Snakes and Sanguine

Year 3: A Past Valentine

Although Valentine's day had fallen on a Friday this year, Professor Lovegood had arranged a special Hogsmeade visit in honor of the occasion.

"Am I the only one who thinks it's odd that the Headmistress is encouraging Valentine's day?" Al had said at breakfast.

"Alby's just upset he's got no one to go with." Scorpius teased.

"Don't call me that." Al huffed before giving an actual response. "And no, I'm not upset that I have no one to go with."

"Don't worry Alby, I've got no one either." Lucien taunted innocently.

After James had coined this new nickname for Al, none of us could stop saying it, especially because it drove him to the verge of insanity.

"Oh fuck off. How'd you like it if I called you Lucy." Al retorted.

"Wow Alby, you went from completely wanting nothing to do with Lucien to giving him pet names." Scorpius teased with a large impish smile.

"Oh, my fucking..." Al threw his hands up in frustration.

"Sorry, but you can never win." Scorpius smiled, patting Al on the back in an imitating sympathy.

"I quite like Lucy," I added teasingly. "Think I might have to start calling you that."

"If it truly makes you happy," Lucien replied, his voice thick.

"Alby, how come you won't let us be happy?" Scorpius asked with a mocking pout and his best attempt at puppy dog eyes.

"I'm leaving." Al huffed, standing up from his seat.

"No, no don't leave," Scorpius begged.

"Ya don't leave Alby," Lucien said, trying to hide his giggles.

"Fuck off Lucy." Al scoffed, then headed out of the Great Hall.

✧

The rays of the sun cast light onto the snowflakes, droplets of golden honey dripping from the heavens, somehow granted the ability to lose viscosity. The flakes were too small to cover the ground but large enough that I could feel every sudden tick when it came into contact with my skin.

I knew what to do on Valentine's Day from strictly observing these past two years. I knew what clothes I was supposed to wear, how I was supposed to act; when to laugh at his jokes, when to smile, who I'm supposed to speak to.

This is what I disliked about the day. This is what Silas and I always spoke about dreading. We had promised each other never to take part in such silly traditions, but here we both were, on our way to Hogsmeade, hand in hand with our dates.

To spite the day, I had decided not to wear a dress or some sort of fancy outfit. I had just worn a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that depicted the cover of a muggle album which Lucien had told me was called The Dark Side of the Moon. I did though, add touches of makeup for the occasion.

His hands were warm, yet the lion-shaped ring and the new one that he had gotten over Christmas took in the cold and pressed up against the sides of my fingers.

He looked down at me and smiled brightly. "Excited?" he asked.

"Obviously." I grinned brightly.

Once we finally reached Hogsmeade, James insisted that we run to The Three Broomsticks so that we would be able to get a seat before they were all taken. His strategy seemed to work, since right as we grabbed a seat, both slightly out of breath (you would think otherwise considering we were both Quidditch players), students began to bustle in with their dates, occupying every available seat.