Over Time: First Friends

Valentines. One of our two like-birds sends a valentine and the other feels guilty because s/he forgot.

Required item: A handkerchief.
Required phrase: 'A black rose seems a trifle incongruous, doesn't it?'

It took months before the school got used to seeing Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley hanging out together. Ron was convinced that the drug had done something permanent to Ginny, but calmed down considerably when he realized that there was not going to be any exchanging of bodily fluids between his sister and the great bouncing ferret. Neville was now in excellent shape from the amount of running he did daily to avoid the Weasleys and Malfoy. Ginny had collected almost 200 galleons from her fellow Gryffindors after Pansy threw herself at Draco to "steal" him from Ginny and Draco had passed on the information that Pansy's morning routine included an engorging cream on her breasts. Ginny had even gotten a boyfriend, a sixth year Slytherin who had gotten to know her when she sat with Draco for meals. That had lasted until Ginny found him snogging a Ravenclaw behind Hagrid's hut. The boy had begged for a transfer to Durmstrang within a week, since no place in the castle was safe from the separate but lethal vengeful actions of Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy.

Then came Valentine's Day. Draco hadn't particularly been paying attention to realize it was coming up. He'd ended things with Pansy when he realized she was completely incapable of carrying on a conversation, so his only thought on the subject was relief that he didn't have to do anything for the holiday.

This lasted until the owl post arrived and his plate was buried under a mound of valentines. He could see Ginny sitting with Granger across the Hall, smirking at the look of horror he could feel on his face. Scowling at the traitorous wench, he started sorting through the stack of envelopes, organizing them by how well he recognized the name of who sent it. Then he came across one that made him feel like his fingers had been burnt.

On the surface, recoiling in terror might have seemed like an odd reaction to the innocent pasteboard, which bore an embossed picture and the words, "Happy Valentine's Day, to the boy with the most influence over my knickers. Love, Ginny."

"Holy fuck." Draco's mind was racing. What was he going to do? He'd never thought of her as a girl, but he couldn't blow off his best friend's feelings, so he'd have to go along until she dumped him. He tried to calm himself down. He was Draco Malfoy. He could handle anything. All he had to do was find a valentine for her that conveyed the spirit of the day, made up for him being late with it, didn't crush any girlish hopes she had so much that she would never speak to him again, but subtly pointed out that his interest in her was strictly that of a platonic friend. Right.

He was doomed.

First things first. Analyze precisely what she sent. It was a simple card, nothing fancy. Then again, it might have been the best she could afford. The design was feminine, a bouquet of flowers with a stylized red ribbon around them. The one jarring note was a black rose, smack dab in the center of the other flowers. Weren't roses supposed to mean something? What the hell did a black rose mean? Shoving all the valentines into his bag, he stalked off to the library, cursing women, roses, St. Valentine, and his own devilish good looks.

Hours later, he'd completely missed Potions, skipped lunch to minimize the risk of running into his favorite person in the world, and he had ten minutes to get to Transfiguration. Running like hell, he made it to the owlery in two, and used a further three minutes to scribble specific instructions and fling his owl out the window. He made it to class, out of breath but triumphant, just as McGonagall was about to close the doors.

Dinner that night was destined to be talked about for years. The chaos of hundreds of kids jockeying for food had just started to die down when a fanfare sounded, seemingly from nowhere. Ginny looked up from where she'd been sitting and chatting with Draco to see six white doves fly in. Ribbons clutched in their beaks held up a banner which read, "Happy Valentine's Day to my best friend." A collective sigh arose from the girls as the doves fluttered to circle around the beet-red Ginny Weasley. There was a heavenly sounding chime and the swirling birds and ribbons became a shower of sparkles, gilding her face and hair before resolving into a necklace with a yellow rose pendant. Ginny reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, which let the rapt audience see one of the matching earrings. The chiming faded to leave a hushed, almost reverent, silence in the Hall.

It was broken by Ginny bursting into giggles and playfully punching Draco Malfoy in the arm. "You tremendous prat. You just had to outdo my puny little card, didn't you?"

The Slytherin table in general burst into laughter, followed by the rest of the student body as her comment was passed on. Draco leaned in and whispered, loudly enough for the others to hear, "And let a Weasley upstage a Malfoy? I'd have to hide my head in shame and become a Hufflepuff."

"I doubt you meet the criteria." Ginny was still snickering as she gathered her books to head for the library. He walked with her, Crabbe and Goyle flanking them like well trained puppies. "Seriously, though, what on earth possessed you? You've made every other guy in school look like a complete piker for doing less for his girlfriend than you did for someone you have no romantic interest in."

"Earning the undying enmity of that many blokes at once does have its own intrinsic appeal." Draco looked smug, then slightly ill as he remembered what he had to do. "And who says I have no romantic interest in you?"

Ginny stopped in her tracks to look at him as if he had just declared his ambition to become a professional belly dancer. "How about anyone with eyes? Even Vince and Greg know that, don't you, boys?"

Crabbe and Goyle only stopped nodding vigorously when Draco shot them a death glare. He took a deep breath and tries again. "No, really, We-- er, Ginny, you're, uh, very... pretty."

"Malfoy, did you--" She stopped and looked at the waiting henchmen. "Could we have a moment?" Once they were out of immediate hearing distance, Ginny dragged Draco to a shadowed corner. "All right, Malfoy, spill. Something's sent your brain completely round the twist, because you're no more interested in me than I am in you."

Draco was starting to get the extremely nasty feeling that he was making a complete ass of himself. Falling back on the habit of a lifetime, he sneered. "And next you'll be saying you're not."

"You're..." Ginny took a moment to look deep into his eyes and think. Slowly, as if the thought was taking a while to form, she said, "Is this about the valentine I gave you?"

"I could understand the bouquet, but a black rose seems a trifle incongruous, doesn't it? Love beyond death doesn't seem a cheerful holiday greeting to me." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. "I had to spend hours in the library to find that out, I hope you know."

She could see how serious he was, and how much effort he had gone to in order to try to make her happy. This is why she lasted thirty seconds before she started laughing. "You... I... I... Bwah!"

"Ah, yes, that must be why I treasure your friendship. Your scintillating conversational skills." Draco was starting to question the sanity of at least one person currently standing there. Ginny was too busy laughing to question anything. Tears started to trickle from her eyes and he handed her his handkerchief, debating whether to wait for her to achieve coherency or to just leave.

She tugged on the back of his robe as he turned away, saying, "No, wait, I'll explain," between gasping for breath, so it seemed he was stuck with the first option. After several deep breaths, she managed to start calmly. "The design was just what was on the cards I bought. One of the cheapest box sets they had."

His lips twitched as he watched her fight the giggles, and he felt like a tremendous weight was starting to come off his chest. "You sent out multiple, cheap valentines? I don't know whether to call you a jezebel or a miser."

This earned him a thump on the arm. "I sent valentines to each of my brothers, you idiot. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to owl Egypt and Romania?"

His heart was now singing with hopeful joy. "So you don't like me that way, right?"

"Of course not. I mean, I suppose you're attractive enough, as far as albinos with half of Britain's petroleum imports in their hair goes, but..." Her nose wrinkled as she looked him over. "Not for me. Besides, I know too many of your awful habits."

"Oh, thank God." He slumped against the wall in relief. "I'd do anything for you, you know that, but this was giving me nightmares."

She scowled and then their eyes met and neither could maintain the pose. Snickering, they resumed their leisurely walk to the library. "So I'm a greasy albino, am I? I'll have you know there are those who find the look quite attractive." He pinched her arm and she laughed.

"Don't I know it. Hannah Abbott called you the "Slytherin Sex God" yesterday when she was checking with me if it was okay to send you a valentine." Ginny made a face like she was retching.

"Abbott? She's the Hufflepuff, right, with the..." A vague arm gesture conveyed the rest of the sentence quite well.

"36DD, yes. And long blonde hair, and pouty, bee stung lips. You'll be the envy of the Gryf common room, at least the male part. And I'm not too sure about Lavender..." Ginny hitched up her bookbag and smirked at Draco.

"Mmmm, Brown and Abbott. Excuse me while I take a moment to savor the imagery." Draco's blissful look was cut short by Ginny snorting. "What?"

She shook her head, curls falling forward to cover her new earrings. "Just how weird boys are."

"And you're an expert on the subject, despite it being six and half years and counting and you still haven't talked to Potter the Perfect."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Shut up, you. And I am an expert, which is why I know that most boys like to think about girls kissing each other, but they don't believe that the opposite is true."

Draco stopped, looking like he'd smelled something nasty. "Girls think about boys kissing other boys?"

"Malfoy, if I could sell tickets to you planting one on Harry, I would have more money than God." Ginny laughed at his expression and they walked through the library doors in perfect charity with each other.