Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
Chapter 73: I Should Not Stay
Bellatrix furrowed her eyebrows and looked around constantly as she went inside and closed the door. "I won't stay for long… I shouldn't even be here, but…"
"Kyu!" The little guy flew straight at her.
"Hey!" Bella caught him, and a soft smile appeared on her face. "Did you miss me?"
"It's a bit overly excited because I didn't let it do much during the break," James commented while he was getting the materials ready for his next project.
"Why do you always call him 'it'? That's so disrespectful." Bella was carefully petting the head of the creature, and he seemed to be enjoying the attention like a little puppy.
James turned to glance at her. "Because it is an 'it', not a 'him'," he simply answered.
"Kyu?" Primum didn't understand why they were arguing now.
Bella shook her head. "Never mind, just… take proper care of him."
"Why? Where are you going?" James asked.
Her violet eyes were locked on him. "I just told you! I shouldn't be here…"
"Why not? I already gave you permission." James continued processing the materials as he talked.
"It's not all about you!" She caressed Primum's head. "Things are getting tense in the Slytherin house. And Rodolphus is more annoying than ever. He doesn't leave me in peace, and when he can't be around, he has other students following me. I had a hard time losing them so I could come here… but I cannot stay long. I just wanted to say something to you…"
"Hmm… I did notice the tension. It must be because of Voldemort." James finished crushing the Occamy eggs and added them to the cauldron.
"You shouldn't say that name so casually. That is the Dark Lord you're talking about… even my parents seem scared of him. I've never seen them like that."
James shrugged. No one knew better how dangerous that man was, but it was not the name they should fear. "So, you wish to stop being my student?" James stopped for a moment and glanced at her directly.
"It's too dangerous for me to come here. I don't know how long I can fool those guys. Even my sister is keeping an eye on me… that ungrateful bi—"
"Look…" James interrupted her rambling. "If you want to quit out of your own free will, that's fine by me. But if you're doing it because you think you're protecting me or something silly like that, then forget about it… I don't need it."
"Who says I'm trying to protect you?!" Bella snapped. "And why do you even care about my reasons for wanting to quit? I thought you didn't want me here in the first place."
James pointed to one of the shelves. "Can you pass me the distilled water?"
Bella grumbled something under her breath before putting Primum down and handing James a large container with a clear liquid inside.
"See? You're very useful. Why would I not want you here?" James measured the liquid before placing it in a golden cauldron and lighting a small green flame underneath.
"You have a gold cauldron? What in Merlin's name are you brewing?" Bella asked.
"It's just a light coating. There's no way I can afford a pure gold one." James said with a tone that showed his displeasure with his current financial restraints. It was aggravating to work with subpar tools, but he had to make do with what he had at the moment. "As for what I'm brewing… it's a batch of Felix Felicis."
"What?! Isn't that a super rare potion?"
"Of course it's rare! This thing takes six months to brew, and any mistake along the way will ruin it." It was also very unstable and reacted violently to certain substances. "But I already agreed to brew it, and it pays quite well." He continued to work.
He crushed a squill bulb to a paste and added it to the mixture before stirring six times counterclockwise, allowing the mixture to turn a pale blue.
Bella didn't realize it, but she had become entranced, watching James work.
James dropped in three Ashwinder eggs one by one, stirring counterclockwise after each addition, and the potion changed to a faint orange tone. "Did you get into a fight recently?"
"Huh?" Bella moved her eyes away from the potion. "What are you talking about?"
"There's a mark on your left cheek, and the skin around your eye is slightly bruised." James pointed out.
Bella used her hand to cover her face. "What's it to you? I always get into fights."
"Was it with Lily Evans?" he then asked.
"Oh, so that's what you want to know? Didn't she already tell you what happened on the train?" Bella was clearly getting upset at the mention.
"She did not. It didn't seem like she wanted to speak about it, and I respected her privacy."
"What about my privacy?" Now she was getting annoyed.
"Kyu!" The little guy floated to Bella's shoulder and let out a cry that seemed to show his agreement.
'I hate being in school again…' James groaned.
"You think I attacked her for no reason?" Bella asked him.
James stopped working for a moment to look at her properly. "No, I do not. That's why I'm curious about the reason behind that scuffle."
"You wanna know, huh? What if I told you that she attacked me first? Would you believe that?" Bella huffed.
Normally, he would not believe that Lily would go out of her way to attack someone, but he could not detect any deceit in Bella. She was being sincere.
"Did she say why?" He didn't recall those two having many interactions.
Bella grinned. "Because of you." She pointed at him.
James was not expecting her to say that. "Me?… Oh…" That would explain why she looked so embarrassed to speak during the ride in the carriage. "Let me guess… she heard some of the rumors circulating about us and decided that you were a bad influence on me."
Bella raised an eyebrow. "Actually, she accused me of using a charm on you."
This made James chuckle.
"Yeah, I laughed too," Bella added.
"Still, breaking her lip seems like an overreaction," James said.
"About that…" Bella looked somewhat troubled. "I was just going to tell her to get lost, but…"
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