V sat in bed too anxious to do anything most evenings. She tried to motivate herself in her head by telling herself she should go to the library to study. But she just couldn't; there were people in the library, people that would take any opportunity to hex her.
On top of this she had caught a cold and had been feeling increasingly miserable. Her bed was littered with tissues and sheets of parchments from all the essay writing she had been doing. She often fell asleep in the middle of her studying due to the new convenient location she had been doing it.
The only time she traveled somewhere that wasn't her bed or class was when she needed something to eat or she had quidditch. Her next quidditch game which was against Hufflepuff was slowly approaching and there was increasingly less time to prepare. She didn't really care though. There were bigger things on her mind like the group of Deatheaters that had broken out of Azkaban, and the blame that her fellow peers were putting on her and Sirius for the break out.
George often tried talking to her but she couldn't stand the looks that people were giving him every time he was seen with her. She hated the idea of him getting dragged into her problems.
V was shaking and sneezing in the cold of the quidditch field early on the second Thursday of term as she packed up the equipment used by the team in training. Normally the team would stay behind and help pack up but this particular morning was too cold for anyone to think of anyone else other than themselves. They all had run to the showers, each wanting to get in first.
She was shaking rather violently as she picked up the last of the quaffles but continued to lug the trunk full of gear to Madam Hooch's office. V couldn't feel her fingers as they gripped weakly around the trunk's handle. Out of nowhere a mud puddle appeared in the middle of the snow and just like that she tripped on nothing into the mud puddle.
V barely had time to gasp or put her hands in front of her or anything as she fell with a splash. As soon as she hit the puddle, she heard a distant snicker and once she had looked up to see who it was she saw a group of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students running towards the castle laughing.
One with noticeably golden hair turned around and yelled, "Stay in the mud Deatheater!"
V was already in strong discomfort from the cold so being hexed really didn't help her mood. She slowly got up trying to fumble for her wand but her hands were too numb to reach into her boot and grab it so she slowly shuffled to Madam Hooch's office.
She wasn't bothered to knock so she left the trunk outside her office and hugging onto herself she walked back to the castle. Her teeth chattered as the muddy water she fell into froze onto her quidditch gear and hair. She felt dreadful. After swiftly making her way through the castle to the dormitory she grabbed her uniform and headed to the showers where the Carrow twins seemed to have notice her.
"V!" Flora said grabbing onto her arm. "What on earth happened to you?"
"Quidditch." V mumbled.
"Surely there isn't any mud this time of the year though, isn't it all just snow?" Hestia asked.
"Well I guess I also got hexed but nothing out of the ordinary." V replied flatly. The look in her eyes were rather dead and uncaring which concerned the twins greatly.
"Who? We'll send Adrian and Draco after them-"
"The whole school wants to hex me so why does it matter the person who did it?" V deadpanned. She then grabbed her towel and headed to the shower not bothered to talk anymore.
She had a long shower, so long that she was definitely going to be late to her first class but she didn't care. Either way she had minimal concentration in her first few classes and spent a majority of them studying every single tiny detail of her quill. She was tired of everything.
Her last class of the day was potions which meant being in the same room as George. She had spent the past week trying to convince herself that this would have been a bad thing but deep down inside a warmth in her glowed.
V once again spent the entire period studying everything in the room that didn't relate to what the Professor was teaching, but this time managed to steal brief glances of George and his fiery Weasley hair. He did the same to her when she wasn't looking.
"Miss Black, how on earth are you to graduate early and complete a healer's apprenticeship when all you're doing in my class is stare at an ink pot?" Professor Snape snapped, frightening the whole class except V who merely glanced up at him.
"Studying in my spare time." She replied in a monotone.
Snape looked at her not too sure how to reply that so he regained himself and continued on with the lesson. At the end of the lesson Snape approached V's bench as everyone filed out of the class.
"Aren't you going to leave?" Professor Snape inquired.
"Probably." She replied reaching into her bag to grab a handkerchief to blow her nose, which had gone bright red from the cold. Snape examined her face which was so colorless it looked almost grey with the exception of her nose and ears.
"You know if you're sick you should go see Madam Pomfrey or consider taking a break."
"Games on Saturday, NEWTs in 3 months. Oh, and people want me dead. A break isn't an option." She mumbled.
Snape folded his arms and stared down at her with a sophisticated elegance which had a touch of what V read as pity. This however didn't add up in her head, he hated her guts, he made fun of her in class, he tried to get her expelled. But for some reason today he seemed to have pity on her.
"Ambitious like you should be. But sometimes being resourceful with your time is a part of being Slytherin too." Snape told her.
"I don't want to be Slytherin; I don't want to be hated." She replied simply. She then looked up at him for the first time since their conversation started. "You knew my dad." She said. This was meant to be a question but it came out a statement.
"No one knows what happened to him but yea I knew him. Probably the most unappreciated person I know, that's probably where you get it from."
"He was a Deatheater though." V replied plainly. "My parents and Sirius are the reason why I'm the most hated person here. That's all I know." V said standing up and packing her things. She walked out of the classroom with Snape watching her till she closed the door behind her.
Had Snape suddenly grown fond of her having found out who her real father was? Did he really hate her father that much V thought to herself.
To her surprise George was still waiting outside the classroom and as soon as he saw her he hugged her so tight she thought her bones might just break.
"Come on." George said grabbing her hand and pulling it down the corridor.
"Where are we going?" V asked but George didn't reply, he just kept on leading the way till they were on the left hand seventh floor corridor.
V wasn't bothered to ask why they were where they were, but instead she stayed quiet and rubbed her eyes tiredly. They suddenly stopped in the middle of the corridor and faced the wall. V looked at George who was looking back at her intently and looked back at the wall and out of nowhere there was a door. She looked back at George confused but he didn't say anything but gave her a hint of a smile.
He opened the door still holding her hand and immediately they were greeted with excited chatter and silvery mist. Out of nowhere a silver otter floated in the air towards them and V seemed to realize what was going on at once; someone or a whole group of people were practicing the Patronus charm.
"What on earth-" V muttered under her breath while George closed the door behind them.
As soon as people saw V they stopped casting Patronus charms and stared in her direction. This created a chain reaction and V felt deeply uncomfortable.
"Uh, Everyone, I'm sure you all know her but this is V. George and I agreed that we should invite her to a session-"
"But why?" Someone asked immediately.
"Because she is smart and reliable, so why not?" Harry responded plainly as if inviting 'an evil plotting Slytherin' to a Dumbledore's Army meeting was completely normal. Many shot shocked and agitated looks at him.
"Are you kidding? There are so many reasons why not." A Ravenclaw girl with curly hair chirped.
V leaned towards George and asked him in a low quiet tone, "What even is this?"
"It's Dumbledore's Army, we're doing all the practical work that we're meant to be doing in our defense against the dark arts classes that toad face isn't letting us do." George explained aloud.
"We're doing this because times are going real dark real fast... Thanks to people like you." A boy with noticeably golden hair added with a look of disgust on his face. V's eyes narrowed as she looked at him. She recognized him. He looked a bit unsettled at this as well as the people who stood around him, but V kept her mouth shut tight.
"I think you are all deeply misunderstood when it comes to V. I wish I didn't have to point this out but she's really not a Deatheater nor has she tried to associate herself with any Deatheaters. In fact, she's shown hospitality to people on our side on multiple occasions. V is a good person and I can promise each and every one of you that." Harry told everyone.
"Harry's right, you really need to put your trust in him on this, I can guarantee that not a single thing he's said so far is a lie." Hermione agreed.
More people seemed to relax around the room but still some didn't quite look convinced. V closed her eyes, took a breath, and opened them again.
"Look, if you're scared of me snitching on your little club I'm really not going to. I've kept many things secret from our school like George and I's relationship, I've kept us a secret so I can probably keep this a secret. I don't have any form of malice in my heart for anyone, only upset and anger and that is towards the people who have made me into the person who is hated as I am. But either way, if you don't want me here there is no need to kick me out, I will walk myself out of this room quite happily. I'm done being humiliated, and hexed, and shoved into the mud. I am a person after all." V said looking very intently at the boy with golden hair. He looked down at his shoes in almost what could be described as shame.
"I think V would be a real asset to have in our meetings so if anyone objects, object now." Hermione said.
No one said anything so Harry continued on. "There is another reason I got V to join and that's because she's seen what both sides of this wizarding war are going to be like. She can tell us about what we're preparing for."
V looked up at Harry, unsure for why he hadn't informed her of any such club like this earlier or why he had randomly gotten George to bring her. V exhaled deeply as everyone looked up at her expectantly.
"I haven't yet first hand seen the power that comes from the dark side but I can tell you in quite a bit of detail what the effects the dark side has even on its own people, and that's all pain, brainwashing, and death. You aren't just fighting some immoral bad guy with a few tricks, you're fighting a full-blown monster. I've got people close to me on both sides and I'm scared that because of so this war is going to tear me up." V explained to the group. Everyone was looking at the floor in a solemn fashion, except for George who had his hand on her shoulder.
"I know for a fact if I go to the dark side I'll be hated even more than I'm hated now, but I also know if I join this side I'm going to get murdered." V said quietly but then she looked up and spoke up. "But war doesn't happen without bloodshed and that's what you all need to realize as you sign yourselves up for this. I'm Slytherin, the supposed daughter of a mass murderer, and from a line of prejudice witches and wizards, and after being humiliated and bullied by multiple people standing in this very room I'm still willing to die for your cause." V looked at every single person in the room with a heavy look in her eyes. "But are you willing to do the same?"
Hello peoples, yes its been a very very very veeery late upload from me but what can I say other than I'm lazy? Welp, hope ya'll had a happy reading. Btw I will definitely try finish writing this fanfic, that's been my goal since I've started and I will do everything I can to follow through with that goal. Thanks for all the votes and comments <3