The large double doors were closed when she arrived. She paused for a second, just one, to feel the wand in her pocket. This was her chance. She braced both hands against the wood, the letter balled in one fist, and pushed.

The hall was dark, no candles in sight, only lit by the moonlight streaming in through the windows. There was a single person sitting at the Slytherin table, tapping one finger on the surface erratically. For moment Valentine thought she must have been seeing things. Or incorrectly seeing them at least. Because it couldn't be. It just couldn't. The moment passed and Valentine knew that what she was seeing was real.

A girl in casual clothing. Dark brown hair cut just above her shoulders. Bright lime green eyes.

Olivia? Why...?

Valentine stared at her. She had never been so confused. And hurt. She chest hurt, she realized, like someone had punched her in sternum full force.

It was her the whole time?

Olivia didn't look at her, finger tapping growing louder, more rapid. She just gazed off to the side, face twitching every few seconds as if she was in pain. Despite all that, she was so still. It was like Valentine could have left and she would still be sitting there by morning.

Valentine stepped inside, no hesitation in her steps as she walked up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables. She could hear her heart pounding in her eyes, the blood rushing to her head. She stopped just across from Olivia, the girl showing no change.

On the outside, Valentine was eerily calm. Hands at her side, breathing steady, eyes level. On the inside her hands shook, her breathing stuttered, her eyes bulged at the sight before her. She was confused. This just couldn't be right. She had crossed off all of her friends from the start, trusting in the control she had over them. But here was Olivia. Sitting right in front of her.

She took the letter and flattened it out in its crumpled state. She placed it on the table and pushed it towards Olivia.

The tapping stopped.

Valentine sat down across from her, eye never leaving the girl. She saw Olivia's brow twitch as she refused to look at her.

"Why?" Valentine asked. She almost didn't expect a reply.

"Because," Olivia spat, she twisted her mouth to make her words as volatile as possible but Valentine could but her lips trembling. "just like you, I have a mission."

"What mission?"

Olivia shook her head and stood up abruptly. Valentine's hand instinctively went for wand but Olivia still wasn't even looking at her. She started pacing back and forth on the strip of floor between the table and the wall. She kept shaking her head and muttering something under her breath that Valentine couldn't make out.

Valentine had never seen her like this before. So, unsteady, almost paranoid. Valentine had no clue what she was supposed to say, but Olivia beat her to it with a distracted sneer.

"I've been watching you for so long, now. I've been waiting for you to slip up. But, your just perfect, aren't you? So, smart and talented and perfect. You'd never slip up. You'd never give me an opening."

"Olivia, what mission?" Valentine asked again, watching her closely.

Olivia stopped and suddenly grew so still again. She looked at Valentine for the first time since she's arrived with tears in her pretty lime green eyes and spoke as though relaying bad news.

"To dethrone the perfect little Pure Blood Princess."

"Why?"

"Because I have to!" Olivia snapped, slamming her hands on the tabletop. She'd moved so suddenly Valentine almost jumped. "It's my mission and I'm not going to fail. I'm going to rip you down from your pedestal and then my mother will see that I can do it!"

"What does this have to do with your mother?"

Olivia pushed off the table and went back to pacing, agitated and terse.

What the hell is going on?

"I don't understand. Explain this to me." Said Valentine. "Olivia, please-"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Olivia snapped again, pointing a finger at her accusingly. "Mother said you would do this. Try to manipulate me. Well, I'm not buying it. Mother said you Lestrange's all think you're better than the rest of us and she is right! She's always right!" The tears in her eyes bubbled over and dribbled down her chin. "I have to get rid of you! She's always right..."

Valentine stood, calmly and carefully. Olivia watched her with a suspicious glare.

"Under different circumstances, I might have given you what you wanted, but I can't. You're a reasonable person. Let's talk this through."

"No, we can't." Olivia shook her head so brokenly.

"Don't do something you'll regret."

"I won't."

"What about Leah?"

"Shut up! Don't you dare talk about Leah! Don't you dare!" Olivia screamed and Valentine felt her chest constrict as she watched the girl swallow a sob. "You lied to her! You lied to all of us! We don't even know who you are! These last three years have all been a lie!"

"Olivia, please." Valentine pleaded. "I know I've lied about a lot of things, but trust me, I'm not lying now. Harry's special. He needs to be protected. I'm doing this to save people."

"No, you're a liar! Even to Leah and Draco! Out of everyone, how could you lie to them? They love you so much and you've lying to them every single day!"

Valentine grit her teeth at the pain in Olivia's voice.

"This isn't you! This isn't the kind of things you say!"

"How would you know!" Olivia roared. She seemed to realize how loud she was being and drew herself inwards, shoulders hunching like she was trying to shrink. "I'm a liar too. You don't what I'm really like. I've been planning against you since before we even met. You don't know me at all."

"Please, Olivia." Valentine curled a fist in her dress collar, brows furrowed in desperation. "Please, just listen to me-"

"Don't look at me like that!" Olivia yanked her wand from her pocket and pointed. "I don't want your pity!"

She forced herself to hold back her sobs, handshaking.

Valentine, who was used to seeing the fear etched into the faces of others, had never seen someone look so utterly terrified.

"You don't have to do this!"

"Yes." Olivia nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I do."

"Olivia-"

"Stupfy!"

"Protego!" Valentine's wand was already in her hand.

The shield shimmered before her, the spell crushing against it uselessly.

She saw Olivia lift her wand and ran straight for the door. She didn't want to fight. Not her. She didn't want to fight her.

"Face me!" Olivia shouted after her, voice contorting and rasping with rage.

Valentine could hear her following and go on straight through the arched doorway.

"Alohomora!" She waved her wand at the outer doors and they opened with a squeak.

She burst out into the courtyard, not looking behind.

"Carpe Retractum!"

When Valentine heard Olivia cry out behind her, she jumped blindly to one side in the hope that she could dodge. She felt the cord snag her ankle and fell forwards.

Her hands flew out in front of her to break her fall. The spell started to pull her back and she quickly rolled over. She swiped her wand at the cord of light wrapped around her left ankle.

"Diffindo!" The cord served immediately and disappeared.

Valentine scrambled to her feet, facing the girl standing by the doors.

"Good." Said Olivia. "Stand. Fight. Die."

She didn't want to fight, but Valentine knew she had no choice. Olivia clearly needed help and Valentine would give it to her even if it meant taking her down, wand to wand.

"Stupefy!" She flicked her wrist and Olivia ducked out of the way.

"Expelliarmus!" Olivia shot back.

"Protego!" Valentine bought up a shield so the spell never even touched her. "Stop! We don't have to this!"

"Shut up and let me kill you!" Olivia growled and rushed at her.

The shield dropped and Valentine ran. She ducked into the walkway boarding the courtyard, ducking behind a pillar. This wasn't the first fight Valentine had fought here.

She peeked around the pillar to cast but Olivia was one step ahead of her.

"Stupfy!"

Valentine lurched back just barely in time. Olivia's spells we're solid but not necessarily strong. Her aim, on the other hand, was utterly impeccable. Her movements were studied and precise, only lacking the power behind them to make her truly deadly. That didn't mean she couldn't stun or disarm Valentine with a well-placed shot.

"Incendio!" Valentine cried she twisted her wrist, manipulating the fire into a thin, crackling wall of sorts to keep them separate.

"Fight me!" Said Olivia.

"You don't want this!"

"You don't know what I want!"

Valentine dropped to her hands and knees out of sight. She crawled to her left, further along, the walkway, the fire still burning.

"Glacius!"

Valentine couldn't see from her new vantage point, but she could hear the blast of cold air and the crackling of the fire dying out. She moved faster, crawling the corner.

There was a brief moment of silence, Olivia grumbling and more silence. Valentine kept her head low and her wand close. Maybe if she could get away then she could get to Snape or Dumbledore. If they helped, the secret wouldn't be at risk of exposure. She counted to ten and waited. Still silence.

What's happened?

She chanced a look, peering up over the low wall. Olivia was nowhere to be seen. She ducked back down, looked left, right. Still nothing.

There's no way she ran off. She's way too worked up. What's happened to her? That's not the Olivia I know.

Valentine risked another glance. The yard was still empty.

She must have something up her sleeve...but I can't just sit here.

Keeping her wand ready, poised to bring up a shield within a moments notice, she stood. She crept along the walkway, eyes searching. She as moved around, Valentine's eyes landed on the stairs.

Crap. The upper walkway.

It was where she had watched Lupin and Harry from the day the Ravenclaw's started a fight with her. Olivia was bating Valentine out into the open and she was willing to play a waiting game to do it. But Valentine had never been fond of waiting.

She took one step out onto the court and-

"Stupfy!"

-leapt back undercover. The shot had come from above.

Eyeing the stairs, she thought about making a mad dash for it but Olivia's aim was of some concern. She could easily get off six or seven spells before Valentine made it across and she only needed one to actually hit the target. Could she give Olivia all those chances?

No. She stuck to the cover continuing to the other side of the walkway, parallel to where Olivia seemed to be. She paused at the corner. Another few steps and she would be visible, but there was a pillar every few metres and some covered was better than none.

She bolted for the first pillar-

"Stupfy!"

-and just made it.

All she had to do was make it along the whole walkway and she would be exponentially closer to the stairs, then having to run only the width of the yard and not the length. She just needed to be quicker then Olivia's ability to aim. So, she dashed for the next.

"Stupfy!"

And the next.

"Stupfy!"

Valentine flung herself at the pillar, back pressed against it. Only three pillars left.

"Coward!" Olivia was seemingly growing tired with her waiting game. "Come out and fight!"

"You don't want to kill me!"

"Stop telling me what I want! You don't know me! I want to kill you!"

"Really? Then why the letters? The warnings? That's not how you kill someone, Olivia. We live together, share a dorm. You could have played assassination, killed me in my sleep. I didn't see this coming. I never would have a had a chance. But like this? We both know that in a fair fight you can't beat me. If you really wanted me dead then, you would have done it long ago."

"Shut up! It doesn't matter how you die! Just that you do!" Olivia's voice trembled. She was crying again.

She's distracted.

Valentine went for it, eyes on the end of the next corner. She bolted past the pillars, only the last hit by another Stunning Spell.

She turned, went for it again, straight to the steps.

"Expelliarmus!" Olivia cast, but Valentine was ready.

"Finite!" The counter curse served its purpose and Valentine bounded up the stairs without pause.

The second Valentine reached the top, Olivia was spewing spells at her in rapid-fire.

"Locomotor Mortis!"

"Stupfy!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Glacius!"

But again Valentine was ready. Her shield held strong until the forth and even then Valentine conjured a ball of fire, turning the cool air until nothing but smoke. They fell into silence as it settled. Valentine was so adept at silence herself that Olivia didn't come how close she was until the air cleared.

Her eyes widened and she tried to jerk back, bringing her wand up between them warningly. She was too surprised at that moment to cast a spell. Valentine had been banking on that. And something else.

The last thing anyone expects from someone who can use magic so proficiently is a physical attack.

Valentine threw herself forward, colliding roughly with Olivia and sending them both to the floor. She heard a wand clatter on stone and knew it was not her own. She grabbed Olivia in a fierce grip that would put Severus Snape to shame, curling her hand in the front of Olivia's dress.

"Get off!" Olivia tried to push her away but although Valentine may have been shorter, she had the upper hand when it came to weight.

Valentine maneuvered herself so that her knees were pinning down Olivia's thighs, freehand fighting to hold down the girl's hands.

"Get off me! Get off!"

Valentine managed to grab one hand but the other flew out, grasping the fallen wand.

"Stupfy!"

At this distance, Valentine knew she wouldn't get out unscathed.

"Protego!" They were too close and the shield didn't have time to fully form. It took some of the blow about Valentine felt the rest and was sent tumbling backwards.

Both girls scrambled to their feet, hair in disarray, breaths heavy. They backed away from one another.

Valentine looked at the girl before her. Desperate, eyes red, face streaked with tears. Why was she doing this? It was so clear she didn't want it. Valentine looked at her and lowered her wand.

"You won't kill me." She said. "You won't kill me because loyalty is important to you. You said so yourself."

"I never said to whom." Olivia raised her wand, hands shaking. "Avada Kedavra!"

Valentine felt her cheek crack against the stone floor before she knew she had ducked. The glow of brilliant green light shone above her and hit a pillar. Valentine threw her arms over her head as for a moment as she felt a strange the heat from the spell upon her back. Then the light died away and Valentine peered up at Olivia.

The hard expression on her face crumbled. Tears brimmed in her eyes. She looked down at her hands in shock.

"No." She whispered, dry and ruined.

"Expelliarmus." Valentine disarmed her without difficulty.

Now, with her wand ripped from her grasp, Olivia stared at Valentine in utter hopelessness. She looked down at her empty hands and whimpered in defeat.

"Olivia." Said Valentine, but the girl was shaking her head and stumbling away. "Olivia."

Ignored, Valentine watched her drag her feet to the edge of the walkway, boarder by a low stone wall.

"Olivia," Valentine said again, voice softer now. Her chest was hurting again.

Olivia leaned against the wall, looking out at the courtyard below for a moment. Then she turned back to Valentine. Despite the tears in them, those pretty lime green eyes were dead. Dull and lifeless.

"Look after Leah for me." She said. "And the boys."

"Olivia?" Valentine took a small step towards her, dread filling her lungs.

Olivia looked out at the courtyard again and let out a quiet sob.

"I'm sorry, mother. I failed."

Olivia leaned forwards with all her weight, let her body tip over the edge and fall.

"No!" Valentine screamed.

She scrambled to edge just in time to see Olivia's skull hit the ground and crack.

She wasn't moving. She wasn't breathing. She just laid there. Valentine watched the blood slowly pool around Olivia, dark crimson, reflecting the moon as if it was a mirror.

Valentine's knees went weak and she grabbed the wall to keep herself standing. She felt her whole body start to crumble as her mind struggled to process what she'd just seen.

Is she dead? She's not moving. What do I do? I can't let anyone see the body. Crap. What if someone heard us fighting? What do I do! What do I- no! Stop. Don't panic. Pull yourself together and think. I need to be certain sure she's dead before I do anything.

Valentine forced her protesting legs to move. She felt like there was nothing holding her up. She moved slowly at first, her mind pushing forwards, her body lagging behind. Then she moved faster. And faster. And faster until she running across the landing, almost tripping on the stairs on the way down.

She rushed across the courtyard, her boots shattering the sleek surface of the blood puddle. She kneeled in it, barely feeling how it soaked into her stockings. Her focus was on Olivia. She grabbed the girls wrist and felt the bone in her forearm pressing against the skin unnaturally. She dropped it like it had burned her.

She pressed her ear to Olivia's chest and listened. At first, she thought her heartbeat was loud and rapid and then she realised it was her own. Olivia didn't have one.

She sat back slowly, kneeling there in the blood, staring into her friends face. Like the blood, her eyes reflected the moon. Those pretty lime green eyes that had always been so meek and gentle were now so empty.

I never even figured out what she really wanted. She never explained it.

A lump grew in the back of Valentine's throat, again, her chest was hurting.

How do I explain this? What do I tell Leah?

​​​​​"Valentine." She heard the voice before she felt the hand upon her shoulder.

Her head snapped to her right, where she was greeted with the sight of Dumbledore peering down at her.

"I tried to stop her." The words got caught somewhere in her oesophagus and she forced them out painfully. "But I couldn't. It was her. The was one who sent the letters. She sent me one tonight and-"

"I know." Dumbledore nodded calmly.

"How?" Valentine frowned.

"We can discuss that soon. For now, we should get you inside."

"What do we do with the body?"

"We will don't do anything." Dumbledore shook his head solemnly.

"We can't just leave her here." Valentine stared at him in shock.

"I will handle it." Said Dumbledore. "Leave it all to me."

"But-"

"Valentine." Dumbledore looked deep into her bright eyes. "Leave this all to me."

He held her gaze until she nodded. She trusted him, but this was Olivia. He reached