A New Found Love
Chapter 11 Training
Disclaimer: As usual, I still do not own anything except Ashley and perhaps the plot.
Bella's POV
Today was Friday and it has been four days since Draco Malfoy confessed his love for me.
It has also been four days since said man started avoiding me like the plague.
He stopped talking to me, walking with me to class, or even look at me.
At night, by the time I enter our shared common room, he is already sleeping.
Or at least, faking it.
Every single day in the past four days, I keep stealing glances in his direction, not even paying attention to the food served right in front of me.
My friends, unfortunately, noticed my strange behavior these past few days and had decided to confront me about it at this moment.
"Bella, is there something wrong between you and Malfoy?" Hermione asked, concerned.
She and Ginny looked at me worriedly, as if they are waiting for something to happen to me.
"Nothing. Why would you have thought of that?" I replied nervously, faking a laugh.
Of course, since we have known each other since we were young, especially Ginny, they saw through my façade.
"Come on, Bella, we know you. What's wrong?" Ginny asked this time.
Hermione put a hand on my shoulder while Ginny placed her hand on mine and squeezed it.
"Four days ago, Mother talked to me after her class because of…certain things." I answered quickly, hoping they would not notice my slip.
"What kind of things?" Ginny pressed, leaning closer just like Hermione.
"She, ugh, she saw Draco and I kissing in a dark corner before class." I whispered hoping they did not hear anything and that the ground opened up and swallowed me.
"You and Malfoy kissed?" Hermione whisper-shouted to me.
I blushed furiously and nodded quickly.
"Yes. We did not know what we were doing, it just happened all together. Then Mother appeared out of nowhere and cleared her throat when we pulled away." I spoke swiftly.
"But now, why are you and Malfoy not talking to each other or having eye contact?" Ginny asked, confused.
"After I went out of the classroom, I saw him leaning on the wall and he smiled at me. He asked me what Mother wanted so badly to talk about and…I told him that she asked me if—" I suddenly stopped at this point because I felt the need to.
"If what?" they both asked me at the same time.
"She asked me if I love him." I whispered to them quietly, looking down.
"And what did you say? Do you love him?" Ginny asked eagerly.
"I told her I was not sure yet, and I told him exactly what I told Mother." I replied, my voice getting thick with the tears that threatened to escape my eyes.
"How did he react to it? Was he angry, surprised, or what?" Hermione asked curiously.
"He—He looked pained, and I wrapped my arms around him. He gently pushed me away and told me that he loves me." I replied, swallowing hard.
"He told you that he loves you?" they asked incredulously.
I nodded and breathed deeply, holding back the tears in my eyes.
"When I mustered up enough courage to tell him something, he walked away. I whispered to him that I loved him too, but he did not hear. Now, we're like this and I can't do anything to change it." I answered, nearly breaking into sobs.
I gripped the table with my free hand to keep me steady and not totally break down.
Not here, not in a place filled with so many people.
I would never allow anyone to see me weak or anything close to it.
"Guys, I forgot something in my room, I'll just go and get it. Be back in a minute." I announced quickly, standing up without even touching any food.
When I was past the great double doors, the tears fell freely down my cheeks.
I willed myself to walk until I reached an empty classroom.
There, I totally broke down and hugged my knees, resting my head on top of it.
All the things and people I loss in the past years came back to me like a huge tidal wave.
My mother, who abandoned me when I was a baby for the reason that she had gone deranged after my father's death.
My father, who died protecting me from the wrath of Lord Voldemort right after he faked a Horcrux.
Cedric, who was the first boy whom I had a crush with, publicly.
Uncle Sirius, who was killed by my mother in her deranged state.
Professor Dumbledore, who was my mentor and grandfather figure, the one who watched me closely since I was a baby.
Mad-Eye, even though he wasn't really my teacher in my fourth year, taught me a lot of things in life.
Fred, my cousin who was killed by a Death Eater.
Remus, my father's best friend and my cousin-in-law.
Tonks, my fellow Metamorphmagus and one of my favorite among my many cousins.
I was pulled out of my wallowing when a tawny owl scratched it's claws on the window.
I slowly stood up and wiped my tears away, brushing off the dust in my clothes.
The latch of the window was quite hard to open because of the rust but I finally managed.
The owl flew inside the room and I held out my arm for him to land on.
He happily obliged and dropped the letter into my waiting hand.
His eyes were slightly begging for food so I pulled out a couple of owl treats from my pockets and gave it to the hungry owl.
He flew away cheerfully and once he was gone, I looked at the letter between my fingers.
It was addressed to Ms. Bellatrix Black and I immediately recognized Professor McGonagall's handwriting.
I carefully tore open the letter and read it.
Dear Bella,
I hope you remember about our agreement about you and Mr. Malfoy teaching the Cullen family how to use magic. I would gladly appreciate it if you would be able to teach them tonight after dinner. I arranged a place for your lessons near the portrait of Emeric the Evil. Kindly send me an owl with your reply.
Sincerely Yours,
Professor Minerva McGonagall
I sighed and clutched my head, which was slightly throbbing with pain.
One, I had to face the Cullens later and try to be civilized around them.
Two, I did not know if Draco would even be there, not that I didn't want to see him.
With these in my mind, I pulled out a parchment from a pocket which was magically enlarged with an Undetectable-Extension Charm.
I whistled and my new owl, Callidora, answered to my call and swiftly landed on my shoulder.
I handed her the letter and told her to send it to McGonagall's office.
After that, I sighed and straightened up, prepared to face yet another challenge.
This was only the beginning.
Pacing slowly in front of the classroom door, I looked at my pocket watch and looked at the time.
I was wondering about how I will act civilly around the Cullens when they caused me so much pain months ago.
I didn't even know what to teach them.
I wasn't quite sure about the range of their knowledge about magic.
Somebody cleared their throat and I turned around to see no other than the only Cullen who hated me—Rosalie.
Behind her were the rest of the family, complete together with my ex-boyfriend who looked like it didn't affect him at all that he just had a break-up mere months ago.
This sight just fueled my anger and hatred towards them, especially him.
"About time." I said coldly, even without planning to.
Being the compassionate person that she was, Esme quickly shot an apologetic look in my direction and said,
"We're sorry, Bellatrix, it took us some time to find this portrait." She apologized, gesturing towards the portrait of Emeric the Evil.
"I thought we have two teachers, you and that handsome blonde boy." Rosalie said, being her usual self—bitchy and self-centered.
"Well, I don't really know about Draco if he will come but I am here just the same so live with it." I snapped at her, with enough iciness in my voice to compete with Antarctica.
She just glared at me and I glared back, resulting in a glaring contest.
If I hadn't heard a new set of footsteps approaching, I would have glared at her until she melts into the ground.
Turning around the corner, I saw Draco looking at us with an expressionless mask.
"Are we starting yet?" he drawled lazily.
"Since everyone is here, I guess so." I told him, but he still did not acknowledge my presence.
I felt a little hurt because of his actions and quickly crossed the corridor in a couple of strides.
I turned the knob and opened the door and saw a large enough room to house all nine of us, with lots of room to spare.
There was a sofa, two tables, some chairs and a grand piano in the room.
The sofa and one of the tables looked like they were just new additions to the furniture.
I sat gracefully on one of the chairs like my mother taught me and looked at the Cullens pointedly, arching an eyebrow.
"How knowledgeable are all of you in magic?" I asked them in a flat voice.
"We studied some spells, potions and some of magical history before we arrived here." Carlisle said, since he represented the whole coven.
"I'll test all of you one by one, cast your best spells on me and we'll see how good you are. Who wants to go first?" I asked with the same tone.
"Me! Me!" Emmett volunteered in that booming voice and raising his hand like a child.
I nodded and inclined for him to move forward, away from the rest of the Cullens.
He took out his wand, pointed it to me and shouted so loud it hurt my ears.
"Expelliarmus!" he bellowed, his voice echoing in the room.
Without taking out my wand, I swiftly deflected the spell using wandless and nonverbal magic.
His mouth hung open and by the looks of it, his jaw was about to drop on the floor.
"How the hell did you do that?" he asked incredulously, gaping at me.
I felt the satisfaction of proving that I wasn't a weakling that needed their protection to survive.
That I wasn't just a fragile little human that they could toy with every time they wanted.
Not that they needed to know that.
"Why, never heard of wandless and nonverbal magic?" I taunted, a smirk clearly plastered on my face.
"I have read about that but isn't that very advanced magic and it is not taught in school?" he asked.
"Yes, you're right. But it does not mean that if it is not taught here, you wouldn't study it." I replied, with my lip slightly curled.
The rest of it continued like that, Draco only speaking when he announced that he will test the girls instead since I was taking over the boys.
Jasper was much better than Emmett, petrifying me for a few seconds before I thought of a nonverbal spell and freed myself from the Body-Bind Curse.
Carlisle was equally as good as Jasper, maybe a mark better.
Now, Edward was the only one left and I was so set on proving that I was much more powerful than he was.
He stared at me like when we were still together back in Forks.
This surprised me a little.
Did he know that I was the same Bella he met several months ago?
It scared me a little bit but I composed my features before they could see anything.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Show me what you've got." I challenged, my head held high.
I have to admit he was good, better than Carlisle and Jasper.
I winced as his Stinging Hex hit me slightly on my forearm and our little diagnostic test turned into a duel.
He was giving it his best, so much that I felt the need to take my wand out of robe pocket.
Sure, I was still better than him but some of his spells hurt some but I didn't show it.
I snarled and hit him with my specialty—the Disarming Charm—square on his stone chest.
I sent him flying a good twelve feet backwards and his back hit the wall.
I just noticed that everyone was watching our duel with interest, even Draco.
"It's a good thing the wall is magical or else it would have crumbled into dust right now." Esme said.
"Hey, Eddie boy, a girl beat you to it, eh?" Emmett teased Edward, who was still on the floor.
Turning to me, he asked: "How did you send my brother flying a good twelve feet to a wall? That was the same spell I used on you a while ago and you didn't even budge an inch." He said, confusion evident in his face.
I shrugged and said: "It's my specialty." I replied coolly.
The rest of the evening went on like that and when the clock struck eleven, we decided to call it a night.
Draco was out of the room before anyone else was headed for the door.
I followed him out and ran after him, calling his name, but he did not turn.
I decided to give up on chasing him and walked back to the common room.
When I entered, he wasn't there.
My brain made a mental note, wondering where he might be.
Finally, I could not take the stress anymore and was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
(A/N: Tell me what you think and review because I lose the energy to write if nobody does. I'll try to update faster and I promise that they'll be together soon.)
