Any Other Day Would Be Better

Valentine's Day was not a good day for third-year Alicia Spinnet. To begin with, the owls arrived with red and pink envelopes and presents for everyone at her breakfast table, except for her. Angelina Johnson got a flowery, elaborate Valentine card from her parents. Katie Bell got a heart-shaped box of Chocolate Frogs from her grandmother. Alicia got nothing.

Herbology was terrible. The sleet was hitting the greenhouse so hard that its panes rattled and she couldn't hear Professor Sprout. Through the foggy glass of its walls, Alicia could see Hagrid's umbrella, bright pink against the dark green of the Forbidden Forest. He was exercising his boarhound, Fang, out in the horrible and cold weather. She wished she were outside herself; someone's N.E.W.T. project had gone bad, producing a bunch of unpleasant smelling petunias. The greenhouse reeked and the stench gave her a headache.

Potions class was not much better. The Grindylow mucus, a slimy potion ingredient with a shelf life of 48 hours, had gone bad at 47 hours, ruining the class's assignment for the day. Professor Snape was in a foul temper, as he snapped at her question of what were they to do next.

Quidditch practice went on as usual, of course. Oliver Wood would have them take the time that the other three houses had refused. She wished she were back in the greenhouse with the stinking petunias. Alicia was glad to finally peel herself off her broomstick after an hour of freezing in the air.

"We're having 'beauty parlour time' in the prefect's bath at five," Katie giggled as they changed their robes in the girls' area of the locker room. "Oliver arranged it for us as an after-practice treat."

Alicia had heard about the wonders of the bath, and was looking forward to a good soak in the tub. Unfortunately, the Hufflepuff girls ran over their hour, and the schedule was ruined. ("What a waste of time. There's no potion strong enough to make any one of them look like a veela," Angelina grumbled.)

Back at the Gryffindor tower, the three girls took their showers, dressed in their sad rags, and slumped as they went down to the common room. Many of the older students had disappeared.

"Notice how there' re no seventh year students here?" Angelina asked. "Bet they're all snogging somewhere private."

Alicia wondered what it was like to snog, and then wished she was snogging someone cute, like Cedric Diggory. With her luck today, the only one who would want to snog her would be Marcus Flint, she thought. Then she saw Percy Weasley smiling at her from across the room: Eww.

Fred Weasley came over to her. "Heard about what happened at the bath. Sorry. I do hope you have a nice Valentine's Day anyway," he said as he gave her a pretty painted tin. He gave Katie a chocolate heart, and his twin gave Angelina a small lacy box.

Alicia's mood lifted. How nice! she thought. "Thank you," she shyly said, taking the present. Unfortunately, the lid was stuck. She prised at it for a moment, then the lid popped off and a toy snake shot up into the air, startling her. It fell to the floor, and then came to life and started slithering about, making the other students jump away from it.

Some Valentine's Days just plain stink, Alicia thought, as Katie's chocolate turned to liquid and poured out of her hand, and Angelina's box sprouted wings and flew away.