Clunk. Clunk.

Lorri Darlington's shoes were too big for her, and they easily managed to cause a loud stomping noise to erupt from below her black robes every time she placed her foot, no matter how gently, on the polished wooden staircase heading in the direction of North Tower.

Clunk. Clunk.

Despite the high volume of the sound her shoes were creating and the fact that it was causing several curious faces to appear from behind the classroom doors she passed in an attempt to identify the source of the noise, Lorri was not distracted in the slightest.

Clunk. Clunk.

She possessed a large amount of stationary in her arms, and these fragments of neatly-cut pale pink parchment were so numerous that their presence seemed to be weighing Lorri down somewhat, as her face was only visible from above the nose. The fact that these papers had also been charmed to become musical flyers and proceeded to leap into the chorus of a high-pitched tune at increasing volume and tempo with each of Lorri's clomping footsteps proved to add to the distraction she was presenting to the classes which were surrounding her as she walked.

Clunk. Clunk.

Her long auburn hair had been slung lazily into a low ponytail and her fringe was falling haphazardly across her forehead and occasionally her eyes, at which instance she would expel a harsh breath upwards in an attempt to clear her face of her hair.

Clunk. Clunk.

Lorri's stomping became steadily more rapid as she began to jog towards a tall oak door that had emerged into her view on the far end of the corridor up which she was currently travelling. Though her mouth was not visible beyond the mountain of parchment overflowing in her arms, the unmistakable twinkle in her eyes made it apparent that Lorri was smiling.

Clunk. Clunk.

When at last she had reached the sweeping shadow of the formidable-looking oak door, Lorri hesitated. She examined the numerous sheets of parchment currently in her grasp and, following a few moments of obvious thought, she kicked the door.

The thunderous sound that vibrated throughout the wide and almost empty corridor as a result of the connection between the towering door and Lorri's oversized shoe caused her to stumble backwards a few paces. Lorri could hear the immediate eruption of chatter within the room beyond the door, and the cacophony of sound increased dramatically as the elderly, gold plated knob rotated and the door swung open.

A disgruntled Minerva McGonagall was peering down at Lorri from behind her carefully balanced glasses, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Miss Darlington, what do you think you're doing?"

"Happy Valentines Day in advance, Professor!" Lorri squealed up at the scowling Transfiguration teacher, striding directly past her into the classroom, apparently undeterred by McGonagall's obviously angered facial expression.

Professor McGonagall released a heavy sigh as Lorri dropped the pile of parchment onto the teacher's desk with quite some force and beamed at McGonagall's class – a particularly confused-looking group of second years. Lorri's toothy grin remained intact despite the fact that several of her flyers had fallen to the cold floor with a soft thud as a result of being practically thrown at the desk at the front of the room. Many of them were now reciting their sickly tune at an even higher pitch than heard in the corridor outside.

"Professor, I have a wonderful announcement that I just must make to your class", Lorri stated excitedly in a sing-song voice, without even glancing at McGonagall, but rather continuing to smile at the second years. The Professor merely adjusted her glasses, shooed the now screeching flyers from her chair with a simple flick of her wand and sat, arms folded.

"Very well, Lorrien, just make it – " But before she could finish, Lorri had eagerly snatched up a number of the flyers from the desk and was handing one to each of the students in McGonagall's class.

"It's truly exciting, and it's never happened before!" Lorri squeaked to the room. "I'm really delighted to announce that this year, the Hogwarts prefects, including myself, have organised a party in order to rightly celebrate the happiness and romance that is Valentines Day."

Intrigued and excited rumours had hatched around the room as Lorri had said the word 'party', but the vast majority of these whispers had deteriorated with her final words. A significant number of the students were now gazing at Lorri as though she was an after-product of the rear explosion of a Blast-Ended Skrewt, but Lorri appeared unperturbed.

"It's a good idea to get a partner, but this isn't really compulsory because it's a party rather than a ball." She took gentle hold of the slightly grubby prefect's badge pinned lopsidedly on the front of her robes as she continued her speech. "While teachers will be present at the party (several groans, many of them of the male orientation, suddenly echoed throughout the room), prefects are the main organisers of this event, so if you have any questions, feel free to come to me or any other of the prefects available. All other important details are available on the flyer you've just been given."

Lorri finished her rant with a grin that spanned from ear to ear, despite the fact that a boy in the corner of the room was holding his flyer between his thumb and forefinger at an exaggerated distance from himself with an expression of deep repulsion on his face. Lorri's utter delight at her own announcement was only broken by the calm voice but slightly flustered face of Professor McGonagall.

"Thankyou, Lorrien." She said plainly. Lorri spun around and grinned at her Head of House.

"Thankyou, Professor!" she rambled as she frantically gathered her remaining flyers. "I'll see you there, Professor! With quite a handsome partner of your own, no doubt!"

"That's enough, Lorrien." Mcgonagall uttered, making every attempt to make her voice sound its usual stern self, though there was the tiniest hint of pink discolouration in her cheeks.

Now clutching the total of the flyers she hadn't handed out, Lorri skidded towards the door. It was still ajar, and she pushed it almost violently with her hip and slid through, back into the wide corridor. McGonagall adjusted her glasses slightly once more, cleared her throat and looked up towards her class, all of whom remained to share similar confused or somewhat disgusted expression as they listened to the prefect make her echoing and impossible to ignore way back down the corridor.

Clunk. Clunk.