Promise Me

Grief

It had been a full week since Valerie had left her bed. James and Sirius had only just gotten themselves out of bed three days ago. They were still in a fog, and probably would be for a long time. Valerie, however, still hadn't eaten anything since that piece of toast the morning of their Quidditch match, so Sirius and Remus were taking turns sitting with her. James wouldn't speak to either Sirius or Valerie, and no one had quite figured out why.

About a week and a half after the funeral, exam week was upon them. McGonagall had exempted all the Potter children and Remus from the exams. She said they could take them later that summer, no problem. That morning, though, Remus walked into Valerie's room to find it empty. He started. Her bed hadn't been empty since the news of the deaths. He tore down the stairs, and when he couldn't find her in the common room, he sprinted down towards the Great Hall.
"Stop right there Mister Lupin. You can't go in there while exams are being administered." Professor McGonagall stopped him before he could fling open the doors.
"You don't understand..." He was gasping for air, "Valerie... Can't find her..." he wheezed.
"She found me this morning. She said she wanted to take the exams today instead of waiting, so I let her." Seeing that Remus was about to protest, she held up her hand. "I am aware that she is not functioning on her full mental capabilities at the moment. I fully intend to let her retake any of her exams when the rest of you take yours. I figured it would do more harm than good to refuse her request."
"Thank you, Professor." Remus looked at her gratefully.
"Certainly. Now she will be done with this exam at 12:30, and I expect you back down here to collect her when she is finished."
"Of course, Professor!"

Just as he had promised McGonagall, Remus was waiting for Valerie at 12:30, and he walked her back upstairs. When they got to the common room, though, it was like walking into a nightmare. James was standing in the middle of the room shouting at an ashen-faced Sirius.
"...Took you in and fed you and put a roof over your head, but nothing more than that!" James roared. He whipped around when he saw them walk in. "And you!" he advanced menacingly towards Valerie who had also gone pale. "You weren't their real daughter. You weren't their child by blood. You had no connection to them, yet here you are moping around like you actually lost something out of your life." James was still advancing towards Valerie, and Remus stepped between them.
"James that's enough. Your parents loved Valerie and Sirius as much as they loved you, and you know that." Remus tried but James acted like he hadn't heard him.
"Valerie you must be a curse on parents or something. You've had three sets and they've all died. Doesn't that tell you something right there? You're good at magic. Maybe you killed them hoping to get some of their money!"
"JAMES POTTER," roared a voice from behind. Professor McGonagall had entered just in time to hear the last part of his rampage. It was too late, however, to spare Valerie. She crumpled in on herself before their eyes. Tears began to spill down her cheeks as she sunk to her knees on the floor. Her body heaved with giant, silent sobs. Whatever last thread had been holding her together, snapped. McGonagall recognized it too and quickly levitated her.
"Mister Lupin, if you please would walk Mr. Potter here up to Professor Dumbledore's office, I will take Miss Potter to the hospital wing." With that, she turned and walked briskly out of the room. Whatever fight had been in James had left and he walked placidly next to Remus out of the common room. Remus was furious. Valerie had seemed to be having her first good day in a while. She had finally left her bed and even made it through an entire exam. Remus wouldn't even acknowledge James when he mumbled his apology. He knew that James was grieving, too, but to take it out on Sirius and Valerie as he had was awful. When they finally made it to Dumbledore's office, the door was waiting open for them. Remus dropped James off as quickly as he could and then took off for the hospital wing. He met Professor McGonagall at the entrance to the ward.
"Madam Pomfrey just gave her a calming draught and a sleeping draught. She will be asleep for a while, you can be sure. Why don't you bring Sirius down and sit with her for a bit?" She suggested gently, and Remus nodded. He went back to the common room and found Sirius in the boy's dorm. When he walked in, he could see Sirius's back heaving with sobs.
"James didn't mean what he said today, Sirius."
"I know that. But they adopted me. They adopted Valerie. They loved us like parents should love their children. They loved us like they loved James, their own blood son. I know they did. And I think about them every day. I think about how disappointed they would be by what James said. I also think about how disappointed they would be in me if I hated him for it, but God, Remus, I'd be a damned liar if I said I didn't hate him for it. And I hate him even more for the things he said to Val." the tears flowed freely down his face.
"Mate, it's okay to be mad at him about what he said. He's grieving in his own way. He doesn't know grief in the way that you and Val do. He doesn't know how to cope with a loss like this." Sirius nodded and sniffled. He had stopped crying and he looked up at Sirius.
"How is she?"
"Pomfrey had to give her a calming and a sleeping draught. I'd say she's in pretty rough shape."
"I've never seen her break like that before. It was painful to watch," Sirius dried the last of his tears. "Should we go sit with her for a bit?"
"Yeah, if you want to. I was going to."