"It was a good thing Mrs Finnigan woke up when she did." Ghastly said, his voice slightly crackling over the phone "If she hadn't put a stop to the blaze when she did the three of them would have been dead."

"But they're ok?" Skulduggery asked. He was just outside the Hogwarts gates, being apparated there (the nearest place with signal) by Professor Dumbledore as McGonagall led Valkyrie back to her room.

"Her father's being treated for second degree burns to his legs and one of this arms – the left I think – in hospital, and the three of them are being treated for severe smoke inhalation. Apparently Desmond tried to break down the door using himself as a human barricade before Mrs Finnigan got there. From what we can gather, Melissa woke up almost as soon as the fire started and managed to get out of the bed before pulling her husband free and waking him up. By then it had spread across the entire bed and half the room. Desmond broke down the door through the fire, Melissa got the baby but by then half the landing was in flames and the smoke was too thick for them to breath. Apparently Mrs Finnigan broke one down the front door and doused enough of the fire to let them get down the stairs and out onto the street. I suppose she would have used magic, but I'm not sure if either of the Edgely's noticed."

"Doesn't matter right now. They're both recovering?"

"Yes."

"Good. If you can, contact Gordon at the Edgely mansion and tell him to clean up a bit and hide himself. They'll probably be staying there until the house is repaired."

"That'll be a while then – I went myself to have a look at it, it's neatly burned to the ground."

"Right."

"What about Valkyrie? Is she coming back?"

"I don't know. She's rather… unstable, at the moment."

"Well, she can take leave if she wants to, spend some time with them."

"I'll tell her."

"Right. I'll keep you posted."

"Good. Thanks." He ended the call and turned to where Dumbledore was waiting.

"Good news, I hope?" He said, his face looking as stern as ever.

"Her father's got second degree burns and her mother and sister have severe smoke inhalation. But they're recovering."

"Lucky."

"Very. Mrs Finnigan, Seamus Finnigan's mother, helped get them out of the house. If she hadn't, they wouldn't be alive." Dumbledore was silent for a moment before holding out his arm.

"Shall we return?" Skulduggery nodded and rested his palm against the headmasters arm. A moment later, they were back in the hospital ward. Skulduggery retreated quickly. Kenspeckle was still in the room, thoroughly confused, but recognising a hospital wing when he saw one.

"Madam Pomfrey" She turned to Skulduggery as he spoke. "This is Kenspeckle Grouse. He was our leading medical examiner." Kenspeckle walked over and shook her hand grudgingly.

"We'll get you back to Ireland as soon as possible Grouse, but for the moment see if you can help tend to the injured." He glanced involuntarily to where China was sat on a hospital bed, and felt his hate burning into him.

"I don't take orders from you detective."

"I'm not ordering, I'm asking, that you stay here while I go and tell Valkyrie her family is safe." Kenspeckle paused, and then grunted.

"Fine."

"Good."

"I still don't like you detective."
"I think I can live with that."


Skulduggery knocked on the door, but didn't wait for the response as he entered. Valkyrie looked to him immediately, getting up from where she was sat on the edge of the bed.

"Are they…?"

"All alive and recovering." She closed her eyes for a moment in relief.

"How bad is it?" She asked quietly.

"Smoke inhalation, and your dad has some burns that are being treated." She closed her eyes again. But this time Skulduggery thought she might be sick.

"I'm a monster." She said eventually.

"No you're not."

"I set my own house on fire."

"You weren't in control of your actions."

"She knew exactly what she was doing." Valkyrie muttered "I should have stopped her. If I had been stronger then I could have taken back over before she did anything. I'm weak."

"Valkyrie, listen to me," she looked at him, "you are not weak. If you only listen to one thing I ever tell you in your entire life, let it be that you're not weak." Valkyrie said nothing except:

"I'm going to get changed." She picked up her pyjamas off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.


It was the next day when Hermione, Harry, Ron, Fred and George came to visit. It was during the lunch break (Ron had been happier that they went to the Great Hall for lunch first) and McGonagall had let them into the teachers' corridor.

Harry knocked on the door and Skulduggery opened it.

"Is Valkyrie in there?"

"She's in the bathroom." He said, stepping aside to let them in. The room seemed smaller with the extra five people inside.

"She's been in there all morning." Skulduggery said, closing the door.

"She must be taking the world's longest shower." Ron said to himself. Skulduggery looked at him sceptically. Harry elbowed Ron in the ribs.

"Darquesse has never done anything like this before. She's fought people, she's killed people, but she's never targeted anyone save for a few members of the Sanctuary. She hasn't plotted anything like this before. It's been difficult for Valkyrie to cope with."

"Does she just, wake up? I mean, does it go dark, and then all of a sudden she's back again?" Harry asked.

"No, she retains every memory." Hermione mentally winced at Skulduggery's words – she couldn't image not being in control of her own body and doing such terrible things.

"How's her family?" Hermione couldn't help but ask.

"They're all alive, in hospital recovering. Her father was the only one seriously burned, but he's in a stable condition." The room was silent for a moment.

"And the other two people, what were they for? Who are they?" Harry asked.

"The first is Kenspeckle Grouse. He used to be our medical examiner before his assistant killed him with a scalpel about three years ago. Darquesse resurrected him. The second," Skulduggery paused for a moment "she's a woman not to be trusted. Back in the time of the war she worked on the opposite side that believed the world should be made up of sorcerers on top, non-magic folk on the bottom, treated in squalor, if they were to be left alive at all. This particular group was called the Diablerie. They kidnapped my wife and daughter and gave them to a man called Neferian Serpine. He killed them in front of me. In my anger, I grabbed a nearby dagger, not realising he had barbed it with poisons. I died shortly afterwards. She may not have killed my family directly, but she's the reason they're dead." There was a long pause filled with an awkward silence, before Skulduggery spoke again. "Since then, she rejected the Diablerie and became the first of a neutral party. After the war she opened a private library and collected information for the Sanctuary. The library has since been blown up in a revenge attack by one of the members of the Diablerie. I didn't known about her involvement in my family's death until quite recently. If I had, you can be sure she would not be alive today." There was another pause.

"What's her name?"

"China Sorrows. Darquesse knew, knows, as well as Valkyrie does that I can be very aggressive and in some cases controlled by my rage. She was hoping she'd get a reaction by brining China here."

"Fair warning: she might not want to see you." Skulduggery said before knocking on the door. "Valkyrie" he said, raising his voice slightly "you have visitors."

"Go away." Came the muffled reply from behind the door.

"We're coming in anyway!" Fred called from behind Skulduggery.

"You can't stop us!" George finished his sentence.

"I'm not unlocking the door." Valkyrie's voice sounded again. Skulduggery sighed and began muttering under his breath before pressing his palm flat against the wood of the door. There was a small click and he reached to the door handle, and opened the door.

Valkyrie was sat in the furthest corner wearing her pyjamas, knees pulled up to her chest, the blood soaked clothes of the previous day scrunched up in the sink, slowly staining the white porcelain red. Skulduggery stepped aside, and allowed them to go in.

Harry walked in first, quickly followed by Ron, the twins and then Hermione.

"What do you want?" Valkyrie muttered, not looking at any of them. The silence became awkward faster than they had anticipated, their tongues going dry in their mouths. 'How are you doing?' didn't seem like such a good question to ask anymore – it had sounded better five minutes before anyway.

"We were just wondering…" Fred began, and then trailed off. George tried to pick up his sentence.

"That is, if you were ok…"

"Maybe you'd like to come to the… uh…"

"To the Great Hall for… dinner. Tonight?"

"Do I scare you that much?" Valkyrie asked, suddenly looking up, no longer trying to hide her red eyes that had gone puffy with crying "So much that you can't be yourselves around me?"

"It's not-"

"We didn't-"

"We're just worried about you." Harry said quickly. Valkyrie lowered her head again.

"You don't need to be worried about me. I can take care of myself." She muttered.

"There's no shame in hiding," Hermione said.

"I'm not hiding." Valkyrie scoffed "I'm just…" She paused, and couldn't find a lie, then scowled. "I'm not hiding."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Harry asked quietly. Valkyrie scoffed.

"Oh, yeah, like I'd do that. She's a closely guarded secret. The more you know about her, the more likely it is she'll try to kill you." Valkyrie paused a moment, and then looked to Harry, furrowing her brow.

"Did you use sorcery?"

"What?"

"On the field, near the BlackLake. Did you use sorcery?"

"Um, yeah, I guess."

"Huh, I thought I felt the air change." She put her head back down, then sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Fine, ask away. The sooner we get it over with the better." She muttered. Fred and George glanced to each other.

"How long has she been there?" Ron asked,

"What?"

"Like, were you born with her, or…?"

"Sorcerers have three names, the given name, that your parents give you, the taken name that you pick yourself, and the true name, which is who you truly are, almost like the name of your soul. But most people don't find out their true names. I did, and it created a sort of split personality because me being Valkyrie is so different than Darquesse. She's been with me ever since."

"But does she ever go away, for good?"

"No. She's always there. She's talks to me a lot, sometimes she makes me think in a way she would think, or shows me something she'd like to see that I wouldn't."

"Or gives you black outs." Skulduggery said from where he was leant on the doorway. Valkyrie looked up immediately.

"How did you know about that?"

"It was quite obvious."

"Why didn't you say something?!"

"I was waiting for you to tell me in your own time." Valkyrie cursed him under her breath before lowering her head back down.

"But, will she, you know, come out, again?" Ron asked tentatively. Valkyrie hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

"Eventually. She surfaces when I'm in serious danger. But, that happens quite a lot." Her voice trailed off, and her face took a sort of rigid expression for less than a second, as if she'd had an idea she'd decided not to share. Harry wondered if it was Darquesse talking to her, but pushed that thought away.

"I suppose Dumbledore's kicking us out." She muttered, more to Skulduggery than the others.

"No, not yet. But he's not happy."

"I don't blame him." Valkyrie muttered. "How's Tanith?"

"Recovering."

"Is the remnant gone?"

"You should know." There was a pause.

"And Sanguine?"

"He's being kept alive but unconscious."

"I thought the order was kill on sight?"

"It was, but as we have him in custody, Ghastly would like to say 'hello'."

"Oh."

"So," Fred began, breaking the slight silence "are you coming back?"
"Back?"
"To teach the lessons."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, do you?"

"It might be good for you." George said, taking over from his brother. "Work out some anger, get back to normal."

"You can't stay in the bathroom for the rest of the year." Fred continued. Valkyrie didn't say anything, and there was silence for what seemed like hours, but was in reality a few minutes.

"Classes are about to start," Skulduggery said from the doorway "We'd best be going."

Slowly, one by one, the trio and twins filed out, with slight waves and whispered 'goodbye's.

"I'll be back soon Val." Skulduggery said. Valkyrie nodded stiffly and Skulduggery closed the door, disappearing from her sight. Valkyrie winced.

"Yes, Val, you can't stay in the bathroom all year." An evil laugh rippled through Valkyrie mind as she covered her ears with her hands, and began to cry.