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

𝟑𝟗. Accents

"...seven pea...eight pea...nine pea...ten pea..." Leah counted as she took a pea from the large bowl one by one, sitting them down on the table. 

"Those are for people to eat, you know." Blaze watched her, a defeated expression on his face- despite not actually putting in any effort to try and stop her.

"Shush!" She hissed at him. "You'll make me lose count...Now, where was I...Eleven...twelve...thirteen..."

"I really don't know why you bother." Draco shook his head at Blaze. 

"Me neither. I really should be kinder to myself."

"Well, someone's got to be nice to you, I suppose. Pass the salt."

Blaze slapped a hand over his heart.

"You're so cruel, Draco." 

"And you've got gravy on your shirt."

"Huh?" Blaze looked down at himself to find that he'd had gravy on his fingers and in the process of putting is his hand to his chest, he'd left a large brown stain over his heart. "No! Damn it all...This was my good shirt too. Val, what's that bloody cleaning spell again?"

"Scourgify." Valentine replied, not looking up from her book.

"Thanks." Blaze grunted as he pulled out his wand. 

The sounds of the Great Hall at lunch echoed around them. Earlier in the year, Valentine had to pretended not to compare it to how loud things used to get. With so many students gone, the volume difference was stark. Now, she was so used to it that having things the way they had once been would probably send her deaf. 

The missing students were more than just Muggle Born's and those on the run since the school year had started. In the last month, others had followed the suit of Lavender Brown and Padma and Parvati Patil. Cho Chang, Ernie Macmillan, Susan Bones and Michael Corner we're all amongst those that had fled to what Valentine was certain was the Room of Requirements. Rabastan hadn't, in her own opinion, gotten any worse than he had during his first two classes but the members of Dumbledore's Army had always been his targets. They could hardly breath without him knowing of it and Valentine was far from surprised that it had started to suffocate them. 

Astoria's group, as they had planned, were always watching and if Valentine wasn't already aware of them, she would have been unlikely to notice them doing so herself. Valentine had watched from an upper walk way over one of the inner courtyards only yesterday as Millicent came to Susan Bones- the latest to run- rescue. 

Cho, Ernie and Michael had all gone over a week before hand leaving Susan as one of the last fringe members standing. Rabastan had cornered her with nothing but harassment about how she would never survive without the others. Valentine would have stepped in herself if Millicent hadn't oh-so casually walked into the scene and lied through her teeth, telling Rabastan that Valentine herself was looking for him. She couldn't pretend to be a fan of this particular method but it did the trick. Rabastan left promptly and after half fainting in the courtyard, Susan took off as well and hadn't been seen since.

When Rabastan did manage to track Valentine down several hours later, she- not wanting to throw Millicent under the proverbial bus- also lied through her teeth and asked him to pop over to Malfoy Manor and grab a specific book for her. 

He never did look for the students and both Valentine and Snape took this as a sign that he was purposely trying to remove Dumbledore's Army from the general student population. Without them standing in the way, the students who couldn't fight for themselves would have no choice but to submit. It was a long game but Rabastan seemed to enjoy every minute of it. And fuck, did it only make Valentine hate him even more.