Two Potato
Mary Sues will always have a secret.
Harry found himself dumbfounded at her statement of recognizing him by his eyes and not by his infamous scar alone. When most people shamelessly identified him by the unique lightening-shaped scar in the middle of his forehead, she didn't seem to have noticed it was there at all. And it was only semi-common knowledge among a small circle of people that he had his mother's eyes. He hadn't thought this information would have traveled abroad to a complete stranger.
With eyes so dark in colour that Harry could barely make out the outline of her pupils, she studied him a second more before turning back to secure her trunk to the rack above her head, leaving him to look completely ridiculous as his mouth gaped open and shut like a fish drowning in open air.
Satisfied with her trunk's security in the overhead luggage rack, Valore ignored Harry by sitting down beside Neville and turning her attentions to introducing herself to Luna who smiled her mystical smile from over top her thick book. Neville, on the other hand, had sat back down in his seat and immediately found a speck of dust on his trousers remarkably interesting, a futile attempt at disappearing. But despite his insistence that he was invisible, Neville could sense Valore's dark eyes fall upon him. Feeling as uncomfortable as possible, he decided he might as well introduce himself or risk having her burn a hole straight into him. He quickly glanced over and confirmed that she was, in fact, studying him.
"You," she said slowly, "you look awfully familiar."
Neville nodded his head hesitantly, "We met on the platform earlier." I knocked you over and you ran off, is what he did not add.
After a short pause she blurted out, "You're not related to the Longbottoms, are you?"
He adjusted his jumper sleeves awkwardly and returned to inspecting his linty clothing. He nodded, "Neville." He wished she wouldn't look at him that way—it was unnerving and she was beginning to remind him of Luna.
"Excuse me," said Harry trying to regain her attention, "but do we know you?"
She tore her eyes off Neville and again looked at Harry. "No, you don't," she said simply. "But I have something you might be interested in." She shifted in her seat and pulled a flattened roll of parchment from the back pocket of her jeans, tapped it lightly with her wand and passed it to Harry. Casually ignoring both boys' confused faces, Valore leaned past Neville and struck up a conversation with Luna who was apparently reading up on Caspian Snarfblacks.
I'm glad I happened to find you already, Harry. I don't mean to draw attention to myself but I need to talk to you. I don't want to say things in front of unknown people. I know about the Order but can't recall my uncle mentioning a Luna Lovegood. I assume that, being who his parents were, Neville is also okay? Is it safe or not?
Harry looked up from the note and found Valore now talking to Neville, who was still avoiding any unnecessary conversation, about the different houses of Hogwarts. Neville was not a member but he knew about the Order completely. However, Luna's father was the owner of The Quibbler, a magazine that was more ridiculous than news. Remus Lupin had commented over holiday that even though Luna was involved in the fiasco at the Ministry of Magic a few years back, there was no way Mr. Lovegood would be allowed to know Order specifics. That, unfortunately, included Luna as well.
"I've never been to a school that was divided into such different groups," Valore admitted. "I hope I'm in Gryffindor."
"And then there's Slytherin, which you don't want," Neville advised.
"I've been told about that house. Voldemort was from Slytherin," she covertly stated and ignored Neville's flinch at Valore's blatant use of the Dark Lord's forbidden name. "So who's the resident prat around here? There's always at least one in every school."
"Well," Neville answered quietly, "Professor Snape. He bullys everyone except Slytherins." That was putting it mildly where Neville was concerned and he thanked his poor OWL testing again that he would not be required to take Potions again.
Harry issued a humourless chuckle, "Doesn't really matter how good you are either. Hermione's brilliant and he hates her."
"And Malfoy," Neville added.
"Oh yeah, and Malfoy's always a lovely one to have to deal with."
"Malfoy?!" Valore stood up fast, lost her balance when the train rocked, and fell with a plop back into her seat. "Malfoy's here?!" She looked to Harry for confirmation. He nodded and saw what he thought to be panic crossing her eyes.
"You know Malfoy?" Neville asked nervously.
Realizing that she now had all surprised eyes focused on her overreaction to a simple comment, she relaxed and sat back in her seat as if nothing had happened. Startled by Valore's polar reactions, Neville and Harry could only stare blankly at her profile and wait to see what she'd do next. Luna had returned to her reading.
"Yeah, I've heard of him," she answered almost casually. "A wizard can't have that much gold and not ever hear of him." She slipped a hand into her muggle jeans pocket and pulled out a package of chewing gum. Carefully, she chose a particularly appetizing looking piece and folded it into her mouth.
Neville mentally slapped himself, That's what I forgot! My box of wrappers! Idiot—idiot— He always brought the small box of gum wrappers with him to school. It was his way of keeping his mother close.
Valore had noticed Neville eyeing her hands which held the package of gum and offered him a piece, promptly turning Neville's face a bright red at having been caught staring. Valore could only shrug when he turned down her outstretched hand and the blue and yellow waxy papering that held her brand of chewing gum.
"Shouldn't Ron and Hermione be here by now, Harry," Valore asked.
"Well, yeah," Harry admitted, "but-"
"I would really like to meet them," she stood and stepped outside the compartment. With a toothy smile she invited Harry to come and find them for her.
He wasn't really wanting to find them, seeing as they were probably off in a broom cupboard together, but she had insisted. Harry led the way down the narrow corridor with Valore close in tow even though he hadn't the faintest idea where Ron and Hermione could be. They soon passed a small storage cupboard door that Valore seemed to find quite interesting as she'd stopped and looked up and down the hall. When she seemed to be satisfied she grabbed Harry by his elbow and, without the slightest bit of warning, dragged him inside and quickly closed the door behind them. Inside was, of course, dark where the only light available came from the three slotted air vents in the top half of the door. It was a tight fit but they both managed to fit inside. It reminded Harry of his old cupboard at the Dursley's, though Valore's perfume made it smell a bit better than the Dursley's…and there certainly hadn't been a girl in his cupboard with him at the time…
"Thanks for doing this for me," she whispered into the darkness.
"Have you gone mad?! What are you doing?" he hissed back at her. "We can't be in here, we'll get caught!"
He made to push the latch open, but Valore quickly pulled back his arm and batted his hands away in attempt to delay his escape, "Please, Harry, it's not like that, don't leave."
Harry, eyes now adjusted to the darkness, retracted his arm from her grasp, "What then? No, wait-me first. How do you know about the Order and how do you know about my mum's eyes."
"Look, I was told you'd be on the train. My uncle possesses a picture of Lily and James Potter and Dumbledore raved about how you look so much like them. Hello? Eyes just like Lily Evans? It wasn't really that hard." Even in the darkness, she could tell his green eyes had become saucers at her unexpected words.
Several long and silent moments passed before Harry spoke again. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to say so instead, he stumbled over his words, "Pictures? How did you—why do you know—you're uncle?" It was an unintelligent question but it seemed to get the point across because Valore smiled.
"Yes, Harry. There is a world outside of Hogwarts and Great Britain and my American uncle has a picture of your family. They were pretty famous, you know, not just at Hogwarts."
"Is that how you knew Neville as well, then? Dumbledore told you about him?"
Her smile evaporated, "We don't have time for details. I've been out of the British loop for a while, Harry, and I'm not up to date on the latest news. I need to know about Malfoy. I snatched up a copy of The Quibbler from one of the girls at my old school. Is it true about what happened at your Ministry of Magic? About the Death Eaters, and Fudge getting sacked?"
"Yeah," he answered slowly, still trying to work out in his head why she would care, "Lucius Malfoy's locked up in Azkaban and Rufus Scrimgeour is the new minister."
"Good, I know the reputation of The Quibbler. They tend to just make up random crap. But Azkaban won't hold him long, I think you know that…but then what's this about Malfoy being here?"
"That's his son, Draco. It's Lucius Malfoy that's in Azkaban."
"Oh...well, if that doesn't just bugger all. I thought for sure he'd be at Durmstrang and I wouldn't have to deal with him. That'll change things—is he smart?"
"What?" He'd been distracted by her perfume again.
"Is Draco Malfoy smart or is he dumb as a brick?"
"Er, smart? Big sodding prat but he's not an idiot. Why?"
Harry could tell she was thinking aloud instead of answering his question. She mumbled here and there, something about desserts and a fire. He was about to interrupt her when she finally clapped her hands together and exclaimed quietly, "Oh how deliciously convenient! Okay, look, I'm not sure who I can trust here, Harry, and I know you and the Longbottoms are about as anti-Voldemort as I can get. I need to get on the good side of Draco Malfoy, and I need you to help me. I can't really tell you details right now but you can't tell anybody about this."
"You're cracked! Are you saying you want to be his friend? You've never met him, Valore. He's not a good person."
"Please, Harry. You're right, I only know him by name but I need to get close to Draco Malfoy. I can't do it alone, I need your help."
He was going to ask her what she meant by that when she clasped a hand over his opened mouth and told him to hush. Together, they listened in thick silence to what had drawn her attention. Her hands smelled pleasant...like soap. Harry heard it now as well, voices in the hallway but as the voices came closer they became clearer. He pulled Valore's hand from his mouth, "That's Ron and Hermione. C'mon," he grabbed her wrist and pulled her out with him.
However, as she had not been expecting his rash decision to expose them, Valore had tried to hold them back inside the small cupboard causing Harry to stumble over his own feet and crash to the floor, dragging Valore down with him.
They must have made quite a sight: The famous Harry Potter falling out of a cupboard with a strange girl, and now Harry landing flat on his face and the girl right on top of him. Any other time, he might have found this quite humourous-but all the humour was lost as he stared ahead of him at the pair of worn out brown leather shoes and a pair of brightly polished Mary Janes that could only belong to Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger.
Ron immediately stopped walking and his jaw dropped mid-sentence as he watched Harry tumble out of a storage cupboard with a girl he did not know and land straight at his feet.
Hermione, who had been walking behind Ron before bumping into him from the sudden stop, looked around his body toward the obstruction that had caught Ron's attention. "Harry?!" her jaw had also fallen open and her brown eyes were wide with shock. Crookshanks, Hermione's fuzzy orange cat, fell out of her now limp arms and landed upright beside Harry's head and growled his displeasure at having been dropped. "Harry, what in the name of Merlin are you doing?!" she screeched.
"It's not what it looks like, guys," Harry said hastily while trying to help Valore to stand.
"Hi, Harry!" a girl approached from behind him. "You wanted to get together before we arrived at Hogwarts."
"Oh. Hiya, Keira." Harry grinned and awkwardly ran a hand through his already messy hair, "Yeah, how 'bout later? Right now's not a really good time."
Keira flashed her bright smile and tossed her long flowing hair out of her eyes, "Sure, I'm a few cars down when you've got time," and turned to return from whence she came.
Ron, unable to hold it back any longer, laughed loudly as Hermione rolled her eyes and slapped him on the arm, "And what does it look like, exactly? Because it looks like—"
Harry glared back at Ron, "Would you like to tell me all about the 'Prefect Duties' you two run around on?" Hermione's still open mouth snapped shut indignantly. "This is Valore Bloom. Valore, this is Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Valore's on loan to us from America."
"Hiya," Ron nodded politely to Harry's new broom cupboard friend. "We were heading back to the compartment," he braced himself against the wall when the car shifted unexpectedly. "You coming back, Harry? That is, unless we interrupted something."
Harry rolled his eyes at Ron's curious grin and Hermione's motherly frown, refusing them a satisfying answer. He was about to ignore the comments that Ron was cooking up and agree to head back to the compartment but before they could start off Harry felt himself being rudely pushed forward and sideways out of the path of whomever was making their way through the narrow hallway from behind them.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry heard Ron say from behind him.
"Nothing that concerns you," Draco Malfoy sneered back just as Vincent Crabbe, one of Malfoy's overly large thugs, purposely smooshed Harry's face into one of the windows as he forced his way past him. As he passed through the now clear path created by Crabbe, Malfoy made it a point to bully both Ron and Harry, shoving them hard enough that their backs bumped against the wall and snickered at them from over his shoulder.
Harry normally would have retorted something back, but he heard Valore's quiet whisper from behind him, "Malfoy?" She had somehow been displaced during the corridor shuffle and was now at the very back of their group instead of right behind Harry.
She quickly and ungracefully scrambled past Ron and Hermione, who didn't realise she was trying to pass them, so they found themselves stood on in the process. "Oomph," Ron grunted out as Valore's elbow accidentally landed in his stomach.
When she finally managed to push past Harry, "Draco Malfoy?" she asked in a soft and slow singsong voice that was not her own.
Malfoy stopped and turned on his heel at his name spoken by somebody he did not know. "And you are?" he asked coldly.
Her reply only hesitated for a second, but in that second Harry saw her demeanor change completely. Her face relaxed and her movements became more fluid as if she were the essence of bored confidence…uncannily mimicking Malfoy.
"Valore Bloom," she answered after that moment's hesitation. It wasn't until it was too late that Harry realised she might have plans to carry out what she'd been rattling on about in the cupboard. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."
Ron nudged Harry hard in the ribs with his elbow and was about to speak up but Harry flashed both him and Hermione a warning glance that quieted them both. Hermione, instead, rubbed the spot on her foot where she had been stood on and shot sinister glares toward Valore.
"Have you?" Malfoy asked, his pale eyes narrowed. "And why is that?"
"I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Malfoy. I'm glad to have finally run into you, I hadn't thought it would be this easy," she offered him her hand.
This flattery was not lost on him and he stepped closer to take her outstretched hand in his own. "And what, exactly, have you heard?"
Valore laughed lightly, "I think we can talk about that more when we're alone." She made her eyes flicker in the direction behind her, indicating the small group that was watching them with utter horror.
"That can be arranged," he grinned lewdly at her. "I think you'll find me two cars down and we can continue getting more acquainted."
"I look forward to it," she smiled toothily and as he and Crabbe turned to continue on their way, she lost her smile and screwed up her nose in disgust. "Ew, he touched me! Malfoy germs! Now I feel dirty," she feverishly wiped her hand on her muggle jeans. Harry noticed that her voice had changed back to its normal tones and her nature became less fluid…the version of Valore he'd originally been introduced to had returned just as quickly as it had left.
As she came back to stand beside Harry again she realised they were all staring at her with a mixture of confusion and what might be described as spiteful revulsion. "What?" she asked, shrugging nonchalantly.
End of Chapter 2. Please leave a review!