Power and Persecution [1] || Harry Potter x OC x Draco Malfoy

21. Flowers and Friends

DISCLAIMER

I do not own Harry Potter ... but if I did there would have been more canon LGBTQ+ characters (*cough* wolfstar *cough*)

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Christmas break was almost over.

The snow was melting away, the Christmas decorations had been removed, the hallways would soon be filled with the chaos of students, replacing the eery empty ones Bel had become accustomed to.

The days after Bel had visited the Mirror of Erised had all been in routine.

During the day, she would sometimes spend her time with Harry and Ron. The three had decided that they needed Hermione with them if they were going to work out anything about Nicholas Flamel, and so no other attempt to break into the restricted section were made.

Sometimes, Harry and Bel would take Gus and Hedwig out into the courtyard in an attempt to make Gus more sociable with other owls. It appeared to be working, but the snowy owl was the only one Gus allowed the honour of flying beside him.

The ICCCC had met a few times. Fred and George were still trying to convince Bel to help them with some of the tricks they had planned for next term, but she would always remind them that her magic was too unpredictable and dangerous for the time being. Not that they cared, the twins made it perfectly clear that the danger would make it so much more entertaining.

Bel would also try flying as much as possible. She didn't want Cedric to return and be out of practice. The cold weather did make her attempts limited. Even if she did make it out to the quidditch pitch she would be frozen on the spot the second she entered the bitter air.

The cold weather had also kept her from the clearing, leaving her to try and discover this mysterious place Dumbledore had mentioned. So far, she had found nothing. It wasn't a surprise, however, as she didn't exactly know what she was even looking for.

Not much different to the fact that she still didn't know who had sent her that odd necklace for Christmas. But it hadn't been removed from the little box she had placed it in. Bel wasn't sure if she wanted to find out. Her mind couldn't take another thing to worry about.

This was because she was extremely worried about Harry. Ron had been too. The day that the Mirror of Erised had been moved, her friend had been ... off. Harry was always sat thinking to himself, staring off into space, not laughing or smiling like he used to.

Bel and Ron had tried to get him to forget about the mirror, but their attempts were unsuccessful. The two decided that it was for the best to let him work it out on his own. After all, Bel could relate to that position. She preferred to keep her problems to herself, and Harry clearly did too.

On top of that, Bel had been failing over and over again in her added lessons with Dumbledore, which is where she found herself once again now.

It was the last lesson Bel was having before term restarted and they were back to only two a week.

"Same thing?" she asked as she took up her position on one side of the office, wand in her right hand and her left hand ready to intervene.

"Same thing", Dumbledore replied.

So far, Bel had still been unable to block spells without her wand when it was present.

She understood the importance of mastering it. It was actually fairly simple. Show her wand that she could still defend herself without it, even when it was at her immediate disposal. This would force it to listen to her considering its innate desperate need to be used.