Pre Edit Count – 1,071 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay

Watching the Vampire move off to the distance, Bella sighs in relief. She is finally done.

Getting herself off the floor where she’d fallen, Bella calmly stands with a grace that would shock any of her current peers. She makes her way back to the house and snorts in derision at the note left by the idiot.

She heads upstairs, taps on the wall. A spot lightens and she grabs her wand from the space. With a swish, she allows the spells she had been hidden under all of this time to fade away. When they do, she rolls her shoulders, the sheer weight of living under the spells for the last decade are nothing she ever wants for another.

She heads to her mirror and tapping the glass, she waits for the King of the Vampires to answer her.

When Aro appears in the mirror, Bella tells him, “He left me just now and the rest of the family is gone.”

He frowns. “And they didn’t try to turn you?”

Bella chuckles. “That would mean Edward needed to grow some balls. We already knew this, Aro. Why the hell did I have to spend the last whatever months doing this one?”

On his side of the mirror, Aro is shaking his head as he also chuckles. “No worries, Bella. My word is good. You are hereby released from your duty. Though, I would really like to know, as I know you do too, who assigned you to us. Most strange, my dear.”

Frowning, Bella nods as she thinks of the mystery that she and the Kings had tried to solve for the last decade. She shrugs finally, saying, “Who knows? The whole thing was strange but it did have the right stamps on it. Either way, it is over and I will be contacting my Headmistress to find out what she knows.”

Aro nods and then he looks warmly on the child before him. “If you ever need me or the Volturi, you can call on us. You may have been ordered to us but you did the job and helped make it a bearable experience for all of us.” He looks upon the witch in front of him who has been cursed beyond even his kind.

She nods with a smile, happy to have the alliance.

Then with a respective nod to her, Aro left the mirror. Bella knows that the offer he just made was one that was rare. She has just basically received the promise of aid from the entire species. Not something to take lightly.

Leaning her head back, Bella stretches but a sound has her looking over her shoulder as a letter arrives from thin air. Opening the letter, Bella skims through it, a furrow on her forehead. What is Dumbledore up to?

With a sigh, she heads downstairs to leave a note for Charlie. As a squib, he knew what she was and agreed to help her out. He has no idea of her curse but then, most don’t. It is not something she has been allowed to talk about until she was released as she was just a few minutes ago.

Bella is soon packing up, having become an expert at wandless magic. She is at an Adept level witch and one of the few from her generation. But when you are taken from everyone you care about, what else is there to do but study?

Soon she feels the signal of someone trying to reach her and moving to the mirror, she smiles as she sees her Headmistress. “Good afternoon, Sheila!”

The lady in the mirror just stares at Bella. “Where the hell have you been?” Shelia Heinz is completely shocked to be talking to Bella.

Bella frowns. “I was ordered to the Volturi and not allowed to make contact with anyone during the span of years.”

Sheila’s eyes spark. “For ten damn years? What the hell are they thinking? Who did this?” she demands from her friend.

Bella shakes her head. “No idea. Aro tried to find out and received no answer. I was under spells that would not release me and Aro was under contract not to release me until now. It took almost that entire decade to find the right way for him to release me!”

Sheila hisses. “Bella, there has been a large search for you. Lily and James died in 81.”

Bella’s mouth drops as she drops to her knees. “Lily? Oh my GOD!!”

Watching her prodigy makes Sheila swear that she will find who did this to her. “That is not all. Voldemort killed them. Only Harry has been spared.”

Bella is crying, her beloved cousin dead? But Sheila’s words sunk in. “He is with Sirius right?”

When no answer came, Bella looks up. “Sheila?”

Sheila looks haunted. “Sirius was the one who was tried as their murderer.”

In a second, Bella is standing up, her power visible as she growls out, “Why?”

Sheila tells her the story, telling her how many people died as he gave up the Potters. Bella is shaking her head. “He wasn’t the Secret Keeper. I told them to pick someone they trust but who wouldn’t be suspected. They said who it was, then was going to change their mind at the last minute. Whoever they picked was the traitor.”

Sheila shakes her head. “I don’t know what to do, Bella. I know Harry was taken away but from the people I have watching, it is sheer hell for him. I couldn’t do anything.”

Nodding her head, Bella waives her hand and the items flowed into their trunks, stacking inside each other. “I just received a letter to be a professor for Hogwarts. Sheila, do I have to tell you this all stinks to high heaven? Sending me away and all this happen?”

“You coming here?”

Bella nods as her stuff all pops out of the room. “Yes. I will need you to go get Harry. I am his legal guardian as named by Lily and James. Then we can get Sirius out. Anything else I need to be aware of?”

With a quiet word, Sheila just tells her, “Voldemort.”

Shaking her head. “I will deal with him. Expect me there in a few.” With that, Bella turns away and looking at the room, she sighs.

“Lily, I am so sorry. I will get to the bottom of this as soon as I can. I will get Harry to a safe place. I shudder on the thought of what he has gone through. I will right it all.”

With that Bella nods and is soon gone from the latest place she called home.  Time to take up her title and the duties to make sure everything is right.

Final count: 1,154

Fairfarren~