A/N - Chapter 4. Mostly an exploration chapter, setting the stage for the next two years, which will pass by quickly as the board is set.
Previously:
Hermione was still scanning as she spoke. "Most witches and wizards who do accidental magic as a child will often cause things to happen that can't be explained. For instance, I used to call books down to myself that were on shelves I couldn't reach whenever I was frustrated."
A soft chuckle from Harry had Hermione give him a withering glare.
"But," she continued, "with someone with weaker magic - say, a squib - it's unlikely anything that overt would happen. It would be more likely that any accidental magic would be something small: say, for instance, stopping yourself from burning your mouth if you ate some really hot soup, or maybe general good health, or perhaps avoiding falling on a slippery surface."
Bella chuckled. "Well, that last one definitely never happened to me. I sort of had my own bed at the emergency room, I was a total klutz." But then she frowned. "But I also never got sick. I can't remember even having a cold, and I think my mom was the same."
Hermione smiled, waving the wand around her chest, and then moving it towards her right shoulder. As she did, a second prong lit up on the sensor, a dark, cobalt blue. "Hmm, this is interesting...," Hermione trailed off. She continued to move the wand down Bella's right arm, and a third light lit on the candelabra lit up.
Bella noticed Harry's small smile had turned into a frown, and Hermione's eyes had become sharper. "What is happening?" Bella asked, concerned at their expressions.
Hermione continued to move the wand down her arm, a fourth light now coming on. "I don't know how, but somehow, the sensor is picking up increasing levels of magic in your arm!" Her wand was near her elbow now, moving slowly downward. "The sensor is registering that you have strong magic, but only in your arm! It should not be possible, magic is generally evenly distributed all through a witch's body - that's why we can do things like re-attach lost limbs and heal incredibly quickly with magical potions - but I've never seen...," she trailed off again, as she finally had her wand right over Bella's wrist, and all five of the sensors and both of the small sensor arms were now a bright azure color.
"I...I don't understand," Hermione admitted. And then, without asking her first, she reached down for Bella's right hand and lifted it up, her wand pointed at Bella's wrist.
Too late, Bella realized what was happening, what they would see. But even as she went to pull her arm away, Hermione and Harry both gasped at what they saw on the bottom of Bella's right wrist.
A vampire bite.
Chapter 4
Bella looked up at the widened eyes of Harry and Hermione, and quickly jerked her hand backwards so hard that she upset her balance. She would have fallen had Harry suddenly not been stabilizing her, his arms wrapped around her like restraining bars.
Suddenly feeling inexplicably ashamed, Bella turned her face to the floor, her heart thudding in her chest; she was well aware Harry could feel her sudden tenseness, and a heavy silence fell over the room, Bella's thundering heart the loudest sound by far.
Even as Bella waited for the inevitable questions and accusations, she felt suddenly angry. Bella hated that bite; hated what it represented, hated what had happened to her, hated that she was marked forever by it.
"Bella?" Harry's voice cut into her mental rant with much less heat than she expected. "Can you look at me, please?"
Reluctantly, Bella raised her eyes, meeting the green emeralds that were looking at her with concern from just a few inches away.
They stared at one another for a few moments, the restless presence of Hermione forgotten, their eyes locked as Bella's expression begged for patience and understanding.
When she was convinced that Harry's eyes held none of the incrimination she had half-expected to see there, she finally let out a shaky breath. "I guess I should explain?"
Bella glanced over at Hermione, who also finally relaxed her tense posture, though Bella noted that she clutched her wand tightly and her eyes were roaming Bella's face, many questions lurking behind those chestnut eyes.
"An explanation would be good, yes," Harry replied. "Besides the fact that you are obviously not a vampire - though hopefully you can explain that one to us - I suspect those 'animal drinking' vampires of yours were not as harmless as you led me to believe?"
Even as Hermione gasped - clearly Harry had not given away any of Bella's secrets apparently - Bella became more animated. "No!" she said firmly. "They didn't bite me, not at all. The opposite in fact - they saved me!" When she saw Harry and Hermione's confused expression, she stepped out of the brace of Harry's arms and took a step backwards so she could clearly see both he and Hermione at once. "I was attacked by another vampire, and two of...my friends...killed him while another sucked the venom from my wrist, like sucking poison from a snake bite."
Harry reared back from that revelation, and Bella looked over at Hermione to see her mouth open wide in shock. "Did you say that...a vampire sucked another vampire's venom out of your wrist?" she asked incredulously. "That's...that's not possible."
"Yes it is," affirmed Bella. "As I told Harry, this particular group of vampires only feeds from animals. They don't drink from humans, period. Their eyes are golden brown because of it, instead of red. They say they refuse to be 'monsters.'"
Harry scanned Bella's face, looking for any sign of deception; he was skilled at reading people, but thankfully it appeared like Bella was being totally honest here.
Hermione meanwhile, was astounded at this little revelation. Unlike Harry, she had encountered vampires on several occasions, besides Sanguini, who was very old and fairly tame. Most recently, she had encountered a pair of vampires that were cunning and cruel, stalking and killing their victims mercilessly; She had been called in on the where the vampires had killed several young witches and the auror's could not catch them. The vampire who did the snatching had a gift that allowed him to bypass protective wards, and he was taking witches from their well protected homes, to remote, abandoned locations before brutalizing and feeding from them.
Catching them had been the work of several weeks, and had taken several of her fellow unspeakables to set a detection ward that matched the trace amounts of venom left in the wounds by one of the vampires. When they finally found them and arrived to confront them, it was pure luck that her whole team wasn't wiped out. One of the aurors had apparated blindly into the location, landing in a barbed wire fence and tearing open several large veins in her legs. The deep, open wound completely distracted the vampires from killing the team, and allowed them to overcome them with just a single casualty, the unfortunate bleeder.
Hermione remembered how feral the vampires were, eyes black as pitch, gleaming white teeth slicing through the victims neck like butter, their angry growls as they fought over their prey, tearing her apart, ignoring the rest of the team's presence until they'd started their attack...
Shaking her head at the recollection, she remembered her vow that she would never to go into a situation like that without adequate auror backup ever again, i.e. Harry.
Meanwhile, Harry finally relaxed as he realized that he had made a wrong assumption about the cause of Bella's bite-mark. He gave her a small nod, and was pleased to see her tense posture relax.
Smiling, he tried to coax the story from her. "Please, Bella, enlighten us." He saw her lick her lips, and he reached over to a small rune powered cooler that Hermione kept cold drinks in. He handed her a small bottle of water, which Bella gratefully accepted, taking a small sip with a smile back at Harry.
In a quiet, hesitant voice, Bella began her story. She told them - in brief terms - of her moving from her mother's home in Phoenix during her junior year in high school, and about enrolling in a small school in the Pacific Northwest and moving in with her father. She spoke of a bizarrely beautiful boy - she did not speak any names, but referred to Edward as 'He' - who reacted with abhorrence to her presence, skipping school for a week in what she later found out was an attempt to avoid her luscious scent.
"Wait, you mean he went to your school with you? Muggle high school?" Hermione blurted out.
"Yes," answered Bella. "They tried to blend in with the communities they lived in, trying to be as normal as they could."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully, while Harry grimaced: he could not ever imagine repeating school over and over. That sounded like some sort of purgatory for sure. And then he brought up another salient point. "You said he almost attacked you? Just you, not anyone else?"
"Yes," Bella said, grimacing. "He later told me that my blood 'sang' to him like nothing he'd ever smelt before."
Harry's mouth turned grim, but he gestured for her to continue.
Bella's voice gained strength as she continued talking, finding it to be somewhat cathartic. Even with her vague references and avoidance of names, it felt almost 'freeing' to get this all out there.
And who knows? Maybe one day she could tell Harry everything.
Bella continued, and spoke of 'His' return, and how he risked exposure to save her from certain death by a skidding van by using his supernatural strength and speed in front of many students.
Harry shook his head in surprise. "I am amazed he did that. He was clearly violating the secrecy laws there."
Bella nodded. "He tried to convince me I was imagining things, and when I stubbornly refused, he essentially begged me to lie for him." She had a faraway expression on her face, remembering the events as if they happened yesterday.
Harry and Hermione shared a look that Bella couldn't decipher, but at Harry's nod she continued, telling them about her research on the internet and how she overheard some local legends about 'cold ones.' How she pieced it together like a puzzle, until she finally was sure she had figured it out.
With a deep breath, she told them the next part; about being lost in Port Angelas, and how she was herded and surrounded by four would-be rapists, only to be rescued by the vampire at the last moment.
"How did he find you? Did he track your scent?" Hermione asked, amazed at the lengths this vampire went to keep Bella alive. It flew in the face of everything she'd learnt about them.
Bella chewed her lip, glancing momentarily at Harry, wondering if she could tell Hermione about Edward's ability. She finally decided that Harry trusted this girl, so she would too. "No," Bella finally said. "He didn't track my scent." She took a breath. "He could read the minds of everyone nearby - except for mine. He saw my face in their minds and recognized the street they were on."
Hermione's eyes widened at this little revelation. "Truly?" she breathed. "He could read all the minds near him? Did he have to look into their eyes to do so?"
"Yes, he could read everyone, and no, he didn't need eye contact," replied Bella. "He said once it was like background noise that was always there, unless he focused in on one particular 'voice.'"
Bella could see a dozen questions forming behind Hermione's eyes, but she spoke on, wanting to get it all out now that she'd started.
She did not discuss the extent of her relationship with Edward or Alice. She didn't think it was relevant to her situation and didn't want to see possible condemnation or pity on either of their faces.
So, Bella continued, glossing over the rides to school, the meadow, their first kiss...shaking her head, she continued. "Over the next week or so I finally met his family."
"Family?" interrupted Hermione. "They...they called themselves a family?"
"Yes," Bella answered, smiling faintly. "That was how they felt about each other. They told me most other vampires were nomads or in covens, but not them. That animal blood let them live peaceably with each other."
"Who were they?" Hermione breathed, eyes full of wonder. "I've never heard of anything like this! It's all so unbelievable!"
Bella smiled at Hermione, sharing her opinion of the Cullen's, but shook her head in denial. "I'm sorry but I can't tell you their names. They really value their privacy, for obvious reasons. And truthfully, it doesn't' really impact on my situation here."
Bella could see Hermione wanting to argue, but Harry placed a hand on his friend's upper arm, and Hermione let a long breath before nodding in agreement to let it go.
Bella continued her story, telling them about how they lived so differently than most others of their kind. "It was an...interesting time for me," she added with a small smile. "I'd never imagined...people...like them could actually exist, so different than the vampire mythos, you know?"
Even as Hermione and Harry nodded, Bella's face turned somber as she told them of the final bit.
"I was with his family, watching them play baseball, when a group of nomads approached us. Their leader decided he was going to hunt me - for sport - and E..," Bella quickly caught herself almost using Edward's name. She needed to be more careful. "The mind reader detected it in his thoughts." Bella was fidgeting now, her voice a little shaky as she dredged up the terrible memories, the sheer terror of those long days.
"Two of the family and I drove away, and the rest left a false trail while we escaped back to Phoenix. The rest of the family were hunting them." Bella was silent for a few moments, her eyes unfocused, remembering that desperate drive to Phoenix, her insane desire for Edward like a cloying mask over her mouth, suffocating her...
She shook her head, trying to regain her equilibrium. "The distraction didn't work. They were too clever, and I made a stupid mistake that almost killed me." A deep breath. "I left a message for my mother on her answering machine with a phone number she could reach me at."
"Why was that so bad?" Hermione asked.
Bella grimaced. "You'll see." She waited a moment, her skin clammy and her hands unsteady. Thankfully, Harry and Hermione gave her time to compose herself, waiting quietly for her to continue.
Finally feeling more composed, she started. "The tracker...he called me back on the phone number I'd left. He went to my mother's house, and heard the message. And then he tricked me into believing he had my mother hostage, by using an old tape recording of her voice, calling out 'Bella Bella' to make me think he had her."
Harry and Hermione gave her commiserating looks, but Bella felt pity in those gazes, and didn't want that. She took a long, slow breath, muttered a "sorry," and looked away, trying to regain her composure.
"Bella, it's okay," answered Harry in a soft voice. "This was obviously traumatic, take your time. No one is judging you, we are just happy you are here and in one piece."
She looked up and tried to manage a smile, but she wasn't sure if she succeeded. "Thanks," she said quietly. It was a few moments before she spoke again. "Anyway," she finally said, "the tracker told me I had to escape from the family - he didn't use those words to describe them - and meet him if I ever wanted to see my mother alive. So I bided my time, and by a miracle managed to escape from the two vampires who were guarding me."
"How did you manage that?" asked Harry, impressed.
Bella looked back up at him. "I told the male I was using the restroom - at the airport - and he didn't follow me in. But what he didn't know was there was a second exit in that bathroom, and I used it to make my escape."
Harry nodded for her to continue.
Bella spoke softly, looking down at her clasped hands. "I decided that it was my fault my mom was in this situation, and I was going to sacrifice myself to the tracker in the hopes he would let her go. He said he had no interest in her, and I chose to believe him as I thought I had no other options."
Harry's eyes narrowed at first, but then opened in surprise as he fully digested her words.
Hermione just shook her head, a knowing look in her eye as she glanced at Harry.
"What is it?" Bella asked, seeing the expressions they each wore, and not quite understanding them.
Hermione almost smiled, and would have had the story not been so dark. "Harry here also has a penchant for doing things like that, walking to his doom to save another." When Harry's mouth set in a hard line and he stared at her, Hermione just sighed. "It's his story to tell, but it seems like you two have that self-sacrificing thing in common."
Harry's face morphed into a sour look, but Hermione just rolled her eyes at him.
Thankful for the momentary easing of the tension, Bella was able to continue more easily than before. "When I got to the ballet studio where he told me to meet, I found out that he didn't actually have my mother, that he had tricked me with the tapes." Bella spaced-out for a moment, her mind back in that ballet studio, remembering the brief feeling of giddy release, knowing her mother was safe.
She paused again, and finally told the rest, the part they wanted to hear. "The tracker told me he wanted a challenge - that's why he hunted me, protected by other vampires as I was - and he planned to videotape himself torturing me to death, and then send it to my protectors so they would come after him for revenge, give him more of a challenge."
Both Harry and Hermione had stopped breathing at this point, and Bella saw the mixed looks of horror and fury on both their faces. She even thought she could make out a fuzzy, almost cloud-like shimmer surrounding Harry, and his eyes looked like the green was almost backlit, stormy and hard.
Without looking away from him, she finished her story. "The tracker snapped my leg like a toothpick, and then threw me into a wall of mirrors across the room. He broke some ribs and cracked my skull, and I remember the blood falling down my forehead and soaking my hair, and things got fuzzy after that."
Harry let out a hiss at this one, and it was only when Hermione squeezed his forearm did he seem to even take a breath.
Bella waited until he seemed calmer to finish up, lowering her eyes again and idly twisting her hands as she spoke in an almost whisper. "I think the blood was too much for his control; he grabbed my wrist, bit me, and began to drink. I don't remember how long that took, but I remember hearing a loud roar, and the other vampires were suddenly there. Two of them killed the tracker, one stopped the bleeding in my head, and the other sucked the venom from the wound, which was burning so bad I felt like it was on fire."
Finally finished, Bella looked up to see Harry and Hermione staring at her, eyes wide and expressions grim. They had not uttered a word, and Bella fidgeted, waiting for them to speak, feeling her heart beating in the silent room.
Finally, Hermione spoke. "That's...that's an incredible story, Bella. Had I not seen the bite, I'm not sure I would have believed it."
Bella looked from Hermione to Harry, and finally saw him relax from his rigid posture. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes moving back and forth between hers. Finally though, he broke his silence, his voice quiet. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Bella."
She gave him a small smile. "The family left a few months later, and I had not seen another vampire since the one from the street a few days ago."
Finally done with her tale, she took a long swig of the water, feeling somewhat drained.
Hermione and Harry shared a long look as each digested Bella's story. They'd been friends for so long now they both could read each other extremely well, and they both knew they were only getting part of the story, that Bella was heavily editing. They could both see that Bella held a great deal of admiration and even affection for these vampires, though there was no way to know if it was more than that, or how much was actually reciprocated. Was she just a curiosity to them? Something more? Why did they go to such lengths to protect her if she was not important to them in some way?
Hermione gave Bella an appraising look before shaking her head in amazement. "Your story flies in the face of everything we've ever been taught about vampires, Bella. We've always thought they become like, like...sharks, in the presence of spilled blood. The fact that this vampire could actually suck the venom out of an open wound and not drain you...that's really quite amazing."
Bella just shrugged. "I told you, they were not like other vampires. Even when they were thirsty they abstained, always hunting animals."
"Do you know where they went? Do you keep in touch? "Hermione asked.
Bella's face tightened a bit, which was noticed by both Hermione and Harry. She didn't answer for a few seconds, before quietly sighing. "No, we haven't kept in touch. They had to move away, they obviously can't stay in one place for more than a few years as they don't age. I haven't seen or spoken to them in over two years, and I don't suspect I ever will."
Harry nodded thoughtfully, quietly shaking his head at Hermione when she was about to ask a follow-up question. Clearly, Bella was not comfortable talking about this - they were getting only a fraction of the details - but it wasn't really relevant to why they were down here after all, and they had no real right to pry.
Bringing the conversation back to point, Harry gestured at Bella's wrist. "Hermione, what do your readings say? What does this all mean for Bella?"
Hermione blinked several times, her mind clearly had still been on the mysterious vampire family that had saved Bella's life on several occasions. She looked back at Bella, her eyes focusing again, and gave her a sheepish smile. "Right, sorry. Can I continue my scan?"
Bella nodded, and carefully held her wrist up. Hermione's eyes sparkled with curiosity and excitement, and Harry chuckled at his friend. Hermione gave him a brief, withering glare, but eagerly took the offered hand, holding it loosely as she traced her wand tip along the surface of the mottled skin.
Immediately, the sensors lit up again, the lights brighter than any other reading so far. The entire apparatus was bathed in a soft, deep azure, like a dark blue summer sky just after sunset.
"This is amazing," breathed Hermione. "There is so much magic in here, it doesn't make sense!" Harry could see Bella was a bit uncomfortable with Hermione's enthusiasm over the scar - a scar gained during a very traumatic event - and he found that he could totally relate.
After all, he too had an unwanted, inexplicable scar - also gained through trauma - and one that people used to fawn over.
Perhaps Hermione was right - he and Bella did have a lot in common.
Hermione's voice broke his musings. "There is clearly a residue, which is even visible - perhaps it's pure crystallized venom - on the skin and even in the underlying muscle and tissue of your wrist." She dragged her wand up her arm, slowly and precisely. "If you look when I slowly move the wand up the path of the major arteries, you can see that the venom has spread up your arm, decreasing in strength until his hits the brachial artery just before the shoulder, at which point I can't get a reading of it as it's probably too diffuse."
"Is there any danger for her?" Harry interrupted, his eyes hard but his voice filled with worry.
Hermione looked up at him in surprise at his worried tone. He certainly seemed to care about this girl who he's known for two days.
Hermione tilted her head for a moment, looking closely at her friend and gauging his body language and expression, before she finally answered, her words careful. "I would think, with two years passed already, there is probably not any appreciable risk. I mean, I certainly don't expect her to actually change into a vampire at this point. But I can't say for certain what other physiological symptoms she may one day develop."
Bella frowned at her words, but didn't have time to voice her question as Hermione was moving her wand again. She pointed it at the sensor, and with a flick the lights changed colors. She once again began to scan Bella's wrist, and the sensors showed reds and yellows in various hues and brightness. "Okay," Hermione continued, "there is definitely venom here, and for some reason its magical potency is high, much higher than any other vampire venom that I've read about."
Harry frowned, wondering why that was so.
But Hermione wasn't finished. With a quick glance at Bella to make sure she was listening, her voice taking on a lecturing tone that Harry was very familiar with; even after all these years, Hermione still loved imparting her knowledge to others. "Vampire venom is not particularly well studied, except perhaps by potion masters who delve into the dark arts. We - I mean wizards and witches - don't run into them very often, as they are mostly found in muggle areas. St. Mungo's library has some good books that have studied it, and there are probably a few here as well, mostly dealing with venoms and poisons of dangerous magical creatures, which is how we classify Vampires."
Hermione paused, her bottom lip trapped between her top teeth. "Truthfully Bella, I don't think we are going to find anything in any books about a similar situation to yours, though I will look anyway. Your case just seems too unique. The odds of a vampire sucking out the venom of another and leaving the victim alive and unchanged?" Hermione shook her head.
"Anyway," she continued, "I can tell you a few additional things, okay?"
When Bella nodded, feeling a touch overwhelmed, Harry stepped over and rubbed her arm in support. Hermione smiled at the gesture, and tried to keep her own enthusiasm in check. "For some reason I don't understand, the venom - a generally weak magical substance - has somehow amplified your own base magic, at least in your arm, to very high levels. In fact, the MSI index scores seem to indicate you would be towards the top end of the power scale in raw potential."
She finally stepped away, tapping her foot as she considered the issue. "Based on the readings alone, the magic in your hand is on par with the power of a very very strong witch. I've no doubt you could learn to use a wand in that hand - easily - though if there are side-effects from doing so, with all your power concentrated just there, I couldn't tell you."
She saw the surprised and pleased looks on both Harry and Bella's faces, and decided a warning would be in order. "However, I cannot promise that everything will be straightforward as it would be if there was no foreign substance giving you this power." She saw that Bella's smile dimmed a little, and tried to give an unbiased, honest opinion. "Conversely, perhaps there will be no side effects at all when you use your magic. We just don't know. Either way, I think it's prudent to tell you that you should start slow and exercise caution."
Bella nodded in thought, thankful for the advice, and saw Harry nodding as well. But deep down, she could not contain her excitement: she would be able to do magic!
Bella looked back to Harry, who was looking at her with an inscrutable expression that made herself conscious after a while. But instead of blushing and looking away, she decided to call him on it. "What?"
Harry blinked, as if he wasn't even aware he had been staring. After a few seconds, a small smile played on his face. "Well," he said with humor in his voice, "since you are going to need a wand and all, I was just trying to imagine you in dark robes and wearing a pointy hat."
Bella's eyes widened and Harry chuckled at her embarrassment. "Harry!" she said quietly but with force behind it. And then she relaxed for a second and joked back. "Maybe I'll learn how to turn you into one of those goblins!"
He chuckled. "I think you have a lot of catching up to do, Swan."
Hermione - who had been lost in thought for a moment - watched the pair banter back and forth. She was pleased to see Harry relaxing and joking with this girl who seemed to drop out of nowhere and somehow become involved with Harry.
Hermione knew Harry was not completely happy with his life. He bore the twin burdens of being the 'man who won' as well as being loved by half their society and disliked (or outright hated) by the other. Hermione could count on one hand the number of people that Harry was comfortable enough to fully drop his guard with. And it looked like, from where she was standing, that somehow this girl was now on that short list.
Lost in thought again, she blinked when she realized they were mock whispering about her. Bella was looking at Harry, who winked at her and shrugged, tilting his head Hermione's way. "I've learned not to disturb her when she's like this. She might get violent otherwise."
Hermione gave him a rather impressive huff, and she walked to another side table, a small smile on her face as she heard the pair of them quietly chuckling. Back to the task at hand, Hermione pulled a thin stick from a small shelf on the wall. Stepping back to Bella, her voice took on her lecturing tone. "This is a magical resistor. It's used to get a lower bound on what a wizard or witch is capable of - power wise - based on a magical index scale that we refer to as the MSI."
Before Bella could ask a question, Hermione continued. "You don't really need to know the scales or what they mean - almost no one outside of this department or a healer does anyway, and for most applications is meaningless, since 'power' of an actual spell depends on so many factors, and the MSI is only one of them - but I'd like to get an idea of what we are dealing with. And if you really want to know more, you can borrow one of my books."
Bella nodded, and Hermione dragged the resistor up and down Bella's forearm. The colors of the sensors changed color again - orange this time, darker towards her hand and lighter by her shoulder. When she touched Bella's other hand, there was barely any color at all from the sensor.
"Okay, very strong, as suspected." And then Hermione flicked her wand at the sensor, and the colors faded. She put the resistor back on the shelf, and turned back to Bella with an appraising look.
"So, Harry asked what this means for you, and I've got a few thoughts if you would like to hear them."
"Please," said Bella, her voice quiet again. Once again, that feeling of anxiousness and hope that she had experienced in the Leaky Cauldron when he told her of how she might be a witch. She glanced quickly at Harry, glad to see his eyes calm and supportive.
Hermione gave Bella a small smile. The girl was very nice, and Hermione could see easily see how Harry could so easily be friends with her: she had a very approachable air to her, with no pretentiousness that she could see; in fact, Bella came across as an honest, loyal person, and Hermione found that she wanted to help her however she could.
"Well, without a doubt, you have enough magic that you should be able to wield a wand and cast with it. Based on power alone - and assuming my analysis is correct - you should be able to cast any spell an adult witch could cast, provided you get the training to do so, and find yourself a place to practice."
As Hermione spoke, Harry watched Bella's face; and, at the last, when Hermione told her she could essentially do everything a witch could do, he watched as a beautiful, brilliant smile stretched her pale skin, and her eyes sparkled like rich garnets.
"Wow," Bella whispered. When she turned to look at Harry with that brilliant smile, he felt his own face stretching into a smile before he was even aware of it.
Hermione said a few more things, but Bella's eyes had not strayed from Harry's. Finally, he winked, and it was like she woke from a brief trance.
"Welcome to the wizarding world, Bella."
A/N: Okay, Bella has magic. Now, what *form* that magic will take...we shall see. Her magical 'boost' is caused by a magical substance, so expect some differences...