Valerie smirked at Pansy Parkinson's terrorized face.
While everyone else was shocked, and silently scared for what was to come, Valerie was surprisingly calm for a queen who had just been insulted by nothing more than a commoner.
Slowly, she edged towards Pansy.
Everyone else held their breaths.
Then, as her Advisor and Sentry Frances was about to speak, Valerie held up her hand to silence him, finally catching sight of Harry and Ron, who had followed her to see where she went.
She turned to Pansy.
"So you think yourself above me to insult me, don't you?" Valerie purred, in a soft, yet malicious tone. "You think you can easily get away with it because you're a pureblood, hmm?"
Valerie dived into Pansy's head, searching through all of her private memories.
Pansy clutched her head.
"No. No, your Majesty, stop," pleaded Pansy, as Valerie saw her flirting with guy after guy, sleeping with them and then breaking their hearts, taunting them and belittling them.
Valerie left her head.
"Are you sure you don't think I'll forgive you because of your wealth and high pure blood status?"
Pansy nodded. "My father, he..."
Valerie looked at Pansy. "Your father, what?"
"My Regina, please," she whimpered, using the name her father fashioned for her, no doubt confirming that Mr. Parkinson was a Death Eater, seeing as only Death Eaters knew of Valerie's omen.
Valerie banged her scepter on the ground.
"I do not want to hear that from your filthy lips," Valerie demanded. "Is that understood?"
"Please," begged Pansy.
Valerie gritted her teeth, still hiding all the emotion she felt.
Merlin's beard, she is honestly worse than the ministry toad, Umbridge.
"AM. I. UNDERSTOOD?" she threatened, banging her scepter with every syllable.
"Yes, Your Majesty," whispered Pansy.
"Good," sighed Valerie boredly. "Don't mess with me ever again, Parkinson, for I am like a lion, waiting for my prey to fall for my trap."
She sat down on the nearly-empty seat, only occupied by Daphne Greengrass.
Pansy exhaled in relief, thinking that it was over.
But Valerie was not done speaking. She picked on Draco's ring on her finger, touching it with her gloved fore-finger. Then, she drawled, almost lazily, "and I always, play with my food before I eat."
Pansy paled, the meaning of those words finally sinking in.
"So in other words, Parkinson, you, are the mouse, who has calmly and obtusely walked into my trap, not knowing what would happen if you did. You were so clueless, and now the time has come for you to enter the jaws of the lion, and I am not prepared to let my meal go. I am, as you would say, like my father, selfish... And it's been so long since I was last fed..." she trailed off, looking at Pansy with a hungry look.
"What say you, Parkinson?" asked Valerie. "You and me, The lion and the mouse."
"I don't say anything," said Pansy.
Bang. The scepter hit the ground once more.
"Pathetic," Valerie jeered, turning her nose away from Pansy disgustedly.
She saw Harry in the doorway, his eyes transfixed on her.
She acknowledged his presence.
"Ah, Potter.. Come to see the show," she chanted. "If I recall correctly, you were there at the Ministry during my, ah, coronation, am I mistaken?"
Harry blushed, irritated at the looks of concern, jealousy and attention moved to him. His eyes not moving, he slowly nodded in response, "yeah, I was."
Valerie smirked. "Then you will be able to tell us all how I dealt with the high up Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Dolores Umbridge, yes?"
He nodded.
Valerie's eyes flashed toward Pansy. "You see, Parkinson, I am not afraid to show my inferiors my wrath," she drawled. "And Potter will tell you how I took on a woman almost triple my age without a wand," she continued.
What little color there was left in Pansy's cheeks left, and her eyes widened, fright as clear as day in her brown eyes.
Valerie held up her hand, the same hand with Draco's ring.
Pansy screamed.
At once, Valerie laughed coldly and emotionlessly.
"Oh, but Darling, I haven't done anything yet, let alone start," she cooed, a smile of pure amusement playing upon her lips.
She flexed her fingers, closed her fist, then opened it, the gloves elegantly moving with her fingers as well. She repeatedly did this, everyone staring at her with bated breath.
Finally, her fingers opened once more, and she bent her hand slightly.
"Give me your hand," she ordered, looking at Pansy dead in the eye.
Pansy whimpered.
"NOW!" Valerie thundered, the watchers by jumping back in fright.
Pansy obliged.
Valerie pressed a thumb against her scepter, and a metal pin emerged from the side of the head, right underneath the gleaming black jewel.
She reached for the pin that was no taller than her thumb, and thinner than a single strand of hair.
Slowly, she touched it against Pansy's skin.
"Does that hurt," she asked Pansy, who shook her head limply.
Valerie nodded, "it shouldn't."
The others who were watching didn't know what in Merlin's name was going on, so they just sat and stared, frightened by the outcome.
Valerie gripped Pansy's arm tighter, who shuddered, and put on a brave face. Then, without warning, she pierced the pin into Pansy's forefinger, and dug it right inside her skin.
Pansy winced.
Then, Valerie pulled out the pin, which was covered by a thin layer of blood. She muttered a spell, and the pin was floating in midair, precariously moving in a repeated rhythm.
Valerie then left it levitating in space, then taking off her right hand glove.
Her hand was pale, the skin smooth as butter, and soft as silk. There, on two of her fingers, lay two rings. On her ring finger, there was an expensive gold ring, a large stone set in the center, belonging to none other than Seraphina Riddle (nee Pendragon), also known as Valerie's mother.
On her middle finger, lay a ring of black gold, the rarest and most expensive metal in existence. This ring, unlike her mother's engagement ring, had no diamond, and was clear from all jewels. The only design it had, was the Pendragon family crest being engraved in rose gold and white gold, glimmering in the dull light that penetrated through the windows and into the compartment.
The black ring was the Pendragon ring, the ring that bound Valerie to her castle, her kingdom and her reign.
It was the ring of her Queenship.
Legend said that it was used for punishments, some said it was used for blessings. Arguable as the fact was, the world was finally coming to a conclusion, for nobody had seen the ring in action yet, as the last recorded use for it was two hundred years ago.
Much to everyone's disappointment, she didn't use the ring, but rather contented herself in watching everyone's faces mold into fright and suspense.
She took the pin from the air, careful not to let the blood touch her white skin. Then, she inserted the pin back into the scepter, and pushed it in.
It disappeared, leaving no trace that it had ever existed.
The obsidian black gem glowed, emitting an eerie dark color of glowing light, illuminating Valerie's hand that hovered above it, her palm reflecting off the ghostly spectrum.
Then, it went dark, back to it's normal shiny, polished state. Slowly, she rested her palm on the stone, then clasping her fingers around the scepter's head.
A moment later, she removed her hand, which was now giving a greenish aura, a slight tinge of glitter to it. Her hand shimmered for a moment, then returned changed back to normal.
By now, the interests of the watchers had intensified, if not perked up more.
Valerie then flexed her fingers again, then raised her hand up, curving her pale digits into a slight curve. then, she began to tighten her fingers slowly, bringing her thumb and other fingers to form a ring.
It was done extremely slowly, and the watchers wondered why her movements didn't have any visible result.
They were hungry for drama, and Valerie would no doubt feed them, and give them some gossip and rumors to spread about.
All at once, Pansy coughed, alerting everyone of her awkward standing, while their gazes all rested on the Queen.
Valerie made eye contact with Pansy.
She tightened her fingers once more. Slowly, they inched together, pining to form a ring.
Pansy coughed once more, and her breaths became more loud and raspy.
By this time, everyone had caught a whiff of what was going on. Valerie was enclosing her fingers, Pansy was choking. Valerie was not even touching Pansy. The two events were not related at all. But seemingly and coincidentally, they were related. A single question implanted in their heads.
How?
It did not take a genius to realize that Valerie was enjoying this. A smile played upon her lips, and her dark eyes were bright and vivid with emotion.
Pansy had gone red in the face, she was choking, and her eyes had widened as they tried to look anywhere but at Valerie.
"Pl-ea-se," she rasped, her throat vibrating, red finger-like markings forming on her skin.
Valerie smirked. "Please what?" she taunted, her thick eyelashes fluttering challengingly.
"S-S-St-op," she whispered, pleading with her soul. Tears balanced in her eyes. She tried to pry off Valeries fingers from her throat, but when she reached to touch her neck, she could only feel her own skin. Her eyes were watering, and Valerie was smirking.
The Queen then tightened her fingers an inch closer. Pansy choked louder, emitting a raspy cough.
Valerie turned to Harry.
"Potter, you are very good with dealing with pathetic animals. What do you think, should we stop?" she asked, the edges of her lips curving forward as she tightened her fingers together yet again, causing Pansy let out an anguished scream.
Harry's face was engraved into a look of shock and fright, although he tried not to show it. But Valerie could read him, the way she could read anyone and everyone else.
Pansy's head turned slightly to face Harry, not that it could turn much, anyway. She gave him a pleading look, and he slightly hesitated before he spoke.
His words came out in a whisper, ever so slowly, and barely heard, "yes."
At this, Valerie gave a final squeeze and released her hand, deforming the ring that her fingers made.
She slipped on her glove as she spoke, "you're lucky Potter was so nice, Parkinson. I have no doubt that he too is a victim of your ridiculing. Next time insult me, Parkinson, or anyone else for the matter, and I won't be so lenient."
Pansy's face was still, and she was frozen, the only trace of her pain were three red bruises that marked her neck, red and raw as they were freshly imprinted, in the shape of Valerie's thin fingers and her rings.
A single tear made it's way down her cheek, hovering right before it reached the end of her face, then dripping down in slow motion, landing on the floor and splashing softly.
Valerie looked around once more.
"Weasley, I believe you owe me a game," she ordered, her gaze locking with Ron's terrified stare, "I could do with a good game of chess."
The air was tense.
Valerie rolled her eyes. "Draco, Potter, you're welcome to join too," she added, then gestured to the two of them.
She faced the rest of the onlookers, who were staring at Valerie like a thousand owls eyeing a single piece of meat.
"Well, what are you all staring at?" she barked, "SCAT! And get out of my sight!" she spat at Pansy, then grabbed her scepter and strutted out of the compartment, Draco trailing after her.
Her eyes met with those of Harry and then Ron, who gulped and nervously flattened his vivid red hair.
They walked to the Royal Compartment, Valerie entering first.
Harry, entered last, a single thought running through his head.
Dark Magic.