Harry Potter belongs to JKR.
Warning: Gore, implied child abuse
Beta by FedererRex
Chapter 9
Bellatrix swung her body around beneath her broom and back up the other side as the brilliant morning autumn sun dazzled her vision, neatly dodging the bludger Ginny had smacked in her direction. Bellatrix and the other two alternate chasers weaved and ducked their way through an agility course set up by the starting team, and the starters took turns with three bludgers, attempting to force them to steer out of their way to avoid getting hit. Another bludger whizzed past Bella's head so close she felt the wind blow her hair.
"Of course, knocking us off our brooms would definitely slow us down too," she thought.
The nights were getting longer, and they only had so much time to practice in the early hours before it was dark almost until first period. Most of the team had never played together before, so getting as much practice as possible before their first match was vital. Bellatrix ducked through another hoop and dove to pick up speed to increase her lead over the other two alternates. She wasn't as good as the players who'd been flying a broom all their lives, but with her practice over the summer and the smaller student body, she was good enough to make it onto the reserve team. Ginny, with her single-minded focus and world-class racing broom, was far and away the best of them, and she was determined to win the Quidditch Cup. The first match was coming up in a little over a week, and their drills had only intensified in the leadup to the game.
"Pay attention, White!" Ginny shouted, as both beaters hit bludgers towards her at the same time, trying to cut into her lead. Bellatrix twisted awkwardly on her broom and one of the bludgers clipped her on the upper arm, throwing off her balance. The broomstick wobbled and fish-tailed as she fought for control just as the final hoop rose in front of her. Bella jerked back on the broom to steady it before diving through at a narrow angle, ducking her head to just barely skim the edge of the metal hoop with the top of her helmet and then the bristles of her broom as she passed through.
"Okay, that's enough," Ginny said as the other two followed close behind her, "down to the pitch."
The team descended to the green fields and dismounted, some of them still breathing hard from the drilling.
"Good practice everyone," Ginny said, "we're lucky it's Slytherin next week; we can use that game as a tune up for the other teams. Just because half their squad can barely fly doesn't mean we can take it easy on them though. Score differential is one of the tiebreakers and I don't intend on losing that to anyone. Plus their seeker isn't half bad, and a quick game is probably the only way they could legitimately beat us, so keep practicing and make sure that doesn't happen."
There were a few murmurs of agreement and the team hit the showers. Bellatrix stripped off her equipment, rinsed, and dressed quickly as the chill autumn air had found a way into the changing rooms, then waited for Ginny outside the locker room while drying her hair with her wand. The redhead appeared a moment later and the two of them made their way back to the castle. They left dark green tracks in the grass as their shoes quickly grew wet with morning dew.
"You really should consider getting another broom," Ginny said, "that Cleansweep is just not fast enough, or agile enough."
"I'm only an alternate, Ginny," Julia replied.
"First alternate, you could be playing next week," Ginny said.
"If you've got a bunch of extra galleons lying around, feel free to donate to the cause," Julia said.
Ginny grew quiet at that as they passed into the courtyard, when a black shoe fell from a stone arch and landed right in front of them. Both of them reflexively looked up to see a little first year missing her outer work robes and one shoe, waving at them silently as she stuck to the ceiling by her backside. Bellatrix recognized her as that first year Slytherin, one of two, Allison, if she recalled correctly. She pulled out her wand, undid the sticking charm, and silently levitated Allison down.
"Finite," she said.
"Thank you, I was stuck up there for over an hour," Allison said, adjusting her white shirt and belt. She knelt and pulled her shoe back on over her stocking.
"Not at all," Julia said, "who stuck you there?"
"Just some Ravenclaws, I think they're third years," she replied, "they're always asking me questions, and when I can't answer they do something like take my robes or hang me up somewhere. Or both."
"Have you told Slughorn, or Professor Flitwick?" Ginny asked.
Allison shrugged.
"What about a prefect?" Ginny asked, "Tracey Davis?"
Allison shook her head.
"They'll know it was me, and it'll just be worse," she said, chewing her lower lip, "it doesn't matter anyway, I'm not coming back after Christmas."
Ginny and Julia exchanged a glance.
"Is it really that bad?" Ginny asked.
Allison stubbornly stuck out her lower lip.
"Yes. I hate this place, and I hate magic. I was happy at home," Allison said, "I wish I'd never gotten that letter."
Ginny's eyes popped open in surprise but Bellatrix cocked her head to one side.
"A mudblood. In Slytherin," she thought, "How interesting."
Julia glanced at Ginny. Maybe she could earn some more points with Potter's girlfriend.
"Never took a Slytherin for a quitter, aren't you supposed to have ambition? I suppose if you're bullied in muggle school you'd quit that too?" she asked.
Allison gaped at her a moment and shook her head.
"Nobody bullies me there," she said.
"Let me give you some advice, girl to girl," Julia said, "you're better off facing your problems. At least then you can do something about them. Look at you. You haven't even tried, and you're ready to give up. With that kind of attitude you'll never accomplish anything in life, except to be someone else's practice dummy."
Julia closed one eye and rested her wand on her forearm, aiming down at Allison's face.
At least the girl had the good sense to look ashamed.
"Now, I'm going to go tell Flitwick what happened here, and you can either come with me, or you're going right back where I found you so you can wait for the little half-goblin to come get you," she said, "what's it going to be?"
Julia crossed her arms, wand poking out to one side, and tapped a foot.
"I'll come with you," Allison said quietly.
Julia nodded and led the way to the Great Hall. It was still fairly early and the hall was never full these days anyway. Luckily, Flitwick was still at the head table, and Julia led the other two straight up the centre of the Hall.
"Pardon me, Professor Flitwick?" Julia said.
"Oh, yes Miss White?" Flitwick asked, peering over the edge of the table. Julia received a passing glance from McGonagall farther down the table before she went back to whatever she was talking about with Winthrop.
"We found Allison stuck beneath one of the arches in the Courtyard," Julia said, "some of your eagles' work, I understand."
"I see," Flitwick said, "and where are your work robes, Miss Wong?"
"Um… they took them sir, and my wand," Allison said quietly.
"Hmm," Flitwick replied. He hopped down from his seat.
"You can't attend class without a wand. Follow me to my office, Miss Wong, we'll get you sorted out first, then locate your wand," he said, "oh, Miss White, five points to Gryffindor."
"Thank you, Professor," she said.
She and Ginny made their way to the Gryffindor table as Flitwick pulled Slughorn away from yet another pastry, and the two professors and the first year departed the Great Hall.
"That was a really good thing you did, Julia," Ginny said.
"Please, you or Hermione would have done the same thing," Julia said, making a show of looking around, "speaking of Hermione, do you think she'll be joining us for breakfast today?"
"Probably not," Ginny replied, helping herself to some jam and toast, "she gets like this sometimes."
"I don't think I've seen her outside of class all week, maybe two," Julia said, likewise filling her plate, "what's she working on, some extra-credit project for Slughorn?"
Ginny bit into her toast with a crunch and swallowed before answering.
"Something like that, it's not really my place to say," Ginny said, "sorry, maybe try asking her, see if she'll tell you?"
"If I ever see her," Julia muttered.
Several weeks into her undercover work, and her elation at finding out she was rooming with Hermione Granger quickly turned to frustration as she barely saw the bushy-haired Golden Girl. Bellatrix had tailed her around the castle from time to time, disillusioned and silenced, of course, and she knew Hermione alternated between the library and one of the old potions labs, but that was it. She didn't even show up to their room to sleep anymore. The girl had set wards on the lab, and Bellatrix wasn't at the point yet where she wanted to go about tampering with them. She suspected she'd be able to break through, but putting them back the way they were so Hermione didn't notice anything? That would be a bit tougher; the girl was quite clever, for a mudblood. She'd managed to be slightly ahead of Bellatrix in most of their classes despite Bellatrix having already taken them and scoring top marks the first time around.
On the other hand, being chosen as a reserve chaser was both a blessing and a curse. It meant she was able to get closer to Potter's girlfriend, but she also had to attend all the practices, which cut into her scheming time considerably.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Neville Longbottom, who sat down next to her.
"Morning Ginny, Julia," he said.
"Morning," they replied.
"So, Hogsmeade is coming up," Neville said, looking at Julia and fiddling with the hem of his robe, "umm… would-you-like-to-go-with-me?"
"Pardon?" Julia asked, putting on her mask of indifference. She knew exactly what he said, but there was a certain satisfaction from watching him struggle through it a second time.
Neville, cheeks now burning crimson, took a breath.
"Would you care to accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend, Julia?" he asked.
She put on a pout.
"Sorry Neville, I've got plans already," she said.
He visibly deflated, like air gone out of a balloon.
"I'm too late, aren't I, you're already going with someone?" he asked.
"Not really, I've just got other plans," Julia replied, "perhaps next time?"
He perked up a bit at that and nodded.
"I'll hold you to that," he said with a half-grin, "alright then, see you in Herbology."
He gave them both a sheepish wave as he stood up, then straightened his shoulders and returned to his seat near the other end of the hall.
Bellatrix wasn't sure how to feel about Longbottom. That obvious propaganda piece garbage book Hermione had lent her asserted she'd tortured his parents into insanity. He seemed like an okay bloke, but she imagined that would be an awkward conversation at some point, even if she didn't remember or could imagine doing anything like that. Probably. Well, she could kind of see herself getting a bit carried away if her soulmate had vanished and she thought the Longbottoms knew where he was being hidden away. Honestly, who wouldn't?
She felt a pang of regret at the life she might have known. She would have ruled by his side, should have, if he hadn't somehow been defeated by that Potter boy, twice. The book was vague on exactly how the Dark Lord had been defeated, but Bellatrix had never seen his equal in terms of raw power, skill with a wand, or obscure magical knowledge. All the more reason to be careful about approaching Potter.
A tapping sound came from the podium, and Bellatrix looked over to see McGonagall pointing a wand at her throat.
"Your attention please," she said, "I would like to announce a new program. Hogwarts is an institute of learning, and this includes cross-cultural understanding. Therefore, from now until the end of winter holidays, students are encouraged to mentor and expose muggleborns and purebloods in the ways of the others' society. If the students then write an acceptable twelve-inch essay on their learnings, between five and twenty House Points will be awarded to each of them. Anyone who is interested in taking part in this initiative, please see Professor Winthrop for more details."
McGonagall returned to her seat as the Great Hall erupted in whispers.
"That's interesting," Ginny said, "are you going to sign up?"
Julia frowned.
"Probably not. I wouldn't even know who to bring, or where to bring them," Julia replied, "are you?"
"I don't know, I suppose I'm in the same boat as you," Ginny said, "I don't really know anyone I would be okay to introduce to my family. Except for Hermione of course, assuming she ever comes up for air."
Ginny furrowed her brow a bit at that and the two of them focused on their breakfast before heading up to Defence.
Bellatrix sat in the front row again, and Hermione barely arrived in time, hair even frizzier than usual. Bella watched her carefully out of the corner of her eye and even risked a glance when Winthrop's pacing lined up so she could make it not so obvious she was observing the mudblood. The dark bags under Hermione's eyes and the droop of her lips, the exhausted slump of her shoulders, the little crease between her eyebrows, the sloppiness and crossed words of her usually impeccable penmanship, they all added up to someone who was pushing herself beyond her limits. As they left Defence, Julia fell into step beside her burnt out roommate.
"Hi Hermione, haven't seen you in a few days," Julia said, "you seem a bit tired, are you alright?"
Hermione nodded.
"Of course. A bit fatigued perhaps, but I can handle it. I'm fine," Hermione replied.
"Ginny mentioned you were working on some kind of extra credit project?" Julia asked, trying to sound innocent.
"Yes. Something like that," Hermione replied.
"What is it? Is there anything I can help with?" Julia asked.
Hermione was silent for almost a minute as they exited the castle and held their robes tight against the chilly autumn gusts as they walked down the slope towards the greenhouses. Julia thought she might not respond at all.
"No, I don't think so," Hermione said, "I appreciate the offer but it's not something I'd want to talk about. I don't mean to be rude…"
"Not at all, I understand," Julia said, "Um, speaking of rude, I hope this isn't too.. presumptuous? but I haven't seen you at the Great Hall in weeks, how are you even eating?"
"The elves bring food, of course," Hermione said, with a wan grin, "I could hardly function if I wasn't eating at all."
Julia nodded.
"I'm worried about you, Hermione," Julia said.
Hermione looked over at her and flashed a tired smile.
"I appreciate the concern Julia, really, but I'm fine," she said.
Julia nodded, and the conversation was effectively over. Despite sitting next to the girl in several classes, she wasn't able to get any closer to her. Weeks had gone by with no progress, and Bellatrix already felt like blasting a few idiots into the next county. Speaking of idiots…
They passed the Herbology class that had just let out, including the three Gryffindor bullies Wildy, Stevens, and Marcos, the trio Tracey Davis had dropped off at Winthrop's office last month. They each sported frilly pink robes which vigorously swished about in the windy morning weather. Even their shoes had turned pastel pink and sported white lace about their ankles. Winthrop had cursed them so that no matter what clothing they donned, it automatically transfigured itself to the same frilly pink fabric they'd transfigured that Slytherin's robes to. Bellatrix had absolutely no idea how he'd done it and therefore had gained a measure of respect for the man. It'd been several weeks with no sign of their punishment ending, and Bellatrix idly wondered if the good professor intended for them to head home to their parents still cursed. She somehow suspected he might welcome the additional attention.
Herbology passed without incident, as did Charms, and lunch, with Hermione once again absent. Bellatrix camped out in the library to finish off her essays in the afternoon, knowing Hermione sometimes stopped by to return or borrow new books, but no luck today. Then it was dinner, and off to Winthrop's extra session.
The NEWT students filed into the Defence classroom. Night had fallen long ago and the windows were dark except for the gibbous moon already high in the sky, but the classroom was well lit. Due to popular request, their previous lessons had covered the nature of blood wards and ritual magic, two topics Winthrop was apparently well-versed in, and tonight's lesson was about Dark magic and morality. Hermione was already there when Bella arrived, scratching out some arithmantic equations on a scrap of parchment before crossing it all out. Bellatrix tried to get a look at what she was working on but Winthrop chose that moment to enter and start lecturing, causing Hermione to fold the paper and stuff it into her bag.
"Dark magic, is it all evil?" Winthrop asked, "considering that whether magic is classified as Light, Dark, or neither is up to a group of wizards, I would wager that since wizards are fallible, not all Dark magic is evil. Let's discuss."
The usual arguments popped up, the dangerous nature of the magic, intent to injure, healing magic by it's very nature couldn't be evil, etc. Hermione stayed quiet, chewing on the tip of her thumb.
"Yes, and that's all true, but consider for a moment, sacrifice," Winthrop said, "Dark magic almost always involves some kind of sacrifice, and the magic usually doesn't care whether the sacrifice is willing or not. Obviously a ritual that calls for a forcible blood sacrifice, or any other unwilling sacrifice, is probably evil, but what if the sacrifice is willing? What if an elderly man dying of dragon pox wished to perform a ritual and sacrifice his own life so that he might save the life of his grandson? Today, this is technically illegal."
He paced, the tone of his voice and passion evident in his gestures drawing in even Bellatrix, despite her initially wanting to watch Hermione for her reaction.
"Or, conversely, what if I came across, say, a dying Lord Voldemort," Winthrop said, and several in the room reflexively inhaled at the utterance and Bellatrix's eyes widened just a fraction, "and I healed him, saved him from death, restored him to health. Would this be an evil act? I think most everyone would agree on the answer to that question."
Bellatrix kept her occlumency shields up and her face as impassive as possible as Winthrop went on. He even stared at her as he spoke about her Lord, but then again, he was always paying more attention to her than anyone else in the class. She didn't feel any pressure on her mind, but one could never be too sure.
"One of the keys to Dark magic is sacrifice," Winthrop said, looking away again and pacing as he lectured, "Dark magic, in the traditional sense, is magic that requires sacrifice; you give up something every time you use Dark magic, this is true of almost all Dark magic, but it is also misleading. Everything requires sacrifice, even inaction. By taking any action, you sacrifice other actions you might have taken instead. By doing nothing, you sacrifice time, and possibly the window to take certain actions. Inaction itself can be an evil act, if you have the power to help someone at little cost to yourself and knowingly decline to do so. If I stand on land next to a drowning person, and I could save them if I just reached out my hand, but I choose not to, is that not evil? So then, what does all this mean, am I suggesting everything is evil? Of course not."
He paused for dramatic effect.
"The people I see in this room are the most talented, brightest wizards and witches at Hogwarts, and therefore in the world," he said, "I submit that we, you, have an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves, and by your actions, make the world a better place. Because if not you, then who?"
Bellatrix turned to look at Hermione, who appeared deep in thought.
"Someone not as talented, someone not quite as bright?" he said, "and ultimately, someone less effective, and yes perhaps they might save many, but almost certainly less than you would have been able to."
"Your homework is this," Winthrop said, "The next time you come across someone whose life can be improved by your action, try to improve it, see what happens, and come back next week to talk about it. Whether you're successful or not isn't certain, but if you never even try… well, you don't need to be Professor Trelwaney to see the outcome of doing nothing."
The class filed out in silence after that. Hermione and Julia made their way upstairs towards the staircase which would take them to Gryffindor Tower when they came across a student with curly dark hair and green trimmed robes descending the opposite side of the stairs. His face had blown up to nearly twice it's normal size and he was barely able to see out of his swollen eyes, which was probably why he clutched the bannister of the staircase and stepped carefully and slowly.
"Michaels, is that you?" Hermione asked.
"Yes. Is that… Granger?" he asked.
"Yes, are you on your way to the Hospital Wing? What happened?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing much, just the usual," Michaels said dejectedly, "said I was a coward for not fighting in the final battle. Not like I had a choice... they locked us all in the dungeons."
"And you were underage too," Hermione said, "still are, actually. Come on, I'll walk you the rest of the way."
She looked at Julia, who of course nodded and accompanied them both as Hermione held out a forearm for him to grab.
"This is bullshite. I only ended up in Slytherin because I wanted to make something of myself when I grew up," he said once they'd made it past the danger of the moving stairs, "honestly if I'd known it would have caused this much trouble, I would have begged to go anywhere else."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes. Idiots. The world was filled with idiots. If Michaels was a budding dark wizard, smacking him in the face with a swelling hex was a great way to get on a list of people he wanted to take revenge on. And if he wasn't, then there was no point in hexing him.
"I hope you gave as good as you got," Julia said.
"Not so much," Michaels replied.
Julia snorted.
"Get them back later then," Julia said, "people need to know there's consequences for trying to jinx you, otherwise they'll never stop."
"Or you could tell a professor, or a prefect," Hermione added.
Michaels scoffed.
"Easy for you to say, White, you're one of the best duelists in the school. And Granger, you helped take down You-Know-Who," he said, "I bet you both know all sorts of spells I've never even heard of. Unless they see it, the teachers aren't really willing to do much to help someone like me. Maybe take off a few points or hand out a few detentions, but people don't really seem to care about those as much as they used to."
Hermione fell quiet at that, lost in thought again.
"You don't need a lot; you only need to know a few spells really well," Julia said, "Winthrop gives extra lessons, and I'm sure we'll be duelling at some point this year, maybe you should come."
"Professor Winthrop," Hermione said quietly, almost to herself.
"I asked him already, he said they're only open to NEWT students," Michaels replied.
"Oh," Julia said. Winthrop's call to action bounced around her head, and she considered Hermione next to her. The Golden Girl seemed to have a bleeding heart, probably wanted to help Michaels but couldn't because of whatever project she was working on. Perhaps Julia could break through that impenetrable ward she'd put up around her feelings and get on her good side by helping someone in need?
"I could tutor you a bit, teach you a few things," Julia said.
Michaels looked at her, his face really was horribly swollen, and a little pus oozed out of a break in the skin of his forehead.
"Really?" he asked, "you're not having me on? Why would you help me?"
"Let's see, what would be the answer Hermione would like best…" Bellatrix thought.
"You need help, and I can help you," Julia said, "everyone deserves a chance to study and make the best of their education without having to worry about being ambushed in the hallways between class."
Michaels paused a moment before speaking.
"Sure, I'll take whatever help I can get," he said.
"Sunday night," Julia said, "I'll find you at dinner. Probably."
They arrived at the hospital wing.
"Thanks for walking with me the rest of the way," Michaels said, "I'm fine from here."
"Feel better soon, Michaels," Hermione said.
He gave them both a small wave and disappeared into the Infirmary.
They walked in silence most all the way back to Gryffindor Tower, and it wasn't until they'd passed beyond the portrait of the Fat Lady and reached the deserted common room that Hermione stopped and looked at Julia.
"It's a really good thing you're doing, helping Michaels," she said, "I felt terrible about not offering. I simply cannot spare the time, so I'm glad someone is helping him. I'm surprised nobody in Slytherin offered."
Julia blew a strand of hair away from her face.
"They have their own problems, and it's a bit more cutthroat down in the dungeons," she replied, "you've got to bring something worth trading if you want lessons."
Hermione nodded, then gave Julia a questioning look.
"How'd you know that?" she asked.
Fuck.
"I don't know," Julia replied, "I talk to people. People talk to me. It's not that hard if you keep your eyes and ears open."
Hermione nodded and stifled a yawn.
"Let's head upstairs," Julia said, changing the subject and leading the way to the dormitories.
"I'm guessing that extra credit project is why you don't have time to tutor Michaels?" she asked.
Hermione nodded.
They entered the dorm to find Ginny had already closed and warded her curtains. Julia walked past both Ginny and Hermione's four-posters to the back of the room where she pulled out a purple nightgown and ties for her hair. Hermione opened her trunk and rummaged around a bit, eventually pulling out a few sweaters, undergarments, and wool socks, then stuffed them into that mokeskin pouch she always wore.
"You're not sleeping?" Julia asked.
"I will, I've got a bit more work to do before turning in," Hermione said.
Bellatrix's internal frustration coiled around her stomach, making her feel like a tightly wound spring. The whole point of this charade was to get closer to Hermione, but she couldn't very well do it when the damn girl was never around.
"Hermione, whatever it is you're working on for Sluggy, it's not worth sacrificing your health," Julia said with perhaps a bit more acid than she'd intended, "you need to take care of yourself. Trust me, get a good night's sleep, have breakfast with Ginny and I, and come at it fresh in the morning."
Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head, frizzy hair waving about.
"It's not for Professor Slughorn, it's something of an independent study," she said, "I don't… it's not that I don't trust you Julia, it's just that… it's really personal, and I appreciate what you're trying to say, and your concern..."
Hermione looked at a loss for words for a moment.
"Hermione, advanced potions is no joke. If you're not thinking clearly, you're going to make a mistake," Julia said, "Take a break."
"I know that," Hermione whispered, eyes closed, "don't you think I know that? But I've only got so much time."
She turned and all but fled the room.
"Ugh, stubborn bitch! Witch. Whatever," Bellatrix thought as she stalked into the shower, "well, there's more than one way to skin a kneazle."
She returned to her bed, confident that Ginny was already sleeping. Bellatrix had noted the redhead slept a lot. When Ginny wasn't eating, barking orders at them above the quidditch pitch, or in class, the redhead was often holed up in her bed, all but dead to the world. Best kind of roommate as far as Bellatrix was concerned. She made to get ready for bed herself, but laid out hiking boots, a sweater, and long pants in the cubby above her bed, and set a charm to wake her in three hours. She had plans for the evening.
Exactly three hours later, the charm jolted her awake, and she opened her eyes and sat up in the pitch darkness of her four-poster, willing her brain to shake off the cobwebs of deep sleep. She strapped on her duelling holster and wand and dressed in the privacy of her bed, throwing her robes over her clothing before disillusioning and silencing herself. With only a rustle of curtains, she slipped from her bed and made for the door. One of the toughest parts of being invisible was finding the doorknobs or the edge of stairs, but with enough practise you could get good enough to not accidentally bump into things.
With most of the hidden passages out of the castle destroyed, Bellatrix headed for the second floor, careful to watch for patrols, and luckily did not encounter anyone. From there, she stepped up to a narrow window, leaned out, and dropped onto the courtyard with a silent molliare to cushion her landing. She brazenly walked straight across the stones to the bridge. Her way to the castle grounds clear, she strode across the long stone bridge. The entire nearby area was spread out before her, lit by the eerie, silverly glow of the gibbous moon still high in the sky. Her boots began to thump on the stone as her silencing spell wore off, and she recast her disillusionment just to be sure. For the first time since the winter of her seventh year, thirty-odd years ago but only a few months for her, she noticed her breath escaped in small puffs, and she pulled her robe a bit tighter about her. So much time had already passed, but tonight she would set in motion a plan to speed things up a bit.
The Culum Sercupio potion was akin to a love potion, not nearly as strong, and much more insidious. If brewed and administered properly, it made the subject more apt to desire to spend time with an individual or individuals, see them as an ally or friend, and adopt their point of view. It had never seen wide use as generally it was easier and faster to be nice to someone, pay them in gold or favours, or blackmail them to get them to do what you wanted. The potion took a long time to administer, weeks or months, which on the plus side made it less likely to be noticed by the subject's associates, friends, and family, but also made it more difficult to administer properly. Another drawback was the expensive ingredients, but Bellatrix had spent the last several weeks cataloguing everything she needed from Slughorn's stores and she was fairly certain she could 'disappear' some without him noticing. She had everything she needed except one ingredient, the most important one, time. The main drawback of Culum Sercupio was that it required a year and a day to ferment before it was potent enough to be administered, and Bellatrix didn't have a year and a day to make Hermione trust her more. She needed something to speed the process up.
Bellatrix descended from the stone bridge to the ground but instead of heading straight for her destination, she followed the dirt path around the castle to the quidditch pitch and retrieved her broom from the locker rooms, then backtracked to where the trail split off and headed to the Forbidden Forest.
Over the course of her research for Winthrop's assignment last month, she'd discovered a Hag's Eye was an exceedingly rare and powerful magical stone, only created by the oldest and most powerful hags. Of its many properties, one was the ability to siphon its essence and speed up the brewing of magical potions. The problem was, hags were extremely dangerous, resilient, and wouldn't willingly part with an artefact they literally sacrificed an eye to create, and they didn't just walk around with them. So, the plan was simple. Find a hag with one eye in the Forbidden Forest, tag it with a tracker without it noticing, and then the next day when it would be weaker, sneak away from Hogsmeade, use the tracker to locate its lair during the day, and take the Hag's Eye. All without having her liver eaten or her blood drained. No problem. That's why she needed the broom. No way was she hanging about the Forest a second longer than she had to after encountering a one-eyed Hag in the middle of the night.
"Reducio," she whispered, waving her wand over the broom and shrinking it down until it could fit in a pocket of her robes. It probably wouldn't function at peak performance when she enlarged it again, but ninety percent of top speed was more than enough for tonight. At the edge of the field leading to the Forest, she stopped and peered into the heart of darkness, wand held loosely in one hand. The wind stirred creaks and groans from the wood of the old growth trees, and leaves had already started littering the grass near the border of the woods. All sorts of nasty critters lived in the Forest, not just hags. She'd heard some of the dementors from the battle of Hogwarts had escaped into the forest, as had a giant or two, and whatever remained of a colony of acromantulas. Bellatrix took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. She thought of her Lord, the way he smiled at her when she said something he agreed with, the way his breath had ghosted across her neck when he'd touched her forearm and stolen a glance while correcting her duelling posture. They were meant to be together, the pureblood Saviour and she, his queen. She'd told herself she'd go to the ends of the earth for him. If the book was to be believed, she'd been defeated by Molly Prewett just before her Lord had fallen a second and final time, but now she had a chance at revenge. Revenge against that stupid mudblood with her stupid extra credit project, and her stupid friends Potter and Weasley, who'd stolen the life she should have had.
Bellatrix strode into the Forbidden forest like she owned the place, quickly leaving the fields behind and embracing the darkness as the trees welcomed her with open branches. The trail led deeper into the woods and she walked briskly but with her senses alert for any dark creatures looking for a snack. Some of the trees were already nearly bare while others still had most of their leaves, which made for areas of light and dark on the forest floor. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck and she slowed her steps. Eventually she'd have to move off the trail but she wanted to get a-
Her thoughts were interrupted by the twang of a bowstring and she reflexively ducked her head and threw up a shield. The massive bolt embedded itself a foot deep into a tree next to her, and she looked off to the right to see the shadowy half-man, half-horse shape of a centaur standing on a small ridge about thirty feet off the trail, reloading his weapon.
"Why are you here, human?" he asked, his voice a deep baritone, "this part of the forest is off limits to your kind."
He finished reloading and aimed his crossbow at her again.
"I have no quarrel with you, centaur," Bellatrix replied, "I seek to rid the forest of a Dark creature. Do you know of a one-eyed Hag in these woods?"
The centaur stomped the ground twice with one foreleg.
"A Hag not an enemy to be trifled with," the centaur replied, "even we centaurs leave them be, and they us. I will not risk your magical blood fuelling their foul rituals. Now, begone from this place, ere the next arrow finds your heart."
"Bollocks," Bellatrix thought, "going to have to do this the hard way."
She took a deep breath.
"Shame your hands can't reach all the way 'round, you filthy hybrid. I can smell your arse from here," she shouted.
The bow twanged again but Bellatrix was ready for it, batting the bolt aside and coiling neatly into a counter attack.
"Confringo!" she shouted, a grin spreading across her lips.
The top portion of the ridge exploded in a shower of dirt, roots, and rocks, and the centaur struggled to maintain his balance. A second bowstring twanged off to her left, and she swung around and dropped to one knee just a split-second too late. A line of fire seared its way across her upper arm as the crossbow bolt grazed her.
"Okay, two could be a problem," she thought.
"Lumos Maxima!" she shouted, closing her eyes as she threw a ball of searing white light into the air.
A giggle escaped her lips as she heard the centaurs grunting in pain as they were temporarily blinded. Bella cancelled the spell and opened her eyes; the first centaur was down near the trail from the ridge, still wiping at his face.
"Confundo, Expelliarmus, Incarcerous," she said, quickly disarming and binding the first centaur.
"Stupefy," she added, stunning him with a red beam for good measure.
She heard hooves coming at her from the side and dove backwards, narrowly missing being trampled as the second centaur charged towards her voice.
"Diffindo!" she shouted from the ground. She figured with four hooves going by she ought to hit at least one.
She was rewarded with a whinny of pain as the second centaur crashed into the brush and rose gingerly, keeping one rear leg off the ground, nearly severed just above the hoof. Bella took the moment to check her wound and found she was bleeding. Not badly, but the arrow had torn her robes and shirt and her fingertips came away dark in the moonlight. She grit her teeth and growled.
"You dare draw a witch's blood?" she asked, circling her wand in a shrinking spiral shape ending in straight jab, "Anescere!"
A bolt of bright green lightning leapt from Bellatrix's wand and arced straight between the centaur's empty hands, held up in a defensive posture, and hit him in the stomach. At first nothing happened, but then the man-horse started screaming in horrible, high-pitched panic. It quickly became a gurgle as skin flaked away and dark liquid poured from the small hole that appeared where the spell had struck him. Hands scrabbled at the widening wound but he only succeeded in pulling away chunks of flesh and bone. The centaur collapsed, twitching, to the ground and his gurgling screams became an extended wet rattle as his body quickly lost its structure, hollowed out, and collapsed on itself. In less than a minute, only a pile of dust and bones, a few tufts of hair, and four decayed hooves remained next to a broken crossbow.
"Merlin's. Fucking. Balls." Bellatrix thought, wand loosely held at her side and mouth partially agape.
She wanted to heave up her dinner. She wanted to cackle in exultation. She wanted to dance on what remained of his corpse, and she wanted to run screaming back to the castle and take a shower or three. When the Dark Lord had taught her that spell, he'd instructed her that she wasn't to use it except in extreme circumstances, or where there were no witnesses, and having just seen the results, he was NOT kidding. She could only imagine what the spell would do to an actual human.
She shook her head and snapped herself out of whatever had come over her. She had a job to do, and the effectiveness of the spell her soulmate had taught her was just one more reason she needed to press on with her grand plan. She quickly healed the cut on her arm with a muttered episky, then walked up to the captured and unconscious centaur.
"Rennervate, Imperio," she said, waking the centaur up and immediately attacking his mind, "Tell me where the one-eyed Hag lives."
The centaur fought the curse for a few seconds, but he was no match for a fully trained witch, much less one of Bellatrix's talent and skill, and his features relaxed and eyes glazed over as he fell to her assault.
"To the East, past the centre of the forest," he replied.
"Lead me there, take a safer route, and avoid centaur territory," she said.
He immediately tried to stand, and Bellatrix released him from her binding spell, cautious of a trick. She relaxed slightly as the centaur started walking back the way she'd come, before leaving the path and circling around to the south. She was struck by just how large the beast was; she wasn't even able to see over the top of his horse's back. The forest looked much the same to Bellatrix as they walked, except for some broken silk webs high up in the trees to their right.
"This must be where the acromantulas made their nests, or at least the edge of their territory," she thought, "supposedly a number of them perished in the battle, so it's not surprising the webs are now in tatters. Good riddance."
They passed by a small, dark metal cage hanging from a tree branch, containing a small skeleton. Bellatrix thought it was a house elf skeleton at first glance, but as she looked closer, she thought it might be a leprechaun.
"This is the edge of the hag's territory," the centaur said.
"Okay, stop," Bellatrix said, and the centaur complied.
What should she do with the centaur... She didn't exactly want to kill him, but she couldn't leave him wandering around the forest when he might break out of her spell at any time.
"Return to your camp, act normally after that," she said. He turned to comply and she aimed her wand carefully.
"Obliviate," she said, hitting him in the back of the head with the invisible spell. She wiped his memory of the past few hours and let him keep walking. Bellatrix waited until she could no longer hear the sound of his hooves before disillusioning herself, withdrawing her broom and enlarging it and mounting. She straddled the shaft and rose slowly into the air until she spotted the glow of a small fire a few hundred feet ahead. Quietly, she descended back to the ground, shrank her broom again, and cast a silencing spell on her feet. Now on silent footsteps, she crept around leaves in the general direction of the fire she'd seen. Near a break in the forest, she spotted the fire and froze, looking for the hag. She heard low voices, too far away to make out any specifics, and strained her ears to figure out where they were coming from. Heart pounding, she crept closer, then froze at the edge of a clearing.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she thought as she spied not one, but three hags huddled over what looked like a several unlit candles placed at even intervals around them. A ritual. They were probably working on runic inscriptions on the ground. The hags themselves looked like decrepit old women dressed in rags, with spindly arms that were too long for their bodies. They hunched over the ground, their backs forming humps like turtle shells. Bellatrix couldn't see them from here, but she knew their fingers ended in claws, and they were terribly strong, their strength enhanced by the blood magic that sustained their existence.
Bellatrix released her quietus spell; she needed the tracker to be perfect and a silent casting just wasn't going to cut it. She waited patiently to see which one of the hags had only one eye, and got her chance when the one facing her direction stood up straight and sniffed the air, a gaping hole where one of her eyes should have been. The hag's long nose somewhat resembled a rotting carrot. Thin and scraggly white and grey hair fell to her waist.
Bellatrix glanced to her arm. Damn, should have scourgified the clothing! Nothing for it now…
"Tacet indago," Bellatrix whispered, hitting the hag with the invisible tracking spell.
She was about to cast her silencing spell again when the hag spoke.
"Come closer dear," the hag said, waving her hands in a come-hither motion, "it's been so long since we've tasted the flesh and drank the blood of a young witch."
Bellatrix tried to back away but found a bank of fog had encircled the entire clearing. She could push through the first foot or two, but after that it formed what might as well have been a solid barrier. Slowly the circle of fog began to constrict, inexorably driving her to the treeline at the edge of the clearing despite her boots sliding against the forest floor.
Bellatrix wasn't sure she could take one hag at night, much less three. She looked up to see the stars above, and the edge of the moon above the fog, which all but glowed in its silvery light. Quickly, Bellatrix pulled out the broom again and enlarged it with just a few feet of cover remaining. She mounted the broom and hovered, letting the fog push her forward.
"Bombarda Maxima," she said, aiming for the centre of the ritual circle. She was hoping for some volatile ingredients but no luck there. Fortunately, the resulting bang and ruining of the inscriptions was enough to distract the hags long enough for Bellatrix to fly out of the woods, corkscrewing up into the air, cackling like a madwoman as she did so. She just had to get over the top of the fog and she was home free. A bolt of lightning flew up from the forest floor, narrowly missing and leaving a large purple after-image on her sight, and causing her hair to dance on end. She aimed her wand down below again and fired blindly.
"Confringo," she crowed, casting another blasting curse more to sow confusion than anything else. A wave of frost was the response. She felt the numbing cold through her boots and her broom became sluggish as the bristles iced over, but then she was away, skimming low over the treetops and laughing out loud. As the euphoria of the skirmish faded, she quieted down and oriented herself by the position of the moon to fly back to the castle. About halfway back, the adrenaline of the encounter with not one, but three hags, caused her hands and legs to start shaking. She managed to land back at the window ledge above the courtyard, shrank the broom, scourgified and repaired her robes, and made her way back to the Gryffindor common room, trying not to break into a sprint with all the excess energy she now had. The hour was extremely late, or early, and the castle still slept soundly, so once again she made it through the corridors without encountering anyone. After closing and locking the dormitory door, she breathed a sigh of relief. She'd actually done it! Then the door to the loo opened, flooding the room with light. Ginny Weasley stood blinking in the doorway, clad in her pink nightdress.
"Julia," she said, looking her up and down, "where were you?"
Julia recovered quickly and cocked a smirk.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she said.
Ginny shook her head.
"Don't get caught," she mumbled, stumbling back to bed and drawing the curtains of her four-poster closed again.
The first part of Bellatrix's plan more or less a success, she now needed to get some rest before going Hag hunting the following day. Unfortunately, her hands still shook from the fighting earlier in the evening, and she knew sleep would be impossible. She decided to take a long, hot shower. Now that she was out of immediate danger, the way that centaur had died kept replaying over and over in her mind. The horrible screams of the dying beast, the way the massive body had just collapsed in a cloud of dust. Despite the hot streams of water nearly scalding her skin or the viciousness with which she scrubbed, her skin still felt clammy and gritty. Long after when her fingertips resembled prunes, she stepped from the shower and towelled off before heading back to bed, stepping on the carpet and avoiding the cold, bare stone floor. Hermione wasn't in her bed, but Bellatrix put up wards anyway; it was a good habit to get into.
Bellatrix tossed and turned for what seemed like over an hour. She must have fallen into a fitful sleep at some point because she woke up with a start and pulled the curtains back to see sunlight streaming into the dormitory. Hermione and Ginny's beds were both empty, and Bellatrix reached for her wand. A quick tempus charm told her it was mid-morning, and she vaulted out of bed. Most of the castle would have headed down to Hogsmeade already, and breakfast would be long over. She took advantage of being alone in the dorm room to change into robes right there, without the inconvenience of ducking into her bed or the loo. Before she left for brunch, she retrieved several stasis bottles she'd charmed from her trunk and stowed them in a small silk pouch with an undetectable extension on it. She then strapped on her holster from the night before and exited Gryffindor tower with a purposeful stride.
The castle was all but deserted except for the first and second years, as most of the older students took advantage of the sunny weather. The crisp autumn day was likely to be one of the last to enjoy the outdoors before winter gripped the countryside. Bellatrix made the familiar trek to Hogsmeade and stopped by the Three Broomsticks, ordering a coffee and a Continental breakfast from the attractive middle-aged bartender. The place was nearly deserted, but she did spot Neville Longbottom and Julie Parks sitting together at one of the booths, engrossed in conversation.
"Good for him," Julia thought to herself as she sipped her coffee.
He caught her looking at him and she raised her cup with a knowing grin. He smoothly gave her a small wave out of Park's line of sight before going back to making eye contact with his date and smiling. Good boy.
She smirked and drained her cup, dropped a few coins on the table, and carried her croissant with her as she left. Bellatrix walked around the back of the building, checked to make sure she wasn't being watched, then twirled her wand about herself, disappearing from view. She knew the hag would be weakest in direct sunlight, so it would be best to find her when the sun was highest in the sky. Bellatrix strode to the edge of the village and cut across the field between Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest. Looking into the forest now, it was definitely a lot less foreboding during the day, but that was perhaps misleading because it was only slightly less dangerous. Bellatrix entered the forest from farther to the south than she had the previous night and hiked for several long minutes until she was sure she was out of sight.
She pulled out the broom again and enlarged it, then released her disillusionment charm.
"Sequitur navis," she said, releasing her wand. The wood levitated up about six inches from her hand, swivelled, and pointed to the east northeast. Bellatrix mounted the broom and rose above the treetops, again staying low and out of sight from anyone outside the forest and moving steadily towards where her tracking spell sent her. She repeated the spell several times until she came upon a small rocky mound in the forest. A few more muttered tracking spells pointed directly into the mound, and she knew she'd found the hag's lair. She summoned a pinecone from the forest floor, transfigured it into a porcupine, and dropped it onto the rocky miniature hillock. The creature bounced and rolled a few times, but it didn't spontaneously combust.
"Perhaps the hag is relying on staying hidden to keep it safe during the day?" Bellatrix thought.
Bellatrix slowly descended to land on top of the mound, then shrank her broom and walked around the earth and stone structure. It was perhaps fifty feet across and about twenty feet high, covered in moss in places, but she didn't see anything resembling an entrance. She tapped her wand against her thigh as she felt her patience evaporating like a snowball in front of fiendfyre.
"Screw this," she thought.
She sent several cutting hexes up into the branches above the mound, switching to reductor curses where the wood was too thick, and cleared away all the remaining leaves so the sun shone down cleanly on the hag's hiding place, then she stood back about twenty feet.
"Knock knock," she said, aiming directly at the side of the small hillock, "Confringo."
The blasting curse smashed into the mound, blowing chunks of rock and dirt into the air and revealing a hollow darkness within the structure. The debris hadn't even fallen to the ground when a huge gout of flame spewed forth from the mound, and Bellatrix's eyes widened. She dove to the side and felt the wave of heat pass by, and she knew the woods behind her had started burning. Quickly she ran around to the side of the mound to get out of sight of the hole. Thick undergrowth snagged her robes but luckily no more fire spewed out of the mouth of the small cave.
"Aguamenti," she said, dousing her boots, which were smoking vigorously.
"Right, get the sunlight shining down on her," she thought.
"Reducto, Bombarda, Evanesco," she said, this time aiming at the top of the mound. She moved around to the back of the mound after loosening it up with the more powerful spells, using her wand to levitate large boulders off the top and vanishing clumps of dirt until the entire top of the mound was gone.
Then she cautiously clambered up the side and peered over the lip, wand ready. The room below was covered in dirt, but she could make out some wooden furniture and what looked like blood stains on the floor. She took a step closer to try and find the hag when a pair of strong hands grabbed her foot from the darkness beneath the edge of the lip of the hovel and pulled, hard. Bellatrix realized her mistake immediately; the low angle of the autumn sun wasn't enough to cover the room completely. She only had time for a wordless cushioning charm and she wasn't even sure if that had any effect because she landed painfully on her back on some kind of bird's cage, her weight bending it completely out of shape. The one-eyed hag leered at her from the darkness against the wall, rows of razor-sharp pointed teeth appearing behind her lips as they peeled back in a feral grin. Up close, her skin was patched, greenish and brown, peeling and flaking off in places. Her rags only barely covered her form, both her hands and feet ended in wicked claws, and she reeked like brackish seawater.
Bellatrix raised her wand but the hag twisted her ankle painfully and clamped her jaws down on her foot. Bellatrix heard herself scream as she felt her flesh tear and the delicate bones in her foot snapped. The hag's grubby hand grabbed a fistful of Bellatrix's thigh and began dragging her into the shade. Bella saw her life and dreams ending right there in this hovel in the woods; she knew she was done for if she let herself be dragged into the shadow.
"CRUCIO!" she yelled, and the red beam hit its mark, causing the hag to release its own scream of pain and arch its back to an impossible degree. Unbelievably, the one-eyed hag fought through the pain and snapped its fingers, causing a whip of flame to appear in one hand.
"Levicorpus!" Bellatrix said, lifting it up into the air, and herself along with it by the hand that was still clamped around her ankle. She flicked her wand, urging them both higher. As soon as they hit the sunlight above the wall, the fire vanished but the Hag wasn't done yet. It snapped its fingers, causing Bella's robes to ignite, and started raking the claws of its free hand across Bellatrix's exposed calf, drawing lines of blood. Bellatrix growled and severed the limb holding her with a wordless cutting hex and crashed heavily to the ground again.
"Aguamenti," she said, dousing herself again before picking the severed limb from her ruined leg, tossing it aside, and standing up unsteadily on one leg. She raised her wand at the hag again, now helplessly suspended upside down in the sunlight, unable to perform magic despite repeatedly snapping its fingers. Green blood spattered the ground from her severed hand.
"Wait, wait," the hag rasped, holding out its remaining hand, "I will give you what you want, knowledge, power, please!"
"I want you to fucking die. Anescere!" Bellatrix said, performing the complex wand motions again.
The green lighting forked from her wand, and the hag shrieked in agony before disintegrating and falling to the ground in pieces and clouds of dust. Bellatrix covered her mouth but still breathed some in.
"Oh Merlin, that's vile," she thought as she coughed bits of disintegrated hag from her lungs.
She sat down on the dust and soil covered wooden floor and realized there was now a small pool of blood around her shredded boot. No way was she going to be able to heal this on her own.
She patched herself as best she could with a quick episky and transfigured the laces to pull themselves tight to try and stop further blood loss. Looking above, she used her wand to cut a branch and fashion a crutch out of it, then hauled herself back to her feet and hobbled about a bit. The robe was a lost cause but it had done its job and mostly protected her from the flames. She discarded it into the dust.
"Accio Hag's eye," she said, figuring to try her luck. Nothing happened, not that she expected it to. In hindsight, she probably should have demanded the hag's eye before killing her. She started rifling through what remained of the hag's home. Runes and symbols were carved into the walls, some with blood, and several candlesticks sat on a table, each holding a different sized severed finger from what looked like various races ranging from house elves to what could only have been a giant's toe. Wooden shelves fastened to one wall contained several jars filled with various substances or body parts, including one which was filled with eyeballs. Unfortunately, none of the jars were labelled, but one of them had fallen and broken open during the fight, and Bella could see it was filled with dozens of bloody extracted teeth. The cage she'd fallen on held the smashed skeleton of what might have been a bird at one point. It was difficult to tell with the bones scattered across the floor. An overturned cauldron had sat in the centre of the room at one point, but it was empty.
Against the wall still in shadow where the hag had ambushed her, a small, crudely fashioned and blood-stained stone altar sat alone. Set atop the altar, directly in the centre, was an odd looking dark coloured stone. Bellatrix limped over to it carefully, casting a few diagnostic spells as she went. She didn't see any wards or traps, but one could never know. The stone seemed to be important to the hag somehow, which meant that it could be valuable. There was a small crack running down the centre of the stone, and she used a piece of bone to turn it over. Bellatrix gasped and her eyes widened as she saw what was on the other side of the stone. It was the symbol, the same triangle and circle symbol that was on that fucking metal frame she'd been locked in the sub-vault with for almost four months. Immediately she knew this stone was important somehow and she pulled out one of the stasis jars she'd prepared for just this possibility. She opened the jar and held it over the stone, and it weightlessly rose into the jar and stayed there, suspended from the edges of the jar. Bellatrix snapped the jar shut and stowed it in her silk pouch, the stone moving with the jar, never touching the sides.
"Where the fuck is that symbol from, I know I've seen it somewhere…" she thought to herself as she rummaged around the rest of the hovel, searching for the Hag's eye. When the throbbing in her foot grew to a point where she could barely stand it, and the sun had moved across most of the sky and afternoon was threatening to turn into sunset, she decided to give it up as a lost cause. The one-eyed hag didn't have a hag's stone; perhaps she'd consumed it already.
Before she left, Bellatrix vanished up any blood she might have left on the ground; no need for either of the other two hags to find it and use it in some kind of nasty revenge ritual. She enlarged her broom again and swung her injured leg over the shaft, taking one last look around the former hag's lair. She looked down at the ruined dwelling, feeling like the job was incomplete. The fire that had started when the fight began had long since burnt out, but it gave her an idea. She summoned all the branches she'd cut down earlier, used her wand to stack them in the mound, and set them on fire with a few incendios. As smoke began to curl up above the former hag's hole, Bellatrix rose above the treetops and chased the sinking sun back towards the castle, flying slowly, fighting off the tiredness she knew was from blood loss. The chill air helped keep her awake until she made it to the entrance where she waved to several students returning from Hogsmeade.
"Julia?" Neville said, "what happened, are you alright?"
Julia looked over to see both Neville and Parks looking up at her, concern etched across their faces. Julia noticed Parks had her arm wrapped about Neville's elbow.
"Oh hey Neville," she said, surprised at how much she slurred her words, "yeah m'fine, just a little workout."
"You need to get to the Hospital Wing, right away," he said.
"Yeap, headin' there now," she said, inching through the double doors, still on her broom.
"I think I should come with you," he said.
"You gonna carry me if I fall off my broom?" she asked, swaying unsteadily.
"Careful, your girlfriend might get jealous," she said in a stage whisper.
"Oh, hiya Parks," she added, waving to the Gryffindor prefect. Parks just looked back at her with a mixture of shock and concern.
Neville's face reddened slightly, but he took the front of Julia's broom and towed her to the Infirmary.
"Madame Pomfrey?" Neville said, "Julia's been hurt."
The matron came bustling over.
"Oh my word," she said, "what happened?"
"Not sure," Neville said, "but she's bleeding pretty badly."
"Bit of exercise is all," Julia said, "Pomfrey, got any blood lying around? I seem to have misplaced most of mine."
Her vision had started to tunnel, and Julia knew she would pass out soon, which would be exceedingly bad if the disguise she'd created faded.
Madam Pomfrey levitated Julia off her broom and onto a bed, then fed her a pair of blood replenishing potions, which she sucked down greedily. Almost immediately she started feeling like herself again.
"Thank you Mr. Longbottom, Miss Parks," Pomfrey said, "she'll have to remain overnight."
"Right," Neville said, "feel better Julia."
Parks echoed his sentiment and the two of them departed.
"My foot's injured," Julia said.
"What happened to your foot?" Pomfrey asked, vanishing her boot and sock to reveal the twisted and mangled flesh beneath. Her toes were definitely not supposed to be pointed in that direction.
"Bit by a wild… dog," Julia said.
She probably should have come up with a better cover story, but getting seriously injured wasn't part of the plan.
"A wild dog," Pomfrey said dubiously, "and your trousers are burnt because…?"
"Tried to burn the dog off me?" Julia said.
"These aren't ordinary wounds," Pomfrey said, gently lifting Julia's calf and waving her wand over the girl's mangled foot.
"Might have been a foul, cruel, bad-tempered, cursed dog," Julia mumbled.
"with nasty, big, pointy teeth… Look, can you fix it or not?" she asked.
Pomfrey frowned at Julia for a long moment but then bustled off to the other side of the infirmary. Julia heard the sound of glass clinking, and soon the nurse returned with a tray of cups and bottles.
"Drink this, and this, for the pain," she said, passing two vials to Julia, who drank them down without question.
Pomfrey then waved her wand over Julia's broken foot, and the bones snapped into place with a sickening crunching sound. Thanks to the potions, it was a mild discomfort rather than the excruciating pain it probably would have been otherwise. Pomfrey waved her wand over her bleeding foot a few times and made a frustrated humming sound.
"These aren't normal bite wounds, what actually caused these?" she asked.
"Evil dog," Julia replied.
Pomfrey narrowed her eyes at her again and returned to the other side of the infirmary mumbling about irresponsible students before returning with some crushed dittany in a dish, and a few rolls of bandages. Pomfrey laid the herb on the cuts caused by the Hag's teeth and Julia immediately felt a soothing coolness spread across the limb. She sighed involuntarily and lay back, surrendering to Pomfrey's ministrations as she carefully wrapped her foot and calf in white bandages.
"We'll check on this tomorrow," the nurse said, "now drink the rest of these and get some rest."
Julia did as she was told, recognising one of the potions as dreamless sleep. She immediately dozed off in the comforting care of Hogwarts' experienced nurse. She awoke to find the sun streaming in through the white curtains, and sat up to find a tray of potions next to her. She drank those down quickly and flexed her bandaged foot to find almost no pain. On the table next to her she saw a card, and picked it up.
Dear Julia,
I heard you were in the hospital wing and stopped by to visit but you were sleeping. Hope you feel better soon!
It was signed by Ginny and the rest of the quidditch team.
A carton of chocolate frogs sat next to the card, and Bellatrix couldn't help but notice there was no card from Hermione; the girl had probably not even realized she was injured, as obsessed as she was over her little project. Bella frowned. Now she had no hag's eye, and no desire to tangle with the two remaining hags in the Forbidden Forest, which meant no potion. She'd have to come up with another plan.
She spent the whole day in the infirmary, most of it sleeping off the exertions of the previous day combined with her missing several hours the night she confronted the three hags. She itched to study the stone she'd found in the hag's lair, but she couldn't take the chance while bedridden. She woke up when she heard Neville's voice asking after her.
"Will she be alright?" he asked.
"She should make a full recovery," Pomfrey replied.
"Hi Neville," Julia said, surprised at how weak her voice sounded.
"Hey, Julia," Neville said as he moved to her side, "how are you feeling?"
He glanced over his shoulder as Pomfrey attended a few other patients.
"Who did this to you?" he whispered, his expression serious.
Julia shook her head.
"Nobody," she replied, "it was my own fault. I wanted to explore the forest, got bit by one of the… things living in there."
Neville shook his head slowly.
"That's… why would you do that? You could have been killed," he said, "it's forbidden for a reason."
"Live and learn I suppose," Julia replied.
"Try to be a bit more careful, okay?" he said.
Julia nodded, and Neville hesitated before reaching out and patting her uninjured knee through the sheets and quickly left.
Thankfully, Madam Pomfrey saw fit to release her to her dorm rather than keep her a second night. Wearing an enlarged hospital slipper over her bandaged foot, Bellatrix hobbled her way up to the third floor before remembering she had her broom with her, and rode slowly the rest of the way up. It wobbled slightly with the weakened charms from having been repeatedly shrunk and enlarged, but it got the job done.
"Hey, no brooms in the hallway!" a portrait yelled at her, but she ignored it. Stupid painting.
She dismounted in front of the Fat Lady, shrank her broom again, and ducked her way into the common room, ignored everyone there, and went straight to the dorm to find it empty. She picked out fresh nightclothes and took a quick shower, using her wand to cast an impervious charm on the bandages to keep them dry. Then she limped back to her bed, pulled the curtains closed, warded herself in, set up a lumos charm so she could see, and carefully emptied the contents of the jar onto the bed. The stone dropped out onto her bedspread, looking like an ordinary rock. She cast a few diagnostic spells, but they revealed nothing. After checking for every kind of curse she could think of, Bellatrix carefully picked the stone up. Nothing happened. Then the dormitory's door opened.
"Julia, are you in here?" Ginny asked.
Julia stuffed the stone into the silk bag and shoved it under her pillow before cancelling the wards and opening the bedcurtains.
"Hi Ginny," she said.
"Hi. What happened, are you okay?" Ginny asked.
"I was bit by some kind of dog, in the Forbidden Forest," Julia said, "I know, I shouldn't have gone in there. Neville already gave me a talking to."
"Why would you go in there?" Ginny asked, "are you mental?"
"Hey! I'm not crazy, alright?" Julia said, pointing a finger at Ginny. She deliberately took a breath to steady herself as the redhead's eyes widened at her outburst. Quickly she thought of a plausible explanation.
"I just… I heard all the stories about Hogwarts. About you, and Harry Potter, and all," she said, "and I was homeschooled. I guess I wanted a bit of excitement is all. …suppose I got a bit more than I'd bargained for."
She did her best to look sheepish.
"Are you going to be alright for the match on Saturday, just in case?" Ginny asked.
Julia arched an eyebrow.
"Of course," she replied.
"Good," Ginny said, "I'm going to shower and turn in, let me know if you need anything. Oh, Wesley Michaels was looking for you at dinner. I told him you'd been hurt."
"Okay, thanks Ginny," Julia replied. That's right, it was Sunday. She was supposed to be tutoring Michaels today. She'd have to reschedule, only because not following through on her commitment would look bad to Hermione.
Bella drew her curtains closed again and stowed her wand in the cubby above her head. She didn't want to risk getting caught with the stone, so she'd have to wait until the next day to find a quiet place to continue inspecting it. What to do about Hermione… there was no way to get closer to her if she couldn't spend any time with her, and she wouldn't be able to spend time with her while the mudblood was working on that extra credit project.
"I'm going to have to do something about that project," she thought to herself. Still recovering from her injury, she slipped into a deep sleep.
The next week passed quickly. Bellatrix spent her free time holed up in a warded empty classroom, trying to figure out the secret of the stone with the circle and triangle symbol inscribed on it, but no matter what spell she cast or activation phrases she tried, nothing happened. When she wasn't inspecting the stone, she was in the library unsuccessfully scouring ever more obscure texts for the symbol carved on the stone, and pondering the issue of Hermione's project. Since the Golden Girl refused to let her know what the project was about, or even entertain the notion of letting her help, Bellatrix had decided to take matters into her own hands. She figured if Hermione suffered a setback, she'd be more likely to let Julia help. Normally it wouldn't be too difficult to arrange a small accident in a potions lab, but Hermione had warded hers, and Bellatrix didn't think she could break through, arrange a mishap, and get back out without Hermione or someone else figuring out the wards had been tampered with. That wouldn't do at all.
It was days of pondering before she hit on the solution. It happened when a house elf apparated into her room, picked up her laundry basket, and apparated out with a pop. She smacked her palm into her forehead with an audible slap.
"Idiot, the elves can apparate in Hogwarts," she thought, "and Hermione didn't ward her lab against apparition, because why would she?"
She knew the perfect time to make her move, too. 7th year Arithmancy, which Hermione attended but Bellatrix hadn't signed up for because it was boring as fuck the first time around, and because she'd learned in August that Ginny Weasley didn't take it, so she didn't sign up when requesting her classes.
That Friday, Bellatrix waited in an empty classroom until she was sure Hermione was in Arithmancy.
"Kreacher," she said.
The house elf appeared with a pop.
"Mistress Bella calls?" the elf said.
"Shh! Don't call me that here," Bellatrix said, looking around as if someone might hear her in the deserted room.
"Do you know about the second potions lab, the one Hermione Granger uses?" she asked.
"Kreacher knows of the place young miss speaks of, and of Harry Potter's friend Granger," Kreacher replied.
"Can you apparate me inside of the lab?" Bellatrix asked, a predatory grin spreading across her face.
Kreacher nodded.
"Take me there now," Bellatrix said, extending an arm to the ancient elf. Without a word, he grasped her by the wrist and side-alonged her into Hermione's potions lab. The structure of the room was as she remembered from her own schooldays, before the lab had gone out of use, but that was all that was the same. Blackboards on wheels lined the walls of the room, every inch of them covered in chalk: arithmancy equations, derivations, and charts. Bellatrix flipped one over to find the back side was also covered in chalk notes. She recognized some of the Arithmancy, but it was extremely complicated, way beyond NEWT level. Three of the tables held bubbling cauldrons, and three more had multiple ingredients in the process of being chopped, weighed, and separated. Another two tables held books, separated into piles of Herbology, Arithmancy, Potions, and Charms. On one side of the room, where the professor would normally lecture, a full-sized tent was pitched, taking up a good portion of the platform. The platform sat behind a separate ward, probably to protect the tent from any potions mishaps while Hermione was sleeping.
Bellatrix ignored everything and went straight to the storeroom. Inside, the ingredients were perfectly sorted and labelled in Hermione's neat script, much better than Sluggy was capable of. One side of the storeroom contained racks of ingredients that were already opened, and the other contained full jars or crates.
"Let's see, what do we have here…" Bellatrix thought, picking through the full jars, "Concentrated powdered erumpent horn, fire ivy, and salamander eggs, those will do nicely."
She moved some of the more volatile ingredients next to each other, pulled out some of the fire ivy, and, sealing it with a tiny bubblehead charm before it could ignite, wrapped it around a half-dozen salamander eggs. This she dropped into the full jar of powdered erumpent horn. When the bubblehead charm wore off, the fire ivy would burn, activating the salamander eggs. The eggs would burn even hotter than the ivy, in turn igniting the extremely volatile powdered erumpent horn. That should take care of most of the ingredients in the storeroom, and the cauldrons on the tables, setting the project back significantly. Hermione would be delayed for at least a week or two while the school purchased new supplies, during which time Bellatrix could convince her to accept an offer to help, or at least spend some time with her.
"Kreacher," Bellatrix said, and the elf reappeared with a pop.
"Take me back to the empty classroom, and you are never to inform anyone about bringing me here," she said.
"Kreacher hears and obeys," the house elf said, grasping her arm and side-along apparating her to the classroom as instructed.
"Thank you Kreacher," Bellatrix said, "you're free to resume your duties."
The elf nodded and popped away again, while Bellatrix made her way to the Great Hall to make sure she was seen when the explosion happened. All she had to do now was wait…