The portkey successfully transported them at Malfoy's mansion. They arrived at one of the many sitting rooms located on the first floor. The only sound audible in the room were the heavy gasps of air coming from both witches. Hermione had barely acknowledged her new surroundings, her eyes were lost looking at nothing, her ears were still ringing with the yells of her parents being murdered, her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
The tides of panic were still very present in her system. With her gaze fixed on a spot on the floor, she kept reliving the heartbreaking scenarios over and over in her mind.
Bellatrix, who already had her fair share of encounters with Dementors was faster to recover from their touch. After just a few minutes spent to calm herself, she turned to face at the girl, who was cleaning the tears off of her cheeks.
Annoyance crept on her at such weakness.
"What took you so long?!" Seeing no response from the girl, she pushed her by the shoulder to get her attention.
"Don't fucking touch me!" Hermione reacted instantly to the approach; she slapped the hand as soon as the fingers came in contact with her clothes as if the mere touch of the woman would burn her.
The hunted look was left behind and instead, an enraged look came to Hermione's brown eyes "Fuck you, Bellatrix! This was all your fault!" Hermione seethed, her lips trembled with the accumulated frustration. But now, she felt she was about to explode if she didn't talk. "What happened tonight could have been avoided if only you could get a handle of your volatile temper! Your bloody unwillingness to work together, to - to pool our resources! You led us to tonight's clusterfuck! Starting from the fact that you didn't warn me of the residents of that place. I could have taken a different approach if you have told me! Let's not even talk about the confrontation with Karkaroff. You are bloody capricious and reckless! Like a damn child!"
The older woman didn't speak and neither attempt to do anything during the girl's rant. She just let her talk probably, Hermione thought later that night, because that allowed her to enter into a sense of security, something that the Death Eater needed for what she was about to do.
Bellatrix with a swift movement, giving no time for Hermione to react, took a fist of brown hair behind the girl's head and pulled the girl towards her body. A grunt of pain came from the violent yank at her hair. Hermione didn't resist, she didn't try to push back, neither did she intend to take her wand out the hostler. As the older woman's expression said something close to 'don't even think about it.'
Yet in this predicament, she didn't back down and continued gazing defiantly at the piercing charcoal's eyes. However, they weren't pitch black as they usually were, but darker grey. The girl could only assume it was one of the side effects from coming to contact with dementors.
Whatever color they were, it didn't decrease the menacing intensity they usually portray.
The woman slowly approached the girl's ear, the firm hand over her nape pushing her closer towards the dark witch. Soft black curls unintentionally caressed her cheek; the woman's natural smell invaded her nostrils once again, but this time it didn't taste sweet in her mouth, on the contrary, it was bitter and vinegary. Hermione was confused at the sensation on her nape, while the earlier touch felt something that could be described as soft magic mingling and dancing on her skin. This time, was very different. The woman's touch gave her a prickling sensation all over the back of her head to her tail bone, like tiny needles penetrating her skin.
Hermione could hear the woman's upper lip rising in contempt. "Let me give you a little warning, mudblood" Her voice was husky, slow and threatening. Hermione felt the pressure of a wand on her side. "You won't talk to me like that ever again. I will kill you if you do. That. I promise." She paused for a moment, waiting for the girl to digest her words.
Her voice change to a syrupy tone full of disdain "Now mudblood, let me ask you something if you didn't know about the village, did you ask if I knew the place? Did you ask me if I knew the informant? Did you ask for my advice?"
Hermione didn't reply anything.
"No, you didn't. Then don't moan at me about things not going the way you wanted them to go. Stupid girl."
Hermione didn't care at this point what might happen next, empowered by her lack of self-preservation she glowered at the woman. "How?! How do you expect for me to ask you something when you are taunting me and calling me names all the time? Or straightforward ignoring me like what happened with Karkaroff"
Bellatrix came face to face with the angered brunette once more. "Oh, did you want me to coddle you?" Then she mockingly gasped. "Did I hurt your fee-fees?"
Her expression turned into a snarl "You are a mudblood. The dirt under my boot and nothing else. I will call you however I want."
"Well, this fucking mudblood saved your life!" Hermione said, baring her teeth. Thinking at the moment Karkaroff's spell threw the woman from the broom.
Bellatrix's arrogance slowly drained from her face, turning sober and contemplative, her voice turned grave. Yet the grip on brown hair never wavered. "That you did." She said. Her memory was different from Hermione's. If the brunette wouldn't have used the coin to let her escape from the root's grip, she'll be probably death. "A now do you understand? why are you not on the floor dead? Why I decided to oversee your little lack of judgment?"
"Do not forget your place, filth" Bellatrix released her and right after she pushed her by the shoulders. Hermione lost her balance falling on the floor, she bent her torso in discomfort. The impact of the fall made her wound pulse with pain. "Fuck you, Lestrange!" She muttered, Hermione's fingers itched to take out her wand, but she only stayed at that. She won't do it, especially not when Bellatrix stood there looking down on her, silently telling her to give her an excuse to hurt her. Or fully kill her.
The large door of the study opened, distracting both witches from their fight. Narcissa entered the room in what appeared to be sleeping clothes. The thick tension that had been fermenting in the room, was diminished by the inquisitive presence of the blonde.
"Everything alright?" She looked at Bellatrix. Her face didn't reflect any emotion, the question seemed to come out of courtesy more than any sort of concern. "The charms activated in the room." Explaining why she was here
"Bloody wonderful, Cissy." Said the woman, her eyes jumping from the girl to her sister.
Her blue eyes moved from her sarcastic sister towards the girl, who was covering her left side with her hand. Narcissa stepped forward into the room "You look hungry, Bellatrix. I'll ask the elf to prepare you something." Her voice was emotionless, not even bothering to match her words with what she said.
Bellatrix released a humorless chuckle. "No need, I'll go myself" She spared one last look to the pitiful girl and left the room.
Narcissa kept looking at the girl with a stoic demeanor. Hermione thought that probably the woman was just silently relishing in her disgrace. Unwilling to become the entertainment of another Black member Hermione decided to stand up and leave the room too. As she passed by Narcissa's side, the woman rested her hand in her shoulder. Hermione unconsciously flinched at the unexpected touch. "I have experience with healing. Allow me to help you with your wounds." Said the blue-eyed woman.
Hermione gave her a guarded look.
She tried to find an ulterior motive of why this woman was suddenly so concern with her well-being. Considering that their last encounter wasn't very agreeable, she needed to be suspicious of Narcissa too.
As she looked hard into her face, she was surprised to see nothing. Nor lies, nor actual sincerity. Narcissa maintained her expressionless façade. She took a deep breath, her ribcage expanded and the wound instantly reminded her that it was still there and very fresh.
Seeing the hesitation in the girl's face Narcissa added: "At least let me see the injury and I'll give you the potions you need."
Against her better judgment, Hermione accepted.
Narcissa turned around and walked out of the room, looking behind her shoulder to see if the girl was following her. Hermione kept a safe distance from the woman, letting her know she wasn't fully trusting the woman's intentions. The blonde led her to the right wing, where her personal quarters were. A forbidden section for the guests, something that didn't deter Hermione considering that she had been here before when she borrowed books from Narcissa's private library to further the research.
They walked in silence during the long walk, the only sounds in the hallway were the muffled steps of the witches on the light green carpet.
Narcissa opened the door and stepped next to it, to let the girl pass. But Hermione stood there, unmoving. She wouldn't go first. Narcissa understanding the meaning, she walked into the room. Hermione followed after her.
"Take a sit and remove your upper clothes" Narcissa moved towards her cabinet. The room was decorated with a similar style of furniture than the rest of the mansion. Except for the small bed in the corner that seemed more like a hospital bed than a typical bed. The cabinets displayed many different potions that mostly Hermione didn't recognize at simple sight. Between the cabinets, there was a set of instruments and other essentials for potion making, as well as alchemy. The brunette now understood why the woman was surveying her ingredients with such interest that time she was in her room. Narcissa seemed to be an avid potions practitioner.
Hermione proceeded to remove her upper clothes stained with dried mud. The dried blood was glued to her wound, making her wince from the discomfort. The only garment left on her torso was a lace bra.
"Why are you helping me?" Asked the girl as she sat on the bed, her tone was neutral. But, if Narcissa wasn't turned back she would have seen the obvious distrust in her eyes. "I thought you hated my kind.
Narcissa chose that moment to turn around "I'm under the orders of the Dark Lord to assist in whatever capacity. That includes healing you." Hermione searched through her face a sign of deceit, but she was quickly learning that Narcissa hides her emotions quite effectively. Nevertheless, her gut told her that even if her words were to be true, the reason behind it, wasn't. No matter what Voldemort ordered her to do.
"Let me see, raise your arm a little" Hermione focused in the ocean blue eyes inspecting her wound. The woman's eyes brows furrowed slightly, then with the tip of her finger touched close to the injury, making the brunette take a sharp breath and closing her eyes as the wave a pain vanished slowly. "It needs attention, as it has the risk to get infected" The woman informed her.
"I think it's cursed with an agony hex." Hermione said.
Narcissa nodded "I see it. Let me see if I have something for that." She returned to her cabinets and opened multiple drawers. She took out different ingredients from each drawer, then put one by one in balance and proceeded to calculate the necessary quantity for each one. From the lowest cabinet, she took out what looked like a small bowl.
The blonde placed all the ingredients into a mortar and with a pestle started to mix them together. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment letting her muscles relax if only a little, after all, she had been working overtime. The exact time of the night elude her, but she was pretty sure the dawn was about to come out very soon. Her tired mind concentrated on the noise of the pestle hitting against the mortar. It felt like a lifetime ago since she had heard that so familiar noise. It surprised her how such simple noise made her think of Hogwarts and her Potions and Herbology classes. Along with her other classes and how happy she was when she was studying, willing to learn everything she could get her hands on.
At moments like this, which were very scarce, she will indulge her mind to drift towards the land of 'what if' What if she didn't have imprinted on Bellatrix? Would her parents be alive? Most likely. What if she could have foreseen Dumbledore's plan? Would she have joined the death eaters? What if she didn't become infected with lycanthropy? How different would her life be?
'One bad day, it took one terrible day for my life to change 180° degrees.'
Her body started to feel heavier by the second.
Narcissa grabbed a chair and sat in front of the girl "I have to clean the injury manually, first." Hermione opened her eyes, feeling slightly dizzy. A beat later the ripple of pain caused by the woman's treatment fully awoke her again. She flinched at the touch but didn't withdraw from it.
"Did my sister did this?" Narcissa asked, conversationally. Her voice was tender and feminine without being girly. It sounded graceful to the girl's ears. "Move a little to your right"
Hermione held a snort back; there was something amusing on the fact that Narcissa would consider first that Bellatrix had harmed her, instead of asking if she was maimed by another witch or wizard. "No. Karkaroff did it."
"Did you kill him?" Soft fingers carefully removed any remaining dirt and small strands of fabrics mixed with blood and flesh. Narcissa had a nice touch, Hermione thought. Her brown eyes kept stealing glances at the woman, who seemed fully focused on her task. She could help but appreciate that now that she had the hair loose, it made her look younger than she was.
"Bellatrix did… I just distracted him." She replied. Narcissa hummed in acknowledgment.
"How bad is it? I haven't dared to see it"
"It did a large cut, from here…" Narcissa put a finger just under her breast "…to here" pointing the beginning of her back. "At least 1 centimeter wide. You were lucky, it was meant to cut deep."
"Yeah, I know." She murmured. It almost cost her life by getting distracted, that was one thing she couldn't blame on Bellatrix.
The brunette let the woman do her thing, in the meantime she let her eyes wander around the room. From time to time, her eyes would unconsciously drift towards the blonde, taking small glimpses of her features.
Narcissa didn't look like Bellatrix at all, hard to believe they were sisters. The woman before her had thinner lips than Bellatrix's. Although they almost seemed to have almost the same chiseled nose, except that Narcissa's was pointier. The girl's eyes drifted towards her neck, Narcissa's had a rosy skin while Bellatrix was fully alabaster. Probably both had born with pale skin, but Narcissa's was naturally suntanned while the fact that Bellatrix has been never touched by the sun in 14 years, helped her preserve her original skin color.
Her heart skipped a beat when her eyes drifted at the indiscreet cleavage. She swallowed hard, realizing that the woman didn't have anything under her peignoir, she could clearly see the outline of her breast. Hermione's gaze quickly moved to her lap feeling slightly embarrassed and very confused.
She took a quick glance at the woman's face, who was deep in concentration cleaning her injury.
"You seem to like making potions." Said Hermione with rosiness on her cheeks.
"Something of the sorts." The woman replied noncommittally. Narcissa finished to clean the wound and stood up to leave the material on the small table. Then proceeded to grab the mortar "I have always wanted to become potion's master." Hermione ignored how what woman flinched at her own words, instantly regretting being too honest.
The blonde pulled her wand and cast a spell to pour boiling water into the small bawl. Soon the smell of lavender and namut root permeated the room. "Why didn't you?" Hermione asked.
"Real life happened, Miss Granger." Narcissa's tone made very clear that the conversation was closed. But it was enough for Hermione to understand the ramifications of that comment. "Here, drink this. It serves for the wound doesn't get infected." Hermione took the small bottle and drank all its contents.
The woman put all the ingredients from the mortar into a white cloth. "This is going to burn" She warned at the girl, who only made a noise in acknowledgment.
Hermione hissed at the contact. The woman kept pressing the cloth over the whole injury, letting the active ingredients do their job. Blue eyes looked with curiosity at the girl's right shoulder "What happened to you here?" The woman asked, touching with her fingertips the rough fractal scar.
The girl grabbed the woman's wrist before her fingers could continue to touch it. "Sorry, is a sore spot." The girl said, sounding apologetic. Her hand opened, releasing the slim wrist.
Narcissa submerged the cloth on the water left in the mortar and did the same procedure than before "Why haven't you removed it?"
"I don't want to. Otherwise, I'm afraid I might forget what happened to me" A somber look manifested in her brown eyes. Like Narcissa, Hermione told her that this line of conversation was not to be pursued any further.
They didn't talk after that.
When Narcissa was over Hermione summoned a shirt from her wardrobe and disposed of the mudded rags. "Thank you, Ms. Malfoy. For everything." She tried for her voice to sound genuine, even though she didn't understand her motivations for the woman to help her.
At least this time, things were far better than the last encounter she had with the woman in her room a week ago.
But, can she be blamed? She wondered. That night there was a full moon, she always tends to wake up very cranky after her transformations. She couldn't tell that to the woman, though.
Narcissa approached before she left and gave her two vials. "Here, this is for the rest of your bruises and this one for the blood you surely lost."
"Thank you again, Ms. Malfoy"
"Have a goodnight Miss Granger."
Now that she was alone on her bed, sleep eluded her. Every time she closed her eyes images of her parents being murdered came to the front of her mind, making her stomach lurch at the first glimpse. So, she remained with her eyes open, think in everything but what the damage the dementors caused in her psyche.
She wondered if Bellatrix might be having the same trouble while trying to sleep. Probably not, assumed the girl. It must be the dementor having trouble sleeping after what that thing might have seen in Bellatrix's mind. She snorted loudly at the silly thought.
Bellatrix…
Hermione found that not a single word of what the woman told her bothered her; She was hardened enough to take on verbal abuse. She truly couldn't care less. What truly bothered her was how responsive she was to her touch and smell.
'I need to stop it' She did a mental note to increase the dose on the potion tomorrow. She'll cross the bridge in case that doubling the dose doesn't work.
Her fingers reach for the scar on her side. It was still rough on the edges, but Narcissa told her it'll take 2 more days to fully heal and disappear. Thankfully the pain was gone. She could tell the woman did a good job.
She rolled on her good side. Her mind assaulting her with the image of Narcissa's body and the fact that she wasn't wearing anything. Why suddenly did she find herself so embarrassed for it? And worse of all, why she was slightly aroused at the thought? The question she'd been asking herself since Bellatrix became her imprint came back to the front of her mind.
'Ugh, do I really like women?'
Hermione arrived at the dining room at midafternoon. Having skipped breakfast, she was fully starved. Her steps haltered for a beat; she was surprised to find people in it considering the time. Dolohov and Yaxley were sitting in front of each other, she was sure that they were having a heated discussion before she made her entrance in the room. Now, they just were looking at her with curiosity but the distrust remained on their eyes. At the other end of the table was Lucius and Narcissa drinking tea.
She walked halfway, of what the brunette considered, an unnecessary very long table. The blue-eyed woman acknowledged her presence with a simple look directed at her and Hermione returned the gesture with a short-lived smile. The brunette sat on one of the many chairs. Just as soon she snapped her fingers, and one of the three elves usually attending the kitchens appeared in front of her.
"What would the miss like to eat? Or drink?" Asked the young elf.
"Whatever you have already, or it doesn't take to much time to prepare. And a cup of black tea, loaded, please." A kind smile painted the girl's rosy lips.
"At the order, Miss." The elf said diligently.
The brunette reclined on the backrest and waited for her food to arrive. Her face was pointing upfront, staring at the large windows that presented the view of the outside garden and the white peacocks frolicking here and there. But her ears were set to pick up whatever both parties were speaking between themselves. Specially Dolohov who kept stealing glances her way. First Greyback. now Dolohov, she wondered if she should count Bellatrix on her list too, especially considering what happened yesterday.
No, if Bellatrix wanted to hurt her, she doesn't need to plot for it. She'll just appear in the middle of the night, kick the door of her room and Crucio her to her heart content. Or anywhere at any time. She couldn't be wary all the time. It'll drive her crazy.
The elf appeared with a soft pop in front of her placing the meal and tea in front of her.
Hermione saw what the elf brought to her, sausages, eggs, ham, a full plate of tropical fruit, toast with jam. Satisfied with the contents, she smiled. "Looks delicious, thank you."
"You are most welcome, miss." The elf emotionally replied, touched by her short but kind words, before disappearing again.
Hermione started to taste the contents of her plate when she heard a shriek, typical of wood being dragged over wood, came from her left. Her hand went to her wand as a reflex, hearing the large steps were approaching her way the girl had to take precautions. Hermione pretended to ignore her surroundings and kept eating with her left hand. The body stop next to her. She delayed her attention a moment before acknowledging the presence. Dolohov was looking at her, his face was expressionless and his wand wasn't anywhere visible. The girl gave him an uninterested look before returning to her meal.
"I heard that Lestrange and you made all this."
He threw the newspaper on the table next to her plate. There it was, on the first page of the Daily Prophet, the clearing they were last night at. White sheets covered the dismembered bodies on the soil, while multiple Aurors moved around the ground looking for clues and the cherry on top was the thoroughly burned forest in the background.
Hermione took a large bite from a piece of toast that tasted heavenly according to her taste buds, these elves knew how to make their bread.
Mass murder in the northern islands.
Yesterday an anonymous source reported to the Aurors, posted in Iseville, the disappearance of many wizards at the southeast of the Vertwood village. The two Aurors responded according to protocol and headed to investigate. They arrived at the scene rather quickly, guided by the wildfire caused by unknown reasons at the moment. "We knew something terrible might have happened, but we never imagined this" Andrew L., one of the two Aurors said in a statement. What they found could only be described as heinous in nature. "We sent a Patronus immediately to the Auror Department at the Ministry," Andrew said.
The pair of Aurors had an immediate response; led by the Head of Auror Department: Gawain Robards, a large group of Aurors came rapidly to investigate, their first response was to send Dementors to track any possible perpetrator. An official statement claims that they found no one in the area.
At the present moment, the authorities have found 14 bodies, mostly all are lacking limbs one way or another. The note sent by the anonymous source mentioned that Death Eaters were involved in the crime, however, the authorities still have to give a statement about the motivation behind the massacre or whether death eaters have a direct relation to it. As for the moment many belongings from a small lodge, located nearby from where the massacre took place, are being taken into custody, hoping it'll provide further insight into what happened here.
Some of the deceased were recognized as wanted criminals by the Ministry such as…
"16," Hermione said between bites in a monotone voice. Her eyes connected with Dolohov; the man didn't seem to understand what she meant. "There were 16 people besides Lestrange and me, which means they haven't found Karkaroff charred corpse or they did and haven't reported it yet. And the other one, they will never find him as he was blow up into tiny little pieces." She threw the paper on the table pushing it towards Dolohov "And I assume that the anonymous source was a man that calls himself Mr. H, he was an acquaintance of the deceased." Hermione spared one last look to the death eater, before fully returning to her meal.
'Of course, they had to take the books. Damn it.'
Dolohov raised his eyebrows and then a smile formed on his lips. He accepted the answer and walked back to the other man who was waiting for him at the main door. "I won. Pay up, Yaxley" was the last thing Hermione heard before the two men left the room.
She took a glimpse to her right and noticed that Narcissa and Lucius stayed silent sipping their teas, evidently, they were paying attention to her interaction with Dolohov.
Lucius picked something from his lap and placed on the table. It was another copy of the Daily Prophet.
'Good, now they know what I'm capable of...'
Hermione's eyes fluttered at the taste of the elves' handcrafted jam.
Hermione spent the whole day hole up in the library till late in the evening, her eyes kept avidly devouring the book on her hands and taking notes when she happened to find something relevant. No sounds on the library but the often rippling noise of a page being flipped and the scratching sound that comes when a quill writes on parchment.
'…After a long-term transformation in Animagus form the patient might need medical help to fully recover his physical form, as remnants of their transformation might be still very present in his or her mind and body, this might require from weeks to months of potion doses.'
"…Hmm, I wasn't wrong. Pixie dust might be necessary after all." Hermione muttered to herself.
The brunette was so absorbed in her book and notes that she became unaware that her occlumency shields weren't raised anymore. And more importantly, she never did notice the presence until it was already in her mind.
"What have you found?" Words echoed in her mind; the words were uttered with a hiss that the girl immediately recognize. Hermione lowered her book and looked down on the floor, closer to her feet there was a giant snake looking at her with those bright yellow predatory eyes.
Hermione raised an eyebrow and replied out loud "Hello to you too." But Nagini didn't say anything else or moved, even blinked assuming that she did. She only continued gazing at the brunette and every three seconds her forked tongue would come out her mouth like a black leather whip.
Brown eyes roamed along the snake's large body, today she looked more well-fed, for not saying fat. She seemed to had a large dinner, surely another victim of the lord's temper. "Is rude to stare," Nagini said, yet there wasn't any sign of reproach on her voice.
"You are doing the same"
"You haven't answered"
The brunette released a frustrated sigh, the snake was just as demanding as her master and didn't know how to ask things properly. "I need to do more investigation before I can honestly say anything." She reclined her body on the backseat and pointed at the book on her lap, letting the snake know that she just interrupted her research. "For now, knowing where it came from can help us to understand the curse and hopefully create a sort of antidote."
"This book" She pointed at the recent she acquired a day before "mentions another source from the curse that is not related with Metamorphmagi or Animagus."
Nagini large body started to clumsily coil, Hermione had learned to recognize as a sign that she was comfortable. Which in this case, she wanted to hear more about what Hermione had to say. Due to Nagini's body was especially large tonight it took her longer to fully accommodate herself. Hermione smiled at the sight.
"Have you ever heard of Nüwa?"
"The snake goddess. Mother used to tell me stories about her when I was a little babe. I know that she became revered by the muggles a long time ago. Why you ask?"
"Well, according to this research it says that the descendants of Nüwa were condemned to be born snakes, but perhaps the spell went wrong and…" Hermione couldn't hold back her curiosity anymore and asked "Wait. How old are you?" She remembers Nagini telling her small memories of things that happened more than 30 years ago.
The snake just kept looking at her, with the same inactive expression. Considering that she only had two expressions, neutral and pissed, Hermione preferred the neutral one better, that meant she wasn't pissed at her for such innocent question.
The girl waited a few seconds more before giving up. "Fine then, ignore me." She crossed her arms.
After a moment Nagini spoke. "We are not alone. Your mate is here." Hermione glanced at to where Nagini was looking at. Bellatrix was leaning on one of the many bookcases watching the interaction from afar. Her face didn't reflect anything more than a hardened expression.
'Now what is she angry about?'
"Is not…She is not my mate." Hermione switched channels of communication.
"Isn't it?" If Nagini could smile, she'll be doing it right now. The rough serpentine voice in her head had an amused undertone laying in between.
"No, it is not." Hermione refuted. "You have no idea what you are talking about."
"Then tell me, why your heart accelerated at the sight of her?"
"Because with her, there is always a chance that I might die by her hand." It was true. That woman was the only person in this mansion that had her on edge every time they were sharing the same space, adding the events of early morning that were still fresh on the girl's mind. Of course, her heart would accelerate, her system was starting to pump adrenaline as a knee-jerk reaction.
Nagini became uncoiled, her large body accidentally pushing the tower of books the girl had placed close to her. "We'll meet again. I wish you…luck."
Bellatrix watched the snake pass by her; the animal ignored her presence, like always. Brown eyes observed the small sneer that formed on Bellatrix's pale features when she looked down, only lasted for a half a second but it was there. She found that piece of information interesting, Lestrange didn't like her master's pet.
Brown eyes scrutinized the woman's figure, her boots were fully mudded up to the ankle, there were stains of mud on her dueling pants too. And the brunette was sure that the bright stain on her corset was fresh blood. Obsidian eyes bright with the candle lights and the pupils seemed to be fully dilated, adrenaline was present in her system. She was back from killing someone or somebodies…
Hermione pushed herself up from her seat, then came to rest the back of her thighs against the edge of the desk, she crossed her arms "What do you want, Lestrange?" her voice came colder than she expected to.
Hermione knocked her knuckles on the heavy wood door before she opened it, her sight easily adapting to the darkness of the room, floating candles were situated in corners and the ceiling, giving the room the exact amount of illumination to be able to walk inside without knocking something but not enough to see the details on the objects. The girl took tentative steps towards the intimidating wizard. "My lord, you called for me?" Voldemort was sitting next to the balcony; his eyes were watching the dark horizon. Voldemort reclined his head to the right and looked back to the girl standing far behind him.
"Ah, Hermione. Do take a seat, my dear." Hermione approached one of the divans located in the center of the spacious room.
She took in what little she could appreciate from the place. The room's decoration reflected the tastes of another person rather than the Malfoy's. The carpet seemed to be cream colored and the ceiling was made of wood artfully enchanted with different intrinsic patterns, that took the shape of flowers and magical creatures. The fabric of the sofas shined under dimmed light.
The Dark Lord stood up and walked towards the other seat in front of her.
His red eyes settled on the woman who entered after the girl. "Bellatrix you too" He made a motion for her to sit as well.
Ruby red eyes gaze at the brunette "Bellatrix already told me what happened yesterday" His eyes didn't display any approval or satisfaction. His voice was raspy but lacked sharpness. It didn't provide too much confidence in the girl. Insecurity started to stir in Hermione as she almost physically winced at his stern voice. Was he angry? She wondered.
Her hands closed into fists clutching the fabric of her ropes tightly between her fingers. Surely Bellatrix would be willing to step so low as to lie to make her look bad in front of Voldemort. If that were the case Hermione was ready to defend herself, to say her arguments against the woman… But before the brunette could keep steaming in her rising anger, he spoke.
"She said you did quite well, isn't that what you mentioned, Bella?"
"Indeed, I did. My Lord." Said Bellatrix.
That comment fully disarmed Hermione, leaving her mind stunned. She turned her face to see Bellatrix reaction, but what she only saw was a woman with a bored expression with arms and legs crossed.
"That you single-handedly defeated 4 skilled wizards and held your ground against Karkaroff for a long time. Is that true?"
Hermione could only nod. As her vocal cords were still numb. Did Bellatrix compliment her in front of Voldemort?
"Tell me, Hermione, did you like it? The thrill of the battle, killing them, did you enjoy it?"
When people said aftershocks of battle, they usually referred at the eye twitching, the trembling hand and other behaviors that came after violent experiences. Hermione still felt the aftershocks of battle, in a very different way. The residues of the thrill she felt when using every bit of magic to destroy and maim, still tingled under her skin when she thought about it.
'…I loved it.'
"Yes, I did. My Lord."
Voldemort's eyes shined with satisfaction. His arm extended close to Hermione, and from the palm of his hand, he conjured a thick white smoke that slowly took the shape of a person. Hermione squinted little at the figure, it was Karkaroff. "There is always something…" He made a pause, to make sure the girl was paying attention, red eyes connected with brown ones. He made the illusion spell become color red as flames crept on the body, but the figure on his palm started to morph. Karkaroff grew a long white beard, with a pointy wizard hat on his head, then his robes changed to more colorful ones. "…very thrilling in holding the life of others between your hands, and then extinguish their very light of life from their eyes. Till eyes become ashen." There was a twinge of pleasure that came from the display before her eyes, a slow smile formed on the girl's lips while watching the fire engulfing the agonizing figure of Dumbledore.
The man closed his palm, extinguishing the illusion.
"A wonderful feeling, my Lord" Added Bellatrix, who seemed calmer than earlier in the library.
'Is like having a power you never knew you could have. And when you have a taste of it, you discover you loved it.' She was close to voice out her thoughts but something inside her told to better keep it to herself. It was already complicated to make the unconscious become conscious.
"However, you still got wounded." His words sounded reproachful. Brown eyes returned to see the wizard in surprise, there was no concern on his features, only disapproval.
"A minor injury my Lord." The brunette said, trying to break off the ashamed grimace of her face.
He made a motion with his hand implying that her words her held no meaning. "But an injury nonetheless, which tells that you still lack skill."
"I'll practice more." Said the girl like a promise.
"I'm sure you will" The wizard proceeded to walk towards the balcony, he was contemplative for a span of time then he turned around and said, "that's why I've tasked Bellatrix to train you."
A cold tremor rippled all over her body, concentrating all its energy on the nape of her head, raising gooseflesh all down her arms. Hermione turned to look at the woman, expecting to see her as disturbed as she felt herself. Instead, she found Bellatrix easing back on her sit, looking bored.
She returned to see Voldemort "W-What?"
A/N: Alright, so here it is. Come and shout at me in the comments. I have to do some house-cleaning, take some bricks and cement then throw it into the plot holes. I corrected some mistakes on earlier chapters (1-4) I think I made more palatable. At least I hope so. Anyway, hope you are liking it so far...
