Chapter 13: Fuck Around and Find Out

Neville Longbottom frowned as he entered his common room, every time he entered here he couldn't help but be a bit ashamed that he was a Gryffindor.

It was amazing how much that had changed since the beginning of the year.

He had never thought he'd be sorted in the house of the lions; he didn't think he was brave enough or good enough to be in his father's house.

He wasn't like his parents, yet somehow the hat had sorted him here. He remembered writing to Gran being so proud of himself and she had been so proud of him, but now…well, now he wished he was anywhere but here.

The year had started out normally enough. Like he expected, he was pretty bullocks when it came to magic.

Almost a squib, he thought, as he remembered his class performance. He didn't know how he was able to pull out an A average on most things except Herbology which was an O of course. It was true his theory was decent, Gran had insisted he knew how to write an essay before going to school, but his practicals had been hideous.

His dad's wand just didn't work and he always got so nervous when it came to Potions. He blamed Snape for that. He wasn't that bad at Potions when he worked with Gran at home.

His lackluster performance was his Gran's least concern about his experience in the school. In fact, after everything that happened this fall she said an A was a good score.

Everything that happened. Neville shuddered as he remembered the troll attack that killed two of classmates.

It had been the Halloween Feast, everything seemed so normal. Ron was eating a third or fourth helping and then a half hour later he was dead.

Harry died a month later.

He had never been that close to either of them. Harry was nice to him though, he helped get his remembrall back.

Go figure, for Draco Malfoy to try to steal something from him. It made sense his aunt had stolen his parents from him.

Inwardly, he grimaced as he thought of Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband, brother in-law, and Bartimus Crouch JR. The people who had tortured his parents to insanity.

He usually was able not to think of them, but he had visited his parents recently and it always made it worse.

His dad staring into space not moving an inch. His mother's constant moaning from the pain she still felt from that awful curse.

Neville could sort of feel for the Weasleys after Ron died and how they felt when they saw Granger, except she hadn't exactly cursed Ron to death.

She had just acted stupid, and Ron and Harry had tried to save her and got killed in the process.

He knew Granger was a know-it-all, but he didn't think she was stupid thinking she could fight a troll.

Yet, she had admitted it to Dumbledore, according to the rumor mill.

He remembered how angry everyone had been when they heard the news. It wasn't that Ron was especially liked, but the Weasley family was a core part of Gryffindor House. They were a legacy family. For generations they had all been sorted here. And then the fact that Harry Potter had been involved in the mess as well…well, it was no surprise the house was out for Granger's blood.

For the most part, he tried to stay out of it. He really didn't like what they were doing to Granger, but he understood it. He'd probably be reacting the same way if one of the Lestranges or Crouch had a kid, and they were attending Hogwarts. Still though, he didn't think he'd go as far as Percy went.

He still remembered finding out what had happened that the headboy had turned Granger into a rat and then Percy tried to kill her.

Because why else throw a cutting curse at her? Even though he knew a lot of his classmates thought the story was being over dramatized.

"I doubt Percy had been trying to kill her, "Lavender Brown said. "He's not a Slytherin for Merlin's sake. Granger must've gotten to Professor Dumbledore and ratted him out."

He ignored the bad pun. "Granger hasn't even been found yet. They said she fled the common room."

"Probably because she realized she didn't belong," Lavender said with a shrug ignoring the part about Percy allegedly cutting off part of her ear and tail. "I'm sure she'll be fine. Besides, I really don't care about Granger. Did you hear about the guy that was discovered in the common room?"

Peter Pettigrew.

Oh yes, he heard how a death eater had been in their dorm room and Gran had flipped out when she heard about that. She had made him see the family healer over break, for whatever reason Neville didn't know.

She seemed so relieved after his appointment. After that, he got asked why he had never done anything to help Granger.

It was such an odd question to ask. He didn't tell Gran that a part of him thought Granger deserved it because he knew that would upset her. And besides, he didn't think she deserved to be almost killed or turned into a rat, but he could understand not wanting her in their house.

None of the professors could understand that though.

The headmaster had been especially hard on the house. There was no way they were going to win the cup this year with the amount of points that had been taken away and most of the perpetrators had been given detention, suspended, or in the case of Percy and the headboy—expelled and charged with assault.

He remembered how upset Lavender was when she had been suspended same with Parvati. They didn't see how destroying Granger's things and giving her the hair removal tonic warranted such punishment.

"We didn't do anything wrong; this is going on my permanent record!" Parvati said. "I don't understand why the rat had to be such a bitch about it. My entire life is now ruined. All that happened to her was she lost a couple of books and is going to be bald for a few months."

However, Professor Dumbledore's punishments were nothing compared to what McGonagall did to them when she got back from sabbatical.

Their head of house was probably the strictest professor in the school. Yes, Snape was scary and awful, but if you were a Slytherin he was extremely lenient on you. McGonagall not so much.

She had stripped the house of any of its privileges, which meant they weren't even allowed to compete for the quidditch cup amongst other things. Hogsmeade visits for third years and above were gone for the year. Other than going to the library, everyone was expected to be in the tower when it wasn't time for meals or classes.

No one was happy.

Of course, when anyone tried to argue she'd assign them with detention. Not that he was surprised, he knew better than arguing with the professor. She was one of his Gran's friends and you didn't argue with Gran. Which was probably the only reason McGonagall hadn't been ousted as head of house or deputy headmistress yet. .

His Gran was constantly griping about how Lucius Malfoy planned on using McGonagall's initial inaction against her.

"It's completely ridiculous," She had told Hortense Abbot— another member of the board and cute little Hannah Abbot's grandmother. "He wants to oust Minerva of all people. Minerva!"

"Well, he may have a point about her not doing her head of house duties." Hortense said, "The girl was almost killed, Augusta. And they still don't know if they'll ever be able to transform her back. I heard Amelia is keen to press being status charges if that needed in the case. Those can carry the death sentence, you know. And with that man in the dormitories…"

"I know, but it's Minerva. I suspect Jaime might be the reason she didn't intervene like she normally would."

"Ah, yes, the godson. How could I forget. James Potter."

It made sense. He could understand why McGonagall also thought Granger had deserved it too because Harry Potter was involved. He remembered how she had constantly reprimanded and took points away from Granger those first few weeks after the troll incident telling her to not make a fuss.

It had really backfired on them all.

In all, it made for a lousy semester, not even the fact that Professor Snape had taken an unexpected sabbatical helped improve the mood.

It probably didn't help that the newest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was even worse than Quirrell, if that was even possible.


The winter term had only started a week ago, and Albus was already thinking this term was going to be just as awful as the last.

He had dealt with Tom and the stone over the holidays but could not find an adequate replacement for a job no one wanted. This had allowed Cornelius to appoint Dolores who was in no way qualified for the job.

Not that anyone would say Tom was much better qualified, but at least he attempted not to annoy Dumbledore to his face like Dolores did. She had already attempted to implement a half a dozen rules in the week she had been here. And he had already had half a dozen complaints about her teaching style, especially from the fifth and seventh years. At least Tom had attempted some practical studies in the course.

Dolores, however, was only part of the headache he had. Severus had demanded a sabbatical with very little notice. In fact, he hadn't told Albus to his face that he was leaving. Albus had just received an owl over the holidays stating that he was picking up his things and would let him know over the summer if he wished to continue his employment at the school.

Which left him and the other professors to teach Potions for the time being since he had not had time to find a replacement. And every single professor who had handled Potions thus far had informed Albus just how behind the students were.

He knew Severus wasn't the best teacher, the man had admitted as much, but it was no wonder that OWL scores NEWT scores had dropped so much when they found out he was just essentially just copying recipes on the board and providing little to no instruction.

However, his staffing woos were the least of his problems. There of course were the ongoing investigations. They had not stopped just because he had rid the school of Tom and with Ms. Granger's situation and Peter Pettigrew turning up in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, there were yet even more investigations. And now a lawsuit…

Emma Granger was suing the school.

He had halfway expected that an actual lawsuit if any would have been filed by the Weasleys, but they never had sued and now they probably wouldn't given young Percy's situation and the fact that the twins had only escaped serious disciplinary action by the fact that they had given him that map.

Ingenious invention that map—he frowned as he thought about the four students who had made it. James Potter dead before his time. Sirius Black imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. Remus had been gone for years. And then Pettigrew.

He had been there at the man's hearing. Heard of all the awful things he had done. He would've never thought the man had been capable of such evil. He wasn't one for the barbaric punishments that the ministry had to offer for offenses such as Pettigrew's, but in this case he wasn't going to be too upset when the inedible happened and the kiss was performed.

He also didn't understand how he didn't realize that Hermione Granger was the man's niece. Then again, he wasn't that surprised that the Pettigrews never advertised the fact they had a squib daughter.

And it seemed like Emma Granger really didn't want much to do with their world, or him. He had tried seeing the girl a couple of times since she had been transferred to St. Mungo's, but like with young Harry he was not allowed access to the girl's room. In fact, he had been served with a restraining order when the lawsuit had been filed against the school.

It had been filed by Ted Tonks, Andromeda's husband. He had a vague recollection of the jolly Hufflepuff, but there was nothing in this lawsuit that was jolly.

He guessed he should just be glad that suing the school would've been a conflict of interest for Lucius since he was a member of the board. Though, he was finding out that Ted was no pushover.

Fuck around and find out, that was what Ted had told him when he had contacted him in an effort to try to be reasonable.

It wasn't the school's fault for Ms. Granger's situation, that belonged to Mr. Waller and Mr. Weasley both who he had turned into the ministry.

Because you had no choice.

It was true, he did feel a little guilty about it. Both boys' futures were now ruined, but Ms. Granger was in such a state where he couldn't exactly have given them a detention and call it a day.

He frowned as he thought about his former house. Minerva had not been happy when she had returned from the break when she learned what happened and the entire house was more or less under house arrest for the rest of the semester, but that wasn't good enough for Emma Granger.

He had thought about talking to her at Peter's hearing and mentioning that he could possibly get a more sympathetic sentence to her brother, until he noticed she seemed to be rolling her eyes at everything Peter said. That and she refused to talk to him.

All attempts of speaking to her were ignored, and then he got served with a restraining order the next day.

He didn't understand why she had to be difficult.

That day of Pettigrew's hearing had been a difficult day all around considering the boys were arraigned that day as well and then there were the Dursleys…

He grimaced thinking of the Dursleys' trial and what poor Harry had endured. Normally, he would argue that Azkaban wasn't a place for muggles, but they might be the exception.

He'd never forgive himself for what he had done to the boy and just like with Ariana he'd never be able to atone for his sins.


"The freak deserved it!"

It didn't matter how much she told the muggle to shut the fuck up, she kept screaming that over and over again.

She wanted to kill the bloody bitch.

A muggle.

Dursley.

That was all she knew about her. It wasn't like Bella was going to talk to her, she despised muggles.

She might've cursed the woman though if she had a wand with the way she talked about her kind.

"Needed to learn a lesson," The woman said. "No one else was going to do it. So what if he got smacked around a little. Brat deserved it."

"You abused a child," She found herself hissing. "Filthy muggle."

She didn't really wish to interact with anyone, but here she was interacting with her muggle cellmate—a bloody child abuser apparently.

It made her see red her regained sanity seemed to be draining fast.

"Was a freak like you, the boy bloody deserved it." The woman hissed. "It's not my fault he got clobbered by a troll. He's dead because of your kind not mine. If that bitch of a sister mine never got herself blown up…"

And they said she was insane.

Well, she probably was, but she was not like that. Or at least not now.

It was hard to rationalize that she lucid again most days or as lucid as you could be in Azkaban.

The dementors still got to her. The memories now were different. She always remembered being hit by the Potter bitch and screaming and then him touching her…she would wretch afterwards.

Not that there was much to wretch up.

"Perfect, perfect, Lily."

Wait Lily?

She looked at her cellmate with a little more interest now. There wasn't that much resemblance to the redhead bitch, but she did notice a few similarities. The stuck up attitude for one thing and they did had the same disapproving look on their face. Of course, Lily Potter hadn't been horse faced. No, perfect Lily…

Keep it together, Bella, she told herself as she tried to focus on the woman….trying to remember what her name might've been. She knew Siri had mentioned it once. It was some sort of flower…Petunia, that was it.

"I didn't want to be stuck with her brat," Petunia hissed.

Ah, yes, Harry Potter, Bella thought, feeling a smidgen of jealousy that Lily had a child and she didn't.

Not hers.

Bella shook the thought out of the back of her head, it was insanity. The boy wasn't hers. She knew that much. She knew her baby had been taken from her.

"Siri isn't here, Potter."

"His name's Sirius,"

She rolled her eyes. She didn't know why Potter thought she needed to correct Bella when it came to her husband's own name.

"I didn't come to see Sirius, I came to see you."

Bella raised an eyebrow, she and Potter weren't exactly best chums by any means. Honestly, she didn't really want to let her into her house something felt off. "I don't have time for this, Potter. Maybe another time."

Before she knew it Potter had her wand at and had fired something at her and then she had let her into her house. The next thing she remembered was screaming in agony. Her baby. And then no more.

Had Potter hit her with the imperius?

She didn't think she would've, but she wouldn't have thought Potter would've had hit her with whatever it was that caused her to lose her baby.

Her son.

And now apparently Potter's son was dead as well. Killed by her own sister from the sound of it.

Bella couldn't help but laugh. She might've wanted to kill that bitch. But karma worked in strange ways.


She felt so weak.

Sev said it had been ten years.

Ten years since that night. She didn't know how she had survived she remembered screaming, begging for Harry's life when he had cornered her and thrown Severus's favorite curse at her.

Sectumsempra.

Quite a nasty curse, she remembered when Severus had started working on it. It was originally supposed to be a spell to help cut the most toughest of potion ingredients, instead it had evolved into something more violent.

She really didn't know how she was still alive. She remembered still somehow still being conscious that night when James had been hit with the killing curse trying to protect their son and then Harry…he had hit him with the curse as well.

Harry. Her baby.

The son she had fought so hard for. The son she had done things that…things she never thought capable of doing to have him.

She sighed heavily as she remembered what she had done. She'd never have any regrets about any of it, even though she knew by all accounts she had destroyed both Sirius and Bellatrix's life.

No. They weren't destroyed.

Bellatrix had twisted and contorted Sirius until he wasn't the same guy she knew back in Hogwarts. Sirius a healer? He was supposed to be James's best friend. She had kept him from joining the Order. Maybe if she hadn't James wouldn't have been hurt….maybe they could've had their child the normal way.

Not that James knew what she had done to have their child.

No one did.

Not even Sev.

Not that she had been on speaking terms with him then. She knew how he hated her marriage to James. A part of her even admitted that she hadn't exactly married James at first out of love, but that had changed.

The only one that had sort of an idea was that bitch and even she had been so crazy at that point, no one would've believed her not that she could say anything before she reinforced the charms she had done to her mind. It helped that her spells weren't the only ones done to keep her away from Sirius

Lily still couldn't believe she had to resolve to using such spells and potions, but there wasn't anything she would do for her family.

Her family that was now gone. James was dead and Harry…Sev wouldn't talk about him when she asked.

"You need to focus on yourself," He said. "I thought I lost you."

No, what she needed was her son. Alas, she could barely even speak let alone do anything else.


Chapter 14 Preview: Sirius writes a letter and Bella gets a visitor