Till Forever Falls Apart

Chapter Five: The Halloween Hex Battle At Hogwarts

October 17, 1991

    Val had settled comfortably into all of her new classes at Hogwarts. She donned Astronomy and Charms to be her favorites, discovering that she had happened to be quite good at both. Perhaps because half of her family was named after the stars, or because she had spent all of her time outside in the fields at night behind her two different homes they lived in depending on the season: fall, winter, and spring were meant for their home in Godric's Hollow, and their summers almost always spent in the comfortable, fantasy-like cottage.

    Although Snape could not be bothered to have any sort of positive feeling toward herself and Harry and continued to make jabs at them about their parents (never Lily, which Val had noticed, but Harry had denied her claims), he was less upfront and more backhanded with the insults, and often Val tried to make sense of his hatred with no such luck from her dads.

    Val had written to her fathers after her first Potions class, asking what they had done to make Snape so resentful to two children. Much to her surprise, Remus had been the one to respond.

    Your father has been with James, devising ways to get him back even though we are miles away, he wrote. If I could, I would march over there myself and give him a good lesson...

    Val wrote back as soon as she had received the correspondence and begged them not to do anything, saying she would handle the matter on her own, the way she had been raised to do so. She then changed the topic to her Charms lessons, telling them how highly Flitwick thought of her and how he told Val to say hello to Sirius and Remus for him.

    Harry had kept his promise, and did not tell their family that Val was in Ravenclaw, which she was absolutely loving, although she was not ready to admit it to anyone yet, especially Harry, who was still planning ways to sneak her into the house without anyone noticing.

    Val and Harry told each other the passwords to their respective common rooms, although Val had to be more continuous with her updates, since the Ravenclaws changed it every month, not wanting to hear the same riddle for ten months straight. They could typically be found together near the Ravenclaw bookshelf, idly doing their homework, or next to the fireplace in the cozy Gryffindor room, always up to a game of Exploding Snap or sharing a chocolate frog with Ron.

    Padma, Anthony, and Val had also grown closer over the last month, the three huddling together at the end of the Ravenclaw dining table, enjoying their meals and passionately discussing what had happened over the course of their day. Val realized she hardly ever spent a moment alone, but she was overjoyed. Being alone was her greatest fear, and she was glad she would never have to worry about it, as she was surrounded by people she had grown to love.

    That is, except Draco and Pansy.

    A rivalry had been brewing between the two girls ever since Pansy had told their professor that Val was the one making the mistakes instead of her. They often snipped at each other back and forth, making various threats and other rude comments as they worked, but their potions always came out well in the end, shockingly. Val was satisfied with the marks she was receiving, knowing Pansy was probably getting O's and E's just for being one of Snape's favorites.

    Val had been out in the courtyard one day with Harry, Hermione, and Ron while the Gryffindor girl was showing them how to turn a book into a flower, which had been one of their assignments for the day. Val had almost managed it successfully, except that the petals were not flowers, but book pages. Harry had gotten it after an hour of talking while he worked, and Ron was getting closer to managing the transformation, the book fluttering for a few moments, and a stem forming at the spine, deciding he would finish practicing later.