Subverted Expectations

Her decision to try with Emma Green actually didn’t end up changing many things in her life.

She’d sort of expected it to- she wasn’t exactly fishing for anyone to snog with on the regular, but Green clearly didn’t like her (even though she’d definitely kissed her back- at least she could say with some certainty that she liked girls), so it would follow that it would be harder than normal.

And it was. Because Green just- refused to speak to her, no matter how many schemes she cooked up to get her to (she’d blown up half their Charms classroom and sent the rest of their class to the hospital wing, and she still didn’t get a chance to talk to her since fucking Connors had ended up skipping that day, as just one- albeit extreme- example of her numerous failed attempts). It was starting to get infuriating enough that, had she been anyone else, Bellatrix likely would have given up by now.

But that wasn’t going to happen now. She’d set her sights on her, and she’d told her no, and now she was invested, damnit. 

Unfortunately, even in the face of Bellatrix’s persistence, Green just never responded to any of her attempts to get through to her. But this wasn’t too different to how the year had been going so far- Green had been avoiding Bellatrix before this, and Bellatrix had spent a long time when she’d first gotten to Hogwarts trying to hex her.

(It did occur to her that that was likely one of the reasons Green didn’t want to talk to her now- all the hexes and threats, that is- but she didn’t have the slightest idea on what to do about that. It wasn’t like she was going to apologize, after all).

Still, clearly just trying the same thing over and over again wasn’t going to work- she realized this two weeks into her mission, after Green had evaded her once again after their Charms class. She didn’t know what was going to work- she would just need to brainstorm for a bit.

This was why she was a bit distracted as she followed her sisters down to Hogsmeade, which, she realized, was something they had never actually done. She and Andy had gone to Hogsmeade together loads of times, but Cissy had only been old enough to go this year, and she and Andy had already been fighting by that point. She let them both walk ahead of her, talking about Merlin knows what- she was busy thinking about the possibility of cornering Green in Hogsmeade.

She was so wrapped up in her own head that she actually didn’t notice that they were at the dress shop until she’d nearly ran into Andy and Cissy, who had stopped in front of it. Cissy grinned and grabbed them both by the wrist, and before she knew it, her sister was dragging her through the door.

The next few minutes were a whirl- they always were. Cissy took charge, demanding that the employees grab them the ‘best robes’, as if either Andy or Bellatrix cared about what fabric they were wearing to yet another ball. They were hustled back towards the dressing rooms, and literal racks full of robes were pushed over to them.

This was going to take forever. That was probably why Cissy was smiling so much (or at least trying not to- she didn’t think her sister liked smiling in public). “This will do for now,” she decided, grabbing what seemed like a random robe off the rack. For now?

Bloody hell.

Shopping with Cissy was always a bit of a struggle- when it was Bellatrix trying on robes, the ones that she liked Cissy said weren’t in style anymore, and the ones that Cissy liked were too heavy, too itchy, too constricting. When Cissy was in the same place, she demanded to know Bellatrix’s opinion on every single robe she had on, and then immediately disagreed with whatever opinion she gave (which was usually just- ‘it looks good, Cissy’- she wasn’t, like, a fashion critic or anything).

“What do you think? Which color goes better against my skin?” Cissy held up two robes that were-

“Those are the same color,” Andy protested. 

“No, they’re not,” Cissy sighed. “This one’s darker, see?” No. Cissy stamped her foot in frustration, and Bellatrix almost thought she’d said that out loud, until she continued, “Oh, it doesn’t matter. They’re both green, and Mother always says green makes me look fat.”

“Then- don’t wear green, then?” Bellatrix suggested.

Andy trod on her foot. “You look lovely in green, darling. Why don’t you try them both on? Maybe we’ll see the difference then.”

She highly doubted that, because they were the same color, though they did have a different cut, but Cissy ducked into the changing room despite looking reluctant. “You know, the more dresses she tries on, the longer we’re going to be here,” she muttered- it was the first time she’d addressed her sister directly so far today.

“I don’t like that mother’s got her worried about that sort of stuff,” Andy replied, which didn’t really have anything to do with what she’d just said. “She’s thirteen.”

She didn’t really see what the big deal was- their mother actually talked to Cissy, and clearly liked her enough to write her letter while she was at school, so she doubted she was telling her anything that harmful. At the very least, it couldn’t have been worse than the things she liked to berate her and Andy with.

(Besides, at thirteen she’d been worried about whether Cissy was going to be alright in that house all by herself, and she couldn’t have been more relieved when she mentioned getting on well with mother in all of her letters).

“Alright, here it is,” Cissy announced, throwing back the curtains covering the dressing room dramatically. It was a pretty dress- Andy was right, she did look decent in green. “What do you think? It’s a bit long, but I can get it tailored, of course.”

It was, but Bellatrix knew from experience that even if it wasn’t tailored, a high enough heel and it wouldn’t matter anyway (a lot of robes, incidentally, were too long on her). “It’s pretty,” Andy supplied. “You could put your hair half-up, like this-” She reached over and grabbed a few strands of Cissy’s hair, pushing them back and out of her face- “and then you’d look positively regal.”

She shot her a pointed look. “Er- yeah, it looks great, Cissy.”

“You’ve said that about every robe,” Cissy complained.

“Yeah, because they all looked great. But- er- this one looks extra great,” she promised. “I think it might be the one.” Oh, if it was, that would mean they could finally be done- with Cissy’s selections, at least (oh, Merlin, she and Andy still had to try some robes on, they would be here all day- not because she or Andy was particularly picky, but because Cissy would make sure they tried literally everything on before settling on a dress).

Cissy hummed, examining herself in her mirror, running her hands along the fabric- “Alright,” she said eventually. “I’ll have this one.”

“Great,” Bellatrix said. “And I’ll have- this one- and Andy can pick-”

“Oh, no, you’re not getting out of it that easily,” Cissy chided. “But you can go first, I suppose.”

She didn’t see that it made much of a difference- she suspected she would be forced to stick around for Andy’s turn anyway. But, still, she supposed it wouldn’t hurt to get it over with.

“Great. I’ll do that.”

If Andy had any objections, she didn’t voice them- that was fine. She wouldn’t have listened if she had.

As predicted, Cissy vetoed the first three dresses she chose without even seeing them on her, all for being ‘too revealing’. The next two were rejected for the same reason, but after she’d gone through the effort of trying them on. Standing in the last one, which only dipped into her cleavage a little bit (reasonably so, she thought), she scoffed. “What would you suggest then, Cissy?”

Oh, she should not have asked that. Stupid, stupid her and her impulsive urge to blurt out whatever popped into her head. 

Cissy got that weird glint in her eye, and she moaned. “Oh, no.”

“Careful, you’ve unleashed the dragon,” Andy muttered.

“A dragon, I could handle,” she sighed. Andy coughed- it almost sounded like she was covering up a laugh.

(Almost was close enough for Bellatrix to pretend that that’s what it had been. Maybe things weren’t completely devastated between her and her sister).

It only took about ten minutes for Bellatrix to get bored. “So- I’ve been having this problem,” she said offhandedly, examining her nails and everything to appear nonchalant. 

“Oh?” Cissy said, throwing the next dress at her. Good- this would be easier to stomach from inside a dressing room, where she wouldn’t have to look at them.

“Yeah, there’s this girl I’ve been trying to get to talk to me, but she won’t,” she sighed, reaching behind her to lace up the many, many ribbons that came with this particular item. “It’s been frustrating.”

“You’re- trying to talk to a girl?” Andy asked, sounding flabbergasted. She was offended for a moment, until- well, she supposed it was fair, from a certain perspective. She didn’t exactly do much pursuing, and when she did, it rarely went on for this long.

“Mhm. But she refuses to speak with me, and I’m running out of ideas.”

“Is that why you blew up your Charms classroom? Honestly, Bella,” Cissy tutted. “Have you ever spoken to her before?”

“Yeah. Mostly us yelling at each other, but we’ve spoken.”

“Why am I not surprised,” muttered Andy. “Bella, if you’ve never been nice to the girl, why would you expect her to talk to you?”

“Er- because? What would you propose I do to fix that?”

“You could, oh, I don’t know, be nice.” Andy sounded completely exasperated. “I can’t believe I’m giving you relationship advice right now.”

“It’s not a relationship,” she said quickly. “I’m just looking to snog her, but she’s playing hard to get.”

“Look, Bella, I don’t know what to tell you. She probably wants a relationship if she’s going to snog someone, and I doubt she wants a relationship with you. If you’re really dead set on this, well, you’re charming and shite, you know how to flirt. So flirt, because you definitely shouldn’t just be brash about it and demand that she kiss you.”

She didn’t say anything to that.

“Oh, Merlin, you did just demand that she kiss you, didn’t you? Bloody hell, Bella, whydo people assume you’re good at this type of thing?”

“Shut up,” she muttered. 

Despite her less than welcome insults, the advice itself was welcome, though not because of the content of the advice. Just- she hadn’t had this long of a conversation with her sister in nearly a year without them trying to rip each other apart. They hadn’t hung out, just the two of them, since the beginning of this school year.

She would never tell Andy this, but she missed her. Just a little bit.

Even though they didn’t really speak again while she was going through the rest of Cissy’s endless supply of dress robes, Andy occasionally gave a snide remark towards either or both of them, and the next hour passed almost amicably. 

Finally, they found something that appeased Cissy and that didn’t make her feel like she was being bloody smothered, and she sighed with relief. “Thank Merlin. You know, any of those dresses would have done,” she remarked as they watched said robes get cleared away by the staff.

“Oh, they would have done, but mother said she was expecting the best, so ‘would have done’ isn’t going to cut it,” snapped Cissy.

“If she gets mad at you, tell her it’s us she should be angry with,” Andy told her.

Now, that, Bellatrix could agree on. “Yeah, we’ll deal with her.”

“I can take care of myself,” Cissy groaned. “And it’s not a big deal. You don’t need to get all riled up, it’s just some dress robes.”

“Alright, alright,” Bella conceded. “Now, I do believe it’s your turn, Andy.”

“Oh, Merlin, help me.” 

She almost let herself laugh- and maybe she slipped a bit, because Cissy definitely saw, if her beaming at them was any indication. “I’m glad you two let me drag you out here,” she said eagerly.

“Yeah, well, I’ll always make time to come hang out, Cissy, even if shopping makes me absolutely miserable,” Andy said, but Bellatrix was no longer listening.

Green was walking by the store window. Alone.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” she said, grabbing her things.

“Wait, what?” Cissy asked. “Where are you- Bella!”

“Don’t wait up, see you at dinner, have fun!” she called over her shoulder.

She had a mudblood to catch.

—-------------------------------

Bloody hell, Emma Green was a fast walker.

She hated to admit that it was because she was taller (she didn’t seem like it, because Bellatrix always wore heeled boots- she only ever took them off to sleep or shower- but she had a good six inches on her), but- it was definitely because she was taller. Bellatrix was embarrassed to say she jogged a bit to catch up with her.

But she did. Green rounded a corner, and she whipped after her, reaching out-

Green let out a little shriek when she grabbed her robes, drawing her wand impressively quickly. Unfortunately for her, Bellatrix was also quick- by the time Green had it pointed at her, she had hers out too.

“Hey, Green. Funny seeing you here.”

“Yes, funny how you run into the people that you’re following around,” Green hissed, looking furious for having finally been caught. “What a weird coincidence.”

“I know, right?” she laughed. 

“What do you want, Bellatrix? Is it just the thrill of the chase? You’ve already gotten what you want out of me- you’ve kissed me, twice, you’ve found out my secret or whatever, you’ve threatened me- what else could you possibly want?”

“Do I have to want anything? Maybe I’m just here for kicks. Maybe I’m bored. Maybe I’m just looking for someone to snog.”

“Well, I’m not the type of girl to just- kiss and forget!”

Bellatrix, who’s modus operandi was to kiss and forget, did not really understand why any girl would not want to do that- a relationship made everything much more complicated, and then there were strings attached, and- just- no. Emotions like that were far more challenging than they needed to be.

… wait.

An idea occurred to her then, something that she was sure that Emma Green, know-it-all extraordinaire, couldn’t let anything go Emma Green, couldn’t resist.

“Well, if you’d like to just give up,” she shrugged. “Fine by me.”

Sure enough, she blinked in confusion before asking, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you want to know more about me. All you Gryffindors are the same- you all believe everyone has a light side, don’t you? How could you give up on the opportunity to find mine?” 

She did not have a ‘secret light side’. The notion was ridiculous. But it caught Green’s attention.

“And why should I believe you’ll give me anything?” she scoffed. “You’re not exactly an open book.” A note of frustration crept into her voice at that.

“I could be.” She winked for extra measure. “Besides, what fun would it be if I made it easy? Unless you can’t handle a challenge.”

Green huffed indignantly. “I can handle a challenge!”

She got just close enough to nearly be pressing her up against the wall, and lowered her voice to a near whisper.

“Then prove it.”