Chapter 13
"The warding is intact." She slouched on the sofa, tiredness was obvious on her face. She looked ill and a little bit bloodless.
"Did you leave anything in the office?"
"No. No, I didn't. Thankfully I thought of that." She started massaging her temples before stilling and looking at him. "You need to pay attention to....your precious belongings" She was reminding him to protect his horcrux, did she know he already made it?
"You know?"
"Of course, didn't I give you the papers myself? Besides, didn't you kill the mudblood just for that?" It was the first time they sere talking openly about it. Tom didn't actually plan to kill the mudblood, it was an accident as obvious to the loose ends it left. However, he would never cease to be surprised that she thought he really did do it for that purpose and not cared in the slightest. Of course, he would have done it anyways and it was not because of guilt but not in such a rash way and not in Hogwarts under Dumbledore's nose.
"Why did you think I succeeded?"
"Of course you did, Tom. If anyone is able to do it, it must be you." Tom couldn't stop the pride that was burgeoning in his chest and his mood was suddenly uplifted. However, his good mood promptly disappread when he thought of the report. He was thinking about it already when Dumbledore decided to get in his way once again. He needed to go back to his dormitory and digest all of this properly. She seemed to feel his mood swings but was mistaken for the reason.
"Do not worry, Tom. Why don't you put it in Gringotts?" That's exactly what he was planning to do for now.
"I would have to wait for the summer" He did have many plans for the summer, this one included.
"Why? You can use my fireplace, nobody would know" This stopped Tom in his tracks as trepidation came up in his chest when he thought of the genealogy books he consulted.
"Really? I would have to use it for something else too" She looked at him questioningly before hesitating a little bit like he sometimes catch her do. She looked at him and said without asking any further questions.
"You can use it whenever you want." Tom decided it would be a weekend when he didn't have any classes and his absence wouldn't be noticed. He would have to plan thoroughly but for now he shoved those thoughts for later.
"Where did you go?" She ignored his question before getting up and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Go back to your dormitory, you must be tired" Frustration was gnawing in his chest because of her evasion to answer his questions once again.
"Alright, good night Bellatrix"
"Good night , Tom" She looked at him a little bit before saying "The robes suit you marvelously"
The next morning brought some clarity to Tom's mind, this year has truly been hectic with all the things he has been up to. He would wait until Saturday to go visit Little Hangleton, then if he had time he would pass to Gringotts to deposit his horcrux in there. Afterwards, he would focus his research on uncovering more about Bellatrix and her illness, he would also have to put some wards on his own in her office and help pay attention to her lest she rants too much and end up talking nonsense to Dumbledore. At breakfast, Tom was pestered by the Ravenclaw of yesterday, he did have to take a bit of skill to extirpate himself from her, though all he truly wanted was to hex her away from him.
They had DADA in the morning and Tom thought it was best since he wasn't in the state of mind to focus on anything else now and though it was a short amount of time since yesterday, he wanted to see her. He was a little bit worried about where she went yesterday and the state she was in, in the goblin report it did say that while the curse may have an effect on her lifespan, it wouldn't hinder her health except for maybe some peculiar side-effects , so he was sure her state was not due to that issue.
Bellatrix was already sitting on the desk and there was still tiredness on her features, she gave him a nod when she saw him as Tom sat down next to Dolohov. Today's class was shared with gryffindors, unbelievably it was a first since the beginning of the year which has been a few months already. Mid-way through her explaining something about the unforgivables, a noise broke out at the back and Tom could see hardly controlled irritation rising on her face, though it was an improvement since the beginning of the year. When she approached the source of the noise, it turned out to be Potter who was making a fool of himself trying to woo Dorea Black. However, that wasn't what interested Tom, no he could feel her stiffen when she saw Potter and a murderous intent flashing in her eyes. While Bellatrix may not be all that there mentally and thought of teaching as a chore, she wasn't so gone as to murder students over mere scuffles.
"Mr.Potter" She started sweetly, strangely different to the way she would usually berate students, with her tone getting heavy out of irritation. It was as if she was trying her hardest to seem benevolent. By this point, Tom knew her enough to feel the hidden disgust inside of it.
"I am sorry, Professor" He must say, Potter did have good instincts. Even though Bellatrix was pretending to be kind to him, Tom could feel his discomfort when she adressed him.
"It's alright, Mr Potter. Just do not repeat that again, there is truly no need....for you to feel sorry" She said while putting what she thought was a supportive hand on Potter's shoulder. However, her words had been dragging and her tone has switched into somewhat of a ridicule, completely unlike what she was attempting to sound like. What was worse, she seemed to be in a trance, her nails digging in Potter's shoulder and her grey eyes focusing strangely on his neck, Tom could feel them being murderous , probably thinking of wringing it and even through her occlumency walls, his legilimency was catching on that . This was bad, she was absolutely out of her mind, anymore and it would be obvious
"Professor!" He reminded her loudly, this seemed to snap her out of her trance. She took her hand away from his shoulder but Potter was already mortified in his place, fear was coloring his features. She attempted one last smile she thought to be kind before going back to her explanation. At the end of the class, Tom decided to stay until the class emptied to talk to her. Once everybody went out, he closed the door with spells and dragged her from her arm to her office.
"Are you out of your mind? What would you have done had I not reminded you?" Tom was absolutely livid, the last thing he needed was to see her land in Azkaban. She grimaced when she heard him before sitting tiredly on the sofa
"I guess you are right. It just..I did some..effort yesterday and it is taking its toll on me so that's why it's hard to focus"
"Are you alright?" She pursed her lips while looking down, for the first time, Tom could see something close to vulnerable in her, as vulnerable as someone like her can be. He didn't know what she did yesterday but it did have a toll on her physically and mentally making her unable to pretend as effectively as before , well as much as you can call her previous performance effective pretending anyway. She simply cannot afford to slip some more today and he wouldn't be in each of her classes to remind her or stop her, besides she needed to rest.
"Take the day off" He ordered. She sighed before silently agreeing.
"I would talk to Dippet on your behalf telling him that you cancelled the classes for today" She seemed to be half-lisening to him before she did an effort that Tom knew was entirely to reassure him. He was a bit annoyed, he didn't like weakness but Bellatrix Lestrange has nothing to do with weakness and the entire reason she seemed to try so hard to look well he was sure, was because she thought he couldn't handle it. She smiled a fond smile at him, terribly different from the one she tried to attempt with Potter.
"Alright, Tom. Thank you, you are a very nice boy. Could you please activate the wards on your way out? I need to rest. Do well on your classes today."