Chapter Text
She obviously didn’t make it to Charms on time. She thought of telling her friends about her conversation with Dumbledore, even tell Theseus. But she had promised that the conversation wouldn’t leave those four walls, and she had to prove to him that she was good at keeping promises. Plus, running to tell Theseus what had happened would only show Dumbledore that she was afraid of him. That she could not handle him. And she could not let him believe that he the upper hand. Even if it was true that she was terrified of his threat and himself.
“Leo!” she called the boy getting out of class. “Here’s the book back, thank you.”
“Hey, um... I have some new information, if you wanna see it.”
“Sure.”
Leonides took her to the Ravenclaw Tower, a place she had never visited before.
“Name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday” the door asked.
But while Bella looked lost and had no idea what to say, Leo chuckled and answered.
“Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.”
The door opened and they went inside. Leo’s side of the room was messy. There were so many parchments and old books around. He had stones at his desk and a big seashell even. He began to look for something in the piles of parchments.
“It’s here. I swear I had it this mornin-Oh! Here it is.”
“What is this?” He handed her a piece of parchment with an old drawing.
“’Tis the Elder Wand” he explained. “It’s the only detailed drawing of it in the whole world. At least, that is what my other colleagues said. Do you believe it is real?”
Did she believe it was real? The drawing looked ancient, made with charcoal, so it wasn’t very clear. But it seemed clear enough. The spiralling of the wood, the length, it all seemed perfectly normal. A normal wand of an extraordinary design. But that wasn’t what convinced Bella that this wand was the Elder Wand.
“I think I’m gonna throw up” she said letting the parchment fall into the ground.
“Woah, what is it?” He held her and helped her to sit down in his bed. “Are you okay?”
“The wand is real.” She was in shock. “The wand is real...”
“What? How do you know?”
“I saw it. I fought against it...”
“Bella, for Rowena’s diadem! Explain yourself.”
“That-that wand... the wand of the drawing was Grindelwald’s when we fought, when I defeated them...”
“Oh, shit... But you disarmed him.”
“Yes, the wand answers to me now.” She finally raised her eyes at him.
“You are the owner of the Elder Wand!” Leo realized. “Where is the wand now?”
“That’s the problem” she was about to cry. “I was given the chance to take it, but when I touched it, I felt it. I felt the power of death in it. So, I said no because it felt like it was tainted with so much blood. How foolish...”
“Bella, who has it now?”
“Dumbledore.”
“Why, can’t you just ask him to give it back? Say that you changed your mind and you want it now.”
“He won’t give it back.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “He knows about the Hallows. I’m sure.”
“Then, if he knows, he must give it back... There is no use for him to have it if the wand only answers to you... right?”
And so, it hit her. Dumbledore had planned her murder for a year now. He tried to keep her on his side, but things were off the rails now. He wanted to kill her, and by making fun of him that afternoon, she had just given him a reason to execute her.
“He’s gonna kill me...” she cried. “He’s gonna kill me for the wand.”
“Bella, Bella, calm down! What are you talking about? Dumbledore wouldn’t-What are you not telling me? Why do you think he’s gonna kill you?”
The threat he gave her had so much weight now. He was right. She didn’t want him as her enemy. She surely didn’t want him as an ally either, but maybe it would have been for the best to just shut her piehole.
“I made a terrible mistake...”
Bella wasn’t hungry at dinnertime. Well, that was the lie she told her friends. She was starving, but she didn’t trust the food at the castle now. Albus could’ve poisoned it. So, she went back to her dorm, hoping to distract her stomach with some candy.
“Oh, shit-sorry!” she exclaimed when she saw a brunette woman staring at herself in the mirror inside.
She closed the door immediately, wondering how she could’ve opened the door to another room. That had never happened in seven years. She searched for the door number... That was her dorm. There was someone in her room.
“Get out of my-Ames?!”
Ofelia’s eyes were about to pop off. The brunette girl in the beautiful white dress was no one but Ames Longbottom. He looked prettier than ever... with a wig, some light make-up on and lace gloves. The dress fit him perfectly. It was his size, with his height and adjusted to his waist. But his face didn’t reflect the beauty of his appearance. He was terrified.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry” he began to cry. “Don’t look at me.”
He covered his face in horror and turned around. And something in her mind just clicked. She closed the door and walked to him.
“Come here. Stop crying.” She carried him to Druella’s bed, as it was the closest to them, and let him cry in her shoulder for a couple of minutes until he calmed down.
“I’m sorry...”
“Sorry for what?”
“For-for this!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Ames! I only found you wearing a dress. You’re acting like I found you with a corpse in here” she tried to make him laugh, but he didn’t. “I’ve entered through that door multiple times and found you here with the girls... doing your nails, your make-up. What’s different this time?”
“I’m too ashamed. I can’t say it” Ames whispered, not meeting her eyes.
“Hey, it’s me, remember? Bella, the one you called a blood supremacist the first time you spoke to her.”
“I actually called you a Grindelwald supporter.”
“Which is even more offensive” she added. “C’mon, I won’t judge you.”
Ames took a deep breath and changed positions so that he could face her.
“There’s no turning back” he said more to himself than to her. “I feel like a woman... Like on the inside, I am a woman, even though on the outside I’m not. So, I’m dressing like one because it brings me so much joy. You have no idea how euphoric I feel when I wear a dress, when I put make-up on or... It's just that for some minutes, my outside looks like my inside.”
“You are a woman” Bella smiled.
“I am.”
“Where did you get that dress, huh? It’s gorgeous.”
“I made it!” Walburga came inside with Druella and threw herself into the bed. “Do you like it?”
“You know how to sew?!” she exclaimed.
“Fuck you!” Walls turned to Ames and smiled. “How did she find out?”
“I walked on... her” Bella explained.
“We address her as a she” Druella pointed out the obvious.
“I know.”
“And my name is Augusta. I like the sound of it.”
“Augusta...” Bella repeated.
They dive deep into conversation, while Bella searched for her candy. She had almost forgotten she was starving. Augusta explained that they were the only ones that knew abou it. She hadn’t told anyone at the Gryffindor tower, especially not Monty. She was scared of telling Monty.
“I don’t get it” Bella said after a while. “Why would you tell the two rich, pureblood, Slytherin girls of all people?”
“She didn’t tell us” Druella confessed. “We noticed.”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t notice because you are so self-centred" Walburga rolled her eyes and Bella hit her with her pillow.
“For what is worth” Bella said to Augusta, “as someone that likes women, I can say that you look ten times hotter with that wig on.”
“Thanks” she giggled.
“Women?” Druella questioned. “You mean Minerva.”
“I guess so...”
“Oh, Salazar, spill!” Walburga exclaimed with excitement.
Bella had been giving many thoughts, and it was safe to say that her feelings for Minerva had never left her soul. They had always been there, from the moment she saw her and for the rest of her life. And since their non-official date at the teashop, Bella had decided that it was time to do something about her feelings. Plus, she had thought about it so many times and she couldn't find a reason for Minerva being so nervous while going out with a "friend".
“I like Minerva” she confessed, and they all screamed. “Shut up-I mean I always liked her, but now, I’m like ready to make a move. Do you think she likes me back?”
“Of course she fucking likes you back!” Augusta laughed. “Do you think that she listens to you babble about yourself just because she’s nice?”
“Augusta is right” Druella said. “Minerva is not nice. She puts up with you only because she’s in love with you.”
“Or maybe she just enjoys me speaking about myself...”
They looked at her as if she was nuts.
“Nobody does that, Belle” Walburga told her.