Trouble~ Sirius Black

68"

Walking away from her conversation with her brother Valentina was delighted. It was the most civil conversation they had had together for as long as Valentina could remember. She knew her brother was difficult and quite strange but he was still her big brother and in a even stranger way she did love him.

Casper had found her just as the guests had started be escorted out of the parlour and into the massive dining room. Valentina looked to her husband in confusion.

"I thought it was just a ball" She whispered to casper who took a seat beside her, "What are we all doing at the dining table?"

"keep your voice down" Casper hissed

Valentina knew better than to argue.

Everyone had taken their seats and a thick blanket of silence had fallen onto the room.

The door to the dining room swung open and everyone around her bowed their heads.

Valentina followed suit.

The Dark Lord smiled. It wasn't really a smile but rather a movement of his lips.

Valentina glanced subtly to Avery in shock. He didn't look back.

"Thank you all for coming" he said as he took his seat at the end of the table, Nagini at his feet.

Valentina eyed the massive snake nervously.

Casper pinched the skin on her leg under the table as a warning which said, stop staring.

Valentina reluctantly moved her eyes from the snake to Tom Riddle.

He had changed from the last time she'd seen him. He looked far more ghost like and his eyes were more sunken and they seemed red and snakelike.

Nagini sent shivers down her spine, there was something off about the snake beside his feet.

"We are here to celebrate our success!" The lord exclaimed causing a chorus of cheers and claps from around the table, "Our recent efforts on the raids in the north west have proved extremely successful and the efforts to overtake the ministry have finally paid off!"

Another roar sounded and Valentina felt fidgety in her seat.

Casper eyed her warningly.

"we have a special guest among us tonight" He sneered, "Please welcome Harold Minchum"

Valentina felt a gasp try and escape from her lips. She forced it down.

The minister of Magic was right before her, bound with robes which tightened as he moved and struggled.

The dark lord moved him across the table, levitating him until he hovered in the centre of them.

"Minchum here had attempted to completely wipe the ministry of our forces. Though he did a terrible job" The dark lord said in amusement and torment

Valentina watched as his tears rolled down his cheeks and dropped onto the wooden table with a small drip. Her jaw tightened.

"Minchum had seemed to believe he could defeat us! That the ministry would never belong to us!"

There was another round of laughter.

"Well... I hope you see now Minchum, that you were wrong... Avada Kedavra!"

The Ministry of magics body unwound from the robes and hit the table they were sat at with a loud thud as a pool of blood formed around his pale lifeless body.

Valentina couldn't help but flinch as his body hit the table with a bang.

When casper and Valentina reached their house Valentina could no longer hold her rage within.

"You told me it was just a ball" she said coldly taking her coat off, throwing it onto the bannister and walking up to their bedroom, "you didn't say he would be there!"

"Because I knew you wouldn't want to go!" Casper snapped back following her up the stairs to their bedroom, "If I had told you, you wouldn't have gone and you needed to be there for our reputation!"

"You took me out shopping for a new dress just to butter me up, in hopes that when we retuned home I wouldn't be quite so unforgiving! Well guess what Casper, it takes a lot more than a fucking dress to calm me down!"

"You are so spoilt, you know that don't you? I have given you everything! I saved you Valentina! From that life you have just witnessed, I saved you from that! Without me you'd be the one muttering that curse day in day out, without me you'd probably be dead! Without me, you'd be no one!"

Valentina laughed coldly, "I'd be no one without you?"

Valentina laughed some more, genuine laugher and Casper looked at her in real confusion.

"I'd be no one without you?" She repeated, "Don't you mean you'd be no one without me?"

"what are you on about" Casper snapped

"You would never have found that diadem by yourself. You're not smart enough... no, you needed a push, you needed help. You had to find the diadem, it was in my best interest that you would find it. You wouldn't be in the position you are now without it. You wouldn't be so far up in the ranks as you are now, without it. I wouldn't have as much respect as I do now, if you hadn't of found it. Do you see? It was in my best interest that you would find it. I just have to give you a little push"

Valentina could see the anger practically radiating off him. He stared wildly at her as everything seemed to click together. The note in his dorm, where it was hidden. It was all Valentina. she had set it up and Valentina had played him like fiddle.

"So you see.." she continued, not caring about the consequences, "It is not I, who is no one without you. You are no one without me"

Slap.

Valentina felt her cheek sting as she held it, her mouth wide as she comprehended what Casper had just done. She took her hand off and realised a small hint of blood on her fingers.

He had just slapped.

His ring slightly cutting her skin atop her cheekbone.

Casper himself was only just processing what he had done.

"Val... Im sorry... I don't know why I did that, I- I didn't mean to, It just happened, merlin, you're bleeding"

Valentina regained her composure, standing straight and staring into his eyes.

She could feel some blood running down her cheek and dripping onto the wooden floorboards below their feet.

"I feel sorry for you Casper, I really do. In fact, I pity you"

Casper looked at her pleadingly.

"Because I will never be able to love you"