A/N; And for my next trick, marvel in wonder as I… REAPPEAR. And without a six year wait. Ladies and Gentlement, hold your applause, please…
"Quaint."
Hermione looked up through the trees and to the pale orange evening sky overhead. They were standing before a nice sized wood-panel colonial style house surrounded by trees and just a field away from a cliffside.
There was a thick fog hanging in the air from the sea and a small hand built stone wall that separated the garden from an over grown graveyard on one side. It was unremarkable, with all the usual traits of headstones and brambles, the most interesting thing a stone doorway built into the incline of the grass that Hermione guessed was some kind of crypt.
"Where are we?"
Bellatrix wrestled her hair over one shoulder as the breeze blew strands of it across her face. "Rural Ireland. Wizarding community is strong here."
"North or South?"
"Northwest."
Hermione sighed. "I don't suppose there's another human within a fifty mile radius?"
"There's a whole field of them right over there if you're not fussy about what state they're in." Bellatrix said, motioning towards the graveyard.
"Very funny." Hermione rolled he eyes.
"Come on, I'm freezing." The older witch set off towards the house, up the white wooden steps and then turned around when she reached the front door. "Unless you wanted to pitch a tent for yourself?"
Hermione did not want to pitch a tent for herself, and hurried after the death eater.
"So," Hermione said as the door closed behind them. "Does, you know… He know where you are?"
"Hm? Oh. He knows we've left to deal with the Minerva problem, if that's what you mean." Bellatrix sank down onto a sofa and sighed.
"You know, the last time I visited this house Narcissa was four years old and she fell out of a tree. Broke her wrist."
Hermione curled up in the other corner of the sofa. "What the hell was she doing up a tree?"
"Getting away with it is what she was doing. If I had tried to climb a tree when I was her age I would have been chased down the hallways with a belt." Bellatrix smirked.
"Seems a little harsh. I climbed trees when I was little. Never broke any bones doing it but I did dislocate my hip one time. Never really wanted to climb much after that."
"You came from a family where your happiness was the priority. I come from a family in which my 'eligibility' was far more important." Bellatrix mocked the word eligibility like it was the bane of her existence.
"Sounds, uh…"
"Fucking dreadful?" Bellatrix finished for her.
"Yeah that about sums it up."
It was quiet for a few minutes before Bellatrix got back up. "I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. Take whichever room you want, there's enough of them. I think Cissy sent some food over with our clothes if you want some."
Hermione nodded and whilst Bellatrix went upstairs, she went to see what Narcissa had sent.
Out of what she found she picked a golden coloured pear, and sat on the kitchen counter top eating it with a knife. Above her she could hear the shower running and Hermione's mind flickered back to the mirror for the first time in what felt like forever. She remembered how her back had hit the wall and she had struggled for breath as Bellatrix pulled her blouse off and the way the other witch's hair had caught and tangled with her own.
Ugh, stop.
As the days went by, the subtle but growing attraction to the other witch was becoming more and more difficult to push down and ignore. Bellatrix had given her a break about the mirror incident even without a proper explanation of it, although Hermione had noticed the Death Eater looking at her through her eyelashes with an almost-smile on several occasions when it was assumed the Gryffindor was too absorbed in what she was doing to notice. Hermione had never been brave enough to meet her gaze when that happened, keeping her head down with her heart beating too fast for fear the dark witch was imminently about to bring the whole thing back up and she would have to confess in full colour rather than morse code.
The shower above her stopped and Hermione threw the core of her pear away, hopping down from the counter and drying pear juice from her hand on a towel.
She slowly pushed herself up the stairs with her head down. When she reached the top she cast a glance back over her shoulder and then set her mind to find the shower now that Bellatrix was done. She turned around as she walked forward and yelped as her face came inches away from something white and soft.
"Spacial awareness, Hermione." Bellatrix said as she jerked away from the confused witch.
The Gryffindor blushed as she realised Bellatrix was wrapped in a fluffy white towel which ended half way down her thighs. Her hair was dried, magically Hermione assumed, but beads of water still clung delicately to her collarbone and around her shoulders.
"Sorry." She blurted, hoping Bellatrix hasn't noticed the heat rising in her cheeks.
She rushed past the other woman and locked herself in the bathroom, clearing her head and turning the shower back on. It was still wet from when Bellatrix had turned it off and even that was enough to start Hermione's mind off once more.
As soon as she was out of the shower, Hermione dried her own hair and, not wanting to be caught in a compromising position in the hallway, put the clothes on she had been wearing before.
She collapsed into bed in the first room she had found after an awkward goodnight to Bellatrix and despite all the thoughts swirling around uncomfortably in her head, fell asleep relatively quickly.
Her dreams were no better than they had been for the rest of the week and true to form Hermione woke up in a cold sweat with a yell.
She felt guilt creep up on her when Bellatrix pushed the door open.
"Sorry." She said immediately.
"You apologise too much." The older woman said firmly.
"Argh…" Hermione put her face in her hands. "I'm so tired. I just want to sleep for once."
Bellatrix leaned against the door frame and looked pensively at the carpet. "Well… I have sleeping potion, but… It might be a bit strong for someone that's not used to it."
"If I never wake back up then that's just an extra problem solved." Hermione sighed.
"Don't say that." The other woman scolded.
"Sorry." Hermione realised too late she was apologising again and Bellatrix laughed with a soft exhalation.
"I'll let you have some if you promise to stop saying that." She turned away and disappeared from sight and Hermione let herself fall back against the pillows with a quiet thud.
She was too tired even to berate herself.
"Catch."
The Gryffindor turned to look at the door and instinctively raised her hands as a small glass phial flew towards her. She caught it and pulled out the little cork. It smelled like Lavender.
"Thanks." She said weakly.
"Just hope it doesn't poison you." Bellatrix joked. "See you tomorrow." She closed the door and Hermione eyed the potion uncertainly, half wondering why Bellatrix had it with her to begin with.
She mentally shrugged and downed it in one, setting the phial down on the night stand. It tasted like Palma Violets but she didn't have long to dwell on it.
-X-
By the time Hermione awoke the next day, the sky was orange once more.
"Bella, what time is it?" Hermione trudged down the stairs after brushing her hair and teeth and pulling on her muggle jeans and a jumper.
"About half past seven. I warned you that potion was strong, it was nearly six when you drank it."
Hermione sighed and let her wand clatter onto the table. She did at least feel rested, if groggy.
"What the hell was in it? I didn't even dream."
"You'll have to ask Severus- and that is rather the point."
"I thought the point was to sleep."
"Well, it was designed for an ex Azkaban-ee, there were some modifications. Anyway, glad you're up, I've been waiting all day for you to rise, I need to go and get food; Narcissa only provided for a day or two. I'll be half an hour tops. Try not to get yourself killed whilst I'm gone."
Hermione yawned and leaned against the book case. "I'll do my best."
Bellatrix smiled and left, and the brunette picked a book from the shelf and took it back upstairs to read. It was on the practical applications of Herbology in the care of common magical creatures, and Hermione couldn't help but reminisce over Hagrid's lessons, freeing Buckbeak and the awful skrewts they'd had to raise as their own. How she wished she could go back to that.
After ten minutes of browsing, the brunette was pulled out of her thoughts as a noise from downstairs caught her attention.
Hm. She didn't take long. The Gryffindor put her book down and sat up, running a hand through her hair.
"Bella?" She called, wondering if whatever she was doing down there would have benefitted from her help. Silence.
Hermione frowned and listened intently, wondering if she'd imagined it. After a few seconds, there was the sound of a door opening or closing, and then nothing.
Pushing herself off the bed, Hermione padded to the bedroom door, wondering if something had happened to upset the death eater. She pushed on the wood of the door and crossed the hall way, looking over the bannister down into the hallway below. For a moment she couldn't see anything, but then, the source of the noise entered her view.
The woman Hermione saw was not Bellatrix.
Hermione reeled away from the bannister in shock, scuffling against the carpet as she did. She cursed herself as she realised how loud her movements must have been and grappled with her sleeve for her wand.
She realised all too soon and with a sick feeling that it wasn't there.
Shit! I left it on the kitchen table! How could she have been so careless?
From downstairs, Hermione could hear Minerva coming back out of the kitchen where her wand still lay on the table from earlier and the brunette scrambled away from the stairs. Not fast enough. With a deafening crash a spell flew through the wooden railings and exploded against the wall beside her.
With a yelp, Hermione scrambled away and down the hall way in panic. There was an airing cupboard at the end of the hall and with the sound of Minerva slowly coming up the stairs behind her, Hermione dived towards it and slipped inside, praying Bellatrix came back before she was found. She couldn't win this fight without her wand, and she was sure that if Minerva had seen it, she would have taken it.
Minerva advanced down the hallway slowly and Hermione held her breath as she peeked through the slats of the door. She stayed as still as possible, barely breathing.
Minerva came to a stop outside the cupboard doors and Hermione shrank as far back into the shadows as she could.
After a few seconds, just when Hermione was sure her old professor (or at least her image) knew she was there, the woman turned, and went into Bellatrix's room. Hermione let out a trembling breath and took her chance.
She burst from the cupboard and bolted down the stairs, flying into the kitchen in the hopes of finding her wand. The table was bare save for the vase at its centre and Hermione cursed. Upstairs she could hear Minerva back out on the landing and with one last look behind her, Hermione rushed to the back door and ripped it open, slamming it behind her and tearing across the garden, jumping the stone wall that separated it from the graveyard.
She looked around desperately in the fog for somewhere to hide, immediately spotting the crypt entrance she had pointed out earlier. It was unlocked, and with a lot of effort Hermione pushed the wailing stone door in and disappeared into the dark. She saw a few lines of stone coffins embedded into the walls before the murk was too much, and she had to resort to feeling her way along the corridors in the tiny amount of light that still filtered in.
She turned a corner and after a minute more of cautiously edging forwards, the Gryffindor pressed her back to the wall and exhaled, her heart still pounding. She was sure that Minerva wouldn't find her down here.
Come on Bella, come back already. Just come back.
After five minutes, Hermione was considering peeking out to see if the other woman was gone, when a voice chilled her blood.
"Does someone live amongst the dead?"
Hermione clamped both of her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming, her eyes wide as she backed slowly into a corner. There was the awful screech of stone on stone as the entrance door was forced closed, and Hermione was plunged into an all consuming darkness as the last shafts of moonlight were blotted out.
Straining her ears against the darkness to glean any give away sound, her eyes as wide as they could go and her chest heaving, the brunette slowly and silently slid down the wall until she was wedged in behind a stone casket.
There was no sound other than her own blood thundering through her veins as Hermione waited. The freezing flagstones around her were gritty with mould and moss and the Gryffindor slowly extended a trembling hand out along the ground in search of anything that she could use to defend herself with.
She froze as sound crawled along the walls to her ears. Then another. Another. Footsteps.
In panic, Hermione used her other hand to aid the search, patting the ground blindly. There was another moment of quiet before the steps turned a corner and became louder as her attacker advanced.
Her knuckle brushed against something to her left and Hermione held her breath as she recognised the shape of an urn covered in cobwebs. She closed her fingers around the neck and pulled it from its spot, the thick cobwebs tearing loudly enough for the footsteps to stop.
Clutching her weapon tightly, Hermione barely dared to breathe. A few more footsteps and Minerva was so close Hermione could hear her breathing in from within the blackness. The trim of a dress brushed her knee and Hermione bit her lip. One more step.
Steeling herself, she rose up to stand at her full height, praying Minerva was where she thought she was. She silently lifted her shaking arms above her head and screwed her eyes closed- not that it made any difference.
Smash.
Hermione had hit something, and it fell to the floor without a sound. Panic threatened to overwhelm her again as Hermione realised she had no way of knowing if Minerva was down or not. She hadn't made a sound if Hermione had hit her.
Not being able to fight it another second, her flight instinct kicked in and she stumbled through the darkness, feeling her way along the walls, unable run whilst blind. She found the corner and turned back the way she remembered running in from, and continued on along the walls, fighting the desire to turn and look behind her every few seconds. After a minute, the wall gave way, and Hermione let out a loud exhalation of relief as she found the stairs that led up to the surface. Tripping and pushing herself up them, she grappled the heavy door and heaved against it with all her might trying to wedge it back open, her feet scuffling at the floor to gain traction.
"Ten points from Gryffindor."
Hermione froze in terror as the voice accompanied by a dragging sound rang out from the bottom of the stairs. With a burst of adrenaline, she threw her shoulder against the stone and and let out a shriek when the footsteps resumed far faster than before, each one echoing down the hallways until it sounded like there were a hundred people clawing their way through the darkness towards her.
A cool, bony, hand firmly grabbed her ankle and Hermione screamed so loudly she saw stars, kicking and thrashing wildly until she felt the hand disappear. with one last heave, the door came off its hinges completely, throwing Hermione forward out into the foggy night air. She pushed herself up in an instant and whirled around, her eyes drinking in the gift of sight like oxygen, peering down into the darkness of the crypt.
Nothing stirred, and Hermione wiped her face with her sleeve as she gulped down air.
The were a few seconds of silence before a rustling sound from behind her caught her attention. In an instant she felt arms close around her middle and she screamed again, struggling with everything she had.
"Hermione! Hermione, stop it!"
Hermione ceased suddenly as she realised who it was and she sank back against the figure struggling to breathe.
"What the fuck is going on? I could hear you screaming from inside the house- and what the fuck happened to the landing?" Bellatrix kept a tight hold on her and the brunette was grateful for the support even to stand up right. She pointed to the door, panting hard.
"She's in there. She was in there with me, she..."
Bellatrix cursed.
"Is she dead?"
"I don't know." Hermione started to sob as the shock caught up to her and Bellatrix set her down on the grass against a headstone.
"Just stay here, I'll only be a minute."
"You're going down there?" Hermione looked sick.
"I'm not afraid of the dark." Bellatrix reassured, pulling her wand from her sleeve. She descended into the darkness and Hermione buried her head in her knees, trembling. There was a loud crack and the silence. When Bellatrix came back, there was blood on her hands.
"God, you really did a number on her. Face was smashed to hell. What happened?"
It wasn't a real question. She got down next to Hermione and pulled her close.
"I distinctly remember telling you to try not to get yourself killed. Why on earth did you go down there?"
"She's got my wand, she took it," Hermione was inconsolable. "She found it and she took it before I could get it."
Bellatrix rubbed her back comfortingly. "Do you want me to go and get it?"
Hermione nodded, wiping tears away on her sleeve.
Bellatrix got up again and descended once more into the crypt and Hermione let her head fall back against the stone and took a few deep breaths, focusing on the sound of the wind and the sea in the distance. The night air was cool against her tear stained cheeks.
Bellatrix brought her wand back covered in ash. "Looks like it was another conjuration. There's just a pile of dust down there. Wand survived though." She shook it off and handed it back to Hermione, who took it gratefully. She swore she was never going to put it down again.
"Thank you."
Bellatrix helped her to her feet. "Well, look at it this way. I have food, and there's only one Minerva left to go before it's just us and the real thing."
Hermione groaned at the idea of having to go through anything like that again.
"Except this time, hopefully you'll be armed and I'll be there with you. Come on, let's go back inside- this fog is worse than drizzle."
Hermione nodded and looked back down to where they had been sitting, ashamed that she had been such a coward. She stopped.
Bellatrix looked from the younger witch to the headstone she was staring at in confusion. "Hermione? What- Oh. Oh."
In beloved memory of
Louix Pendlebury Shrub IX,
a proud wizard
and a good man
sorely missed.
