Bellatrix’s Worst Memory

At first, she couldn’t place who this vision was supposed to be. It was, curiously, a teenage girl, with ridiculously curled blonde hair and a self-satisfied smirk. The apparition of a girl was perched on the stone bench of the cell, and had the gall to glance disdainfully at the filth on the rocky floor. Her disdain was infuriating, since the bitch was wearing kid gloves, and proper robes— actually, she was incorporeal!— so, she definitely had nothing to complain about. The girl tossed her curls back and surveyed the prisoner, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together as she did so, like some strange tic.“Looking worse for wear, I see.”And it clicked. She knew at once who this apparition was.“Skeeter,” she greeted icily.The apparition of Rita Skeeter smiled smugly.“Black.”--In a cell in Azkaban, in 1993, Bellatrix hallucinates Rita Skeeter, her old schoolmate. Confused as to why this constitutes dementor-induced torture, she remembers her sixth-year at Hogwarts, when her main concern was who the mystery author of the school gossip paper was, and how best to get her attention.Timeline jumps between '93 and '68/'69, but mostly in '68 (sixth-year)

Quillkiller is having a resurgence and I am on the front lines of the battlefield!I think this is loosely inspired by a TikTok I saw, like, months ago but I canNOT for the life of me find it (the framing device where Bella's in Azkaban hallucinating; the flashback story is original). BUT if you can find the TikTok PLEASE let me know and I will love you forever!