Chapter Four: ZzZyX Road

Hermione stared at Professor Snape, trying to focus on all the instruction he was giving the class. Over the past few weeks, she had found herself unable to pull herself together enough to fully understand what her teachers were talking about. She was extremely frustrated with herself and tried to understand why, nothing had ever been able to dampen her academia like this.

Her eyes fluttered occasionally, Snape's drone fading as her fatigue took over, and she began to drift off…

"GRANGER!" He slammed his hand down on the desk.

Hermione didn't even jump. Her eyes fluttered open. "What?" she spat at her Professor. She studied him, his face was pale, gaunt, and the way he clenched his teeth suggested he was holding back pain. Hermione was well aware of the fact that he still attended death eater meetings (Dumbledore couldn't hide everything) and assumed that there was one held in the recent past.

Snape seemed slightly taken aback by her response, usually she was quite respectful and meek, and now her eyes held a defiance and fury he had never seen before. "Do try to pay attention, it shouldn't be too hard Granger, you usually outdo everyone in that category."

Hermione rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. He'd tried to scorn her but it ended up being a half-compliment. She sat exactly like that for the remainder of the class, just to spite him, and didn't even try to make the potion.

Ron was taken aback by her attitude at the end of class. "I've never seen you be so stubborn in class Hermione!" He exclaimed, slapping her on the back a little too hard.

"Yes, so it seems." Harry agreed, looking her over.

Shit she thought silently. Ron was such an idiot that it wasn't a problem keeping his worry for her at bay, but Harry was an entirely different matter. He'd noticed the change in her, and wasn't letting it go by any means. She'd thought of being absolutely horrible to him, but that wouldn't solve anything, it would just give her a label in school. And that was the last thing she needed, to be noticed more. It had taken her so long to build up her persona, she wasn't just going to go throw it all away now.

"Hermione." Harry grabbed her shoulder.

She blushed. He'd been talking this whole time, and she hadn't even noticed.

"Why the hell do you always do that?" He exclaimed, "Ever since sixth year started, you've been staring off at Merlin-knows-what and not responding. When you do talk, its obviously things you don't mean, you're studies have been slipping-"

"Thankyou, Mum" she interrupted before she could stop herself, "Maybe I'm having an occurrence I'd like to deal with on my own. It's not all about you Harry, we normal folk have problems too!"

"Perhaps I didn't consider that," He answered, suddenly very reserved, "Where did Ron run off to?" He changed the subject quickly. She knew she had struck a chord.

"Probably to snog Lavender. Prat." Hermione said angrily, and stormed away.

Later that evening, Hermione sat across the table from Harry, watching him as he silently sipped his pumpkin juice. He hadn't said much to her since she had yelled at him, but that was kind of the point. She wanted to offend him just enough so he would be angry and back off, but not to the point where he'd stop being her friend. He stared down at the table sullenly. So did she.

The Hall was decorated with brightly lit pumpkins, since it so was close to Halloween, and the food smelled delicious. Hermione couldn't bring herself to eat what was on her plate. I don't deserve it she told herself, it had been so conniving of her, so dirty of her to manipulate Harry and his emotions like that. She sat on her hands to keep herself from picking up her silverware.

To her right, Lavender and Ron were whispering sweet-nothings to each other. He was running his hand up her thigh, playing with the hem of her skirt. Hermione loathed him for how lucky he was, to be able to touch her flawless skin, and hear her musical laughter. She'd developed a certain liking towards the girl, but she knew deep in her heart of hearts, that nothing would ever happen.

Hermione sighed, and removed her hands from under her. Picking up her fork, she took a bite of sweet potatoes. Guess I was hungry she thought, and smiled.

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Bellatrix licked her chapped lips, staring at her weak form in the mirror. Her bony hands shook as she reached for the knobs on the faucet, and when she finally got the water running, black spots danced in front of her eyes. She tried, tried so hard to catch herself using the sink, but she just collapsed onto the bathroom floor.

"Mistress! Mistress!" She heard the house-elf 's high-pitched shriek from somewhere above her.

"What in the name of-" she almost said, but grabbed her house-elf by the throat instead.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" She screamed, her vocal chords strained and sore, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" She marveled in the way Lily-Jane sputtered, and the color in her face slowly changed. When the creature was just on the brink of fading away, she released its throat.

"M-m-mis-stress Bl-bl-ack," she stuttered in between coughs, "yo- you did f-fall, yo-u loo-looked as- as if you was-wasn't goin-ng to wa-ke-. And y-you w-was bleedin, but Lily (referring to herself) ban-daged it up so you didn't l-lose too much."

"I see." Bellatrix felt humble for a moment. The house-elf had saved her life…and she had just tried to kill it.

So? She's just as filthy and disgusting, she should have saved me. She needs me. She did it for her own selfish reasons. Her mind scolded her. She felt better after this, more important.

"And why did you not call for my husband?" Bellatrix queried in a dangerously low tone.

The house-elf then did something very strange. Instead of maintaining her usually shaky, pathetic posture, she stood up straight, muscles rigid with self-control.

"I. Did. Call. On. Him. He. Is. Doing. A. Mission. For. The. Dark. Lord." Lily-Jane spun on her heel, and walked away.

Bellatrix thought about calling her back and torturing her into insanity, but after you've done that to a countless amount of people, it gets old. She wondered what she could have possibly fainted for? She was generally quite strong, and couldn't see how this could have happened. Thinking back on the past few weeks, however, quickly answered her question.

She hadn't eaten at all (and hadn't noticed) because of all the tasks her and the other purebloods were sent out to do. The Dark Lord had them on a rigorous, erratic schedule which had them out 23 hours of the usual day. She'd seen Fenrir Greyback fall out of an apparition snoring, because he'd fallen asleep in the short time span it had taken him to pop from one place to another.

She sneered at the ones that were overcome with exhaustion. She thought she was tougher, more resilient. I suppose not.

The only one who hadn't been overworked recently was Snape, the bastard, because of his position as a double agent. She didn't trust him, but Narcissa did, and that was the only thing that kept her from torturing & killing the greasy git. She stood up, peering at the clock. She'd been out for about four hours, not too long. She felt the back of her head. The bandage Lily-Jane had placed over her wound was soaked through with blood. She'd have to have Rodolphus take a look at it when he got him. Or perhaps the Dark Lord could heal it for her in seconds, but then she'd have to give him what he wanted. She honestly didn't think her body could handle that.

She tried to stand up, but a wave of dizziness hit her again, so she had to inch her way slowly across the floor to the adjoining bedroom. She grabbed a glass of water from the night stand, and drank hungrily from it. It soothed her parched throat, and she felt an intense relief. She grabbed the bed, and hauled herself up onto the mattress. She slipped between the sheets, and pulled the covers over her head.

And as Bellatrix began to lose herself to much-needed sleep, her dark mark began to burn.

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Where am I supposed to hide now?

What am I supposed to do?

Did you really think I wouldn't see this through?

Tell me I should stick around for you.

Tell me I could have it all.

I'm still too tired to care and I gotta go.