𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄~ {The Lestrange Daughter #1}

𝟔𝟒. Dead

"Val! Val!"

Valentine slowly drifted to the world of conscious, the heavy tendrils of sleep clinging tightly.

"Val, wake up!"

She was been shaken. Someone was shouting. She cracked open one eye and looked up at a panicked Leah hovering over her.

"It's Olivia!" Leah exclaimed. "She's gone!"

"What?" Valentine squinted at her. Her tongue felt like it was made out of led.

"She wasn't in her bed when I woke up and I went downstairs to look but she wasn't in the common room either! Have you seen her?" Valentine shook her head and Leah got visibly more worried. "Why would she be gone so early? We have to look for her. I'm going to go wake boys and they can help!"

And like that, before Valentine could stop her, Leah was whirling out of the room, still in her nightdress. Valentine stared after her for a dull moment and then remembered.

Olivia was dead.

She let her eyes close again, turning onto her stomach to bury her face in her pillow. Why was she still so tired? She felt so heavy. Then she remembered that too.

Snape had given her a sleeping potion the night before so she could sleep. If Leah was awake then it was still fairly early and since she had been awake so late last night, she couldn't have been asleep for more then a few hours. The potion wouldn't have worn off yet. She was surprised Leah had been able to wake her at all.

She wondered how Dumbledore had handled things and she wished she had fought to stay. Snape had walked her back to the common room, not spitting a single insult in sneer in her direction. That was something she would have usually pointed out seeing as that must of been the first time they were alone together that they didn't argue, but her mind was filled with the image of Olivia's broken body, the feel of her bone in her arm threatening to break the surface. Valentine knew now that Olivia had died instantly. By the time she'd gotten to her, there was no life to save.

They'd stopped at his classroom so Snape could give her the sleeping potion and after going so long with silence between them, Valentine spoke up.

She explained the situation to him, her practical mind telling her it was better things were covered now rather than later. She told him to tell Dumbledore what had happened and he just nodded, listened to it all without a word. He didn't explain how he and Dumbledore had found her until she prompted him.

He said that Flich had woken him saying that Moaning Myrtle had ratted on her for being out after lights out and that she had seen her receive the letter and leave immediately. Snape had dismissed Flich for the night and gone straight to Dumbledore. They could both make the obvious assumption that this wasn't just any letter. From there, they searched for her and found her relatively quickly given the size of the school.

Snape had spotted her first. By the time he realized what he was looking at, Olivia was already falling. Both he and Dumbledore knew that there was nothing that could be done.

And that was all he said. Again no insults of any kind. He walked her to the common room in silence and when she said goodnight he just grunted in reply. She'd been asleep the second her head hit the pillow.

She turned her head on to its side, looking at Olivia's bed. Leah had left her lamp on, filling the room with that familiar green glow. Olivia's bed was, of course, empty. The sheets were neat and made, that single teddy bear sat against a post at the end.

She'll never sleep in that bed again.

-----Pretending To Hate-----