Chapter Text
18th February, 1974
“Evans, wait!” He says, out of breath.
She half turns to look at him from where she’s walking with her friends, Mary and Marlene.
“I want to give you something.”
He’d just run from the common room to his dorm to grab something and then to the corridor— because he saw Evans going outside with her friends— to catch up with them.
She mutters something to her mates, and starts to walk towards him, her friends continuing to wherever they were going before.
“Hi,” he says, like a fool.
“Hi.”
He doesn’t say anything. He’s too overcome with joy by the fact that she even bothered to come up to him.
“Why did you call me?” She crosses her arms.
“Oh! Right, I just… I wanted to give you this as a Valentine’s present.” He then brings his right hand forward from his back, containing a small box.
Her eyes widen, arms uncrossing.
“I hope you like it, Evans.” He smiles, handing it out for her to take.
She slowly takes it from his arms, as though scared that it might be a prank. “Potter…”
“They’re sugar quills! You were talking about wanting some in the common room a few days ago! That’s why!” He doesn’t know why he’s explaining himself.
“You remembered.”
He can't decipher the expression on her face. “Well, yeah. I would’ve given it to you during the Valentine's Hogsmeade weekend, but they were out of stock.”
“Oh.”
“Happy Valentine's Day, Evans,” he adds.
“You too, Potter. Thank you.” A slow smile starts to bloom on her face. And he thinks that it might be the best sight he’s ever seen.
Summoning the courage of Godric Gryffindor himself, he slowly takes her hand— the one that is not holding the box of sugar quills— watching her as he does so and plants a soft kiss on the back of her palm. “You’re welcome anytime, Evans.”
Blood rushes into her face. She opens and closes her mouth twice before speaking again, “I didn’t get you anything.”
“Nah, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh okay.”
He’s still holding her hand. He loves it.
“I think Mary and Marlene would be waiting for me. I should go…”
“Bye, Evans.”
“Thank you again, Potter.”
He only smiles in reply as he finally lets go of the hand, mentally hi-fiving himself.
She holds the box close to her chest as she goes off in the opposite direction, only looking back once to find him grinning wide like a fool.
Two days later, he grins like a fool again when finds a packet of chocolate frogs on his bedside desk addressed to him from Evans.