"How the hell did you get in here?!" Marlene jumped away from her no longer secret girlfriend.

"You think we haven't figured out the stair charm? Also, you didn't even lock the door." Remus said calmly.

"Are you not going to freak out and tell everyone about us?" Dorcas asked.

"No, that's your story to tell. I don't know why you're not telling it, considering you two being together is the least surprising thing ever, but whatever." He leaned on the door frame nonchalantly.

"Maybe not the least surprising." Marlene chuckled.

"Yeah, sure. What is less surprising than the two of you."

"You and Sirius." Dorcas laughed.

Remus took that as a sign to leave the room, but not before flipping off the girls.

He had to hide the fact that he was blushing. He hadn't even come out, and his friends knew.

"Did we make him uncomfortable, considering he's straight for all we know?" Dorcas asked her girlfriend once they were alone again.

"Honey, there's no way he's straight. He looks at Sirius the way James looks at Lily." Marlene smirked.

"The way Sirius looks at him." Dorcas added.

Marlene nudged her, and they giggled.

-
"Why is everything pink?" Lily asked, annoyed.
She had just come back to the dorm from a particularly terrible class.

"It's Valentine's Day, Lily. Even though I'm the only one who actually has a valentine, don't hate on the holiday." Emmeline put her hands on her hips.

Marlene shot Dorcas a glance.

"It's not the holiday, it's the color. The color is annoying me." She sunk on her bed.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Alice asked, moving over to her bed.

"Nothing, except my astronomy teacher hates me, Severus has tried talking to me 83,000 times and James has asked me to be his valentine even more times." Lily listed.

"Did you say yes?" Dorcas asked, expecting the answer.

"No, asshole. I don't like him." Lily had gotten good at telling that lie.

"Sure. Let's go get cookies, shall we?" Alice grabbed Lily's hands, ripped her out of bed and out of the room. Emmeline followed close after.

"Maybe we could tell everyone for Valentine's Day? I mean, Remus already knows." Dorcas shrugged, looking down at her girlfriend.

"I was just thinking that." Marlene stood on her tippy toes to kiss Dorcas.

Later that day, the two were walking down the hall when someone appeared next to them.

"So, I'm not gonna make a big deal, but have you two really just been making out every time you said you have to do 'herbology homework'?" Remus asked his friends.

"Why would you assume that?"

"Cause neither of you take herbology."

"Fair enough." The girls turned in a different direction than their friend.

"You never answered my question!" Remus yelled back at them.

He kept walking anyway, running into his fellow marauders.

"Guys, I have no idea what to get Em for Valentine's Day." Peter was stressing out. He had a habit of trying to make everything in his relationship perfect because he didn't want her to leave him. He ignored that fact that Emmeline loved things way more if they were a little messed up.

"Pete, you two have been dating for like 3 years. You could get her a pile of dirt and she's still love you." Sirius laughed at how stressed his friend was.

"I have an idea." James had many romantic gifts planned, just waiting for Lily to finally agree to one.

"What?" Peter asked, hopeful.

"We can set you two up on a nice surprise date in the room of requirement. We'll serve you food and you two can have a night mostly alone together. Cause y'all are literally never alone." James shared his idea.

"Perfect! You guys have to help me plan." Peter exclaimed.

"James Potter. What have you done?" Remus asked.

-

"I don't see why you are blindfolding me!" Emmeline yelled. From the second she had gotten in the dorm after classes, her friends had been pampering her and getting her ready. What she was getting ready for, they refused to tell her. Nevertheless, she was standing somewhere she didn't know, in a gorgeous red dress, perfect makeup and heels, waiting for something.

All of a sudden, someone was taking the sleep mask off her eyes. Standing in front of Emmeline was her boyfriend, dressed up, holding her blindfold.

She took in the scene around her. The room of requirement was lit only by a boat load of floating candles, garlands of hearts and string lights zig-zagged across the ceiling. The only furniture was a table for two in the center, set with white plates, fancy glasses and a red tablecloth.
In the background, Emmelines favorite love song (I'll Stand by You) played softly.

"Happy Valentine's Day, my love." Peter blushed, pulling out a chair for his girlfriend, who he thought had never looked more beautiful. They both ignored that Valentine's Day was the next day.

"What is all of this?" Em asked, not that she was complaining.

"Our valentine's dinner." Peter responded, waving someone over.

Over came all of their friends, dressed in waiters outfits.

Emmeline could not knock the smile off her face.

The couple spent the rest of the night talking, eating and making fun of their friends aprons. The friends in question had just as much fun serving food the elves made, other than James going missing halfway through the entree course.
-
"So, are you ever going to tell people?" Remus asked Dorcas when they were alone.

"We were planning on doing it tonight. Holding a family meeting and breaking the news."

"Good, keeping this a secret is eating me alive."

"You think you're the one keeping the biggest secret? Nobody knows I'm in love." Dorcas blurted.

"In love? It's that serious?" He didn't think it was a fling, but he didn't think they were in love.

She didn't answer, but her eyes went wide.

"Is that the first time you've said that out loud?"

"Um, yes."

"Then go tell her! What the hell are you doing still sitting with me?" Remus yelled.

Dorcas ran upstairs, knowing marlene was alone in there.

Marlene was minding her own business, alone in the dorm until the door slammed open.

In walked Dorcas, out of breath and tired.

"Babe, what's going on?" Marlene asked, startled.

"I have something to tell you."

"Yes?" Those six words scared the shit out of Marlene.

"Well, um, I love you." Dorcas spit it out.

"You, what?"

"I love you!" Dorcas exclaimed.

Marlene didn't answer immediately.

Instead she grabbed a fistful of Dorcas's shirt and kissed her like it was breathing.

"I love you too, weirdo." Marlene said onto her lips.

They kissed once more, smiling into each other.

They had never felt more free.

-
"Family meeting!" Marlene called into the girls and boys dormitories, attempting to hide her fear. It was February 14th, and she intended to be public with her girlfriend by the end of the night.

Everyone scrambled down the stairs to gather. It was surprisingly nice outside, so all of the other gryffindor students were walking around on the grounds.

"Ready for this?" Dorcas whispered in Marlenes ear.

"As I'll ever be." Dorcas had never seen Marlene nervous the way she was in that moment.

"What do you guys need? Is this about the camping trip?" James asked.

"Actually, on that subject. We should play song spin the bottle." Alice mentioned.

"What is song spin the bottle?" Sirius asked, unknowingly distracting from the point of the meeting quite a bit.

"You spin the bottle, and you have to tell the person you spin a song that describes either them or how you feel about them." Alice explained.

"Like if you spinned Frank, you'd say something like 'Love of my Life'," Sirius laughed.

"Like if i spinned you, I'd say 'Fuck You'." Alice smirked back, making everyone but Sirius laugh.

"That's not why I asked you guys here!" Marlene yelled, annoyed that her announcement got off track.

"Sorry, Marls. What's wrong?" Lily asked. Marlene wasn't acting quite like herself. She seemed more nervous.

"Well, Dorcas and I.. I mean.." Something about going public was scaring Marlene.

"We're dating." Dorcas exclaimed.

The weight was lifted off both of their shoulders. And Remus's.

"Is that why you were so nervous?" Lily asked.

"I mean, yeah. I don't want anyone hurting Dorcas for being with me." She looked at the floor.

"I can protect myself, love. I promise." Dorcas kissed her girlfriend for the first time in front of their friends.

"How long have you been dating?" Peter asked, curious if this had been a secret before or if it was new.

"About 9 months now." Dorcas answered.

"I'm sorry, you've kept this from me for nine months?!" Emmeline felt personally attacked.

"You say that as if we all didn't already know about them." Alice shrugged. It was true, everyone was pretty sure there was something going on between them.

"Fair point." Em laughed.

For a brief moment, all of them were happy. Carefree, happy, mostly in love, calm.

Well, until James spoke up.

"While we're sharing news, I have something to announce." James stood up.

Seconds later, a girl walked over. The girl was Amelia Boot. A gorgeous hufflepuff with long curly black hair, piercing eyes and adorable freckles.

"Guys, this is Amelia, my girlfriend." He smiled, wrapping an arm around Amelia.

Lily thought she was going to be sick.

a/n
not expecting that, were you?
this was just a cute little valentines chapter. very very soon, the camping trip will take place. also meet amelia. who will be pretty main in the next couple chapters. sorry this is on the shorter side, around 1,500 words.
actually, i have something important
PLS READ:
for 400 followers (thank you so fucking much it means the world to me) i am going to do a q&a in probably the brynlee book. so, ask me questions about any and everything in the world. it can be related to hp and writing but it definitely does not have to. ask me anything and i'll answer whatever i feel is not too personal. thank you!!

y'all know the drill, please correct my spelling mistakes if i have made any. thank you. i love you all, happy valentine's day.
~ brynlee