Chimaera of Judgement

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR: The Will of Bellatrix Lestrange

"Are you mad?!"

Albus had been sure someone would say that, but hadn't been expecting it to come from Scorpius, specifically. "Pardon?" asked the Minister in tones far more polite than the Slytherin deserved.

"She's the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange, the Death Eater?!" Scorpius demanded of them. "You've got to be barking! Everybody knows she's a Mudblood!"

"Scorpius, mind your tongue," Draco ordered under his breath.

Mr Peele decided to field that question. "If you are referring to the Muggle parents she lives with, they are her adoptive guardians. Also, none of that is your business, and you'll do well to remember that you are already in more than enough trouble, young man."

"Sorry, sir," spat Scorpius.

Before Peele could answer, Rose asked, "Trouble? For what, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ah," Longbottom began heavily. "It seems young Mr Malfoy here was behind your recent discomfort. We've found evidence linking him to the cursed object."

"You git!" Rose shouted, spittle flying from her mouth as she drew uncomfortably close to his face. "Urgh, this is- I've been watching Ryan waggle his backside in my face because of you?!"

Ryan made a face. "You saw all that?"

"No way," said Albus tonelessly, thinking back to the box that had arrived in the mail. "It can't have been... he forged my aunt's handwriting and everything? I don't believe it!"

"We've got plenty of solid proof," his grandfather said. "Also, he has something to say to us."

"Oh, really?" Instantly, Rose was transported. "This ought to be rich."

Scorpius's cold eyes glared down at his four nemeses, pug nose twitching at the prospect of what he was supposed to be doing. He dawdled overlong, and his father poked him in the back of the head. Then, with a deep sigh, he folded his arms and grumbled, "Sorry I sent the monocle."

Albus had begun to snicker as Rose spoke again, her voice purposefully high and saccharine. "What was that? Sorry you did what to who?"

"Sorry I sent you the monocle," he said, hardly louder than the first time. "There."

"You're forgetting someone, Scorpius," his father hissed.

"Oh, right." He turned to face in Mr Weasley's general direction. "Sorry I stole it from your shed."

"What?!" said Albus as his grandfather gave Scorpius a courteous nod. "So... so I did see you slip something into your pocket at the bonfire! You petty little thief!"

"Recognised it the moment I saw it down at the office," said Mr Weasley with a resigned smile. "We had first confiscated it from a disagreeable chap perhaps two months before Christmas, and it took well over a week to extract the poor Muggle who fell victim to that prank. I'd brought it home to see if perhaps I could find a way to remove the enchantment, but it's one of those little projects that fall by the wayside. It was only after we figured out Draco Junior had put a Permanent Sticking Charm on it on top of the old curse that we were able to readjust our thinking and get Mr Macmillan out."

"Your grandfather remembered I'd been near the shed and asked if I saw anything suspicious," Professor Longbottom told Albus with a wink. "Of course, you know the rest."

"Yeah, yeah, so it's all my fault, so what?!" Scorpius snapped. "The label attached said 'Warning, Dangerous'. I figured it would probably burn you or something, a stupid joke! How was I supposed to know it sucks people inside where they can't get out? Argh!"

"So, wait a minute." All this talk of multiple charms and sucking people in and out seemed contradictory to Albus. "If there's a Permanent Sticking Charm on it, how did Ryan get sucked in? Wouldn't the monocle have glued itself to his face instead?"

Mr Peele was shaking his head before Albus finished. "The curse originally placed on the object was much more powerful than a simple Sticking Charm. We can only guess the wizard space inside was intended to hold only one person at a time, and therefore was already 'occupied' when Miss Weasley tried it on. Therefore, the Sticking Charm held."

"Oh, I should dearly love to find out who made that monocle," said Mr Weasley in oddly sinister tones. "Sweat the incantation out of him so we could undo it."

"You know, I'm not sure that apology really satisfied me." Rose paced back and forth, staring down at the slightly shorter boy. "That lens was stuck to my eye for a week, and it was very painful. Shouldn't you be getting down on your knees or something?"

"Oh, I really don't think-"

"The school is well within their right to punish the boy," said Longbottom, trying his best not to grin. "A sixth year filled with detentions ought to be about right for trapping a student within a Dark object, and then attaching it to another student, and that's without-"

"All right, all right, I get the point!" he said hastily, reeling at the prospect of an entire year's detentions. Swearing to the winds the entire time, he dropped to one knee and said, "I'm really sorry about the monocle thing. Better?"

"Hmm." Privately, Albus envied the power Rose had over Scorpius at that moment, and did not blame her at all for milking it. "It might help if you said, 'Rose Weasley is my beautiful queen, and I am but her loyal trained chimpanzee.' Let's give that a go."

Scorpius shot a look at his father laced with so much contempt Albus could almost see the daggers of ice flying at the elder man. "Rose Weasley is my b- beautiful queen, and I am but her loyal trained chimpanzee."

"It's too bad digital recorders don't work at Hogwarts," Jezabel whispered in Albus's ear.

"Digiwhat?"

"That will do, I'm sure, Miss Weasley," said Longbottom with a slight smile. "Though to be thorough, I'd say Mr Malfoy's earned himself a detention or three, regardless. See me after this meeting and I'll have you join Miss Nott and Mr Malkin in pruning the snargaluffs."

Shaking his head violently, he stomped off into the corner and folded his arms again, sulking.

"Now that's sorted," said Mr Peele, "on with the reading of the will, I should think?"

"Of course," the Minister said. They both walked around the old teacher's desk, the Minister sitting in the chair and Matthias standing beside him. "Ahem, let's see... 'I, Bellatrix Violetta Lestrange, being of sound mind and body-'"

"Pur-lease," muttered Rose.

"'-do hereby bequeath my personal belongings and worth unto the following persons. Should these persons be dead or incapacitated upon the time of my passing, my assets shall pass unto the control of any living member of the Black or Malfoy family.'"

"We may not be alive much longer if you don't expedite this process," grunted the old man.

Arthur Weasley tutted at him. "Come now, Lucius; surely prison taught you a touch of patience?"

"Merlin," gasped Rose, leaning back slightly so as to whisper to Albus, Jezabel and Ryan. "That ancient fossil is Scorpius's grandfather!"

"I could have told you that," Ryan replied. "They all pretty much look the same, don't they?"

"'-persons is as follows'," Kingsley was reading. "'To Lucius Malfoy, I leave my collection of antique armour, to remember the battle hard fought.'"

"Goody goody gumdrops," the old man said with a pinched smile. "To remember the battle pointlessly fought, just what I wanted. Ah, well - I daresay it will fetch a handsome price."

"'To my good sister Narcissa Malfoy, I leave my skins and furs, as I know she always coveted them.'"

"I suppose I'll take those, also," said Lucius, sighing heavily.

"Oh," said Jezabel in a small voice. When Albus raised his eyebrows at her, she whispered, "W-well, I'd heard Scorpius say once that his grandmother had succumbed to dragon pox when he was seven and never recovered. Bellatrix's will must not have been updated since before then."

"'-their son, Draco, I leave the sword of Godric Gryffindor, to remind him of the blow never struck.'"

"That wrinkled old hag," spat Draco. "Even in death, she won't let me forget."

"The sword is a fake," said Longbottom with a smile. "Still, it will be worth its weight. In fact, perhaps you and I could arrange-"

"Yes, yes, fine, Neville; for a few shiny Galleons it's yours. As if I want a Gryffindor keepsake, anyway."

"'To my husband, Rodolphus - I would leave you my property in Leeds, but goodness knows you'd have as much use for it as I do.'"

"What's that about?" asked Rose before realising she'd spoken aloud. "Er, I mean-"

"Her husband was also a Death Eater," explained Lucius. "They both served life sentences. A very, very small joke."

"Indeed," said Shacklebolt. "Ahem - 'Therefore, I bequeath the entirety of my remaining assets to my estranged daughter, Jezabel Lestrange, whose surname is now Skirrow, upon the time she comes of age. Particularly among these, the collection of exotic potions from around the world, and-"

"Excuse me?" demanded Draco. "You mean... you mean to say she left that mansion and half the contents of her vault to a girl she never knew, and I'm to be satisfied with an imitation sword?!"

"-'and the envelope marked, "J.E.S.". I trust it will help her find her way.'" Kingsley sat back, rubbing his temples with his huge, ebony hands. "The rest is legal drivel."

"This is absurd! The family she knew means nothing to her, and the family she didn't know gets everything! As if the house of Malfoy hasn't suffered enough!"

"Oh, do be quiet, Draco," the old man said, swatting him on the arm with his cane. "If it makes you feel any better, you can have a few of your mother's skins."

"How very generous of you, Father." The level of sarcasm in his voice should have been illegal.

"Er..."

Everyone was staring at Jezabel expectantly. For a few seconds, she appeared to be debating which question to ask, or whether or not she should ask one at all. "W- I- that is... please, sir, what does this mean? That... that I have a house?"

"A house?!" shouted Draco. "If by 'house' you mean 'estate capable of sleeping twenty easily', then yes, you've got yourself a cozy cottage! Meanwhile, I'm still living with Father!"

"And..." Albus decided she must be so overwhelmed by being left such riches that she couldn't even register Mr Malfoy's outrage at the entire situation. "The other assets... how much-"

"Whatever's left in her vault at Gringotts," said Mr Peele. "After the Malfoys' affects are removed, that is. Believe you me, it's no small potatoes."

"I- I- I can't breathe," she panted, waving at her face. "To me? Why, I- I've never- there's... I can't breathe, Albus, it's too m-much, too much-"

"Here," he laughed, pointing his wand at her throat and saying, "Anapneo!" The rush of air alone helped her regain control of her nervous system, and she clutched at his arm for support for a moment. "It's okay, Jezabel, there's nothing-"

"Albus, I've never had so much as a penny to my name," she babbled, eyes unfocused and staring. "The idea of actually owning not only gold, but a house of my own? That's, it's- it's- I don't know what that is, but it sounds like-"

"Freedom," said Rose, smiling at her. "I mean, you were working toward that answer, weren't you? If you wanted, you could move out of that Muggle house right now, use some of the money in your vault to spruce up your new digs a touch!"

"'Digs', eh?" chuckled Mr Peele. "Yes, well, anyway, that seems to conclude our business here, and I'd like to get back to St Mungo's. Nice to see all of you again."

It felt like hours passed while the adults filed out of the room one by one, talking in hushed tones amongst themselves about both related and unrelated subjects. Scorpius behaved as if he wanted to remain long enough to tell Rose what he truly thought of her, but Draco chivvied him along by steering both shoulders directly through the door. At long last, the four Gryffindors were alone in classroom nine.

"So," Ryan started things off. "Since when is Logan a star athlete?"

o o o

An hour crept by, and Albus found himself wishing he were elsewhere. Every time he looked at Rose, the interrogation she put Jezabel through came to mind, and when he turned instead to Jezabel, guilt over eavesdropping on her answers to Rose's unfair questions weighed heavy upon his heart. As a result he spent a great deal of the conversation with his eyes focused on either Ryan or the floor, and he saw a "Why are you staring at me?" expression on Ryan's face more than once. He would liked to have felt more cheerful when his bunkmate returned to the school.

Ryan, as it turned out, was most interested in finding out that he had technically visited the infamous Azkaban during his stay inside corrective eyewear. When Rose asked him how much he saw, he looked at her quizzically.

"Didn't see a blasted thing the whole time," he grumbled, folding his arms. "Well, except for one gigantic eye, but even that's a dreadfully dull sight after the first day or two."

"That was my eye, I presume?" Rose asked.

"Probably. And about that - sorry for anything unseemly I might have done while we were epoxied together. After a while, though, you just run out of angry things to shout and conversations to have with yourself."

She seemed to consider giving him a hard time for a moment before she sighed. "Yeah. I just feel ridiculous for putting an eyepatch on every time I changed clothes, when all along you couldn't have seen me, anyway."

"Er, heh... right." Albus felt sure Ryan's heart had skipped a beat there.

Eventually Mr Urran showed up, and assuming they must be up to no good he shooed them toward the Great Hall to sate their appetites. Before Albus could follow Jezabel in, Rose pulled him off to one side.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," he said reflexively before realising it only made him more suspicious.

"Bollocks. Aren't you glad to see Ryan isn't trapped anymore?"

There was no use in hiding it from Rose. Much though he knew he'd be pleading guilty to eavesdropping on his best friends, her behaviour could not be left unchallenged. "I'd be in a better mood if certain cousins didn't go around needling innocent girls about their secret crushes."

Rose's mind laboured for a moment before it reached its destination. "Oh, I see. Wait a m- hey! Albus, you, you... cad!"

"Cad?" he laughed bitterly.

"I can't believe you would tabhang on me!" she hissed, and he felt a momentary pang when he saw the betrayed look in her bright eyes. "Al, don't you... don't you trust me?"

"Not anymore," he flung at her. "I did feel guilty about overhearing you at first, but then you started grilling Jezabel like a fresh pike! Dammit, Rose, did you really think it was okay for you to press so hard for an answer, especially about a sensitive topic like 'who would you rather be snogging right now'?"

"But you heard her reactions." Albus noted that her tone of voice made it clear she regretted her methods, but not the results. "If she had nothing to hide, she'd have been more adamant that she didn't fancy you. She got so upset!"

"Rose, I think you're missing my point. I don't want you trying that again."

She sighed, glancing around to make sure they weren't being listened to. "Al, any fool could see she likes you, but I knew she'd never do anything about it if I didn't give her a little push."

"Well, you pushed, all right." His nose was inches from Rose's, and every freckle was in strong relief. "You pushed her so hard she actually got angry. When's the last time you remember her angry?"

"Never," she admitted.

"Rose, I... I can't believe you would do this. Maybe you were trying to do the right thing, but for a minute there you were almost as bad as the Slytherins! In fact, you sounded precisely like Genevieve, I'd s-"

"Don't you go there," she snapped. "I'm not denying I messed up, but that's overboard. Here I was trying to do you a favour and you're equating me with that stupid moo? Cheers, Al, that's great." Then she changed tact, folding her arms carefully. "I only hope her crush survives a blow like this."

"You can't tell Jezabel I overheard you two," he whispered urgently, eyes popping. "She's just beginning to not hate the both of us, and the last thing I want is to give her reason to believe I walk around listening in on my friends unawares."

Her poisonous smile was infuriating. "But you were listening in on-"

"I thought I was investigating why you two had been summoned. For all I knew, Dryden was going to drop a piano on your heads as soon as you walked in the classroom! There's no way I could have expected you to- to-"

"Fine, fine, I get the picture." For one very tense moment, both cousins shifted from foot to foot, trying to decide what to say. Rose opened her mouth to speak, but Albus beat her to it.

"Look, let's just agree that we both weren't thinking, and neither of us meant any harm, and leave it at that. Saves time."

"That sounds acceptable."

The cycle had begun anew; something annoying happened, both he and Rose enjoyed a violent overreaction, then eventually entered a brief cooling period before they truly returned to status quo. As expected, they did not speak a word to each other all throughout their meal, despite Lily asking each of them what was wrong several times.

"So let me get this straight," Ryan managed around a mouthful of chicken. "Dorika Dunsmore, the girl who has doves in her eyes and a wand made out of sugar cane, lifted Albie here up by his throat and tried to plop him straight in the dragon dung, then nearly croaked our Defence teacher?"

The ever-helpful James nodded. "That's the long and short of it."

"You're all having me on," he laughed, eyes moving between each member of the Potter family and Jezabel. "You planned this joke as a welcome-back gift, and it's a riot, it is, but where is Dorika really?"

"In Azkaban, we swear!" said Lily. "And good riddance!"

Rose set down her goblet heavily. "Personally, I think it's horrible to lock up anyone underage, no matter what they're accused of!"

"She did nearly snuff a half dozen students, you know," said Elizabeth Larkins from a few seats down, jaw set. "And some of us were only tortured, or had you forgotten? She's a cold-blooded maniac!"

"She is not," snapped Albus before he could help himself. When they all goggled at him, he burst out, "Oh, wake up! I was the one she almost buried alive, and even I don't think it was her fault!"

"But Ryan agrees, don't you, Ryan?" Lily's eyes were pleading, as if she'd much prefer Dorika be guilty than consider the madman might still be loose in the castle. "If she's the one who tried to k- kill- kill my brother, I say she ought to be hanged!"

"Lils," he breathed, touched beyond simple words. Her misty eyes flicked to him for just a moment before focusing on Ryan's next proclamation.

"But it can't be her. That is, somebody else has to be in on it."

"Yeah?" James folded his arms. "And what, pray tell, do you base that little leap in logic on?"

"Because it wasn't any girl who cursed me."

Everyone was at a loss, especially Rose, Lily and Albus. A grainy vision of a rattling suit of armour came back to them, hazy as if a great distance away. "Oh yeah," Rose uttered at last.

"Exactly. Maybe I didn't see my attacker, but their voice most certainly sounded male to yours truly. So we're either looking for a real tomboy, or..."

"Dorika's innocent," said Lily in a small voice. "B-but- no, we can't still be dealing with a lunatic, not here at Hogwarts!"

"We've been dealing with it all year," added Jezabel dismally. "All of us, and this only means - ouch!"

The level of dread increased more than a fraction as they watched Jezabel remove yet another envelope from atop her head. "How many people in Azkaban do you know?" demanded James. "Or did you make a few penfriends last time in?"

"What is it?" asked Albus. "Should I start packing our trunks?"

Her eyebrows began to twitch slightly. "No, I- I know what this is. I'm just not sure what's in it."

When Albus and Rose peeked over her shoulders, they saw three letters written in bright-green ink: "J.E.S."

END Chapter Forty-Four