Chapter Ten – Cara
Detention and Revenge
I was fuming at Grey. I stormed out, following Rose, with the boys close behind. We went down to the Great Hall in silence; we were too angry to talk. I sat down, busy plotting how to get back at him for it. Well, I could turn his room into a swamp… that might work, and we could see how long it took him to remove it. I could tell the others later – that would be hilarious.
I looked down at my untouched plate and glanced at Rose, who hadn't eaten yet either. I was worried about her. Bellatrix mentioning stabbing had really messed with her. I heard her screaming at night so I knew despite what she told me she was far from fine. There has to be a way to help her; I just need to find out what it is.
"Girls, you should eat something," Remus said, his voice full of concern. The others nodded in agreement and Sirius pulled Rose closer, wrapping his arms around her.
"Eat, Rose, you haven't had anything since breakfast." He spoke softly, but he sounded worried.
"I'm not hungry, Sirius. Just leave it." He looked hurt for a moment before he spoke again.
"Please, Rose. For me." He spoke so quietly I barely heard him. But it made Rose look up and take a mouthful of her dinner. Sirius and I relaxed slightly at this. Seeing that she was eating, I began to eat my own food. After a few seconds the boys relaxed and started talking among themselves. Rose and I ate in silence watching the boys laugh and joke. About half an hour later we all stood up to leave.
After all, we had detention to get to.
Walking along the silent corridors was strangely creepy. When we reached the defence corridor, James and Peter gave us small smiles before walking away. Remus waited with us and gave me a small hug when Bellatrix appeared, glaring at us. Grey appeared moments later and Remus left, with one last look back. We walked into the room behind Grey and Bellatrix. Rose, who had turned a ghostly shade of white when Bellatrix appeared, was holding tightly on to both mine and Sirius' hand. Grey turned to face us an evil glint in his eye.
"Miss Black, you will sit over there," he said, pointing to the seat furthest left in the second row. "And you, Miss White, can sit in front of her." He'd pointed at me when he spoke. It looked like I was sitting by the sick twisted cow. Well, at least Rose wasn't sat by her. I walked over to the seat and glared at Bellatrix. This was going to be hell. Grey then sat Rose on the far right side at the front with Sirius behind her. They would be okay sat away from her. Rose looked marginally better now she was away from her. She gave me a small smile to show she was okay. I smiled back reassuringly; I wanted her to know that I was okay too.
I looked over at Sirius, who was glaring at Bellatrix. The look he gave her was full of disgust and loathing. If looks could kill – well, she'd dead in a heartbeat. Grey gave us all a satisfied look and set us a hundred lines of 'I will not disobey the Professors'. He sat at his desk with a satisfied smile and watched us work, while we hurried to get it done. I was halfway through my 63rd line when Slughorn came in and asked to have a word with Grey. Grey stood up and glared around at us.
"If you so much as look at someone you will all be in detention until Christmas." With that he swept out of the room, following Slughorn. I bent down and carried on writing. I finished the line I was on a started the next before anything happened, but it appeared Bellatrix was willing to risk detention till Christmas to get at us.
I felt a sharp jab in my back as she leaned closer to me. I didn't know what to do; I couldn't give her the reaction she wanted no matter how much I wanted to. I took a deep breath and carried on writing. I wasn't going to let her know she'd got to me.
"Tell your sister I'm watching you and sooner or later you won't have those boys protecting you. And that's when you should watch yourselves," she whispered and I knew that it was no empty threat. I resisted the urge to snap back. She couldn't know that her words had me worried, but I knew that she would never hurt Rose – I wouldn't let her. It didn't matter what she did to me as long as she didn't get to Rose.
I carried on writing to stop myself from cursing her.
Grey came back into the room and looked around at us. He seemed to think we hadn't spoken or moved, but clearly he was wrong. I finished the rest of my lines and waited for him to let us go. When he finally let us all out, it was about nine o'clock – we'd been in there for two horrendous hours. Bellatrix walked passed us with an evil look.
"Watch your backs, girls," she called behind her, before walking down towards the dungeons. I put an arm around Rose as we started up the stairs. She leaned her head on my shoulder as Sirius held her hand. She looked at me and smiled. I was going to make her happy again if it killed me. I thought of how I could do it.
"Guys, you know… I think I have a way to get back at Grey," I said, grinning slightly.
"Really, how?" Sirius asked, instantly brighter. I laughed and saw that Rose had relaxed and was smiling more brightly.
"Okay, well, I thought we could turn his room into a swamp. What do you think?" I asked looking around the deserted corridor. No one had heard us, it was okay.
"That, Cara, is bloody brilliant!" Rose exclaimed happily. I was glad to have cheered her up. Sirius was grinning madly and started hurrying so we could tell the others and decide when to do it. I laughed at the ease of it. We reached the common room but James, Peter and Remus weren't in there.
"Must be in the dormitory; I'll go get them," Sirius said running up the stairs. When he left I looked around at Rose, who seemed much happier now. I couldn't tell her what Bellatrix had said; it would just hurt her and I couldn't do that. Just then, I remembered that Sirius had kind of kissed her.
"So, you and Sirius, what's happening with that?" I asked. She blushed scarlet.
"I don't know. We almost kissed, but…" she trailed off. It was sweet. I went to reply but the boys came down. Sirius went straight towards Rose. He put an arm around her and kissed her head. It was a good sign and from the look on her face Rose knew it. Remus came and sat down next to me. I snuggled up to him and his arm snaked around me. James and Peter laughed and sat in the two armchairs.
"So what's all this about?" James asked after a minute. I grinned and told them the plan. We spent the rest of the evening planning how to do it, evil grins on all of our faces. Revenge was sweet.
We went up to bed at about eleven with the plan made. I fell into bed, grinning; now all we had to do was to get back at Bellatrix. I looked over at Rose who was happily brushing her hair. Sirius was good for her. She flopped into her bed and grinned over at me. Within moments we were both asleep.