PART ONE
CHAPTER ELEVEN: VALERIAN
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BabaLooWho: cake is amazing. Your theory is actually really close to the truth, though. Thanks for reviewing!
Word count: 1,840
ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!
September seventh was a Saturday, and the first Saturday of Raven's first year at Hogwarts. But that didn't matter to Raven; she didn't care about firsts, or lasts, or anything in between. All she cared about was getting answers.
The Spirit of Humans... According to Remus Lupin, they actually existed. Of course, Raven had no idea if he was right or if he was just dumb—he could even have been pulling her leg, for all she knew—but if he was right, then the War of Eternity was wrong.
Actually, war was wrong no matter what.
But disrespecting spirits went against the Third Sacred Law; and going against the Sacred Laws was punishable by death. It didn't matter who did it; even Raven, an heir to the House of Nightshade, could be executed for violating even one of the laws.
So, if heartless were at war with humans, but there was a spirit for humans, then that would be absolutely blasphemous. Even if a lot of people didn't actually care about spirits anymore, most people did, and...
And, what? What exactly would her knowing that the Spirit of Humans existed accomplish? Would the heartless kill all the heartless? Raven scoffed. Yeah, that was likely.
But she could cross that bridge when she got to it; for now, she would try and figure out if the Spirit of Humans actually existed or not. Maybe it would just be a load of bullshit. Who knew?
Raven woke up extra early—or, well, that was a bit misleading. She didn't actually sleep the previous night, so how could she wake up? But she got out of bed earlier than normal and headed straight to the library.
There was one problem with that, though; on Saturdays, the library opened at nine o'clock. It was six o'clock then. So Raven decided that she'd get breakfast, since she had three hours till she could actually get something done.
She didn't eat much—her stomach was churning—and after breakfast, she went outside. It was raining, but that was okay; the rain never bothered her anyway. (Actually, it did, and she was probably going to get a cold, but she didn't really care.) She laid down for a while and racked her brains for all her knowledge of heartless religion. It would be pathetic if she spent hours poring over books, only to realize that she already knew of the Spirit of Humans. But she couldn't remember anything, or maybe she could, and she just couldn't remember remembering it, because she fell asleep.
She woke up because of a booming clap of thunder, freezing cold and shivering. Rain pelted down on her face and sunk through her clothes before rolling down her sides. The ground around her was muddy and wet. She stayed there for a second (or maybe it was a minute) in groggy delirium before realizing that sweet spirits, she needed to get to the library.
Raven sprinted back inside, through the halls, away from the filthy and irritable caretaker called Filch, and to the library—only to be yelled at by the librarian for even thinking that she'd be allowed inside that sacred room while she was soaking wet. Oh, the horror! But despite how unreasonable it was, she was sent back to her dorm to dry off and change. Marlene, who was in the common room, stared at her judgmentally as she passed. Raven ignored her, because Marlene's overall perfectness wasn't doing her ego any favors.
Raven didn't actually take a shower, or change her clothes; but she did enter the bathroom after making sure no one was around and dried her clothes using her magic. Then, Raven ran back to the library. Madam Pennyfeather—the librarian—stared at her, before nodding in approval, and Raven was finally—finally!—let into the library at Hogwarts.
Raven had a lapse in judgment.
That seemed to be the norm that day. She was being unusually stupid. Other than falling asleep in the rain, she had also forgotten that the library wouldn't have books about heartless if heartless were considered to be worse than werewolves.
Raven was having a horrible day.
The thing about Raven was that she was an unusually wrathful person. Although she didn't get angry easily (she was just always irritated), when she did, she was extremely destructive. And since Raven was irritated with her book, she threw it at the bookshelf, swearing loudly.
Actually, not the bookshelf; it hit Remus Lupin's head.
"Ow!"
A normal person would've either been embarrassed, or would've apologized, or maybe even ran away. But Raven wasn't normal, so she stared as Remus picked up the book, mentally debating whether or not she should apologize. Logically, that would be the right thing to do (apologizing would make her relationship with Lupin a little bit better, so it would be more socially acceptable for her to ask for favors), but he was—indirectly—the reason for her grief; he was the one who told her about the Spirit of Humans, after all; if he didn't, she'd still be blissfully ignorant.
But then Remus tentatively sat down next to her and asked, albeit nervously, "What's wrong?"
Raven sighed, because she would be a horrible person if she was prideful around a guy as nice as that. "...Sorry."
"It's all right."
"No, you're not. It's turning red," Raven pointed out dully. It was true; she could easily see where exactly the book had smacked against his cheek and the side of his nose.
"...It's all right. I've had worse."
"Your nose is bleeding."
"Wait, seriously?"
"No, I just wanted to see if that would bother you."
Remus stared at her, and Raven realized that she had yet another lapse in judgment. The experiments on people she enjoyed conducting? They weren't exactly the most socially acceptable thing. But she pretended that didn't happen, and instead asked, "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Oh, I just came here for some light reading." He held up a book that was probably a couple thousand pages long. "You?"
"Target practice."
He laughed sarcastically—a sound she never expected from the guy Remus Lupin acted like. "Very funny. But seriously, why are you throwing books?"
"Because they're pissing me off."
Remus gave her a look.
"They are."
Remus sighed, then looked at the book she threw. "What is this, anyway; "Facts about the Heartless"? Why are you reading this?"
"I don't know." Raven let out the heaviest sigh ever as her stiff posture slumped and her forehead rested against the table. "It's useless."
"What are you trying to find?"
"Religion."
"About the Spirit of Humans?"
Raven turned her head so her cheek pressed against the table and her tired eyes could watch Remus flip through the book. "How did you guess?" she asked.
"You seemed bothered about it yesterday. Why's that, anyway?"
Raven closed her eyes. "For it same reason I threw the book."
That was a lie; Raven just didn't know how to explain it without revealing too many of her secrets.
She heard Remus set the book down. "Because you're a tosser?"
Raven opened her eyes; he was smiling a little. She couldn't stop her lips from quirking up.
"That's unnecessarily cruel." Raven turned her head to the other side so he could see her smile.
"Yeah, sorry."
"It's funny, though." What that her fifth lapse in judgement or her sixth? Either way, it was time to change the topic: "Did you know that that's the only book on heartless in the library?"
"Seriously?" Remus sounded shocked, then skeptical: "No, that's impossible."
"Then where else would it be?"
"In the restricted section."
Raven paused, then turned to look at him again. "The what?"
"The restricted section." He must've seen something in her eyes, because he hastily added, "You're not allowed there without a teacher's permission, though."
Raven felt the life come back into her; she sat up properly. "So? I need to know."
"You also don't need to get expelled."
That wasn't Remus.
Raven turned around.
The speaker was older than her and Remus—much older, maybe a sixth or seventh year. He had brown hair and brown eyes; average features. He didn't really seem special, but Raven was in a good mood (or, rather, she was too tired to be in a bad mood), so she replied, "I'm not going to get expelled."
"People only say that when they do something that will warrant expulsion," he pointed out as he pulled out a chair and sat across from her. "I'm Derrick. Derrick Gaunt."
"Remus Lupin," Remus introduced, smiling slightly and respectfully. Derrick smiled back.
Raven nodded. "Raven Nightshade."
"I kn—I mean, nice to meet you."
He... knew her name? That was a little strange. Still, she smiled back and said, "Nice to meet you, too."
"So, you want to know about heartless?"
"Were we talking loudly?" Remus asked.
Derrick Gaunt laughed. "Yes, a little bit. Do you need help?"
"Yes!" Raven blurted out. Remus gave her a look. Her cheeks flushed a little.
"Um. Sorry." Remus smiled awkwardly. "She's sleep deprived."
Raven jolted. "Is it that obvious?"
"Yes. When you're back to yourself, you'll be mortified."
"...Eh. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."
"And you two close?" Derrick was smiling, although it looked a little bit creepy. It was probably because of his eyes; it looked like they were set in a permanent glare.
"Um, not really." Raven nodded to herself. "We only met a few days ago. He's just really nice and easy to get along with." Raven paused. "Until he calls you a tosser."
"You threw a book at me," Remus pointed out.
"Not at you; you were in the way." Raven didn't let him say anything else; she asked Derrick, "So, how are you going to help us?"
"Right." Derrick smiled his creepy smile again. "Come with me."
Was Raven going to follow the creepy guy with a creepy smile who knew her name before she told him? Absolutely. Why? Because she was most definitely sleep deprived. Was there a possibility that she was making a huge, irrevocable mistake?
Yes, but she'd cross that bridge when she got to it.
In the language of flowers, VALERIAN represents readiness.
Questions:
1. Favorite quote from chapter eleven?
2. Why do you think Raven is acting strange, both at the "party" and in this chapter? (This question will actually be answered!)
Sorry for not updating...
Please review!
~Sarcasticsnark13