February 2015
Head of Slytherin House Office, Hogwarts

The move from Russia back to England had been hellish. She was still unable to unwind after Nikolai had been attacked. She was sure he was aggravated with her most of the time as they were arguing a little more than what was normal for them. He didn't know just how terrified she had been to find him, then get to the hospital to be told he may not make it. As much as she knew it made him miserable she felt better that he was behind a desk now and they were away from everyone he pissed off in Russia. She still hadn't mentioned her blood status to him though it wasn't exactly intentional. Her family was already under fire and she didn't want him to feel the need to go on guard about it. She could take care of them, though she was sure he was suspicious when she told him the murder of her brother's family was just a random raid. Not only that but to come back to England and realize that your auror wife lived in a mansion was probably already tipping him off at this point.

While all of that was quite a big deal she had bigger issues to tend to. Her niece, the only survivor of her brother's family didn't know she had finally come home from Russia. Persephone had felt horrible for missing the funeral but knew in her heart that her brother would have been far angrier with her for leaving her dying husband's side to say goodbye to his remains. She knew her niece Bells probably wouldn't hear of it initially. Bells didn't even know she was married. They had been exceptionally close for the longest time. Hell one of the big reasons Persephone had gone into a career as an auror was for her then two year old niece. But now her niece was damn near an adult. A hug and a night full of junk food and jokes wouldn't solve this.

She moved around her new office, still rather bare as she had yet to settle in. It was her first day working at the school, and the only thought that had been on her mind had been Bells. When her boss told her that the Headmistress wanted an auror at the school who could double as a professor as to not raise eyebrows she jumped at the opportunity. She had started training recruits in Russia after her first few years there in between cases Nikolai needed her help on. The fact that Defense Against the Dark Arts was open as well as Head of Slytherin house had been too perfect to pass up. She still found it amusing that out of all the DiTraverso's only she and Bells had been sorted into Slytherin. Being a pureblood and a snake wouldn't do her niece any favors. She wanted to be close to keep her safe even if Bells despised her at this point.

Persephone sat down at the desk staring intently at the door. This probably wasn't a great idea but it was the only way she knew she could get her to see her. She had written out a summons for Bells under the name 'Professor P. Petrov' though she normally signed her name hyphenated with her maiden. This was going to be catastrophic. She waited not so patiently for the knock to come at her door. She had faced some of the nastiest criminals and wizards about with relative ease, but this was a completely different ball game.

@isabella

It had been just over a month since her family had perished at the hand of a few radicals, whom Isabella silently vowed to find. It was hard for her to accept that her family had perished, and she still really hadn’t liked thinking about them, staying overly focused so that she was not left alone to her thoughts. And talking about any of this was certainly not something she would be doing anytime soon, much preferring to keep it all in her head where only she could think she was going crazy.

As Isabella walked towards the new Head of Slytherin’s office, she pondered what in Merlin’s name she had done to warrant a visit. If this Head of Snakes thought they were going to prance in here, trying to act as if they cared about their students and thought it kind to ask how she was doing, would be in for a rude awakening. She had been relatively low-key since the start of the semester, at first wanting as much distance between her and everyone else as possible. Petrov…what the bloody hell kind of name is that anyways? Isabella thought to herself, shaking her head as she neared the door.

Lifting a bored hand, she rapt on the door, waiting for a response before she would enter. If she had any luck at all, the Professor forgot about the meeting and was no longer available. Hearing what she thought sounded like someone saying…something…she opened the door, stopping mid-step into the room as her eyes caught onto the Head of House, who was apparently her…aunt. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, not yet as coldly as her brain was feeling towards the woman, the slight confusion taking the lead.

Persepone sat awhile longer wondering if her niece would really blow off a meeting with her Head of House, though she thought it unlikely. It wasn’t like Bells would have even the slightest inkling that her aunt worked there. Besides Persephone was an auror, and no one in her family knew she had started training others while away. It was then that she heard a knock at her door. She took a deep breath, knowing that this was going to be a disaster. ”Come in.” She said having to stop herself from speaking in Russian. Speaking primarily in English was proving to be a bit more difficult for her than she had anticipated.

It took only a moment before she saw her niece open the door and stop in her tracks. Persephone sat quite for a few minutes as she looked over her niece. She had only seen her for a brief time a couple of years back during her nephew’s funeral, but she couldn’t help but be stunned with how much Bells looked like her father. Gods she missed him, even if he had been pretty pissed at her during most of her stay in Russia. ”What does it look like I’m doing here? I’m the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor and Head of Slytherin.” She said calmly figuring she wouldn’t jump right into everything.

When Isabella heard about being called to the Head of Slytherin’s office, she hadn’t been expecting to run into her father’s sister. Had she known the woman was at the school, she certainly would have considered drinking a Polyjuice Potion or something. This was the woman who repeatedly chose her work over her family, becoming a person that Isabella hoped she would never be like. Family meant the world to Isabella and keeping one’s word was something she held dear. The second she hadn’t seen her brother’s sister at the train to see her off for her first year, her trust in the woman slowly deteriorated until there was no more trust. Standing before her, she saw a woman that she once looked up to, a woman she once wanted to be. Now, she didn’t know that woman anymore.

Isabella had remained silent for a few moments after her father’s sister answered, not moving from her position at the door. Anger at this woman was still heavy in Isabella’s heart, along with the hurt that she hid away. There were so many things that were floating in Isabella’s mind about things to say, her anger wanting to take control, but she found herself forcing a blank expression upon her face.

The brunette nodded once, stepping fully inside the office, glancing briefly around before looking back to the woman. Clasping her hands in front of her, she finally replied to the woman. “You wanted to see me, Professor?” she asked, figuring she was going to keep this as professional as possible as that was all the woman bloody deserved.

Persephone knew this was going to be difficult and she was right. There were many parents that 'cursed' their children with hoping they have a child just like themselves. While she had no natural children looking at her niece's body language and listening to her words made her feel like there was a mirror in front of her reflecting a younger version of herself. Though to be fair not much had changed in Persephone's personality as she had gotten older. It almost felt that she got a bit more intense with age. Then again that didn't take into account everything she had seen in such a short period of time. Dealing with the war as a teenager then immediately moving on to be an auror aided in that quite a bit.

It was painful to watch Bells turn so cold so quickly. She would have rather had her niece cause a scene then to be so cavalier. It was never a good sign when a DiTraverso woman got quiet and 'compliant'. Fine if she wanted to play professional she could put a spin on it herself. "Please have a seat, Miss DiTraverso." She said smoothly gesturing to the chair in front of her. She already didn't like this. Sure she didn't think there would be any issue acting that way with random students but family was something different entirely. "I thought you would prefer the news to be broken in an office opposed to the corridor. But your Aunt has returned from Russia and taken up post at the school. She'd like to speak to you." She paused for a moment before shaking her head. "Enough with the professor act. We both know I'm a terrible actress. So are you actually going to talk to me Bells." She asked leaning back in her chair hoping she would say something that didn't include the word 'professor' in it.

Isabella nodded once, abiding by the command of her…professor. Taking a seat, she crossed one leg over the other, relaxing as best as possible in the seat, though she could still feel slightly tense. What did the woman expect from her, a warm greeting? Did she expect to see that naïve little eleven year old that actually thought her aunt was going to come back? And now, her aunt was finally back…only because she had to be. A part of Isabella wished she fought to stay in an Orphanage or something so that her aunt wouldn’t feel the burden of a child.

The Slytherin pursed her lips slightly, really struggling to bite her tongue and hold back her anger. She hated the fact that the woman called her by her old nickname for her, wanting to snap and tell her that she lost that right the minute she didn’t keep her word and every other disappointment that followed. The professor wanted to speak? Fine. “I’m passing my classes, professor, and I play nice with others…mostly,” she stated in response to the woman. She wanted to say that the woman was actually a rather good actress, having the family believe she was actually going to come home from work.

Apparently she was going to have to find a way to piss off her niece in order to get a damn word out of her that wasn’t professional in a sense. She knew Bells had every right to be angry with her, but this was frustrating. She hadn’t noticed herself cursing under her breath in Russian initially though stopped as soon as that realization occurred. It was a bad habit she had picked up during her time away and was most likely not appropriate or helping her case right then, though that could work to her advantage in aggravating Bells enough to get her to speak.

”You know eventually you are going to have a tantrum and hex some poor unsuspecting classmate if you keep this up.” She said offhandedly with a shrug. ”You can do whatever you want, but I know you have something to say unless you are going to wait until we’re home on summer break. The family has already visited us, and while some, like your Uncle Gino, are pretty put off with me I know your Nonno (grandfather) would like it if we could figure out some way to fix this.” Persephone paused wondering if this would be enough to get her to speak. She really hoped so or she would have to resort to provoking her.

There had been a time in Isabella’s life when she had thought she needed this strong woman in her life. She remembered consistently asking her mother why her aunt Persephone left them. There were times when she was hopeful that the woman would have come back, just apparated by and said hello…that would have been nice. She would get irritated at her father’s irritation at her aunt, wanting to believe that the woman had a good reason for not seeing her off to the train. However, as events came and went, and her aunt never appeared, Isabella slowly began to realize that the woman might have just stopped caring about them. She had looked up to her aunt so much, and everyone seemed to tell her that she was just like her. Now, that irritated her more than anything. There were only so many excuses the young Isabella could have made for why the woman couldn’t bloody stop by for a short visit. Finally, she gave up. She gave up the moment her younger brother died and the woman barely stayed long enough to have anything to drink. Then, at her family’s funeral, the woman hadn’t even bothered to show up. All of it was just too much for Isabella to try to excuse. Why should she care about someone who obviously didn’t care about her?

Isabella really wished she had plans with someone…not that she had any friends anymore. She had been pushing Evan and Cecilia away ever since she returned from break, though they didn’t seem to allow that too much. Isabella’s fingers began to tap against her leg, an irritating habit she had developed long ago when she was in a situation she either felt uncomfortable in or was trying to control her emotions. She wanted to say that the poor unsuspecting classmate probably deserved it, whatever it was, but that somehow sounded like the wrong thing to say. Isabella racked her brain for something to say in this situation that would get her out of it the quickest, nothing coming to her mind.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, ma’am,” Isabella finally stated, forcing a shrug to fall upon her shoulders as she pursed her lips into a small smile. “Nothing to fix,” she continued, keeping her stare steady on the woman. Nothing that I want to fix, anyways, Isabella finished silently. Apparently her Uncle Gino was the only one in HER family that hasn’t lost their damn mind and was controlled by their bloody emotions. Her aunt left their family. That was the end of the story in Isabella’s mind.

This was exhausting and Persephone knew in the grand scheme of things Bells had every right to act that way, but it didn't make it any less irritating. The stubborn DiTraverso genes were quite strong with this one. Unfortunately for her niece Persephone was just as stubborn. It had only gotten worse while being in Russia. Something about her work had intensified her less desirable traits. She often had to remind herself that she was back home and things she did back then were not completely necessary now.

As much as she hated to do it she would have to take a page out of her old book while working away from home and provoke her. Normally it was dangerous to do in her work and was a last resort of sorts. While she was fairly certain her niece wouldn't even dare to try to throw hexes at her there was a slight possibility. "You know, even Gio started writing back to me while I was in Russia. I think it's safe to say he wouldn't approve of your attitude right now." She said nonchalantly as she clasped her hands atop her desk. She had become quite good at masking her emotions at that point in her life. That wasn't to say later that day she wouldn't start breaking things out of frustration. The only that knew the real reason she couldn't leave Russia were her parents and her cousin Angelo. That was only because they happened to stop by the house while she and her husband were having a heated argument about his physical health after the stabbing. She hadn't wanted to worry the family by letting them know just what kind of work she was doing in Russia. She looked over her niece with raised eyebrows as she waited for her reaction to the comment on Bells father.

It was irritating enough that Isabella was being forced to live with this woman, that she really thought it was bloody overkill to have the woman live with HER at HER school. Any of her other family memebers could have taken her in…until she realized that this woman was her named godmother, as well, making Isabella stuck with her once the woman said she’d take her. Isabella had no clue what this was, but if this was the woman’s way of trying to make up for lost time, it wasn’t going to work. Every day she had to walk through the bloody halls and remember that her brothers were no longer there. For Isabella, there really was no escape from missing her brothers. She could pretend that her parents were still at home doing whatever they did when the children were away but here at school, her brothers were supposed to be here. Braden was supposed to be studying like crazy in the library for the Ministry he wanted to be a part of and Adam was supposed to be dating his next catch while pranking on the side. Eliot was supposed to be practicing his Quidditch and Lucas was supposed to be telling her about a girl he really liked but didn’t know how to talk to. None of that was happening. They weren’t having their sibling date and flying on brooms or playing football. They weren’t in the kitchens eating until they couldn’t move. They were gone and she had to be reminded of that every day. And now, her aunt was at school, another bloody reminder of the family that she lost.

At the woman’s words, Isabella’s jaw clenched tighter together, her teeth beginning to hurt. A deep breath could be heard being taken and then slowly releasing through her nostrils as a brief flash of anger and hurt passed through Isabella’s eyes that were glaring at her relative. “Of course he can’t approve. He’s bloody dead…not much he can approve of now,” she shot out angrily, her arms folding up across her chest. Her father writing back to his sister was news to Isabella, and she wasn’t certain how to feel about that.