The class with the Weasley's was by far the most fun class Valkyrie had ever been in. They had devised the strangest most curious questions, and were always grinning and, when it came to blocking, they pretended to punch each other. Skulduggery of course, didn't find it as funny, but even he was smiling a bit.
The Weasley twins stayed behind at the end, and offered to escort Valkyrie to dinner. After a nod from Skulduggery, she had accepted and walked to dinner with them.
"So, Valkyrie's not your real name?"
"No, it isn't." She smiled.
"Cool. Hey Fred, I think we should start calling me George!"
"And I think I'll be called Fred!" They burst out laughing as Valkyrie rolled her eyes.
"If that's not confusing I don't know what is." She chuckled.
"I've never heard a girl chuckle. Do you get it from Pleasant?"
"Probably. My old boyfriend used to say I had the same attitude as Skulduggery. He said to me 'well done Val, you've got the emotional range of a dead man'. At the time it wasn't so amusing." She smiled. Fred's – George's? – face fell.
"You have a boyfriend?"
"No, me and Fletcher broke up over a year ago. It was very memorable."
"Why?"
"Well a few days later I was attacked by a vampire who thought we were in love. It was all very complicated." Valkyrie sighed.
"A vampire? You dated a vampire?"
"No! I hung around with him. Anyway he's dead now, so it doesn't matter." Valkyrie shrugged as Fred and George looked at each other, and their grins resumed.
"So, how'd you like the lesson?"
"It was awesome! When do we get to punch people?"
"Now that's the spirit!" Valkyrie laughed "Soon, once everyone's sure on blocking we'll do the punching. And then you'll be putting it to the test I imagine. We haven't really got a solid lesson plan yet." Valkyrie smiled as they walked into the great hall. Although Valkyrie was tall, the Weasley twins must have been at least a head taller, almost the same height as Skulduggery. Valkyrie spotted Hermione, the dark haired boy and Ron eating dinner, and she and the twins joined them.
"Hi." She smiled.
"Hello." Hermione replied. She seemed almost solemn.
"Hey, Valkyrie." Ron stumbled over her name, but got it eventually. "Isn't the other detective a bit, well, crazy?"
"Oh yes, he's recovering from being insane. He's 'unhinged' we say." She said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "He's getting better every day though, more like his old self." Fred and George began to tuck into the food around them, and Valkyrie slowly began eating a meat of some kind with potatoes, until the dark haired boy looked at Valkyrie. He had a scar across his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt that Valkyrie found most peculiar.
"What's that?" She asked, pointing slightly. He moved his fringe away and frowned.
"My scar." He said quietly.
"Pretty unusual scar. Did someone do that deliberately to you?"
"Not exactly no." He said. Fred leaned over to her.
"That's Harry. He defeated you-know-who when he was only 1 year old. You-know-who tried to kill him. The scar was unintentional."
"Unintentional. Big word for you George." Ron said mockingly.
"I'm Fred."
"Whatever." He huffed.
"So you're Harry Potter." Valkyrie smiled, covering the cogs that began to turn in her brain. Skulduggery had to know about this.
"Yeah." He said quietly. He didn't seem like a killer, but if he was a witness, that was just as important.
"One of the prefects told us about you on our way here. It's good to put a face with the name." She said pleasantly. Harry looked up at her, as if he expected her to be mocking him.
"I guess so." He muttered. Hermione looked at him, and then looked at Valkyrie, who was observing him closely. After a moment, Valkyrie turned to Hermione and smiled again.
"So Hermione. You didn't like the lesson, did you?"
"How did you know that?"
"I'm a detective. I detect. You had a scowl on your face the whole way through. Just like that group over there that's sitting watching us." She said. She knew the blonde haired boy was on the table behind. Hermione leaned over and looked, then looked back to Valkyrie.
"Why don't you like learning how to defend yourself, Hermione?" Valkyrie asked.
"I don't agree with violence, and I think it's pointless that we're learning how to do this in our exam year. Unless it's Malfoy of course, I could punch him any day."
"Malfoy?"
"Draco Malfoy. The one on Slytherin table with the white blonde hair. His father's rich, and he thinks that makes him automatically better than anyone else." Hermione scowled.
"Well then I pity Mr. Malfoy when he goes into the working world. It'll be quite a shock for him." Hermione looked Valkyrie up and down and frowned.
"Why has Dumbledore asked us to take this class?"
"No idea. I just did what I was told, packed my bags, said goodbye and off we were." Valkyrie shrugged. "Skulduggery knows a bit more about it than I do if you want to ask him."
"No, that's ok."
"He won't kill you for asking, you know. I don't get why everyone's afraid of him."
"Duh! He's a living skeleton!" Ron exclaimed. Valkyrie laughed.
"Yeah so? Just because he's made of bone doesn't mean he'll rip your head off for asking a question. Well, unless you ask about before the war. Just stay away from that general topic."
"Our mum tells us about the war." Ron said solemnly. "She says it was the worst thing she'd ever seen."
"You know about the war?" Valkyrie raised her eyebrows.
"Well yeah, doesn't everyone?" Harry asked.
"Not that I was aware. How old is your mum anyway? She has to be over 80 if she actually fought in the war."
"80? What are you talking about? The war only ended 15 years ago. Because Harry got rid of you-know-who." Ron said, as if she'd offended him. Valkyrie suddenly clicked.
"Oh! You must have had a different war. The war I'm talking about was back in the early 1900s."
"Oh. There's a lot of wars aren't there."
"Too many." Valkyrie agreed. Hermione looked at her.
"You're not a witch, are you? I mean you don't have a wand, and you talk about completely ridiculous things. You're almost like Loony Lovegood, except she is a witch."
"No, I'm not." Valkyrie smiled mysteriously. "And personally I hate wands. You can't do magic without them right? Wizards and witches? That's far too dependable for me. I mean, how easy is it to snap a wand?" She smiled again as Hermione narrowed her eyes.
"So what are you?" She asked. Valkyrie grinned.
"Classified." Then she laughed "I've always wanted to say that!" She grinned "But seriously, I'm not allowed to tell you. You'll probably find out anyway, in time. But until Skulduggery gives the go-ahead, my lips are sealed." She pretended to zip her lips shut, and then she grinned, eating some more of her meat. She finished quite quickly before saying 'goodbye' to the twins, Hermione, Ron and Harry. Walking through the corridors, she stretched her arms out and yawned. What she wouldn't give for a few hours in bed.
Walking into the classroom, Skulduggery was talking to a dark haired man who was dressed in long black robes.
"Ah, Professor, this is my partner Valkyrie. Val, this is Professor Snape."
"Pleased to meet you." She smiled, offering to shake his hand. After a moment, he did. He was the professor with the greasy looking hair Valkyrie had seen when she walked into the Great Hall for the first time yesterday. Up close it didn't look greasy, but it was almost, too black to shine.
"I'll check in later." Snape said. His voice was thick and slow, and sent shivers up Valkyrie's spine. He reminded her of a bad guy, not a particular one, but a bad guy in general. He strode off, closing the door.
"Well, he's…creepy." Valkyrie said eventually.
"He's the potions teacher. They don't half have some strange lessons in this school."
"They don't half have some strange people in this school." Valkyrie smiled, and then she turned to Skulduggery.
"I met Harry Potter." She said. Skulduggery looked at her.
"Where do we stand then?" He asked.
"Well, he doesn't seem like a killer to me. He seems shy and quiet more than anything. But if he's a witness we'll still need to interrogate him. After the school day is over is probably best."
"Right then. Do you know where he'll be at that time?"
"Well he sits at Gryffindor table and has that tie, so I assume he's in that house. Where is the Gryffindor boy's dorm? Don't boarding schools usually have a common room or something? He could be in there."
"Right. I'll ask the Gryffindor house leader if she can fetch him for us."
"Professor McGonagall?"
"That's right."
"I think it might be better if I ask her."
"Why?"
"She's scared of you, she's just really good at hiding it."
"And I've been bothered about people's feelings how many times exactly?" Skulduggery titled his head and Valkyrie grinned, taking out her timetable and turning it over to see the map. The transfiguration room was on the same floor, just a few corridors away.
"I'll go and see if she's in her room now. I'll be back soon."
"Ok. Just remember we have a class fifth."
"I won't forget." Valkyrie grinned, walking out of the room. She walked down the corridor with her hands in her pockets, passing a few groups of students. They ignored her, and she ignored them, continuing to walk towards the transfiguration room. The door was large and old, and when Valkyrie knocked it, the sound seemed to echo into the room and the corridor. A prim 'yes?' followed, and Valkyrie opened the door.
"Hi, Professor McGonagall."
"Oh, Detective Cain. What can I do for you?" McGonagall was levitating books onto desks, which Valkyrie half-watched curiously.
"Skulduggery and I were just wondering if you could get Harry Potter to come to talk to us after the classes have finished today."
"Harry Potter? Why?"
"We're murder detectives, Professor. We'd like to look a little further into what happened last year, and Harry is the only witness we know of so far."
"Young lady, Harry Potter is not a murderer." McGonagall looked at her with a suddenly stern face. Valkyrie held her ground. She'd faced tougher.
"I never said he was, Professor. But he is a witness, and therefore of help. Look, we just want to talk to him about what happened. We're just trying to do our job."
"You're job, miss Cain, is to teach the students defence. That is all Professor Dumbldore had instructed you to do."
"But we don't just answer to Professor Dumbledore." Valkyrie said, and Professor McGonagall sighed.
"We just want to talk to him. But we don't know where to find him. He knows you, he respects you. He'll listen to you. Please, Professor." Professor McGonagall sighed.
"I'll bring him to you. But if he doesn't want to say anything-"
"We won't force him Professor McGonagall. I promise." Valkyrie said solemnly. McGonagall sighed again.
"5 o'clock sharp. I'll bring him to your classroom."
"Thank you Professor. We really appreciate it." Valkyrie turned to walk out of the door, when she heard McGonagall's voice again.
"Why didn't Detective Pleasant ask me?" Valkyrie turned.
"You didn't seem so fond of him, so I said I'd come instead." She turned again, taking another step, before McGonagall said something else which made Valkyrie turn slightly.
"Thank you." Valkyrie nodded slightly and smiled a little before she left, closing the door behind her with a long, low 'thud'.
