Till Forever Falls Apart

Hide Away

August 14, 1993

There weren't bars on Valentina's windows, but there might as well have been.

    The rules had been established the mere morning after they had heard the news. While Val had dragged herself to bed, waiting for sleep that did not come, Sirius and Remus spent every hour of that night devising a plan in place for her protection.

    She could hear the rises in their voices and the sudden drops in their tones when they realized they were too loud, for fear that she might hear. She didn't know why they were treating her as a fragile thing, but then again, she had never been hunted by a werewolf. All she could do was wait, and then grow to hate waiting.

    Rule Number One: She was not meant to go anywhere beyond the cobblestone path of the front yard without at least one of them with her. The only other people that were allowed to see her were the usuals, but sparingly. None of them had come yet. Val figured they couldn't be sure if they were being followed, or if they were targets since they knew her location. Her once large world filled with things and friends had dwindled to just her fathers, but she stayed quiet and didn't complain. This was just as hard on them as it was on her.

    Rule Number Two: She couldn't write letters. They could be intercepted by people who had formed alliances with Greyback, leading them to her cottage. Val found endless loopholes to this guideline in particular, only to be met with dismissive glances. Therefore, her communication had become much closer to nothing. Any letter or card she had been sent was returned to its original sender with no explanation. She loved to talk and now had hardly anyone to talk to.

    Rule Number Three: If anyone asks why she went away and wasn't answering their messages, she had a sick cousin with whom she was spending time with. It was faulty at best, but would allow people to leave her alone.

    The house was now guarded with numerous protection spells she couldn't begin to name. Every charm and defense under the sun had been used by her two fathers to divide themselves from the rest of the world, huddled together in their hiding place at the summer cottage. They did their best to make matters bearable, but the isolation was beginning to take its toll on all of them once the ninth day had come.

    She missed Anthony, who she had cried for silently one night, knowing she would miss his birthday again and he wouldn't know why. She missed Padma, who was sending her countless pictures lined with glitter glue and postcards from Belgium. The only reason her fathers had not sent back the post was that Val and Padma had developed aliases in their first year. Anastasia (Val) and Valeen (Padma) were what they called each other, so the notes carried on per usual.

Her heart ached when she read Hermione's persistent letters, telling the girl about what sorts of lessons were in their books for the school year. Even Ron occasionally sent her a few wrapped sweets with greetings from everyone in his house, but never mentioning any words George might've wanted to pass along. She hadn't really expected it anyways.

She missed Harry most of all. His presence on her bedroom floor had been a gift regrettably taken for granted, talking her ear off about things he found interesting.

Val cursed herself once more for forgetting where she had placed the mirror. If he was here now, she would listen with all her heart, wanting to hear something from a voice other than her own.

    She looked out at the pond, still and deep blue. Even the water seemed to be reflecting her feelings-nothing but bated breaths and stiff, slow movements. Val had nothing to occupy her mind and time other than rereading the same books, twirling her wand in her fingers and wondering just what would happen if she did a spell outside of school. She cleaned her room the first day, did the washing, reassorted the books on the bookshelf. She baked, swept, and washed dishes. Rapunzel had always been a favorite of hers, but her life was now starting to look like the fallen princesses, and it wasn't all it turned out to be.