Chapter 6: Halloween
Halloween. Everyone talked about it; even the other houses were all excited although none of them was invited to go. Some tried, however, and grew suspiciously friendly with the Slytherins but they weren't ignorant enough to fall for this.
Edenia couldn't understand all the fussing about it. She herself didn't want to go but she remembered what Draco said. What if somebody forced her instead? Someone she didn't want around at all costs? Thinking about all those things, she fluffed up her hair a bit and checked her reflection in the mirror; randomly tucking on the fabric of her black strapless dress that reached a little above her knees. The girl sighed heavily. She really didn't want to go at all.
"Don't be so arrogant, Serapaid" it said from the back of the room. Edenia spun around and looked at Pansy Parkinson wearing a long and boring black gown that wouldn't have looked better even if it were looser than suited for her body.
"I'm not arrogant." Said Edenia boredly and brushed on a bracelet.
"By the way. I want you to give back my black laced shirt that you found oh so ugly. I know you have it. Who else would?" Said Edenia suddenly and crossed her arms.
Pansy laughed in a mocking way, shaking her head.
"Are you stupid or something? Why would I steal that ugly rag?" Grinned the brunette. Edenia just eyed her from foot to head in a disregarding manner, then walked passed Pansy without further commenting it. Pansy crossed her arms but huffed; decided that she didn't want to let it be as she followed.
"Who are you going with? Who would ask a traitor like you?"
Edenia didn't answer. She merely proceeded walking into the common room, waiting. To her surprise, Crabbe and Goyle both stepped out, wearing black suits but that didn't help their appearance at all. Now that she thought of it, a question came into her mind. What if Slytherins weren't only allowed to go, but obliged? Pansy stood there with her arms still crossed when the boys walked over to her. She glanced at Edenia who seemed quite amused about this and hissed at her in response.
"What?! At least someone asked me. Two in fact. I bet you are going alone." Growled Pansy with narrowed eyes but at that moment Draco walked on out of the boy's dormitory, fixing his tie before he smiled lightly at Edenia and asked.
"Ready?"
"Yup." She responded and both left the common room; too bad that Edenia didn't get to catch a glimpse of Pansy's shocked expression anymore.
Black, they said. It was almost so black that they couldn't see a single thing at Hogsmeade when they walked into the village. They entered this roomy cottage that Edenia has never seen before; a large buffet was set in the middle of the room on a table with enough spots to hold at least fifty people. It was immense. A black crystal chandelier hung down to its center, lighting up the place with a shade of grey and purple, it was difficult to determine what color it was but it dyed the whole cottage in a mysterious atmosphere. Enchanted skulls flew around the whole room, their eyes glowed green. Sometimes they would fly up to a student and ask them about their blood status and if somebody said they were pure, the skull opened its mouth and out came a Halloween-treat. A half-blood got nothing, instead, it flew away to ask someone else. Goyle was foolish enough to state that he was a Muggle just for the fun of it - and the skull's eyes glowed red suddenly; it attacked with its teeth trying to bore into Goyle's throat and he had a lot of trouble getting rid of it.
Edenia didn't like this at all. Soon, the place would be filled with people she didn't want around herself. How could the others enjoy that? Not having enough time to further evaluate the situation, she felt a pair of hands sneak around her waist from behind. Distinctive sharp fingernails caught her eyesight and the throaty chuckle that emerged next to her ear told enough.
"Well hello there..." Purred Bellatrix Lestrange and let go of the girl. Edenia turned her head to the side and nodded over her shoulder, not directly greeting the dark witch. Draco glanced at his aunt and smiled faintly at her when she walked by but his eyes adverted over to the entrance. Blaise was standing there in the doorframe wearing a good looking dark suit and a smug grin was plastered on his face as he walked over to both Draco and Edenia.
"Looking good." He complemented her and his eyes wandered down to her legs and black heels and up again. She forced a smile but turned to Draco.
"So...for how long do we have to stay? I mean they saw us. We could leave again..."
"Warm up, Edenia. We just arrived." Said Blaise with rolled eyes but chuckled when he saw Crabbe trying to get a Halloween-treat out of a skull's mouth that had it stuck tightly between its teeth and bit his finger the other second. Edenia wasn't amused at all, not even when the skull spat the treat against Crabbe's forehead and flew away. A hand stretched out to her the next moment, Bellatrix offered her something to drink and the girl didn't dare declining the offer. She took the glass filled with red liquid and held it in her hands, not planning on drinking any of it, however. The last time she trusted Bellatrix with something to drink was in the Slytherin's common room and had her tea filled with something that caused her to fall asleep.
"Why so stiff, hmm?" Purred the dark haired witch but Edenia shook her head. She wanted to say something but when Pansy asked Draco if he wanted to dance and he refused, she had to back away slightly when Pansy rushed by in anger.
"I'm not. I just don't enjoy...gatherings." Edenia informed and Bellatrix grinned in a dark manner.
"But this is not some usual gathering..." She said and pointed ahead with her chin. The room filled with black hooded figures and white masks. Death Eaters.
But it didn't surprise Edenia. Draco told her that the Death Eaters invited the Slytherins. Slightly confused, she shrugged to let Bellatrix know that she didn't believe it to be special, after all, Death Eaters were all over the school. Bellatrix shook her head and whispered.
"Watch."
And that's when the girl could see clearly. Behind a couple of black robes, a woman was held captive. Someone silenced her with a muting-charm and Edenia was shocked, her eyes widened. It was Ginny!
"What! Let me through, no!" She yelled but the music and other sounds were so loud that only Bellatrix could hear her.
"We had a deal!" Cried Edenia and tried to break free but Bellatrix laughed and held the girl's face in the both of her hands, speaking in a mockingly soothing tone.
"Shhhh. Quiet, baby. Be quiet. You don't want this to get uglier than it already is, do you?"
"We had a deal...we had..." Pleaded Edenia and tears ran down her cheek. Bellatrix brushed them away when the girl kept whimpering.
"Please, don't hurt her..." She begged softly and Bellatrix kissed Edenia's cheek.
"We won't hurt her."
The black robes forced Ginny down on a free spot by the table; everyone turned their attention on the red haired girl. Edenia looked at her sympathetically, wanting to do something but she couldn't. She didn't have her wand, Bellatrix never gave it back. Suddenly, the music stopped. And then silence fell through the cottage.
Her eyes shot up when the door flung open loudly once more and in strode a pale man with facial features of a snake followed by a large, hissing serpent. She couldn't believe it. Her mouth gapped open, gasping erupted, did they not know he was coming here? Was everyone as clueless as Edenia? All the people bowed down, even Draco next to her, and he had to force her head down as well because she didn't seem to bow down on her own. The room grew cold and the chandelier turned its color emerald green, the skulls stopped flying around; instead, they floated like normal objects.
"Good evening…" He said with a cold voice and sat down; everyone else followed his lead when he offered his hand to motion them to sit. "I find it to be very fascinating…to see so many new and hopefully talented and loyal faces" He started with a voice that sounded low, lingering. Like a snake. Nobody ever dared looking into his eyes. Edenia let her gaze wander around the attendants carefully, catching Severus Snape sitting very close to him; Voldemort. Never in her life had she seen him before. She has never been around him, only heard about the things that he did and judged from afar but did she dare doing it now? Her self-esteem sank deeper down than the Slytherin's dungeon was placed, her eyes wandered over to Ginny in great worry. But no. They probably just wanted to scare her, yes, that must be it, Edenia thought. Bellatrix said they won't hurt her.
"I would like to introduce you to a well-known Hogwarts-student. One of who we believe to know about Harry Potter and his whereabouts. Bellatrix Lestrange has already informed me that we have someone special giving a very warm welcome to the power of the Cruciatus curse in order to loosen her mouth a bit. Her name would be…Edenia. Is she here, tonight?" He asked and everyone went silent but all eyes were fixed on Edenia. Her heart sank into her stomach; she wanted to peel her skin off of her body as it started to heat up. Her bottom lip twitched for the split of a second and Bellatrix cleared her throat, only now has Edenia noticed that she sat next to her.
"She is right here with me, my lord." Spoke the dark haired witch as she put the palm of her hand on Edenia's thigh under the table, the amusement in her voice was barely noticeable. Feeling something hard on her thigh, she noticed that it must have been her wand that Bellatrix just handed back to her.
"Well, Edenia." His face turned right at her. She looked down and could almost feel Bellatrix's excitement.
"Come here…" He continued and all that Edenia wanted to do was to get out of this, leaving everyone and everything behind. But she didn't. She got up and walked over to him, standing a little off to the side with her hands folded by her stomach. Her empty gaze wandered across the room again; she noticed Draco's parents sitting next to Bellatrix. Draco, however, didn't look at Edenia at all; in fact, he seemed like he tried everything but to look in her direction.
"Have you mastered the Cruciatus curse yet, my child?" The slithering voice asked next to her again and Edenia shook her head.
"You see, the best of us have learned from me." He said and Bellatrix smiled brightly when his eyes caught hers. His gaze turned towards Edenia but she kept quiet.
"Now. Make that blood-traitor sing. Make her tell us everything we want to know." He stood up and walked over to Ginny, staring into her eyes and she stared back but didn't say a word. He walked to the back of the room, raised his wand and pulled it from the left to the right. The muting-charm must've been eased by now.
"Concentrate on the hatred you feel for her. Feel the curse yourself. Feel the anger; push it through your wand's tip! You have one attempt. You do not want to fail me, do you, Edenia?"
"No…"
"No what?" He asked lowly, his eyes narrowed.
"No…my lord…" She corrected herself and gulped. Bellatrix's eyes filled with dramatic tears of delight and pride. Slowly, Edenia walked over to Ginny. Ginny stared back at her and she flinched slightly but Edenia nodded lowly at her. The red head seemed confused at that slight nod, it also seemed as though nobody else seemed to see it. Edenia gulped again, pointed her wand at the red haired girl, caught her eyes again and once more, she nodded and nobody seemed to notice it as she stood in front of the girl and thus blocked them from seeing her faces. And then it seemed to hit Ginny.
"CRUCIO!" Yelled Edenia. Screaming erupted throughout the room. The red haired girl turned to the left and right, cried hysterically and the Death Eaters jumped up and circled around the scene. Bellatrix laughed and cheered when she saw it, finally! Finally Edenia understood it.
"WHERE IS POTTER?" Yelled Edenia and paced up and down with her wand still pointed at Ginny.
"HE IS IN ANOTHER COUNTRY!" She cried out and people gasped.
"WHAT COUNTRY?" Growled Edenia.
"I DON'T KNOW!" Ginny cried still, screaming and shouting. Edenia's eyes narrowed and she pulled her wand away and Ginny stopped making noise.
"Tell us…tell us where he will be! Tell us and you will live. Cooperate! You know more than you just said!" Yelled Edenia once more and pointed her wand at her former friend. Ginny sniffled and then squeaked. "He will come here after the holidays!" she informed and Edenia seemed content at that moment. She glanced over to Voldemort, wondering if this was enough and he smirked and nodded.
"Good…while I doubt she is a reliable source…it will not hurt to go after Potter and meanwhile…hope, for her sake, that she told the truth. In case she didn't. And Potter is not here by the end of the holidays…I'm sure your next lesson will contain the killing-curse, Edenia." He cooed and patted his snake's head. Bellatrix walked up to Edenia and hugged her from behind. And nobody knew that, even though this Halloween nobody wore a costume, Ginny and Edenia both wore the same mask. The mask of imposition.