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

63. Thinking Things Through

DISCLAIMER

I do not own Harry Potter ... but I haven't written for this in so long idek where any of this is going lmao

__________<>__________

Bel had made it to her clearing in record time.

She knew it was impossible to fly without the aid of a broom, but at the speed she ran into the forest at, she was convinced her feet hadn't been on the floor.

When she arrived, the entire area seemed as though it was choosing to alienate her from its true beauty.

The sun was shining a little less bright, the flowers were less colourful, the willow branches swayed across the opening where she would walk through as if not letting her in.

Even that put Bel on edge.

It was a slice of the forest and yet she felt as though it was judging her, as she expected the rest of the school to do if they found out about her heritage.

One of the many things she had come to think about.

Bel sat at the foot of the tree as she always did, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath of the crisp, fresh air, only letting the sounds of rustling leaves and chirping birds fill her ears.

It immediately struck calmness through her.

As it always did.

Bel opened her eyes, staring down at the small box now placed in her lap.

She stayed like that for a while. Just staring.

Prolonging the inevitable moment where she would need to open it and tackle what she had been avoiding for two years.

And after a deep breath, that moment arrived.

Bel waved her hand over the lid of the box, whispering the charm to unlock it.

Her hands were shaking ever so slightly as she removed the lid, placing it onto the soft grass beside her.

The first thing her eyes saw was the letter from her mother.

Well, that's a start.

Bel picked it up, opened it, and read the words as though for the first time.

They were words embedded into her mind.

If she ever lost the note, it wouldn't matter. She could recite exactly what it said from start to finish.

But as she read them, she did so in a new way.

Of course, the words contained no answers at all.

Only one.

That her mother claimed to have left her for her own protection.

Bel now read that understanding it must have been in an attempt to keep her away from Voldemort.

Right?

Uncertainty is now what she felt.

Not confusion, no longer seeing in shades of grey, but she was seeing multiple options in black and white.

What she really needed was someone to tell her which answers were true.

Someone Dumbledore had said would reveal themselves with time.

But who?

A friend of her parents?

She didn't even know their names; how would she go about finding their friends?