By: Pirate-Girl1017
Chapter 5
She didn't know how long she was there, but it really didn't matter, she had what she had wanted. And that thing was his affection, however brief, and now the wait seemed worth it. When he did let her hand out of his grip she took a step back and gazed around her.
"That was all I wanted to discuss, you should be heading back. Do you not have a class after lunch?" He returned to the cold and formal potions master the school knew so well.
"Yes, I do, I'll be seeing you around," she turned to leave.
"Good day," he shut the door behind her. Alone again in the dank hallways of the dungeons she took a deep breath and started up the stairs to the main hall. She never saw the pair of steely eyes watching her from in the shadows.
The second the final bell rang she headed right for the Quidditch field, her Nimbus 2001clutched tightly in her hand and over her shoulder. The thrill of flying would ease her tangled and irritated nerves. As she lifted off on the old broom she let the pins and ties out of her hair and let it flow freely as she rose higher and higher. The wind trailed in and out of her robes, the force made her eyes water but it was part of the experience she loved so much.
Days spent in practice on the Ravenclaw team were life to her at one time, like any player she wanted to be the one to win the House Quidditch Cup. And even though she never did it was nice to think she had brought them in second place many a time. But then her mind turned to Lily, her beautiful older sister that she had helped cause the death of. The broom swerved as she lost her concentration. Lily's gorgeous wine hair, falling in perfect curls, her blazing and brilliant emerald eyes that sparkled when she laughed. And her curvy figure that always had the Gryffindor boys flocking after her.
She was smart, pretty, full of wit and popular. Everything Bluebelle had never been in school. She had been gangly, thin to the bone she thought at times and flat chested through almost all of her years there. Her hair had been a dull blond, not brown, not red and not gold, no nothing special about it, especially when it could have substituted for Hermione Grangers. All in all she had no idea how Sirius Black could have fallen for her, but alas he did. The poor boy must have hit his one too many times going through the secret passages under the castle.
She shook her head and curved around a turret holding seats for the spectators and decided she didn't want to review any more memories, but they still came.
Lily was everything she had ever wanted to be, and she had failed her so miserably. It was torture to love and admire her sister who could have what the younger one desired the most.
"No," she muttered under her breath, "I won't think about it."
Lily had the one thing she could never have, Severus' love. It had always been painfully obvious that he had feelings for her, one of the reasons that James Potter made fun of him so much. And no matter what she did he never looked at her as anything more then a friend or sister. Granted he was lonely, and not many people in his own house noticed him it was natural that he would fall for the girl who publicly defended him. Bluebelle had always done so behind the scenes, afraid he wouldn't accept her help with her being so much younger then him.
The only time he had made her think he could ever return her affection was that one time after he had left school and come back to visit her. He had acted so strange that day, and later she would realize that was right after he had joined with the dark forces.
Absently she flew her broom around the towers of the castle, looking in a window to see happy students fooling around or doing homework together. Once she saw Ron and Hermione studying in the library, sitting closer then usual. Neville was sulking in a hallway, he'd obviously forgotten the password to his common room again. Parvoti and Lavender were giggling around a corner spying on Firenz the centaur that taught Devination. All in all the setting was peaceful and light the opposite of her mind at the moment.
The troublesome thoughts were stealing away the ability she had to control her broomstick so she descended and came to the conclusion that a walk around the grounds was a good choice.
The trees of the Forbidden Forest loomed in front of her, a memory and a threat came to her. Snape was never the same after the day he had brought her there, the warm and kind boy he hid from every one but her was buried away. And here, she had learned that He Who Shall Not Be Named slaughtered and drank the blood of unicorns. Not the best place to be, but maybe if she just walked along the outskirts it would be all right.
Her fingers traveled along the finely polished wood handle of the Nimbus and rested on the golden emblem written on it.
"Petunia always said I would kill myself on one of these," she chuckled emotionlessly.
"Come to me, my child," a voice whispered in her ear. She shot around, but no one was there. "You do not belong in this place, you are too gifted for these fools."
"Who's there? Show yourself coward!" Her wand was in her hand before she even knew she had reached for it and the broom was dropped to the dew covered ground. A chill from the autumn wind penetrated her thick cloak and bit at her flesh. But the eerie voice did not come back.
In fact it didn't for some time, and she almost forgot about it, until the Christmas and New Years break came around. She was talking to Harry in her sitting room when he brought up something that jarred her.
"Have you been hearing anything strange, lately?" he blurted out and she choked on the biscuit she was eating.
"What do you mean? Rumors?"
"No, I-I've been hearing something in my head, and it's not the first time it's happened." He turned his face down, not knowing if she would take him seriously.
"What kind of something?"
"A man's voice, a hissing sort of like a snake," he ate a biscuit himself.
"And this has happened before?" he only nodded. "I heard it too, but it was over a month ago, but no one was there. What is it? I know you know."
"Voldemort, he talked to me before. Why aren't those Occlumency lessons stopping him? Shouldn't they?"
"Harry, the lessons don't do anything unless you do something with them. Occlumency is very hard, no body can get it overnight," she paused. "I don't want to think about him okay? Concentrate on your mind blocking skills, you need to do that."
"What about you? How can he talk to you?"
"I told you I had a bad run in with him before," she didn't tell him anymore and sent him to his dormitory. Then came to the decision to tell Dumbledore about what was going on.
The huge golden gargoyle stepped aside when she said the password ('peppermint fudge') and she accended onto the rotating stairs. The Head Master was sitting at his desk petting Fawkes on his glowing head.
"Good evening, Professor Evans," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"
"Good evening, Albus," she paused. "Harry said he's been hearing strange noises in his head, a snake like voice. He thinks its Voldemort, and I heard once too, back in November when I was walking the grounds." The white wizard nodded and stood, his long white trailing behind him, his beard having to be picked up when he moved. He hadn't changed since she had first met him. And even as she continued to speak to him about the odd hisses she and her nephew heard his blue eyes gleamed as though he knew a secret she didn't.
"Yes, young Harry told me last night about his knew hearing problem, and from what you say it is painfully clear that you two are related."
"HeadMaster…" What was that supposed to mean?
"He was just as worried about you as you are about him," he laughed. "Of course though he was convinced that Professor Snape was some how behind it, but that of course is nothing new. Do not worry about this whole affair, I have it under control so far. Your little relative is also a parseltongue and I know that from his past experiences. But I do not take it lightly and will look further into it."
"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," she stuttered. As much as the man was lovable, he really spoke in too many riddles.
"Any time," he smiled and opened the door for her and returned to petting his bird. Why did that man always have to talk in riddles? None of that made any sense to her, so she just went back to her room. As she laid on her bed down her mind was jumbled with the little bit she had been told. She never knew Harry was a parselmouth, he hadn't told her. There was so much she still didn't know about him despite being able to read parts of him like an open book.
The she held up her arm into the fading light of the sun and pulled her glove off, and stared at the winding snakes going up her arm. The rest of them marred her, an ever-present reminder of her encounter with the dark lord who was the cause of all her suffering. She shook her head, this was no time to be thinking about things like that, and she had more important task to do then worry about some slime ball like him.
As she sat down at her desk to write for the return of Neville she pet Puffy on behind her ears and chewed on the feather tip of her quill. It didn't taste very good and fluffy particles kept getting in her teeth but she tried her best to ignore that. The King of the Goblins was not a very patient man, and if she didn't word her letter just right she might loose a student. May not a very import one that nearly destroyed her classroom on more then one occasion, but a student none the less. And poor Mr. Longbottom didn't need to be turned into a goblin, that had already happened once in class and he stated that he didn't like it one bit.
So for the next hour and a half she sat in front of her paper and threw any reject piece as close as she could to the opening of the trash can without looking. When she was finally satisfied she let her owl, Ebony, out of her cage and told her where to go to change dimensions and who to give the letter to. Once that was done she really had absolutely no idea what to do.
Then her deprived mind thought of something. Christmas shopping. She still had some odds and ends to tie up and a stroll through Hogsmead always cheered her up. So she grabbed her cloak and headed out the door, a sack of money in her hands.
As she walked through the streets of Hogsmead she held a list before her. A store with a bright sign that read 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' caught her attention. Harry had mentioned that his playing robes were starting to get tight on him in almost every spot imaginable.
He'd even been as nice as to give her his size.
So she stepped into the shoppe and looked around at what they had to offer. One side was strictly for girls, the other for boys. She walked to latter and examined the merchandise. Rows upon rows of robes of every color and size one could think of lined the wall and hung from racks on the floor. They were arranged by shade and went according to the order of the rainbow, when she found red there were twenty different tints to choose from. For some time she simply took her time searching for the correct color. Finally she found it, now she had to hunt down the pants, gloves and sweater.
As she ran through the selection of pants she heard a familiar voice from the other side of the aisle.
"No mother, I said I wanted emerald green, not forest green."
"Well I'm sorry Draco dear but they're out of emerald, this was the closest they had."
"I don't care! How can I go back to school and play and not even have my house colors right? What would Amethyst think if I showed up in a forest green robe instead of emerald to play?"
"I really don't think she would notice if you were up on your broom." Bluebelle looked over the rack and saw Narcissa Malfoy trying to convince her son that it was impossible to tell the two greens apart when you were fifty feet in the air. When Draco turned around she ducked, having a conversation with that family at the moment was not on the top of her to-do list.
But apparently fate had it in store for her anyway.
"Ah, Professor Evans, what a pleasant surprise," Narcissa said from behind her.
"Mrs. Malfoy," she greeted with a curt nod.
"And what, pray tell are you doing here?"
"Shopping, the same as you," she started going through the clothes once more. The blond woman nodded then whispered something in her boys ear before they both left the rack and stood at the clerk's counter with the forest green robe. She did the same as they walked out of the store. As she paid for the presents she felt a presence at her back and swiftly craned her neck to see what it was.
Lucius stood there.
"Mr. Malfoy, you just missed your family."
"I know, I just saw them outside, I simply needed to talk with you for a moment." The sales clerk wrapped up her packages and she threw a handful of galleons onto the table and made for the door.
"I'm a busy woman, I've got a lot of things to do."
"I only have to say that you might want to get something for those voices you've been hearing, it's not healthy you know." She stared at him, her face blank showing no emotion, inside she panicked.
"What are you talking about?"
"I think you know what I mean," he began to pass her but stopped next to her, his mouth by her ear. "You may want to watch what you say when you think no one else is around but you and your friends, especially certain other professors." Then he was gone.
She stood there, not wanting to know what he meant by that, afraid even of what he implied.
Could it be that he knew about her talks with Severus? But that was impossible, no one but her, the man himself, Harry and Dumbledore. With hurried steps she left the building and made for the square so she could catch a carriage to the castle. After dropping off her parcels in her rooms she went once more to the headmaster's office. He was waiting at his desk as always, like he knew she was coming.
"Hello my dear, sit down," he gestured to the chair across from the desk. "What is troubling you?"
"Lucius Malfoy said something to me today while I was buying Harry's Christmas present." When he nodded she continued in what sounded like a school kids complaint of 'he said she said.' "I think he's onto me."
"I thought that might happen, but I didn't think so soon. What do you think he knows?"
"That I've been telling Severus things, but he couldn't know that. I've only talked about my past in my home or here. He couldn't know."
"But he does have eyes and ears in the school since he was fired as a supervisor."
"Draco?"
"Exactly, I'm afraid he is rather like his parents in that context."
"Then, what am I supposed to do? The students will be back in a matter of weeks, and he'll be with them. What do I do?"
"Stay at home for now, I'll think of something in the mean time. I also suggest that you send word to the other aurors as soon as you can. Have them know what is going on and form a plan of action from there."
"But, what about Harry?" Albus stroked his long, gray beard in thought and looked around the office as though something invisible was floating around and only he could see it. "Headmaster?"
"Take him with you or send him to stay with his friend Ron, he does so enjoy visiting the Weasleys." She nodded and excused herself. As she walked the long corridors to her rooms she ran the events of the last half-hour go through her mind.
Why did this have to happen now? Just when she thought life could go back to normal everything that could go wrong does. The Malfoys were on her back, Voldemort hated her with a passion and could well be closer then she thought, Harry was her responsibility now more so then ever. And now she had to have another meeting of aurors in her home again?
"I hate my life," she mumbled as she walked. Well then if that was what she had to do then that was what she had to do. She sat down at her desk and pulled out a quill, ink and paper. One by she addressed and wrote letters to each of the wizards who had been at her home earlier that year and sent them all together with her owl. It was late that night when she finally finished having redone many of them due to loss of words. As she climbed into bed she had the strangest feeling of foreboding.
The feeling that something was about to happen. This feeling hadn't come since the night before Lily and James had been killed. All through the nightmares plagued her unconscious mind. They were all memories of the past night sixteen years ago she had walked through the ruins of her sisters house to find her and her brother in law dead. Several times she woke with sweat coating her like a second skin and her lungs laboring for each breath.
Lily's dead eyes still stared up at her behind her eyelids whenever she closed them. The Ministry workers still hauled her family's bodies away in her dreams.
Everything seemed to be going against her at the moment. She darted out of bed and pulled out her paper and quill again.
Dear Harry,
This is very sudden for me as well as it must be for you. But I will be going away for a while, I don't know exactly how long I will be our what exactly I will be doing. But I do know that I will be at home. Your presents are in my closet, do not open them until Christmas, I doubt I will be back by then. Be careful.
Love you
Aunt Belle
"What is she doing?" Harry reread the letter for the third time.
"You're asking us?" Ron asked.
"We have to trust her," Hermione said from the inside of a book.
Meanwhile the subject of their conversation was looking into a mirror at her reflection, or what was supposed to be her reflection. Those camouflage potions she learned as a kid had come in handy many a time just as they did now. Blue hair had become black, pale skin had been instantly tanned, blue eyes were now green and her entire face was an entirely different shape.
But it was only temporary.
Her friend Tonks had lent her some tips on such disguises. Said friend was currently preparing herself in front of a full-length mirror in a guest bedroom for the mission set for that night. Mad Eye Moody and Remus were down in the parlor waiting for them, their own disguises already done.
As they decended down the stairs at last Tonks nudged her shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she replied.
"That look ain't nothing. Tell me what's wrong."
"I just regret leaving Harry so soon, he's grown enough not to need an adult but maybe I should have told him what's going on tonight."
"Don't worry about it, you've been in a million raids before. You'll be back behind your desk lecturing on about the danger of waking up a Cyclops before you know it."
Lupin and Mad Eye looked at them strangely as they giggled out the door like schoolgirls.
"I'll never understand women," muttered the older man.
"I don't think any of us ever will," answered the other.
In a dark, dank glen in the center of a deep forest a group of black cloaked people were forming a circle around a tall gaunt figure. The figure in the center turned its head as each person apperated into the glen and observed as they took their place in the group.
"All is going well, Master, almost everyone is here," one figure whispered to the apparent leader.
"Good," the man said in a wizened voice. "Has my spy arrived yet?"
"I believe that he just did sir." Both turned to see the last of the arrivals took his spot.
"Go see why he hasn't been at our last few gatherings."
"Of course sir," and he left to do the task appointed to him. He crossed the glen until he stood face to face with Voldemort's spy.
"Severus, good evening," he greeted.
"Good evening Lucius," he greeted back.
"Lord Voldemort wishes to know why you haven't been present at the previous meetings."
"I have been busy, it is as simple as that."
"To busy to come when our Lord calls to us? I find that oddly not like yourself." Snape stiffened a little then straitened his shoulders before staring the man in front of him in the eyes.
"I seem to remember you not being at meeting at times as well Lucius. I fail to see how I can be reprimanded for the same offense when you do not."
"I am not supposed to be acting as a double agent at the school the enemy happens to run." They glared at one another as the other Death Eaters were called to another section of the field. The Dark Lord seemed not to notice the two men looking so intently at one another as though they planned to curse the other at any moment.
"I do believe that we should be joining the group."
"Not yet we don't," Malfoy lowered his voice dangerously. "My son has told me he overheard you talking with a woman behind locked doors not too long ago. I also happened upon an old acquaintance at the Quidditch shop, Bluebelle Evans to be precise. If memory serves me right she was the younger sister of Lily Evans, Harry Potter's mother."
"That shouldn't surprise you, she used to play Quidditch."
"She also used to be an auror, a rather good one too. Draco told me she teaches now. Is that true?"
"And if it is?"
"I would have thought that you would not keep such interesting information to yourself."
"What one auror does with their retirement is none of my concern."
"Even if you fancied her at one time?" The silence that came upon them would have the made the sound of a germ screaming seem like an airoplane landing. "What would you be doing speaking to this woman in secret?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, young Malfoy must have been mistaken in what he says he heard."
"That seems not very likely as close as you two used to be," Lucius returned his tone to normal. "Shall we then?"
"Indeed."
"Oh, and Severus," he murmered, "if you don't watch yourself carefully the news might just get out that you're having illicite relationships with the enemy." Snape said nothing after that but proceeded to join the small gathering of Death Eaters. Far into the meeting something blasted one of the cloaked figures in the back making him scream out in pain then fly across the glen.
Four people rushed into the field, wands drawn, hitting down any Death Eater that came toward them. The woman next to Snape hissed under her breath and threw back her hood, letting her white streaked black hair free and rushed at another female auror. He turned to see the view around him, counting how many dark wizards were either fighting or fleeing.
Voldemort had already dissapeared, Malfoy with him.
Some of his followers, more like most of them actually, were lying on the ground motionless, others still fought. He pulled his hood farther over his head and began retreating into the forest when he heard something familiar.
"Rictusempra!" A dark haired woman hit a man with her spell, he fell over wheezing for breath as though his lungs were about to collapse. Her magic was far more powerful than the normal witch was. Again she cried out an incantation, her face blank of all emotion, her mind apparently focused on nothing but fighting and defeating the problem laid before her. Her voice was what he knew, he'd know that voice anywhere.
"Serpensortia!" Bellatrix sent a venomous snake out form the tip of her wand at the powerful witch who was taking down three opponents at once. After casting the spell the wild looking woman called her remaining companions to retreat and those left standing apperated away. Just as he vanished Snape saw the snake open its mouth and plunge its fangs into its victims ankle.
Lupin looked over just in time to see the serpent detach its teeth from her leg, she sank to her knees holding her bleeding appendage. As she sat there her appearance faded away until she was her normal self again.
"Finite Incantatem," he shouted and the snake turned into ashes.
He rushed over to her side and gently removed her hand so he could examine her wound. The veins around the puncture marks were already turning green, the flesh around it was changing into a nasty purple.
"How is it," she asked through grinding teeth.
"It could be better," he told her. Tonks and Moody were now sitting next to her, grimicing at the harsh wound. "We have to get you back home, we can take care of this there." She nodded and let them lift her to her feet, the second she put weight on her left foot she saw white spots and felt dizzy as the world started to spin.
Disclaimer: (insert basic I own nothing speech) Guess what everybody? I just got a new, flat screen, XP computer that can let me log in again! No more having to use my friends, hers just got my old problem of not letting her log in anyway. So as soon as I finish my homework, studying and chores I'll be able to write and update on the weekends. As for the next chapter expect Cho to come back into play, Valentine's day and kissing!!