The Black Sheep

February 14, 1973- Happy Valentine's?

Rory felt sick waking up on Valentine's Day. She knew that she and Tommy would be expected to show some sort of affection towards each other, as her mother had not so kindly reminded her in her last letter, and this thought was the cause of her unease. It's not that there was anything wrong with Tommy, but she had absolutely no romantic feelings towards him and that sentiment was reciprocated by him. She was hoping that simply holding hands and sitting next to each other would be enough to satisfy her mother when Vera Abbott wrote to inform her of the couple, as she had been doing for the past few weeks. Putting the thought of anything beyond a hug behind her, she got out of bed, put on her uniform, and made her way to the great hall for breakfast, silently praying that everything would be okay.

....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Thomas, similar to Rory, started his day in a less-than-ideal mood. His father had made it clear that he was to make everyone believe that he and Rory liked each other in the romantic sense, and he had absolutely no clue about anything regarding romance. He was in a small panic in his dorm room before breakfast about this.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't kiss her, that would be disgusting!"

"Hey, that is my sister you're talking about." Regulus chimed in, patronizing the panicked boy from his bed.

"You know what I mean!" Tommy responded, his cheeks flushing slightly, "It would be like kissing my sister."

"Ok Tommy, calm down mate. How about I give you some ideas? Would that help you calm your arse down?" Evan interrupted, grabbing Tommy by his shoulders to stop his pacing. Tommy shook his head in response, desperate for any advice he could possibly get. "Ok then. To start, you don't have to kiss her to convince people that you like each other. Honestly just holding her hand and sitting next to her like normal should be enough, as long as you add in another romantic gesture."

"Like what?"

"Well... My mum always likes it when my dad brings her flowers, so you could conjure up some for her, and you could make a cheesy looking card to go along with it."

"Ok, but what kind of flowers would I get her?"

"She loves sunflowers." Reg said as he walked past, clearly trying to get out of the conversation on how to woo his sister. Evan watched as he passed and then turned his attention back to his distressed friend.

"Well there you are," He said, "A bouquet of sunflowers and a heart-shaped card and you're golden." He patted his friend on the back before following Regulus' example and leaving the room, leaving Tommy to figure out how to conjure flowers by himself.

....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Rory sat in silence at the Slytherin table that morning, occasionally nodding her head as Hadley went on about how annoying professor Binns was and trying desperately to keep down her piece of dry toast as she waited for Tommy to come down. Suddenly, Hadley's Eyes opened wide and a huge grin spread across her face as she grasped Rory's shoulder, pointing towards the entrance of the hall. Rory turned, and she couldn't help the small smile and giggle she let out at the sight before her. Tommy was walking towards her with a humongous bouquet of sunflowers, a heart-shaped card as big as his face, and the most sheepish and awkward look on his face that she had ever seen him wear.

He, eventually, made it to the Slytherin table and handed the bouquet and card to Rory, his entire face turning a bright red as he did so. "For me?" she asked teasingly, giggling as his face turned even more red when he shook ho head yes. "Well, thank you very much." She took the items from his hands, breathing in the sweet scent of the flowers before opening the card. Inside it read:

Dear Rory,

Thank you for putting up with me. I know that our situation is less than ideal, but I truly appreciate you not blaming me for the way things have happened.

(P.S. We don't need to do anything else to convince our parents that we can put on a show with all this)

Rory smiled and closed the card, saying thanks to the boy once again before giving him a kiss on the cheek. That small gesture was all there would ever be between the two but it was enough, and that was all that mattered.