Chapter Text
It wasn’t everyday that a mandatory announcement was called in Hogwarts, most usually resulting in the kids getting yelled at or lectured. So the talking amongst the students of Hogwarts was quite high given the confusion, most asking one another what the announcement was about while others made guesses to each other. Some students notice Professor McGonagall standing at the podium and decide to quiet down while others don't.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” Professor McGonagall announced as she looked over the crowd of students in the Great Hall. Her eyes scanned over the students as they slowly stopped their murmuring, wondering what the mandatory announcement was for. “Valentine’s Day is upon us, making now a good time to review social protocols at Hogwarts.” she explains as she stands at the podium, watching the students look amongst each other, some beginning to whisper to one another.
Talbott lets out a groan as he realizes one of his least favorite holidays was being celebrated, drowning out Tulip as she made a statement about the enforcement of rules. He puts a hand on his face and glances at Andre as he mentions a possible dress code, another groan escapes him. The only thing he hated more than Valentine’s Day and parties was being forced to wear outfits for said occasions. He slowly looks up at McGonagall as she recalls a story of someone sending themselves eight hundred valentines, thus causing a disgusting amount of owl droppings to be in the breakfast porridge.
Some of the students laugh at the story while others react in disgust, it was a divided reaction but you could tell some contemplated the prank. It takes only a simple clearing of the Professor's throat for the Great Hall to go quiet, allowing McGonagall to resume her lecture.
“It is imperative that you use magic responsibly…especially when it comes to matters of the heart.” McGonagall insists as she looks along the rows of tables, making sure each student realizes the gravity of such a situation. She looks over when a squeal is made from the Hufflepuff table, coming from Penny Haywood.
“I love matters of the heart!” Penny shouts as she looks over at Diego and Tonks, Chiara looking at her and lightly giggling at the remark. She widely smiles as she thinks about that special someone that she wanted to be her valentine.
Tonks lets out a gentle laugh as she looks at the enthusiastic blonde, some of the students watching the display. “You love just about everything.” she teases as she grins at Penny, who giggles a little louder.
“I love that you know that, Tonks!” Penny admits as she attempts to stop her flood of giggles, Talbott and a few of the girl's friends watching her. She turns her attention back to McGonagall when she realizes the Professor had more to say.
Talbott runs a hand through his hair and leans on his shoulder, his eyes drifting over to Chiara. He focuses on her when he notices she’s staring at him. He glances around, wondering if she was looking at someone else. He notices her slight giggle followed by gently waving at him, smiling as she half listens to the speech. He awkwardly grins and gives her a half wave, wondering why she was looking at him when the two barely knew each other let alone they rarely spoke.
Chiara turns her attention back to McGonagall, noticing the Ravenclaw groan and drops his head into his arm to hide away from the world. She lightly giggles at his reaction, knowing he got awkward and embarrassed quite easily. She notices the dismissal McGonagall gives the students followed by some of her classmates rising from their seats. She gets up and is about to make her way over to Talbott before noticing Jae approaching her, stopping her in her tracks.
“Hey Chiara. Can you believe McGonagall? There’s worse things than detention, I would know after all I just got a buddy to serve detention with me. You remember right? It’s-” Jae greets as he stands in front of the silver haired girl, who zones out as she peeks over his shoulder and watches Talbott talk to the two’s friend. He notices the Hufflepuff’s quietness, which wasn’t unusual but a little unexpected considering he was talking to her. “Alright, who poured Amortentia into your pumpkin juice? If you’re getting illegal goods from other students I’m gonna be offended.” he questions as he puts a hand on his hip and tilts his head, blocking her view. He watches her slightly shake her head before looking him in the eyes. “And she’s back everyone!” he jokes with a small smirk, poking at her face as a blush lightly dusted across her cheeks.
“I was listening, truthfully I was. You were talking about detention.” Chiara answers as she gently swats at the dark haired boy's hand, once again watching Talbott. She watches him chuckle before crossing his arms and stepping in front of her, blocking her view yet again.
“Really? Detention with who?” Jae asks as he watches the girl glance around, knowing she was thinking of a person to guess. He leans forward and waves in front of her face, noticing her glance at Talbott one last time.
“Our friend um…you know…Jacob?” Chiara rambles as she shrugs her shoulders. She looks away and rubs her arm, her face burning from embarrassment as the Gryffindor laughs.
“You mean Jacob’s sibling? Come on Chiara, Jacob got expelled way before we even started attending Hogwarts. I’ll let this slide but next time at least try to listen.” Jae corrects as he waves his hand before walking next to the girl and turning around. He scans his eyes over the group of kids talking near the podium, recognizing most of them. “You’re crushing on one of them aren’t you?” he declares as he grins and raises an eyebrow at the Hufflepuff.
Talbott looks over, along with Penny and some of their friends, when Chiara shouts Jae’s name. He watches her look at the group, who were watching her, before noticing her face go red as she hid behind the Gryffindor, who chuckled and waved before looking over his shoulder.
“It’s that Talbott dude isn’t it? I tried selling him a Fanged Frisbee once but he wouldn’t budge so I decided to go to a more willing customer…I got quite a bite of Galleons out of it from Tonks.” Jae points out as he looks up and down at Talbott. He looks at Chiara, who refuses to meet his gaze, and grins. “Knew it. Smart guy, kind of a loner but hey can’t be suspected if you don’t talk much. What do you need? I can sell you a love potion but it’s gonna be pretty expensive. Not every day that I can get my hands on these.” he mentions as he glances around the Great Hall before putting a hand in front of his mouth.
“What? No! I wanted advice on how to talk to him. I’m not gonna pour a love potion into his drink!” Chiara denies as she shakes her head and narrows her eyes at her friend. She watches him groan and roll his eyes before straightening himself out, clearly disappointed.
“Bummer. But alright you want advice? Just go for it. Tell him you like him and that you wanna be his valentine.” Jae suggests as he elbows the Hufflepuff before putting a hand on her shoulder. He notices her face turn red before sighing to himself, watching her cover her face with her hands. “Okay let me help you out.” he mutters as he raises his hands to cup them near his mouth, to amplify his voice.
Chiara uncovers her face then looks over at the Gryffindor, opening her mouth to question what he was about to do. Before she can stop him the boy calls out Talbott’s full name, prompting the Ravenclaw and some friends to look over. She feels her face, ears, and body burning up when the boy makes eye contact with her.
Jae turns his head and opens his mouth only to notice Chiara bolting out of the Great Hall, he had never seen her run so fast before. He groans and lets his hands drop to his sides. “Or maybe not.” he grumbles before straightening himself out as he rubs the back of his head.
—
Talbott usually liked Transfiguration class, it was his favorite subject with his favorite Professor, but he was having a hard time enjoying it today. He looks up when he notices McGonagall watching over the students, most taking their time to avoid attempting the spell while others are trying their hardest. His eyes lock onto one person, watching them brilliantly sway and flick their wand. He notices the bird transforming into a love note, of course they would get it first try after all Talbott mentioned they were a remarkable person that could do remarkable things.
The love note exclaims ‘Be my valentine!’ and that gets some students looking. The note twirls back into its former state before gently landing on the desk, it’s owner staring in disbelief.
Talbott watches Andre walk by and approach the owner of said note. He tears his eyes away, not wanting to be caught staring by anyone in the class. He knew that he would only get teased about it just as his friend did about their note to their crush. He raises his wand and decides to attempt the spell, no more stalling if his friend could do it then so could he. He sways and flicks his wand, watching the bird transform into a love note.
The note springs into the air and floats in front of the Ravenclaw, catching him off guard. “Let’s break through the barriers and forget about our pasts. Make me so head over heels that I’ll forget about everyone else. Take me on a walk through the Forbidden Forest!” it declared before twirling and floating down onto the desk. It lands there without a single twitch or movement.
Talbott feels his face burning from the embarrassment of his note, not daring to look up in case his friends were looking. He feels his Professor's hand touch his shoulder, flinching away from it. He bolts out of the classroom and keeps running even after hearing his friend call out after him. This is why he insisted on keeping his heart a private matter, he hated Valentine’s Day and this made it even worse. He finds himself turning the corner and bumping into someone, given the yelp he could tell it was his friend Penny. He stops in his tracks and simply stares at the blonde, watching a brunette with colored ends help her onto her feet.
“Talbott are you okay? What happened?” Penny wonders as she tries to look her friend in the eyes, noticing him avoid her gaze. She makes a mental note of his slightly red face, realizing he was flustered. “Hey you can talk to me, I'm your friend.” she states as she puts a hand on her own chest.
“I…I…I have to go Penny!” Talbott spits out as he shakes his head before running by the blonde, who simply blinked before sighing.
“What was his deal?” Skye questioned as she picked up the last of Penny’s dropped books. She holds the books in her arms before looking at the blonde, who shrugs her shoulders.
“I don’t know, I guess Valentine's Day isn’t for everyone.” Penny tells the brunette as she begins to walk off, Skye trailing after her.
“Yeah, that’s why I might just go practice Quidditch with Orion or something…hey speaking of which do you have a date or anything?” Skye rambles as she shrugs before fixing her grip on the books she was carrying. She flashes the blonde a grin before feeling her face warm up a little at the light giggles that spill from the girl.
Chiara takes a deep breath before turning around and mustering up the biggest smile she could. “Do you want to be my valentine?” she wonders, her face beginning to turn red as she stands there. “I can’t Borf! I can’t do it!” she squeals as she covers her face and shakes her head, the werewolf cub letting out a single bark. She sinks onto her knees and stays there before noticing the cub hop onto her lap and lick at her hands. She giggles and scoops the pup into her arms before nuzzling into him, Borf always did know how to make her feel better.
The two stay like that for almost a minute before the werewolf cub peeks up, prompting Chiara to notice.
Borf hops out of her arms and off her lap as he sniffs the floor, raising his tail when he picks up a smell. He looks up and barks before running off, disappearing through a bush.
“Borf?” Chiara calls out as she gets up from the floor, not knowing whether she should go after the cub or not. She hears a small yelp of surprise followed by a thud, someone probably fell. She steps through the bush before looking up and noticing Talbott getting licked by Borf. She feels her face heat up by the chuckles and small pleas from the Ravenclaw.
“Where did you come from? Are you a lone wolf too?” Talbott questions as the cub stops it’s lick attack before barking at him. He notices the werewolf hop off of him and stroll over to sit next to a person. He looks and feels his face blush out of embarrassment, realizing it was Chiara who was there. He really did not need this added on embarrassment, he simply wanted to go to the Owlery but was ‘attacked’ by the werewolf. “So uh this your friend?” he asks as he slowly gets up from the floor, feeling like the situation was so much weirder now that he attempted small talk.
“Yeah, Borf is one of my few friends. He likes to accompany me around Hogwarts sometimes.” Chiara admits as she nods before leaning down to scratch behind the cub’s ear.
The two students gently laugh at the werewolf as he kicks his leg from the scratching. They slowly look at one another before glancing to the side, Borf noticing the weird behavior.
“So Gilderoy Lockhart is coming to the school?” Chiara mentions as she puts her hands behind her back, looking at the Ravenclaw. She feels Borf nudge her by the leg and glances down, watching him glance over at Talbott.
“Guess so. Pretty extraordinary I suppose…it’s not every day Hogwarts gets visited by someone so famous.” Talbott responds as he nods before shrugging his shoulders, focusing on Borf as the cub looks back. He feels a slight blush rise onto his face when the cub looks at Chiara and paws at her legs.
Borf suddenly barks, causing the two to look over. He runs a few steps away before looking at the students, watching them glance at each other. He notices them following him before running around the two. He yips a few times before stopping behind Chiara and nudging her behind the legs, causing her to nearly fall if it hadn’t been for Talbott who caught her.
Chiara straightens herself out and takes a step away from the Ravenclaw, both of their faces a blushing mess. “I’m so sorry about Borf, he’s usually not like this.” she apologizes as she rubs the back of her head, glancing up at Talbott’s face. She has enough time to realize the color looks nice on him before feeling her own face turn a shade darker, trying to calm herself down from the thought.
“No it’s fine, you know how cubs are. I um gotta go to class, see you later. Or uh not because it’s Valentine’s Day and I won’t see you later. Unless I was your date but I’m not so…bye!” Talbott rambles as he covers his face with a hand before quickly turning around and running off. He can feel the Hufflepuff’s blue eyes staring at him the whole way towards the castle, he doesn’t know why he had to make matters worse for himself.
Chiara doesn’t even have time to say bye as she notices the Ravenclaw is long gone. She sighs and covers her face before feeling a paw patting her leg. “Why would you do that? You know I have a crush on him!” she demands as she drops her hands to her side and stares down at the werewolf cub. She watches him bark at her before scratching at his own cheek. “If it’s not you pushing me into Talbott’s arms then it’s Jae blatantly embarrassing me!” she groans before making her way towards the castle, leaving the cub to sit there and watch her.