Valentine had been on high alert from the second she'd seen Harry and Hermione lugging overstuffed bags down the hall. The three Gryffindor's had been doing their damn best to appear casual and covert but Valentine had learned to watch every move they made. They were far too inclined to be up to no good. Not to mention the mysterious monster said to be living in the bowels of the school that had been rearing its ugly head as of late. She pushed the thoughts of more students petrified like Colin Creevy far into the back of her mind where it wouldn't be screaming in her ear all day. Valentine didn't unsettle easily but this entire situation with the Chamber of Secrets was certainly pushing it. Nevertheless, she shoved it back as far as she could. She was good at that.

Valentine followed the Gryffindor's at a safe and careful distance. The halls were crowded as people had started travelling only in groups and pairs for safety after what happened to Colin Creevy. The students moved for her as they typically did and if they didn't see her, their friends quickly pulled them out of the way. Avoiding Valentine Lestrange tended to be a school-wide effort that, unfortunately for them, didn't always pay off.

Valentine was just glad that she was alone this particular afternoon. Draco, Leah and Olivia were replying to letters and then heading over to the owlery to send them off. While Liam and Blaze had promised to help Crabbe and Goyle torment, Neville Longbottom. Valentine wondered how the two were still alive if they couldn't even tease an easily teased boy without assistance. She supposed they were just scraping brains together where they could. Liam and Blaze were admittedly rather effective as bullies although it was hardly a side of them she enjoyed.

The three Gryffindor's were heading for the stairs leading to the third floor. She picked up her pace as to not immediately lose them amongst the stream of students on the next floor.

She reached the stairs herself and hurried onwards. This time, she wouldn't take any risks. They'd almost been eaten by a giant three-headed dog once because she had done just that. However, she wasn't in any position to start an all-out corridor, free for all, brawl. Her probation hovered firmly over her like a dark cloud or a Snape. This would have to be handled with care. She couldn't run in, wand flashing, though she thought she would excel at that kind of thing. This needed precision. Decisive and exactness. What neither she or the situation needed was Lockhart to be suddenly standing in her path, blocking her view.

Is this my punishment for publicly shaming him?

"Miss Lestrange." Lockhart didn't wink at her or smile. She thought it was for the best and would have greatly appreciated it more if he wasn't in her way. "Where would be going in such a hurry?"

"Nowhere important." Said Valentine, peering around the man.

She caught a glimpse of dark hair and heavy bags quickly moving away. She knew the halls well. The Gryffindor's would reach a t-section in a matter of seconds. If she didn't hurry, she would miss them.

"If you'll excuse me." She tried to slip away but Lockhart stepped back into her path.

Did he really not learn his lesson the first time?

"One on the edge can't be too careful." He said in a tone that he probably thought was magnanimous. It wasn't.

"I assume you are referring to my outstanding probation?" Valentine practically sighed. Outwardly she appeared utterly riddled with boredom. Inwardly is was clenching her fists hard enough to draw blood.

'No, no, of course not." Lockhart waved her off half-heartedly.

"Don't worry about me. This isn't my first probation." Valentine peered around him again. Harry Potter was very nearly on the brink of disappearing from sight. "The first involved a tad bit more pain, although surprisingly not more screaming than the act you pulled."

"Your attitude is completely unbecoming. Shall I tell the Headmaster?" Lockhart's eyes glinted triumphantly. "Perhaps he'll see fit to remove your probation and yourself altogether."

Bloody hell. He's not even dangerous or cunning. He's just a gigantic inconvenience and somehow that's so much worse.

"Perhaps," Valentine shrugged. She couldn't afford to get into this now for more than one reason. "Now, I really have to get going."

She pushed past him and marched on. She could hear him shouting at her but ignored it. He should have considered himself lucky she didn't turn his face black and blue this time and without the use of a potion.

She couldn't see Harry or the others anymore and it made her stomach churn. What had been in those bags? Why were they so obviously up to no good? What trouble were they getting themselves into now?

She hurried up the stairs. Looked her right and then to her left. She was surrounded by students on both sides and the Gryffindor's were completely unseen.

I am going to kill that man.

-----Pretending To Hate-----

Valentine had scoured the entire third floor. Then the fourth and fifth as well. Harry, Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be seen and it was all Lockhart's fault.

As she stalked the halls she calmed her nerves. Working herself up wasn't going to help find them.

I can't watch them every second of the day and I know that. I also know that they're tenacious if nothing else. They'll probably be fine.

She shoved those worried back alongside the one pertaining to Colin Creevy, the chamber and the monster.

Valentine made her way through the common room, ignoring the inhabitants. A group of girls giggling by the fire fell silent and a boy studying in the corner glanced up at her nervously.

The rumours that she may have been the Heir of Slytherin and so the cause of Creevy's petrification had spread quickly. Even the other Slytherin's themselves played a game of caution though they'd probably be the last attacked.

She was hoping to grab a nap before her friends came to bother her. Draco, Leah and Olivia were still out sending letters and it was safe to say they might take a while. Leah was easily distracted and the owlery was a far distance to walk. Valentine imagined she'd probably stopped to talk to a student or a tree or something. And Olivia would wait patiently as Draco complained and ever so slowly drifted off into madness. So, with Leah indisposed, Valentine crossed her fingers and wished for a long, restful nap to make up for her lack of sleep the night before and perhaps to even stave off the headache she could feel creeping in.

Valentine pushed open the dormitory door expecting to find it empty.

"What are you doing?" Valentine frowned.

Olivia was on her knees, rummaging through Valentine's trunk at the foot of her bed. Neat piles of Valentine's books and clothing surrounded her on the floor.

Olivia squeaked her face a mask of pure guilt.

"I'm so sorry, I promise it's not what it looks like!" She looked positively mortified. "I didn't mean to go through your things! It's just that I've misplaced something and I looked everywhere else and I thought it may have gotten mixed up with yours or Leah's things."

Olivia's words rolled forward like a nervous, trembling landslide. Her wide lime green eyes so close to the brink of tears that Valentine actually felt sorry for her. There was certain desperation to her tone of speaking that seemed to remind Valentine of someone else she had known who had been caught in a less than innocent act.

"What is this 'thing'?" Valentine eyes narrowed and only served to make Olivia fidget.

"Um, it's a bracelet that my mother gave me." Olivia wrung her hands out in front of her. "I'm sorry. I must seem really suspicious. I didn't mean to invade your privacy like that but it means a lot to me and when I couldn't find I panicked."

"I assume it wasn't in there." Valentine rolled her eyes.

"No." Olivia looked to her feet and the seemed to remember that most of Valentine's belongings were now on the floor. "Oh! I'll put these back right away. I really don't know what I was thinking, going through your things like that. I should have asked. I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry."

"What have I told you about apologizing all the damn time?'' Valentine growled and Olivia flinched.

"Right. I'm trying to stop, I swear."

"Well, try harder." Valentine huffed.

Olivia quickly packed all the clothing and books and other items back inside the trunk. Her back and shoulders were tense in a way that reminded Valentine of Draco and how his whole body would stiffen if his father were to brush past him too quickly or if he were to raise that cane of his. Almost like he was preparing himself subconsciously.

Valentine stepped up beside her and she froze immediately like a possum playing dead.

"I'll let you know if I find it." Said Valentine. "Now. I suggest you removed your hands before I crush them."

"W-what?" Olivia's mouth fell open.

"The trunk. I want to close it."

"Oh!" Olivia stood, blushing bright red in embarrassment.

Valentine slammed the trunk lid closed trying not to winch at the sharp sound that echoed in her head and aggravated her headache. She sat on the bed to unlace her boots.

"I...I'll ask around if anyone has seen it." Said Olivia, inching towards the door.

"Whatever," Valentine toed her boots off and slumped onto her back unceremoniously.

"Um," Olivia blinked at her.

While Valentine had always been an unusual combination of a strict, upper-class upbringing and a coarse, brazenness she had developed herself, Olivia still found this a bit odd.

"Val, are you okay?"

"I have a headache if you must know." Valentine dropped an arm over her eyes.

"Oh, well, maybe you should see Madam Pomfrey."

"No. I'm fine."

"...are you sure?"

"Ask me again and you'll be the one needing to see Madam Pomfrey."

-----Pretending To Hate-----

"No way. Uh uh. There is no way Leah Lovat got higher than me on a test." Blaze hid his face in his hands in utter. disbelief.

"Yes, way." Liam knelt put a hand on his friend's shoulder sympathetically.

"NO!" Blaze shoved Liam's hand off his shoulder and fell down onto the grass dramatically. "It's over. Everything. I've sunken as low as I can possibly go."

"It's not the end of the world." Liam sighed, rubbing his hand and frowning.

He took Blaze's place where he had been sitting against the tree.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure I'm not invisible, you know!" Leah scowled down from high up in the tree itself where she and Draco sat.

"Shut up the both of you." Valentine snapped, stepping over Blaze to sit beside Liam and Olivia.

"Easy for you to say when you always marks get full marks." Blaze grumbled bitterly.

"Perhaps if you actually studied for once your grades wouldn't be such an utter disaster." Valentine kicked at Blaze's foot in irritation. "It's hardly my fault your as stupid as Leah."

"Um, yeah, still here people! I'm not invisible and I can very much hear you!'"

"We're trying our damned best not too." Said Draco.

"Don't make me push your stupid face out of this tree."

"You'd probably kill yourself trying."

"Would not."

"Would too."

"Would not."

"Would too."

"Would NOT!"

"Would TOO!"

"It's funny Blaze and Draco are kinda interchangeable when it comes to screaming at Leah," Liam said thoughtfully.

"Just like old times," Valentine said with a grimace that for once she didn't have to fake.

Her temples throbbed with a headache she was trying her damn best to ignore. She had made Olivia keep quiet about them. Draco and Leah would drive her to murder with their incessant panic and worry. The overwhelming concern they had learnt from Narcissa, but their pure distress was something that was all theirs.

"I think Leah likes the challenge, "Olivia said.

"You're telling me that thing's a challenge?" Liam gestured to Blaze's withered form.

"Would NOT!"

"Would TOO!"

"Oh, I was supposed to mention this earlier." Said Liam. "I spoke to my grandfather and he said I could have friends over during the summer." Liam nudged Blaze with his foot. "So, if Blaze is still alive and you guys are interested, you're always welcome."

"Hmm. I'll speak to my uncle, but I can't promise anything." Said Valentine boredly, paying more attention to slipping Blaze's wand out from his robes and slipping it into her own.

Both Liam and Olivia looked at her curiously but she pretended not to notice.

"Would NOT!"

"Would TOO!"

"Would NOT!"

"Would TOO!"

"WOULD NOT!"

"WOULD TOO!"

"What's going on now?" asked Crabbe as he and Goyle appeared.

"Draco and Leah are screaming at each other, and Blaze is...dead...I think," explained Liam.

"I'm dead."

"He's dead," Liam confirmed.

"Guess we should bury him then." Goyle shrugged.

He grabbed Blaze's hands and Crabbe grabbed his feet. They hauled him away with grunts of effort, Blaze himself not making a single sound or noise in protest.

"Would NOT!"

"Would TOO!"

"You think we should stop them?" Olivia wondered aloud. "What if they, you know, actually try to bury him?"

"It'll serve Blaze right for being so overdramatic." Valentine shrugged, gritting her teeth as a streak of pain stabbed at her temple.

"Yeah, they'll probably get distracted by food and leave him in a ditch somewhere anyway." Said Liam.

"That was a surprising amount of shade, Liam." Valentine arched a brow at him. "I'm impressed."

"Thanks." Liam laughed. It's was a cheerful sort of sound that just made Valentine's head throb even more. "That means a lot coming from the Queen of Shade.

"I did offer to help him study, you know." Said Olivia. "He said that as long as he did better than Leah that he didn't care."

"Honestly, the moron was up until three o'clock the night before the test." Said Liam. "If he had slept like a normal person, he wouldn't have fallen asleep during the test and he probably would have been fine."

"What was he doing up at three o'clock in the morning?" Olivia frowned.

"Secret guy stuff." Liam waved her off. "It's boring you, wouldn't want to hear about it."

"Well, now I have to know." Olivia laughed.

"Nah, trust me, you don't want to know."

"He and Draco were discussing what style of high heels Liam would look best in." Valentine picked at the grass by her boot.

"I'm sorry, what?" Liam went pale.

"Draco told me."

"You traitor!" Liam jumped to his feet to yell at the boy in the tree.

"Would not!"

"Little busy here Liam!" Draco growled in frustration. "Would TOO!"

"So..." Olivia leaned in closer to Valentine. "Did they ever reach a decision then?"

"Draco said something about open toes and wedges whatever the hell that means."
Answered Valentine.

"How much do you know?" Liam looked down at her sheer in horror.

"Enough to know that they never decided on either vermillion or indigo."

Liam buried his faces in his hands just as Blaze had before.

"My life is over." He groaned.

"Two down..." Valentine rolled her eyes at the display.

"I think vermillion would suit best." Olivia nodded decisively.

Liam grunted like he was in pain.

"Really." Olivia insisted. "And you're already so used to being tall. I think I'd get dizzy if I wore heels. I think Leah would suit them too."

Liam peered up from his hands to look at her.

"...thanks."

"They're just shoes." Olivia shrugged with a faint smile. "I don't see why you couldn't wear whatever ones you wanted."

"I think you may have a point there."

"Woah!" Draco yelped out from above them.

They looked up to see him flailing an arm at Leah, losing his balance and falling forwards and just managing to wrap one arm around the branch.

Valentine blinked slowly, unperturbed by the sight.

"Arg!" Draco struggled to pull himself back up as he threw his other arm over the branch.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." Leah crawled onto the same branch as Draco. She leered down at him with a triumphant sneer as though this was the end result of a long a gruesome war. "It appears I win due to the sudden and gratifying death of my rival."

I doubt she even knows what gratifying means.

"Leah!" Draco hissed. "Help me!"

"No, I don't think I will."

"Help me you, moron!"

"Now I'm definitely not helping you."

"You're seriously just going to let me fall!"

"...Doesn't he realize he's only two feet off the ground?" Olivia asked Valentine.

"What?" Draco heard Olivia's words and glanced down at the ground beneath him.

He dropped to his feet and immediately turned on his cousin.

"Why didn't you tell me I was so close to the ground!"

"Maybe I just wanted to watch you squirm like a worm on a hook."

"If we weren't related I would seriously maim you."

"You could try but you'd only be failing twice in one day."

"We're back." Said Goyle as he and Crabbe returned.

"Woah." Crabbe grabbed the other boys arm and whispered in his ear. "Malfoy looks pissed."

"So, what'd you do with Blaze?" Asked Liam.

"Hmm?"

"Blaze?"

"Who?" Goyle glance at Crabbe.

"Blaze Zambini? The guy you carried off saying you were going to bury?"

"Oh, him!" Crabbed slapped at Goyle's arm. "I remember now. Yeah. He's around."

Liam pursed his lips.

"Around as in he finally got up and walked away or around as in you literally buried him?"

"You know." Crabbe gestured vaguely, "around."

"Oh, boy." Liam bit his lip.

"Anyway. We hear these students talking about Lestrange and how she's the Heir of Slytherin." Said Goyle. "About the Chamber of Mysteries or whatever."

"Chamber of Secrets." Olivia said.

"Yeah, that. They were talking about how that Creevy kid must have ticked you off or something."

Oh, for crying out loud!

"Yeah, so we had a question." Said Crabbe. "We've been thinking and you should totally go after this first year Ravenclaw girl next. She's so weird and-"

"Crabbe you idiot." Draco snapped at him. "Val isn't the Heir."

"Huh?"

"Who said she was?" Pressed Liam, suddenly serious.

"She isn't?"

"No!" Draco glowered. "Bloody moron. Those are just rumours."

"Yeah, besides." Leah dropped down from the tree. "If Val petrified anyone it would totally be Snape."

"Leah." Olivia hushed her.

"But we thought-"

"No." Liam cut Goyle off. "You two need to keep your damn mouth shut. This stuff is serious."

"I don't need you or anyone else to speak for me." Said Valentine, bright eyes on Crabbe and Goyle but her words meant for Liam. "I'm done with this. Let them think whatever the hell they want. They won't find a shred of proof against me. And Leah was actually right for once. If I really was the one behind it all, Snape wouldn't be walking around irritating..."

Valentine had to stop and bite harshly on the inside of her mouth to stop from crying out. It felt like someone had suddenly stabbed her in the side of the face.

"Val?" Draco frowned.

"Are you alright?" Asked Olivia.

Valentine forced her body to relax and her jaw to unclench. She'd always had