Slytherin || 7th Year

1.

I thought I would mention real quick that I am making Spotify playlists for each chapter of this story. I put all the songs that I listened to while writing this chapter. I'll leave the link in my description if you want to have a listen. 

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The basement of the Avery Manor was cold at that time of year. Even with the mid-summer heat, the ancient brick walls kept the earth floors chilled. Belle spent most of her summer in that damn basement alone. Well, not completely alone but almost. Her mother watched over what The Dark Lord had called 'courses'.

The Avery's are part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight wizarding families of the United Kingdom. That means that they had been able to keep their magical blood pure for over 60 years since the original list was released in the 1930s. Blood purity was not a hushed about topic in the Avery household. Belle has grown up knowing that she was special, better even than the rest of her peers. She has magical blood that never succumbed down to muggleborns or even worse just plain old muggles. All of Belle Avery's ancestors were witches and wizards. That was something she had learned very early on that she needed to be proud of.

There were horrors that she saw in that basement. Like the time her mother brought in a girl barely older than Belle herself. The girl was as human as they could get. She shook with fear and babbled out words of mercy. Belle remembered the paleness of her delicate skin. The blood, oh the blood that girl shed. That was how Belle learned that Diffindo1 had more than one use.

The memory that circulated Belle's thoughts the most was when she was chained to that fucking basement wall. It was one thing to learn how to control a spell or a curse, it was another to feel its wrath. The flames that licked every nerve under her skin killed her. She at times could still fell the hollow memory of the pain pick at her skin. The worst of it was feeling the possibility of it never-ending. Begging for death was a humbling experience.

They hadn't even given her a moment of rest when they ripped her from that wall and forced her on her knees. The hooded Death Eater kicked her between the shoulder blades. The force caused her to plummet to the floor. She had no energy left, she was desperate to pass out at the very least, then she wouldn't have to feel any of it.

Her face caked in mud from the ground with tears streaming down her face she saw her mother. She looked at her with disappointment and disgust. The prideful woman had not raised a weak daughter. Belle used every last ounce of her strength to get back up on her knees. Brushing the tears from her face she forced her lip to stop quivering. She reverted back to what she loved to refer to as 'Death Eater Neutral'. There was no emotion on her face, no indication that her torture had affected her in any way.

"Good." Her mother put it painfully simple. That was the only acknowledgment Belle would ever receive for what had just happened to her.

The Dark Lord himself appeared before her unimpressed, he never was with her or any of her other Slytherin classmates. Her eyelids were heavy and the slight tremble in her right arm wouldn't go away. The Dark Lord grabbed her left arm roughly, she held back the wince she so badly wanted to let out. The tip of his wand burned her skin worse than any form of torture she had ever endured. She let her tears flow; she didn't care what the Dark Lord thought of her. She was weak but she would never be seen as weak again not after people saw the mark she had been graced with.

She received the Dark Mark and there was no greater honour. She had been able to prove herself. She was worthy of the Dark Lord's most trusted weapons. He had seen some potential in the young witch. She was a lot stronger than her counterparts. Daphne Greengrass was a sodding mess and Parkinson didn't take well to authority. Belle took what most would call abuse with stride. She had performed ever task that she had been asked to do. She did it without question and conviction. The Dark Lord couldn't have been more pleased with her training. She was going to be the perfect asset to the Dark Lord's treasured Death Eaters.