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Chapter 33 -

Bellatrix sighed deeply as she looked over the letter her beloved little prince had sent her, apparently, there was some asshole at school who was trying to trick her lovely son into falling victim to the dark arts. Bellatrix was many things, she'd admit, one of those things was an expert in the dark arts. Heck, she had once made a couple of books on the dark arts, she had never got around to getting them published though, something for her to-do list.

She had taught Hydrus everything she believed was safe for him to know, including how to recognise what he should and shouldn't do in regard to the dark arts. She had taught him how the spells make a person feel, how addictive they were, how to control your mind and how not to fall into the same spiral of madness that so many other witches and wizards had. A large part of why the Black family was so infamous was because of previous members of the family who had fallen victim to the dark arts. That along with the rumoured insanity of the family...well...there were few that wanted to cross paths with the Blacks. Bellatrix's own father had fallen victim to the dark arts, the man had been quick to anger and would curse anyone if given a reason. Another 'victim' would be her cousin's mother, Walburga, it had been leaked among the family that she had cast the cruciatus curse on her two children. Bellatrix was thankful that her contact with that woman had been extremely limited.

Still, back to the matter at hand, some asshole at school was trying to trick her lovely son.

And that would not stand.

"Kreacher," Bellatrix called, a second later the loyal house elf appeared in front of her.

"Mistress Bellatrix summons Kreacher?" Kreacher asked, bowing his head. "Kreacher lives to serve the House of Black,"

"Yes, yes," Bellatrix said dismissively, Kreacher liked to say that every now and then, it got old quick. "Now, make me up some breakfast, I need some energy if I'm going to charge down to the school and create a fuss."

"If Mistress wishes," Kreacher nodded before pausing. "Is Mistress going to cause a big fuss?" He asked.

"Fairly big, yes," Bellatrix nodded in confirmation.

"Kreacher will need to make a bigger breakfast," Kreacher whispered to himself.

"Oh, I love that!" Hydrus grinned madly as Liv removed her hand from his forehead. "Thank you, Miss Cooper. Should I just start calling you by your first name? I feel like we've gotten to know each other enough. You can call me Hydrus if you want,"

"You will call me Cooper!" Liv snapped at him, glaring at him like he was personally responsible for everything that had ever gone wrong in her life.

"Alright, if you insist," He said slowly, wondering just what was up with the girl.

"I do, now get lost!" She growled. "We're done today!"

"Okay," He said, standing up from his seat. He couldn't exactly feel much beyond happy, thanks to her magic. But he was starting to feel uneasy as he looked at her, her face was far redder than normal and her hair looked messier than normal, bags under her eyes let him believe that she hadn't been sleeping as well. There was something familiar about it. "Are you okay?" He couldn't help but ask. "You look unwell, do you want to go to Madam Pomfrey?"

"I'm fine!" She all but yelled. "Now, get out!"

"If you insist," He said staring at her for several seconds before he slowly walked out of the room. He frowned as he walked back to his common room, something was off with Cooper. He felt like he knew what it was, but the knowledge was out of reach, just dangling out of his grasp. It didn't take long for him to reach the common room, once entering he headed over to the other first years.

"Where were you?" Draco asked, looking up from his chess game with Nott.

"House Black business," Hydrus shrugged as he sat down next to Daphne. "So, what have you all been doing?"

"Chess, homework and so on," Daphne shrugged, gesturing to the charms book in her hands.

"Hmm,"

"Hydrus, we were thinking of spending some time 'playing' with Longbottom," Draco said with a grin.

"I should point out that you just said you wanted to play with a long bottom," Daphne said lightly. "Please continue," She told them before going back to reading her book.

"No," Hydrus said. "We're not playing with a long bottom or Longbottom. Longbottom is off-limits, he will be left alone." He declared.

"Beg your what?" Theo asked, looking up from his game.

"Longbottom will be left alone," Hydrus repeated. "That's not up for debate,"

"Are you kidding me?!" Draco asked with obvious disbelief. "We can't do anything to him?"

"If he attacks you then you're more than welcome to fight back, but no, we will not initiate anything with him," Hydrus responded.

"Why not?!" Draco blurted out incredulously.

"Maybe because I said so!" Hydrus growled, his eyes flashing a bright green, causing Draco to gulp.

"I...I'm just curious why," Draco said with a forced calmness. Draco liked having Hydrus as a friend, he really did. He thought Hydrus was fun and great to be around, not to mention that the Slytherin part of him couldn't help but appreciate all the benefits that came with being friends with him. But with that being said, sometimes dealing with the boy was like dealing with a tamed bear, one wrong move and you're in trouble. The only person in the group who didn't have to worry about that was Daphne, though she and Hydrus would likely be a couple sometime in the future, so that's probably why. Hydrus stared at him for several seconds before the light in his eyes died down.

"I've made an agreement with Cooper," Hydrus told them. "She possesses something I want, in return, Longbottom stays safe. For this year at least."

"What could she have that's possibly worth that?" Blaise frowned.

"You'd be surprised," Hydrus said softly. "Still, Longbottom will be left alone."

"If you're sure," Blaise said, looking more confused than anything else.

"I am," Hydrus confirmed.

"Still," Theo frowned. "It's surprising, is it not? Does Longbottom know about this supposed agreement you've made with Cooper?"

"No, he does not, as far as I know," Hydrus answered truthfully, a small frown on his face. He'd have to talk about that with Cooper, he didn't want her to mention it to Longbottom and risk him stopping their little deal.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Theo said to him.

"Back off," Pansy suddenly cut in. "If Hydrus said we're to leave him alone then we'll leave him alone," She said in a firm voice, causing everyone around to stare at her. She blushed slightly but made sure to firmly keep her gaze on Hydrus who looked slightly surprised.

"Wow, Draco," Hydrus drawled, looking at his blonde friend. "You managed to teach tame Parkinson after all, well done to you I suppose,"

"Uh...yeah, of course," Draco nodded, along too confused to do anything else.

"The potion should be slowly turning into a dark shade of green," Snape drawled as he walked around the classroom as the students continued working.

Hydrus and Draco were working together on their potion and both felt that they had done a pretty good job as they looked at the potion in front of them.

"That looks good enough," Draco whispered to Hydrus, who nodded with a satisfied smile as he stared at his potion. He looked up and saw the others had all made similar attempts, some looking a few shades wrong but nothing too bad. Of course, Snape would vanish the potion if it was even a single shade wrong (if you were a Gryffindor, that is). However, some looked less than perfect.

"What in Merlin's name is this monstrosity?" Snape demanded as he stared at the potion that Longbottom and Weasley had made. The potion, which should have been a dark shade of green, was a rather angry shade of red. The two boys blushed so hard that both their faces looked like good matches for Weasley's hair. "I suppose you added too many Latverian leaves to the mixture. Tell me, did your guardians teach you how to count before coming to school or did you deem that knowledge to not be important enough to be worth learning? Twenty points from Gryffindor," He said, pulling out his wand and waving it, causing the mess to disappear.

"Twenty?!" Ron blurted out in shock. "That's not fair!"

"Let's make it twenty-five," Snape glared down at him, causing Ron's face to turn even redder as he bowed his head. Snape then turned his attention to Liv and Hermione who were still working on their potion, Liv was stirring while Hermione had a smile on her face as she was about to drop the last leaf into the potion when suddenly it vanished from sight, causing the two girls to pause. They both looked at Snape who stared down at them, a triumphant look in the potion master's eyes. "I said a 'dark shade of green'," He drawled. "Is there a single person in Gryffindor's house capable of following instructions?"

"But Sir, we weren't finished!" Hermione protested as Liv glared angrily at the potion master. "Liv needed to do a few more clockwise stirs and I was going to add the last leaf and -"

"No excuses, Granger," Snape said coldly. "You are to finish the work on time, not after it is supposed to be done."

"Are you kidding me?!" Liv demanded before pointing down the classroom at Crabbe and Goyle who were still working on their potion. "Those two are a step behind us and you haven't said anything to them,"

"That'll be ten points from Gryffindor!" Snape hissed, glaring down at her. "I do not need you to tell me how to teach my class,"

"I think you do since you don't even know how to teach!" Liv shouted. "All you do is put instructions on the board and shout when people get it wrong! A muggle could do that, you overgrown bat!"

"Don't you dare speak to me like that!" Snape said furiously, slamming his hands on her desk. "That'll be detention, Cooper!"

"Suck a cock, dickwad!" Liv spat before picking up her stuff and storming away under the horrified gaze of Hermione, the furious gaze of Snape, the shocked looks of the rest of the class and the thoughtful look of Hydrus.

"A month's detention!" Snape shouted after her just before the door was slammed shut...hard.

"What the bloody hell's wrong with her?" Draco couldn't help but wonder.

"I have a feeling," Hydrus frowned. "I hope I'm wrong,"

By dinner time, the whole school had heard of the confrontation between Liv and Snape, which was why she had basically turned into a celebrity at the Gryffindor table with nearly everyone trying to congratulate and talk to her. The Weasley brothers - with the exception of Percy - looked extremely pleased with her, and Longbottom looked at her like she was his new hero. Granger obviously wasn't pleased with Liv but did give the girl sympathetic looks. Nearly everyone in the school had heard about it.

Hydrus had made sure he was able to see Cooper by sitting so that he was facing her, he idly listened to the others as they talked, occasionally chiming in with an answer when asked a question. Daphne was probably the only one who noticed that he wasn't truly paying attention, she gave him a questioning look and he shook his head to say that it wasn't serious.

But it was.

A theory had been growing in his mind, one that he didn't really want to think about. He was staring at Liv Cooper, the girl who smiled at the other Gryffindors around her as she listened to their jokes and conversations. The girl whose fist opened and closed every now and then like she wanted nothing more than to reach out and deck the nearest person hard in the face. The girl whose pleasant smile would occasionally become slightly sharper as if she wanted to laugh loud enough for the heavens to hear. But it was the eyes that worried him the most, they looked brown as normal. But Hydrus knew what to look for, he saw the look that he had seen occasionally in his mother's eyes, the looks that he knew his friends sometimes saw in his own.

The girl was mad.

"Hydrus," A hesitant voice spoke up, he saw Parkinson of all people giving him a concerned look. "Are you alright?" She asked. Hydrus had barely opened his mouth when the doors to the great hall opened and in walked a squad full of aurors, at the front of them was a square-jawed witch with greying red hair and a monocle on one eye. Walking next to her was none other than Bellatrix Black.

"Um...that's your mother," Theo said blankly.

"Thank you for letting me know," Hydrus said dryly as he gave his mother a wave, she waved back with a bright smile before the group headed towards the teacher's table. Hydrus barely noticed Longbottom being restrained by the other Gryffindor boys.

"Aunty?" Susan Bones from the Hufflepuff table blurted out. "What are you doing here?"

"Work, I'm afraid dear," The monocle woman replied as she and the rest stopped in front of the teacher's table.

"Madam Bones, Mrs...Miss Black," Dumbledore said as he stood up. "What is the meaning of this?" He asked calmly.

"At least he got my name right," Bellatrix muttered to herself. "Old dingbat,"

"A concerned parent has brought to our attention that one of your staff members has been breaking the law," The now-identified Madam Bones informed Dumbledore. "This person has put students in danger and I am here to make sure that they are punished properly."

"This is ridiculous!" Snape snapped as he stood up, glaring at Bellatrix. "Your little brat makes a complaint so you bring the head of law enforcement to this school?!" He demanded. Bellatrix let out a deep sigh as she turned to Madam Bones. She shrugged her shoulders and gestured at Snape as if to say, 'I told you so.' Madam Bones glared at the potion master.

"I am not here for you, despite the many complaints I've heard about you, though now I'm starting to believe that perhaps I should investigate you as well," Madam Bones said, causing Snape to look like he had swallowed something unpleasant.

"Now, now, Amelia," Dumbledore spoke up. "Professor Snape had my complete trust,"

"I'm sure," Madam Bones said. "Though he never had mine, be sure of that. Says a lot that the man so easily suspected we were talking about him. Either way, I'm not here for him. Professor Quirrell, please stand up and raise your hands in the air." She had barely finished her sentence when all the aurors pointed their wands at Quirrell.

"Me?" A surprised look appeared on Quirrell's face as he slowly stood up. "My dear woman, whatever for? I am but a humble teacher who has been gifted the opportunity to spread my knowledge to these bright young minds."

"Sir, I am arresting you on suspicion of teaching dark arts without a licence, and teaching dark arts to an underage individual." Madam Bones told him.

"I didn't try to teach your son the dark arts!" Quirrell told Bellatrix.

"Yes, you did, you see I taught my son quite a lot, as soon as he realised what he was being taught by you, he contacted me immediately," Bellatrix smirked. "You messed with the wrong family,"

"You could have been great, Boy," Quirrell glared in Hydrus's direction. "All the power I have, you could have had all that and more! You foolish little...no...no, no, no!" He cried out in pain as he fell forward, his body collapsing on top of the table. "Master! No!" He let out one last cry as his turban fell off of his head, a black cloud rose from out of his head, a face formed inside with glowing red eyes, meanwhile, Quirrell remained unmoving.

"Voldemort!" Bellatrix raised her wand and aimed it at the cloud along with every other adult, most of which were frozen in fear. Several students screamed at the sight of the cloud, many froze learning that the cloud was the dreaded dark lord.

"Bellatrix Lestrange!" Voldemort hissed.

"I'm a Black, you fool!" Bellatrix glared heatedly at him.

"You were once mine, I'm tempted to kill you! But I have a better fate in mind for you!" The cloud chuckled, staring in Hydrus's direction before flying away, Madam Bones and Bellatrix shot spells after him, along with the aurors who hadn't been frozen in shock. But the spells simply passed through him as he flew out of the window.

"Damn," Madam Bones hissed furiously. "That was Voldemort? Shit, that's going to be a lot of paperwork,"