Closed A Pink-Tinged Mystery

[Vanity Mettlestone]

It had been months since Vanity had received the mysterious pink rose from 'hm', and it had taken her a while to figure out those letters were probably an initial, because the whole note had lacked any punctuation. It had taken her even longer to make the connection to Holden Marshall. It wasn't like she was constantly thinking about it, but she had kept the note in her nightstand and occasionally she would grab it to look at it and wonder. A pink rose could signify a crush, and as far as Vanity knew, no one had ever had a crush on her before.

Now she was finally at the point where she would ask Holden directly. She could be wrong about him, but she had the feeling she wasn't. Vanity entered the Great Hall and approached the Gryffindor table. Her heart was racing with anticipation. Even if he had liked her in February, there was no guarantee he still would. But she wanted answers. It helped that Holden was cute in a rebellious way, definitely someone Vanity could see herself dating. She spotted the boy at the Gryffindor table, took a deep breath and sat down opposite of him, looking him squarely in the eyes. "Did you send me this?" She asked, holding out the note for him to see. Het voice was steady, despite her nerves.

 

[Holden Marshall]

Holden prodded moodily at his breakfast as he tried and failed to wake up properly, wondering if he could get away with a second coffee. It was hard to want to wake up with History of Magic in his future. He was drawing sleepy circles in his oatmeal with a spoon when Vanity sat across from him, spine snapping straight at once. He hadn't really known what to say to her since last year - Vanity had never acknowledged the rose he sent her, and he hadn't known if she hated it and wanted to pretend it never happened, or just hadn't realised it was from him. That question was quickly answered though, Holden's eyes locked to the note as she held it up. "Oh..." He croaked, feeling his face heat immediately. Had she really had to do this somewhere so public? He couldn't even tell if she was happy or angry about it. "Uh... yeah, I guess..." He mumbled, shoulders hunching a bit. "It's whatever..."

 

[Vanity Mettlestone]

Vanity's heart jumped when Holden looked at her, ten looked at the note. He seemed to take a long time to answer, and it was kind of rude of him. But when he finally confirmed it, he did it in the most halfhearted way Vanity had ever seen. She frowned, pushing a platter of eggs to the side so she could put the note down between them. "It's not whatever, it's a pink rose you sent me." She told him, pointing at it. "And then you signed it with 'hm', all lowercase. How was anyone supposed to know those were initials? It sounded like... like I don't know! Just a thoughtful hum or something." She said, flustered. "And you just don't say aything else? What is the deal?" She asked, vaguely aware her voice was rising slightly. She didn't want to sound hysterical, so she tried to count to ten before she spoke again. She made it to four. "What does this mean, Holden?"