Till Forever Falls Apart

Happy to Be Home

December 20, 1992

Before Val left that early morning for the train back home, she stopped by the infirmary to check on Hermione and give her the Christmas present she had bought for her.

Cracking open the door, she saw that few of the beds were occupied, and those that were had been petrified in the attacks on the school. The curtains were drawn tightly around the bed frames, making it difficult for the girl to spot her friend.

"Hermione?" Val raised her voice.

A curtain rustled for a moment.

"I'm over here," she said meekly.

Val followed the voice to the bed closest to Madam Pomfrey's office, drawing back the curtains and shutting them once she was inside the small space. Hermione's fur-covered face was tucked under the covers, not moving an inch.

"Hi, Valentina," she said sullenly.

Val smiled softly and pried the covers away from her friend's hands. Her eyes were still yellow, her ears still pointed, but the fur had stopped growing, and the whiskers were beginning to diminish in size.

"Merry early Christmas," Val held out the present to her. Hermione gave her her first smile of the morning, taking the present and putting it on the stand Pomfrey had given her.

"I'll open it on Christmas Day," Hermione assured her. "It will be rather quiet though, with you and Harry gone."

"I'm sure Fred and George wouldn't mind making some noise if you need it," Val joked.

"No, I suppose not," Hermione scrunched her nose. "But thank you for the gift. I wish I could come with you and see your family."

"I'll tell them you said hello," Val promised. Hermione nodded, prodding her to get ready for the train.

Many of the Hogwarts students had already carried their bags and presents for their parents down the front steps, but with the stop Val had just made, she was one of the last to descend the stairs with an armful of books she wanted to return to the library before she left.

"Hiya, LB," someone sang from behind her.

Carefully turning around so as not to fall, she pushed one of the books in the stack farther in as George came towards her. "Hello, George," she grinned widely, her spirits rising (and stomach flipping, though she would never admit to it) at the sight of him.

"Want me to carry those? I saw you trying to keep them from falling while I was over there with Lee," he pointed to the hall he had just come from. "So, need a hand?"

"Oh, I think I'm fine, really," Val managed to say, her face growing hotter.

She stumbled on the step she was standing on, swaying before George instinctively reached out to steady her.

"These stairs, I'm telling you," he let go of her arm once she was standing straight. "At least let me take a few."

"Thank you," she mumbled, taking the top three books and putting them in his arms while she kept the other three for herself. "For catching me... and helping with the books."

George flashed her a kind smile. "Anytime for the biggest Gryffindor supporter."

For someone who was practically a foot taller than her, he walked awfully slowly, biding his time with witty conversation as he accompanied her to the library. It was all static to Val's ears, who was trying so hard not to make a fool out of herself again she was only half-listening to what the boy had to say.

"-That's what Fred told me anyway," George finished, stacking his books on top of the pile of returns from other students not wanting to get told off by Madam Pince when they came back from Christmas break. The mound of novels was quite high, just barely out of Val's reach as she pushed herself up, hoping the tower of texts would not fall on her.