Valerie glanced at the boy, fighting to keep her face straight; she
couldn't believe that they hadn't told the boy why her father had tried to
kill his parents. Bloody hell, he didn't even know that they had been
Aurors. Poor kid. Valerie shook her head angrily; she was not going to
start feeling sorry for the kid responsible for leaving her an orphan for
thirteen years.
"Thinking again?" Nagini brushed against her ankles, not even sparing a glance for Harry Potter, who had given her a sharp look. "Don't say anything you don't want understood," she added, "Potter is a Parselmouth too."
"Potter?" Valerie's voice was a low hiss of disbelief, "How could Potter be a Parselmouth?"
"Still waiting to find out about my parents," Harry said, speaking in Parselmouth as well, "I'd like to know before we get to Potions."
"You're right, he is," admitted Valerie to the snake, "Where's Maren?"
"Parents?" Asked Harry impatiently, "Snape really doesn't like me, and he won't like it if I'm talking during class."
"Snape? Severus Snape?" Harry noted that Valerie looked interested, despite the poker face that she tried to keep in place, "I don't think he'll mind if you talk today, Potter." She was smiling, a predatory smile that made her look way too much like Voldemort for Harry's comfort.
"I'll, er, see you in Potions then," Harry backed away, joining Ron and Hermione and having a hurried whispered conversation.
"That boy is strange," she muttered to the snake, lowering her voice even though she knew that no one around could understand her, "And where is Maren, I don't want him terrorizing the teachers. All that is very well at home, but my name doesn't demand the same sort of respect here -"
"Out!" The door to the Transfiguration classroom flew open, and Maren flew out with is, shrieking his disapproval at a stern looking witch with her hair up in a bun. "Out!" She shrieked back, slamming the door behind her. Valerie winced, seeing the class inside goggling at her familiar.
"Maren!" She hissed, "Maren! Get over here! Now!" The dragon shrieked once more at the door before swooping and landing on her shoulder, "You will NOT be doing that again. What did you do to get a teacher so mad anyway?"
"He has feathers on his chin," observed Nagini from the floor, "And he smells -"
"Shut up!" Maren yelped, "What're you trying to do -"
"MAREN!" Valerie could just guess how the feathers had gotten on his chin, and she hoped that the teacher would forget about how the feathers had gotten there before she had Transfiguration.
Valerie could hear Severus lecturing the students inside the dungeon, she grinned despite herself, she had heard a lot about the spy, and couldn't wait to find out if it was all true. Nagini hissed her amusement, "I wonder if he'll remember me," she asked no one in particular, gliding into the classroom silently. The loud curse from the Potions master confirmed that yes, he did remember Nagini.
"You must be Valerie," Severus was exactly like all the people in her life had described him, greasy black hair, large nose, and glittering black eyes, "You are also ten minutes late," he continued, glaring at Nagini as she stretched out in front of his desk. "Be on time next class."
"Get the people at your table to explain what we're making today, you should understand it." Valerie bit her lip to keep from laughing as he walked carefully around Nagini, looking at her as if she might turn into his former master at any moment.
Valerie walked across the room, setting her books down on Harry's and his friends' desk, "Mind if I join you?" Ron gaped at her, until Hermione kicked him under the table.
"Scoot over Ron," she snapped, "Yes I'm serious," she replied to his look of disbelief, "She probably knows more than you about brewing Sleeping Drafts. That's what we're making to day, sleeping drafts."
"Good, something I know how to do," Valerie began to pull ingredients out of her bag, mentally recounting the potion that she had had to memorize at home. Home. Stop that! Valerie mentally scolded herself, you are the daughter of the most feared Dark wizard in the world, and you DO NOT get homesick. She shook her head angrily, "So they never told you that your parents were Aurors did they?"
"No," Harry frowned, "I've had to find out a lot about my parents on my own."
"Strange," murmured Valerie, "I got told everything from an early age. I can't believe that they didn't tell you."
"I had to live with Muggles that hate magic when my parents were killed, and they didn't even tell me that my parents were wizards, they said they both died in a car crash."
"Muggles?" Valerie looked horrified, "You poor thing!" Hermione raised her eyebrows, she recognized that attitude, and it was the same attitude that many of the Slytherins had towards Muggles.
"So, are you going to tell me what you were talking about?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows. Valerie looked at him at the corner of her eye, he looked so, innocent, it was almost disgusting.
"My mother was taking me for a walk," Valerie began to automatically measure and prepare ingredients, throwing them into the cauldron, "We were in an alley, it was a dead end, three Aurors trapped us, Mad Eye Moody, James, and Lily Potter. My mother could have gotten away, but she wouldn't leave me. They killed her, and left me for dead, I would have died if some Death Eaters hadn't found me and taken me to my father." Valerie began to stir her potion, it was swiftly becoming the proper consistency, and she gave it all of her attention.
"Valerie Riddle," Snape said from the front of the room, "Get this, this, dragon, of my desk, he's trying to eat the scarab beetles."
"MAREN!" Yelled Valerie, the small dragon hissed at the Potions master and flew to Valerie's shoulder. Where he preceded to preen and polish his scales.
"He's YOURS?" Ron yelped, "Did you get a license before you came to Hogwarts?"
"Yes, I have a license," Valerie said irritably, "I train dragons, Maren is my familiar."
"You, train dragons?" Harry stared at her, "Hagrid is going to love you, Valerie. He absolutely LOVES dragons."
"Yeah Potter," Malfroy walked up behind him, "Loves them enough to try and raise them ILLEAGALY in his WOODEN house." Malfroy glanced at the potion in Harry's pot, which was also reaching the desired consistency, "Valerie is a REAL Trainer, certified and everything. Not like that big oaf - "
"Malfroy, enough," Valerie snapped, "I'm trying not to spread that fact around. It makes a lot of people nervous to be around a fifteen year old Trainer."
"Trainer? You've lost me, what's a Trainer?" Harry asked Ron.
"It's a person who is certified to own and train dragons," Ron was looking at Valerie with awe, "They normally have a dragon familiar and they train dragons, some dragons even look at them as family," Ron finished.
"That can be a curse," Valerie said calmly, "When you have a Hungarian Horntail thinking that you are one of her clutch it is VERY hard to get out of the room."
"Valerie Riddle," Snape said from the front of the room, "If you insist on talking I will move you, Mr. Malfroy, I want you back at your cauldrons, this is not social hour."
Valerie began to pour her potions into separate containers so that they could be transported to the Hospital Wing without lugging the cauldrons up the stairs, while Maren perched on her shoulder, watching curiously as she poured.
***
Harry stepped away from Voldemort's daughter and looked at his two friends. Ron was looking at Valerie with barely concealed awe, but Hermione looked bored.
"Are you happy now?" She asked, Hermione had not been for talking with the young Dark witch, "You got your answer, now do we have to associate with her any more?"
"Hermione," Ron snapped, "She's a Trainer, and d'you know what that means?"
"She associates with dragons, big deal, so does your brother."
"Nuh uh," Ron shook his head, "My brother works with dragons, they tolerate him, being a Trainer means that she's like part of a dragon's family. To any dragon that she trains, she is family. It takes a certain kind of person to be a Trainer, and I heard," Ron lowered his voice so his friends had to lean in to hear him, "I heard that they usually have extremely strong inner eye, you know, that thing that Trelawny is always jabbering about?"
"Yeah," Hermione snapped, "I know, I learned enough about that crap - "
"Hermione!" Ron said impatiently, "Their powers are REAL, my brother met one that could throw things across the room, she read his mind like he had yelled his thoughts -"
Ron was cut off by a roar from outside, for a moment no one moved than Valerie whispered: "Uh - oh," and was gone, the rest of the class hot on her heels.
Ron gasped, outside the building a large blue dragon was ferociously attacking several wizards that were trying to subdue it, masked wizards were trying to avoid Aurors and getting crushed by the dragon at the same time.
"Death Eaters," Snape said, he had followed his class when they had run out of the dungeon, "They must have been running from Aurors when they discovered they had run onto school property - what do you think you're doing?" He snapped at Valerie, who was rolling up her sleeves.
"I'm going to stop the dragon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes! Second chapter down, working on the third! Thanx for the reviews, I was amazed at how fast they came in, please review this chapter as well, it's so cool to see what people think of the fic. I actually have some idea where the story is going now.
Becky or Fluffy-chan, I'm done with nicknames, they are beginning to get on my nerves.
"Thinking again?" Nagini brushed against her ankles, not even sparing a glance for Harry Potter, who had given her a sharp look. "Don't say anything you don't want understood," she added, "Potter is a Parselmouth too."
"Potter?" Valerie's voice was a low hiss of disbelief, "How could Potter be a Parselmouth?"
"Still waiting to find out about my parents," Harry said, speaking in Parselmouth as well, "I'd like to know before we get to Potions."
"You're right, he is," admitted Valerie to the snake, "Where's Maren?"
"Parents?" Asked Harry impatiently, "Snape really doesn't like me, and he won't like it if I'm talking during class."
"Snape? Severus Snape?" Harry noted that Valerie looked interested, despite the poker face that she tried to keep in place, "I don't think he'll mind if you talk today, Potter." She was smiling, a predatory smile that made her look way too much like Voldemort for Harry's comfort.
"I'll, er, see you in Potions then," Harry backed away, joining Ron and Hermione and having a hurried whispered conversation.
"That boy is strange," she muttered to the snake, lowering her voice even though she knew that no one around could understand her, "And where is Maren, I don't want him terrorizing the teachers. All that is very well at home, but my name doesn't demand the same sort of respect here -"
"Out!" The door to the Transfiguration classroom flew open, and Maren flew out with is, shrieking his disapproval at a stern looking witch with her hair up in a bun. "Out!" She shrieked back, slamming the door behind her. Valerie winced, seeing the class inside goggling at her familiar.
"Maren!" She hissed, "Maren! Get over here! Now!" The dragon shrieked once more at the door before swooping and landing on her shoulder, "You will NOT be doing that again. What did you do to get a teacher so mad anyway?"
"He has feathers on his chin," observed Nagini from the floor, "And he smells -"
"Shut up!" Maren yelped, "What're you trying to do -"
"MAREN!" Valerie could just guess how the feathers had gotten on his chin, and she hoped that the teacher would forget about how the feathers had gotten there before she had Transfiguration.
Valerie could hear Severus lecturing the students inside the dungeon, she grinned despite herself, she had heard a lot about the spy, and couldn't wait to find out if it was all true. Nagini hissed her amusement, "I wonder if he'll remember me," she asked no one in particular, gliding into the classroom silently. The loud curse from the Potions master confirmed that yes, he did remember Nagini.
"You must be Valerie," Severus was exactly like all the people in her life had described him, greasy black hair, large nose, and glittering black eyes, "You are also ten minutes late," he continued, glaring at Nagini as she stretched out in front of his desk. "Be on time next class."
"Get the people at your table to explain what we're making today, you should understand it." Valerie bit her lip to keep from laughing as he walked carefully around Nagini, looking at her as if she might turn into his former master at any moment.
Valerie walked across the room, setting her books down on Harry's and his friends' desk, "Mind if I join you?" Ron gaped at her, until Hermione kicked him under the table.
"Scoot over Ron," she snapped, "Yes I'm serious," she replied to his look of disbelief, "She probably knows more than you about brewing Sleeping Drafts. That's what we're making to day, sleeping drafts."
"Good, something I know how to do," Valerie began to pull ingredients out of her bag, mentally recounting the potion that she had had to memorize at home. Home. Stop that! Valerie mentally scolded herself, you are the daughter of the most feared Dark wizard in the world, and you DO NOT get homesick. She shook her head angrily, "So they never told you that your parents were Aurors did they?"
"No," Harry frowned, "I've had to find out a lot about my parents on my own."
"Strange," murmured Valerie, "I got told everything from an early age. I can't believe that they didn't tell you."
"I had to live with Muggles that hate magic when my parents were killed, and they didn't even tell me that my parents were wizards, they said they both died in a car crash."
"Muggles?" Valerie looked horrified, "You poor thing!" Hermione raised her eyebrows, she recognized that attitude, and it was the same attitude that many of the Slytherins had towards Muggles.
"So, are you going to tell me what you were talking about?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows. Valerie looked at him at the corner of her eye, he looked so, innocent, it was almost disgusting.
"My mother was taking me for a walk," Valerie began to automatically measure and prepare ingredients, throwing them into the cauldron, "We were in an alley, it was a dead end, three Aurors trapped us, Mad Eye Moody, James, and Lily Potter. My mother could have gotten away, but she wouldn't leave me. They killed her, and left me for dead, I would have died if some Death Eaters hadn't found me and taken me to my father." Valerie began to stir her potion, it was swiftly becoming the proper consistency, and she gave it all of her attention.
"Valerie Riddle," Snape said from the front of the room, "Get this, this, dragon, of my desk, he's trying to eat the scarab beetles."
"MAREN!" Yelled Valerie, the small dragon hissed at the Potions master and flew to Valerie's shoulder. Where he preceded to preen and polish his scales.
"He's YOURS?" Ron yelped, "Did you get a license before you came to Hogwarts?"
"Yes, I have a license," Valerie said irritably, "I train dragons, Maren is my familiar."
"You, train dragons?" Harry stared at her, "Hagrid is going to love you, Valerie. He absolutely LOVES dragons."
"Yeah Potter," Malfroy walked up behind him, "Loves them enough to try and raise them ILLEAGALY in his WOODEN house." Malfroy glanced at the potion in Harry's pot, which was also reaching the desired consistency, "Valerie is a REAL Trainer, certified and everything. Not like that big oaf - "
"Malfroy, enough," Valerie snapped, "I'm trying not to spread that fact around. It makes a lot of people nervous to be around a fifteen year old Trainer."
"Trainer? You've lost me, what's a Trainer?" Harry asked Ron.
"It's a person who is certified to own and train dragons," Ron was looking at Valerie with awe, "They normally have a dragon familiar and they train dragons, some dragons even look at them as family," Ron finished.
"That can be a curse," Valerie said calmly, "When you have a Hungarian Horntail thinking that you are one of her clutch it is VERY hard to get out of the room."
"Valerie Riddle," Snape said from the front of the room, "If you insist on talking I will move you, Mr. Malfroy, I want you back at your cauldrons, this is not social hour."
Valerie began to pour her potions into separate containers so that they could be transported to the Hospital Wing without lugging the cauldrons up the stairs, while Maren perched on her shoulder, watching curiously as she poured.
***
Harry stepped away from Voldemort's daughter and looked at his two friends. Ron was looking at Valerie with barely concealed awe, but Hermione looked bored.
"Are you happy now?" She asked, Hermione had not been for talking with the young Dark witch, "You got your answer, now do we have to associate with her any more?"
"Hermione," Ron snapped, "She's a Trainer, and d'you know what that means?"
"She associates with dragons, big deal, so does your brother."
"Nuh uh," Ron shook his head, "My brother works with dragons, they tolerate him, being a Trainer means that she's like part of a dragon's family. To any dragon that she trains, she is family. It takes a certain kind of person to be a Trainer, and I heard," Ron lowered his voice so his friends had to lean in to hear him, "I heard that they usually have extremely strong inner eye, you know, that thing that Trelawny is always jabbering about?"
"Yeah," Hermione snapped, "I know, I learned enough about that crap - "
"Hermione!" Ron said impatiently, "Their powers are REAL, my brother met one that could throw things across the room, she read his mind like he had yelled his thoughts -"
Ron was cut off by a roar from outside, for a moment no one moved than Valerie whispered: "Uh - oh," and was gone, the rest of the class hot on her heels.
Ron gasped, outside the building a large blue dragon was ferociously attacking several wizards that were trying to subdue it, masked wizards were trying to avoid Aurors and getting crushed by the dragon at the same time.
"Death Eaters," Snape said, he had followed his class when they had run out of the dungeon, "They must have been running from Aurors when they discovered they had run onto school property - what do you think you're doing?" He snapped at Valerie, who was rolling up her sleeves.
"I'm going to stop the dragon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes! Second chapter down, working on the third! Thanx for the reviews, I was amazed at how fast they came in, please review this chapter as well, it's so cool to see what people think of the fic. I actually have some idea where the story is going now.
Becky or Fluffy-chan, I'm done with nicknames, they are beginning to get on my nerves.