Valentines Day

Ronan Returned me to the edge of the forest near dawn; Dumbledore was there to greet me and take me back to the castle. On the walk back, he asked about the celebration and my part. It told him that the centaurs are very musical; they have their own instruments, and I played with those who chose to play that night. I also explained that Minstrels have always been invited to the colony because they only bring revelry and merriment.

"Good, those are good things to bring to any party," Dumbledore said to me before bidding me good night. Thank god it was a Saturday I could sleep in. 

A few days later, Grant and I were walking down a corridor heading to breakfast.

"Mister Carter!" I heard a voice shouting coming from behind me. Turning, I saw a pink Lockhart coming down the hall.

"oh no," I said. "What's the date?" I whispered to Grant.

"the 14th", Grant said, then looked at Lockhart. "Oh no."

"run?" I asked.

"run", Grant agreed, and we took off down the corridor.

"Mister Carter?!" Lockhart's voice of confusion shouted down the hall.

We turned a corner and ran into Professor Flitwick; before he could get balled over, we found ourselves floating in the air, legs still trying to run. "what's the rush, boys?" asked Professor Flitwick with a chuckle.

"Please, professor, he is coming; we'll do detention. Just let us go", I said with fear in my voice.

"Please, Professor", Grant begged.

"Who are you running from?" Flitwick asked.

"it's too late; he's caught us", I sighed, seeing Lockhart round the corner.

"ah, you caught them good", Lockhart said to Flitwick.

"Did they do something wrong, Gilderoy? That is not like these students", Flitwick tried to come to our defence. 

"no, nothing wrong, just they promised to help me with today's festivities", Lockhart smiled and looked at us. "now I expect you boys to help my friends spread their messages of love." 

"ah, sir, I can't carry my piano around to deliver messages," Grant said. 'Traitor!' I yelled in my mind.

"Quiet right, mister Stewart; you are free to go," Lockhart said, and Flitwick lowered Grant to the ground, and he took off without a look back. 

"Now, Mister Carter, the dwarves would like to meet you, and they have a costume for you," Lockhart said; his smug face didn't look at me so that he couldn't see the horror on my face. "they're in the entrance courtyard." he walked off.

"what was all that about?" Flitwick finally put me back down on the ground.

"After Halloween, Lockhart asked if we could help him another time. We said yes, thinking he meant another party. Last week, he approached me about his plans for Valentine's Day" I shivered. 

"Well, are you a man of his word, Mister Carter?" Flitwick said, then said, "Or Minstrel Carter?" 

"Minstrel Eddie", I said, "and yes, I am a man of my word." 

"Minstrel Eddie? why use your first name?" Flitwick asked.

"I said to Draco Malfoy, one day in my first year, that I didn't care about my heritage and my crowd would be cheering Eddie, not Carter", I said, remembering the encounter.

"Really, you don't care about your heritage?" Flitwick asked, interested in his student.

"no, I care about them, but what I was trying to say to him was that my achievements are because of me, not because of my family," I said.

"ah, I understand", Flitwick said. "Now you better run along", he told me. I started to walk away, and then I heard, "Minstrel Eddie, the entrance courtyard is the other way," Flitwick said with a smirk.

In the entrance courtyard, I met the dozen dwarves that Lockhart had hired.

"you, the lad, Lockhart recommend," one of the surly dwarfs said to me.

"yeah, You can call me Eddie" I reached out to shake his hand. He gripped me firmly and nearly ripped my arm off with his handshake. 

"Good, so we are teamed up with Andy there; he can't play his harp too well", the dwarf pointed out to another dwarf with a bright red beard. "your job is to follow him around and play tunes to his lyrics" he rummaged around his bag and pulled out a pair of golden wings "here wear this " he shoved the wings into my hands.

I rolled my eyes, took off my robes, and stored them in my satchel. Putting the wings on, I pulled out my acoustic guitar and walked over to Andy. "so, how much are you getting paid?" 

"20 galleons for the day", Andy smiled. "Each", I groaned; I was getting paid four galleons.

"All right, you lot best smiles. Time to greet the kiddos", said the leader dwarf.

'I wish the basilisk would just jump out and kill me now', I thought as we marched to the great hall. 

The doors opened to the great pink hall. As we marched in, we heard Lockhart's voice. "my friendly card-carrying cupids." he had a stupid, happy face so punchable. "they will be roving around the school delivering your valentines! Also, our resident cupid, Eddie Carter of the Arcane Rhythms, will be joining them."

'Fuck it in for a penny,' I thought; I flicked my long dark hair out of my face and smiled my most charming smile and played a Soft riff. 'if you're going to crash and burn, might as well lean into and have fun.' 

I saw Ron, Harry, Grant and Tim all laughing at me. I mouth to them, "Just wait" My reign of terror begins now my charming smile turned sinster.