Soul Bound 44

“I’m not finding anything. How about you?”Bellatrix asked Narcissa. The pair were in Dumbledore’s office looking through all his stuff. Minerva was in his private quarters and Bellatrix was wondering if she should have volunteered for that instead of his office. All she had found so far were some boring correspondence with some parents. Including a few humorous ones that were demanding that Bellatrix and her sisters be fired. There were a few familiar names amongst the senders. Lady Greengrass, Molly and Gerold’s mother were the three with the most to say. Lady Greengrass once again claimed to have proof of Bellatrix and Narcissa’s crimes. She didn’t say what the proof was but offered to give it to Dumbledore if he would come to her manor to have tea with her. Bellatrix figured that Lady Greengrass was going to do something to that tea. Lace it with truth potion probably and try to have Dumbledore admit that he knew of the sisters’ guilt. That didn’t matter though. What mattered is the lack of finding anything useful.

“I told you to look in the wall.”Charis Black’s portrait said from his spot hanging on wall watching the sisters along with the other living portraits of headmasters throughout the years.

“You didn’t say which wall.”Narcissa was more than happy to take help from her ancestor he just wasn’t being very helpful.

“Ask the bird.”Another portrait called out.

“Grandfather which wall were you speaking of?”Bellatrix didn’t know why the old coot was helping them because he was a big believer in blood purity while he was alive but for some reason when he had seen all three sisters when they came to Dumbledore’s office to inquire about jobs the man had been overjoyed to talk to them. He even made a comment about being happy Andromeda was with her family again.

Charis pointed to the wall to the right of him.”That wall. He was always spending time near it. Sometimes crouched down close to it.”

“Thank you grandfather.”Bellatrix made her way over to the wall and began casting spells on it.

“Now one of you mentioned asking the bird. What does the bird have to do with this?”Narcissa was somewhat concerned about Fawkes because the bird refused to leave the office. Minerva tried to force him out but he just flew back to his perch.

“The insane man would give the bird things to hide. Sometimes the bird would refuse but most of the time it would take the item and fly towards the ceiling and hide things in the rafters.”The portrait of Atticus Hornburn told her.

“Thank you sir.”Narcissa walked over to Fawkes.”Fawkes would you be so kind to bring us the things Dumbledore had you hide?”

Bellatrix looked up when the bird let out a loud caw and flew up towards the ceiling.”Maybe that’s why it won’t leave.”

“Phoenixes are extremely intelligent. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was Fawkes’ motivation for staying.”Narcissa had witnessed stranger things.

“I hope he brings something good back because I’m not finding anything. Then again maybe I’m going about this wrong.”Bellatrix holstered her wand and started feeling the wall with her hands. She figured if Dumbledore wanted to hide something important he wouldn’t want anyone to be able to find it with magic or for anyone to detect a magical residue. Starting from the height she could reach she ran her hands over every piece of the wall moving downwards. It was when she was kneeling on the floor she felt a chip in the wood. Pushing on the chip Bellatrix smiled when part of the walled opened.”Grandfather you beautiful man you may have just helped us find the evidence we need to get rid of Dumbledore.”

Charis huffed.“Don’t call me beautiful. I am not a lady.”

“What did you find?”Narcissa looked to where Bellatrix was crouching before a section of the wall but couldn’t see inside it.

Bellatrix reached her arm in and pulled out two trays full of vials filled with memories.”He hid at least three dozen memories.”

“They must be very important if he didn’t want to risk getting them in front of Hootch.”Narcissa bet that Dumbledore didn’t want to chance Hootch asking questions when she escorted him to get his things and leave the grounds.

“Well I’m going to start watching them. You want to join me?”Bellatrix wasn’t going to miss the chance to see what Dumbledore was hiding.

Narcissa didn’t want to watch through Dumbledore’s memories.”No you can just tell me what you find. I’m going to keep looking.”

“Suit yourself.”Bellatrix grabbed both trays and made her way over to the pensive in the corner of the room.

Narcissa looked up when she noticed Fawkes coming towards her carrying a file. Taking the file from him she immediately became enraged.”That fucker.”

“Whoah what he do?”Bellatrix knew it had to be horrible for Narcissa to curse.

“He has a whole file on Hermione’s background. To include her squib family tree. He even has her home address and the address of the Granger’s dental practice. He wrote notes about who he was potentially going to contact to see if he could get support to become her guardian over me. There is also estimates of how much gold is in each vault she inherited and comments about things he could use the gold for.”Narcissa was very grateful they had stopped him before he got Hermione’s squib family involved.

“That fucker!”Bellatrix wished she had a chance to hurt the man.”You know he might still try to get her family involved. If he offered them gold or status in the magical world they would align with him.”

“He stupidly played his hand though so no-one would go along with it. Especially because Hermione is old enough to take the stand at the hearing and we would have her tell the court how afraid she is of Dumbledore. That she fears he will abuse her and try to force her to do things with her inheritance like he tried to manipulate her already. Also we can say she is afraid of how he wold treat her because of his predigest against purebloods.”Narcissa wasn’t worried about Dumbledore or anyone else getting custody of Hermione.

“They would have to deny him after that or people would question their integrity. Meaning Dumbledore couldn’t use his influence to get the outcome he wanted.”Bellatrix was now less worried about Dumbledore getting custody of Hermione.

Narcissa set the file on the desk.”Fawkes is there anything else he had you hide?”

“I take that as a yes.”Bellatrix watched the bird fly back up to the rafters. It immediately came back with a book this time. Bellatrix took it from the bird and seeing the title she frowned.”Why was he hiding a book about horcruxes?”

“Was he trying to create his own?”Narcissa knew what horcruxes were. The Black family was all well versed on such Dark Arts. It was even rumored that one of their ancestors had made one of their own. The man supposedly went insane and that was the reason no one else tried to do it.

Bellatrix flipped through the pages.”The notes aren’t in his handwriting.”

“Anything else Fawkes?”Narcissa asked the bird. In reply Fawkes took flight again. He returned with another file.”Who is Tom Riddle?”

Bellatrix looked over Narcissa shoulder as she opened the file. Seeing the picture of Tom she knew exactly who he was.”That’s the Dark Lord!!”

“We knew the Dark Lord was a student at Hogwarts but he never talked about what class he was in or anything about his time here.”Narcissa read through the first page.”It claims here that Tom was a half blood. His mother was a Gaunt and his father was a muggle man who had no magic at all.”

“The Dark Lord is a half blood?”Bellatrix wondered if anyone knew that.

“According to this.”Narcissa was going to investigate further.

Bellatrix was thinking the same thing as Narcissa.”We need to look into this.”

“Who do you think we should tell?”Narcissa wasn’t sure if they should let people know about it.

“I think that me, you and Andy should investigate then once we have collected enough evidence to prove our claim we have our lawyer give it to the press. The public should know. So should all his devoted followers.”Bellatrix wanted it to be known far and wide.

“The girl is right. If Albus had release the information when the man was getting a following then it would prevented a senseless war.”Franklin Harrot’s portrait said most of the other murmuring their agreement.

“Wait if Dumbledore knew who the Dark Lord was and he was hiding his file as well as a book on horcruxes do you think that is how the Dark Lord is resurrected?”Narcissa was sure that was how the Dark Lord stayed alive.

Bellatrix groaned.”Now we have to figure out what objects he used and destroy them.”

“That Riddle boy was in here a lot. Had a lot of anger but loved Hogwarts and was obsessed with the founders. Got in fight with Kellen up there about claiming to be Salazar’s heir.”Jerold Seemings told them.

“That was because the boy was not Salazar’s heir. He didn’t have Slytherin blood nor was he picked by Salazar.”Kellen Jenkins said.

“Of course Salazar didn’t pick him. Salazar was waiting until only a truly worthy magic user was born to pass on his title.”Charis bragged.

Franklin rolled his eyes.”You are only saying that because Hermione’s a Black.”

“A Black I would like to meet if you two could arrange it.”Charis asked the sisters.

“She would love that grandfather. Hermione is all about family pride and to speak to such an accomplished family member would be the highlight of her life.”Bellatrix wasn’t kidding. Hermione would be overjoyed to talk to Charis.

Charis smiled.”Then you must bring her soon.”

“We will.”Narcissa didn’t think Minerva would mind Hermione coming to her office. Turning her attention back to the bird she asked again.”Anything else.”

“I wanted to look at those memories but Fawkes keeps bringing us back good stuff.”Bellatrix didn’t want to miss out on anything Fawkes brought them. This time Fawkes brought back a ring box. He didn’t hand it to the sisters though he set it on the desk. Bellatrix reach for it but Fawkes blocked her from touching it.”Alright I get it don’t touch.”

“I think whatever it is it’s cursed.”Narcissa was sure there was something wrong with whatever was in the box.

“One way to find out.”Bellatrix loved that saying because it usually meant trouble. Waving her wand over the box Bellatrix began casting various spells. Once done she turned to Fawkes.”Can you open the box for us?”

Narcissa watched as Fawkes opened the box revealing a ring inside. Stepping closer but making sure not to touch it Narcissa inspected the ring.”It’s the Gaunt family Head of Household ring.”

“It’s also a horcrux.”Bellatrix was positive it was.

“Dumbledore has one of the Dark Lord’s horcruxes?”Narcissa didn’t understand why he didn’t destroy it.

“I think we need to hide this until we figure out a way to destroy it.”Bellatrix wasn’t going to trust anyone but herself, her sisters and Hermione to even know about it.

“You destroy a horcrux with hell fire.”Nathan Renbrant told them.

“Fiendefyre destroys them?”Narcissa asked.

Nathan nodded.”I saw it happen personally when I was alive and had a body.”

“Thank you sir.”Bellatrix would happily take the advice of a man who saw it happen in person.

“Fawkes do you have access to Salazar’s personal workroom on the third floor?”Narcissa smiled when the bird nodded.”Can you please bring this ring there when you get a chance so we can destroy as soon as possible?”

“Is there anything else he was having you hide?”Bellatrix asked Fawkes. The bird flew up to the rafters again.

“I kind of don’t want to know what other horrible thing Dumbledore was hiding.”Narcissa wasn’t looking forward to the next object knowing it was going to bring more drama to their lives.

“Maybe this one won’t be that bad.”Bellatrix said when Fawkes brought them a prophesy orb.

“Let’s just hope it isn’t a prophesy that has to do with any of us.”Narcissa didn’t want to have to deal with another prophesy. Taking the orb from Fawkes Narcissa pulled out her wand and cast a spell on the orb causing Sybil’s voice to fill the room.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…”

“That’s Harry and the Dark Lord’s prophesy.”Bellatrix was sure of it.

“It says the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal.”Narcissa started putting together the pieces to the puzzle.”The night the Dark Lord killed his parents Harry was hit with a spell that left the scar on his forehead. Do you think that is what it means when it said he marked him as his equal?”

“We will worry about it later when we can talk it over with Andy and Hermione. They wouldn’t want to be left out.”Bellatrix didn’t want to leave them out either.

“Fawkes anything else?”Narcissa was unsurprised when the bird took flight. It returned with four files this time. Opening the top one Narcissa rolled her eyes.”These are files on us and Dora.”

Bellatrix took Andromeda’s file. She rolled her eyes as well.”He did a full background check on Andromeda and tried to see if she was involved in any illegal activity.”

“It’s obvious from the notes he made on yours that he regrets backing us. He has a list of possible things to use as blackmail against you.”Narcissa didn’t see any that would work however.

“He apparently talked to Ted but said he was useless.”Bellatrix agreed with the old man about that.

Narcissa flipped through her own.”He was trying to figure out a way to get Draco away from the Greengrass family thinking if he did I would be more willing to give the boy access to the Malfoy vault.”

“Should we release these to the press?”Bellatrix asked.

“I would love to but we can’t because he will say we forged them.”Narcissa would happily expose Dumbledore but it couldn’t be them doing it.

“Maybe Minerva would do it for us.”Bellatrix suggested.

“We will ask her.”Narcissa didn’t know if Minerva would want to get involved.

“Alright Fawkes anything else?”Bellatrix was actually surprised when Fawkes took off again.”I didn’t thinking there was anything else.”

“Maybe we should have just had Fawkes bring everything down at once and not send him up numerous times.”Narcissa was kicking herself from not being more considerate to the bird.

“We like it better this way. It’s more entertaining.”Charis told them.

“Glad we can brighten up your day grandfather.”Bellatrix was happy that they could give the portraits some excitement.

“This year the Black family has brought a lot of entertainment to this office and it isn’t even the end of the first week.”Jerold said.

“Don’t remind us.”Narcissa had hoped that they would have at least a month before things got out of hand.

“We all can’t wait to meet Hermione.”Kellen told them.”The girl seems to surround herself in pure chaos.”

“She will be very excited to meet all of you. You better prepare yourself for answering all her questions because she will want to know all about every single one of you.”Bellatrix could easily see Hermione spending a whole day in the office talking to the portraits.

“We don’t mind good conversation.”Charis said.

Fawkes took that moment to rejoin them holding a large case by the handle. When he set it on the desk Narcissa opened it finding some amazing treasures.”These are very rare potion ingredients.”

“Rarer than what you found in Salazar’s workroom?”Bellatrix asked.

“Not quite but still rare. A few of then I actually think are illegal to obtain.”Narcissa picked up a couple of the bottles and examined them.”The illegal ones are used for very dark magic.”

Bellatrix shook her head.”Of course the leader of the Light side the paragon of good would have illegal potion materials used for dark magic.”

“I’m going to destroy them.”Narcissa didn’t want anyone getting their hands on the ingredients. Hearing Fawkes caw Narcissa smiled.”I’m glad you agree.”

“Alright Fawkes there is nothing left right?”Bellatrix sighed when Fawkes took flight.”I think he is enjoying this.”

“Phoenixes are beacons of light and have high moral standards. I think that Fawkes has been upset with Dumbledore for a while now and couldn’t do anything about it because of Dumbledore’s position. This is probably a way for Fawkes to get his revenge and cleanse the office of Dumbledore’s evilness.”Narcissa would want to drag it out if she was Fawkes. That way she could savor getting justice against her oppressor.

“What is that?”Bellatrix didn’t know what Fawkes was carrying this time. It was an odd shaped item covered in a blanket. Fawkes set it on the floor and pulled the cover off revealing a very familiar pure silver decorative vase.”Why does he have that?”

“I have seen that before.”Narcissa wasn’t sure where though.

“Of course you’ve seen it before. It’s a very valuable Black family heirloom that was kept at Black family manor until that little hellion sold it to a pawn shop. I laughed out loud when Albus brought it in here and told us how it ended up in the shop.”Charis chuckled.”Served your bastard parents right for not taking care of you girls.”

“Grandfather why are you so nice to us. We were always told by the family and Dumbledore especially that you were big on blood purity. All three of us have been very vocal in our hatred of such things but you still treat us well. Why is that?”Bellatrix asked.

Charis scoffed.“I never believed in blood purity. Inbreeding is the worst way to continue a blood line. I just wasn’t very vocal about my beliefs because it would have gotten me kicked out of my family and would have ruined any chance I would have had to get a good job. The reason I’m so nice to you girls is because I’m proud of you for sticking to what you believed in. Even when everyone around you was against you you never folded. I admire that and wished I had the same courage you all have.”

“Thank you grandfather.”Narcissa was touched by what her grandfather had just said.

“Do you guys know why Dumbledore bought this?”Bellatrix asked.

“I asked him and he said he thought it might come in handy later. I don’t know what he meant.”Charis told her.

“It happened while we were at school so it is likely he was going to use it to blackmail you somehow.”Narcissa guessed.

“Probably.”Bellatrix turned her attention back to the bird.”Please Fawkes tell me you are done.”

Narcissa chuckled when the bird took off again.”I don’t think he is done.”

“I really want to get to those memories before dinner.”Bellatrix was going to have to sacrifice time with Hermione that night to go through them. Thinking of Hermione made Bellatrix think of something she forgot to tell her sisters.”We need to give Hermione more attention. She is feeling neglected and I don’t blame her. We have been so focused on all the drama since coming here we haven’t spent any quality time with her.”

Narcissa was instantly on alert.”Did she say something?”

“Of course not but last night when I put her to bed she was reading our children’s book.”Bellatrix knew that meant Hermione was missing the sisters.

“Shoot.”Narcissa was kicking herself for neglecting Hermione.

“Exactly.”Bellatrix said.

“I’ll speak to Andy about it.”Narcissa would make sure that Hermione got plenty of attention that night.

“I know what that is.”Bellatrix knew exactly what Fawkes was holding.

“Most people would recognize a cloak.”Narcissa said as she saw Fawkes holding a folded cloak in its claws. She took it from the bird and unfolded it. Noticing she couldn’t see Bellatrix through she turned it around.

“What the fuck?”Bellatrix didn’t understand how she was only seeing part of Narcissa.

“That’s an invisibility cloak.”Franklin told them.

“I’ve never heard of an invisibility cloak being real before.”Bellatrix had heard rumors but had never seen one.

“He was going to give that to Harry Potter.”Kellen said.

“You guys really don’t like Dumbledore do you? I mean you are very willing to tell his secrets.”Bellatrix was happy they were of course.

“That man is a conniving, self centered, manipulative, repulsive, abusive, despicable, self centered..”Charis was cut off by Atticus.

“You already said self centered.”Atticus pointed out.

Charis huffed.”The man is in love with himself. It needs to be said twice. That’s besides the point. The point is we hate him because he is everything a headmaster should not be and none of us think it is safe for him to be in charge of children.”

“It’s to bad you all can’t be questioned in court.”Bellatrix thought the portraits would be the most critical piece of evidence they had against Dumbledore.

“We would happily do our part if we could. Which is why we have no problem helping you. We also have no problem not revealing all that you have found to anyone but who you tell us is safe to tell.”Charis said.

“We are happy that you are willing to stay quiet about certain things because we don’t need the knowledge of them getting into the wrong hands.”Narcissa folded up the cloak and handed it to Bellatrix.”Put this in your bag we are taking it with us.”

“I was going to suggest we take it as well.”Bellatrix took the cloak and put it in the large bag with an extendable charm that she was carrying with her to collect anything she found interesting. She started putting the other stuff minus the files and the horcrux in it as well.”Well Fawkes you know the drill.”

When Fawkes didn’t move Narcissa sighed in relief.”I guess he wasn’t hiding anything else.”

“Can you take the ring and put in the workroom now?”Bellatrix wanted it secured as soon as possible.

“I’ll open the door.”Narcissa made a move to push the button to open the door but before she could do anything Fawkes took the box and flew out the window.

“I guess he really was just staying here to give us all that stuff.”Bellatrix would have to do something nice for the bird. It helped out a lot.

“Too bad none of that stuff is enough to get Dumbledore fired.”Narcissa didn’t think the files were good enough to keep Dumbledore from coming back.

“I’m going to go through the memories. Maybe there will be something there.”Bellatrix hoped so.

“I’m going to go look through his bookshelf more throughly.”Narcissa doubted she would find anything but she wanted to check just in case.

“I hate that we can’t watch the memories with you.”Charis lamented.

“I promise I will give you all a play by play grandfather.”Bellatrix would do it to thank them for helping her and Narcissa.

“You really are a good egg.”Charis said.

“Thank you grandfather.”Bellatrix grabbed the trays from the desk and made her way over to the pensive. The memories were labeled by date so Bellatrix was going to start with the oldest and work her way up. Of note one of the labels was the date the Dark Lord died. Bellatrix wondered if she would find something that would help them figure out what the Dark Lord did to Harry to mark him as his equal. The prophesy said that Harry was the only one who supposedly could kill the Dark Lord. The prophesy was told Sybil however and she wasn’t known for her accuracy. Many times she would predict tragic events only for nothing to happen. That meant they couldn’t take the prophesy at face value. The Dark Lord did though. That meant Harry was going to be in a lot of danger when the Dark Lord came back. It also meant that Dumbledore knew all about the second war and the Dark Lord’s return. He didn’t know that Bellatrix and the rest of her group knew. That being something they were going to keep to themselves. To many questions would be asked about how they knew and none of them were telling anyone about the prophesies. That would put Hermione in way too much danger and there was nothing Bellatrix would voluntarily do to put Hermione in danger. No matter who or what was at risk Hermione’s safety was aways her first priority.