Behind the Shadows [Book One]

Chapter Eleven:

Chapter Eleven: 

In my second year, some crazy killer escaped from Azkaban.  Apparently he was intent on killing my brother, I spent most of that year trying to keep an eye on him as best as any younger sister could but we didn't share any classes and for the most part he was so busy he could hardly find the time to talk to me.  

It's kind of sad, huh?  We're in a school together all year yet we barely talk, and whenever we do it's completely unimportant subjects.  It's like he doesn't trust me with all his secrets but I couldn't complain too much, that would be a bit hypocritical.  

My third year, I had to say, was amazing.  Apparently, something called the Triwizard Tournament happened at Hogwarts and students from two other schools came to visit.  I sort of wished I lived in France so I could wear the cute uniforms but I realized rather quickly that all the students from those two schools were rather stuck up. I could hardly put up with them.  Three fights happened that year, and I nearly got expelled all over again.  

A boy died at the end of the tournament.  It could have been Harry but it wasn't, and towards the end, when Cedric (the boy who died) and Harry disappeared, I was terrified for Harry's safety.  When they came back, Harry clutching Cedric's body, I felt.. weird.  I felt like I could vomit at the sight of a dead boy just a couple years older than I, but I also felt an excitement bubble up.  

I put it down to nerves.  

The summer before my fourth year was when everything truly took a turn I wasn't quite expecting.  That turn was Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco's aunt.

* 

"Who's this, Draco dear?"  I stood at the top of a flight of stairs, staring down at the odd looking woman who had just burst through the Malfoy mansion front doors.  Her hair was curly and crazy, her eyes matching the crazy of her dark brown locks.  Her face was pale, her eyes had bags underneath them and all in all, well she looked insane.  

"Aunt Bella, this is Amaryllis, my... friend."  

His hesitance to say the words I knew he wanted to say made me smile.  He wasn't sure what to call us because honestly, we acted much like siblings but at the same time we acted a bit too touchy-feely for siblings.. it was more of an on again, off again friends-with-sorta-benefits arrangement.

If the stupid boy would just hurry up and ask me to date him, we could be so much more than that, my mind sneered as I walked down the steps towards the congregation in the main hall.  

"Nice to meet you," I smiled, not bothering to hold out a hand for her to shake.  She didn't seem like the hand-shaking type.  "You must be Narcissa's sister."  I had heard a bit about Bellatrix Lestrange after three summers and three winter holidays with the Malfoy's.  She had been in Azkaban for several years, for torturing a couple of wizards.  I was intimidated by this woman, but not particularly scared. In fact.. I was also quite intrigued.  Obviously she knew types of magic I'd never be able to learn at Hogwarts, and if she wasn't so intimidating I might have asked her to teach me.  

I wanted to learn everything I could, I wanted to prove that I could be better than any old half-blood, that I could be just as great as a pureblood, that I wasn't just a girl.  I didn't want to be the girl who couldn't protect herself from abusive uncles or cousins; and I surely didn't want to be just the girl who's brother was the Boy-Who-Lived, I wanted to have my own title.  

I wanted to be someone who could take charge and win against anyone who dared to come near her.  

"Bella!"  The sound of Mum's voice jerked me quickly out of my reverie as I regarded her while she ran down the steps to greet a sister she hadn't seen in at least ten years, if not more.   The love was there, it was easy to see in both sisters, and I smiled as Mum rushed to Bella and enveloped her in a hug.  

Grinning as Bambino barked excitedly, I bent down to pick up his stout form and grimaced as he licked me in the face repeatedly while Draco snickered.  Lucius Malfoy came in, probably after hearing all of the commotion, he stood stoicly at the entrance doors to the sitting room and stared at the embracing sisters with a rather cold indifference.  

He was always like that.  

"Dad, can Draco and I go into the woods.  I have some spells I want to practice that aren't suitable for inside use."    I used the best 'please daddy I look so cute and innocent, how can you say no to this face' face that I had in my arsenal.

"Yes, best you do.  Narcissa, Bellatrix and I have something quite important to talk about.  Stay gone for a few hours."  

*

"What do you think they're talking about?"  Draco questioned as he stood behind me, his hands clutched his wand while his bland grey eyes watched the clouds above us.  He was always doing that, thinking about things we both knew we shouldn't think too much about.  

A lot had gone on in the last few months, the Triwizard Tournament had been held last year, a boy at our school died and the Dark Lord, Voldemort, had risen from the supposed dead.  The Malfoy family had a lot more secrets than I ever thought they would have had, and now I was privy to them but that didn't mean I would be stupid enough to go around asking questions that would wind up getting me killed.  Only the boy stood behind me would do that.

"Don't worry about it, it's none of our business Draco."  

"But aren't you the least bit curious, Amy?  Aunt Bella just broke out of Azkaban prison, so did several other Death Eaters, the Dark Lord is living in our-" 

"Shut up!  Shut your idiotic mouth before you get us killed Draco Malfoy!  The muggles have a saying, and in this moment it would do well to understand it.  Curiousity killed the cat.. remember those words Draco, because right now.. You're the cat."  

Draco's eyes seemed to bore into the back of my head as I stayed perfectly still, aiming my own wand at a tree about ten yards in front of me.   

"Casoplenta."  

Immediately, the tree burst into black flames before quickly disintegrating as the flames died down, the moment the flames had gone away, the wind in the immediate area picked up and blew the ashes away.  The tree, which had stood tall at over twenty five feet and very proud, was now gone.  It had taken me months of searching and studying and practicing and hoping before I'd finally gotten this spell to work the way it was supposed to.  

A mix of the Latin words for Casso (Destroy) and Plene (fully), and when mixed together with the right wand movement (a sort of stabbing jerk) it would completely destroy an object and get rid of all evidence that it was ever there.  It would only work on inanimate objects, however, which was sort of unfortunate as that wasn't what I'd been going for.  

A war was coming, and I wanted to survive it, I wanted to stand atop a mountain of the losers and show the world that I was more than some girl who was related to some famous kid who was supposed to die but didn't.  As soon as I could get the curse to work properly, I'd be that much closer to achieving my goals.  

Whenever I used my wand outside of Hogwarts, I always expected to get owls or some such stating I was in trouble over it or I was going to be suspended.  I'd heard about the Trace, I'd even heard of a kid who was expelled a few years ago because he kept accidentally performing magic but whenever I brought up the concerns to Lucius, he told me not to worry about it.  

That was my big problem though.  Draco's was curiousity, mine was worry.  I couldn't help but to fret over every little detail, times and dates, the how's and why's, whom's and where's; everything mattered and every fact was important when it came to my life.  Of course, knowing when not to bother asking about the how's, why's, whom's and where's for fear of my head just 'happening' to fall off my shoulders was another specialty of mine.

Still, whatever Father was doing to keep me from being expelled while I practiced my own spells, enchantments and curses was a lifesaver, and I was very grateful to him.  

I couldn't wait until it was safe to go back home so I could show him my newest curse! 

[[A/N: Is this good?  I hope so c:  I hope you guys like it!  I'll try to update more often but obviously no promises.  I have a LOT of other stuff going on at the moment so I guess just assume this is still on semi-hold, and then you can all be extra happy when I update in the not-too-distant future.  Yeah?  yeah!   okay, tell me what you thought of this chapter, and what you think might be happening during her fourth year :D]]