Chapter Text
“Some Muggles have taken a liking to the Greek God, Eros, which is what they know now as Cupid..”
The professor’s voice drawled off in Dolores’ mind, her eyes glanced over to the blonde boy next to her who didn’t seem to be focusing either. Gilderoy was scribbling his own special idea of art into the desk, the scritching and scratching far more interesting than having to think about Valentines day, which had already decorated every inch of Hogwarts in pink hearts. It was Dolores’ favourite colour, just none of it would be dedicated to her.
“You’ll get points taken off Ravenclaw for that,” Dolores muttered ever so sweetly, yet there was a strain in her voice that she’d been having since February started. Gilderoy looked up at her and back down again onto the desk, his textbook covering the scribbles from other students' view.
“I’m letting my future fans relate to me,” he hushed her before adding on; ”they’ll find my old scribbles and marks and relate to me, as I… was once a Hogwarts student.” Gilderoy dramatically ran his hand through his own hair, his face curling into a smirk before nudging Dolores’ shoulder and saying “Think about it.”
“I keep my mindset realistic.” Dolores responded after he finished hyping himself up, her hands finishing up a messy note of the classes’ material, before speaking again in a timid voice to not draw attention to herself, “as a headmistress, I’d get these desks transfigur-”
“Miss Umbridge, can you tell us some muggle traditions of Valentine's day?”
“..No, Professor.”
She stared at the desk for a few moments, her face reddening with embarrassment as she glared at the boy next to her, who had his elbows on the table with his hands resting on his chin. Gilderoy had a grin on his face now, “I have a feeling I'll be receiving many roses this year, considering I'm.. such a heart throb.”
“Shut. Up.”
—
The next Saturday came, in the morning Dolores slept in until eleven PM, then eventually woke up to walk around the Slytherin common room aimlessly, finally in the afternoon began to look around the castle. It reeked of expensive perfumes and roses that would begin to wilt later. Dolores found herself meekly under a set of stairs, leaning against the wall and ignoring the cast of students that were rushing by every few minutes to hand out cards and handmade gifts by distracting herself with an unfinished paper she was blankly staring at.
"You are terrible to look for!" Gilderoy exclaimed, and Dolores froze up in surprise, his head peering up above her from the staircase, looking down at Dolores and her pitiful arrangement. He tossed his bag over the handrails, which fell next to her.
"What happened to the never-ending attention you were meant to be receiving?" she relented, currently finding the wall more interesting than his face.
"Everyone is so shy here," Gilderoy quipped, distracting himself with grabbing his bag and beginning to dig through it, the air between the two becoming awfully thick as only the noises of distant squealing students and his bag rustling was heard.
"Oh lookie here I found these and decided they'd fit you better.." He quickly cut out, tossing a small, tied up bouquet of felted, hand-made roses into her lap. His face was flushing red and he faced the corridor to join her in not making eye contact, using his messily styled blonde hair to cover his face as much as he could.
Dolores looked down at the craft in her lap, now glancing from the felted red roses to Glideroy, her voice softening for once this month, and her lips curving into a smile, "looks difficult to grab."
"Oh goodness, yes! The distractions I had to cause-"
"That wasn't an invitation to talk," She cut him off lightly, tugging at his sleeve to kiss his cheek. "Thank you."
The words 'thank you' were a rare occurrence from Dolores, yes she was polite and sweet--in crowds--but she preferred having her own credit for things. This was very clear in Gilderoy's reaction to her words and little cheek kiss.
"Its no trouble! Sweetheart.." he slyly added,
"you ruined it."
"Really?"