These Hearts of Ours | B&R
@viciousvisage
“Miss, you can’t--” a withering look cut off the rest of the sentence and an apology was quick to follow.
The book snapped shut in her hand. You can’t. The words stirred something wild in her. You can’t. Her palm twitched for her wand, and she felt its blackthorn length wriggle at her near-command. Teeth clenched, brows narrow, Bella resisted the impulse to demonstrate the limits of what she could and couldn’t do. She wouldn’t lower herself to it, wouldn’t condescend to a lesson he’d learn sooner rather than later.
Instead she paid him precisely what the book was worth, in a spray of sickles that clattered to the ground at his feet. If he protested she didn’t hear it, just strolled past him toward the exit, blind to the patrons that made a path for her. Looking down at her book, a small smile crept over her lips. She traced gloved fingers over the embossment, heart warming at the somewhat worn gilding.
She’d parted ways with Cissa to peruse the bookshop, not in search of any particular title but because she had a fondness for books some found surprising. Spotting the poetry book had been pure chance. She’d have called it fate if she believed in that kind of foolishness.
Now, outside, features made rosy all over again by the bracing wind that cut through Hogsmeade, she looked up from the old, leather bound pages and searched her lively surroundings. Gaze drawn to him by a magnetic pull she could neither name nor deny, her small smile warmed at the edges before she dismissed it altogether and closed the gap between them.
Book held behind her back as she approached the tall, smartly dressed wizard, Bellatrix purred, “Rodolphus, my love, if you look any more grim people might think you’re headed to a funeral.” Her lips pursed, but her smile was in her eyes. Bella sucked her bottom lip, nibbled it lightly, then allowed her smirk to surface again with the confession, “I bought you something. Guess what it is and I’ll give you a prize.”













