The beginning of the end: Bellatrix Black

What lies in the past

Friday, December 2, 1967

I blinked a few times until the place came into focus.

I tried to stand up but I felt sick and dizzy so I decided against it. I could only see the ceiling which was enough to tell me where I was - in the common room.

I was lying on one of the sofas and there was a woolen blanket over me, which barely made sense...

Slowly I recovered my memories and first came the shine of the she-wolf.

I fell on the floor, which explained the headache but not why I was lying on the sofa, or the blanket.

Somebody must have put it. Who could it have been?

I closed my eyes and waited.

I felt myself drifting away to sleep but of course somebody had to push me awake. I opened my eyes and "surprise" couldn't begin to explain how I felt.

It was Tom Riddle himself, standing in front of me. I was speechless.

"I saw the Patronus charm you did. It was pretty impressive." he said with his perfect voice.

"You are not going to tell now, are you?" I smiled as I talked

"Way below my level. Who would bother with such inferiorities?" he asked as he smiled back. Charming. "What you did was impressive. As I said but also very stupid. You could've gotten something worse than dizziness and a headache."

"So, did you take care of me after I passed out?" it was obvious by the look on his face that he did but I wanted to keep the conversation going.

"Yes and I brought you this" and he took out a small bar of chocolate "it should make you feel better."

"How generous of you." I took the bar and eat a piece of it "You know, I won't be able to eat all of it. Why don't you have some, too?"

"I thought you'd never ask" he seemed so smug and didn't even try to hide it. I never even hoped that something like this could happen.

I looked out of the window "What time is it?" It was Saturday so most of my Housemates were sleeping in but anybody could come in the middle of this. But then so what? It wouldn't mean it has to end then.

"About five in the morning."

"So I've been out for four hours? Were you here the whole time?" Now I was hungry for his answer. I had to wait for it rather longer than I expected. He was clearly unsure and picking his words carefully

"I had to." he said at the end and his answer certainly was pleasing enough for my taste.

"No, you didn't. You could have gone straight to Professor Slughorn or even the Hospital wing." I didn't like blaming him but if I wanted to talk to him, I had to provoke him.

"It was a way of repayment for what I once did. I don't like being required to someone" Would he ever finish his thoughts out loud or do I have to lead the whole conversation?

"Which is?" I asked. If it was anybody else in his place, the conversation would have been over a long time ago.

"In First Year. I still hadn't got the hang of my magic so when in Transfiguration class, we were supposed to reading I wanted to try one non-verbal spell and you happened to be right in front of me." his radiant eyes were poking into me. Where was he going with this?

"Instead I made some spell which made you faint." he finished just like that.

It took me some time to fully grasp the idea of what he had just said.

I wanted to believe he hadn't done it on purpose but the look on his face showed no regret. No compassion for what he had done.

As much as I wanted to believe in his innocence, only the idea of cowardice stuck to me.

Nothing more could have been said so I just walked away.