Belladonna

Her mamma had always woken her at sunrise. She had lessons that early in the morning: piano, dancing, literature until lunch; then, she had horse riding, archery and swimming lessons. She hated swimming. She wasn’t good at it and of course she despised the sensation of freezing water on her warm skin. But if she was lucky, after her lessons, her mother would let her play with her potions set before dinner.

The last day with her mother was exactly like this. A normal day. An ordinary day. She had argued terribly with Braulio at supper, but that wasn’t extraordinary. They always argued, even when it wasn’t for real. They would fight for the attention of their papà, a man that was always busy doing nothing. He would sit in his library and do investigations and run tests. For his kids, this meant doing nothing. They didn’t understand that the luxurious life that they had was thanks to that investigating and test-running.

It happened in a normal day. A day that didn’t stick out from the others. Ofelia fell asleep in her four-post bed with a warm kiss of her mamma in her forehead and a “Sogni d’oro, Belladonna, la donna piú bella del mondo.” Sleep well, Belladonna, the most beautiful woman the world has seen.

She tried to remember those memories. The happy ones where her mother hold her tight in her arms, where her brother played with her father in the garden of the castello...

But the other memories would always creep into her sleep. Her mamma would wake her up in the middle of the night in a rush. Her papà would take her in his arms while her mamma had baby Filipe with her. She remembered the screams coming from down stairs. Vivid sounds of agony from their servants that came from torture. She could listen to them dying, the same people that had been for her her entire childhood. The coldness ran through her home like a plague, invading her body as she thought of the sons and daughters of their servants. As she thought of the other members of her family.

Because they managed to escape that night, but what about her relatives in the village. Her nonni, her cousins and her aunt. Everyone died that night.

And that wasn’t the actual nightmare. She remembered clearly the faces of the men that bended her parents that night to their knees. The incessant crying of baby Filipe as her mother passed him to their father. She had never seen her brother scared, but she had never felt as scared as that moment too, when they forced him to kneel with the wand pointing at his temple, ready to execute him.

“Shit!” she woke up crying in the middle of the night, in the middle of shakes and sweat. “Mamma? Mamma?!”

“Shh, it was just a night terror” she felt Walburga’s soft voice embracing her. “It wasn’t real, you’re safe.”

“We’re here, Belle, you’re with us” Druella traced a pattern in her arm trying to relax her. “You’re at Hogwarts, you’re safe.”

“Mia mamma...”

“She saved you, Belle...” Walburga held her tight. “You’re safe now.”

“Third years! Third years, right this way!” Bella yelled guiding them into their first visit to Hogsmeade, which was one of her duties as a prefect.

“You look like a bunch of centauries walked right over you” Abraxas pointed out.

“Such a sweetheart, you are” she ironized. “I didn’t sleep well.”

“Listen, Bella, about what you saw the other day...”

“You don’t need to-”

“No. Yes, I do” he stated. “I don’t want you to think that I’m wasting her honour. She is not another girl. She is not Parkinson or Rookwood. She is special.”

“You had sex with Rookwood?”

“Bella, focus!”

“Sorry, proceed.”

“I am not playing with her. I like her. I truly do.”

“Brax” she interrupted him, “I know. I trust you.”

“You do?”

“Yes, if this wasn’t the case, you would be already sleeping with the squid.”

“I believe you. I know what you are capable of...”

After leaving the third years, Ofelia met her friends in the main street.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Bella” Monty said, as they walked through the streets of Hogsmeade. “Dumbledore was there the other night and he clearly knows the place.”

“So?” Ofelia questioned. “Lets see if it’s opened. If it is, we’ll speak with the new manager.”

“Yes, Potter, we’re supposed to play somewhere” Chuck backed up Bella. “I already have six people asking when we’ll play next. Our fans are claiming to hear us.”

“Saying fans is a little too much.”

“You have a lack of vision, Potter.”

“You have a lack of brain cells, Rizzo.”

“Closed.”

“What?” Monty and Bella turned to their Hufflepuff friend.

“It says it’s closed. Maybe we should give up and think of a new place to play.”

“Chuck’s right. Lets go.”

“I’ll meet you later, lads” Ofelia said, as she wasn’t giving up.

“What are you planning on doing?” Potter asked. “Break in and find the vampire?”

“Yes, precisely.”

Monty sighed, dejected. “Just don’t come back with a vampire bite.”

“No promises.”

The manager’s house was behind the bar, where they had spied Dumbledore the other night. She knocked on the door, but nobody answered. Ofelia looked at both sides and then whispered “Alohomora” with her wand pointing at the lock.

“Hello?” she asked as she walked inside, but there was no answer again. “Is anybody home?” she tried again, but there were no results. “I guess it’s just me.”

She explored the place with free will. There wasn’t much to see: a kitchen, a lonely dining table just for two (where they had seen Dumbledore and the other man). There were two stairs, one that led to a basement and the other went upstairs. Naturally, she climbed to the upper part of the house. Two doors: a bathroom and a bedroom. She wasn’t sure if she should enter the bedroom, after all she didn’t want to encounter the owner. But she was already there and there was no sound coming from the inside. So she did. The room was dark as the curtains were closed. It was small with a twin-sized bed and some clothes lying on the floor. She walked towards the window and opened the curtains in order for the sun to enter the room.

“Dad? Is that you?” a weak voice came from behind her.

At that moment, she noticed that she wasn’t alone. The vampire! The sick man was lying in the bed like his death was near. Maybe it was...

“Dad close the curtains, please” he whispered without opening his eyes in a New York accent. “The light bothers me.”

She went near him, enough to notice that he was a young man, that he probably was her age. He had thick black hair and his grey skin was covered by sweat almost entirely.

“Dad?” he opened his eyes when he didn’t have an answer. “What the heck?”

“Sorry! I’m not your dad...”

“Who are you? Go away!”

“Do you want me to tell you who I am or do you want me to leave?” she inquired, but he responded by grabbing his wand and throwing a jinx, from which she protected herself.

“Oi! Don’t be rude!” she kept defending herself. “Is your father the new manager? Do you think I can speak to him? You see, me and my friends...”

“I said go away!”

But as soon as he yelled, a weird, black fume surrounded the boy. It came from him -she was sure-, but she was also too worried to form theories at the moment. She searched for the door and ran to it, knowing that it would probably be better to stop bothering the poor boy. However, when she came out of the room closing the door behind her, she bumped into a chest. A smell of butterbeer and cologne invaded her nostrils, which was enough to know that this was the “dad” the boy kept on calling.

“Who are you?!” the man grabbed her by the arms and pressed her against the wall.

Their faces met. She was sure it was the man that they had seen the other night. The same strawberry blonde hair, same features. It was true he looked extremely alike to Dumbledore, but younger without the wrinkles beneath his eyes. This man was on his thirties or less.

“I’m going to give you three seconds to get your hands off me.”

“You don’t get to order me when you sneak into my house” the voice was rough. It wasn’t soft and kind like Dumbledore’s. “I made you a question.”

“I’m a Hogwarts student” she replied, pointing to the prefect badge in her coat. “I was looking for the new manager.”

“Don’t they teach you, kids, how to read? It said closed. That means do not enter.”

“Yes, but it was closed the other night too. We were wondering when it’s going to reopen. You see, almost every Hogwarts student wants to see my band play. We thought we could use your place for our presentations and-”

“I don’t know who do you think you are, kid, but you don’t make suggestions about my pub.” The man let her go. “And if I needed a band, I wouldn’t choose the band of such an arrogant kid like yourself.”

Her face blushed, but not with shame. Nobody could insult her to her face like that. Not even if she had made the mistake.

“I’m not arrogant! You are the loser that is going to pass the opportunity of his life! Nobody will ever come to this sleazy pub!”

“Leave right now, before I call one of your professors, kid!”

The image of Dumbledore appeared right in front of her eyes. She couldn’t risk the chance of being part of the so-called mission. Even if it seemed more and more like it wasn’t an actual mission, just another trick to keep them busy.

“I’ll go” she accepted. “By the way, the young lad in that room needs sunlight. He can’t live in darkness... sir.”

She left before the man could plead against her.

“We may need to find a new place” Ofelia said as they were sneaking out from the castle. “The manager is a grumpy bastard.”

Of course she wasn't as dumb and oblivious as she had pretended to be while she spoke to the man. She needed an alibi when the manager had caught her in his house. So she pretended to be an annoying teen. She couldn't actually tell him that she had entered his house with the sole purpose of investigating him.

“You met him?” Ames turned to look at her.

“She broke into his house this morning” Potter explained.

“What?”

“He makes it sound much worse than it was.”

“Did you see him?” Ames queried.

“Who?”

“The vampire” Chuck said like it was obvious.

“He isn’t a vampire” Ofelia rolled her eyes.

“How do you know? You threw some garlic into his face?” Ames chuckled.

“I always wondered why garlic hurts vampires...” Potter said staring at the sky.

“Are you high, Potter?” Chuck asked suspiciously.

“He’s just a boy” Ofelia interrupted them. “He’s probably our age. But he is sick, or at least he looks sick... The manager is his father.”

“And Dumbledore’s brother” Ames presumed.

“I can’t confirm or deny.”

“Why, we’re about to find out, I guess.” Chuck sighed as they had arrived to the Hog’s Head.

It was obvious there were people inside, even if the signed read closed again. This lad is not a great business man, Bella thought as they knocked on the door. The voices inside suddenly went silent and a couple of seconds happened before Dumbledore opened the door.

“Oh, my students!” the professor said with a surprised look on his face. “Come in, come in!”

They followed him. Inside, there were the same faces that were present in the meeting. Except that Theseus Scamander, the Head of the Auror's Office, wasn’t present, much to Ofelia’s disappointment.

“You have arrived just in time. We were about to start the reunion” Dumbledore said kindly. “Would you like something to eat?”

“Yes, please” Potter almost cried.

Bella had already eaten at the castle, so she decided that it was time to explore her surroundings. She already knew the bar from their fun nights last year, and it hadn’t change that much. It still looked like an old, sleazy pub. The people in there were clearly friends as they kept on talking like they weren’t there. Apparently, the blonde woman that had read her mind was pregnant and she was married to the muggle.

“And why Dumbledore wants the children?” he asked his wife.

“We aren’t sure, Jacob” Mr Scamander answered.

“There must be a logical explanation for it” the black woman expressed. “Probably he wants them to do the paperwork, while the useful aurors go for the big fish.”

Bella was about to reply to the woman that was speaking like they weren’t even there, but Monty stopped her by grabbing her elbow.

“We’ll prove to them by actions, words mean nothing to them.”

The word “actions” resonated in her head.

Suddenly, the backdoor that probably led to the house part opened and the manager and the ill boy came out.

“Credence, how you feeling, fella?” the muggle shook the boy’s hand.

“What is she doing here?” the boy named Credence pointed at Rizzo with his bony finger.

All the eyes turned to the golden hair girl with questioning eyes.

“The vampire...” Ames said, astonished.

“He isn’t a vampire, Longbottom” Ofelia corrected him.

“Kids, this is my brother Aberforth” Dumbledore pointed to the manager. “Aberforth, this are my students that will help-”

“Oh, yes, I can imagine the help that they’ll bring, Albus” Aberforth barked. “Tell me, girl, how are you going to defeat Grindelwald? With the power of love and music?” he spoke directly to her. “And let me guess, this are the other members of your incredible band.”

“I’m not part of the band” Ames added and Chuck punched him in response.

“This is a joke, Albus. What were you-?”

But he didn’t manage to finish the sentence because a fireball went straight to his face. It almost hit him, burning an inch of his beard, and hit the wall disappearing. Everyone turned to look at Ofelia again, as she still had her hand in the air producing fire from her palm.

“My name is Belladonna Rizzo, and I’m going to defeat Grindelwald and restore my family’s honour” she proclaimed. “Is it clear or do you want me to sing a song about it?”

“Very clear, kid!” the muggle said with excitement.

She made the fire disappear from her hand.

“That’s my answer, professor” she declared. “I have the curse. Lets see if you have the balls that are needed, people.”

Show them with actions not with words, she repeated as she sat down next to Potter.

“Lets explain the mission then” Dumbledore announced. “Mr Scamander, if you please...”

Monty grabbed Ofelia’s hand below the table and gave it a little squeeze. She smiled back at him. Now, they wouldn’t doubt them anymore.

Well, nobody except Aberforth Dumbledore, who had suddenly felt an enormous curiosity for the girl with golden hair.