Hi there. (ducks under conveniently placed table as crowd throws tomatoes.) Hey! No! Don't do that! (peers over table) I'm sorry I didn't update sooner! I got sucked into YouTube and buzzfeed, and I only just escaped their clutches! (ducks as someone throws cow) (peers back over table) Hey! NO LIVE ANIMALS SHOULD BE THROWN EVER, EVEN AT PROCRASTINATORS! (egg hits forehead) Sigh. You guys are so mean to me! Here's your dumb chapter. (Stalks away to mutter evilly about mass egging plans.)

Chapter 9

Valkyrie's POV

Looking around, I realized that I didn't recognize the room I was in. It looked like a girl's room, with its light purple walls, and soft white carpet that covered the majority of the floor. The bed had dark blue sheets, and sat across from a huge wardrobe. Quietly padding over to it, I pulled the door of the wardrobe open to reveal a huge assortment of tight, and dark clothes. I briefly noticed the full-length mirror covering the door I had pulled open, as I shifted through the clothes curiously.

"It's rube to look through other peoples things you know." A familiar voice said from behind me. I started, before turning around slowly to meet my accuser, only to freeze in shock at the figure sitting on the previously empty bed.

"How…you…you look like- me?" I stuttered in utter confusion.

"Well technically you look like me." The girl, who looked like me, but didn't at the same time said. She was right of course; we looked like we could have been twins. There were differences though. Her features were sharper, my eyes were dark gray, while hers were chocolate brown, and her hair, while it was as black as mine, fell straight down her back, unlike my bouncy curls.

"Why?" I questioned.

"Why what?"

"Why do we look so alike?"

She sighed deeply and stood slowly. "I am you."

I blinked. "…what."

"I suppose I should explain this better. I'm the original you. I was born and raised in Ireland, where I later met my partner in crime, Skulduggery Pleasant. I took on the name Valkyrie Cain and after that we worked together for years, saving the world time and time again. Then when I was eighteen a war broke out. Skulduggery and me were primary targets because of what we'd done over the years, but we still fought. Until my friend slash ex-boyfriend was kidnapped by some really nasty witches."

Seeing me start to get offended, she was quick to correct herself. "No, no, not witches like you and your mother. They control magic differently. Anyway, we managed to find them, but Skulduggery was taken. I, being the idiot I am, decided to rush in to save them, which got me sent back here to be reborn as you."

By that point I was thoroughly freaked out. "Why the hell are you telling me this?"

"Because you will start to remember the memories from my life within the next year, until you catch up with our time line. Something just has to trigger it. You being here… it changes things. This time line cannot be changed that much without tearing a hole in time and destroying everything. That is why you won't remember this conversation until you start to remember my life. Even then you won't remember certain parts." She said, smiling sadly at me.

"What am I supposed to do until then?"

"Live your life to the fullest."

Voices started to break through the hazy room that was fading by the second. The other me looked at me and gave me a sad look of resignation. "Goodbye Valkyrie Black."


I could feel my head pounding as I slowly rose from unconsciousness. The wisps of my dream slipped away, leaving me with the impression that I had forgotten something important.

Underneath me I could feel the soft duvet that covered my bed. Voices on either side of me that had been arguing softly, stopped as I let out a groan of pain. A hand appeared on my shoulder, shaking me gently.

"Val? Are you awake?" A voice, no, my father's voice, asked softy.

My eyes slowly opened to reveal that I was in my bed at Grimmauld Place. I frowned in confusion, before the memories of what had happened drifted back to the forefront of my mind. My back arched as waves of pain ran through my body, reminding me of the consequential aftershocks that people who had been cursed with the Cruciatus Curse had to endure. After what felt like an eternity, the pain finally stopped, I let out a sigh of relief.

Pushing myself into a sitting position with the help of my father, who had held my hand throughout the pain, I winced as my body protested the movement. When I was seated upright, and I finally didn't feel like I was going to hurl, I asked the one question that had been bothering me since I had gotten home. "What happened to mom?"

My father frowned in confusion. "What do you mean dear?"

"Ever since last summer, she's been more violent, but she looks like she regrets her actions after she hurts us. Why is that?" I questioned him, not noticing that my brothers had also taken an interest in my father's answer.

He sighed heavily as he sat on the edge of my bed, and I could suddenly see how unkind the years had been to him.

"You know that madness runs in our family. You also know that it affects certain people more than others. Well, your mother is one of those people, and I'm sorry to say that ever since you and Sirius got sorted into Gryffindor, she's been having more and more problems with controlling herself around you two." He pushed himself off the bed and started heading towards the door, where he hesitated. "Know that your mother and I love you all unconditionally, and no matter what you decide to do with this information, I will support you in any way I can." And with those final words, my father left the three of us alone together.

After a few moments of complete and utter silence, I turned towards my siblings with an unusually serious expression, but before I could say anything Reggie started rambling, which he only did when he was nervous. "Well I guess that clears everything up, doesn't it? And now that we know that isn't really you that she's mad at. It's just the entire idea of you two being in Gryffindor! So there's really no need for drastic-"

"We need to get out of this house." Surprisingly it wasn't me who interrupted Reggie, but Sirius. "We need to leave. If mother could hurt Val so badly without so much as a thought, who knows what she might do."

"But-"

"Reggie." I stopped. "We are leaving. That is final. We'll leave at half past midnight tonight and Floo directly to James' house." I turned to my twin. "Can you get him a letter explaining this before tonight?"

Sirius frowned. "I can try, but chances are I won't be able to get to an owl." His expression brightened up quickly. "Either way, I'm sure that ol' Prongsie won't mind us showing up out of the blue."

I nodded. "Alright. I need both of you to pack your Hogwarts trucks with everything that you want to keep. If there isn't enough room, just cast the Undetectable Expansion spell I found last year." They both nodded to me, Reggie's albeit hesitant.

"But first, help me up."


13 Grimmauld Place, 12:25 AM

"Come on Sirius! We need to get going, stat!" I hissed at my slightly older twin.

"Alright, alright, calm your panties." He whispered as he carefully levitated our trucks into the green flames, quietly yelling "Potter Manor!" so we could wait for Reggie for a few more minutes - and possibly make a quick exit if needed.

After a few minutes, his outline appeared in the dark corridor. Sirius huffed as he straightened out from the slumped position he had been in. "Finally! Where were you? We were supposed to meet here three minutes ago!"

He would have gone on, were it not for the fact that we could now see what we couldn't before. Reggie. Walking towards us. With his wand pointed directly at my heart.

"Reggie?" I glanced into his eyes, only to find unshed tears. "What's wrong?"

"You were right." Sirius and me exchanged confused looks, before turning back to our little brother. "What do you mean Reggie?"

"You do have to leave. Mother will never accept you completely now that you're in Gryffindor. She'll just keep attacking you, whether she's conscious of it or not. If you two leave then you'll be safe." He gave us a watery smile. "That's why I'm staying." He ignored our protests as he started forcing us backwards, towards the fireplace. "If mother finds out that all three of her children have left, then she will hunt us down. By doing this, you two can be free."

"Reggie please." My voice broke. "Don't do this. We can find a way! We can ask Dumbledore-"

"No." he hissed quickly. "This is the only way I can guarantee that my family will be safe. Just do me a favor, will you?" Hesitating only slightly at our nods, he continued on. "Live your lives to the fullest." And with those finally words, he threw Floo power into the flames where we stood and yelled "Potter Manor!"

As we fell out of the fireplace at Potter Manor, I let myself sink to the floor as what had happened over the course of the past couple days finally caught up with me. Sirius and James concerned faces were the last things I saw before I welcomed the numb void of unconsciousness with open arms.