Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"""What?!""" My scream echoed with Lucius and Narcissa's.
"Bella, no!" Narcissa pleaded, and Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"It's Serena, Narcissa, even if I became her sex slave, I wouldn't do more than what we're already doing." She huffed as she crossed her arms, touche.
"B-but-" Narcissa said awkwardly. I was thinking, I had… about 30 credits to spend on The Company store, 12 more if I captured Bellatrix. Even if I didn't sell her, I could use them to give her some skills as a sample if she wanted.
"Why don't we leave it for later? Let's finish this conversation," Lucius said with a tight smile. I grimaced.
"Okay," I nodded. I didn't really mind that they were being so defensive; I would be really upset too if they were trying to mind-control me.
"So, about the magic-abilities you got," Bellatrix started, and I looked at her.
"What do you want to know?" I asked, and she stared at me.
"How much have you been holding back during our duels?" she asked, and I grimaced.
"Significantly." I said honestly, I saw Bellatrix grit her teeth. "La Verità," That was the only thing I said. My transformation was instant, bombarding the room with my dark magic in waves. I saw the three of them grit their teeth and look at me in disbelief. Well, Bellatrix seemed to look at me with lust; even so, I undid my La Verità, returning to my base form.
"What the hell was that?!" Lucius asked, catching his breath.
"That was a transformation; it's not something I can use for a long time, but as you've seen, it's strong." More than one of them snorted at that. "In addition to the increase in power, it's also responsible for my new additions." I said while pointing to my eyes.
"Oh, so it wasn't a potions accident?" Narcissa asked, and I shook my head.
"No, while I'm transformed, my eyes turn like that, and I also get a tail." I let my tail out from my clothes, which made Lucius and Narcissa blink. Bellatrix snorted.
"So that's where you got it from, and you refused to take it off in any way." Bellatrix said, and I nodded.
"It has several functions; the first one is that I can use magic around it." With that, I cast a Menace Rondo. "And the other, I can create minions, anything it hits will be animated into a monster, much easier than transfiguration and less exhaustive." My tail flicked several times. "In fact, you know two of them, Aria and Cia." When I mentioned their names, they both left where they were. Cia had been playing around. Aria changed her form from the dress I was wearing and turned back into a cape, leaving me in my underwear. Lucius immediately looked away.
"Living clothes? Was that all you could think of? " Bellatrix asked mockingly. "Although that damn thing was defending you during duels like it did with Lestrange," she snorted. I nodded.
"Wait, she-is that a she? Does she move when you walk, too, anyway? I thought you enchanted your cloak." I looked at her, confused. "All that drama about it flapping dramatically when you walk." I stopped stiffly and looked at Aria; somehow, Aria seemed to look away. Bellatrix let out a laugh.
"That aside, it's not just a simple cloak," I said resignedly. "It's actually a Deathly Hallow." Lucius and Narcissa's eyes widened, and Bellatrix wrinkled her nose.
"There are no deathly hallows," Bellatrix replied. I smiled at her.
"They exist, I'll give you proof later," I said simply before pulling Aria back onto my body to cover me.
"Then there's Cia, she's my wand." I told them. Cia stood up straight in front of them, preening from the attention she was receiving. "As I mentioned, I need both hands to use my alchemy, so I needed to get rid of my wand. The result was Cia." I smiled as I patted Cia on the head. She giggled.
"Is that why you always carry her in your clothes? You need to have contact with her, and then you can ... Do wandless magic? " Bellatrix asked with a frown.
"Clever, but yes, and it's not wandless, Cia is my wand, I just don't need to hold it in my hands." I explained and the trio looked at me in surprise before I shrugged. "And while I may be quite strong, there are more powerful people in other worlds." Bellatrix almost seemed eager for that as she smiled sadistically.
"I'm going with you, whether you like it or not." Bellatrix said firmly. I rolled my eyes.
"You also mentioned-um… besides alchemy, it was… ancient magic, right? Is that what I think it is? " Lucius interrupted. I nodded.
"Yes, the things I get don't necessarily have to be from another world, if there is a set of powers that I want and it exists in this world, in fact, it is easier to get it," I said simply.
"Wow, can you show us?" Narcissa asked excitedly. I made a face.
"Not really… this doesn't come with a guide or explanation of how to use it… so I haven't been able to take advantage of it," I said honestly. "Although… I found those who could have taught me," I confessed.
"That's fantastic!"
"Not really." I grimaced. "It turns out, not only did the founders possess Ancient Magic, but during the late 15th century, there was a group of Hogwarts teachers called the Guardians. They had a self-imposed mission to protect and guard the secret of the Ancient Magic, Saint Bakar, Charles Rookwood,- ""Rookwood?!" "-Niamh Fitzgerald and Percival Rackham, the latter being their leader and the only one capable of using the Ancient Magic."
"Niamh Fitzgerald, I'm familiar with that name." Bellatrix wrinkled her nose.
"Headmistress of Hogwarts at the time." Bellatrix's eyes flickered with recognition.
"I still can't believe a Rookwood was part of this... group of teachers." Lucius snorted in disbelief. I chuckled.
"Believe it or not, they did, but back to the point, they left clues, clues that only someone who can see the traces of ancient magic could follow, and I... I followed them, I thought they would have answers and teach me about ancient magic, but... they rejected me. There are portraits of them beneath Hogwarts." I didn't have to fake my depression; I still had a bitter taste for it.
"What?! Why?! You're amazing with a wand! With magic in general! You're all fools!" Narcissa defended me forcefully, and I smiled softly at her.
"Why? Because they weren't the only ones judging me, so to speak. There was another student who walked around the castle with the ability to handle ancient magic, in the late 20th century, someone who is still alive."
"Who? That person must be like... 100 years old." Bellatrix paled, and I grimaced.
"Yes, the last known person capable of using ancient magic is Albus Dumbledore."
"..."
"..."
"THAT?!"
"That fool rejected you?!" Lucius hissed angrily.
"After everything he put you through, he still attacks you? What an idiot." Narcissa wrinkled her nose.
"Okay, I'm missing something." Bellatrix narrowed her eyes.
"Nothing important." I shrugged, "You just need to know that Dumbledore and I don't get along-" Lucius snorted. "-Back to earlier, when I found the chamber with the portraits, Dumbledore was waiting for me, and he straight up rejected me." I grimaced and looked away." And... I may have tried to set him on fire a few times." Lucius and Narcissa looked at me as if I were an idiot. Bellatrix let out a laugh. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, it wasn't my smartest move, but I was upset, and well, he already hates me. He couldn't hate me more, so I didn't lose anything." I shrugged, "Well, besides an arm." I wrinkled my nose. I was still upset about my severed arm. I looked at the trio who had gone silent as they looked at my arms. I shrugged again, "I'm better now."
"You got better? Is that all you have to say?! " Narcissa asked incredulously. "How did you grow back an arm!?"
"Dumbledore cut off your arm?! That 's-that's unheard of!" Lucius exclaimed, I snorted, reaching into my pocket and pulling my severed arm out of my inventory before holding it up in front of the trio.
"Oh, Salazar." Narcissa gasped as she gagged slightly.
"Everything's fine, nothing I couldn't fix, in fact, I was thinking of keeping this arm, my first severed arm, it's a good souvenir." I said honestly as I waved my severed arm, leaving it in the inventory, and kept it precisely like it was at the time it was severed, so it was in perfect condition.
"Stop shaking it!" Narcissa shrieked. I rolled my eyes and shoved it back into my pocket.
"Why in Salazar's name do you have an arm, your severed arm in your pocket?" Bellatrix asked in disbelief, and I tilted my head in confusion.
"Where else would I have it?"
"Just get rid of it!" Lucius replied instead, snorting.
"No, my arm, my souvenir," I said childishly as I crossed my arms.
"Just... let's get back on topic," Narcissa pleaded.
"Ok." I rolled my eyes and put my arm back. "Where was I... mmmm ... ah yeah, I'm done, not much to say after that." I shrugged. "With no one to teach me, the most I can do is try to replicate what I see and feel with the traces of the castle. It's a far cry from what ancient magic can actually do, but it's better than nothing. I refuse to beg Dumbledore to teach me." I said stubbornly, and the trio nodded in agreement.
"And you shouldn't, he's the one who's wrong," Lucius said with a grimace.
"Don't worry, worst case scenario, I can buy someone who knows how to use ancient magic from The Company." I grimaced; the list wasn't that long and had been narrowed down to only three people, but it was better than nothing.
"Well, that's it about ancient magic, but I've been wondering, what the hell are the metal arts?"
"Ah, yes, the metallic arts, Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy, three systems that use 16 metals to channel magic in different ways." I began to explain before going into more detail, explaining what each one did, and answering their questions took me longer than I expected.
"So… that would be it?" Narcissa asked as she lazily rose from her seat. "Well, that took hours." She complained, humming lightly.
"Almost certainly yes," I shrugged.
"Fight me." Bellatrix demanded. "Don't hold back this time, use that- La Verita or whatever it's called." She almost growled. I rolled my eyes before stopping and considering.
"Later." I dismissed Bellatrix, "Now…what do you say…watch something with me, some movies." I said slowly, the trio looked at me, confused. I rolled my eyes, right, thoroughbreds. "Movies are like…think of portraits, moving images that last about 2 hours, they're like plays." I explained.
"And… how would we see this?" Lucius asked slowly, I took my phone out of my inventory.
"With this," pick up the phone.
"Your music player?" Bellatrix asked with a frown. She seemed annoyed by my refusal to fight, though I was surprised she remembered what it was called.
"Well, it's more than that, but first let's have dinner, and then… let's watch Harry Potter." I smiled widely.
---
The multiversal internet provides an overwhelming amount of diverse content to watch. So there were countless versions of the 'Harry Potter' movies, but The Company had its own version. One that was 100% faithful to the books, showing everything precisely as it happened, with no cuts, deleted scenes, or adaptations like I remember seeing. It was interesting to notice the differences.
Now, we didn't watch all the movies right away. I first created a time bubble with bendalloy to lengthen our time in the room, then sent them all to sleep. I'd already been awake for a full day, so they wouldn't really have the strength to continue and stay awake.
Fun fact: I can apparently maintain my time bubble while I'm sleeping, as long as I've consumed enough minerals and have the reserves inside me. Nice to know.
The next day, we watched the first movie; it was really tedious, answering the torrent of questions coming out of their mouths. I think it made each movie feel like it lasted almost twice as long. Luckily, the room provided us with all the comforts we needed to be locked up for a long time. In total, all the movies lasted more than 20 hours, so we were locked up for that long.
I really wanted to stretch out and do something. Still, the trio was too insistent on continuing to put on one movie after another, and so we did. We had numerous breaks, question-and-answer sessions, and explanations, such as why, in the movies, I was portrayed as a man rather than a woman.
Also, I had to lower the time bubble a few times so I could order food from the house elves, who were terribly confused as to why we were ordering full meals every few minutes.
It was hard for the trio to watch the movies; all four of us were on the 'bad' side. However, seeing everything that happened or would happen wasn't easy for any of them. Especially Narcissa and Lucius, who had to witness everything Draco, their son, was going through. Bellatrix, on the other hand, didn't seem surprised at how it all turned out or at her actions; she simply shrugged. The only thing that bothered her was that she had lost against Molly Weasley, nee Prewett, and it was more outrage than anything else. She seemed genuinely offended.
Luckily, watching the movies helped the trio really believe my words, especially what I had told them, which was a good thing.
Once we were done with everything, I put the bubble down and got ready for bed again. The four of us decided to stay in the Room of Requirement. We had divided the room into two separate areas, each with its own four-poster bed, Narcissa and Lucius in one, and Bellatrix and me in the other.
Bellatrix wanted to protest Narcissa and Lucius' arrangement for the second time, just as she had the last time, but Narcissa was just as adamant as she had been the first time. So she had no choice but to grumble silently as she lay down next to me.
As before, Bellatrix lay down next to me, but at a distance. I rolled my eyes again and pulled her into my arms. Bellatrix growled and settled into my arms without even trying to separate herself or make any symbolic effort to get away; she just snuggled up against me.
"You still owe me a duel," Bellatrix growled, huffing.
"Of course," I said playfully. She groaned.
"And I want to join, no matter the conditions," she demanded.
"Why?" I asked curiously, not really caring if she joined; in fact, I hoped. There was a reason I had told them everything. They were the closest thing to family I had, at least Narcissa and Lucius. Bellatrix was getting pretty close. What, speaking of her, Bellatrix fell silent momentarily.
"…I won't lie to you, power," Bellatrix said. I grimaced. "I don't mind seeing my 'future' self join this Voldemort. I may have pledged myself to Lestrange to protect my sister, but if the dark lord were promising me power, which he was able to deliver from what I saw, then I would join just the same."
"Thanks for being honest," I snorted dryly.
"...and... It's not like I dislike you." She murmurs silently, I didn't expect that. "But I will be your only partner." She adds, I just hug her tighter.
"We'll see." I teased her, she clicked her tongue, "Goodnight, Bella." It was the first time I called Bellatrix as Bella, and she noticed when she froze in my arms.
"Good night... Sera." I hugged her tighter; it was nice.