I Might Like Having You About
“So- what are you doing for break?”
It was that time of year, unfortunately, when the castle started setting up for Christmas, and everybody was talking about their holiday plans or what they expected to get for Yule or some inane thing like that.
Bellatrix couldn’t have cared less what any of her classmates were doing for the holidays or how excited they were to see their parents. The only downside to her meetings with the Dark Lord was that she did occasionally have to see her father- but it was more than worth it to see him cowed before her Lord while she rose to the top of his rankings.
She had gone back home once more since he had asked them for help with his research project- it had just been a run of the mill meeting, but she hadn’t been invited to an official meeting for his followers yet, and he had her sitting directly at his side. The left side, unfortunately, as Abraxas Malfoy currently held the right hand spot, but she hoped that wouldn’t be for long.
She would make sure that it wouldn’t be for long.
But unlike her numerous visits home over the course of the fall term, she was not looking forward to this one in the slightest. Sure, she would probably see the Dark Lord, and naturally she would enjoy that part of the break, but then she would actually have to stay in her home for a week and speak to her mother (if she deigned to emerge from her part of the manor at any point other than the ball, which she actually doubted- unfortunately, she would see her for the ball), and be with her father without the Dark Lord around to make him cower.
It wasn’t nearly as fun if he didn’t cower.
So, no, she was not excited for her break like everybody else was- not even the temptation of not having to go to class was enough to sway her. It actually had quite the opposite effect- if she wasn’t attending class, she would have nothing to distract her, and the likelihood of her having another episode would skyrocket.
And she was not, as many others were, excited by the prospect of what she might get for the occasion. She had no friends at Hogwarts- there was no reason for any of her classmates to get her something. She and Andy weren’t speaking; Cissy always got her some extravagant piece of jewelry that she would literally never wear.
Her mother, she was sure, had never given her anything in her entire life except for her sisters, and she wasn’t exactly grateful to her for that- it wasn’t like mother had had more children just to give her someone to play with. And last year, father had given her a lovely broken nose, so her only option there was actually to hope that he didn’t repeat the occasion this time around.
But, despite her general disinterest in the holiday and the tizzy everyone was getting in about it (ridiculous, they wouldn’t be let out of school for another two weeks), she still spared the energy to ask Green about her own holiday, because apparently girls liked it if you paid attention to their lives and interests and things like that.
(She had never much cared, honestly, if someone asked her how her day was going before or after they screwed around, but she supposed Green was just a different breed. Besides, she would probably be around longer than any other girl, so she would have to put in some effort.)
She had, embarrassingly enough, spent most of her time over the course of the last week and a half thinking about how to repair whatever it was she’d messed up with Green. It was frustrating how elusive the girl was to her, but if anything it only made her more enticing. And she had come to the unfortunate conclusion that Green’s biggest problem with her was her dismissive nature and abrasive approach to their relationship.
The natural solution to those two problems was to pretend like she cared and be gentler about it, which wasn’t her style at all, but it was what she would have to do.
“Oh, I’m just staying at Hogwarts,” Green shrugged. “I’ll probably study. Spend some quality time in the library.”
Her first thought was that Green did nothing but study and spend time in the library, but she didn’t say that. Instead, she nodded and said, “Sounds fun.”
“Mm,” Green hummed, looking at her weirdly. She supposed that was fair- she had come to her conclusion last night, and had decided to implement her new strategy this morning. Prior to that, she had largely been avoiding Green due to her most recent rejection, so Green was probably a bit confused by this sudden change in demeanor.
“Are you free tonight? We should keep working on that Charms project. We’ve only got about two weeks, after all.” She tried not to let her tone slip into mockery- she wouldn’t have even started a project like this until next week, but Green apparently liked to be on top of her work, so she would have to play along with that too.
Predictably, Green perked up at her willingness to get to work. “Oh, good! Yes, I’m free tonight, should we meet in the library again after dinner?”
“That sounds great,” she nodded. Once again, Green shot her a weird luck, but luckily didn’t comment on her behavior. Maybe she would assume that Bellatrix had undergone a revelation in the last ten days, and that she had decided to become a better person.
Bellatrix would have found the notion laughable, but Green was a Gryffindor, so you never knew, right?
Before dinner that evening, she changed into her second-tightest corset (she didn’t want to seem too desperate) and threw on one of the only pieces of jewelry she was willing to wear in everyday life (a skull pendant attached to a leather cord- this necklace and a few rings were as fancy as she was willing to go for a library meeting). She briefly considered attempting to comb through her hair, but that was a Herculean task that she preferred to undergo only once a day if at all possible, and she would barely have time to grab dinner as it was.
She grabbed her wand and headed down to the Great Hall- on her way out, Rita Skeeter commented that she hoped her date looked as nice as she did, which, well, obviously this was not a date, but she had put more effort into her appearance than she was really willing to admit.
Sue her if she wanted to look nice while she was seducing someone- of course, she would look nice no matter what she wore, but in this case a little extra effort could go a long way.
“Bella, can you help me with my Ancient Runes homework later?” Cissy asked almost the moment she sat down. Andromeda was nowhere to be seen- and, as it turned out, the Tonks boy seemed to be missing from the Ravenclaw table.
She considered scouring the school to try to find them (it could have been a coincidence, but she really doubted that)- it wouldn’t be that hard, and she would probably only be a little late to her meeting with Green- but to her own surprise, she decided to let it go, just this once. She supposed she was just in a good mood.
“Sorry, Cissy, I’m busy tonight,” she said, remembering about ten seconds later that Cissy had asked her a question to begin with.
“Going home again?” pouted Cissy. “Weren’t you just there?”
“Yes, I was just there, but I’m not going home again.” Cissy had almost sounded like she didn’t like Bella going on trips home all the time- she supposed her sister probably missed her, but it wasn’t like she was going back just to hang out. She was doing important work.
One day, she was sure, she would understand- Once she was old enough to see the Dark Lord’s power for herself, though somehow she doubted Cissy would be too enthusiastic about the raiding part. Blood would stain her robes horribly.
“What are you doing?” Cissy pressed.
“Working on a Charms project, I’m meeting my partner in the library.” Since Cissy still looked a bit upset, she added, “I’ll help you with your homework tomorrow, okay?:”
See? She was a good sister.
“No, it’s fine. It’s due tomorrow anyway. I’ll just ask Lucius.”
She wrinkled her nose- somehow, she doubted Lucius would be much help with any academic work. But she was sure Cissy would be fine.
By the time she got to the library about ten minutes later, she had completely forgotten about Cissy.
This time, she was the first one there- she’d made sure that she left while Emma Green was still chatting with her friends at the Gryffindor table, and had then walked as quickly as she could, taking every shortcut she knew, to make sure she got there before her.
She set up her things, and took a few deep breaths to get the flush out of her face, and waited.
“Hey! Sorry, my friends held me up a bit-”
“No problem,” she shrugged. It really wasn’t, actually- she’d only been sitting with nothing to do for about two minutes. “Shall we?”
“Yes,” Green nodded.
As they worked, it was clear that Green had something else on her mind- of course, she was still focused on her work, because it was Green, but she wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic and driven as she usually was. Bellatrix couldn’t help but wonder what it was- she was certain it wasn’t anything she had done, they’d barely even spoken beyond a few initial exchanges.
So it was something else. Or someone else. She hoped it was someone she didn’t like, because it would be just her luck if Green suddenly got interested in someone else. Of course, she could take care of it, but it would be terribly inconvenient- she would hate to have to murder someone before she even left Hogwarts.
Eventually, though- during a quick break in their work- Green said very suddenly, “Look, I’m sorry I stormed out so abruptly last time. I was a bit on edge that day, and you were being- I got a little short with you.”
“Was it something I said?” she asked, kind of curious- she didn’t think she’d done anything particularly egregious, but Gryffindors could be so sensitive.
“Well- yes. Kind of,” Green said hesitantly. “You just- you were coming off as very dismissive, and rude, and I felt like you just didn’t want to be there, but maybe I was projecting or I’m remembering wrong because you seem fine now….”
“Well, I’m glad you’re having a better time now,” she told her as sweetly as she could without sounding fake as hell. “And we’ve gotten a lot done.”
“Yes, we have,” Green breathed out, looking back down at the work spread out on the table. “I think we’ll do pretty well if we keep it up like this. Of course, we’ve only done about half the project….”
“Yeah, we’re doing pretty good,” she agreed, absent-mindedly playing with her necklace. Green’s eyes traveled down for the first time, but instead of blushing (hey, she’d worn the corset for a reason), she paled. “Shall we keep going?” She didn’t see why not. This was going pretty well- much better than last time, by a long shot.
“Oh,” Green said, glancing at her watch and seemingly shaking off whatever had just come over her. “I- kind of promised Kathy I’d help her out with her own project.”
“Sometime next week, then?” she suggested. “I have Quidditch practice tomorrow and Friday, so I won’t be able to do anything then….” Technically, she had also had Quidditch tonight, but she was better than anyone on the team anyway, so she’d been fine with skipping. But, unfortunately, they were almost at the break, so she supposed she shouldn’t skip too many practices.
“Well, I think Sunday should work,” Green told her. “Around ten?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “In the morning?” Okay, sue her, she wasn’t exactly a morning person- on the weekend nights when she could actually get a decent amount of sleep, she wouldn’t be caught out of bed before noon.
Thankfully, Green just giggled and suggested two instead, which was good for both her ability to function and because Green was- actually pretty cute when she laughed.
And if she was laughing, it meant she liked spending time with her, to some extent. She resolved to make her laugh more often.
“Well, I’ll see you then,” she nodded, sealing the deal.
She let out a sigh of relief as Green walked out of the library. She’d been a bit worried, earlier, that Green was only agreeing to meet with her because it was too late to back out of being partners and she just wanted a good grade, but this had gone remarkably well.
Whatever she was doing right now was clearly working for Green. Well enough for her to have a pretty good feeling about this whole thing now. She could definitely make this work.