NO MORE A PRETENDER~ {The Lestrange Daughter #3}

𝟏𝟕. Romance

It was Valentine, Benjamin, Draco, Leah, Blaze, Liam, Anna and Chloe, all down by the rocky shore of the Black Lake, set up on a large blanket with food.

Valentine wasn't entirely sure how Benjamin managed to get all the food but there was certainly the decent amount of it. She also wasn't entirely sure how he had convinced everyone to attend his little picnic by the lake but with Valentine herself there, the teachers did very little to get in the way. 

She thought this was fairly ridiculous and rather surreal considering what was happening elsewhere. Voldemort was in power, suffering was spreading throughout the community like a disease and here they were, sitting on a remarkably large purple blanket, eating apple slices and jam sandwiches. And despite how bizarre this was, Valentine hadn't seen her friends smile this much a quite a while.

Leah and Blaze were naturally enjoying themselves, being equally as ridiculous as Benjamin and his plan. Liam seemed just as eager to be a witness to this and even Draco couldn't find much to complain about. This had somehow been a good idea. But it was Anna and Chloe that had been something of a wild card to Valentine.

She knew they got along with Benjamin very well, of course. But since the beginning of the term, there had been a definite split between them and the group. Chances were, although they could excuse them for being bullies, they couldn't ignore the larger picture. They were Death Eaters. They were active participants in the disease-like panic that Voldemort was spreading. They couldn't just pretend that away.

Valentine had picked up that Chloe was either more willing to look past the current state of things or perhaps she just didn't want to suddenly cut herself off from the group and make it obvious why. That could have made her and Anna target. Whatever the reason, Valentine wouldn't ever hold it against her. 

Anna was a little easier to read in that she clearly hadn't wanted a thing to do with them upon their arrival at school. She had always been the more critical of the couple. Yet still, here she was. And she didn't even seem overly uncomfortable excepting some awkwardness when they first arrived but Leah had been so excited to see them that it didn't last long.

It was a strange little world Benjamin had managed to create down here by the lake, but Valentine was willing to let them have it. She sat with Draco at her side. The blanket was laid out at the base of a large tree and they sat with their backs against the trunk. Most of the food had already been eaten although the others would scramble back to grab something every now and then. 

They were down by the water, watching Chloe showcase an impeccable rock skipping skill that wowed Leah and Benjamin just a little too much to be reasonable. 

Draco shook his head as the two cheered, throwing their arms up in the air when Chloe managed to skip one rock seven times.  

"What children." He scoffed, although his words lacked any real bite. 

"Next year we'll be eighteen." Said Valentine, turning the page of the book in her lap, an advanced Transfiguration textbook. "It's better they get all this stupid out of their system before they become legal adults."

Down by the water Blaze tried his hand at skipping a rock and when it simply sank without a single hit, Leah burst into uncontrollable laughter. She clutched at her sides so hard her face turned bright red and Blaze, irritated by his own humiliation, cupped a handful of water from the lake and flung it at. She screamed and took off running higher onto the bank but Blaze just followed, shouting and swearing that he was going to drown her with his bare hands. 

"Hmm." Draco hummed. "Something tells me that becoming legal adults isn't going to change a thing about those two."

Valentine frowned, glancing up at the couple.