A/N: Story has been started posted under The Broken Wand. Will take this chapter down as soon as the main story progresses that far.
Dumbledore had told Hermione she would have to attend classes, even Defense Against the Dark Arts with Lestrange, or well Black as she went by in this crazy alternate time line she had stranded herself in. Normally classes would have been a welcome distraction, but the situation she found herself in was almost too much for Hermione to take in. How was she supposed to sit calmly by and take lessons with someone who carved something so degrading in her arm, who took immense pleasure in her torture? Having used legilimens on her Dumbledore knew exactly what she had endured at the hands of Voldemort's mad lieutenant and his answer had been for her to look at Professor Black as an entirely new person. She had never experienced all the things that made Lestrange crazy to begin with, had never joined Voldemort or tortured the Longbottoms. In fact, if Dumbledore was to be believed, Bellatrix Black was friends with the Longbottoms and Neville's godmother. He urged Hermione to give her a chance and get to know her, she wasn't sure if she wanted too, and honestly after everything she had been through the past year Hermione wasn't sure she even trusted Dumbledore's judgment anymore.
She shuffled through a crowd of first years playing with what looked like Wizarding Wheezes. Her heart squeezed, Fred and George were both alive here. Everyone killed in the battle of Hogwarts was alive because here, in this timeline, it never happened. Harry and Ron had lived an uneventful school life with only mild mischief; Harry's parents were both alive and had raised him to be the man Hermione had always thought he should be. He was just like his father a little mischievous, but he had enough of his mother in him to make him kind. She almost didn't recognize them when she first saw them in the Great Hall; they didn't have the look of war. They didn't have the strength numerous battles and near death encounters gave them. They'd never done anything Hermione remembered. No Philosopher Stone, No Chamber of Secrets, Triwizzard Cup. Serious Black was alive and had and always would be Harry's over indulgent godfather. Hermione had all those experiences, she was her past. She had been shaped into a quick-witted duelist whose greatest asset had been in the study of defensive magic. Her entire six years at Hogwarts had been finding out spells and secrets that would help herself and her friends better prepare themselves for when Voldemort attacked. None of that was needed now and she had no idea what her future held. She knew she would never get back to where she came from. She wasn't sure what magic brought her here but she knew she wasn't selfish enough to look for a return. As much as she would miss Harry and finding out where her relationship with Ron might have led she wouldn't trade that in for the look tragedy and war had given them.
She looked up, she had been so lost in thought she hadn't noticed she'd made it to Bellatrix's classroom. The door was open and six year students were shuffling in around her but Hermione couldn't seem to make her feet move. If she went in she would be forced to look at her again. Already she could picture her perfectly, wild black curls and crazy eyes flashing at her, she shivered. Even knowing this woman had no knowledge of what Hermione's past held didn't give her any courage. She knew the only way she could really understand the difference of this time was if Bellatrix turned out to be different. Hermione wasn't sure she was Gryffindor enough to find out.
"Alright take your seats, yes yes, and quiet now." Hermione hadn't moved but she was suddenly held captive by the very eyes that haunted her nightmares. "Coming in dear?" Bellatrix had no idea who she was. Dumbledore was right Bellatrix's eyes were missing the crazy shine, and her hair was still wildly curly but it was tamer and pulled back away from her face. More noticeably she smiled at Hermione and her teeth were straight and pearly white. The subtly differences gave her the courage to cross the threshold and enter the class room. "Granger right? Dumbledore mentioned you, said you should really be seventh year but since it's the middle of the school year he knocked you back to sixth." Hermione flinched when Bellatrix laid a hand on her shoulder and the dark witch immediately retracted it. She frowned at her silent student and motioned her toward an empty desk. Bellatrix figured she had upset the girl talking about her regression of grade. Dumbledore had mentioned that Granger was highly skilled an intelligent, and of age, Bella thought it was awfully cruel to make her repeat a year if she was that advanced.
Hermione took her seat and looked out the window, really she looked anywhere but at Bellatrix which caused her professor's frown to deepen. Bellatrix shook off the unsettling feeling and did her best to focus on the class. "Right, we're going to be studying Boggarts this week. We'll start with their origins and magical properties and then move on to a practical tomorrow. Can anyone tell me what a Boggart is?" Hermione looked around at the group of sixth years. She knew most of the Gryffindors; thankfully Ginny was a welcome face. She noticed it was mostly purebloods that raised their hands, made sense Boggarts would have been a normal occurrence for a magical family she remembered the one from Grimmauld place and what it had turned into for Mrs. Weasley. Hermione wondered what hers would be now. She looked up at Bellatrix who seemed to be asking her something. "I'm sorry?"
Oddly Bellatrix didn't seem to mind that she hadn't been paying attention, Snape would have taken ten points from Gryffindor and snapped at her. "Do you know what a Boggart is, Ms. Granger?"
"I know it turns into what a person fears the most, so no one has ever seen a boggart in its natural form." Bellatrix nodded. "And I know laughter is more important for its banishment than the actual counter curse." Hermione was distracted when Bellatrix beamed at her. It was disconcerting for your tormentor to seem pleased by a simple answer.
"You've faced one before?" Hermione swallowed and nodded, she didn't want to speak anymore she didn't want to have her hatred for Bellatrix Lestrange lessened at all. "Do you remember what it was?"
"Prof-"She broke off; here it couldn't have been McGonagall failing her because she had never had McGonagall as a teacher. "A teacher failing me." The class laughed she didn't join Bellatrix chuckled softly.
"At least you take your studies seriously I won't have to worry about you will I?" Hermione didn't return her smile so it was quickly wiped away. "Anyone want to go ahead and test their luck at the Boggart? Who else has faced one?" No one else had apparently, not even the purebloods that had raised their hands before. "So Ms. Granger is the only one." She looked back at Hermione. "I'll waive the essay if you want to go ahead and get the practical out of the way." She would have rather done the essay but she was going to have to do the practical anyway. She nodded and Bellatrix instructed students to stand up as she cleared the desks away with a flick of her wand. The rest of the class looked on in excitement as a tall ornate cabinet appeared in the middle of the room. It shook with the boggart and some students squealed and giggled. Hermione looked at Bellatrix and prayed for anything but Voldemort to come out. "Ready?" She repeated anything but him to herself as Bellatrix opened the door. Only then did she realize her mistake. She had never been face to face with Voldemort like she had been with Bellatrix. And she should have known better. Bellatrix Lestrange the boggart climbed out of the wardrobe and looked straight at Hermione. Bellatrix Black and the rest of the class laughed, "Granger I won't fail you on your first day if that's what you're afraid of."
Hermione shook her head and stepped backwards as the Boggart Bellatrix advanced. "Icky mud baby did you come for a matching scar, want to outdo Potter do you?" The real Bellatrix looked at Hermione in confusion but the young woman was too lost in her own private horror to pay her teacher much mind. No one was laughing now. This was the only Bellatrix Hermione knew but for everyone else this was a bloody nightmare. A glint of metal caught Hermione's eye and she paled farther. The damn cursed knife that she'd used to carve that horrid word on Hermione's left arm, the same knife that had caused them so much grief even after their rescue by murdering Dobby. Payback for her friend gave her just enough courage to raise her wand and speak the banishment charm but nothing happened. She honestly couldn't think of anything to make Bellatrix Lestrange funny. She looked at her professor in horror, the older woman was so focused on the boggart it gave something else for Hermione to worry about. This was a clean slate for Bellatrix Black and strangely Hermione didn't want her to see what she had become as a pureblood fascist, that wasn't who she was here. The boggart was a breath away from Hermione now and she wasn't sure that knife wouldn't cut just like the real thing. She gathered all the courage she had ever had and looked evenly in its eyes.
"You're not her. And I won't be afraid of her anymore she doesn't exist here." She held up her wand as the boggart watched curiously, "Flipendo." There was a loud bang and blue sparks and a started boggart flew back into the wardrobe, a flick of Hermione's wrist and the door was once again tightly shut with the boggart shaking inside.
Bellatrix looked at her rather perplexed but remained quiet. After what seemed like forever where Hermione only looked at the wardrobe, lost in her own past horrors, Bellatrix calmly dismissed her class, all except her newest student. She didn't reach for her, obviously there was a deep seated fear she held for Bella so the professor kindly kept her hands to herself. When Hermione finally did look up at her Bellatrix wasn't sure what to say, those eyes had seen far too much for just a child of seventeen. "I'm sorry I didn't properly demonstrate the Riddikulus curse, professor." It was such a Hermione thing to say she knew Harry and Ron, her Harry and Ron, would have laughed their arses off.
Bellatrix shook her head, "Are you- I mean…." She stuttered, honestly the dark witch had no idea how to have this conversation she never knew she could be so frightening. "Have I done something to you?"
The young Gryffindor found it endearing and comforting that the Bellatrix Lestrange in front of her, no the Bellatrix Black she had to remember that, looked utterly nervous at the idea she'd harmed her student. "No, not you professor, just an echo of something that no longer exists, if you were to open that door again I don't believe she would come out again. I meant what I said, I am no longer afraid of you." She looked calmly and steadily in the real Bellatrix's eyes mostly to convince herself and to remind herself the eyes were different.