Hey people! Yes, run for you lives, it is meeeeeee!!! Moo ha ha.
Anyways, sorry about the late update. I had MEGA procrastination, and I was skiing, and all that Jazz.
Yeah, anyways, this chap s dedicated to my reviewrs... namely .Nymphadorable., xxxGingerGirlxxx, SweetDeamon, Lady Charity, edward and alice cullen, pinkalarmclock, xxStephanieMeyerWannabexx, Miriamimus, equal-oppurtunity-candy-eater, Sakura999, and Life Crashes Barriers. I could not live without you guys!!!
Disclaimer: What do these three things have in common... A) I am JK Rowling, B) I hate Harry Potter C) Harry Potter sucks.
Answer: They're all LIES!!!
Chapter 9
Bella awoke with a start; all around her was pitch black and she cold feel more than one person staring at her intently. She opened her mouth to scream, but someone's large hand clamped over her mouth, stifling her voice.
"Don't make a sound." Bella was shocked; this was Sirius talking. Suddenly a stampede of questions rushed through her head- 'How long have I been unconscious?' 'Who else is here?' 'Where am I?'
Suddenly, another voice joined them. "She awake, Pads?" James Potter? Pads? What? Bella felt Sirius turn to face Potter, his hand still shoved over her mouth. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness now; she was sitting against a wall in a kind of tunnel, and she could just make out four blurry figures surrounding her. She didn't have her wand, but her hands were untied.
"Mmphsmm?" With Sirius' huge hand over her mouth, Bella was finding it hard to breathe. Sirius turned his head and looked at her, ignoring her incoherent sentences. He narrowed his eyes, and grabbed both of her flailing wrists in his spare hand. She continued to struggle, despite being wandless and completely outnumbered.
Sirius looked his cousin straight in the eyes, onyx meeting onyx, and took his hand away from her mouth. "Ok, Bella, you have some explaining to do."
Bella decided to play the innocence card while she could. "About what, Sirius?"
"You know perfectly well what, Trixie! How did you find out about… y'know, Moony and all?"
"Moony?" Bella was confused. Sirius sighed.
"I mean… Remus. How did you find out?"
"I have my ways." Bellatrix smirked in the pompous way she had, infuriating Sirius even more. It worked; Sirius growled, sounding oddly like a dog, and the hand that had been over her mouth flew to her neck. Quickly, he removed it, but glared daggers at her, all the while. Bella stared right back at him, setting her jaw defiantly.
After three minutes of silent glares, James Potter clapped his friend on the back. Sirius looked around, before turning to his younger cousin. "How, Bella, did you find out?"
"Don't question my abilities."
"DAMMIT BELLA! JUST TELL ME! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU FIND OUT???"
"God, calm down. There's no point shouting. Where are we anyway?"
"Bell-" Sirius started, but Bella interrupted. "Answer me that question, and I will tell you."
Sirius sighed. He opened his mouth to speak, but was again cut off, but this time by a quiet, frail-looking boy about five feet away. "We're in a secret tunnel, under the statue of the one-eyed witch. Now, Black, will you please tell me how you found out about my… furry little problem." Remus Lupin said all of this very quietly, but everyone heard him.
"Furry little problem… that sounds like a rabbit. But because you were so polite, I will answer you." It was all Bella could do to keep her voice level. Beside her, Sirius was shaking, still holding her wrists. Their eyes met, and Bella smirked annoyingly. "Well, y'know the Whomping Willow? Well, my dormitory's semi-underground, and there's a window really high up that shows the Whomping Willow, and I was looking out and I saw you lot. I always knew that there was something canine about you, Siri…"
"Oh, God, Bella, how much do you know?"
Bella leaned closer, to annoy him every further. "Everything." She whispered. "How you three are Animagi. Unregistered, may I add? And then the Lycanthropy…" A fully-fledged smirk on her lips now, she stared mockingly into her cousin's eyes. Sirius felt his hands go sweaty. If she had told anyone…
"'Kay, Bells, how many people did you tell?"
"No one."
Sirius scoffed at this. Bellatrix Black, not telling anyone? She was the biggest chatterbox in Hogwarts, bar Rita Skeeter, of course. She had to have told someone… Malfoy, or Rabastan Lestrange, another boy she hung out with. "Yeah, right, Bella. Who did you tell?"
"I told you, no one! It's good blackmail!"
Sirius found himself going oddly relaxed at this statement. There were two things Bellatrix could have done; one, told all her friends; or two, kept it to herself and use it for blackmail. He felt a wide grin spread across his face, and turned to face the other three boys.
"Prongs, Moony, Worms, we're going to see Dumbledore!" He made to stand (well, crouch, which was all you could do in this tunnel), but Bella caught his arm.
"Dumbledore?" She hissed, glaring into his eyes. He smiled and nodded; yanking her onto her feet and making sure that her head hit the ceiling. Potter had already opened the secret door back into the main corridor of Hogwarts, and stepped out, followed by Lupin. The third boy, rather fat and short, who must be 'Worms', gestured for Sirius to go first. Sirius dragged Bella out by her arm, just grinning as she whispered threats under her breath, so that only he could hear.
Bellatrix tried to keep her dignity as her cousin dragged her through the school, all the while failing dismally.
They arrived at the Headmaster's office, when Sirius stopped, and stared at the gargoyle, with a quiet, "ah…"
Potter, next to him, stopped and opened his mouth, then shut it again. "Ah," he said, too. The other two boys stopped in their tracks.
"What now?" Bella snapped.
"I- err…" Sirius seemed to be, for once, lost for words.
"Anyone know the password?" Piped up the plump, ratty boy whose voice was too high for a sixteen-year-old. It was almost a squeak. Although, thought Bella, judging by his Animagus form, that isn't really a surprise. Then she realised.
"You guys don't know the password? Oh, my God…"
Lupin coughed behind her. "Actually, I do. I need it for my… y'know…"
No one said anything to this, so Lupin carried on. "Chocolate Frog!" The other four turned to look at him at this random outburst, but as they heard the scrape of the stone gargoyle behind them, they realised exactly why he said it.
Sirius shoved Bella onto the moving spiral staircase, following behind. As the others joined them, Bella stamped on her cousin's foot, hard. He elbowed her back. She kicked his shin. He was about to retaliate when the staircase stopped, and a calm voice said from inside the office, "Enter."
Potter opened the door and Sirius shoved Bella in. She could feel herself going bright red under the gaze of the Headmaster, who was feeding his phoenix. Fawkes hooted softly at the new arrivals.
Dumbledore smiled at them, then walked around his desk and sat down, surveying them over the tips of his finger. "How can I help you?" He sounded as if he already knew exactly what was going on.
"Bellatrix found out." Sirius growled, sounding very, very canine.
"Ah. I see your problem."
They stood there in silence for a few minutes. Sirius had a very uncomfortable hold on the neck of Bella's robes; her neck was starting to hurt. He also had her wand, which was unfortunate. She could see it sticking out of his cloak pocket… maybe she could reach it…
"Miss Black?" Bella snapped her head up at her name, cricking it against her cousin's knuckles.
"Ow!" She hissed at Sirius over her shoulder, before turning to the Headmaster again. "Yes, sir?" She asked with all manner of innocence. Sirius scoffed.
"Is this true, Mss Black? You know about Mr Lupin's problem?"
She nodded, looking away from his blue eyes. "So, what do you propose we do?"
Bella looked up. "Huh?" Wasn't he the one who was meant to be telling them what to do? "I- err… don't know, Professor."
Dumbledore simply smiled at her and turned his gaze on her cousin. "Sirius? Any ideas?"
Sirius looked confused, just as Bella had. "Err… we kill her?" He said hopefully, gripping the collar of her robes even tighter.
Dumbledore laughed. "No, Sirius, I don't think your aunt and uncle would be very happy with that arrangement."
Yeah, they would, Bella thought sadly. They hate me. Narcissa's the angel of the family… and Dromeda can do no wrong. I'm just ignored. Ignored or blamed for everything. She blinked hard to get rid of the tears that threatened in her eyes. She looked up, as arrogant as ever, and unwillingly met the astonishingly blue eyes of the Headmaster. He gave her the slightest of sympathetic smiles, as if he'd read her mind. She dropped her gaze to her shoes again, studying them intently.
"Professor? I have an idea..." Lupin spoke up.
"Yes, Remus?"
"Well- James, Peter and Sirius were sworn to secrecy… so maybe…"
"We could do the same for Miss Black? I quite agree, Remus."
Bellatrix looked at Dumbledore. 'Sworn to secrecy?' What? Dumbledore walked around his desk, so that he was standing right in front of Bellatrix and Sirius. "Sirius, please let your cousin go." Bella yanked herself out of Sirius' grip, stumbling forward slightly. Dumbledore caught her shoulders, and she felt herself go bright red again. He just smiled down at her. "Now, Bellatrix, please would you put your hand over your heart…" Reluctantly, she followed his orders. Pettigrew laughed, and she shot him a glare. He shut up.
"If you please, Bellatrix," Dumbledore continued, pointing his wand at her. "Repeat after me. I promise…"
Bella thought for a minute. After a quick analysis of the situation, she realised that she really had no choice. "I promise…"
"To keep the secret of Remus Lupin…"
"To k-keep the secret of R-Remus Lupin…"
"And not to tell anyone…"
"And… not… to tell anyone…"
"If I do betray Lupin's trust…"
Bella narrowed her eyes. This was what she had been dreading. Dumbledore surveyed her over his half-moon glasses. She looked down. "If I – do betray Lupin's t-trust…"
"Then something of my life will be affected just as Lupin's has been."
"Then something of m-my life will be affected j-just as… Lupin's… has been."
A bluey-purple jet of light shot out of Dumbledore's wand and wound its way around her. Her eyes widened in shock, but it was gone before she could open her mouth. She looked up, confused, at Dumbledore. He smiled again.
"You may go now."
Bella turned on her heel, infuriated, and, pushing past her cousin, stormed out of the office.
Meanwhile, in the Slytherin common room, and entirely different ruckus had started. It had started, however, with Bella's disappearance.
"Oh, God! Cissa, do you know where our idiot of a sister is? She has my Transfiguration book." Andromeda, like Bellatrix, had an incredibly short temper.
"No… the last I saw her she was being dragged of by Sirius. Nothing new, really. What's the incantation for the Levitating Charm, again, Drom?"
"It's Wingardium Leviosa. Oh, I hope Sirius kills her…"
Narcissa didn't answer, she was bent over her work.
Dromeda flopped down on the leather sofas next to her. "So… how are you settling in?"
Narcissa looked up. "Oh, I'm Ok… no one's gonna bully me with Bella around- and you're helping me with our homework, so yeah, I'm good." She smiled at her older sister. "The only problem is that we're surrounded by Mudbloods…"
Andromeda coughed loudly, staring at the eleven-year-old in shock. "Where did you hear that word?"
"Andromeda, if you really are that thick, I'm not sure that I want you helping me with my homework anymore. We live with Bella, remember?"
"I'm not stupid, Cissy. What else did that slut teach you?"
"Well, she said something about how one day we will rule the world and they will serve under us… and they don't deserve to live, and… um… she said that there was this Dark Lord guy who was recruiting new arrivals… but she couldn't say anymore because Sirius shoved a chocolate frog down her throat. And what's a slut?"
"Cissy! You're eleven! You shouldn't know stuff like that! God! Bella's gone too far this time- if she thinks that she's gonna turn you into a mini version of herself… oh, I could kill her! In fact, I just might! I can't stand her!"
Narcissa rolled her eyes and returned to her essay. It was always like this… those two just couldn't get along. However, she could see Dromeda's point- recently Bella had laughed in quite a scary way… almost insanely.
She's gonna turn you into a mini version of herself…Cissa shuddered. She didn't want to turn out like Bella, who, although was very popular with her band of friends- had very many enemies. She was also, according to Dromeda, a 'slut', whatever that was.
"What's the opening charm incantation again?" Narcissa only said it to try and distract Andromeda from her current I-Hate-Bellatrix rant, but she had no such luck.
"It's Alohomora, Cissy, do you ever pay attention in class? And, oh, my God, Bella thinks that she can just walk around Hogwarts like she bloody well owns it… stupid bitch, one day she's gonna get what she deserves, and I'll be laughing. Yes, I will. I'll be laughing my head off. Even if she kills everything that I love, I will laugh in her dead face. Because one day, she'll get her arse landed in Azkaban, and then…"
Cissy ignored her and turned back to her work.
Bella appeared in the Slytherin Common Room looking incredibly… well, pissed off. She flopped down on the sofa next to Narcissa and stared into the flames, glaring. Cissa put her finished essay on her sister's lap. "Can you check it, please, Bella?"
With the famous Black scowl on her face, she picked up her sister's Charms essay and scanned through it. "You mixed up Lumos and Nox. They're the other way around." She gave her baby sister a smile as she watched her hastily cross out the mistakes.
"There you are! God, I've been looking everywhere for you!"
Recognising the voice of who was speaking, Bella sighed. "Hello, Andromeda. What do you want now?"
"I want my Transfiguration book. I know you've taken it. And I want you to stop putting silly ideas into Narcissa's head. She's only eleven, for God's sake, she can't even perform a Levitating charm yet!"
"I can too!" Cissa objected, but was silenced as her sisters shot her identical Shut-Up looks. Sometimes, having two sisters who looked like they could be twins was rather annoying. "Ok, fine, I can't, but I'm getting there!"
"Good to hear it, Cissa," Bella started fiddling with a strand of Narcissa's blonde hair before turning to Andromeda. "What do you mean, putting ideas into her head?"
"You know perfectly well what I mean. All that stuff about Purebloods over Muggle-Borns! She even knows about the Dark Lord! Are you trying to turn her into a monster? A mini-you?"
Bella smirked at this. "She needs to know. And it's Mudbloods, not Muggle-Borns, Drommie. You're starting to sound like Sirius."
"She doesn't need to know! She has been at Hogwarts for three weeks! You can't start teaching her the Cruciatus curse! And thank you, I'd much rather sound like Sirius than you."
The two sisters hadn't realised that the entire Common Room was listening to their heated conversation. Either that, or, they didn't care.
Bella laughed. "Did I say anything about the Cruciatus? No." Her eyes narrowed. "And Sirius is a Blood-Traitor, Dromeda. Walburga blasted him off the tapestry this summer, remember? Are you planning on joining him?"
"Well… it'd be a damn site better than living with you! Fine! You teach Cissy to be a murderess by twelve! Just don't come crying to me when everything goes wrong!" With that, Andromeda stormed of to her dormitory.
"If she runs away… can I have her room?" Narcissa looked up at Bella expectantly. Her eldest sister had set her jaw in a way that made her look incredibly like Sirius, but at her question she laughed, and put her legs up on the sofa.
"I suppose so. Lets hope she doesn't stay too long, eh?"
Narcissa looked down, and scribbled her name across the top of the Parchment. She put it in her bag, and stood up.
"I'm going to bed, now, Bells. I've got a test in the morning. Night."
"Night, Cissy." Bella hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead. As Cissa headed to the Girls' Dormitories, she remembered something. She turned and, leaning over the back of the sofa her sister was lounged out on, she said,
"And, Bella… Drommie said you were a slut. What is that?" Bellatrix stood up so fast that she elbowed Cissa in the head. She looked furious.
"ANDROMEDA!!!" She screamed, tearing for her sister's dormitory.
Cissy bit her lip. Maybe that wasn't the best time to ask…
The Slytherin vs. Gryffindor Quidditch math was to be played in a few hours, and the air was very tense.
The seven Slytherins sat in their changing room, waiting for the whistle that would signal them to come out. The Slytherin team was good this tear- their Seeker and Captain, Lucius Malfoy, had put together a strong combination of players. Rabastan Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov were the two Beaters, Andromeda Black as the Keeper, and Bellatrix Black, Evan Rosier and Alexandrov Parkinson as Chasers. They were all determined for a win.
There had been a few more shouting matches between the two sisters, and now they sat in stony silence. Bella was plaiting her waist-length curls, and Dromeda polishing her Comet 290. Antonin and Evan were thumb-wrestling, Lucius was pushing little figures around a miniature Quidditch pitch with his wand, muttering to himself. Rabastan and Alexandrov were talking in the corner. Bella sighed heavily and went over to her boyfriend. Pulling up a chair, she sat down next to Lucius and slipped her hand into his. His grey eyes met her black and he smiled.
"Bella, gorgeous, do you think your sister should try the Starfish and Stick move, or should she just stick to dong what she normally does?"
"Oh, leave it. Her tiny brain probably couldn't handle being told to do something on such short notice. We can try out the Starfish whatsit at practise."
He laughed and put his arm around her shoulders. "You really want to beat Black, don't you?"
"Yes. More than anything, really. And I want to prove to those idiots that I can play Quidditch."
Lucius chuckled. He remembered the rumours that had went round when he had posted the list for the Team- that Bella was only on the team because she was Lucius' girlfriend. He knew her better- the small fact that she had been on the team since the middle of her second year accounted for most of that.
"You're an excellent Chaser, my dear. I couldn't find anyone better, even if I searched the entire country."
"You flatter me, darling." She said, and leant in to kiss him, but as their lips were about to meet, the whistle blew, and everyone jumped to their feet.
"Lets go!" Lucius shouted eagerly as they grabbed their brooms and mounted them, the sunlight half-blinding them as the doors opened to reveal the screaming crowd.
Aww! Lucius/Bella fluff!
Ok, next Chapter will be the Quidditch game and Cissy's birthday- 28th September. (No, that isn't her real brthday, it's my friend Jade's, who roleplayes her. ) Also, Pansy's dad isn't really called Alexandrov- I made that up. LOL I'm random.
The Starfish and Stick is a Keeper's Quidditch move where they hang from their brooms to catch the Quaffle. Its in Quidditch through the ages, if you want to look it up.
Reviews will be gladly accepted. Flames will be used to toast marshmallows. ((Yumm, marshmallows...))
Ellie xxxx
