Chapter 15: Calista and the Slytherins
Calista rubbed her shoulder where that maniac Black had run into her. He'd just bolted from the Great Hall and
run into her, then kept going like she didn't exist! Not a "sorry" or anything, what have you. She
sniffed and passed the Great Hall to the door to the Slytherin common room. Stupid Gryffindors, she thought.
She gave the password - pureblood - and entered. The secret door had barely shut behind her when she was slammed
against the wall by a red-faced Lucius Malfoy.
His hands were around her throat, squeezing tighter and tighter while he lifted her off her feet. His eyes sparked gray
flame, his voice was a venomous hiss.
"How. Dare. You. How dare you betray us like this! After all our planning, you ruin everything because of
some infatuation with a filthy werewolf!" He let go of her abruptly, letting Calista fall to the floor.
She gasped in breath and rubbed her neck. She looked up and saw Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Severus standing
behind Lucius. Their faces were accusatory, their wands out.
" I -- I --" Calista tried to get the words out, but they caught in her throat and she choked, hacking and
gagging as breath tried to circulate.
"Well," Lucius snarled. "You what ?"
Calista finally managed to take a few slow, deep breaths. She closed her eyes as her lungs returned to normal. She felt
her neck; the bruises would take ages to fade. She opened her eyes to face Lucius.
"I didn't do anything."
Silence greeted her statement. Lucius recovered quickly to accuse her again.
"You Stunned me from the trees."
"I didn't," Calista said again. " I never even left the school. I didn't tell anyone anything.
If someone foiled your grand plan to screw the Mudblood, it sure as hell wasn't me. So back off!" She
snarled the last part as she stood on her trembling legs and pulled out her own wand. Calista glanced over Lucius'
shoulder and met Severus' eyes. They stared at each other for the longest moment. Calista couldn't pull away;
it was like he was holding her there with his mind. I'm not afraid. She shook her lank hair out of her
eyes and defiantly faced him, silently daring Severus with her soul to challenge her.
He stared, unblinking, as though he saw the very depths of her mind. Calista felt the oddest sensation, as though her
mind was a library and Severus was rifling through the bookshelves that revealed her unconscious.
"She's telling the truth," Severus said in his soft voice. He blinked and the connection that had held
her gaze was broken. All turned to look at Severus as Calista sank, unnoticed, trembling against the wall and to the
floor again.
"She's not lying. Calista didn't Stun you, Lucius," Severus said again.
"Then who did?" Lucius demanded.
"Does it matter?" Bellatrix sounded irritated. "At least you didn't make the biggest mistake ever,
Lucius!"
"What are you talking about," Lucius hissed at her.
"A Mudblood !" she hissed back. "You want my sister so badly; Narcissa will never touch you if
she knew you had poisoned your flesh with a Mudblood's touch, no matter how unwilling she may have been. You'd
never get your hands on the Black fortune, and your precious pure-blood only persona would be ruined. So don't you
blame Calista for her disgusting 'infatuation', as you call it, unless you're willing to out
yourself in the same boat."
Calista stared. The expression on her face mirrored everyone else's. In all their years together, Bellatrix had
never made such a speech. When Lucius spoke again, it was in a voice mingled with surprise and resentful
admiration.
"Interesting way of putting it, Bella."
"Interesting, ha!" Bellatrix wasn't done. "You should be thanking me on bended knee for letting
Evans escape!"
Calista's eyes widened. No way. . . . . . . . .
"I Stunned you, you blithering idiot! You think I would let you ruin our reputations for a dirty, scummy, rotten
MUDBLOOD?!" Bellatrix spoke in a hissing whisper, but her voice carried throughout the room as though she were
screaming.
"Your lust would have ruined us all. I saved you. I saved you, and don't you ever forget it, or that dream of
the great and powerful Lucius Malfoy, that dream you hold so dear, will never happen! Never, no matter what the Dark
Lord tells you, and you know it!"
The eyes of Severus, Lucius, and the Lestrange brothers instantly cut to Bellatrix, who seemed to realize she had said
something she shouldn't. She stopped and closed her mouth, clearly still not done ranting but unwilling to say any
more.
Dark Lord? Calista thought. What the hell?. . . .
Lucius was glowering daggers at Bellatrix. He looked capable of committing murder, which, Calista realized, he probably
was. Bellatrix and Lucius continued their staring match for long moments, neither speaking nor moving. They gripped
their wands in their hands, ready for the other to make the first move.
"This solves nothing," Rodolphus spat suddenly. "We have places to be, more important than here.
"What about. . . " Rabastan let his sentence trail off and jerked his head toward Calista, who still lay
crumpled on the floor. They turned to look at her, apparently Lucius and Bellatrix had forgotten she was there.
"She comes with," Severus said coldly. "She knows too much now, and I'm not in the mood to perform
another Memory Charm today."
Calista suddenly found herself in the grips of the Lestranges, who were on either side of her. Lucius bent down until
his face was inches from hers.
"Not a word," he threatened. "Just come quietly, and maybe the Master will have the heart to hear you
out. You may prove useful, yet."
The group left the castle and headed toward the Forbidden Forest.