𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄~ {The Lestrange Daughter #1}

𝟐𝟗. Petrified

Kill me now. Please just end it.

"Harry, Harry, Harry. Can you possibly imagine a better way to serve detention than by helping me to answer my fan mail?"

Is there no mercy in this world?

"Not really."

Don't indulge him!

"Fame is a fickle friend, Harry. Celebrity is, as celebrity does. Remember that."

Valentine had been sitting on the floor outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom for close to
four hours and she had no idea how she was managing to stay awake. Not to mention she was missing dinner for this.

Out of all the teachers at this school, it had to be him.

Harry was still serving out his numerous detentions for the stealing a car and being seen by Muggles fiasco. Snape's had insisted that he and Ron be kept separate for detentions.

As if that would make a huge difference when they already spend all day together.

Valentine knew that Harry had already served several of his detentions with Snape, McGonagall and one with Hagrid which she doubted was much of a punishment at all. Now it was Lockhart and that truly was a punishment.

Valentine didn't like Lockhart being anywhere near Harry. She didn't trust him and she didn't believe a word that came out of his mouth. If Harry had suddenly come to be in danger, she highly doubted Lockhart would have been any help at all. He'd have probably been the first one outdoor. So, given Harry's track record of stumbling into trouble, she couldn't leave him alone with Lockhart in good conscience. Which meant she was suffering right alongside Harry although the boy had no idea.

She often wondered how Harry put up with it all. He hadn't asked for this. It wasn't his fault that Voldemort decided the world belonged to him and that he was going to murder anyone standing in his way. It wasn't his fault that Voldemort wasn't going to accept his defeat and yet last year it had become his problem and he had risen to the occasion.

On an average day, Harry didn't seem like a hero to Valentine. He was just another boy in her class trying not to fail miserably, but she only had to look a bit closer to know that wasn't true. Harry was special. Harry was different. Harry was the reason they all would manage to survive this again. If Dumbledore believed it, then so would she. Even if it meant slowly frying her own brain cells because Harry was serving detention with a major liability.

"What?"

That caught Valentine's attention as it hadn't been promoted.

"Sorry?" Said Lockhart.

"That voice." Said, Harry.

His voice sounded so strange and distant and it immediately put Valentine on high alert.

"Voice?" Lockheart asked, somewhat nervously.

"Didn't you hear it?"

Bloody hell. Did Lockhart break him too?

"What are you talking about, Harry?" asked Lockhart, trying to laugh it off casually. "I think you're getting a bit drowsy. And great Scott, no wonder? Look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours. Spooky how the time flies when one is having fun."

"Spooky..."

Valentine could hear the two inside the room starting to pack everything away. She stood and quietly ducked around the corner, hiding within the shadows as if she belonged there.

Harry bid Lockhart a curt good night and left the room, completely oblivious the human shadow moving through the corridors behind him.

She couldn't count the number of times she had been close enough to touch someone and yet they had no idea she was there.