A/N: There were a few questions regarding Hermione's virginity and I want to apologize for not addressing this is the last chapter. I meant to write that Hermione had lost her virginity in her fourth year to Viktor Krum. I'm sorry for forgetting about this.

Chapter 9

The Final Task

Hermione awoke with a warmth against her back and an arm draped across her stomach. She tilted her head slightly and saw Bellatrix sleeping peacefully. The young witch smiled at her companion and her smile grew as she recalled the events of the previous night. She moved her hand to her neck and faintly traced her fingers along where she knew bruises to be.

Next to her, Bellatrix started to stir and her eyes slowly opened. Bellatrix smiled when she saw that she was holding Hermione and she pulled her in closer. Hermione giggled softly.

"Good morning," Hermione said sweetly, and turned herself around so that she was facing Bellatrix.

"Mm, good morning," Bellatrix purred and leaned forward to give Hermione a kiss. She tried to deepen the kiss but Hermione pulled back, making Bellatrix pout.

"Later," Hermione promised. "I have a task to do soon," she stated. Hermione slowly wiggled out of the Death Eater's grasp and began putting on her clothes that were scattered across the floor. Bellatrix watched the young witch dress with a small smile on her face.

Hermione picked up her wand and then made her way to a mirror. She began to cast charms to cover up the marks on her neck. Once she finished she gasped and dropped her wand. Her hand immediately flew to her mouth and her eyes grew large in fear.

Bellatrix shot out of bed and over to Hermione.

"What's wrong?" she asked and wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulder.

"Draco. He knows! What are we going to do?! I … he's my … damn it!" Hermione said quickly and looked worried. Bellatrix laughed lightly. "It's not funny!" Hermione said angrily and turned around to face Bellatrix. "He's one of my only friends! And you saw how freaked out he was yesterday," Hermione bent down and picked up her wand, twiddling it between her fingers.

"Hermione, relax. Don't worry about it," Bellatrix said calmly and began to slowly put on her clothes.

Hermione was about to snap at Bellatrix and say that she should not be acting so calm but there was a knock on the door. Hermione jumped but visibly relaxed when she heard who was on the other side of the door.

"Miss Hermione, you will be late for breakfast if you don't hurry," Marsh said. Hermione moved to the door and opened it slightly to let Marsh in. Once the house elf was inside she closed the door and knelt down in front of Marsh.

"Thank you Marsh. How did you know I was here?" she asked kindly.

Bellatrix leaned back against a nearby wall and watched the interaction with curiousity. She did not understand Hermione's liking for house elves but she kept quiet.

"Well Miss, Marsh went to your room but it was empty so Marsh used her magic to find where you were. Is Miss angry with Marsh?" she asked quietly and clamped her hands together.

"No no, Marsh you didn't do anything wrong. Thank you very much for coming to find me," Hermione said, immediately reassuring Marsh. Marsh held out her hand for Hermione to take.

"Marsh will lead you to breakfast Miss," Marsh said with a smile as Hermione took her hand and stood back up.

Hermione opened the door to leave but turned around to see Bellatrix.

"I'll see you later at the task?" Hermione asked with hope in her voice. Bellatrix smirked and nodded her head in response.

Hermione smiled at Bellatrix and then made her way with Marsh to breakfast.

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After breakfast the four Hogwarts students followed Lucius outside for the final task. They passed the lake and went right, stopping at the entrance to the large forest. Once they had stopped walking, Voldemort appeared out of black smoke in front of them. Immediately afterward, Bellatrix emerged from behind him.

"Today is your final task before I decide what roles you will all play in our side of the war," Voldemort started and gave each of the young students calculating looks. "You will be evaluated today on your reaction time and your ability of spell casting under pressure. Each of one will work alone and fight the Death Eaters that will be hunting you down. There are no rules. Use whatever spells you want. You will be out there for three hours before the task will end. You will have ten minutes before the task begins. Do I make myself clear?" Voldemort asked. Hermione, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle all nodded their heads. "Good. Then get going."

They all made their way into the forest. Before being hidden by the trees, Hermione looked back at Bellatrix who gave her a supportive wink. Hermione winked back and then hid herself in the trees. She knew that the others had mostly gone right so she turned left.

She kept walking through the forest and would cover up her tracks. After what she thought to be ten minutes she became very cautious with her steps and with her surroundings.

Suddenly, she heard a twig snap behind her and she spun around and silently sent the spell expelliarmus but the Death Eater flicked their wrist and cast it aside. They began to duel silently. Hermione would take a few steps backwards with each spell but the Death Eater kept moving forward.

Hermione quickly cast protego and then raised her wand at the tree and whispered deprimo. This caused a large, heavy branch over top of the Death Eater to fall and trap him between the harsh forest floor and the branch. At the impact, the Death Eater dropped his wand and it rolled away from him.

Hermione ran away and only stopped once she could no longer hear the Death Eater's cries of pain. She quickly tried to catch her breath but was unable to when a spell was cast her way. Hermione dodged the spell and sent a spell back in the direction the original spell had come from.

"Furnunculus!" Hermione yelled at her attacker and the Death Eater fell to the ground, his whole body now covered in boils. Then, silently, Hermione cast incarcerous. Ropes appeared out of thin air and wrapped around the Death Eater's body.

She left the area quickly and this time was able to catch her breath before another attacker came her way.

"I've been looking for you," Lucius said as he took of his mask. He shot a couple of spells at Hermione but she managed to block them all. He began to look frustrated when none of his spells were connecting.

"Having a little trouble?" Hermione taunted uncharacteristically and cast the spell obscuro at him, which made a blindfold appear over his eyes.

"Shut it you disgusting witch! You won't pass this test if it's the last thing I do!" he yelled at her angrily and cast a spell to remove the blindfold.

Minutes passed and neither of them were easing up on their spells. Every once in a while one of their spells would pass through and connect with their target. So far Lucius had a huge gash in her left arm and was using it to clutch his bleeding stomach. Hermione had a large wound in her thigh and had a cut on her chest above her breasts.

Eventually Lucius tripped over a small tree root and Hermione took that opportunity and cast descendo at the forest floor underneath Lucius. The ground collapsed which sent Lucius flying down into the earth. His wand flew out of his hand and landed far away, but Hermione did not notice.

When Hermione heard a thud she limped over to the edge of the deep hole and could barely make out Lucius's figure. He was screaming in pain and started to yell at her.

"You bitch! I'll get you for this you whore! Bellatrix won't be able to save you once I get a hold of you!" he screamed.

Hermione looked down at him in anger and cast silencio on him. She smiled to herself when she could no longer hear him.

She walked away from the hole and quickly cast a few healing spells. They weren't perfect because she was tired but they would have to do.

The young witch walked far away from where Lucius was and was pleased when a loud voice rang through the forest.

"The task is done. Send sparks up to signal where you are and someone will retrieve you," the voice said.

Hermione sent up green sparks and leaned against a tree, waiting for someone to get her.

Suddenly, a man appeared and held out his arm. She was not sure who he was but she took her arm anyway and they apparated out of the forest.

She was the second one back. Crabbe was being supported by another Death Eater. His legs looked broken and was unconscious.

Goyle arrived next with blood trickling down his face. He also had a limp and his arm seemed bent at a funny angle.

Next Draco arrived with Bellatrix. He was clutching his wand arm and his left eye was badly bruised.

Bellatrix moved away from Draco and walked quickly to Hermione.

"Are you alright?" Bellatrix asked and looked her over.

"I'm fine. Better than everyone else anyway," Hermione stated and leaned into Bellatrix slightly for support. Draco looked at them both and then looked away quickly.

"Everyone is to get healed here and then Voldemort will join us shortly," said the Death Eater that had brought Hermione out of the forest.

The Death Eater's helped the three students heal while Bellatrix had already healed Hermione.

Once Draco was healed he walked over to Bellatrix and Hermione.

"Hey, I just wanted to say that I think I overreacted last night and that I'm not going to say anything. But at the same time I'm not completely okay with this," he said quietly so that only they could hear. Hermione smiled at him.

"Thank you Draco and I completely understand," the brunette said and gave him a brief hug. He looked to Bellatrix for a thanks as well but she just looked away in a bored manner.

Suddenly, like earlier, Voldemort appeared.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and paid attention to Voldemort. Crabbe had woken up and sat on the ground looking up at Voldemort.

"I have made my decisions based on the three tasks that you have all done," Voldemort started. "Firstly, Crabbe and Goyle shall become snatchers once their schooling is finished. However I expect you both to listen intently while at school for important information," the two boys looked at each other in slight disappointment but nodded their heads in acceptance. "Hermione and Draco shall have the honour of becoming Death Eaters."

There was a moment of silence before Voldemort continued.

"You shall be initiated tonight and then each of you will receive your tasks that are to be completed at Hogwarts," he said pointedly before moving on. "Are all of the Death Eater's back yet?" he asked.

"No my Lord, Lucius has not returned," the Death Eater near Goyle said.

"Go fetch him," Voldemort instructed the other Death Eaters. "The four of you can go back up to the Manor and rest," he said and then disappeared in his black smoke.

Everyone does as they were instructed and an hour later the Death Eater's come back.

The students were in a lounging room with Narcissa as she tended more to the wounds when the Death Eater's returned. As they came into the room Voldemort appeared looking angry.

"Why was I summoned?" he asked, with his snake like eyes glared at his followers. "Yaxley. Explain," he hissed at the Death Eater who had brought Hermione out of the forest.

Everyone who had already been in the room stood up, with the exception of Crabbe, and all looked confused as to what was going on.

Bellatrix entered the room and walked over to Hermione with a look on her face that was a mixture of happiness and sourness.

"What's going on?" the brunette asks and Bellatrix did not answer, waiting for Yaxley to explain.

"My Lord, when we were searching for Lucius we found his wand," Yaxley produced Lucius's wand from his pocket. "We then found a deep hole in the forest where we found him. Dead. He seemed to have bled out," he informed everyone.

Narcissa let out a loud cry and wrapped her arms around Draco. Draco just stood there, looking perplexed.

"N-no ..." Hermione stammered and took an unsteady step backwards, causing herself to fall. "I-I didn't mean to," she whimpered as she spoke.

All eyes in the room were now focused on Hermione.

Bellatrix bent down next to Hermione and went to place her hand on her shoulder but the brunette flinched away.

"What do you mean?" Voldemort asked. He did not sound angry but he did not sound pleased either.

Hermione started to shake slightly and her eyes were fixated on the ground.

"We were dueling. He was bleeding a lot I guess and he tripped. I made the ground disappear and he fell. I didn't know he didn't have his wand. H-he was yelling at me so … so I cast silencio on him and walked away. I didn't think he would ..." she said very quickly, not stopping to take a breath between words.

Shakily she looked up and looked from Bellatrix to Voldemort.

"It's my fault. I killed him."