The castle was filled with all manner of snogging teenagers, scattered rose petals and disgusted children too young to engage in such acts with any maturity.

Professor Duerr decided that the staff room was the only safe haven during morning break. There would be adult conversation, hot drinks and if she was very lucky, some sort of themed confectionery from the house elves.

She ducked out of the way of a singing cupid, which was rather more yelling in exclamation as the mortified recipient sent it sailing across the entrance hall. The crimson-faced Hufflepuff offered profuse apologies to the teacher, which were incoherent to the foreigner but the sentiment recognised.

“Phew!”

Sweeping inside the staff room, Professor Duerr closed the door firmly behind her, eyes closed and hoped very much that when she opened them, the staff room would be free from such festivities.

The teapot was pink. The teacups were pink. Had some enterprising house elf decided that the staff room tea set required theming for the day? Professor Storm lifted the pot lid, and gave a tentative sniff with his long pale nose. He did not want a cup of pink tea.

“Phew!”

The teapot lid clattered down again, leaving the Deputy Headmaster clutching a pink teapot at shoulder height. He glanced down and pictured his appearance in his mind’s eye, quickly opting to set the pot back down before anyone experienced it in reality.

“We need extra bodies for break duty.” He announced grimly. His tall, dark form in smart teaching robes was nothing special, but he looked very out of place in the staff room at that moment… for it wasn’t just a pink teaset the elves had delivered… but full decoration.

The drapes had taken a pink tinge, there was a garland of hearts in various red and pink shades across the ceiling strung like bunting. Even the biscuits were all heart shaped with pink icing. Sickening.

“Don’t all volunteer at once.”

Sylvain did not attach particular important to Valentine's Day. It had not been fashionable to do so, when he was young and studying at Beauxbatons, and there certainly had been no reason to when he was training afterwards. February 14th usually went by without notice when you were living alone in a cabin on the French Alps.

It was impossible to miss at Hogwarts. Even in the days prior, there were cards and flowers being exchanged amongst students, arch or flirty remarks, declarations of affection in the dining hall.

He was nonetheless unprepared for what awaited him in the staff room when he entered - though he did look like he'd dressed for the occasion, in dusky rose jumper and tan corduroy trousers. Sylvain's lips pressed into an uncomfortable grimace at the shock of pink. He noticed Camille first, because he was closer, but Ignan stood out the most of them all.

"Bonjour," the creatures professor greeted, approaching the tea table to inspect the biscuits. Non, even the biscuits had not escaped. "Is it like this every year?" he asked, a man preparing himself for the prospect of it.

Taking a deep breath, Draco brushed some imaginary lint off of the shoulder of his new suit.  'Here goes nothing,' he thought to himself as he pushed open the door to the Hogwarts Staff Room and entered slowly.  At first he didn't even look up, slightly nervous to be back in Hogwarts again.  But steeling himself, he looked up and took in the sight of the room. 

Vaguely he heard Storm ask for volunteers for break duty, but he ignored it and sat down in one of the chairs.  Sneering at the sight of so much pink, he thought instead to sit quietly and read the letter in his pocket from his mother.  She congratulated him on becoming a professor at Hogwarts and also updated him on how his son was doing.

Draco hadn't seen Scorpius in a long while, so he counted on the news from his mother to keep up on how his son was doing, she would often send pictures as well, but this particular letter didn't have one this time.  Astoria had cut his mother's visit with Scorpius short this time, so she didn't have time to take a picture.

So he put the letter back into his pocket and looked around the staff room.

“Bonjour. Is it like this every year?”

Sylvain! Camille’s face broke into a smile at the sight of one of her favourite colleagues. Such a sight for sore eyes. Professor Onuris surely had a student following. Camille had yet to find anything she disliked about him, which either meant he was a rare gem, or they had yet to spend enough time together to find fault.

“Bonjour,” Camille replied, but kept to English for there was company. “Last year the decoration was in the hall because of the dance,” she explained. That and the incident of missing students abducted from Hogwarts had possibly evaporated any trace of decoration in the staff room. Camille’s memory did not recall any, focusing instead on the terror of missing students and Hogwarts locking all the doors.

“Don’t all volunteer at once.” Cousin Ignan was an inky blot on the pink decorations.
“Pardon?” Camille replied, not realising what his question had been, and instead turning her attention a silent party installed in a nearby armchair.

“Is it not safer in pairs?” Professor Duerr asked. “I am not sure Professor Malfoy has been unfortunate enough to disturb students in flagrante.” The Arithmancy professor had.[1] Professor Storm had the students in question sand down the desks involved by hand. Ever since, she had been much more cautious to stop and listen before opening a door…!

1.	Autumn 2010 She couldn't hear anything suggestive past voices, thankfully, but one couldn't be too careful after she'd had to ask two sixth years to make themselves decent. Ignan had them sanding the desks down in that classroom to revarnish them all for the misuse of school furniture.

"Professor Storm I will take extra patrol. I am certain Professor Malfoy has enough on his plate." Called Professor Singh. He faced the window. Did not see Draco was in the room. He waved his wand. Opened the window. An owl fluttered up to sit in the frame. Then hooted. It ruffled its feathers. Pecked at the letter. It swooped away. Professor Singh watched. Smiled. Air was the Guru, water the Father and the earth was the Great Mother according to Guru Nanak Dev Ji. He appreciated nature and the environment at every opportunity. He breathed deeply. Closed the window.

Professor Singh turned round. "I would take break duty over evening patrol." He said to Professor Duerr. Smiling under his long beard.

"Is it not safer in pairs? I am not sure Professor Malfoy has been unfortunate enough to disturb students in flagrante." Occasionally Ignan regretted that his colleague was a relative, who felt emboldened to reply with such a familiar manner. She was forever softening his bark.

"... I will take extra patrol." Professor Singh rarely balked at extra work. His management style was as efficient as Ignan's, but far more... spiritual. While he hadn't lectured the Deputy Head on the Guru's teaching, he seemed to have a useful reflection for students at any juncture. In contrast, Storm did not believe in a higher power, and held himself from believing everything a seer spouted. (The latter he was learning to believe more readily given the previous year's disasterous results.)

"Thank you, Professor." The conversation about the perils of evening patrol prevailed, even so. "I trust Professor Singh is a suitable 'pair' Professor Duerr? Though Malfoy, do prepare, I will assign your duties for next week." Famous name or nobody, everyone was responsible for keeping the rabble in line. Ignan couldn't be everywhere, even if the students felt like he could be.

Owen walked into the staff room with a huge box of chocolate.  He'd already distributed large and very glittery boxes to his children at breakfast.  And his wife's gifts had been sent by owl before breakfast.  This large box was for the rest of the staff.  Dealing with students deserved chocolate on the best days, but with the extra shenanigans of Valentine's Day, chocolate was a necessity.

And his arrival seemed to have missed the assignment of extra duties. Not that he minded usually but there was always extra demand in the greenhouses around Valentine's Day.  "If I'd known we were decorating here too I would have brought flowers, not just chocolate." He set the box down next to the pink tea set.  "Actually I still can," he looked around the room considering what he had left in the greenhouse.

Dear Ravindar offered his assistance and agreement with Camille. Despite the Head of Gryffindor being just over twenty years her junior, she had rather taken a shine to him as a friend.

“.. I trust Professor Singh is a suitable ‘pair’ Professor Duerr?” Cousin Ignan asked. Though she knew it was rhetorical, she uttered,
“More than, Deputy Headmaster,” with a smug grin, and issued Ravindar with a wink.

At that agreement they were interrupted by the welcome arrival of Professor Prewett, carrying a very glittery box. It caught the attention of his assembled colleagues, because he was the only one willingly introducing yet more valentine decoration into the room, and was one of the few married ones amongst them.

“If I’d known we were decorating here too, I would have brought flowers, not just chocolate.” He set the box down beside the tea set. “Actually, I still can.”

“Don’t trouble yourself,” Camille waved a hand, “I think we had just agreed if the elves had done more than enough.” They weren’t full of hormones, like the teenagers outside the door, but they could gossip and break a heart just as well.

“So kind of you to bring chocolates. Thank you Owen. Very sweet.” The Arithmancy Professor made a point to thank him. They might need some to get through the day. “Taking Persephone anywhere nice for dinner later?” She enquired, knowing how important it was to mark little milestones to keep a marriage smooth.

He settled himself into an armchair not far from Ravindar, with a plate and a mug of coffee. The room was slowly filling up; Malfoy entered, followed shortly by the Herbology professor. Sylvain nibbled on one of the heart-shaped biscuits while pleasantries were exchanged, thoughtful. Camille was wonderful - she made him feel comfortable here, but he was still more at home outside the castle.

One day, he thought, he must invite the staff to his cabin for a kind of soiree. There was room for it, having been built for a half-giant.

"Evening patrol," he queried of Ravindar and anyone else listening, a worried wrinkle in his brow, "is it so bad on Valentine's?"

As groundskeeper, Sylvain's patrols often took place by the forest and across the grounds. He had not been especially worried about students sneaking out for romantic adventures tonight but this discussion was making him reconsider. There was no limit to the fooldhardiness of youth... not even on a cold February evening.

"You are welcome to take mine." Professor Singh offered. He smiled. Stroked his long beard. "Spirits are high. There are tears. Hexes. Unwise exchange of saliva." It was not so different to when he was a boy. "Do not trust an unattended box of chocolates. For the next fortnight." He suggested. He felt bold. "Did you receive any cards from secret admirers Professor?"