Tubbzy

Getting ready for the guild’s Halloween party ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Lucy rolled her eyes at the sound of the familiar voice calling after her to slow down. Her divination class was on the other side of the castle and she was only halfway across the large courtyard. Her pace didn’t falter. 

“I’m already late!” she called over her shoulder. 

“Well, so am I!” the voice shouted back, the sound followed by a sudden yelp. Lucy looked back in time to see the year five student pick himself up off the ground and dust the dirt from his dress shirt as his robes tangled around his legs. He quickly adjusted his maroon and gold tie while Lucy failed to hide her grin behind her House scarf. 

“What are you late for?” Lucy asked once he finally caught up and fell into step beside her. “I thought you were already done with your classes for the day.” 

“I’m, uh… well…” he stammered, cheeks tinging a subtle shade of pink that Lucy suspected were for reasons other than the chill. “Late for Valentines Day.” 

A small divot formed between Lucy’s brows as the corners of her lips dipped down. “Valentines?” asked the pureblood. “Who’s that?” 

“It’s a muggle holiday. I learned about it in my muggle studies elective.” 

“A holiday for what?” 

She watched as he drew a deep breath as though he were about to launch into a longwinded explanation, but faltered as they reached the double doors leading into the halls of the castle. “Gifts,” he mumbled, sounding uncharacteristically bashful as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

Scrunching her nose, Lucy asked, “Gifts? What makes it any different from Christmas?”

“Not important right now,” he responded, turning pink again. He pulled a small parcel from his pocket and handed it to her. It had a crudely-tied bow at the top that he sheepishly explained Wendy hadn’t been around to help him with. 

Tentatively pulling at the edges, knowing the boy’s history for pulling jokes on his friends, Lucy was surprised to find that inside was a boxed chocolate frog. 

“How did you get this?” she asked, eyes wide. “You skipped the last trip to Hogsmeade!” 

“Also not important,” he shrugged. “Go on, open it,” he said, his eyes flitting from the small package in her hands to her eyes and then back again. 

She went to tear off the plastic seal before realizing that it had already been pulled off. 

“I swear to Merlin if you’ve already taken a bite,” she teased, jokingly flashing him a peek of her wand as a warning before slowly opening the top of the box. Once she had successfully removed the lid she gasped. 

“Yeah,” he grinned, eyes lighting up as he seemed to get the reaction he was presumably looking for. “It took a little searching and a few boxes of frogs, but I was finally able to find the last card you needed for your collection.” He gave two thumbs up. “Now you have the cards of every great wizarding author! I hope you like-” 

He was cut off when she threw her arms around him in a tight–nearly suffocating–embrace. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, the sound muffled as the words were said into the material of her best friend’s scarf, but they found their way to the boy’s ears all the same. She felt him smile, the side of his cheek lifting against her temple.

“Anytime, Luce.” 

She took a step back, looking at the card again when something dawned on her. 

“Natsu,” she said, suddenly breaking into a fit of laughter. “Where’s the frog?” 

He drug a distressed hand down his face at the mention of the frog. “Slippery thing–it hopped out when I was trying to look at the card inside and wouldn’t listen when I asked it to get back in!” 

This only made the girl laugh harder, and soon Natsu joined in until they were soon shoo’d from the halls by a professor. 

Lucy parted from her friend after another round of thank you’s, not even caring that she showed up to divination five minutes late with an empty chocolate frog box in hand. As she hurried to the empty seat beside Levy, ignoring her friend’s inquisitive look, Lucy pulled her quill and parchment from her bag and scratched a small note to herself: steal Natsu’s muggle studies textbook when he’s not looking. Look up Valentine’s Day.

Imagine her surprise when she later flipped through the pages in the safety of the Ravenclaw common room and found the meaning of the special day. 

Imagine her blush when she saw the name written in the margin of the page in her best friend’s scratchy handwriting.