Daughter of a Monster (A Marauders' Era Story)

Chapter 9: The Secret-Keeper

Chapter 9: The Secret-Keeper

Her body was invisible.

Her body was invisible.

Her body was -

"What in the bloody hell is this?" Valeria mumbled to herself, eyes wide as she stared down at herself.

She grabbed the fabric and pulled it off, revealing her perfectly visible body. Then she draped it over herself again. Then she took it off. She repeated this process until it finally sank in.

"He gave me an invisibility cloak," Valeria said to herself in realization.

Shaking her head, Valeria released a silent whistle of air from her mouth. She grabbed her wand from her boots and covered herself with the invisibility cloak. Trying not to think about where Sirius (or maybe, James) got it, Valeria wandered out of the Gryffindor common room. All the while, Sirius watched from the dorm, Peter Pettigrew behind him.

"A-are you sure t-this is a good idea?" Peter whispered.

"It's fine," Sirius said. "She's just going to visit Moony, anyway."

"Isn't James in there?" Peter wondered.

Sirius's eyes widened slightly, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Y-you're sure?"

"Yes!" Sirius snapped. "Stop making me doubt myself!"

*****

Valeria scampered through the hallways in wonder, not having to worry about anything (not even the ghosts!) seeing her. On her way to the hospital wing, she had passed Nearly-Headless Nick, wondering if ghosts could still see her. Her heart had beat so hard she thought it would come out of her chest, especially when he looked directly at her. After he stared at her, however, he moved on as though nothing happened - as though she weren't there. In a sense, she really hadn't been.

A sigh escaped Valeria's lips once she reached the hospital wing, the stress from growing accustomed to the cloak dissipating into thin air. Stepping into the wing, she tread lightly to Remus's bed where a small light shone through the curtains. She stood just outside them, cloak over her head, which she really didn't need. James appeared to be sleeping behind his curtains (evident by the lack of movement and light), and Madame Pomfrey was nowhere in sight. Just as she was about to remove the cloak, the curtains to Remus's bead billowed open.

Remus held his illuminated wand in one hand, A Farewell to Arms on his lap. He quickly moved the book off his lap and swung his legs over the bed, alert, as though he could hear her heart beating beneath the invisibility cloak. Valeria struggled to quiet her breathing, not knowing whether she was successful or not. Moving his eyes around, Remus still seemed alerted by her presence.

Then he did something Valeria would have smacked him for.

He stood up, taking a very shaky step forward, reaching outward. It seemed like an odd gesture to Valeria, but then she remembered: he is friends with Sirius. He probably knows about the cloak. What's more, who knows how many times the Marauders used it? Heart beating rapidly in her ears, Valeria watched as Remus stumbled forward.

He let out a pained groan, stumbling toward the floor without any indication he could catch himself this time. Valeria moved forward, catching him, but barely managing to keep him from touching the floor. Moving her hands to support his weight, she tried to lift him. Luckily, he regained his footing and helped himself up. With their combined effort, they managed to get him back into bed. Remus winced as he lay back down, obviously in pain. For some reason, Valeria wanted to reach out and move his hair out of his face, apologizing to him even though she didn't do anything wrong. Noticing his wand on the ground, she picked it up and handed it to him, realizing how odd it must have been to be handed a wand out of thin air.