Out of all the things that could have happened in the days to come, Valentine's Day stood ahead of us like an inevitable doom. And you'll clearly understand why I said that,  soon enough. Last night at dinner, Professor Lockhart had promised us that he'd provide the best possible way for us to bust our stress from all those attacks at students. 

However his idea of a morale-booster became clear at breakfast time on February fourteenth. The Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was decorated with large, lurid pink flowers. Heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling. 

Gilderoy Lockhart was wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations (and let me tell you he looked a lot more horrible than you just imagined). He had organised the whole freaking event and hired a dozen dwarves wearing golden wings and carrying harps to make them look like cupids. 

I slapped my hand on my head in despair. Why did he have to chose Valentine's Day to organize all this comical circus? I had dropped my head down on the table in hopes of sleeping off at breakfast and avoiding all the commotion but of course that's not happening. 

Lockhart stood up to give a cheerful good morning speech, "Morning my lovely students! With permission from the authorities I've arranged for you to have the best Valentine's Day you'll ever experience. Accompanied with a special delivery of Ventines from these cute cupids here." 

Yeah, just see how best the day can get, with a morning as beautiful as this we can hardlt wait for the inevitable (note the sarcasm). 

"I myself have received a total of 48 Valentines this morning and am definitely hoping for some more to come," he stated rather pleased with that accomplishment, "when I was in my fourth year, I had received much more than this. Eight hundred to be exact. In fact the breakfast that morning had to cancelled due to such a lot of Owl post." 

Yeah I can totally imagine that; unfortunately for him it won't leave the desired impression on me since I already knew the real story behind it (Wormtail had told me that all those Valentines were sent by Lockhart to himself just to seek attention). Some of the girls were oohing and aahing at this remarkable piece of information he had just shared. Eight hundred Valentines, indeed. 

"It's so depressing to find out that 800 sane people wasted their parchment on him," Fred whispered. 

"They weren't sane, Freddie, or else why would they even write to him in the first place?" George remarked. 

Those cupid dwarves were a real nuisance as they kept dropping letters here and there and one of them even dropped the harp on my head and trust me it wasn't enjoyable in the least. 

"Harry Potter! Harry Potter!" One of the doors went shrieking by us to find Harry who was probably hiding somewhere from embarrassment. 

The card in the dwarf's hand was singing, "His eyes are as green as fresh pickled toad... His hair is as black as the blackboard... The hero who conquered the Dark Lord..." 

Fred and George burst out laughing and immediately bent their heads trying to focus on their porridge but failed to do so. 

"What so funny?" I asked. 

"We told Gin that fresh pickled toad would seem weird but she didn't change it because of the rhyming pattern," Fred finally spoke still choking on his food. 

I thumped him hard on his back, "speak after you eat." 

So that singing Valentine was from Ginny. Okay... I see. After breakfast we went to the Charms classroom. The cupids were still bouncing here and there making a lot of fuss. 

***

We were just crossing the third corridor when a dwarf dangling from the ceiling dropped down immediately. Terrifying. The way it dropped, it could have snapped its neck. "Katerina Weasley," it had a huge grin on his face as if knowing the doom that was being presented to me. 

No no no NO. Not a freaking Valentine. 

It handed me a red silk tied card and bowed low before bouncing off (because seeing the condition of the wings, the cupid dwarves were practically unable to fly so they could only bounce). Fred and George were eyeing the card as if it was some explosive material that could go boom any second.

And yes it did. The card burst open as heart shaped confetti sprouted from it. And then a poem began to appear on air in red letters as the card began to sing:

"Gryffindor is Red,
Ravenclaw is Blue,
Will you be my Valentine,
If I ask you?"

No, I absolutely won't. Freaking Hell! I so have a clear idea who this sender is. "ROGER ALEXANDER DAVIES! YOU GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" 

A few seconds passed. And then he emerged out of the crowd (that had gathered to watch the scene) gasping for breath, "y-yeah? I... Uh... I just..." 

As expected. I so knew he would be nearby waiting to see my reaction. Well there you go, Davies, this is my reaction. Both the twins took out the camera they had got as a Christmas present and began filming the scene. 

But it had no effect on me, like hell, I don't even care right now. I waved the card in front of him, "you sent me this?" 

He nodded, "yeah. I thought I might ask you out to Madam Puddifoot's tonight." 

I smiled, "how exactly sweet of you to design all this. The card was quite inspirational. And your poetry... God, I'd like to meet the preschooler who wrote it. But unfortunately I can't go out with you." 

His face fell, "why?" 

My slight smirk now widened imagining what his reaction would be after I told him the reason, "well y'know what... I'm a werewolf." 

I paused for a dramatic effect. 

The twins thankfully kept their mouth shut. "W-werewolf?" 

Davies's face paled immediately. I resumed, " yeah, werewolf. Quite unfortunate, really. I go all monstrous on full moons. And if you hadn't noticed tonight is a full moon too. So if you still want to go out with me tonight, I'll be honored. And will definitely respect your courage. At your funeral, that is." 

It took a lot of effort for me to prevent myself from laughing. "I'll... See you around then... Some other day." 

He was about to make his escape when I grabbed his wrist and pulled him close so I could whisper in his ear, "next time you send me a Valentine, I'll tear you to shreds and paint my nails at the same time. I can assure you of that." 

He grew pallid, "w-what?" 

Then releasing him, I flashed a bright smile, "see ya." And with that Davies vanished. Or let me rephrase that; poor Davies ran for his life. 

When I turned back I saw that the camera was lying forgotten at the floor and the twins were laughing so hard that they were about to collapse as well.

***