Hydurs Black chapter 38

Chapter 38 -

"So, fascinating things about Rocky, the venom he produces is in fact strong enough to kill a bloody elephant," Hydrus said in a matter-of-fact voice as he sat in his room on his bed. Draco and Tonks were sitting on either side of him, and the pair joined him in watching as Rocky lunged for an unfortunate rat and sank his fangs deep into it. It let out a pitiful scream before the life began fading from its eyes, and it became limp.

"This snake, an animal feared and respected all across the world, something that, according to you, can kill an elephant, this is what you believe to be less dangerous than that?!" Draco pointed to Harry's desk, where Bowie was lying down in a miniature-sized bed.

"Yes," Hydrus nodded simply.

"You must be joking?"

"Okay, you try him then," Challenged Hydrus, gesturing to Bowie.

"Try him?" Repeated Draco in a confused voice with an equally confused face. "What the bloody hell do you mean 'try him'?" He asked.

"Go over there and try to mess with him," Hydrus told him. "Go ahead, see what happens."

"If you're brave enough, little dragon," Tonks said teasingly.

"Fine then," Draco huffed, standing up. "I will." He told Hydrus before walking over to where Bowie was. He looked down at the small creature, which was sleeping peacefully. Draco - not for the first time in his life - wondered about the mental state of his cousin, wondering just how the boy could tell him with a straight face that this little plant creature was more dangerous than a king cobra of all things. Draco raised one hand, ready to knock the bowtruckle out of its bed. He looked back and froze.

Hydrus was actually covering his face with one of his hands so he wouldn't be able to see anything, while the other hand was much lower and protecting his genitals. Tonks, meanwhile, had her hands clasped together and seemed to be muttering a silent prayer. She wasn't even religious! And then, as if he wasn't already deep enough within the mad house, Rocky the king cobra was staring at him with a mouse currently halfway in his mouth. Snakes didn't have the most expressive faces, but he could have sworn that the snake looked almost worried. Draco looked away from the three of them and looked down at Bowie once more, and froze.

The previously sleeping bowtruckle now had its eyes open and was staring up at him.

"You know what, no, I shall not, because Draco Malfoy does not condone animal cruelty," Draco said eventually, backing away and ignoring his now snickering cousins.

(.)

Meanwhile, in Bellatrix's room, a different gathering was taking place as Bellatrix and her two sisters sat together.

"Now that the kids are busy," Narcissa said, taking out a small black pouch. She opened it and pulled out a book that was twice the size of it. It was a fairly plain book, nothing fancy, just a brown leather cover with a name inscribed on it. There on the front cover, written in faded gold, was 'T. M. RIDDLE'.

Bellatrix sucked in a deep breath, staring at it like it was a wild tiger. With trembling hands, she raised her wand and began casting diagnostic spells on it. After a minute or so, when she was relatively sure that the thing wouldn't explode or bite her, she gingerly took it from Narcissa.

"Well?" Andromeda asked slowly.

"It's bad, really bad," Bellatrix shivered. "That is some real dark magic here."

"There was a compulsion charm on it," Narcissa replied. "I removed it," She added when she saw both of her sisters staring at her with worried expressions. "I am a fairly competent witch, you know." She said in a slightly teasing tone of voice.

"Cissy, if this is from the dark lord, then 'fairly competent' is nowhere near enough," Bellatrix said in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

"It is from him." Confirmed Narcissa, a frown on her face. "I once heard Lucius boasting about being entrusted with it."

"He told others about it?" Bellatrix groaned.

"No, just that he had been given 'the honour of guarding one of the Dark Lord's most prized possessions'." Quoted Naricssa. "I'm sure that none of his Death Eater buddies would even begin to suspect that he was talking about what simply appears to be a mere book. They'd be more than likely to suspect it being one of the more fancier books or artefacts in Lucius's collection. Look at me, I wasn't able to work out just what the man had given him until recently. If I couldn't think of it, then they most likely wouldn't."

"That's if their brains can muster enough brain cells to begin the thinking process," Andromeda snorted.

"If this is what I think it is, then I have some very good news along with some very bad." Bellatrix sighed deeply. "If this what I think it is then we might possibly be able to work out how the dark wanker survived, and then we could possibly - very possibly - work out a way to remove him from this plane of existence for good."

"That's the good news," Andromda noted. "What's the bad?"

"If this is what I think it is, and if my theory is right that he has more out there, then it will be incredibly hard to find them all, not to mention it will be a whole other headache to destroy them. I haven't even been able to destroy the other one I found."

"Bellatrix," Narcissa said, sharing a look with Andromeda before she continued. "Perhaps you should just tell us what you think it is."

"I think..." Bellatrix took a deep breath. "...I think we're dealing with horcruxes."

(.)

"They have got to be joking." Hydrus groaned as he and his mother made it into Diagon Alley.

The place over the last few weeks had been far less packed than normal, most people tried to stay home out of fear that Voldemort would suddenly pop up and start killing everyone. They had relaxed a bit when it was clear that Voldemort apparently didn't have any plans to show up yet. But still, far less than before. Except today. The mother and son duo had come out with the hopes that they could get their shopping done relatively quickly, but their hopes had been dashed when they got to the bookstore.

A short crowd was inside, the biggest crowd seen since Voldemort's return had been announced. On a sign outside the shop, it was announced that Gilderoy Lockhart was here and would be signing his books. Hydrus and Bellatrix had both once read one of Lockhart's books. Bellatrix had ranted and raved about the stupidity of that book for over an hour before she ordered Hydrus to destroy it. Hydrus, dutiful son and respected practitioner of magic that he was, gladly had obeyed.

"It amazes me how many people think that his books are genuine," Hydrus muttered as they walked into the store.

"It amazes me that their stupidity still amazes me," Bellatrix snorted, sounding less than impressed with her fellow wizards and witches.

A whole crowd of people were in front of them, all gathered around a table where one man stood, smiling brightly as his picture was taken by a photographer. The man was of average height, he had tanned skin from being in the sun, unnaturally white teeth and perfectly combed blonde hair along with an expensive set of blue, ostentatious robes. He looked like he was having the time of his life as he posed, grinned and waved for the camera. The man looked more like an amateur supermodel than someone who claimed to have fought off an entire village of werewolves or wrestled several vampires at the same time.

"If he's done half of the things he claims to have done in his books, then I'd eat my hair," Bellatrix said as several witches and wizards shouted for Lockhart's attention.

"If he did any of them, then I'd give up magic and live in the Muggle world," Hydrus sighed. "I vote we get our books pronto and leave this circus house of dumbass. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Bellatrix agreed. "We also need to get some for that little blonde twit you're friends with and that pink thing that comes to our house for some reason."

"You mean cousin Draco and cousin Tonks? Your niece and nephew?" Hyrus asked slowly.

"Them ones, yeah," Bellatrix confirmed with a nod before the two of them went around the store, picking up books for school.

Bellatrix had refused to spend a single knut of her money on any of Lockhart's books, even though they were required reading for Hogwarts students. Apparently, whoever was teaching defence at Hogwarts this year was a big Lockhart fan. Bellatrix would be sending a severe letter to Dumbledore for hiring someone so idiotic when Voldemort himself was out and about, and people needed proper training. Though she did get Hydrus a book on barely legal spells, as all good mothers should.

Once they had finally paid for all of their stuff, they were about to leave when they heard someone they hoped wouldn't notice them.

"Bless my soul!" A voice said cheerfully. "It's Hydrus Black!" Everyone in the room turned to face the pair. The mother and son let out matching sighs before turning to look at each other. A short non-verbal conversation happened where, through the language of facial expressions and body language, the pair reluctantly agreed that they didn't want to get in trouble with Andromeda or Narcissa and had to behave, or at least attempt to. The two turned around and found the whole room staring at them with varying degrees of awe. "And of course, the beautiful Bellatrix Black as well!" Lockhart added, looking like he had won two jackpots and had just been declared Minister of Magic. "Come on up here, the pair of you, don't be shy." He smiled, waving them over.

"We would rather not," Hydrus said simply, with Bellatrix nodding in agreement. The pair were about to walk away when Lockhart laughed loudly.

"Oh ho, don't worry," He chuckled as he walked around the table. The crowd parted for him as he walked up to the pair. "I have no issue coming to the pair of you." He said with a grin before forcing himself between the pair of them. He wrapped one arm around Hydrus's shoulders and pulled him in close before wrapping his other arm around Bellatrix's waist and pulling her tightly into his side. Lockhart put his full attention on the crowd and the cameras, ignoring the murderous looks he was getting from Hydrus and Bellatrix."Big smiles now, the three of us together would easily make the front page." He whispered to them before talking to the crowd. "When young Hydrus Black and his lovely, stunning mother came into the store today, they had no idea they would be getting an up-close and personal meeting with yours truly." Lockhart paused and sent a flirtatious look to Bellatrix while his hand slowly slid downwards as he turned back to the crowd. "Today in this store, you see an-aaaargghh! Oh, my wrist!" Lockhart cried, bending over as Bellatrix twisted his arm. The woman snarled before pulling him close and kneeing him right in the groin. Many in the crowd gasped and winced at that as Lockhart crumpled to the floor, curling up into a fetal position as Bellatrix glared down at him. The whole room fell into a silence that remained until Hydrus spoke up.

"That was marvellous technique, Mother," Hydrus noted clinically.

"Why, thank you," She replied appreciatively without stopping her death glare at Lockhart. "Listen and listen well, you bloody overgrown peacock, you ever try to touch my arse again or any other part of my body or my son and I will take your balls and cover them in the spicest sauce I can find and shove them straight down your throat."

"I..." Lockhart gasped, taking in a very deep breath as he managed to sit up, though he wasn't able to open his legs yet. "Sorry, I hadn't...I hadn't noticed where my hand was, must have gotten carried away." He fibbed as he forced himself to a standing position with a great deal of effort. "As..." He coughed deeply before straightening up and forcing himself to smile brightly at the crowd like he hadn't just been laid out on the floor in excruciating pain. "As I was saying, when they came into the store today, they didn't realise that they'd be walking away with a free copy of my books." He said in a slightly higher pitch than before, one man walked over, gingerly handing Bellatrix a set of books. She stared at them as if she had been handed dung and reluctantly placed them with the rest of her shopping, deciding that they'd be good for later when she'd have Hydrus practise his transfiguration skills. Not to mention target practice. "And that is not all," he said with a slightly awkward shift of his hips as he finally managed to stand fully straight.

"There appears to be a worm in your trousers," Hydrus pointed out, seeing something move slightly in the front of Lockhart's trousers. It didn't appear to be anything big, but it had definitely moved.

"It's nothing," Lockhart whispered with a shushing gesture before turning back to the crowd. "This following school year, all parents of Magical Britain can rest easy, knowing that your children will be protected and cared for by none other than me! I am announcing publicly that this year, I will be taking over as Hogwarts' Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"What?!" Bellatric blurted out, her voice drowned out by the burst of applause and questions coming from the crowd.

"What?!" Scowling, Hydrus stared up at Lockhart angrily. He looked down and saw the worm in Lockhart's trousers move again, almost as if it was mocking him. "Stop mocking me!" Hydrus punched the worm as hard as he could. Lockhart let out a high-pitched noise before crumpling once again to the floor, much to the shock of the crowd. "Why the hell are you on the floor?" Hydrus asked Lockhart genuinely. "I hit the worm, not you. Why the fuck are you keeping worms in your trousers anyway?"

(.)

A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. The next school year will be relatively quick as obviously the book has been removed, so the only real drama will be interactions between Hydrus and Lockhart and the others in his year.

Also, after reading my previous poll and some long consideration, I have decided that I will not be ending any of my current stories until they're finished. But I will be changing up how I personally write, I want to make changes to my method of doing things and I hope that those changes will soon become evident and make everything better for everyone.

Thanks again for reading, feel free to leave a review.