~ROAC~ (incomplete)

~EIGHTEEN~

"What happened?"

"Who did this?"

"We'll make them pay-"

"Miss Evans, Miss McKinnon, please calm yourselves."

The tranquil voice of Professor Dumbledore, powerfully calm even in this moment of swirling anger, worry, and relief, broke through Lily and Marlene's harried questions as the Headmaster of Hogwarts himself swept into the room from the opposite end of the Hospital Wing, Professor McGonagall close behind. Bell noticed the pair share a glance as they approached Madam Pomfrey, and when they drew the nurse aside to her office, speaking in hushed voices, she beckoned over her roommates and best friends. Lily quickly wrapped her in a hug and Bell, not having noticed before now just how shaken she was, started trembling in her arms. 

"I- I didn't know what to do, Remus and James and Peter- they weren't there, and he was on the floor, and I- I knew I had to get help." A sob broke from Bell's chest and her head dropped to her chin as she leaned against Lily, Marlene joining the hug a moment after. "I don't know anything other than he was hurt somehow. Regulus guessed a potion, but why-"

"Regulus?"

The lanky boy standing back from the group raised his arm in an awkward wave before tucking his hands back in his pockets. Bell lifted her head to see Lily and Marlene share a look and she frowned at them, shrugging out of their hug as she regained some of her strength.

"He has a right to be here," she said, repeating what she'd told the Slytherin himself a minute ago, "he's Sirius' brother."

"But-"

"No, Marlene, you know Sirius would be here for him if it were Regulus in this hospital bed." Bell creased her brow. "Just leave him be."

The professors returned to the room then and the gazes of all the students turned to the Headmaster, seeking reassurance and a way out of the blinding darkness of all they didn't know. He looked to Professor Slughorn, but he hesitated a moment.

"These students came to the comfort of their friend- or brother -in his time of need," Professor Dumbledore said, his voice bearing a soothing certainty, "each and every one of them deserves to know the truth."

Professor Slughorn nodded. "He was slipped a small amount of the Draught of Living Death, only a few drops, probably through food or drink. Unless any of you think he would take it intentionally?" At the shaking heads of the students gathered around their sleeping friend's bed, he bobbed his head in agreement and went on. "At supper would be the likeliest time this was carried out. The brewer delayed its effects with a timer enchantment, so he wouldn't fall unconscious right at the table." The Potions professor rubbed his hands together, an expression of anxious disappointment crossing his face. "But who would do such a thing?"

"It was Bellatrix Lestrange."

All eyes turned to the doorway. Persephone Vidal stood there, her braided hair in a messy bun on the top of her head and her chest heaving as if she'd sprinted here. Maybe she had. Bell rose halfway from her seat, but her trembling knees betrayed her and she sank back down as Lily instead went to the Hufflepuff girl, taking her hands and asking with a gentle, coaxing tone:

"What do you mean?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Persephone knew she didn't have time to catch her breath and so ignored the ache in her chest and the dryness of her throat as she repeated, her fraying nerves comforted by the reassuring gaze of this redheaded Gryffindor (Lily Evans, she recalled the name, and connected it to the girl's face), "It was Bellatrix Lestrange."

It is suppertime on this very evening. Persephone pokes absentmindedly at the mashed potatoes on her plate. Her gaze keeps straying to a boy at the Gryffindor table, seated almost directly across the Great Hall from her, and each time she catches herself staring, she blushes. Beside her, her cousin nudges her arm and teases her about her crush on Remus Lupin, and she offers a bit of banter back as she notices a certain Slytherin seventh year pushing a young boy, probably a first year, in Ravenclaw robes away from her. The boy hesitates and the Slytherin, who Persephone recognizes as Bellatrix Lestrange, a horrid person in the Hufflepuff girl's opinion, waves her hand at him sharply, and whatever she says makes the youth's face pale and he quickly gets walking.

As her cousin's attention is drawn back to his food, Persephone watches the boy head toward the Gryffindor table, his pace quick but clearly uncertain. A glance up at the teachers' table tells her none of the professors have noticed the boy, and she frowns as she looks back at him. What could Lestrange want this kid to do? As he passes the group of friends Persephone now associates with Remus Lupin, he trips, but she notices his feet don't actually catch on anything. Peculiar. Stranger still is how his arms fly out and he sort of sweeps his left hand across the table right before Sirius Black, knocking over his drink. In the ensuing commotion among the group, Persephone squints at the boy and sees him remove a narrow vial from the pocket in his robes meant to house his wand. 

With a deft move, the boy flicks open the vial with his finger and drips the liquid into the goblet newly appearing, courtesy of the house elves in the kitchens, on the table beside Sirius Black, who, along with Bellamy Roac and James Potter, is too busy drying off the surrounding area from the spilled drink to notice. The boy scrambles back and looks like he's stuttering something as his face goes red, and Bellamy waves him off with a grin. Persephone guesses she's said something like 'accidents happen' and would have smiled had she not been so suspicious of how Bellatrix was so intently watching the scene from the Slytherin table. As a strong feeling that this can't be anything good bubbles up in her chest, Persephone sets aside her meal and stands to speak to the Gryffindors about what she just saw- but when Remus catches her eye across the room and gives a wave, she loses her nerve and waves back, meekly sitting back down after a moment.

Still, the bad feeling remains with her all evening and when one of the Hufflepuff third-years asks her, someone always willing to help a fellow student out with academics, for tutoring help concerning a Potions essay, she declines and determines to tell someone what she saw. Professor Sprout is her first choice, but the stout Head of Hufflepuff House is nowhere to be found around the common room, and so Persephone ventures out after hours. The first people she encounters are a rushed Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon, and after quick introductions and they recognize her as 'the girl Remus has been spending soooo much time with', the phrase combined with a wink from Marlene, the trio are on their way to the Hospital Wing together.

"And you all know from there."

All was silent for a long moment. Persephone took in a shaky breath. Lily stared at her with wide eyes. Everyone else listening to her did the same. Bellamy, who Persephone had just noticed was holding the hand of the sleeping Sirius Black, gave a sound that sounded like a mix between a hiss and a vicious growl.

"That fucking bitch."

And no one, not even Dumbledore, dared to chide her for the profanity.