Raven (Fred x oc)

92. Badgers and Lions

The months were going much quicker and before I knew it, January had turned into February. On the first of March, I woke to the sound of someone pounding on my office door. Groggily, I hurried out of bed, slipping my robe around my shoulders, covering my tank-top and sweatpants and rushed from my room to my office.

"McGonagall?" I said. "What's wrong?"

"Mr. Weasley has been poisoned," she explained.

My eyes widening, I exclaimed, "Fred?"

"No, Ron," she said. I felt brief relief before I was panicked again.

"Where is he now?" I asked.

"Hospital wing," she replied.

"Give me a moment," I said, closing the door again. I quickly changed into the first pair of robes I found and opened the door again. I rushed down the stairs and found Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George standing around an unconscious Ron. "Is he alright?" I asked, rushing over.

"Yes, he'll be fine," Fred said. "Thanks to Harry, here." Harry recounted the story for what probably felt like the hundredth time. Looking at Ginny, Fred asked, "Do Mum and Dad know?"

"They've already seen him," Ginny replied. "They arrived an hour ago. They're in Dumbledore's office now. They'll be back soon."

"So the poison was in the drink?" Fred clarified.

"Yes," Harry replied. "Slughorn poured it out."

"Would he have been able to slip something in while you weren't looking?"

"Possibly," Harry said.

"Why would Slughorn poison Ron?" I countered.

"No idea," Fred replied. "Maybe he mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meant to get you?"

"No," I said quickly, brows furrowed. "Harry, you said it was supposed to be a Christmas present for Dumbledore. What if someone was trying to-" I broke off, the sound of footsteps catching my attention. I looked over, seeing white-blond hair. I frowned. "Excuse me." Not glancing back, I followed Draco at a distance as he went up several floors and finally up into the Room of Requirement.

I turned back away and came to Dumbledore's office. "Chocolate Frog," I said. It opened and I knocked on his office door, remembering that the Weasleys were inside.

"Come in," Dumbledore said. I stepped inside. He had stood and was clearly about to walk them back to Ron. Looking at me, he said, "If you would wait here a moment, Valerie, I will return. I must walk Mr. and Mrs. Weasley back to the hospital wing."

"Of course," I replied. "I just came from there myself."

"Has he woken up?" Molly asked.

"Not yet," I replied with a frown. When they left, I began to pace around Dumbledore's office until he returned. "Dumbledore, did you know that that bottle of mead was supposed to go to you? The one that poisoned Ron?"

"I am aware," he replied.

"And are you also aware that the necklace that hurt Katie was meant for someone in the castle?" I asked. He nodded. "Dumbledore..." I paused as a veil floated around his office and I saw Dumbledore, a different one, standing with Snape.

"Yes, it was him," Snape said. "He is making rather cowardly attempts as of yet."

"Just make sure he fails," Dumbledore said.

I snapped out of it as Dumbledore said, "Valerie?"

"I-I should go see Ron," I said, my mind muddled.

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"Captains, shake hands," I ordered, looking between Harry and the Hufflepuff captain. "Mount your brooms! Three...two...one..." I blew my whistle, releasing the balls. Five minutes into the match, I could already tell this was going to be one of the more frustrating matches to referee. McLaggen, who had, unfortunately, become Harry's replacement for Ron, was so busy lecturing his teammates that he wasn't doing his job.

I flew around above the rest before I saw McLaggen with one of the beater's bats. I blew my whistle, streaking down the pitch towards him as he swung. The bludger flung at full speed towards Harry, hitting him in the head. McLaggen, in his surprise, let go of the bat and it flew through the air. I ducked, but I wasn't quick enough. I felt my hands slip from my broom as my shoulder let out a thunderous crack.

I let out a cry of both pain and surprise as I plummeted toward the ground. I groaned upon making contact, my vision hazy. "VALERIE!" a loud voice shouted. I saw a blurred figure crouching before me with red hair before everything faded to black.

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Two days later, I walked down to the pitch, my arm in a sling and my head still tender. "Alright," I called, earning me my sympathetic class' attention. "As you can probably guess, I can't fly, so instead we are going to be taking today to do some evaluations of how far you've progressed. Get yourselves in groups of five." I spent my two class periods watching them do some flying before the pain in my head from the bright lights became too much during the second period.

"Alright," I said. "You all may go. Take the rest of the period to do schoolwork." I left them and headed back inside and to bed.

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A few weeks had passed and Draco was finding himself more and more in detention with me. I had tried giving him everything I could think of, but I was running out of detention ideas. Finally, he stepped into my office and I sighed, rubbing my eyes tiredly. "Alright, today you are going to help me organize my schedule for next week because I need to do it and I'm running out of ideas."

Ruffling in my desk, I handed him four pieces of parchment and explained, "Those are the Quidditch schedules for the next week. I need you to look through and tell me the dates and times for the ones on Monday and so on." Just as we'd finished my schedule, I saw the ghostly form of a woman appear, coming in through the closed door.

"Draco, can you see that?" He looked back.

"See what?" he asked. I stood grimly and extended my hand toward the spirit. She also raised her hand and touched it to mine. I screamed, falling to the ground as she passed through. Draco darted up, alarmed and crouched beside me, helping me up as he said, "Are you alright, Valerie?"

"I-I'm fine," I said. "I just...a spirit. I had to let it pass on."

"I didn't know it was that painful," he said.

Getting back in my chair, I explained, "It depends on how they died. That woman seems to have been tortured until the pain killed her."

"W-Who would've done that?" he said, acting dumb.

"Bellatrix," I muttered. Draco's expression briefly shifted, but then reverted back. Glancing at the time, I saw it had been an hour. "You can go, Draco."