"Hey, what's going on with you all?"
While I was chatting amicably with Estelle, another Hufflepuff upperclassman appeared.
"Cedric-senpai?!"
Noticing him, Hannah let out a small squeak, her ears turning red as she cutely covered her mouth.
"I'm Cedric Diggory, a fourth-year. Is something troubling you?"
He chose his words carefully, but it seemed he had sensed that the atmosphere around us had grown tense and stepped in purely out of goodwill to mediate. You might call him a handsome passerby.
In fact, with his dark brown hair, calm gray eyes, good looks, tall stature, and composed demeanor, Cedric was fairly popular even among the Slytherin girls.
"It's our first time meeting, so we were both just a bit nervous."
"Y-yeah, something like that."
When I said that, Estelle went along with it, and Cedric shrugged with a simple "I see" and backed off easily. He seemed to sense that this was a good place to leave things and accepted it as settled.
"As expected of you, Cedric-senpai. Perceptive guys are popular, you know."
"I'm not really trying to be popular, though…"
"You know, when a handsome guy is overly modest, it just comes off as annoying."
"I'd recommend that you learn a bit more modesty yourself, Elaina."
"I'm just stating the facts as they are."
"W-wait a second!"
As Cedric and I were chatting, Saya suddenly cut in.
"Elaina, are you close with Diggory-senpai?!"
Looking around, I saw that Hannah and Daphne, along with Saya, were wearing expressions that clearly said, "What?" and "I never heard about this."
"…You're teammates who sweat it out together on the field?"
"We're just Quidditch players who play matches together, okay?!"
Seeing the girls' expressions change, Cedric hurriedly added an explanation.
"Well, both Elaina and I are players. We just talk a bit about Quidditch before or after practice matches."
"Oh, so that's how it is…"
The moment she heard that, Saya seemed to lose interest. Hannah and Daphne looked like they were thinking, "Oh, that's all," while Estelle gave a wry smile.
"Let me ask you something. Is Elaina always like this?"
"Well, her personality is pretty bad."
"She's rotten to the core, really."
Daphne and Pansy answered Estelle's question, and then Saya chimed in.
"But that's exactly what makes her the best!"
"Saya, that's the kind of thing someone says when they're being treated as a convenient woman."
"You're one to talk."
As we teased Pansy like that, we decided to make chocolates together for Valentine's Day to support her love life. With a casual "That sounds fun," Estelle and Cedric ended up heading to the kitchens with us as well.
"By the way, Estelle, Cedric, do you have anyone special you're planning to give chocolates to?"
"Not really. I'll just share them with my roommates like usual."
"I'll probably just leave mine in the common room with a note saying, 'Please help yourself.'"
Apparently, since the Hufflepuff dormitory is close to the kitchens, there's a culture of students who enjoy cooking sharing homemade dishes and sweets as a hobby.
It felt relaxed, and you could really sense how good their relationships were.
And then.
"We're done!"
As for the main event, the fresh chocolates turned out to be surprisingly easy to make.
"Basically, you make ganache, pour it into a mold, and chill it. If you stay calm, anyone can do it."
Following Hannah's instructions, we started by finely chopping the chocolate. Next, we poured fresh cream into a pot and heated it over medium heat until just before boiling, then poured it all at once into a bowl with the chopped chocolate.
Once the steam subsided, we mixed it with a whisk. When the chocolate was completely melted and smooth, we poured it into a tray lined with baking paper and refrigerated it for an hour.After it hardened, we cut it with a warmed knife and, finally, dusted it with cocoa powder or matcha powder to finish.
"Oh, that's it? This is super easy."
"I'm totally going to brag to my little sister Mina later."
"But it really helped having Hannah assist us."
"Hehe, thanks."
Praised by Daphne after Pansy and Saya, Hannah smiled shyly, clearly pleased.
"Alright then, do your best on Valentine's Day!"
When Valentine's Day finally arrived, the Great Hall was covered in garish pink flowers thanks to Professor Lockhart, and heart-shaped confetti drifted down from the pale blue ceiling.
"Happy Valentine's Day!"
At the staff table, Professor Lockhart shouted, dressed in an eye-searing pink robe.
"So far, forty-seven of you have given me cards and chocolates. Thank you! But that's not all, you know?"
When he clapped his hands, twelve sour-faced dwarfs filed in. They even had golden wings attached and were carrying harps.
"My beloved delivery cupids! Starting today, they'll be touring the entire school, delivering chocolates and cards!"
After that, it seemed Professor Lockhart enthusiastically spread the customs of Saya's homeland, and this year Valentine's Day took on the atmosphere of a day when everyone, boys and girls alike, gives out chocolates.
As for the chocolates I made, I handed them out casually as small gifts. Saya declared, "I'll treasure this as a family heirloom!" but honestly, I just want her to eat it normally before it goes bad.
And as for Pansy herself.
"Come on, Pansy, hurry up."
"Wait, Daphne, I'm still not mentally prepared…"
"Daphne's right. Things like this are better done sooner rather than later."
At the last moment, Pansy lost her nerve and wrapped herself up in her blanket, while Daphne and Millicent struggled to drag her out.
"Pansy, you're seriously such a coward."
"But it's making me nervous after all…"
"Pansy."
As for me, someone who hadn't known them for all that long, seeing my roommate chicken out after everything had been set up made my voice come out colder than I expected, even to myself.
"P-please h-hand it over."
"Y-yes…"
And so the three of us chased after Pansy as she ran off. Looking ahead, it seemed she had spotted Draco in front of the Slytherin common room.
In her line of sight was Draco Malfoy, being approached by two first-year girls.
"Malfoy-senpai♪ I made too much of this, you see."
"If you'd like, please have some♡"
"Th-thanks…"
Though flustered, Draco Malfoy replied with an expression that didn't look entirely displeased. The younger girls let out high-pitched squeals of delight.
"Oh no! What do I do, I really gave it to him♪"
"You're overreacting! It's fine, this is totally going to work!"
...
And there stood Pansy Parkinson, age twelve, completely frozen.
"Wow, so Draco's finally hit his popular phase, huh."
"Seekers are actually pretty popular, you know."
While Millicent and I were chatting about that, Daphne, unable to watch any longer, let out a big sigh, grabbed Pansy by the shoulder, and started dragging her along.
"Hey, wait, Daphne?!"
Without answering, Daphne continued to drag Pansy across the floor and marched straight up to Draco with a smile.
"Hey there, Draco. Quite the haul you've got."
"Hm? Oh, Daphne."
Draco didn't seem particularly embarrassed, just shrugged as if to say it couldn't be helped.
"I think everyone's getting a bit too carried away, but I can't exactly refuse."
"Then here's a present from me too. It's just melted and re-solidified Honeydukes chocolate, though."
"No, thanks."
Encouraged by Daphne smoothly handing over her chocolate as part of the natural flow, Pansy finally steeled herself. She thrust her neatly wrapped chocolates forward in front of Draco like a captured general's head.
"Draco… um, these are from me too… well…"
Her face bright red, Pansy Parkinson clumsily offering her gift looked exactly like a maiden in love.
Even Draco looked surprised for a moment, and then.
"I see, you two made these together? Thank you very much. I'll enjoy them."
He replied with a bright, wonderful smile, filled with pure gratitude, without the slightest suspicion that this was just a courtesy gift.
"This is bad."
"Yeah, seriously."
He clearly valued her as a friend, but it didn't seem like he was conscious of her as a romantic interest at all. The road ahead looked rough.
"Come on, Pansy, there's no point dwelling on what's already happened."
"Yeah, you'll still have another chance."
"Besides, guys are basically all like that anyway."
After the Valentine's operation ended in failure, Daphne, Millicent, and I returned to the dormitory and tried to comfort a thoroughly defeated Pansy.
"Ugh, what was that… at this rate, I'm just a clown…"
"You're only realizing that now?"
"Hey, Elaina!"
When I delivered the finishing blow to the emotionally unstable Pansy as she started sobbing, Daphne scolded me.
"I've told you so many times that Pansy isn't a toy!"
"But she's fun to mess with…"
"Oh, honestly, Elaina!"
Daphne puffed up in anger, but Millicent cut in with, "Well, I kind of get how she feels."
"Even setting Elaina aside, don't you think you coddle Pansy a bit too much, Daphne?"
"T-that's not true!"
Daphne shot back reflexively, but I didn't miss the faint, trailing "…probably" she added at the end.
Millicent let out an exasperated sigh.
"Honestly, Pansy, you should just give up on Draco and go for some other guy."
"Yeah, I think so too. Someone a bit more mature would be better. Not that I really know."
"Hey, you two!"
As Daphne noisily protested, Millicent pressed a hand against her face, and we calmly tried to reason that switching targets quickly would be healthier. Then the sniffling Pansy stopped crying and muttered haltingly.
"No… I don't want to give up yet…"
"This one's definitely a closeted masochist."
"Agreed."
"What's a masochist?"
In any case, Valentine's Day ended in a crushing defeat for Pansy.
(End of chapter)
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