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“Zabini! I’ve been looking for you all morning,” Draco hissed. He pulled his classmate into the corridor the moment he spotted him in the Great Hall.
“Oi, gentle with the merchandise.” Blaise massaged the part of his arm Draco had previously had in a death grip. “What’s got your knickers in a twist?”
“I need your help.” Draco whispered. He didn’t want anyone to overhear them. “What do you know about taboos?” Blaise raised his brow and exhaled.
“Tricky magic, taboos. Mum has a knack for them though.”
“Good. I need your help undoing one.” Draco gripped his arm again and they headed straight for Gryffindor tower.
“Have either of you seen my charms book?” Hermione rummaged through her school bag.
“The blue one?” Harry asked absentmindedly.
“I thought it was orange,” Ron speculated.
“Isn’t the orange one for Astrology?” Harry pondered releasing a snitch back into the air. He had been running around the common room chasing after it all morning.
“C’mon that one has to be blue. Color of the sky, innit?” Ron argued.
“It’s red! With the word ‘Charms’ written right on top of it!” Hermione shouted, frustrated. She grabbed Harry’s school bag and immediately put it down as the weight of it couldn’t possibly justify holding anything more than a few rolls of parchment.
“Oof–” The crash of Harry falling over furniture again sounded behind them, except this time it was accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. Hermione and Ron turned in their seats to inspect the scene. He was on the ground amid pieces of a shattered terracotta pot, potting soil and–
“Gardenias,” Hermione muttered.
“Did we always have plants here?” Ron asked, rushing to help Harry up.
“What’s going on down here?” Percy walked into the room with his Head Boy badge glimmering for all to see.
“I was just looking for my charms book.” Hermione tried to remove herself from Harry's shenanigans. Percy had already warned him not to play with the snitch in the common room. When she moved to get up from her seat however, she found that another pot of gardenias appeared on the table before her.
Percy proceeded to give Harry a proper scolding but Hermione had to stop and think for a moment. The plant was certainly not there just a moment ago. She would have known because the white flower was her favorite.
Its sweet and zesty scent had already begun to lift into the air and she smiled softly as an old memory surfaced of her and her mother planting some in the yard back at home. She recalled mentioning it to Parvati during potions earlier this week.
“Seriously, when did we start getting all these plants? Isn’t that a Hufflepuff thing?” Ron and Harry slouched back into the couch beside her. Percy, well on his way to lecture some other student.
“Did you find your– what were you looking for again?” Harry asked, placing his feet on the table beside the plant.
“Charms book.” Hermione muttered, reaching to pluck one of the white flowers when suddenly another two potted plants popped up behind the current one. This time they all caught the sneaky enchantment and nearly jumped in their seats.
“Woah! Do that again,” Ron requested. Hermione looked at him perplexed.
“Do what again?”
“Didn’t you do that?” Harry chimed over her shoulder.
“No. I just want my book! ” Hermione grumbled, getting on her feet when another four potted plants appeared around them. The boys exclaimed but Hermione’s eyes widened. What was going on? How was she doing that? She eyed all the plants surrounding them with suspicion.
“Book,” she said simply, testing out a theory. Another dozen plants appeared, this time all over. Some on the mantle of the fireplace, others on various surfaces throughout the common room, she even noticed they had begun to creep up the stairs toward the dormitories.
“How are you doing that?” Harry asked from his seat.
“Book,” she said again and there was an explosion of pots appearing in any space they could fit. The sweet scent filled the room, consuming her sense of smell. The boys were up in arms over the out of control magic. Harry asked her if she could do it to his snitch and Ron wanted to know if she could duplicate homework.
Hermione ignored them both, climbing over pot after pot until she made it to the portrait. She had to drag it open carefully as more plants littered the way out. Finally out in the winding staircase she was faced with Malfoy and Zabini running up the stairs.
“Granger–” he reached the top landing.
“ You! ” she crossed her arms. “What did you do?” she accused, because clearly Malfoy had cooked up another clever idea to ruffle her feathers.
“I can explain–” he almost sounded sincere but Hermione was quick to stop him.
“Book, book, book, book, BOOK,” She chanted cooly in his direction. His nose wrinkled, and it was paired with that boyish grin she had been slowly warming up to all year. Countless pots of gardenias appeared on the landing around her, and down the staircase behind Malfoy. There were enough of them to fill a garden.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” She looked at him with arms crossed knowing this had to be some kind of twisted and cruel joke.
“Would you be my Valentine?” He asked with a hopeful expression and not at all mischievous. Her hands fell to her side in surprise. What she assumed had been some kind of prank had instead been a sweet, albeit elaborate, gesture. Hermione could feel her cheeks warm and her lips curled into a soft smile.
“Of course.”