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Chapter 16 ~ Happy Valentine's Day

With Dumbledore gone, guess who was now headmistress?

Umbitch.

I couldn't believe it. She won. She finally won. It wasn't like she did it all on her own. Fudge helped her out. I knew that he did. They planned this the entire time. Ever since our hearing, Fudge had been planning to get back at us and Dumbledore ever since. He still refused to believe that Voldemort was back. Soon, he was going to die if he didn't face the truth sooner or later.

McGonagall let us have one last visit to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day. Harry was planning to go with Cho, so I decided to go with Ron and Hermione.

Love. I hated it. It just reminded me how much love was painful to me.

We were having breakfast before we left for Hogsmeade. The mail came in earlier than usual and no one knew why. Harry got a card from Cho and I got a package from someone also.

"A package for me?" I asked, confused. "I wonder who sent it."

"Open it and find out," Ron said.

I opened the package and saw the most horrifying thing in there. There were a bunch of dead roses with a fake eyeball and a card. I reluctantly opened the card and read it:

Max,

I will always love you. Even in death, I will be watching over you. Always.

Your dead lover,

Cedric

I looked over at the Slytherin table, where all of Malfoy's friends were roaring with laughter. However, I didn't see Malfoy there. I threw the card back in the box and ran out of the Great Hall, crying. I heard Harry calling after me.

"Max! Max! Talk to me, Max!"

But I ran away from him. I finally lost him and headed for the bathroom, where I threw back up my breakfast. I did that for about five minutes until there was nothing left to vomit. I cleaned myself up and left the bathroom, wiping my red eyes from the tears that came. I saw Malfoy and ran up to him.

"That was a sick joke you pulled back there!" I started hitting him.

"Woah, Potterette! What the hell are you talking about?" Malfoy asked, confused.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about! What kind of person sends someone a fake Valentine gift?! I knew you were behind it!" I continued to hit him. "I trusted you, Malfoy!"

"What are you talking about? I didn't send you anything for Valentine's Day." I stopped hitting him, confused at what he just told me. I leaned against the wall, clutching on my stomach. He took notice of this. "Have you eaten anything today?" he blurted out.

"Yes," I replied. "But I just got done throwing it back up."

He sighed and stayed quiet for a moment. "Let me take you to Hogsmeade."

"What?"

"Let me take you to Hogsmeade. It's the least I could do, since your little organization is gone and from whatever sick joke my friends pulled." I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "It's obvious that we don't have dates to Hogsmeade, and it's also obvious that you're having a miserable day so far." I still wasn't convinced. "I'll let you buy whatever you want."

"Okay," I said quickly. "I'll meet you by one of the carriages."

I left to go back to the Great Hall. The box was no longer there when I went to go sit back down. The trio looked at me with worried looks all over their faces.

"You alright, Max?" Harry asked. I nodded. "I got rid of it. Some of the members from Dumbledore's Army saw what happened and gave those Slytherins a piece of their minds."

"Good for them," I commented. "Change of plans. I have a date for Hogsmeade."

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Malfoy."

*******

"I didn't think you'd show up," Malfoy said as I walked up to him.

"Well, you're buying everything," I reminded him. "Shall we go, then?" To my surprise, Malfoy was being a gentleman and helped me into the carriage. "I'm sorry for hitting you earlier."

"It's okay. I've been through worse," he informed me.

"So it wasn't your idea to send the fake Valentine gift?" I asked carefully.

He shook his head. "I haven't told anyone about you and Diggory's relationship. Pansy came up with the idea."

"Oh. Well, thank you for not telling anyone about us."

"It's the least I could do. You did kiss me at the Yule Ball last year."

"I did not! You kissed me!"

He laughed out loud. "I'm kidding!"

I pushed him playfully. "That was a mean joke, Malfoy."

"Call me Draco." He winked at me. "Will you do that, Max?"

I grinned at him. "Okay, then, Draco."

We talked and laughed the entire way to Hogsmeade. I knew that later on he would tease me again. But I didn't care about that right now. The first place we headed for first was Honeydukes. Hardly anyone was in there and I was glad. We would have gotten the weirdest looks. We tried all the candy, almost making ourselves sick. I laughed as Draco tried Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"What flavor did you get?" I asked him.

He gave me a sour look. "Earwax."

I laughed again. "Let me try one." I grabbed a bean and popped it into my mouth. It had a sweet flavor. "Cherry, my favorite."

Draco bought me some more of the beans and then we headed to another shop. Hogsmeade was more crowded now and all we heard was the whispers of people we went past. When we entered the Three Broomsticks, everyone was talking as if they were still outside. I sat down at a table for two while Draco went to go buy us drinks. I spotted Harry and Cho a couple of tables over. Harry looked miserable.

When Draco came back, I was still staring at my brother. "Your brother is on a date as well?" he asked.

"I didn't know this was considered a date," I told him.

"It can be whatever you want it to be."

"What do you want it to be?"

"I think a date seems reasonable."

"Okay. It's a date, then."

We quickly changed the subject and started talking. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Harry was looking at us. Then I saw Cho storm away from Harry and out of the Three Broomsticks.

"Looks like something happened between Chang and your brother," Draco pointed out.

"I know. I saw it," I said.

"You should go check to see if he's okay."

"But I'm with you."

"I'll be fine for a few minutes."

I sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll be back." I left Draco quickly to go see Harry. "Harry? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he replied. "Aren't you supposed to be with Malfoy?"

"He wanted me to see if you were okay."

"Why didn't he come over here, then?"

"Harry," I said softly. "What happened with Cho?"

He sighed with sadness as he exhaled. "She was saying all this crap about you. How you were a slut and that Cedric never loved you. She told me how she saw you a few weeks ago and she slapped you. I told her that if she had a problem with you then she can leave. So she left."

"You were defending me? That's why she left?"

Harry nodded. "I'm not going to let anyone talk about my sister like that."  He paused. "I'm sorry about what she did to you. I should've believed you."

I smiled at him. "It's okay. Thanks, bro."

"Go back with Malfoy. I'm sure he's waiting for you. I'll go find Ron and Hermione." He smiled and left the Three Broomsticks as I went back to Draco.

"I'm guessing he's okay?" he asked when I came back.

"He's fine. Cho was talking shit about me. Harry was defending me."

"You're lucky you have a brother that cares about you."

"You're lucky you even have parents. Harry and Sirius are the only family that I have left."

It was awkward after that. But we still managed to have a little bit of fun. Draco bought me even more candy. After we were stuffed with sugar and sweets, we decided to head back to the school.

When we were outside of the castle, Draco looked at me. "I actually had fun."

"Me, too," I replied, nodding my head in agreement. "We should do this again next year."

He chuckled. "Of course."

I smiled back at him. Suddenly, our faces were getting closer to each other. His breath was on mine. We were just inches away from each other...

"DRACOOOOOOO!" Pansy Parkinson's annoying voice interrupted us. "Why are you with the Gryffindor Slut?!"

"Because he doesn't want to be with the Slytherin Slut!" I snapped.

Before I could say more, she jumped on top of me, making me fall over. I hit my head hard on the icy, cold ground. I groaned in pain as she started punching me square in the stomach. Draco pulled her off of me and she gave one last kick in the face, causing my mouth and nose to bleed.

"That's what you get for trying to steal my boyfriend, you stupid bitch!" she shouted.

"Leave, Pansy!" I heard Draco yell. Pansy stormed away from us and went back up to the castle.

"My head," I said. Everything started to go blurry. "I can't see."

"Come on. I'll take you to the Hospital Wing."

"No. I want my brother."

Draco obliged and helped me back to the Gryffindor Tower. The walk was long as I limped my way with Draco beside me. "Okay, easy, now..." Draco would repeat a few times as we went up stairs.

Once we got to the portrait, I let out a sigh in relief, leaning against the wall. "I can handle it from here. Thank you for defending me," I assured him.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Max." He gave me a small smile and then left swiftly.

I watched him hurry off before I turned around and muttered the password. I entered inside, stumbling around while clutching my stomach. I saw a laughing Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George in the Gryffindor Common Room. That was until they saw me.

"Max!" Harry came running up to me, followed by the other five. "Who did this to you? Was it Malfoy?"

I shook my head. "No. It was Pansy Parkinson."

"That bitch!" Hermione shouted in anger.

"I-I need to lay down. My head hurts."

"Your face is covered in blood," Harry commented as he pulled me over to the couch.

Hermione and Ginny ran upstairs for a few minutes and then came back down with a washcloth and a bucket of hot water. I hissed at the pain as Hermione cleaned my nose and mouth. Once she was done, I rested my head on Harry's lap as he placed an ice pack on my head, using his wand.

"Ow," I groaned in pain, wrapping my arms around my stomach.

"Why did she do this to you?" Harry asked.

"I can't tell you. Not with all these people here."

The other five left the room and it was now just us two. "What happened?"

"Malfoy and I were about to kiss," I said.

Harry was silent for a moment. Then he spoke again. "Well...that's interesting."

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not. I'm just shocked, that's all."

"Neither of us were planning it."

"Did you want to kiss him?"

"I...I'm not sure." I really didn't know if I really wanted to kiss Malfoy. But now that I thought about it...oh, no. Looked like butterbeer and candy was getting to me. "Harry...I think I have to--"

Before I could finish, I threw up into the fire.

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