For My Ghostly Gardenia

For My Ghostly Gardenia...

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat around the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. The Hall was bustling with House Elves pinning hearts and flowers and levitating sparkling confetti around the room. Students were milling about, making plans for the upcoming Valentine's Day celebrations - or fleeing from the singing valentine messengers, whom Dumbledore thought would make a good addition to the festivities after a successful trial a few years ago.

"I don't know what possessed him to hire those freaky creatures again," Ron mumbled.

"Oh, don't be such a spoiled sport, Ron," Hermione chided. "I think they're a cute idea."

"They're vicious little buggers," Harry added, rubbing his shoulder in remembrance of the 'valentine' he'd gotten his second year. "They're a lot stronger than they look."

"You're both just jealous," Hermione replied.

"Well, jealous of what, my little Gryffindors?"

The trio looked up to see Nearly-Headless Nick hovering above the table. "Well hello, Sir Nicholas," Hermione responded. "They're jealous because they won't be getting valentines this year because they are both silly gits."

"Who said I wasn't getting a valentine?!" Ron snapped. "I have plenty of girls-"

"Ah, I see," Nick replied. "A valentine... a little piece of paper that can say so much, or so little..."

"...or beat you unconscious..." Harry mumbled.

"... but alas, it is just a piece of paper," Nick sighed, glancing absently around the Hall, his eyes traveling ever so slightly in the direction of the Ravenclaw table. "What good is a piece of paper when it can be torn or lost when what you really strive to do is mark the heart with an inerasable quill?" He glanced back down at the now thoroughly confused trio. "Forgive me. I must be off."

Ron glanced from Harry to Hermione and back to Harry as the ghost flew off through the walls of the Great Hall. "Did anyone else find that odd?"

"Oh! He's pining for someone!" Hermione exclaimed. "Couldn't you hear it in his voice?"

Harry glanced sideways at Ron. "I thought he had an aversion to paper..."

"Stupid boys," Hermione mumbled, jumping up from the table. "You just don't understand. I'm going to find someone who will understand!"

Harry and Ron exchanged yet another glance as Hermione bounded out of the Hall. "Girls," Ron mumbled. "Everyone has to be in love."

Harry laughed. "I'm in love with Quidditch... does that count?"

"I think it does... in fact, I'm sure it does!" Ron replied.

***

"So you see!" Hermione exclaimed. "Sir Nick has it bad for someone!"

Ginny nodded slowly. "Well... who do you think it is?"

Hermione slumped down into her overstuffed chair in the Gryffindor common room. "That's the problem... he floated off before I had a chance to ask him."

Ginny bit her lip and stared into the fire. "Then we'll just have to find out."

"I knew you would understand!" Hermione replied. "Much better than Ron or Harry... they just don't understand."

Ginny nodded knowingly. "They don't get the importance of Valentine's Day."

"Of the flowers..."

"The candy..."

"The hearts..."

"The cards..."

"Of singing creat-"

"That was two years ago!" Ginny snapped. "Why can't anyone let me forget about that?!"

Hermione giggled. "Because it was great."

Ginny slumped down, grumbling obscenities and other words that if her mother had heard her would've given poor Mrs. Weasley an apoplexy. "How are we going to find out who Nearly Headless Nick is in love with, anyway?"

"Did I hear you mention Sir Nicky?" The pair turned to look at the entrance. They heard voracious laughter coming from the other side. "These walls are thin... you think a painting can't hear exactly what you're talking about behind her back? Now why don't you open the door and let me talk to you face to face!"

Hermione and Ginny glanced and each other before leaping up and bolting to swing open the painting. The Fat Lady grinned as the two girls came into her view. "Now, isn't that better," she replied, grinning happily. "If I heard you correctly, you were talking about our dear Sir Nicky, correct?"

Hermione nodded. "He sounded as if he was pining away for someone in the Great Hall a little while ago."

"And since it is almost Valentine's Day..." Ginny added.

"We wanted to make sure he had a Valentine!" Hermione finished.

The Fat Lady grinned smugly. "Well... you didn't hear it from me... Sir Nicky has had the hots for a certain Lady..." she trailed off.

Ginny giggled. "Does Sir Nick have a crush on you?"

"Oh Merlin, no!" The Fat Lady exclaimed. "We're nothing more than cordial. I'm not the lady I was talking about..." She looked at Hermione. "Come dearie, use that brain of yours that everyone raves about."

Hermione paused, racking through the possibilities. "Of course!" she replied, snapping her finger in exclamation. "The Grey Lady! Sir Nick has a crush on the Ravenclaw ghost!"

The Fat Lady clapped her hands. "Yes! My, you are a sharp one!"

"Thank you so much!" Hermione exclaimed, pulling Ginny back into the common room and closing the painting door. "Ginny, do you know what this means?" she added, grinning madly.

"That we figure out a way to make The Grey Lady Sir Nick's Valentine?"

"Precisely!"

Ginny shook her head as she followed behind Hermione as her friend bolted to the library. "How is it that you figure out random things..."

"I played with crossword puzzles a lot as a child!" Hermione called without even a glance behind.

***

"Pirate riddance... pilfering...poppy growth..."

"Hermione," Ginny groaned, her head resting against the table. "We've been through 13 spell books..."

"Fourteen... but that's beside the point..."

"Alright, fourteen," Ginny grumbled, raising her head slightly. "But you haven't found anything. I'm getting hungry and I told Harry that I'd bring him his Quidditch robes-"

"You can oogle him later!" Hermione chided, flipping absently through Spells for the Bored and Overeducated. She didn't really care for the title, but it was the last book in her pile and she just couldn't stop now.

"I wasn't going to oogle," Ginny snapped. "I was going to help."

"Sure." Hermione turned the page, causing her eyes to go wide. "Here! Right here!" She shoved the book in Ginny's face, pointing to the spell. "Possessions comma ghostly!"

"You even speak like a book," Ginny laughed, looking over the spell her friend pointed out. As always, Hermione was right. "So, we have the spell. How do we get the 'ingredients'?"

Hermione laughed. "I think we need someone to talk to Sir Nick..."

***

"I have to ask Sir Nick if he wants to SNOG The Grey Lady?!"

Hermione grinned as Ron's face changed shades to match his hair. "Well... not in those terms... I think I said ask him if he had a crush on her, but however you see fit will suffice. But I would really appreciate it," she replied sweetly.

Ron just stared at her, dumbfounded. "Why in all bloody Britain do you want me to ask him that?"

"Because," she explained, "he was just sitting... um, floating there... pining away for her. Wouldn't it be just the sweetest Valentine's gift we could give him?" She fixed him with a steely glare. "Besides, he's a friend and fellow Gryffindor."

"He is NOT a Gryffindor!" Ron snapped.

"He's close enough, Ronald!" Ginny bit back, acidly. Her hands were placed upon her hips and Ron thought she looked dangerously reminiscent of their mum. And Mum scared him... especially in that tone of voice... "He lives with us."

"Lives I think is poor word choice," Harry laughed from one of the common room chairs.

"Whatever," Ginny replied, brushing the comment off with a simple flick of her wrist. "The point is that we've been given an opportunity to give him his first Valentine's in almost 500 years. That HAS to mean something... even to you boys."

"Yeah, be a sport, Ronald," Harry mimicked Ginny and Hermione's tone. "Go ask our resident haunt about his Valentine's Day plans."

"Maybe you should go with him, Harry," Hermione added.

Harry paled. "Oh, that's alright, I have a lot of homework-"

Ron shot over to the chair, grabbed his best friend by the collar of his robes and yanked him up. "If I have to go embarrass myself in front of the depressed and deceased, by Merlin you're going with me!"

***

Harry and Ron moved down the shady hallways slowly, trying to figure out where they'd find Sir Nicholas. "So, what, do we just call out? Like a dog?" Ron asked, peeking out of a window as they passed.

Harry shrugged. "I guess so... I don't think there's such a thing as a ghost whistle."

"A ghost whistle?" Ron asked, perplexed.

"Yeah... kinda like a duck call," Harry explained. "Dudley-wudly pookiekins - or whatever Aunt Petunia was calling him that week - got one for one of his birthdays. Bloody annoying noise it makes too."

"I bet," Ron added, nodding. "But... what's a duck call?"

Harry sighed. "It calls ducks."

"Makes sense."

Harry stopped and looked up at the ceiling. "Sir Nicholas!" he yelled. "Are you around?" He glanced over at Ron. "Figured we might as well try."

Sir Nicholas dropped down from the ceiling to hover over the boys. "Well hello, boys. You rang?"

Harry and Ron exchanged nervous glances before looking up at Sir Nicholas. Ron cleared his throat slightly before beginning. "Um, yes..." he started. "You see... um... Hermione wanted us to come talk to you..."

"And if you don't want to answer this question, we understand," Harry supplied.

Ron nodded. "But she thought it was important..."

"And she thought you'd be more willing to tell us..."

Sir Nicholas raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "My, I don't think I've seen two live ones so caught up over a simple question in a hundred years!" he laughed. "Now boys, why don't you just ask me what dear Hermione desired."

Ron nodded. He glanced at Harry and then up at the ghost. "You've got the hots for The Grey Lady, don't you?"

"Ron!" Harry snapped.

Sir Nicholas just stared wide-eyed at the red-headed live one. "Well... when I said just to ask..." He paused and Ron was sure that he turned a rosy shade of pale. He quickly composed himself, placeing his hands behind his back and adjusting his head on his shoulders. "I don't know if that's any of your-"

"Hermione's pretty adamant about it," Harry interrupted.

Sir Nick glanced and the boys, his lower lip staring to quiver. "YES!" he yelled out. The force of his exclamation tipped his head off of his shoulders to where it just dangled in front of him. "She just... stares at me across the Great Hall," he sighed wistfully. "Her clear eyes, translucent lips and shimmery dress... I'm just a man! I can only take so much!..."

Harry had to nudge Ron to stop the sniggering while Sir Nick went through his diatribe of the greatness that was The Grey Lady. "Well, Hermione said she had an idea on how you two could spend Valentine's Day... um... together."

Sir Nick's eyes lit up with glee. Or it could've been the torches that had come to life behind him as the sun went down. Details didn't really matter. "Does she really?" he asked. "I would be oh so grateful!"

Ron nodded. "Yeah. Wouldn't tell us what it was though. Says you should meet the girls in the astronomy tower at midnight tonight."

"I shall wait then... I shall not even breathe until then..." Sir Nick swooned.

"But, Sir Nicholas..."

"I'm well aware of this young Mister Potter," Sir Nick replied. "Twas but a figure of speech."

***

Harry tossed off the invisibility cloak once the group had reached the Astronomy Tower. One person, that was fine. Two was a stretch... but four people? Hermione had been forced to enchant Ginny's legs to be transparent since the cloak couldn't cover all of them. He tilted his head to stare at the girl, who'd obviously forgotten that she was still just a floating stump. "Um, Ginny..."

"What?" Ginny asked, confused. She glanced down. "Oh! The legs..." The problem was fixed with a quick, absent flick of Hermione's wand.

"Now all we have to do is wait for the lovebirds to arrive," Hermione swooned, pacing around the tower.

"Bloody hell," Ron mumbled. "She's going to be like this all day, isn't she?"

Harry nodded. "It's Valentine's at midnight. All girls turn into mush."

Before Ginny or Hermione could retort to this horribly sexist statement, Nearly Headless Nick floated through the walls, tipping his head politely at the group. "Well, when does my transparent tulip arrive?"

"Any minute now," Hermione answered.

"Wonderful!" Sir Nick replied. "Simply marvelous!"

With that, The Grey Lady floated through the wall and grinned sheepishly at Sir Nick. "Good evening, Sir Nicholas."

"Hello m'dear," Sir Nick said, grinning from ear to ear. "I was wondering... if you would be my Valentine?" he asked quietly.

The Grey Lady nodded. "I would be honored."

"Just splendid, my ghostly gardenia," Sir Nick added.

The Grey Lady laughed. She tilted her head and smirked at the specter. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to ask..."

"This is wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed. "Harry, Ginny, stand right here, would you?"

"Excuse me?" Harry and Ginny snapped simultaneously.

Hermione grinned. "Possessions comma ghostly," she answered. "What did you think we were going to do?"

"Why are you volunteering me?" Harry responded. "Why don't you and Ron do it?"

Hermione sighed. "Look, I have to do the spell. That means Ginny has to do it. Unless you want to go on a date with Ron. And we can't have Ginny and Ron. So, you have to do it." She looked him up and down. "Merlin, you've fought evil doers of the human and giant animal variety! You've been one of Malfoy's lackeys! This is simple!"

Ginny blushed. "She does have a point, Harry," she answered, innocently. She turned and grinned at him. "Do it for Sir Nick."

Harry turned bright red. "Alright," he finally answered. He glanced up at Sir Nick. "You owe me."

"That I do, boy," he replied happily. "That I do!"

"Good!" Hermione answered. "Now, let's get down to business." She pointed her wand at Sir Nick and The Grey Lady. "Voluntarius animus!" she cast, before turning to Harry and Ginny. "Incolo quidam!"

The ghosts of Sir Nicholas and The Grey Lady dissolved and surrounded Harry and Ginny respectively. The mists disappeared and all that stood there were the two students. Harry blinked and rubbed his arms, a giddy little grin spreading across his face. "Bloody hell, I have skin again!"

Ginny bit her lip and stared at Harry. "That you do." She smiled. "And your head's attached, dear."

Harry laughed, pulling his head this way and that, enamored by the fact that it stayed put. He looked up and smiled at Ginny. "I've been waiting for this for a while," he said, rushing over and snatching Ginny into his arms.

"Nicholas!" she exclaimed, giggling. "Not in front of the students!" she chided.

Harry laughed, dipping her down and kissing her long before pulling her up again. "Your lips are as sweet as a disappearing daffodil."

"Oh Nicholas," Ginny replied. "Why haven't you said this before?"

Harry shrugged. "It's hard finding the words when you have no lips to do so."

Before The Gray Lady could respond, the spell wore off. The two ghosts floated out of the bodies and Harry was left clutching Ginny underneath them. The pair blushed furiously for a minute before Harry finally dropped his hands. The Gray Lady winked at Sir Nicholas and motioned to the wall. "Why don't we head back to the Ravenclaw dormitories..."

"Splendid idea!" Sir Nick replied, terribly eager. He smiled at Hermione. "I think that was the best Valentine's gift you could've given an old ghost. Thank you," he said before floating off through the wall with his Valentine.

Hermione grinned happily. "It worked! Ah, wasn't it lovely!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Terribly lovely," he mimicked.

"Ron, you have no appreciation for things such as this," Hermione chided as the pair left the tower, bickering and bantering as usual.

Harry turned his glance sideways to see Ginny still standing there. He cleared his throat quietly. "They appreciated that."

"Yes they did," she replied, still a lovely shade of pink. "It was good you agreed to do it."

Harry nodded. "I enjoyed it... The, um, chance to help out Sir Nick," he added quickly.

Ginny smiled. "Yes... helping out Sir Nick. It was a very good thing to do."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Gin."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Harry."