Chapter 4
One week had gone by and Cecilia and Bellatrix had decided on a plan for their project.
They would begin with the potion which had the longest brewing time so it could take its time while they worked on the easier ones.
Around one third of the ingredients for the potions, Slughorn could provide them with, the rest had to be collected by the students themselves. Either in their natural habitat, meaning the forest or the lake, or the students could go on a trip to Hogsmeade to see if they could be bought there.
Cecilia felt the autumn air caress her skin and blew through her hair. Once again nature reminded her of how much she loved the season. It still wasn't too cold to go outside without totally freezing and the leaves had turned into stunning colours the Ravenclaw had never seen before. The wind played with them, threw them around and lifted them into the air. It seemed almost like a dance.
The spectacle of nature never failed to amaze her, she could watch it for hours without getting tired.
From the castle Bellatrix was approaching at a brisk pace. Her gorgeous locks bounced with every step and some strands had already come loose from her hairdo. The rumours about her were true, she really was a temperamental person but surprisingly the two girls had gotten along well so far. They both shared an ambition to get the best grades, which helped them understand each other a bit better and work together to get to their common goal.
The Ravenclaw noticed a feeling of nervousness arise in her.
Even though she had worked on herself the witch still found it a bit difficult to be with people she didn't know very well. She was always a bit uneasy in such situations, carefully overthinking her words before talking. It was an annoying habit, but unfortunately one that seemed nearly impossible to let go of.
When Bellatrix finally reached her, the two exchanged a few words, decided on their procedure and made their way to Hogsmeade right away to waste as little time as possible.
Apart from their shared work, they had, unfortunately for Cecilia, not yet found many common interests to talk about.
Bellatrix didn't seem like the typical person to make smalltalk with but still, Cecilia saw it as her responsibility to at least have a short conversation.
And even though she didn't want to admit it, Cecilia was curious. Curious to know who Bellatrix really was, under that mean and arrogant persona. The Ravenclaw was itching to find out what made Bellatrix Black act the way she did.
Unfortunately, Cecilia didn't manage to get their conversation much further than about school or the weather.
After a mostly silent walk they finally arrived in Hogsmeade.
The narrow streets were crowded with Hogwarts students, spending their day outside the school as long as the weather still allowed it. Despite the freezing temperatures, the little town attracted many students with its inns and cafes, where a hot chocolate made even a bad day more bearable.
But the two witches were not in Hogsmeade to relax. Their first stop was a shop of herbs and plants. Despite being very small and dim it smelled heavenly inside. On every shelf there were dozens of jars, containing various dried plants. Even from the ceiling there were plants hanging. Some in pots, others to dry. While Cecilia was busy admiring the shop, Bellatrix had already made her way to the front desk where the owner was standing.
It was a man who was rather skinny and had dark circles under his eyes indicating that he hadn't gotten a good night of sleep in a long time.
Cecilia quickly followed Bellatrix, as she had grabbed the list of ingredients earlier.
The owner studied the names with a concentrated expression and finally signalled them to follow him.
He may know a lot about plants but didn't seem to be a man of many words.
From the top shelves at the back of the shop he grabbed two jars and from a pot hanging near the window a bundle of lilac flowers.
Finally the plant master spoke, “Here we have a jar of wigentree leaves and also some of its bark, the second jar contains dittany and finally I have some fresh wolfsbane, you have to be extra careful with this one, it's highly poisonous.”
The girls just nodded obediently, paid for the ingredients and quickly left the shop.
“What an odd man.”, commented Bellatrix just as they exited the shop.
“Well, he was certainly something, but did you see this huge variety of plants? It was incredible, and the smell, wonderful!" Cecilia was beaming with excitement.
Bellatrix didn't seem to care a lot as she just hummed in agreement and proceeded to look for their next stop.
The Ravenclaw couldn't help but roll her eyes before, once again, following the Black girl.
They didn't really have that much time pressure for Bellatrix to walk as fast as she did, a bit faster and she would be running. Cecilia got the impression that the Slytherin wanted their little trip over with as soon as she could, as she tried her best to keep up.
Always being a few steps behind Bellatrix, Cecilia at least got the chance to admire her curls. Up close they were even more incredible. Each curl seemed to have their designated place, looking healthy, even the ends. The Slytherin had the type of hair that Cecilia had always wished for, as she herself had been blessed with pin straight hair.
“There it is.”
Bellatrix's voice snapped Cecilia out of her thoughts.
At the sight of the building in front of her, she was taken aback a bit. Bellatrix had guided her to the only shop in Hogsmeade which sold items related to the dark arts.
“Why did we come here? There are plenty of other, more useful shops, I doubt that we'll even find something here.”, asked Cecilia.
She was not amused, it didn't even make sense coming here. They certainly weren't looking for dark arts artefacts.
Bellatrix groaned, clearly annoyed by the Ravenclaw, “The owner is a family friend, he’ll have to give us stuff for free if he has something useful. But if you're so against it you don't have to come along, no ones forcing you.”
“No, of course I'll come but you just can't do whatever you want without at least informing me beforehand. It's still our project and not just yours.”, stated Cecilia, annoyed, while storming past the Slytherin girl and entering, without waiting for her response.
Only afterwards Cecilia realised that she herself was also to blame as she hadn’t paid attention, after all she had been distracted by trying to keep up and also by her dumb admiration of Bellatrix hair.
The shops inside didn't have a welcoming atmosphere. Laying around everywhere were artefacts and other items, which Cecilia didn't recognize, but there was no organisation detectable.
Unlike many other witches and wizards, Cecilia didn't demonise the dark arts but she had some sort of respect for it and maybe a bit of fear. After all, over the course of history, it has become obvious how much pain and destruction it could bring among wizards and humans alike.
At the same time, the Black Family was known for their fondness of the dark arts and their Pride regarding their pure blood status, so Bellatrix dragging her to this kind of shop shouldn't have come as a surprise.
More than the whole dark arts thing, the fact that Bellatrix had just done whatever she wanted, was what made her more angry.
The Ravenclaw refused to leave her spot near the entrance while the Black was speaking with the owner, which didn't catch Cecilia's interest as she tried to move as little as possible to avoid knocking down some objects from the awfully overcrowded shelves and tables.
After what felt like an eternity Bellatrix was ready to leave.
Outside again, she showed Cecilia the contents of her bag with an “I told you so” smirk on her face. She had acquired everything they had been lacking before.
Cecilia honestly didn't care anymore, she had had enough. Her good mood from before was gone so she was thankful that they had found everything on their list.
Without many words she turned away from the Slytherin and made her way back to the school, not paying attention if Bellatrix followed her or not.
Maybe she was overreacting but at the moment Cecilia really couldn’t care less.