Author's Note: This is the last chapter of this story... I know it seems a bit odd to only have a prologue and three chapters, but there is nothing more that I feel can be said for it. Hearts lain bare for both to see... that was what both one-shots' and this story's purposes were. I hope that you all enjoy the final chapter. And fret not, for I am still working diligently on 'When Life Must Go On' as well as a couple of other things that will be reveal later.
"When life seems its most surreal, that is when it is actually real."
A loud sound of someone taking a deep gasp of breath, is all that is heard throughout the large cavernous amphitheatre as Bellatrix awakens with a start. She remembers vaguely how she got to where she was now after she had woke up in a seemingly freshly dug grave. Clawing her way up and out of the two metre hole, the raven-haired witch's hands fell upon two things when she reached the wet grass above her. Her wand and a river stone. The river stone was actually a port key and had whisked her away to the ancient-looking coliseum that Bellatrix was currently lying on the floor of. Standing up on shaky legs, the raven-haired witch takes in her surroundings. 'Where in bloody hell am I? And why did I first wake up in a freshly dug grave?' The witch thought to herself as she stared at the rows of benches that were crafted out of the stone edifice they were set in.
Walking around the structure, Bellatrix could hear the faint drip drop of water falling from somewhere in the corridor that was on the left-hand side of the amphitheatre. 'I must be underground somewhere. But why am I here?' Suddenly her mind is filled with images of the Battle of Hogwarts, causing the witch to drop to her knees with the pain of everything that had transpired. The last thing she remembered was seeing her own death and memories of two witches that had been haunting her mind for years. Lily and the newest one that had became the object of her affection, Hermione Granger. 'Bloody hell... how did I come back? That insufferable Weasel bitch killed me, but here I am in who knows where... Is this hell? I would have thought it a bit more hotter than this. At least that is what they say.' She stops at looks at the statues and etchings in the walls that have become more prominent the further she had went inside the hall. 'Snakes? If I didn't know any better I would think this is a atrium dedicated to Salazar Slytherin.'
"You guessed right Bellatrix... This is where Harry fought the basilisk in our second year. Also known as the Chamber of Secrets." A voice says from behind Bellatrix causing her to turn swiftly with her wand at the ready. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I just couldn't help speaking after seeing you so enthralled in the statues. I wanted your full attention."
"Hermione... why are you here? And why am I still alive? How did any of this happen?" The older witch fires off question after question, all the while trying to still her heart that was thundering within her chest.
"Your letter is what happened."
"My letter?" Bellatrix asks, when suddenly a look of understanding crossed her face. She remembers telling her house-elf, Mala, if anything happened to her to discreetly give Hermione Granger a black envelope. 'I guess she did as she was told.' The older woman thought to herself.
"Merlin, if I had known before... I would have found a way to save you, but I didn't know. It wasn't until I had found it stuffed in my beaded bag..." Hermione walks closer to the raven-haired woman. "I know you said you didn't expect forgiveness, but I just had to see you. It... It tore my heart, to read that bit of parchment. I should hate you for what feelings you unleashed with in me. I should hate you for what I have done to be able to see you again, but I don't. No matter what you did, I could never truly hate you. Even before the letter... I... I had felt something for you the first time I had set eyes on you." The younger witch moves closer still her eyes never breaking contact from Bella's.
"You brought me back..." The raven-haired woman whispers. "How did you do that? There are very few types of magic left now that could bring me back and all are considered dark arts."
"It was a pagan rite I used... I know it sounds completely mental, but I just had to... with what I know now, I could not leave things as they were." The brunette finally reaches out her hand to touch stray dark curl that had settled itself over the older witch's eye.
Bellatrix allows Hermione to touch the stray curl and almost leans into the touch itself. "Why did you bring me here... to Hogwarts? They will send me to Azkaban, if they find me here. Or worse, they will kill me. I don't want you to have gone to all this trouble just to have me leave again." The older witch slowly takes the brunette's hand in her own, feeling the warmth of the younger woman's hand in her own made her close her eyes just to stable the beating of her heart. When she opens her eyes, she sees the concern and fear of being left alone in Hermione's eyes. Bellatrix wanted to keep the other witch from ever feeling the pain she had felt before in her own life but she knew that it was a very dangerous game that they were playing now. "You know they will come after you too, if they ever found out you are harbouring me. They will also realise you were the one who brought me back if any of this is found out." Dropping Hermione's hand, the older witch turns around to face the large antechamber in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she listens to the constant drip-drop of water from the ceiling. Its melody calming her ever racing heart. Before she even realised she thought the sentence, it had escaped her throat. Leaving her soul feeling a little more torn than before. "You shouldn't have brought me back, Hermione."
"I shouldn't have brought you back? Were you listening to a bloody word I was saying earlier?" Hermione place her hand on the raven-haired witch's shoulder and spins her around. "I didn't have to bring you back... I wanted... Needed to bring you back. There wasn't a day that passed since I found that letter that I haven't thought of you. Hell, even before the letter you were constantly there. In my thoughts. In my dreams. I first thought it was because I was terrified of you. But now the more I look back at it all, it wasn't because I feared you. It was because I needed you. You... Bellatrix Lestrange, have made me feel more alive than I have ever felt in my life." Hermione pauses for a few moments, allowing the older witch to say something. Anything. When she didn't, the brunette continued. "Do you know you were the first person to ever see the potential in me? It was at Malfoy Manor, when we were brought in by the Snatchers. You had took one look at Harry and noticed he had been jinxed. You wanted to check my wand to see what my last spell was. You had known it was me the whole time. Others tend to act like I don't exist when Harry is around. All they would see is the know-it-all that followed in the shadow of the Boy-Who-Lived. Not you. You saw past that. You saw me... and I saw you. For who you were not for who they made you to be. A life most unkind exudes strongly from everything you do, but I know that was from them. Their creation. You... are what I saw, what I have been reminded of everyday since you had left. The spark, that lights in your eyes when you think of something brilliant. Your loyalty. Your determination. Things that others had despised you for, I admire in you."
Bellatrix stands, eyes downcast, in front of Hermione still. Even after the younger witch finished her speech, the older woman was at a lost for words. Never had anyone spoke so passionately about her since the last time she had been with Lily. She felt the fires, that once laid forgotten in her heart, stoke to roaring flames by the fervent words Hermione had spoken. When she finally looked up at the beautiful brunette that had haunted every corner of her mind ever since she had laid eyes on her in the Department of Mysteries, Bellatrix had a smile on her face. Lifting her hand to caress Hermione's cheek, the raven-haired witch finally speaks. "Where would we go?"
The brunette leans into the caress, reaching her hand to cover the other woman's. "Any where your heart desires."