A/N: This is the second chapter I promised. I wish I could say that this story was set gently on the back burner of the stove while life simmered in the front saucepan drizzled with writers' block for the last... months. But in reality, this story was slammed into the backseat of a beat-up Chevy while life made the road slick with frozen, rough days and deep plot holes. All the while I'm clinging to the steering wheel, desperately trying to maintain any ounce of control I could manage. So, this one's a bit short of the normal goal length I've set for myself.

Yeah, this has been a rough couple of weeks. I lost motivation for... well, everything, but I promised this story would not be abandoned, and I meant it.

Reviewer Response at the bottom!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. And I'm still American. And I still have no beta. I only have jahaha27, who helped me create the OCs in this story, and was willing to listen to me talk through plot points I was hesitant or unsure of.

Here's a bit of humor for you, I hope. Enjoy?

Bene had to have been totally exaggerating when she said that he would get more than just a couple of Valentine's, Jasper had thought. Maybe he could silently roll his eyes in annoyance at the holiday and it would just sort of slink by. Same as every other year. Right?

Wrong. So very wrong. Jasper had barely sat at the Hufflepuff table that morning when people began handing him things. Cards, tiny drawings of hearts or cartoonish snakes, a few had tiny candies attached, others covered in glitter. He had about fifteen of them in front of him by the time the food arrived. It was all completely ludicrous in his mind. He didn't even know that many people.

He began sifting through them. Most were incredibly generic Valentine messages, others were thanking him for being with Hufflepuff as long as he had, and wishes for a good rest of term. One actually had a poem, and a careful look at that one showed him it wasn't from a Hufflepuff at all, instead it was from a Slytherin. He didn't know who, as there was no name. Before he could contemplate it or the words, though, another few cards were dropped on top of it and soon the poem was in the back of his mind.

About half-way through the meal, Amy approached him and held out a piece of parchment in his direction. He took it as wordlessly as she'd given it and unfolded it to look at it.

"Thank you for taking the opportunity to transfer, and becoming my friend! I appreciate you and hope you've enjoyed Hufflepuff. Happy Valentine's Day! – Amy"

Jasper smiled at the letter, and at the ink sketches of the same hearts that littered every other paper on the table in front of him, along with an amazing try at the Slytherin crest. Unlike the others, this one he tucked into his pocket. "Thank you," He said. "I appreciate you, too."

She smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders for a gentle squeeze. "Happy Valentine's Day."

He smirked and patted her elbow. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Amy took a few steps down the table and began passing out other cards. He noticed that she gave one to the majority of the Hufflepuffs present. Jasper's smile stayed for a while then.

After the meal, Jasper decided to go back to the common room. He was stopped just outside of the Great Hall with a single greeting.

"Hey, Jazz!"

Jasper rolled his eyes. "It's never going to catch," He told Max, pausing in his steps.

"Says you." The Gryffinclaw teased, repeating the same lines he always did as he stepped around to be in front of the Slytherpuff. "How many girls in Hufflepuff have you flirted with?"

"What?" Jasper looked down at the stack of cards in his hands. "Oh, none. Apparently, it's a Hufflepuff thing."

"Sure it is," Max said with a wink.

Jasper started walking hoping Max would stay behind. But, instead, the Gryffinclaw followed.

"Don't be so modest, Jazzy! I'm sure all of the girls—"

"Whoa," Jasper froze and lifted his hand firmly into Max's face to stop the flow of words. "No. No, you are not calling me that."

"Aw, come on, Jasper!"

"No." He repeated firmly, beginning to walk again.

"But Jazzy is adorable! You'd get about forty more Valentine's cards from the name alone!"

"Stop it, Johnson." Jasper threw over his shoulder. "It's not happening."

Max sighed over-dramatically. "Fine. If you insist, I'll let this one go."

Jasper was surprised by the statement and wasn't sure if he believed it. Hesitantly, with no small amount of skepticism, he spoke. "Thank you."

Max hopped a step to return to being in stride with the taller boy. "So, any special plans today?" There was a suggestive elbow to Jasper's arm.

The boy rolled his eyes. Again. "No, and I'm not planning on it."

"What, no girlfriend?"

"No," Jasper confessed, refusing to be embarrassed about it. "I'm way too young for that stuff."

Max frowned. "Aren't you, like, fifteen?"

"No," Jasper felt like he was saying that word a lot. "And even if I were, it's still too young."

Max made a face. "Oh, you're one of those people."

Jasper frowned. "What people?"

"The 'I'm not going to date until I'm out of school' people. Aren't you?"

"Wow, how'd you guess?" Jasper asked sarcastically.

Max waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, ignoring the response entirely. "We're teenagers, and these years that are coming up are supposed to be our carefree, reckless stage!"

Jasper gave the other boy a knowing smirk. "But you hate recklessness. Didn't you say you used to follow the Weasley twins just to clean up after them?"

"Ha ha." Max's dry and thoroughly unamused laugh made Jasper's smile a bit easier in his own enjoyment. "But seriously though, we've gotta use the time we have! Who knows what next year will bring, you know? What if, instead of the Chamber of Secrets being opened, there's some sort of... invasion of a mythical creature that totally wipes out any joy we could possibly have?"

Jasper rolled his eyes. He seemed to be doing a lot of that around Max. "You're being overdramatic."

"But hypothetically, you know?" Max pushed forward. "We don't know how long we'll be happy!"

Jasper's expression turned into a thoughtful frown. He wasn't contemplating his nonexistent love life, as Max suspected, however. What Max was providing was an obviously-Gryffindor point of view. Carpe diem. Live each moment as if it were your last, and do so boldly. Compared to his own point of view, which was more centered toward planning for the future. Live each moment to give the opportunity for you to enjoy your last when it finally came.

Odd. He wondered if other Slytherins were of a similar mindset to his, or if they were centered more around Max's own opinion. And how did Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs line up with, or differ from, the already-expressed opinions of living life?

"Earth to Jasper Wilf!" Max's voice drew the Slytherpuff from his thoughts, and he blinked as he tried to orient himself with his current surroundings once more.

"Sorry, did you ask me something?" Jasper asked, hoping he hadn't missed anything too important when he'd been thinking.

Max frowned at the ginger. "No."

"Oh... good, I guess."

They walked in silence for a moment.

"So... did you have any special plans?" Jasper asked finally.

"Plans for what?" Max wondered, having moved off of that subject completely in his own thoughts.

Jasper took a moment to throw the Griffinclaw an exasperated look. "Valentine's Day!"

"Oh," Max muttered, looking away as if contemplating his answer for a moment. "Nope."

Jasper blinked. "None?"

"None," Max confirmed.

"Then why in Merlin's name were you teasing me about it?" Jasper asked. If the exasperation had ever left, it returned in full force.

Max smirked. "Somebody has to."

Jasper, well... Jasper rolled his eyes. He was surprised he hadn't gotten motion sick, as often as he'd been completing the action for the course of the conversation. Instead of a dramatic circle of the eyes, as it had been toward the beginning, it could be more accurately described as his looking toward the ceiling briefly and shaking his head ever so slightly.

"Did you see Snape's face, though?" Max laughed.

The ginger was taken by surprise at the change of subject. "What about Professor Snape?"

"Amy gave him a Valentine today." The brunet elaborated, realizing that his friend must not have seen it himself. "His eyes practically popped out of his skull! He didn't seem to know how to even hold it."

"He was probably contemplating the best way to destroy it." Once Jasper had gotten over the initial confusion, and surprise, at the events that had apparently happened while he'd been otherwise distracted, he thought out loud that thought.

"Yeah, well, I didn't see what he decided, and Amy didn't stick around to find out either," Max mentioned.

Jasper smirked. "Wise girl."

"Maybe," Max mentioned. "Though I really wanted to know what he did next."

"Why didn't you just wait to see?" Jasper asked.

"Amy wanted to give me this." Max reached into his robes and removed a small card. On the front was a hand-drawn picture of what was probably supposed to be a lion. "So she pulled me away with her."

Jasper dug through his own stack, ignoring Max's amused expression as he had to awkwardly hold some of them under his chin, trying to find the one Amy had given to him. Then, in a moment of clarity, he remembered he's placed hers in his pocket. Inwardly sighing, he allowed all of the letters to fall back into a single stack as he reached into his robes to grab the note. Sure enough, there was he shockingly accurate Slytherin crest on its front that he'd observed before.

Max peeked at it over Jasper's shoulder before huffing in annoyance. "Why does yours look so much better than mine?"

"Snakes are way easier to draw than lions, and she's had to look at the Slytherin crest more often." Jasper reasoned easily. "It's simple."

"Yeah, or maybe she likes you more." Max contemplated.

Jasper sighed deeply as he caught himself about to roll his eyes again. Honestly, the Griffinclaw would give him a migraine one of these days.

"No, I'm sure that she's equally annoyed with both of us more often than not." The ginger said finally.

Max snapped his fingers. "Speaking of; Elisa wanted to know if you were up for hanging out later."

"Is it another study group thing?" Jasper asked, trying to keep the reluctance he felt out of his voice.

Max read the emotion anyway and gave him a knowing and sympathetic look. "I think that's just the only way she knows how to ask us around."

"I'll go, sure, but I'm not studying." Even as he said this, he knew it wasn't a good idea; there was a paper due in History of Magic that Wednesday.

"Suit yourself." Max agreed easily. "I don't know where she's wanting it today, though. Maybe I can convince her to stay inside. What do you say the chances are?"

"Slim," Jasper stated immediately; it had warmed slightly outside, and most of the snow had melted before it got cold again. "Very slim."

Max lifted his brows. "How much would you wager?"

"Two sickles."

"Holy mother of Merlin, Jasper." Max shook his head. "How about we lower that a bit? Say... ten knuts?"

"You're joking, obviously. That's barely even a risk." Jasper argued.

"Not everyone is rich, Wilf." Max countered.

"Why do you suddenly think I am rich?" Jasper asked.

"You're a Pure-Blood!" Max told him as if it were obvious.

"So is your mother!" Jasper responded, remembering what Max had previously told him.

"Yeah, but not everyone who has pure-blood status is rich."

Jasper simply stared at him, as if waiting for the words Max spoke to sink into his own brain.

Understanding cleared Max's face before annoyance took its place. "Okay, fine, you've got me. But an entire two sickles on a petty bet? Really?"

"Okay..." Jasper thought for a moment. "Twenty knuts. Just to keep it interesting."

"Fifteen."

"Deal."

The boys shook on it. "If we end up outside, you pay me fifteen knuts. If we end up indoors, I'll pay you." Jasper restated their deal so it would be clear to them both, and he could make sure there was no misunderstanding.

Max agreed, and then split paths with the Slytherpuff. The brunet went in the direction of Elisa, and the ginger in the direction of Hufflepuff common room so he could put away his frankly ridiculous amount of Valentine's cards.

Later, the transfers all met in the open courtyard that had commonly been their place of meeting before the first snow the year before. Elisa, in the midst of greeting the boys as they arrived, would wonder why Max seemed disgruntled as he passed something to Jasper, who was looking incredibly smug in his scarf and one of the hats he'd received for Christmas.

The hours of that afternoon melted into evening, and then into the next day. The days following melted into weeks, and time stretched like taffy. They were all aware of its relation to itself but unsure of where to section it off in their minds. Homework and other school-related activities tended to do that to people. And soon the month of February was finished.

March zoomed past yielding similar results.

Jasper Wilf became well-versed in the subject of plants, allowing any Hufflepuff that was willing to rant about their favorite one. He was known as a friendly face they never minded encountering, and many of them became very relaxed around other Slytherins as well.

Amelia Ross didn't have any more direct encounters with the Mavis family, though the sister of them often sent her cold glares. She grew more practiced in silent casting and remained excellent friends with Lynne. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were pleasant to her, more often than not.

Maxwell Johnson was getting exponentially better at the abstract thinking required to solve the riddles the door to Ravenclaw spouted at him. Though occasionally you could find him seeking out a particular blonde for help, as he knew Luna would never tease him about getting the riddles wrong. Janna and James Sallow apologized to Jasper for losing his ferret and displayed this by agreeing to put all experiments on hold for two whole weeks. It was incredibly peaceful.

Elisabeth Morgan was able to go through her months with surprising ease. Not joyfully, but not in misery. It was relatively peaceful for her as well, as neither Fred nor George approached her more than twice regarding their pranks. They did, however, relentlessly distract her by asking about every book she was trying to read at the time of the questions, and occasionally succeeding in dragging her into a game of exploding snap.

Toward the end of the month, however, a harmless rumor reached the ears of the Gryffindors. It claimed simply that there would be no prank on April First caused by the Weasley twins. None of those who heard it believed a word of it; it was their birthday and April Fools. How could they resist such an occasion? But, even as the doubt circulated from the news, the ginger twins neither confirmed nor denied the accusation whenever they were approached. It was an odd situation indeed. Some of the professors were relieved when they heard the suspected news. Others were apprehensive to hope. Reasonably so. Though it was only something to be answered in time.

Everyone would find out on April First.

A/N: I know this one was more of a filler chapter, but I wanted to get it posted, too. Thanks for waiting for me, you guys. Your patience is appreciated, really.

And thank you for reading, or if you've followed/favorited/reviewed this or any of my other stories! Confession, though; it may be a couple more chapters before we get back into the actual plot of the story; the Weasley twins' birthday is coming up you know, among other things. I'll see if I can post a chapter on their birthday in real time, too. We'll see what happens.

Reviewer Response:

imasurvivor21: I'm glad you don't mind fluff, 'cause here's some more. :) I'm really glad you're still enjoying this, and thank you for the consistent reviews! They make me feel happy.

Catch you later!