Sixth year was peculiar – it was a deceptively safe year situated directly between two years which were characterized by the immense pressure to succeed academically. Being a sixth year was like taking a quick stop at a pleasant little oasis before trudging the rest of the way through hell. Though it wasn't an exam year, and though she'd managed to pare down her list of classes to a respectable selection of carefully curated courses, it wasn't truly break time for Valerie. The school-sanctioned torture never truly ended at Hogwarts. Everyone seemed to expect a lot from the students who'd stayed on beyond OWLs, and sometimes the pressure got to her head. The level of difficulty was only increasing as she approached the end of the school year. The students were being prepared for the rigors that NEWT revision would bring, and that meant sitting for final exams that were most likely intended to frighten them into taking this level of education seriously. Val personally didn't need frightening in order to attend to her studies. She had never been the sort who could succeed without ever cracking a book or picking up a wand after class was dismissed. Thus, every spare moment that wasn't already designated for a task had become study time – and the only way to make that much study time remotely pleasant was to rope her friends and housemates into participating.

There was a friend for every subject. Just like she'd be a fool not to revise for Herbology with Micah, who acted as though he'd sprung up from the soil seventeen years ago and had been covered in dung ever since, she'd be ridiculous not to ask Raine for pointers on the topic of Defense. The ginger haired witch possessed a sort of fearlessness with her wand that Valerie envied, but which she didn't believe she could emulate. Studying with students who were at the top of the class meant humbling herself. There was no pretending that she had more backbone than she did when Raine Almasy was holding a wand to her chest. It was good for her, she thought. Perhaps she'd never be the best, but she was still here, wasn't she? She was proud of that much.

It was about 9:15 in the morning, and Valerie didn't have class until Charms in about two hours. Raine, meanwhile, would be just getting out of Muggle Studies – a class that Val didn't take herself considering that at this point in her life she'd thought herself a muggle for longer than she'd known herself to be a witch. She still thought the existence of such a class was quite silly – though perhaps not as silly as she looked as she began to leisurely pace the open expanse of ground, giving herself an internal pep talk that was intended to prepare her for the practical study session to come. The expression on her face was fierce... for Valerie, anyway. She resembled a bunny rabbit trying to stand its ground, her expression mostly set, but looking slightly pained about the brow. When she heard footsteps approaching and caught the slightest hint of an approaching shadow out of the corner of her eye, all traces of such an expression melted away, leaving behind only the bunny rabbit, looking as though she'd been caught in the headlights.

“Hello!” she called out, a smile quickly materializing and coming to consume her face. “I haven't started without ya!” she assured her housemate, resting her hands casually on her hips as she drifted forward a few paces to meet her. “Learn about anything interesting today? Lightbulbs?” she chuckled,
“Machine guns?”

Raine wore her hair in a single, igneous braid this morning.

It danced and slithered from shoulder to shoulder blade as she practically sprinted down the first floor stairwell to the castle entrance. The soles of her shoes thrummed loudly against stone and announced the Gryffindor to a group of fourth years who parted in a panic. And then she was finally outside.

A single cloud was threatening light rainfall by the time she found Valerie pacing, dwarfed underneath a gathering of trees.

"Machine guns, I wish. Laptops!" Raine declared as she slung her satchel to the ground. "Portable computers and all that nonsense." Between the two of them, obviously, it wasn't actual nonsense. Muggle Studies was a straightforward E or O. Her muggle grandparents had actually given the Almasy residence its first 'Macintosh' laptop last Christmas.

The air had a thick, anticipatory quality to it. Warm. It would drizzle in the afternoon perhaps. Raine slipped off her scarf and hung it on a branch. "Ugly, inkless typewriters-" she continued critically, shaking her head like a disappointed mother. "- and still all those wires." And then more seriously, with a raised eyebrow. "Shall I defend? I did my hexes yesterday, so don't worry about me."
 
Wand out, Raine paused only to stretch her arms, still stiff from class. She liked working with Crowe. It was less lethal dangerous than anything the Nightshades did but also more in line with their syllabus - and getting an O would be important if she was going to come back to do her NEWTs at the end of next year. The redhead shot her housemate a wily smile. It didn't hurt that Val was pleasant to be around. Adorable even.

Valerie never minded a rainstorm – puddle jumping was a favorite pastime of hers -  but she hoped the chubby, graying cloud overhead could hold it in until they finished their morning practice. Throwing hexes in the rain definitely sounded like something that grumpy old Professor Storm might subject them to just for a lark. On a wet, muddy day, a friendly battle of jinxes might have been fun, but when it came to serious practice, the fewer distractions there were, the better. There was a reason why Valerie hadn't put her name in for the tournament. She just wasn't that kind of clever. Being the best would always be someone else's burden, and even when she struggled she couldn't properly envy them that.

“I never had a computer before,” Val announced upon hearing what the topic of the Muggle Studies lesson had been that day. “I used them at school, but that was ages ago. I've heard they're nicer now, but we haven't even got proper electricity at home,” she shrugged, mashing her lips together to subdue her grin. Raine had likely used a computer more recently than Val had. It had been years since she'd been in the know regarding the latest technology, and, to her knowledge, she'd never actually used the internet before. She may have teased about Muggle Studies, but the truth was that she might have learned something if she audited a lesson or two.

Once the two witches were down to business, it seemed like no amount of unintentionally silly faces had fully prepared Val for what was to come. The lanky girl merely shrugged her shoulders, willing to cast first, even if she worried about how she'd fare. She was sure she'd be fine... but even feeling sure didn't mean she wasn't a bit nervous... but just a bit!

“Right. So. Hexes,” she said casually, taking up her wand and walking a few leisurely paces away from the trees. “Any hex in particular?” she asked – and then, in realization, she laughed, bringing one hand up to rub at the back of her neck. “I don't suppose I should be asking the person I'm sending them at. But... anything we've been learning should do fine, don't you think?” she asked, even though she was certain she already knew the answer. It always took some jibber jabber and winding up before Val felt truly comfortable pointing a wand at anybody. Tentatively she lifted it up, found her center and...

“Oi, what's that look for?” she asked, taking in the other girl's crazy smile with a quirk of her brow, “You're distracting me!” she giggled, dropping her wand arm once again. 

At this rate she was well on her way to earning her own O... in anxious procrastination.

"They're not very reliable encyclopaedias," she commented with a frown, certain that her housemate was better off without computers and laptops or those flat, glowing lone screens. "I don't think."

And then they were lengths apart. Raine took several steps back as she listened, a voice in the back of her head already wondering what stance to best adopt. This was typical of Val - they would chat a bit until any real hex flinging could begin. It was fine for practice but not conducive to duelling.

"Anything up to our last lesson," she agreed and finally stopped walking. This was a healthy distance. "If only all my duelling partners were so easy to distract-" Raine smiled again, taunting in good humour. "- one smile would be all I need to win."

She raised her wand calmly. "Start with something easy. I can work myself up to stronger shields. Throw me a fire hex." A proper, mischievous grin. "You know I adore a good fire hex."

Valerie had already been nearing the tweenage side of childhood when she'd first learned that she was a witch. She'd been young enough at the time that playing pretend was still part of life, and when there wasn't much else to do it wasn't unusual for her to strike up a good, old fashioned game of 'House' – only in the wizarding world, the game of House looked a little bit different than it had on the muggle side, and often involved 'playing wands.' If the goal was to play as adults, then it was natural to pick up whatever long, thin object you happened to find and pretend that you could cast spells like a grownup. Wand play, however, had been a bit of a touchy subject for Valerie, who would likely have still been stuck with muggle foster carers if she hadn't decided, on a whim, to 'play wands' on the schoolyard (before she knew such a thing existed in reality), accidentally demolishing a playground and landing on the ministry's radar. Everything had worked out in the end, but that didn't mean that watching that play structure sink into the earth didn't get replayed in her mind over and over, making her cringe with humiliation for her younger self. It had taken her longer than her peers to embrace the idea of pointing a wand at another person, let alone when the intention was to harm them in some way.

So she rambled, and she made excuses, and she worked at building herself up under the guise of casually messing around. Could you blame her? Luckily, Raine didn't seem to mind – and if she did, Valerie didn't notice. The contrast between the two gryffindor girls was obvious at first glance. While Raine was contemplating duelling stances, Val was just trying to point her wand at her opponent without wincing. She made a face at her housemate in response to her gentle taunt, wrinkling up her nose and laughing as, again, she tried to position herself into something resembling a good hexing stance, giving her head a shake at her own expense. “You don't think it's just a little bit odd?” she had to ask, “Smiling at someone who's about to hex you? It's unnerving!” It didn't occur to her that the big, goofy smile on her own face may have had a similar effect.

Goodness, Raine made everything look so simple! “Fire. Alright, I can manage fire,” she said with a fairly relaxed nod. She wasn't sure fire was easy, as the other witch had implied, but if Raine could think clearly while anticipating taking a fireball to the face then bless her!  “Are you ready?” she asked, still stalling. “I know I'm not supposed to ask if you're ready,” she added, taking a deep breath, a little smirk settling onto her lips. She stepped back, widened her legs, swallowed any remaining saliva in her mouth and...

“Ignisphaera!” she called out, as loud as a roar – which was not always the best practice in actual duelling, but gave her courage and made her feel powerful enough to see the spell through, sending a pretty little fireball straight for her partner. She could feel the heat of the thing on her hands as the spell fired off. Val knew that, out of everyone in her year – and maybe even the school - her partner was the safest person to hurl a fireball at, but she still felt that cannonball of terror fall straight into her gut while it was airborne.

Some instincts came more naturally to her than others. For instance, Raine often had to remind herself to laugh out loud at jokes, and she was constantly forgetting names or titles. The root of her dislike for History of Magic. Really more of a muggle inconvenience.

But spells she had down to a fine, intuitional art.

Protego! she deflected the pellet of fire silently, sending the flames back at an angle so that they would extinguish in the air. Raine arched an eyebrow at her classmate - as a warning more than anything else - and then flourished her wand playfully.

Why lose a chance at gaining momentum? Of course she knew that Valerie was hesitant at Defences, and in a way she could understand why. Sanya hadn't been all that eager a learner either and... well. She was dead now.



If you couldn't hurl a hex soon enough then it was bloody important for you to defend against a quick one. Singulto! The hiccuping hex, invisible, shot out in two successions followed by an astute Infligo.[1]

1.	Smack hex, wiki.

Valerie didn't struggle with laughing out loud – in fact, she did it so often that it was nearly an impediment – but there was nothing about violence, or even defending against it, that had ever come naturally to the long-legged witch. She may not have come from the most stable home, and her upbringing had certainly involved a great deal of inconsistency at times, but nobody had ever raised a hand to her, and she'd been living obliviously as a muggle child during the second war. Valerie simply didn't see violence, so she'd never felt the urgency to protect herself that others lived with constantly. She understood that bad people existed, and that living in a world in which all of the children were essentially armed at the age of eleven came with risks – she'd never denied that defense was important. She simply struggled to see herself as the defender.

The moment after she sent off her fireball, however, she felt capable, even as she stood back and watched Raine dispatch it as if that was the first thing she did when she got out of bed every morning. She was about to do what she always did – offer applause, call out a quick compliment – but before she could even get that far her opponent was acting... and casting silently, of course, so Val hadn't the slightest clue if what was coming her way was playful or deadly. Whatever it was, she wasn't ready for it.

She almost sent out another fireball, if only because that was the freshest thing to roll off her tongue, but she had the sense to recognize that a fireball wasn't enough to help her. A shield should have been instinct by now, but it was so much more difficult to act on instinct when you were legitimately terrified. Thus, it took her a little bit longer to throw up a panicked “Protego!” - too quick for the slap, but not the hiccups, which set in right away. The second hex crashed into her invisible shield audibly, and though it caused (”hic!”) the girl (”hic!”) to jump in the air, it (”hic!”) didn't (”hic!”) properly (”hic!”) scare (”hic!”) the hiccups out of her. 

She realized that it was probably her turn to attack again, but she was slightly distracted by the (”hic!”) hiccuping, not to mention the furious pounding of her own heart, which had picked up considerably once she realized that her partner was a (”hic!”) treacherous monster!

“Oh, I (”hic!”) did my (”hic!”) hexes yester-(”hic!”)-day!” she grumbled, mimicking Raine as she crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes narrowed playfully in her housemate's direction. “Ouch,” she muttered, pressing her palm to her diaphragm... and proceeding to plop herself right onto the ground, apparently giving up entirely. “This is worse than (”hic!”) death!”

Raine let out a peel of high, ringing laughter as she watched her friend plop to the earth. A harbinger of doom in some parts of the school. She crossed the space between them in long dancer's steps and brandished her wand thoughtfully - trying to recall the last time it had been necessary to spell away a case of hiccups.

"I doubt it," the redhead folded into the grass, sitting down with knees drawn up. "Death is a full stop and hiccups are... inconvenient semi-colons. Those were elementary hexes at any rate, Crow. Imagine if Storm had been casting." There were fewer incentives better than their daunting professor.

A breeze - carrying the sour, salty tang of the lake - flitted past them. It tousled Raine's hair and cooled the air that had just been dispelled of magical fire. Her attempt at momentum must have failed because she felt lazy now. Lethargic as Maurice.

"Finite incantatem," she directed the tip of the wand at Valerie's tender throat. "There. Better? I can only stand so many semi-colons. You'll learn quicker if I don't warn you next time." It was like training your body to react without having to think about it - once caught by surprise, it is wary forevermore. Or perhaps more than once, in this case.

“Very (hic!) inconvenient!” Valerie insisted, trying to sound indignant but failing horribly due to the presence of both semicolons and uncontrollable smiling. There was nothing pleasant about the combination of primal fear and hiccups, but there was something about it that tickled her – perhaps it was knowing how much worse that could have been, or knowing she'd lived to tell about it. It was like a broom ride, at that particular moment when your stomach decides to inform you 'you've gone too high!' in the only way it knows how – with a ticklish lurch of fear. Raine had a point, of course – she'd probably be doomed if challenged by someone truly malicious. “That's why (hic!) I haven't challenged Prof-(hic!)-fessor Storm to any duels!” And she didn't plan to!

The end of the hex was a welcome relief, and Val exhaled deeply, as if to test out whether the magic had worked. Her diaphragm seemed to sigh contentedly as it relaxed, and the mild ache of constant contraction faded into a physical memory.

“Next time?” she asked, quirking a brow, “Did you warn me this time? I think I'd remember if you had!” she grumbled playfully, giving the other witch a nudge with her foot. This study session had become derailed very, very quickly – and Valerie was very, very aware of that. Laying back on the grass, she set her wand on her stomach, bringing her hands up behind her to cushion her head. “I don't need perfect marks on the Defense practical, but I'd like to pass. The written should be fine, any road,” she hummed thoughtfully. “My patronus still doesn't look like much of anything, though. I'm worried that might cost me points. I really thought I'd be able to do it by now.”

"I... paused. As a warning. Perhaps." Raine lamely asserted as she laid back on the grass, leaning on her elbows. "You don't get warnings in real life, at any rate. That would defeat the purpose." Better not to mention the private lessons with Storm or nearly getting her curls burnt off by their defences professor. Valerie didn't need the worry.

It was somewhat of a relief not to have to think about such matters. Nevermind Arthur Lemon and self-preservation. It was lovely merely laying here with a housemate, complaining about their examinations.

Studying her shoes idly, Raine thought about the Dementor attacks - the necessity of defending against them. "I didn't have much of a patronus until earlier this year, either. It takes impetus I suppose?" she had been up against the wolves in the forest when she cast her first true patronus: a Siberian tiger. "You should probably work on your response time instead."

If you were quick enough to react, even the simplest of spells could save your neck. It was something she learnt in fencing: strength could only get one so far, while speed was your best ally. Except... well, it was difficult to outrun a Dementor, she imagined.

"Have you ever played tennis?" Raine turned her scrutiny over to Valerie, a fiery eyebrow going up. "We ought to play. I'm certain it would help." Or at least it would be an excellent way to distract them from less amusing subjects.

While Raine's thoughts were focused on the prospect of real danger, Valerie was still thinking about the classroom – on how much partial credit she would get for flinching during a practical, and whether or not a patronus had to be corporeal to earn full marks. The reason she was taking Defense Against the Dark Arts was because it was sensible, practical – and yet, she still wasn't fully able to see herself really using most of what she was learning out in the world. She didn't believe herself to be the kind of person who would ever find herself in that kind of trouble, despite reading accounts of wars that involved every member of the wizarding world – or, more recently, hearing about students battling actual dementors on the grounds of the school. She was a teenager – she was invincible and would live forever, wouldn't she? She just didn't believe that anything serious could happen to her. Even sitting across from Raine (and only Raine – that was the important distinction) wasn't enough to hammer home for her the fact that these skills weren't purely academic. “I thought this was real life,” she joked mildly, one side of her mouth turning up in a smile.

Whether she needed to cast a patronus in real life or not, she was still concerned about them – they were a hot topic lately, and sure to show up on an exam.“I've always thought I was a happy person, though!” she exclaimed as she pulled up a blade of grass from the ground beside her, twisting it in her fingers, “I thought it was only miserable sods who couldn't cast a patronus!” She twisted and twisted her blade of grass until it ripped in two, and then ripped those pieces in half as she went on. “I am a bit grumpy about it, honestly! It's a self fulfilling prophecy!” she chuckled, scattering her grassy bits like confetti.

Raine had a point about the role of impetus, however – she had always heard that people were capable of amazing things under pressure. The agreeable, lounging gryffindor responded with a nod and a vague, “Probably,” when the suggestion to focus on response time was offered. It couldn't actually hurt, and she was willing to try anything that might aid in achievement in the classroom.

Even so, Raine's next question caught her a bit off guard, and she sat up to be sure she'd heard properly. The sudden movement caused her wand to roll and – speaking of response time – she fumbled to catch it before it could go anywhere. “Tennis?” she asked skeptically, wondering if she was missing some sort of joke. Tennis Courts were much like unicorns. She knew they existed, but when did you ever come across one?

“I can't say I have,” she admitted, shifting so that she was seated properly again, raising her own eyebrow in Raine's direction, as if to ask 'what are you getting at?' “So when we play tennis instead of revising and I fail all of my exams, do I get to tell everyone that Raine Almasy said it would help?” she laughed, “Because if you're taking the fall...” she trailed off, grinning and chuckling, her shoulders bouncing gently.

Raine's attention followed her friend, who had sat up in surprise.

Tennis was a muggle game that came closest to her preference for fencing - it was one of those things she took for granted growing up, pairing up with her sister against the boys at the club or their parents. But she had a much more practical view of the sport; certainly one that was beyond its initial enjoyment.

"It's brilliant for your reflexes-" the redhead replied, pointedly adding: "- in addition to actually revising. We ought to play a game one afternoon, perhaps ransom the Quidditch pitch." Now that the final match had already been played it was unlikely that any of the teams would find its use disagreeable.

At least with Tennis, neither of them risked the chance of potentially stabbing their opponent. It also required greater arm strength and lesser finesse but the main point was to ensure that Valerie defended promptly and en point. Gracefulness could come later. Raine herself was a sure-footed dueler.

"At any rate," she leaned down further on her elbows and threw her head back to study the clouds. "You have a whole other year to get it right for our NEWTs." Raine tried not to think about this, about the unanticipated envy for her friends who would be staying behind for their final year. Instead she shook her hair out of its braid before giving Crowe a curious look. "What are you doing this summer?"

Back when Valerie was a muggle – or, back when she didn't know she was a witch, which felt like the same thing – she hadn't really been in a position to go gallivanting off to the nearest tennis club, nor had she particularly wanted to. She hadn't done much outside of her home beside attend school, visit the library, and play on the occasional playground. She'd taken no extra lessons and had no special hobbies. Frankly, she didn't realize that she was supposed to until she was slightly older and realized that she lacked a niche. She'd found music, and she'd picked up magic, and all was well - but tennis? Tennis never really came up – not once broom sports replaced the athletic pastimes that she was more familiar with. Talking about it now seemed so odd. When was the last time she'd heard about tennis?

“I'll play, but I'm not sure it'll be much fun for you,” she admitted, “though chances are you'll win!” Valerie laughed, knowing that it was the truth. Raine was the sort of girl she knew she'd never measure up to, and it seemed like such a given that it was difficult for her to feel badly about it. The two witches were running different races in this life, heading for different finish lines.

Like Raine, Valerie reclined on the grass once more, shifting her body so that she was leaning on her side, one arm keeping her head propped up. One year did not seem like a very long time to the recently of-age witch. Sure, a year was made of days and days and days, and while she was living it she was sure it would be a slow and steady crawl – but looking ahead, the one year separating her from her future was painfully short. It was just a few months. She shouldn't have been terrified. Erin and Julia wouldn't leave her homeless and hungry, and her marks weren't too poor to qualify her for some job, even if her dream position was out of reach in the end. Sometimes, however, she just wished she could go home without it feeling like an imposition. Summer was a safer topic.

“I'll be going on the trip!” she said immediately, her face lighting up with excitement, “It'll be well brill – I never, ever go on holiday!” She grinned her head off at nobody, her face threatening to stay that way. She wasn't sure that she was going to be able to go at first, but like many things in her life, she'd somehow, against all odds, made it work. “I'll be working for the rest of it, like last summer. I don't mind, though. I can't wait!” As hard as Valerie worked at school, it was work, and the break was very much welcome. “Are you going as well?” 

The grey in the clouds reminded her of somebody, and she stopped looking at them for a moment. Valerie was a more cheerful sight.

"I won't play to win," her lips twitched slightly at the unnaturalness of such an attitude: technically she always played to win but her late sister's Ravenclaw wisdom held back that notion. "I shall play to teach and you shall play to learn." Which was the nature of most matters, perhaps? Raine rather fancied the idea that everything was an opportunity to learn something new - and her studying with Crowe was an exercise even, although she wasn't entirely sure an exercise what.

Real life did not have the benefit of a Professor giving them lesson outlines. That was what made it so much more interesting.

She filled her cheeks with air, sighing thoughtfully. The summer trip. Sometimes it escaped her. "Yes, I'm going too. I suppose it's the last I'll get to see everyone until we do our NEWTs. But afterwards..." Raine trailed off and rolled over to rest on her stomach. Her feet kicked upwards childishly and, on her forearms, she leaned closer to Valerie with a mock air of conspiracy.

"Afterwards, I visit ze motherland." It was a terrible excuse for a Russian accent (which she only really knew to imitate in actual Russian) and the witch quickly broke into a droll, self-satisfied smile. "But not before we have a brilliant time on the trip, of course. I'm not going to do any research so I'm counting on you know all about Southeast Asia for me."

“And learn I shall!” Valerie agreed with a grin as Raine outlined her intentions for their tennis match, glad that she seemed to understand that it was likely going to be a very stop-and-go sort of affair involving much flailing of the relevant appendages. “I don't reckon I can be too bad at it, can I? Although I've seen tennis balls, and they're quite small,” she observed, cocking her head to one side as she envisioned a highlighter yellow ball in her mind, small enough to fit neatly into the mouth of a large dog. “If we charm the balls I'm sure we'll get along without too much aggravation,” she suggested with a nod, satisfied by the thought. Some people used magic to tame dragons or create beautiful enchantments – but the real magic, in the eyes of a muggleborn witch, was to be found in moments like this one, when she realized that she wouldn't have to go chasing after stray tennis balls all afternoon. “That'll take care of the charms revision, too! See that? If we played tennis everyday I'd have all O's!” she snorted gleefully. Maybe they could squeeze in a little Transfiguration, too!

She really did put a lot of effort into school, even if this particular practice session had resulted in cloud gazing and chit-chat, so she was very much looking forward to a summer full of adventure (and a little bit of labor when she wasn't over Micah's flat watching cartoons). Even in her lounging position Valerie's very posture seemed to suggest excitement, and she was quick to burst into giggles at the sound of Raine's horrid accent. “Ze motherland!” she repeated, sounding like she had recently suffered a terrible head injury. Once the laughter subsided, however, she rolled onto her belly and her shoulders rose and fell with a content but wistful sigh.”I can't believe you won't be back,” she told her housemate, and not for the first time, “I always thought we'd all be here in the end.” That wasn't true, and could never genuinely be true, and it was a reality that saddened her. “We'll miss you,” she spoke earnestly, a playful little grin slowly forming at the very corners of her mouth. “I won't have anyone to play tennis with! Who's going to foster my talents? Oh dear! I guess you have to stay after all!” she teased.

Raine's remark about research was met with a perplexed brow wrinkle and an ephemeral, 'are you kidding?' sort of smile that wavered around the edges, unsure if it was really there or not.  “Are we supposed to be doing research?” she asked as her face continued to contort with sheepishness. “Takes the fun out of it, doesn't it? I was planning to learn as I went!”