DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter except this fanfiction.

Chapter 9

Bellatrix was walking down the Hall at 5 o'clock in the evening, led by Professor Watson.

'You will serve your detention with Mister Ogg , the gamekeeper and caretaker, cleaning the shields and trophies in the Trophy Room. You will accomplish this task without magic. Is that clear?'

'Yes, Professor Watson.' said Bellatrix in a monotone.

'I hope that you will never show this kind of outrageous behavior again.' said Professor Watson as they paused outside the Trophy Room. 'Mister Ogg will be overseeing you, just to make sure that you don't cheat.'

'Yes, Professor.' repeated Bellatrix as she entered the Room to find Ogg waiting for her.

'Oh, so you're the mischief- maker. Should've guessed seeing your behavior an' all. You'll clean all the trophies and shields a'least three times over to learn a lesson.' said Ogg. 'Though I've no idea why I'm here seeing that a firs' year can't even do a proper cleanin' spell.' He added under his breath.

But I'm not a normal first-year, you dumb head. Not that I mind.

Catching the words muttered by Ogg, Bellatrix realized that this could be her chance to finish up the detention quickly. 'Then why don't you take a break Mister Ogg?' she suggested with fake politeness.

'I guess I will.' said Ogg. 'But a few more students are due so I've gotta wait. You start your cleaning.'

With an air of resignation to the worst, Bellatrix took a can of polish and a rag (almost choking in revulsion) and proceeded to the first trophy.

I don't believe this. Here I am, Bellatrix Lestrange a.k.a. Black, the most feared of the Dark Lord's supporters, cleaning a dumb trophy with a tin of polish in my hand. This is just great! I wonder if I can manage a wandless cleaning spell. But I never was good at household stuff anyway. Aaargh, I'm going to kill Ogg. Wait, who's stopping me? I can defeat Ogg with both hands tied behind my back, even with a magical core of an eleven-year old. That's it Ogg, you're so dead.

Bellatrix aimed her wand at Ogg's back and said, 'Stupe…'

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Ogg turned and Bellatrix somehow managed to thrust her wand back into her pocket as he opened the door. Four students, all of them boys, stood in the doorway casting death glares at Bellatrix.

Uh oh.

Sirius, James, Lucius and Snape were trooping through the Hall behind Madam Terrence.

'All four of you will serve your detention together. Hopefully, this will teach you to peacefully co-operate with each other.' At these words, Snape gave a snort of derision. Clearly, he thought that the four could never dream of 'peacefully co-operating' with each other.

'There is no other first-year in Hogwarts who clash with the two of us more than Malfoy and Snape can.' muttered James in Sirius's ear. 'Merlin knows how Madam Terrence expects us to peacefully co-operate, forget co-exist.' Sirius gave a nod of assent.

'Another first-year will be joining you in your detention.' said Madam Terrence.

'Which house will the student be from, Madam Terrence?' asked Snape.

'Gryffindor.' she said.

Sirius gave a large, exaggerated sigh of relief. 'Ah, at least it isn't a stinky Slytherin.' The Slytherins scowled at him for his comment.

Finally, they reached the trophy room. 'There you go, Mister Ogg will be overseeing your detention.'

James, Sirius, Lucius and Snape entered the room to see a black-haired girl stuffing her wand back into her robes. As she turned and her face became visible, the tense atmosphere escalated as a similar expression of dislike appeared on all the student's faces.

'Looks like both of us were wrong, Sirius.' said James, still glaring at Bellatrix. 'Firstly, there is a student who can clash with us more than Malfoy or Snape can and she is standing right in front of us. And secondly, she isn't a stinking Slytherin but a thousand times worse.'

Bellatrix turned her back and began scrubbing a House Cup trophy energetically. James and Sirius approached the Special Services shields and started working without saying a single word.

'But I'm a Malfoy! Malfoys do not clean!' protested Lucius but was quelled by Ogg's stern look. With an air of reluctance, he took the tin of polish and started rubbing the trophies.

'Oh well, I guess I can leave now.' said Ogg. 'Don't create trouble.' he added as an afterthought. 'I'll be back soon.' he walked out of the room.

'He won't be back until twelve.' said James, leaning against a huge shield, all thoughts of cleaning forgotten. 'He's gonna totally forget about our detention and suddenly remember at the stroke of midnight. And speaking of remembering, I think there's something we need to do, right Sirius?'

'Exactly James.' said Sirius with a sinister smile on his face. 'Hey Bellatrix!'

Bellatrix turned around to see James and Sirius standing in front of her with an expression on their faces which would have made her run for her life if she did not have her wand with her right now. But unfortunately (for James and Sirius), she did, and she was not going to be threatened that easily. No way.

'Is there something you want?' asked Bellatrix in a sweet voice, knowing that she could not afford to antagonize them for the sake of her mission.

'In fact, yes Bellatrix.' said Sirius. 'Look, unlike you, I don't like cursing people no matter how much I'm feeling like doing it right now. So, I'm just giving you a warning. Stay away. Got it?'

Or maybe the real reason is that you don't even know how to curse someone yet.

'We're going to give you one more chance. If you don't mess with us, we don't do anything either (excluding pranks of course).' said James.

'Of course, if you continue, we're not going to hold back either.' said Sirius with a smirk. 'Just to remind you, it's two against one if you try to do anything funny right now. And I don't think your Slytherin pals are very pleased with you right now considering the little stunt you pulled at the flying lesson. So, they might join in the duel as well. So don't do anything stupid because you really are heavily outnumbered this time.'

Bellatrix smirked.

'Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!' In a blink of an eye, Sirius and James's wands lay on the floor.

'Oh and I almost forgot. Accio wands!' said Bellatrix pointing her wand at Lucius and Snape who had been watching from the sidelines. Instantly, their wands zoomed towards Bellatrix who caught them in her left hand.

'There. Now, what were you saying?' asked Bellatrix, leaning forward, watching Sirius's complexion turn red out of anger. James simply looked flabbergasted. They turned and walked back, Sirius fuming and James still trying to comprehend what had happened.

Bellatrix looked at their retreating backs with a mixture of triumph and regret. Regret because she had doomed her mission even further and triumph because now they would never underestimate her again.

Oh well, hopefully this can turn out well and they're now extremely impressed and are going to invite me to be their friend. Uh, is that even possible? I probably shouldn't delude myself.

Bellatrix knew that all of James and Sirius's threats were empty, except the pranks. They were just eleven-year olds and they wouldn't do anything serious even if she humiliated them in front of the entire school. Half of the reason why she even tried to attempt something like that in the trophy room was because she wanted to show them that she was no ordinary eleven-year old girl. She knew that guys their age hardly befriended girls unless they respected the girl in question in terms of intelligence and power, as males like James and Sirius were chauvinistic and had too much of ego to admit having a 'girly girl' as a friend. Hence, she proved that she was a force to be reckoned with. The only problem was their hating her too much to see that she was worth knowing.

Bellatrix was shaken out of her reverie by someone tapping hardly on her shoulder. She turned to see Lucius's blazing face. 'What's wrong with you? What do you think you're doing?'

'Lucius, I don't understand…..'

'Of course you don't, you don't understand anything, do you? Well, I've understood everything and I'm here to know the truth.'

'The truth? Lucius, I………'

'I want to know whose side you're on.'

Bellatrix was astounded. 'How could you, how could you think that I'd ever betray you or Cissy?'

'It's hard not to think anything after all that has happened. Your comments on the train, the Sorting……what else do you expect?'

'I definitely did not expect this at least. You saw me, you saw me fighting with Potter and Black and all the rest of them during the classes. Did you really think that I'd chummy up to them?' said Bellatrix in a cold voice.

'It seemed like it on the train, with you being so sweet to that Lupin guy. It's really difficult to just ignore everything, you know. You're, you're acting so…….two-sided. Like you have two different personalities and I don't know which one is the real you.'

Lucius's words really struck Bellatrix. 'You know what, Lucius? I'm disappointed. Disappointed that you still doubt me after knowing me for so many years.' said Bellatrix icily. 'Well, I'm going to be off, you probably don't want a 'blood traitor' in your midst anyway.' Bellatrix pointed at the remaining trophies and said, 'Scourgify.' They immediately wiped themselves clean. She walked clean out of the room, feeling the stares of the four boys on her back.

Bellatrix's head was pounding. It was the worst insult that Lucius could have ever given her. How could he even think that she could change sides? That she would even dream of joining the Light side? How? Her name was Bellatrix Black, for Merlin's sake. When she had first accepted the mission, she could never even imagine that her sister and Lucius would start doubting her. She simply assumed that they would accept her and figure out she was just acting to be friends with Potter and the rest of them. That they would have a good laugh over Potter, Lupin and her cousin's stupidity. How wrong she was.

Now that I think about it, in the last war, Cissy almost changed sides at the last minute. And now, I am doing the same by all appearances for the sake of the Dark Lord. Is this how I'm going to be looked at for my remaining years at Hogwarts? As a 'blood traitor'?

Lost in thought, Bellatrix wandered through the hallways of Hogwarts, unaware of time or place. At 9 o'clock at night, she found herself in front of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

'No password, no entrance!' said the Fat Lady.

'But the password is 'Abstinence'!' protested Bellatrix.

'Not any more, the password changed this evening! Too bad if your friends didn't inform you! But no password, no entrance!'

'Okay, that's it; I've been playing nice all along but not anymore! Open up or I'm going to blast you aside!'

'Is there something wrong?' a soft voice came from the corner and Remus came into view.

'This stupid Lady is not allowing me to enter my common room when she knows perfectly well that I'm a Gryffindor!' yelled Bellatrix. Her temper was really on the rocks at the moment after the confrontation with Lucius.

'But the other Gryffindors disagree.' said Remus quietly. Bellatrix turned to look at him, her curiosity aroused by his words. 'What do you mean?'

'I mean that the other Gryffindors purposely didn't inform you that the password had been changed. They didn't want you to enter the common room. They think you don't deserve to be a Gryffindor.' said Remus even more quietly.

'And I bet my dear cousin gave them the idea to do such a thing, isn't that right?'

Remus's silence gave Bellatrix her answer and she groaned. 'And what do you think?'

'I think they don't have the right to judge whether a person is capable of being a Gryffindor or not. Waldemar.' said Remus and the entrance to the common room swung open. He walked straight up to the stairs of the boy dorms.

'Remus, wait.' Bellatrix called out. Remus stopped and turned around. 'I thought you said that I was a fake person and I couldn't fool you. Then why did you help me just now?'

'Just because I helped you doesn't mean I don't think you are fake anymore.' Remus's reply deflated Bellatrix's hopes like a balloon pricked with a pin. But his next comment lifted her on cloud nine.

'But I can't deny that your prank during the flying lesson was awesome. Potter and Black thoroughly deserved it.' With a smirk, Remus ascended the stairs to the first-year boy dormitories.

Bellatrix stood in the deserted common room, smirking like her life depended upon it.

Oh yeah.

A\N: Thanks to all the people who reviewed. Please, please, please review!!!! Your reviews mean everything to me.