Chapter 32.

A/N: The first part of the chapter is a continuation of the Quidditch match from the previous. Just in case you guys are confused and are coming back to this story after a long time, I'd advise reading the previous chapter again.

What did you think Black? That I knocked Desmond out just to spite you? Sure that was a strong motivation, but I'm not as stupid as I was last year. I am smarter, and more experienced. Rage doesn't rule all of my decisions any more. Kicking Potter out in the tryouts to show the Mudblood I'm on her side, hitting Duke and knocking out Desmond to show Lucius I'm on his, and finally bringing Potter back in to confuse the two of you. Beat that.

Bellatrix took a long, cold breath. She had definitely played her cards well. Now was the time to see whether the game was hers or not.

The short blast of the whistle rung throughout the windy Quidditch Pitch, and the second half of the game began. Bellatrix kicked off hard from the ground, rocketing up into the air at a breathtaking speed. She had stayed dormant for most parts of the first half of the game, excepting the last few minutes of course where she had knocked out the Quaffle from Elladan's hands and put Desmond out of the game in the span of a few minutes. But now was the time for real action, the time to show why exactly she had gotten picked as the Gryffindor Beater without even trying out.

"And the teams are back into the air, Malfoy takes possession, passes it to his team-mate…oh no wait, that's intercepted by Duke, who passes it to Cooper…and the Gryffindor Beater's taking a shot against her own captain again! Oh no just a sec, that was meant for Malfoy who was trying to tackle Cooper….ouch, that's gotta hurt…"

Bellatrix smiled almost apologetically at Lucius, who flew by her with a bloodied hand and a scowl. As he crossed her by in a whoosh, Bellatrix mouthed the words, 'It was meant for him,' pointing towards Elladan. Lucius's scowl diminished very slightly, and he nodded his head jerkily, as if he understood.

Oh Lucius. You only wish you understood. I never miss my real aim.

"And that's the third time Black has stopped a Slytherin goal! The Black cousins are on a ROLL folks…..and looks like knocking Desmond out was the best thing Black could ever have done, coz Potter's looking nigh unstoppable today, and there he goes again shooting through the Slytherin Chasers, wow he's dancing in circles around them….AND GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

With a smirk that absolutely refused to be suppressed, Bellatrix glanced up at the scoreboard. The pale sunlight was glinting off the thick, golden figures: Gryffindor 50, Slytherin 10.

And to think that I'd never thought I'd ever be pleased to see 'Gryffindork' win at something. Ah, how times change.

"Bellatrix look out!"

Bellatrix's head shot to the side as she cricked her neck, hearing the unmistakable voice of Elladan Duke yelling at her. Too late she realized that that was exactly what she was not supposed to do, as she heard the distinctive whistling sound that a Bludger produced when pounded, cutting through the air at full speed. The sound was coming from directly behind her, and Bellatrix closed her eyes, bracing her back for the impact.

"AND BLACK POUNDS IT AWAY! Wow, that was an AWESOME move there! Sirius Black saves his fellow Beater from a Bludger, which if it had found its target, the result wouldn't have been pretty…not pretty at all."

Bellatrix whirled around to see the highly clouded, stormy face of Sirius Black, holding his right arm with his left hand, as if the last save had really been taxing upon the arm muscles. His eyes held that familiar glint of anger that Bellatrix was now accustomed to, but it also held that tinge of confusion which had been present ever since Bellatrix had nominated Potter's name for the Chaser position. Casting a dark look at Bellatrix, Sirius skillfully maneuvered his broom to execute a one-eighty degree turn, and turn his back towards Bellatrix.

"Thanks."

Bellatrix had no doubt that Sirius had heard that one word that escaped her lips on rare occasions, intentions notwithstanding. After a second's hesitation, which Bellatrix's sharp eyes didn't miss, Sirius turned his head half-way, and bit out in a cold tone, "I only did it for my team." Then he flew back to the action of the game.

Keep telling yourself that, Black.

The game seemed to be coming to a climax. Potter and Duke kept on scoring, Sirius continued smashing Bludgers, Lucius edged in a goal once in a while, the Slytherin team was getting more and more furious and violent with each passing second, and the Gryffindors seemed to be on a rampage, that was slowly but surely wearing down the Slytherin defence. Now all that was needed was the Snitch.

Pausing momentarily to bat a Bludger now and then, Bellatrix felt like she was cruising through the game. Floating languidly near the Slytherin hoops, she would occasionally shoot a sympathetic look towards Lucius one second, then hit a Bludger at the Slytherin Keeper the next, thoroughly enjoying the contradictions. As she observed all the other players's harried expressions, Bellatrix stretched her arms above her shoulders, smirking broadly, completely relaxed. Until of course, she caught a glimpse of gold on the periphery of her vision.

Bellatrix sat up slightly, eyes narrowing as the seconds passed. Yes, that was definitely something gold which zipped and whizzed around the edges of the pitch, low enough to lightly skim over the green grass. And right behind the gold spot was an emerald-and-silver blur, approaching perilously closer and closer to the gold Snitch.

Bellatrix's eyes narrowed completely. If she was not mistaken, and she never was regarding such things, their team Seeker Elwyn, was a Gryffindor. Which in other words meant that he wouldn't be dressed in green-and-silver. Which also meant that the Slytherin Seeker was about to catch the Snitch. Which would also mean that they were going to lose, and everything would be in vain, if Bellatrix didn't do something right now.

Bending forward, Bellatrix shot towards the green-and-silver blur, speed building up with every second. She drew her right hand out, holding the Bludger's bat, as the wind rushed past in a dizzying speed and her robes whipped frantically in the overpowering gust. Her chest was heaving up and down, her throat seemed dry, her eyes were watering at the blinding speed with which the broom was being propelled forward, and yet it still seemed to be too slow, because even as the Slytherin Seeker and his profile drew nearer and nearer, Bellatrix watched his hand stretch out, inches away from the Snitch.

Adrenaline pumping in her veins, Bellatrix bent even further, almost flat over the broom, urging it to fly even faster. But it was a long distance to cover in a few seconds, and the Seeker's hand drew ever closer to the Snitch. That was when Bellatrix heard that familiar whistling sound that felt like music to her ears, frozen to utter numbness by the merciless wind. Afraid to remove her eyes from the Seeker for even a second, Bellatrix darted a quick glance sideways and almost gasped in relief. There was something distinctly purplish, pulsing its way through the air, poised to intercept the path between Bellatrix and the Seeker, at a perfect angle for Bellatrix to hit and pulverize the Seeker's hand bones. It was drawing closer, faster and faster, Bellatrix kept darting her eyes first to the Seeker, then to the Bludger, right left right left right left right left right left…her hand drew out, the Bat in a perfectly balanced grip, fingers tightening over the handle…..right left right left right left right…her heart was pounding, the only sound in her ears the deafening whistling of the wind….right left right left right left right left…..the Seeker's hands stretched out and skimmed over the smooth golden surface of the Snitch…right left right left right left right left…..

THWACK.

Bellatrix's eyes widened, and then closed tightly, a concentrated scalding, burning sensation behind her eyelids.

She missed.

She missed.

Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap CRAP! All of this bloody planning, everything for NOTHING! Bloody ass idiotic stupid ughhhhhhh-

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

Bellatrix's eyes practically snapped open, her pupils dilating, her hand hanging loose.

What. The .Hell.

"And the Gryffindor Beater, in probably the most AWESOME move that has EVER been seen in Hogwarts Quidditch, has actually knocked the Snitch out of the Slytherin Seeker's hand and right into the Gryffindor Seeker! And with that spectacular maneuver, Gryffindor wins and is in the lead for the Quidditch Cup! Elladan Duke took a great risk in putting four newbies on his team but it looks like its finally paid off and…."

Tuning out the commentary from her ears, Bellatrix just sat there, motionless on her broom, letting it sink in. She had been aiming for the hand…but she missed…and it hit the Snitch…..which went into the Gryffindor Seeker's hands…..which meant…..Bellatrix glanced up at the scoreboards, almost too incredulous to believe her eyes. Slytherin 10, Gryffindor 200.

We won? I can't belie-

Interrupting Bellatrix's thoughts, something zoomed down the pitch and collided with her, muffling her gasp of surprise. Bellatrix's eyes grew even wider as that something, or rather someone, threw his arms around her and hugged her. Pulling back, Bellatrix's jaw fell even more open when she realized that that someone was Potter.

"We won! We WON!" Potter's face would probably split open by the force and width of the grin on his face. His eyes were sparkling with elation, his entire body still shaking by the assault of adrenaline that was invoked whenever a Quidditch game was played. But what shocked Bellatrix most of all was the absolute absence of any hatred whatsoever in Potter's hazel orbs. Bellatrix's own eyes widened again as Potter threw his arms around her once more, speaking very fast, "Flint was getting so close, and I thought Elwyn wouldn't get there in time, but you just shot down the Pitch, and oh Merlin Bellatrix you were just AMAZING!"

As if to jolt Bellatrix even further, when Potter released her from his tight hug, the entire Gryffindor team was surrounding them, beaming brightly. There were no more hugs thankfully, but Elwyn practically squished Bellatrix's hand with an overly-hearty handshake, Cooper patted her thoroughly on the back, Potter kept on beaming at her almost in a frightening manner, and Elladan watched from a distance, a faintly knowing gleam in his pale gold orbs. And all of this happened so fast, and everything appeared so much like a blur that Bellatrix didn't even get time to grimace on Merlin knows what kind of dirty blood had touched her in the last twenty seconds.

Elladan flew towards Bellatrix slowly, and hovered there, regarding her with a forever-calm face and lips that were quirked up slightly into a faint smile. "Thanks for proving my faith in you."

"It was an honour, Duck." Bellatrix inclined her head, her lips broadened in a half smile, half smirk. It was finally sinking in, not that Gryffindor had won, but that Potter had actually hugged her, Bellatrix Black, his sworn enemy. Quidditch could do strange things to the mind of boys. Speaking of Potter, where the hell was his best mate?

"Bellatrix."

Bellatrix turned her head, and saw Sirius hovering at the back of Elladan, face absolutely expressionless. His broom floated slightly forwards, and Bellatrix found herself face-to-face with her cousin, bitter enemy, victim of her wand in a previous life, and target of her friendship in the present.

Sirius's voice was absolutely deadpan and impassive. "That was the silliest move I've ever seen."

Bellatrix searched those stormy eyes, so similar to her own, and found that anger ever there, and that confusion, and that sarcasm. And she found something new: a grudging respect and something which told her that now she was free from being judged on all her past actions, and would now be judged on whatever she did next.

"Thanks Black."

And for the first time in her life, Bellatrix meant it with all of her heart.

"But how the hell did Potter come back and play? I mean, wasn't the purpose of the whole shocking-Potter-at-tryouts thing supposed to keep him out of the team?"

Bellatrix let out an aggravated sigh, as Lily Evans asked her the same question for the bloody tenth time, "I don't know mu-..Evans. Go ask the Captain."

"But….ugh! Did you see Potter after the game? His head's swollen like a balloon, and he's strutting around like a peacock like he's the one responsible for Gryffindor's win! Bloody toerag." Lily muttered fiercely as she almost stomped down the corridor leading to the Gryffindor common room. Suffice to say, she wasn't exactly on the top of the world to know that not only was Potter one of the stars of the show, but he was also replacing Desmond as the new Gryff Chaser. It was a no-brainer really, but that didn't mean that Lily was going to be happy about it.

"Look mud-…..ugh. Evans. I tried my best to keep him out of the team, you know I did, but I can't bloody help it if the Gryffindor Captain doesn't have a brain, can I?" Biting her tongue for perhaps the hundredth time in the midst of calling Evans mudblood, Bellatrix strolled towards the portrait of the Fat Lady, lying effortlessly. After spending a year and a half in this world, lying had almost become second nature for her.

"I guess you're right….I mean, it obviously wasn't your fault." Lily approached the Fat Lady, giving the password. Climbing through the portrait hole, she continued uninterrupted, "Why would you get Potter kicked out of tryouts just to bring him back in the match again, right?"

Bellatrix just never got tired of her smirk. Oh yes, why would I do such a silly thing? Why oh why indeed.

"And now Potter's not going to give me a second's peace. He's just going to go one and on about he was oh-so-amazing at the match, and he's gonna give a blow-by-blow replay of the entire thing about a hundred times in this entire week, and the whole of Gryffindor is just going to go along with him…" Tuning out Evans's voice, Bellatrix cast a discerning eye over the entire Gryffindor common room, filled with over-the-moon Gryffs celebrating their victory over Slytherin. Black sitting with Potter in the corner, bragging about his talent…Prewett rushing over to draw Evans into the celebrations…..random third year making his way over to congratulate her…..wait a minute, what?

"Congrats. That was an awesome victory. And the move you pulled at the end was just spectacular." If Bellatrix wasn't mistaken, then the emotion glowing in the boy's eyes…..was that….hero-worship?

And before Bellatrix knew it, she was swamped by a flock of people for the second time that day. It felt like the entire occupants of the room swooped down on her at once, and all that Bellatrix could hear was a confused buzzing of voices.

"You're just so cool Bellatrix, I mean the way you just knocked that Snitch out of the slimy Slytherin's hands….."

"What skill, what dexterity! You must have really calculated the angle and force of impac-"

"Wow, wow just wow Bellatrix! I'm like your biggest fan right no-"

"Well done Black! You showed those nasty Slytherins who's really boss around here! Just amazin-"

What was really amazing, reflected Bellatrix dazedly, was how these same people were accusing her to be a 'slimy Slytherin' and a 'snake in lion's skin' just a few days prior. And now here they were, fawning over her like she was the latest Gryffindor hero.

If I knew that Quidditch had such a huge effect on people's minds, then I would have joined the team on my first day. But then again, these are just kids in school. Of course Quidditch would influence the way they behave towards someone.

Then Bellatrix felt a hand close around her wrist, and extricate her from the crowd, the aforesaid crowd unaware of the fact that the object of their admiration had just disappeared. Moments later, Bellatrix found herself near the common room fire, confronted by the smiling face of Remus Lupin.

Bellatrix let out a sigh, part aggravation, part relief. I never thought I'd actually be relieved to see a filthy werewolf. "Finally Lupin. You're as much of a pain in the ass as ever, but you atleast know how to keep your mouth shut."

Remus's lips quirked up even further. "It's a skill." Then a pause, as Remus's soft but perceptive brown gaze swept over Bellatrix, "You look exhausted."

"You bet I am." Bellatrix flopped down on the nearby armchair, soaking in the warmth from the flickering flames of the hearth. "The game was fine, but the people…" Bellatrix's hand twitched violently, "Just felt like hexing the lot of them. You'd think that there could be only one way to say congratulations, but looks like my idiotic housemates have enough imagination to come up with a thousand."

"Well, you can't deny that the stunt you pulled towards the end of the game was amazing." Remus smiled lightly. "I don't think it's ever been done before. In fact, people have started to call it the Black Beater Maneuver already, and the Beaters of England are probably practicing it right no-"

Bellatrix didn't know what made her say it, didn't she want that everyone around her should be in a permanent state of awe? Wouldn't it only help her in her mission? But with the continuous assault of admiration and veneration that she was receiving, Bellatrix felt like she would burst if she didn't tell atleast somebody.

"It was a fluke."

"And I bet it'll probably make tomorrow's headlin-….." Suddenly realizing that Bellatrix had just spoken, Remus halted mid-sentence. "What?"

"It was a fluke. I was actually aiming for the hand, but I missed, and somehow the Bludger hit the Snitch out of the Slythering Seeker's hands and into Elwyn's."

There was a moment of complete, deafening silence. Bellatrix and Remus looked at one another.

And then both, simultaneously, broke out laughing.

"A..fluke! Are you…..kidding me?" Remus gasped, laughing so hard that his normally pale face had turned into a bright red. "You…." Another gasp, "are certainly," Remus almost rolled off his armchair in sheer laughter, "the most twisted, weird, messed up girl I have ever seen!"

"I'll….take….that as a compliment." Bellatrix wasn't much better, laughing so hard that her chest pained.

"And to think….all those people think ….that you're so incredible…" Remus clasped a hand to his forehead, shaking in repressed laughter.

"Nuh-uh, Lupin." Random chuckles still bursting out mid-word, Bellatrix spoke in a mock-angry tone. "Never forget. I am incredible."

Remus looked at her, clearly amused. "You know, for a moment there, you just reminded me of James and Sirius."

Bellatrix's laughter suddenly died out. The almost-smile on her face twisted into a scowl, her eyes lost that gleam, and her hands clenched into fists. Bellatrix shot up from the armchair, watched by an increasingly concerned Remus, and stalked up towards the girl dormitories without bidding goodbye. She strode up the stairs, flung open the door with a slam, and threw herself face downwards on her bed. Her mind, so light until moments prior, now felt heavy with thoughts that whirred about and refused to sit still.

Today had probably been the best day of her life in this timeline. She had successfully deluded Evans, who now considered her as an almost-friend. Lucius was suitably confused, but he wouldn't desert Bellatrix, not as long as she remained powerful and manipulative. The biggest achievement of all, Potter had no issues with her at all now, and Black looked like he wanted to establish a neutral acquaintance. All in all, a highly satisfactory day.

But Bellatrix was disturbed. Her mind kept flying back to the conversation she had not minutes before, an almost…..cordial conversation with a filthy werewolf, with no ulterior motives on her part, almost like she were talking to a….friend. Bellatrix immediately recoiled with disgust at the thought. The werewolf was simply a means to the end, the target of her mission. Not anything resembling a friend. She didn't befriend half-breeds. In fact, the whole concept of friendship was skewed, a rose-tinted fantasy meant for Gryffindorks. Bellatrix Lestrange didn't have friends, she had allies.

But Bellatrix thought again of the jolly atmosphere downstairs, and the genuine laughter that had bubbled out of her throat, the laughter that was still echoing in her ears. And Bellatrix thought on what disturbed her so much about that laughter, and realized that after what seemed like ages and millennia, that laughter had sounded remarkably…..normal. Like it belonged to someone whole, someone untainted with the dark side of life. Like it belonged to someone sane.

Bellatrix turned around and buried her head in the soft, smooth pillow, only one thought rampaging through her mind:

What the hell had just happened?