𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 - 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 (𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟏)

17 - Love is in the Air

Valentine's Day

I sat at the Gryffindor table, as usual. "I bloody hate Valentine's Day," Harry murmured, taking a large bite of hashbrowns. "Don't eat your feelings," I nudged at him. "You're one to talk, you've got a bloody valentine," Ron sneered. "You boys angry? What do you want as a reward, a cookie?" I snarfed back. Ginny giggled. "Neville asked me to be his Valentine," Ginny smiled. "Oh my god, what'd you say?" Hermione gushed. "No." "You said no?" My mouth dropped. "That must've hurt his feelings, for merlin's sake Ginny," I tried not to laugh. "At least you were offered one," Ron sniffled. "Did someone reject you? Because it sure sounds like it," Harry smirked. Ron sat quiet.

"Well there's your answer," I shrugged. Ron walked away from the table. Harry had been more quiet than usual this past month. His silence spoke measures. I understood his silence. As though we could both hear the screams before sleeping at night. I felt awful for him. He'd watched Cedric die first hand. I was worried about him. He spent a lot more time in his room recently.

After eating our breakfast, we returned to the common room. Draco had told me the previous night that he was taking me somewhere for a Valentine's Day date. He told me to dress nice and that he would pick me up at the common room at eight. It was only nine in the morning. "What are you and Draco doing tonight?" Hermione asked curiously. "Not sure, said it was a surprise," I smiled. "All I know is to dress nice," "Ooh, can I see?" she excitedly took my hand up to our room. "Not sure I have a choice," I grabbed the outfit out of the closet.

It was an ivory, satin mini dress with short sleeves and a ribbon tied on the front. "It's so classy, what's the occasion?" Ginny walked in. "Date night with Malfoy," Hermione smirked, sitting on her bed. "You have any plans, Hermione?" I asked. "Going to The Three Broomsticks with Harry, as friends of course," "Ooh, have fun," Ginny grinned. Knowing Hermione, she'd asked Ron to go but he'd preferred to sulk in his own self pity instead of going out and having fun.

Ginny and I decided to go back to Hogsmeade for the rest of the morning. We stopped inside Madam Puddifoot's for a cup of tea, then proceeded to browse the stores, shopping for clothes and other fun wizarding items. "I really want to get a pygmy puff, but Lorelei would probably eat it," I laughed, standing in Zonko's Joke shop. "I've been on and off about buying one," Ginny pet the puff on the head. "I'd be scared of losing it," She said, placing it back in it's cage. We grabbed a quick snack at Honeydukes, and began walking back to the castle. As we walked through the halls, we came face to face with Terry and his friends.

"Look, it's my valentine," he smirked, approaching me. My heart began to race. "Who's this little friend of yours?" He pointed towards Ginny. "Stay away from her," I snarled, my teeth gritted. "Why should I?" He clutched onto a piece of her hair. "You bloody bastard," I yelled. "Let go of her," I yelled. The ground began to shake lightly. His friends looked around, nearly losing their footing. "Let, her, go," I punched him sideways across the face, knocking him unconscious. The shaking stopped as I calmed my nerves. A chunk of Ginny's hair lay in his hand, Terry's friends running away. "My hair," She cried in pain. "It's alright, don't worry," I whipped out my wand, doing the hair regrowth charm on her hair. "Thanks," she whispered, looking at Terry's passed out body lying on the ground.

We dragged Terry to the Hospital Wing, then went immediately to Dumbledore, explaining what happened. "You should have waited to do your hair regrowing charm Caroline, though I must say you did a wonderful job," he exclaimed, as we sat in front of his desk in his office. "Well, I can take out the memory if you'd like," I suggested, readying my wand. "Yes, that would in fact be quite helpful," he allowed me to extract the memory from my mind, placing it slowly into a jar. He stood and walked to a round fountain filled with water. "This is a pensieve, it allows me to see memories," he pointed to a shelf full of bottles, pouring mine into the water. He bent over, placing his face into the water. Ginny and I stood silently, waiting for the memory to finish. He slowly raised his face out of the water, rolling the pensieve back into it's compartment. He looked bewildered, as though he had seen something other than the fight. "I'll be giving Terry a warning along with a letter to his parents. Ginny you're free to go, Caroline, stay back for a moment," Ginny nodded, leaving the office.

"Have I done something wrong, sir?" I questioned, as he sat back in his chair. He sighed, motioning me to sit back down. "I've noticed you use your own magic, Caroline, spells we don't teach here at Hogwarts," he exclaimed. "I'm sorry sir, if that's against the rules, it won't happen again-" he silenced me. "No, no, it's beautiful magic, I find it quite inspiring, however I have noticed that you're more powerful than the other students. Perhaps, more in tune up here," he tapped the side of his head. "I saw the ground begin to rumble when you got angry, Caroline," I looked down at the floor. "I don't know what you're up to, but I suggest learning to control that anger before it controls your actions. If you ever want to tell me what's going on, I'd love to hear. You are dismissed," He waved me away. I left silently, walking back into the hallways. He now knew parts of it, but I was sure he wouldn't tell anyone, other than a few staff members at the most. It almost felt nice, knowing someone had noticed. I trusted Dumbledore, I knew I would tell him eventually. Maybe he knew what it was, and he could help me control it further.

Maybe he could protect me.