I hope you always find a reason to smile -- February 1976

I took hold of his hand and smiled at him.  "Why do you sound so surprised, Jere?" I asked, sincerely curious.

I shook my head at her.  "I don't want to get into that," I told her, not wanting to ruin the good time we had going on.

My playful mood went away a little bit.  "Oh... okay," I said, though I knew it would bother me for the rest of hte day -- or even until he told me what was going on.

I could tell that she was losing the jovial playfulness that we had going on.  "Hey, don't worry about this," I assured her.  "There's no reason to let it dampen our Valentine's day."

I was not entirely sure if it was wise to push it to the side, but I did not want it to dampen the day, like he said.  I forced a bright, happy smile and said, "Alright, if you say so.  What's the plan going to be now,though?"

It was har to tell if she really dropped it or not, but at least she was pretending nonetheless.  "I was thinking that you ought to be treated to something sweet... would you like a sweet drink from the Three Broomsticks or a sweet treat from Honeydukes?"

I bit my lip, thinking.  "I believe... Honeydukes," I replied.  A girl could never turn down chocolate.  And chocolate is far better than butterbeer or a drink from The Three Broomsticks.  "Let's go." I grabbed Jeremy's hand and led the way to the candy shoppe.

I was surprised that she was openly holding my hand in public.  I was easily keeping up with her.  "Someone was getting really excited about chocolate, isn't she?" I said, smirking.

I looked over at him, smirking.  "Hasn't anyone ever told you that women and chocolate are, like, best mates?" I teased.

I smirked at Ember.  "Yeah, I think you may have mentioned it once or twice," I teased, knowing she told me nearly daily that little fact.

"A week?" I inquired, smirking at him.  I really hoped that he would rather enjoy the teasing and banter.  It was something that seemed to be missing more often than it used to be.

I laughed, unable to keep it in.  "Exactly.  Or perhaps once or twice a day," I amended, still chuckling.

I rolled my eyes at him, though the laugh escaping my lips showed I was not angry.  "Oh shut it," I said to him, still giggling.

I chuckled at her and we entered the sweets shoppe.  "You can have anything your little heart desires," I assured her.  I just wanted to make Ember happy.  To show to her that someone other than SIrius could make her smile and steal her heart.

I grinned evilly at him.  "You really want to say something like that to a girl in a chocolate place?" I asked hm, knowing that my look would start to worry him.