Closed A Cold Valentine

[Astraea Vale]

Astraea was increasingly pleased that she had managed to find a friend that disliked the same things she did. Although, she supposed she wouldn't consider a person who enjoyed 'dances', a friend. Sitting on a bench in the dungeons, Astraea watched, emotionless, twirling the stem in her fingers, as students piled past, some in groups, others by themselves, all obviously heading to the dance. There were far too many events, and if Astraea had to listen to Davenport talk one more time about a stupid dance, she was going to have to learn an unforgivable curse. Or at least leave some thorns in her bed.

 

[Horror Zhefarovich]

Horror Zhefarovich was not about to attend a stupid dance this time, and had the two roses that he had received this year in his pocket, along with their notes. He finally managed to see Astraea so he made his way over to her and sat down next to her without an invitation. By now, he really did not need one. He noticed that she was twirling a stem in her fingers. "I see that you ended up following my advice. I knew that you would prefer just the stem and thorns." Horror knew his friend well, sort of, by this point. Or just assumed and his hunches would prove correct. "Was I the only one that sent you a rose?" Horror was not sure why it mattered, but somehow, it did to him.​

 

[Astraea Vale]

Astraea watched as Horror approached and sat down next to her. She almost smiled at the thought of their first meeting where he scolded her for not asking for an invitation to join him. It was weird to her, how fast a friendship could form between two humans in such a short time. She shrugged her shoulders when he said he knew she'd prefer the stem. It was a good idea - she wouldn't have kept it at all otherwise. Astraea tilted her head in a nod when Horror asked if he was the only one to send her a rose. "I suppose you thought it was funny?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

 

[Horror Zhefarovich]

Horror shrugged his shoulders when she asked a question. He clasped his hands together on his lap and leaned against the wall. "More like, not comfortable with the idea of you receiving roses from others. That's all. They don't get that you'd hate that stuff." Horror thought it was a logical reason why he would feel that way. He knew because Astraea reminded him of, well, him. Whatever he seemed to like, she did. Except Astronomy. Horror was not sure what to think about that class, but he did try for her sake. "Didn't you think it was humorous to send me a pink one without a name? It was obvious that it was you." Horror still had the note and pink rose with him after all. The other one, he tossed.​

 

[Astraea Vale]

Astraea looked at Horror, a slight raise in her eyebrow. "But, because you know I'd hate it, you get to send it?" She asked, an almost playful tone. She did find it interesting that he wouldn't be comfortable if someone else had sent her a rose - she certainly wouldn't be either. The only reason she still kept this rose was because it was from a friend. Astraea scrunched up her nose when he assumed she had sent him a rose. "Why in Merlin's mighty underpants would I send you a rose? A pink rose?" Astraea asked, disgusted. She didn't send any roses, and she was appalled that he thought she would have.

 

[Horror Zhefarovich]

Horror nodded with her question, since he had the idea in his head that if he got to do that, no one else could. It only made sense to him. "Yes. Only I am allowed to mess with you like that. I suppose I can make an exception for your brothers." Horror watched her scrunch up her nose, and then ask in a disgusted tone. Wait. So, the pink rose was not from her? The realization dawned on him, so he took out the pink rose and note, looking over it as now he had absolutely no idea who sent him this. He stared at the rose in his hands. "I figured you thought like me. Knew I would hate it, as if delivering these things were not enough torture. But, if you didn't send it, I have no reason to keep it." Horror dropped it to the floor and kicked it away. "Pink normally means crush, which wasn't the case with me to you. I did it because I knew you hated pink. But this person said 'You fascinate me'. That means a crush, doesn't it."​

 

[Astraea Vale]

Interesting answer, Astraea thought. "Wrong. My brothers do not get to mess with me. I'll destroy them if they do." She answered, matter-of-factually. She wasn't sure how she felt about Horror messing with her, but somehow felt that she didn't want to murder him for the rose. Weird.
Astraea couldn't help herself. For the first time in a long time, she felt a small smile grow on her face, as she looked from the kicked rose on the floor to Horror. "Someone has a crush on you. They must be deranged. We must figure out who it is."

 

[Horror Zhefarovich]

Horror had wondered if she allowed her brothers to mess with her, but then again, she did not threaten him when he said that he was allowed to. How interesting. "Duly noted." Horror would have to keep that information in the back of his head. His eyes wondered over to Astraea to see what he had wanted to see all year. The tiniest of smiles. Rather than point it out and have her work hard not to show it, he would engrave it into his memory, having succeeded in doing something he had been working on all year. Perhaps the next goal would be a laugh? "They did not sign their name. Would it truly be worth the effort to find the coward?" Horror paused, and added, "Unless that is a mission of yours since I no longer care about it."​

 

[Astraea Vale]

Astraea nodded her head when Horror noted that her brothers weren't to mess with her, wondering if she could get him to help her bother them when they eventually attended the school. Astraea paused and wondered at Horror's statement. She definitely wanted to know who the person was, but hearing Horror call them a coward gave her pause. It was true. They hadn't been brave enough to stand up for their feelings. But, she was curious, and decided that she simply had to know. "Well, you're going to have to start caring, because I must know." Astraea said, giving his arm a poke with her rose stem.

 

[Horror Zhefarovich]

Horror’s eyes glanced down after she poked him with the stem of her rose, and told him to start caring. He shook his head at the very thought. He absently rubbed his arm where she poked him and replied, "hen that is going to be a burden on you. If someone approaches me with something as outrageous as a crush, we will have our answer. Unless I just never tell you, but we can see with that down the road." Somehow, he felt that withholding information like that would bother Astraea. She was nearly a Ravenclaw, and knew her stuff. Horror did not have such qualities. He was just Slytherin - that was it. "Shall we head inside the common room to avoid all the PDA that will happen here."​

 

[Astraea Vale]

Astraea rolled her eyes at Horror's response. "If you're trying to get a rise out of me, you've got a long way to go, Zhefarovich." She was frustrated that he wouldn't join her on her quest to figure out who had the crush on him, but she wasn't about to let him know that. As if she'd offer any ammunition to anyone that could be used against her. Instead, Astraea was going to have to quietly watch his interactions where she could, and watch the people around him too. She wouldn't even admit it to herself that she was totally using this as an excuse to hang out with Horror more, so this was going to have to be the excuse until she got bored. Astraea shrugged her shoulders at Horror's suggestion. "Sure." She said, hopping off the bench, and making sure to step on the pink rose on their way back in.

 

[Horror Zhefarovich]

"Challenge accepted, Vale," Horror smirked as he felt that she might have been frustrated with him. Always more fun when people reacted the way he wanted them to. The enjoyment was high when he was around Astraea. He got up and shoved his hands into his pockets since they were heading inside. Even he noticed how she appeared to go out of her way to step on the pink rose he was given. Or it might have been a coincidence. Horror was not sure, but he liked to think that it was intentional, and he could end the love-sick day on a very high note.

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Fin ​