After helping me get over the flower incident, Courtney convinced me to start working on our History of Magic project. Fawn managed to convince Draco Malfoy to help us, considering that Bellatrix Lestrange was his aunt, and we had to do our project on the very woman.
"You owe me for agreeing to do this, L/n. And, fair warning, my aunt has been locked up for years, so I'm sure I won't be able to tell you everything."
I nodded along, ignoring most of what Draco had just said. I looked over to Courtney, who knew what information we needed to get.
She decided to start right away.
"Let's start with the basics," she said. "House, blood status, wand, extra powers, and spouse."
Draco thought for a moment. "Slytherin and Pure-Blood, of course. Her wand is about twelve inches, I think, with walnut wood. She's good at Occlumency, and her husband is Rodolphus Lestrange."
As I wrote the information down in my notebook, I asked for her birthday. 1951.
I put my quill down and looked at Courtney, who shrugged.
"Tell us any extra information about Bellatrix."
"Well," Draco started, "she is currently in Azkaban for torturing two half-bloods to insanity. She escaped once in 1982 with Rodolphus, but the aurors caught her again. She also tortured and murdered random Muggles."
"Can you describe her for us?" Courtney asked, leaning her head on her hand as she copied Draco's words onto her paper.
"These aren't my words, but around the streets I've heard that she is evil, ugly, strong, mad, ruthless, arrogant, and heavily lidded."
"What does she look like?"
The questions and answers continued for the next fifteen minutes. We thanked Draco, and as he was leaving, he turned to me and said, "I will use the favour you owe me."
~~~
Now that the school had found out about the flowers I had killed, I started noticing the teachers and Professor Dumbledore regarding me warily. During class, at meals, or in the halls, whenever a professor saw me they would glance at me repeatedly, or turn to another teacher and whisper. It was freaking me out. I barely understood what had happened, and to find out that it scared the teachers? It made my head spiral. Is this not normal? Am i not normal? Is there something wrong with me? What if I get expelled?
My mind was screaming, my heart was pounding, and apparently it showed.
Fawn put her hand on my shoulder, transporting me back to reality. Over the roar of students in the Great Hall, she said, "Are you okay?"
My head quickly shook a "yes," but Fawn wasn't dumb. She walked me out of the Great Hall and we sat on the Grand staircase in front of the doors.
I took a shaky breath as Fawn asked me to tell her what's wrong.
I shook my head in response, silently telling her that I didn't want to talk. She was sitting next to me, silent for a moment or two. Her dark hair fell over her eyes as she sat.
"Okay," she finally said. "You don't need to talk to me right now, but it's unhealthy to bottle everything up. You can talk to me whenever you want, I'm always here for you, Y/n."
I nodded and mumbled a "thank you," then Fawn left me on the staircase and went back into the Great Hall.
I hated being alone in this empty space, but I also didn't want to get up, so I just sat there. A few random students walked out of the Great Hall and judged me while they passed, bud I ignored them and stayed seated.
Soon, more students exited the room, Professor Dumbledore within that crowd. He spotted me sitting on the stairs and sat next to me.
Slightly nervous, I whispered a greeting, but it went unheard.
I repeated my greeting and Dumbledore responded. "Good evening, Miss L/n."
"Uh-same to you, Professor."
"I find it peculiar that you have chosen a busy staircase as your chair. Is there something wrong with the Hufflepuff common room?"
"Oh, no-not at all. My friend Fawn took me out here to talk to me and I just stayed on the staircase," I answered with a small laugh.
"What did your friend want to talk about?"
"I was freaking out she she wanted to know why."
"Did you tell her?"
"No."
"Why is that?"
"I didn't want to worry her."
"Well, can you tell me why you were freaking out?"
I hesitated for a moment before explaining the flowers to the headmaster.
Once I finished, he asked a question: "Has there ever been anything else in your life that died when you got angry?"
So I told Dumbledore about my mom, my rabbit, and every plant I've ever tried to care for.
"Any or all of these deaths-did they happen when you were angry or hurt?"
I thought the question over in my head. All of them had been around a time when I was angry, even my mother. I nodded my head, saying "yes."
Dumbledore looked down, thinking for a few minutes in silence. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak, but then decided against his original choice.
"I'm afraid I cannot tell you much for now, but all you need to do is try to keep your anger in check. Stay calm, Miss L/n. Have a good night." Dumbledore stoops up and walked up the stairs, leaving me sitting in silence with new questions and a wandering mind.