AN: Enjoy!

Chapter 27 - Jinx

It was the beginning of February. Compared to how Harry remembered his second year of school from his past life, in this world, nothing worth mentioning happened anymore. Classes were still as boring for him as ever, six Aurors were patrolling the school in shifts of two at all times, there was no Basilisk to petrify students left and right, and nobody died anymore either.

However, he had gotten used to this kind of peaceful and uneventful life and he had even started to enjoy it. In the mornings he would go jogging around the castle and the Black Lake together with Fleur, after classes he would usually be in Bellatrix's company and, after doing his homework, in the evening, he would usually spend his time together with Fleur in the Ravenclaw common room, often also helping his fellow classmates with their homework when they came to him to ask for his help. Aside from that, he trained together with the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and he would also tutor Fleur in regards to duelling twice a week. Overall, this was the mundane, ordinary life that he had always craved. Currently, Harry was happier and more content with his life than he had ever been.

"Smaller wand movements! Focus, make them smaller!" he told Fleur for what had to be the sixth time while she was practising casting duelling combinations.

The combo she was casting was a Shield-Breaking Curse + a Knockback Jinx + Stunning Charm. The Shield-Breaking Curse was a spell invented by ancestors of the Black family. Bellatrix had used it as well to destroy a Death Eater's Shielding Charm when they tried to assassinate her and Harry two months ago. That being said, Harry had learned that spell too in his past life from the library at the Grimmauld Place, after the Weasley clan's death in 2005. Now, he was teaching some of his spells to Fleur too.

"It's difficult. I can't make them any smaller than this because if I pay attention to the wand movement it will take me more time to cast than before, even if the motion is smaller!" Fleur complained, having reached the end of her patience. She stopped casting spells at the dummy in the distance and turned to look at Harry with a sullen face.

"The smaller the wand movement, the faster the casting speed. It will take you a few weeks of constant practise to see significant results but you need to work on this, Fleur. Casting spells fast is just as important as knowing how to chain your spells."

"I know, but-" she began to say.

"No buts!" he cut her off seriously.

Their training sessions were not always roses and sunshine. There were times when Fleur would get frustrated with herself for not showing much progress and there were times when they would have small arguments too, especially if they were exhausted.

"Let's take a break. Here, have some water," he said and handed her a bottle of water.

Fleur took a seat on a wooden bench provided by the Room of Requirement and drank greedily from the bottle of water. Her back was soaked with sweat and her blonde hair was wet and stuck to her forehead and her neck too. She had been casting spells persistently for almost an hour, she was at her limits. She let out a satisfied sigh once she was done drinking and, after putting down the now empty bottle, she grabbed the bottom of her blue jumper and pulled it over her head, leaving herself in only a white t-shirt.

"Um, you shouldn't take off your jumper, cover yourself," Harry said hesitantly and looked away from her.

"I can't, I'm too 'ot. Besides, it's not that cold in 'ere, is it? I won't catch a cold."

"It's not about the cold..."

While he was thinking about how to break it to her, his eyes were involuntarily drawn to her chest. When she saw where he was looking, she also took notice of her current state. Her white t-shirt was so wet that it stuck to her skin, perfectly displaying her shapes and leaving little to imagination. She quickly covered herself with her hands and mumbled under her breath:

"Pervert!"

Harry clicked his tongue.

"You're the one who took off her clothes in front of me. I'm but a simple man, how can I not look?"

She snorted at him and grabbed her sweater to pull it back on herself.

"You're a few years too early to be looking at women's chests. Leetle boy~" she said teasingly.

He chuckled helplessly. After telling her how his first real interaction with the Fleur of his past life had been, she never missed a chance to poke fun at him.

"Alright, enough playing around. We're not done yet," he said.

She still continued to grin at him but no longer tried to tease him.

"From our next session onward, you should focus on relearning the wand movements of your spells. I know it's not easy-" he began to say when she looked like she was about to start protesting again, "-and I know it's boring too. But you won't improve if you don't put in the effort. Remember, you're the one who came to me and asked for help. I didn't drag you here against your will."

She became silent at that. He continued:

"In fact, wand movements shouldn't even be necessary to cast a spell. Do children make any wand movements when they cast accidental magic? They don't even have wands at that time. Wand movements are nothing more, nothing less, than a mental crutch to help the young and the inexperienced in learning how to control their magic and cast spells. As you become more experienced, your goal is to completely remove the need for wand movements. Magic is all about intent. The more experienced a wizard or a witch is, the more you will see a tendency at them to reduce or give up completely on wand movements. While it is not absolute, the faster caster usually holds a significant advantage in a duel. So no more complaining, ok?"

⁂

Later that evening, Harry was in the Ravenclaw common room. It was well past the curfew, he was the only one still there, everyone else had gone back to their dorms. Spread out on the blue carpet in the middle of the circular room was a large piece of parchment with a map of the castle. It was not a magical map like the Marauders' Map from his past life, it was just a regular, drawn map of the castle.

'It's been half a year but we still can't find it. Where the hell is it?' he thought while looking at the large map of the castle. On the spread piece of parchment, each level of the castle was drawn neatly without even one room missing and various notes were scribbled on the edges of the maps, explaining various things of importance.

From the start of the second year until now, Harry had helped Bellatrix scour the entire castle with Charms for detecting Dark Magic and cursed objects. They had gone through all the floors and all the rooms of the castle and they had even gone to the Chamber of Secrets. While they did find around a dozen cursed objects and other questionable items, nothing close to something like a Horcrux came up. Nothing dark enough to serve as the source of power for such a dangerous jinx, a spell that had lasted for decades.

'It's February already... Damn it, there isn't much left of the school year.'

The closer the end of the school year got, the more anxious he was becoming. He was afraid for Bellatrix's safety. While it was not a rule that all DADA professors were killed or maimed, Harry did not feel comfortable with leaving her fate up to chance. In his past life, the jinx had been powered by the Diadem Horcrux but in this world, there were no Horcruxes at Hogwarts. Harry did not know what to do, he was at the end of his wits.

While he was looking at the map all over again and trying to see if by a miracle he and Bellatrix had omitted any rooms, he heard a door being opened. Turning his head around, he saw that it was the door leading to the girls' dorm.

"I knew you'd still be awake at this 'our," an older girl said. "You should go to sleep, 'Arry, it's almost midnight."

At her words, it was as if only then his tiredness caught up to him and he let out a yawn. Fleur came closer to him and knelt down on the carpet, behind him. Dressed in a light blue nightdress and with her silvery hair still not completely dry from the shower, the French Veela exuded a charm difficult to put in words. A shiver went down his spine when the fresh smell of her shampoo entered his nose and he felt her hands starting to gently massage his shoulders.

"This is so good," he sighed in comfort.

After a while, he felt Fleur's hands leave his shoulders and wrapping around his chest and waist instead, from behind. Beyond his control, his cheeks became flushed from her embrace and his stomach jolted. He was still very much clear-headed but his young and traitorous body often seemed to not be on the same wavelength as his brain when it came to Fleur's physical displays of affection.

"Thank you for putting up with me, 'Arry," she said softly while hugging him from behind.

"What's gotten into you?" he mumbled.

"I just want to apologise for earlier today. I know I can be difficult or too impulsive at times. I-... I'm just 'appy you're my friend. 'Appy and grateful. And I think I ought to tell you more often 'ow much it means for me that you're my friend."

As she said those words, her arms tightened a tad more around him and she laid her chin on his shoulder, her face next to his.

"Oh my, 'Arry, you're blushing so 'ard your face is letting out steam!" she suddenly said after that and burst into giggles.

"I can't help it! Ok? This damned young body and this bloody puberty, Merlin, how I hate it!" he shot back snarkily and tried to get away.

She giggled some more at his agitation but she did not let him out of her arms. On the contrary, she pressed her chest against his back and rubbed her cheek against his.

"Don't worry, I understand. If anything, I'd feel insulted if you didn't show any reaction at being so intimately embraced by someone as gorgeous as me," she said smugly.

"Muggles have a saying: pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

"Oh, shut it!"

Although they kept bickering, they stood up from the floor after a while and sat on the couch in front of the fireplace together. Eventually, they stopped exchanging barbs and sank into a comfortable silence. Sharing a blanket and sitting shoulder to shoulder, they continued to talk for a long time. Harry was not sure when it had started but, as time passed and Fleur became more comfortable with him, she started to close the distance between them. It was not often at first: a short hug today, an innocent kiss on the cheek next week and so on so forth. After several months, it got to the point where they did not find it weird to spend their evenings cuddled together on a sofa and chatting.

"I could help you search for the thing powering the jinx. Three people would be better than two," she offered.

"Bella doesn't know anything about you yet. She doesn't know how close we really are. She probably thinks I only like you because you're good-looking or something."

"And you don't?~" she asked with a grin dripping with all kinds of insinuations. "But I'm surprised you haven't told her anything about the real me."

"Why would you be surprised? It's your secret to tell. It's not something you can lightly talk about with others. Not many people would appreciate and understand what you are doing. Come to think of it, you've never told me either what happened to you in the future. You never told me how did you end up back in time."

The teasing smile on her face slowly faded away.

"I-... I don't want to talk about it."

That's what she always said whenever he asked her about what happened to her in the future. She always refused to talk about it. From that, it was easy to understand that something tragic must have happened to her so he did not insist on getting to the bottom of it but, once in a while, he would still give in to his curiosity and ask her again.

Changing the subject, Fleur showed Harry the newest edition of the Daily Prophet that she had just summoned from one of the tables in the common room.

Undersecretary Umbridge suggests a new anti-Werewolves legislation

That was the title written in big, bold letters on the first page of the newspaper and below it, the toad-like face of the old witch was smiling brightly.

"This is my new target," she said.

"Umbridge, huh? So she's a cunt in this world too."

"Your nasty language aside, yes, she is a terrible person. In my past, she pushed this 'reform' one year earlier. By the time Gaunt revealed 'imself to the world, werewolves and other so-called 'alf-breeds 'ad already become third-class citizens, unable to find work anywhere because of the discriminatory laws. Unable to fit in the society, they turned to crime to survive. That paved the way for Gaunt to easily recruit them to 'is cause by promising them equal rights to everyone else. When 'e finally became the Minister of Magic, 'e 'ad an entire army of werewolves at 'is beck and call. And 'e used them to lay waste on Hogwarts. Too many students were killed by werewolves in that battle..." she trailed off, staring vacantly in the fire as she remembered the terrible battle.

"Hey, it's alright. You're going to prevent that. That's what you came back for, isn't it?" he said in encouragement. "And I'll help you along the way, as I promised. I won't let you carry this burden alone anymore."

"Aww, so you do care about me~"

"You literally forced me to become friends with you and then stuck to me like a leech. What can I say, you've grown on me."

She started laughing at the way he described her and he joined her in laughter too. Her hand reached for his under the blanket and squeezed it a little. She looked into his green eyes for a long time and her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. However, she did not say anything in the end. Closing her eyes, she leaned with her head against his shoulder. It was not all that comfortable for her due to how much shorter he was than her but she felt the need to be closer to him at that moment.

⁂

"I haven't seen you around in a long time. How is life at Hogwarts treating you, Miss Black?" an elegant middle-aged man asked with a smile.

"Quite well, thank you," Bellatrix replied.

As the doors of the elevator shut themselves closed, the middle-aged man started to fidget a little. It was not to the point where it was obvious but it did not escape her notice.

"Are you alright, Mr Selwyn?"

Mr Selwyn's countenance coloured slightly.

"But of course! And I told you, you can call me Edward. Or Eddie. No need for any of that mister stuff. We've been friends for years, haven't we?" he said in a slightly whiny voice.

"We're coworkers. There has to be a measure of respect between us," Bellatrix said, her tone passive.

The middle-aged man's excited demeanour visibly deflated at her words. He became silent for the rest of the elevator ride. Soon, the elevator stopped its descent and the doors opened. They reached the Department of Mysteries.

They walked for a short while together before Mr Selwyn stopped.

"This is where we part. It was nice seeing you again. Can't wait until you return to active duty. I hope you have a pleasant day!" he said and waved his hand at her before leaving towards the Time Room.

"Likewise. Have a nice day!" Bellatrix returned politely and continued on her way.

Hearing the clicking sounds made by her high heels on the marble floor, Mr Selwyn could not help but turn around and look at her, following her slender legs and her swaying hips with a fervent look in his eyes. But once she turned to another corridor and disappeared from his sight, he let out a groan of frustration.

"Mate, you've got it so bad," someone laughed next to him.

"Can you blame me? Just look at her! She's gotta be the hottest woman working at the Ministry right now..." Mr Selwyn said wistfully.

"...You've got a wife. You're a married man." the other man pointed out.

"So? I'd leave my wife in a heartbeat if only she gave me one night," Selwyn said.

"And probably that's exactly why Miss Black never gives you the time of the day," the other man laughed.

Bellatrix herself had no clue as to what were the two men talking about and even if she knew, she would not care. She knew she was a desirable woman as more than a few men had tried to court her over the years, some of them even so young that she could be their mother. However, she had never fooled around with anyone. She had kept a polite but cold distance from her coworkers. The inability to have children had made her shut her heart from the world. After nearly two decades of working at the Department of Mysteries, all of her coworkers knew that they could only look at her from afar because Miss Black did not have time for friends or romantic relationships. She did not have eyes for anyone. Studying the mysteries of Magic was the only thing that mattered for her.

⁂

Seeing as it was Sunday and there were no classes, Bellatrix flooed to the Ministry of Magic. Harry's anxiety regarding the fact that they had not found a solution to the Jinx over the post of DADA Professor had given her a feeling of urgency too. Therefore, after exhausting all her means and ideas, she decided to make use of the resources of the Department of Mysteries. As a Senior Unspeakable that had been working there for 20 years, she had the highest level of clearance regarding the secrets of the Department of Mysteries. No information was classified for her.

The collection of obscure and unique books and grimoires owned by the Department of Mysteries was extraordinary, to say the least. Ancient tomes, grimoires containing forbidden or long-forgotten magic, and even books of history and arts... if taken to the outside world, some of the books in the Unspeakables' collection could fetch millions.

Bellatrix went to the section of the library dealing with magic related to the soul. Despite the enormous size of the library, two decades was a very long time; she had already read most of the titles. Although she did not memorize the entire content, she did have a general idea of where to look for in order to find the information she needed.

A few hours later, she stumbled upon a particular title.

Ghosts and Poltergeists

Casting a charm on it, it was revealed to her that the book was at least 800 years old. The book had three sections: one that elaborated on how to become a ghost upon death, another section describing various attempts made by ancient wizards at creating Poltergeists and the final section which listed ways in which poltergeists could be harmed, or made use of. Half an hour later, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Something like this was possible?!" she could not help saying out loud in disbelief. "By Morgana...that's...beyond evil!"