Chapter 23
After he finished his nighty prefect stroll, he stood there next to Bellatrix's office and waited. It didn't take very long before Druella and Cygnus showed up. Cygnus's pale sick shade still seemed to not want to leave his face. That's saying something. The Blacks were already born very pale, so anything paler was hard to notice. Apprehension was obvious on Druella's face while Cygnus looked like he hoped to wake up from a fever dream.
Without any more hesitation , Tom opened the office and went in. Cygnus sent him a look at that but didn't comment.
Tom very confidently walked in Bellatrix's quarters before going directly where he knew the floo powder was. His ease at naviganting the environment would have raised the eyebrows of anybody but it seemed that Druella and Cygnus were smart enough to shut up when they knew it was best not to comment. Or when there were more urgent matters.
When they arrived at Saint-Mungo, the staff was alarmed by the new visitors and wanted to ask more questions when Tom shut them down and once again reminded them that he had full rights to decide on Bellatrix's situation. This time, it was too much for Cygnus who outright asked.
"Why would she leave you such responsibility in the first place?" Tom raised an eyebrow at that and turned to look at Cygnus with an innocent face
"Well, Cygnus. It seems that Professor Eccleshall was a good friend of my mother" They both knew it was a lie. It was basically Tom telling Cygnus to mind his business. And he understood that perfectly well.
They soon came to the hospital room. Tom was quick to tell the staff to test for blood compatibility between Druella, Cygnus and Bellatrix.
When Druella saw Bellatrix, she went over and delicately traced her face with her fingers, then very hesitantly touched the bandages. Cygnus was looking intently at Bellatrix's face, and the more he was looking , the more reality seemed to sink in his eyes.
The blood results didn't take long to come out and the babbling healers once again expressed their utter confusion, this time as to why these two bloods had a parental relationship with Bellatrix. This was was the last straw that snapped Cygnus into waking up. This time, it was him who told the healers to mind their own concerns or that they would be dealing with the house of Black.
This seemed to be quite the effective threat as they kept silent despite their urgent need to babble and went on silently with their job. Right under everybody's eyes, they could see Bellatrix's healing speed up.
Once everybody not in the know cleared out the room, Cygnus asked
"She doesn't know that you know, does she? Did you take the artifact from the vault? Seeing as you are able to make decisions in this instance" Cygnus asked , a knowing look in his eyes
"It would be best if she stays not knowing. For the moment" Tom answered.
"When will you tell her then?"
"After I know what is necessary"
"Messing with time has immense consequences. If the ministry or Dumbledore knew what you have done, neither of you would be having a good time. Bellatrix seems to be hellbent on helping you for some reason. Don't you think if she didn't judge that you should know, it's maybe for a good reason" Tom was irritated. He was not going to tell Cygnus that the reason Bellatrix didn't want to tell him is because she thought his crazy older self was right in his endeavors , that she just ought to do what he would have wished and that he was too weak and fragile to know the truth.
"So you want to tell her that you know the truth? Go on. I am not stopping you" Cygnus paled. Good. Tom knew that even if he managed to digest this situation better at this point, the idea of him going to the woman who has been his DADA teacher up to now , an authority figure and someone twice his age and tell her about his parentage towards her still weirded him out.
"What did you do with the artifact, Tom?" Druella asked. It didn't escape Tom how everytime Druella managed to focus on the key points.
"I put it back into the vault, it was dangerous to keep it around" Relief was obvious on Druella's face.
"Indeed, it is dangerous" Cygnus said meaningfully.