Moments of Joy

Bellatrix Lestrange found herself caring for her lord while the rat was away establishing if the Weasley boy had returned to Hogwarts, she also found herself questioning her life choices. Before the Potter brat her lord was handsome and charismatic but with powerful, influential and utterly ruthless added to the mix. His death eaters were the badest people on the planet and kicked arse almost unopposed.

She couldn't help but compare that to there current situation where this creature, a one-armed one-eared witch and a wizard whose greatest talent was turning into a rat was all they had. They had no money, power or influence and were reduced to robbing muggle stores at night for food and necessities.

What really worried her was this creature thought that as soon as he returned to a body people would once more be flocking to worship at his feet, from Wormtail's experience and her own encounter in the Black family manor she seriously doubted that was going to happen. Bella was often accused of not playing with a full deck and this was an image she cultivated because she was a very smart lady, her name struck terror into her opponents, which always gave her an edge in a fight.

The fight at Grimmauld Place had greatly affected the witch, she wasn't sure if it was being seriously outmatched for the first time ever or the fact that she lost her dark mark along with her arm but Bella was now looking at things differently and not liking what she was seeing.

Her time in Azkaban was bad but she suspected her master's ordeal was a lot worse and that great intellect was now the wrong side of insane, with the current political atmosphere sweeping the country they had nothing to offer potential new recruits.

Bones had made it crystal clear, possessing a dark mark was a death sentence and would also see your possessions seized, a high price to pay for being encouraged to rape and torture a few muggles. Her master was certain all he had to do was kill Harry Potter and the world would shudder at his name before paying homage to the greatest wizard who ever lived, Bella suspected that even if he managed the task Potter would become a martyr that would unite everyone against her master.

She was between the proverbial rock and a hard place but her options were severely limited, there was no place in Britain that was safe for Bella and she had no funds to go anywhere else. She was tied to this creature that used to be her master by the simple fact that she had no other options open to her, she just wished Wormtail would hurry up as the creature really freaked the pureblood out and it was becoming harder to hide these feelings.

...

Life at the Institute settled down and although everyone was working hard they were enjoying it, Sirius always had a flair for being the centre of attention and now he got to be that in front of his classes every day. He originally followed Pomona's lesson plans to the letter but as his confidence grew the new potions professor was starting to adapt them to suite his own inimitable style of teaching.

Sirius thought back to the conversation with his mother's portrait and how he had decided to get some direction into his life, well he now had a job he was growing to love, an extended family he really loved and a woman he absolutely adored. The only cloud on the horizon was their approaching clash with Voldemort, Sirius swore that when they defeated him and if he survived then he was definitely going to do a Moony and ask a Sprout to marry him.

A weekend in New York for Hermione's birthday was the highlight of September, with Joan, Neville, Luna, Ginny, mum and dad there as well they had a ball. A night out on Broadway to see "The Wizard of Oz" left Dan and Emma answering questions all evening and they thought this could be a great teaching exercise, to let the magically raised children see where most muggles perceptions of witches and wizards originated.

Everyone knew this was the calm before the storm but the first storm cloud was unexpected when it arrived. The last signature on the plea for help ensured Harry and Hermione couldn't ignore it; they arranged to meet with Pomona and Minerva to see what was possible.

The headmistress could sense something was troubling the young couple so asked right out what the problem was, the answer from Harry was totally unexpected but she also couldn't help but wince at the last name and vowed to help any way she could.

"I've received a plea for help from some students at Hogwarts, all have a Quidditch connection with me but claim the standards of teaching at Hogwarts have slipped so badly that they now fear for their exam results and are beseeching us to allow them to transfer here. Apparently potions is the only subject that has improved while Defence, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology are all being taught by eighteen year olds who don't seem to be receiving any help from the headmaster. Oliver Wood's teaching is so erratic that they think he is under a spell and since I know he would never turn his back on a career in Quidditch to teach I have to agree with them. The problems are that they are all older than our current students and could we accept these six without opening floodgates that would see others applying as well. The names are Katie Bell, who's sitting her OWL's, sixth year's Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Alicia Spinnet and Roger Davies with NEWT student Cedric Diggory."

Pomona knew the fate of Cedric in the last time line and, even though they had made many changes, the thought of getting one of her favourite students out of the tournament altogether was a powerful incentive.

....

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