Fate Untold (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 21: Best Valentine's Yet

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scottish Highlands

"Ashley?"

Startled, Ashley looked up from where she was shuffling through her satchel. The owner of the voice that had called her name happened to be Colin who, oddly enough, looked as red as blood-flavored lollipops. Wondering what he wanted from her, she set her satchel down on her lap and invited him to sit next to her on the bench she was on. In response, he shook his head and thrust something in her hands before running off down the hallway. That something turned out to be a Chocolate Frog package, which she deeply appreciated considering her sweet tooth. However, she was understandably confused as to why it had been given to her. Before she could think up a reason, she realized that it was time for her first class of the day. So, she shoved the package into her satchel and rushed to the History of Magic classroom.

Unfortunately, or fortunately really, this trend of receiving random gifts continued on until noon. Ashley was offered all kinds of treats and several notes she hadn't read yet. Half of them were actually handed by the other students she passed while going from class to class, and the rest were presented by harp-carrying dwarves wearing golden wings during classes. Scatterbrained from a lack of proper sleep, Ashley failed to register what it all meant. She stayed completely clueless until she met up with her friends for lunch and noticed most of the girls' unexplained cheerfulness.

"Why are you all so...giggly today?" She asked, scrunching her nose.

"Do you really not know?" Ai blinked, shocked.

"Know what?" Ashley frowned.

"Ash, it's Valentine's Day!" Maia exclaimed.

"Oh." Ashley muttered dumbly.

"Merlin, why do you think everyone's been giving you letters and chocolates?" Alyssa grinned, highly amused.

"I don't know!" Ashley weakly shrugged, "I recognized most of them from my tutoring so I thought they were maybe thanking me for that."

"Oh, wait 'til you see the great hall." Cora laughed.

Ashley wished she hadn't. The great hall was just so pink, and dear Merlin was it obnoxious. Lockhart looked so proud of himself too. That smirk of his was grating on Ashley's nerves. On a normal day, she would have been able to ignore him but aside from being absent-minded, her streak of restless nights had made her a bit short-fused. She'd already snapped at her friends more times than she would have liked. Luckily, they were quick to forgive her but she did still feel bad for not having a lid on her temper.

She later found herself in the courtyard, perched on the fountain as she sketched her beloved familiar. She'd taken up the hobby just a couple of days ago actually, when her nightmares had woken her up at 3:00 in the morning. Instead of going back to sleep, she had grabbed parchment and a pencil and drew whatever came to mind until sunrise. The activity proved to be a good distraction from the paranoia that had been plaguing her since the Graham incident. It helped that she was quite decent at it. At least, that's what Sirius and Remus had said when she'd sent them her first sketch. Although, now probably wasn't the best time to think of her soul-bonded, not while she was surrounded by couples who were all acting like they hadn't seen each in forever.

"You are upset." Moko noticed, lifting his head from where he was coiled.

"What? No, I'm not." Ashley denied, "Why would I be?"

"You cannot lie to me, little one." Moko hissed knowingly.

"It's stupid..." Ashley pouted.

"I don't think so." Moko disagreed, "I may be just a serpent, but I do know that being away from your mate is a proper reason to be upset about."