Then I Met You [D.M.]

Year Two: Valentine's Day

14th February, 1993, Sunday

The following weeks were quiet. Too quiet, many students felt, causing everyone to be tense and guarded. There had been no more attacks, but tensions continued to be high between the houses, especially whenever Harry Potter or Draco Malfoy were around. Harry had taken up the stance of defending himself through constant arguments, not that it helped his cause. And Draco had taken the stance of ignoring anyone that tried to accuse him of being the Heir, though he readily spoke ill of muggle-borns.

There hadn't been any more petrifications, but there had been attacks of other kinds. Many students, all muggle-born, were finding themselves on the wrong end of jinxes and hexes, primarily at the wands of Slytherins. Several students had been sent to the hospital wing with missing appendages, broken bones, boils or warts that wouldn't go away, and other worse things. The Slytherins were getting more creative, admittedly.

Through it all, Violet maintained her distance from any talk of the Chamber of Secrets or the Heir. She knew people still spoke about Draco and Harry behind her back, but at least they weren't doing it in front of her anymore. And, despite their utter contempt for him, her friends were at least trying not to be rude towards Draco.

It was a regular occurrence for Violet and Draco to meet up after meals and classes, whether it was to walk to their next class together or to go to the library. Aimee and Hannah would sometimes nod their head or wave to Draco whenever he would appear, and sometimes he'd acknowledge them. Caroline was still avoiding Violet, which she'd stopped minding, but there was one absence she'd noticed more and more recently- Cedric.

Ever since the incident after the Dueling Club, Cedric had been avoiding Violet. He'd stopped talking to her, waving or smiling. He refused to sit near her at meals, he'd gone so far to leave the common room whenever she would join him and their friends. Violet tried to pretend it didn't hurt as much as it did, but it was difficult. She'd grown very fond of Cedric and their friendship.

Their mutual friends tried to cheer her up. They made excuses for Cedric, but Violet knew that nothing they said mattered. So long as she sided with Draco, Cedric wouldn't want to be around her. She didn't like it, and it hurt, but she told herself that it was time to move on.

When Violet and the other students arrived for breakfast on the Fourteenth of February, none of them expected for the Great Hall to be covered in a flurry of very bright pink.

There were a great many flowers covering the walls, in a variety of sizes and lurid pinks. They draped down and across the walls, creating a sort of wall of pink flowers. The head table also had a variety of the same flowers stretched across the front of it, either attached to something or held in place by magic. Then, as if the pink flowers weren't enough, there was pink and red heart confetti falling from the pale blue ceiling.

"At least it's nice outside." Violet muttered to herself, curious but not excited for whatever was to come.

She knew it was Valentine's Day, but she never expected the whole school to do some sort of celebration. They hadn't the previous year, and as far as she had learned, it had never been done before. Halloween and Christmas, sure, those were big holidays everyone loved... but Valentine's?

"I think it's beautiful," Aimee spoke up once the trio was sat at their table. They had to brush off paper hearts from the food to fix their plates, "A happy holiday for happy people."

"Too bad we're not happy people." Hannah rolled her eyes, only partially joking.

"Sure we are!" Aimee chided.

"Yes, okay." Violet wanted to argue, because really, who was truly happy these days? But her friend seemed so excited about whatever festivities may happen that she didn't want to drag her mood down.