The dungeons were always cold, dark and damp. Anything under a castle made of stone would be. Of course, the Slytherin common room was kept cozy by warmth of a constantly lit fire, and in the heat of the summer, having a bed down in the dungeons was a blessing. But to older Slytherin students, it just seemed natural after a while. You got used to the dark and the damp and the cold. Maybe this was the reason no one really wanted to get into Slytherin when they first arrived at Hogwarts. In her first year, she couldn't understand this. It was expected of her to get into the house, and she always wondered what would have happened if she had not gotten into it. Would it have been just like it was for her squib sister Adrienne? Would her father decide to act coldly toward her or even deny her existence? Not that Belladonna really even enjoyed her parents very much, they didn't care so much about her as they used to now that she had this 'little problem.'

It didn't matter though, she didn't need her father's leg ups he could give for Ministry jobs. She was set on owning Borgin and Burkes after her ancient uncle passed away. How fitting for a werewolf like she was. Her mother insisted as long as they all pretended she wasn't what she was, Bella would do fine in life. But she couldn't go by pretending to be something she wasn't. There was something about her that just wasn't human. Pieces of her that yearned for something she wasn't quite sure of. Though anything of the sort was repressed within her, Bella liked to remain with her cold reputation she had gained through all her years at the school. No one crossed Belladonna Blackwood.

She looked both ways as she came to a junction in the tunnels made of stone. There was no way to be sure she wasn't being followed, but she doubted anyone would be wandering around the dungeons after curfew. And if anyone was following her, Bella would hex them into oblivion. She didn't have many friends, mainly enemies at the school. In some ways it was good, because there wasn't a greater dueler than she. Bella had the marks, the skill to be very successful as an Auror, but that path wasn't for her. Not for her kind. Pureblood laws made it impossible to get a job anywhere as a werewolf, she knew this. Although her lycanthropy was a secret, and she could have the job if she wanted it, Bella didn't want to have to hide it all and pretend she was normal.

Bella stepped into the unused dungeon briskly, her robes billowing out behind her. She was grateful for that lesson on the wolfsbane potion given in her fifth year by Professor Dawes. She was much too prideful to have to ask about it, or ask for it to be brewed for her. She was a perfectly capable student. Bella had begun nearly a month ago, because this potion took a very long time to be made, and it was extremely complex in nature. But Belladonna enjoyed a challenge. She used her wand, pointing at where she left the cauldron boiling and muttered a spell to deactivate the disillusionment charm she'd had on it. If anyone were to find out about her lycanthropy, she wasn't sure what she would do. With a satisfied sigh, Bella began to go to work, undisturbed in the dead of night. Her eyes flickered toward the ceiling, wondering about the phases of the moon. There would be a full moon within the week, and already she could feel the changes in her personality, everything about her seemed that much more 'wild'. Fellow Slytherins pretended not to notice, but she knew they could tell she was different around the full moon.

Bella had never really been tame, but she seemed far more like something else around that time. A creature of the night. A creature of the dark arts. A beast or a being, she wasn't sure anymore.

She was a werewolf, and eventually she would have to come to terms with that.