Isn't Kinda Hypocritical?
sirius black x oc (if u squint)
marauders being assholes, pureblood supremacy, stereotyping, marauders grovelling
Synopsis: Valery is from a family associated with pureblood supremacists, she thinks it's complete bullshit but Sirius (and the rest of the marauders) don't believe her, and they soon learn how to grovel.
Being from a renowned pureblood wizarding family, everyone thought Valery and her family the Dawns were a part of ‘them’
She had met him a few times at banquets and every time, he would ignore her instead opting to mutter profanities about his surroundings
And whilst she definitely agreed with his sentiments, she had always expressed her disagreement differently
This being by asking questions
“They recently appointed a mudblood to the ministry, it’s like they have forgotten about the history of wizards and how important it is to keep magic away from those filthy mudbloods. I tried to stop them from hiring her, but they insisted in doing so.’
“I wonder if it was more difficult for them to join the ministry for that exact reason, they must be one good hell of a witch to be able to beat all of the other candidates”
Even though she never outright disagreed with them, (she had tried that method first and got many scowls and glares in return), instead she turned to make them think instead. It was her little way of rebellion
My parents were the first to disapprove, but they were also the first she was fully able to convince
Whilst they didn’t immediately disagree with any of the pureblood sentiments publically, they never agreed or added on, instead choosing to quietly branch out and make connections with other families.
This meant they were well respected, but many still believed their loyalties lied with the purebloods
This also meant they were able to get information, and they found this to be vital in their next endeavour, but that comes a bit later
The Black family respected her family, they valued their long lineage, and thus they wanted to connect the families
As such, at the age of 9 Sirius and Valery were betrothed, and when this was announced she had her first private encounter with the boy
They were put in a room to converse with one another, and she can proudly announce it was definitely in the top 3 of her most awkward conversations
‘So, how has the party been for you?’
‘Cool, cool, me too. I heard that over Christmas there’s going to be an even bigger banquet.’
‘ it’s kind of crazy how much we have in common
‘ Don’t put me with the likes of you, I’m not like you, I don’t agree with you, you’re scum on the earth’
Obviously, at the time, she was quite offended by his accusation and thought trying to talk her way out of it would be a waste of her time
It was later announced that the engagement would not go through, saying that they were still young, and it wasn’t the right time to be thinking of things like this (along with the Dawn’s growing dislike for the Black family). The announcement was more one-sided with the Blacks continuing to try to make the engagement happen
Soon Sirius started to rebel outwardly, he would make remarks and almost all families started to scorn the young boy
During this time she began trying to slowly open people’s eyes, and whilst it was a slow process, Valery saw fewer families joining the banquets, and more and more letters for her parents and some even for Valery herself
Her whispers never reached the Black family, choosing to instead they chose to look distastefully at whoever expressed the smallest amount of disagreement
Sirius started to go to fewer and fewer banquets, but whenever he did it would always end with the Blacks loudly announcing that they were leaving while gripping the boy
There was a moment Valery thought Mrs. Black was going to hit Sirius which resulted in her accidentally tripping and spilling her drink on her
Of course, she apologised and insisted on taking her to the bathroom to clean up, leaving Sirius an opportunity to escape her grip
Then there was that night
Valery thought it was going to be another one of those whole day banquets, full of ignorant people she had yet managed to persuade
But this banquet was different. She told her parents that it was time to go home, but their eyes turned hard, loudly telling her to be quiet
She looked around to see some of the older people surrounding a young man, their wands point towards him, and with every flick, he would scream in agony
As Valery was about to run towards him, but her mothers shaking hand grasped her arm
Valery realised herself she couldn’t do anything
And that was the moment she learned she couldn’t convince everyone, that there were always going to be people too far out of her grasp
When the Dawns arrived home, they were silent, but somehow the silence was louder than anything they could’ve said
‘I have to do something’ Valery murmured
Her parents turning to look at her, ‘ we can’t do anything right now’
‘No, there must be something, someone must be able to do something. What about Dumbledore, he’s the headmaster of Hogwarts, he has power, he’s strong, he might be able to.’ And whilst her parents were hesitant, she was determined to at least try. And so Valery wrote what she had seen at the young age of 10, and sent it to Dumbledore himself
The next year she received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts, with a little note from Dumbledore saying he was glad to finally meet her.
They had been exchanging letters ever since that night, and he had recruited her parents to tell him everything they knew and any new information they found out
This also meant my parents had to get closer to those people, but she was thankful to know that it was simply a facade
In the year since what she had seen, the light within her changed, it wasn’t a simple white light instead of a burning fire that made her believe that whilst she might not be able to change the world, she could make a difference.
Arriving at Kings Cross was a debacle in it of itself, it seemed many families, especially pureblooded families wanted to get into the good graces of her parents. But they were far too distracted with the tears that were threatening to spill from their eyes to pay attention to any strangers.
Valery had been on my way to 9 ¾ when she saw a girl her age, with the reddest hair she had seen in ages looking lost
Valery went up to her and asked if she was looking for platform 9 ¾, and when she had mentioned it her eyes turned to saucers.
‘ Hi, I’m Valery, Valery Dawn’
‘ Are you a first-year too?’
She told me in the carriage that she was muggleborn, and was shocked to receive a letter from an owl on a random Tuesday afternoon
And so Valery told her of how her owl flew right into her room with her letter and rummaged around looking for snacks
And since that train ride, they were inseparable
The first time Lily and James met, he had seen her and tripped on his own feet right in front of her, this led to him asking if she was an angel, and this was also when Lily’s distaste for Potter began
It seemed that Sirius recognised Valery and glared, so she replied with a simple head tilt
During the sorting ceremony, Black’s sorting into Gryffindor caused whispers to encompass the room. But when Valery herself was sorted into the same house, there was an uproar, some of applause, some disapprovals, and many gasps.
As she walked down the hall, she could feel every eye on her, even though there was another kid getting sorted. Valery sat down, with a smile and continued looking at the ceremony, choosing to ignore any whispers that were surely about her.
She stood and applauded when Lily also got sorted into Gryffindor, this only allowing their already solid bond to strengthen.
When they had sat together for the rest of the ceremony, Potter and Black and decided this was the right time to confront Valery.
‘Get away from Lily, Valery.’
Valery turned to look at Lily, ‘Lils, do you want me to move?”
She grabbed Valery’s arm, cuddling it, ‘No I do not’
She turns to face Potter, ‘ Looks like I don’t have to’
Potter faced Lily, ‘She’s one of them pureblood supremacists Lily, she hates people like you’
Lily turned to look at me, a flash of confusion and hurt crossed her eyes, but soon turned into worry when she saw mine filled with fury
‘What do you mean by ‘people like you’ Potter? You can think of me however you would like, but don’t you dare think you can get away with treating Lily like that.’
‘ That’s not what I meant, Lily. I just mean she thinks of you as less of a witch because you’re muggleborn.’
Lily, looked straight at Potter, ‘And how would you know that?’
‘Sirius here knows her family, say they’re the worst of them, they’re at the top’
She scoffed, ‘ So you admit that Black and his family are acquainted with mine, yet you decided that I’m a part of them whilst he’s not. Double standards don’t you think Potter?’
‘Potter, Valery has been nothing but kind and caring ever since we have met-’
‘She didn’t know you were a muggleborn until now, didn’t she?’
Lily blinked,‘I told her when we got on the train. You’re the one that has been treating me differently because of it, not her.
This is when Black decided to step forward, “I don’t know what you’re up to Dawn but you’re going to have to drop that mask at one point.”
“Why would I want a mask when I already look this good?” She said quizzically.
This left the two boys speechless and frustrated, causing them to walk away
That night Lily and her had a conversation about what was said and her family. She told her that she, nor her parents believed in any of that. She didn’t tell her that my parents were basically spies for Dumbledore, but she knew that my parents were just influential and so many believed them to have some sort of power.
Over the years, Lily and Valery became sisters through and through, and whilst she tended to be quieter, Valery was able to get in everyone’s good graces, well almost everyone
The Marauders, as they liked to be called, despised her. She was quite sure that Sirius had told them she believed in all that pureblood shit, and whilst she thought being friends with Lily proved that obviously wrong, they somehow convinced themselves that Valery was this manipulative person who was simply wearing a mask. And whilst she found that a bit amusing, she also thought that must be exhausting. She could barely go through the day without a nap, let alone make a whole fake persona.
At any passing, the Mauraders would glare at her, scorning her.
It was basically a routine that they would prank her, or at least try. They once replaced all her robes with Slytherin robes, so she decided to ask a Ravenclaw girl for a pair of blue socks and a Hufflepuff girl for a scarf. And she strutted around wearing a bit of every house, opting for a Gryffindor tie.
People had asked what she was doing, and she simply replied that there was a bit of every house in everyone. And now every year people wear a piece from every house to show Hogwarts’ unity.
This obviously angered the boys
No matter what rumour they tried to spread, it never went far
“Didn’t you hear that Valery tried to break into the boys' dorm last night?”
“Huh? She was with me and some other girls helping us with our charms all night, she even finished a paper for a girl who had fallen asleep.”
And whilst everyone seemed to love Valery, the boys made it their goal to ‘expose’ who she really was
She has also been near the top of all of her classes, and whilst she could be a top student if she tried a bit harder, she often opted for staying up late and sleeping during the day, leading her bed to often be a desk.
This also meant the boys’ goal in distracting her from the class was a bust
The Mauraders, specifically James, would try to separate Lily and Valery, going as far as to make up lies in order, in their words, ‘free Lily’.
But somehow every time, there would be evidence as to why they were lying.
‘ My Lily flower, you should really stop spending so much time with Valery. I heard her in the bathroom bullying this first year with some Slytherin girls’
‘ Potter, I was with her, and she was standing up for the young girl not bullying her. If anything you’re the bully, constantly trying to make Vals life hell.’
‘ Lily, you don’t know who she is.’
‘ And you do? For the past 5 years, she has been the sister I’ve always dreamt of, whilst you have been nothing but a thorn at my side’
‘See, she’s been trying to turn you against me’
‘Oh, I wish she would, instead every time I scorn you she mentions something nice you did that day. I don’t know what she sees in you to not think you’re dirt on a shoe, but if I were her I would’ve cursed you into oblivion.’ and with this Lily turned to storm away, leaving a confused James behind.
Today was the day James decided to confront Valery Dawn, who was sitting on a desk sneakily hiding snacks behind her book.
‘Dawn, can I have a word?’ He said looking exasperated.
‘Everything alright Potter?’ She began, concern lacing her voice
The sincere look of concern in her eyes stopped any profanities he was originally going to call her. ‘I think you should stay away from Lily. You’re not good for her.”
‘Ah, this again. Don’t you think Lily is mature enough to make that decision herself?’
‘She’s blind to it, she doesn’t see the person you are.’
‘A cruel person, you’ve somehow managed to convince the school that you’re not and I applaud your perseverance, but your mask will start to crack soon enough.’
‘Why do you think I’m a cruel person? I’ve never done anything to you, those year 6 girls maybe, but not to you or anyone you care about.’
‘Because you think that those who don’t have pureblood don’t deserve magic, you think only people like you are worthy of magic.’
‘ And what have I done to make you think I believe that?’
‘You, you told that, um one girl that, she’s um-’
‘ I don’t know what I’ve done to make you and all the Marauders hate me, and I apologise if I have done something but if i actually haven’t done anything aren’t you being a hypocrite?’
‘You hate me because you think I’m one of those pureblood fanatics, that think anyone who isn’t a pureblood is undeserving of magic. And yes, if I did believe that, you would have the absolute right to despise my guts. But I don’t, and I know you won’t believe me, which is why I don’t try to convince you or anyone else. Only my actions can speak for me.’
‘And how am I being hypocritical exactly?’
‘You think I judge people because of their blood, and you judge me because of mine.’
‘I don’t do that…’ He said, his voice quieting as realisation kicked in
‘ It’s just a thought Potter, if you hate me you hate me, I’m not desperate for your friendship. But it is a bit idiotic to be cruel to the best friend of the love of your life, as you call Lils.’ Valery said grabbing her book and snacks and walking away, leaving James Potter to re-evaluate every interaction he has had with Valery Dawn.
James didn’t know what to think, for so long he thought that Valery Dawn was the scum of the earth. Sirius was so sure that she was just like his family, but yet she befriended Lily. She was selfish and cruel, yet she helped anyone who came to her. She hated him and his friends, yet she was concerned for him when he came to her. He was sure having to put a facade every day was exhausting, yet Valery never let her mask slip. Or at least what he thought was a mask.
James was determined to expose Valery for the person she was, so he decided the best way to do this was to follow her and catch her in the act. He knew Remus would be tired from the coming full moon, and Sirius would rather be anywhere but near her. So Peter was the only one left that would go with him.
It was late at night, and Valery was in the common room, eating some ice cream when she suddenly got up and left. James going towards the common room saw this and decided it was the perfect time to follow her.
‘Sorry boys, Peter and I forgot something in the hall.
James dragged Peter behind him, following Valery. And when she stopped, they did the same, which is how they ended up in front of the kitchen.
She went in happily, James and Peter looking through the crack in the door to see her talking to the house-elves.
Many people thought very little of the elves and treated them indifferently. People simply didn't care. Yet here Valery Dawn was, treating them with respect and kindness.
‘All of you should go to bed, I’ll handle the rest of the cleaning.’
‘No Ms Dawn, we can’t, we can do it, Ms Dawn’
‘I insist, it won’t take me long at all, and I’m having a spurt of energy, so really you are doing me a favour.’
‘ Ms Dawn, we are house elves, we can do it
‘Lich, I assure you, it’s something I want to do, please will you let me?’
‘ If that is what Ms Dawns wants…’
‘ Thank you, Lich, have a nice sleep!’
She turned around beginning to clean to bowl she was already holding. And once all the house elves were out of sight, she began cleaning the entire kitchen, simply humming as she did so.
And in a matter of minutes, it was done, but for some reason, she still hadn’t left.
She began to start gathering ingredients, and she started to make… cookies?
And this is how James and Peter found out that every Wednesday night, Valery would clean the kitchen and bake sweets for the house-elves.
She turned around at the sound of her name, ‘Potter. You know Lily might start to think you fancy me if you keep coming up to me.’
‘ Um, I was um, damn, um I don’t know.’ He said finally, looking down.
‘ I see, well this was an informative conversation, hope you have a good day Potter.’ She said walking, leaving a frustrated James.
‘What the hell was I thinking,’ James muttered. Sirius then came up to him, ‘ What’s got your knickers in a twist?’
‘Are you sure that Valery is one of those pureblood fanatics?’
‘ Don’t you know who her family is? They basically run that whole circus.’
‘Aren’t they rude to house-elves for example?’
‘Yea, they properly treat them like trash, throwing things at them and everything, it’s disgusting.’
‘Where did all of this come from?’
‘She asked me something before and it got me thinking.’
‘She’s getting in your head Potter, and she knows it.’
Remus hated the full moon. It was the one time he truly had no control, and that scared him more than anything. And when his friends risked everything just to be able to help him, he hated it even more.
And this specific time was worst than any other he’s ever had, he had never felt more ill in his entire life, and he knew that would mean it was going to be a long night.
As always the Marauders left together to the forbidden forest, but this time only three left. Remus had run away, and somehow Valery Dawn was right there. He could only remember charging towards her, but then suddenly being unable to move. With Valery moving closer, observing her surroundings and looking closely at the werewolf herself.
‘Didn’t know there was a werewolf at Hogwarts, hmmm.’ She pulled something out of her pocket and flicked her wand causing the werewolf to be stuck to a tree.
‘So you’re going to remember this in the morning, and by then the charm should’ve worn off. So I’m going to leave some wolfsbane here, and I’m guessing you’re going to need more so either meet me, send one of you’re friends or give me a place to leave it for next time. Good night!’ She said smiling and walking away.
When Remus had woken up, he was against a tree, feeling dizzy as looked at his surroundings. Wanting to go see his friends, he got up and was about to start running, when he saw on the ground a wolfbanes potion. Suddenly he remembered Valery, calmly handling him in his monstrous form, and giving him a potion to help him. She didn’t know who he was, and yet she helped him.
He entered his dorm, to see all the boys pacing around panicked.
He smiled, feeling grateful towards all the boys and maybe a girl. ‘I’m okay now that I’m here, but I could really use a nap. Might need to skip today, to be honest.’
‘WOW, the Remus wanting to skive off class?’
‘I think you should, even if it means I have to be alone to deal with Valery.’ At the sound of her name he jumped.
‘Wait, maybe I should go to class, it’ll be suspicious if I’m not in.’
‘Are you sure you’re up for it?’
Remus had been focusing on Valery the whole day, confusion clouding his mind. Wasn’t she meant to be this cruel, horrible woman who hated everyone but people like herself? Yet, when she looked at him when he was a werewolf, she looked at him as if he was any other person. He paid attention to all of her interactions, seeing the way she was kind to everyone, never once showing any prejudice he was sure she had or was at least meant to have.
By the end of the day, he couldn’t connect a single thought. Who was Valery Dawn, and why wasn’t she behaving like the girl she was meant to be.
It had been a few weeks since the encounter, and while Remus still couldn’t didn’t understand Valery, she became a small thought in his head, instead of homework and prefect duties filling his mind.
One night during his check around school, he saw light coming from the potions room.
He knocked on the door, entering only to see Valery there.
‘You’re meant to be in your room Dawn.’
‘I got permission from Slughorn to be here until I was finished.’
‘And what exactly is so important that you must stay here so late?’
‘I wanted to practice making potions.’
‘You’re the top of the class, even Snivellus asks you for help.’
Exactly, so I have to keep my skills up.’ He looked across the table and saw the ingredients. And he recognised a few of them. She was making a wolfbane potion, she was making it for when he needed it, and risking expulsion while she was at it.
Feeling the heat rising up his neck he said, ‘Umm, well... Would you mind if I kept you company?’
‘I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me? Ya know that whole pureblood fanatic thing.’
Now 3 of the 4 Mauraders were confused, well Peter was for the most part indifferent about Valery but now he was quite impressed by her. Remus being the latest edition, he just couldn’t understand just who was Valery Dawn.
During dinner one time, he and basically everyone else could hear these 6th years talking about werewolves, of course, none of it being nice. This caused Remus to shrink in his seat, and just when James was about to stand up, Valery beat him to it.
‘Oi, idiots. Can you shut up or would you rather find out how it looks to be missing teeth.’
‘Ten points deducted from Gryffindor, this causing the 6th years to snicker, ‘and 20 points deducted from both Ravenclaw and Slytherin.’
The boys looked toward Valery, to see her go back to talking happily to multiple girls, Lily sitting right next to her. She turned her head, seeing all the boys looking at her with wide eyes. She looked behind her, causing Peter to chuckle. She looked toward Peter and smiled, making him turn away, a blush spreading across his cheeks. This caused her to laugh, a sound the boys found to be quite nice, with one boy in particular hating that the sound played itself over and over in his mind.
Sirius was always the black sheep, well white sheep in this instance. He was alone, and even though he wished to save his brother from his family, he lost him too. So he naturally assumed anyone from this part of his life was the same, including Valery Dawn.
Looking back he thought she was pretty funny when they were put in that room together, but at the moment he could only feel anger at his parents for trying to take away another part of his life. He wasn’t even allowed to choose who he loved.
Whilst he had never seen her actively agree with any pureblood propaganda, he never saw her go against it. Instead seeing her converse with people proved to him she was like all the rest.
When he saw that she was befriending Lily Evans, a known muggle-born, he was shocked and for a second he thought that maybe he was wrong about her. But he quickly shooed away the thought, and with his new friend blooming crush on the girl, he thought it was his duty to help the girl.
He told the Mauraders everything he knew about the girl, well what he thought. And of course, they believed him. They somewhat knew what his family life was like, and if Dawn was anything like that, they wanted her to be miserable.
But somehow, in 5 years, Valery Dawn was loved by all, with them being the only exception. She had always caught his eye, from the way her hair swayed when she walked, to her voice when answering a question, even to her sleeping murmurs when she dozed off in class. He paid attention to all of it, and he hated it. How could she be so enchanting when she was everything he wanted to destroy.
Lily had been worried for Severus for a while, seeing him grow closer to the Slytherin boys she knew were bad news. Valery had never been a fan of Severus but knew that Lily and him had a history Lily cherished and so she treated him civilly. But that changed one day.
When the Mauraders decided that this was going to be one of those days where they tormented ‘Snivellus’, Lily had gone to try to stand up for him and instead of any sort of gratefulness he responded by calling her a mudblood.
Causing Lily’s eyes to get glassy, ‘Severus, don’t ever look at me, don’t ever talk to me, don’t even think about me.’ She said this with her head held high and she walked away. Valery made an attempt to grab Lily when she shook her head murmuring, ‘I want to be alone for a bit.’
This caused James and the rest of them to get mad, but nowhere near the levels of Valery.
James turned to look at her with malice,’ why would I do that?’
She turned to look at him with a rage that sent shivers down his spine, ‘Put him down Potter.’ And with that, he did so.
Valery walked toward Severus and began to punch him, once in both eyes, and another in his nose.
She then healed it, and did it over and over, until she was exhausted. Valery then used a spell to lift him up and slammed him up against a tree.
‘If I ever hear you say that about Lily, or anyone else ever again I will destroy the miserable life you have. Don’t think your mummy can get you out of this one.’
She dropped him and started to walk away, ‘He’s all yours boys’.
This left them all gobsmacked. This was the angriest they have ever seen her, and it was because Severus called Lily a mudblood, something they thought Valery would’ve agreed with. Instead, she was furious, going as far as to basically torture Severus for those 10 minutes of pure beating.
All of the boys turned towards Sirius, ‘Okay, so maybe I was wrong.’
The Mauraders were all sitting together in their room, thinking about what the past day meant.
James was the first to start, ‘I think we fucked up.’
‘What no way.’ Sirius retorted sarcastically.
‘This is kind of your fault Padfoot.’
‘How was I meant to know she was this beautiful person who isn’t actually a pureblood supremacist when her family-’
‘But aren’t you similar?’ Peter said quietly.
Sirius turned to look at him and just collapsed onto a bed. ‘I messed up big time.’ He kept thinking until it hit him. ‘What if this is just one singular incident, ya know, to deceive us?’
James interjected, ‘ Peter and I saw followed her one night, to ya know, see if she was going to take off her mask.’
‘And what did you see?’ Remus said hurriedly.
‘Um, she went to the kitchen with her bowl…’ James began
‘Did she throw it at the elves? Did she scream at them, I kne-’
‘And she cleaned the whole kitchen for them and baked them cookies. I think she does this every week cause they know her pretty well.’ He quietly added on the last part, hoping to decrease the guilt he was feeling.
Remus and Sirius stared wide-eyed, ‘Huh but doesn’t she help people with their homework, and it runs until like 12? So she has to be lying about that’
‘She leaves at around 1 and heads back at 3. She tries to bake something new everytime, but the elves’ favourite are her cookies.’ Peter added happily.
The three other boys groaned, ‘Okay but it’s not like she’s that great of a person right? Like the only thing, she’s risking by doing that is detention.’
James added, ‘Yea, I mean she’s a nice person sure, but she isn’t like us. We wanted to help Moony no matter what.’
Remus looked down, ‘ Yea um about that, you know how I have been getting wolfbane potions?’
‘Yea, now whoever that is, is a saint. They are literally at risk for even getting the ingredients let alone making the potion.’ Sirius added, feeling the weight on his shoulders lift a little.
‘Valery makes them.’ Remus said looking at them.
‘SHE KNOWS?’ All of them shout.
‘I’m pretty sure she does, I mean she’s smart and she can connect the dots. Or at least she thinks it’s one of you guys.’
‘What does she think about the whole thing?”
Remus was petrified when going to meet Valery at the astronomy tower. He sent her a letter saying that his friend needed a wolfsbane potion, he knew this meant one of his friends might be at risk but no one would be able to pinpoint who it was, and maybe a part of him wanted to trust Valery
‘Hi there Remus, I got the potion for you.’
‘Um, yea thank you…’ he trailed off.
Once handing it to him, she turned to walk away
‘Aren’t you going to ask any questions?’
‘HUh? No, but have a nice night, and I hope whoever needs that is okay.’
‘Wait, but why are you helping them? What if it’s one of my friends, what if it’s me. We’ve been nothing but nasty to you? Why haven’t you told anyone, do you know what you’re risking by helping?’
‘Woah Woah, slow down on the questions buddy. Look, someone needs help, I have the power to help them, why wouldn’t I help?’
‘Because if you get caught you could get expelled, you could end up in jail.’
‘And someone could end up getting hurt or killed, not only the people around them but also the person themselves.’
‘But why help me? Why help us?’
‘Okay why help a werewolf, they’re monsters.’
‘Remus, they’re not monsters. Monsters are things that choose to hurt people because they want to. Plus, isn’t the whole point of a werewolf that they’re also human?’
‘Yeah but, they’re unnatural…’
‘If it’s not something that can be changed, how unnatural can it be. Also for merlin’s sake, we can literally perform magic what about anything that is natural. Like we have talking paintings, how is that natural?’
And then he smiled, ‘I mean you make a great point.’
‘As I always do, have you got any more questions?’
‘Why do you let us treat you the way we do?’
‘To be fair there’s been very few glares as of recent, which is sort of scary in its own way.’
‘Didn’t answer the question.’
‘Didn’t know this was an interrogation.’ She muttered ‘ Okay, I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a bit of a dick. I kind of, don’t care. Like I get that you guys are basically loved by most people and that you guys are popular but I’m pretty happy with who I am and where I am, what does it matter what 4 boys think of me?’
‘I understand, well thank you for being kind to us even if we don’t deserve it.
“She literally doesn’t care. Hell, she gave a way better speech than all of you.’
‘Now what do we do?’ Sirius asks
‘Let's commence mission get Valery as our friend’ James exclaimed
‘How about mission apologies to Valery before anything else.’ Remus suggested.
And for the rest of the night, the boys thought of ways to apologise to Valery
Breakfast was interesting to say the least
When she entered the great hall, all of the walls and basically any surface there was, were filled with messages along the lines of ‘we’re sorry. And immediately she knew what this meant
The boys finally believed her, but that didn’t mean they were off the hook, after all, they did try to make her life hell for a time, even if they failed.
And so as she walked in seeing the boys excited faces, she turned around and left. Just like that, causing all the boys to deflate, and just to put salt in James’ wound Lily left with her.
“Are you actually going to forgive them Val?’
‘I mean, it’s not like they actually did any harm, but I’m going to make them grovel for a bit at least’
‘Why are you so nice to them?’
‘It’s not like they thought I was a good person and they treated me badly. They thought I was a pureblood supremacist, hell if I knew someone was I probably would’ve been worse.’
‘That's the thing, they didn’t even try to know, they just assumed.’
‘Which is why I’m going to make them grovel.’
And so every day for the next month there was a new attempt at an apology. Sometimes it was just decorations, other times it included the boys, sometimes other students, even one time it included Dumbledore. But with every failure, the rest of the day consisted of them being grumpy until one of them got a new idea and the rest of the day was spent planning. They would make great party planners if they weren’t so… them.
At last, I decided to put them out of their misery, and so in the morning during breakfast, I sat down and waited for them to arrive, and arrive they did. With James sitting beside Lily who was on my right, and Sirius on my left, I smiled.
‘Boys, could I have a word with you after classes today?’ I said smiling, turning to Sirius which only made him turn away in a hurry.
‘Of course Valery, anything you’d like.’ Remus responded.
‘Anything?’ I say with a twinkle in my eye, which made all the boys gulp.
‘Anything’ they said in unison.
It was the end of the day, and all the boys were bricking themselves. What if she made them run around naked, which honestly wasn’t that bad in their eyes. Or what if she told them that she would never forgive them and then hate them forever.
All of them were waiting outisde of her last class, that being potions, which made Remus smile softly.
Everyone in the hall and all the students leaving their class saw the boys and were expecting another huge apology only for Valery to leave in indifference. But this time Valery exited and 4 boys quietly following behind her.
They ended up in an abandoned class, which only lead all the boys to think maybe she finally cracked and decided to kill them.
‘Look before you kill us, can we get in one more apology?’ James asked hopefully.
‘I’m not going to kill you just yet don’t worry.’
‘How is that meant to make us worry any less?’ Sirius asked
‘It’s not really my problem at that point,’ she shrugged. ‘Look, all of you tried to make my life a living hell, and whilst you failed miserably there was still that intent.’ Sirius opened his mouth to interject, ‘but you have all obviously relented and realised your mistake. The reason why I never hated you was because 1. I didn’t really care about your opinions, and 2. I understood where you were coming from. If I knew that someone was one of those pureblood supremistics I would try to make their lives hell too, especially if she was best friend with the girl I like.’
‘Love,’ James interjected.
‘Love. But the thing is you didn’t know, you assumed, which is what hurt most. You didn’t even try to get to know me before you decided who I was. But i’m glad that is all behind us now, meaning we can go on with our lives.’
All the boys looked at each other and said ,
‘WE’RE SORRY AND THANK YOU.’ Making the girl laugh.
‘Well now that that’s over with, I hope you boys have a good day and see you when I see you.’ She said turning to leave.
Sirius rushed to grab her arm, ‘So are we friends now?’
‘Slow down there casanova, I just accepted you’re apology.’ I sighed, not being able to handle the puppy eyes he was weirdly really good at giving, ‘Look, we don’t know each other and-’
‘We promise we will be good friends to you, we want to know Valery Dawn.’ He said looking at her with such sincerity that a light pink hue flourished her cheeks.
Valery made a wonderful honorary member of the Marauders, and whilst Lily was distraught over the fact she would have to spend more time with James, she was glad that Valery was happy.
‘JAMES IF YOU DON’T GIVE ME BACK MY HAIRBRUSH I WILL SHAVE SIRIUS’ HEAD.’
‘PRONGS COME BACK HERE AND GIVE HER HER HAIRBRUSH.’
‘And that is how you make other people do your bidding,’ she bowed as Remus and Peter applauded.
Well as happy as she could be with the Marauders.
