Till Forever Falls Apart

*ACTUAL Chapter Thirty-One: Quidditch and Quarrels

Clearly, I have not gotten any better at numbers and still can't title my chapters properly loves! Enjoy this chapter and I hope you all have a great day:)

November 11, 1992

"Let me get this straight," Val sighed, rubbing her eyes.

    "You think my cousin... is the heir of Slytherin?"

    "Who else would want Muggle-borns gone that badly?" Ron whispered, hiding behind a book that was clear to anyone in sight was meant to cower behind rather than read.

    "You heard what Professor Binns said in class, Val," Harry tried to reason. "The whole thing about dark magic? Who does that sound like to you?"

    "I don't like Draco as much as the next person, no matter how popular he thinks he is," Val frowned at the thought of the Slytherin boy. "But he wouldn't wipe out an entire group of people. He's not that evil."

    "But we wouldn't necessarily put it past his father, now would we?" Ron folded his arms. "Every single last one of his family members has been Slytherin."

    "That doesn't mean they're all bad though," Val pointed out. "And Lucius Malfoy? He's got about as much action in his blood as Neville's toad. He's all talk."

    "Well, that's why we're going to carry out the Polyjuice plan," Hermione added from her corner of the small table. "Perhaps Malfoy does know something."

    Val tilted back her chair, twiddling her quill between her fingers as she contemplated the information given. Her cousin was not her favorite person in the world by any means, but even he had limits to his bullying.

    But if it wasn't him, or the possibility of his father, then who? Or what?

    "If you need me to keep Pansy and the others away, I will," said Val solidly. "It won't be fun, and I might as well throw any of my self-esteem out the window, but I'll do it if it gets you the information you need."

    "Well then it's settled," Ron intertwined his fingers and placed them over his chest like a businessman. "Once the potion is done, we'll get Malfoy alone and find out what we can."

    "Enough conniving for one day," Val pushed herself out of the chair and threw her robe over her shoulder.

    "We have a quidditch match to attend."

    The sweaters Lily had made were perfect for the weather at hand. Although the sun was partially peeking through the dark clouds, the sun was to provide little warmth in the piercing cold climate, and Val was happy as she skipped out to the field. She put on her coat, thrilled that she would not be shivering as the harsh wind nipped at her cheeks.

    "Padma went with Parvati," Anthony said as he walked alongside Val. Ron and Hermione had gone alone to sit in the crowd of students, but told their friend to greet the family for them. Anthony decided that he would rather sit with his friend than the others in their year, following Val to the spot she suspected her family had reserved for the match.

    This year, the adults had been determined to arrive slightly earlier than the previous one, as James had told them all at the crack of dawn to get ready, hauling the rest to the field as soon as they were ready to sit people in their reserved seats.

    Mary gave a tired yawn, half-awake as she spotted Val. "There you are!"

    The girl hugged her aunt, then greeted each with a kiss on the cheek as she made her way down the row. She noticed that almost all of them were half-awake, except for Remus and James, enjoying themselves at the end together.