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Merlin, Sirius was right about Bellatrix.
"You've finally made your true intentions known, Harry Potter," Said a teenage Bellatrix with one hand on her hip as the other lazily held her wand… which was pointed in his general direction… Merlin, was she quick. "He warned those truly loyal to him that others would come. They would claim friendship, a shared cause or other reasons that I care not to think about, but I wouldn't have suspected you."
Harry swallowed as he looked about the classroom they were in, feigning worry as he turned his attention back to her. "We sat together from the first few days and you think I'm against his cause? That couldn't be further from the truth, Bellatrix. I'm on your side, I just think that I should be the leader instead of him."
Her eyes flashed and a burst of laughter came forth from her. Insanity was his initial reaction when she did so, as her cackling laughter instantly reminded him of the older Bellatrix that had killed her cousin, his godfather, in cold blood. It only took a few seconds for him to remember that she wasn't that woman yet and if he had his way, that woman would never come into being.
Bellatrix Black, the girl he'd gotten to know, was as mad as she was intelligent. That deadly combination was wholly different from the woman he'd known in his time, a woman that had killed dozens of his friends before he ultimately fell to Voldemort. Unfortunately for her and her master, he had been given a second chance back in time.
He could never share that information with her, but he could use it very carefully to manoeuvre himself out of these types of situations. There had to be a reason that ruddy, mouldy, patchy hat thought he'd be a good fit in Slytherin and it was now that he had to anti up.
"You think I'm as stupid as my traitor of a sister?" Bellatrix's smile slipped off her face in an instant and was replaced with as cold a look as she ever gave. "This'll go much better for you, Harry, if you don't fight me."
Thinking on his feet, he raised one of his hands while the other stayed by his side; it had to if things came to blows as they looked like they were. "Before we do this, don't you want to hear what I say or is he your master to the point that you can't even make your own decisions?" Harry shook his head when he saw her upper lip tremble. "House Black didn't answer to anybody, I was raised to think that, but I guess it's not the case anymore. I'll defend myself and share my words with Narcissa — she always hears me out."
Bellatrix's breathing wasn't erratic or fast-paced as he suspected it would have been. She didn't rise up to challenge his words, she didn't curse him, she cocked her head with an unpleasant, vicious look on her face that told him exactly what she'd do if her attitude slipped downward even one inch.
"House Black answers to nobody save for itself, and you'll do very well to remember that. Now speak, make your incessant pleas for mercy because those are what makes this type of work so irresistible to me," Bellatrix's dark eyes bore into his at the same time her wand hand twitched, the end of it getting closer to his body.
"The man you follow isn't a Pureblood, he's a Half-Blood and I can show you proof of my claim," Harry said quickly, motioning with a singular finger in the direction of his satchel. "It's all inside, I'll even open it for you so you don't think it's a trap. He doesn't understand you, he doesn't know what you need, but me? I'm a Potter and I ca—"
Bellatrix fired a spell at him. It was purple, it was fast, and it hit him…
Well, it would have if not for the protective charms he'd littered this entire room with in addition to the wards he'd set up. That was all thanks to her 'traitor' of a sister too.
Thanks, Andi.
"That scheme doesn't belong to you," Bellatrix said, her visage now openly hostile as she moved closer to him with her wand arm raised. "Andromeda, she had no right to teach you it and when we're finished here, I'll remove the memory from your mind as is necessary for the security of my House. If only you weren't a one-trick wonder, Potter — tell your traitorous grandmother she'll see the rest of her family soon."
Again Bellatrix fired a spell and this time, one that the ward shouldn't work against. In fairness to her, it didn't, and this time it wasn't thanks to one of her siblings. Harry had planned this meeting out months in advance and as such, readied himself for any volatile actions she might take. Not only that, but with her degree of cunning that shocked him initially, he had planned around mind-magic… so long as they stayed in this room.
"You planned all of this, didn't you?" Bellatrix asked, her wand still levelled with murderous intent in her eyes at his chest but her voice strangely… docile. "All of this talent and expertise, yet you use it against him rather than for him."
Ah, here it is, Harry thought as his heart pounded in his chest, she's going to try and recruit me.
"I think the same thing regarding you," Harry said politely, dipping his head whilst maintaining eye contact. "You're a wonderful witch of the purest blood, but you follow a man who doesn't deserve somebody of your quality. I've shown my ability just now and if you look in the satchel as I suggested, I can promise you that I'm beyond where you think I am."
Bellatrix summoned it silently and sent it at him. "Pour the contents on the desk nearest to you. Do it slowly, without moving your feet and with your wand aimed at the ground as it currently is," she said, her voice authoritative and more formal than vicious; like that, a flip within her had switched and now his goal was to keep her political side engaged so that her murderous side stayed tucked away.
"Alright. I'll do it slowly, you'll see my hands the entire time," Harry promised as he did exactly as she ordered. With an ease that he was sure to make a show of, he summoned the satchel to him and slowly, theatrically, poured the contents onto a desk while being sure to give Bellatrix a side view.
Book after book fell out, as did one very critical item of Voldemort's — the diadem. Harry had only picked up that one particular item thus far thanks to his cover and the lack of any outside assistance, but Bellatrix was proficient enough to understand the magic that radiated from it. There wasn't any way a witch as gifted as her could be blind to it.
"Two books, a piece of parchment and a diadem? That's all you brought me as your so-called proof of his lineage?" Bellatrix asked, an eyebrow raised and a smile on her face as she shook her head. "Harry, darling, with how planned out this whole event of yours was, I must say I'm pretty disappointed in you. To think I let it continue in the hopes of something truly spectacular… how unfortunately mundane."
He slowly stepped away from the desk and his belongings. "You won't take a look at them? I can assure you, that the text within is sufficient enough proof. If not that, the item I brought with me should show you the quality and type of man he is," Harry blinked when Bellatrix took a few steps towards him, curious as to why her wand was slowly lowering towards the ground.
It didn't make sense, she didn't make sense.
"You're at a loss for words now, isn't that right?" Bellatrix cooed, her long black nails slowly raking down his chest as she came to a stop directly in front of him. "For somebody that spoke my praise only minutes earlier, especially regarding my stock, you're very quick to discount me."
"I… what do you mean?" Harry asked, rooted to the spot as he examined this time's version of Bellatrix.
The innate sense of crazy that Sirius had told him resided in her wasn't anywhere on her face or body language as it'd been earlier in their conversation. She wasn't insanely aggressive, using a posture that suggested instability or anything of the sort. If anything, her cocked hip and belittling expression portrayed a sense of calm with confidence right behind it.
Bellatrix pouted and ran one of her fingers across his bottom lip ever so softly, the touch light enough to cause a feeling of ticklishness. "From the moment you saw me, I knew your image of my family or person was tainted. You looked at me as if you disliked me and your mind was made up about who I was — the rumours around my family likely got to you the moment you stepped into Diagon Alley," Bellatrix's beautiful looks continued as her pout was replaced with a mixture of seriousness and something more enticing. "I spoke with you this entire year and most of the last so that you'd come to see me for who I was, but you didn't. When I saw that you refused to change your mind, I went forth with an air of crazy to give you what you wished to see and it worked. You were nervous around me no matter the scenario and cautious to a fault. It was like our own little game until now, when you thought you read me and wished to finally confront me about our mutual friend."
Harry couldn't help the scowl that came to his face when she called Voldemort his friend and so with his ironclad resolve, he did something that he hoped she wouldn't see coming from him. He closed the distance between them, switched their positions and forced a piece of paper into her free hand.
"Check it, Bellatrix," He said. "You're not crazy, I was wrong to think so after all the time we spent together an—"
She made a sound that was halfway between a growl and groan then, as he just did, she surged forward. Harry made for his wand but he wasn't fast enough and unfortunately for him, there were no more counters he had readily available. The time had come and he would have to fi-... Bellatrix's lips were on his?
He stilled when he felt those long-feared arms of hers tighten around his back on a path towards his hair. Bellatrix's lips, still moving against his, made him search his mind even as she pressed on in dominating their very sudden kiss.
His first of this time.
Only when she pulled back and shot a look up at him, one filled with lust and wickedness, did he ask what she was doing.
"No wizard has ever predicted my moves as you did and to do so twice… without breaking when I confronted you or fired at you," Bellatrix shuddered and tightened her hold of him, those dark nails of hers digging into his back hard enough that he knew scratches would be present. "It was utterly delightful, the epitome of pleasure — you'll be mine from now on, I've decided."
Those words are terrifying and at the same time, the best I've heard since I woke up to a birthday from my parents.
"What about him?" Harry asked, blinking as his eyes went back to the desk.
"I've known for quite some time who he is and I was ready to look the other way so long as my family traditions continue on. Status, wealth, purity, so long as I have those three things I don't care who leads," Bellatrix ran her hands down his back, around his flanks until she curled them into fists at the front of his shirt. "You have a mind for strategy and would make an excellent leader, Harry. I'll be your number two—"
Harry smiled, he had stolen away Bellatrix from Voldemort and thanks to tha—
"So long as you continue to surprise me. You can't leave a maiden living a life where she can predict your every move, toy."
He swallowed at her words and before he could do any more thinking, she pulled him back down into a kiss where the both of them battled for domination until one pulled back; that didn't mean victory, nothing in their relationship ever would.