▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Valentines Day was just like any other day for Saffron on her own personal level, but that didn't mean that she was oblivious to the commotion that was going on with the rest of the students.

Rather, the commotion going on courtesy of Lockhart. As when Saffron and Parvati made their way into the Great Hall, it was as though they were walking into a room that had previously never existed in Hogwarts. The hall was lined with massive pink flower and heart-shaped confetti was raining from the beautiful sky above them.

"What is going on?" Saffron let out, attempting to resist the urge to giggle at the scene, though her efforts were futile. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before and the reactions of the students - a mixture of amazement and horror, was highly comedic. "Who did this?"

"Oh, I wonder," Parvati jerked her head in the direction of Professor Lockhart who was standing at the top of the hall, looking on happily at the scene in front of him. "Merlin, this makes me sick, can we leave now before anyone notices?"

"I would but I'm starving," Saffron placed a hand on her grumbling stomach. "It shouldn't be too bad, just try and block him out,"

Neither girls were keen on Lockhart, it was something they shared in common. Just like how Lavender and Hermione, who, were sat gesturing the pair of them over to the Gryffindor table, shared admiration for Lockhart in common.

Parvati sighed bracingly. "Fine, but if I accidentally swallow some confetti I'm blaming you,"

"Fair," giggled Saffron, as she and Parvati made their way over to their year group who sat together at the Gryffindor table. Just as they did so, Lockhart took it upon himself to make a speech. He called for silence, walking to the centre of the staff table, blocking Professor Dumbledore from view wearing robes that matched the apparent colour theme of the day; bright pink. Everyone in the hall remained silent, listening intently. Saffron figured some were genuinely interested in what he had to say whilst others were hoping he'd perhaps cancel classes for the day or give them all sweets.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart said aloud. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn't end here!"

When Lockhart clapped his hands, a dozen or so dwarfs came stampeding into the room, all wearing matching golden wings that fluttered rapidly. Saffron briskly took a seat between Lavender and Dean, watching the scene unfold.

"He's such a tosser," Dean remarked when she sat down. He and Saffron had had many extensive conversations in Charms about their distaste for Lockhart.

"Tell me about it," responded Saffron. "Couldn't the Heir of Slytherin do us all a favour and get him instead?"

"Stop moaning, you two," Lavender, in typical Lavender fashion had been listening in to what they had to say. She was a staunch supporter of Lockhart and wasn't going to let anyone speak negatively of him in her presence. "Even if the monster tried to attack him it wouldn't stand a chance,"

"Oh, and what would he do to stop it?" Dean asked her rhetorically. "He can't handle a cage of Cornish pixies, let alone a monster,"

"Keep being jealous, Dean," Lavender spat back. "It suits you,"

Dean rolled his eyes and exchanged a look with Saffron, who merely raised her eyebrows exasperatedly. Lavender turned away and listened in to Lockhart who was talking again.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" Lockhart told them. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

Saffron had to clutch onto Dean to support, as she almost fell off of the bench. Professor Flitwick had his hands over his face and Snape had turned even more chalk white than he already looked. It was clear that neither of them would be keen on getting asked about either of those subjects. With a gulp, Saffron started her breakfast with the feeling that the tone of the day had been set.

That feeling reflected reality. Throughout the course of the day, the dwarves made their way through the school delivering Valentines to students. In their class, it hadn't been that bad, especially in comparison to what Maya and her best friend from Gryffindor, Melanie Jensen told Saffron and Hermione at lunch.

"Our classes have been interrupted about twenty times because of those dwarves," she informed them hotly through mouthfuls of the vegetable soup being served that day. "It's such a joke,"

"I blame Fred and George," Melanie said matter-of-factly. Saffron wasn't surprised. The twins had quite the reputation of being pranksters. "Angelina Johnson conveniently keeps on getting harassed by those dwarves, can't have anything to do with her rejecting Fred's Hogsmeade invitation last week," Melanie paused and turned to Maya. "You can't complain about it too much, Mitch, you must be enjoying it,"

"I am not," retorted Maya hotly, retreating to her soup and focusing it on and it alone, going quiet all of a sudden.

Saffron arched her eyebrow. "Has someone sent you something?"

Melanie gave Maya a window of opportunity to answer, but when she didn't the Gryffindor answered for her.

"She got a bunch of camellias from a secret secret admirer," Melanie teased her friend, making Maya redden. "The 'secret' was underlined and everything,"

"Who could it be from?" Saffron asked Maya curiously.

"It said secret for a reason, Saff," Maya said somewhat sternly. "Meaning it's just someone messing with me," She hastily changed the subject. "Who's gotten one in your class?"

"Parvati's been given something four times," Hermione answered. "And Dean once,"

Saffron nodded. Nobody else had received a Valentine yet. Saffron had been confused when none of the five that had centred around their fellow Gryffindors had been for Harry, but there was still time for him to get something and she supposed he would soon.

"Parvati's might've all been from Anthony Goldstein, though," said Saffron fairly, trying to make herself feel better about not getting one. As, in spite of herself, she felt rather jealous to have not gotten anything. "Olly told me that he likes to mess with Padma by telling her that he's going to marry her sister,"

"I hear it's his birthday today," said Maya, changing the subject for good, something that did not go unnoticed by Saffron. "They were all talking about bringing him down cards this morning, though that wasn't the only thing they were talking about,"

"Is this the petition?" asked Melanie, knowing the answer and rolling her eyes.

Maya nodded gravely.

"What petition?" Hermione questioned.

"Lisa Turpin," started Maya slowly. "She, well -- she's been talking about starting a petition to get Dumbledore sacked,"

Saffron almost spat out her soup and Hermione gripped the bench so tightly with her nails she made a dent in it.

"No way," muttered Saffron in utter disbelief. "But why?"

"Says she's not happy with how the schools being run with all of these attacks going on,"

"Aka, her parents aren't happy about it," Melanie corrected Maya.

"I can see their point though," said Maya in agreement. "Something has to be done about what's happening, I just don't think that sacking Dumbledore is the way to go about---" The bell signalling the end of lunch rang out. Maya slurped the end of her soup whilst Melanie stood up.

"I might just have to put an end to the two of you getting no cards," Melanie told them with a grin. "Don't be surprised it you get a love letter from yours truly at some point today,"

"Oh, no, please don't," Hermione looked like she wanted nothing less than that.

Melanie and Maya both laughed. Melanie pouted.

"I won't make any promises,"

The day carried on as normal, or as normal as the whole Valentines fiasco would allow it to be. Before the end of the day, Parvati received yet another Valentines card (much to the dismay of Lavender, who hadn't gotten any) and finally, as Saffron expected, Harry was corned before Charms by a dwarf.

"Oy, you! Arry Potter!" An irritable dwarf made his way over to Harry, pushing Ron out of the way to get to him. Harry instantly went red and tried to get away as soon as he could, much to the amusement of Saffron, Hermione and Parvati (Lavender seemed incapable of enjoying the day anymore), but the dwarf grabbed onto him to make him come to a halt.

"I've got a musical message to deliver to Arry Potter in person,"

Parvati clutched onto Saffron's shoulder, watching Harry squirm as the dwarf began to play on his harp. Harry yet again struggled to get away, but the dwarf stopped him by ripping his bag open and spilling all of the contents onto the floor.

Harry started to pick everything up just as the dwarf started to sing. The singing attracted attention from a mass of people. Making one last effort to escape, Harry stood up but the dwarf clung onto his knees bringing the madly shaking body of Harry to the floor with a resounding slam.

"Right," The dwarf said agitatedly. He sat on top of Harry's ankles to stop him from escaping. "Here is your singing valentine:

His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

His hair is as dark as a blackboard,

I wish he was mine,

he's really divine,

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord

Saffron was bent over backwards laughing. Her reaction was fuelled firstly by the contents of the poem, but secondly by how Harry looked beyond the point of embarrassment. Of course, she felt bad for him, but those feelings did not overrule the natural reaction she and the crowd alike were having at what had occurred.

"If I had to watch something over and over again for the rest of my life," Ron cackled, clutching a stitch in his side. "That . . . that would be it,"

Within a second, Saffron's reaction had changed. She went to look back at Harry only to see that he was making his way towards Draco who was holding Riddle's diary.

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" Draco addressed the crowd.

"Hand it over, Malfoy," Percy told him sternly.

"When I've had a look," smirked Draco, he threatened Harry by waving the diary in front of him, dangling it like a carrot.

Harry wasn't having it. With a yell of "Expelliarumus!" The diary flung out of his hand and Ron caught it, who returned the smirk that had just been wiped off of Draco's face.

"Harry!" exclaimed Percy. "No magic in the corridors. I'll have to report this, you know!"

Draco seemed to know Harry as Saffron did. The best way of hurting him was to not inflict pain on him, no, but on someone that he liked. Therefore, Ginny Weasley appeared to be that person for him.

"I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!"

Ginny's lip trembled and without any hesitation, she sprinted into class. All Saffron could think about was her sadness for Ginny and the thought of Ginny sending it to Harry. Either way, she deserved better reactions from both Harry and Draco. She was a quiet girl, constantly nervous and what had just happened to her certainly wasn't going to change that. But the strange thing was that Ron claimed that Ginny was a completely different person outside of school, meaning that something detrimental must have happened to her to alter her personality to such a drastic extent. Thus, Saffron made a mental note to check in on her, as maybe having an older female to talk to could help her.