August | Hermione Granger x OFC

Chapter 112

😲

♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡

"She a member of that army you were saying must be stopped? What was it? Dumbledore's Army?" Bellatrix spat the name as if it were dirty while she unlocked the entrance to the cellar. When Robyn remained still, eyes wide as she stared at Luna, Bellatrix pushed, "Well?"

"I don't know," she uttered, unable to take her eyes from Luna who had backed away into the darkness, though it didn't remain so for long as Bellatrix flicked the rarely used lanterns on with her wand.

"You don't know?"

"No."

"But you know this girl?"

"Barely."

"Mistake," sang Bellatrix. "Know thine enemy...Well, hello there, Ollivander, old fellow. Still alive?"

A weak grunt came from the corner of the room, but Robyn couldn't see the wisp of a man as Luna was standing in front of him protectively. There was a defiant look on her face, yet she couldn't hide the terrified trembles of her body.

Robyn tried to send her a reassuring look, but what she was reassuring Luna of, she had no idea. And it came out more like a grimace, anyway.

Bellatrix appeared almost bored as she examined her long nails casually. "We'll leave you alone for now, Ollivander. We're just here to give our new guest a friendly welcome, aren't we, Rosier?"

Robyn hated this. The last time she'd interacted with Bellatrix, she'd had the upper hand – Bellatrix had more or less submitted as Robyn had stared her down while torturing Thorfinn. Robyn had won, had shown her dominance, had proved that she was better and more important than Bellatrix, and Bellatrix had bowed her head. And yet apparently Bellatrix had found her footing again, running the show like she was, and Robyn was just watching, letting it happen.

But what was she supposed to do?

She hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Bellatrix's statement.

And Bellatrix didn't care. "Come on then – Lovegood, is it? It's your daddy who's running his mouth in that nonsensical magazine of his, and Mummy- oh, but Mummy's dead, isn't she?"

Luna released a whimper as Bellatrix cackled and yanked her away from Ollivander by her hair, throwing her on the ground a few feet away. She tried to crawl away, but Bellatrix was having none of it.

"Isn't she?" the deranged woman cackled again, and when Luna released another whimper, she whispered, "Yes, there's that sound I like. Don't you like it, Rosier? Is Mummy dead, little Lovegood? Is she? Ha!"

"Why is she here?" Robyn asked sharply, wildly uncomfortable watching Bellatrix taunting her friend the way she was.

"Her father needs to be taught a lesson, of course. He can't get away with publishing all that drivel about the Potter boy. The bile. The lies," Bellatrix replied without taking her eyes from Luna's shaking form on the floor.

"I just thought we'd- you'd kidnap him, not his daughter, since Hogwarts attendance is mandatory and everything..." Robyn said lamely.

"This is more effective," Bellatrix shrugged, "and not to mention, more fun!"

Robyn nodded, inwardly cringing. "Right. You prefer your victims to be...schoolgirls?"

"Well, of course! Girls show their pain more than boys do—"

"Does that include you?"

Bellatrix ignored the jibe. "Their screams are better. Music to my ears."

Robyn nodded again. At this point she was just stalling. "Of course. You know, most middle-aged women like Celestina Warbeck. But not you. You just love the screams of your victims—"