Promise Me

On Rocky Ground

September 1st had arrived, to Valerie's dismay. She knew that the first day of school meant that she had to see Remus again after the whole disaster. The whole time they were in Diagon Alley, Valerie spent all of her free time writing letters back and forth to the healer. Sirius and James were beginning to worry that Valerie no longer cared about Remus. That couldn't have been farther from the truth, but Valerie had to keep up the facade for now.
James, Sirius, and Valerie left the Leaky Cauldron at around 9:30 in the morning because they wanted to get a good compartment this year. Valerie also had to be there early as she had been selected to be Prefect this year. Some seventh-year prefects from the year before had left, and McGonagall had chosen two to stand-in. Valerie didn't know why she had been chosen, as usually fifth-year students were picked. She also had no idea that Remus had been selected to be a Prefect, too. James, Sirius, and Valerie arrived at King's Cross and found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Valerie waited for a little while, slightly hopeful that she would get to see Remus before she left for her Prefect duties. Finally, she headed to the front of the train. As soon as she stepped into the Prefect's compartment, she recoiled as if she had been slapped. There, sitting on a seat was Remus. Worse yet, he was flirting with some fifth-year Ravenclaw. He jumped when he saw Valerie walk through the door.
"Oh, uh, hey Val," he said looking a little embarrassed.
"Yeah, okay," she said and went to sit on the other side of the car. After the Prefect meeting, Valerie quickly slipped out of the door and hurried down the hall before Remus could catch up to her. She practically ran into the Marauder's compartment, "Remus... Prefect... flirting... Ravenclaw," she gasped between breaths. She noticed Lily and Marlene sitting there, "Oh, hey guys," she breathed.
The door opened and Remus slipped in, and slammed the door on what appeared to be a fuming Snape. "Guys, don't be alarmed, but there's a slimy git trying to get into our compartment." He joked.
They all laughed, except Lily. "Let him in you guys," she snapped. A red-faced Snape finally yanked the door open.
"How you are friends with these bastards, I may never know," he growled, narrowing his eyes at the Marauders. Sirius made a move to get up and hit him, but Valerie pulled him back down.
"Just use the image of fifth-year me kicking his ass and breaking his nose for now," she said in an attempt to calm Sirius.
"Ah, wasn't that a great day, Snivelly?" Sirius asked, folding his arms behind his head.
"Come on, Sev, let's go," Lily grabbed him by his arm and led him out, glaring at the Marauders.
The Marauders chatted for a while with Marlene, but everyone could sense the tension between Remus and Valerie. Suddenly there was a tap on the window. Flying next to the train was an unfamiliar owl. Valerie seemed to recognize it, however, and quickly let it inside. It landed softly on her shoulder and offered the letter tied to its leg. Val gave the owl a treat and sat down to read.
"Hey, what are you reading?" Remus asked gently.
"A letter," She finished reading and grabbed a quill and some parchment out of her bag. She began scribbling a response. Remus came to sit next to her, but she shied away slightly. When he took a peek at what she was writing, he had to do a double-take.
"French?? You know French???"
"Oui, maintenant laisse moi tranquille." Remus looked at her in astonishment.
"Yeah it was a bit of a shock to us too," Sirius said pointedly. "Now Val, you want to tell him who you keep writing these mysterious French letters to, or do I have to." he gave her a look.
"He's just a healer from St. Mungo's." She sounded bored.
"Who you asked to Hogsmeade!" James yelped.
Remus looked taken aback. "Yeah okay there's that too, I guess," she said sheepishly.
"Did he agree to go?" Remus asked, looking a little hurt
"Um... yes. And you better wipe that kicked puppy look out of your eyes. You were the one who was flirting with the Ravenclaw Prefect earlier," Valerie snapped. Remus shut up quick. The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was spent in silence, interspersed with the faint scratching of Val's quill.

The first few weeks passed and neither Remus nor Val said anything to each other that wasn't absolutely necessary. Sirius and James were getting more and more worried that this could be the end of the Marauders as they knew it. One night they were all sitting by the common room fire. Valerie was reading while the boys talked.
"Quidditch tryouts are this Friday. We need a decent chaser, we're down one with Colin gone." James was telling Sirius.
"I should try out," Valerie mused.
"Yeah right," Sirius said and laughed.
"Oh, I could play quidditch,"
"I don't think you could even tell the balls apart, much less fly. Yeah, there's no way you could play Quidditch." At that Sirius caught a fiery glare from Valerie. "Hey, what's the look for?"
"I'm hoping you'll spontaneously burst into flames," she went back to her reading, and James and Remus snickered.