'puzzles over puzzles'

Valerie kept her distance from Harry for the whole Easter break.

She was angry at him for ruining her chance to help Ada, but a small part of her knew that if he said he was sorry one more time, she would forgive him in a heartbeat.

But Harry's pride was too big. And he also thought that Valerie was wrong.

She had discovered that she was terrible at casting spells since she got her wand. The only class she excelled at was Defence Against The Dark Arts, because it was all theory. But of course, a certain boy with black hair and green eyes disagreed strongly.

"Are you kidding me?" he had exclaimed loudly, when she thanked Umbridge for her paper that she got an O on.

"Excuse me?" Umbridge had snapped.

"She only got an O because she learned the theory by heart. She couldn't even do a levitation charm!"

Valerie's face turned red. "Don't be so sour, Potter. I'm sorry, Professor. He always acts like he has a stick up his-"

Umbridge silenced her. "It's fine, Ms. Alexandris.

O.W.L.S were coming up and she had started her sessions with Hermione. She had become good friends with the bushy-haired witch, giving her advice about her relationship. Hermione was unhappy about Harry and Valerie's fall-out but acted as a go-between anyway.

At their fifteenth session, Valerie slumped in the chair next to her. Hermione smiled at her.

"Any news?" Valerie asked solemnly.

"There is. Harry has decided to investigate without you."

"WHAT?" Madame Pince gave Valerie a nasty look and Valerie apologized quickly.

She hissed under her breath. "I can't believe him! I was the one who told him about this!"

Hermione shrugged as she prepared some practice questions for Valerie.

"It's an improvement. At least he stopped hexing you for fifteen minutes straight."

Valerie folded her arms. "If I die, it's his fault. How can anyone expect me to live with those harsh words?" Hermione had recounted the scene to her in detail.

"Well? What did he find out?" Valerie pressed.

"He got a list from Lilac of all the people who were at the party."

"He already questioned Lilac?" Valerie asked, shocked.

"Yes, he did. And you should get a lead too. I'll tell him and he'll be surprised."

Val shook her head. "No, don't tell him. He'll just rat me out again."

Hermione sighed impatiently. "Val, he only did that because he thought that people were in danger--" she saw Valerie's angry look.

"I'm not saying it's your fault, the ghost was crazy but it's what he thinks." she finished quickly.

"You agree with him, don't you?" Valerie said flatly, noticing Hermione's crossed fingers behind her back.

"Yes, I do."

Valerie sighed but didn't argue with her. "I'm going to take the diary from the office."

Hermione looked at her carefully. "Okay."

"You're not going to stop me?"

"No, I do think Ada needs to be brought to justice."

Valerie smiled.

❖

Ethan was a terrible distraction.

Valerie had said she needed someone to distract McGonagall and he had volunteered eagerly, smiling at his new role. And now, she had to listen to Ethan rambling about how he wanted to go to Athens in Greece, his favorite subject and how much he loathed Snape.

Well, at least he was doing his job.

The diary was locked up and 'alohomara' didn't work at all. In fact, the whole desk exploded. Ethan had stopped his tirade at the noise and McGonagall was very alarmed.

"Excuse me, Mr.--"

"But, Professor!" Ethan protested in a hurt voice. "I need to finish talking about this, I can't keep this inside! My feelings-they matter, don't they?"

Valerie quickly searched through the debris of the desk, looking for the diary. McGonagall tried to open the door, tiredly trying to ignore Ethan's words with a weak excuse.

Valerie slipped on a piece, and she fell on the floor with her hand pressing a loose tile. A tunnel opened up behind her. She wanted to cheer, but her back ached. A lot.

"Ow," she muttered and continued her search. She finally spotted the diary and it fell from her hands clumsily. She bit back a curse and grabbed the diary. McGonagall had finally managed to get rid of Ethan.

With a prayer to the God of escapes, she ran towards the tunnel and she found the button to close it but McGonagall caught a glimpse of her brown hair. She turned and dashed through the tunnel, hoping that the teacher wouldn't follow.

❖

Hermione was impressed and reported that Harry was furious he didn't get it first.

"He'll try and steal it from you, you know. With his invisibility cloak."

 Valerie blinked for a moment, her brain deciphering the accent. "Invisibility cloak?"

"Yeah. Didn't he tell you?"

"No." Valerie's mind wandered towards the day they became partners.

I used a disillusionment charm.

She cursed him silently and continued to copy down the notes for the fourth year potions. Hermione watched her intently. Valerie paused and looked up.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Where you stare at me when you need something. What's up about Ethan?" Valerie sighed, putting down her quill.

Hermione's cheeks heated up. "Before we started dating, he was dating someone else. Once they broke up, he went to me. I keep on thinking whether...if I was a rebound." she finished hopelessly.

"Ron really got to you, huh?" Valerie asked, having noted Ron's jealousy a few study sessions back.

"I guess. He flips out whenever I talk about him. I get it's because I hardly spend time with them now--"

"What?" 

"What, what?"

Valerie was astounded to hear that Hermione, the smartest girl she's known, could be so dumb. "Hermione, he's jealous! He likes you. Not to mention that Ethan has the same features as him, and his personality, he thinks Ethan's still better!"

"Jealous?" Hermione repeated, confused. "What a load of rubbish."

"What do you like about Ethan?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"What do you like about Ron?"

"I don't know!"

Valerie gave her a look.

"Okay, maybe he's funny and he has nice eyes...but I'm with Ethan!"

"Hermione. You like Ethan because he makes you feel wanted, the only thing Ron doesn't. Ron's a git, but he likes you for you. Ethan doesn't. He likes you only when you wear certain dresses, and you style your hair a certain way."

"That's not--"

"You told me that in your fourth year, he wanted your teeth to be smaller?"

"Maybe..."

"Break up with him. You like him for how he makes you feel wanted, that's all." Valerie said forcefully.

Hermione's eyes clouded over. "Maybe. If you want, I could ask Ethan about Ada?"

Valerie's heart jumped. "Ada? Ethan?"

Hermione frowned. "Yeah. Ada was Ethan's ex girlfriend."

madi speaks !

ahhhh how puZZlInG