This chapter- Andy starts to assert herself, and Bella dials up the violence. This chapter isn't as good as I'd like, because I didn't revise as much as I usually do, since I'm going out of town. If I don't update now, I likely won't be able to for another 2 weeks. I didn't want togo a month with no updating.

Chapter 14- One Step Farther

"Andy?" Bella finally seized the paper from my hands in irritation, and I grabbed it back. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was being ignored, even if it was only because I was trying to catch up on the news. Our father had stopped taking the paper that summer, because they'd appointed a new editor who seemed to be a great fan of Dumbledore and quoted him often. Father started claiming it was full of mudblood propaganda, and our parents didn't discuss what was going on with us- politics was not proper for young ladies. Once on the train going back to Hogwarts, there was no missing that things had gotten even worse over the summer. There had been more killings, more disappearances of both wizards and muggles, and vague mentions of a strange apparition in the sky over some of these unexplained murders. The Ministry would neither confirm or deny that rumor or speculate on whether or not the killings were connected. I felt uneasy about it, almost faintly sick, but apparently I was the only one.

Bella seemed unsurprised by the news and I didn't want to think very long about where she might be getting her information. Among my friends, Annabelle and Adrienne seemed a great deal more concerned about the fact that Daniel Greengrass had grown six inches over the summer and was suddenly awfully good-looking, a fact that they spent most of the train ride marveling over. Shannon was buried in one of her potions books of questionable legality, and Sirius was sulking after a strongly worded lecture on the way to the train station on the subject of his friends and upholding the family honor. Such lectures always left him in a sullen mood.

I decided to go and look for Will in the hope that he'd be finished meeting with the other prefects. Loyalty as his girlfriend prevented me from expressing too much surprise when he found out he was a prefect, but after more consideration it made sense. He was a reasonably good student, though not the best in his year, and had no trouble charming most of the teachers. More importantly, he was popular, good-looking, and a pureblood. The powers that be at Hogwarts obviously knew enough of Slytherin House culture that they knew a prefect without the proper bloodline and name would be at best useless, and at worst a target.

I opened the door to the compartment and knocked hard into a little tow-headed boy, who was so tiny I hadn't even seen him. Small for an eleven-year-old, even I was big enough to knock him down. With my typical grace, I stumbled into Will, who caught me, coincidentally in the corridor with Rabastan and Mulciber, a huge, hulking fifth year boy.

"Sorry," I said quickly, more as a reflex than anything else. "Are you all right?"

The little boy shrugged, starting to pick himself up. "That's okay," he said reasonably, when Mulciber pushed him back with a foot against his chest.

"I think," Will began with a smirk and a glance at the other two, "that you should apologize to Miss Black."

The boy blinked at them, and then made his mistake. "But...but she bumped into me," he explained, as though they hadn't seen the whole incident.

"Then you shouldn't have been in her way," Rabastan picked up.

"But…"

"You should apologize for touching her, nasty little mudbloods like you should never touch a lady like Miss Black."

If it had been any other girl, he might not have bothered, but men posturing in front of their girlfriends is one of those things that transcends time and class, and they all appeared to think it great fun to teach this little mudblood a lesson. I looked down at the boy, who looked incredibly young, and was staring at us in confusion. I felt bad for him, thrown into this strange world, with no idea of the social order and with no understanding of what rule he had broken.

"Will," I began, but he wasn't listening to me.

"In fact, I think you should apologize to her for your filthy presence on this train…"

"But I didn't do anything…" the boy started again, giving one last try at what seemed logical to him.

"Apologize, or I'll make you," Will said, darkly.

"Don't."

I think I was even more surprised by my own command than he was, for it was a command, the tone of my voice left no question of that. They looked shocked, and the boy on the floor hopeful. I wished for a second, at their shocked expressions, that I hadn't spoken, but then tried to save face.

"Why are you wasting time with a little boy like this?" I said irritably. "Is a little baby mudblood really worth getting in trouble over? That's beneath you. Let up."

He looked at me for a moment, face unreadable, and then slowly pocketed his wand.

"If that's what you want, Andy," he said quietly.

"Don't waste your time with mudbloods. I wouldn't," I said, turning away with a toss of my hair, hoping it was convincing. Apparently it was, out of the corner of my eye I saw them exchange brotherly looks in commiseration of how bizarre girls were, and then they followed me with nothing more than a sort of half-hearted kick at the little boy from Mulciber.

"That boy looks like a crup. Look at his ears. Hufflepuff."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Merlin, he'd have to be brave to go out in public with that haircut. Must be a Gryffindor."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Oh dear, that one looks like he's going to be sick...those standing up front better step back...oh he's green. Entirely Hufflepuff."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Hm, well, I suppose the only good thing you can say about those glasses is they draw attention from her nose, poor dear. Ravenclaw."

"RAVENCLAW!"

For the first time since Bella had started school, there were no Blacks to be sorted, and so with nothing invested in the ceremony, she kept up a running commentary on each of the first years, and then guessed which house they would be in. She was right about ninety percent of the time, and her comments, while perhaps slightly cruel, were funny, keeping everyone at our section of the table laughing through the sorting. While McGonagall kept shooting suspicious looks at our badly concealed giggling, she couldn't tell exactly who was causing the disturbance.

The sorting ended, and Bella leaned back in her chair, eyes wandering to the head table.

"D'you reckon they couldn't get a teacher and we won't have Dark Arts?" Reg said from across the table, following her gaze. "They say it's a cursed job. I wouldn't take it."

Indeed, Malenkov, who I had grown to like very much despite his rather cool and sharp mannerisms, was not at the head table. What exactly had happened no one could agree on, though there were plenty of rumors. Some said he was back at Durmstrang, having made up with the headmaster there and preferring their curriculum. Others seemed to believe he had gone abroad, to locations varying from India to Alaska, to either fight the Dark Arts or embrace them, depending who you asked. Whatever the real story, there was no replacement to be seen at the head table that night at the feast, and everyone was wondering the same thing Reggie had asked- what if they couldn't find anyone willing to take the job?

As we finished eating, Dumbledore gave the usual start-of-term notices- repeating oft-broken rules for those who might have forgotten and mentioning quidditch trials- and I let my eyes wander over the Great Hall until they fell on the Ravenclaw table. Marlene caught my eye and grinned at me, deeply tanned from a summer holiday in Cornwall. Sitting a little way down from her, I spotted Ted, but he wasn't looking at me. Instead, he was in an apparently deep and absorbing conversation with a girl sitting next to him. I couldn't help but note that she was quite pretty, with curly, dark blond hair. I knew vaguely she wasn't new, but I couldn't think of her name, as I had never had much reason to pay her attention before. She had never been worth noticing before, but she was one of those girls who went from plain to shockingly pretty in the space of a few months.

Watching them whispering to each other, their heads bent together, I felt a flash of sudden, unexpected, and surprisingly strong irritation that I didn't quite, at the time, identify as jealousy.

"Andy? What are you looking so put out over?" Bella asked, prodding me gently. She was in high spirits that evening, and as far as she was concerned that meant I should be as well. But for as much as we had been looking forward to going back to school, I felt like it hadn't gotten off to a very good start.

"That's wrong."

Ted looked up at me. I had spotted him as I was leaving the library, and noticed he was working on the Arithmancy homework I had already finished. I never passed up an opportunity to be smug, especially with him, and especially in that particular subject. To my extreme irritation, he had more of a head for numbers than I did, easily understanding the things that I had to read several times.

He frowned back at his paper for a moment. "No, it's not."

"Yes it is," I insisted, quite sure my answer had been correct.

"Andy, it's-"

"Look," I snatched his quill and sat next to him, tracing it down the page. "You went wrong all the way back here. What did you...oh, look, you transposed these numbers..."

He frowned, drawing his eyebrows together. "Damn, you're right..." He sighed and started erasing, muttering about how he'd be up all night. He glanced up beyond my shoulder, and gave a friendly smile to someone apparently there. "All right there?"

I turned, and found the little boy Will had been hassling on the train, standing there shuffling his feet and looking embarrassed.

"You're...you're the girl from the train..." he informed me. Although I was tempted to point out I had not been the only girl on the train, I merely nodded.

"Right, well, I wanted to say...thanks. For telling them to leave off, I mean," he spat out in one breath.

"Just keep away from them," I advised him. "They won't bother you unless you get in their way."

He nodded quickly, muttered "thanks" again, and bolted out of the library.

"Someone's got a crush," Ted smirked as the door shut behind him. I outlined briefly what had happened on the train, and he considered it for a moment, face unreadable.

"Oh go ahead and laugh," I said finally. "I know you want to."

"No, I'm just trying to reconcile your image of pureblood princess with that of crusader and hero of first-year muggle-borns." He grinned. The only thing that came to hand to throw at him was a balled up piece of parchment, which I did, but he caught it. "So I reckon Avery's not too happy with you?"

"What?"

He shrugged. "Well, I don't know the guy, but I can say pretty positively no guy wants to get told off by his girlfriend in front of a bunch of his mates and assorted first-years. Bit of a blow to the ego, isn't it?"

"Oh...I hadn't really thought of that."

"No? I bet he has."

Bella had Defense Against the Dark Arts first thing on the first day of school, and as soon as we could catch up with her, we demanded to know about the new teacher.

"So? What's he like?"

"It's a she," she corrected, frowning. This was not surprising, Bella always felt like she could control men, and she was usually right. Women were more of a wild card when it came to how they reacted to her. "I'm not sure, she's definitely pureblood, that's good. But I don't know..."

For someone who generally took the measure of people quickly and with considerable accuracy, that was unusual, so we were even more curious. I was personally hoping we didn't end up with another beauty queen type, but I suspected if she was, Bella would have had a few things to say about it.

Rumors were flying…but one that seemed to be true was that the new teacher had previously worked in the Department of Mysteries, and had agreed to come to Hogwarts because she was an old friend of Dumbledore's.

She was sitting at the desk when we came into the classroom, so that the usual dull roar before class was nothing more than a few mutterings. She might have been pretty at some point, probably had been, but she was far too old to be pretty still. And yet she didn't give the slightest impression of weakness that ought to have come with age. Much like Dumbledore, there was a sort of quiet confidence and palpable power. She watched us in silence until the entire class was there and then stood, moving with surprising grace.

"So, fourth year?" she spoke with a faint and not unpleasant accent. "And you have had some difficulty keeping teachers in this course, haven't you? Well, I am Danielle Langlais."

Bella was right, she was hard to read…at once polite, slightly amused, and authoritative, I thought as she read through the class list. As with other teachers, she seemed to know me, whether because she'd heard of the family or because Bella had made an impression I wasn't sure.

"You can put your books away," she went on when she had finished. "While I think it is important to understand the theory behind magic, given the current times, the Headmaster has agreed that we might also focus on things a little more practical. This will also be helpful to you next year as there will be a practical part of your O.W.L. examinations."

Mixed looks of interest and apprehension. Some, like Adrienne and Annabelle, didn't really want practical lessons, as they didn't want to get messed up. I was interested- I had dueled at home, it was impossible not to with Bella as my sister and Sirius as my cousin- I had to learn to defend myself after all. Even before we were old enough to have our own wands Bella would steal Mother or Father's. Our parents had never tried to discourage it so long as we didn't disturb them, they thought it was simply part of growing up- if we didn't kill each other, then it would make us stronger.

"Now, you should each choose a partner, and we're going to start with the basics."

I ended up paired with Shannon, which was actually relatively fair, as either of us could have flattened Annabelle or Adrienne, who spent the most of the hour shrieking girlishly and jumping out of the way of each other's spells rather than using magic.

As the class was winding down, people were getting fairly good at blocking mild spells, when suddenly I was hit by a splash of cold water from behind. Without even wondering who it might have been, I spun to fire back a spell and found it was Ted, hand clasped over his mouth, laughing. He had apparently been aiming for Frank.

"Mr. Tonks!"

"Sorry Professor, my wand slipped."

I wasn't going to take that. "Rictumsempra!" He doubled over, and I smiled sweetly. "Sorry Professor, my wand slipped too."

"Mhm. Class dismissed, but Miss Black and Mr. Tonks will stay after class, please."

We waited as everyone else filed out, and then she turned to us with crossed arms. "The first day of class? Am I going to have to deal with this all year?"

"He jinxed me first, and from behind!"

"That was an accident, she got me on purpose!"

It seemed to amuse her enormously. "You're both clever students and your spell work is strong, but I really can't allow this magical version of hair pulling. Rather than detention, I want you both to summarize the first chapter of your textbook, to hand in Monday. And in the past, you will cast spells only when you're told, and not on a dare, Mr. Tonks, or in retaliation, Miss Black."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"You'd better both get to your next class then." She studied me for a moment, and then said abruptly. "Bellatrix, she's your sister, right?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Interesting. Well, go on then, both of you."

"Hey Andy, are Sirius and Lily Evans going out?"

Marlene blurted out the question, apropos of nothing, as we were walking to dinner after potions. I followed her gaze across the hall, where I spotted Sirius and the bright red hair of Lily Evans walking a bit ahead of us. He was gesticulating enthusiastically about something, but she didn't look impressed.

"No, I don't think so. He's probably trying to sweet talk her on behalf of James. He wouldn't, I don't think. James has always fancied her and he puts his mates before girls." I shrugged. "Of course, I really can't keep up with the revolving door that is Sirius Black's love life."

At fourteen, he was, like all the Black men, undeniably good-looking. It was not so long ago that the pureblood families had pushed for first cousins marrying, and I wouldn't put it past my parents to try to bring that around again, worried as they were about us all making good marriages. But Sirius and Regulus were almost like brothers to us, and so I really couldn't work up anything more then aesthetic appreciation. Even bearing that in mind, I had to admit there was a great deal to find attractive about Sirius- aside from looks alone, he was smart, funny, and a bit of the bad boy that appeals to even the most sensible girls. There was no denying that he was the subject of many adolescent fantasies at Hogwarts, and many of his admirers felt compelled to share these fantasies with me, assuming that as his cousin I had some particular influence over the direction of his love life. Perhaps that's why I recognized the slightly defensive note in her voice when she spoke again.

"I think 'revolving door' is a bit harsh, Andy. I think he's all talk, really. For all that reputation of being such a ladies man, he doesn't really go about with different girls all the time."

I gave her my full attention. "Clearly, you've given this subject some thought."

She blushed, and feigned a deep interest in the suit of armor we were passing. "Of course not. I was just wondering about Evans because it would be such a huge scandal if a Black was going out with a muggle-born."

I considered that, and thought involuntarily of the tapestry in Grimmauld Place bearing the family tree. I didn't remember ever asking what those gray charred marks on it were, we just knew. There would be a scandal, as she said, but then the person would disappear, no longer a Black, blasted off the family tree and dead as far as the family was concerned. Toujours Pur was not just something to say on the coat of arms, it was an inviolable rule.

I didn't get any farther with that train of thought, because Elizabeth caught up with us, looking worried.

"Hey Andy, Bella's gone to the hospital wing."

I felt a little tickle of worry, but I wasn't immediately alarmed. Hogwarts was, after all, a school of magic. Magic was an imprecise art even for those with experience, and half the injuries that had to be sorted out on the hospital wing were more amusing than life-threatening.

"What happened?"

She shrugged, trying to catch her breath. "I don't know, something happened in defense."

I told Marlene to go on to dinner, I should go check on Bella. The corridor outside the hospital wing was silent, and when I pushed open the door the rows of beds seemed to be deserted, aside from one silent, still, sheet covered figure on one of the beds. Since I could see light brown hair, I knew it wasn't Bella. I was going to ask the Madam Pomfrey, but before I could find her I heard voices coming from the hall. I quickly ducked behind a tall cabinet full of little glass bottles of potions.

"Poppy wants to wait until morning to decide if he ought to be transferred to St. Mungo's. What spell was it?"

I knew the voice of the person who spoke, it was Dumbledore.

"I don't know Albus, it was nothing I've ever heard, and that in itself is worrying," answered Professor Langlais, in her soft accent. "That girl should be expelled."

"Oh come now, my Dear," answered Slughorn, apparently with them as well. "That's a bit extreme."

"Look at what she did to the boy. That's hardly a friendly spell. Bellatrix Black is dangerous."

"Nonsense. Miss Black is spirited, and she's got a nasty temper, no doubt about that. But she's quite a leader in Slytherin, well-liked among her peers, quite talented. I don't doubt with her charisma and family connections, Miss Black could go far. No reason to overreact to one little incident."

"Little incident? That's dark magic Horace, and I've seen enough of it to know."

"You don't even know what the spell was, my Dear. Perhaps it was an accident-"

"It was no accident, I saw her face, she knew exactly what she was doing-"

Dumbledore cleared his throat quietly, and they both cut off arguing. "It is worrying Danielle, I agree with you. But I also agree with Horace that Miss Black should certainly not be expelled. Oh, she will be punished, but I fear expelling her from Hogwarts would only encourage her to continue her education elsewhere, and I don't like to think who she might turn to for that. She is safest here, and perhaps…well, perhaps it is not too late."

He strode over to the bed and bent over the person there, and while they were all examining him, I tried to take that opportunity to sneak out. I was to the door when I caught my foot on the doorjamb and they all turned, but luckily they thought I was coming rather than going.

"Miss Black," Dumbledore, who had sounded rather severe moments before, now sounded quite kind when he spoke to me. "You must be looking for your sister. She was sent back to her dormitory. Perhaps you should return to Slytherin as well."

"Yes, Sir."

I turned and ran back to the Slytherin dungeons.

"Bella?" I knocked for the third time on the fifth year girls' room, and got no response. "I know you're there and if you don't open the door I'll blast the bloody lock open. Don't think I won't."

Apparently she didn't, and she opened the door moments later, a hairbrush in her hand and looked perfectly unconcerned. "Have you come to scold me as well? I've had rather enough of that today."

I pushed her into the room, and found none of her roommates were there. Despite her apparent lack of concern, it had grown dark and she hadn't lit any of the lamps, suggesting she did have things on her mind besides the practical. I lit the lamps along the wall and then turned to look at her in the sudden light.

"What did you do? No one will tell but they're talking about expelling you."

She made a face. "I'm definitely going to get a howler from Mother and Father."

"Yeah, and that's clearly the biggest problem you have," I snapped. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I just had enough with an obnoxious little half-blood Gryffindor. He's always talking about how his Father's all brilliant for working for the Ministry, when really Father could buy and sell him ten times over. He thought he'd get a little mouthy about the family." She shrugged, looking out the window. "I didn't really think it would work, it was just something I'd read about."

I sat down on the bed heavily. "Bella, that was stupid, to try some spell you didn't even know. You're in big trouble."

She glanced at me from the window seat, and looked at me for a long time. "Come here Andy."

I didn't move, angry at her for frightening me, for the gnawing uncertainty. She repeated herself, and I obeyed. I was learning to go against her, I knew that deep down somewhere, but I wasn't quite there yet. She took both of my hands. "I'm not going to be expelled. I'm not worried, and you shouldn't be either."

"Even if you're not expelled," and I knew she wouldn't be, I had just said that to frighten her. "You still really hurt that boy Bella. You can't go around doing that. You could have killed him." She didn't look horrified by that idea, merely thoughtful.

"Well I knew I wasn't going to kill him," she said, as though that was an acceptable defense.

"That's not the point…"

"Andy, he was a mouthy half-blood. Nothing is going to come of it."

I didn't know how to express what I wanted her to get, to understand that hurting people badly enough that they had to go to St. Mungo's was something she ought to feel bad about. There ought to be guilt, remorse, a fear of the consequences. Instead, she seemed merely bored and annoyed with the whole matter. I sighed, and she pulled me against her shoulder.

"Don't worry Andy. You worry too much."

The problem with a school like Hogwarts is that one rarely manages to be alone, and for the next few days, I felt very much like I wanted to be alone. The more perceptive of my friends noticed this, and backed off, but there was still nowhere to get away from other students.

The fallout from Bella's mistake was more or less what we expected. The boy was no longer at Hogwarts, though he had recovered far better than expected his parents had taken him home until the holidays. Bella had been made to apologize, which she did with surprising acting skill, and Slughorn tried to imply to the boy's parents that it had all been an accident- Miss Black had gotten an incantation wrong and didn't know her own strength. I think his suggestion, and possibly some well-placed bribes from Father, are the reason there was never any legal action. Rumors about just what she had done became wilder and wilder, but she accepted ongoing detentions and an indefinite ban on Hogsmeade week-ends with a surprising grace.

It was dusk on Friday that I found myself out in the bleachers overlooking the quidditch pitch, which was a still, silent expanse of green when there was no game or practice, and also an excellent place to hide. I was glad for some solitude, if only to sort through my complicated thoughts, and so was annoyed when footsteps interrupted me. I looked up in annoyance and found Sirius.

"What are you doing here?"

"A little bird told me you might be here. Well, actually, Ted Tonks did. He seems to be quite informed about your whereabouts."

I ignored that, so he went on.

"I thought you might want some company."

"I don't."

"Yeah, he told me that too. I just assume when people don't want company they mean anyone but me. I'm always an exception."

"Did you come out here just to tell me how exceptional you are?"

He grinned. "No, I actually wanted to talk to you," he wandered over and sat next to me. "We should have seen this coming, hm?"

"What?"

"Bella. It was only a matter of time before she did something really stupid."

"Why do you think that?"

"You really think she and Rodolphus play charades when they're alone, Andy? He's been teaching her, and he's deep into the Dark Arts."

"No," I shook my head, refusing to believe Bella's experience with Dark Magic was anything more than dabbling, a passing interest. "I've read the books she does Sirius, they're not that bad."

He rested his elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands. "How long are you going to be willing to ignore it? It doesn't matter how much you love her Andy, you can't save her from herself."

I turned away from him stubbornly, and he shrugged and leaned back, hands folded behind his head. "So, as your cousin I feel it's my duty to inquire as to why Ted Tonks is so informed of your whereabouts."

I thought about Ted, and then immediately about the pretty blond girl I had spotted him talking to outside the library the day before, and realized Sirius landed on the one subject I wanted to discuss less than Bella.

"Shut up, Sirius."

"I'm just saying…"