The Plan

(16) The VLB

-POV: ADIRA-

It's Sunday night and me and Val are in my room painting our nails; her's black, mine yellow.

'Addy I was thinking'

'Oh no that's not good', I smirk.

'Ha ha, anyway I was thinking and I want to start a club.'

'It better not be like the other one which ended up with you shagging everyone there and then it becoming super awkward and you having to close it down.'

'Hey don't judge me, I have needs.' She says, holding her hands up in surrender.

'I'm not judging you, as head girl I'm just not letting you set up a club just so you can get a shag.'

She nods, 'Fair point. And no, I'm not.'

'Good, so what's this club then?'

'It's going to be called the VLB, which stands for Variation, Liberation and Beautification. You know cause variety and liberty helps make the world more beautiful. Anyway, it'll be a group where anyone can come and discuss their own personal experiences with all forms of inequality and discrimination or just to support others, and we can talk about how we can make the school a fairer and more equal place.'

'Oh Val I absolutely love it!'

'Really!'

'Of course! I'll just have to run it by Potter first though, but as soon as he says yes you're good to go.'

'Oh my God really! Oh it's so great having your best friend be head girl.'

'I know, I'm great.'

We both laugh, 'You really are though.'

'Val, don't start going all mushy on me.' I say blushing.

She roll her eyes, 'God you blush over everything!'

'I can't help it I'm pale!' We laugh again.

'Oh life update', Val says stopping painting her nails so I know she's serious, 'I've been thinking about it for a while and my pronouns are now she/they by the way.'

'Cool, you know I don't care about what you identify as Val or your sexuality or whatever else you want to tell me, I just want you to be happy. I mean if you murder someone I'll grab a shovel and help you bury the body.'

She laughs, 'Oh I know, I mean remember when you found out I had that crush on Alex in first year?'

'Alex the Hufflepuff or Alex the Ravenclaw?'

'Ravenclaw Alex, you were so supportive and I was so nervous to tell you cause I didn't know how you'd react.'

'Of course I was supportive, they were really cute!'

'Oh God they were weren't they. Maybe I should talk to them again?'

'No, best not, last I heard they were dating Tori Jones, the Slytherin.'

'I thought that was Alex the Hufflepuff.'

'No I'm pretty sure it's Alex the Ravenclaw.'

'Dammit! Anyway you were totally supportive of my crush on them and even tried to us together. So I wasn't worried for a second about telling you my pronouns, I just wanted to be sure before I told you.'

'Well thank you for telling me Val, truly. Just two questions though.'

'Shoot.'

'Have you told anyone else yet? And do you have a preference between she/her and they/them?'

'Yes I've told my Dads and Teddy - but I knew they'd be absolutely fine with it, I mean Teddy's been non-binary since I was like 9 so I wasn't worried about that. But I've not told anyone else yet. I was going to tell Seb today, but he had his date with Fred so.' She shrugs.
'Also no I do not have a preference. I mean I identify as a woman, but also as nonbinary. I don't know, I just don't feel being a woman tells my full story. And one day I was trying out pronouns seeing what felt right and I tried she/they and I don't know, it just felt like me, like I was truly myself for the first time in my life.'

I give her a hug, 'Val you are truly and utterly amazing, I mean the fact that you have the strength to be your true self just proves to me how much of a beautiful human being you are. You can alway be you, the real you, around me ok?'

She nods, 'I know. Anyway, move, I need to get back on with my nails.' She shoos me away, typical Val.

I laugh, 'Val?'

'Yes? This better be important cause I'm currently using my left hand to paint and it's really fucking hard.'

I laugh again, 'Did you call your club the VLB because it also stands for Valentina Lupin-Black'.

'Maybe', she drags out the word and we both burst out laughing.

God I love my friend, they're truly amazing.

***********

AN: So I wanted to add more diversity into this fanfic. I already had 2 characters who don't have a defined sexuality and a gay character as well, but I just felt we needed to add more variety with the pronouns these character have because I want everyone to feel included in this fanfic, and making Val she/they just felt right. As a person who identifies as she/her I had to do some research into what it is like being she/they and what it means to them, and I came across this person who said that they were both a woman and nonbinary and that they didn't  feel womanhood tells their full story, and that line just felt so right for Val. So I truly hope I have done all you people who identify as she/they justice and you will be seeing Adira using both she/her and they/they pronouns for Val very soon.

Enjoy, Bee :)