Belladonna

Oh, the loneliest girl in town is bought for pennies of prize
We dress her up in lovely gowns, she's easy on the eyes
Her soul is black and it's a fact that a sneer will eat you alive
And the buyer always brings her back because all she does is cry

“Let me see if I understand what you are saying” Potter stopped Ofelia. “You think that Dumbledore is hiding a vampire in the Hog’s Head.”

“No! I said that he looked like a vampire, not that he’s one!”

“Have you ever seen a vampire before?” Chuck wondered.

“No.”

“Then how do you know?!” Potter questioned.

“I don’t know!”

“Instead of wondering why Dumbledore was in there, can we focus on our investigation?” Ames asked pointing at his book.

They were at the library holding to the task that Dumbledore had given them. However, Ofelia’s mind was somewhere else. She had been wondering all weekend who the new manager was and who was the strange man lying on the couch. The boys even claimed that she had become obsessed with the matter, for the sole purpose of distracting herself from the boredom of the task. So, there she was at the library looking for clues that had nothing to do with defeating Grindelwald, more related to Dumbledore’s secrets.

She stood up with the excuse of exploring the shelves of the restricted area, but she was actually looking for the registers of the Gryffindor house. It took her more than an hour before she found a Dumbledore. His name was Aberforth Dumbledore. She kept on revising and found that a couple of years before, Albus Dumbledore had graduated from the school.

“Oi, lads!” she reappeared carrying the registers with her. “Did you know that Professor Dumbledore has a brother... or a cousin?”

“That must be him” Ames concluded, “the man at the bar.”

“That’s making too many assumptions” Potter offered.

“But it’s a beginning point” Ofelia gushed deciding to take the papers with her. "How much do you know about Dumbledore's private life?"

The three lads looked at each other, but remained silent with no answer at the end.

“Well, although this is like a mystery for Sherlock Homes, I have a date with my beautiful girlfriend” Chuck announced standing up. “So, I must leave you now.”

“You betray us for a girl?” Monty huffed. “I’m losing you...”

“We don’t cuddle at night anymore, Potter” the Hufflepuff sighed putting on his coat. “A man has his needs.”

“Who is Sherlock Holmes?” Ames asked when Chuck left, to what Ofelia couldn’t help by laughing.

“How is that investigation going?” Walburga asked Ofelia the next day.

They were walking through the dungeons, back to their common room.

“It’s hard” Ofelia sighed. “There’s little information about Grindelwald and we are reading and rereading things that we don’t actually comprehend. It’s like we’re headless chicken running around.”

“Yes, I know” Walburga admitted sadly. “Look, Belle, I don’t want to sound like a coward or anything. I’m proud of you and the boys. However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not worried sick about you. Grindelwald is dangerous and you know it –you don’t need me to tell you that-, so I can't help to feel scared. He is crazy, Belle, with all that ideology and murder and fire-”

“What did you just say?”

“I said that I’m scared of what Grindelwald might do-”

“No, no, you said fire.”

“Oh, yes...” Black said doubtfully. “You know how Grindelwald always uses those blue flames against the aurors...”

“Right! And they fought it with regular flames!” she exclaimed elaborating some ideas for their investigation.

She decided that the next day she would go to the library first time in the morning to investigate a little more on the subject. At that time, the library was closed and they were already about to enter their bedroom.

“Oh, for Morgana!” she heard Walburga yell when she opened the door.

Bella could not see what was inside, so she moved her friend to scan the room.

“No way!”

“Shit!” Abraxas jumped from Rosier’s bed and tried to find his shoes.

“What is...?!” Black tried to hold back her laugh.

“Hello, ladies” Malfoy paced towards them and then escaped the room. “Goodbye, ladies!”

A silence prevailed over the room, while Druella stood up from her bed where the girls had found her kissing the youngest kid of the Malfoy household. She was fully dressed, but Black had managed to see them snogging in bed.

“Don’t stand there. Close the door” she ordered, as they were still with the door open.

“Well, spill, you bastard!” Walburga exclaimed running to her bed and forcing her to sit down. “Are you and Malfoy dating?”

“Why, yes... No” she stammered. “I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean by not sure?” Ofelia asked sitting down as well. “Is he playing with you? Because I swear if he is, he will not be breathing by the end of the day.”

“Stop, this has nothing to do with him...” she confessed staring at her hands resting on her lap. “He likes me, or at least that is what he said. I haven’t set the things clear yet.”

“Why, do you like him?” Walburga inquired.

“Yes, very much. I do.” She covered her face with her hands in anguish.

“Then, date him, for Salazar’s sake!”

“I’m engaged to your brother, Walls. It isn’t that easy.”

“Fuck...” Ofelia sighed. “Why are we so unfortunate when it comes to love?”

“Maybe our fate is to be unhappy” Druella whispered.

“I know what my future holds” Walburga meant, “I’ll leave my family as soon as we finish school. Chuck said that he would get a job and I’ve been saving some money myself.”

“That’s a plan” Ofelia said and then turned to look to her other friend. “Why don’t you tell your family that you want to be with Brax? He is a pureblood. He meets the standards."

“It’s way more complicated than that, Belle.”

“Is it, though?” Walburga stared at her.

“Yes, it is” Druella snapped and went to the bathroom cutting the conversation.

“She is just upset. Give her a moment” Walburga grabbed Ofelia’s hand when she tried to go after her to continue with the argument.

The truth was that it was hard for Rizzo to understand Druella’s point of view. From her perspective, if you wanted something, you took it. There was no hesitation, no doubting. Even if it meant going against your family's wishes or ideals, you had to choose what was the best for you and your happiness. Although Walburga was closer to Druella’s reality, she wasn’t so far from Bella’s point of view. She believed in true love and that was enough to take the craziest risks. However, they couldn’t intervene with Druella’s life because she thought she owed something to her family, that she had a responsibility with them, and that was enough for her to go against her own wishes.

Oh, the loneliеst girl in town was bought for plenty a price
Well, they dress her up in golden crowns, his smile hides a lie
She smiles back, but it's a fact that her fear will eat her alive
Well, she got the life that she wanted, but now all she does is cry

Throughout all the weekend, Ofelia went back to the library to prove her theory. Now that she had a starting point, the investigation was so much easier. She arrived to the conclusion that her assumptions were correct, so that Monday when Dumbledore called them into his office, she knew what she would say. She was surprised to see Minerva in there. But she tried not to question it, as the boys tried to collect the little information that they had gathered.

“Very well” Dumbledore said quite unsatisfied with what the lads had presented. “Miss Rizzo, you’re awfully quiet for a change. Is there something that you may want to add?”

“Actually, there is, professor.”

“The floor is yours then...”

“I thought that we were running into a dead end when you gave us our task. I thought you were trying to keep us busy, entertained...”

“But you have arrived to a different conclusion...”

“Yes, I kept trying to understand why would you accept for us to join. We are schoolers after all. However, you seemed quite pleased with my bold intervention at the meeting” she stood up and started to walk around the office. “Yesterday, I understood it all. Why you want me to join, why Grindelwald wanted to murder my family...”

“You must come in peace with your past to confront the present, Miss Rizzo.”

“Bullshit” she looked him dead in the eyes. “There is only one thing that can threaten Grindelwald’s curse...”

“Bella, what are you talking about?” Monty asked.

“The blue flames that Grindelwald conjures, the ones that have taken the lives of thousands of witches and wizards, can only be fought with regular flames, good flames.”

“Like the flames of the Mercurio Curse?” Ames questioned.

“Yes, Grindelwald realized that my family was a threat, so he decided to eliminate us.”

“But why hasn’t he come up for you then? I mean it isn’t like you and your family has been hiding all these years” Monty took a glance at her and then at the professor.

“Not if he didn’t know that one of the survivors was a girl.”

“Alright, I’m confused as hell right now” Chuck admitted. “Can you please stop speaking in riddles and be clear?”

“The Mercurio Curse -and please correct me if I’m wrong, Miss Rizzo- is passed on from generation to generation in the maternal side of her family. But it only appears in the female members of the family...” Dumbledore explained.

“That’s why the records in Italy says that my family had three boys, not two boys and one girl.”

“Grindelwald doesn’t know that you exist...” Potter concluded.

“So, we have the upper hand!” Chuck celebrated.

“And that is why Dumbledore has kept us here waiting. We are his secret weapon” Ofelia sat down again. “I rest my case.”

Albus focused on the girl. He didn’t trust her because he didn’t like the people that didn’t follow him blindly. He was an arrogant of course, but he was the smartest wizard to set foot in that castle, or at least that was he liked to believe. He was the adult and defeating Gellert was his priority at the moment. If he had to use a sixteen year-old to achieve his goal, he would do it.

“You have a problem, professor” Ofelia smirked. “You don’t know if I have the curse. Your plan has holes.”

Her friends turned to look at her to see if she was being serious. Ofelia had never explicitly spoke about her powers, but after a year of friendship, all of them had s witnessed at least one time of her lighting a cigarette with them.

“I’m not going to force you to do anything, Miss Rizzo” Dumbledore assured her. “Everyone knows their abilities and their limits.” He stood up from his desk chair. “There will be a mission this Friday. You will be expected at the Hog’s Head by 7 Pm -I think you are familiar with the Inn. If you still want to be a part of this, I’ll see the four of you there.”

They looked at each other, as if they were trying to confirm that they weren’t backing down.

“Until then, Miss McGonagall, I’ll be absent from the school tomorrow. As my new assistant, I’ll expect you to fulfill my duties.”

“Yes, professor.”

Ofelia turned to see Minerva. Why would she want to be Dumbledore’s assistant? Unless, she didn’t question him. Bloody Gryffindors, Ofelia said to herself, they are too trustful with their own kind.