'Gemma wake up!' Iz shrieked, pulling on her arm. Gemma yelped as Iz pulled too hard and she landed on the hard floor, groaning, while Natalia snickered and Pandora gave an amused smile.

'Why the hell are you always waking me up!' Gemma yelled.

'Sorry,' Iz said, clearly not sorry ,'but I cannot allow my best friend to sleep in on Valentines Day!'

'She's actually my best friend!' Ted called from outside. 

Gemma rubbed her eyes sleepily as they bickered. She went in the bathroom, brushed her teeth, pulled on her trousers, shirt, robes and tie, and made to leave, when Iz pulled her back.

'Nuh uh,' she said. 'You are not leaving like that on Valentines day.'

'Why,' Gemma complained. 'I look fine!'

'No you do not. You haven't even brushed your hair!' Iz snapped. 'You need to make Regulus absolutely cry over his loss.'

'What happened between you two anyway?' Ted asked, coming inside. 'You had your first kiss two weeks ago-'

'Was not our first kiss but-'

'Get out, dumbass!' Goyle shrieked at a shocked Ted as she exited the bathroom in a towel. She threw her slipper at him, which hit the door as it closed.

'Don't you own a skirt?' Iz asked, rummaging through her drawers.

'When have you ever seen me wearing the school skirt?' Gemma asked asked flatly. Iz was starting to irritate her. 'And stop looking through my drawers!'

'Well, you'll have to borrow one of mine then.'

'Absolutely not!' Gemma protested. 'I draw the line there.'

Iz smiled. 'You're cute, thinking I'm asking.'

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

So that morning, Gemma entered the Great Hall looking like a completely different person. She was wearing one of Iz's very short pleated school skirts with very thin tights that covered nothing and her tie was knotted perfectly instead of all crooked like it usually was. Her blonde hair was open and brushed rather than the usual sloppy ponytail, and she wore the slightest bit of make- up 'to look like she was trying but not really trying', to quote Iz.

Ted burst out laughing when he saw her.

'I- you- I can't!' he snickered uncontrollably.

'Shut up,' she grumbled, as they made their way to the Great Hall. Luke was already there, and he actually looked up from his book long enough to stare at her.

'You look really good,' he said matter-of-factly. 

'Thanks,' she muttered.

'Ooohhh, he's coming,' Iz whispered, nudging Gemma as Regulus and Mulciber and their little gang of assholes walked into the Great Hall. 'Remember, he knows you're hot, and you know you're hot.'

'Right, got it,' Gemma said wryly. 

'Hello, Izzy-poo,' Avery said, sitting down next to her. Luke spat out the milk he was drinking, and Ted buried his head in Gemma's shoulder to stop himself laughing too hard.

'Izzy- poo?' She asked disgustedly. All the while, she was trying to ignore Regulus who was staring at her, clearly shocked at her unusual appearance.

'Shut up,' Iz dismissed. 'Your all just jealous.' She turned back to Avery. 'Happy Valentines day, Blythe.'

'What, no Blythey- poo?' Ted snickered.

'For you, my love,' Avery cooed, ignoring Ted, as he pulled out a small box. Inside was a small gold bracelet, with a heart charm attached. 

'Oh... thanks,' Iz said, disappointment evident on her face. She was about to kiss him, but Gemma threw a piece of bread at them.'

'Oh come on,' she said. 'I don't want to see that. Not in the morning.'

'Would you like to see something else?' Mulciber asked. Somehow, he'd appeared on the other side of her. Regulus, who was further down the same bench, was staring at them intensely. Gemma looked back at Mulciber.

'What do you mean?' She asked wearily. 

He shoved a bouquet of emerald green roses at her. For the first time, he looked genuinely nervous.

'For you,' he muttered. Luke, Ted, Isolde, Avery and Regulus stared in shock. Gemma brushed her own surprise off, and inspecting the flowers.

'You haven't cursed these have you Mulciber?' She said dryly. 'I'm not going to catch some disease am I?'

'Er- I don't think so,' Mulciber said, scratching the back of his head. 

'Well, then, thank you,' she said slowly, taking the bouquet from him. 

They all ate together that morning, and Gemma had to admit, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She just ignored Snape because he was a slimeball, and ignored Avery because he was evil, and ignored Regulus (mutually) for obvious reasons, but the banter between them and her friends was funny. 

At some point Ted had begun full on rowing with Avery, and Iz, who loved trouble of any kind, just watched rather than trying to break anything up.

The lessons went by in a blur, and Gemma could not stop thinking about the roses Mulciber had given her. One chapter closes and another opens, she thought bitterly, looking at Regulus. 

She was on her way back from her final lesson to the common room, when someone grabbed her robes and slammed her against the wall. 

'Look who it is,' Regulus sneered. 'The Slytherin slut herself.'

'Can I help you?' Gemma asked, trying to sound disinterested as her heart rate increased.

'Already receiving flowers from other boys, hmm? ' He said.  

'Well yeah, my last thing kinda went bust after the guy decided to become an absolute git, so-'

'So you moved onto the next person you laid eyes on,' he taunted. 'Are you that desperate? Willing to bend over for any guy that isn't absolutely repulsed by you?' She stared at him; his words definitely stung, as he looked her in the face, hands still tightly clutching her robes.

'Riiight,' she said. 'And you're not moving on with Thornburry?'

'Why?' He whispered. 'Does it irk you?'

'You are so weird! You're the that dumped me-'

'We were never in a relationship to begin with-'

'Well, we were definitely into each other-'

'Wrong.' He leaned closer to her, and she did her very best not to flinch. 'You were into me, Gemma. I just needed a distraction. But you somehow managed to get that wrong too-'

'What the-'

'You might still be swooning over me- don't think I didn't notice the outfit change- pathetic really- but I can assure you that I have moved on, because there was never anything there to begin with.'

'Brilliant,' she breathed. 'Now that we've cleared that up, can I go?'

'Sure,' he said. 'Go run right into Mulciber's bed-'

'Maybe I will,' she snapped. 'And maybe you should try harder to pretend it doesn't bother you because you are being blatantly obvious that it does!'

'I don't care about you-'

'Good! Then stop sending me weird looks, stop hissing these weird comments at me-'

'I don't think you understand,' he said finally. 'I don't care for you, Gemma, I despise you. If anything, I hope you do die in this war. And I hope I get to see it.'

There was a second of silence, before she spoke.

'Great,' she said. 'Glad we got that cleared up.' She turned and left, storming down the steps to the common room where her friends were waiting.

'You look annoyed,' Luke said, even though he was looking at his book and not ever her.

'Whatever,' she said, slumping down on the sofa. 'Anything happen with Pandora?' She asked, perking up.

'No,' Luke droned, continuing to read.

'Really? That's a sha-'

'Iz!' Ted said suddenly, standing up. She looked up in surprise.

'What!' She asked. Hesitantly, Ted pulled out a tiny, blue velvet box. 

'I- I got you something,' he said nervously.

'Oh?' Iz gestured for him to give it to her, but he stood rooted to the spot. 

'For god's sake,' Gemma said. She pried Ted's fingers off the box and handed it to Iz. Cautiously, she opened it, revealing an elegant necklace with a small teddy bear charm.

'It's silver,' Iz breathed.

'Yeah. You said you didn't like gold... you know... on Christmas...' Even Luke had looked up from his book. 

'Thank you,' Iz said slowly, putting on the silver necklace. 

'Um- anytime,' Ted said, looking like he was about to pass out. 

'Wow,' Gemma said. 'Score for Teddy.'