Chapter 134: Valentine's Day
February 14th.
For Tamara, this should have been just an ordinary Friday.
Or rather, it should have been a Friday on which she felt slightly more cheerful than usual.
Ever since that night in the mental space, when she had completely crushed the sixteen year old Tom Riddle and assimilated him into herself, she could clearly feel the flow of magic within her body becoming much smoother.
A small part of the sluggishness that had always bound her had vanished.
Even though she still could not use spells freely, some effects did not require spells to manifest. That was indeed a good omen.
For the first time in a long while, the Dark Lord could feel the air of freedom.
However, that good mood came to an end the moment she stepped into the Great Hall.
"..."
Tamara stood at the entrance of the Great Hall, the hand she had raised to push the door open freezing in midair.
For a moment, she even wondered if she had walked into the wrong place, or if she had accidentally triggered some mind altering Dark Arts trap.
The originally solemn and majestic Great Hall of Hogwarts had completely surrendered to a sea of pink.
The walls were covered in nauseatingly bright pink flowers, and instead of the vast starry sky, the ceiling was raining down countless pieces of heart shaped confetti.
The air was thick with the suffocating scent of cheap perfume mixed with sickly sweet candy, making it even more nauseating than overcooked Flobberworms in Potions class.
What was even worse was that among those pink decorations, twelve extremely ugly dwarfs with small golden wings on their backs and harps in their hands were pacing back and forth with sullen faces.
"What... is this?"
Tamara felt her temples throbbing.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Tamara!"
Just then, Gilderoy Lockhart, wearing bright turquoise robes with a pink cloak forced over them, strutted down from the staff table like a peacock displaying its feathers.
He gestured grandly and announced to the whole school, "Look at our Slytherin star! On this day filled with love, even an iceberg should melt, shouldn't it?"
Tamara looked at him coldly.
If someone had dared to turn Hogwarts into this state fifty years ago, she would have hung them upside down from the Astronomy Tower until what they vomited was as pink as these walls.
"I thought school was a place for learning magic."
Tamara's voice was not loud, but its piercing coldness instantly made several nearby students, who had been trying to crowd around and jeer, shudder.
"Not for hosting such... vulgar circus performances."
Ignoring Lockhart's frozen smile, she walked straight toward the Slytherin table.
She did not care what holiday it was today at all.
To her, Valentine's Day was nothing more than a boring excuse for hormone crazed Trolls to exchange bodily fluids and bacteria.
However, although she wanted peace and quiet, others clearly had different ideas.
As a recognized star of Slytherin and someone standing at the peak of the school's beauty pyramid, Tamara was unable to remain invisible on this particular day. Instead, she became the biggest target.
Before she could even sit down, several boys from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, holding beautifully wrapped chocolates and cards, tried to cross into Slytherin territory and approach her.
There was even a reckless Gryffindor first year clutching a bouquet of singing daffodils stolen from the Herbology greenhouse.
"Ta... Tamara..."
The first year had only just plucked up the courage to speak when an arrogant figure blocked the path between him and Tamara.
"Get lost, you ungrateful brat."
Draco Malfoy, like a vicious dog guarding its food, flicked the flowers out of the first year's hand with his wand, disgust written all over his face.
"Who gave you permission to pollute Tamara's air with this cheap rubbish?"
"But... this is my..."
"Shut up."
Draco raised his chin, his grey eyes filled with that characteristic Slytherin superiority.
He turned around and loudly mocked the restless boys and girls nearby.
"Listen carefully, everyone! Don't embarrass yourselves with cheap junk bought from Zonko's Joke Shop or Honeydukes."
"What value do your cheap chocolates and cards have, other than being thrown in the bin?"
After saying that, he turned back around, instantly switching to a fawning and smug smile. He pulled a dark green velvet box from his robes and placed it in front of Tamara.
"Don't mind them, Tamara."
"Only a gift meticulously selected by the House of Malfoy is worthy of your taste."
"My father sent this specially from France. Even there, it is a treasure that only pure blood families are eligible to reserve in advance."
Tamara glanced at the box, then at the surrounding boys, who were fuming but dared not speak after Draco's verbal lashing.
Although Draco's boasting was childish, and even that phrase "only Malfoy is worthy" sounded rather grating, she had to admit one thing.
He was indeed a very useful shield.
At least he had warded off ninety percent of the tedious harassment.
"...How thoughtful of you."
Tamara gave a faint response. She did not open the box, merely pushing it to her side.
This cold attitude did not discourage Draco. On the contrary, seeing that he had successfully repelled all competitors, and that Tamara had not thrown the gift directly into the rubbish bin, made him feel as though he had already won.
Not far away, at the Gryffindor table.
"That Malfoy is a complete jerk!"
Harry poked at the sausage on his plate indignantly, though his eyes could not help darting toward the Slytherin side again and again.
"What right does he have to make decisions for Tamara? He drove everyone away! Even a Hufflepuff who only wanted to give her a card!"
"Maybe he's right, Harry."
Hermione Granger, sitting across from him, said this without looking up as she spread jam on her bread.
Hermione had recovered.
According to Madam Pomfrey, it was because the faulty Polyjuice Potion seemed to have been catalysed by some external force. Its effects had been intense, but the duration was shorter.
This allowed Miss Know It All to end her career as a cat girl early.
"What do you mean he's right?" Harry looked at his friend in disbelief. "He's bullying other students!"
"He's helping Tamara clear away trouble."
Hermione set down her knife and fork, her brown eyes staring sharply at Harry.
"Use your brain, Harry."
"If Malfoy weren't standing there, Tamara would be surrounded by dozens of boys right now, and her table would be piled high with messy chocolates and screaming love letters."
"Do you want to see that?"
Harry froze.
He imagined the scene in his head.
Tamara surrounded by a group of boys, smiling as she accepted their gifts and opened sappy love letters one by one.
A strange feeling instantly welled up in his heart.
"No."
Harry blurted it out, his tone so firm that even he startled himself.
"Exactly."
Hermione smiled as though she had seen through everything long ago, shaking her head like a little adult.
"Admit it, Harry."
"You hate Malfoy being there not because he's bullying others..."
She paused, her gaze sliding meaningfully toward Harry's robe pocket.
"...but because he's blocking the card you want to give her. And because you don't want to see other boys getting close to Tamara at all."
"I... I do not!"
Harry instinctively clutched his robe pocket.
Hidden inside was a card he had finished last night after wasting more than a dozen sheets of parchment, and he still had not found a chance to give it to her.
"I just... I just think everyone has the right to give gifts!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Beside them, Ron, his mouth full of toast, added a stinging remark indistinctly.
"Anyway, I wouldn't dare. Giving a Valentine's gift to that she devil? How is that any different from blowing a kiss to a Hungarian Horntail? Only you and those fools would have that sort of suicidal idea."
.....
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