Captain of the Drarry, reporting! Please, take away my chocolate covered coffee beans before I end up overloading my system with caffeine. A bit of shameless advertising before I go on: if you're interested in joining my crew feel free to message me, we could always use more members.

Word count (before author's notes): 2,026

Valentine's Day. One of the few days a year that Draco Malfoy actually dreaded. Sure, the numerous amounts of sweets and treats were tolerable but the Singing Howlers and extravagant Exploding Valentines were too much. Most went straight for the outstanding, spectacular, flashy Valentines that turned heads and drew attention but some preferred less than a card that exploded into a small fireworks show.

Draco was one of the ones who preferred subtle confessions. He got teased endlessly by Pansy and Blaise for it every year.

Each year they both went out and got him armfuls upon armfuls of Exploding Valentines. He'd gotten used to it and knew that, not unlike a Howler, they only got worse if left alone. So he was forced to open every one of them at the Slytherin dining table in the Great Hall each Valentine's Day.

If opened as soon as received, only a small fireworks heart glimmered in the air above the recipient for a few seconds. If ignored, a large fireworks heart would explode from the card and fill the space above the table for several minutes.

Draco scowled at yet another Exploding Valentine. He opened it quickly with a heavy sigh. "Pansy, can't you just drop it already?"

"It's far too fun, Draco," Blaise grinned, replying for their friend. "Besides, what happened to Malfoys being flashy and outgoing?"

Draco gave his friend an appalled look. "I am most certainly not 'flashy and outgoing' I just-"

He was cut off by yet another owl delivering one of many more Valentines to him. This one, however, wasn't like the others. This one was a simple box of chocolates, no note or card attached to help distinguish who it was from. The only thing there was a simple green ribbon tied around the box.

The blonde looked up, trying to find who it might have come from. If someone was watching him it was likely they'd sent it to him. No one stood out though. Not from Slytherin at least.

His gaze wandered to the other tables. A couple of Hufflepuff girls were watching him and when they caught his eye they turned away giggling, as if they knew something he didn't. He scowled to himself and continued searching.

At the Ravenclaw table a boy had been looking at him but quickly looked away with a red face when Draco's eyes scanned over him. The boy's gaze seemed to flit across the room to someone else.

Finally, and quite grudgingly, Draco looked to the Gryffindor table. The Golden Trio was watching him. The Mudblood and Weasel started whispering fiercely when they caught his line of sight.

Only Potter didn't seem affected. In fact, he even smiled and waved. The nerve! To so much as look at him-

Draco froze. He glanced back at the chocolates then at the Gryffindor. Something in the back of his head clicked and he dropped the box on the table in horror. "No..."

Pansy raised an eyebrow. "Draco?"

"No." He scrambled back from the box, nearly tripping over himself in his hasty escape. "No, no, no." He stared at Potter. "No. Potter wouldn't- he- no..."

People were staring but he didn't care. He just needed to get out. He ran towards the entrance to the Great Hall, pausing to cast a smokescreen to prevent people from following.

Harry blinked as he watched the current events unfold. He'd expected a negative reaction from the Slytherin but not this.

Why he'd let the DA do 'Dare Valentines' he never knew. It hadn't been so bad an idea at first, in fact it was just innocent valentines. He'd wanted to send a valentine to the blonde for a few years now but could never gather the courage. And they said Gryffindors were stupidly brave too. Besides, the blonde hated him so that's another reason he never got around to it.

Harry looked over at Neville who was sporting a sick expression. He'd gotten Blaise Zabini as his Dare Valentine, Harry remembered.

He then looked back at Ron and Hermione. Ron was laughing, obviously trying not to think about how he'd had to send a valentine to Crabbe. Hermione was obviously thinking, most likely about what had happened with Malfoy rather than herself having to have sent a valentine to Pansy Parkinson.

"Harry, you don't think-" Hermione started, only to be cut off by Ginny.

"What was that about, Harry?" Ginny asked, peeking around Neville whom she had been comforting. Her hair was still tinged bright blue from when she'd refused to send a valentine to Goyle–they'd filled a bag with small rolls of parchment, each containing a harmless spell that would be cast on the person if they'd refused to send the valentine.

"I don't know," Harry said earnestly. "I guess he found out I sent it?"

Ginny nodded, rubbing Neville's arm comfortingly when he started whimpering and mumbling about Blaise–how he was going to get hexed into next year if the Slytherin found out. He'd been too afraid of risking which spell he would receive and had preferred to send the valentine.

Ron was still laughing heartily when he said, "That was bloody brilliant! Did you see his face, mate? He looked like a ghost, a ghost who was going to be sick that is."

Harry frowned as if insulted but Ron didn't notice. The redhead continued on loudly, exclaiming that he suspected that Malfoy had thought the chocolates poisoned or hexed or something else he deemed worthy of 'that bloody ferret.'

Not willing to argue, or listen to Ron rant on for that matter, Harry excused himself, claiming that he had to use the bathroom. He accioed the box of chocolates from the Slytherin table as he left and set out to find Malfoy.

Glad that he'd thought to bring the Map with him, he activated it and quickly spotted Malfoy's name. The Slytherin was alone in the courtyard. Setting off in the direction of the Slytherin he sighed inwardly, he never should've sent the valentine.

Draco was sitting in a tree, leaned comfortably against the trunk with his face to the sun. He didn't want to think about that morning. Receiving chocolates from Potter? No doubt it was some kind of trap. Probably hexed sweets from the Weasel's brothers, or worse, riddled with countless potions.

With a small whimper he covered his face. But if that was so, then why had Potter smiled at him? Why had he waved kindly?

Feeling mildly conflicted Draco gave in to his Slytherin self-preservation and tried to become as small as he could in the tree. It didn't seem to work though because moments later he heard someone calling his name.

"Malfoy! I know you're here."

Startled, Draco nearly fell out of the tree. How Potter had followed him he'd never know. Tensing as if expecting a fight Draco plastered on a sneer. "Go away Potter."

"Not until you tell me why you ran off."

As if he hadn't heard the demand, Draco countered with, "Why'd you send me those chocolates?"

"These?" Potter held up the small box. "It was a, er, game that a group of friends and I were playing. Dare Valentines, to be exact."

Feeling as if Potter's answer had been guarded, Draco raised an eyebrow. "'Dare Valentines?'" He echoed. "What the hell is that?"

"Well, we spelled a die with the names of all of the students in Hogwarts. We each rolled it and got a name." Potter was climbing the tree now, obviously with his mind set on sitting in front of Draco. "I happened to get your name and I also happened to have a spare box of chocolates, so I decided to send them to you as the valentine rather than eat them–or give them to Ron, even though he desperately pleaded–and have to go out and find something suiting. Besides, chocolate is the perfect valentine to send someone."

"Why would you do that?"

"It was an innocent dare," Potter countered. "We weren't meaning anything by it."

Feeling vaguely disappointed to hear this Draco crossed his arms, lazily watching as Potter settled himself in front of him, straddling the branch so as not to fall off. "You'd have had me fooled then, Potter. The way you were watching me- it almost seemed as if you were waiting for acceptance."

If he wasn't mistaken Potter blushed before averting his gaze. Draco continued on. "And not only that but you sought me out after I left. You even brought that stupid valentine with you."

Potter seemed to tense as if expecting a fight. "I thought you might want them. It's a box of sample chocolates I found last time I was in Hogsmead..." Potter handed the box over. "If you think they're spelled or poisoned or something you can throw them away, I won't be offended." But his voice betrayed him, it went flat as if saying it stung.

Draco looked him over for a long moment before untying the green ribbon. He opened the box and took out one of the sweets, twisting it around in his fingers and examining it. "Potter, if I drop dead because of this I will kill you."

Potter smiled as if he'd expected that much. "I'll count on it."

Draco popped the chocolate in his mouth and shivered in delight. It seemed to explode with flavour and it was extremely savoury. He opened his eyes, not realising he'd closed them, and met Potter's piercing gaze.

Potter grinned after a moment. "You like them!"

"Shut up Potter."

"You wish."

A comfortable silence settled like a thin film of dust on a photograph.

"I knew you would like them." Potter brushed the dust off of the metaphorical photograph.

Draco flushed. "And how on earth would you know that?"

Now it was Potter's turn to flush a bright pink. "I, uh, noticed that your parents sent you sweets at the beginning of the year. I suspected that you had a bit of a sweet tooth."

"Well you suspected right." Draco had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something stupid but somehow it passed through his filter anyway. "And you're certainly something sweet."

Potter blushed again but grinned. "Then I guess I should indulge you." He leaned forward and captured Draco's jaw with one hand, steadying himself on the branch with the other.

Their lips met in a chaste kiss that only lasted a few seconds, both participants afraid that if it lasted any longer they'd loose their balance. Draco pulled back, licking his lips instinctually. "Definitely sweet."

"Ugh!" Both jumped at the sounds of mock disgust. "Get a room you two!" Pansy was grinning as she said this though, Blaise laughing at her side. Weasel and Mudblood had shown up as well, probably to make sure that their precious saviour hadn't been hexed into next month.

Weasel was shouting indignantly at Potter, claiming that 'that bloody ferret' was controlling him. As much as Draco would have loved to hex him he didn't. It would've only made the situation worse. So instead, he took advantage of the situation.

Draco smirked, pulling Harry into another kiss. Weasel's expression was worth it, a cross between being angry and sick to his stomach. "Mate," he moaned, "of all the people in the school..."

Harry shrugged, obviously not going to convey a shred or regret. "Sorry, mate. I guess I just had to follow my heart."

At that Weasel looked almost like he would faint, turning a shade green that Draco thought was humanly impossible. He laughed, eating another chocolate and sharing it with Harry, as well as stealing another kiss. It was worth it, every second, because moments later Weasel lay on the ground, his Mudblood girlfriend frantically fanning him.

I regret absolutely nothing. I hope this gave you a good laugh, or at least made you smile. I realised somewhere in the middle of this fic that it's so much easier for me to write a long Drarry fic than it is to write a long Wolfstar fic, huh... Weird. Wellll thennn, it's currently 1AM here so I should probably head off to bed... NOT! XD NO REGRETS! Captain Cat out! ~Cat.