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

𝟑𝟕. Gramophone

TRIGGER WARNING; Contains themes of torture and suicidal thoughts. Not terribly graphic, but please take care if you are sensitive to such things.

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The day after the second tournament, the troll fiasco and Carrow's hasty retreat, Snape got word that Alecto had arrived at Malfoy Manor not long after he and Valentine had left. On all accounts, she had not excepted to leave the building alive and yet she did exactly that on the promise that she would give up her brother in a show of full cooperation to Voldemort. 

However, when she took Bellatrix and Rodolphus to where she had left him, he was gone. That had apparently not been the plan, although Amycus seemingly hadn't been able to follow any as of late. This led Alecto to join the team the two Lestrange's put together in hopes of hunting him down.  

Valentine could picture the conflict on Alecto's face as she debated her options. She was lucky Voldemort had not killed her already, but to give up her brother was sure to be done with great reluctance to her. In the end, Valentine believed that she would choose herself. She didn't even blame her for it. Amycus wasn't worth anyone's life as far as she was concerned. 

They had a quiet day at Hogwarts following all that had happened. Valentine's friends clung near to her every moment they could as if she would suddenly collapse from some forgotten injury. Draco she was used to, but with the addition of Meriton, Benjamin, Anna and Chloe, she could breathe. She'd had to issue particularly violent threats to simply have the time alone to send a Patronus down into the forest to check for any mail from Decker and the others. Today it yielded nothing as it had for the several before that. She tried to remind herself that if Harry had survived this long, the chances that he was still alive were on his side. 

The day following the quietness was not as such. This was the day the new Professor's arrived. It was a Sunday and Valentine and the others- Draco, Leah, Blaze, Liam and Meriton- we're getting up from the Slytherin table and making their way out of the Great Hall after lunch.

"So, then I said to Blazie that the cloud couldn't have looked like a caterpillar because you could clearly see the legs, buuuuut a caterpillars are way too small to see that clearly, not like a centipede- which is what I thought it was. Their legs are longer so it makes way more sense."

Meriton frowned lightly at Leah.

"And you...discussed this...for two hours?"

"Two hours that I'll never get back." Blaze sighed miserably, grabbing hold of Draco's shoulder dramatically.

"She's your girlfriend." Draco shook him off. 

"I know." Blaze sighed again. "And I love her. But sometimes I think that if she mysteriously disappeared, I would pretend not to notice, at least for a little while." 

"How romantic..." Liam snorted.

"Awe, Blazie!" Leah leapt at her boyfriend, almost knocking him off his feet. "You said you looooove meeeee."

"Unfortunately." He grabbed Draco again to keep himself standing.

"Get off, would you." Draco moved around to the other side of Valentine to be free of them.

"Blazie loves me, Blazie loves me!" Leah chanted as she skipped through the doors of the Great Hall. 

She then paused so abruptly it was as if she had frozen on the spot.

"Huh?" Blaze blinked. "Leah's, what up? You look like a dog that's spotted a squirrel."

"Father!" She slapped her hands to her cheeks in surprise and took off running out into the courtyard.