A/N: Hey everybody! Thank goodness for long weekends am I right?! I've been working on this chapter for a hot second and couldn't decide where exactly to put it, until tonight. Sorry it's a bit on the short side, but I decided to spilt it into two parts. Mainly because I've spent a good deal of time on these pages and I haven't quite made it through part two just yet. So, if I post this now, I have no choice but to work on the second half! Hopefully we'll have a second half here within the next week or two.
To Belle's great shame, she didn't notice that Rumpelstiltskin had been avoiding her until Killian Jones mentioned it in potions class. Slughorn had them beginning a new potion and had insisted on partnering capable students with less capable ones. The Professor's first move had been to split his "dynamic duo," sticking Belle with Jones and Rumple alone. Not that her best friend seemed to mind working by himself, but she'd seen the dark look he shot Slughorn when the man announced who would be paired with Belle.
In an act of solidarity with Rumpelstiltskin, Belle had spoken to Jones as little as possible. Saying only what was necessary to get through the class, she'd focused her mind on the complicated Calming Drought they were expected to complete by the end of class. This one might actually come in handy with a certain high-strung best friend of mine,the beauty thought to herself. She didn't get much further in her thoughts before Jones interrupted her.
"I am glad to hear that you've finally come to your senses," the dashing boy crooned loud enough for only her and Rumple, sitting at the table in front of them, to hear.
Carefully monitoring their work Belle didn't respond immediately. "In case you haven't noticed, which you likely haven't, this is a rather finnicky potion. So unless you have something relevant to say, please shut up."
The young man raised an eyebrow at her snappy remarks. "I'm just trying to compliment you Belle."
"Since I don't really care what you think, you can understand why I'd rather you keep your mouth shut."
Jones startled her by laughing. "I can see why you spent so much time with the Crocodile. If anyone could temper that one, it would've been you."
Despite her concentration, Belle picked up on Killian's use of past tense. "What are you about Jones?"
"You've left the Crocodile," Jones replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
One row ahead of them she saw Rumpelstiltskin's shoulders tense, displaying that he was listening to every word they spoke. "I've no idea what you're talking about Killian," Belle said turning to face the infuriating Slytherin.
"Come on Belle, lay off," Jones snorted. "You've stopped hanging around with the bastard. Everyone's noticed." Belle's ears started ringing as her vision turned red at such implications. Her rage was so thorough that she almost missed Jones's next words. "Honestly, I'm happy to see that. You're too good of a person to get mixed with someone like that."
Taking a deep, calming breath, Belle attempted to correct the obnoxious boy's claims politely. "I haven't stopped hanging out with him. And you've no room to judge or determine what kind of person he is."
"Come off it," Jones smiled. "The whole school is talking about it."
"Well the whole school is wrong and needs to mind their own business," Belle huffed.
Turning her attention back to her work, Belle began contemplating everything she'd learned from Jones while steadfastly ignoring her partner. Thinking back on the past few days, Belle couldn't remember seeing Rumpelstiltskin for more than a few moments at any given time. The first few weeks back were always hectic, but now that she thought on it, she'd spent less and less time with her best friend.
He hadn't been showing up to lunch and had been staunchly avoiding her and the other Ravenclaws at dinner. The more Belle thought, the more she realized just how often Rumple had rejected her offers of studying together or sitting by the fire and talking. He'd even taken to going to bed early. What could possible warrant such a change in behavior from him?
Certainly, the incident with his father at the end of the summer had been unpleasant, but she was under the impression that it had brought them closer not torn them apart. She finally understood the dynamics between Rumple and his father. However, she also now had first hand knowledge of just how dangerous Malcolm Gold really was.
Her head full of such dour thoughts, Belle barely noticed the bell ring. By the time she realized the class was slowly filing out the door, Rumpelstiltskin had slipped away as well. Mulling over this newest mystery, Belle's day passed by in blur. No matter how many times she attempted to pin down her best friend and question him, she couldn't catch him for more than a few seconds at a time.
As morning dawned brightly the following day, the bookworm found herself unable to concentrate on anything else. She focused on little else until she took a seat next to Jefferson and noticed the look of disgust prevalent on his face. Noses deep into the morning's Prophet, he and Victor were having a quiet conversation about the contents therein. Curiosity pulled Belle from her long reprieve.
"What's happened now?" she asked grabbing a piece of toast.
The two shot her identical uncomfortable looks. Without a word, Jefferson passed the paper over to her. Lost Boys Strike Again, read the front-page headline. Sydney Glass had stuck again it seemed. Belle's eyes scanned the page, quickly soaking in every word.
Former Death Eater and current menace, Malcolm Gold – along with his band of avid followers- have struck once more at the Wizarding populace in London. A peaceful protest turned deadly riot led to the deaths of six muggles, two witches, and three wizards (see page 6 for obituaries and complete list). While gathered for a protest against the Secrecy Bill currently passing through the Ministry, two wizarding families met tragic ends yesterday evening.
Gold's followers – the self-named Lost Boys – appeared at the peaceful rally to protest the protesters. As several of these individuals openly or covertly supported You-Know-Who during the Second Wizarding Wars, it comes as no surprise that things quickly turned violent. Among the wizarding families who lost loved ones (see page 6 for interviews with the Prince and Frank families) six muggles also met a tragic end.
Ministry officials arrived on scene too late to make any arrests, though a certain Boy-Who-Lived has made a statement about how Aurors plan on dealing with this case (see page 3 for interview). Malcolm Gold remains at large and Ministry officials strongly urge citizens to remain on guard. However, Minister Shacklebolt's only comment so far, "we've dealt with Dark Wizards before, we'll deal with this one as well," leaves many – this reporter included – wondering just how long it will take before something is done about the crazed Supremacist (for life story of Malcolm Gold see page 7).
Belle's stomach dropped as she read through the article. Quickly flipping back to page 7 she read through the long article detailing Malcolm Gold's rise to power. Her throat tightened when she got to the part about Malcolm's only living child and that child's current stint at Hogwarts. With a sinking heart she caught sight of a picture of Malcolm and his wife with a young Rumpelstiltskin holding tightly to his father's leg.
Damn it, Belle cursed inwardly before glancing up at Jeff and Victor. "This is bad," she said, stating the obvious.
A quick scan of the Great Hall showed members of every other house with noses buried deeply in their own copies of the Prophet. Even the staff table showed obvious interest in the article as Professors Sprout and Flitwick held a quiet but tense discussion with Professor McGonagall. Only Headmistress Blue seemed unfazed by the current scandal. Though, if Belle wasn't mistaken, it seemed as though Blue moved more tensely than usual. It wouldn't take long for the backlash of this to reach the one person who truly didn't deserve it. Scanning through the article once more, something else struck the beauty. The victim's surnames were intimately familiar to her.
Glancing over to the Gryffindor table she saw a bleak David with his arm around a sullen Mary Margaret's shoulder. Eric and Phillip were nowhere to be seen. Turning her attention to Victor, she tried her best to find words to express how sorry she was. Yet nothing came to mind.
"It's okay," Victor assured his wide-eyed friend. "My father had as little as possible to do with me. They didn't even send word to me that he was gone, if that tells you anything. This is the first I've heard of it."
Though his words sounded sturdy enough, Belle couldn't help but notice how pale the young man was or how Jefferson had wrapped his arm protectively around his best friend. Regardless of the relationship, it had to be hard losing a family member like that. A father especially.
Before her heart could fully go out to Victor, an eerie quiet overtook the Great Hall. Every eye in the room turned slowly towards the lone figure at the entrance, piercing the young man with an all too familiar venom. This wasn't the first time The Daily Prophet had written an article about the atrocities perpetrated by Malcolm Gold, but it was the first that had hit so close to home.
Uncertain of whether she should go to him or not, Belle sat glued to her seat watching the student body lay the blame at her best friend's feet. Rumpelstiltskin stood in the doorway, stunned by the blatant hostility, for what felt like an eternity before slowly backing away. As soon as he was out of sight, the Great Hall filled with the angry buzzing of a hundred plus upset teenagers.
Five years had passed since Voldemort's defeat. People were no longer afraid to speak his name. No longer frightened that their loved ones would be stolen away in the night if they spoke against a Death Eater. Harry Potter and those who'd fought in the Battle of Hogwarts were lauded as heroes. Life was good for most of the wizarding world. Light, hope, and peace were meant to have taken the forefront.
But that just wasn't life. People were still capable of great good and great evil. Politics still played out in cruel and unfair ways. Good people continued to get hurt, while bad people got away with it.
Voldemort was gone, but the world remained.
And Malcolm Gold was doing his level best to make sure he held significant power within that new world. He wanted for wizards to be out in the open and it seemed as if he'd stop at nothing to obtain his goal. And despite everything, it was his son who would pay for most of Malcolm's crimes.
The buzzing grew louder as students, especially those Gryffindor's and Slytherin's who were friends with the Prince brothers, began ranting about the Supremacist's, the Lost Boys, and their horrid ideology. However, the name she heard most often in association with these evildoers wasn't that of Malcolm Gold, but instead his son.
Snatching her bookbag off the table, Belle hurried after Rumpelstiltskin hoping that she would be the first to find him today.
A/N: I know, I know. I left a bit of a cliffhanger and I apologize for that. But hopefully the follow up will be posted soon! Thank you guys so much for hanging in here with me during this super hectic time. Chapters aren't published as quickly as I would like, but I love this universe far too much to stop now. I am working on a few prompts that I've already received, but I'm always down for a few more. So, if you'd like to see something within this verse, please let me know in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
Also fun fact! I didn't really think about the fact that the Prince brothers in this story have the same surname as Snape's mother from Harry Potter. I just thought I was being clever by having Prince Eric and Prince Phillip with a last name that describes them. But now that this discovery has been pointed out to me, it means even more! So, you can assume relation there if you'd like.