Fear is the Path to the Dark Side

[Bellatrix Black]

Bellatrix had another tome to share with Christine. The girl had gone quickly through the smaller spellbook that Bella had shown her and she had already mastered several new spells. Christine was eager to learn to "defend" herself from the evils of the world and Bella was more than happy to guide her on the path which, it just so happened, would lead to the Dark Lord. Once Christine was ready of course.

Bellatrix rapped her knuckles on Christine's bedroom door as she came into the room. The two had grown familiar with each other and Bellatrix tended to make herself at home almost anywhere. Montgomery Manor was far from the dodgiest place Bella had forced herself upon. She smiled at her new friend.

"I brought something new today," she said as she plopped herself onto Christine's bed, letting her light frame bounce on the soft mattress.

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine looked forward to Bella's visits, though she instinctively knew that there was something forbidden about what she was doing, she was through being the victim and watching others get hurt. From now on she would defend herself and those too weak to defend themselves.

She had no idea of Bella's true identity or what path the girl was setting her on, she would have been horrified to find out. But for now she absorbed the spells and darker magic like a sponge, and she took to it quite well. The advanced spells and the dark magic seemed almost natural to Christine, and she had a voracious appetite.

"Oooh goody." she said before uttering an incantation that would assure them privacy.

[Bellatrix Black]

Bella shifted on the bed, sitting cross-legged with her purse on her lap. She had enchanted her purse to be bigger on the inside, and pulled from it a rather large, leather bound book. The gold lettering on the cover had faded and the spine was well worn from generations of use. This book had been in the Black family since before Bella's great-grandfather's time. It was one of the many items kept in a secret chamber that only the adults in the family had access to. Narcissa wasn't old enough yet, and Andromeda had proven far less than worthy. The only Black sister permitted to handle such materials was Bellatrix and her eyes glistened as she looked on it.

"I thought we'd try the fire spell today." She held up the tome, offering it to Christine. A black ribbon marked a page near the front with a sketch of a large ring of fire encompassing two wizards, wands aimed in battle. The flames were enchanted and they flickered on the page, muted shades of orange and red ink.

[Christine Montgomery]

"You do know the way to a girl's heart." Christine smiled as her inner pyromaniac danced with glee.

She joined Bella on the bed and examined the tome Bella extracted from her bag. The book appeared well used and ancient, it brought to mind similar books in the Montgomery library. Christine suddenly felt very foolish as she had not exhausted her own resources in the endeavor she had undertaken. She pocketed the idea away for later use.

[Bellatrix Black]

Bellatrix laughed. You have no idea, she thought to herself. She allowed some silence to pass as Christine looked over the text. When the girl's eyes tracked down to the bottom of the page, Bella pulled the book back.

"Best if we try this one outside. It can get a little messy when you're first starting out." Bella spoke from experience, having charred an antique writing desk when she was first attempting the spell in Rodolphus' manor. He scolded her fiercely and she screamed back at him before feigning regret and pouting at him. Rodolphus nearly always gave over once she pouted. The stupid man loved her so.

[Christine Montgomery]

"I have a better idea. Follow me." Christine slid off the bed easily and moved toward the door. Once outside she shut the door and used another key to change the room, when she opened the door again it was to a great hall.

There were various weapons along the wall as well as body armor and a sparing ring. An additional charm prevented anything from being permanently damaged.

"Not bad." Christine said looking around the room. She didn't know what to expect, but as always when she entered the room it was exactly what she needed.

"One of my ancestors was quite jealous of the school's Room of Requirement, had another built here in the castle, of course if you asked a couple of Montgomery's they would say that we built ours first."

[Bellatrix Black]

Bella stuffed the large book back into her tiny purse and followed Christine into the corridor and then back into the same room. But it wasn't the same room. Bellatrix raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed.

"This will do nicely," she said, stepping fully into the room and looking around. She stood on the opposite end of the room and faced Christine. A quick flourish and a sharp jab of her wand, and a circular wall of flames rose up instantly, surrounding Christine and Bellatrix. The flames reached nearly six feet high and put off enough heat to singe the surrounding equipment, had it not been enchanted.

"This will keep your opponent captive," she explained. "Quite useful in crowded situations. The flames can't be passed through, so anyone you want in will be kept so." Bella smothered the flames leaving a thin mist-like smoke surrounding them for several seconds before it dissipated.

She levitated one of the punching mannequins into the center of the room. "Let's start with something simple, just a small ring. Entrap your opponent." Bella modeled the wand movements and repeated the incantation for Christine.

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine clearly saw the use in the spell, and as she had done before, she thought of how much more useful it would have been had she known that spell the night M had come for her.

It was that desperate thought that flowed through her as she mimicked Bella's movements perfectly. She envisioned Lex's broken and bloody body on the floor as she spoke the words Bella had spoken. And she let the anger and fear flow through her as she executed the spell.

It was a higher level spell, Christine knew that, but it came to her easier than floating feathers. While the ring was small initially, it began to grow larger. Christine felt something powerful surging inside of her and it was a heady feeling.

[Bellatrix Black]

They practiced the spell several times and when Bellatrix was certain Christine could perform it consistently she pushed Christine to make the flames larger. The spell took a lot of concentration and energy, it was physically draining when first learning to use it. Finally Christine was able to create a ring almost half the size of Bellatrix's.

"Very nice," Bella said encouragingly as the flames receded and disappeared. "Do you need a break or would you like to try under attack now?" The spell was difficult enough on it's own, but to maintain it while dueling was exceptionally challenging. They would need several days before Christine could maintain a moderately sized ring while fighting. It had taken Bellatrix nearly three months to master the spell before she used it to attack Alice Prewett and Frank Longbottom during the Hogsmeade attack last year.

[Christine Montgomery]

"Let's try it under attack." she said confidently. It wasn't that she was confident about the spell, so much as she was confident that she would learn it more quickly if there was pressure.

She had performed the cruciatus against a Death Eater at the Hogsmeade attack, the one who had attacked her cousin. And while she had never performed the spell before knowing that it was forbidden, she had never felt such a rush of adrenaline or power. It was as though something else entirely had taken over. She had been completely drained afterward, but the spell had been more than effective.

[Bellatrix Black]

"Very well," she said, pleased with Christine's eagerness. It was strange that Bellatrix took so well to training Christine when she had loathed her position as a teacher's assistant at Hogwarts the year prior. The subject matter was important, however, and Bella found very little use in the way Professor Rothschild taught Defense Against the Dark Arts. Bella always thought the focus should have been more of the Dark Arts and less on the Defense.

"We'll try with the ring established first. You need to concentrate even after you've conjured it or it will die out." Bella signaled for Christine to cast the spell, then once they were surrounded by flames Bella threw a simple disarming charm at Christine. The flames died instantly.

[Christine Montgomery]

They practiced for hours. Christine never took a break. She drove herself and Bella hard.

Perhaps there was even a little madness in her eyes as she strove for perfection.

It was only when she happened to catch sight of the clock in the room that she realized how late they had been there.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize what time it was."

[Bellatrix Black]

It wasn't a hardship on Bella, who enjoyed throwing more challenging hexes at Christine as she became more proficient with keeping the flames intact. She imagined soon they'd be having actual duels and that would certainly be more fun, but Christine still had a way to go.

Bella turned toward the clock and checked the time. "You apologize too much. Stop it." Apologies were for the weak and to be used only as a ploy to manipulate others. Christine cared far too much. Bellatrix would need to squash that.

[Christine Montgomery]

Bella had said similar things throughout their training, but it would take more to break Christine from the polite habits she had accrued through travel and breeding.

Still she smiled at her friend, "I'm pretty sure they'll be looking for me. Don't want to lose track of the 'one that got away' literally." she said in a darkly sarcastic way.

[Bellatrix Black]

"Well, we don't want to draw suspicions." Bellatrix fetched her purse which she had hung on a rack of medieval weaponry. She opened her bag to ensure her spellbook was there, and then closed it with a smile.

"Owl me when you're ready to go further," she told Christine on the way to the door.

[Christine Montgomery]

"Thank you for doing this Bella, I really appreciate your time." Christine said sincerely.

There was nothing Christine could give Bella in return, so Bella's help was selfless or so Christine thought. She felt very grateful and humbled. It also felt a little selfish, but Christine wasn't going to think about it too deeply, or question the gift horse in the mouth.

"I feel like I've learned more from you in the past few weeks than I have from my entire year at school."

She thought about it for a moment, "So, I'm hoping you won't be offended but" she frowned, "I know you used to teach at the school, I'd like to hire you as a tutor. Except it seems almost ridiculous offering a job to a Black. I mean I could pay you but that almost seems like an insult."

[Bellatrix Black]

It would have been an insult if Bella didn't know that Christine was still too sweet to take advantage of Bellatrix's skills selfishly. The girl had too many manners and cares far too much about other people's feelings. But several times over their weeks of practice, Bella had seen a sparkle in Christine's eye. Something dark was in her and Bella knew if she could foster that darkness it would make her master so proud.

She smiled at Christine. "Don't be daft. I don't want your money, your friendship is enough for me."

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine grinned. In their circles friendships were even more valuable than money, but Christine didn't look at it like that. She truly was grateful for Bella's help, and the access Bella had to better defensive spells, in addition to the fact that she didn't look her nose down at Christine for wanting to learn.

"That being said, I still feel rude taking your time like this. Ruder still since I would like to make it a weekly lesson if you're available."

And that was the crux of it, if Bella were a tutor then it would be a simple transaction. Bella's time for Christine's money, but Bella didn't need money and Christine didn't know what she could offer the girl that Bella couldn't get elsewhere.

[Bellatrix Black]

Bella's head tilted slightly as she looked at Christine. She was showing promise, and if Christine studied more regularly it wouldn't be long before she was ready to meet Him. Bellatrix smiled.

"I don't want your money, Christine. But in the name of quid pro quo there is something you could do for me, if you're willing. I have a friend I think would like to meet you. He's devoted to helping witches and wizards like us, people who want to protect themselves and their families from the horrors plaguing society."

Bella stepped closer to Christine. "Would you be willing to meet with him, show him what I've taught you? He could help you learn more than I could, but it would make me happy to know I'm doing my part to better society."

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine felt a frisson of fear run down her spine, though she couldn't attribute it to anything. Bella's innocent question nagged at the corners of Christine's mind, though she couldn't put her finger on the reason why.

"I'd be delighted." she replied with only the smallest hesitation.