Promise Me

Firewhiskey

It was the very first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. When Valerie rolled out of bed that morning, she looked outside and groaned. There was a deluge outside. The pitch would be soaked, and they really hadn't played in the rain much. She shook Remus awake.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhh," he groaned as he stretched. He still looked a pale, sickly green. The night before, he had been up worrying about the match. "Val, I don't think I can do this," he looked at her pleadingly.
"It's too late for that now, Rem. And I have some more bad news for you. It's pouring outside. We are going to be freezing and soaked before it even starts."
"Well, at least if this rain keeps up, no one will be able to see me while I play," he grumbled back.
"Alright, quit your worrying and get up. We need to eat something before we play," Valerie grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom to change. "Oh, I almost forgot, wear some warm clothes to have under your Quidditch robes. This rain is going to make it really cold."

Twenty minutes later, Valerie and Remus made their way into the Great Hall. Sirius and James had arrived right before them, and they had sat down with the rest of the team. Aaron Mullins looked about as sick as Remus did. Nate and Zach, however, appeared to be in good spirits, despite the rain.
"Hey Aaron, how are you this morning?" Valerie asked carefully.
"I think... I think I'm going to be sick," Aaron did look like he was liable to eject the contents of his stomach at any moment.
"Well think of it like Remus is, if the rain keeps up, no one will be able to see you play."
That seemed to bolster him a little, and before long he was taking tentative bites of his breakfast.
"Hey, Val!" Nate exclaimed suddenly, nearly knocking over his orange juice.
"Hey, Nate!" Val jested back.
"Okay, Zach and I have been trying out a few new spells like you asked us the last time we had to play in the rain, and I think we figured out how to do it!" Nate was almost buzzing with excitement.
"Do what?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of oatmeal.
"Chew and swallow, Sirius, I don't want an oatmeal bath this early in the day," Valerie joked before letting Nathan continue.
"Valerie asked us to try and figure out a way to keep us all warm and dry if we ever had to play in the rain, and I think we got it. It was a waterproofing spell, combined with a drying spell, combined with a warming spell, combined with a—"
"Nate, they get it," Zach cut in with a laugh. "We don't need to give our secrets out to the whole Great Hall!"
"You guys are geniuses!" Valerie yelped excitedly. "If everyone is done eating, let's get down to the locker rooms so we can try this out!"

The team sprinted to the locker rooms, their long raincoats keeping them mostly dry. Once they took off their raincoats and put on their Quidditch robes, Nate and Zach went around performing the warming and drying spell.
"Moment of truth," Valerie said hopefully and stepped outside. Not a single drop of rain hit her skin, and she was nice and toasty warm, even against the biting wind. "You guys! It works!" She exclaimed, ducking back inside. "The only thing is, what if we get too warm?"
"Don't worry, we thought about that. It is set to keep your body at a regulated temperature and if it senses you getting too warm, it takes the heat down a little!" Zach was so proud of their spell that they had worked out.
"Okay, you guys are brilliant!" James was ecstatic. Out of any of them, he hated playing in the rain the most. He said it ruined his hair.
"We can't let this spell get out though. This has to be our closely guarded secret. It's going to give us a leg up, for sure, and we don't want any other teams to get ahold of it." Valerie cautioned. Once they had all agreed on that matter, it was time to head to the pitch. Valerie quickly hugged Remus. "Hey, you're going to do great out there. You were the best chaser that tried out and you know it. Just don't listen to the crowd and you'll do amazing."
"Thank you," he whispered back, and they all stepped out of the locker rooms together.

On the pitch, the Slytherins had arrived and were already soaking wet. Even Madam Hooch, who was the game referee, was dripping. There were stares and murmurs as the crowd began to realize that the entire Gryffindor team was still dry.
"Would you look at that ladies and gents, the Gryffindor team is staying dry even in this monsoon!" Bailey King exclaimed. Bailey, the announcer, was a Gryffindor seventh-year.
"Well so much for it going relatively undetected," Valerie grumbled to her teammates.
"TEAMS MOUNT YOUR BROOMS!" Madam Hooch interrupted, before raising her whistle to her lips. On her sharp blast, they were off. Valerie caught the Quaffle and took off downfield. She passed to Remus, who passed to James. As they got closer and closer to the goal, the Slytherin chasers were closing in. James had the Quaffle but was being pursued by two of the Slytherin chasers. He passed to Remus who took the shot and scored the first ten points of the game. Roars went up from the Gryffindor side of the stadium.
"TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!" Bailey hollered into his mic.
"Mister King, might I remind you that you have a microphone. There is no need to shout," McGonagall could be heard reprimanding him, and a snicker went through the crowd.
The Slytherin chaser, Matthew Gregory, had the quaffle but a well-aimed bludger from Nate knocked it out of his hands and right into Valerie's.
"It's Potter, who passes to Lupin, who passes to Potter, who passes to Potter, who passes back to Potter, who passes... Wait did I—" King trailed off, scratching his head. The announcer's box was strangely quiet for the rest of the game whenever the Gryffindor chasers were passing. Suddenly, King let out a yell, "HE'S GOT IT, HE'S GOT IT! GRYFFINDOR WINS 270 to 90!" McGonagall didn't even bother shushing him, because she was busy celebrating herself. The teams touched down on the ground, the Slytherins looking furious.
"Mad, Malfoy?" Valerie taunted. Lucius was the Slytherin captain. He had managed to keep his position as well as get out of his punishment for poisoning Valerie because his father was on the Hogwarts school board.
"Not. One. Bit." he spat out, his face dangerously close to hers.
"Careful, Malfoy, any closer, and your dream of kissing her might just come true," Colin Martins, the nicest Slytherin that Valerie knew, piped up. At those words, Malfoy jumped back like he had been burned, and his face turned bright red.
"I..... I....." he spluttered.
"Ooooh, Malfoy I didn't know you wanted to kiss me. Although, I think this charm I have on would also protect against a slimeball like you, wouldn't you say Nate?" Valerie retorted and the whole Gryffindor team began to laugh. Lucius almost had to be carried off of the pitch, all he could do was stand there, spluttering.

Back in the Common Room, there was a huge party. The first game won for the year, and everyone was feeling the high of victory. Another topic of conversation was Lucius's apparent crush on Valerie and different ways to humiliate him with this new information. The current consensus was pins and banners that said "Lucius loves Valerie". Valerie, Remus, and Sirius had found their quiet corner to celebrate.
"You guys did amazing out there today!" Valerie told them. "I was so proud of how well you guys played."
"It's all thanks to you. If you didn't get me to try out I wouldn't have been out there playing today. And if you hadn't coached me so well, I wouldn't have been able to score so many points. Thank you, Val, for everything."
"Anytime, Rem," she laid her head on his shoulder and took a big swig of firewhiskey.
On the other side of the room, James was sitting with Lily, telling her details about their game. The two had grown closer over the course of the year and James was still madly in love with her.
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Uh, Lils?" He started.
"Yeah?"
"Okay I know this is a lot to ask but I've wanted to ask you for a long time and well now is as good a time as any so wouldyoubemygirlfriend?" he blurted out in a rush.
"I'd love to be," she said quietly, blushing a deep scarlet.
"YES! SHE SAID YES. LILY EVANS SAID YES! VALERIE!" James took off across the room to tell his friends the great news.
"James, she what?" Sirius shouted as he, Valerie, and Remus all leaped out of their seats.
"She said yes! Lily Evans is my girlfriend!"
"Oi, good for you mate!" Remus clapped James on the back. He shot Val and Sirius an incredulous look and mouthed "Is he drunk?"
Valerie just shrugged in response and went in search of Lily. "You and James?" she asked her when she found her.
"Yeah," Lily was still flushed and appeared to be shaking a little.
"You aren't drunk out of your mind, right? Because that would crush him." Valerie knew there was firewhiskey going around, she was stumbling a little as it was.
"No of course not. I don't know, I've liked him for a while and I just finally said yes," she gulped nervously.
"Lily that's awesome. Congratulations, I'm really happy for both of you. I know James is thrilled," Valerie chuckled. "Come over by us. You're a part of the group now. Bring Marlene, too, if you want. I know Sirius still has a major thing for her."

About an hour later, many of the first year's had gone to bed. The party was just starting now. The Quidditch team had started a rousing tournament of Firewhiskey pong, introduced by Aaron Mullins, who was muggle-born. The current champion was Sirius, who was facing off against Remus. Valerie was unable to stand upright after losing three games. James was in charge of looking after her and making sure she didn't have anything more than water to drink. Soon enough, Valerie had fallen asleep on the couch. When the tournament was over, Remus made his way over. James was sitting with Lily asleep on one side of him and Valerie on the other.
"You going to wake Lily up and get her to her bed?" Remus asked him.
"Nah, I'm going to sleep down here with her tonight. I don't want to wake her up."
"Okay well I'm going to try and get Valerie up to bed," Remus said, looking at her skeptically. "I have a feeling it won't be very hard not to wake her. She seems like she's pretty far gone."
"Yeah, I'd make sure you keep a caldron nearby in case she throws up. She drank a lot. In the morning she's going to have one hell of a hangover."
"Hmmm, I don't know if hers will be quite as bad as his," Remus nodded at Sirius who had passed out upside down on the staircase. James laughed softly as Remus gathered Val into his arms. He headed for the hidden lift behind the bookcase and carried her to her bed. He did as James had suggested and put down a cauldron next to the bed, just in case. Valerie rolled over in her sleep and mumbled something, a soft smile playing on her lips. He climbed into bed next to her and watched her for a little while. While she slept, she looked so carefree. He knew what he wanted out of his life and no matter how he imagined it, Valerie was in it with him. He made a decision, right then on what he needed to ask her the next day.