Chapter 16: Veritis-Hypnoserium Surprise
When Severus and Lily finished their lunch they went back outside and explored more of the village. They went inside Derivsh and Bangs Wizards Supply Shop to look at some new quills, parchment sheets and special ink; they made their way to the Hog's Head, a seedy bar on the edge of town, but turned back at Lily's insistance, and then they ran quickly passed Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. They did this for three reasons.
First, Madam Puddifoot's was a sickening place for couples that were too lovestruck to notice what they were even having. Somebody could have poisoned half of their drinks and they would not have cared. That was not a good place for some people who took their relationships, and dignaty, seriously.
Second, the place was constantly decorated with frilly pink doilies, tablecloths, curtains and trimmings. It was exceptionally vomit-inducing during Valentine's, when little bronze cupids came flying over the tables, sprinkling confetti hearts heavily on the occupants as they flew around.
Third, and most importantly, Bellatrix was there snogging her betrothed so fiercly they looked like they were going to fall on the floor. Even if she was preoccupied the other two Prefects did not want to be noticed by her and have their day ruined.
"Does she ever let Rudolphus come up for air?" Lily asked in a disgusted voice.
"Only when he manages to pry himself off," Severus replied, shuddering. Then he said thoughtfully, "Although it is pretty strange. If Rudolphus and Bellatrix were that much in love, why didn't they show it in Knockturn Alley? Or earlier this year when we came back to Hogwarts?"
"To answer the first question, maybe they wanted to make sure their parents were not going to spot them going full-out while they were surrounded by other pureblood aristocrats?" Lily reasoned. "As for the second question, that's more on your end rather than mine. I don't know Trixie too well, and I really don't want to."
While they were talking Severus noticed something amiss. When they came close to Zonko's Joke Shop he saw a head of dark-brown hair inside with some other fellows from his year. It was Rudolphus, and he did not seem to have any evidence of being with his girlfriend, save for a violet lipstick mark on his collar.
Lily noticed it too, and was just as puzzled as her date. It did not take long for her to figure out what it was, and it made her blood boil.
"Even if I don't like Lestrange even he doesn't deserve that kind of treatment!" she thought angrily.
"Lily, what's wrong?" Severus asked as his princess was starting to go red in the face and squeezing his hand a little too tight.
Sterring him onto a bench away from any onlookers and eavesdroppers, Lily said, "I think our dear Bella is cheating on our friend Rudolphus."
Eyes widening a bit Severus asked, "You think so too then?"
"Yes," she said with more venom in her voice. "Look at the facts of this. She has been using your room to be with 'Rudo', but she could've used his instead, right?"
"Right," Severus said, a blush of resentment instead of embarrassment forming across his cheeks. "Usually- and I've heard this from everybody else- she doesn't care if anybody watches. So why would she make sure my room was empty, and then throw things at me when I walked in on them?"
"Then, whenever her and Rudolphus are together, they are sitting a bit apart from each other and talking like their attending a business meeting," she continued, remembering all the times she had seen them together in the corridors and at meal times.
"And to top it all off," Severus picked up, "Rudolphus looked normal. Whenever Bellatrix does kiss him, he looks like a cat that just had a fat fish for dinner. So he would have had an even bigger grin on his smug face and would have bragged about it if he actually was with her all those times."
Silence came upon them as they tried to come up with a solution to all of this. All at once the answer came to them and they said in unison, "Polyjuice Potion!"
"That's why you kept getting kicked out and the room was always empty," Lily explained to Severus. "She was afraid that if the effects wore off you would know who it really was and tell Lestrange."
"But why though?" he asked. "If she wanted it that badly, why didn't she just ask her real boyfriend? He would have done it in a heartbeat."
"I don't know, but we have to get proof about it before we break it to Rudolphus," Lily replied. "It may be that he planned it himself. How else would the drinker get a hair or something for the potion to work."
"Could be," the black-haired boy said, impressed by his company's deduction work. "But how are we going to get some evidence? Bellatrix doesn't really like me, either, and I don't really fancy a chat with her husband-to-be. He might curse me to NEWT year if I try to say that his beloved is accused of infidelity."
Pondering this a moment an idea came to Lily's mind. At first she would not hear of it, but it became much more tempting the longer she thought about it. She was the type that liked a challenge anyway, and this would prove to be a great one indeed.
Turning her eyes to meet Severus's again she said with a wicked smile on her face, "Remember how I said I never wanted to really know about Bellatrix? Well, I think I actually want to now."
"What are you planning?" he asked, smirking at how cunning she was becoming when she told him her plan. "Like a true Slytherin."
"Bella?" Lily said to her "friend" in Defence Against the Dark Arts. "Mind if I have a word with you for a bit?"
As the rest of the class began to leave out the door, the dark-haired girl nodded and made her way over to where Lily was still sitting at her desk. She put down her bag and sat on the edge of the desk, crossing her legs to give any onlookers a peek under her skirt.
"What'd you want to see me for, Lily?" she asked in a honey-sweet voice, which was totally artificial.
Making her voice normal and naturally sweet Lily said, "Well, I've noticed that we haven't had much girl-time to just sit around and talk. I thought that, since we're starting to be such good friends, we need to get to know each other better without a bunch of people and fan clubs trying to smother us."
Smiling wider Bellatrix said, "Exactly what I have been thinking too, Lily! I have been meaning to invite you into our common room for quite sometime now, but, you know, schedules and such."
"Then why don't we have a small luncheon in the Slytherin common room? Say tomorrow while everybody else is away in the Great Hall?" Lily asked, hoping she would take the bait.
She bit, "Capital idea! I'll have the house-elves get something ready and I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall to show the way to the Slytherin dungeons."
"Can't wait," Lily feigned with a smile as she gathered up her things and left.
When the other girl went out Bellatrix chuckled in her throat and thought, "This is better than I had hoped! Once I get that little priss to spill her guts to Rita Skeeter over our "luncheon" she'll be ruined! No boy in this entire school will want her ever again!
Little did she know that Lily and Severus were in the classroom the whole time. Lily had used the Disillusionment Charm to hide themselves, and Severus used Legilimancy on the dark girl in front of them, who's eyes held a mad look in them. They were able to hear her thoughts due to the connection the other two had with each other's minds, and Lily smirked at her shallow nemesis.
They made their way out of the classroom, still unnoticed by a praise-drunk Bellatrix and found an empty classroom in the Charms corridor. Lily shut the door and removed the spell from them both before collapsing on a chair and holding her head in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking.
"Lily?" her partner asked, thinking that she was crying, and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
When she looked up at him she had the same wicked grin on her face like she did in the village a few days prior, and it both excited and startled him.
Placing a hand on his Lily responded, "I'm okay, Sev. I just can't believe she's shallow as well as stupid."
"Stupid?" he repeated, a little confused.
"Yes," she said with a small laugh. "She honestly thinks I'm just going to waltz in there without the slightly suspecion of being drugged in front of the school paper's editor. What she doesn't know is that Rita owes me a favor and hates Bellatrix as much as everybody else."
"You told her the plan?" he asked, becoming more impressed.
"Of course," she replied. "You see, Bellatrix had informed her that she would be inviting me to the Slytherin common room at the exact same time as our supposed luncheon and to be there in secret with her Quick Quotes Quill and parchment ready. She had it planned so that the food that I would have to eat was drugged with Veritiserium and Hypnoserium. I would 'spill my guts' and it would all over the Press's next edition.
"So, since Rita can't stand Bellatrix and she owes me for helping her out of a tight spot a couple of year's back, she told me everything. I told her that I had my own plan to get Black to tell the truth about something, and for her to go along as planned, but to make sure my food wouldn't be the one drugged with the potions."
As she kept narrating what the rest of the plan was Severus became convinced that Lily, really and truely, would be more than welcomed into the ranks of the Slytherins and the Death Eaters.
When eleven o'clock came Lily met Bellatrix in the Entrance Hall as promised, and the dark witch lead the fair one to the dungeons below. Upon reaching a blank, stone wall, Lily's hostess cried the password, "Serpent tongue", and the wall parted into a gateway that revealed the green, silver, and dark walls of the Slytherin common room.
Since the common room was beneath the lake there was little light in the place, save for the fireplace and the candle-filled chandeliers, which were emitting emerald green flames. In the center of the room was a circle of silver velvet chairs and a couch of green leather, and in the center of the circle was a table already full of food and glasses of pumpkin juice and water.
"Have a seat, Lily," Bellatrix guestured with a smile as she made her way to a chair closest to the table and sat down.
Lily followed suit and sat down in a chair opposite of Bellatrix, who, for some reason, had her legs crossed as she did in the classroom just yesterday.
"Must be the typical tart pose," Lily thought as she kept eye hers strictly on the wanna-be succubus, sitting in her chair as though it was a throne. "Or she probably wants to show how a 'real' woman is supposed to sit."
Reaching out to a floating glass of pumpkin juice, which she had levitated to herself and her guest, Bellatrix lifted it in a toast with Lily doing the same.
"To friendship," she said before tipping the glass to her lips and drinking the contents, watching as her red rival did the same.
"Very delicious," Lily commented, as she let go and the glass went back to the table, passing by a plate of finger sandwiches.
Taking a sandwich from the tray Bellatrix said, "Yes it is. So, what would you like to talk about first Lily? Classes? The Yule Ball? Boys?"
Looking her advisary directly in the eyes Lily stated, "Why don't you start first Bella? How are things with Rudolphus?"
A glazed expression crossed over her face as Bellatrix answered in slow voice, "Everything is fine, but I wish Rudo would act more like a man and less like the scared boy he really is."
Still keeping eye contact Lily continued, "What do mean by that? From what I heard you two have been getting along quite well as a couple, if you know what I mean."
"We did at the beginning of the year when we decided to take our relationship further, but it was not as satisfying as it might have been. So I have been seeing someone else to satisfy that part of me, and making him drink Polyjuice Potion to make him look like Rudo."
"How did you get the potion and a hair from Rudo to make it work?"
"I know somebody from the apothecary in Knockturn Alley. He owed my father a favor and has agreed to supply me with the potion. The hair was easy to get because I gently took some the last time I wanted to do it with the real Rudo."
"Do you really love Rudo?"
"Yes, but I am not sure if he really loves me. I think he sees me more as a way to become richer and to get laid whenever he chooses. I do not believe anybody really cares for me like how the other boys do for another girl in this school."
"Who is this girl, and do you hate her?"
"You. But I do not hate you like everybody assumes I do. I have the highest respect for you."
"Why do you respect me?"
"Because, even if you are a Muggleborn, you act more like a pureblood witch. You are strong, smart, witty, cunning and loyal. I have grown to respect you more as I keep discovering that you have a Darker side."
"Why do you respect my Darker side?"
"Because it brings out the best part of you that has been kept hidden all this time. I did not know this until last summer, but someone else already had."
"Who would that be?"
"I am forbidden to speak of him, but he sees your potential for greatness. And so do I," she added with a smile and Lily was horrified to discover the spell had worn off.
Before she could make a move to get her wand Bellatrix laughed, "Calm down Lily, I'm not going to curse you. I meant what I said, even when I came out of the veriti-hypnoserium trance after I told you about my sex life with Rudo."
"But...How? I was sure..."
"That I would be under the effects lond enough for you to command me not to remember any of it?" Bellatrix finished with a smile. "Oh Lily. Precious, naive, sweet Lily. You still have so much to learn. Fortunatly, I have made it my personal mission to teach you the fine art of Trickery and Darkness."
Eyes narrowed and temper flaring Lily hissed, "Unless it is a required course, I think I'll skip it, Professor, and just so there is no way for you to hold this over my head, I'll have Rita cancel her late edition."
"Then you may want to hurry," Black said, pointing to a retreating figure about to cross the common room and hurry out the door.
"Skeeter!" Lily cried and the blonde girl stopped, turning to the owner of the voice. "Since you still owe me that favor, give me your Quill and notes. There's no more need for any of this. I've stooped to Bella's level long enough. Now hand them over."
"Oh, geez, well sorry, Evans. I can't," Skeeter said backing her way to the door, pretending to look conflicted. "This is too good a story to just hand over. I mean, think of it, two of the school's biggest rivals using potions and blackmail to one up each other! It'll make me a front page writer in no time."
Not thinking about what she was doing Lily whipped her wand out and shouted at the power-grubbing witch that was making a final run to the door, "Imperio!"
Instantly the effects took over and Lily hissed at the now intranced figure, "Come back here."
The victim followed the order with hardly any resistance and was soon in front of her new mistress.
"Give me your Quill and parchment," Lily continued in a steady voice.
Skeeter complied and gave Lily the things she asked for. Once they were taken from her she returned to her statue-like position, like a soldier awaiting further orders.
The last order Lily gave to her, once Bellatrix magicked the parchment and Quill blank of whatever was copied down, was, "Rita. You were never here. You never heard any of this. If anybody asks where you have been say that you were hit by a stray Memory Charm and that you were found wondering around the castle by Bellatrix and myself. Understood?"
"Yes," she said in the same trance-like state as Bellatrix was a few moments ago.
Once that business was taken care of both of the Prefects escorted Skeeter out of the common room and into the Entrance Hall, where many students were coming in for a late lunch. There Lily lifted the curse and Bellatrix used a real Memory Charm to erase their previous encounter.
"You better get to lunch, Rita," Bellatrix said with a smile. "You must be very hungry, wondering the castle like that."
"Y-Yes, I am feeling a bit peckish," Skeeter said before prancing away, greedy for the food the house-elves had prepared.
It was only then that Lily fully realized what she had done and went back down the cold staircase. She placed her hands at her temples, as though to squeeze out what had occured, and began to cry.
"What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?" she repeated over and over again.
Suddenly an arm had wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her into a gentle, one-armed hug. Then a voice whispered, "Looks like I got my work cut out for me."
Standing up and away from the steps Lily backed away from Bellatrix and into a column and tried to defend herself, "I-I didn't mean to do that! Something just snapped and-"
"It's alright, Lily," the other witch said soothingly. "You simply did what you had to. No need to be ashamed of what happened to that little insect."
"How can I not be ashamed!" Lily cried. "Even if Skeeter did turn out to be a treacherous piece of gossip trash she still didn't deserve that! I used an Unforgivable just get that piece of information away from her!"
"And you did it beautifully!" Bellatrix praised and put her hands on Lily's shoulders. "Hardly anybody could do what you just did at only fifteen. Besides, wasn't it worth it, having that much power over someone? Wasn't it excelerating knowing that you could do that, feeling how powerful you truely are?"
Lily tried to say something but could not. Her thoughts were too jumbled up with what happened. She excused herself from a still grinning Bellatrix and ran to Gryffindor Tower. When she got there she went straight to her mercifully empty room, placed her head in her pillow and cried knowing, deep down, that Bellatrix was right.
She did enjoy it.