Got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane [Egan]

In perhaps her boldest scheme yet, Tess acted alone, carrying a small heart-shaped vial in the pocket of her parka. It was Valentines Day and Tess had told Egan to meet her for an Anti-Valentine drink at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. However, her manner of dress told a different story. In fact, one of the younger Gryffindors who Tess occasionally talked to stopped her in the common room to ask who Tess was going on a date with. Suppose a short pink dress meant just simple conversation? With an eye roll, she made her way past the third year and off to her destination. There was no way it would go wrong this time. Just as long as Jack didn't figure her out again. Her luck, she would run into him on her way out the door coming back from a date with some idiot. That would be awkward.

Just a simple drink, she thought. The potion he would consume was just a test.

The cheapest love potion that Tess could buy at Zonko's would somehow end up in Egan's drink, and maybe Egan would show her how he really felt. That was how love potions worked, right? Sure, she could've made Amortentia herself, but that would've been a serious risk. What if it turned out that Egan snogged poorly and that she didn't want him to be in love with her forever? Sure, there was the risk that the effects could wear off in a manner that would reveal what had really happened, but that was a risk she would have to take. Maybe he would have a super high tolerance and wouldn't show any effects at all.

Something she hadn't thought of (even with all of the extensive scheming, planning, and scenario-running she had done) was the possibility that Egan would know he had been given a potion. Then he'd certainly think she was a weirdo. The whole fiasco with Jack had been enough to drive him in the opposite direction, she thought.

Her whole plan centered around getting there before him, so she half-hobbled, half-ran down the icy pathway to Hogsmeade in the dark, looking up at the pinkish-glow radiating into the sky from the village below. When she opened the door to the pub, she looked around quickly, her heart pounding. He was almost always late, but her luck would have it that Egan showed up early on this very important occasion. However, he was nowhere to be found. Success.

A few minutes later, she made her way back to a table off to the side with two Butterbeers and a stomach full of knots. With her eyes wide and her head on a swivel, she took Egan's glass under the table top and quickly shook the contents of vial into the golden liquid, making an indent in the foam on the top and turning the whole thing red for a moment. 'Subtle', she thought, placing it back on the table and taking a big gulp from her own drink. Everything would turn out just fine, she was sure of it.

Valentine's Day had finally arrived. It seemed that months of preparation had gone into his clever gifts, crafts, and most importantly outerwear. Apparently his 'free hugs' t-shirt had garnered a bit of attention about the castle and it's pupils. Egan was certain that he had given over a thousand hugs between his classes that day, despite how unlikely that was given the size of the school. One Ravenclaw girl even took him up on the 'free kiss' subscript completely on her own accord. As Egan could be heard bragging after, it was even on the lips.

All in all, it had the best Valentines Day in all of the Hufflepuff's sixteen years. Because of this, he wasn't sure why one of his best friends, Tess Gorman, was so keen to dedicate an entire night to hating the day. Even so, Egan Enders was not one to turn down a night on the town -- especially when there was drink involved.

Egan, to no surprise, was already running late as he left the castle. It didn't help much that he ran into two mates, who appeared to have taken a sneaky date, plus the dozens of people stopping for hugs. When he finally made it to the small pub that his friend had delegated, the Irishman happily threw open the door, the smile on his face nearly stretching from ear to ear.

Dark brown eyes scanned the crowd for a group in the corner wearing all black and hexing the happy couples, to no avail. Instead, his gaze stopped at Tess off to the side of the room with drinks already acquired. This day kept getting better and better.

"Miss Gorman I don't believe you've taken advantage..." Egan stopped in front of the table and thrust open his dark green coat to show off his tshirt. "Of my offer, here. Practically everyone at Hogwarts has, you know?" He did a little shimmy before taking the seat across from her. "You've got my drink?" He whispered in mock disbelief, not trying to hide the shock on his features.

"What's it poisoned or something?" He joked, fully unaware that he wasn't far off base. Egan took the glass in his hand and hit it on her own before taking a big swig. "Oh.. cheers, yeah!" He remembered after swallowing a mouthful of the liquid, shooting his friend an apologetic wink.

She tapped her fingers on the table impatiently, his lateness providing enough suspense for a lifetime. She wanted to get the deed done and over with. She wanted to know what would happen. Maybe he was even more annoying in love than he was every other day. He had to show up before she could know. She continued tapping.

Finally she saw a goofy mug come through the door, big silly grin and all. She couldn't help but snicker from her seat, waiting for him to notice where she was sitting. She could wait a few more moments. Taking another casual sip from her drink, she crossed one leg over the other, watching smugly from her vantage point while he struggled to find her amongst all of the other faces. What was that that his shirt said?

"Finally." She nagged as he approached the table, pointing to the t-shirt that Tess still struggled to read.

"Free hugs?" She read aloud and looked up at him with a disbelieving smile. "Pure desperation, lad." Laughing, she snaked her arm around his back and hugged him tight to her side. Acknowledgement of her kind deed sent the smug smile back to her dimpled cheeks. She liked when people appreciated the little things she did for them. It made her feel like she mattered. "Yes, happy Valentines Day, there's your one and only gift." She quirked an eyebrow at him and took a sip of her own drink and hovered it up to her lips, considering if she wanted to take a quick second gulp. Instead she watched him take the mug up to his own mouth, and she watched quite closely.

After taking his first sip, she placed her drink back down on the table and waited, holding her hands in her lap and nearly forgetting how to behave naturally. She prided herself in being a pretty good bullshit artist, and she wouldn't blow her own cover. The only person who'd caught on to her act fully was her mother, and she was in a perpetual prison as a result.

Egan, clearly pleased that his shirt had garnered another success, wrapped both of his arms around Tess' neck as he returned her embrace. "If I'm desperate, what does that make you for playing into it, then?" The Hufflepuff retorted, still in the midst of their hug, his smile almost audible through his spoken word. The idea that his shirt had been created for any other reason than to bring joy to the people was, quite frankly, absurd to him.

"One and only?" The sixteen year old repeated in disbelief, dropping his glass to the table to further add to the dramatics. "And here I've got you heaps of gifts.." Egan shook his head, bringing the mug to his mouth once again. "And free hugs," He was quick to add before taking a sip. "If you're nice maybe a kiss.. on the cheek," Egan peered over his drink stealthy, his gaze narrowing in jest.

As he settled in his seat and into the conversation, he found himself with elbows on the table, leaning closer to his friend. "So Tessler.." Egan lazily dropped his chin into his palm with a grin. "..Pray tell -- Why the one woman Valentines Day hate parade?" He inquired, running a free hand through his hair. "If I'm honest, I don't entirely agree with the anti-holiday agenda," He shrugged happily.

"A sap!" She exclaimed, slapping her hand down on the table and laughing. He was right. She had enabled his goofy behaviour by giving him such a tight hug. Maybe she should've patted him on the shoulder instead. That would have been spiteful and sassy and great. Damn it, why hadn't she thought of that?

She remembered the drink in front of her and took a quick sip, trying not to stare. It didn't seem like anything had changed so far, but the potion was definitely in his stomach. He was still the same weirdo that he always was, just a hair below creepy and very affectionate. His comment about a kiss definitely sent her for a emotional loop, however. How would she even react if he was to do that? She hadn't reacted very well when he kissed her in her bedroom, and it was a joke then. How would she react if he was bold enough under the influence of this potion to kiss her in public, in front of classmates and strangers alike? Surely he wouldn't. She had purchased the cheapest potion. At this point she wasn't even sure if it would have any effect on him at all.

She sat back in her seat and listened to him carefully with her drink hugged close to her chest while he leaned closer to her against the table. She laughed at his words. She didn't hate Valentines Day that much, but she didn't have a real valentine so what options did she really have? Either hate it or admit failure, right?

"It was created for places like Madame Puddifoots..." She rolled her eyes and took a large gulp from her drink, leaving her with less than half of a glass full. Scoffing, she looked down at the glass with a furrowed brow as she placed it on the table. "Could you imagine the nastiness occurring in there today?" She stuck her tongue out and laughed, looking back over at him. "It's an absolute joke. Why wait for one day out of three-hundred and sixty-four other perfectly good days to make your feelings known? It's a cop out as far as I'm concerned." She uncrossed her legs and shrugged, crossing her arms instead.

"A sap or a lush. Either, really," Egan pulled away from their embrace, his hands planted on Tess' shoulders as he took in her appearance. She had certainly dressed up for the night, the rarely astute Hufflepuff noticed. Maybe she had a date, he concluded, quite proud of his skilled use of context clues. Absentmindedly he wondered what Jack was up to that night if he wasn't with his two best mates. Was everyone dating behind his back?! Egan, now quite smug with himself, settled into his side of the booth.

Egan wasn't sure if it was the holiday or the butterbeer, but he found himself growingly enthralled by Tess' explanation. It truth, she couldn't get the words out fast enough for his taste -- he needed to know exactly why she had declared the holiday one to be hated.

"The nastiness?!" He repeated dreamily, his eyes shooting the ceiling in thought. Nothing about the things that he imagined were happpening at Madame Puddifoots could even be close to considered nasty. "What sort... like..." Egan shot up from his side of the booth and shoved into her own, not minding personal space or boundaries as he threw an arm over his friends' shoulders. "Like this?" The Hufflepuff gave a wiggle of his shoulders, nestling into her. Usually, he found it quite odd for two people to be seated on the same side of the booth, but this just felt right. It was right where he was meant to be.

"I think someone's sad they don't have a Valentine then?" He quipped, raising an eyebrow in Tess' direction. "Speaking of which, I'm fairly certain that Mr. Jack Sloper has a secret girlfriend behind our backs..." He added darkly, as if that was the worst thing that could happen to the two of them. "Where are all the other Valentines Day haters tonight?" He jumped from topic to topic dizzyingly fast, unphased by the fact that he was still embracing Tess.

"No, it's definitely gross!" She tried to cut his words off with a disagreeing finger point. He probably didn't agree, but the spite deep rooted in Tess's soul made it impossible for her to see otherwise. Maybe if a guy had asked her out for Valentines Day she would feel differently, but there was no way she was going to admit that outloud. She knew that with a real Valentine, she would be much less bitter. But honestly, there were no guys at Hogwarts paying any attention to her, and she swore it was because she didn't touch up the red highlights in her hair. Maybe she should get a hair potion on her way back to the castle...

She wasn't paying too much attention to Egan when he threw himself onto her, squeezing her arms tight to her body and both alarming and amusing her. It was like her to be sarcastic and rude to Egan, but she couldn't help but do anything but laugh and whine in protest. "Just like this!" She complained, throwing her head back and laughing into the air. Tess was somewhere caught right in the middle of affectionate and standoffish, and this was one of those times. She had dignity to protect, pride to preserve. Hugging and loving made her weak, but she hugged him back anyway.

"I'm not sad." She disagreed gruffly, hoping that her tone would chase away the notion altogether. "And I might have a Valentine," She raised a brow, noting the fact that he still hadn't let her go. By now, she was patting his back and trying to initiate an escape from his clutches.

Ugh, Jack.

"Who cares?" She rolled her eyes and dropped her arms back to her sides in defeat. "Poor girl's gonna be in for a treat." She snickered evilly. Jack hadn't been a bad boyfriend by any account. In fact, he had been too good of a boyfriend for Tess's tastes. She was slowly coming to terms with the fact that she loved things that were bad for her or things she just absolutely couldn't have. It was a curse.