your stories, my alibis | ondina

[diana eoina bainbridge]

Speak to me

Tell me something so typical

May 17, 2026
Ondina Nell Weasley

Diana tried to think of a word for how she felt. Hogwarts had fallen, burned by the fiendfyre set off by Elaine. The past two days had been a blur from the moment she’d run into Sarah in Hogsmeade and had that run-in with Asher Burke in the Entrance Hall to breaking down and telling Penelope everything before they’d found her sisters. She’d spoken to Cara not long after, and it had been a relief to say the least, but the consequence was quite a bit of pain and guilt. All the lying, all the distance, and pushing her family away. Elaine was dead. She wasn’t bound by the Vow anymore—she was free.

And yet, as she reached the pick up her drink, her hand still trembled slightly. Forcing her hand into a fist, she forced it to stop long enough to drink. The firewhiskey burned in her throat, it wasn’t something she drank often, but her nerves were getting the better of her. Not even her metamorphmagus ability could hide the bags under her eyes and the red rim from crying and exhaustion. The thought had crossed her mind to go straight to the Ministry of Magic and confess. Maybe that would help with this weight that hadn’t lifted.

She placed the glass back on the counter. It was still mostly full. This place was one of the hole in the wall pubs in Knockturn, it was never very crowded, but more importantly, people kept to themselves and minded their business. The dark corners reserved for clandestine conversations or activities. Sometimes Diana sold her work here. Diana ran a hand through her long hair, taking in a deep, shuddering breath and letting it out. If it was all supposed to be over, why didn’t it feel like it?

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[Ondina Nell Weasley]

i dare you.

THERE WAS SOMETHING ELECTRIC ABOUT PANIC. A flavour Ondina was all to familiar with, but this particular time it was different. Before, it had been her body that pinched the air in her lungs. Ondina knew what it felt like to be on the brink of death, this was not the same kind of death. That had been her own illness working tirelessly against her.
The fall of Hogwarts was the kind of panic that Ondina could not control.

She had not stayed long enough to see the castle consumed, or to count the dead. Ondina had gone because it had felt like an obligation. It was Elaine that referred her to the potioneer, who in turn concocted the potions that stopped her incessant wheezing - cooling her allergies to a bearable degree. She owed Elaine her life. She owed her some twisted kind of loyalty. That loyalty had lasted long enough for Ondina to see the first Aurors swarm in to Hogsmeade. She had escape and Apparated out immediately after. Screw Elaine, screw the potions. She'd rather die face down in her own mucus, than in a cell in Azkaban.

In the aftermath, rumours circulated and Ondina felt no better being free. She took a floo in to Knockturn Alley, a sweat breaking out along the delicate, fine skin at the back of her neck. A whine gearing up deep in her shrivelled lungs, so acute that she pulled a vial from her pocket and uncorked it with her teeth. The glowing, misty contents upended in to her throat and cooling the wheeze before it turned in to a cough. She blew out an icy breath and dipped her chin, lifting a hood up over her head and weaving through the streets briskly.

Ondina could not rest. Not because Elaine Dupree was likely dead - that vicious bitch leaving the rest of them with a colossal mess to clear up. No, Ondina knew only a handful of Purifiers - her identity had been a closely guarded secret. An infamous Weasley turning her back on heroism? The papers would have a field day. The Ministry would hang her from the rafters. Ondina slipped in to the pub and drew in a sobering breath. She was deathly pale, almost grey. Her hands adopting a permanent shake so that she looked restless, unsettled - guilty. Few Purifiers knew of Ondina's association with Elaine, but those who did she had to be sure were not captured, or worse - big mouthed.

"You look well," Ondina said dryly as she slid in to the seat beside Diana. Just a little too close for social comfort. Their shoulders brushed as she leaned in close. A long, red tipped hand reaching over to grab the top of Diana's glass before she could lift it once again. "Celebrating?" She raised a brow, searing stare burning a hole into the side of Diana's head. Diana had run out of steam the moment the girl's were out of Hogwarts. Ondina had flourished in freedom, taking every opportunity to climb the ladder at the Ministry, and earn her keep with Elaine. All in exchange for a competent potioneer, and all the galleons she could wish for. Diana had never had the guts. Which meant, unlucky for Ondina, she could rat them all out.

"Ding, dong, the witch is dead..." Ondina sing-songed in a low sinsister drawl, never taking her eyes off of Diana's face. Almost as if she were challenging her. Testing her mettle. 

diana eoina bainbridge

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[diana eoina bainbridge]

Speak to me

Tell me something so typical

May 17, 2026
Ondina Nell Weasley

Diana didn’t notice the presence of someone near her, let alone taking a seat far too close to her. The invasion of her personal space left her more uncomfortable than she had been when she’d arrived. Looking over, she recognized the red-head, and Diana wasn’t sure if her heart could sink any lower in her chest, but it certainly tried. Diana’s lips parted slightly to speak, but then she closed them again as she felt Ondina’s eyes bore into her. They’d practically known each other their whole lives. The Weasley extended family was always visiting the Potter family home where Ondina would sit off to the side, often too sick to join them in a game of Quidditch or running away from Lily’s latest fireworks experiment.

But she’d changed. In their later school years, Diana had noticed Ondina’s fierce presence as they shared classes, and then their final years when Diana finally met Elaine and Ondina helped keep her in check while Elaine was gone. She gripped her glass a bit harder and pulled it away from Ondina’s intrusive hand. Diana also realized that Ondina knew her and her family very well and, as a Weasley in the Purifiers, had a lot to lose. That had never been lost on her, but with the Vow, it was just another fact to shove aside. ”W-what do you want, Ondina?” She managed to ask as she felt herself hunch lower in her seat.

The vast organization that Elaine had created had been powerful through its anonymity. Diana had known the inner circle and a handful of others like Sarah and Aerick, but otherwise, she knew aliases. It was a built-in way to give plausible deniability. But despite Ondina’s sickly existence, she was a far stronger and more formidable person than Diana could ever be. The last words spoken by the Weasley sent a chill down her spine, causing goosebumps to form on her arms. There was a feeling that Diana had in the pit of her stomach—ever since she’d seen that smoke from the Castle. If Elaine had set off that Fiendfyre, then she might not have survived it. The almost certain that Elaine was gone, and after talking to her sister and breaking down and somehow staying alive, she was almost certain—but she hadn’t told anyone except Burke in the Entrance Hall. ”Is she?” Diana tried to focus her mind. If Occlumency had been good for anything, it had been to help with her emotions. To close them off, to be completely cold. ”You don’t know that.” Diana whispered and looked away. The panic of the last couple of days made it hard to close off her mind.

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[Ondina Nell Weasley]

i dare you.

ONDINA LET THE GLASS GO AS DIANA PULLED IT back with a screech of the bottom on poor polish. Hand raised along with her brows, palm up and unusually pink. Her blood was pulsing, rushing to all of her extremities and giving her a flush, shaking her hands and prickling along her spine restlessly. Diana looked no better bleached under the pub's lights, with deep shadows under her suspicious stare. She did not look pleased to see Ondina, but that hardly mattered.

"Not even a 'how are you'?" Ondina tutted, jostling Diana's shoulder with her own. "And I thought we were friends." Ondina did not feel like a drink, but she still eyed the back of the bar, looking for something appealing or worse, a prying ear. This was not a conversation Ondina wished to be overheard, even in its ambiguity. She felt watched, on a knife's edge. The night was creeping up the back of her neck. 

Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, she turned her stare back to Diana and scrutinised her. The sharp sing-song like a finger on a trigger, watching Diana's micro-expressions in the poor lighting. Unfortunately, Diana was weak in every way but this. Ondina watched her build her walls, her face flattening into an indecipherable wall of dull composure. Ondina drew in a breath, frustration tightening her chest traitorously. She blew out her sigh right into Diana's face, her whisper carried off with it, taking the falseness of it along as she did. "No, I don't." Ondina agreed, almost sadly, arms crossing on the bartop as she leaned further into Diana's space, nostrils flaring dangerously. "But, you do." She whispered back, chin brushing her shoulder before she leaned back. "Build your little walls, but I don't need to see your face or read your mind to know that you believe it."

Somewhere, buried underneath her panic and her fierceness lay a rock of something akin to grief. Elaine had not been kind, nor had she been good. And yet, she had helped Ondina more than anybody she had ever known. Accepted her within her ranks, gave her a high profile job and even higher profile missions. Ondina had killed for Elaine, and to think she was dead was to burn every single piece of gratitude along with her. She wondered if Diana felt a shred of the same thing, but disregarded it immediately. There had always been something imprisoned about Diana, like she had never been in a single place she actually wanted to be - not even at Elaine's side.

"If she's dead, they're coming for you next." What she meant was 'us', but Ondina couldn't bear to say such a thing out loud. "Can you put on a brave little face while being interrogated?" Ondina smirked, like she didn't believe she could, goading her ego. It only lasted a moment, dropping as quickly as it came as Ondina cast her eyes around the room once again. "I want to know if I have to worry about you, Diana." She said quietly, a knowing quirk to her brows, every sentence draped with another twisted meaning. "I'd hate if something happened to you." The concern sounded almost authentic, dripping with a soft sympathy that could make a grindylow weep. Diana had her walls, but Ondina had always had her theatrics. 

diana eoina bainbridge

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[diana eoina bainbridge]

Speak to me

Tell me something so typical

May 17, 2026
Ondina Nell Weasley

Adrenaline coursed through Diana’s veins, her fight or flight response kicking in though Diana knew very well she did not want to fight. Ondina’s threatening presence was almost as bad as dealing with Elaine herself, though also mainly a testament of how Diana had dealt with peers near her age and her naturally quiet disposition. The Bainbridges had grown up alongside the Potters and Weasleys, but if Diana and Ondina were to ever point the finger at one another, Diana knew she would not win. She let her body sway slightly from the bump Ondina gave her. The knowledge that she’d never truly have peace weighed on her.

”Friends?” Diana managed to question in a soft voice before giving the redhead a look. ”We’re not friends Ondina…please leave me alone.” It was a weak plea. Diana was so tired. There was a pause as Ondina made sure they had some privacy. In fact, from Diana’s experience through her work, the seediest of places were the most private. People minded their own business and respected it as such, whereas friendlier establishments such as the Three Broomsticks would have been far too risky. She tried to focus on shutting down her mind, to resume that cold demeanor she’d let go of when she had gone back home the day before. But now, she needed it again. Diana needed that shield of ice.

Ondina further crept into her space. It was offputting. It made her uncomfortable and off-balanced. As far as Diana knew, only Elaine was aware of the Vow, and people knew that Elaine had a way to control Diana even if they did not know what. Those chains were gone now, however. But new chains had appeared in the form of the things that Diana had been complicit in, an accessory to horrible things. She swallowed dryly as she neither confirmed nor denied Ondina’s point. She refused to look at her and stared at the beaten-up wood of the bar instead. But Ondina’s following statement forced her to look at the Weasley, fear in her eyes.

”N-no. You’re wrong.” Was she, though? Surely, Aurors and Interpol were moving quickly with arrests. The papers said they had Asher Burke, which had only filled her with glee, but no other high-level names had appeared on the front page. Just foot soldiers and minions hardly privy to pertinent information. The only person who could sell them out was Burke. The insinuations in her tone as she kept speaking brought a heavy feeling in her chest, and the anxiety welling up behind it made her throat feel tight. ”Elaine is dead…they have Burke.” Diana swallowed again, she didn’t mean to think out loud, but she had. ”He’s too arrogant to talk.” The anxiety turned to a bit of anger. If there had been one person she’d hated more than Elaine, it had been Asher Burke.

But there was that look in Ondina’s eyes and the way she spoke her concern for her well-being that was still so off-putting. Long gone was that sick and whining girl on the sidelines while her cousins played Quidditch with Diana’s siblings. ”Just…leave me alone, Ondina…I won’t say anything…” Diana slumped on her stool, staring back at the bar as she pleaded with a soft and shaky voice. She hated all of this. She hated the situation. She could not leave or escape. It didn’t matter who was dead and that the Vow was broken. Diana could never escape.

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[Ondina Nell Weasley]

i dare you.

SHE COULD PRETEND IT HURT HER FEELINGS, really draw out the pettiness of Diana's bold disdain of her accused friendship. Diana Bainbridge didn't think they were friends, what a pity. Ondina had never really seen her as much of anything at all. Something of a stationary figure that existed just on the periphery of her interest. Close to Elaine, so worth a second glance maybe. However, she was painfully dull. So burdened by her own morality that it hung around her neck like a great iron anchor. She sat there, hunched across the bar, and had the gall to look sorry for something.

"See," Ondina forced a laugh. "This is why I'm here." There was a beat where Ondina let Diana's own imagination decide what exactly she was there for. Let her stew on the idea that such a simple declaration might bring upon such a firm statement. There was a manic glee in Ondina's final reply, "You can't tell any lies." She whispered it, like they were sharing a secret. Diana could beg and plead all she liked, Ondina was going nowhere while her fate hung heavy in the balance.

Diana's terrible, honest silence confirmed all Ondina really needed to know. How she cringed in Ondina's presence, like it burned to be so close. There was a power in that kind of reaction, thought she. How a person might curl like a dead flower just to get away from her. It wasn't pleasant, if she cared much to be liked. Fortunately, Ondina did not care much to be liked by Diana. She had no reason to.

"Nobody is too arrogant to talk," Ondina said plainly, snorting lightly as she leaned back in her chair. Diana was trying to appease her concern, but it wasn't working. "Burke doesn't worry me." She brushed the idea off, flicking a lock of hair over one shoulder. "Likelihood, he can't name me with any shred of evidence, plus..." There was a tinkering little giggle at this thought. "Who on earth is going to believe a Burke over a Weasley?" She knocked Diana's shoulder in a friendly manner, far at odds with the tension in her stature. Friends, she'd said.

With a great heaving sigh, Ondina turned her head to regard Diana again. Giving her full attention to the soft profile. How she looked both terribly innocent, and frightfully guilty all at once. Elaine was a lot things, but she knew how to pick a victim. "I'm afraid your word just isn't worth much to me." Ondina told her with a thin, almost pitying smile. "I'm going to need more than that..." She tilted her head curiously, the thought forming and taking shape right under their noses. "I'm going to need you to make a Vow." Said so casually, as if they were discussing the weather. 

diana eoina bainbridge

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[diana eoina bainbridge]

Speak to me

Tell me something so typical

May 17, 2026
Ondina Nell Weasley

The fact that Ondina was a Weasley made this much more terrifying. She was a frightening person when she wanted to be. And growing up in Godric’s Hollow near the Potters, she had seen how different Ondina was from her cousins. Diana tried not to wince, but the adrenaline coursing in her system made her hands tremble. She balled them into fists in her lap to try and make them stop. But Ondina was right, though Diana would never admit it aloud. Lying had not been her forte. And for the last few weeks, she’d struggled to keep up appearances with her work. As if her resolve had begun to break down. The icy exterior she’d built for herself melted.

She had escaped one circle of hell just to fall right into another one. Diana had been terrified of Elaine, of course, but the way Ondina whispered menacingly like a snake was entirely different. The closer Ondina got, the harder Diana’s heart beat against her chest. Every day she regretted walking down that corridor that night. Wrong place, wrong time. That was Diana’s only crime. However, Elaine and the Vow had done an excellent job of turning Diana into a complicit pawn.

But then her heart sank to the bottom of her stomach. Merlin, she had a point. A Weasley caught up in this web? Never. Impossible. Harry Potter’s niece? The same Harry Potter who had run into that burning castle just as his son James did as well. But Diana merely shook her head. ”If Burke had talked, they’d already have me.” And that was the simple truth of the matter. She didn’t know who else Burke knew, but he’d been close to Elaine. He knew very well who Diana was, as witnessed by her sister in the Great Hall. He would happily give her up as punishment for her rebellious actions toward him and what he perceived as her weaknesses.

And then, the moment Diana was certain, her heart had stopped beating as the words registered. Like an echo, she fixated on ‘Vow’, and her eyes grew wide. She turned to look at Ondina. Did she know about Elaine’s vow? Why was she using it now? ”N-No please.” She felt desperate, and her chest felt tight. ”I’ll do anything but that.” The thought of being pushed into another Unbreakable Vow felt unthinkable. Few wizards entered an Unbreakable Vow, and now Diana would have two. She would never find peace. And even with the topic of a witness, Diana could hardly leverage that. The Purifier's strength had been its lack of a centralized structure. She had no idea who Ondina knew that could bear witness.

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[Ondina Nell Weasley]

i dare you.

IT WAS LIKE WATCHING STONE CRACK HELPLESSLY. The way Diana trembled, the tension in her shoulders as she tried to tighten all of her muscles to stop it, to no avail. Skin taut against her cheeks and eyes flickering all around the room. Ondina wondered if it was all the aftermath of the battle, or exacerbated by her proximity. She liked to think the latter, it appeased her ego. She leaned in close, breath sweet from her potions.

"Give it time," She taunted her. However, the truth of it was that Ondina didn't trust even the best of them to keep quiet for very long. Especially under the Auror's desperate interrogation. It was better that Elaine had gone up in flames, better that there wasn't a shred of her left to sail them down the river. If Ondina had her way, every single one of them would be dead but her. There was no better way to guarantee silence than with a very well dug grave. "Burke is very good, but so are the Aurors." She should know, half her relatives were in law enforcement.

Ondina leaned back slowly, tired of the way the air seemed to ripple with Diana's tension. Any tighter and she'd snap, it was a fairly pitiful display. She was surprised nobody had come over and asked if she was okay, but the establishment was prized for its ability to 'mind its business'. It did, however, encourage Ondina to get to the point. Which was received as she'd predicted, Diana appearing close to tears as she refused. "Oh, stop stuttering, Diana, I'm embarrassed for you." She snapped, rolling her eyes and taking an exasperated breath inward.

Shifting in her chair, Ondina flicked her hair over one shoulder and composed herself once more. "I'm not asking you," She clarified with a dainty clearing of her throat. The history of Diana and Elaine's relationship was more or less between the two of them, but Ondina had known the basics. How the Vow had shackled the Bainbridge girl to Elaine's shadow and how she'd used it accordingly. 'Better her than me', Ondina had often thought. "And I'm not asking for your servitude." She told her, watching how Diana shivered in her peripheral. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what it would be worth even if I were." She tutted, wrinkling her nose in disdain.

Allowing Diana a moment to reflect on her words, Ondina hoped the girl would get a hold of herself. The battle was over, and they had lost in a lot of ways, but it was all for the better. Ondina had enjoyed Elaine's ambition, but even she could see how it had all fallen apart in retrospect. It was about clearing the path in the aftermath. That was their priority, not drinking themselves to death over a technicality. "I just need you to keep your mouth shut, and by the looks of things a Vow might do you good." She let her gaze flicker over Diana from head to toe.

"I cannot trust you to do this by will alone, you will fold if you're caught." She ground out in disgust. "I'm not looking to negotiate, nor am I looking to bind you for free." She sniffed, crossing her arms before continuing. "This is mutually beneficial, you Vow to keep my secret and... I'll Vow to keep yours." She shrugged as if it were nothing. As if they weren't damaged by association alone. 

diana eoina bainbridge

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[diana eoina bainbridge]

Speak to me

Tell me something so typical

May 17, 2026
Ondina Nell Weasley

Ondina’s taunting only poked at the nagging doubt Diana harbored. No human was unbreakable. Not even Asher Burke. Surely, he’d give her and others up to save his own skin—especially those that defied him so proudly. Her mind was too far gone to even think about her Occlumency training. There was something about a forced lesson that made it stick less in the long run. Plus, such malevolent words slipped by any guards like some snake slithering away.

Fourty-eight hours. Forty-eight hours was all the peace Diana had managed. Her life was not her own, and it never would be until Ondina lay in the ground and perhaps Diana too. But Ondina persisted. If anything, she seemed annoyed or perhaps inconvenienced by this whole thing. Would this conversation even be happening if Diana had not seen her face or known Ondina their entire lives? A chill traveled up her spine in the silence between Ondina’s words. Diana didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do. And it was everything she could do to not break down right there.

Finally, she looked up at the Weasley. A vow for a vow? Did she hear that correctly? ”You’d really take a vow?” The words left her soft and unsure. Biting the inside of her lip, Diana looked at the bar's surface as she thought. Her chest felt heavy with the burden of the last few years, and she even felt a little angry at the hole she couldn’t escape. What choice did she feasibly have? ”Fine.” Diana agreed softly—defeated. Besides, she couldn’t remember a time when Ondina had let anyone say ‘no’ to her.

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[Ondina Nell Weasley]

i dare you.

IT WAS PATHETIC TO WATCH THE WAY DIANA struggled so deeply with her own morality. That fear swirling at the bottom of a liquor glass. Ondina could never, she thought. To collapse under pressure was simply inconceivable. Ondina was stubborn to a fault, and she would not let a dead woman sign her Azkaban sentence. Nor, would she allow a living one. Her eyes shrewdly watching the way Diana shivered at the prospect of a measly little vow. Traumatised by her experience with Elaine, how she'd been shackled like a common dog.

With a sigh, Ondina leaned back, the acknowledgement all the confirmation she required. "Look, Diana." She snapped, slapping a hand on the bartop and twisting so that she faced out towards the main floor. "Don't start crying, it's really not that complicated." She cast the girl a sidelong look, as if to ensure she was actually listening and not having some kind of mental breakdown. "I'm not Elaine, I don't want to kill every half-breed, or chain up all the common types like some kind of knock-off Voldemort." She opened her palms with a meaningless shrug, as if she were talking about the weather.

"Most of all..." Ondina leaned sideways, close enough to see each of Diana's individual lashes. "I just don't care about you." She smiled thinly, almost with an element of pity. "If insuring my safety means insuring yours with me..." She shrugged again, pouting her lips and bouncing her leg restlessly. "Now, if you're done having a moral crisis." She hopped down from the stool and brushed individual lint from her skirt. "I have a witness,  so I'll be in touch." She laid a hard hand on Diana's shoulder as she passed, a promise clear on her face. 

[ONDINA END]

diana eoina bainbridge

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!