Chapter Text
Thrill of the hunt
September 1996.
It’s the beginning of a new school year in the prestigious wizarding academy, Hogwarts. And to be quite honest, you had no idea how you’ve found yourself entangled in such a cursed series of events.
Life has never been very kind to you. You were muggle-born and raised abroad. Your biological family was still somewhere out there, but they started to resemble a distant dream as years went by. The school you’ve attended was harsh and at times cruel, but you managed to pull through. It hardened you and made you decent in most disciplines of magic. Still, you struggled to find your place in this strange new world and often spent time in muggle places.
Until, a few years later, you received a letter from England.
Upon your arrival this new country turned out to be cold, and wet. You managed to find the right address, which led you to an old house in the countryside.
A man was waiting for you, and as soon as you crossed the threshold, he asked you to “sign the will”. You took a quick confused look at the papers that he handed to you. Apparently, a century old pureblood lady “adopted” you into her family and it made you her sole heir on the day of her passing. More confused than anything, you signed the will and the man quickly left while grumbling something in his beard.
There must have been a catch somewhere.
Just as the thought crossed your mind, a line of text magically appeared under your signature.
“The heir must pay off the debts of the deceased in one year or the entirety of the estate and the heir’s possessions will be confiscated as compensation.”
Dammit, now you’ve got it. The old hag must have meddled in dirty business, earning a crushing debt, and had no family left to turn into scapegoats. Thanks to a randomly picked alumni of a foreign wizarding academy, she could pass on the magical contract and finally die in peace. A dirty scheme.
You scanned through the numbers. It was do-able with a good job but would take from three to five years. So, it was a poisoned gift after all. And it was useless for you to contact authorities, no one will listen to you.
For the next few days, you scrambled through your new possessions. Except for a dusty dark arts tome that you’ve found buried in the cellar, the rest was worthless. Not even a drawer of silverware to sell.
In a last attempt, you scanned through the hag’s mail and found your golden ticket.
“Dear Constance,
I wish you with all my heart a Happy 110th Birthday! To many more years to come.
PS: Would you happen to know a decent fellow that could teach foreign studies? I have contacted the people I know but none are available (or alive). It is for an urgent position in Hogwarts and as you know a fair lot of knowledgeable peers, I have thought of asking you.
See you soon my dear!Horace Slughorn”
A position in the most prestigious school of the country? Now that would pay well and will quickly take care of the debt and secure your future. You were versed well enough in history and worldwide magical and muggle culture, so maybe it could work. You will have to introduce yourself as a long-lost granddaughter of Constance E. Kelley. Not like you had much choice anyway.
October 1996
Charming Horace Slughorn and getting the position was easy, as the man was an old friend of the Headmaster. Due to the urgency, most of the recruitment process was skipped and a few days later you’ve found yourself standing in the middle of the teacher’s break room, as Slughorn introduced you to your new colleagues with much enthusiasm. He spoke of your experiences and travels and you couldn’t help but feel like an impostor as he embellished what you’ve told him previously.
Technically, you were now Kelley’s granddaughter, and you didn’t lie on your resume, only made it fancier and omitted some unflattering facts. So, it wasn’t a lie. At least not really, right?
Some of the teachers looked at you with interest, others seemed asleep. And then there were Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape, who watched your every move. You forced out a smile and tried your best to conceal your nervousness. Those two seemed to be Dumbledore’s eyes and ears, you needed to be careful around them.
“We hope you will enjoy your stay in Hogwarts and in Scotland, Miss Kelley. On behalf of the school, I thank you for accepting the position so quickly in the middle of the trimester.” said Albus Dumbledore, raising a little glass.
“Thank you, Headmaster.”
You did a little tour of the room. Some teachers joked about your age; McGonagall gave you a warm smile. And Rolanda Hooch winked at you with her striking yellow eyes.
“Looking forward to working with you.” You muttered as Snape coldly scrutinized you, then looked away. Well, you can’t win everyone over.
Wishing your new peers good night, you walked towards your personal quarters as the new potion master showed you around.
“The usual welcome ceremony in September is much more festive, believe me! Much more sophisticated. I’ll ask the house elves to make something special for your first time tomorrow at the dining hall.”
“Thank you, Professor Slughorn.”
“Horace will do, from now on we’re colleagues!”
“Yes, Horace. I forgot to ask you last time, what happened to the previous foreign studies teacher? She just quit in September, without a warning?”
“Well, how do I put it…” Slughorn’s good mood evaporated in an instant. “She sadly… disappeared this summer. She was of muggle decent and had some strong opinions, so you know...;”
You stopped dead in your tracks.
“What do you mean? And what does her being muggle-born have to do with anything?”
Slughorn nervously fiddled with his outfit and turned away. Your tour of the castle was finished it seems.
“My apologies dear, perhaps the sad news of the current climate here didn’t reach other countries yet… but you are from a pureblood family, so you have nothing to fear… Oh it’s getting late, I bid you good night. See you tomorrow morning.”
As he hurried away, a cold feeling washed over you. Perhaps you’ve just signed two horrible contracts in a row.
December 1996
The first semester came to an end. For your Christmas holiday you decided to explore the capital and one night you ended up brooding over a drink in an obscure London tavern.
It didn’t take long for you to uncover all the crazy things that happened in the last few years alone. Prophecies, a chosen boy and many, many deaths.
You knew that some countries had a lower tolerance level for muggle-borns than others, but you were surprised to learn how things have escalated here. Students have been attacked, the Ministry of Magic did more harm than good with their authoritarian envoy last year, and a criminal roamed on the grounds of the school not that long ago. Hell, a few days before your arrival in October a Gryffindor student has been cursed in Hogsmeade.
To top things off, a self-proclaimed Dark Lord has risen again; there was a mass breakout of his acolytes last January, and a battle at the Ministry in June. With each passing day you’ve felt more and more unsure about your presence in England.
Hogwarts itself was great none the less. Some students were talented and nice, others were absolute shitheads, and you needed a lot of patience and restraint to deal with them. At least a few were paying attention, like the Granger girl.
You didn’t get to talk much to Potter, but every time you saw him you couldn’t believe that he had to go through so many unbelievable events at such a young age. He was just a kid.
You managed to befriend some of the staff. Even Severus had no other choice than accept your neatly wrapped Christmas gift and utter a little “thank you” (you questioned Slughorn and the house elves on everyone’s preferences). You’ve ordered a special chocolate box of a known Muggle brand for Charity Burbage, the muggle studies professor. You liked the lady but refrained from participating in her debates about blood heritage, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
You got up from your lone table and ventured outside of the tavern. The evening was chilling but you didn’t want to head back to your hotel room just yet. Lost in thought, you’ve ventured into Knockturn Alley. You decided to turn back but something caught your eye. There was a shop, “Borgin and Burkes” and in one of their displays you saw a book almost identical to the one that you’ve found in Kelley’s cellar back in September. Something drew you to it, so you’ve decided to enter, making a mental note to stop by Constance’s house to retrieve the other tome.
The shop clerk was nowhere to be seen but you’ve heard some hushed voices in the back. You approached the display and carefully removed the dust from the cover. Written by a certain “John Dee” it appeared to be a damaged tome on Dark Arts and Alchemy, most of the writing unintelligible. Mesmerized by it, you started to turn page after page and figured out that you could restore some of it. You’ve got so lost in it that you didn’t hear the approaching footsteps.
“Can I help you?”
You turned around and saw the shop owner behind the counter, a look of distrust on his face.
“My apologies, I was just looking through this book. I’d like to buy it please.” You started to explain, but another voice interrupted you.
“Borgin, you assured us that we won’t be disturbed here at this hour.”
Two figures exited the backroom at the other end of the shop, it was a tall blond man and one of your students, both sharing strikingly similar looks. There was also someone else in the room, you could swear that you sensed a presence.
“Oh, hello Draco… and Mr. Malfoy I presume. I’m sorry, I didn’t see any signs indicating that the shop is closed.”
Draco timidly nodded in your direction. “Good evening, Professor Kelley.”
Mr. Malfoy looked at you with sudden interest and slowly approached you, his son right behind him. You noted that Draco’s demeanor was different from his usual one, he was quiet and reserved, almost as though he wanted to hide.
“Miss Kelley, right. Draco told me a lot about you, but we haven’t had the pleasure to meet yet. I am Lucius Malfoy.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Malfoy.” You shook the extended hand and offered a formal smile.
“The pleasure is mine. You seem to be way more capable than the blabbering fool who held the position before you. You keep the talks about Muggle nonsense to a strict minimum and you focus on the history of magic, as everyone in a wizarding school should.”
You smiled again, hiding your nervousness. You remembered something about the Malfoy family being pureblood aristocrats. Draco was a student with potential but was too tainted with this elitism nonsense, and now you saw why.
Lucius looked at the book you were holding and snickered.
“I see you are planning on doing some interesting reading.”
“Ah this… you could say so, I plan on restoring it, I just stumbled upon it by chance and…” You cursed yourself, you totally forgot what kind of book you were holding and how it might be seen by an outside person.
“Do not worry about it, dear.” Lucius brushed his hand against you arm, clearly pleased with himself. “It will be our little secret. It is refreshing to actually see someone young and curious in Hogwarts’ ranks of old and tiring gargoyles.” He squeezed your arm and eventually let it go. Draco was nervously fiddling with the lap of his jacket.
“Borgin, we will be going. Please take care of the lady’s purchase.”
He bid you farewell and so did Draco, and both exited the shop. The owner sold you the book at a suspiciously low price and you got out of there, still feeling a pair of eyes watching you.
It was now completely dark outside, so you quickly walked down the Alley. You randomly turned right in a little street, and made a few other turns, almost running. Someone was following you. It was that other person that preferred to remain unseen in “Borgin and Burkes”. Adrenaline kicked in, you made another sharp turn and quickly drew your wand as you turned around. But there wasn’t anyone there.
“Behind you.”
As you heard the words, someone grabbed your wrist, almost crushing it, and twisted it behind your back, while they stabbed you in the ribs with their wand. You froze like a deer in the headlights and almost forgot to breathe. You were pulled flush against them.
Long, curly hair caressed your cheek. It was a woman.
“Let me go. I have nothing of value.” You managed to shakily spurt out, your mind going a hundred miles per hour. You could maybe try to overpower her, or try to cast a spell anyway, or…
Before you had a chance to act, you heard a distant shout, as though someone was being called.. Your assaulter loosened her grip and quietly cackled.
“We’ll see about that. Consider yourself lucky this time, sweet thing.”
You decided to go for it. But as you muttered the first syllable of your spell, she completely let go of you and you heard the distinct pop of an Apparition. You didn’t have the time to see her face, but the voice and the smell of smoke were now engraved in your memory.
You gripped at the bag with the book, legs shaking. You almost lost your life, or worse, to an unknown street thug due to your own lack of preparedness.
Never again.
You will use everything at your disposal to protect yourself. That same night, you opened the book, and read, read, read…
May 1997
A storm was brewing, and the Headmaster didn’t seem like such an invincible figure anymore.
The paranoia grew with each passing day. Another Gryffindor student was almost killed in March and rumor has it that the poison was meant for Dumbledore. Slughorn grew more distant and avoided contact with people outside of his Club. Some students seemed off, teachers were nervous, and the content published by the Daily Prophet became even more crass and inflammatory.
You’ve spent most of your free time studying John Dee’s tomes; his main subject of interest was necromancy. The temptation became unbearable at some point, fueled by your inner fears. You’ve dabbled in some dark magic here and there just to memorize the rituals and enhance some spells. Nothing too dark though, you’ve reassured yourself. It was all only for self-defense; you didn’t dive in too deep. No one knew what you were doing, and you didn’t use any of it on living creatures. Decrypting the ancient text was almost as complicated as convincing yourself that you were doing nothing wrong.
When you had time to sleep, she visited you in your dreams. The alley, again and again, countless scenarios of what you could’ve done differently.
And nightmares of what could’ve been done to you if your assailant wasn’t recalled back then.
To your surprise, you’ve received an invitation to Malfoy Manor back in January. Out of uneasiness you’ve declined, saying that you were overworked and were transmitting your regards through Draco.
Speaking of him, he wasn’t very good at hiding whatever was tormenting him lately. Your feelings were mixed, you disliked the boy for how he treated other students but considering the brief interaction you had with his father, his behavior wasn’t surprising.
During your stay in the UK, you’ve learned that old families held much power in this country, so the best course of action was to be in their favor and stay discreet. Considering your heritage, you needed to play your cards well, so you tried your best to be nice with Draco, though often through gritted teeth.
You couldn’t stand any snarky or hateful remarks towards muggles or muggle-borns, so you shut them down, making it clear that the disruptors were wasting everyone’s time in class and that there was no room for debate. Thus, you’ve managed to pass for a neutral figure, the kind of professor who only wants to be done with the year’s program as efficiently as possible, nothing more.
Monday June 30th, 1997
Sighing with relief, you’ve slouched down on your couch. You’ve finally made it; it was the end of the school year. Your resignation letter was ready, and you’ve planned on giving it to the Headmaster on the following day, explaining that this year was very mentally taxing and took a toll on your health. He would be understanding, you were sure of it.
The check and the bonus you’ve received were enough to cover Kelley’s debt. It won’t be too much trouble to find a different job in another country now that you had the Hogwarts stamp of approval.
You were sipping on a little celebratory drink in your silk dressing gown while packing your belongings. All things considered, you thought that you’ll remember this year at Hogwarts quite fondly once you’ll be safe in another country.
Then in the distance, you’ve heard a loud and ominous crash, followed closely by a deafening shockwave.
You’ve bolted to the window and looked outside. You could feel your fingers turn cold and your heart thunder in your chest, as time seemed to slow down.
A glowing skull was in the sky, above the Astronomy Tower. The Dark Mark.
Hogwarts was no longer safe.
There was no time to lose, the Tower was very close to your quarters. Your brain went into panic mode. You grabbed your coat and quickly stuffed the essentials in your Extension Charm bag. Since you had no idea how many intruders there were you needed to take the closest passage out of the castle, get at a safe distance and then Apparate in a city where you will be lost in the crowd.
As you were about to exit the room, the door violently swung open from a spell, almost blasting away. You jumped aside in surprise, but your wand was ready.
Two masked figures barged in, undoubtedly Death Eaters.
“Surrender, now!” shouted one of the men.
Your hands acted quicker than your head. In a swift motion, you made previously traced runes appear on the doorframe. The two brutes fell right into your trap. Thorns sprung from your magical circle and pinned them violently to the ground. You dashed past them, into the hallway, hastily putting your coat on top of the dressing gown.
Another figure was waiting for you outside, in front of the stairs you were supposed to take. You threw a barrier spell and turned around, running in the opposite direction. There was another secret passage on this floor, you just needed to reach the portrait in the third room on your right…
Before you could make it there, magic crackled in the air and your barrier shattered into tiny little pieces. A millisecond later a disarming spell hit you, followed by a curse. You have never encountered a duelist of such speed before. You flew back from the shock and hit the ground, hurting your right shoulder and upper back as it took the fall. You’ve instinctively reached for your wand, but it was too far, and the figure was already close to you. You saw a woman wearing black, emerging from the shadows. Wild hair, noble features, crazed eyes.
“Such a disappointment. I like it when prey fights back…”
That singsong voice, the smell of smoke, -
“Crucio!”
Your vision went black, and then irrupted into blinding, stinging white, as your body got pierced by thousands of needles simultaneously, your skin started to crawl, your bones to shatter, you couldn’t breathe as the pain grew, and grew, and grew, -
Then as quickly as it started it had stopped, and you’ve heard a surprised screech. A ghostly form grabbed the woman’s arm and rot started to spread.
With what was left of your strength you got up and dragged yourself across the corridor, towards the room with the portrait. Your failsafe had worked. It was a curse from John Dee’s book, which activated once you’ve lost control of your body. Your hard work had paid off, but it was your last line of defense for now. You needed to escape, right now, that woman was the one that almost killed you in the Alley…
“You little… get back here!”
You ignored the witch, still numb from the Cruciatus curse. The world was swimming before your eyes and a ringing sound echoed in your ears. You pushed the door open; the portrait was here, only a few feet left and you were free…
A spell hit you again as you were reaching for the frame. It immobilized your limbs and you fell on your back, once again. You tried to jerk away and to crawl, in vain, and you’ve felt a heel viciously stomp on your leg.
“Stay down.”
You quietly winced in pain and looked up. Realization hit you, you knew who that woman was, you saw her face countless of times in newspapers. Dread filled you, it wasn’t just a Death Eater who was about to kill you, no, it was far worse…
The witch kneeled beside you and grabbed you by the collar of your coat, which was barely covering the dressing gown and your naked form underneath. You’ve never felt this scared before in your life.
“You are very – “ Her face was now inches away from yours, eyes blazing in fury.
“- lucky- “ You could feel her breath now, as she grabbed your face with her other hand, bony fingers digging in your skin.
“- that the Dark Lord took a personal interest in you, little miss. If it were for me, I would rip you into tiny shreds for that little stunt of yours.” She spat out the last words. Fury then turned into a mad giggle as she pressed her thumb against your lip and her eyes darted to your chest, where your gown started to come undone due to all the fighting.
“I want to play with you a little bit before my Dark Lord sees you.”
Your heartbeat stopped and the world went black.
You fell into the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange, a known sadist and muggle killer. And you were entirely at her mercy.
“Pick her up and take her to Malfoy Manor” were the last words you’ve heard before losing consciousness.