Odessa {S.B}

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XI | We'd Be So Proud

Odessa crouched on the stairs in her night dress, her right ear pressed between the banister rails. It was well past midnight the night before she was due to go home and Odessa was up reading Flesh-Eating Trees of the World when she heard Regulus exit his room opposite. After a few minutes, curiosity got the better of her and she slipped out of her room too, stopping to eavesdrop on the bannister when she heard hushed voices from the kitchen.

She winced at the loud sound of someone descending stairs and snapped her head up to see Sirius thundering down from his room. He saw her and came to a sudden stop.

"What are you doing there, Essa?" Sirius asked, surprised. He descended the stairs and walked towards her a lot more sensibly.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Odessa hissed, yanking him down to sit next to her. "What are you making so much noise for so late at night?"

"I wanted some water, and I wasn't making that much noise."

Odessa grumbled something about Gryffindors under her breath that made Sirius open his mouth to retort, but she beat him to it.

"I heard Regulus leave his room and it sounds like they're all down there discussing something but I can't make out any words."

"Meliore," Sirius whispered the incantation of a spell that Pandora had created in fourth year, pointing his wand at Odessa's ears before doing the same to his. Odessa mentally cursed herself for not thinking to do the same.

Instantly, the voices from the kitchen were distinguishable as the two Black parents, Regulus, and a female voice that Odessa didn't recognise.

"I still think it's best if I didn't," Regulus was saying. "Odessa wouldn't like it and at the moment it's more important to focus on making that work."

"That girl is nothing but an insect compared to the Dark Lord," declared the unknown woman.

Odessa's blood ran cold at the mention of the dark wizard she had been hearing so many rumours about. She felt Sirius tense up beside her too.

"That's my cousin, Bellatrix." Sirius whispered, saying his cousin's name with such distaste.

"That's not true anyway, Regulus," said Orion. "The Dark Lord has been recruiting abroad and I know that most of her cousins have joined the cause, only those who aren't of age haven't signed up. It's only a matter of time before she'll be expected to join as well."

This was news to Odessa and she gulped heavily. Never having got on well with her cousins, she was well aware of their supremacist views that were even more extreme than her grandmothers's, but she would never have imagined they would join with such an evil group. Perhaps she was just naive.

"This is a wonderful opportunity, Regulus." Bellatrix simpered, though there was an underlying threatening tone to her voice. "The Dark Lord needs someone at Hogwarts, someone within the castle's walls. I suggested you and I'd hate for you to disappoint."

There was a long silence.

"We'd be so proud," said Walburga.

"I need time to think."

"You wouldn't want the Dark Lord to think you aren't truly dedicated to the cause, would you?" Bellatrix asked slowly.