"Valerie," Fred began when I came down the stairs the next morning.
"No, Fred," I interrupted with a sigh. "It's fine. We're good. I get it, you're just trying to protect me."
"I'm sorry too," he replied. "I won't say anything about the broom, just be careful, okay?"
"Okay," I promised, giving him a smile. As school started back up a few weeks later, Oliver rounded up the team in the common room.
"Okay, so I know the last game was rough, but we still have a chance to win," Oliver said. "I'm changing practices to five times a week." We all nodded, determination on our faces. A few weeks before the match, I was looking for Remus and discovered he was likely in the History of Magic classroom, teaching Harry how to cast a patronus. The door was cracked open as I approached and their voices reached my ears.
"...they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and - and suck out his soul," Remus was saying.
"What - they kill?" Harry sputtered.
"Oh no," Remus clarified. "Much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no...anything. There's no chance at all of recovery. You'll just - exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever...lost." After a pause, Remus admitted, "It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. I've been trying to figure out how to tell Valerie. The Ministry has given the dementors permission to perform it if they find him."
"How can she believe in him?" Harry scoffed.
"He's her father," Remus replied simply. "Honestly, it's partially my fault." A few moments passed before he explained, "When she was a child I was too scared to tell her everything about Sirius. Instead, I told her about the Sirius I knew in school. She grew up with stories of him and I gave her every picture of him I had. It wasn't until she was eight that I told her why he hadn't raised her. Personally, I think she can't reconcile the Sirius I told her about and the Sirius who is supposed to be in Azkaban."
Harry scoffed. "She's an idiot."
I rolled my eyes as Remus retorted, "Or she's a child scared of her father being who everyone accuses."
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that about her," Harry sighed. "But he'd deserve the Dementor's Kiss."
"You think so?" Remus replied lightly. "Do you really think anyone deserves that?"
"Yes," Harry snapped. "For...for some things." After a pause, Harry said, "Well, thank you. I should probably get going." Harry left, instantly coming face to face with me. He looked frightened for a moment, but I merely rolled my eyes and shoved past him, hitting his shoulder.
"Remus," I said coldly, causing hm to look up.
Dread filling his expression, he asked, "How much of that did you hear?"
"Enough," I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest. "Why didn't you tell me?!
"I was about to go find you," he sighed.
"You should have told me the moment you knew," I retorted loudly. "And if you really think I'm just some stupid girl who has this childish belief in her father, you should have told me that instead of trash talking me and making me out to be-"
"That's not what I meant," Remus interrupted. "I just meant you only see Sirius how I told you about him! You refuse to believe he's guilty!"
"Because he's not!" I screamed.
"He did it, Valerie!" Remus yelled, finally losing it. "Your father killed thirteen people including James and Lily Potter!"
"N-No, he didn't," I said shakily.
"Can you prove that?" he retorted. I didn't say anything. Letting out a deep breath, I turned to leave before he said, "Valerie, you need to stop this. You need to stop this childish fantasy about your father before it destroys you." I paused, but after a moment, I walked away.
The next match was rapidly approaching and I began to throw myself into Quidditch and my schoolwork. When I wasn't in classes, I was in the common room doing schoolwork and when I wasn't in the common room I was on the pitch either running laps or working on different maneuvers. I had been completely ignoring Harry no matter what he tried to say to me.
I threw myself further into Quidditch during practices. "Harry, I've just found out who Ravenclaw is playing as Seeker," Wood said at practice. "It's Cho Chang. She's a fourth year, and she's pretty good...I really hoped she wouldn't be fit, she's had some problems with injuries....On the other hand, she rides a Comet Two Sixty, which is going to look like a joke next to the Firebolt. Okay, everyone, let's go."
We took off into the air and like I always did, I felt like I molded into the broom and we became one. We trained hard, everyone seeming to move flawlessly until we all landed at the end of practice. "I-I don't have any criticism," Oliver stuttered, shocked.
"That's a first," George remarked, causing me to smirk.
"I can't see what's going to stop us tomorrow," Oliver exclaimed. "Not unless - Harry, Val, you've sorted out your dementor problems, haven't you?"
"Yeah," Harry replied and everyone looked at my pale face.
"Uh, sort of," I replied, staring at my toes.
"Didn't you get help from Professor Lupin, Harry?" Oliver asked. "Isn't he your guardian."
My face reddening, I retorted, "We aren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment. Look, I'll be fine."
Looking at me sympathetically, Fred insisted, "The dementors won't turn up again, Oliver. Dumbledore'd go ballistic."
"Well, let's hope not," Oliver replied. "Anyways - good work, everyone. Let's get back to the tower...turn in early."