Till Forever Falls Apart

Chapter One: The Long-Awaited Travel

*This chapter is a long one! I got carried away:)

September 1, 1991

Valentina Lupin-Black (or "Val", as she liked to be called) arguably had the best childhood a young witch or wizard could ask for. Surrounded by the subject, she had grown up in a home where not only was magic abundant but the infinite love she had received as well. She looked over to where her photos stood, the motion of heads tilting back in laughter and bright smiles covered her walls. Her favorite one was the rare photo where all of them had been present: her fathers, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, her uncle, James Potter, and his wife and her aunt, Lily Potter. Standing next to them, a woman with pale blonde hair nuzzled her cheek against Val's. She had been a woman Val had admired as long as she had known her, Marlene McKinnon. On the other side of the photo were her two other aunts, Dorcas and Mary. Val examined Mary closely, noticing how her curls bounced as she laughed. She consciously touched her own wavy hair that resembled Sirius' wild locks in every way possible.

And standing right next to her, a green-eyed boy with round glasses shoved her playfully. He was Harry Potter, her best friend since the day she was born.

She smiled thoughtfully at the photo, taking it from its place on her wall and carefully depositing it into her trunk, where her other belongings were already neatly folded with just enough space left for the miscellaneous items Val had decided she found too close to her heart to be apart from for ten months. She grabbed the chocolate-colored leather notebook by her bedside, and the wand she had bought from Diagon Alley only a few weeks ago: alder wood with a phoenix feather core, 10 ¾ inches long, and slightly springy in flexibility. Depositing the wand in her back jeans pocket, and the notebook on top of her clothes, she closed her trunk and locked it shut, trying with all her might to carry the heavy load.

"One day, you're going to realize that there are spells for this sort of thing," Sirius tutted. With a stubborn puff, she let go of the trunk and watched as her father raised his wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" He said with a dramatic flourish. The trunk rocked back and forth for a moment, floating upwards as she followed her father down the stairs.

"If I could perform the spell, I would," Val said as she watched her father lazily hold his wand as they made it to the last step, and the trunk fell with a gentle thud against the hardwood floor. Val had been incredibly tempted this past week to practice spells she had seen her fathers do a million times, although she did not have any experience herself. She watched with a sort of envy as her other father, Remus, appeared, and a piece of parchment tailed behind him, the quill scratching against the parchment loudly as it checked off things on the list.

"You'll be learning soon enough dear," Sirius said soothingly as he walked into another room, the scent of his rich cologne lingering as he left.

"Are you sure you won't be needing these?" Remus gestured to the pile of books she had been wanting to read over the summer. Val remembered with a disappointed churn in her stomach that the book at the very top of the pile had seemed awfully tempting, but as she looked over to her locked trunk, she shook her head sadly.

"I won't have room, Dad. I'll read them when I come back for the holidays."

As she said this, the quill made another quick scratch on the piece of paper, checking the box she assumed had been for the stack of books she hated to leave behind.

"I suppose you're right," Remus said, taking the books himself and putting them back in their respective places on the large bookshelf. "You'll be reading so much of your own school textbooks you might not get the chance to properly enjoy these."

"Where did I put it?" Sirius growled in the other room. Remus and Val exchanged a concerned look, deciding it was best to stay where they were instead of disrupting the man's fit.