Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything you recognise is property of J. K. Rowling. I just took them out for a moment to abuse them and then put them back again.

Dried Weeds

By Sebastian Snape

Valentine. I hate Valentines. They make me feel ill.

I have never received a Valentine...well, that is not quite true. I remember one Valentine distinctively. And it still aches.

One person sent me a Valentine...Lily. My heart had pondered when the small, discreet paper was delivered by owl. I carefully schooled my expression not to show how excited I was. Out of the corner of my eyes, I searched the Great Hall. Lily was nowhere to be seen. Quickly I hid the card within my clothes, rushing off to read it somewhere undisturbed.

I liked Lily a lot, even though she was friends with Potter.
She was clever, a pity she was muggleborn.
All right, officially I insulted her from time to time, or sneered. I was one of the less wealthy boys in Slytherin and had to be careful. Lucius would have made my life hell if he knew that I liked a mudblood. And Lucius was my best friend, he looked out for me, he made sure they others left me in peace. I was too much of a bookworm to be a true Slytherin, more interested in books than in plots or the manipulation of others. For his protection I usually helped Lucius with his homework. Actually most of the time I ended up doing his homework on top of my own.

But everything has a price, friendship too. Well...I start to get distracted...Lily.
I washed my hair twice on that evening...my hair was never pleasant, somehow it is always far too greasy. I cannot help it. Even with the finest potion it would become limp within a few hours. I got some flowers, pinched them from the greenhouse, and hid them in my clothes, careful that nobody noticed.

Well, what can I say... it was nothing but a cruel joke.

Somehow Potter and his conies had convinced her to pull this prank.
probably because I had insulted her once too often.
She stood there, looking adorable, with a bouquet of ...weeds.
declaring her undying love...while her friends came up from behind some rose bushes, howling in laughter.

I remember standing there, shell-shocked.

At that moment I could not even feel angry.

All I felt was a deep sadness, the realisation that this pitiful bouquet of weeds would be the only sign of affection I would ever receive.

No woman is ever going to look at me with that special expression in her eyes.

Back then I did not show much emotion when they pulled that prank, instead I took the bouquet and walked away, quietly. The laughter of Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin ringing brightly behind my back.

Strange, looking back, I do not recall Lily's voice in all that laughter.

I did not give them the satisfaction of showing how deeply they had hurt me.

And strange as it is...the pitiful weeds are still here, in this old book, pressed and dry, colours fading...the only declaration of love I ever got.

I close the book, careful not to damage those weeds, and put it back up on the shelf and get my robe.

It is time to blast some rose bushes...

It is Valentine Day.

Severus Snape left his quarter to join the Valentine ball.

End