WHAT'S SO FUNNY?
"This is so odd. What do we do?"
"I don't know. I've never seen her behave like this before."
"Do you think we should get McGonagall? Or maybe Pomfrey?"
As Hermione opened her eyes, she saw concerned faces of Lavender and Parvati, hovering over her. She gave them a content smile. "Good morning."
"Morning…" The girls exchanged a look.
"What's going on? I haven't overslept, have I?" Hermione asked with confusion.
"No, no. It's Saturday, anyway. You were just…" Parvati didn't know how to put this in words.
"I was what?"
Lavender looked at her seriously. "You were laughing, Hermione." She said it like it was something inappropriate.
"Oh, that." She smiled with relief.
The girls had a theory that Hermione finally snapped from all the workload she took on this year. It seemed like she was attending almost everything. Except the best subject in the whole school. They agreed with professor Trelawney's assessment of Hermione, that's why they were so surprised this morning.
"I don't want to be mean, but I've never even heard you laugh before, and we've been dormmates for more than two years." Parvati said.
Hermione sat up on her bed. "You know what? You are absolutely right. Ever since I first got here, all I did was study. And don't get me wrong, I love to learn, but now I see. I almost forgot what it was like to have fun once in a while."
"So, what's got you laughing this morning?" Lavender inquired.
She was having an actual conversation with her dormmates. Unbelievable. How much should she share?
"I just had the funniest dreams all night." She giggled again, remembering one particular, where McGonagall demonstrated an animagus transition but somehow messed up the transformation back and spent the rest of the lesson meowing, while in her human form. In another she saw the entire school staff pitch in on a Christmas present for professor Snape. It was a giant gift basket stuffed to the brim with hair products.
"Yeah, she snapped." Lavender whispered discreetly to Parvati, who sat down on the bed, looking at Hermione with concern.
"Are you sure you're alright? Maybe we should get you to Madam Pomfrey, just to be sure."
I guess I can tell them. Definitely better that having to go to the Hospital wing. I'll just leave out Black and the time-turner incident.
She looked at the girls conspiratorially. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Of course!"
"Sure!"
Yeah, the whole school will know before lunch.
"Yesterday, I sneaked out of school, went to Hogsmeade and I brought a few of these back from Honeydukes. Toffees that induce funny dreams. They seem to work pretty well."
She completely blew their minds.
"You just snuck out of school and hung out in the village? And you got away with it? Wow!"
"How did you do that? I would never even think that you would try something like this."
"Exactly. You would never even suspect me of mischief. Neither would anybody else. If no one suspects it of me, it's quite easy."
"Wow! Just, wow! You are so much cooler that I ever realized." Parvati praised her.
"Hey, maybe next trip to Hogsmeade you can join us. You could show us where we can find these sweets." Lavender offered.
"Great! It's a plan."
Unbelievable! Absolutely incredible. She will go to Hogsmeade with her dormmates and she will hang out with them like a normal person. She never really liked Lavender, because honestly, the girl seemed quite simple. And both of them were way too much into Divination. But she can give them a chance. After all, they are willing to spend a day with her, to see if there's more to her than being a boring bookworm.
Thank you, Bellatrix, she thought. At least suffering through all the insults and listening to her small-minded opinions had a payoff.
CAUGHT
Hermione was walking down the corridor when suddenly she's being shoved to an empty classroom.
"What the hell?" She heard the lock click.
Her front was being pressed to the wall. She could feel a warm body pressed to her back, a wand pressed to her pulse point.
"I know what you did." It was the familiar voice of professor Black, whispering harshly to her ear.
"I didn't do anything." She tried meekly.
"Lies!" Her hands were being grabbed and magically bound together above her head.
The wand then returned to her throat. Professor Black was pressing her harshly to the cold stone. She spoke very slowly, her voice low. "Did you or did you not steal my sweets?"
As the witch spoke her other hand was roaming through Hermione's robes.
The girl shivered, her lips unmoving.
"And what do we have here?" Black pulled out a handful of toffees from Hermione's pocket. "Let me guess. You have no idea whatsoever how these got into your pocket, do you pet?" She hissed the last part.
Hermione's tongue was paralyzed with fear, she was shaking her head.
Black let the sweets fall to the ground, grabbing Hermione by the throat. Her lips touching the girl's ear as she whispered. "Now the only question remains. What shall I do with you?"
Hermione was starting to panic, trying to wrestle from the magical bounds. Suddenly she felt Black grinding herself into her backside, the corseted bust pressing into her back.
"What are you doing?" She managed to get out in a small voice.
"Well, you were curious, weren't you? You wanted to know what it would feel like." Black's hand moved down from her throat, ghosted over her clavicle and swiftly undid her Gryffindor tie, throwing it on the ground.
"Being seen." She moved them back a few inches, so she could reach between Hermione and the wall and started undoing her robes.
"Being touched." There was probably some magic involved and Hermione was in nothing but her plain white underwear. Black's hand touching her bare stomach. She pressed them together again. Oh, Merlin!
"Being teased." The hand ghosted around her breasts and she didn't struggle. To her own horror she felt disappointment at not being touched there.
"Being aroused." Those fingers were at her inner thigh and slowly dragging up to her panties. A single finger ran over her clad crotch. She moaned and tried to tear at her bindings. She felt moisture in her underwear.
She truly felt moisture in her underwear. Hermione woke up.
Horrified. Disappointed. Aroused. Confused.
She looked at the toffees lying on her nightstand. For a few weeks she managed to resist the temptation, but after she ran out of the giggly ones, her resolve was starting to fade. And this is what she got? They say curiosity killed the cat. Well, there was definitely a dead cat, alright.
What the hell was this about? Maybe she waited too long, and the sweets went bad. Whatever she was expecting from an erotic dream, this was not it.
Why a woman?
Why Black of all people?
And why the hell was she bound and treated this way?
All this time she imagined it would probably be a handsome young man, courting her and then kissing her sweetly and then… then her imagination ended, thus resulting in her trying the forbidden fruit.
How is she supposed to face Black after this?
"Granger am I boring you?"
Hermione looked up for the first time since she entered the classroom, deciding that the best strategy for surviving today's DADA would be simply not talk or initiate eye contact.
"No, professor."
"Try to learn a thing from Weasley and at least pretend that you are interested or else it's detention." Black went back to her lesson and Hermione went back to thinking.
Black was in thought as well. What was her deal today? Not that she minded terribly that the irritating girl was quiet, she just found it strange. After the lesson ended she asked her to stay.
Hermione reluctantly approached her.
"Do you care to explain to me why you didn't write a single note?"
"I already read a book about werewolves."
"Oh, so you're an expert now. You know just about anything there is to know about werewolves and attending DADA is beneath you? You think that it's nonsense, just like Divination?"
Hermione didn't look up from her feet.
"No."
Merlin, getting anything out of her today will be impossible. Where's her spunk? Why won't she even look at her?
"Look at me when I speak to you!" Bella was getting angry. But then Hermione raised her eyes.
She could see dark shadows in there. Almost automatically she used a touch of legilimency, not to fully invade her mind, just to get the sense of the mess that was now displayed on her face.
She could see the anger and frustration, Granger's usuals, at least when she was in her class. Then there was fear, intense fear, completely different to what she inspired in students. She probed a tiny bit further, not to make the girl suspicious of the invasion but just enough, so she could see a mass of confusion mixed with desire.
Slipping out of her head she didn't even think, she just asked. "What happened?"
"Nothing, I just didn't sleep well. That's all." She tried to be nonchalant, but Bella didn't buy it.
"I'll ask you again and this time try telling the truth. What in Merlin's socks happened to you?"
"I already told you, nothing happened. Can't you just leave it alone? It was just a stupid dream. It doesn't mean anything!"
Stupid dream? What is she… Oh Merlin, she didn't!
Black swiftly stepped forward. Granger tried to back out, but Black grabbed her by the chin and forced eye contact.
Legilimens.
Don't think about the sweets. Do not think about them do not think about those bloody toffees and do not think about those hands and that warm body, pressing so wonderfully to yours. No. Don't. No sweets. No body. No hands.
She understood enough.
The toffees. The toffees she herself has been thoroughly enjoying almost every night.
It wasn't a question when she spoke. "I see you took some of my sweets."
Granger was mortified. She tried to wrestle herself free from the firm grasp, but to no avail.
"Uh, uh. Not so fast." She dragged her to the nearest table and sat the squirming student down.
"Now I need you to listen to me carefully. There's a reason Flume would never sold these to a student."
The girl couldn't look at her, but she seemed to listen.
"These dreams are magically induced. They take your subconscious thoughts and just reshape them into something erotic. But when you have no actual experience, your mind can get carried away and not always in a direction you would like or enjoy. What I'm saying is, it can get pretty twisted."
"You could say that again." Hermione whispered defeatedly.
Black sat next to her with a sigh.
"I'm not going to force you into telling me, but if you've seen something you wish to talk about, you can talk to me."
She looked at her with confused disbelief. "Why are you doing this? You should be giving me a detention by now."
Bellatrix was thinking about how much should she say.
Snape stormed into the room. "Bella, I need to talk to you about… oh, forgive me, I didn't realize you had company."
"It's alright. We're done." Said Hermione as she tried to compose herself. She gathered her things and headed for the door.
"Miss Granger?" She turned at the door upon hearing Black's voice.
"Don't forget about your detention. Seven sharp, in the entrance hall."
They exchanged a look. "Ok. I'll be there." And she was gone.
She'll teach her a few simple offensive spells, let the girl get it out of her system, whatever she experienced at night.
"What was that about?" Snape asked in an amused voice. "Are you now the person students come to with their problems? Are you their shoulder to cry on?" He mocked her mercilessly.
"Shut up! What do you want, anyway?"
"Well, I was going to ask you if there's any chance that you'll let Flint out of detention for the quidditch practice this Saturday. But now I just want to sit here with you and talk about my feelings."
Oh, he'll pay for this. I can do this, too.
"Really? Which feelings are you referring to? Your out of proportion disdain for that Potter boy or is it your obvious infatuation with said boy's mother?"
Snape grew impossibly pale.
"Oh, come on Sev. Don't play coy with me. I'll tell you what. I'll let Flint's utter incompetence slide this time for Team's sake. However, you'll go drinking with me, Saturday evening. Deal?"
"Deal. And do not call me Sev." Snape gritted through his teeth and left with his usual swishing of robes.
Good, I'm bored of drinking alone, Bella thought. And then she realized that the last person she went to Three Broomsticks with was Granger.
I must be really losing my mind, she thought.
MEDIWIZARDS
As Hermione was walking away, she was lost in her head. Black was genuinely concerned. And then she offered to listen to her? What the hell?! Is this some sort of mind-game? And how much has she seen in her mind? Probably not the most important fact, that she herself was the main star of this horror film, because she would flip. She would lose it and probably kill her on the spot.
Why now? Why would Black decide to offer to be there for her now, when she can't tell her about the thing that's actually bothering her?
Ironically the only thing that was good about this whole situation was the detention. Although she isn't looking forward to the rough treatment, it was the truth what she said before. She has learned so much.
She just needs to focus on keeping the witch out of her head.
As for right now, the lunch might make her feel better.
She sat down at the Gryffindor table next to the Weasleys and Harry. That's how it was now, ever since the twins found out about her brave and rebellious and very much unauthorized trip to Hogsmeade. She found that despite their noisiness she enjoys their company. Harry isn't nearly as annoying as she expected from a big Quidditch star. And Ron, well, he was annoying as hell. But his heart was it the right place. The one whose company she enjoyed most was Ginny. The unrequited love for Harry was kind of sad, but otherwise she was great.
And that's what made her meals enjoyable now. She didn't even talk much, but it felt great to be included. And at least now she has that detention to look forward to.
"What are you smilin' about 'Mione?"
"I have a detention tonight."
Too late she realized that she sounded like a lunatic.
"Oh, do tell us"
"what have you done this time?"
"I stole some sweets from professor Black and she found out."
Ron spilled his pumpkin juice, while Harry yelled for the whole Great hall to hear: "You what?"
"Amazing! True Gryffindor courage!" The twins praised her.
"Are you mental? Like you need to give that crazy witch any more reasons for hating you." Ginny reasoned.
"She really pissed me off the other day and I just reacted. I wasn't thinking. It was weeks ago, somehow she found out about it now."
"I suspected you from being amazing for years, but this is just brilliant. First you tell off Trelawney, then you sneak out and now this. Just brilliant!" George exclaimed while Fred nodded vigorously.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you completely messed up after your last detention?" Ron inquired.
That got even the twins to shut up.
"Yeah. What happened there?" Harry asked.
"It was nothing, it looked way worse than how it was."
"Hermione, what did she do to you?" Ginny probed gently.
"Yeah and why are you looking forward to more?" Ron said over a mouthful of meat.
"Ok guys. I'll tell you. At first, I thought she was going to kill me and make it look like an accident."
Everybody at the table nodded their understanding. That wouldn't have been a surprise.
"But then she completely switched and gave me a duelling lesson. And it wasn't just a target practice for her. She taught me a lot. Draco and his pack of goons have way harder time picking on me, now."
"Mediwizard Fred, what is your expert opinion?"
"Thank you, Mediwizard George. I think we have a severe case of too-bloody-mental-for-words fever. Do you have a recommendation for treatment?"
"Stop it, you guys! I'm not crazy."
"Sure, because every other person is excited for their detention."
"I'm with you on this one, Hermione. Not the part that involves you being a punching bag for a nutjob like Black, but the part about learning how to duel. It must be incredible."
"It is. I can't wait for more."
The lunch with her friends almost made her forget about the dream. Almost.