Depths of Despair ✶ Theodore Nott

thirty seven. confrontation of the past

The problem with the past, is that it's you can never outrun. Memories are memories, but easily may them become reality once more — disrupting tranquility, and leaving only fear behind.

A few seconds are all it takes;

One.

Two.

Three.

And so you're exposed to danger like never before, outsmarted and left vulnerable as we never predict what we wish to forever leave behind. "I'll be right back," she told Kieran when he tried to prevent her attempt to leave. "I'll meet you in the common room," she then reassured Theodore, and so she had broken herself loose from the restraints of their concern. Well, not wholly, but enough to slip past them, to escape.

Her steps felt heavy, and although the entirety of Hogwarts was heading back toward the castle as the second task had been wrapped up and finished, no one noticed her stray from the common path. Not even James Potter, who walked further ahead alongside Harry and Lily. He had held a brief conversation with Valerie only minutes before, however she had been distracted and he had been needed by Harry's side as he had just spent an hour in the Black lake.

Valerie was glad he remained oblivious as to what — or rather who — she was searching for, her legilimency wide ranged in order do track down the presence still shooting sharp pain through her head at every ounce of activity.

"Valerie," spoke a voice from behind her: breaking the fragile silence previously keeping her fear under control into pieces. Valerie exhaled a trembling breath, the oxygen doing the opposite of providing her with relief as her lungs burned, her heart pounding.

Slowly she turned toward the source of the voice: familiar blonde hair, familiar blue eyes, a familiar look of intimidation coming into sight. Right there and then, Valerie believed she might collapse. Knees wobbling under her weight, she dared meet the cold gaze of the woman she feared the very most — Olenna Leclere appearing unbothered by their reunion as she stood silent before her daughter only to provoke.

Valerie hesitated: brain malfunctioning as she barely managed to force even the simplest of words past her lips. A child prodigy, raised into confidence and grace, torn apart — shattered — by the mere presence of her own mother. "What are you doing here?" She eventually hissed, eyes narrowed, left hand gripping tightly onto her wand.

The woman before her smirked. Valerie had not seen her in four years, yet everything was the same. The fear, the uncertainty, the coldness. Everything.

"That is no way to speak to your mother." Hostility laced all across Olenna's tone, Valerie grimaced with despise.

Something appeared to have snapped within her, all limits of what to say or do blurring. Perhaps was it due to anger, perhaps due to lacking judgement — either way, the fourteen-year-old rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You are not my mother."

Unable to foresee it or back away, Valerie flinched merely a second later: her cheek stinging with pain. Her mother never hesitated in striking at any evidence of bad manners, and not even four years of distance appeared to have changed that. "I advise you to mind your words," spat the platinum blonde woman: blue eyes expecting Valerie to stand down and give up her bad mannerisms.

Life is a game of decision making, and sometimes it is better to choose your battles wisely. Knowing there was no use in further defiance, Valerie blinked and gave the pain some time to settle before changing the subject. "How are you here?"

Her mother tilted her head to the side. "With the tournament and your foreign guests, it truly was no hardship. I blended in with all the unfamiliar faces rather easily."