HP: The Last Death Eater Trial (OC son of Bellatrix)

Part 9

Chapter 9

HERMIONE GRANGER

The confirmation of Crovus's nature as a spy shook her to the core. She was conflicted and appalled. Her head was a mess as she tried to process the storm of emotions she felt. A part of her felt pity for the boy in question, whose childhood and innocence had become a casualty of war. Though, she was angered as well by what he had done.

She was reminded of Ron's face and how her heart had been ripped to shreds when she had seen his lifeless corpse. At that time, she had wanted nothing more than to kill Crovus and any other death eater she could find. Yet she needed to know more. So, she sniffed and hardened her heart as she looked up at the portrait of the person whom she had trusted blindly for years now. Something which she was coming to regret.

"What happened after that?" she questioned and saw Harry perk up at her words as well. The fact that Voldemort had tried to control Crovus and had nearly killed him and Astoria was a shock to her.

The portrait of the previous Headmaster sighed and began slowly.

"In his desperation to destroy the diary, Crovus Lestrange used the most deadly spell he had known, the Killing Curse," and she gasped at those words. Harry paled beside her as well.

"It was fortunate in a sense, for there are few things in the world that can destroy a Horcrux, and the killing curse happens to be one of those spells," added the Headmaster, and she had known that. Yet using such a spell had been repulsive for her. The Killing Curse was perhaps the most vile of the curses, a spell said to rip the very soul of the caster and the victim.

Yet the spell needed more than just an incantation to be cast. And she doubted that a first year, despite any level of brilliance, could cast an effective killing curse.

"Did the spell work?" she questioned, and her guess was right as the Headmaster shook his head.

"No, I am afraid not. Crovus was young at the time. Very young and had little understanding of the spell itself and what was needed to cast it effectively. Nonetheless, he was desperate, and in his desperation, the spell was cast, yet it wasn't enough to completely destroy the small part of Voldemort's soul entrapped in the diary," and she narrowed her gaze as she processed those words.

"Then what became of it," Harry cut in from the side in a panicked tone.

"Didn't we destroy all the Horcruxes," he continued, and her head snapped towards their Headmaster as well, who shook his head.

"The spell essentially destroyed the Horcrux, and what remained was a small remnant of a wounded and troubled soul. A parasitic entity looking for escape, and at that moment, it latched onto a new host," added their professor. And as the implication of those words dawned on her, she stilled.

The portrait seemed to have caught onto her thoughts as she saw those eyes focus on her.

"When a normal child is born, he is born with a whole soul. However, Crovus Lestrange was not a normal child," said their professor forlornly, and she felt her heart shake. And before the old professor could continue, there was a sound of wings flapping, and cooing before suddenly an owl flew into the office, a rolled-up piece of paper held in its claws which it dropped onto the table right by her side.

"Coo. Coo," and flew out of the office. And as her eyes landed on the day's copy of the Daily Prophet, she found a very familiar face splattered onto the front page, with two headlines written in bold letters right underneath it.

The True Identity of Crovus Lestrange! A villain or Hero! The Truth: A Homunculus!

Voldemort's convoluted experiment! Crovus Lestrange! Human or Something else!