Promise Me

The Secret Staircase

The Marauders had almost made it through their last summer. It was only a week until the start of term, and Remus had been staying with the Potters for a few days so far. His parents had gone to visit some family, but he'd stayed behind. He and Valerie had been pleasant towards one another so far, but nothing more. That night, everyone was dead asleep, and the house was silent.
"Please! Mother stop, don't hurt him!" The boys were woken by Valerie's agonized screaming. Remus was the first to make it to her bedside, and he gently shook her awake. "NO! DON'T TOUCH ME!!" Her eyes flew open and her breathing was ragged. She flinched away from Remus, her eyes wild as she shook in uncontrollable fear.
"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you," Remus said gently, taking Valerie by the hand and holding it tightly. Their eyes met. "Listen to me, you're safe. No one is going to hurt you again. I'm here now, trust me. I won't let anyone hurt you ever again." The boys held their breath, waiting for Valerie to yank her hand away. Instead, she relaxed a little, tears forming in her eyes as she let out a breath. The tears that had been pooling began to fall. Remus let go of her hand and wrapped her up in his arms. It reminded him of the way he had held her when her parents had died. Her breath caught in her throat as she remembered how much she had missed him. She turned her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around him in return as she sobbed softly into his chest.
"Remus, you're okay," her voice came out in a quivering but relieved whisper.
"Shh, Val, it's alright. I'm fine," James and Sirius quietly left the room to go back to bed. Remus had it under control, and seeing as Valerie hadn't let him this close to her in months, they didn't want to ruin what was beginning to be fixed.
"She was... she was torturing you. Then she was going to kill you. Just because you were friends with me," she mumbled into his shirt, tears still running down her cheeks. "I tried to stop her but I couldn't. You were dead. You were laying there dead. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't save you."
Remus tightened his hold on her as anger coursed through him. Her mother was dead, yet the pain and the fear that she had inflicted would never fully go away. He held her tightly until he felt her heart begin to slow back to normal, and her breathing had evened out. Once he thought she had fallen back asleep, he gently put her down on the bed and tucked her back in. As he turned around to leave, Valerie whimpered softly.
"Remus, please don't go," she pleaded
"Do you want me to pull up a chair? I can sit with you tonight if you want me to." He offered.
"No," she said and motioned to the bed next to her. "You can lay down and get some sleep. I just don't want to be alone. Please?" she added when she saw his look of uncertainty.
"Val, are you sure?" he asked.
"Merlin's beard, Remus. Yes, I am. I just had an extremely detailed nightmare of you being killed by my mother. I would love to be able to turn over and see that you are alive and still breathing. Please."
"Alright, then." He crawled into bed next to her but made sure to leave plenty of room between them. He wanted nothing more than to pull her close and cuddle her until she fell asleep, but he was sure she didn't feel the same. He laid there for a few minutes listening to her breathing. He could tell that she was still awake, but he didn't want to say anything. He began to doze off but was startled awake by a pair of arms wrapping around him, and a head resting on his chest. A smile spread across his face.
"Is this okay?" she asked quietly.
"More than okay," he whispered back, gently stroking her hair. Within minutes, he heard her breathing even out as she fell asleep.

The next morning, Remus woke up with Valerie still wrapped around him. He laid as still as he could to avoid waking her up. Almost an hour later, she shifted and then stretched before she sat up groggily, looking around.
"Morning, Rem," she said as she blearily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"Morning, Val. How'd you sleep, you know, after your nightmare?"
"I slept so well. It was just blackout sleep, no dreams you know? I haven't slept that good since... well..." she trailed off, looking suddenly sad. She laid back again, and Remus rolled over to face her.
"Valerie. I miss this so much. Waking up next to you, being able to make the nightmares seem just a little less real. Val, I haven't stopped loving you, not for a moment. And laying here with you last night and seeing you in pain over me like that killed me. I just wanted to kiss you like I used to and take away a little bit of your pain. Please, Val, haven't we had enough space by now? It's been months!"
Valerie turned onto her side so she was facing him. She studied his face for a minute before sighing. Remus felt as though the world was crashing down around him, absolutely certain that she was going to say no to him. He was stopped from these thoughts by her lips pressing against his. He closed his eyes, thinking that maybe he was still asleep and dreaming.
Valerie pulled back for a moment and looked at him. "Remus, I love you," she whispered, so quietly that he could barely hear her before she leaned in once more.