Okay, I know its taken me far too long to upload this, i do apologize sincerely. Everyone has been so lovely reviewing and its all of you reading this that have spurred me on with this. Also, I now know where I want to go with this story! Thats the only consolation I can give you for the really late update, that and the fact I'm on a role so you should expect the next update in the next few days.

I'll shut up now


Andromeda didn't know what was happening to her. The introduction of Hermione and Bellatrix into her everyday life had changed her. She didn't mourn for her husband or daughter anymore, even though she felt the loss of them like a crucio to the heart every second of the day. The two women were somehow fascinating to her, she watched them silently, studying them every day, what was once an act from Bellatrix very soon melted to reveal true emotions.

It was when they started arguing it all fell apart. Bellatrix and Hermione would be having what seemed an innocent enough conversation and then somehow, it always escalated, they screamed themselves hoarse at each other while Andromeda rocked and cried herself quietly to sleep, feeling like a child whose parents were separating. Bellatrix couldn't control her anger or loyalty to the cause. Hermione couldn't ignore her need to convert Bellatrix to good. Andromeda couldn't ignore the screaming.

One day, a few weeks after Minerva's unannounced visit there was yet another argument, which was becoming quite standard by now. Bellatrix's raised voice still echoed in Hermiones head. Their arguments were getting worse and it was striking both of them more and more, love wasn't enough to keep two completely different people together. Hermione had been once again trying to convince Bellatrix of the advantages of joining the order.

"Bella, please, if you did then... we could be together, we wouldn't have to hide ourselves away." Hermione voice was pleading and her hand was grasping at Bellatrixs.
"Hermione, listen, I will never join the order. I just can't." Bellas voice was more forceful than Hermiones, a sure sign that things were about to escalate.
"Why not?" Hermione cried, dropping Bellatrix's hands like they were burning "What is so unacceptable about doing something good for once in your life?"
"Listen!" Bellatrix hissed standing up so quickly she sent the chair toppling backwards " you just expect me to walk into order headquarters, to the people that have hunted me down since I was 16, you expect me to face them, face the Weasley woman who believes she killed me. And for what? To sell out my friends, my family and my Lord! All the Order has ever done is kill my friends and hurt me, the deatheaters protected me, they always have and I owe many of them my life several times over. I will NEVER betray them." Bella's eyes burned with anger as she vowed to stand by her beliefs.

"I'll never be able to protect you. Its only a matter of time before someone finds you." Tears seeped from the corners of Hermiones eyes; she was always the one to cry. Bellatrix very rarely showed her weaknesses in public.
"Oh grow up and stop crying. I can look after myself. You just need to give me my wand back and I'll look after myself." Tears continued to leak from Hermiones eyes.
"Why would I give you your wand back?" She practically shrieked up at the dark woman "So you can kill people? Muggles and mudbloods, people like me? If you can't change, how can I ever trust you?" Bellatrix opened her mouth to retort but was stopped when Hermione kept shrieking. "I can never be with you... We can never be together if you refuse to change!" Hermione's last words were nearly incomprehensible amidst the sorrowful wailing.

Hermione stood and grabbed Bellatrix's shoulders, shaking her shoulders lightly with the force of her sobbing. Bellatrixs hand shot up a struck Hermione to the floor. For a second the silence rang true through the house, louder than any shouting or sobbing ever had. Hermione lay on the floor, one hand pressed to the side of her stinging face as her look of shock was rivalled by Bellatrix's. Bellatrix was looking down at Hermione, her eyes bulging as if she was wondering what she was doing on the floor. A choked noise broke out of her mouth as she looked at her hand with fear and disgust, as if it had turned to a snake and tried to bite her.
"Hermione I'm so sorry!" Bellatrix broke from her trance and reached to help Hermione.
"Stay away from me!" Hermione cried trying to scramble away from Bellatrixs helping hand. Bella slumped to the floor in a lopsided kneeling position, hand half stretched out to Hermione as something died in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry Hermione..." Bellatrix whispered aghast and dropped her eyes to her hand once more.

"Just stay away!" Hermione cried eyes wide and watering with terror.

After that incident Hermione left the house. Unable to face the woman she had fallen in love with and her sudden turn to violence. With a burning tear and a sharp turn she disappeared with an echoing pop.

Hermione to the delight of two nearby boys reappeared somewhere not too far outside of the village of Ottery St Catchpole. Well, I say somewhere, she apparated just outside the door of the Weasley family home, fondly named the Burrow.

"Hermione!" Harry bellowed practically jumping onto her from his broom. His tight embrace was just slightly uncomfortable and she couldn't help but remember the last person who had held her close... "Oh Hermione." Harry whispered into her ear "Ron really missed you." Harry's words were just fuel to the already monumentally huge inferno of guilt.

"Hermione, where have you been?" Ron roared with excitement before lifting Hermione and spinning her in clear excitement. "Everyone's missed you, I really missed you..." Ron still had Hermione about three inches off the floor and as he finished speaking he seemed to remember and put her down again.

"Yeah." Hermione smiled, she had missed the comfort of these two boys, they felt like home. "I missed you guys too."

"So..." Harry dithered just outside of the couple awkwardly but still beaming with joy "Are you going to stay here now?" His eyes sparkled with a kind of shy hope, hair having to be flicked out of them due to the length. It was still unruly as ever, three stands sticking up like the crest of a cockatoo.

"No." Hermione whispered shaking her head "I still have stuff to do I just wanted to see you guys again." Ron frowned, brow furrowing in clear upset that what he thought of as the love of his life wasn't going to stay. It was then he noticed how tired she looked, bags under her eyes and a unconscious frown on her lips. It was then he noticed her eyes were red and bloodshot from the traitorous tears. It was then he got really worried about her.

"Hermione..." Ron wavered, unsure how exactly to approach the subject. Ron's hand wavered a few inches from Hermiones cheek before dropping back to his side. "Never mind..." The awkward moment quickly passed and after a few minutes the trio were back to laughing and joking about the old days, past adventures and jokes that had been worn out from use.

The atmosphere at the Weasleys was still that of a close knit family, even with the additions of Luna and Xenophilius Lovegood, Harry and Hermione. The Weasleys were as coddled and happy as ever, Percy seemed to have inadvertently filled the space left by Freds death. He was a rock for George to lean on in his grief while somehow still managing to be the life-raft that stopped him sinking in his despair. Percy paid for the rent in the joke shop while the family was grieving and growing around the gaping loss of Fred.

Hermione laughed and joked through the day, having tea and spending as much time as she could with her friends. The strange lopsided house had never felt so much like home. Every room was warm and filled with laughter, they all ate a little too much and Hermione was even given a dark green coloured jumper that had a picture of some books on the front. It was the one thing she ever felt like was missing out of at Christmas's at the Weasleys, and here she was with it, a full fledged part of their family. It wasn't even near Christmas, its March.

No matter how long she spent there she couldn't quite forget that she didn't belong, a much as she wanted to she had another place that she wanted to be more. She missed her and over the day she found herself missing the brown eyes that looked like dark chocolate melting all the time. She missed the soft squeeze of the pale hand in hers. She even missed the screaming voice and constant arguements. The Burrow was a sweet family place but sometimes it bordered on becoming sickly.

She missed Bella.

So with a fussed goodbye from all the Weasleys, and more than one offer from Mrs Weasley that she should stay, Hermione walked away from the line of waving Weasleys and with a twist was looking at the cottage she had come to think of as her home.

Hermione smiled looking at what was once the Tonks family home. What was it now? One Granger, one Tonks and one Lestrange lived there now. Spring flowers poked through the grass and the hanging baskets overflowed with them. It was really a beautiful place, but the beauty of the house was not what Hermione was looking forward to seeing. She wanted to see that wild mop of hair as Bella flung herself into her arms.

However reality was far from the dream.


Please review :] I'm a review whore (thank god this is rated M and i can say that)