"The mark on your skin doesn't change who you are"
The Gryffindor's words from the evening before were the only thing that got Regina out of bed that morning. Acting normal though was proofing to be very difficult. She'd charmed the sleeves of all of her robes and shirts to fit snugly to her arms before she'd gone to bed but still she found herself anxiously staring at her left arm now and then, fearing for IT to be exposed. Severus had told her about his many attempts to invent a glamour spell or salve that covered the mark, all of which had failed in the end. Powerful dark magic such as the Dark Mark could not simply be hidden away from the world. And maybe, Regina thought, that was actually a good thing. Because usually, its wearers weren't teenage girls but men like Fenrir Greyback, or women like her older sister Bellatrix.
"Regina, there you are!" Mal happily exclaimed when she sat down next to her in the Potions classroom. "Why didn't I see you at breakfast?"
"I was late so I summoned one of the kitchen elves to bring me something," Regina lied. The simple truth was that she wasn't hungry and didn't think she would be able to stomach anything anytime soon. She did however not need Maleficent's fussing right now.
"Alright then," Maleficent easily saw through the lie but decided not to comment on it for now. She would get Regina to eat something at lunch or tell her godfather. Speaking of the devil… His black robes billowing behind him, Severus Snape entered the classroom.
"Today," he started the lesson without a greeting, "you will brew the 'Talus' potion. Does anyone know… Yes, Miss Mills?"
"'Talus' is Latin and means 'ankle'," Regina said, fully in her element. She knew a lot about healing potions; for a while, she'd even considered working at St. Mungo's after Hogwarts. Well, until she'd remembered that it would be her job to be a presentable pureblood wife and gift children to her husband… "The Talus potion can be used to heal many ankle injuries, it can heal sprains and to some extent even breaks." Participating in class as usual would hopefully avert the attention away from her and people would forget all about her mysterious missing yesterday.
And, it gave her something else to think about besides the Dark Mark that was still slightly burning. Would it ever stop? Or would the burning sensation be the constant reminder that the thing was indeed still there and would never go anywhere?
"That's perfectly right of course, Miss Mills," Severus praised his favorite student, glad the events hadn't changed her entirely. She was still his little know-it-all. "5 points to Slytherin." He happily ignored Miss French - who's hand was still in the air - and sat down behind his desk.
Then, with a flick of his wand, a piece of chalk flew towards the blackboard, starting to scribble down ingredients and instructions for the potion. "Now get together in pairs and brew the potions."
From the Gryffindor row - there were people of all four houses in NEWT level potions because of the small student number who'd chosen to take it - Elsa was watching the Slytherin Princess. It was widely known that the Mills family had their roots in Slytherin, and rumor had it that they were some of the few last descendants of the Salazar Slytherin; hence the nickname Regina Mills had received from the other students. Most student of course used it in jest or to mock Regina – Elsa thought it was oddly fitting though. One could pretty much call the Mills royalty of the wizarding world and what else was Regina if not their princess? Bellatrix Mills sat in Azkaban for eternity and Zelena… well, Elsa could just not see anything resembling a princess inside the redhead.
When she noticed Regina absent-mindedly staring at her left arm, the fingers of her right hand clutched tightly around her wrist, Elsa felt a wave of sorrow flood her body. The girl may be a Slytherin but...
"Hey Elsa, shouldn't we get to work?" Ruby interrupted her trail of thought. "What'cha doing anyway, staring at Princess Bitch?"
"Nothing," Elsa lightly blushed but quickly recovered. "Just checking on their potion. You know she's always the first to finish."
"Oh yeah, that she is. And I bet it annoys Belle to hell and back. A Slytherin, besting a Ravenclaw?"
Yes, that was rather unusual, if not entirely unheard of. But Elsa had a feeling that Regina Mills wasn't your usual Slytherin.
Belle was seething. Yet again Snape had blissfully ignored her, even though she'd been the first to raise her hand. It was the first year she was in the same Potions class as Regina Mills and the other Slytherins and it was getting old real fast. Daniel's seedy comments weren't a bright spot either. The boy was really getting on her nerves.
"Hey Regina," the boy called out and Belle and her Potions partner August exchanged an exasperated look. Not again. "You know, if you ever want to test your potion - I volunteer my ankle. Feel free to rub wherever you want. And with 'wherever' I mean-"
"Mr. Steed," Professor Snape hit the back of his head with an old and heavy tome. The resounding smack didn't only make him smirk... "If you would please refrain from your comments and focus your attention on your potion instead of the female students of this class?" He walked away from Daniel and Robin's table – the two had bonded over their mutual attraction to the dark haired Slytherin – and was already back at his own desk when he stated: "Oh, and 10 points from Ravenclaw. Don't think I'd forgotten. Next time, Mr. Steed, you are in detention."
"You know," Mal now said to her best friend. "At first, I thought it was funny. Especially by the way he passed you off. Now though? His presence in this class has really become a nuisance."
"Glad to see you're finally understanding me," Regina raised a brow at Mal while she continued stirring the potion anti-clockwise. It was crucial that it was done 21 times, slowly but not too slow. "I bet Severus will get him kicked out of class soon if he upholds his childish behavior." A satisfied smirk lightened up Regina's face. 21. "Potion's done, Mal."
"I suppose it is. It smells awful though, Regina."
"Believe me Mal, you wouldn't care about the smell at all if you had a sprained ankle. I had one often enough when I was still getting riding lessons and Rocinante was a young and stubborn stallion."
Then Regina raised her hand, beckoning her godfather to come over to inspect their potion.
Severus looked at the potion, its consistency and color and gave an approving nod. But – he hadn't expected anything less than satisfactory from Regina. If he didn't know better – and he knew for certain that it was impossible – he'd be investing in a paternity test. Alas, he'd never even thought about... doing it with Cora. The older woman was beautiful enough, yet she had always been so cold and calculating around everyone. Even her late husband and children. "Well," he smiled at Regina. "St. Mungo's will be happy to receive a dozen vials of your potion this afternoon. Well done."
He accioed several vials for the two girls to fill before he started making his rounds around the classroom. It brought joy to his nasty little Slytherin heart when he saw Belle French glare at Regina. It seemed to really irk the girl that she'd found someone who bested her in Potions. Then, however, he saw the slightly worried look from another female student of his class. Directed at Regina. 'Curious,' he thought. 'Very curious, indeed.' Why would Elsa Arendelle worry about one of his students? Regina nonetheless? Too bad using legilimency on students was forbidden...
His musings were interrupted when the door to his classroom was opened from the outside.
"Professor Snape, sir," the giant Hagrid stood in the doorframe, barely fitting through. "I was told to come and get Miss Mills. Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet and Cornelius Fudge are here to see the champions of the Triwizard Tournament. The first task will be announced."
Snape inwardly calmed himself before he turned to his favorite little girl in the world. All right, maybe she wasn't that little anymore. But still. He gave her what he hoped was an encouraging nod and could only watch helplessly as she left the room behind Hagrid, her shoulders not as straight as usual.
"Ah, here she is," Dumbledore announced when Regina entered his office. Instantly, all eyes were on her. Karkaroff's expression was sour but unreadable apart from that; Madame Maxime only spared her a quick glance before her eyes were glued on Hagrid; Rita Skeeter was already scribbling something with her magical quill; the minister looked rather unimpressed; and the other champions were seated in front of their headmasters, anxious to hear about the first task. Professor Dumbledore motioned for Regina to sit down in the chair in front of him and once she did, she realized that there was another person present, standing partly hidden behind the door. Randy Cleever, photograph of the Prophet. She'd seen him on several occasions already; her family didn't shy away from the public stage.
"Smile," he said and a second later a bright flash illuminated the room. Regina had no doubt that they'd be on the Daily Prophet's title page tomorrow. Great. Exactly what she needed.
"All right, I suppose everyone is ready and eager to begin and to learn of the first task. Tomorrow, each of you will be stealing a golden egg. But, to do so, you first have to get past the dragon which will be guarding it. It'll only be you and your wand against one of the legendary beasts and we – a jury of four wizards including myself – will reward you with points for time and execution of the task." He looked into the faces of the champions. Krum looked confident enough, probably sure he was going to win this one; the girl from Beauxbatons had grown even paler than before but her eyes were fierce regardless; Regina Mills… he couldn't read the girl's face at all, she didn't look at all affected by the news. He coughed to regain everyone's attention. Holding out a small bag, he held it out in front of Miss Delacour. "Each of you is now to draw a miniature version of their dragon from the bag. Read up on them afterwards if you'd like to, but I believe their 'tempers' are easily recognizable as it is."
Regina watched as first Fleur, then Krum, pulled out a mini dragon from the pouch. As tradition dictated, the host school drew last. So far, the dragons had looked relatively peaceful – for dragons at least – and Regina grew hopeful that she could survive this first task. When it was her turn, her dream bubble was immediately shattered by a prick in her finger. Pulling her hand out of the pouch, she noticed first the tiny drop off blood running down her index finger, then the little black dragon. Even as small as it was, it looked dangerous as it trashed around on her open palm, trying to sink its teeth into her flesh again. It was slightly bigger than the other two and its yellow eyes were focused on Regina. A Hungarian Horntail. Regina had heard of them – and what befell people encountering one – and knew she was dangerous for more than one reason. Like the other two she was able to spit fire but, as her father had liked to tell her when she was little, 'a Horntail's rear end is at least as dangerous as its front, little princess. They aren't called Horntails for nothing'. It was just her luck to get the Hungarian Horntail. She looked up from the tiny beast and once again found everyone staring at her. This time, most of them liked troubled. Besides Skeeter and Karkaroff. She was obviously excited to write about the aftermath of her fight, something along the lines 'Pureblood heiress dies in tragic dragon fight'; and he seemed relieved and happy that it wasn't his student who'd drawn the Horntail, probably sure that there would be one less competitor for the Cup after tomorrow. Regina was inclined to think he was right.
"So dragons huh?" Mal looked excited as Regina told her about the first task this evening. They were sitting together on Regina's bed, an open book about dragons on the cover next to them. "Which one did you draw again?"
"The fucking Horntail, Mal. It's over, go and plan my funeral, will you?"
"Regina, hon," Mal placed a gentle hand on her friend's thigh. "Don't be so pessimistic. You know about my family's 'affinity' for dragons. I am sure I will think of something that'll help you. And if not, there's also Cruella. You know about her powers. They won't work long on a dragon but I'm sure it'd get you enough time to flee the arena if necessary. You will not die tomorrow."
Regina tiredly nodded at her best friend. She was right. Maleficent's family was all about dragons. Most of them were animagi who could turn into one – Mal probably would be able to as well, she was already showing signs of it (most animagi started to slowly grow into their powers starting with the day they turned 17, Mal's birthday had been almost 5 months ago) – but they also worked all over the world, researching, fighting, and even breeding the legendary beasts. And Cru – she could calm even the most ferocious animal with a look into their eyes. She'd been born with the powers and was still learning to use them. She might not be able to control a dragon, but she was pretty sure, she could turn them into complacent little pets, even if for just a little while.
"Ow," she winced when a flash of pain went through her Dark Mark. It was different than the slight burning before though. And she felt pulled- towards her own home. She was summoned, Regina realized with a jolt of panic.
"You alright?" Maleficent was mustering her friend's face.
"Yeah, just stubbed my toe on the nightstand," Regina hurried to explain. Then she got up, rushing to the room's door. "I totally forgot. I have to go see Severus, I promised him to tell him once I knew about the first task. See you later, Mal."
Then Regina was out of the door, Mal staring at the empty space on the bed beside her. What was wrong with her friend? One way or another, she would find out. This had already been going on for too long
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Thanks for reading. np.