The clock tower of the castle chimed midnight, loud enough that it was clearly heard even deep in the Forbidden Forest. When nothing happened, and no one appeared, the students slowly started muttering amongst themselves. Bellatrix pulled her cloak tighter around herself and stood off to one side, trying to make out as much of the ongoing conversations as she could. Her solitude didn't last long, however, because a broad-shouldered cloaked figure strode up to her, easily recognizable as one of the Lestrange brothers.
"Well, well, well… who do we have here?" the voice revealed it to be Rudolphus. "I see you're not in the company of that git of a teacher today. What happened, dear Bella? Lover's spat?"
She decided to not grace that with a reply, and remained silent, knowing it would irritate Lestrange. It worked, and she could see his shoulders tense.
"What's the matter, Bella? No witty comebacks tonight?"
"Just decided you weren't worth one, Lestrange," she shot back quietly.
"Ohhh, feisty," Rabastan said as he approached from the side. The elder Lestrange brother smirked under his hood. "Her father's appointed candidate for Minister, and she's already letting it go to her head. Aren't you, Bella?"
"Screw you, Lestrange."
"Wouldn't you just like to?" Rabastan grinned, then looked over at his brother. "Say, maybe you should hit up Mother and Father to see if they'll arrange a marriage with her for you. It'd be great for the family standing!"
Bellatrix decided to respond to that in a mature fashion: by kicking his shin. Lestrange's howl of pain was drowned out by the rustling of the leaves in a strong breeze. A chuckle from behind them drew Bellatrix's attention. Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the shadows into the moonlight.
"As if Orion Black would ever consent to a daughter of his house to marry into someone of as low a standing as a Lestrange," he commented with a smirk.
"Say, do you know what we're doing here, blondie?" Rudolphus asked in irritation, and was rewarded with a baleful glare from Romulus Malfoy's only son.
"As far as I know, there were a few matters to resolve with regards to the membership of our little group," he replied haughtily.
"Hey, listen up, folks!" A student's voice rang out across the clearing as two figures moved to stand in the center of the grassy field. Eventually, all conversation around them stilled.
"Okay, so listen. You heard what the big man said last time, and you've all had time to think about it," the same figure spoke, and Bellatrix tried to match a face to the voice. Gretchen Goyle, she recalled, a brute from Slytherin who never amounted to much intellectually, but certainly had more brawn than half of their Quidditch team put together.
"And we've decided to sign up with him, so he's told us to hold this meeting," the other figure announced, and Bellatrix matched it to Cannabo Crabbe… another muscleman from Slytherin, and she idly wondered how these two idiots had somehow made it to the top of Tom's recruitment list.
"Get on with it, already!" Rudophus shouted impatiently, earning himself what would've been a withering glare from anyone else. From Crabbe, though, it was just a look of mildly depressed stupidity.
"Now, the first thing on the list," Bellatrix barely managed to suppress a groan when Crabbe, good goon that he was, pulled out an actual list, "is some admonis- adminos-"
Goyle elbowed him in the ribs. "Administrative, ya git!"
"Right, ad-mi-nis-tra-tive," Crabbe enunciated carefully, "matters. Before each of you can get the boss's approval and earn yourself your badge, you'll have to prove your loyalty to him."
"What are you talking about?" Malfoy asked.
Goyle lit up his wand tip and pulled back his sleeve, revealing a tattoo of black ink on his pale forearm. "This. All of us who are with the boss are marked like this, so we know who's loyal."
There was a muttering amongst the students, which was quieted by a shush from Goyle. "Look, the first thing it says we gotta do is weed out the real deals from all of ya's who're only here for kicks. Because this isn't a game we're playing, this is serious. So we're gonna use this."
The vial glinted in the silver moonlight. "That's veritaserum," Crabbe provided helpfully.
Bellatrix spied a small group of students out of the corner of her eye that made an about face and left the clearing.
"If you're not serious about joining up and doing what the boss says, then just go now and save yourself the trouble," Goyle added, "but if you take it and your answers ain't to our liking… you won't be liking them consequences."
Crabbe cracked his knuckles as if to emphasize the point, and more students broke off from the meeting and returned. Bellatrix felt torn; part of her brain was urging her to leave, knowing that there was a good likelyhood that she was going to be found out when they administered the serum to her. Another part wanted to stay, knowing deep down that this was important and hoping that either she could fool the serum, or somehow avoid being asked questions that would compromise her.
The remaining students began to file themselves into a line, and she suddenly found herself at the rear, wedged in between Malfoy ahead of her, and the two Lestranges behind her. Her mind kept churning over the matter, until Bellatrix realized with a start that there were only two students ahead of her. Then it was Malfoy's turn.
"Name?" Crabbe asked.
"Lucius Amadeus Carolinius Thaddeus Malfoy," he replied blankly, oblivious to the chuckles around him.
"Are you a pureblood?"
"Yes."
"What are your intentions in joining this group?" Goyle read off yet another pre-written sheet of parchment.
"To gain power and prestige by any means necessary, and restore the Malfoy family name in the eyes of the wizarding world."
It was apparently a satisfactory answer because Crabbe and Goyle nodded after a brief moment of muted conference. Then came a question that caused Bellatrix's blood to run cold.
"Do you know of anything about Lord Voldemort that could pose a threat to him, or are you spying for anyone or any organization?"
"No."
"Okay, you pass." Goyle, as the slightly-more-intelligent of the pair, waved Malfoy forward, while Crabbe turned to Bellatrix.
Panicking slightly, Bellatrix forced herself to calm down as she took one slow step forward. Okay, think, Bella, think… how am I gonna get out of this one? She eyed the bottle of veritaserum apprehensively, forcing her legs to move at a steady pace and hoping no one was noticing how much she was trying not to shake in growing terror as she realized that the questions were standardized, obviously written by Voldemort to ensure utter and complete loyalty among those chosen to serve him.
Dammit, Ashworth was right, she thought as she realized she was in over her head, and that she should have left when she had the chance. Then it was too late, and Crabbe was holding the bottle over her as she opened her mouth. The droplet of truth serum hit her tongue, and she felt the sensation wash across her body instantly. It numbed her thoughts, fogged her mind, and she could almost see herself answer automatically to the questions through a haze.
"Name?"
"Bellatrix Estella Black."
"Are you a pureblood?"
"Yes."
"What are your intentions in joining this group?"
"I…" Bellatrix fought the haze with all her might, and managed to still her tongue before replying. The urge to answer and say I am infiltrating this group to bring about its downfall grew stronger with each passing second. The strain on her grew, as did the pain. It must have shown on her face, because Crabbe was backing up and looking at her strangely.
"Get a grip, Bella," Lestrange - she didn't know which one - said from behind her and shoved her forward.
"She's not looking too good," someone commented from the side, followed by a chorus of agreements.
"I think she's fighting it…" Malfoy, now recovered from his own brief stint with a small dose of the truth serum, noted.
Bellatrix wanted nothing more than to just let go and let her body say what it will, but she knew that if she did, she was dead. She had to hold on at least till the serum wore off, any illusions she had that she could fight it and somehow reply with a lie had gone up in smoke and wishful thinking.
"Why's she…" Rabastan broke off abruptly. "Of course, her daddy's set to become Minister! It's a shoe-in, so daddy's little girl here is spying for him!"
Crap, was the only thought that shot through Bellatrix's mind as she heard that. The next thing that caught her attention was the rustle of many hands reaching for wands. She managed to stumble to the side, away from Crabbe, Goyle, and the rest of the students, but her body refused to move any faster than that.
"Oh no, you don't," Rudolphus reached out and grabbed her arm. "So, what do we do with her?" he asked Goyle, who checked his list of instructions and hurriedly conferred with Crabbe. Leering at her, Lestrange couldn't resist copping a feel as he held her fast.
Before anyone could answer, though, Bellatrix's mind cleared enough for her to act, and she thanked whatever deity would listen that Voldemort had picked the stupid ones as his executors, because they couldn't seem to decide what to do with her quickly. She lifted her leg and stomped down hard.
Rudolphus's scream of pain echoed in the clearing as he let go of her in favor of dropping to the ground and nursing the foot she'd just stomped on. The rest of the group looked on in stunned silence as Bellatrix reared back and kicked the younger Lestrange right where it hurt the most, then whirled around and disappeared into the forest at a dead run.
"Get her!" Goyle shouted angrily, and the students started running after her.
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