Dealla Prince --- Santario Martin Valentines

Valentine’s day. This was not really a concept that Santario understood; last year, she had spent all Valentine’s day hidden in an unused classroom studying. The only reason she had signed up for the event was that her grandmother had threatened to send her a howler every day at breakfast for the rest of the year if she didn’t sign up for more events and start socializing more. This event had been posted the day after she got the threat. So here she was. Since then, Santario had also joined the outdoors club, and she hoped that would also quell her grandmother’s ire, but only time would tell.

As soon as she woke up this morning, Santario had hopped into the shower and braided her hair while it was still wet. She wanted to give it most of the full day to dry as much as it could in the braid so that when she undid it later, it would fall into a set of waves. During the rest of the day, she sat in the dorms reading her book, occasionally glancing up at the others fretting about getting dressed, putting on makeup, and just making a huge fuss out of today in general. Santario still didn’t understand, no matter how much she observed making tonight something that would prove interesting indeed.

At around six in the evening, Santario closed her book and made her way to her belongings while loosening her hair from the braid, allowing it to finish air-drying. She was already dressed in her typical heather grey t-shirt and dark jeans, but she knew it would be chilly tonight, and she suspected that she should probably show up in something a little more than just a t-shirt. So she grabbed her hooded, long-sleeved winter dress. It was black and green with grey trim and buttons going up the front. Santario pulled the dress over her head before doing up the button and laying the hood down against her back. She slid into a pair of black converse to finish her look before quickly tidying her hair with her fingers before setting off.

But wait, what if it was still too chilly? Santario didn’t exactly want to take her jacket with her; if that got way too warm, she needed something far less complicated to remove. That was when her eyes landed on her faux silver-grey fur blanket. That would be easy enough to share and move if it got too warm. Plus, it literally felt like you were snuggling friendly fuzzy bunnies without having killed any bunnies. Which was slightly ironic considering what happened in her first year. She walked back to her bed, grabbed the throw blanket, and folded it up nicely before finally leaving and making her way up to the astronomy tower.

Floating paper hearts are what started off as the décor, and Santario was already wavering in wanting to be there. This was clearly a mistake, and she should just turn back now. No, no. She was no longer the girl that ran away from things, so with a deep breath, she pressed on up the staircase. Hearts were everywhere as she passed under the arch at the top, and it was a little crazy. She had read romances in the novels that she read, which usually happened in passing between grand adventures, but they never helped her understand what that felt like or why people made such a big deal out of it. A sign to the side grabbed her attention, pulling her to a table full of pink roses, little bags of sweets, and cupcakes. The sign in larger letters indicated that she should only take one, but it noted that you could take one of each in smaller print.

She squinted her eyes at the sign before reaching out and taking a rose. A number appeared on its label, and for a moment, her left hand went up to her right deltoid. The number 13 had been branded on her magically during last summer, which reminded her of that. She swallowed hard, wondering if this was again some kind of trap… Her grandmother really didn’t know what Santario had been through or what signing up for things usually entailed. Deep breaths… Maybe for once, this wouldn’t be bad. She patted the pocket that her wand resided in before also taking a small bag of chocolates. Santario didn’t personally care for too many sweets, but perhaps if this wasn’t some cruel prank, her and whoever she would be spending time with could enjoy them as well.

Santario started to look around now to see how the number on the labels had any relevance, and that was when she spotted the balloons with other numbers on them. That made more sense; perhaps, tonight would be okay. She made her way towards the room with the balloons and double-checked her number before searching for her place. Once located, she would sit down on one of the cushions and set the blanket gently to the side, the rose she had taken to her other side, and the little chocolates on the additional pillow. For a moment, she would nervously look around, seeing some people had already taken their places, but who would join her and, more importantly… Why was she so nervous? Instead of dwelling on things, she decided to start poking around the hamper to see what they had been supplied until her date showed up.

So, Dee hadn't spent more than half a thought before signing up for this Valentine's... thingy, and not more than half a thought afterwards, either. It had sounded fun, she could make a new acquaintance. Maybe discover this thing called romance everyone seemed to be talking about around this time of year. Not that Dee would recognise romantic feelings if one slapped her in the face with them, she'd successfully ignored any and all hints of them so far, whether from or towards her.

Anyway, it had seemed interesting. Being allowed on the Astronomy tower outside of class was just an additional perk to the opportunity to figure out what the hype was all about, solve the puzzle, the mystery. Maybe. (Probably not.)

The day had come, the castle was smelling like roses, and Dee was skipping up the stairs to the Astronomy tower a little late, as usual. It wasn't completely her fault, to be fair. She'd been already half out the door when one of the other girls had snatched her wrist, asked if she was going to the Valentine's dinner, and upon confirmation, demanded Dee let her braid her hair because she could not seriously be planning on going looking like she did every day? Dee had been a little offended - her hair was fabulous every day without any effort, thank you very much - but hadn't protested too much. As a result, her hair was now braided backwards on both sides of her head and tied into pigtails low on the back of her head. French braids or something, the girl had called them. Dee had escaped with a quick thank you before her dormmate had returned with makeup supplies.

The floating hearts up the stairs were pretty, she thought, reaching out to touch one, the paper flowers around the classroom entrance slightly over the top but still beautiful, but when she stepped through, she paused to gape, her astonishment not entirely positive. There was a ridiculous number of hearts-- well, everywhere. Hung on garlands, floating around. Even the chocolates that were one of the items available to be chosen were heart-shaped. Obviously, she went for those anyway. A number appeared on the previously blank label, and her eyes wandered over to the balloons that were floating in the room - heart-shaped, of course - each assigned to a blanket. A smile tugged on her lips. So they really were not to know who they were going to meet before they did, were they? She liked mysteries.

After a second of hesitation, Dee also picked one of the roses out of the vase. Not for herself, she preferred living flowers to cut ones, but wasn't that a very Valentine's Day thing to do? Giving your date flowers?

Trying to spot her assigned blanket had Dee meandering a little aimlessly between the other picnic spots. Most were already filled, some with lone people waiting for their partners, some surprisingly rather crowded. She was wearing her teal coloured cloak and black jeans, sturdy boot, no fancy clothes from her, hadn't thought that would be expected. No hat, her cheeks already slightly pink in the cold.

When she finally spotted her blanket, and the girl already seated on it, Dee broke out into a brilliant grin, her steps speeding up. "Santario!" she called before she'd quite reached the blanket. The two of them hadn't had too much contact so far, but they'd been on the same team for the Chess Combat event in summer, and shared responsibilities as Duelling Captains for their respective Houses. A little quiet maybe, but clear-spoken and intelligent, Dee respected her. Her eyes were sparkling when she slowed down next to their spot, her eyes wandering from Santario to take in the scene, the basket, the silver-grey blanket she hadn't seen on the other places, to the rose at Santario's side, and, finally, the chocolates on the empty pillow.

Her eyebrows quirked up in amusement, a small bit of laughter bubbling up, tinkling. "Looks like we make a good match," she remarked, turning her eyes back to Santario's and presenting the two items she was holding, before offering the rose to Santario. "Here, I got you this! Not that I can pretend it took much effort, but the thought counts, right?"

Dropping down on the pillow with much enthusiasm and little grace - the chocolates had been saved before, of course - she glanced up at the clear winter night sky. Her breath was visible in the night air. She looked over at Santario again, blue meeting blue if the Slytherin was returning the gaze, and smiled brightly. "Your hair is so pretty! Aren't you cold, though?"

@Santario Martin

Santario gently rummaged through the basket, being careful not to burn herself on the magically warmed teapot. “So much, wow, they really went all out for us. Biscuits, scones, jams, cake, sandwiches.” She muttered to herself as she gently poked around. “Oh good, not all sweet things. Perfect.” While Santario was okay with the occasional sweet thing, it wasn’t her preferred snack choice unless it was paired with something salty. Savory was her typical choice for foodstuffs.


A familiar voice, one she had not expected at all, drew her away from the contents basket to look up into the face of Dealla Prince. A breath she did not even know she had been holding was released as she smiled up as the Ravenclaw approached. Dee was someone that she had enjoyed the company of when they had shared company, which was not often to be fair. Dee was a great duellist despite luck not always being on her side, but that was the thing with luck; it was fickle. Still, she knew that if they ever faced each other as opponents that it would be well matched for both of their teams. “Dee!” She returned the girls name with matched enthusiasm.

Santario chuckled at Dee’s comment. “I suppose we do.” Did she know what that could have meant? No. Multiple implications could have been insinuated, and Santario did not really understand any of them. She did know that they were both excellent duellists, both intelligent, and friendly towards one another, and that made sense. She would gently take the rose from Dee and nod over to the chocolates. “I did the same thing with the chocolates for you.” She ran a hand through her hair, pushing some of it away from her face as Dee took her seat and the chocolates. “Oh, Thank you! And no, not really cold.” She turned the edge of her sleeve inside out to show that her dress was lightly fleece lined. “It’s also hooded in case my head gets cold, and then I brought up my blanket just in case. Being underground in the Slytherin dorms, even with magical heating and fireplaces, it does not always stay the warmest, so I keep this blanket at the end of my bed. Figured we could use it if we got too cold.”

Santario realized that she was rambling a little and stopped. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your hair braided back before. It looks terrific on you.” Santario was someone who did wear her hair in braids almost all of the time when she was doing something important or just needed to keep her hair out of her face. So it looks like they both did something a little unusual with their hair this evening, “I was going to make myself some Hot Chocolate would you like some?” She motioned to the basket between them to draw attention away from herself.

If Dee said yes, Santario would busy herself with making both of their drinks.

Santario seemed just as pleased with the match-up as Dee had been, judging from the smile on the Slytherin's face, and Dee's grin widened a bit in return. Not that she'd been worried about the opposite being the case - generally, Dee tended to assume that people liked her, with few exceptions.

She nodded at Santario's explanations while she settled on her pillow, not very surprised. The placement of the Slytherin common room did sound cold, so she supposed the students all had to cope with that, and were probably used to it. It still felt odd sometimes that she didn't spend her time in the same places her father had lived in during his time at Hogwarts. Maybe she should try and convince someone to sneak her in at some point, just to take a look around.

Reaching out to touch the blanket, she smiled at the suggestion they could share it if they got cold. That was more thoughtful than Dee tended to be, who hadn't spent a thought considering her partner's comfort before coming up here. The blanket was soft under her fingers. "Oh, I love it!" she commented, burrowing her fingers into the fuzzy fabric. "It's so soft."

The compliment about her hair drew her attention back to Santario, and Dee grinned, flicking one of the tails back over her shoulder in an overly theatrical gesture. "Thank you!" she replied, batting her eyes, before dropping the act and sobering up. "I could pretend it was my doing, but I really had nothing to do with it. My friend basically abducted me and forced them on me. But they did turn out pretty, didn't they?"

The question about drinks had her eyes wandering to the hamper, curious. She'd seen them on the other blankets she'd passed, but not much of their content. "Hot chocolate sounds amazing!" she replied, nodding, and busied herself sorting through the rest of the basket's contents. Lots of sweet things, Dee was going to run danger of making herself sick, considering it was dinner time. She picked out a biscuit, but didn't bite into it immediately, watching Santario instead.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Congratulations on your second duelling win!" It had been a few weeks since the second stage of duels, but it wasn't a big surprise that it was one of the first things that came to Dee's mind. It was one of the things they shared, after all, were both captains, even. "I didn't see your duel, mine was at the same time, but I know you won against Hufflepuff." It was a genuine compliment. Between Chess Combat and her team's win against Phaedra and Lana in the first stage of duels, Dee was very much aware that Santario was a capable duellist. It made her itch to duel the girl herself.

@Santario Martin

Santario nodded with a smile as Dealla acknowledged how pretty her hair was. “It truly did.” When Dee was agreeable to the Hot Chocolate, Santario busied herself with preparing two cups for them. She pulled out the powder packets and read the instructions; having never made it this way before, she frowned a little in concentration. It would not hinder her for long as she filled the mugs with the piping hot water and stirring in the powder.

As Dee complimented her on her duelling win, Santario smiled and even flushed just slightly, but that could have just been the cold air biting her cheeks. “Thank you very much. I am glad you won your second one as well. Even if it was against some of my own.” She held the now incorporated powdered hot chocolate out to the girl. “You’re a great duellists, so I hope your last duel of the year goes well too, especially since you won’t be against one of my teams.” She laughed softly, her lips pulling up into a smile. Like the girl before her, Santario would be more than happy to take her on in a duel; it would be interesting, to say the least.

“I’m sorry. I am so terrible at these kinds of… Things. I am not really used to casual conversation. That was not completely true; if this had been with Alan, Thomas, or Quinn, she would have been just fine conversing; they were her closest and only friends. Though the slight awkwardness was not fake. “And… Is this supposed to be classified as a date? I’m not really sure how the whole Valentine’s thing works, especially with blind picnics like this.” The question was asked with hesitancy. She didn’t understand dating, and she was undoubtedly sure that she was probably making it a bad one if this was a date.

I'm so sorry this is not great I'm just finally coming out of my slump

The remark on her second duel brought a grin to Dee's face, bright and self-satisfied and slightly smug. She'd been worried before the stage, putting pressure on herself after the fiasco of her first duel, and slightly worried about going up against a third year, although she'd never admit it, out loud or even to herself. The worry had proved unfounded in the end, pushing her confidence back up to its usual, dizzying height. "Thanks!" she replied, genuine, a twinkle in her eye. "It was only fair, you beat one of my teams in your first stage, after all. So we're both going up against Gryffindor during the last stage, right? I'm sure you'll be fine." Gryffindor hadn't had a very good run of it so far, and frankly, Dee wasn't too worried, either. Pericles and her had made great progress, surely they would win the last one, too.

She wrapped her hands around the mug that Santario had handed her, enjoying the warmth seeping into her fingers. While it wasn't freezing cold, it was definitely far from warm, the winter night air crisp and clear. Not intuitive enough to pick up on any awkwardness from Santario's side, Dee just tilted her hand to one side, at the other girl's apology, eyes curious, then shrugged slightly. Dealla didn't feel awkward easily, was usually fine just chattering on by herself. Currently, she was simply enjoying a pretty night and talking to someone she had respect for but didn't know very well, if nothing else.

"I think we're doing fine?" she returned, voice questioning. "Are there rules to these things? If so, no one told me. If you're feeling like you have to apologise, it's probably more me being bad company rather than you?" Her tone of voice didn't show any actual worry about this being the case, however. "I've never been on a date," she added, smiling a little, relaxed. "But as long as we're having a good time, I don't think we can really go wrong, do you?"

Her eyes lightening up, she suddenly straightened up, grinning. "An actual blind picnic sounds kind of fun, though. You'd have to guess what you're eating, it could be like a game."

@Santario Martin

Santario nodded, “Yeah, we’ve got Gryffindor next. I think you have got Alec and AJ, and we have got Rose, but I do not know who her partner will be. I heard it has changed. Some first year, I think?” San frowned a little while trying to remember but soon decided it wasn’t important right now. However, she tried to keep track of the duellists as best she could and even had stat sheets drawn upon them in her dorms that she took to practices. She made sure she took time with each of their teams to go over their opponents before each stage, which only served to remind her that she needed to do that again before April.

“You are not bad company, but I agree that it seems like the only thing we need to do is have a good time. I’ve never been on a date either.” Not any kind, really never at a dance at school or otherwise. She did not count the things her grandmother threw or took her to because the interactions were forced there. When neither she nor whoever she was paired with wanted to be there. “I think that could be a really cool idea! Plus, it could get you to try something and maybe even like it if you might not have tried it based off of its looks.”

It was something she occasionally struggled with if it was not something that she put together. Almost as if there was a force stopping her from putting something that did not look great into her mouth. There had been some pleasant surprises, but there also had been some very unpleasant ones. Santario took a sip of her own drink before smiling at Dee. “So, uhm, what do you like to do that doesn’t relate to school?” An attempt to make an actual conversation. “I really like photography, cooking, & gardening.” Photography might not have been a surprise for most people around, but the last two were not something widely known.

Santario's reply about dates and dating experience received an encouraging nod. Dee supposed it was a good thing that they were similarly experienced - or rather, inexperienced - although she really didn't think there was much they could be doing wrong, exactly. She'd attended the previous ball with a friend, the one before that alone (unsurprisingly, as she hadn't planned to go at all). There hadn't been any curiosity about all this dating business, and only now this was beginning to change.

"Yes, right!" she agreed enthusiastically when Santario added a thought to the blind picnic idea. "It's like, people end up not liking things just because they expect not to like them. If you don't have any expectations that influence what you think from the start, you might get surprised. Isn't the same true for people, too?" A jump in thought, perhaps, but one that came easy to Dee. What you hear about someone before meeting them might influence your perception of their actions. Perhaps this was the advantage of blind dates: You wouldn't know anything about your date beforehand that could warp your opinion of them.

Looking down at her cup thoughtfully, she swirled the hot chocolate around inside of it, then looked back up at Santario's question, her eyes lighting up with curiosity. The photography, yes, she'd known about that. It was hard not to, she had seen the girl walking around with her camera often enough. The other two were news to her. "Oh? That's really cool! Can you do any of that here at Hogwarts? Since we're not allowed in the kitchens... I mean, of course we kind of take care of plants in Herbology, but other than that? Do you have a garden at home?" A rush of questions, Dee's natural curiosity surfacing in a wave. Every question was genuine, however; she was sincerely interested in Santario's answers.

The inquiry about her own likes gave her a short pause, head tilting slightly to one side in thought, a small, birdlike motion. Truthfully, most of her time this school year had been dedicated to school and her extracurricular activities, the highest goal to be excellent, outstanding. She'd been doing a decent job of it, but it hadn't left much time for hobbies. But then, her interests had always been oriented towards competition and success. Most things were more fun when she could beat others at it, like the hockey game a few months ago, when her team had beaten Thomas Lestrange's. She didn't sing or play an instrument, had no talent or patience for art, liked being outdoors but didn't have a particular fondness for plants or animals beyond what she needed for potions. One attempt at baking she'd made had almost blown up the kitchen, the other had ended with cookies containing Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Those had been fun though.

Curiosity was what drove her, trying out new things but never stopping to perfect anything. It was more about seeing that she could, which not rarely ended with her doing things she shouldn't. "I like exploring," she said, pulling her feet towards herself to cross her legs, the hot chocolate sloshing dangerously in her cup. "During my first year here I spent a lot of time exploring the castle, trying to find secrets and shortcuts." A slightly mischievous smile spread on her face. "It's a strange castle, but I guess I know my way around pretty well now." A trace of longing bled through in her voice at the next words. "I like swimming. I miss the sea at home, the lake can't really compare. I like getting to know people and spending time with friends. Oh, and potions," she added, almost as an afterthought, then stopped herself. "Does that count? Since it's a school subject? But I liked potions even before. Brewing potions makes me feel somehow calm and peaceful."

@Santario Martin