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

𝟐𝟏. Unofficial

Somedays knowing that Harry was likely far away and somewhere that she couldn't reach him didn't bother Valentine all that much anymore. She had grown used to it by now and had other distractions and things to ponder. And then some days it was all she could even think about.

Where was he? Was he safe? Were Ron and Hermione still with him? Had they found or managed to kill any of the Horcruxes without the Sword of Godric Gryffindor? How long would it be until she would even get to know if he was still alive? Somedays she felt like she had already failed. It only made it worse knowing that it might be true. She couldn't confirm Harry's wellbeing and that was bad enough. 

On those days she often considered ways to leave the school and search for Harry herself without anyone stopping her- even Snape. But it would affect more than just herself. Draco, Narcissa most of all and that was only concerning Voldemort. If she was just to suddenly up and leave, perhaps even presumed traitor, what kind of hit would her friends take from that? Could they still get through this without her here? She supposed it didn't matter because regardless of what she pondered, she wasn't going anywhere until Harry was sighted and as every day that passed put her no closer to him, the black pit in her stomach grew deeper.

She tried to ignore it while sitting in Muggle Studies class. Alecto was late for who knew what reason. It happened at least once a week and no one complained. It was likely Alecto just wasn't as excited about playing Professor as her brother. 

It was snowing outside, she noticed through an open curtain, frost sticking to the window pane. It had started this morning and was a sure sign of winter and Christmas's approach. It made her wonder if Harry, Ron and Hermione were somewhere safe. She hoped they were. Or else this season was going to prove miserable for them. Not that she could boast a more merry situation herself. 

"Did it get colder earlier this year?" Liam asked aloud, rubbing his hands together.

"I was thinking the same actually." Meriton replied.

The two were sitting in the seats to the left of Valentine and Draco. Meriton had even had breakfast with them that morning, although Anna and Chloe had been there too. Even Benjamin had made a quick appearance so it didn't seem too out of place for it to be more than just the usual group of five.

Every time Valentine looked at Liam and Meriton them she couldn't keep the scowl off her face as that cursed image popped up into her head. Liam had said maybe two words to her since and Meriton hadn't dared meet her eye. 

Blaze wasn't as tactful. He tried too hard to act as though everything was normal and just ended up making an ass of himself. Leah was the only one of them behaving as she usually did, well, how she had been lately anyway. She didn't seem to find the situation as utterly mortifying as the boys did. 

I should be the one feeling awkward here and I am. How the hell did I manage to walk in on both pairs of them on separate occasions? Don't they realise that there is a fucking war going on? There are other ways to keep warm, damn it!

And since Anna and Chloe had each other and Benjamin had his fascinating 'friendship' with Emberly Osborne, Draco seemed to be the only one not getting wrapped up in some romantic and/or explicit affair. He just sat there in his chair, brooding. He was a bit better than he had been when they first returned to school but classes always put him in a mood. Though this class, in particular, had no one jumping for joy.

Alecto wasn't as irritatingly gleeful as Amycus but she was just as cruel. By now she had figured out who was the most riled up by discrimination against Muggle Born's- often students who were very close friends with one- and choose them to read the propaganda out loud to the class. And for the most part, Dumbledore's Army just bore it like any of the other students. Valentine supposed that they were learning to pick their battles and that Amycus having them torture each other was much worse than reading a bunch of lies that no one believed anyway.