Harry asked me as a date to the Slug Club Christmas dinner. Ginny dropped the stack of books with a loud thump on the table.
"Oh really? Tell us how it went." - Luna asked.
Ginny told the whole story, from how Harry had approached her and even the kiss he gave her when she said yes. She had a smile so wide that Valerie had to wonder if the girl's lips weren't sore.
Wow! I wish I was invited to the Slug Club Christmas dinner. - Luna said casually flipping through a book while taking notes on a piece of parchment.
Anyone who didn't know Luna would think she was dropping a hint. But that was not the case, she was genuinely waiting for Valerie to invite her and simply expressed it out loud. That is Luna Lovegood.
Valerie took a deep breath. She didn't want to disappoint the girl, but she wasn't ready for the entire school to know about her situation either. In the end, the safest approach was not showing up to the dinner, period.
"I'm going to look for something to eat." - Valerie suddenly stood up. The atmosphere after Luna's comment was not the best.
"Where?" - Luna asked, following her steps out of the library. Not only did she not know how to drop hints, she also did not know how to understand a cue.
"I don't know... In the kitchen?" - Valerie shrugged.
"And do you even know where the kitchen is?" - Luna asked smiling.
"No." - Valerie admitted defeat, following Luna who now led the way.
"For future reference," - Luna said after a few minutes - "this is the entrance to the kitchen." - and pointed to a bowl of fruit painting.
She tickled the pear in the painting and it turned into a green handle, which Luna turned and the door opened. The room was gigantic and an absurd amount of house elves were running up and down. Valerie noticed that there were four long tables, as long as those in the great hall. On a second thought, judging by the path they took, they must have been just below the great hall... So, is this how food magically appears every day? She was brought out of her reverie by a high squeaky voice.
"Miss Valerie!"
"Dobby!" - she screamed when she saw the little elf a few meters away. In a few steps she shortened the distance between them and dropped to her knees on the floor, hugging him tightly.
"I didn't know that you knew a house elf." - Luna pointed out.
"Luna, this is Dobby. Dobby, this is Luna Lovegood." - Valerie broke the hug and introduced them.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." - she held out her hand.
"Sir? Dobby likes Miss Luna." - he said.
"I like her too, Dobby." - Valerie couldn't help but smile at the way Luna addressed the elf. Seeing him being treated with such violence was one of the things that always kept her suspicious of the morality of her mother's family. "Dobby worked for my family, Luna. He visited our home in the United States several times, when my aunt and uncle came to visit me. But eventually when they told me you were gone... I thought you were dead!"
"Harry Potter set me free, Miss Valerie. I never had to punish myself after that." - he said proudly.
"I'm glad you're free now. So, you work here at Hogwarts? I've never seen you before!"
"The elves are instructed to do our job without letting ourselves be seen. Are you hungry?"
"If it's not too much trouble, could we get some sandwiches?" - Luna asked.
Dobby ran to the back of the room, announcing in a loud voice what he was doing. They both laughed. They left the kitchen with a basket full of food, despite the insistence that they were not that hungry, Dobby made sure to give them enough food to feed five people. Luna guided Valerie out of the castle, towards the place where the niffler's playpen was, which was empty now.
"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" - Valerie asked, tossing pomegranate berries towards Luna's mouth.
"I dunno." - she caught the berry in the air. "I don't know many places, so I think any place would be a start. I went to London once."
"Once?" - Valerie almost yelled, outraged. "Where do you live, anyway?"
"Ottery St. Catchpole. It's a village around Devon, my house is not far from the Weasley's. I heard that you spent part of the summer there." - she said now changing roles with Valerie and throwing pomegranate berries in the girl's direction. "What about you? Where would you go if you could?"
"Anywhere, really." - Valerie replied smiling. "I always dreamed of a road trip across the United States. And then across America."
"Sounds fun." - Luna commented. "How much of the United States you already know?"
"Very little." - Valerie shrugged. "My mom moved there when I was still months old so it's the only place I remember having lived my entire life. We lived a few years in Boston, on the east coast. When I was about six my mom moved with me to California and we lived there until..."
"How hard is it to drive a car?" - Luna asked feeling that Valerie did not want to dwell on that subject.
"You need a license. I don't know here in the UK, but in the United States at age sixteen you can take the test. My stepfather, however, taught me to drive when I was eleven or twelve. I had to sit on a pillow to see through the windshield." - Valerie remembered smiling.
"Where is he now?"
"Still in California. Mom and him were fine, but when my uncle and aunt found out... You see, he's a muggle. They were not happy. They threatened to tell him the truth and my mother chose the easiest way out. She broke up with him."
"They didn't love each other." - Luna stated.
"I honestly don't know... They seemed very happy with the life they had."
"I would go with you on a roadtrip across the United States, if you invited me." - Luna said calmly. "How long would it take?"
"As long as we wanted." - Valerie allowed herself to dream about it. "Months, years..."
"Is the United States that big? Wouldn't it be faster if we apparated instead of using a car?" - Luna asked.
"Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination." - Valerie shrugged.
"My wrist hurts." - Valerie whined.
"Then switch the wand hand." - Draco shrugged.
"Professor Flitwick says that we must be constant in the wand hand in order to achieve quicker results."
"Then stop whining. Better yet... Silencio!" - he waved his wand at the girl. "See how easy it is? And even better, now I don't have to listen to your complaints."
Draco seemed amused by Valerie's failed attempts to talk under the silencing spell. After a few minutes, however, he broke the spell.
"I don't know why the hell I have to learn this for. What use there is in a silencing spell for a person fleeing Voldemort?" - she sat on a bench and tucked her hands into her hair.
"You shouldn't be saying his name." - Draco warned her looking sideways looking for possible witnesses. They were practicing in one of the outdoor patios, but the area was empty; everyone should be in the great hall having lunch. It had become a habit in the past few weeks for Valerie and Draco to eat as quickly as possible so they could practice together.
At first Draco didn't care much, but as the days went by, he learned to appreciate his cousin's constant presence. Lately, with everything that had happened and his family's name dragged accross the mud, people avoided spending their free time with him. Now, at least he had company. And it was with that feeling in his heart that he felt the need to say:
"You don't need to run from the Dark Lord."
"What?" – she looked up, confused.
"He's not trying to hurt you." - he sighed, still looking around making sure that no one could hear them.
"Well, my mom is dead and I was attacked in the middle of the street by some hooded people. What does he want from me then?" - she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Allegiance." - Draco replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What do you know that I don't know?" - she frowned.
"Many things." - he shrugged. "How to perform a silencing spell, for example."
The joke did not have the expected effect, since she continued to look at him puzzled.
"My father told me." - he said in an almost inaudible whisper.
"You said you don't know where your father is. To the government and to the press." - she stated.
"Believe it or not, it makes no difference to me." - he got up. Is your wrist better?
She nodded.
"Let's keep practicing, then. We still have half an hour before classes start."
Valerie's head was in a constant state of meditation. Draco's words did not leave her head. Voldemort wanted her allegiance. And what value would a fifteen-year-old girl's faithfulness have for the greatest dark wizard ever?
She wanted to ask Draco directly if her uncle had, in fact, murdered her mother. The press was more than quick to convict him without further evidence other than the fact that he had escaped from Azkaban just hours before it happened. But the press also said that the Malfoy family did not know about Lucius' whereabouts and Draco assured her that he was in contact with his father.
The next day she was sure she would ask the question outright, but, looking into her cousin's eyes, she gave up. The worst was not the question itself... it was the answer she would receive. What if it were true? What would she do? Her father had assured her that Voldemort had not shared his goals with him, and that he could not ask too much without arousing suspicion.
"I think green would go nice with the color of your hair. Don't you agree, Valerie?" - Luna took her out of her reverie.
Ginny and Luna were hunched over a pile of formal dress magazines. Again, this talk about the Christmas dinner.
"Yes, green would look nice." - she replied barely looking at the magazine.
"I think silver would look good on you. Or rosé." - Luna commented trying to bring Valerie's attention to the subject once again.
She only grunted in response, still looking across the courtyard to the frozen lake.
"Do you already know if you're going alone or with a date, Valerie?" - Ginny asked and she realized in her tone that she wanted a specific answer.
"Actually, I don't even know if I'm going." - Valerie crossed her arms over her chest.
"I can go with you, if you want to go with me." - Luna said. And this time she didn't have that usual casual tone, she was actually inviting herself to go with Valerie as a date.
"We can't go together, Luna." - this attracted Valerie's attention to the conversation.
"Why not?" - Luna put down one of the magazines.
"Because people would talk, Luna." - Valerie replied as if it were obvious.
"And what is the issue if people talk?" - Luna shrugged.
"I'm not like you, I can't take any more gossip about me." - Valerie started to flip through the magazines without actually looking at the pages. "Harry, Ron and Hermione know and nothing has changed." - Ginny tried to argue.
"And I'm still not happy that you told them. You had no right." - Valerie felt a giant anger building inside her.
"They won't tell anyone." - Luna tried to calm her down.
"Ginny wasn't going to tell anyone either, was she? It's exhausting to argue with you. Everyone thinks it's cute that you believe in everything and everyone, but don't you understand the hell my life is going to be like if we go together at this freaking dinner? For a Ravenclaw you can be quite stupid sometimes." - Valerie exploded.
"Valerie..." - Ginny whispered startled.
Luna opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before getting up and marching determinedly into the castle without saying a word.
"She knows I didn't mean it like that." - Valerie said more to herself than to Ginny.
Author's notes:
This chapter was extremely painful to write. I hope it is painful to read too. * evil laugh *
A small note: Valerie mentions that she lived in Boston in her early childhood. Some people were unsure whether the woman Snape tells Hermione that he was practically married to was in fact Cecilia ... Boston is a 30-minute drive from Salem (and just a *pop* away if you apparate). Snape completed his studies at the University of Salem before teaching at Hogwarts (in my story). I hope this answers your questions.
Tell me what you think in the reviews, I love reading what you think about the story.