Chapter 1

In hindsight, Hermione supposed that if she had just picked someone else to be pissy with, none of this would have happened. Professor Snape was, as it turned out, not the best choice as a recipient for one's bad mood.

She had been annoyed that day at everything: Ron's bad table manners, Harry's asking for her help on his homework, and even Ginny's enthusiasm for the upcoming trip to Hogsmeade. In potions class, she was extraordinarily peeved at being overlooked time and time again so that Snape could humiliate lesser prepared students. Finally, she huffed.

"What was that? Something constructive to say, Miss Granger?" Snape swiveled and glowered at her.

"No, sir." Even trying to be conciliatory, Hermione could not keep her annoyance out of her voice.

"No, no. Out with it. I wouldn't want such a fine student as yourself to strangle upon your own bile."

"It's just…" Hermione trailed off, sure that she was about to say the wrong thing and get herself into even more trouble.

Snape raised an eyebrow in mock attentiveness. "Yes? Do tell."

"It's just… you seem to waste a lot of the class's time calling on people who aren't prepared, and it's just not fair to those of us who are!" Well. There she was. Unable to keep her mouth shut after all.

"Ah. As I am sure it is unfair for the class to be interrupted by your overeager display of hubris. Ten points from Gryffindor, and, I think, a detention with me this evening. You can show me then what you seem to know about potion making. In the meantime, I think we can all agree that we have heard enough from Miss Granger."

Hermione bit her lip and looked down, her cheeks flaming. She had never gotten detention before, at least not without Harry or Ron getting them all in trouble. And she was right, too. Snape WAS a royal prat, and he enjoyed wasting class time to humiliate the students. She, on the other hand, was there to learn. Not that he cared.

Hermione whiled away the rest of class seething in this manner, and much of dinner as well, egged on by Ron and Harry's sympathy. But by the time her evening detention rolled around, she had the good grace to show some humility and shame. Otherwise, she knew Snape would see through her and find some new methods of torment.

When Hermione arrived at Snape's dungeon classroom, he met her at the door and immediately said, "follow me." She trailed behind him as quickly as she could, but he obviously wanted to make her trot like an obedient dog. When they reached the doors to the outside, Snape looked her up and down with a critical, sneering eye.

"I suppose you will be warm enough in that? We are going to the Forbidden Forest, and I don't want you to whine that you are cold."

"No, sir. I mean, yes sir. I am warm enough." Hermione tried not to let her apprehension show. She had heard all about Ron and Harry's detentions in the forest with Hagrid, and how they didn't always end up so well. She hoped that Snape was a mite more responsible with his students than Hagrid was. As much as she loved the half-giant, he often let his exuberance cloud his common sense.

"Sir, what are we doing in the forest?" Hermione asked politely.

"We will be harvesting some important plants for making a variety of potions. Speaking of which, what are the top ten most commonly used potions?" So Snape was going to quiz her. Ok, she should be able to handle this.

Hermione was able to list all ten, though not without some considerable thought once she reached number eight. She had to decide between four contenders for the last two spots, but judging by Snape's aggrieved look, she answered correctly. Snape continued to ask her questions throughout their walk, until Hermione was reminded of the muggle hospital shows, where the arrogant attendings quizzed the residents to show them up. However, Hermione kept up with Snape, both in pace and knowledge, and she was distracted by the questioning to the point that they had reached the forest and proceeded quite a ways in before she noticed.

They finally stopped in a small clearing in the woods, and when Hermione looked around, she saw a number of plants with magical uses. She breathed out a sigh of admiration and asked, "Is this a garden?"

Snape, annoyed that he hadn't managed to stump Hermione even once, sneered, "No. Not at all. Just a fertile patch of ground for a number of useful plants. Now, be useful yourself and go into the forest through there and harvest some Nox lumineri. It should be easy to find, as it glows. You can tell me what it is used for when you come back."

Hermione didn't think she'd ever heard of the plant, but was determined to pull its uses up from the depths of her memory while she searched for it. And she figured that the effort of remembering would help keep her fear at bay, as she was being forced to go into the forest alone.

After Hermione had gingerly stepped into the woods and been gone for a moment or two, Snape heard a soft chuckle from the woods to his left.

"Tsk, tsk, Severus. Feeling the need to show up the ickle student by pretending to know about something that doesn't exist?"

Snape whirled and drew his wand aggressively, only lowering it slightly when he recognized the voice.

"Bellatrix," he hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"The same as you, I'd imagine. Gathering some plants." Bellatrix glided from the shadows, beautiful and gaunt in her black dress. She, too, had her wand raised somewhat aggressively, though her face showed a mocking expression.

"Well, you need to leave. Immediately. You cannot be seen by a student. It cannot be known that I am… that we are…"

"Colleagues in pain?"

Snape scowled, but nodded curtly.

"Don't worry, Sevvie," she sing-songed, and Snape scowled even more at this less than humorous nickname. "I'll just get what I need for the Dark Lord and be on my way."

"Bellatrix. NOW."

"Tut, tut. I don't believe you are the boss here. And if your precious student comes back, I'll just deal with her. Nicely." She added at his horrified expression.

Bellatrix began to do a graceful dark whirl of a dance, accio-ing various plants to her and tucking them away somewhere within her voluminous skirt. She ignored Snape's discomfort, but immediately became alert when Hermione stepped back into the clearing.

"Professor," Hermione began, not yet noticing Bellatrix.

"Petrificus totalis!" shouted Bellatrix, before Snape could act.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted, running towards Hermione's body as it fell to the forest floor like a plank of wood. "She can hear you!"

"So let her hear. I can wipe her memory clean and she'll never know how lucky she was tonight. Now, step away. I want to see this student who had you so flustered tonight. Step. Away." Bellatrix commanded, not ceasing to glare at Snape until he had retreated a distance.

Snape glowered suspiciously at Bellatrix as she moved closer to the fallen body. Hermione stared up at the Death Eater in terror, though only her eyes showed her fear. She could not move or speak, but she was absolutely aware of the dark woman's nearness. Bellatrix stood beside Hermione's body and prodded it with her toe.

"So, you are a smart one, eh? Poor old Sevvie was so distraught that you were showing him up that he sent you on a wild goose chase. Did you find any glowing plants? No? Pity. That's because there are none. But you found something else instead, didn't you." She whispered menacingly, as she crouched down beside the girl and leaned over her, moving Hermione's bushy hair back from her face with her wand, and examining the young witch's face.

"You found ME. That's worth several mysterious, glowing plants, I should say. Old Dumbles would love to catch me here, I'm sure. Not that he could do anything about it – he hasn't been able to yet!" Here Bellatrix stopped to cackle a slightly maniacal laugh, before she took an exquisitely deep breath and looked back down at Hermione.

"Merlin. You are quite the pretty one, aren't you? Under this bush of hair there is a brain AND a pretty face? Maybe that's why Severus has you down here in the nighttime all alone with him…"

Snape moved closer at this and said angrily, "Bellatrix, you go too far. It's time for you to leave now."

She stood quickly and snapped, "I'm not done yet!" With a flick of her wand, she sent Snape flying to the other side of the clearing, where he hit a tree and fell slumped to the ground.

"Did you see what he made me do?" Bellatrix whispered to a terrified Hermione, crouching back down. "Tiresome man. They are all tiresome men. Except the Dark Lord, but then, he doesn't really count as just a man anymore, he's so much more…" She trailed off, eyes gazing into the distance before refocusing on the young woman on the ground.

"Mobilicorpus," Bellatrix muttered, causing Hermione to rise from the ground. She twisted her wand until Hermione was upright, floating in the air in front of her, as if she were standing on her own. Bellatrix continued to look her over, her eyes not betraying what she was thinking. Hermione wished she knew what was going to happen to her, but every time she started to imagine, she became too terrified to continue her train of thought. She didn't think that Bellatrix knew who she was – that she was friends with Harry Potter or that she was a muggle-born. Doubtless she would be dead or tortured now if Bellatrix knew these things, regardless of what happened to Snape as a result. Instead, the Death Eater seemed to be rather fascinated with the young witch.

"You know," Bellatrix began, moving closer to Hermione and leaning in towards her ear, "you could be very useful. Useful to the Dark Lord. Useful to me." Hermione could feel her curly mane of hair tickling her cheek, and her hot breath on her ear. She would have shivered if she'd been able to, though whether from fear or something else, she didn't know. And then Bellatrix reached out her tongue and swiped her earlobe, and Hermione knew it wasn't fear. It wasn't even fear when Bellatrix bit Hermione's ear just enough to cause a sharp pain. But it quickly turned to fear when Bellatrix stepped back and raised her wand.

"Now, I suppose, we must proceed with that memory charm. Can't have loud mouths running around Hogwarts, can we?"

With that, Bellatrix pointed her wand at Hermione, then swiftly turned and said, "obliviate," aiming directly at Snape. The spell hit him hard enough that he slumped even further along the tree.

Bellatrix turned back to Hermione, reached out and ran one finger down her cheek. "Ta ta for now, my lovely. We shall see each other again soon, and then I will find out just how useful you can be."

The Death Eater sauntered off into the forest, hips swaying and black dress melting into the trees, leaving the young witch suspended in the air.