Belladonna

August 30th, 1946

The sun was hitting the streets of London stronger than ever, while Ofelia drove her glorious car looking for a place to park. The summer had finally come to an end after months of laziness and sex on the road. Ofelia had tried first-hand what Aberforth’s nomad life was and she had loved it. He had taken her to so many hidden places in England and Wales, and he had showed her such wonders of the magical world. But what he knew she would love the most was to speak face-to-face with those minorities like the community of goblins and centaurs. She had spent weeks learning from them.

She parked her car and handed the keys to her gorgeous boyfriend, as they got outside of the car. She was wearing a skirt with dots that was on the knee-level and a top that was tied on the bottom showing her scandalous belly. With a matching pair of sunglasses resting in her hair.

They entered the Leaky Cauldron leaving the muggle London behind, while carrying their bags to stay at the inn. The agreement was that they would stay there tonight, as the next day she would start her last year at Hogwarts. Aberforth would go back to the Hog’s Head by the Floo Network, and the car would stay at London, as there was no use to take it to Hogsmeade. There were no actual roads for cars to get to the town anyways.

“Bella!” she felt Monty’s arms surround her when she entered the inn.

Ames and Chuck joined in as well, happy that the group was finally reunited.

“Ok, let my girl go now” Forth joked, but they did it anyways.

“Did you have a nice summer?” she asked.

“Not as good as yours. That’s for sure” Chuck moaned letting himself go in one of the chairs.

“Don’t pay him much attention. He hasn’t seen Black all summer.”

“Oh, I’m meeting her for shopping” Bella said innocently. “Do you wanna come with us?”

“I can’t” he shrugged. “Eyes everywhere.”

“Plus” Ames added, “I fear that if my boy sees his lady after all this time, he might explode before saying hello!”

Chuck hit him behind the neck, but all they could do was laugh.

“Tired of jacking off, Nale?” Forth inquired.

“Ha-ha! So funny” Chuck said without even a glimpse of laughter. “Not everyone’s girlfriend is a freak and wants to do it in a car all summer long, y’know.”

“We stayed at hostels most of the time, in case you were wondering” she argued.

“Believe us” Potter smirked. “We weren’t wondering.”

“You are not going to complain about the fact that Chuck just called you a freak?”

“You can ask my boyfriend about that, Longbottom” she said and then gave him the finger. “See you later!”

“Wait, darling, the-...luggage.”

She was already gone into Diagon Alley by the time he finished the sentence.

“I swear I might have become a virgin again” Walburga cried, while they were shopping for this year’s books.

“Shh!” Druella gesticulated. “Someone will hear you.”

“I probably have spiderwebs inside my-”

“-Walls!”

“Well, if it is of any comfort, I just saw Chuck and he was in no better state than you are.”

“I really don’t get all the fuss. You spent fifteen years of your life being a virgin. What is three months of celibacy compared to it?”

“Oh, you are one to talk!” Walburga exclaimed. “Do you wanna know why she is so chill? Now that Abraxas can apparate, he slept in her dorm almost every night.”

“That is not true... He slept every night with me.”

“Oh, Merlin! Look at you!” Bella exclaimed. “My summer was mostly sex as well.”

“And I feel like I am wearing a chastity ring or something.”

“You won’t have to wait much though...”

They paid for their books and they left the store to walk to the next one. They had to buy some ingredients for the Potions class.

“I call the room for tonight, by the way!”

“What? Where are we supposed to sleep then?” Druella questioned.

“The common room. 'Don’t know. 'Don't care.”

“Your sexual frustrations have turned you into a meaner version of yourself, Walls” Rosier smiled trying not to get mad at her friend.

They entered the store and the memory of meeting Potter outside striked Ofelia like lightning, which made her smile. It seemed like a life had passed her over. It was even hard to think what her life was before being friends with Monty, Chuck and Ames. After all, being friends did turn the girls' lives upside down. And now, they were about to face their last year at Hogwarts, which seemed exciting but terrifying in the same way. The future seemed so clear, but so blurry at the same time. Bella could only hope that they were ready to jump into the future together, side by side. And with Forth, of course.

After such an amazing summer, their relationship had evolved, flourished if you will. The plans for the future were strong and clear and they wanted to be together no matter what. Their relationship was rock solid and she felt that there was nothing or no one that could ever break it up.

“Hey, isn’t that your brother?” Walburga pointed to the boy running towards the ice-cream shop, following his dumbass friends.

“Yeah.”

She decided to wait for him outside and when he finally came out, she stole his ice-cream from behind only to piss him off. She wasn’t going to actually eat it, just was trying to piss him off a little bit.

“You bought vanilla? You are basic, fratellino!”

“Hey! You haven’t been back for five minutes and you are already messing with me?”

She laughed and give him his ice-cream back.

“You are taller” she pointed out. “Stop growing!”

“I’m going through puberty.”

“Ew! Already? I wish you luck.”

“Did you have fun?”

“You know I did.”

She had remained in contact with him throughout the summer. Of course, she didn’t write every single day like she had promised, but at least once a week. Therefore, she had been pretty damn informed about her brother’s summer. She didn’t need to ask what it had been like. She knew all about Braulio and Tom and how they had taken care of him, and how mad Braulio was at her for it. But at least, they had done a good job.

“Do you need money?” she asked looking for her wallet in her purse.

“No, I already bought everything” he smiled and then turned to his friends, who were waiting for him a few feet apart. “See ya at the Cauldron!”

He was about to run again, but he stopped when he saw Braulio approaching them with such a mean frown in his forehead. Filipe could have run away and let her sister deal with his anger on her own. After all, she had put herself in that situation. But he was a Gryffindor for a reason and he was the one that had insisted on her leaving for the summer, so he stayed.

“Bella!” he exclaimed, but there was no cheer at all in his voice.

“Oh, hi, Braulio... How was your summer?”

“Let’s see... Well, I took care of everything, including our little brother, while you were playing lover girl with that man. How do you think it went?”

He was even more upset than what she had reckon.

“Average then” she guessed.

“Do you think it’s funny? Do you think that you can run away and do whatever you want, Bella?” he inquired. “You are under my responsibility!”

“I'm under no one’s responsibility!” she raised her voice in response to his machista speech.

“Yes, you are.”

“No!” she contradicted him. “I am off-age now. I can provide for myself. And I am way smarter and way more powerful than you. So, I don’t answer to you. I answer only to myself.”

“Your disrespect for this family has grown so much since papà died.”

“I am not trying to get through you, Braulio. You are my brother” she declared, trying not to cause a scene. “But I won’t live under your rules, if that is what you expect from me.”

“I would cut you off of this family, but I know that you wouldn’t care. You already have a secured spot in the Ministry and many friends that will open the door to you without a question made.” He took a deep breath. “So, there is only one thing I can do to make you come to your senses. You will no longer see Filipe.”

“What?”

“Since you didn’t care enough to stay for the summer, you will no longer be responsible for him or have a word in what his future holds.”

“Braulio-”

“No!” Filipe meddled. “I don’t care what you say, Braulio. Don’t make me choose between you and her because you’ll lose. If you push me away from her, I’ll leave you as well and you’ll be alone. So, stop trying to boss us around and start behaving like what you actually are: our brother.”

Filipe walked towards his sister and hold her by the arm, showing in which side he stood, and she did the same. Maybe her brother was an actual Gryffindor.

Braulio sighed knowing that this battle was lost, so he took a step back and left the scene without saying a word. He wasn’t trying to act like a bloody dictator. He just wanted to do what he thought it was right for his family. Yet he was still so angry at Bella for reasons he couldn’t even admit to himself, he couldn’t see her anymore.

“You are brave, fratellino.”

“I learned it from you.”