A/N: Italics represent dreams/memories and are usually Bella's or Andromeda's from the past and what led to the whole breakdown in their relationship. Didn't mean to confuse anyone with that and yes we will see the cave again with Bella.
Bella sat by the fire staring into the depths as though it held all the answers. Three days, three days she had been searching and nothing. She inhaled slowly; Draco sat across from her with a worried expression on his face. Bella held the smoke for what seemed an impossible amount of time before exhaling and blowing slow rings about her nephew's fair hair. "And you've heard nothing from those idiot friends of yours?"
Draco shook his head and leaned back in the chair, it has been his father's favourite chair when he had been alive. It felt strange sometimes to Draco that he was now the head of the Malfoy family. "Auntie-" He began and then fell silent when his mother and wife entered the study. He gave his wife a tired smile and rubbed his hand on her baby bump. Bella chewed on her thumbnail and stared at the parchment on her lap. She swallowed hard and then sipped her water that she had long forgotten next to her, three days, if it was a death eater Dora was dead-it couldn't be a death eater, they did not play like this; torture yes but for this long. She felt tears stinging her eyes and she swallowed again, she found the list of names blurring in her vision. She hadn't slept, she hadn't been home, she couldn't face her wife and her sister. She had promised Andromeda, promised her she would bring Dora home.
Cissy invited her to stay for supper but she declined; she was meeting Knott in a few hours, he had been looking into a few hiding places that Bella didn't frequent much in their death eater days. She rubbed at her stinging eyes and stood catching the parchment before it fluttered to the floor. "I'll see you in the morning unless I hear something sooner." She said in an afterthought as she headed to the door.
The cold night air did little to renew her senses, she could have used the floo but she had no idea where to go next. She stood at the families apparition point, her mind mentally checking off all the remaining suspects. The Carrows were gone now, Bella reported their deaths as accidental and the Ministry quietly removed them from their wanted list. Other death eaters had been more cooperative in exchange for living; none of them knew anything and none of them would touch the Auror they claimed. She had checked all their marks, all their wands, nothing not even a whisper.
There was a quiet pop beside and Bella turned in surprise to see Hermione standing there.
"What- Pet what are you doing here?"
"Helping." She said holding out a warmer cloak for Bella to put on. "Come, Andromeda is alright she is waiting for news, the kids are with my parents and all the wards are in place."
"No Pet, you-"
Hermione sighed heavily, "I know what you're doing Bella. I know who you are, I married you." She swallowed, "Bella please, I have to do something or else I'll go mad. Birch has already approved it." She added to quell Bella's threat of letting Birch know Hermione was on the case. "I know-" She lowered her voice to a whisper, "I saw the Carrow report."
Bella looked up at the clear night sky and shook her head. "I'm a different person when I do these things Pet."
"I know. I won't question you and I won't get in the way but we're wasting time standing here." Hermione held her hand out for Bella to take. She returned her gaze from the stars and looked into her wife's eyes with a sad smile and pulled her in for a hug. They stood that way for a moment before Bella focused on the shack, focused on Voldemort's final resting place.
The charred ruins remained from Bella's adventure there years before as the snow lay thick on the ground here. She had never been here, only heard about it from Harry in their seventh year and the memory he had shared with Dumbledore. She stared around her wanting take a closer look but refrained as Bella didn't even give the remains a glance as they headed around what Hermione assumed was the back of the building. Bella tapped her wand and drew a symbol on the flagstone in the yard to reveal a wooden door; she pulled on the handle to open it up into a dark tunnel that led down into an abyss. "Come." She said starting down the ladder. Hermione quickly stole a glance around before following her wife into the impossibly black pit. The wooden door closed over her head and she knew it had transformed back into a flagstone. The moment the door closed small lights lit up around them illuminating their faces in a golden light. It was an underground series of passages almost like a rabbit warren. Bella turned this way and that to arrive at her destination, Hermione stayed on her heels to avoid being lost in the large cavern.
When they turned the corner Hermione jumped back and gasped, sitting at the table was Fenrir Greyback, who raised his eyebrow at Hermoine's reaction and then smirked.
"Did you bring me a present Bella?" He asked his voice raspy and long out of use.
"That's my wife dog." She spat before taking a seat opposite him and groaning.
He laughed at his joke, "Aww but sharing is caring." He held out his hand to Hermione who was still standing with her back to the wall. A quick burst from Bella's wand had him mummer an apology.
"I'm tired Greyback and not in the mood." Bella said leaning back in the chair and flicking her wand at the bottle of firewhiskey on the shelf. She glanced at Hermione before taking the top off, "For medicinal purposes Pet." She poured a shot into her tea mug and then recorked it sending it back to the shelf. A moment later she had a cup of tea steaming in front of her and one for Hermione.
Hermione slowly approached the table and sat down next to Bella, she could see the remnants of Fenrir's dinner, it appeared to be a raw chicken. There was blood on the plate that he dipped his finger into before licking it clean. Bella threw a napkin at him in disgust. "Please I'd like to keep my whiskey down."
Fenrir laughed and threw the plate towards the wall where it crashed and shattered among several others. "I remember this mudblood." He sniffed the air for a moment and then smiled at her, "Yeah, in the woods, caught you with Harry Potter. Aww is that when love struck Bella? The way I see it I did you a favour in introducing you two." He laughed again, Hermione waited for the blast from Bella's wand but it did not come.
"Something like that." Bella said in a tired voice. "Where's Knott anyway?"
"Out looking for your little princess ain't he? Mind I admire how hard you're working to find her Bella. Always liked that girl, pretty as you and she was never above fucking a wolf." The last word came out in a cry of agony as Bella had thrown him back in his chair and pinned him to the wall.
"Insult my family again and I'll make sure that what was started when we first met is finished."
Hermione swallowed watching Bella tighten her fingers on the wand and then seeing Greyback gasp for breath. "Please Bella." She whispered before seeing Bella give a quick squeeze to her wand before relaxing her hand to let Fenrir slide to the floor.
"I'm going to sleep for a few hours, wake me up when Knott gets here." She said finishing her tea and walking towards the archway; Hermione stood and followed her down another golden lit hallway to a bedroom. She followed Bella inside and watched as her wife cast wards on the door. "He might not have a wand but he's still dangerous. Don't leave this room without me or Knott alright?" She seemed to think for a moment, "Actually, Knott is a pretty nasty piece of work as well, just, stay with me." Hermione nodded and sat on the corner of the bed taking in the room's appearance. Bella tossed her cloak onto a chest and lay down fully clothed, her eyes closing almost immediately. "I'm glad you're here Pet. I've missed you." She said gently as Hermione smiled at her over her shoulder. Bella was asleep within moments.
"What did you do?" Bella asked in a low hiss of a voice. Andromeda sat on a chair crying, her hands on her stomach. The cramps from the potion making her sick. "What did you do?!" Her voice rose as she approached the chair, her hands shook in rage. "Andy!"
Andromeda finally looked up at her, her chest heaving as she tried to speak. "You lied to me." The words barely above a whisper, her heart feeling as though it were being squeezed in a vice. "You- you said you would protect me."
"Everything I do is to protect you, you stupid girl. Who did this? Who put these ideas into your head?" She grabbed the phial of potion and sniffed it; she knew what it was then, knew where it had come from. She had known a fifth year girl to take that potion and knew who she had retrieved it from. "Vomit Andromeda, vomit." She shouted yanking her up and pulling her to the bathroom demanding she throw up the potion contents. Andromeda only cried harder and pushed against Bella's chest to try and get away. They struggled for a few moments before Andromeda finally got out of Bella's grip, red marks up and down her arms.
"You lied!" Andromeda shouted, "Everything you said was a lie!"
"I've never lied to you Andy, I would never." Bella said trying to calm her now over hysterical sister.
"He told me, he told me everything you've done, everything you do now. What you do, what you get up to with those pureblood idiots and their idea of 'protection'" She raged now, "I'll never, never have a child to be raised with those people. Go ahead, go join Rodolphus and his precious 'Lord' lord of what? Who the hell is he? You're a fool Bella and so is he."
The smack was hard across Andromeda's face; the moment she had struck her Bella regretted it as Andromeda crumpled to the floor. Andromeda's words had hurt, she wasn't like that, like Rodolphus and his lord and master. She just liked the idea of keeping them safe from mudbloods, safe from their ideas of breeding, wasn't that what their parents fought for? Wasn't that why they were proud of being pure bloods?
Bella had returned to apologise that night had wanted to say she would leave it all behind and they would try again but Andromeda was gone. She looked around the room, her things were gone, her bags, everything that made the room Andromeda had disappeared. The beds had been stripped of blankets as though Andromeda had suddenly died and the room needed airing.
Her father was on the stairs behind her, she could feel his eyes on her back. "What's-?"
"Your sister is gone, dead to us." And with that he turned and walked towards his office.
