I'm sorry this chapter is rather choppy and changy, but I really just wanted to get everything in that happened on the one day, rather than having lots of little chapters, which I don't really like. Enjoy.

Oh, and if you're a Percy Jackson or the Avengers fan, I've just published a new crossover called 'Can you be cured', so be sure to check that out. It's only 1 chapter so far, but I'll be sure to update it when I can. Just something to point out.


Valkyrie fell into step beside Skulduggery as they walked down the corridor.

"So," she said "we're fired."

"Yes."

"But we're staying?"

"Naturally."

"Ok… why?"

"I would have thought that would be obvious." Valkyrie said nothing. Skulduggery let out a sigh. "We have to make sure Professor Umbridge does not completely take over the school. If she does, the rest of the students, especially the one's involved in the secret organisation might be at risk. In order to stay we need to be working on a case, and the only case we have is Cedric Diggory's murder, which means we have to stay to take statements off the students and teachers."

"Because that would be bad." Valkyrie nodded.

"Very, yes."

"What about Tanith and Ghastly?"

"They're leaving today. We've already got Ghastly's approval to be on the case, and as far as the Sanctuary is concerned, we're still teaching here."

"So they're just not going to say anything."

"Precisely."

"But what about Kenspeckle?"

"He's being allowed to stay due to medical research. He'll leave at the end of the year, when we do."
"I hope Umbridge doesn't try to get to him."

"She'll get a shock if she does."

"Well, yeah, but… shut up."

"There's no need to be rude, just because you couldn't think of a response."

"…shut up."


Fred and George ran into Valkyrie around midday. She was writing something in a notebook, but seemed unfocused, staring beyond it. She had noticed them approaching though.

"Hi." She said, closing the notebook.

"Hey Val," they answered simultaneously, making her smile slightly "we've had it." She frowned.

"What?"

"We had enough of Umbridge," Fred began.

"We're leaving." George finished.

"But the school year's not over." Valkyrie frowned again.

"We don't care."
"She's gone too far."

"We don't need our N.E.W.T.s anyway,"

"Yeah, we have our O.W.L.s."

"And we have a plan."

"A plan we have."

"Ok, so, what's your plan?" She asked, and the twins grinned, each tapping their noses.

"Just wait and see."

"Don't miss it."

"Definitely don't miss it."

"Ok, I won't miss it. What aren't I missing?"

"You'll see."

"Just be in the courtyard at 12.30 today."
"And make sure to swing by the charms corridor afterwards."

"O-ok."

"Later Val!"

"We'll come visit you in Ireland sometime."
"You don't know where I live."

"We'll find out."

"Yeah, we'll just turn up on your doorstep."

"Ok, you do that." Valkyrie said with a roll of her eyes, and they saluted her before linking arms and skipping off down the corridor to a chorus of laughter from around the corner. Valkyrie sighed and flipped her notebook open again. There wasn't much written down. In fact, there wasn't anything at all, apart from: What should I write?!

She sighed. Darquesse had been muttering to her. The annoying thing was that she had been muttering back. It was the usual or course, the casual: how are you, what are up you up to, you're going to kill everyone tomorrow… Just completely normal stuff.

And Darquesse wasn't the only problem. Well, obviously there were lots of problems, but there was one big one she'd been worried about that wasn't her homicidal other personality. It was her parents. Her dad was still in hospital, her mum and sister forced to Gordon's house – not that it was a bad house, it was in fact a very nice house, but it wasn't their house – and there was no reflection to take her place when she got back. How was she supposed to bluff her way through that one? She'd already told them about the fake job proposal that would maybe work, maybe being the operative word. What if she was out all night, catching bad guys, or someone caching her? What if by some freak accident she got transported to the other alternate reality again? How would she explain that? Just walk in, and say 'Hi, sorry I'm late for dinner but I was teleported to another dimension and fighting bad guys all day'. Good one. So far, only one option was looking likely for her, and it wasn't the one she wanted. It wasn't the one she wanted at all.

She scowled at herself and closed the notebook, slipping it into her jacket. Since Umbridge had fired them, their rooms were no longer theirs, and she would have to find a place to sleep. Of course, Skulduggery would have to go with her, but he didn't sleep anyway. So far she was thinking of just sleeping in one of the chairs in the Gryffindor common room. Sure, it wouldn't be comfortable, but she'd slept in worse conditions ('If the conditions were worse then why were you sleeping?' – 'shut up').

At any rate, she'd sleep somewhere. It wasn't as if there was a bed shortage. She could always sleep in the hospital wing if there was no one else there. It's not like she'd be a burden or anything. And she could visit Kenspeckle. She shook her head and sighed as she moved off down the corridor. Skulduggery was somewhere, organising interviews and gathering statements from the teachers. Now, they were detectives again. And she wasn't afraid to show it. If Umbridge came anywhere near her, she'd show her who was boss. After all, resisting arrest is a crime, right? And Umbridge had definitely committed a crime – taking Valkyrie's bed away from her, uh, I mean, assaulting students. That was the one.

"You're so selfish."

'Shut up.'

"Why should I?"

'Because I said so.'

"And you're in control now, right?"

'As a matter of fact, yes, I am.'

"You're lying."

'You would know.'

"I would. And I do. I know everything."

'Now who's being big-headed?'

"I said selfish."

'Same thing.'


Valkyrie entered the courtyard at exactly 12.27pm. So far, everything was quiet, until the strike of 12.29 when the sound of an explosion shook the inside of the castle. She looked up. For once, she and Darquesse were in agreement.

'What the hell are they doing?' was the question that rang through both of their minds. She turned, about to go through the doors when she sensed the air change, and jumped back, just in time to hear the cheering before the twins shot out on broomsticks, trailing fireworks and smoke after them. A crowd of students in black ran after them as they cheered, and Valkyrie noticed teachers were mixed in the crowd too, including Professor Flitwick, who did a small fist-pump. A giant red and orange firework in the shape of a 'W' exploded in the air as the two twins shot off, still cheering, into the distance.

The outburst made Valkyrie feel exhilarated, but also sad. Two of her closest Hogwart's friends had gone. She'd probably never see them again, unless they did as they claimed and turned up on her doorstep, which she found very unlikely. And she hadn't even said a proper goodbye.

She sighed, and turned, walking back into the school with her hat pulled low over her face, head tilted down slightly so the top half of her face was in shadow, and made her way to the Charms corridor, to see what the last surprise the two Weasley twins, Fred and George, had left, before they disappeared.


The swamp would be a legacy, there was no doubt about that. There was a doubt in Valkyrie's mind, however, about why Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had been in Umbridge's office during the time of the elder Weasley's departure. She'd seen them running down the corridor, away from the office, while everyone else, including Umbridge, was still outside, but she hadn't called out or ever shown herself. She had just watched. She doubted they even noticed her.

But she had other things to do, rather than speculate on her friend's activities, for all she knew they could be pulling a prank, which she would definitely not criticize them for. Umbridge deserved everything that was coming to her, if that was the case, but Harry and Ron didn't seem like the pranking type. Still, they could have been doing something on Fred and George's behalf, but why would the twins entrust something so exciting to them, and not do it themselves before they left? It just didn't fit. Anyways, back to what she had to do.

She walked into the common room, and quickly found Seamus and Dean sitting at a table, talking to each other.

"Seamus, Dean," she said, making them look up "I'd like to have a talk with each of you, if that's alright. Now." Seamus looked to Dean, who was in turn looking at Seamus.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Official investigation. I'm getting statements." She said bluntly.

"Oh." Seamus began "Ok." Valkyrie began to walk away, and then noticed they weren't following her.

"Well? C'mon then." They got to their feet quickly and followed her out of the room. They walked in silence to McGonagall's room (Umbridge had confiscated the combat room) and Valkyrie asked Dean to wait outside. Seamus sat down at a table, and Valkyrie sat down opposite him, taking her hat off and putting it on the table whilst pulling out her notebook and a pen.

"Ok, Seamus, this shouldn't take long. Where were you on the day of the Final Task of the Triwizard Tournament?"

"In the stands, with everyone else."

"Did you know Cedric Diggory?"

"Not really."

"But you know Harry."

"Yeah."

"Would you say Harry was malicious in any way? Did he ever hurt anyone, or behave aggressively?"

"No, not really. I mean, he would snap sometimes when he lost his temper, and he insulted my mum at the start of the year, but nothing serious."

"Why did he insult your mum?"

"He was angry about the Daily Prophet making up stuff about him. I didn't help things, either."

"Would you say Harry ever showed aggressive behaviour towards Cedric?"

"No. They were friendly with each other."

"How so?"

"Well, Harry told Cedric what the First Task was, and Cedric gave Harry a hint to help him with the Second Task."

"Did you notice anything odd about the Third Task?"

"No. We didn't know anything was wrong until they got back."

"And was there any aggressive behaviour from Harry when he got back?"

"No, he was crying I think."

"Right. Last question. Did you know anyone who might have wanted to harm Cedric?"

"No. No one."

"Right. Thank you Seamus. That's everything."
"Why are you doing this Stephanie?"
"Why am I doing what?"

"Interrogating. You know it was you-know-who who did it, we all know."

"It's still an open case, Seamus. There's no evidence other than Harry's word. And with Dumbledore gone we have his only other firm supporter gone. I know it's him, and you know it's him, but we can't prove it. It's just a formality Seamus. Don't worry about it."

"You didn't ask questions before."
"It wasn't my job to ask questions before. Now it is."

"Dean'll say exactly the same thing as me."
"Which will credit Harry further. Thank you Seamus. I'll see you later. Send Dean in on the way out, will you?"


"How'd it go?" Skulduggery asked her.

"Same thing. Harry's not aggressive, he had nothing against Cedric, no one would want to hurt Cedric. Basically, it was Voldemort."

"Which means we have to find him."

"Which is impossible."

"Nothing's impossible."

"For someone like you?"

"Especially for someone as amazingly brilliant as me, yes."

"Right. How did I not know that?" Valkyrie said with a roll of her eyes. Skulduggery turned a corner, and Valkyrie had to do a u-turn to get back to him.

"Where are you going?"

"The Courtyard. Tanith and Ghastly are leaving, remember?"

"Oh crap, I forgot."
"How could you forget? I only told you this morning."

"Hey, it's been a long day."

"It's half past one in the afternoon."

"Which makes it even longer!"

"I don't understand your logic here."

"Just forget it." Valkyrie muttered as they approached the courtyard. There were bits of paper, and fragments of firework littering the ground from the twins departure, but Valkyrie quickly spotted Tanith and Ghastly, arm in arm, with Tanith leaning on his slightly. Valkyrie ran up quietly behind her.

"HI TAN!" She yelled down Tanith's ear, making her jump a mile and lash out to punch Valkyrie's shoulder.

"Jesus Christ Val! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Aw, does someone have a hangover?"

"I did but now I think I'm just deaf!" Tanith followed with a string of curses. Ghastly let out a small grin as he pulled Tanith closer.

"When you're back in Ireland you can each have a week off, then I want you back at the Sanctuary for other cases."

"Right." Skulduggery nodded.

"Hey Ghastly, as the Sanctuary technically doesn't know about this case, do we have to file a report on it?" Valkyrie asked.

"Of course we do," Skulduggery answered before Ghastly could. "You always have to do a report Val. It's essential."
"But it's boring."

"Boring and essential." Valkyrie groaned and Tanith gave her a parting hug.

"I'll see you soon, Val. And then we're definitely going to get drunk, together, this time."

"I'll think about it." Valkyrie said, hugging back. "How are you getting back?"

"There's a car waiting for us just outside the school gates." Ghastly said.

"We thought we'd have a little walk." Tanith explained with a slight smile.

"We'll see you back in Ireland." Skulduggery said with a nod, and Ghastly nodded back at him, before they turned around and began their descent out of the courtyard and down the hill.

"They're cute together, right?" Valkyrie said, watching them.

"Nauseatingly." Skulduggery agreed.