Sorry I haven't update in a little while, I've been really busy. Thanks to all those who are reading! :)
Valkyrie tossed and turned in her bed as she struggled to sleep. They had been at Hogwarts for a total of 2 weeks and 4 days, and she was no closer to a decent night's sleep. Ever since she began thinking about Darquesse again, her mind had been restless, and it was driving her insane that she would be kept awake at night by the many possible scenarios her over-imaginative brain would come up with.
Skulduggery sat in the corner, night after night, not making a sound, but merely being there was enough. Valkyrie knew she was safe from attack as she slept, no one would bring out Darquesse while Skulduggery was around. At first it had helped. But now, after the nights had dragged on, and on, she found it difficult to sleep until late into the night when sheer exhaustion would set in, usually just before or just after midnight.
Trying to hide it, Valkyrie had taken to staying in the classroom at meal times, and eating in her own room when she grew hungry. Fred and George had noticed, coming to the classroom to check she was alright. She had grinned, shoed them away after a quick chat, but she doubted they knew how tired she was. The most obvious sign was her attitude. She practically reeked of grumpiness.
As sleep eventually consumed her, Valkyrie's thoughts were plagued with visions of Darquesse, the world falling at her fingertips, her family crumbling to dust, the many arts of torture used on the many people she called her friends. Many of the Hogwarts students that had become her friends, were now merged in the crowd of decaying bodies that pooled crimson blood across the burning landscape as buildings fell, stone crumbled and screams echoed in an eternal night of fiery nothingness. They were very bad nightmares indeed.
As Valkyrie woke up to low sunlight, she groaned.
"Bad dreams?" Skulduggery's velvet voice sounded from across the room. Valkyrie nodded as she sat up, stretching and yawning.
"Very." She muttered "I'm gonna go take a shower."
"Ok. I'll get the house elves to bring you some breakfast."
"Thanks." Valkyrie yawned and stretched against before standing. She muttered a curse to herself as she entered the bathroom. Turning on the shower and changing out of her bed clothes, the warm water felt good on her skin, and she felt at least a little stress lift from her as she washed her hair. She felt clean again, even though she'd only been in the shower the day before, it still felt good. It woke her up.
By the time she had finished, she thought it must have been time to go. Getting out of the shower, she dried herself and got dressed, wrapping her hair up in a towel.
She felt more awake now, and smelled slightly like strawberries. She liked that. Walking out of the bathroom, she saw a tray on her bed with an assortment of breakfasts including toast, cereal and a variety of others Valkyrie had never seen before in her life.
Skulduggery was writing something down in a notebook in the corner of the room as Valkyrie bit into a piece of golden toast.
"What are you doing over there?" Valkyrie mumbled.
"It's rude to talk with your mouth full." Valkyrie rolled her eyes and swallowed.
"I said 'what are you doing over there'?"
"I'm writing down some of the details the headmaster told me about this Voldemort person, what I could get out of him anyway. He wasn't very forthcoming about it."
"Why?" Valkyrie asked, finished off another slice of toast.
"Apparently not a lot of people will talk about him. There was a war, and he killed a lot of innocent non-magic people as well as wizards and witches."
"So? A war's a war, people are gonna die."
"Yes, but it wasn't the innocent's war. They're non-magic remember Val. Voldemort and his followers would hunt them down or attack them in the streets just for being non-magic."
"That's quite harsh. Then again, the remnants did that. But they only tried to bond with them I guess." Valkyrie's voice trailed off as she remembered Tanith.
"Indeed. Accroding to the headmaster, Voldemort was defeated by Harry between 14 and 15 years ago. Since then he's been 'biding his time'. Seems he's too weak to call back his followers and continue the war."
"But Harry said-"
"Exactly what I'm getting at, Val. In the last year, Voldemort had 're-risen'. He's begun recruiting more followers and bringing back all the ones who weren't imprisoned for their crimes."
"Which is bad."
"Very bad. A wizard who is extremely powerful and has the urge to kill a lot of people, including many at this school."
"Do you think that's why Ghastly wants us here?"
"I think that's why Dumbledore told Ghastly to bring us here, yes. Ghastly didn't make the decision remember."
"Minor detail." Valkyrie shook her head and then sighed, not in the mood for more food "So, another crazy, murderous psychopath on the rise. It seems every year some random murderer tried to take over the world around here."
"Indeed."
