Reviews:

fallendemon248: I understood that reference

Nightcrawler X : "It's a canon event!" Miguel said calmly.

ReaperOfBalance : There will be similarities

Floriano97: So I am apparently a thief? Why is that? Because there are some similarities between my fics and his? FYI, when I wrote my 'Raven' and 'Emerald Dragon' fics then I messaged authors of similar stories and asked them if it was okay for me to take some of their ideas. As for the author you mentioned, I can't recall reading any fics of his, even if I have then it was probably a long time ago since I can't remember any of his fics and I can't find him on this website which is the only website that I use for fanfiction (I don't use AO3, Webnovel or any of the rest). Also, what complaints? I've never been reported on this site by anyone as far as I know. Given the amount of shit you're making up, I'm going to assume your last name is Skeeter.

Fealthas: Nah, the author is just lazy


Chapter 30 -

'Yeah...yeah, this is definitely awkward.' Liv thought to herself as she sat on a hospital bed in the hospital wing.

On the bed to her left was Hermione, who was thankfully uninjured beyond a couple of scratches, but was slightly shaken up. On the opposite side of the room were the Slytherin students, Pansy was sitting in a bed opposite Hermione while Daphne was lying in a bed opposite Liv with a bandage wrapped around her head. Sitting in a chair beside that bed was Hydrus who held Daphne's left hand in his right, alternating between talking with Daphne and staring at her. Meanwhile, Madam Pomfrey was talking with the other professors about their injuries.

"Forgive me," A voice said just before Professor Dumbledore walked in. "I had my own bits of business to attend to, frightfully busy day, as you can all imagine." He said casually as he stopped and stared at everyone. "Now, if it's not too much to ask, perhaps some explanations are due." Liv opened her mouth to speak when Hydrus cut in.

"Where's Lord Greengrass? And where's my mother?" Hydrus all but demanded. "Heck, where's Parkinson's parents?"

"And why would any of them need to be summoned?" Snape sneered at Hydrus.

"I know the Hogwarts bylaws and it clearly states that if anything serious should happen then the parents of those involved should be summoned, the four of us were involved in a battle with a troll, I'd count that as serious enough," Hydrus stated, looking a short step away from glaring at Snape. "Cooper and Granger are muggle-born so obviously you can't bring their parents up here, but you obviously haven't contacted mine as she would have already been here by now or at least on the way."

"Now, now, Mr Potter," Dumbledore spoke up. "We are first trying to establish what happens so we may decide if it's..."

"Black!" Hydrus growled, sounding barely civilised at this point. "My name is Hydrus Black!"

"Hardly much of an improvement," Snape muttered.

"The hell did you say?!" Hydrus demanded, standing up. "Are you insulting my family?" He asked, emerald green eyes glaring holes at the potions professor. Liv knew who she was rooting for in a fight between the two, she wasn't Hydrus's biggest fan but even he was miles more preferable than the 'dungeon bat' of Slytherin. Everyone except for most Slytherins hated him and for good reason.

"So what if I am?" Snape snarled. "What do you intend to do about it, brat?"

"Severus!" Professor McGonagall gasped.

"You'd better watch yourself," Hydrus warned, his voice switched and was now oddly calm and detached. The look in his eye was entirely different, not that Snape seemed to pick up on it. "Teacher or not, nobody is allowed to insult my family."

"I'll say anything I want regarding your stupid family!" Snape snapped.

"Will you?" A female voice asked softly, everyone turned to the hospital wing entrance and Liv spotted the prefect that she remembered to be Hydrus's cousin, and standing in front of her was a regal-looking woman with sharp features, curly black hair, expensive black clothes and bright violet eyes. "Go ahead then," Bellatrix said calmly, a pleasant smile on her face as she walked up to Snape who had pulled out his wand. Liv couldn't help but shiver as she looked at this woman, this woman who had to be Hydrus's adopted mother, this beautiful woman with the same crazed look in her eye as Hydrus, a look that said the floodgates were barely holding back the madness within these powerful and not fully sane individuals. "Severus Snape," Bellatrix purred as she stopped in front of Snape. "Always had a lot to say, didn't you? Always starting fights with your big mouth, crying whenever anyone did anything to you, no matter how much you deserved it. Why, I remember your first day in the Slytherin common room, you let your little tongue go wild and you ended up hanging upside down in your underwear." Bellatrix laughed lightly, licking her lips whilst Snape turned a worrying shade of red. "I'm pretty sure I have the picture somewhere at home,"

"Black," Snape glared at her, the tip of his wand glowing a bright red. "I am sick and tired of..."

"Of what?" Bellatrix asked lightly, taking a step forward, her own wand came out so fast that Liv had barely seen it. "You're sick and tired of what?" She asked, her wand tip glowing a frighteningly hot shade of blue. Liv looked at Hydrus and saw his own wand was out as well. Hydrus's eyes were glowing brighter than normal, wind was blowing around him and Liv could feel his magic from the other side of the room.

"Enough," Dumbledore said, calmly and firmly. "There will be no fighting in my school. Severus, lower your wand, you as well Miss Black, Mr P...Mr Black. Wands down, now."

"You heard him, Sevy," Bellatrix grinned at him. "Wand down now, that's a good boy." Snape glared before putting his wand away, with extreme reluctance. "Wand down, Hydrus, no need to make a scene," She said in a far more pleasant voice.

"Mother," Hydrus nodded respectfully before putting away his wand, though he did keep glaring at Snape.

"So, Dumbledore," She turned to the headmaster. "Are you often in the habit of allowing your staff to insult your students? Or is it that simply a treat for my son?"

"I do not condone Professor Snape's actions," Dumbledore sighed. "And I think that - "

"Mother," Hydrus cut in. "He got my name wrong again,"

"Has he?" Bellatrix grinned evilly at Dumbledore. "Perhaps my initial thoughts about your mind were correct,"

"I assure you, my mind is as well functioning as ever," Dumbledore said stiffly.

"If that was the case, then why wasn't I notified of my son being in danger? I had to find out from this pink thing here," She replied, gesturing to Tonks.

"Love you too, Aunt Bella," Tonks chirped, bouncing dramatically on her tiptoes, though Bellatrix didn't so much as twitch.

"As I was about to explain to the children, I wished first to establish what happened before deciding if what had happened was serious enough for you to be contacted," Dumbledore replied easily. "Though, of course, given the nature of what we already know had happened, you likely would have been contacted soon. Now," Dumbledore quickly turned away from Bellatrix before she could respond. "Perhaps you can all tell me what had happened," He said, glancing towards Bellatrix out of the corner of his eye. Liv saw that Hydrus had very quickly stopped next to Bellatrix who now had an arm wrapped around his shoulder. "Miss Cooper, perhaps you could start," Dumbledore suggested.

"Well...I...so we had charms earlier today," Liv began explaining. "Hermione was trying to help Ron and then the two got into an argument, I noticed she wasn't there at the feast, and one of the other girls told me that she was crying in the bathroom, so I went to go and get her. I didn't want her to miss out, so I went to the bathroom and found Daphne and Pansy there, Daphne was washing her hands but I saw Pansy insulting Hermione." All eyes looked towards Pansy who was looking down, red-faced. "And that's about when the troll came in." Liv continued. "Daphne and I were shooting spells at it when Hydrus burst into the room and started helping us, he saved us, Sir," Liv admitted, glancing out of the corner of her eye and seeing a small smirk on Bellatrix's face. "Then the troll ended up hurting Daphne and he...kind of went crazy."

"Crazy how?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I would think that the dead troll is probably a good enough answer," Daphne said, sitting up on her bed.

"Miss Greengrass, don't overexert yourself!" Madam Pomfrey said worriedly.

"I'm fine," Daphne said dismissively before turning her attention to Dumbledore. "Cooper is right, Hydrus is a hero, he saved us all." She said, quite firmly for an eleven-year-old girl.

"A hero?" Bellatrix repeated thoughtfully with a grin on her face. "I quite like the sound of that," She admitted. "Hydrus Black, the hero. Now, that's quite fitting for such a brave young man. So, Dumbledore, apparently my son saved four students of yours. Why, I do think that's something that should be awarded, I suppose that being presented with an official reward from the school will suffice."

"Miss Granger, Miss Parkinson," Dumbledore spoke to the two remaining girls. "Do you both agree with Miss Greengrass and Cooper's interpretation of events?" He asked.

"Y...yes, Professor Dumbledore," Hermione quickly agreed while Pansy simply nodded.

"In that case, I suppose that I must agree with you, Miss Black," Dumbledore replied to Bellatrix. "Though I would like to know why he was in the girl's bathroom." He added to Hydrus. "Where you not at the feast when we heard about the troll?"

"I was, but Daphne and Pansy were not," Hydrus answered. "I figured if the troll was supposed to be by the dungeons then I could have gotten the two and gotten back quickly enough without delaying anyone."

"Hmm," Dumbledore nodded, looking quite calm and thoughtful, but Liv wasn't fooled. She wasn't sure about everyone else, but she could tell that the headmaster was happy now, really happy. "Very well, you shall be rewarded, as you deserve. Tomorrow, I shall announce it to the school."

"Right, well if there is nothing else, I would like a few minutes to talk with my son," Bellatrix declared before taking Hydrus out of the room without waiting for a response. Professor Dumbledore let out a sigh before turning to Daphne, he took a moment to smile at her.

"Miss Greengrass, please inform Mr Potter..."

"Black!" Daphne cut him off with a glare. "His name is Black,"

"As you've been told repeatedly," Tonks cut in cheerily. "Perhaps Aunt Bella wasn't so far off about your memory," She couldn't help but comment.

"Miss Tonks!" Professor McGonagall said disapprovingly.

"What?" Tonks asked innocently. "I didn't intend to be offensive, Professor, but at this point he's either purposefully ignoring my aunt and cousin's wishes or he just can't remember, which is it?" She asked Dumbledore casually. The old headmaster stared at her for a moment before simply turning his attention back to Daphne.

"Tell Mr Black that I would like to award him with fifty points, I would like to also award each one of you girls an additional twenty points for standing up to a troll." He said before turning around and walking out of the hospital wing.

"Miss Parkinson," Professor McGonagall spoke up. "Do not think I have forgotten Miss Cooper's comment about you bullying Miss Granger,"

"And we are to believe this girl?" Snape cut in. "She's a Gryffindor, can we truly expect her to be unbiased against a Slytherin?"

"Last week you took away ten points from Ron because Draco said he tossed something, you believed him straight away," Liv couldn't help but point out.

"Silence!" Snape snapped at her before turning to Greengrass. "Miss Greengrass, tell us, was Miss Parkinson..."

"Yes," Daphne cut in. "If you're asking if she was insulting Granger then the answer is 'yes'," She shrugged. Snape gave her an irritated look but didn't get to say much more as Professor McGonagall spoke up.

"Now that we have that settled, I think ten points from Slytherin will suffice this time," Professor McGonagall stated. "I am tempted also to give you a detention, Miss Parkinson, but given the events of tonight, I am willing to let you off lightly. Do not let me hear of this type of behaviour again." She said before walking out with the other teachers following after her, Snape sending one more annoyed look at Daphne.

"Thanks for backing me up," Pansy huffed at Daphne.

"Hey, you get caught shitting yourself then don't expect me to come to wipe your ass," Daphne replied, Tonks snorted before reaching across and patting Daphne's hair.

"I see my cousin has rubbed off on you," She grinned.


"And how long has Snape acted like this?" Bellatrix asked, talking to Hydrus in an abandoned classroom. The first thing that she had done was ask his version of tonight's events, and now she was moving on to other topics.

"Start of the year," Hydrus answered honestly. "He's always disliked me, I could tell,"

"And why haven't you said anything to me about it?" Bellatrix frowned.

"Mum," Hydrus sighed. "What do you expect me to do? Am I supposed to say 'My mother will hear about this' every time something doesn't go my way? It took me ages to break Draco out of that habit and the twit still occasionally threats people with his dad. I can handle Snape, I am a son of House Black and no two-bit, sorry excuse for a teacher will make me cry out for help."

"It's not about that," Bellatrix sighed. "Firstly, you're my son, the only person allowed to bother you in any way at all is me and me alone."

"You never bother me,"

"That's because I'm perfect, but my point is that he should not be allowed to bother you. Besides, as the heir to the Black family and my son, you are an extraordinary wizard and deserve the best education possible. Potions are an important subject and I will not have my son's education suffer because of some greasy little shit-stain that can't let go of a decade-old grudge."

"Why does he hate me anyway?" Hydrus couldn't help but ask.

"Years ago he had a crush on Lily Potter," Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "Stupid dumbass made himself as undesirable as possible and then cried when she goes with your father instead of him. He was friends with your mother until some incident where he apparently called her a 'mudblood'. He hated your father and hates him even more since he 'stole' Lily from him. Now, he is apparently taking his anger out on you like the pathetic prick that he is."

"Wow," Hydrus took a moment to think about what she said and formed an appropriate response. "What a dickhead,"

"Yep, and I'll deal with him soon enough," Bellatrix vowed darkly.

"Mother," Hydrus said suddenly. "I need to talk to you, about the Cooper girl."

"What about her?" Bellatrix asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She did something to me when I killed the troll," Hydrus admitted.

"What?" Bellatrix asked, her voice freezing cold.

"Not like that," Hydrus said with a quick shake of his head. "I was angry, pissed off and all I wanted to do was kill the troll and then she did it. She touched my head and...and the voices were gone, Mum."

"What did you say?" Bellatrix blinked.

"The voices were gone, Mum," Hydrus repeated, tapping the side of his head. "I don't what she did and I don't know how she did it, but the voices were gone, Mum. For the first time in years, my head was clear." He added with a watery smile. "I need to know how she did it, Mum."

"Cooper? That was her name?" Bellatrix frowned thoughtfully. "Lilian Cooper?"

"Liv Cooper," Hydrus corrected her. "I think her first name is short for Livian but I'm not really sure, she always goes by Liv."

"I'll look into her," Bellatrix told him. "Keep an eye on her, tell me if you see anything worth mentioning."

"Done," Hydrus nodded firmly, he would find out about Cooper, no matter what it took.