lonely hearts club (terry)

If it was going to be this cold, it should at least snow. Not dreadful big banks or hills of slush that got his socks wet as he sank into them, but a nice, calm snowfall that would make everything look just wintery enough. And perhaps enough on the ground for a few decent snowballs. That is all I ask.

The frozen dirt crunched under his feet as Henry trudged along the path to Hogsmeade. There wasn’t much to look at: the trees that usually lined it were winter-bare and everything was sort of greyish-brown. More of a spring and summer man himself, Henry considered the early months among the more disagreeable parts of the year. He had bundled himself in a wool coat, heavy cloak, mittens and his Gryffindor scarf pulled up around his chin, but none of it could stop his nose from running.

Scraping together some determination, he straightened up against the frigid wind and put a bit of spring in his step. Hogsmeade weekends may not be as big a deal as last year –he’d done everything worth doing there at least once by now—but they still deserved a little enthusiasm, even if he had to sniffle every few seconds.

A pair of couples in front of him, older Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, seemed to find the dreary day much more romantic than Henry did. They weaved about on the path, giggling and arm-in-arm. He watched them curiously. In the last few weeks there had been a great deal of talk floating around the castle on the subject of this particular trip, the closest one to Valentine’s Day. Couples tended to take advantage of this for any special plans; it was generally more exciting than trying to have a date someplace in the castle. Henry always liked to keep up on what was going on with his classmates, so he’d heard quite a lot of romantic gossip lately: who was going together, who was too shy to ask…and who had been turned down, which he personally found the most entertaining.

He couldn’t help but feel a slight bit alone as everyone made their plans. Henry got crushes at an impressive frequency –all it took was somebody okay-looking being nice to him to get him all fluttery—but requited romantic interest was something he had no experience with. He tilted his head as he watched the couples ahead of him, and decided that it looked nice. A lot of the time, judging by the stories of his friends, he felt that dating seemed a lot more trouble than it was worth, but today, everyone appeared to be quite happy.

Surely he’d find somebody unattached down in the village to join up with. Usually he did. He rarely went down to Hogsmeade in a group but found himself returning with one more often than not. Today he was especially keen to socialize. Henry didn’t fancy himself a jealous person, and hopefully talking to someone about something else would put him in a better mood.

He reached the main street and looked up and down it. In this weather he was aching to go someplace pleasant, and purposefulness would take his mind off things. Henry set off down the road in the direction of Honeydukes.

Terry loved Hogsmeade weekends. He enjoyed the atmosphere of the quaint little town, and almost always went to enjoy the numerous shops and various people. Usually, the Gryffindor didn't have - or need - a reason to head to the village, other than to escape homework, but today, he had ulterior motives.

It was nearing Valentines's Day, and a lot of his fellow upperclassmen had gotten in the mood; asking each other on dates, and being all romantic. Terry was one of those who did not have a date and seeing all of the couples in nearly every nook and cranny had been enough to send the boy running down the foot trodden path.

To his dismay, Terry saw that Hogsmeade, too, had been invaded by lovey-dovey pairs of teenagers. It was so muddy and slushy, the Gryffindor wondered why so many couples had come out in the muck. He had barely made it into the town limits and his boots were already coated with a thick layer of mud.

Terryn wanted to avoid what he thought would be the most crowded of places, and though he knew that Honeydukes would likely be somewhat crowded, he decided that it probably wouldn't be the most crowded. Plus he wanted some candy.

As he neared the sweet shop, he noticed another loner: a boy from his same house. Terry had seen him around the common room before, but hadn't talked to him much. Nevertheless, the boy thought that his housemate might make a good companion for his escapades. Walking up to the boy, he asked"You don't have a date either huh? I'm Terryn, or Terry whichever you prefer. Do you want to mess around a bit? I was going to get some sweets but I'm mostly trying to escape all the Valentine's madness."

The sweetshop was a merciful burst of color on the barren street. It was all kinds of crowded, obviously; anywhere worth going was on these weekends. Henry just hoped they wouldn’t sell out of Peppermint Toads by the time he could get anywhere near a counter. Toads weren’t very romantic, he figured, so probably not.

As he was trying to decide which bizarre wizard sweet must be most popular on Valentine’s Day (Ice Mice for an excuse to put your arm around your shivering date? Toothflossing Stringmints for them to eat before you kiss?) he scoped out  the groups of students that were flocked around the door. Many were in couples, of course, but there were more groups of just  friends than he’d expected. He recognized some of his housemates, but they seemed to be having a very intense conversation with a lot of hand gestures, so he thought it would be more prudent for him not to intrude. A trio of third-year Ravenclaws were looking bored. He’d never spoken to them before, but maybe they’d be his best friends after today. It was always possible.

Someone came up behind him and Henry jumped about a foot. He found himself looking up at Terryn Kuthe, and lifted his mittened hand to his face hurriedly to hide that his nose was running again. “Oh, erm, hi!” he stammered. “Yeah! That sounds good!” Henry was a little stunned. It wasn’t often that he was approached by anyone to hang out, and he cleared his throat,  determined not to get flustered and mess it up. “Yeah, I thought I’d just stock up while I’m here. And it’ll be warm. The weather’s lousy.”

Was he already talking about the weather? Oh, Merlin.

“I’m Henry, by the way,” he said. He had sometimes wondered whether he was well-known among the upper years, but if Terry had felt the need to introduce himself, obviously not. Maybe this would be something of an “in.” “Not a romantic either, hm?” Henry smiled a little. “Though I could have been meeting my girlfriend somewhere. It’s not too kind of you to just assume.” After a moment, he regretted saying that very much. “Only joking. I’m obviously single, I don’t mind.”

Desperate to put his embarrassment behind him, he inclined his head towards Honeydukes’ door. “So, shall we?”

Terry watched his housemate jump nearly out of his boots. It was almost . . . amusing. Sure, he felt bad for frightening the boy, but still it was funny. He payed close attention as the other boy stammered out a response to the bombardment of words that had attacked him earlier. He seemed flustered. "Sorry," Terry said, scuffing his shoe on the ground "for coming up on you like that. I hope I didn't catch you too much off guard. Should have probably chosen a gentler approach."

Then the boy changed the subject. To the weather. It was a dreaded subject for Terry, who couldn't really relate to those who thought the weather was always freezing. Sure, he got chilly from time to time, but he didn't get cold easily. For a while, Terry just stood awkwardly before finally saying something. "Yeah, I guess it has been lousy. I'm nearly out of sweets myself. What's your favorite? I'm rather indecisive."

Finally, the other boy introduced himself. "Henry eh? What year are you? Fourth? Third?" He felt guilty, not knowing hardly anything about the guy, and he hope he wasn't making Henry feel too bad. His housemate spoke again. “Not a romantic either hm? Though I could have been meeting my girlfriend somewhere. It’s not too kind of you to just assume. Only joking. I’m obviously single, I don’t mind."

Terry instantly felt a bit ashamed for assuming that  Henry didn't have a girlfriend. Refusing to let it show, he replied "Well, it's complicated. There is one girl, but yeah, nevermind. It was wrong of me to assume. Most everyone else came down in couples or groups and you were just . . . alone." A second later, Henry suggested they go inside the sweets shop.

Great Gatsby! Honeydukes was jam packed! Terry had imagined that it would be crowded, but this, this was far more than he had expected. He didnt really want to go into the crowde store, but he wanted to keep the company so "Yeah" he replied "we shall." And he strode to the door.