The air was crisp as the sun rose over Hogwarts. At first glance everything looked just like a picturesque Valentine's Day. As the sun entered the windows of the girl's dorms, they woke just a bit easier as they imagined all the possibilities of what the day might bring to them. The girls who had been dating couldn't wait to see what their boyfriends had planned and the single girls couldn't wait to see if there just might be someone out there who had been watching them.
The boy's dorms were a bit more solemn, some hoped that their plans would please their girlfriends; others simply couldn't wait for the day to be over so the girls would cease the constant watching and waiting.
Unfortunately the day did not follow tradition for long. As Harry climbed out of his bed, thoughts of dread regarding Ginny's expectations and the certainty that privacy would not be on the list of the day's activity, he couldn't help but house a dread bigger then all of these. Though he didn't know what, he did realize that something wasn't right. As the day progressed, it became more and more obvious that something was wrong. The normally happy chatter and excitement that the day brought each year was subdued despite the attempts of everyone to make it otherwise. People quickly noted, Hermione being one of the first, that the birds were even silent.
Before noon, the crisp clear day had begun to turn stormy. Dark clouds rolled in and the silence disappeared in the crashes of thunder. The temperature dropped to the point that the rain was freezing on the way down. Even the sounds of the thunder and pelting ice could not cover the dreadful sound that came next.
Wails rang through the school as one by one, the wards began to fall. The howls of many dark beasts swept through the air. None of this held any fright compared with the dreadful laughs of the one person completely able to destroy a day full of love, Voldemort.
The day had finally come. There was no denying that this would be the last battle. Either the light would win and Voldemort would cease to exist, or, the more likely alternative due to the unprepared smaller forces that the light possessed, Hogwarts would fall and with it, all hope in the Wizarding World would also be enveloped in darkness. This day of love now also housed hate and death.
As the light and dark fought around them, Harry and Voldemort met again. No one had bothered to deny Harry this chance. They all realized that if he didn't fight he would be among the students that would be killed before night fall. Wasting no time in his urgency to destroy the one person that always seemed to stand in his way, Voldemort quickly cast the spell to end the war.
Avada Kedavra
As the sinister green light sped toward Harry, it met with the most brilliant white light ever seen by any of those who witnessed it that day. The lights combined and engulfed both Harry and Voldemort and spread over the grounds covering everything. Those present later attested to being filled with love and a reassurance of safety as the light passed over them.
After several minutes, the light was pulled up into the skies as a voice rang over Hogwarts, "I love you".
McGonagall stared over at where Harry had stood. Side by side, he and Voldemort were spread, pale and unbreathing. Slowly everyone else also noticed as well. While everyone carried the bodies inside, too busy mourning their savior's death to celebrate their end of the dark's reign, no one notice that the storm had left sun, brighter and warmer then ever before, in it's place.
It would take years for people to understand that Valentine's Day had not been rendered pointless on that fateful day. Eventually though, everyone would realize that Harry had given Hogwarts the best gift of love given in two thousand years, peace from a world of terror. The world Harry had left behind was not the only group to receive such a gift of love either for that Valentine's Day night, Harry was celebrating with those who he loved the most, his mum, dad, Sirius, and Dumbledore. Even Cedric stopped by to wish his friend a Happy Valentine's Day.
