Promise Me

Lies

After a wonderful Christmas break, January 2nd arrived and saw the Marauders at King's Cross, waiting to board the Hogwart's Express to take them back to school. The night before, they had thrown an early birthday party for James, and that morning they had departed early. They were all eager to get back to Hogwarts and prepare for the ball that was fast approaching. Valerie had very carefully packed away her new dress, and she couldn't wait for Remus to see her in it. She smiled at the thought as she hauled her trunk into their compartment. The train lurched, and they were on their way. During the ride, they ate snacks and talked about the ball.
"James, I really do think you ought to ask her one more time." Valerie reasoned.
"And get shot down again? As if! I've been mad about her for years now but she hasn't shown a bit of interest in me. Maybe it's just time to move on." James looked dejected.
"Yeah right, mate, you couldn't get over her if you tried!" Sirius clapped him on the back as James buried an exasperated screech in his hands.
An idea struck Valerie at that moment. "Uh, I'll be right back." She hurried out of their compartment.
She went off in search of Marlene, who had had her eyes on Sirius, however, the bloke still hadn't asked her to the ball. She finally found her in a compartment with Lily and Mary.
"Hey, guys! How was your Christmas?" she asked. After they had told her all about their festivities, she asked to see Marlene outside the compartment. "Okay, Marls, I have an idea here. You know how Sirius hasn't asked you to the ball yet? Well, James asked Lily and she said no, and of course he's devastated. Now, if you ask him to go with you, it'll make Sirius jealous and I'm really hoping it'll make Lily jealous. And boom, by the end of the night you're both slow dancing with the one you wanted to go with in the first place!"
"Bloody brilliant! When should I ask him?"
"Today. You could even do it now, while we're on the train but give it a bit after I get back so he won't suspect anything."
"Great! Thanks, Val, you're a genius!" Marlene quickly hugged her friend before running back to her compartment.

By the time they had made it to Hogwarts, James and Marlene were set to go to the ball together, much to Sirius's dismay. He didn't say anything though, because he wanted to be a good friend. The first stop they made was their dorms, to drop off their trunks. Valerie lovingly hung her dress up before going down to the common room. The Marauders headed down to the Great Hall together for the Welcome Back feast.

At the end of the Feast, Dumbledore had stood up and announced that as a Christmas gift, classes wouldn't be starting until after the ball. Remus had left the Hall early and so Valerie went off in search of him, to tell him the good news. On her way to the Gryffindor Tower, she heard voices coming from an empty classroom, and one of them sounded like Remus. She knew she shouldn't but she crept over to the door and slid it open a little farther. The sight that greeted her made her feel sick. There was Remus snogging some Hufflepuff girl. She backed out quietly and took off for the common room at a run. When she arrived back, she sat down on a couch in stunned silence. Remus came in about five minutes later.
"Hey!" She said, as brightly as she could manage. "Where did you go? I was looking for you."
"Oh, yeah sorry. I took a walk by the lake to clear my head." He told her. "I'm going to go up and unpack. I'll see you later?"
"Yeah, sure." Her heart sunk and an ashy taste filled her mouth. Her dinner threatened to make a reappearance. The next people to walk through the portrait hole were James and Sirius.
"Wow, that's a nasty shade of green on you," James said, a bit concerned.
"I hate emotions. They're messy." She said weakly.
"I think you're confusing feelings with paint. I thought you and Rem were doing great, what's wrong?" Asked Sirius.
"Oh, I just walked in on him snogging some Hufflepuff in an empty classroom, but other than that we're peachy." Valerie's eyes were beginning to fill with tears.
"Oh, I'll kill the bastard!" James was irate.
"Just wait, it gets worse," Val sniffled. Sirius and James each sat down on one side of her and put their arms around her protectively.
"Neither of them knows I saw, and when I asked where he had gone he told me he only went for a walk around the lake." A tear slid out of her eye.
"Do you want us to talk to him?" Sirius asked her, almost hopefully. He couldn't believe that Remus would do this to the girl he loved and who loved him back, and Sirius wanted to give him a little more than just a piece of his mind.
"No, but after I'm done, let's go find the Room of Requirement. I'd like a nice room to practice some duelling spells."
"Ah, the nice way of saying 'I'd like to harm a bloke with my knowledge of highly painful and most likely dangerous spells'."
"More or less. I'll make sure there are practice dummies in the room, I wouldn't want either of you dying tonight," she gave the tiniest of smiles. "Wait here. I won't be long." She headed up into the boys' dorm.
"Oh, hey," Remus said when she walked through the door. "What's wrong?" he asked, upon seeing her face.
"So you make out with strange girls in empty classrooms now, huh?" The color completely drained from Remus's face.
"Okay, Valerie. It wasn't what you think. I promise..." She held up a hand for him to be quiet.
"And what's worse? I ask you where you were and you lied to me."
"Valerie, please," his voice was barely above a whisper, the shock and terror clear. "I am so so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"I am fine." In truth, she was barely holding herself together, but she didn't want him to see her cry.
"Val, you act like you're indestructible, but you aren't." Remus was looking at her with such sorrow.
"Guess you'd know best, huh?" A single tear slipped down her cheek. "I will be going to the ball alone this year, thank you. And this—" She motioned between them, "It's over." She stood and quickly made for the door, hoping to get out before she fell apart.
"Valerie, wait!"
"No. You don't get to kiss other girls and then come back and act like everything is fine!" With that, she left. Remus sat down on his bed with his head in his hands. He couldn't believe how badly he had messed up this time.