Bellatrix just nodded.
"Don't care" She stated. "So, clearly you have some preconceived notions about me, what have you heard?" she asked.
Harry did indeed have some preconceived notions of the girl, but they were not based on what Sirius or the others had said. His had been based on experience of her, yet the Bellatrix sat in front of him was a far cry from the insane, loud and cringe worthy woman he had met.
This Bellatrix did not add up at all. Clearly the insanity must have changed her somewhere along the line. She was more relaxed than Harry had expected and even had a dry sense of humour, something he had not ever associated with her.
"Well I was warned not to turn my back on you and that you might even remove my pebbles if I attempted to make a joke or flirt with you" Harry answered honestly with a smirk.
Bellatrix just raised an eyebrow at him and again had a slight look of amusement about her.
"I might" she shrugged. "I haven't decided yet, but for now I'll leave you with them, at least until we have gotten the work done" she returned. "But you might want to learn to form your own opinion of people Potter" she added seriously. "And I thought it was us Slytherin's that were supposed to be prejudice and ignorant" she mused to herself with a sigh.
Harry just nodded reluctantly, knowing that what she said made sense. This was not going at all how he thought it would and he actually found this Bellatrix tolerable and even interesting, something he had not expected.
It was very much similar to the Peter situation. Despite his experiences of the man before Harry found himself slowly warming to him the same way that he was able to be in a room with Bellatrix and not immediately want to kill her, but he didn't find himself becoming any more fond of her. He knew for a fact that she would curse him if he gave her a reason to so he decided that for the sake of himself he would just put up with her, it was only a temporary situation after all.
He shook his head and tried to clear the conflicting thoughts he was having. Although he could see that this Bellatrix was different, he couldn't entirely remove the image of her as the lunatic she would become. "Shall we get on" he suggested. "That way I can get back and show them that you haven't cursed me, yet" he added.
Bellatrix just shrugged and removed the list of curses they had been given to research. "Blood boiling curse?" she asked.
Harry nodded his agreement.
"Oh, and you can go to the library and get the books next time" she informed him.
"Fair enough" Harry agreed with a sigh. "What do you know about the curse?" she asked with a frown. "It's not in any of these books".
Harry pondered the curse for a moment trying to remember its origins.
"It was created in the early 18th century by a Polish Mediwizard named Jarek Siaucila as a treatment for hyperthermia but as with a lot of medical spells it can be used offensively" he began. "If cast verbally it's results depend on how much power you will into it, but non-verbally takes that control away and it will solely depend on how powerful the caster is at their maximum" he continued thoughtfully. "You don't have to be at all powerful to kill someone with it as the blood in the human body has to stay around 37 degrees Celsius and any difference of a few degrees either way can kill you if left untreated" he concluded confidently.
"Well, if you keep that up I might just leave you in tact" Bellatrix stated, clearly impressed by his knowledge.
"That would be appreciated" Harry replied with a smirk.
"Keep up with those smart remarks and I'll take them and boil them, it would definitely add to my reputation" she surmised with a smirk of her own. It was around an hour later that they completed the assigned work and both packed away their things and readied themselves to lead.
"Well it looks like you get to keep them today" Bellatrix sighed in mock disappointment. "I can see why you got an O+ but I guess there's always next time" she finished with a grin.
Harry breathed a faux sigh of relief.
"Well if you like I could just limp for a few days then that way your reputation won't be tarnished" Harry offered sarcastically.
"No, I would know that it wasn't real and my reputation to myself is all I really care about but thanks for the offer, I'd rather find a reason to do it for real" she quipped.
"Well maybe you'll get lucky" Harry shrugged.
"Or maybe I've been lenient today" Bellatrix countered. Harry narrowed his eyes at her and shoo his head amusedly.
"Same time next week?" he asked.
"No" Bellatrix responded. "You'd better be on time next week or I will reconsider my generosity" She warned with a raised eyebrow.
Harry left the room and though back over the past couple of hours and how surreal the experience had been.
Initially, he had been ready to just curse the girl but he quickly found her to at least be bearable, much to his own confusion. She was actually rather entertaining to talk to and was clearly very intelligent and witty.
'How did that girl in there turn into what she did before?' he questioned himself, frustrated.
He grudgingly admitted that his time with her had been interesting and that she had been right to some extent about the preconceived notions thing, but she was of course not aware that Harry knew what she would become one day.
Harry was confused and had a million questions swirling around his mind. He decided not to dwell on the topic, it was not important after all.
He again reminded himself that it was only temporary and would be a waste of his time looking into it any further. He would only have to see her once a week for an hour or so at a time and then it would be over with.
.
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