Hey, Happy Spring Equinox everyone!
I don't own Harry Potter.
It was the day before Valentines Day, and the teachers could hardly wait for the day to come and go and be gone till next year. Lockhart was trying to coax the other teachers to join him in decorating the castle and prepare some fun activities for the day dedicated to young love, but the others on the staff were far from enthused about the idea.
He called on Dumbledore that night and hoped that he would be willing to give him the go ahead.
He knocked smartly on the ancient wooden door and came striding in when he heard the permission to enter. "Headmaster, I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow, I have a great idea to..."
He had expected to just see the Headmaster at his desk and working on the paperwork that needed his attention, he however was not expecting him to be sitting at another, much smaller desk and chatting amicably with young Harry Potter.
"Ah, Gilderoy. What can I do for you?" asked Dumbledore as Harry stood up and took his homework with him into the guest room.
He remembered that they told him that Potter was supposed to be in a tower all on his own but his predecessor had viciously attacked him and his guardian in the term prior. But it still slightly stunned him that the Headmaster took it upon himself to house the boy himself.
Perhaps if he had been quicker, he could have been the one to...guide Potter and offer his protection. Maybe he should offer to take over the care of the boy, the Headmaster has so much work to do, surely he could...lighten the load.
"Gilderoy?" asked Dumbledore as he settled into the large chair behind the ancient desk.
"Oh, right! I had an idea to send past you, for a little bit of enjoyment for the students." said Lockhart with a beaming toothy smile.
"And that idea would be?" said Dumbledore folding his hands on his desk and smiling pleasantly to the Defense teacher.
Harry sat in his large armchair beside the fireplace in his room and finished up the remaining bit of Charms homework that Flitwick had asked for. He enjoyed the pleasant silence that came with Yang sticking his nose in other people's business, (which was what he was supposed to do). He found that he could fly through any paperwork or homework without having him have any snide comment about whatever the paperwork was about or who the work was for.
Not that he didn't think Yang was hilarious most of the time, he really did enjoy hearing his point of view. It was a good thing that he enjoyed it, because Yang wasn't gone long.
"I can't believe it." said Yang. "I simply can't f*cking believe it!"
"What is it now?" asked Harry as he signed the top of his report.
"It's that idiot Lockhart...he wants to glitterfy and fluff up the school for tomorrow, what the hell holiday is tomorrow?" asked Yang.
"That would be Valentine's Day." said Harry. "I would expect one of the female teachers to try and decorate for the holiday, not so much a male teacher."
"I say we call in sick tomorrow." said Yang.
"As much as I agree, as all that sappy stuff is not up my alley either but if he's going to pick a day to be...creepy...than I think Valentine's Day is going to be the day." said Harry. "So if anything, we're going to have to keep an eye out, there just may be more than one potential predator around here."
Yang looked down at Harry's hand, the last few words his more socially accept half spoke...the grip on his quill kept getting tighter and tighter till it was almost snapped in half.
"You alright?" asked Yang.
"Fine." said Harry darkly. "Just...I don't know if we should be up and going that day. At the very least me, I'm going to right pissy tomorrow."
"Let's just switch out when it gets to be too much to you." said Yang. "I think I can be...pleasant for a few hours today...not too pleasant mind you but...I won't maim anyone...well, maim is a bit much to promise, I won't kill anyone."
The next day, the castle looked reasonably normal, it was still grey, dark and regal looking. Both Harry and Yang figured that Lockhart would deck the entire place in something pink and frilly by the morning.
"Guess he didn't want to spend time away from his curling iron to decorate the place." said Yang.
But when they entered the Great Hall, it seemed that all the festive decorations were all condensed in the confines of that one room. There were little confetti hearts falling from the ceiling, heart shaped bubbles blossoming from the air above where a girl and boy might be sitting together. Instead of perhaps blushing and going along with it, it sometimes happened that the boy and girl in question would distance themselves from each other and have a slightly disgusted look on their face.
Another thing that happened was that a few of the girls and a few bold (if not red faced) boys went up to a table that had a few romantic cards that would be delivered to their desired targets. A few would be delivered during the day in classes through the aid of cupids (dwarves dressed in tutus and wings) and a few would be delivered during mealtime by tiny fairies.
Harry sat down beside Ron and found a small tied stack of cards waiting for him to read.
"What is going on here? What's with the mail?" asked Yang.
"Don't tell me we got some Valentine cards." said Harry.
"Who is stupid enough to send us a card?" asked Yang.
"I'm charming, you need some work." said Harry with a inner sneer as he sat down.
"You already got some cards, Harry." said Percy as he spooned some porridge into a bowl.
Harry untied the string and read through some of the cards.
Dear Harry,
I hope you have a great year.
Love,
That was what most of the letters said, some of them were a bit more personal, and a few of them seemed to come from a few of their fellow first year girls that had a developing crush on him. Yang was gagging overhead to the sappiness of the love poems they had written.
Thankfully, none of them sounded dangerous, and none of them came from Lockhart.
"Happy Valentine's Day everyone!" said Lockhart standing up and beaming at all the students.
The rest of the staff however were trying hard not to look at Lockhart but were trying to be subtle with their glares towards the Headmaster. McGonagall was whispering furiously to the old man the man was only responding with a slight smile and a shrug.
"Now I want you all to enjoy this most wonderful day to the fullest that you can. I'm sure my fellow staff members would be more than happy to help in the festivities. As Potions Master, I'm positive that Snape would be more than capable of showing you all how to make a love potion..."
"Love Potions are against school rules, Gilderoy, it might not be the best idea to show them how to brew one today." said Dumbledore with a slight smile. Snape rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, but had a relived look on his face.
"Well...then Professor Flitwick..." said Lockhart.
"Tomorrow, everyone has a large test going on my class, they'll be studying and reviewing in order to get a good mark." said Flitwick quickly, he didn't want to know what Gilderoy was going to volunteer for him to show the students.
"What you have done so far is the most we can hope to do for this year, perhaps with a bit more time to prepare as opposed to just one night, we can do more next year." said Dumbledore gently.
"Let's hope the curse gets him." muttered Snape.
"I hope he's not here next year, think we can take him out just out of principle?" asked Yang.
Harry fished a confetti heart out of his cereal for the fifth time. "Well, if these keep falling in here, I'm going to shove these down his throat."
"And I thought only I got grumpy when I wake up in the morning." said Yang with a smirk.
Lockhart sat down at the head table and resisted the urge to frown. The Headmaster was just tyring to constricting his creative flair for this wonderful holiday. The children needed to know that he was a very different professor than the one that he had replaced. He was a fun, hip and infinitely a better looking teacher than Quirrel, as well as the other teachers on the staff.
He looked down at Harry and saw him picking the little hearts that fell from the ceiling out of his porridge. Perhaps the rain of hearts did come down a bit too far. Well, that was a nice little note to keep in mind for next year.
Harry was certainly becoming a little charmer if the stack of Valentines was anything to go by. It wasn't nearly as big as the ones that he himself received thus far. But it was a start, it was a start. He was a little hurt that Harry had not sent him a card, he was hoping that the boy would send him one.
Then again, the boy seemed to be a shy young man...perhaps he didn't have the courage to send his favorite professor a Valentine? Yes that had to be it.
"The man," said Yang sharply. "is delusional. He seems to think that he's our favorite teacher, and that we are too nervous to send him a Valentine. I'll send him a valentine, as long as we can rig the card to explode."
"You can count on the twins coming up with one or two, maybe we can borrow one if Lockhart gets a bit much." said Harry.
"Let's cut to the chase, I don't want to wait for him to screw up." said Yang.
"Isn't this so cute?" asked Hermione sitting next to Harry.
"Cute is a word that might be associated with this I guess." said Harry with a smile as he handed her a plate of toast.
"What would you call it?" asked Hermione.
"Nauseating." said Ron and Yang.
"Okay, there is some redeeming features about him." said Yang slowly as he looked at Ron.
"That's because you two are boys." said Hermione with a giggle. "I wonder if Professor Lockhart got my card yet?"
"What?" said Ron. "Tell me you didn't!"
"Well, he is very good looking, isn't he? But he's not only that! He's so brave and strong!" said Hermione.
"With those scrawny arms, seriously doubt that." said Yang.
After having their classrooms barraged by disgruntled dwarves bearing cards or harps that would be strummed as they recited poorly written love songs, the teachers decided enough was enough and called off the rest of the classes for the last half of the day. The students were overjoyed, but the staff were more than perturbed by the interruptions.
And they made their point quite clear in the staff room where they cornered Lockhart.
"Of all the most foolish things to do!" said McGonagall sternly. "Who told you that you could interrupt our classes with all that nonsense?"
"Well, the Headmaster..." said Lockhart backing up slowly into the large cabinet.
"I doubt that the Headmaster gave you the go ahead to disrupt our classes." snarled Snape.
"I most certainly did not." said Dumbledore coming into the Staff room. "I told you Gilderoy that as long as it didn't interrupt the classes or have a negative effect of any sort on the students, you could do it. While I have not seen any negativity amongst the students, minus the normal avoidance of boys around anything pink, this certainly qualifies as an interruption."
"I...I..." said Gilderoy. "The students enjoyed it."
"Of course the brats enjoy it, they don't have class today as a result of it!" shouted Snape.
"Gilderoy, the idea in itself was a good one, we do tend to overlook Valentines Day, but this was a bit much." said Dumbledore.
"I'll just remember it for next year." said Lockhart eagerly. He missed the rest of the teachers rolling their eyes.
"You do that Gilderoy, but might I make a suggestion, the Valentines can be delivered with owls at meal time, not class time." said Dumbledore. "And keep the confetti off the food, I coughed this afternoon and found a little heart in my hand."
"Should I round up the cupids..." said Lockhart.
"Of for pity's sake, they're dwarves you nitwit!" mumbled Snape.
"...and send them home?" said Lockhart with a glare at the Potions master.
"I've taken care of that." said Dumbledore with a frown, "I also took the liberty of promising that you would not do that again, and gave them each a few galleons for their trouble and to ease their hurting pride. That...will come out of your pay."
"Yessir." said Lockhart looking down shamefully.
Thousands of miles away, a man sat deep in a cave. The particular tunnel he sat down was warded off from anyone coming down without him knowing. He sat before a crackling fire, reading a large paper that he had stolen from a wizard's trash bin. The man smiled cruelly as he read a article's title and the picture beneath it. It was a picture of Harry reading a book and reclining carefully in a chair.
The Boy Who Lived Finally Takes His Place at Hogwarts.
"So, all those years ago...I had the one and only Boy-Who-Lived?" said the man tracing his finger down the pictured curve of Harry's face. The photographed version of Harry flinched away and left the picture quickly. "I wonder...what are you like...now..?"
Thanks for reading, please review!
Hmm...Question of the chapter: What fast food restaurant is your favorite one to stop at, it's Culvers for me! If you don't do fast food, what's your sit down restaurant. That one would be Ponderosa for me in that category!