During the next two days the classes continued with ease. Val and Pansy helped the other groups with their Dreamless Sleep Potions in potions and Val spent her free time in the library working on her Arithmancy with Hermione.
Val and Pansy remained the only group that was able to complete their potion. Neville managed to melt six cauldrons and constantly mess up the ingredients earning him a detention from Snape, Hermione and June's potion turned a shade of green instead of purple, Damon and Harry were still struggling to find all of the correct ingredients, and Noah and Pavarti's potion turned to a yellow sludge.
Even with her and Pansy helping the others, the moment they stepped away to help another group, something always seemed to go wrong.
Val made another trip to the conservatory to read and visit with Wiggen who attempted to follow her back to the castle when she left.
"What's your secret Val?" Noah asked as the four of them sat at the Slytherin table for breakfast.
Val raised a brow at him. "To what? Gotta be more specific. You could be asking what my secret is for getting my waves to look like this or how to put on a diaper and I wouldn't know."
"I could tell you how to put on a diaper," Damon said as he looked up from his food, an innocent look on his face.
"Man child" June grumbled, but she kept her eyes down on a copy of the Daily Prophet that sat in front of her on the table.
Noah rolled his eyes. "No, I don't need to know the secret to putting on a diaper… I mean how do you make the sodding Dreamless Sleep Potion. The Patil twin I'm working with just stares at me and doesn't help and whenever I go to do something Snape comes over and says, 'I wouldn't do that if I were you Williams.' So… what's your secret? How did you and Parkinson finish it in twenty minutes?"
Val shrugged her shoulders and took a bite of her toast. "Stole a vile from Severus' stores."
June snorted and Noah's jaw dropped.
"That's a good idea. I think I'll have Potter steal one" said Damon.
"She didn't steal from Snape's personal stores Hendrix" June said as she looked up from the Daily Prophet for the first time.
A grin grew on Val's face as she saw the disappointment in Damon's eyes. "Pansy and I already knew how to make the potion Noah. She only opened her book once to look at the instructions, but the rest was done from mostly memory."
"That's disappointing," said Damon. "I was hoping to get Potter in trouble and be able to finish the potion sooner."
"Okay well in class today you've got to help me, alright?" Noah said as she looked at her expectantly.
"Noah, we don't have potions today. Besides, It's the new moon so Parkinson and I are starting our work on Veritaserum later in the day" Val said in an apologetic tone.
Noah groaned before smacking his head on the table.
"Hey guys, look at this," June said as she held out her copy of the Daily Prophet to them.
Noah picked his head up from the table. "What is it?"
"Apparently Antonin Dolohov escaped from Azkaban last year," June said.
Val looked down at the section of the article that June was pointing at.
Antonin Dolohov, a well known Death Eater and follower of You-Know-Who, escaped from Azkaban Prison only a few days after the notorious mass murderer, Sirius Black. With all of the chaos and panic that arose from Black's escape, Dolohov was able to slip past the Dementors.
Damon raised a brow at her. "Last year? But why weren't there any reports on it?"
"It was a few days after Sirius Black escaped so I guess, with all of the dementors out searching for Black, Dolohov was able to escape without being noticed" June said.
Val scoffed at those words. "That's complete rubbish. There's no way someone like Dolohov could escape without being noticed. He was under maximum security at all times. I've read about him."
"Well then he must have had help" said Noah.
"Maybe Black helped him," June suggested. "He escaped first which caused a distraction so that Dolohov could escape. Maybe they were able to communicate somehow while in their cells."
Val shook her head. "I doubt that."
Valencia had learned of Sirius Black's innocence last year. Hermione had explained everything; from how Peter Pettigrew was the one who murdered all of those people to how Sirius was Harry's godfather and had been best friends with his parents.
Knowing that, she knew that Dolohov must have received help from someone else and that Sirius had nothing to do with his escape. Either that or Dolohov somehow managed to escape on his own.
Damon raised a brow at her. "Why do you say that? It's known that Black was a supporter of You-Know-Who."
"I just don't think that Sirius had anything to do with Dolohov's escape. Black had his own motives to escape, and we still don't know how Dolohov managed to escape and what he planned to do after he got out" Val said.
"I don't know about that, but I do agree that it's rubbish that his escape went unnoticed for this long. It's been almost a year since he and Black escaped and there were no reports on Dolohov, only Black" June said as she set the paper back down on the table.
After breakfast, the four of them attended Herbology and then Transfiguration.
McGonagall had them attempt to transfigure the desks into stone, but most everyone failed, except for Hermione and Val.
Professor McGonagall walked over to where Val and Damon were working. "Not quite Mr. Hendrix. There's a difference between a stone desk and a pinecone. Make sure you are saying the spell correctly."
She walked away with a disappointed glare on her face.
"Make sure you're saying the spell correctly," Damon repeated McGonagall's words in a mocking tone. "Ugh I've tried this like then times now. First it was a pillow, then a bookshelf, and now it's a pinecone."
"The bookshelf was kind of close," said Val in an encouraging tone.
"It wasn't a stone bookshelf though… Okay, well it's your turn now" Damon said as he crossed his arms and sat down in a chair.
Val pointed her wand at the pinecone and said, "Reparifarge." The pinecone transfigured back into a desk.
She then held up her wand to the desk and muttered, "Duro".
Instead of turning into a stone desk, a large shapeless rock appeared in its place.
"I mean, close… I guess" Damon said. He then pointed his own wand at the stone and said, "Reparifarge" so that Val could try again.
Val tried again but failed. However, on her third try, the desk finally turned to stone.
"Well done Miss Martin" McGonagall said as she passed by them.
For the rest of the Transfiguration class, Damon continued to attempt to turn the desk into stone, but he failed every time.
When the bell rang, Damon and Val met up with Noah and June, and the four of them went to the Great Hall for lunch. They all practically shoved the food down their throats so they could arrive at their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the year early.
The four of them made their way to the front of the room and Val and Noah sat at one table and June and Damon sat at one right next to it.
A few minutes passed before they heard a clunking sound coming from the corridor outside the room. The next moment, Professor Moody came hobbling into the room, leaning up against his wooden staff as he went.
Anyone who had been talking before fell silent.
"Put your books away, you will not be needing them. I have heard what you went over in this class last year, and it's disappointing to see how far behind you are." Moody had made his way up to the front of the room and was now looking down at all of them.
His prosthetic eye kept darting from student to student while his other eye seemed to be glaring down at two girls in particular. "This is no time to be doing your homework for other classes. I suggest you put it away."
Lavender Brown, who had been showing Pavarti Patil her Divination homework, quickly stuffed it back into her bag.
Moody continued, "The ministry says that you are far too young to be learning about curses, but I say otherwise. Professor Dumbledore and I have agreed that it is time for you all to learn… The Unforgivable Curses; there are three of them, can any of you name one?"
A few hands shot up in the air, including Val's.
"Weasley," said Moody.
"Er, well I do know one, my dad told me about it. There's the Imperius Curse" said Ron.
"Ah yes, the Imperius Curse." Mad-Eye made his way over to a desk full of jars and opened one. He pulled out a large black spider and set it in his hand.
"Imperio," he said.
The spider began to roll around the table and do cartwheels, causing the class to laugh.
"I have total control. You think this is funny? Perhaps I should make her drown herself, or maybe have her throw herself out the window?" said Moody.
Everyone fell silent again. Val sat back in her seat as she watched Moody release the curse from the spider and place it back in the jar.
"The Imperius Curse has been used for hundreds of years. After Voldemort fell from power, many of his followers claimed that they only did what they did because they were under the influence of the Imperius" he said.
Moody looked around at them all once more. "The curse can be fought, but it takes a strong mind to do so, so if I were you, I would avoid getting hit by it. Does anyone else know another one of the Unforgivables?"
"Well, there's the Cruciatus Curse," Neville said hesitantly.
"Very good Longbottom. The Cruciatus Curse, more commonly known as the torture curse." Moody picked up another spider from the jar and muttered "Engorgio", causing it to increase in size.
He then raised his wand once again and said, "Crucio".
The spider began to writhe in pain on the table, a few of its long legs sticking out at odd angles.
"Stop it!" Hermione said from where she sat next to Harry. "Can't you see it's bothering him?"
Val looked behind her to see that Neville was shying away from the spider and closing his eyes in discomfort.
When Moody saw, he hesitated for a few moments before releasing the curse. The spider immediately collapsed onto the table, barely moving.
Moody muttered a "Reducio" before placing the spider back in the jar. "The Cruciatus Curse was a favourite back a few hundred years. It was used to torture people in order to get information, that is, before it became illegal. When Voldemort was in power, his followers would use it for the same means; to get information."
It was, to put it simply, horrible. Watching the spider get tortured was disturbing enough for Val, but what came next was even worse.
"Can anyone name the last one?" asked Mad-Eye.
Val looked over to see Hermione hesitantly raise her hand.
"Yes, Miss Granger?" Moody said, looking at her intently.
"The Killing Curse, sir. Avada Kedavra" said Hermione.
Moody pulled out the last of the spiders, who tried to scurry away, and placed it on the desk before quickly saying, "Avada Kedavra".
A blinding flash of green light filled the room, and the spider stopped trying to escape and dropped dead on the table; unmoving.
The moment it happened, Val was brought back to her dream. It all came rushing back; the muggle man in the Manor, the men in the room, and the figure in the chair. Not that she had forgotten it, but she had managed to push the images to the back of her mind.
"There is only one person who is known to have survived this curse and he is sitting here in this room, at this very moment." Moody turned his eyes to Harry.
They all spent the rest of the class taking notes on the Unforgivable Curses. No one muttered a word the entire time.
After the class ended, Val, June, Damon, and Noah all made their way to the common room.
"He's a bit of a nutter honestly" said Noah as they entered the common room.
"Maybe, but at least we're learning something," said June.
They sat down on the leather couches; Val and Noah on one and June and Damon on the other.
"Why is it always you four hogging the couches?" Carson Adams said as he sauntered up to where they sat. Adrian Pucey and Miles Bletchley were trailing closely behind him.
June raised a brow at her older brother. "We get here first" she replied simply.
"And you think that entitles you to keep them for the rest of the night every time?" Bletchley scoffed. His sharp blue eyes glared down at them.
"What do you want?" said Val, not even bothering to move from her comfortable position.
"Nothing in particular," said Carson. "Is it a crime to want to talk to my sister mudblood?"
Noah made to get up from the couch but Val grabbed his arm and gave him a warning look before pulling him back down.
"Don't fucking call her that you fat git" Noah said, the corner of his lip curled up in an angry manner.
"You're father would be disappointed in you Williams. Have you told him about your little friend here yet?" Bletchley sneered. He looked over to where Valencia was sitting next to Noah.
"Don't you guys have somewhere to be? Perhaps in the forbidden forest getting eaten alive by werewolves?" said Damon, an impatient look on his face.
"If only" June mumbled.
"Don't you little fourth years have somewhere else to scurry off to?" Adrian scoffed.
"No, now fuck off" said Noah.
"You know, it really is a shame you became friends with these piss pots. I may have tolerated you if you hadn't June" said Carson as his lip curled up on one side.
"In case you haven't forgotten, when I was five and you were eight I tried to stick your head into the fireplace at home. You've got a nice little scar on the side of your face to remember the event by. I'm not sure where I went wrong in making you think that I wanted to be tolerated by you" said June. Val noticed that her face was beginning to turn a bright red.
Carson's face had paled slightly, but he kept the same sly expression.
June and Carson had never gotten along. In the three years that Val had known them, there was never a time when they talked that didn't turn into an argument between the two.
"Not to mention the time two years ago when I pushed you down the moving staircase. It's a shame you didn't fall off" said June.
Damon snorted next to her but tried to cover it up by coughing when he noticed Carson staring daggers at him.
"Mm. Lovely memories. Now if you're done talking openly about your murder attempts, then we have to leave" said Carson.
"Make sure to say hi to the werewolves for me in the forest" Val said, a grin spreading on her lips.
Bletchley rolled his eyes. "Watch yourself. Maybe I'll just have to drag you out to the werewolves myself mudbloo-"
Before Miles could finish and before Val could stop him, Noah jumped up from his seat, pointed his wand at Miles, and cast a quick "Silencio", causing him to become mute.
"I did warn you, did I not?" Noah sneered. "Now hurry off before I hex your arse."
Carson, Adrian, and Bletchley all looked at them with loathing expressions before turning around and walking away, but not before Carson gave a mocking smile to June.
Noah sat back down next to Val after they were gone and gave her a small smile.
"Didn't know you could use such advanced magic Williams" Val whispered to him.
The corner of his mouth turned up and he raised a brow at her. "Only when I get mad enough Martin."
Val laughed and shook her head before turning back to the other two.
"I've always hated those three twats," Damon muttered.
"Did you actually stick your brother's head into the fireplace when you were younger?" Noah asked.
June let out a small laugh. "Yeah, but my father came into the room before I could get more than a small burn on the side of his face."
"Unfortunate" said Val.
When it was time for dinner, the four of them made their way to the Great Hall.
As they were about to enter, Damon suddenly tripped and fell flat on his face with a grunt.
Val looked over to see Damon's younger brother standing above him, a grin on his lips. Aria Williams was following closely behind him.
"Watch yourself there bud" said Dario, a laugh escaping his lips.
"Fuck off Dario" said Damon as he stood up. He wiped his robes with his hands to get any dirt off.
Dario Hendrix was a third year Slytherin and the only sibling that Damon had. The two of them generally got along but they always took every opportunity to mess with one another.
Aria Williams was a third year and Noah's younger sister. Like Dario, Aria was the only sibling that Noah had, but where Dario was a Slytherin, Aria was a Ravenclaw. Noah had a similar relationship with Aria as Valencia had with Luca. The two of them were extremely close and got along rather well.
Dario and Aria were practically inseparable. Dario spent half of his time in the Ravenclaw common room instead of the Slytherin common room in order to spend more time with Aria.
"Need something Aria?" said Noah.
"No she doesn't and neither does Dario, so just- bye then" said Damon.
Aria rolled her eyes at Damon before she grabbed Dario by the arm and hauled him into the Hall and then over to the Ravenclaw table.
"I swear those two look more like boyfriend and girlfriend than best friends" said Damon as they walked through the double oak doors and into the Great Hall.
"I don't think so. Aria basically acts like Dario's mother" said June.
They sat down at the Slytherin table in their usual places; Damon and Noah next to each other on one side and June and Val on the other.
Daphne Greengrass sat down on Val's right and Pansy Parkinson sat down next to her a few minutes before the food appeared.
Val helped herself to a few small pieces of chicken, Yorkshire pudding, and a heap of potatoes.
Halfway through dessert, Pansy looked past Daphne to talk to Valencia. "Martin," she said.
Val looked over at her.
"We need to get started on the potion tonight. Meet me in the empty classroom next to Snape's at eight. And don't be late" Pansy said.
Val nodded her head in agreement.
Making the Veritaserum with Pansy was not something that she was looking forward to. The two of them had never gotten along and avoided one another at all costs. Any conversations that started between the two of them were short and straight to the point.
At seven, when dinner had ended, Val made her way down to the common room, leaving June, Damon, and Noah behind, to change out of her robes and into a skirt and crewneck before heading up to the library.
Valencia found Hermione in their usual spot when she got there with a book about house elves in her lap.
"What's that for?" she asked as she sat down across from Hermione.
"Did you know that there are house elves that work as slaves in the kitchens here?" Hermione asked, looking up at Val.
"Erm- yeah actually. Fred and George took me to the kitchens in first year after we fought the troll" said Val.
"What! You knew?" Hermione practically shrieked.
Madam Pince, the librarian poked her head out from behind one of the bookshelves to hush her.
"I guess I just didn't think much about it. They all seemed happy. I can take you to see them sometime if you want" Valencia offered.
"Maybe. But even if they are happy and well-treated, there are so many other house elves that are treated like vermin. I met one at the World Cup. Barty Crouch's elf, Winky" said Hermione.
"Oh I know Winky! I met her in the kitchens" Val said, causing Hermione's eyes to widen.
"Well Crouch treated her terribly when I saw her. It's so unfair to them! All of them! The poor creatures don't deserve to be enslaved, mistreated, and unpaid" Hermione said.
"I guess so" she replied.
Hermione shook her head, obviously getting worked up about the subject, before turning her head back down to her book.
Valencia took out her own book that she had checked out from the library the day before; Hogwarts: A History. She had read it four times already, but each time she reread it, she always managed to find something that she had missed the previous time.
At seven fifty, Valencia said goodbye to Hermione and then made her way back down into the dungeons.
As she was turning a corner, she accidentally bumped into someone.
"Oh- sorry" she said.
She looked up to see Cedric Diggory standing in front of her.
"Erm- hello… What are you doing down here Martin?" he said, not even bothering to mention the fact that she had just bumped into him.
"I have a potion to work on with Pansy Parkinson, what are you doing down here?" she asked, raising a curious brow at him.
"Just- wandering" said Cedric. "I'm not sure how you Slytherins manage to stay down here in the cold all the time" he added.
Valencia let out a nervous laugh. "You get used to it over the years I guess. I never really notice it much now."
"I guess so" he said with a smile.
"Erm- I should probably get going, Pansy will kill me if I'm late" said Val.
"I can walk you to wherever you need to go if you would like," Cedric said. He had a nervous tone to his voice.
She gave him a reassuring smile. "That would be nice."
He gestured for her to walk beside him and then the two continued down the narrow, dungeon corridor.
"So" Val started, "are you planning on entering the tournament?"
"I've been thinking about it," said Cedric. "My father definitely wants me to enter, that's for sure. He works at the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and he said that the tournament is all anyone can talk about."
He looked over at her as they continued walking. "I think he just wants me to make him proud."
"That's not a bad thing," said Valencia. "Besides, I think you should enter. I bet you'd win it."
"I'll take your words into account Martin," Cedric said with a grin.
They continued to walk and converse until they reached the classroom next to Snape's room.
"It was nice talking to you Valencia, I'll see you around, yeah?" Cedric said.
"Yeah" she said, smiling up at him. "I'll see you around Cedric."
He gave a small wave with his hand before turning on his heel and walking back down the corridor.
Valencia was still smiling when she opened the door and went into the classroom. Pansy was leaning up against one of the desks that had been pushed up against the far wall, waiting for her.
"About time mudblood," said Pansy. She stood up straight and made her way over to another desk that was piled with the ingredients that they would need.
An iron cauldron had been placed on the table Pansy had been leaning on and the room was dimly lit with candles.
Val made her way over to the desk with the cauldron without saying a word to Pansy, took out her wand, and lit a small flame underneath it.
She then set a small book on advanced potions next to the cauldron and opened to the page about Veritaserum.
"It's just in case we forget a step" Val said when she noticed that Pansy was giving her a suspicious expression. "I want to get this over as soon as possible."
"Fair enough, but you better not mess it up Martin or I'll kill your arse" said Pansy.
Neither of them said another word for quite some time as they began to work.
After Pansy poured the water in the cauldron, the two began to wait for it to simmer. Valencia twirled her wand in her hand while Pansy stared at the cauldron intently with her arms crossed.
When the water was simmering and the next ingredient had been added, Val sat down in a chair near the desk.
She looked up at a clock on the wall. It was already almost eight twenty.
"So," said Pansy, dragging Val out of a trance, "you and Diggory huh? I wouldn't expect him to go for a mudblood."
"How do you-"
"I have good ears Martin. I heard you two talking outside of the door before you came in" she said. Pansy was leaning up against an empty desk, twirling a strand of her hair with her slender fingers.
When Valencia had first met Pansy, her face had a pug-like look to it, but over the years she had seemed to grow out of those features. Her sleek black hair had grown longer and her face had elongated slightly, leaving her to be rather pretty. Although Val hated to admit it, it was true.
"There's nothing going on between us though" said Val. "We were just talking."
Pansy scoffed and shook her head. "If that's what you think then I suppose you haven't noticed how he stares at you in the halls."
"He does not! That- no. What?" Val stuttered.
"He does. And at meals too. It's a bit off putting if you ask me" said Pansy.
Val rolled her eyes before moving to add in the next ingredient. She stirred in the Powdered Moonstone a spoonful at a time while Pansy watched her closely.
"Sure you don't need to check your book there Martin? Don't want to put in the wrong ingredient."
Valencia rolled her eyes once again without looking up from what she was doing. "I'd be happy to let you do it all Parkinson."
"Nice try, but no" Pansy said dully.
After another few minutes, Pansy added the Adder's Folk into the mixture and then turned up the heat with her wand. The potion came to a boil and so Val added in the next ingredient; the Jobberknoll Feathers. Pansy then crushed three Sopophorous Beans with a silver-bladed knife and added them to the mixture.
By the time that the potion was ready to be strained into a vial, it was nearly ten o'clock and Valencia was more than done with working with Pansy.
"Where are we supposed to store this until the full mood?" Val asked as she picked up the vial.
Pansy seemed to take her question into consideration for a few seconds before saying, "I'll take care of it. Go away. I've seen enough of you for a lifetime within the past two days alone."
Val stretched out her arm to hand her the vial and Pansy quickly snatched it from her.
Valencia then turned on her heel and began walking out of the room. As she was walking through the doorway she called back to Pansy without turning around saying, "Hope to never see you again."
"Right back at you mudblood."
Val made her way to the common room where she found June laying on one of the couches, charming flowers all around her exactly like Damon had done a few days ago.
She collapsed onto the other couch and looked over to see June with a grin on her lips.
"Where are the boys?" Valencia asked.
June shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows. I lost them after dinner. Could be off fucking somewhere for all I know."
Val let out a snort. "I don't want to picture that… What have you been doing all this time?"
"Mostly catching up on homework and telling Carson to sod off every ten minutes" said June.
June sat up on the couch to get a better look at Val. "How'd the potion go with Pansy?" she asked.
Valencia told her all about her evening. She started with telling June about her run in with Cedric and their short conversation and then how brewing the potion with Pansy went.
After nearly an hour of the two talking, they decided to head up to the dorms for bed.