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Tony's mother is not successful at getting that teacher fired, although he does look stressed for the rest of the semester and conspicuously ignores Bella and both Starks.
It is decided, with considerable owling and eagling, that Bella should visit Tony and Sherlock at home, and vice versa, in July - first all of them at Charlie's house, then all at the Stark house, then all at Renée's, with Mrs. Stark providing transportation.
Term comes to an end.
Bella steps out of the bus, all her possessions plus her animal in tow, and the bus pulls away, and she tromps toward Charlie's door. (ACAAM admitted her on the basis of this residency, so this is where she is let off.)
And then she hears someone say, "Stupefy," and that's the last thing she knows for a while.
----
When she wakes up, she's in some kind of mostly white room, her eyes are dry like they've been open for much too long to the point where it's hard to see and hard to blink, and she can't move.
"Did you bring her around?"
"Yes, see?"
"All right, let's re-run the tests with her awake, follow the checklist -"
"I would've followed the checklist -"
"I know, I know. Go on."
"Open your eyes, girl."
She has them closed; she's crying moisture back into them. When she doesn't obey, there's the sound of a wand swishing through the air and they open again. It's still hard to see, but there's someone leaning over her; a man, judging by the voice.
"Legilimens," he says.
It's not wholly dissimilar from the attempted Memory Charm, but more piercing, and she can see it coming. She chucks him out of her head, almost without effort but not without pain - like she's deflecting a gently tossed beach ball, a big easy target, that happens to be covered in spines. It feels like her thoughts sting. "Stop it!" she shrieks. "You can't!"
"Yes, that's the curiosity," says the man, and he tries it again: "Legilimens."
She never stops batting him away, and he goes down a long, long list of spells, most of which she doesn't recognize, all of which fail, all of which hurt in their own unique ways. The Confundus burns, and when she howls at the attempt, they seem to be done for the day.
They leave her awake, paralyzed in the chair she's propped up in, and she still can't move.
Questions. She has questions. Somewhere in her aching, battered head are questions.
She wants to get out.
She has - her eyes, her voice, her mind.
She whispers doggerel, trying poem after poem to free her limbs so she can try to get more things; nothing takes. Doggerel is weak and the paralysis was cast with a wand.
What else?
She swallows - they could have given her water, couldn't they? - and says:
"Mith?"
The library elf pops into place, round-eyed and confused. "Miss Bella needs a library elf in the summer time?"
"Mith. I need help," says Bella desperately, "I'm stuck here, I got kidnapped, can you get me out?"
Mith peers at Bella. "...Mith is not allowed to fuss with wizard magic, Miss. Very very not allowed."
"Could Kay - or a kitchen elf?"
"No, Miss," apologizes Mith.
"Could you get me one of my wands?"
"Mith is not knowing where they is, Miss Bella," says Mith, wringing her hands, and if Bella doesn't come up with a way for this elf to help her soon she's going to start peeling the skin off her ears or something.
"I need help - a teacher?"
"Mith wishes she could, Miss Bella, but elves is not allowed to be bothering teachers in the summer time."
Bella swallows. "Can you bring someone else here? Mrs. Stark maybe - or - Healer Song's not a teacher -"
Mith shakes her head, eyes watering. "Mith is not knowing where to find them unless they call her."
"Feral?" tries Bella, and Mith lights up.
"Mith can bring Miss Bella Feral Orphan," she agrees, and she pops out again, and she goes looking for Feral.
occluminous
Feral is in his room, reading a book about Thestrals.
"Feral Orphan!" says Mith. "Miss Bella is needing help."
He puts the book down, instantly alert. It is comparatively unlikely that Bella dragged a school elf to her house in the summer because she wants Feral to tie her shoelaces.
"What and where?"
"What and where?"
"Mith is not knowing where, Feral Orphan, but can go there because Miss Bella called, and she is spelled to one place without her wands," Mith says.
Feral's wand is on his bedside table. He picks it up.
"Can you take me there?"
"Can you take me there?"
"Yes, if Feral Orphan will go," says Mith, shifting from foot to foot.
He nods.
Pop.
occluminous
Here is Bella, red-eyed with tear tracks down her face, sitting as though perfectly comfortable in an armchair but oddly stiff.
"Feral - some guys kidnapped me - they've been experimenting on me," she says in a hush, "I'm sorry but Mith couldn't get me any grownup wizards -"
"Feral - some guys kidnapped me - they've been experimenting on me," she says in a hush, "I'm sorry but Mith couldn't get me any grownup wizards -"
"I'm sorry too," he says wryly, "I don't know how to spell you out of there and I'd probably set you on fire if I tried." He glances at the door. "Bet you I can give whoever put you here a surprise or two, though."
occluminous
"I was hoping you could find one of my wands - if you know a Summoning Charm or something - there's two, if one catches fire there's another try - although I couldn't aim like this anyway, I suppose - so never mind."
He shrugs.
"How many of them are there? Did you get any names? What did they look like?"
"How many of them are there? Did you get any names? What did they look like?"
occluminous
"Two, I can't see that well right now because they had my eyes open while I was unconscious and they got all dried out but I think they were both white men with brown hair, one of them kind of pudgy - no names."
Feral hisses under his breath.
"Want me to go looking for somebody, or stay here and keep you company until they come back?"
"Want me to go looking for somebody, or stay here and keep you company until they come back?"
occluminous
Bella swallows. "If you could stay - they don't seem to have heard us, you can still surprise them that way - do you know how to do water, is there anything to put water in here that can't catch fire? -" Her eyes are moving around, but they're kind of unfocused.
"I - might be able to do water," he says, "I think I remember the spell..."
He looks around the room for a container to put it in.
He looks around the room for a container to put it in.
Feral takes a deep breath, calms himself down a little, and murmurs, "Aguamenti." A jet of water splashes out of his wand and into the glass.
He carries it to Bella, keeping his wand in his other hand and half an eye on the door.
He carries it to Bella, keeping his wand in his other hand and half an eye on the door.
occluminous
"I can't move anything except my eyes and my mouth, you're going to have to pour it for me," she says, trying blurrily to refocus on him.
"Yeah, I'm getting that," he says.
It's kind of awkward; he ends up having to stuff his wand up his sleeve so he can hold the water in his right hand, because otherwise it just spills on her face.
It's kind of awkward; he ends up having to stuff his wand up his sleeve so he can hold the water in his right hand, because otherwise it just spills on her face.
occluminous
She drinks as fast as she can. "Thanks," she says, licking a droplet off her lip. "I needed that."
"Anytime," he says wryly. "Want some more? I'll try not to set the glass on fire."
occluminous
"Yes. Please. But go right ahead and drop it in my lap if those guys come back."
"Deal," says Feral. He puts the glass on the desk, takes out his wand - "Aguamenti" - and returns to Bella to go through the whole routine again.