Classes had ended for the day. Lelouch returned to the Common Room to find Daphne and the rest of his 'friends' chatting in a corner. Zabini was among them, reading a book. Tracey was playing with something that resembled a magical cube. Daphne noticed his approach and quirked her lips at him.
Lelouch clicked his tongue. She has been getting curious about him recently. From what Kallen told him, Daphne had already stopped his sister more than once to question her about Lelouch. Every answer she got only made her more curious. She was becoming a headache really fast.
She has also been approaching him more and more to play chess and she was using those opportunities to figure him out. He should have been more forceful when he told Daphne not to pry in his life. At first, he thought that approaching her would allow him to get the support of her family, but it seemed that the Greengrass patriarch was reluctant to approach the political nightmare that Lelouch was. He now regretted trying to befriend her. She was only trouble.
She waved at Lelouch and pointed ad the ready chessboard on a corner of the room. "Another game?" She asked.
Zabini glanced at Lelouch from behind his book and waved at him. Malfoy was glaring at him from the other side of the room, as always. Lelouch sighed and accepted the challenge.
Daphne followed his moves with attention. After his third turn, she asked him. "Where have you been these days?" She asked. "Queen to 2-D."
Lelouch moved another piece and answered calmly. "What do you mean?" he said. "Pawn to 5-F"
Daphne quirked her mouth again and waved her hair out of her face. "You've been disappearing recently, in uncommon hours." She stated. "In the morning, just after breakfast, or after dinner, before the curfew. I think Millicent knows what you have been doing, but I don't want to press her."
"Queen to 1-D," Lelouch said. "Why does it concern you what I have been doing?" he asked. Millicent hadn't told her about the Room yet. She was no Kallen, but maybe Lelouch should start to consider if it would be a good idea to bring her into his inner circle.
She smirked. "Why wouldn't it matter to me? You are my friend," she stated, unashamedly, as she quirked her mouth with a mischievous smile. Was this girl really an eleven-year-old? She was way too sharp. "I wouldn't want you involving yourself with the wrong sort."
"I am now curious as to whom you consider the wrong sort," Lelouch raised his eyebrows.
"There's a lot of people like that..." she said as she wetted her lips and narrowed her eyes at the board as if noticing something about Lelouch's strategy. "Like the Weasleys, for example."
Lelouch's eye ticked. "They are an...interesting sort."
Daphne snorted. "I wouldn't want to see you involved with their unrefined sort. There are better prospects out there."
Lelouch nodded. "I will keep your words in mind." he made his last move and grinned haughtily at her "Checkmate."
She glared at him and turned her face to inspect the board. Lelouch had prepared a trap about ten moves ago that only now she noticed. Daphne scowled and glared at him. "With skill like that, you should be playing in the international leagues. I find it hard to believe an ordinary orphan can have that level of ability."
Lelouch smirked at her. "So, I am ordinary?"
She gritted her teeth at him. "You know what I am talking about!" she growled. "Even my father can't win against me that fast," she said
"Ron Weasley..." she continued, while rolling her eyes in revulsion "Is the current champion of the British Junior League of wizard's chess. My match with him in the finals took almost an hour, and you defeated me in ten minutes. This is not normal."
Lelouch didn't pay a lot of attention in most of what she said, but there was a word that strongly caught his interest. "Junior League?" he asked.
Daphne shrugged. "A championship for under sixteen wizards and witches," she explained. "It happens a week after the end of the school year, in a coastal wizarding village in northern England. There is a prize of a thousand galleons for the winner. It's funded by the Ministry of Magic, for some reason."
Lelouch almost stood up in surprise. He had forgotten that the wizarding world put the same weight on chess as Britannia did.
He had been worried about what he would do to fund himself before his majority, he didn't want to depend on Hogwart's charity. What he hadn't noticed was that he could just do the exact same thing he did in Britannia, after all, the wizarding world was full of arrogant nobles ready to gift him their riches in chess wagers.
"A thousand galleons?" he asked with interest. "How can I sign up for it?"
Daphne inspected his face, scowled and clicked her tongue. "I shouldn't have told you that, now I will also have to contend with you as a competitor." She sighed and massaged her forehead. "At least I will have the pleasure of watching you handing Ron Weasley the beating of his life."
...
Ophelia scowled as she glanced at the blonde bastard who put them into this situation. Malfoy was following them grudgingly, muttering about telling his father something. She was only recently made aware that he had a disagreement with her brother in Slytherin that saw Malfoy slowly becoming a pariah there.
Julius...
He was there in the mirror, his hand on her shoulder, and Miss Alice's hand on both of her shoulders as they smiled back at Ophelia.
What was going on on his mind? He seemed to get stranger every day she saw him. It was as if someone else had started wearing his body.
For most of their childhood, he had always been the timid one, rarely interacting with others, always in his own world. As soon as they arrived on Hogwarts, his personality shifted 360ยบ. He suddenly became ruthless. He started having the people skills of a politician, skilfully waving through the maze that was Slytherin, even becoming close friends with Daphne Greengrass, one of the most influential heirs attending Hogwarts right now.
She had indeed heard whispers about a rivalry going on between her brother and Draco for Daphne's hand in marriage or something. Ron even commented that her brother might be viewing for the Greengrass fortune.
Was Julius always this sly?
It was as if something had suddenly woken inside him. Some half-forgotten part of himself that had been sleeping since he was born.
They followed Filch to Hagrid's Hut, where he greeted them with a smile. Filch snarled. "You will be serving detention with Hagrid tonight." He said and looked at Hagrid with disgust. Hagrid returned him the same look. Filch spat on the ground in front of him. "He's got a little job in the Forgotten Forest."
"The Forest?" Draco jumped in. "I thought that was a joke!"
Filch turned his head to him. His face was like the dried bark of a tree, there was not a shred of humor there. "Do I look like a joker?"
Malfoy shook his head hastily.
"Good," Filch grinned.
"Alright," Hagrid interjected. "Let's goo. Follow me, eyes on the road."
As they entered the Dark Forest, Ophelia watched the gnarled branches making a tunnel above them. It was colder inside the forest than outside. The sounds of branches moving were mixed with those of things moving and distant shrieks and howls.
Somewhere along the way, Hagrid stopped to inspect something on the ground. From his hand, Ophelia could see a dripping ooze that looked like liquid silver. Hermione watched in amazement. "What is that?" she asked.
"What we came here for." Hagrid narrowed his eyes at the substance, conveying the gravity of the situation. "Unicorn's blood," he said. "The poor creature has been hurt badly by something. We are going to search for it."
He turned to the students around him, made a headcount and nodded to himself. "Harry will come with me," he said. "Ophelia will go with Ron, and Malfoy will go look for it with Hermine."
"What?" Malfoy protested. Hermione glared at him. "Why do I get the Mud-muggleborn?"
Hagrid ignored him "We will meet again at this same place in ten minutes."
Malfoy grumbled.
...
Voldemort drank another mouthful of blood with fervor. Quirrell wouldn't be able to sustain this possession for much longer unless he acquired the stone. Voldemort clicked his tongue, such a poor quality container for his soul...Even so, he would still find a way to reward Quirrell after this. His loyalty deserved to be recognized.
The taste was sweet and metallic, a mixture of honey and rust. The aftertaste, though, was really bad, it tasted like rotten meat, depression, and self-hatred. Enough that it would make an ordinary man end his own life right there. It was no surprise drinking unicorn blood is said to cause curses.
He suddenly stiffened. Some distance away, a pair of...children were approaching? this deep into the forest? He snorted, Dumbledore really lacked common sense these days. They were approaching but still hadn't noticed him. Voldemort lowered his head to drink another mouthful while he thought about what to do. What would the board of directors think when they found out children died in Hogwarts due to Dumbledore's mistakes?
If they were aligned with his death eaters, he would allow these children to leave unscathed, maybe just a small obliviation to keep things simple. Otherwise, they would become just another casualty on his and Dumbledore's war.
"Is that..." It was a girl's voice. he rose his head and inspected them from under his robe. From where they stood they would only see shadows when looking at his hood.
It was a girl. She resembled that piece of shit Sirius Black and looked remotely like Bellatrix. '
Another Black on Griffindor. Voldemort mused. A half-blood, born of a blood traitor, without a hint of pride on her own ancestry. To someone like him, blood traitors were even worse than mudblood.
He had watched her through Quirrell during his classes. She was nothing like her brother, she was worthless. She was her father and uncle through and through. He clicked his tongue. The boy beside her...Voldemort rolled his eyes in disdain. Another Weasley, such disgusting pests.
The Black boy came back to his mind, he was an enigma Voldemort was still trying to solve. The green woman as well, the strange mental construct on his mind...
His eyes alighted. Maybe this girl had the answer to some of his questions, and if she didn't, he could still use her as a living example for what happens to blood traitors.
As the girl approached, she noticed his form squatting on the ground, next to the dead unicorn. The boy's mouth opened in apprehension.
"What is that?" the boy whispered, wide-eyed, as he stared at Voldemort's form.
He didn't wait anymore, Voldemort jumped right at them and caught the girl by the throat. She screamed in horror, while the boy fell on the ground and crawled away while staring at the scene in terror.
He grinned as he stared at her eyes. Her mind was open to him.
"Look at me, girl," he whispered with a hoarse voice, unrecognizable. The girl's eyes were shifting widely as she tried to get away from him. Voldemort growled again. "I won't as ask again, child." He said and increased his grip on her throat. "Look at me."
"Expeliarmus!" The boy that had fallen on the ground shouted. Voldemort felt a slight twitch on his arm where the spell hit and snorted. The boy had risen up and was aiming his wand at Voldemort, fear dripping from his expression, his feet shifting as if he wanted nothing more than run straight out of there.
Voldemort gnarled at him, arrogant child. "Sectumsempra!" He spelled.
The spell hit the boy on his shoulder. He fell on the ground with blood slowly painting his clothes. Voldemort ignored him and turned to look at the girl.
She was glaring at him with bared teeth now, even as she couldn't see his face, holding the arm that was gripping her neck, with the nails slowly entering his flesh. "Ron..." she muttered with her strained neck.
Voldemort used the opportunity to end this. he penetrated her glaring eyes and searched her mind for anything relating to Julius Black and the Black family. Ignoring every obstacle and shattering everything in the way.
The first memory he saw was that of a playpen. There were clouds painted on the walls of the room and big toys made for children spread around it. Many children were playing around the pen. Ophelia Black seemed to be about two years old. She was babbling at her brother who was sitting on the ground and seemed to be bored out of his mind. The child...sighed? and looked at his sister. The only adult in the room was sitting on a corner completely absorbed in reading a colorful magazine.
Julius looked ad his sister and said "This is utterly boring, isn't it? I honestly don't think I will be able to endure another year like this."
Voldemort frowned. What the hell? Was this really a child?
The girl babbled while tapping her brother. She smiled, sat back and clapped for no reason
The boy scowled at his toddler sister as if irritated by her lack of proper response. "I am happy for you. At least one of us find this situation amusing." he quirked his mouth in a half-smile.
The scene shifted. This time they were at an amusement park together with a muggle woman. Voldemort scowled. From the way he was interacting with her, the boy wasn't really a supremacist like he made everyone think, was he? He has almost managed to deceive Voldemort.
The boy seemed abnormally alienated to the world around him, like a piece of another puzzle that just didn't fit right in this one. He won his sister a dog plushie in a shooting game and that was probably the warmest point of their outing.
The scene shifted again. And again. And again. Voldemort was starting to get angry. The girl was useless. She had lived beside her brother for many years, but it was clear to Voldemort that she knew nothing about him.
Suddenly the scene stopped at a portrait of a girl with the same lilac eyes as Julius Black. For the first moment since his dive into the girl's mind, Voldemort saw the boys mask slip away. There was guilt there, and reluctance. The girl on the portrait meant more to him than his own sister. Interesting...
Then there was the scene at the Great Hall. The boy looked down at the girl as he poured juice at her face with a twisted smile. Voldemort noticed then. The boy was playing a character. With a clear view of the entire picture, Voldemort could see that there was a lot more to the boy's declarations during the Sorting Ceremony than he let out. He was becoming a greater enigma with every new thing Voldemort learned about him.
The boy wasn't a pureblood supremacist like everyone though. He was just a very good liar.
There was nothing in her mind about the Black family, though. Nothing about the ominous intelligence her brother had as a child. Nothing about the green-haired woman. In the end, the girl was useless.
He growled. "What about the green-haired woman!" He shouted at the girl while shaking her. "What about the Black Family magics?" He snarled at her and stared at her choking face. "Who taught your brother? tell me!"
As he stared into her mind, nothing new appeared in her mind.
He snarled "Stupid child,". The girl was still trying to get away from his grasp. "So easily deceived."
He threw her beside the bleeding boy on the ground. She rolled on the dirt and coughed, finally managing to get her breath again. "I can still use you, though." He grinned. "It has been some time since I passed this kind of message to Dumbledore. He is still treating our battle like a game. It is time for him to learn that the game is over."
The girl raised her head and glared at Voldemort, aiming her wand at him while still squatting on the ground. Not bad, she was brave, it was a shame she was a blood traitor and daughter of Sirius.
Voldemort grinned sadistically. "Cruciatus."
