Chapter - 20 : Preperation Part - 3
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The bushy haired girl's face scrunched up in concentration. "But that's not right!" she blurted in sudden indignation. "How could you be left without any directions at all for how to find a magically hidden train platform?"
"And don't forget, Molly Weasley graduated from Hogwarts herself, and had two grown children who'd already passed through the full course of years there, another who was newly a prefect, two third years, and Ron. Tell me, when was the last time they changed the platform to get to Hogwarts."
"Never," Hermione got lost in thought. "They built it that way. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History, how they ran the track, and..." sudden realization came. "Someone wanted you to know the Weasleys? And Ron? Do you think he could've used that excuse just to ride with you?"
"That's what I think exactly," Harry returned. "I even know who did it, too."
"Who?" Hermione was suddenly burning with curiosity.
"A lover of torture who laughs aloud while the innocent weep, and to all pleas for mercy turns stone deaf ears."
"That's not very specific," Hermione frowned.
"Do you know Shakespeare?" he asked.
"Yes." Hermione was beginning to feel upset at his dancing around without divulging her requested information.
"Tell me, do you know the quote: A man can smile, and smile, and be a villain."
"Yes, of course." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Although that's not the most famous Shakespeare quote, it ranks up there, having been popular for many reasons over the intervening centuries."
"Well, there's your clue."
She scowled at him.
"Alright," he relented. "I'll offer one other. It's an authority figure, and you know him."
"Snape doesn't smile," she objected.
He gave a short laugh. "Alright, one other: Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing."
Hermione put on her problem solving face. "So, it's either the classic example of someone who looks innocent, but isn't, or, since we're in the magical world it could be an actual werewolf."
"That's enough of a clue to get you started," Harry agreed. It was better she figure it out for herself, connecting facts to find the culprit. That way she'd believe her own evidence. Whereas, if he just came straight out and said it was Dumbledore, she'd never be able to credit it.
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"There you go, Bella," Narcissa said, handing her sister back her wand, which had been secretly preserved for her by the Malfoys since her arrest.
Bellatrix LeStrange held crinkling in her hand a letter from her beloved lord. It was his handwriting, his signature, his powerful magic all over it, bearing the touch of his own wand! And, as if to mock his enemies, it bore a postage stamp of being mailed from just outside the Ministry of Magic.
That was her Lord's cruel humor at work, too.
Included in a rune on the parchment visible only to those who bore a Dark Mark had been a wand Bellatrix had been told to use to escape her cell at Azkaban. And she had done so, resorting quickly to the refuge of her sister's house shortly after, so she could equip for her assignment.
Bellatrix accepted her own wand from her sister, treasuring it's feel, before returning once more to peruse the most important section of that letter.
The mission it gave her was a strange one, but she would earnestly give it her all - Protect Harry Potter. Her dark lord and master needed the boy alive if he was to succeed in his resurrection ritual, so he would have Harry Potter alive. Bellatrix would see to that!
And the irony of possessing the body of the wizarding world's hero, taking the flesh of Potter as his own! Yes. Bellatrix licked her lips. That was an irony that had her master's touch all over it.
Harry Potter would be the new vessel for Lord Voldemort's consciousness!
She would've been much less enthused about her mission if she'd known that Harry had been the one to write that letter and sent her Pettigrew's wand. Having absorbed Tom Riddle's skills and memories gave him ability to use the dark lord's handwriting style, speech patterns and wand. So not even Tom himself could've written a more authentic seeming note.
The mission Harry'd assigned her in the dark idiot's name was a transparent excuse to get himself a guardian not controlled by either Dumbledore or the Ministry, and the story he'd cooked up to get her to believe it was something that could be true, and had been within the dark lord's powers... up until his soul fragment had been destroyed, that is. So it wasn't going to happen, but Bella believed it was.
That meant she'd throw her heart and soul into her duty of protecting him.
And she didn't mind at all that he'd taken the liberty of burgling her vault to get that cup he'd entrusted to her, for the purpose of granting supporting magic to the rituals of resurrection he was about to perform - supposedly.
In reality, Harry had already destroyed the horcrux out of the cup and diadem, and was using them for tasks closer to their original purposes, as both artifacts held plenty of powers left by their original owners, the Hogwarts Founders.
But she believed Harry was about to be her beloved dark lord reborn, and so long as she believed that she'd be slavishly loyal to him, and that served Harry's purposes just fine.
Although, Voldemort would probably be ticked with her if he ever returned and learned she'd been consorting with and supporting his most deadly enemy.
Of course, should that ever happen, Harry would do his best to convince her that the true Voldemort was an impostor. Shouldn't be too hard, either. He had a substantial lead on the actual dark lord.
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