"Bellatrix..." Hermione breathed.
"I needed to remind myself that you're safe," Bellatrix sighed, stepping forward swiftly to enfold Hermione in her arms, her lips at Hermione's ears.
"I'm not. Neither of us are, Bella," Hermione protested, though that didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around Bellatrix's waist and running her hands up a familiar, corset-encased back.
"I know," Bellatrix whispered, clutching at her young witch as if both their lives depended on it.
"I can't lie any more, Bella, I can't!" Hermione exclaimed, her voice escalating as her pent up frustration at their situation trembled through her and came off her in waves. "Everything about you..." Hermione said, her voice dropping to a whisper as she stepped toward Bellatrix. Hermione's hands grasped Bella's waist firmly, her fingers digging into the older woman's hips. She agonizingly raised her eyes to look into familiar black orbs, pleading with Bellatrix.
"I can't see them every day and agree that you're a bitch, a murdering lunatic. I can't sit there among my friends and pretend that I'm not far away in my mind, my heart never having left our bed. I can't pretend that I don't miss you with every bloody breath I take, that I don't need your hands on me, or that the house feels quiet when you're not cussing out some muggle item. I can't pretend that I don't know how you taste, that I don't love the woman they all despise. I need you. I need them to know that. Whatever they do about it, whatever they say...I just know I can't carry on like this."
"I just don't know how else to love her," Hermione sniffled, angrily wiping away the tears that had spilled from her hazel eyes.
"How else?" Harry asked, confused, as he wrapped an arm around the woman he considered his sister.
"Other than with all my heart," Hermione admitted with a rueful half-smile, leaning against Harry.
"Oh, Hermione..." Harry sighed. "That's just your way. Though you sometimes express your affection by hitting us or scolding us-" this earned him a half-hearted punch on the arm "-you've always been there for Ron and me. Keeping us safe, or a least alive. You love fiercely, with everything in you, and are intensely loyal. You'll never let us get away with anything, but you're forgiving; you love damn near unconditionally. I can't say that I quite see the draw, myself," he teased lightly, wrinkling his nose in mock disgust, "but she needs someone like that, Hermione. She needs you."