Liar Liar Pants On Fire

[Valentina Baros]

Valentina couldn't remember if students were allowed up here or not. Hopefully they were, because Valentina didn't feel like getting into trouble for being up here. The cliffs were a bit quieter than most places around the school. Even more so than the dark forest. Which was really weird in Valentina's opinion. "You think the idea of giant spiders, dark creatures, and centaurs would scare kids these days. I guess not." Valentina muttered to herself as she scaled up the cliffs. Valentina wasn't a lone wolf or anything. She just didn't want to be around others that could find out who she really was. Like how she told everyone that she was muggle born when she really wasn't. Or how she claimed she was from The United Kingdom when her family actually lived in Chicago. Valentina thought she needed to hide from others to protect herself. That's what her twin would have wanted. He was the only one who died in the fire. The fire that was decided by the fireman that was no accidental flame. Someone had purposely set the building on fire. Valentina's father did have some enemies, especially in the Wizarding world. Valentina was told by her father on that day that she needed to protect herself above all others. Even if it meant ditching her previous values. Either way at least she would be making sure that she was safe. Valentina had to be careful though. The closer she got to people the more likely it would be that they would figure out who she was. Since no one knew who it was that had caused the fire, or if they had relatives that lived all the way out here or not, Valentina thought that one could never be too careful. Especially not her.

Valentina continued to hop around and climb over piles of rocks. A lot of the rocks were smaller and jagged so Valentina kept on going until she could find a rock that was big enough for her to sit on comfortably. Valentina could then allow herself to possibly fall asleep, or stare off into space. Something that she normally didn't do when she thought others were watching her. Valentina was paranoid. Very paranoid. Her parents set a bout of paranoia in place that was feeding off every normal function and thought that Valentina knew. Sleep became an issue at times, socializing always was an issue. Valentina noticed a larger rock and smirked to herself. That would be her resting place! The redhead threw her skinny arms up and tried to pull herself onto the rock. Unfortunately, Valentina wasn't as strong as she liked to pretend and found her arms growing tired within seconds of hanging on. So instead of making it on top of the rock like she wanted, Valentina found herself hitting the ground loudly. "Ow." Aside from the pain she was feeling in her back at the moment, Valentina was pretty sure that her pride had taken the biggest hit. Hopefully no one was around to see her fall on her ass. ​

 

[Sergei Zhefarovich]

Sergei Zhefarovich was still in his Slytherin robes as he walked the lawn. His dark brown hair flowed slightly in the breeze. Sergei was in fact a Slytherin, and he knew several. There were many prefects, and he himself had a couple of guy friends he would talk to. But so far nothing has really interested him. Sergei just wanted to be left alone and there was no way he was going to sit around here all through the seven years of school. Well, almost six years now that the first year of torture was starting to end. Sergei decided that he was going to be daring, and he was going to go to the cliffs, where he would climb and go hang out there. He thought that it would be nice anyway. Sergei looked over at the other students as he walked past them. He didn't want to really talk to anyone right now. Sergei was rather secretive. He had so much to hide, and not much to talk about. It made him one of the quiet first years, one that never said much about himself other than his strict views on how he believed that pure-bloods were better than the rest. He did not flaunt it, but when someone asked, he said his beliefs. Sergei looked up with his silvery eyes when he saw that he was getting closer to the cliffs. That was a good thing, since he was going to be there for a fair bit. He smirked a bit to himself, before it went back to his normal, vague expression. He did not need to travel too much further up, but he was going to adore being up there. Sergei wondered if there was someone else going to be up there too. He hoped not. He didn't know as he approached the cliffs.

There were many rocks as he could see from the distance as it lessened with every step that he took. It was not until he looked up as he was at the cliffs when he saw that there was a girl that was climbing on the jagged rocks, and she managed to fall. Sergei merely stepped to the side so that he did not get the girl to fall on him. He didn't want that to happen to him, of all people. Who was this girl? He knew that she was a first year, but did not know anything about her. Sergei looked down at her and he folded his arms across his chest. He was curious about her now, and what in the world was she doing? He shook his head and he easily climbed some rocks, and he looked down at the girl after he climbed some. He inquired, "You weren't supposed to fall, were you?" Sergei raised his eyebrows and he left the rocks rather easily. He went back down to where she was and he offered his hand to help her up. The girl, he knew her house now. She was a Hufflepuff, but he did not judge. Hades was a Hufflepuff, and he was rather scary. Sergei looked down once more, and wondered if she was going to take his hand to get off of her bottom.​

 

[Valentina Baros]

Valentina mentally kicked herself when she heard someone speak to her. That meant she wasn't completely alone up here. "Seriously?! Who else would come all the way up here?! Er...other than me?" Valentina thought to herself as she remained on the ground. The cliffs were an unusual place for students to venture up to, except for people like Valentina. People who apparently had a lack of common sense, or were just reckless. The cliffs were dangerous. That much was obvious to anyone with eyes. Valentina liked it up here due to the lack of other people hanging around, but she wasn't stupid enough to forget that it was pretty dangerous up here. Valentina was still stunned by the fact that there was another person up here. It was a Slytherin boy. He had asked her if she wasn't supposed to fall down. Valentina's eyebrows furrowed. Why would he question her about that? Who would mean to fall down and hurt themselves? Other than drama queens. Valentina refused his hand and pushed herself up. "Thank you, but I've got it from here." Valentina stated as she brushed the dirt and tiny pebbles off of her body. Valentina tried to act like she could handle herself without help. Because help meant getting close to people, and getting close meant prying eyes. "Also, no. Falling was not my intention." She then rolled her eyes. As it if were obvious what her answer was going to be. There was no possible way that she was going to let this boy have the satisfaction of laughing at her, even though he seemed to not care. Mentally though, she bet he was laughing his ass off. Valentina knew this boy was in the same year as she was. She recognized him while the hat was busy placing him into Slytherin. Sadly, she was unable to recall his name.

"I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that I fell. Please." Valentina hoped that bargaining with him would work. She also hoped that he wasn't a troublemaker. Valentina was enough of a troublemaker as it was, adding more onto her plate would surely just put her into the spotlight. Then again, this school itself was trouble. There were more idiots, drama queens, brats, and tattlers than one could ever imagine. Schools like this one shouldn't be allowed. Valentina was unsure how to avoid everyone either. No matter where she went, students were found to be hanging out. It was like a freaking mall. Valentina didn't think she had anything else she needed to say to the boy, it was mostly self explanatory, she wanted him to keep it quiet, and all he had to do was comply with her request. Then again, did anyone even know who she was? Would they even care? Valentina didn't want to give anyone the chance to have the upper hand on her. That was the one thing she had learned from her father in the past, was that making your secrets known could ultimately kill you if you weren't careful enough about them. ​

 

[Sergei Zhefarovich]

She actually refused his hand to help her up. Sergei shrugged and he left it handing limply at his side. Sergei stared at her as she at least said thank you. That was better than nothing at all. He looked down at the grass as she got herself up and on her feet. So she was not completely helpless. Sergei watched as she dusted herself off and she seemed like she was okay. He folded his arms across his chest as he looked at the other Hufflepuff without any expression on his facial features. "At least you can handle yourself," mused the Slytherin boy with a cold tone, yet meaning nothing threatening by it. Sergei looked at the cliffs once more, and wondered how far did she climb before she managed to fall on her ass. Sergei couldn't judge. Seeing that she wasn't hurt, then she wasn't that up high. Apparently she did not do it on purpose either. Of course not, could she not tell that he was being sarcastic moments ago? Well, with him, it was somewhat hard to tell because he barely showed anything. It meant that people would know who he was. He didn't want that because then they would know who his dad was, and then they would get his family into trouble. After all, his grandfather was one of the original Death Eaters from long ago. "Fair enough," replied Sergei with a shrug of his shoulders. Sergei unfolded his arms and he was about to ask what she was doing up here, but then she said something that was very bewildering. "I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that I fell. Please." Was he hearing that correctly? Apparently he was, and his expression somewhat changed to mild shock. He did not see that coming.

He placed one of his hands to his head and he uttered, "Why in the world would I want to tell anyone that I saw a Hufflepuff girl fall? Most of the people here aren't worth the time of the day, let alone telling someone something that I have seen." Sergei looked down at the ground before he looked at her. He took a couple of steps toward her and he narrowed his eyes briefly. This girl, to try to bargain with him over something like that, was different. Either she was really caring about her reputation, which falling on her ass would harm, or there was something more to it. He would bet his life savings on the latter. Sergei wanted to know her name, so he inquired, "What's your name, Hufflepuff? I could either call you by Hufflepuff or Humpty Dumpty. Your choice if the name isn't given. I"m Sergei Zhefarovich." Right now, he had little to no opinion of her, but he was merely curious. Her name had escaped him, but she was in the same year as he was, so he knew that she would be in some of his classes. The fact that he did not know was not bothering him, but the more allies he had, the better off he would be.​

 

[Valentina Baros]

Valentina snorted. "You make it sound as if most girls don’t know how to handle themselves." It actually might have been true too. A lot of girls appeared to be weaker and less able to handle themselves. Valentina wasn’t a feminist or anything, she just hated stereotypes. People shouldn’t be allowed to judge another person until they lived in their shoes for a day. Like with Valentina keeping secrets from people all the time. It was considered to be such a negative thing by so many people. But did any of them stop to think about why she would keep secrets all the time? A horrible tragedy happened to her family just recently. Her twin brother died in a fire. A fire that was believed to have been caused by people who didn’t like her father very much. For all she knew, someone at this very school could know who did it. Her father told her to trust no one. They were all dirty little liars in some way, shape, or form. Valentina already was nervous around this boy. He seemed like he was sly and good at getting the things he wants. It was doubtful that he was going to probe into her life too much. He didn’t seem like he was the type to really care about someone for no reason either. Perhaps all Valentina needed to do was appear to be really boring, and he would get bored and leave. Being boring wasn’t too hard either. Valentina wasn’t too good at entertaining people to begin with. There were too many things for Valentina to hide, so she was always very careful about the things she said or the things she did when around other people. Plus she had just fallen, and that probably wasn’t the best way to start making friends anyways, especially when it came to befriending a Slytherin.

"You could use it to embarrass me and get a good laugh?." Valentina was kind of confused. This boy was a Slytherin right? One could tell that he was not the friendliest person in the world either. So why would he denying the chance? "You’re a lousy Slytherin." Valentina informed him. Ninety percent of the students from that house would probably love to mess with Valentina since she had fallen. It was in their nature for some reason. But this boy didn’t even talk to other people enough to want to tell others. He must have been an outsider, a weird one at that. Valentina already found that to make her nervous. People who were different were always the ones you needed to keep an eye out for. When the boy asked Valentina her name she paused and allowed her eyes to widen. Why did he want to know her name? There was no reason. They weren’t friends or anything. Valentina thought up a lie, and even had a plan to make sure that didn’t fall into place perfectly. "My name is Mary. But I’d rather you just call me Hufflepuff if it’s all the same to you." Valentina guessed that this boy wouldn’t see her again after this, nor were there all that many people who knew her enough to be able to correct him and reveal her real name. Valentina also left out a last name, it was mostly because she couldn’t think of one quick enough to add that on, though. Baros was a family somewhat known through the wizarding world. Valentina wanted everyone to think that she was muggle born. No one would suspect muggle born Hufflepuff of hiding anything would they? Valentina wasn’t sure. But she prayed that they wouldn’t. Right now, it was the best cover she had. ​

 

[Sergei Zhefarovich]

Sergei actually snickered at what she said, since he knew for a fact that most girls did not know how to handle themselves. He had never seen it happen that was not in the family. It was as simple as that. Sergei shrugged and he wondered on how he would tell her about how he actually believed that without sounding so sexist. Well, his family were. Sergei shrugged and he said simply, "Most don’t. But those in my family, even the men do not want to cross." Sergei shrugged, knowing that he was giving her quite a bit of information, but it was so vague, he doubted that she would even care. Why would she want to? They were not friends or anything. However he was going to get to know her one way or another. She seemed to be a little interesting. Clumsy or something. However Sergei was just going to have to get her to spill more about herself. She was a Hufflepuff, but he was not prejudice against houses unless the person gave him a reason to be. He truly did not care. He did not care for so much. There were so many things that he hated in this school, and finding out which one was number one was rather difficult. However the girl was far too late in trying to make it seem like she was not interesting. She had caught his eyes, and he was going to be able to figure her out, one way or another. He wondered if she was a pure-blood or not. He did not really care but he would not want to hang out with a mudblood if he could help it. Sergei would have loved it if he were a pure-blood. Then, he would be hanging around with a whole new crowd. He did not hang out with girls that were not in his family. Perhaps it was about time he did.

Sergei rolled his eyes when she said that he could use that to embarrass her and get a good laugh. And then called him a lousy Slytherin. He sighed and said, "Oh the stereotypes never end. I am a Slytherin, yes, but I am not a jerk. If you want me to embarrass you for a good laugh, I definitely will." He smirked a tad when he said these words. He would do what she wanted, especially since it would make her life more miserable, at her own request. Yet why would she even think he would do such a thing? Did she want him to? Sergei did not want to really. The Slytherin was a little suspicious when he asked her name. She seemed a little shocked, and almost, scared? He was not sure on what it was. He heard her name and what was curious was the fact that there was not a Mary in sorting. He remembered that much. And she did not say her last name. Sergei was going to have to question her. The thing was, if she was not a Mary, and no Mary in the school as far as he could think of, why would she lie? "Here is the funny thing. When I was sorted, and you, the Headmistress did not call out for a ‘Mary’. So, what were you saying about your name again?" Sergei smirked a bit more, knowing full and well that there was something beneath this, and now he was interested enough in her to question it. He shrugged, "And you left out your last name. Just so you are aware." Sergei wondered who she was. He could go to the Hufflepuff Head of House and ask, but he would have to describe her somehow. With the way she looks, he could easily do that. She was kind of cute. For a girl.​

 

[Valentina Baros]

Valentina stared at the boy, not quite sure why he brought up his family when he was talking about women who couldn't handle themselves just moments before. Apparently they were the type of women that even some men were frightened of. "Well they must be different than most women then. I bet they live a good long single life don't they?" Valentina hoped that he didn't think she was poking fun at his family. The young Hufflepuff was merely noting the fact that most women like they intimidated men to the point where they were single most of their lives. Valentina expected, and hoped to be the same way someday. Valentina knew that she was already a shoe-in for not having very many friends or people interested in her due to all the secrets she kept from other people. Even with people she barely knew, Valentina felt the urge to keep her true self hidden. Someone out there hated her family enough, so it might be wise for her to keep low in case that someone had family here. Until Valentina was assured that she was safe, she would hide the true Valentina from everyone and anyone she could. That also meant that she would need to drive people away pretty often too, which was what she was about to try and do with this boy too. He was a Slytherin, so she was surprised that he already wasn't put off by the fact that she was a Hufflepuff. Valentina only had to wonder how he would feel if she lied and said that she was a muggle born student as well. Valentina wouldn't use the term mudblood, because that would only give away that she wasn't one, a true muggle born would never refer to themselves as a mudblood, anyone who knew anything would know that.

"Not only am I a Hufflepuff, but I'm muggle born, I thought people from your house thrived on terrorizing people like me?" Valentina figured that this would make him stop and think before talking to her. The others from his house would mentally shun him for hanging out with someone so supposedly dirty and lowly in the Wizarding world. Valentina didn't want to be friends with this boy, she didn't want to talk to this boy, she just wanted to get away. Especially since he was having a grand old time bothering her and prying his way into her life. Didn't he know that it was rude to pry into people's personal lives when they weren't on friendly terms? Valentina smirked when the boy supposedly called her out on her name not being Mary. He was perceptive, but as much as he liked to believe he was. "If you think you remember so well that there's not a Mary, then why on earth do you need to ask me my supposed real name. I freaking told you, my name is Mary, stop asking!" Valentina rolled her eyes as she started up the cliff to get away from the boy. Was he a private investigator or something? Maybe he was even related to the person that had set their house on fire and let her twin brother die. "I know I left my last name out. I did that on purpose." Valentina said as she continued to climb up further and further. Luckily it wasn't like mountain climbing or anything, just a hill. But it created enough distance between Valentina and the nosy Slytherin boy who wanted to know far too much about her and her personal life. It made Valentina feel unsafe here at Hogwarts.
​

 

[Sergei Zhefarovich]

Sergei raised an eyebrow when she practically accused the women in his family to live as a single woman. As far as he could remember, there was not a single one. Rayna was single for some time, but she got back with that one husband or boyfriend whatever the hell he was. Sergei shook his head, "No. They are more like the lioness to the lion. Singular of course." Suddenly he did not even know why he was telling her about his family. He had to be careful of the secrets that they all had. His family were dark, sinister and he hoped to be one of them one day. He would have to work hard, and avoid certain topics. So he decided to play on a subject that some women wanted, but he had no idea if she wanted it or not. In either case, the sooner they got off his family, the better. Sergei twisted the subject around, "If you would like some pointers, I can direct you to a few cat ladies and see how they became who they are. You know, for future career choices." Cat women kind of freaked out Sergei, but he had never met one in person. Just heard about them, and how Chavdar might be becoming one only with children instead of cats. And he was a male too. Sergei knew that Chavdar needed some love and soon, before his kids started to go nuts with all the protection and whatnot. It was bad enough that Chavdar quit his own job at the Ministry so he could spend more time with his kids and follow a dream. Sergei thought that was kind of useless, but what did he know? He was only a student. Rolling his eyes at his own thoughts, not caring if she saw. What could she do, go cry killer?

The next thing she said made him stop and think right then and there. She was a mudblood? Or was that a lie? Sergei narrowed his eyes upon her, and placed his finger to his lips, pursed in thought. Sergei shrugged, "Now you are just playing on stereotypes. True, I don't meddle or speak with mudbloods but... I don't know if I should believe you since you are bent on not saying your real name." Sergei had figured it out by now. He remembered roll call in Herbology or whatever class he had with Hufflepuffs. He knew her name. It had taken a while to place a name and a face. But he had managed. She started up the cliff and went on about how if he knew that there was not a Mary, then he would know her name. And she got so defensive. Sergei chuckled under his breath, not commenting on that just yet. Would it not be just hilarious once he called her out on that lie that she fell, and since he remembered her name, he remembered another. A pure-blood. Therefore knocking that other comment out of the ball park. "That's right. I remember that there was not a Mary, but a Valentina. I would not want to upset a Baros, after all I don't want that Prefect in my house to come after me for disturbing a relative." He had heard some tales about Zayne from his cousins. Zayne was a pure-blood that was ashamed of his blood because of some mudblood woman. Now that his other cousin helped with that problem, he was comfortable in his own skin. Was that the same way with this girl? There had to be a reason why a pure-blood would lie about their own blood status.​

 

[Valentina Baros]

Valentina rolled her eyes at Sergei. So not only was he intrusive, but he was also a lot smarter than she hoped him to be. He figured out that she wasn't really a muggle born in less than ten minutes, and that was pretty good. Most people didn't think to question Valentina on her supposed blood status. Not many people would lie about being a muggle born, or mudblood in most cases. "You're pretty smart, Zhefarovich. You saw through my conniving ways in a heartbeat. Guess I have to kill you now." Valentina rolled her eyes to display her sarcasm. She wasn't going to really kill him, she could barely lug her own cauldron around the castle, how was she supposed to take someone out was bigger than her. Valentina was also a bit too lazy to effort put enough effort in for that. Valentina stepped closer and closer, enough to the point where she was close enough to whisper and have Sergei hear her clearly. "Well since you're smart enough to figure that out I guess you should know that....what's that?" Valentina's eyes widened as she stopped mid-sentence. Her finger's rose up to point at something not too far behind Sergei. The moment he turned to look at what it was, Valentina booked it in the other direction. "LATER, CREEP!" Valentina knew when she was in the wrong, and that meant it was time for her to get out, or be forced to answer questions that she really didn't want to answer. She knew that sooner or later, he'd get her back for that, but by that point, Valentina was going to be sure that she was prepared to face off with him. Until then, Valentina was going to try her best to avoid him and his perceptive eyes.

---

Fin.​

---

---

---

​

---