A/N: In honour of me surviving my first day at my new job, you can have a new chapter! :)
Thank you to everyone reading and thank you to the new followers!
x
As Regina hurried back to the Castle, her head bowed against the thickly falling snow, she barely took in anything going on around her. It was only when someone dared to touch her arm and attract her attention that she looked up. The expression on her face displayed her immense displeasure at actually being touched, but her features softened slightly when she realised just who had dared to make contact with her.
"Draco… what's the matter?"
He smiled weakly, a rare thing on his face. "I was about to ask you the same thing, Professor."
Regina chuckled, the lightness of the sound not reaching the expression in her eyes. "I think Aunt Regina is fine seeing as it is just the two of us." Suddenly craving the comfort of human contact, she pushed her arm through his, grasping his bicep firmly. The boy allowed the contact without complaint and they slowly made their way up to the Castle. "So, how is everything?"
"What d'you mean?" He demanded fiercely.
She smiled, knowing the cause of his defensive behaviour. "I simply meant that sixth year is not easy. How are you finding the workload?"
"Oh… It's alright. Nothing I can't handle."
"Draco, dear, if you ever need…"
He shook his head sharply. "I'm fine."
Regina scoffed disbelievingly, but didn't press the teenager on the subject. They carried on walking in silence towards the Castle grounds, neither feeling the need to pull away and break the contact between them. As they approached the gates, passing the huge groundskeeper who shot them both a mistrustful glare, the blonde cleared his throat.
"Would you mind… Professor Snape set us an essay on the Cruciatus Curse… would you mind giving me a few pointers?"
He frowned as his mother's younger sister stiffened instantly beside him, her sharp gaze almost piercing into his mind. "What? Why?"
"I… I missed the lesson because I was feeling unwell and as the other Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor I was hoping that…"
Draco's almost fearful expression at the strength of her reaction to the request caused Regina to force herself to calm down. Of course it hadn't been a case of the boy attempting to get under her skin. He didn't know about her long and painful history with that particular curse; no one did, aside from herself, her mother and her sisters. She barely even discussed Cora's form of punishment with them. Regina had no reason to believe they had been subject to the same treatment and she knew Cora would not react well to her older daughters finding out the truth of just how often she employed the curse.
Fixing a smile back in place on her face, Regina nodded. "I'm sorry, Draco… of course I will. Come up to my chambers with me now and we'll make a start, shall we?"
He smiled, most of the confusion and fear retreating at her offer. There was still a hint of curiosity over her behaviour, but Draco was not about to pass up the chance of help on his coursework. He knew his younger aunt well enough to know that he shouldn't mention her strange behaviour.
They separated briefly in the Entrance Hall, after both had been subjected to stringent security checks by Filch who was glaring at them as though they were trying to smuggle contraband into the school, so that Draco could retrieve his books from the Slytherin Common Room. He approached the teacher's corridor a short while later, knocking on the door and waiting to be admitted. Regina smiled at him, looking much more relaxed in her private rooms.
By the time a loud knocking reverberated around the room the pair had made a large dent into the twelve inch long essay required by the boy's Professor. Shooting Draco a smile and suggesting that they take a break and he help himself to a drink, Regina crossed the room and pulled open the heavy wooden door.
"Severus? Whatever is–?"
"Gina." The dark-haired man stepped over the threshold and fixed her with a serious look. "Our attention is required to a possible–" He broke off abruptly, spotting the blonde head bending to look at the range of beverages on offer.
Seeing where his gaze was trained, Regina sighed softly. "I was assisting Draco with an essay." She did not feel the need to specify that it was an essay that he had set her nephew.
Severus nodded stiffly. "Draco, you should return to your Common Room or, if you prefer, the library. Professor Mills and I are needed by Professor McGonagall."
For a moment a small smirk seemed to twist the corners of the boy's lips, but then he nodded seriously and began to gather his things. Placing the almost completed essay neatly inside his textbook and putting that carefully into his bag, Draco nodded at the woman who was looking curiously between him and her friend, evidently trying to work out the latest cause for the very obvious tension between them.
"Thank you, Aunt Regina."
She inclined her head slightly. "Anytime, Draco."
The second he had left, Severus pushed the door closed. He pressed an ear against the wood, evidently checking that they were not going to be overheard. Rolling her eyes, Regina flourished her wand.
"Muffliato." She muttered, chanting the incantation to a charm of her own creation many years previously. "Now we can talk freely without being listened to."
"Minerva requested our presence to deal with a dark artefact." He informed her, beginning to pace. "Apparently a student was given the object to bring into the Castle during the trip to Hogsmeade."
"Who?" Regina asked anxiously, her heart leaping into her mouth. Surely Cora's presence in the village and an incident with a dark artefact couldn't be coincidence.
"Katie Bell, a Gryffindor seventh year."
The witch could not help her relief at hearing a name other than her son's. "What was the object? What happened?"
"I don't know." Severus said, moving back towards the door. "Minerva said she would explain when we got there."
With a nod, Regina followed him out of the room, waving her wand and lifting the enchantment she had placed over them. They didn't speak again until they reached the Transfiguration classroom where Minerva McGonagall was standing in front of her desk, looking seriously at three students who the pair recognised instantly, even with the backs of their heads facing them. The so called 'golden trio'. Regina felt her lip curling even at the thought of Harry Potter. She didn't share the same level as hatred of the boy as her family, but her dislike of his parents was enough to cause her to find his entire existence an irritation.
"Oh, Severus, Regina…" Minerva nodded as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors moved past the three sixth years and looked at her questioningly. She nodded towards the desk where an intricate necklace sat in its box. "This is it. It appears that when Katie touched the necklace she was cursed. They're taking her to St Mungo's for treatment."
Using his wand, Severus levitated the piece of jewellery into the air so that they could examine it without having to touch it. Regina frowned as it rose slowly. The necklace was made up of dark, almost black, metal that was ornately twisted and shaped so that it provided an attractive setting for the opals that were inlaid into it. It was beautiful, but Regina winced as she remembered what it was capable of should it touch bare skin.
She remembered seeing the necklace in Borgin and Burke's many times and vividly remembered the stories that were associated with it. According to Caractucas Burke, an old acquaintance of her mother's, the death toll associated with the necklace was far higher than the nineteen widely known about.
"Well?" Minerva breathed worriedly, looking between the two teachers studying the item carefully. "What d'you think?"
"I think Miss Bell is lucky to be alive." Severus answered for both of them.
Regina nodded, stooping slightly to get a little closer to the object. "She could just as easily have been killed."
"She was cursed, wasn't she?" Harry asked from behind them. "I know Katie… off the Quidditch pitch she wouldn't hurt a fly. If she was delivering that to Professor Dumbledore, she wasn't doing it knowingly."
Neither Regina nor Severus deigned to turn and face him. Minerva shot the three teenagers the quickest of glances, before retuning her attention to the necklace and nodded slowly in agreement. There was very little doubt about the matter in any of their minds.
"Yes, she was cursed." The older woman replied quietly.
There was a short pause. Then Harry spoke again. "It was Malfoy."
At once Regina felt anger rising up inside her. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides and she straightened, pulling herself up to her full height before she rounded on the teenagers with a furious expression on her face. She wouldn't put it past Draco to have some involvement in the situation, but it wouldn't have been his idea. She was sick of people jumping to conclusions about him; she'd heard them far too often. When Draco was with her and his mother, without any of the expectations or distractions that were so often thrown at him, he was still the same sweet boy who had eagerly pulled her out into the grounds at Malfoy Manor to show her the Gnome Home he had built when he was seven.
The brunette wasn't stupid; she knew there was something big going on and that her sister's son was right in the centre of it. Severus had kept her informed of everything he could and she was grateful, even though she knew there were things he was hiding. But neither of them had been aware that this was going to happen and that unsettled them both. Either it had been a last minute idea, or someone else was behind it.
"That is a very serious accusation, Potter." Minerva told him sharply, keeping one eye on the furious woman beside her.
Severus wrapped his hand around Regina's forearm, keeping her grounded. It would be incredibly counterproductive for her to hex the boy where he stood. The man knew that his best friend was a tightly coiled spring where her family were concerned; for good or for bad. This was especially true when it came to the younger generation; Henry, Draco and even, he was slightly amused to admit it, Nymphadora.
"Indeed…" He looked carefully at Harry, seeing the boy's gaze flickering between the three teachers in front of him as they each fixed him with a hard stare. "Your evidence?"
"I just know."
Severus tightened his grip on Regina's arm, stopping her from speaking. "You just… know."
There was a moment's silence as they all looked at each other, processing the situation. Hermione and Ron looked incredibly uncomfortable at their friend's accusation. Harry kept his face determined, evidently not intending to back down from his beliefs that Draco was to blame. Minerva looked irritated and unsure at the same time, while Regina was battling to keep a lid on her anger. Only Severus remained calm, his usual passive expression only betrayed by the tightness of his grasp on his friend's arm.
"Once again you astonish with your gifts, Potter; gifts mere mortals can only dream of possessing. How grand it must be to be the Chosen One." Severus spoke the last two words as though they were an insult, rather than the compliment they were usually intended as. Regina was unable to hide her smirk at the expression that flickered across Harry's face as he scowled at his teacher.
She was delighted to shake the teenager's beliefs in Draco's guilt further, by telling him where the blonde boy had been that afternoon. "Strong though your argument is, Draco cannot be responsible for this terrible event, as he has been in my company for the past three hours completing an essay. Unless, of course, you believe that, as his Aunt, I am lying to cover up for him?"
For a moment it seemed as though Harry was about to accuse her of doing just that and she arched an eyebrow. A well placed elbow from the red-headed boy beside him caused Harry to clamp his mouth shut and glance away from her quickly.
"I suggest you go back to your dormitories. All of you." Minerva said firmly, clasping her hands in front of her. Her tone and the expression on her face brokered no arguments and the three sixth years nodded weakly at her.
When the three of them had left the classroom, Severus let go of Regina's arm. The brunette witch turned away, taking a deep breath and composing herself fully. Then she turned back to the older woman. "It was the truth, Minerva. Draco has been with me since before half past one. He may be family, but if I believed that he was truly capable of endangering another student's life I would tell you myself."
"I know, Regina." The Deputy Headmistress assured her gently. "Albus trusts you; as do I." She let out a long sigh and returned her gaze to the necklace that was back in its box on her desk. "We must work out where this came from. Albus won't be back until Monday, but I hardly think we can forget about this until he returns."
Stepping closer and standing beside the older woman, Regina bit her lip. "My mother was in Hogsmeade today."
"Cora?" Both Severus and Minerva faced her with the same wary expressions on their faces.
"What did she want?"
"Are you alright, Gina?"
"I'm…" Regina had been about to assure her best friend that she was perfectly fine, but the words stuck in her throat. Instead she decided to answer the other question. "She wished to demand that Henry spend the Christmas holidays with Narcissa and Draco," she narrowly avoided mentioning Bellatrix's presence, "and that I should stay with her. Apparently Abraxus, Sybil and Finnegan Jones will be visiting and my mother is still fixated on the thought of me marrying him."
Severus ground his teeth at the thought and even Minerva grimaced. Finnegan possessed none of the easy, yet sometimes over the top, charm of his younger brother and he was not half as good-looking as Killian. There was also something deeply unsettling about the older Jones brother that neither of them could put their finger on.
"Is that all?"
"Isn't that enough?" Regina snapped. Shaking her head, she took a breath. "I'm sorry, Minerva. But yes, that is all she mentioned, aside from insulting me and… making disparaging comments about my marriage."
Severus and Minerva both thought better of mentioning Daniel or his death. Instead the older witch simply nodded slowly. "So it is possible that Cora is responsible for casting the Imperious Curse on Bell and instructing her to bring the package into the school."
Regina nodded and smiled darkly. "It's say it's highly plausible. But you will have a great deal of trouble proving it."
