Okay, still suck with the updating. But I try, I promise. As always, no fear that I won't finish this (maybe you aren't, I just like to reassure you, I guess!)
Furthermore, you maybe will notice that my form and grammar have improved a bunch in this chapter. This is thanks to my lovely friend DeoraNemain, who offered to proofread for me. So if you're pleasantly surprised, this would be thanks to them!

So, a lot of people put a bunch of content-warnings at the start of their chapters. I've never found this necessary since I never wrote anything too triggering. (Or at least, I don't think I did?) But I assume I should start now, since we reach the slightly darker part of the story now, so maybe I'd say this chapter contains 'mild gore' and 'strong language'. There, I warned you. But now, enjoy! (I'd appreciate a review, as always!)

Chapter 21 – Dancing with the Devil

"Everybody wants to be a cat
Because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at
Tell me, everybody's pickin' up on that feline beat
'Cause everything else is obsolete
A square with a horn
Makes you wish you weren't born
Every time he plays
But with a square in the act
You can set music back
To the caveman days"

Aristocats, 'Ev'rybody wants to be a cat'

„Agnes…"

The voice resonating in the otherwise completely silent dorm room sounded shallow, rather quiet and, most unsettlingly, even hostile. Bella reflexively held her breath, trying to detect the exact location the voice had come from in the mostly dim lit room. She felt the brunette next to her do the same, the sudden danger they had gotten in the last time they entered this surreal sphere not yet forgotten. It didn't take long for the alien voice to speak up again.

„I know you're here Agnes. Stop the games and show yourself." The voice now almost hissed.

This time Bella was able to recognise where the whisper was coming from. It originated from the other side of the room, but they'd known a few seconds later anyway. A person entered their field of vision right after voicing her demand.

It wasn't as obvious as it had been the last time.

Bella knew they had entered the Holosphere again, but it didn't seem the Hufflepuff dorms had changed much since Agnes' times, so the luminescent aspects of the furniture weren't as obvious for them as they had been in Agnes' battered childhood home. The faint swirling of light became obvious as soon as the pale and luminous owner of the voice came into sight.

From what Bella could gather through the glowing projection, it was a girl around their age, of rather small stature and with wild, rough looking curls on her translucent head. Her expression seemed wary as she slowly took another step into the middle of the room.

„Never was good at hiding from you, huh, Ellie?"

This time, a different person spoke, much nearer to them than the other person was. Still, they were only able to see her now, since she seemingly had materialised out of thin air or, what was more likely, had chosen to make herself visible at this exact moment. She had managed to hide her presence skillfully, or maybe they just weren't able to sense her in this magical projection until now, since she only stood a few feet away from them. As a result, both of the non-luminescent girls got startled and Jean even jumped a little and clawed herself into Bellas left shoulder.

It was difficult to recognise, since she wasn't a kid anymore. Still, she had the same, light brown hair as she had as a child, only it was now skillfully woven into a complicated braid that almost reached her ribcage. There, a half-smile on a face that now lacked childish features, an indefinable look in now mature eyes, stood the young adult that Agnes Waterhouse had become. She was maybe a few years older than Bella now, clearly changed from the young girl who had yet to learn what role her magic would have to play in her life into a fully fletched witch. If her whole demeanor hadn't made it evidently clear that she had fully committed herself to accept her magical heritage at this point, her appearance did the rest. She wore, on first sight, a black cloak, that had, if one looked closer, rather complicated runes and symbols woven into the fabric, shimmering in a softly glimmering bronze. Otherwise it was adorned with a large, golden brooch of a symbol Bella didn't recognise. The last distinct feature of Agnes' appearance was in her hair. Skillfully embedded was a long twig of Ivy, which almost looked like a floral crown on her head.

The girl Agnes had addressed as Ellie, her sister, was apparently still a student at Hogwarts at that time, as well as a member of the House Hufflepuff. She was a little shorter than Agnes, but their haircolour and similarities in their facial features made it even now rather obvious that they were related. Only was there no warm half-smile on the younger witch's face. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, continuing to eye her sister warily, the hostility still evident in her features. She completely ignored the statement of the older witch, instead she simply asked with a deep, stricken look on her face.

„Why are you here?"

Agnes gave her a questioning look and her smile had now a sad underlying. She opened her arms in a gesture that could both be interpreted as inviting and helpless.

„I wanted to see you, of course. Didn't you miss me?"

Ellie's face twitched. For a few moments, the room was void of any noise, a tense anticipation had started to build up and only increased as neither one of the sisters spoke. With every second, Jean increased the pressure of her nails digging into Bella's shoulder so they would leave marks for sure. She didn't even realise in that moment, too wrapped up in the anticipation of what would happen next, unaware that she was holding her breath due to the immense tension. Then…

A faint sniffle emerged from Ellie. Suddenly, she was hurling herself forward, towards her sister and into her waiting arms.

The younger girl was crying louder by the second, sobbing uncontrollably as she settled into her sisters embrace, grabbing onto her robes and pressing her face into her shoulder as if she was scared the older girl would disappear again any second.

For a while neither of them said a word. Ellie continued to cling onto Agnes, while the older witch just caressed her younger sister's hair, a fond and loving expression on her face. Bella felt the urge to look away from the scene. It felt so personal, intensely private. She knew she wouldn't want anyone to witness her in a situation like that. But Agnes had chosen this specific memory to show them, so she was afraid to look away in case anything important to their task would happen. So, even if she felt immensely uncomfortable, she forced herself to watch and tried to focus. Soon enough, the moment was over. As soon as Ellie had regained some of her composure and her sobbing had subsided into a sniffle again, she repeated her question.

„Why are you here?" And then added a little sheepishly. „And why now? …I thought I'd never see you again."

Agnes' shoulders visibly stiffened and it was the first time an expression of uneasiness crossed her face.

„I'm so sorry, Ellie." She said, her voice sounding guilt-stricken. „That I vanished for so long. You know that Hogwarts never was a home to me like it was to you. I love the castle, it's secrets and the magic that it surrounds. But I couldn't fit in here, I never did. I was so happy that you were different from me." She whispered into her sister's hair. „That you found your family within these dorms. From all the houses, I always liked Hufflepuff best. Even if I knew I didn't actually belong here either, they still welcomed me warmly, so I wouldn't feel as out of place as in the other dorms.

„Is this why you ultimately stayed here after you had gone trough all the houses?" Ellie asked curiously.

„No." Agnes confessed. „I would've chosen whichever house you'd have gotten in in the end. I was just happier that it was Hufflepuff. They were always the most inclusive house, I didn't have to worry as much about you after I graduated when you were part of the Hufflepuff-family."

„And still you went away." Ellie countered, her tone once again steady and defensive. She disengaged out of the hug to look her sister in the eyes, a spark of the former anger in her own. „Two years without a single message from you. I was scared. I needed you!"

Agnes smiled again, wiping one of the remaining teardrops from her sister's face. „Not as much as I needed you. But as I said, I was never to fit in anywhere, I never had a place to belong like you did. I needed to find out who I really was. What my purpose is, why I am the way I am, you understand? I am sorry that I didn't write you or wasn't able to meet you. For these two years I've travelled a lot, learned about the beauty of nature and the origin of magic. I found…inspiration. But this was something I needed to do on my own. It broke my heart I couldn't contact you and I had to leave you in the dark about my whereabouts. But I'd never leave you Ellie. I am so sorry I gave you the feeling that I abandoned you." She asked gently. There was guilt in her expression, but also determination. A silent question towards her sister. Can you forgive me?

Bella couldn't stop but feeling deep sympathy for the witch. Finding out why I am how I am, a purpose in life? Yeah, that sounds about right.

A multitude of emotions were swirling through Ellie's face. A confusing mix of understanding, hurt, pity and also relief to finally see her sister again. But then, slowly, her expression turned into one of plain, deep fear.

„What if something like that would have happened again?" She finally whispered, so faintly that Bella almost didn't hear it.

Agnes answered quickly, as if she expected this question. „It wouldn't. You lost control one time, out of fear, when you were young. It wasn't your fault and it didn't happen again since then."

„I am still dangerous." Ellie mumbled, now shaking a little. „You are not. You were never a threat to people that didn't threaten you in the first place. You saved our lives that day, even if you did it unconsciously. I owe you my life." „You were still the one that got beaten by mother for my behaviour. Did you think I didn't understand why mother sent me to grandmother shortly after that? I saw how bruised you were. She disciplined you for the crime I committed…"

And this is where the penny dropped for Bella. She knew Jean had understood at the same time as her, since she could again feel the fingernails of the other girl dig into her back once again.

They knew what scenario they were talking about, what had seemingly left the younger witch guilt-stricken since she was a kid. They were there, had lived it with them.

It hadn't been Agnes that time, as they had thought all along, protecting them from the fanatic men with a burst of accidental magic. It hadn't been her, but her sister. The girl that showed jealousy towards her sisters beautiful magic accidentally murdered someone with magic that was born out of fear. Yet her sister had taken the impact of the anger that would've been directed towards the younger girl otherwise. The tragedy of this story left a lump in Bella's throat. Clenching her fist and subconsciously picturing herself and her sisters in the same situation. She hoped she would've reacted the same way Agnes did.

She was tempted to talk to Jean about this, who surely had understood the implication as well, but both of them were too engrossed in the scenario that was displayed in front of them. There would be enough time later to discuss everything that happened right now.

„Stop it!" Agnes said gently, yet firmly this time. „The death of those men were self-inflicted. As I said, you saved both of our lives that day. You'll always be my heroine. I am just happy you didn't come to hate magic, but were still open to discover the beauty of it." Agnes' gaze towards her sister held so much love and affection in it, that Ellie simply hugged her sister she had feared to never see again.

„I forgive you. I love you. I missed you so-"

Another sound interrupted the bonding of the witches, who broke off of each other at the unexpected visitor. While Ellie's face lit up in a warm smile, Agnes' face darkened into a frown.

„Meow."

A sleek, translucent cat entered the room, the luminous body of originally dark colour with the occasional white spots sprinkled in its fur. Jean would later describe it as a ‚reverse dalmatian-cat", which Bella couldn't really follow since she'd never seen a Dalmatian. Right now though, Bella only saw the small animal graciously move through the room and towards the pair of sisters, meowing demandingly again as he reached them.

„…You still got that beast?" The frown in Agnes face was now accompanied by a slight edge in her voice. This, though, seemed to be completely unnoticed by her sister, whose face had lit up the second she heard the noise behind them.

„Aww, don't be mean, Agnes." Ellie suddenly purred as she scooped the animal up from the ground and nuzzled into his neck. With the same purring voice, she addressed the animal nestled in her arms.

„How are you, my dear? It's been days since I've seen you around. Have you been a good cat, Sathan?" The cat that apparently was called ‚Sathan' only meowed again, cuddling into the embrace for a second, before demanding to be let down again, jumping onto one of the beds and curling up to take a nap.

„I never understood why you hated him with such conviction. He was a present from grandma when I was a kid, he's an old cat by now…" Agnes eyed her sister with an unreadable expression on her face. She reluctantly started again. „Ellie…does he look that old to you? I'm serious, you should–" „Elizabeth? Are you up there?" A shout towards their dormroom resonated accompanied by hurried steps that came nearer by the second

„Oh no, wait a moment, I'll look what they want and be back in a second, okay? Please, don't just leave again. I have so much I want to tell, I want to ask you…" „No, I won't. I'll never leave you again, I promise." Agnes said gently with a smile. Bella noticed it didn't quite reach her eyes this time, though. Ellie was too busy to hurry towards the noise of her fellow students though so she quickly exited the room and hurried towards the noise.

A few seconds there was silence in the room, as Agnes looked at the closed door, a contemplating look on her face. She seemed to wait if her sister would come back right away. When this didn't seem to be the case, she, surprisingly to the witches next to her, started to speak again. Her tone was nowhere near her friendly and gentle demeanor when she talked to her sister. Her voice was cold and emitted a power that left both of the girls frozen in shock.

„Stop the act. What do you want?"

Both girls looked at the seething witch and her complete change in demeanor, eyes widening. Both of the girls immediately began to stutter rather feeble explanations. „Uhm…we're…eh…" „Sorry, we didn't want to interrupt–"

„Technically, we didn't really hide from–"

But both of them stopped their rambling soon when they realised that the woman hadn't actually addressed them. She had even turned away from them, facing towards the other direction.

Bella and Jean exchanged a quick glance. Both of them were waiting for something similar to happen as the last time. That, at some point, they became part of the situation like when the men had approached them, having to react to some form of situation they were thrown in. But it seemed like both had misjudged the situation. They only had a few seconds for their quiet exchange, since Agnes now actively glared in a direction that had left Bella puzzled for a moment.

The cat yawned and stretched out of it's sleeping position, looking up at Agnes with large eyes, who's now icy glare was fixated on the animal. For a moment, it simply stared back.

Suddenly, it giggled.

What the…

The ‚cat' jumped of the bed and walked towards the older girl, who hadn't gotten her wand out yet, but had shifted into a defensive position, while the cat still giggled, it became even louder. In that highly uncomfortable tone. The longer Bella observed the …creature, the more it disturbed her. The giggling was accompanied by a grotesque distortion of it's face that could nowhere be normal for an animal… if she needed any more evidence that this wasn't an average cat. Even it's movements had become less catlike. They looked erratic, unnatural, like something had chosen the wrong movements for a body. The sudden change was unexpected, nightmarish, even grotesque. She wasn't even able to move somehow, intimidated by the mere presence of this unknown beast. Yet Agnes simply looked at the creature in front of her, only with unhidden disgust in her features. To Bellatrix' plain horror, it started to speak. It's voice was nothing like she had heard before. It spoke in their language, but still in that sickeningly high, yet drawling voice with an emphasis on syllables that made it sound like it spoke to them through a medium other than plain and simple air.

His voice sounded distorted and hollow, as if it emerged directly from a crypt.

„Oooh, little Agnes, how much you've grown since you were a kid. And not a single bruise on your pretty face, is there? When you were still tiny, your mother would beat you up so good, sometimes you almost weren't recogniseable." It drawled with the occasional giggle thrown in between. „Such a little girl, so much pain. Especially when you had open cuts from the odd hit with something a little too sharp. Want to know a secret? Whenever you forgot to close your door I would sneak in and lick every drop of blood I could get, delicious it was…you were so beautiful…" Agnes didn't react to that revelation, only stared at the creature and repeated her question.

„What. Do. You. Want? Don't wear out my patience."

„Your patience? Your patience? " And the giggle increased into a crescendo of high-pitched laughter, accompanied by even stronger distortions and twists in the creatures face that looked less and less similar to a cat. Bella realised that it actually had shifted from its original form into something different, or was in the process of doing so. Bones were breaking with sickening cracks and rearranging until a slightly larger, still four-legged animal stood in front of them. The whole process was highly disturbing but it didn't even come close to the result of it. Bella wanted to puke. It was probably only because of the sharp sting of Jeans nails that dug into her shoulder again that changed her cry of shock into a slight hiss of pain and kept her grounded.

The ‚cat' had changed its body, it looked more dog- than catlike now. Slightly taller, scrubbier fur, although still white-spotted on a black basis and with two small, grey horns attached to it's forehead now. It's movements seemed to fit this body better, even if they were still somewhat different and more erratic than those of a real dog would have been. This information only registered in the back of Bellatrix' mind. Upfront was its face, which resembled a grotesque version of the face of an ape, hairless, now almost dislodging it's jaws with a manic grin, displaying its sharp fangs towards Agnes. Eyes dark like coal. Burning, hypnotizing…

„I could end you…all of you, little girl." The beast was snarling, swaying a little. „I've been before even your far ancestors have been born to this world, and I'll still be when none of the bones in your body is recognisable anymore, turned to dust…I could help along that journey, if I crush your bones, though. Turn into nothingness as fast as possible…" He stated, still slowly staggering towards the witch, that was still surprisingly calm.

Did I just think it walked more like a dog? No. It moves like no animal I know. It's just a complete freak show, how does she not freak out?

„What do you want with my sister?" Agnes simply asked, ignoring the threat towards her. She didn't move as the ‚animal' got nearer, only her arm twitched slightly, as if she had to restrain herself not to draw her wand.

Again, the beast let out the howling shriek of a somewhat ape-like sound, suddenly changing direction and sprinting in circles around the room in such a demonic speed Bella didn't even realise what happened before it was over again, not even getting the chance to try to catch up with her eye. A moment later the creature had shifted again, changed its rear legs similar to those of a monkey, again accompanied by the sickening sound of breaking bones and ripping flesh, as it suddenly dangled from the narrow roof, its face only inches apart from Agnes', who had, to her credit, still not moved. Apart from the slight twitch of her hand it wouldn't have even been obvious she had registered what had happened, her face a perfect mask of emptiness.

„I want with your sister what I want with all of you little humans." He shifted for a last time, fell on the ground and executed the disgusting process of changing once more, back into the sleek figure of the cat it had been in the beginning. „Love and a home, what else could I want?" He now purred absurdly, in comparison to his behaviour a second ago it only increased the horror behind it. And as much as it tried, it couldn't completely diminish the strange quality of it's voice, still sounding distorted and hollow. Its ears twitched.

„Your lovely, delicious sister is coming back. The cute, naive thing. You broke her heart when you went away, you know that? Cried her pretty eyes out a lot of nights. Ah, tears are almost as delicious as blood, really let me crave for more…I think she's returning…let's both welcome her warmly…"

Agnes' eyes flashed, the twitching in her hand becoming worse as faint steps outside of the room indicated someone coming nearer. Now, though, something else felt strange. Bella couldn't pinpoint it for the first moment since she'd eyed Agnes at the moment, who stood in indecision what to do now. Only when she shifted her attention back to the hideous beast, now disguised as a mere cat, she understood.

It was grinning at her now, black eyes piercing through her mind.

This. This was it. The situation both of them had anticipated since entering House Hufflepuff and speaking the charm once again. The confrontation through this sphere, with a situation Agnes had dealt with, acting in an appropriate manner to relive special points of her life. So far, so logical. The only thing they didn't have in their calculation was the naked fear Bellatrix felt as the creature tilted its head, grinning at them with hollow eyes like no animal should ever do. Her mind became paralysed by the mere stare of it, feeling the sheer power it was emitting. She couldn't focus anymore, reflexively pulling her wand out of her sleeve and pointing it towards the demonising entity in front of them. A threat that needed to be destroyed. She lifted her wand and opened her mouth. A sharp sting at her shoulder grounded her once again, a tug at her sleeve broke her fear-laced trance. She looked at her side, where Jean stood, shifting her gaze between Bella and the beast whose name Bella only remembered now. ‚Sathan'. How fitting.

„Don't." The other girl said quietly, her voice was on edge, the fear evident. She felt it as well as Bella did. The overpowering fear while faced with an entity born from darkness. And still she strongly indicated to not do anything? Was she out of her mind?

„Are you daft?" Bella hissed, voicing her thoughts, trying to free her wand-arm from the strong hold of the other girl. „This thing is an abnormality! It's, hideous, dangerous!"

„Yes, yes and again yes." The other girl hissed back, strengthening her grip on Bella's cloak. „It is. Don't you feel it? It's stronger than us, way stronger. We neither know what it is or how to defend ourselves. It would be a shot in the dark. It would be reckless to attack right now. Impatient."

„Oh…" Bella said, understanding dawning upon her. Jean was probably right. Still, it felt wrong not to do anything right now, her instincts were screaming at her to do something, anything.

Her internal debate didn't go unnoticed by the brunette, who probably said the only thing that could end this line of thinking on the point.

„Trust me."

She slowly let go of Bella's shoulder for a moment, took her wand out of her hand to firmly interlace it with her own a second later. Then, a confession. Albeit obvious, it made Bella feel better nonetheless.

„I'm scared, too."

Every part of Bella's instinct still screamed at her, to just defend herself against the fiend in front of her, to not leave herself so vulnerable. But isn't this the problem, in the end? This wouldn't have been a fight out of bravery, the intent to attack born out of fear would have been the wrong thing to do. So she gulped, nodded and was answered with a reassuring squeeze from Jeans hand.

They both continued to stare directly into Sathan's eyes. Not moving, not giving him the possibility of a reaction to an action. They were just waiting, as did Agnes. A few moments later, he giggled again, jumping back onto the bed with every grace of a normal cat.

„Agnes? Oh thank god you're still here!" Ellie whispered as she came back in, closing the door behind her, silently. „But I fear we don't have much time anymore, the other girls are coming back soon."

Agnes didn't give any signs to her sister of what happened previously. She just smiled kindly and shook her head.

„That's not a problem, I wanted to go now anyway." „What, no!" Ellie said with freshly infused panic, rushing towards her sister again and clinging onto her, refusing to let go. „You'll leave me? You just promised you'd never do that again!"

While Ellie wasn't paying attention, all the other witches in the room –luminescent or not– saw how a certain creature jumped quietly from the bed, made its way towards the door and silently opened it. With a last look back, that showed the distorted grin of the beast one more time, Sathan sneaked outside.

Only now did Agnes allow herself a small sigh of relief before looking at her sister again.

„And I stand by it. But you know I can't stay at Hogwarts, right?"

„…Right." Ellie begrudgingly admitted, shoulders slumping a little.

„That's why I am here, actually. I will go traveling again, but it's possible I won't always be able to send an owl to you. So I have this to give to you."

„She had a book, in a plain, dark cover, comparable to the notebook the other witch had found months ago in the library.

Her sister took it, looking up questioningly to the older witch. Who produced another, similar looking copy from her robes. „Those books are magically connected. The magic is concealed, it may take one or two days to get through to mine, but in the end it's a safe method."

„I've never seen something like that." „I created it." Agnes smiled. A second later, her expression became more serious. „ It is a variation of the protean-charm. For it to work, you must never talk about it, though. The moment you speak about it, the magic will fade."

Elisabeth nodded slowly, pressing the book to her chest.

„I love you, Ellie. Never doubt or forget that." „I love you too, Agnes."

As both sisters held onto their book and each other, the witches found the scene fading and back into the whirling of light and colours around them.

Both stayed dead silent when they found themselves back in the simple and plain dorm room of their own time. There was just too much to process that some kind of numbness overtook Bella's brain, not knowing where to direct her thoughts at first.

Still, they couldn't stay here forever. She looked behind them and, as expected, the door towards the common room in Hufflepuff's picture had reappeared.

Since her hand still clung to Jean's, she slightly tugged at it to get the other girls attention, who seemed to be in a similar trance to Bellatrix before. „Come on, the passage is open again. Let's go." Jean merely nodded, obviously still trying to process what had happened just then. She shook her head with a little more determination, nodded again and both of them made their way back towards the door.

The moment they stepped through the threshold, they felt the shift in their reality as the last time they entered the picture of the founder. They merely recognised it in the backs of their heads though, a concerned looking Hufflepuff meeting them as soon as she heard them entering.

„The few ones that came back were in an equally sombre mood like you two. Are you girls alright?"

„Yes…yes, we are, I guess." Bella confirmed, even if neither of them probably looked like it.

„You poor girls." Hufflepuff said, walking towards them and observing them with worried, but warm eyes.

„Agnes…" Jean said out of the blue, looking at the founder-portrait in front of them. „How was she? Like, as a person?" „She was one of the most peculiar students I got to know here. I remember that Agnes was a stricken girl. I always liked her and felt heartbroken that she didn't feel like she truly fit into this family. But so… so peculiar indeed…she was always welcome here and we had the occasional talk at night. All she wanted was a place to belong to. I would've loved to give her that place." Bella perked up. „But…it seemed like she did find it in the end… not in Hogwarts, but later on. So…she should've been fine?"

„Well…maybe, dear. But this isn't the end of your journey, is it? So I guess there is more to find out about Agnes' journey for you as well. But I fear I am not the one to help you any further… I already feel how the edges of my memory slip away from me, since the magic is getting weaker by the second." She smiled sadly. „I am glad to be a part of Agnes' afterlife, but I wish the girl didn't think it was necessary that I would forget her. She didn't deserve that. But now, you girls hurry! Soon, I won't remember what happened here."

Both nodded, making their way through the picture towards the door that would lead them to the Hufflepuff common room again. Before they could leave, Bella looked back again.

„Thank you, Professor! And I am really sorry that we entered your home without permission." Hufflepuff smiled warmly again. „It was a pleasure meeting you girls, both so strong willed and gifted. Now, hush!"

Quietly, they entered the dorm again, that hadn't changed in the slightest. The only differences were the view of the magical windows, which, by now, showed a slowly approaching dawn as the red crept into the darkness of the night. Quietly, with a last nod towards the portrait, they left the badgers' lair. When the door closed behind them, the founder hat fallen back into slight slumber.

„I guess Hufflepuff isn't as bad as a house as I thought." Bella mused as they quietly left the dungeons behind them. She could easily tell that this had been one of the scariest moments of her life. A particular kind of courage had been needed there. They had to work against their instincts, show patience towards the unknown rather than force or intimidation. It also wasn't just about them. Agnes' first and foremost concern, in the end, had been her sister. And a sisterly bond that made the older witch fight against her instincts, not for her own protection, but Ellie's. Her loyalty to her family as a source of calmness was something Bella respected deeply. She came to the surprising conclusion that she'd underestimated the houses' qualities. While admitting this in her mind, there obviously was no way she would voice this much out loud to anyone.

To her surprise, Jean quietly snorted next to her, as they made their way through the corridors and effectively ended her trail of thoughts.

„Oh come on, you're just happy a portrait likes you now."

„Shut up" Bella felt a blush creep on her face. Jean had the grace to avoid her expression right then, the smug expression on her face got on Bella's nerves nonetheless. She slapped the girls shoulder slightly, only then stopping the physical contact that had kept her grounded.

Lightening the mood was direly needed by both of them right now.

It seemed they had finished the next part of their adventure a few hours before breakfast. Neither of them felt like being able to sleep. They made their way – luckily still undetected by any teachers or ghosts patrolling the corridors - towards the quire room. None of them wanting to talk more than necessary before being in a relatively safe-spot. They settled down next to each other, both releasing a sigh that wandered between relief and worry. After a few moments, Jean spoke up.

„So…what do you think?" She asked the other witch plainly.

Now it was Bella's turn to snort. „Good question. The first thing that comes to mind is that this felt like the most realistic nightmare ever. But seriously? I feel like I have more questions than before. This really didn't explain much, did it? It's like, ten to fifteen years after what we've seen the last time, Agnes didn't even go to Hogwarts anymore, obviously vanished for a few years to go Merlin knows where…to show us what? The shining beacon of Creepiness itself?" She shuddered at the thought of the weird creature they had encountered. „It gave me the shivers, Jean."

Jean frowned, nodding after a few seconds of contemplation. „Yeah, it did. Whatever that thing was…I've never felt such a sudden urge of panic as when that…that monster stared at me. Well, that's not true, it comes pretty close to the feeling you get when a Dementor is nearby." She shivered. „But it wasn't really the same. Dementors cause a deep, wholesome fear when they take your happiness… that right then just made me feel like I was prey. As if…as if it reduced me to basic instincts that told me to run. It felt disgusting, like I was a deer in headlights." „I know what you mean…except for that ‚deer in the headlights'-thing." Then she frowned, just picking up on one thing Jean had just said. „Wait, what? How the hell do you know how it feels if a Dementor is feeding on you?"

She saw Jean freeze for a second, slowly looking towards Bella, whose frown only deepened. When Jean didn't answer after a few seconds, she abandoned it in favour of an arched eyebrow. Suspicious.

„Uh…yeah, sorry, it's difficult to remember the feeling." Jean finally said. „The school I went to before I entered here…one year they had patrols of Dementors ‚cause they assumed a criminal was stalking our school. It only lasted a few weeks, luckily."

Bella's eyes went wide. „Your school had Dementors patrolling? What kind of environment is that? Something like that wouldn't even happen here and for all I know most of the stuff here is bonkers!"

Jean chuckled sadly. „Well, I hope so. It's not a nice feeling, I can assure you."

„Oh, I know. I've only had the displeasure once, and it was rather far away at that time…nothing I need a repetition of."

For some reason, Jean's expression just turned somewhat sadder when she looked at Bella. „I believe that."

There was some kind of awkward silence then that Bella couldn't really decipher. Not knowing how to act, she stretched a little to at least do something, scratching her shoulder, when suddenly–

„Ow!" „Bella, you alright?" Jean asked concerned, her mysterious mood forgotten for the moment.

Bella shrugged off a part of her robe to inspect her hurting shoulder. She quirked an eyebrow at the red marks on her back she saw through the mirroring surface of a small window. Jeans gaze had followed her movements, now sporting a rather sheepish expression on her face. „Sorry about that."

„Damn, Jean. Normally those aren't a sign of a scary but a really good time…"

At that, Jean blushed fiercely, slapping Bella's arm hard. Bella only laughed, glad that the mood had become playful again. As she did so, another thing came to mind, so she nudged the still red-faced witches shoulder.

„We should check the next poem, right? Before we get into wild suspicions about what happened."

Jean nodded. „Yes, you are right." She quickly said, putting on her gloves and retrieving the book from her bag, obviously happy to change the subject. Cute.

When she opened the book on the formerly empty page, as presumed, there was now text on it. But they weren't greeted by a poem, but by a longer text, not written in rhyme, but as some form of–

„A letter." Jean whispered.

„Jean, turn the page." Bella asked the brunette, since she couldn't touch the book without the gloves. It's time I enchant some for myself.

Jean did as asked without questioning and Bella's suspicion was confirmed. Jean turned another page. And another. She was flowing through the book now, until she met empty pages again, way further at the end of the book.

„This at least explains why it is a notebook and not a pamphlet." Bella commented, arguably unhelpfully. Jean didn't react, her hand slowly sweeping over the letters in the book, trying to comprehend what they were looking at. „It's their conversation, isn't it?" Jean asked faintly. „What Agnes was talking about in the common room…both had a similar book, so they could stay in contact." Bella confirmed this, nodding solemnly, inspecting the first letter again, now that Jean had skimmed back to the first part of the new entries.

„Yes. These are the letters the sisters have written to each other."

So, yeah. A slight turn in the pace of the story, I guess. What do you think? Let me know if you have the time :)

Review-answering-time:

HeavyTeaDrinker: I'm sorry I let you wait for more than two months, but thank you anyway for your kind review :) You're totally right about the typos, me not being a native-speaker isn't much on an excuse at that. But for this chapter at least, I should've got that covered :) Good to hear that I'm improving, I hope you won't change your mind after this chapter :D

Mrs. F: I'm unbelievably glad that I somehow manage make you feel like that with my story :) It's something I wanted to give back to the community since I discovered fanfiction, so it's nice to see that its working! And don't worry, even if its a little irregular, I'll continue posting! Thanks a lot for the lovely review :)

UchihaEternal: I'll totally continue to update, I hope I'll get to do it a little more regularly in the next weeks. I'll do my best! :)

dangokaysierra: Haha,I know what you mean! Timetravel seems like a totally overused concept by now, but I just felt like there was missing a certain type of story in this fandom. Really nice to hear that it gets appreciated :)