Valentines Day - the draft
January came and went, and it was still toe-freezing weather. The sisters were put to rights in the infirmary by New Years and after all that they didn't really feel like spending any more time around each other. After Caitlin's brilliant scheme to steal things from both her little sisters and make them think they stole from each other, Kerri and Krista were a little more leery of their older sister. There was a tentative sort of truce between them, while they regrouped and planned their next attacks.
School resumed right on time, but Kerri Callahan had barely kept up with her holiday schoolwork because of her extended stay in the infirmary. February meant there was still ice and snow covering the grounds. Kerri's morning was miserably cold, and she put on a double layer of socks just to keep her feet warm. Why Hogwarts Castle didn't have warming charms spelled into the stone was beyond Kerri. Who would build a giant castle in the middle of Scotland without having warming charms? The Slytherin dungeons were the worst, they were nestled deep underneath the castle, the only spot of warmth one could find was in front of a fireplace. Even bundled up Kerri thought she could feel frostbite starting to ice over her extremities with every step. Voldemort bemoaned his hatred of the cold weather to his owner all the way from the Slytherin Common room to the potions classroom, which honestly wasn't that far.
"You're over exaggerating." Zambini, her lab partner ,just rolled his eyes at her, and stirred their potion clockwise with his wand.
"I'm bloody freezing that's what I am." Kerri pulled her robes tighter and leaned over her parchment, doodling pictures of tropical islands. "I think my brain is freezing, I can't concentrate on anything."
"The Elixer of Iskalddoden…" Blaise squinted at her notes. "What does that mean?"
"Icy Death." Voldemort hissed, in translation.
"Icy Death," Kerri automatically translated to her partner. "Why couldn't it have been: Nice, Warm, and Toasty Death?"
"I could do without the death part all together, thanks," Blaise commented, watching their potion turn a silvery-blue. "You've been in this castle for how many years now, and you still haven't gotten used to the cold?"
"Any further jokes about my being cold-blooded will be met with a hex to your crotch, Professor Snape's classroom or not."
Kerri took Zambini's twitchy look of fear as a good sign he wouldn't make any jokes and continued to doodle.
"So, you never told me exactly what happened Christmas night," Zambini decided to take the conversation from one sensitive area to another. Despite his prodding Kerri didn't really like to talk about it.
Her tropical island doodle started to feature a shark circling in the waters.
"I mean, something had to happen besides your hair getting turned pink."
"I told you it was lady problems."
"Yeah, but that only deterred me the first time, then I realized that your so called 'lady problems' don't turn your hair pink. I think it is a large conspiracy anyway. It gives you ladies and excuse to be moody and eat chocolate."
"I think it would be funny to watch you tell more ladies your little conspiracy theory. But just so I can watch the subsequent pummeling that is surely going to happen."
Zambini pondered this while ladling his potion into a larger apothecary jar. "If I get a cut of the tickets sold, I might think it was funny too. Fine if you won't tell me about that, you mind telling me about why you can't concentrate?"
"I already told you, its because I'm cold."
"Winter has been happening for months now, it can't really be because of the cold."
"Says you, besides you aren't normally this chatty…what is wrong with you?"
Zambini shrugged and extinguished the flame under their shared cauldron. "Our potion is as good as it is going to be."
"Good enough for me."
Kerri watched her lab partner hand in their potion, and started cleaning up their mess of ingredients.
"Any plans for Valentines day?" Zambini asked when he returned.
"Oh no, I almost forgot about that stupid holiday," Kerri moaned. She rolled up her parchment and collected her books.
"I'll take that as a no then."
"Who makes plans for Valentines day? You know what my plan would be, to sleep the entire day, then wake up and eat chocolate I bought for myself, then go back to sleep. Perfect."
Blaise choked back a laugh, and collected his books as well.
They entered the chilly dungeon halls discussing Kerri's master plan to stop Valentine's Day from happening.
Elsewhere Krista was enjoying her Divination class while plotting her next move in her plan of MCLALH (Make Caitlin's Life A Living Hell.) Her tea leaves weren't much of an inspiration, and her Divination partner was peeking into her cup, wondering what she saw that made her smile so wickedly.
Phase one had already happened, with no sort of reaction from her older sister. Perhaps she was being a bit subtle, she rationed. Either way phase two of the plan involved Valentines Day.
"It looks like a wombat doing the salsa… or perhaps the Mona Lisa." She informed the girl across from her.
"Oh, whats that mean..?"
"You don't want to know." Krista said ominously. She always tried to sound extra crazy in Divination, where she figured the behavior was expected. She was too busy planning evilness for the upcoming holiday to really pay attention to tea leaves Oh, Valentines Day. What a wonderful, exciting holiday, filled with candies and cards. Oh, the trouble she could cause on that wonderful holiday. With the pink and red and cupids and the hearts. It made her heart warm with the thought of all the additional trouble she could cause not only in her sister's life, but in the lives of other Hogwarts students as well. Only two weeks to go, Krista grinned, a wicked sly little grin. Only a two weeks to go.
Caitlin already had a notebook full of lists. That is how she kept track of things. Lists upon lists upon lists. Written in cute notebooks, with colorful pens and the artful addition of doodles and stickers. The lists she was composing at this moment was a list of Valentines. She hand-crafted intricate little love notes, cards, letters, and poems, all with matching envelopes. Then she sold her pieces to love struck students the day before Valentines, all for a tidy profit. Valentines also happened to be Caitlin's favorite holiday for another reason; Chocolate. A self confessed chocoholic, Caitie horded the little heart shaped boxes of chocolate like a dragon horded gold. Which is to say she made sure all of her friends knew exactly her favorite flavor of bon-bon, and of course, always subtly reminded everyone of her passion at carefully planned intervals before the holiday. Sure she had admirers, secret and not-so secret, but who could trust candy from a stranger? She always gave those candies to her sisters.
Still, careful planning always led to success with most of her ventures, except that last one. Maybe her sisters knew her too well, maybe they now suspected her of pranks. Well then, she reasoned, might as well just work that angle. New list, Ways To Get Back At Younger Sisters. Ever since That Night, she couldn't look at an egg without shuddering.