Valentine's Day

The next morning McGonagall announced, without hiding her bitterness, the suspension of Dumbledore and that as deputy headmistress, she would temporarily take over until the board of governors appointed his successor. Hagrid's departure, however, was not even mentioned and no one seemed to notice his absence.

This announcement had the effect of a bomb and was met with a wave of terror among the Muggle-borns. Harry did not understand this reaction. As powerful as Dumbledore was, how did his presence protect them? Most of the time, he was in his office and completely powerless to detect or prevent attacks. Despite his doubts, he took turns with Jenny so that one of them was always with Lucas. They hoped that the presence of a pureblood at his side would deter the heir from attacking him.

This school year was definitely not joyful. And yet, Harry had two reasons for satisfaction: Firstly, most of the students were too busy, like him, protecting their Muggle-born friends to continue their campaign of intimidation against him. Secondly, Lockhart had announced that he would hold a special event for Valentine's Day. Nothing had leaked about what it would be, but Harry was sure it would be grandiose. And he couldn't wait to tease his two friends to death. No, it wasn't cruel of him. It was for their own good. Someone had to be dedicated to making sure those two fools finally admitted that they were more than friends.

A month passed without incident and the day before Valentine's Day arrived. As usual, Harry got up early to go meet Lucas at the entrance of his common room. Harry didn't like hanging around the area. He encountered the Weasleys far too often for his liking. But if Jenny took care of it, the risk of Lucas dying while trying to intervene in a fight between her and Ginny was too high.

Unfortunately, the hatred between the Slytherin and the Gryffindor had not calmed down with time. Not to mention that Jenny was really not a morning person. In fact, most of the time, he had to go to the Slytherin common room to wake her up. According to the girls who shared her dormitory, only Lucas could force her out of bed without getting cursed. Harry thought they were exaggerating until he tried it himself.

Once their breakfast was finished, noticing that Jenny still hadn't arrived, they headed towards the dungeons. When they reached the second floor, they stopped. Harry didn't like this place. It was where they had found Mrs. Norris. Despite all of Filch's efforts, there were still red traces on the wall, and leaks regularly occurred from the abandoned girls' bathroom located atSide.

In short, the place was sinister.

But what made them stop was the scene unfolding before their eyes. Jenny and Ginny were dueling. And Jenny was clearly in trouble. In fact, it was more of an execution than a duel, so one-sided it was. Ginny was casting spells at a frantic pace that Harry had never heard of, with a glint of madness in her eyes that a Jenny covered in cuts could barely dodge.

Even before Harry could understand the situation, Lucas had rushed to help his friend. Without exchanging a single word, he was now fighting two against one in perfect synchronization. But it didn't seem to make much of a difference. Harry took out his wand, determined to help them subdue this fury, when in a protective reflex Lucas grabbed Jenny's hand as she was about to stumble.

Immediately, Harry felt a change in the atmosphere. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but it was definitely there. A kind of pressure filled the room. Seemingly noticing nothing, Lucas cast a shield to block the spell Ginny had just sent their way. Usually, his shields were thin halos of magic that struggled to even dampen the power of Ginny's spells. But this time, what emerged from his wand was a wall of light so dense it seemed to have the consistency of steel. Ginny's spell bounced off the shield. She was so surprised that she couldn't dodge it and took it head-on. She lifted off the ground and crashed violently against the wall.

Before they had time to recover from the shock and understand what had just happened, the voice Harry dreaded most was heard:

What happened here?Potter! I understand everything. So you decided to follow in your father's footsteps and attack your enemies three against one? How brave. 20 points off and a detention for each of you. And lower your wands immediately. If any of you dare to cast even one more spell, not even your fame will save you from expulsion. Miss Weasley, are you alright?

Snape said, rushing to Ginny's bedside.

She blinked her eyes, seemingly not knowing where she was. After a few seconds, she said in a trembling voice.

Yes, I am fine. Just a headache.

I am taking you to the infirmary.

No, it's fine, I'm okay. I have to... I have to go to class.

Little idiot. You may have a head injury. It is out of the question for you to return to class without Madam Pomfrey's approval. Snape harangued.

Since I tell you that I am fine.

As you wish. It's not like I'm going to cry if you collapse in a hallway. I will escort you to your classroom and after that, it will no longer be my responsibility.

Don't let her go. Said in a hoarse voice a Jenny who was struggling to catch her breath.

After what just happened, you should keep a low profile.

The notebook.

Everyone had their eyes fixed on Jenny, consequently no one noticed Ginny's face turning green following her cryptic words.

Stop, I don't want to hear another word from you. Miss Nott, Mr. Cross, it seems to me that your next class is with the Slytherins in Transfiguration. Come with me. I could then see you explain to the Deputy Headmistress the reason for your delay.

His two friends, understanding that it was useless to try to explain themselves to Snape, decided to follow him without a word.

And you, Mr. Potter, I advise you to reflect on your behavior.

It's the pot calling the kettle black. If there was one person who should try looking in the mirror from time to time, it was him.

Once they had left, Harry went to his Charms class. But he couldn't concentrate on what the tiny professor was saying. He kept thinking about what had just happened.

Ginny was much more powerful in combat than he thought, but that wasn't what intrigued him the most. After all, she was a pureblood and the only girl in a family of Gryffindors. It was normal for her to know many spells. It was even possible that after Ron's death, her parents - or her brothers - had made sure she was able to defend herself.

What intrigued him was the violence of the fight. Why on earth had they clashed so violently? Harry and Lucas had often joked about the rivalry between the two girls, but it had always been limited to teasing and occasionally harmless spells. Here, it looked like they were trying to kill each other. Harry was finding it increasingly difficult to think. After an hour of class, he had started to get a headache. One thing was certain, it wasn't Jenny who had started it. On the outside, she seemed tough and always ready to attack, but Harry now knew that it was just a facade and that she would never start a fight. Despite appearances, she was someone gentle.

Unable to take it any longer, Harry asked to go to the infirmary, which Professor Flitwick graciously granted.

Under the suspicious gaze of his classmates, he left the classroom.Once in the corridor, the pain diminished and now that he could think again, he realized something that terrified him: the pain came from his scar. He turned around and headed towards the headmaster's office, momentarily forgetting that Dumbledore was no longer there.

After having gone through a number of empty corridors, he saw what he had so dreaded since the night of the first attack. He collapsed to the ground, and tears began to flow from his cheeks as he repeatedly said, "No, this is not possible, why?"

To ensure he wasn't mistaken, he approached, but he had to face the facts.

In front of him lay the lifeless bodies of Lucas and Jenny, their hands joined in eternal union. Hagrid had been right. This time, there had been deaths.

oOoOoOo

Author's note: I allow you to throw stones at me for killing Lucas and Jenny. But what do you want? The work of a fanfiction author is mainly to make their characters suffer, and I am conscientious.

Now that I no longer risk spoilers, I would like to give some information about these characters. When I decided that Harry would do his second year at Hogwarts, I realized that I would have to invent OC characters. Indeed, apart from Ginny, Luna, and Colin, we don't know the second-year students at all, and I didn't find it very coherent for them to become friends. And since character creation is not my strong suit, I decided to shamelessly plagiarize characters from another fic.

These two characters are from the fanfiction:Revenge is so sweet I loved reading it a few years ago (despite its lack of an ending). One of the flaws of this fanfiction that I've always regretted is that, in my eyes, it underutilizes the soulmate concept. In summary, they share the same soul, if they are forcibly separated (or if they want to separate) they die, but on the other hand, when they are together their magical powers are multiplied (that's why Lucas manages to produce such a powerful shield). I find that this relationship has all the hallmarks of something toxic that could make the two wizards suffer in ways other than due to misunderstandings (which I really liked, by the way). And I love seeing the characters suffer (once again, I'm not sadistic but conscientious).

Unfortunately, I had to kill them before they reached the age to develop a more advanced romance. No, really, I had to. I don't make Harry suffer for pleasure, but because it's necessary to reach volume 4, which was the first written. I wrote the rest solely to be a prequel to this volume 4. I know it's not very logical to start at the end, but at least this way, you're sure that my fanfic will have an end (unlike some I won't name).