"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."

William James

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"Do you have any idea how bipolar you are!?" I yell at Tom as we race through the Hogwarts Halls. "Your changing emotions are giving me whiplash!" I snap, sliding to the left, barely missing a boulder thrown at my head.

"They're destroying the whole school." I breathe out in annoyance.

"MOVE!" Tom snaps, shoving me to the side, and throwing himself back, as a Troll club smashes in between us.

"Impedimenta!" I send the spell at the troll, stopping the troll in it's spot.

"Wow. Wonderful, Dumbledore sincerely." Tom snaps, getting up and dusting off his robes.

"At least it's not coming to kill us anymore!!" I exclaim.

"How about you unleash your demon and kill them all!?" Tom sneers, making me glare at him.

"I'm not killing them!!! They are brainwashed!!!"

"How on earth do you know that!!?" He hisses.

"They are MOUNTAIN TROLLS!!! They wouldn't attack us otherwise!!"

"Oh.... this coming from the half demon."

"Excuse me!? Abaddon is highly civilized!! Sure he loves to kill people, but I balance out his bloodlust!!" I snap.

Suddenly Dippet's voice is roaring throughout the school.

"EVERYONE TO THE COURTYARDS. THE TROLLS HAVE ALL BEEN DEALT WITH. INJURED STUDENTS PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY OUTSIDE!!" He repeats and I slump to the floor exhausted.

"I'm just going to sleep for a thousand years." I groan. "Stupid Avery." I grumble, yawning.

"Dumbledore.... don't you dare fall asleep on the floor." Tom scowls. "I will leave you here." He snaps, annoyed.

"How do you expect me to fall asleep here?!" I ask him bewildered.

"You have a tendency to do that." He gives me a dry look and moves to grab my forearm, trying to haul me to my feet.

"NO." I groan. "Let me rest." I cry. "I'm exhausted!! Do you know how powerful that Fiendfyre counter-curse had to be." I whine, trying to escape his grasp.

"I utterly despise you." He seethes.

"I don't see why? I'm amazing." I say cheekily, making him close his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"I'm one second away from-"

"What?" I demand, challenging him.

He literally picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder. "TOM!!! Tom! What the hell!!! Put me down!!! PUT MEEEEE DOWN!!"

"Stop screaming or I'll throw you out a window." He scowls, silencing me instantly.

"How are you even carrying me. You look so scrawny."

"How dare you!?" He seethes. I've never heard him sound more insulted. "My body is perfection you utter troll."

"No the troll is over there." I point to an unconscious troll in the corner, laughing.

His lips twitch upwards and he tries to hide it, by shaking his head in disbelief.

"I saw that!!" I poke his cheek, grinning. "You just gave me your 'Tom smile'." I beam, making him give me a dry look.

"My 'Tom smile'?" He ponders.

"Yep. You can't physically smile properly.... I've never seen you do it actually...." I ponder and then poke him again. "Smile."

"What are you babbling on about? I always smile."

"Those are fake ones!" I fight back, making him grow silent.

"You noticed." He states, not asking a question.

"I'm not blind. Of course I noticed. I know your expressions like the back of my hand." I flip my palm over for dramatic effect.

"Guess you're the only one." He mutters and I prop elbow up on his chest resting my chin in my palm, and moving my head to stare at him silently.

"That's not a bad thing." I say gently. He grits his teeth and dumps me on the floor.

I yelp in surprise, landing on my burnt forearms. I wince, rubbing them slightly. I grumble profanities under my breath. "Why'd you do that?" I ask, the pain evident in my tone.

He strides around, eyes blinking as they fell to my scorched hands. "Why do you always burn yourself?" He parries making me scowl at him.

"Seriously why'd you drop me? I saved his damn life and he still hurts me." I grumble under my breath, moving to stand on my own.

"To shut you up."

"Why? I was saying the truth!!" I exclaim, annoyed and he pauses from his retreat away from me, tensing slightly.

He doesn't look back. "Exactly." He mutters and walks away.

I stroll after him, slowly, his words echoing over and over again in my head.

"Areshole." I grumble.

"I heard that!!"

"GOOD!"

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Apparently, Albus had cast a spell knocking out every troll on the premises. Half of the professors, were in charge of getting them out of the school before they hurt anyone again.

No one was dead thank god, but there were a couple of serious injuries, ones that Madame Strout dealt with instantly.

She sees my hands and shoves a vial into my hands. "Why did I know that you be be the only one burnt?" She scolds me, making me flinch in shock.

"I'm sorry!!" I whine.

The rest of the professors were trying to free the first years from the spell I'd cast.

"Seriously Dumple?" Tom narrows his eyes on me and I give him a sheepish look.

"Is anyone dead?! NO! I did a good job." I clap, grinning, before I wave my arm out in a half circle. "Clypeus detereum." I mutter and the shields are down, the vast amount of lightning and thunder in the Courtyard coming to a stop as well.

This also meant that Pan and Myrtle were free. I see them racing up towards me with equal expressions of livid anger. My eyes widen in horror.

"Um... See you later!!" I squeak and dash away.

"VALENTINE DUMBLEDORE!!!! YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!!!!" Pan screams.

"She went that way." Tom states dryly. "Kill her slowly." He muses, utterly serious and I scowl at him, before racing away trying to escape Lovegood's war path.

I come to a stop beside Nott surprisingly and sit beside him. He chuckles, staring down at me in amusement.

"I'll let you know if anyone threatening appears." He soothes and I smile.

"Thanks Theo." I yawn.

"Theo?" He asks, voice terse.

"Don't like it? I know you hate Theodore and everyone calls you Nott sooo...."

"Theo." He affirms and shrugs. "Sure. Whatever makes you happy Val." He smiles softly at me and I grin.

"You okay?" I ask him, checking to make sure he didn't have any injuries.

He rolls his eyes and grabs my wrist, careful not to touch my injuries. "Are you sure you should really be asking me that?" He muses, pointing to my burns and giving me a hypocritical look.

I motion to the vial, I was still drinking from. "They've actually gotten better. They were worse before."

"Thanks for coming back to get us. Tom would never admit it but he was relieved to see you. He'll never let you get the upper hand again though." He laughs. "That fact that you knew the counter spell and he didn't must be pissing him off to no ends."

I laugh at that, knowing damn well he was right. Taking another swing of the vial, I shiver in disgust. "Ugh. This is so gross." I stick my tongue out going cross eyed. This makes Nott burst into laughter.

"What's it taste like?" He chuckles, gazing at me softly.

"Like literal piss." I wheeze, making him roll his eyes.

"Can't be that bad." He steals the vial and takes a small swing only to swear, spitting it right out. "Hole shite!? What is in that thing?!" He stares at it in disgust.

I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "Your guess is as good as mine." I giggle, watching as the skin on my arms started to mend itself.

"VALENTINE!!" I hear Lestrange screech and then he's literally jumping into my lap.

I shriek, falling over and getting crushed by Lestrange's fat arse. "Les-" I smack him. "-trange!!" I smack him again. "Get offfff meeee!!" I groan and he grabs at my neck, hugging me closer to him.

"NO!!!" He shrieks. "Tom is after me!" He hisses in a horrified tone. "He's going to murder me." He whispers into my ear.

"He will not murder you!" I chuckle.

"Yes he will. Lestrange get off of the Troll." Tom demands, lunging to attack his friend.

Lestrange lets out the loudest most girlish shriek I had ever heard before in my life.

"TOM! You stay away from us!" I couldn't stop laughing.

"This concerns you not Dumbledore." He snarls, raising his wand and blasting a spell at the boy, who barely manages to duck.

"SOMEBODY HELPPPPP!!" He shrieks, running to jump behind Rosier, who moves out of the way. Rosier steps away hands up in surrender.

"Nope. NOT getting involved again."

"Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye."

Helen Keller