this, I hope you enjoy. Heck, I insist it =)
PS: Couldn't make a Ron/Luna fic, but I do wish them a truly moony day on the 14th =D
PPS: I think I've officially over-used the words "Valentine", "Valentine's" and "Day", and they have now lost all meaning ^.^ ]
Be My Hermione
At precisely 11pm on the 13th of February, the Gryffindor common room was filled with excited giggles. Surrounding the warm fireplace were three girls, two of which had blonde hair, and the other, red.
`Oh, oh, it's tomorrow. I'm so excited!' the pretty girl with red hair exclaimed. `I wonder if he'll ask me to be his Hermione?'
`Of course he'll ask you to be his Hermione, Sue. He's fancied you for ages,' replied the taller of the two blondes. `I sure hope Eric asks me that.'
`Oh, isn't it so romantic, being someone's Hermione?' Sue sighed blissfully.
The shorter of the two blondes raised her eyebrow, and scratched her head.
`I still don't get why you guys say "Hermione", instead of "Valentine". I thought everyone uses that because of the name of the holiday?'
`Well, yeah, everyone does use that,' replied the other blonde. `Everyone outside of Hogwarts, that is.'
`Carrie should know,' said Sue, `being our Hogwart's resident know-it-all, and all.'
`Oh, shut up,' said Carrie, throwing a cushion at the red head. `And that title belongs to Hailey Peters, remember? Now, where was I?'
`Yes, please do continue, oh wise, and all-knowing Carrie,' Sue teased.
Carrie rolled her eyes, and looked at her fellow blonde. She was levitating some sweets towards herself.
`You know, Anne, sometimes I forget you're Muggleborn,' admitted Carrie. When Anne looked a little offended, she added, `I mean that in a nice way, of course. You're a natural with a wand, really, and you didn't even know they really existed before the letter from Hogwarts!'
`Aww, thanks, Carrie,' smiled Anne. `Now, continue with the story already.'
`Who said I was going to tell you a story? What are you, kids?' Carrie laughed.
`Tell it already!' Anne and Sue yelled.
`Okay, okay. Well, you both know about why the day's called "Valentine's Day", don't you?'
`Not really, no. I just like how pink and fluffy everything is,' confessed Sue, grinning.
`I sort of do,' said Anne. `I mean, I don't really know the whole story because there are a few difference versions of it, so...'
`Oh, tell that first, Anne, then Carrie can tell you the Hermione-thing,' suggested Sue.
`Okay. Well, the legend says that Saint Valentine was a priest in the third century, in Rome. When the emperor at that time, Emperor Claudius II, I think it was, decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine thought that this was really unfair, and continued to marry people who wanted to get married in secret.'
`Aww, that was sweet of him,' said Sue.
`Yeah, but when Claudius found out, he ordered for Valentine to be killed. But I forget the reason he's a Saint. Maybe it had something to do with that… Well, I did say I "sort of" knew,' said Anne.
`Oh, that evil Claudius!'
`Calm down, Sue. I have one version that's not too bad,' Carrie told her.
`So is that in addition to the Hermione-thing?' Anne asked hopefully.
`Actually, it's the beginning of the "Hermione-thing"' Carrie replied with a sly grin.
`Ooooo,' chorused Anne and Sue.
`Well, in this version of the legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While he was in prison, for what, I don't remember, they say that he fell in love with a young girl who visited him during his confinement. They also say she could have been his jailor's daughter, but who knows. Anyway, before he died, they say that he wrote her a letter, which he signed "From your Valentine,".' At these words, Carrie couldn't help but smile, and neither could the other two.
`Awwwww,' said Sue.
`Kind of bitter-sweet,' said Anne.
`Yeah,' Carrie agreed. `Now, years ago, decades even, someone very important came to Hogwarts. He's mentioned in quite a number of books, and a couple of times in our Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons.'
`Oh, oh, I know who it is. It's Voldemort, isn't it? That really scary, evil wizard?'
`No, Sue. It's the person responsible for Voldemort's defeat. He's also the person who made everyone stop saying "You-Know-Who" instead of Voldemort.'
`Oh, I remember that. I heard my grandfather say "You-Know-Who" once, and my grandmother corrected him,' Sue informed them. `I think he's still scared, or something.'
`Well, you can't blame him. I heard Voldemort had been heartless. He'd kill anyone, even those that weren't in his way. He wanted immortality, or something stupid like that…'
`So who finally defeated him?' Anne asked in awe.
`Harry Potter, of course.'
`Potter... why does that name sound familiar?' asked Anne, more herself than the others.
`Could it be because he defeated Voldemort?' teased Sue.
`No, that's not it… Wasn't he "The Boy Who Didn't Die" or, something?.'
Carrie and Sue bothed laughed.
`It's "The Boy Who Lived", Anne. Really now,' said Sue, and Anne shrugged. `More story now, please, Carrie.'
`Okay. Now Harry had two best friends, a girl and a boy. The boy was a Weasley. Ronald, I think.'
`An ancestor of William and Luna, you think?' inquired the pretty red head.
`It's highly possible. Let's ask Luna tomorrow, William's so rude sometimes… Anyway, Harry's other best friend was Hermione.'
`Hermione? Is that where the phrase came from?'
`Let me finish, Anne,' Carrie laughed.
`Sorry.'
`Well, Harry, Hermione and Ronald were best friends, and I think Ronald fancied Hermione for a while, but the whole time, Hermione had had her eyes on young Mr Potter, only he didn't know about it. And Ronald fell for Luna-someone… You have to understand, though, that Hermione's always been there for Harry, even if he didn't know she was.'
`She must've really liked him, then,' said Sue.
`So on their 7th year…' Carried paused to think. `yeah, it was their 7th year… On their 7th year, Hermione wanted to come clean with Harry, and tell him how she really felt. She wrote him a letter and included all the little things that, to other people, might seem insignificant, but to her, made all the difference in the world… like how different his laugh is when he'd have something in his mind, or how he gave her the perfect Christmas gift in their… er… 4th or 5th year, I don't remember. Anyway, those kinds of insignificant things, things people whoe weren't Hermione wouldn't notice.
`But before she could give it to him, Harry went into one of his moods. They say he was a very moody person, Harry. This time, he didn't want to waste any time falling in love. He wanted to prepare himself for Voldemort, because he had killed a couple of people that were important to Harry. He didn't want it to happen again, and it would be worse, if he was in love with that person. So he kind of "swore off" girls.'
The room was getting a little cold as the fire in the fireplace slowly died.
`… is that it, Carrie?' Anne asked, unsure.
`If that's it, I'm going to strangle you,' Sue threatened her.
Carrie laughed again.
`No, of course not. I just wanted to leave an angsty atmosphere… kind of,' she said, smiling. She stopped, however, at the looks she was receiving, and continued with the story.
`When Harry "swore off" girls, what he refused to admit to himself was that Hermione was actually becoming more than a friend, and meaning more so, to him… Months later, he found Hermione sleeping on a table at the corner of this very same common room. She had opened books all around her, and had ink in her hair, or something, so Harry went to go and wake her up. Before he could, though, he saw an envelope under one of her hands that was addressed to him. Now, I ask you, what would you have done?'
All three girls grinned. Without Carrie having to say it, Anne and Sue both knew what was inside the letter, and whom it was from.
`So did they become a couple afterwards?' Anne asked a few seconds later.
`I think they did. The story gets kind of confusing after that. It's been told so many times that it's hard to figure out what really happened and what didn't,' Carrie told her.
`How long were they together?'
`Quite long, I think. I'm pretty sure they married, and probably had children,' said Carrie.
`Oh, yay!' said Sue, cheered.
`Really?'
`Unless I'm wrong, and I don't think I am…'
A few silent, but happy moments later, Carrie checked her watch.
`It's past 12 guys. Happy Valentine's Day!'
`Happy Valentine's Day,' replied Anne.
`Happy Valetine's Day,' said Sue, joining them. `We'd better get some sleep, though. Well, I'd better get some sleep. I want to look my best when Ben asks me to be his Hermione.'
`Oh hey, you didn't tell me why you guys use that, Carrie,' said Anne, realizing suddenly.
`Why, what else, dear? At the end of the letter, it said, "From your Hermione",' said Carrie, smiling.
`But what's it got to do with Valentine's Day?' Anne asked them.
Sue joined Carrie in smiling.
`The letter was dated, "February 14th".'
** the end… Happy Valentine's day, everyone =) =) =) **
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