Author's Note: OH MY GOSH, you wouldn't beleive how GOOD it feels to start posting again! I wasn't on a hiatus (well I was but it wasn't by choice - my computer decided to get a handful of viruses - see my Profile for complete details). I'm hoping to get back into a pattern of posting as much as I can. I start school again in September, so I'm going to try and do my best. SORRY for the INCREDIBLY LONG WAIT! And special thanks, again, to Tash (Pondering), who I seriously need to email at the moment! Enjoy! (4215 words)
Chapter 4: Valentine’s Day
13 February, 1976
The rest of January went with a blast and by the time Jordanna knew it, it was February. February also meant one special holiday, Valentine’s Day, which would allow those students from the third year and up to visit the village of Hogsmeade for the occasion. This year Valentine’s Day fell on a Saturday, so a trip to the wizarding village had been planned for the entire day.
Students with permission to go to the village were free to do anything within the allowed limits. They could go to and from Hogsmeade all day if desired, however the rather chilling weather would almost certainly prevent most from doing so.
On the Friday before the trip to Hogsmeade, Jordanna found herself in the Ravenclaw common room, lounging in a chair next to the fire and finishing a Divination essay that she would rather get out of the way before the weekend started. In Divination, Jordanna’s class had just completed their individual tasks for their dream documentation (to be handed in complete on Monday) however she wasn’t too particular as to being partnered up with someone so they could analyze her dreams. She was fine with reading someone else’s, however Jordanna was afraid that she would dream of something she didn’t want anyone to know.
Madam Amelia had said no lies, after all.
Jordanna paused her writing and stuck her quill in between her teeth in thought. The previous night she had dreamt about playing Quidditch for the Ravenclaw team, however, the problem was Jordanna couldn’t play Quidditch to save her life. She had been terrible in her first year when Madam Hooch had first taught them how to fly. She had barely gone a few feet off the ground before shrieking and falling off. And then she had been forced to watch James Potter fly by her, as though flying was just as easy as breathing. It was just another reason to add onto the list as to why Jordanna hated the Gryffindors: they all thought they were show-offs and could do anything and everything.
She quickly flipped through her textbook and tried to find the translation of ‘Quidditch’. When she found it, she raised her eyebrow in surprise. “Bitter disappointment,” she mumbled, “that’s a load of bull.” Jordanna shook her head and hastily wrote it down, changing a good portion of the answer to suit her writing and then returned back to her essay. She must have a bogus textbook, she concluded. Perhaps she would do a swap with Emily next time she wasn’t looking.
“Jordanna.”
She looked around and saw Emily entering the common room.
“What’s up?” Jordanna turned to her essay again as Emily approached her sitting place and finished up her sentence. Emily sat down across from her and opened her bag on her lap and extracted two textbooks. Jordanna kept writing.
“Have you finished your Potions essay yet?” she asked. Jordanna looked up and saw a tattered school textbook in Emily’s lap; it was one of Professor Slughorn’s textbooks from his classroom that he had lent out a few days ago.
She shook her head. “No. I was going to do it later on.”
Emily sighed. “Damn; I don’t get what he means by ‘justify your answers.’ I mean, how do you justify how alchemists founded-”
“I have no idea,” Jordanna cut her off, returning to her Divination essay and chuckling. “Everyone knows I’m horrible at Potions so I don’t really try nowadays.”
Emily forced a smile and nodded. There was a slight silence between the two of them as she bit her lip and looked down at the textbooks in her lap. “Are you even going to do the essay?”
Jordanna nodded. “Eventually.” She looked up and shrugged. “Or I might ask Evan to do it for me; he actually gets half of the crap Slughorn teaches and assigns.”
Emily’s face fell at the mention of Evan’s name. She particularly didn’t like discussing the Slytherins with Jordanna, for she didn’t really like them. The fact that her friend was practically one of them created even more tension between the two girls. Emily was always afraid of saying the wrong thing, so normally, she kept her mouth shut.
“Oh,” Emily began, “I, er, see-”
Jordanna stared at Emily and sighed when she saw her face. “I’m sorry; it’s just, well, I kind of sometimes forget you don’t like them.”
Emily shook her head. “It’s alright; everyone has someone in the world they’d rather not be around, and, well, some of the Slytherins are mine.” She paused and shrugged. “Just like you and Sirius Black and his friends.”
“I don’t like Sirius Black because he’s an arrogant, self-centered-”
“Idiot?” Emily supplied. “Jerk?”
Jordanna, slightly flustered, nodded. “Yeah. That’s why I don’t like any of them Gryffindors. They’re all alike.”
Emily bit her lip. “That’s why I don’t like the Slytherins. They all act like they are the only person in the world, and that everyone should bow down to their every need.” She shrugged. “At least that’s how I see them.”
There was a long moment of silence between the two girls, where Jordanna stared at the textbook in her lap and tapped the side of her quill against it.
“Then why do you hang out with me? Everyone always says I’m just like Elena and Adrienne. They’re Slytherins, aren’t they?”
Shrugging, Emily sighed. “I don’t see you as a pure Slytherin, Jordanna. If you were, you would have been put into-”
“Into Slytherin?” Jordanna said rather loudly, cutting Emily off. She looked taken aback slightly, but recovered quickly and nodded. “Just because I wasn’t ‘officially’ placed in Slytherin, Em, it doesn’t mean I’m not one. The Sorting Hat can’t be right with every single damned eleven-year-old that walks into this place, I mean, c’mon, it’s a hat.”
Emily blinked several times, and when she went to open her mouth to speak, Jordanna shook her head and cut her off.
“Listen,” she began, realizing that an argument between them could go on forever. “This is stupid; you’re who you are, and I am who I am. Nothing can change that.”
“You never know.”
Jordanna ignored her. “As you’ve said many times, you don’t like Elena, or Adrienne, or Regulus or any Slytherin for that matter - I shouldn’t bring them up when we’re together …”
Emily shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.” She suddenly stood up and bent down to pick up her bag and her textbooks. “It’s who you are; I don’t expect you to change how you act and who you like for me.”
Jordanna sighed yet again as she watched Emily walk away, her long blonde hair bouncing as she walked up the staircase towards the girl’s dormitory. Jordanna tore her sight away from the stairs and tried to focus back on her homework, but found she couldn’t.
After what felt like an hour of accomplishing absolutely nothing, Jordanna snapped her Divination textbook shut. Stupid Emily, she thought.
She stood up, gathered all of her belongings and walked up into the dormitory, yearning to lie on her bed and welcome the sleep she desperately needed.
The next afternoon could be identified as just as chaotic as the first day back to school had been. There were couples scattered everywhere in the Great Hall, most hand-in-hand, and others standing awkwardly beside each other. There was even the odd large groups that were filled with boys and girls, some standing closer together and some in which the girls were all arm-in-arm whilst the boys stood awkwardly behind them, trying to start a conversation.
Jordanna stood with her hands in her pockets, leaning against a suit of armor with Adrienne. The two girls were waiting for Elena to return from the Slytherin common room so they could venture off into Hogsmeade together.
“What’s taking her so long?” Adrienne complained as she looked at her watch again. “She’s been nearly ten minutes.”
Jordanna shrugged. “Who the hell knows …”
Adrienne pulled her sleeve down and began to fiddle with her green scarf which was wrapped tightly around her neck. Everyone going to Hogsmeade was dressed warmly, as if all expecting the same cold, blowing snow that had been going on all winter. A few people, Jordanna noticed, looked like large bundled up fruit cake. She found this funny, but she knew that once outside, she’d regret dressing so lightly and wished she would’ve dressed like the fruit cake she had been laughing silently at.
“Okay, let’s go,” came a voice behind the pair. Adrienne and Jordanna turned around and watched Elena approach, out of breath.
“Elena,” Adrienne shook her head. “What the hell were you doing?”
“I forgot my scarf,” Elena said and Jordanna snorted. She turned slightly. Sarcastically, she asked, “Think its funny, Benton?”
Jordanna laughed. “Yeah.”
“Yeah, well, you try walking outside in this weather, freezing your butt off.”
“Let’s just go,” Adrienne grabbed the two girls’ arms and linked her own in each of theirs. They walked through the front doors and out onto the front steps of Hogwarts. Jordanna looked around; just as she suspected, it was cold.
The three girls didn’t talk the entire way there. Jordanna had her head bent, trying to cover her face with her jacket while her hands were still tightly stuffed in her pockets. Adrienne was doing the same; however, Elena had now put up her hood and tightened it as far as she could. The blowing snow was working against those going into Hogsmeade, making it hard to walk. Jordanna, after about five minutes, began to trudge her way to the village. She was already tired and her legs were cold, somewhat wet, and it hurt the back of her legs to walk. She would have put a warming spell on herself back in the Great Hall, but honestly (and stupidly) she didn’t think of it at the time, and didn’t want to freeze her hand retrieving her wand from the inside of her jacket.
Once in the village, Adrienne led the way to a rather crowded The Three Broomsticks. There were many students from Hogwarts already packed into the small Pub, leaving no extra seats for the three girls to sit. In the booth next to the door that normally sat four comfortably, Jordanna quickly counted at least six. She snorted quietly at the sight of a tiny blonde sitting on top of who appeared to be her boyfriend, leaving room for his beefy friends. Elena suddenly nudged Jordanna “ an old wizard appeared to be getting up from the booth he had been sitting in alone. She quickly made her way over.
“I’ll get the drinks,” Elena said as Jordanna and Adrienne sat down. “But I only have enough for one Butterbeer each.”
“S’all right,” Jordanna said. “Regulus’s taking me out to eat after.”
Elena shrugged and then walked away, leaving the two girls alone.
“So where is Regulus anyway?” Adrienne asked as she removed her coat and scarf.
“Apparently, the same place Evan is.”
“So you don’t know?”
Jordanna shook her head. “Nope; haven’t got a clue.”
Adrienne just laughed.
Elena returned several minutes later, three bottles of Butterbeer in her hands. She put them on the table and then slumped in next to Adrienne; the two were now sitting across from Jordanna. Each of them took their Butterbeers and popped
off the top of the bottle. Jordanna took a long gulp.
“How many couples do you reckon are in Madam Puddifoot’s?”
Elena shrugged as she took off her coat. “Well it’s Valentine’s Day, so I guess a lot?” She raised her eyebrow. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” Jordanna said truthfully, sighing. “I’m kind of hoping Regulus will take me there, you know? I mean, that’s where we were when he asked me out.”
Adrienne made a tutting noise. “If you still haven’t mentioned it, sorry to say, I don’t think he will.”
Elena snorted in her Butterbeer. “She’s got point: Regulus is handsome, and well, yeah, knows how to ‘talk to the ladies’ as Evan puts it, he isn’t that smart. He’s ‘bout just as smart as his brother.”
Jordanna rolled her eyes. “His brother is a doorknob. Seriously.”
Adrienne laughed.
Jordanna sighed as she slumped back in her seat. “Don’t even start with that joke, please; it’s the worst joke in history.” She took another sip of her Butterbeer and looked out the window. There were still lots of people walking the streets of Hogsmeade; most were walking into stores and very little were coming out. Also, Jordanna noticed, there seemed to be quite a lot of adults in Hogsmeade today. This included the professors of Hogwarts and adults whom Jordanna had never seen before. Personally, if she were older, she would not come into the village on a day that Hogwarts students would be roaming the streets. She’d never get anything accomplished.
“So did you see the Prophet, this morning?” Elena asked; Jordanna looked away from the window and shook her head.
“No, why, what did it say?”
Elena took a sip from her Butterbeer and smiled. “There was a mass killing spree on Muggles in London today.”
Jordanna blinked. “Really?” she asked, intrigued. “So I’m guessing it was Him?”
“The Dark Lord?” Elena asked. “Of course, who else would it be? I talked to my brother today and he said that London is in whole uproar; none of the Muggles know what happened because Ministry workers got there and as soon as they took their statements “ not that they needed to “ they modified all of their memories. Personally I don’t know why they bother to do that.”
“Well,” Adrienne said, “C’mon, Elena, they have to.”
“Yeah, but the secret of the wizarding world can’t go on forever; eventually all of the Muggles will know what’s going on. Might as well get it over and done with now.”
“Plus,” Jordanna added, leaning back in her seat, “if they knew, you know how terrified all of them would be? Just walk down the street in some wizard robes and hold out your wand and guarantee that those Muggles will be trembling in their own shoes. Just imagine how much power you could hold over them …”
Elena smiled. “See, Jordanna’s got it right.”
Adrienne sighed and took another sip of her Butterbeer. She looked out the window and bit her lip. She looked somewhat annoyed. In the five years that Jordanna had known the two girls, she had come to realize that Adrienne absolutely hated when Elena would win an argument between the two, of any kind; she hated when she would have an opinion about something and Elena would come in and step all over it, declare her own opinion and pretend that it was only hers that mattered. But that still didn’t stop the two of them from being the best of friends.
Jordanna watched as Adrienne tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Adrienne did not look like a typical Slytherin. She had curly blonde hair which sat in ringlets just above her shoulders; there were some days when she would completely straighten her hair and would look amazingly different. However, like quite a lot of the other Slytherins, Adrienne also had colorless, grey eyes. To be honest, Jordanna thought, it didn’t quite suit her, but then again, neither would the green eyes that Jordanna had. She was also quite feminine and petite and was known to be somewhat shy at times, but for the most part, didn’t care what people thought of her and wasn’t a person you’d want to get into a fight with. When Elena wasn’t around, Adrienne could be quite the bitch she wanted to be.
But she was still quite different from Elena in many ways. For instance, Elena had long, black hair which fell loosely around her lower back and had small beetle black eyes. On many occasions, Elena tried to defend herself by saying her eyes were just a shade of dark brown, but everyone knew well enough that they weren’t, and knew well enough that there wasn’t any sense in arguing. Elena was also very outgoing and outspoken; she definitely wasn’t afraid to express her thoughts and usually didn’t care if she hurt anyone’s feelings in the process.
And then there was Jordanna herself. She looked down at her Butterbeer in her hands. Before her life at Hogwarts, she had been a loud, yet shy girl who loved to cause trouble. She knew she gave her mother grief growing up and had a particular love for breaking things which just added onto the stress that Adelaide Benton already had on her shoulders. But now, at fifteen years old, she was still a girl who could be generally loud when she wanted to be, but could still be shy in some uncomfortable situations. Being friends with the Slytherins had definitely changed her attitude and perspective on pretty much everything.
One of the major things that had changed in her almost five years at Hogwarts was that she no longer had the courage to annoy her mother to world’s end. Her mother was pretty much a woman who could croak at any moment, and Jordanna couldn’t find it in her heart to even disagree with her. She did everything she was told, but it didn’t mean she necessarily liked to take orders day and night when at home. She still respected the dying woman who did make her daughter who she was today, but there was something that (even as a little girl) made Jordanna feel uncomfortable when around her mother. Growing up, she just shut it out by being an annoying child, but nowadays, she simply couldn’t.
“You alright?”
Jordanna looked up from her hands and at the two girls sitting across from her. Adrienne looked somewhat concerned whilst Elena had taken to grooming her nails.
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She smiled and then added, “I just wish Regulus would come already. I want to be back at school before the weather gets even worse.”
Adrienne looked out the window and shrugged. “Yeah it is getting pretty bad-” she paused and then squinted slightly. “Isn’t that Evan?”
Both Jordanna and Elena looked out of the window and sure enough Evan was running towards The Three Broomsticks, hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched over, yet his head was quite upright revealed to the cold.
“What the hell is he running from?”
“The cold, idiot!”
“Oh shut up, Elena!”
The three girls watched as Evan approached the pub and walk in the door. A jingling bell signaled his entrance and they watched as he maneuvered his way through the crowd, his head looking over everyone’s as if looking for someone.
“Evan!”
The boy looked and quickly made his way over, squishing in beside Jordanna.
“What are you doing?” Jordanna asked as he took off his coat and stuck it behind his back.
“Looking for you.”
Jordanna raised her eyebrow. Evan brought his hand upwards and shook all of the white snow flakes out of his shag of brown hair and then grabbed Elena’s Butterbeer from across the table and took a long gulp, much to her displeasure.
“Me?”
“Yeah, Regulus wants you to meet him at Madam Puddifoot’s.”
Jordanna smiled. “Really? That’s great, when, now?”
Evan nodded and Jordanna sprung up and put on her coat. “Well, can you move?”
Evan sighed and slid out of his seat and stood up to let Jordanna pass. She waved to the others and made her way through the crowded room to the front door, pulling her hood up as she went. As soon as she opened the door, Jordanna felt the strong cold wind against her face as she walked hurriedly across the High Street.
The bad thing about having a date in Madam Puddifoot’s tea shop was that it was completely on the other side of Hogsmeade, so walking from The Three Broomsticks all the way down High Street was quite unbearable. The wind was still working against those walking down the street and it seemed that they had picked up in the half hour that Jordanna had already been in Hogsmeade. As much as she wanted to be with Regulus, walking the other way back to Hogwarts was starting to look quite temping.
Upon entering the tea shop, Jordanna lowered her hood and shivered slightly. She looked around and saw that the tea shop was decorated with pink and red, had paper hearts pinned up against the wall, and even had an enchanted Cupid flying around, poking awkward couples with arrows.
She spotted Regulus at a rounded table near the window, close to counter on the other side of the room. Jordanna hung up her coat on the hook beside her and made her way around the other couples.
Regulus stood up and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek as Jordanna approached. She smiled.
“How’d you know I wanted to come here?” she asked, sitting down opposite of Regulus.
He merely shrugged. “Well we could have walked around outside …” Jordanna chuckled slightly but then frowned at the thought of even going outside unless it meant she was going back to Hogwarts. “Plus, Evan told me that Adrienne told him that you told her last week that you wanted to come here.” Jordanna frowned even more.
“So where were we going to go?” she asked.
Regulus shrugged and leaned back into his chair. “Dunno, around …”
There was a long awkward pause in which Jordanna examined her hands which were folded neatly on top of the table. She should have known that Regulus would manage to screw this holiday up one way or another; he never did get it right. Despite what Elena and Adrienne had said, she had dropped hints to Regulus about coming to the teashop. She found it sad that he finally understood when Evan had flat out told him. “You alright?”
Jordanna sighed. “Fine. I’m fine.” She bit her lip and forced a smile. She had just been about to open her mouth to say something when a figure appeared next to them.
“What can I get the two of you?” It was Madam Puddifoot, the owner of the romantic tea shop. She was wearing a bright pink apron and had her dark hair pulled into a bun at the back of her head. Jordanna smiled at the older woman.
“I’ll just have a tea.”
“And for you, Mister Black?”
“I’m fine for now.”
Madam Puddifoot walked away to get their order and Jordanna turned on Regulus.
“She knows your name?”
He shrugged. “I had to convince her to let us in here,” he said. “It was full when Evan and I came here so, er, yeah.”
Jordanna narrowed her eyes. “What exactly did you do?”
Regulus shook his head. “Look, never mind,” he said quickly. “It’s Valentine’s Day, let’s just get it over with. We’re supposed to be on a date, remember?”
“Whatever.”
Madam Puddifoot came back with a single tea and gently handed it Jordanna, who took it warmly and took a nice long sip. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, dear.”
For the next hour both Jordanna and Regulus didn’t talk nearly enough as they should’ve. Madam Puddifoot came back not too long after giving Jordanna her tea and asked if they’d like something to eat. Jordanna ordered a small slice of pink frosted cake which seemed to be quite popular, and once again Regulus ordered nothing. Jordanna was now slightly annoyed. Not only was Regulus being the worst date ever, he seemed bored and looked like he didn’t even want to be there.
As Jordanna took the last bite of the cake, she watched as Regulus fidgeted in his seat. She narrowed her eyes observing and then cleared her throat.
“You know, I’m think I’m going to head out.” She stood up.
Regulus stood up quickly. “Why?”
Jordanna pushed in her chair and tried to look for her jacket, but then remembered she had hung it on the hook near the door when she had come in. “It just looks like you have to be somewhere else, that’s all, Regulus.”
His expression was quite blank. “Jordanna, I just wasn’t hungry.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s alright. I want to get back before the weather gets worse anyway.” She stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a sickle. “That’s all I have, sorry. I’ll probably see you in the common room tonight.”
“Jordanna-”
“No, Regulus, I really ought to be going.” She leaned across the table and gave him a peck on the cheek and then turned around and headed for the door. She heard him call her name again but pretended to not hear. At the door she quickly put on her jacket and pulled her hood over her head tightly and then opened the door and walked out.
“Boys,” she muttered bitterly to herself as she walked, this time with the wind. Since the wind was still so strong it seemed to almost pick Jordanna up off her feet. “And weather,” she added. Whoever invented the two of them, she thought, was obviously the world’s biggest idiot.