"Pass me that one."

"This one?"

"No, that one."

"This one?"

"No, the one next to it."

"Here?"

"No! Bloody hell. Look where I'm pointing, Leah."

"Oh. This one?"

"Yes! Thank you!"

Draco took the book from her and stacked it on top of the growing tower.

Valentine hadn't asked them to follow her to the library but here they were, stacking books on top of one another with far too much dedication. Draco standing on a table was always a bad sign.

She sat by the fire, reading a new book she'd gotten for Christmas. It was decent by clearly not enough to keep Draco and Leah occupied. Their book tower was at least six feet by now. Valentine didn't think they'd contemplated what they would do when it got too tall for either of them to reach it, even standing on the table. Personally, she was just keeping an eye out for the sound of dozens of books falling to floor and sighs of utter defeat and frustration.

"Okay, now pass me that one."

"The red one?"

"Are you blind? I'm clearly pointing at the green one."

"Well, then point more clearly!"

"You can't get any clearer than this, Leah!"

"Then that's your failure!"

"Just get the damn book would you?"

"Get it yourself! I'm sick of this job, let's switch!"

"Right. And let you knock the whole thing over. Great idea."

"I'll be careful!"

"You have never been careful in your whole freaking life!"

How about you both stop using the books as construction materials and actually read them for once?

"Alright, what's the yelling about..." Narcissa trailed off as she entered the room. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Building a tower." Said Leah.

"Yes, I can see that. Why?"

"We were bored."

"Did you ever think that perhaps you could read the books?"

That's what I'm saying!

"Why would we do that?" Draco frowned.

"For the love of- Draco, get down off that table this instance, before you break your neck!"

"As if I'd be so lucky." He scoffed.

"Draco!" She scolded him. "You know I don't like you speaking like that."

"I do know, yes."

Narcissa sighed and Valentine could practically hear her placing her hand on either hip.

"Surely you can find something to do that doesn't put anyone in danger?"

"Probably." Said Draco. "But it doesn't sound like it would be much fun."

"And how is stacking books fun?"

"We were going to push it over when it was finished!" Leah announced.

"You have an entire multi-acre estate at your disposal and the most amusing thing you can find to do is push over a stack of books?"

"I don't really think you want an answer to that." Said Draco.

"That's it!" Narcissa snapped. "We're are getting out of here."

"Yay!" Leah cheered and then paused. "Wait. Where are we going?"

"France."

Valentine's entire body stiffened like ice. This was not how she wanted to spend her day.

Why? Why can't I just sit here and read?

She cleared her voice and turned to face her aunt. Neither of them looked impressed, to say the least.

"And why pray tell, would we be going to bloody France?"

"I don't really think you want an answer to that."

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

If there was anywhere Valentine hated more than the ancestral home of the Black's, it was the ancestral home of the Lestrange's. The château sat high on an isolated mountain deep in the countryside. It was far beyond the spiked, ten-foot iron wrought fence and gate, half-buried by thick towering trees and thorny shrubs. Nothing about it made a person feel welcome. Valentine assumed that was a conscious decision in the design.

"Alright." She said. "We're here. Can we go now?"

"Come on." Narcissa tutted and shook her head at her.

Draco and Leah trailed behind them, eyeing everything with a cautious gaze. Even they could sense the terror in this place. The horrors that had occurred over the centuries. If twelve Grimmauld Place felt like a graveyard, then the Lestrange Château was the site of the murder.

From where they stood, they could see the château itself through the trees. To have walked from the front gate would have taken near half an hour as the grounds were even larger than that of the Malfoy's.

The château, to put it in English, was a castle, tall and looming, totalling seven floors from the sublevel dungeon to the four pointed towers. The stone's, once white, we're stained dark grey with age and weariness. The windows were many, continuing without fail around the sides of the 'U' shaped building. Already on its mountain top, far beyond its fencing, it sat surrounded by a moat.

Not exactly keen on visitors.

The moat itself was bared off by another iron fence and tall, imposing gate. Spikes, worn blunt by the elements protruded from the bars themselves, another obstacle for anyone crazy enough to try and force their way in. A wide stone bridge stretched from the gate to strip the land surrounding the building.

Narcissa waved her wand at the gate and it creaked open like an inconvenient door in a horror story when you're trying desperately to hide from a murderer.

"That is one creaky gate." Leah, despite the obvious, decided to say aloud.

Valentine hadn't seen the château since before she started school and not a thing had changed. There was more ivy creeping up and attempting to choke the house perhaps. And maybe the moat looked a little darker as if it had been filled with black paint rather than actual water. But those were all just the bearing of time. The place had a stench about it that she believed would never fade.

Walking across the bridge, Valentine expected some horrible to leap up from the moat and attack them at any time. She felt like they were pigs being bought to the slaughter and wondered if that was leftover from the very real crimes committed here in times where the rich made their own rules and often broke them without consequence. She wasn't sure if it was any different today.

She almost felt as though each window was watching her. Not that someone was watching her from them, but that it was the windows themselves. Black, empty, soulless eyes.

When they reached the land again, Valentine could fill the pit in the bottom of her stomach growing. It wasn't fear, she knew this place couldn't hurt her and so fearing it would be a waste of time. No. What she felt was something closer to detestation, hatred, contempt. She didn't hate this place lightly. It disgusted her, knowing the things that had happened here, the things her ancestors believed they had a right to do. And the large crest carved into the wall above the huge double doors only reiterated that.

It was of the coat of arms of the Lestrange family. It bore a raven, grand and golden-eyed. Just another thing to watch her she thought. Below the crest and just above the door, etched into the frame were the words; Corvus oculum corvi non fruit. Valentine wasn't quite fluent in Latin but she knew these words well as they were the Lestrange family motto. Narcissa has always made sure she knew of her families history and traditions in the hope that she would one day continue them herself. Valentine wasn't all that sad to disappoint. The words read; A raven does not pick out the eye of another raven. It was a testament to the bonds of family. Unfortunately for her ancestors, Valentine wasn't sad to disappoint in that area either.

The place, the crest, the motto. It was all was a reminder that she was the sole heir of the family, of a name feared for centuries. One day the Lestrange fortune and holdings would legally be hers. And to be completely frank, she intended to see the place burned to the ground the moment she inherited.

Inside wasn't any better. It was almost pitch black and largely untouched, everything just how the Lestrange's would have left it, only with an added layer of dust covered every tangible surface. It was all made darker by the black wallpaper that was everywhere stone wasn't.

Narcissa flicked her wand at the windows lining the walls of the sprawling foyer and the room was suddenly filled with blinding light and disturbed dust. Leah decided this was the optimal time to take and breath and ended up choking on it.

The gothic grandeur was on full display in the tapestries and furnishings if only one would squint beyond the dust. There really was a lot of it. There was a large staircase stretching from the centre of the room up to the second floor, with two entryways to other rooms in the foyer.

No one had lived in the château for over a decade, since Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastian had been locked away. No one excepting Stalk. She was a House Elf bound to the Lestrange family. At least she had been. No one had seen her since the place had been occupied and Valentine, having only known her when she was a baby herself, couldn't recall the elf at all.

"This place is creepy." Leah wheezed.

"Mother how long do we have to stay?" Asked Draco, quickly brushing dust from his clothing.

"We need to air the place out." Said Narcissa. "It's such a pity to leave it like this."

"You live here then." Said Valentine.

As if on cue, a large rat scurried across a step on the staircase, making Draco jump and let loose the manliest of squeals.

Valentine, Narcissa and Leah all turned to stare at him, all utterly unfazed by the rodent. They stood there for a long moment, Draco's face getting progressively redder. Eventually, Narcissa cleared her throat.

"Are you alright, dear?"

Draco shook his head slowly.

"Not even a little bit."

"It's just a rat, Draco." Leah giggled.

"Shut up!"

"Can we just get to the airing out part so we can get the hell out of here?" Valentine growled under her breath.

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

Every book cover in the library was slathered in a visible layer of grime, pages yellowed and some clearly made a snack out of by a rat, like the one they'd seen when they first arrived. Narcissa had muttered something about setting up some wards to keep them out but Valentine wasn't really paying attention.

The library here was actually somewhat smaller in comparison to the one at Malfoy Manor in the way of books. It was particularly small when pitched against the wine cellar downstairs. It seemed Valentine's ancestors were more fond of drinking then they were of reading. She wondered if that's how they managed to live with themselves.

She picked up a book off a side table and peered down at it in the dim lighting. The title was faded and worn.

Narcissa tugged all the curtains open, by hand this time to avoid the dust storm that had occurred before. The light-filled the room far beyond the few lit candles. It was a fairly large space, in reality, it was just poorly stock. Valentine was certainly Dumbledore had more books in his office alone.

She glanced down again and at the book in her hands and saw the faintest outline of a skull. She assumed it was some kind of ancient dark magic tome.

Right. Because I need more darkness in my life.

"Lookie!" Leah held up another book across the room, waving it about carelessly. "Someone has been eating this!"

"Don't you mean something?" Draco scoffed, grimacing at the dust clinging to his clothes and, God forbid, his hair.

"Alright." Narcissa quickly snatched the book away from Leah with a strained smile. "Let's be very careful around. A lot of the these very old and probably very valuable."

"But they're so dirty!"

"Well, they've been here a long time. A lot longer than any of you have been alive."

"Oh. Can we stack these ones?"

"Ah, no."

"Dang."

"Let's move on to the next room shall we?"

"Onwards!" Leah announced valiantly.

"Yes, that."

Valentine dropped the book back on the table as she turned to follow. Her action caught Draco's eye.

"Hey!" A smile broke out on his face and he picked it back up. "I've been looking for this everywhere! It's really rare, father says there were only three copies ever made!"

Valentine's reflexes itched to smack it from his hands.

"What is it?" Asked Narcissa.

"It's a dark arts book." Said Draco, flicking through the pages with rapt attention. "They have a copy at school but it's in the restricted section. I could never convince the stupid librarian to even let me peek at it."

"Well, if you want it, you'll have to ask Val." Said Narcissa. All eyes were suddenly on Valentine. "Technically this is all hers after all, or at least it will be."

"Val?" Draco stared at her, eyes wide and hopeful.

The instinct to take it from him was still there. He didn't need more bad influence in his life, especially not from a place like this. But she looked at the way he clutched it to his chest, suddenly not even caring if he got the grim all over his expensive clothes. She'd always had a feeling that Malfoy's were predisposed to dabble in dark magic and she had her doubts she could do anything to change that.

"Like I care what you do with it." She shrugged and pushed past Leah to the doorway.

The first chance I get, this place goes up in flames.

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

Leah swore that she had seen a cat. It's what made her take off after it without a moments thought. Draco had followed, trying to stop her before she got lost in the literal maze of hallways. And then Narcissa had followed him in turn, panicking because they would probably both get lost. That was how the three disappeared into the château, leaving Valentine behind on the fourth floor.

She supposed she should have been a little more worried about that. It was a very big building after all and she'd didn't know it well enough to go prancing off alone like an over-excited Leah, but Valentine had many things in her life to worry about, and honestly? This didn't really make the cut. She'd managed to find her way around Hogwarts eventually, after all.

She pulled open a curtain, noticing the cracks in the glass of the window. She didn't know why Narcissa was always so insistent in coming back here. Each time it fell deeper into disrepair at the hands of the elements and time. Valentine was more than happy to let it rot. She moved on to the next curtain, the quicker she got this over with the quicker they could get out of here.

She turned, almost startling herself by suddenly facing her own reflecting. The mirror on the wall had once been a thing of beauty, an expensive piece with delicate filigree around the edges. Now it was coated in dust and cobwebs, almost disappearing into the wall.

Valentine took a step closer and her reflection distorted. It twisted and rippled, shifting like she was looking into the surface of a lake rather than a mirror. Up closer, she could see the family motto engraved into the frame. It gave her an odd feeling and she frowned deeply. Always the reminder.

She stepped away from it, deciding she was better safe than sorry. She didn't trust a single thing in this place to be a simple, uncorrupted object. It made her second guess letting Draco take that book.

She moved along the hall quickly, throwing open curtains and holding her breath. She would honestly be surprised if she didn't spend the next week cleaning dust out of her sinuses.

She rolled her eyes at each and every tapestry she saw, all barring the Lestrange family crest. There really was an absurd amount. And all the while, the feeling of being watched never left her. It was unnerving and the black pit in her stomach grew.

Despite all the times Narcissa has dragged her here, she still hadn't seen the entirety of the place. That's why she wasn't expecting to pass a row of four canopic jars on a side table. Now, she didn't know why there would be containers used by the ancient Egyptians to store vital organs for the afterlife just sitting around as decoration but her ancestors were clearly all complete psychos and there was no point questioning the actions of people like that. Let alone dead ones. Every second longer she spent in this place made her want to change her last name and move to Iceland.

Maybe get some sheep, live on a farm. Send Snape abusive hate mail without a return address. All in all, not a bad way to live.

She moved on and turned down another hall, finding herself suddenly staring at someone's taxidermy collection. One, two, even three wouldn't have been all that strange. There was certainly a piece or two at Malfoy Manor, but just on the single glance, Valentine guessed there must have been close to twenty here in this hallway alone. Deers, moose, bears, antelopes, foxes, boars, lions, tigers, wolves. She was suddenly glad Leah had run off when she had. Artificial eyes still shining in the light after all this time, mouths open in growls and snarls. A disturbing sight in all it's magnitude. She watched a spider spinning its web between a large buck's antlers.

Ten points for an atmospheric spider.

Valentine headed on past them. There wasn't anything she could do for animals probably dead gone a century by now. They wouldn't even feel it when she finally razed the place to the ground. And then she saw it. Right down the end of the hall. A bloodhound, tall enough to pass her hip, the tag on its collar reading 'boucher'. And, like the other animals occupying this hall, it was taxidermied.

"Okay, that's just wrong." Valentine pulled a face.

It was set up like the dog would be keeping an eye on its prey for however long they were here.

A dog is a pet. Who the hell gets their pet stuffed? Oh. That's right. My family. My bad. I forget they were all nuts.

She shook her head in exasperation and continued onwards.

No wonder they all end up that way too, growing up in a place like this. I can't imagine you'd turn out normal.

Her thoughts were only justified when she came upon a wide corridor lined with the portrait after portrait. She just rolled her eyes and didn't even glance at them. She was sure it was strange and unsettling, just like the rest of the place.

Another hall of curtains later and Valentine paused again. She'd passed a lot of rooms, dozens at least. The doors had all been closed and she was much inclined to leave them that way. But this one was not. It sat open only a few inches and she could see the light coming from inside. The curtains must have been opened in there she supposed.

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. The creepy room shall be left undisturbed, please and thank you.

She moved to walk past it and the floor creaked loudly under her boots, almost like it was breaking beneath her.

Well. That can't be good.

She only had a second of warning before a large black bird flew in through the opening in the door with a loud caw and a startling flurry of feathers.

Valentine stumbled back little but kept her footing. The bird hardly seemed to notice her and flew off down the way she'd come.

Bloody hell. That was a raven, wasn't? I would bet anything that that bird was a damn raven. Who the hell made the rule that this place had to be creepy at all cost? There's probably a whole nest of them in here somewhere. Freaking Lestrange's and their damn aesthetic needs.

Well, if it had been only aesthetic