Padma Patil

Happy Valentine's Day.

Did you get the same owl? About tomorrow? Honestly, I'm sort of looking forward to it.

I mean, part of the Council is being able to work together as a group, even when if some of them are arguing about other things. So we should all be able to get along for an afternoon.

Only, I wish it weren't right in the middle of a Hogsmeade Day.

Do you think we'll get a chance to talk to our sponsors about where we are in the standings? Because I'm not sure the last challenge was really a good one for me. I'd love to get Lana's ideas about how to improve next time.

and it sort of spilled over into today, since it was a Sunday. And now that we don't have Astronomy observation anymore, Monday's aren't so long, either, so it feels a little more like a regular day.

We don't have Astronomy observation anymore because we're not supposed to go round the corridors without a teacher at night. Not since Draco's what happened last week. So we're just having our lectures. I miss the stargazing, but I have to say I don't miss being out at night in this cold!

Anyway, I sent loads of valentines to people - to most of the prefects (well, the ones I know), and the YPL counselors and Malfoy and Finnigan and Moon and so on. Marvolo, I hope you know that I'd have sent you a valentine in any case, just like I sent them to all of Ravenclaw Corner and all my other friends in school, because it's a friendly thing to do. It's not soppy or anything.

It certainly wasn't anything like those ridiculous singing ones. House-elves should not be allowed to sing, I think. At least not to humans. I heard Marvolo got a really awful one - Chang told us, she saw it get delivered - something about comparing his eyes to a toad? Ugh. Who'd have written something like that?

Some of the kids had Perks' little folded roses, which were really very pretty. It's highly enterprising of you, Perks, to come up with something like that. And convincing people to pay for bits of parchment and all, that's quite clever! It's rather like that little black market on protections last autumn, isn't it? And even sort of like Stretton's potion scheme - only not illegal, of course. And the best part is, now you've got some pocket money so you don't have to miss out on things. It's really remarkable, what people will do to overcome their shortfalls. Sandoval says that it's important to have skills people find valuable, especially once we're finished school. I don't know how much people would pay for folding parchment outside of school, but it sounds like you'll be able to keep customers for at least the next three years. Five if you go on for N.E.W.T.s.

I got loads of Valentines, myself, too! From Belinda and Lavender (and Parvati of course) and Morag and Daphne, and even from people I didn't expect, like Thompson and Bobolis and Dames and Edgcombe, and even some of the first-years! Thanks, everyone - if I left you out it's only because I didn't want to list everyone and make other people feel bad if they didn't get as many. It's not because I didn't like your valentines!