Another Year at Hogwarts

“Victoria!” Draco shouted while banging on the door of my bathroom. “Victoria come out!” he ordered.

“Go away, Draco!” I ordered.

“What are you doing in there?” Draco asked. “You’ve been in there all day! Are you ill?”

“I SAID GO AWAY!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs.

“Victoria?” came a softer voice.

I gasped as I looked to the door.

“What are you doing in there Victoria?” Narcissa questioned.

“Leave me alone!” I begged. “Just let me be!”

I suddenly screamed as the bathroom door was kicked open. I didn’t even care to look, because I could imagine the look on Narcissa and Draco’s face as they stared at me stunned. I simply continued to do what I was currently doing.

“Draco,” Narcissa quickly said, “close the door and leave.”

“Y—yes, Mother,” Draco stuttered.

I hear the door close, and then the sound of Narcissa’s heels clicking on the tiled floor coming towards me. I couldn’t stand to look at her at the moment. Not that I would have seen her clearly through my tear-filled eyes anyways.

“What in the devil are you doing?” Narcissa questioned as she knelt beside the bubble-filled bathtub.

“It—it won’t come off!” I sobbed while scrubbing away at my arm. “It won’t come off.”

“What are you talking about?” Narcissa asked, but I didn’t care to answer. Because of this, she reached out and snatched my arm. I immediately began to scream and struggle to free myself from her. But Narcissa held on tightly to me and refused to let go.

“Please don’t—don’t look! Please don’t!” I cried as I tried to cover my arm up, but it was too late.

Horror filled Narcissa’s eyes when she saw my arm. The skull and snake imprinted on my arm was a ghastly scene by itself, but the redness and tearing of my skin made the sight even more appalling. She then reached her hand into the tub and swiped aside the white bubbles that covered the water’s surface. As she had expected, the water was faded tint of red.

“You foolish girl!” Narcissa bellowed. “Get out of this tub right now!”

“NO!” I objected while pushing myself away from her. I then grabbed hold of the sponge I was using earlier and began to scrub away at the Dark Mark once again. “I have to get this off!”

“Stop this!” Narcissa ordered.

I immediately burst into more tears as Narcissa ripped from sponge from my hands. Through my sobs, I managed to tell her, “I…I don’t want this… I don’t…I don’t want to…want to be one of them! I DIDN’T WANT THIS!”

After calming me down a little bit, Narcissa finally managed to get me out of the bathtub. Dressed in robes, she brought be out to my room where she began to care for the wounds on my arm.

“When did this happen?” Narcissa asked after healing the wounds, though some small scars did remain.

“Last night…when the Dark Lord returned,” I replied.

Narcissa remained quiet as she applied some dittany onto my wounds. And as she finished, she said, “If Bella was here…she would say that you should be proud to have been chosen by the Dark Lord. I, however, think otherwise.”

I sniffled as I turned to Narcissa.

“Before Draco’s sixth year at Hogwarts,” Narcissa began to explain, “he was…chosen by the Dark Lord as well… But I knew the burden of being a Death Eater laid heavily on my son’s shoulders…just as it probably does you.” Narcissa sighed heavily as she hesitantly reached over and took my hands. “If you ever are in need—if the burden is ever too much for you, come to me.”

“Thank you,” I said as a tear slid down my cheek.

Narcissa patted my hand. “Now, you should get dressed before you catch a cold. I’ll go find you a different cloak to cover up your mark.”

I nodded as Narcissa left the room.

After I got dressed, Narcissa came back into the room with a new cloak for me. I quickly tried it on, and it was a perfect fit. The cloak flowed down to my knees, and had dark blue lacing to match my dress.

“What’s this?” Narcissa asked as she pulled out a locket from my former cloak pocket.

I quickly snatched the necklace from her and held it tightly in my hands. Narcissa thus stared at me with a puzzled look.

“S—sorry,” I shuttered. “This—this was a gift from someone very…someone very dear to me. It—it belonged to my mother,” I lied. “I don’t like other people touching it…”

Just then, the door to my room flew opened, and Bellatrix stepped into the room. She quickly looked around the room, and then her eyes fell upon me.

“YOU!” she bellowed as she charged at me with her wand out.

I didn’t have time to grab my wand, which was on the dresser, so I quickly scurried backwards and away from her.

“What are you doing, Bella?” Narcissa gasped as she jumped in front of me.

“Get out of the way, Cissy!” Bellatrix ordered. “I need to have a little talk with that thing there!”

“Calm down—”

“SHOW ME YOUR ARM, MUDBLOOD!” Bellatrix ordered.

“What are you—” I began to say, but was immediately cut off by Bellatrix.

“I SAID: SHOW ME YOUR ARM!”

Hesitantly, I stepped out from behind Narcissa and held my left arm out. Bellatrix then reached out and snatched my arm so that I could get away. She then shoved my sleeve up to my elbow and stared lividly at the mark on my arm.

“Why…?” I heard her mutter beneath her breath. Her eyes then flicked up and caught mine. Her nose then flared in anger as she forcefully tugged me out of the room and downstairs.

“Bella!” Narcissa yelled as she followed behind us towards the drawing room. “What are you doing, Bella?”

“This is a mistake!” she shouted. “This has to be a mistake!”

The three of us then barged into the drawing room, where Voldemort and some of the members of his inner circle were gathered.

“My Lord!” Bellatrix addressed as she shoved me forward. “She—”

“Why, thank you for bringing Victoria here,” Voldemort smiled as he turned away from us. “I’d like you all,” he said addressing the other members, “to know that Victoria here, is our newest recruit.”

Every one of the Death Eaters immediately began whispering among themselves.

“But my Lord!” Bellatrix quickly said as she hurried to my side and clutched my arm—digging her nails into my skin. “She’s just—a Mudblood! Whatever happened to ridding the magical world of these scum?” Bellatrix bellowed while glaring at me.

“Maybe—maybe you should reconsider, my Lord,” Yaxley bravely said.

The room then fell into a nervous silence as everyone diverted their eyes to the ground—terrified that Voldemort would last out and kill someone.

He, however, kept his temper. “Unfortunately, I had already bestowed the Mark onto her, and it cannot be removed. So since you, Bellatrix, seem to be the one who objects this decisions of mine the most, I shall give you the task of dueling young Victoria, here. If she…happens to win, then no one is to object her being her.”

“And when she loses?” Bellatrix asked.

A smile fell onto Voldemort’s face. “You can kill her.”

My eyes widened as I turned away from Voldemort and looked to Bellatrix’s face. She didn’t look at me, only at Voldemort. Slowly, a smile formed onto her face, and then a gleeful laughter escaped her mouth.

“Cissy, go get her wand,” Bellatrix ordered.

“Bella—”

“Do it,” I bravely encouraged, making Bellatrix turn her attention to me.

“Confident, are you?” she snickered before letting go of me. She then strolled around the room as Narcissa went into my room and got my wand.

When she finally returned, she hesitantly walked over to me and handed me my want. As I reached for it, she grabbed onto my hand and pulled me near her.

“Are you mad?” she whispered to me. “I know that you don’t want to be a Death Eater but—”

“You’re saying this to me as thought I have a choice in the matter,” I quickly responded. “Besides, I’m sick of this. It’s time Bellatrix was put in her place.”

“You really think this will solve anything?” Narcissa asked. “I know my sister. No matter how loyal she is to the Dark Lord, she is sure to get back at anyone who embarrasses her.”

“At least this will teach her where she stands,” I informed as I turned away and walked away.

As I made my way towards Bellatrix, she—with one single wave of her wand—cleared all furniture between us by mashing them into the wall.

“Nowhere to hide this time,” Bellatrix laughed.

“Fine with me,” I said while clutching onto my wand tightly. I was determined to finally put Bellatrix in her place once and for all. I have had enough of her constant attempts to kill me—last year and this year.

“Ready to die?” she grinned.

“Not today,” I replied.

Bellatrix’s mouth twisted as she glared angrily at me.

“Whoever disarms their opponent first is the winner,” Voldemort said as he comfortably sat himself down on probably the only chair that wasn’t destroyed by Bellatrix.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” Bellatrix immediately shouted.

I immediately jumped out of the way and threw a spell back at Bellatrix. She laughed as she reflected the spell.

“Is that all you’ve got?” she teased. “This is going to be easy.”

“You wish!” I bellowed as I shot a spark at the chandelier that dangled over Bellatrix’s head. She let out a yelp of surprise as she scurried out from beneath the massive object that was fall down towards her.

As she stumbled backwards to get away from the crashing chandelier, I pointed my wand at the shattered glass pieces and lifted them into the air. With another wave of the hand, the shards went flying at Bellatrix.

To no surprise, Bellatrix created a shield before her, and the glass shards turned to dust when it made contact with the shield.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Bellatrix shouted lividly.

“That was just my way of saying thank you for the gift you asked Alecto and Amycus to give me on your behalf!” I snapped.

This obviously set Bellatrix off even more, for she let out a furious cry and began lashing her wand back and worth, like a whip.

“Protego!” I cast in order to shield myself from Bellatrix’s attack.

Crap! I shouted at myself. Bellatrix was nearing me, and she was ceasing her attacks. My shield could only protect me for so long… I had to do something…fast.

“Lumos Maxima!”

Bellatrix’s arms immediately flew up and covered her eyes as the blinding light shone in her face.

“Expel—AH!” I screamed as something cut my arm. I clutched the upper part of my arm and glanced back at the wall behind me. It was Bellatrix’s dagger.

“Avada Kedavra!”

I gasped as I quickly brought my wand up and a scarlet spark flew from the tip of my wand and at Bellatrix’s killing curse. My spark pierced through the center of Bellatrix’s spell, and flew straight at her. It hit the tip of her wand and sent it flying into the air.

Bellatrix looked at me with widen eyes as the sound of her wand hitting the ground echoed throughout the room.

“You lose,” I gasped.