Dueling Hearts Ch. 26 (Patreon)

Draco Malfoy waited patiently outside of the classroom. He was going to be skipping class, but that didn’t really matter right now, he was the Draco Freakin Malfoy, and that mattered more than his fraud of an aunt’s stupid class. The Hogwarts Heavyweight Title was proudly slung over his shoulder, though he’d rechristened. He wasn’t actually good enough to be able to alter the belt, and so he just placed a giant piece of parchment with “DRACO” written on it over it.

Not that he would ever say that to her face. Bellatrix had only ever been by once in Draco’s life,  to a Christmas party when Draco had been six, and the memory of that was terrifying enough to fuel Draco’s fear of her for a lifetime.

The door opened and out walked a prissy looking man with coiffed blonde curls and a smile that threatened to blind him, accompanied by some old guy with an arm over his shoulder. Behind them, inside of the room, was the man Draco had come to see, Headmaster Snape.

“Are you certain this will be more potent? Your previous potions left much to be desired,”

Snape gave the blond a severe eye roll, which the man either ignored or just didn’t notice. “The potion will work as advertised,” he glanced at the old man, “The rest is in your hands.”

“Ah, Mr. Malfoy, come in.” Snape waved the boy in. Malfoy strutted, making sure to flash his title to the two men that were exiting.

“That is quite a magnificent thing.” the blonde man said in awe, “What is it?”

Malfoy smirked. “It’s my title, it says I am the most magnificent wizard in this school.”

The man’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Oh Mr. Bergkamp! I am going to want one of those!”

The old man flinched when the blonde used his name. “Keep it down, meester Lock’art! By Jove’s scepter!” the man cursed as he dragged Gilderoy Lockhart away.

The men had already slipped from Draco’s mind. He had business to attend to, DRACO business.

“Do you have my payment?” Snape asked. He always liked dealing with the Malfoy clan. They considered themselves far too cunning to be swindled, and they threw money around like the goblins were going to seize their vaults. They were also very good at greasing the wheels for him in England. Whenever he needed an in with a certain someone high up in the ladder, Lucius was his go to.

Draco pulled out a sackful of galleons, dropping it on the table with a flourish, “Please, this paltry sum? Not even a dent in King Draco’s grooming budget.” Malfoy slicked his hair back as if to accentuate his point.

Snape stared at the boy, wondering what had happened to scramble his brain so badly. “Clearly.” He drawled, grabbing the small sack and quickly inspecting its contents. Satisfied that he'd received the full amount, he pulled out a shrunken box, tapping it with his wand as he placed it on the table.

The plain wooden box expanded outward, growing until it was the size of a small suitcase. Snape popped it open, revealing a dozen vials filled with a purple liquid.

"Take one a day for two weeks," Snape instructed as Draco stepped up, picking up one of the vials and inspecting it up close, as if the buffoon could hope to understand such a complex concoction.

"What if I take two a day for a week?"

"Your organs will fail." Snape said dryly.

"Even my superior organs?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow, as if that was a real consideration.

Snape suppressed the urge to make a snide remark. There must be something in the water at this school, he didn't remember people being this idiotic back when he attended.

"Yes,"

Seeing as the idiot boy had nothing else to say, Snape proceeded with the rest of his explanation. He did not care for the well-being of his customers, he actually despised them all, just like he despised most people, but it was never good business to have his buyers dropping like flies.

One only had to see the fallout over that fucker Rookwood dying. Thankfully, things had shifted, Black was receiving the scorn and he was being left alone. Not just that, but the Dueling Commission was actually moving in his direction, there were talks of legitimizing his little trade.

"There will be side-effects." Snape informed the blonde boy, who had already closed the case after pulling one of the vials out.

"Nothing too bad, I'm sure?"

"There will be hormonal changes." Snape was underselling it. Draco would never be able to have children. He might not even be able to function properly.

"Bah!" Draco waved him off, smirking pridefully as he stashed the box under his elbow. "Everyone knows potions can't alter your hormones without your consent. It says so in The Quibbler!"

Snape remained silent as he watched the boy leave. He wouldn't waste a breath trying to dissuade the idiot from his faulty notions. He was feeling triumphant, soon, his ridiculously circuitous plan would finally come to fruition. Soon, everything he'd sacrificed, every scornful look from those uppity purebloods would be worth it.

Lily would finally be his.

…

Bellatrix never struggled to maintain order. She might not enjoy teaching, at least not the gaggle of idiots that made up most of the Hogwarts student body, but she never had issues commanding respect and attention. She was Bellatrix Black, her will was made of iron, At a fundamental level, the little brats understood that.

Until now.

"Finnigan!" Bella yelled after glancing at the class list, she'd never bothered to learn anyone’s names, not seeing the importance of it. Thankfully, her powers of deduction were great, and her class had been helpfully divided up by house. Anyone could tell which one was the Weasley boy from a mile away, especially since he’d started wearing that ridiculous mask, which left either Seamus Finnegan or Dean Thomas for her troublemaker, and since both boys were undermining her authority, she had a one hundred percent chance of being right.

The boy with the short brown hair stopped his animated conversation with Dean, but the look he gave Bellatrix was not one that carried much respect.

“Yeah?”

Everyone quieted down, noting the defiance in Seamus’ tone and looking between him and their professor. Harry looked like he wanted to cave the boy’s head in, but Bella warned him off with a look. She needed to take care of this herself.

“I don’t particularly care if you’re too stupid for my lesson to sink in, but you’ll at least follow the rules.”

“Like you followed the rules, professor?”

Gasps filled the room as even Dean now looked at Seamus with shock, wondering what the hell had gotten into his friend.

Bellatrix stayed quiet for a moment, and Harry feared for what she might do on impulse.

And he was right to be worried.

“Alright everyone, books away, wands out, we’re going out.”

Everyone glanced around, wondering what was going on. Harry and Daphne complied, followed by Blaise and Hermione and then slowly the rest of the class. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught The Masked Weasley, who was sitting down next to Pansy, making the girl put his books away for him while he scratched his back with his wand.

The students all followed quietly, Harry and Daphne sharing worried looks, wondering what exactly Bella had in mind. This worry grew when they walked down to the entrance and out the castle proper, heading in the direction of Hagrid’s hut.

“Professor, why are we going into the forest?” Lavender verbalized the worry of many of her year mates.

“She’s barmy, just like the Prophet said.” Seamus whispered, and it was certainly a whisper, as the boy had lost every ounce of his previous courage.

Each moment that passed filled Harry with dread. He knew what this was, he’d grown up around Sirius, and he knew just how prone to impulsive, self-destructive behavior he was. Even aunt Andi, who Harry usually thought of as level-headed, would randomly fly off the handle at what felt like a slight provocation.

The Black Madness was real, and Harry was sure that Bella had more of it than the rest of the family put together.

They approached the enclosure next to Hagrid’s hut, where the half-giant was tending to his cabbages. “Bellatrix?” Hagrid asked as the whole class approached him.

“Hagrid, do you have that thing ready?”

Hagrid stroked his beard. “I thought ye’ didn’t need it til next term? I wanted to show it off to one of my classes.”

“It’ll be quick, Hagrid, just a little demonstration. If the creature is as sturdy as you said, it won’t even have a nick.”

Everyone began to panic when they heard the word creature, none more so than Seamus, who stepped up to Bella with a pale face.  “Professor, I’d like to apologize for my attitude during class.” he gave her a fearful smile, which Bella returned with a smile of her own, one that showed all of her teeth.

“Apology accepted, Mr. Finnigan.” Seamus let out a relieved breath just as Hagrid levitated out a large cage. “Now, as part of the class, I’ve selected you to demonstrate all that I’ve taught you so far.”

“W-W-What?” Seamus began hyperventilating as everyone’s eyes were locked on the cage, which began rattling uncontrollably the moment Hagrid let it down to the floor.

Harry cursed under his breath, it should be him battling whatever abomination Hagrid had created.

“Professor, please, I-I’ll take detention, I’ll take a month of detention!” Seamus begged.

Bella scoffed. “You really think I’d want to waste my time staring at your ugly mug for a whole month? Now get in that pen!”

Seamus had no choice in the matter, because Bellatrix hit him with a knockback jinx that sent him flying into the enclosure where Hagrid taught his classes.

“This…this is a bit dangerous, isn't it?” Parvati whispered, joined by the other students who were wondering if they were about to witness a murder.

‘Harry, your mentor is insane. What the hell is she doing?” Harry and Daphne groaned, if Bella had thought this act would somehow make the students respect her again, she was very wrong. The kids whispered amongst themselves, theorizing that this behavior was all due to that dark, evil ritual she had performed.

Bella heard the whispers, and she smiled. She’d figured that the students would question her authority, and nothing she could do would make them respect her, especially once she got to those older year brats who considered themselves adults.

If she couldn’t be respected, she could still definitely be feared, which was just as good. At least in her mind.

Hell, grandfather always said that he’d pick feared over respected any day of the week, and he’d always been a wise man, right up until he’d been cursed in the back in Diagon Alley.

Hagrid opened up the cage, just another member of the Hogwarts staff with more than a few loose screws. As Seamus trembled in the middle of the enclosure, the impromptu Roman Coliseum released its lion.

A large, ugly looking crab creature crawled out of the cage. It had massive pincers and claws, and as it walked, it seemed that there were mini-explosions all around the warts and bumps on its shell.

“What the hell is that?”

“Blast-ended skrewt.” Hagrid said proudly, a tear falling down his eye as his baby stalked Seamus down. "Took second place in the Hogsmeade fair this year." He said proudly, "Ruddy Weasley and her pumpkins." He muttered that last part under his breath.

Seamus was shaking so badly that he couldn’t even aim his wand, he just stood rooted to the spot as the giant crab creature zeroed in on him, scuttling sideways in an unsettling manner that made everyone shudder.

"Professor, you gotta stop this!"

Bellatrix ignored the cries from the students as Harry inched over to her side.

"Bella." The witch put a hand up, and Harry watched as the skrewt toppled Seamus over, climbing on top of the terrified boy.

"Beautiful pincers, bite clean through steel." Hagrid said, as if he was waxing poetic over a brand new broom.

Just as the crab was about to tear one of Seamus' limbs off, it was violently thrown off with a blasting curse from Bella.

"Mr. Finnigan, you clearly haven't been practicing what I've taught this year. I'll need a three foot essay on defensive spells by tomorrow."

,,,

Bella had felt really good after what she'd done, right up until now, where she and Hagrid were sitting down in front of the Headmaster.

She didn't care about losing her job, insomuch as she didn't care about teaching. But if she got kicked out of the school, that would mean no Harry, no Lily, Daphne or Angelina, no coven, and that wasn't something she could bear with everything else around her crumbling down.

Thinking of Lily, she could picture the redhead now, ready to give her the sternest talking to of her life. She'd be looking forward to seeing the redhead's face twist in anger if the situation wasn't so serious.

Well, it should have been serious, the way Hagrid was acting, it seemed that he didn't have a care in the world.

Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, the trademark amused smile on his face as he rested his head on his palm.

"Don't worry, Bellatrix, you're not getting fired."

Bella deflated slightly, a sense of relief washing over her. Hagrid chuckled. "Professer Black doesn't know the Hogwarts motto yet, headmaster."

"The Hogwarts motto?" Bellatrix turned to look at the half-giant questioningly.

Dumbledore laughed as well. "I tend to find that just a sprinkling of danger helps foster a good learning environment. Nothing too serious, of course, don’t want too many permanent injuries or anything that gets the school shut down. But that incident with Mr. Finnigan shows I made the right choice in hiring you on.”

Bellatrix’s jaw dropped. She remembered her school days, she’d always thought the Headmaster was just being negligent when lethifolds would sneak into the castle or that time they found razor blades in everyone’s food at breakfast. Now, she knew it was a built in feature of the Hogwarts experience. The moving staircases, vanishing steps, the dangerous creatures just a stones’ throw away in the Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts truly was a death trap, and it seemed that was by design.

“Unfortunately.” Dumbledore continued, and Bellatrix’s stomach dropped. This was the other shoe dropping. “The Minister seems to have become concerned due to the article in today’s Daily Prophet. I might have been able to curtail her impulses, but today’s heroic incident will probably not reflect too well on you.”

“So I am getting fired?”

Hagrid and Dumbledore both broke down into laughter. Deep bellows that made Bellatrix ever so slightly irritated as she waited for the Headmaster to get on with it.

“Heavens no, Bellatrix. No one gets fired at Hogwarts. Not while the school is under my purview.” Dumbledore removed his glasses, cleaning them with his sleeve before replacing them, his face turning serious. “I’m afraid that they’ve made two requests which I’ll have to acquiesce to. The first is to install an auror detail in the school for the remainder of the year. That one had nothing to do with you, something about a rising tide of violence between students due to my gross negligence, or some such nonsense.”

“Right.”

“The second is that, for the remainder of the year, you will be supervised by a ministry employee.”

“Supervised?!” Bellatrix yelled in indignation. She already hated teaching, teaching while being prodded at by a pencil-pusher was simply too much!

“Yes, yes, I’m afraid the ministry has always taken issue with the way I run the school. This is their way of wedging their foot in the door. Bellatrix, I’m afraid that for the rest of the year, we will need to have no more incidents like the one today. If we end the year clean, I can get the ministry off my back and you can return to providing the excellent education that Hogwarts is known for.”

Bella had her eyes closed as she tried to take calming breaths. She pictured Harry and the coven in her mind. She was strong. If she quit, she’d just be playing into the hands of the ministry and her enemies. She would be strong, she would hold her head up high and she would show them that Bellatrix Black bowed to no one.

Besides, whatever ministry drone they sent, she would just walk all over them.

…

There was a knock at her classroom door, and Lily glanced over from where she'd been helping one of her sixth year Ravenclaws get a better grip on the day's lesson.

"Wotcher, aunt Lily."

"Nymphadora!" Lily exclaimed, ignoring the way the girl bristled at her full name. "Ms. Fawley, I trust you understand the topic better?"

The girl nodded happily. "Yes, thank you so much, Professor Potter, you're the best!"

The girl scampered off as Tonks stepped into the classroom. She wore her red auror robes, and her hair was in her preferred configuration of short, spiky and pink.

"I knew you'd make a great teacher, auntie!" Nym said as the two women hugged.

"Thank you, Dora, I do try my hardest." Lily smiled. "What brings you to Hogwarts?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me." At Lily's confused look, Nym grinned. "The Minister came into Director Bones' office the other day, ranting about violent clashes between students and the need to reign Dumbledore in. And somehow, both my favorite and least favorite cousins are involved in it."

Lily sighed. "It's a bit complicated. Harry unfortunately did punch Mr. Malfoy, but its not like the school is a warzone."

“So Harry did punch that little git? Wicked." Nym cheered.

If things really weren't as bad as the minister said, it was even better for her. She wasn't about to report back to her superiors to tell them that it was a big pile of nothing. The Minister wouldn't believe her and just send someone else to 'monitor the powder keg at Hogwarts'. Besides, Director Bones had sent her here as punishment, literally saying she thought having Tonks on the beat was a national security threat.

As far as Tonks was concerned, spending a year hanging around the school sounded like a great way to steal a salary right before she quit.

Because Nymphadora had made up her mind. She was going to quit the auror department. She didn’t know what had gotten into her to make her want to become an auror in the first place, but she found that the realities of the department, full of politics and backstabbing, the paperwork, and having to actually go out there and do things when she just wanted to chill, listen to music and hit on chicks, were all too much for her. Worse, all the cool people kept calling her lame because she was a cop! Moody was a great mentor, but not great enough to keep her in a job she had grown to hate.

“How is my favorite cousin doing anyways?” she asked, remembering the last time she’d seen Harry, when she’d covered for him as he went off on a hot date.

“Oh, he’s doing great.” Lily said, her face flushing slightly. “H-He… he got together with Daphne.”

“He did! It was about damn time!” Nym snapped. Those two were frustrating to watch with the way they’d failed to cross that friend/lover membrane when it was clear as day they wanted to jump each other’s bones. Daphne must have been the one who Harry had gone to see that day. Though it didn’t make perfect sense. Harry went over to Daphne’s all the time, he wouldn’t have needed Tonks to cover for him.

“Yeah, it's really been wonderful.” Lily’s eyes took on a faraway look as she reminisced on everything that had happened so far this year.

“Do you know where the little bugger’s at right now?” Tonks asked, it had been a while since she’d been able to bother her little cousin.

Students began to stream in for Lily’s next class. The redhead looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hmmm, I think he should be taking Arithmancy right now,”

“That’s on the second floor, right? Near the painting of the bloke with the lazy eye.”

“One and the same.” Lily answered.

Nym grinned, “Alright, I’ll leave you to it, Professor.” she winked.

“Don’t be a stranger.” Lily said with a smile.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, auntie.” With that, Nym dipped out of the classroom, her ears perking up as she heard the students whisper something about ‘Professor Black’ , 'Psycho’ and ‘murder’.

Nym didn’t know much about her wayward aunt. She’d seen her maybe three times in her life. At one point, when she’d decided she wanted to become an auror, Nym had thought to ask her mum if Aunt Bella would give her combat training. Andromeda had written to her sister and gotten back a signed poster, addressed to ‘Dear Nymphomaniac’. Tonks hadn't liked aunt Bella much after that, even as Harry continued to gush over her.

Now, as an adult, Tonks had decided not to form an opinion on her aunt until they interacted. She had become Harry’s mentor, and aunt Lily seemed to be ok with it, so she would reserve judgment for now.

Any further thoughts were stopped when a flowery scent assaulted her senses, and her mind suddenly fogged over in lust.

Walking towards her was a girl with silvery-blonde hair and blue eyes that was covered in tattoos, from her arms to her neck and face.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You can do this Tonks, just act cool. You got his.

Nymphadora threw herself against a pillar, bumping her shoulder hard in the process. She winced in pain as she put her hands in her pockets, leaning against the pillar even as the hard stone made the building ache in her shoulder worse.

“Hey there, beautiful.” Nym said, trying to seem as casual as possible. “Where have you been all my life?” The line would have sounded a little better if her voice hadn’t cracked halfway through.

Fleur frowned. She was certain she had her rejection dialed up. She modulated her aura, turning it from full rejection down to mild attraction, and the girl with the spiky pink hair just drooled even harder over her.

So now, it was Harry, Daphne and this girl as well who were unaffected by her rejection. What the hell was in the water in Scotland?

“How bout I take you out sometime? I’m an auror, you know, I beat up bad guys, real dangerous, arch-villains.” Tonks said, running a hand through her hair in what she hoped was a suave manner.

Fleur snorted. This was a pathetic display. “I have somewhere to be, excuse me.”

“Wait no, baby!”  Nym yelled out as Fleur brushed past her and quickly disappeared down the hallway.

The metamorphmagus groaned. She really needed to work on her game. When she went after muggle women, she would usually strike out multiple times, having to constantly change faces after each one got rejected. Up til now, her best strategy had been to just keep throwing different women at girls until they finally became so exhausted, they accepted the first woman to not throw some corny one-liner at her.

It was Nymphadora’s biggest shame. She could turn into anyone, she had nailed down that punk aesthetic, she had all the confidence in the world. But whenever she opened her mouth, she ruined her chances with any woman she tried to approach.

As she walked down to the Arithmancy classroom, she thought of her cousin Harry. He’d been able to get with Daphne, who Nym would admit was absolutely ravishingly gorgeous, and he’d never been awkward around women. Maybe, it was time for her to cash in the favor he owed her, to help her get with that sexy tattooed blonde that would most definitely be running through her mind all day now.