Valkyrie put the present on the doorstep of the Finnigan household gently. She thought they might not want to be woken by her at just past 4am in the morning. Skulduggery pulled up silently in the Bentley. It was Christmas day, and she was celebrating for a few hours knowing full well her parents wouldn't be up until at least 9 o'clock.

Getting into the front seat, she was welcomed with the fresh clean smell of the old car, the comfortable material of the seat, and the cheery voice of her partner.

"Merry Christmas." He smiled.

"Merry Christmas." She replied, grinning back. Skulduggery pulled away from the kerb and began to drive down the street. The sleek black Bentley was silently invisible in the lack of early morning light, and Valkyrie felt a calm ease wash over her as they passed the familiar surroundings.

"How's everything been going?" She asked.

"Well, I had the new sketch artist draw up some wanted posters – very old fashioned American style, you know."

"I didn't know we had a sketch artist. How did you know?"

"I know everything" Skulduggery said, waving it off with a careless hand "besides, Ghastly told me about him. I think you'd like him. He's in great need of a punching."

"Take me to him." Valkyrie grinned immediately, and Skulduggery chuckled.

"Anyway, he's draw up a picture of this Voldemort fellow to show Harry. I never knew people could be that ugly."
"You're very kind you know." Valkyrie said sarcastically.

"You'll know what I mean when you see it."

"Doesn't mean I'll be mean about it." She couldn't help but smile. "What about that other case you were working on?"

"Hmm? Oh, that one. Well, the double-murder has three new suspects, all in custody and one of which has to face charges of multiple theft in a separate case. The girl who blew up her boyfriend's head has been charged with manslaughter on account of she's a complete nut-job. She's in prison."

"That's good."
"Yes I was rather pleased."

"So, what are we doing today?"

"Depends on what you want to do."

"I have to give Ghastly his present, oh, and I have to take a picture of him."

"Why?" Skulduggery asked.
"Why not?"
"Because he's a Sanctuary official and taking photographs of him would be considered creepy?"

"Very funny, but no. It's for a photo album. The first half is of my family, the second is of my friends, to show Fred and George back at Hogwarts. And to show my mum pictures of them – she's very interested in where I've been."

"Aren't I on that list?"

"On what list?"

"The list of friends."

"Do you even have to ask?"

"I'll take that as a yes. Good." Skulduggery smiled, and Valkyrie broke a laugh.

"So, is your mum suspicious then?" He asked. Valkyrie's smile thinned into a frown as she thought.

"I don't know. I think she is, but not for the right reasons. I don't think she has any idea about all of this, but I think she's suspicious of the cover story."

"But it's a brilliant cover story, I thought of it myself didn't I?"

"Because all of your plans work out perfectly." Valkyrie rolled her eyes.

"Any more of that attitude and I'll kick you out of the car."

"You just try it, see where it gets you." Skulduggery held back a chuckle as Valkyrie giggled once.

"How did they react to your cover story?" Skulduggery asked her.

"They're not keen." She admitted "Mum thinks it's too dangerous for such a young girl and Dad thinks I should go to Uni, find a husband and have kids before I start thinking about a job."

"You can't blame him for wanting to be a grandfather."

"Oh yes I can. He's not getting any grandkids from me." Valkyrie folded her arms, pouting slightly as Skulduggery chuckled.

"Don't count your chickens until they hatch." He grinned.

"I'm seventeen!"

"So he's looking into the future. You never know what will happen."

"Ok, I am not having this conversation with you."

"I'm just saying, you might meet a guy you like, and-"

"Lalalalalala! Not listening!" Valkyrie covered her ears with her hands, squeezing her eyes shut as Skulduggery laughed. "Talk about this anymore and I will hit you." Valkyrie said, but Skulduggery chuckled.

"Whatever you say. We're here now anyway." He parked the Bentley, but before he could get out of the car, Valkyrie shoved the present under his nose.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Can't you tell by looking?" Valkyrie grinned. He smiled back and reached behind the seat, pulling out a small box for himself and handed it to her.

"Merry Christmas Valkyrie."

"Merry Christmas Skulduggery." Valkyrie watched Skulduggery, a slight grin on her face, as he opened the present and pulled out a Santa hat.

"What's this?" He asked, looking at her curiously.

"A Santa hat. It suits you."

"Very funny." He scowled. Valkyrie laughed.

"The real present's underneath." She grinned. He looked and saw the other box. Opening it, he pulled out the second hat, the real present, that was a darker tinge of blue, but rimmed like all his other hats with a black ribbon lining the edge.

"Now that's a proper hat. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Valkyrie grinned, and then realised that Skulduggery was expecting her to open her own present. She smiled as she peeled away the wrapping from the box to reveal a midnight black hand gun. It was bigger than she would have expected it to be, but she didn't really think about that. She was thinking more of why Skulduggery had gotten her a gun – as cool as it was – for Christmas?

"You mentioned you were worried about Darquesse coming out through being attacked" Skulduggery explained, as if he could read her mind "I thought it might bring you peace of mind to have your own protection that didn't rely on magic. Might help you sleep better. It's not loaded at the moment, but there are four loaded mags with it."

"Thanks Skulduggery." She smiled, looking up at him. He was watching her curiously, as if trying to figure out if she was pleased or not, so she picked it up, feeling the weight if it in her hands. What surprised her was that she already felt safer, just knowing she had one, just in case. She knew how to use it too. She wouldn't have to rely on Skulduggery always being there to protect her if something went wrong. It wasn't such a bad idea – as long as her parents didn't find it that was. She put it into her pocket, wondering just how it managed to fit so comfortably, as if she had been intending to own it for her entire life.

Skulduggery smiled and got out of the car, Valkyrie quickly following him into the Sanctuary. It was almost like déjà vu, only it was the good kind. The corridors were mostly empty too – perfectly acceptable considering it was only about 4:30 in the morning.

"Ghastly said he'd come extra early just to see you on Christmas day." Skulduggery said, smiling slightly.

"Aww. He's gonna be pissed I couldn't come at a better time isn't he."

"Oh yes."

"Perfect."

"He's been looking forward to seeing you again though. Seems we were both missed."

"That's nice."
"I know, very sentimental." They walked into one of the training rooms and Valkyrie sighed fondly.

"I haven't been here in ages."

"You haven't really had the need to be in here. You're fine with physical combat. Besides, you don't really have a teacher for that anymore, remember."

"You're my teacher."
"Wrong, Tanith was your physical combat trainer. I was your magic trainer."

"'Magic trainer' sounds like some kind of shitty shoe brand. 'Roll up roll up and buy the new magic trainers!'"

"Very funny."

"It was, wasn't it."

"Your ego is astounding."

"I learned from the best." Valkyrie grinned, and Skulduggery couldn't help but chuckle back at her, before the doors behind them were opened and Ghastly strode in, a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Valkyrie! Merry Christmas!" He grinned, wrapping her in a hug.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Skulduggery muttered. Ghastly ignored him as he handed Valkyrie a square box wrapped in brown paper.

"Thanks Ghastly." Valkyrie grinned "Here's yours. Merry Christmas." She opened hers to reveal a new protective outfit, red lining the sleeves, merging into black at the elbow of the jacket and at the knee of the trousers.

"Wow" Valkyrie breathed "Thanks Ghastly." At that moment in time, Ghastly had just opened his own present, and grinned at the boxing gloves.

"Just in time, my old ones are getting worn out. Thank you Valkyrie."

"Have you been punching too many people again, your eminence?" She grinned as he scowled.

"I really wish you wouldn't call me that."

"Too late, it's been said." Skulduggery shrugged, rejoining the conversation.

"And it will be said again." Valkyrie grinned. Ghastly scowled.

"You two can be really annoying you know."

"Annoying? Elder Bespoke! The very idea." Skulduggery said, as if he were outraged at the accusation, but he was grinning, then he snapped his fingers.

"I just remembered – let me find these wanted posters."

"Oh God, Val, you'll love 'em." Ghastly grinned as Skulduggery moved over to a cabinet and began filing through one of the drawers.

"Is that why you chose this room? So you wouldn't have to walk very far to get the posters?" Valkyrie asked raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe." Skulduggery replied, before he pulled out a brown file and handed it to her. She opened it and looked at the poster. It said Wanted: Dead or Alive, Lord Voldemort. Extremely dangerous. Proceed with caution. Valkyrie furrowed her brow at the picture, and then grinned.

"Your artist is shit. He forgot the nose." Ghastly laughed.

"No, that's how Voldemort looks – at least that's the description we've gathered." Skulduggery said, but he was grinning.

"Whoa, no wonder Harry was scared. Super evil nose-less guy coming at you." Valkyrie smirked "He is really creepy though. Not as ugly as the Grotesquery I guess, but still. For a fourteen year old that's never seen this kind of thing before… well, if I was in his place I think I'd be pretty scared."
"Not to mention he used the pain curse on him." Skulduggery pointed out.

"Yeah. I wonder if it was Harry who made his nose disappear."

"Ok that's enough nose jokes."

"Really, because I have loads of these."

"Yeah really. There's some posters of Sanguine and Tanith too – you said you were worried about them finding us at Hogwarts, so we thought if your friends knew what they looked like and did happen to see them, they could tell us and we'd be ready for them."

"Good idea, I just hope it doesn't have to come to that, though. I'd rather they just didn't find us."

"Me too. Anyway, it's Christmas day and we have" Skulduggery looked at his pocket watch ", about 4 hours until you have to be back at home. What do you want to do?" Valkyrie thought for a moment.

"Um… train?"

"I'm up for that. Let's test out these new gloves." Ghastly grinned. Skulduggery nodded.

"As long as the testing isn't on my face, I'm in."