𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧
038. the heiress loses her cool

( song for the chapter:
bad girls — M.I.A. )

          𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗧'𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗗 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗗 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗦 and shoes that Jaggy was organising neatly onto her luggage before she returned to Hogwarts whilst Scarlet put her necessary books into a separate bag. 

Then she was interrupted by the loud yelling from her mother downstairs. 

"Carly, come back here at this instant!" Celeste sounded furious, sounding out of Earth. "CARLY!"

Scarlet shot Jaggy a confused look as the elf quickly ran downstairs, and Scarlet followed after a few seconds.

"Is there anything Mistress Briget would like for Jaggy to explain?" Jaggy appeared out of nowhere at Celeste's feet, fear encapsulated in his large eyes.

"I'd like for Carly to explain," she slammed down a letter against Scarlet's chest harshly the moment the girl appeared in the living room.

"What's the matter?" She quizzed in confusion, opening up the stamped letter. However, she did not need to read it. Seeing the Brighton address and it being signed by Ted Tonks and Andromeda Black, she squeezed her eyes shut in misery.

"I cannot believe this, did you go behind my back?" Celeste screamed in her face. "Any contact with her, we will be doomed!"

"I'm not going anyway, this is just formality!" Scarlet argued.

"Did you lie to me the other day?" Celeste asked, "Vinda claims she hasn't seen either of us since last year, did you lie to me about going to see Evan?"

"Mama, it won't happen again—I'm telling you—"

"Enough!" Celeste put a stop to her words. "How disappointing, do you have any idea how much trouble this could cause us if anybody finds out?"

"Nobody will, I'll make sure of it," Scarlet felt apologetic; their relationship was finally mending.

"I'm starting to think I'll have to take excessive measures, Sirius is not a good effect on you at all and I might have a talk with Walburga about it."

That stung her. Scarlet was furious that Celeste brought up Sirius in that negative manner. "You know, you seemed to be having a really good time hanging out with those blood traitors—"

"Don't you dare speak of Mia that way!" Celeste was fuming, anger vivid in her eyes. She pointed an index towards her as she spoke. "Don't you ever!"

"Salazar! Mrs Black's got you wrapped around her fingers, you're such a hypocrite!" she shouted. "I'm old enough to do what I want."

"I'm not mad at you, Carly," Celeste pinched the bridge of her nose, looking away in frustration. "I need you to be careful so you don't end up like I do,"

"What happened to you?"

"Dammit, Carly, I was almost banished!" Celeste yelled through tears, and Scarlet stumbled back. She remembered what Mia requested. She had asked her to let Scarlet live her life the way she wanted, and that Sirius was a good lad. Celeste had no doubt. However, she was her mother. She had to look out for her before the cruel community got to her.

"Mistress Bridget mustn't admit to it!" Jaggy exclaimed, now more scared than ever.

"Shut up, Jaggy!" Scarlet whipped around, curious about her mother's words.

"And if you continue to be reckless like I was, receiving and sending letters to blood traitors, muggle-borns, everything we've worked for will be for nothing!"

"Who cares!" Scarlet argued with her mother. "Mama, if you're not happy, we'll go away, somewhere far away in peace and we won't have to deal with—"

"I can't leave my family, Carls... my family means everything to me," she referred to the Malfoys.

"And what about me?" the teen's voice croaked.

"Tell me something, darling, will you be able to handle the sort of words they throw at Andromeda... even Sirius?" Celeste asked seriously, eyes boring intensely into her daughter's cobalt ones. "Will you be able to take the insults from the people you grew up with?"

Scarlet's breath caught up in her throat. She thought only for a second before shaking her head, "No, I won't."

It was the weakest she had ever felt—admitting to such a defeat against her own will.

"I can't," she felt her shoulders slumping and Celeste wrapped her arms around her lightly. This moment alone corrupted her lungs, and she thought those who were breathing so freely were the lucky ones. 

      "SO, THEY STAB INK INTO YOUR SKIN?" Scarlet questioned, walking through the station as she made her way to the front of the train where the prefects were meant to be gathered.

"For the hundredth time, yes, Scarlet." Lily answered, walking between her and Remus who mindlessly hummed to some music.

"Is that even sanitary?" she grimaced. "Does it not mix with your blood?"

"Well—"

"What if it becomes part of your genes," Scarlet asked a bored and very annoyed Lily. "And then your children are born with ink blood?"

"That's not gonna happen." Lily assured.

"How do you know that?" Scarlet concerned.

"BECAUSE!" Lily groaned loudly, and Remus burst into laughing. Lily shot him an irritated look. "This is all your fault."

"Hey, I never volunteered to tell her what a tattoo is."

"It sounds horrid," Scarlet frowned, now genuinely feeling overwhelmed. "You can never remove it, that sounds so risky."

"It's not as bad as it sounds."

"Is it like a death mark?" She questioned and Remus gasped in horror.

"Merlin's beard!" Lily exclaimed at her blunt words, not prepared for such a dark topic to come up. "How about we change the conversation—" Lily desperately said, and they came to a quick stop at a nearby commotion.

"Did you see what he did to her?" A Ravenclaw named Nancy muttered to Remus who shrugged in utter confusion.

She heard a familiar, feminine voice letting out a yelp for help which made the trio of prefects shove through the crowd of bystanders. 

Then, Blake Mulciber threw a brown leather-covered book at the girl harshly, and it hit her arm and fell to the ground. The words, 'Slutty Mary' was carved as a title on the book.

Lily ran forward and pulled Mary away, wrapping her arms around her. A group of people burst out into a peal of laughter, and Muciber turned to Rowen Avery for a loud laugh.

"If you're laughing at that, you must really lack comics in your life, huh?" Everyone fell silent. Scarlet could always do that—shut everybody up just by speaking. Except, this time, nobody really expected her to stand up. "I feel bad for your friends, having to live with that humour of yours."

"Has Black got to you that much?" Mulciber laughed, indicating her relationship is bringing no good to her reputation.

Then came out her wand, and everybody gasped—no one really enjoying the lecture anymore. She gripped the shining wooden piece of art, and the pitch-black crow-head at the end of her wand (it was merely for design, but it has its use) was aimed right into Mulciber's Adam's apple, threatening to dig into his skin. He gulped down hard.

"You ever dare to look into Macdonald's direction again, I'll hex you so hard, you'll be begging on your knees, asking for her forgiveness,"

Some people were snickering whilst other parents and most students stared in silence. Then came the whispering—'Oh, the Bridget heiress loses her cool—the elegancy is all gone now! — what does her mother have to say about this!'

She ignored it. Then turned swiftly to the three boys behind Mulciber still laughing.

"It's not a big deal, Bridget," Avery sounded. "It happens all the time, all for the mick, trust me!"

"Anyone pulls some sort of disgusting, unfunny prank again, I will find you, and the next thing you'll know, Celeste Bridget will be paying your parents a lovely visit on behalf of the Ministry about your behaviour, and she would hate to be forced into launching an investigation on what sort of twisted, fuck-up your parents have created!"

"Don't you dare bring my parents into this, fucking traitor!" Mulciber growled, stepping forward. Traitor. Having an association with Sirius—fake or not—was going to bite her back in the ass someday, she was sure of it.

"Go and cry about it to your father." She shot back, and then she felt a certain redhead tugging at her arm, asking for her to drop this. "Which one of his mistress' houses will you find him in this time?"

That was his last straw. "You lying slag!" He shoved her back. Then drew his wand, pointing it directly at Scarlet's face. However, she did not shoot him with a spell. Instead, her elbow was retracted, and her fist connected with his nose.

A series of gasps echoed through the station.

"What the fuck!" He cried in pain, holding his nose that was now gushing with blood. A stinging sensation went through Scarlet's knuckles, yet it felt like nothing compared to the rage inside of her. Remus only stood in the back in astonishment and tried to stifle a smile whilst Lily cried for her to stop.

"Scarlet, let it go!" The last thing Lily wanted was for her to get hurt by dealing with this situation, in her arms was a crying Mary who turned her face away, she could not stand to look at the commotion unlike everybody else.

"Oh, shit," one of the Hufflepuff girls gasped when Scarlet marched up to him once again, and before Mulciber could finish cradling his bloody nose, she reared her fist back once more, a blow landing so harshly, he fell on his back onto the ground, dropping like a stack of bricks.

Scarlet fell to the ground, climbing on top of his body and landing another punch to his jaw. He retracted, elbowing her in the ribs which earned a low groan from her.

"Get off of me!" He growled again, thrashing around under her hold. "You psychotic git!"

Scarlet couldn't stop. Her fists kept connecting to his face despite the cries coming from his throat. Everybody stopped whispering, now starting to become concerned. Her knuckles burned. But something in her could not stop.

"If your masculinity is so fragile that you have to slut-shame a girl every time she's seen with a boy, you need to—" 

Then before she could land another punch on him—who stopped fighting long ago—her elbow was grabbed and her bloodied knuckles connected with a larger palm.

Scarlet recognised that fragrance anywhere.

      Then the momentum of the situation rushed back into her mind. She did not know what caused her to unleash such anger—or where that anger came from as a matter of fact, all she knew was that there was something in her that could not stop.

      She turned around, and the ringing in her mind was back after a whole month. That same, nightmarish ringing made her unable to hear anything else. All she knew was that Sirius Black was guiding her to her feet, tightly holding her arms and leading her away from Mulciber's figure who was yelling something atrocious in pain.

      She felt her fingers tighten around Sirius' arm a little too harshly, however, he did not stop her. Instead, his palm rubbed her back in a soothing manner. Then through her blurry visions, as the world went silent, she saw Celeste rushing back into the station, running towards her.

      James was there too—along with his parents who had horrified looks on their faces, just like everybody else. The expression on Celeste's rigid face could send anyone into a world of fear. Scarlet gulped as Sirius guided her towards Celeste who then snatched her arms away from Sirius, holding onto it as she started to walk out of the platform.

"Cel, go easy—" Euphemia pleaded to Celeste, running up to her.

The blonde woman turned with a glare, fury burning in her chest. She looked at her as though she did not even recognise her, after everything they had done over Christmas. "Thank you, Euphemia, but I think I know how to handle my kid."

Scarlet's heart fell at the look on Euphemia's face—the defeated, deflated expression that littered. Celeste did not want to be seen with her in public. Those two days they spent together meant everything to Euphemia—as though their friendship was an oath, but to Celeste... it was nothing but a secret. A dirty secret.

      "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?" CELESTE'S booming voice echoed through the walls of the Bridget Manor. She brought her back home—there was no way Scarlet could go to Hogwarts without getting her story straight, not when their reputation was on the line. "Unimaginable!"

"He was being unjust!" Scarlet shouted back, "An eye for an eye, isn't that the bullshit you've been feeding me all these years?"

"Attacking a pureblood heir in front of the entire population of Hogwarts is not respecting our family's motto, it goes against everything I've taught you!" Celeste shouted back.

"You taught me to be fair and loyal." Scarlet reminded.

"Loyal to this family's name," Celeste shot back, and the girl's anger flattered into a pile of defeat.

"You know what, mama, I apologise—for a second there, I thought..."

"Thought what? That things would change?" She walked up to her intimidatingly. "Nothing is ever going to change, you just adapt, Carly."

"I can't believe you," Scarlet looked at her with betrayal.

"After everything I've told you about my past, you do something like that—"

"I started to think that you're worth saving," Scarlet cut her off, squinting her eyes. "You're not a good person."

"And you are?" Celeste snapped back almost immediately in a whisper, eyes locking hers in a disappointed manner.

For a second, all the words in Scarlet's mind faded away, and she was left stumbling over her thoughts. Then, in a similar whisper, she shook her head. "No." She was not better. She was too much like Celeste to be considered better.

The doorbell sounded, cutting Celeste off smoothly. Jaggy ran to the door, opening it to reveal a familiar tall figure.

The elf came back to the Bridgets. "Mrs Black has come to visit."

Celeste squeezed her eyes shut and stood up, "Walburga, welcome."

Walburga was not holding a grimaced expression which made Scarlet sigh in relief. If the Blacks resented Celeste, Scarlet would have been six feet underground for causing the drift. 

Instead, Walburga slammed a newspaper on the dining table, leaving the Bridgets confused.

"It made on the bloody Daily Prophet?!" Scarlet shrieked, looking at the image of Scarlet shoving Mulciber to the ground.

"Salazar Slytherin, I'll hex that Skeeter!" Celeste scoffed angrily.

"Then I'll come with you," Walburga told the blonde woman. "This is unacceptable."

Scarlet merely assumed Walburga had a lack of context of the situation to be on their side.

The Black turned to the young blonde. "Don't you worry about it," she pointed a finger firmly. "I'll take care of it."

"It was a heat of the moment, Carly's not like that." Celeste shook her head.

Walburga spoke calmly. "I know that, Celeste... Everybody knows Scarlet is the definition of perfection," she turned to Scarlet again. "Has Sirius got something to do with this?"

"No!" She exclaimed and the woman raised a suspicious brow, her tone then fell. "No... he wasn't even there."

"I better drop you at Hogwarts," Celeste sighed defeatedly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I meant it, Scarlet, everybody knows you could do no wrong. Your reputation will remain spotless, I assure you." Walburga told her as she stood up and grabbed her purse.

Celeste shot the woman a grateful nod and then turned to glare at Scarlet, still quite upset. It was the first time Scarlet let herself spiral out of control and got away with it. And it certainly was not going to be the last.

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

should I write more
of unhinged scarlet?

idk.