Promise Me

The Day the Sky Fell

The weeks of exams crawled by. Each day, an exam was administered for one class. Some subjects even had two parts, a practical portion, and a theory portion. If a student wasn't in the class that was having the exam on that day, they had the day off to prepare for the rest of their exams. Finally, it was the last day of testing. Remus, James, and Sirius blearily stumbled down to the common room. Val was where they had left her the night before: pacing in front of the common room fireplace.
"What exam do we have today?" Sirius asked. "I can't even remember which ones we've taken. My brain is mush."
"You don't want your brain to be mush today, Sirius. We have our Transfiguration theory this morning and the practical this afternoon." Valerie responded. The boys all groaned. "Don't worry, at least we're almost done," she said brightly.
"Let's go eat, I can't think on an empty stomach," James piped up from his chair. With that, they all headed down to the Great Hall. Valerie refused to eat yet again, much to Remus's dismay. They had tried everything short of holding her down and force-feeding her, but she still wouldn't eat. While they all ate, she scratched Ollie's head. He had flown down with the rest of the owls, even though he didn't have any mail. He was just hoping for some food. She let him peck at a piece of toast while she was lost in thought.
She was trying to imagine the summer that she would have. She was sure her parents would keep her close to home until her real mother was apprehended. That thought made her sad. Often, her home wasn't exactly a pleasant place to be. He parents fought a lot and she would often get dragged into it. Sure, they seemed loving towards her and all but that wasn't usually the case. On top of that, she loved hanging out with the guys every summer. This year she had wanted to take them to some cool muggle places her adoptive mum had shown her. She also realized that it probably meant that she wouldn't be able to float between all of their houses at will.
"Uh... Val?" Sirius's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Can you control your bird? He's trying to kill me for some more toast," Valerie looked up and laughed. Ollie was sitting on top of Sirius's head, pecking at his nose until Sirius would give him a small piece of bread.
"Oliver Fremont, you get your tail up to your roost if you are going to do that," she scolded, trying not to giggle. Ollie gave her what appeared to be the guiltiest look an owl could possibly give and hooted softly, before flying back to the owlery.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall stood up in the front of the Hall. "All fifth-year students who are taking the Transfiguration exam, would you please follow me." The Marauders stood up and followed the crowd of students flocking to the Transfiguration classroom.

By four o'clock that afternoon, all of the fifth-year students were finished with their exams. To celebrate the completion of the exams, the Gryffindor fifth-years were planning a party in the common room for that evening. As Valerie sat in the armchair, she looked around at the bustling room. She couldn't believe her fifth year was already complete. She would be leaving before the party got started, her parents probably about to leave their home any minute to come and collect her. She was all packed and ready to go. The boys came down the stairs and sat on the couch.
"Hey, write lots. We'll let you know where we are if you want to come and visit. I know you said your parents may not let you for a while, and that's fine. Just don't forget to write."
"I won't forget, Rem. Don't worry." Val looked at the boys, wondering if the next time she saw them would be the following year. Dinner time rolled, around and the Marauders headed down to the Great Hall for the official end of term feast. On the way down, Valerie was stopped by McGonagall.
"Miss Fremont, if I could have a word?"
"Of course, Professor, just one moment" Valerie replied, and turned to the boys. "You guys go ahead, I'll see you sometime this summer." She gave each of them a quick hug before following McGonagall.
McGonagall led Valerie up a few flights of stairs, to the entrance to the Headmaster's office. "Right this way, please." She turned to the gargoyle guarding the door and whispered, "fizzing whizbees." The gargoyle sprang out of the way to let them pass. When they entered Dumbledore's office, Valerie expected to see her parents standing by the fireplace. The only person in there was Dumbledore.
He motioned to the chair in front of his desk, as Professor McGonagall moved around to the side. "Please, have a seat. I'm afraid I have some terrible news." McGonagall's eyes looked moist, and Dumbledore gave Valerie a sad look. "This evening, when I had heard nothing from your parents, I sent a a Ministry auror to go and check on their wellbeing." he paused and took a breath. "Valerie, I'm afraid that your parents were found dead. They were murdered by Margaret Windfall. I am truly sorry."
Valerie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And what about Margaret?" she asked. "Did they find her?"
"Yes, Valerie. She was taken to Azkaban where the dementors sucked out her soul. You will never have to worry about her again."
Valerie felt as though she might throw up. "May—May I be excused?" Without waiting for a response she lurched down the stairs out of Dumbledore's office and raced back to the Gryffindor tower. She headed straight for the boys' dorm. Inside, she barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up. All that came out was a bite of toast from breakfast and a lot of coffee. She stood up and rinsed her face in the sink. She gripped the rim of the sink and tried to steady her breathing. "It's not real, it's not real, it's just a nightmare," she whispered to herself. She pinched the skin on her arm to wake up. When nothing changed, she realized it really was real. Her parents really were dead. She had loved them, and they had kept her safe. They may not have felt the same feelings towards her as she did towards them, but they were the only home she had had in the world. Now, she was all alone. She collapsed to the floor in a shaking, sobbing heap. She cried for what felt like hours. After a while, she heard voices approaching the dormitory door.
"...Lily said she wasn't in their dorm, and her stuff was still there. Let me just grab the map and we can look," James's voice was saying, and the door swung open.
"What the" Sirius swore as he nearly tripped over Valerie. "Hey, what's going on? Are you alright? James, go get Remus, he's worried sick." Sirius stooped down and scooped Valerie off of the floor. He sat down on his bed holding her tightly. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Just then, Remus burst through the door followed by James. Sirius motioned for them to be quiet, and they sat down on the bed opposite Sirius and Val.
"My p-parents. T-they're dead." The boys' eyes went wide. "I-I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't know where else to go. You guys are the only family I have left," at that she began to sob into Sirius's shirt. James whispered something into Remus's ear and quietly left the room. Sirius gently untangled Valerie from his shirt and set her down on the bed next to Remus. He, too, quietly left the room. The only people left were Val and Remus. Remus pulled her close and she wrapped her arms around him as he rocked her back and forth. "I don't know why I didn't see this coming. They wouldn't go into hiding. I should have made them go into hiding," Valerie was fighting back tears again.
"Hey don't say that. You told them to go into hiding. They knew what the risk was, but they ignored your advice. It's a terrible thing, Val, I'm very sorry. Did they catch Margaret?"
"Yeah," she sniffled. The door opened and Sirius came back into the room. He was carrying a tray with some soup and a steaming cup of tea. Val gave him a watery smile in thanks, as she realized just how hungry she was. "Thank you, Sirius." Before he could respond, the door opened again, and James came back into the room. They all sat around Val as she ate. "Can we talk about something? Anything? I really don't want to think about how I literally have no home anymore."
Before Valerie could start crying again, James started talking about exams. "Alright, how does everyone think they did on their Transfiguration practical? Because my pincushion still had quills."
"I think I did fine. I was able to put a few little embellishments on mine," Valerie said, embarrassed.
"Hey, way to go, Val! I was able to get mine into a pincushion fine, but it may or may not have still had some whiskers," Remus said, and Val let out a tiny chuckle.
Soon enough the soup and tea were gone and Valerie was almost asleep. Remus picked her up and tucked her into Peter's old bed. The boys quietly left the room and casted a charm on the door to keep it nice and quiet for Val. They then headed down to the common room. The party was in full swing, so they picked the quietest corner and sat down.
"Okay, I sent a letter to my parents and told them everything. I asked them if Valerie could come and live with us. I'm going to let Dumbledore know as soon as I hear back. I have a feeling that to keep her from going to an orphanage, Dumbledore is going to want to know that she is going to have a proper family."
"I can't see your parents turning her down," Remus said.
Sirius nodded before speaking, "I mean, I would offer her my house, but I feel like she has had way too much trauma already."
By the time the boys had finished discussing the events of the evening and going over every possible scenario—including what to do if James's parents said no— the party in the common room was over, and it was early morning. They decided to head back up to their room and get a few hours of sleep. When they got up to their room, they opened the door to find Valerie sitting on the window ledge looking at the stars.
"Hey," she said, turning around. "I'm sorry Rem, I borrowed a sweater," she gestured at the sweater she was wearing. "I didn't feel like going back to my dorm. I know Lily and Marlene would be super sweet about everything, but I just didn't feel like having to tell anyone else what happened just yet. Telling people makes it feel real and I'm not ready for it to feel real yet."
"Shhhh, it's fine," Remus came over and gave her a hug. "You can stay in Peter's old bed if you want to tonight, and we can talk to Lily and Marlene for you tomorrow, too."
"Thanks, guys, for everything. I don't know what I would do without you."
The boys went and got ready for bed, and Val laid back down on the bed. She tried not to think about what had happened. She tried imagining that she would just be going home in a few days and that everything was fine. Tears began to fall from her eyes again as the one burning question returned: where was she supposed to go now?

The next morning, Valerie awoke before the rest of the Marauders. The sun was streaming through the windows as she pulled on her shoes. She crept quietly out of the room and headed for the lake. The dew was just beginning to evaporate off of the grass, creating a light mist that hung over the grounds. She believed the world shouldn't be so beautiful after something so ugly had occurred. She sat on the rocks for a bit and listened to the birds singing in the trees. After a while, she crept back into the castle, while avoiding as many people as possible. When she got back inside the boys' room, they were all awake and getting ready to go down to the Hall for breakfast.
"Hey, where've you been?" Sirius asked, concerned.
"I just went for a walk down by the lake and listened to the birds. Are you guys going down for breakfast?"
"Yeah we are, do you want us to bring you something back?" James asked her. He figured she would want to avoid people today.
"Just some coffee, if you can find some, please. I'm going to go back to my dorm and shower while everyone is down in the Hall. I'm probably just going to pack up my stuff and bring it in here until we leave tomorrow. I don't know, I just can't face anyone right now, I'll start crying and I don't know if I'll ever stop."
"That's fine. You know we don't mind having you up here. We'll talk to Lily and Marlene at breakfast and explain things if you're fine with that?" Sirius asked.
"Of course. I don't want them to feel hurt, I just can't deal with anyone else right now. I hope they'll understand."

The boys made one stop before going to breakfast: the kitchens. They knew how often Val would visit the kitchens before, and they were hoping one of the house-elves might be willing to take her up a tray of breakfast. As soon as they walked in, three house elves ran over.
"Sirs, where is Miss Valerie? She has been visiting us lots, but we hasn't seen her lately. Did she not like the coffee we has given her?" One elf asked, nearly beside herself.
"No, no, that's not it at all!" Remus explained to the elves what had happened. "If it isn't too much trouble, would you be willing to take up a tray of breakfast to her? She is staying in our room right now, in the end bed."
"Oh how awful!" the elf exclaimed. "We will personally take her some breakfast and coffee right away, sirs," the elves bowed and scurried away.
The boys then hurried down to breakfast. James didn't want to miss the morning post, as he was hoping his parents had responded to his last letter. Sure enough, an owl arrived for James almost as soon as the boys had sat down. Lily and Marlene began to question the boys, as they had no idea what had happened. Sirius filled them in and explained to them why Val was avoiding them. They said they completely understood, and for the boys to let her know they would be there for her when she was ready. Meanwhile, James hastily dug into his letter.

            James,
                    Of course Valerie can come and live here! I cannot imagine how awful this has all been for her, and we want to make this as easy as possible for her. Your mother has already started to get one of the extra bedrooms ready for her. It's the one upstairs with the turret attached. Your mother figured that would be the one she would like the most. We have already spoken with Dumbledore and he has agreed to the plan, so long as Valerie agrees as well. We will assume she will be coming unless you owl us otherwise. We will meet you at King's Cross tomorrow afternoon. Give Sirius and Remus our best! Don't forget to tell Sirius we will still have room for him if the situation with his family gets too bad!
                                                   Love you,
                                               Mum and Dad

"They said she can stay!" James exclaimed, after he finished reading the letter.
"That's fantastic!" said Sirius. "Can we go tell her?"
The boys quickly scarfed down their breakfast and ran back up to their dorms. They found Valerie eating her breakfast off of a tray complete with flowers and a sympathy note from the elves. She smiled at the boys as they came in.
"Hey, Val, there's something I'd like to talk to you about," James began.
"Okay, shoot,"
"I know you were saying last night you didn't know where you were going to live now. Well, I wrote to my parents right away and they said that you can absolutely come live with us. Apparently, my mum is already making up your room. They also talked to Dumbledore, so as long as you are good with it, everything is settled." When James finished he looked at Valerie to find tears streaming down her face. "Um... I mean if you don't want to its... er... not a problem I can owl them back and tell them it's not going to work or—." James was cut off by a crushing hug from Valerie.
"T-thank you," she sniffled. "You don't know how much this means to me, James. I'm so grateful to you and your parents. I would love to come and live with you, so yes I agree."