Masquerade Act One: Hidden Figures
The Ninth Dance: A Blast From the Past
A/N: If there are discrepancies with some of the magic spells from the HP and the ones used here, my bad. I kind of got lazy looking through the HP wiki and decided to take the liberty of making my own. The spells are in Latin so if you are curious what they really mean then you can just google them.
Is this not the true romantic feeling; not to desire to escape life but to prevent life from escaping you-Thomas Wolfe
"Two keys, two!" blustered the fat judge, known as Ibraham, holding up two sausage sized fingers. He glared angrily at the other two judges next to him who were seated around a heavy oak table with ornamentation of angels, humans and demons crawling up the sides of the legs.
"I know!" Dorian snapped back, his whole body a sharp red. He had been the first one tricked by the witches into having his key stolen. "You think I haven't been keeping track of their actions?"
"Clearly not," shot back Ibraham. "Because not only have they gotten away from you, but they've also come after me and taken my key and still we haven't caught them."
"It's not my fault that your key got stolen! It's your fault that you were too useless and stupid to protect yourself from them. They even got away from your judgment! Bellatrix managed to escape the gates of hell! How is that possible? It's unprecedented." Dorian stood up at this, slamming his fists on the table, a tail lashing angrily behind his back.
Ibraham's eyes flashed dangerously and he too stood up, albeit more calmly and voice less ire filled. "They wouldn't have gotten to me, if you had done your job properly. They got your key first and grew confident and cocky from it. The key's power is fueling their magical abilities. So if it's anyone's fault, it's yours!" He pointed a finger at Dorian, the red skinned man snapping his teeth furiously, looking like he wanted to bite off Ibraham's appendage. The air around them crackled with tension, both of their eyes having gone black.
"I think it would do well if both of you stopped blaming each other," a sober voice, laced with disinterest and apathy spoke up. The third judge, a blue skinned thin man with a pair of spectacles on his face addressed both of them, looking up from the paperwork he had been quietly reading. Both judges glanced at him, but did not sit down, their bodies tense and awaiting confrontation if the situation escalated to that.
"Both of your keys have been stolen, that is fact. We cannot reverse what has happened in the past. All we can do is continue to move on. I suggest you put aside your accusations and put your heads together in figuring out how to get the stolen keys back and how to sentence both women properly to their fate."
Dorian spoke up. "And what about you? You know that they'll only come after you next."
"Don't worry about me," the third judge said, getting up and sweeping his papers into his hand. He took off his spectacles with his other hand and let his rapidly turning black eyes focus on them. "I've done my research on their past, and let's say our little friends will have a special visitor." With that he disappeared in a burst of bright light. Dorian frowned and turned to Ibraham. "What did he mean by that?" His skin had turned pale now that his anger had largely left him.
Ibraham was silent, contemplating. "I do not know," he admitted at last. The third judge was the most secretive of all of them so it was often hard to tell what he thought or felt, if he could even feel anything. "But, if Gabriel does have a plan then it will definitely put an end to the witches vile schemes. Once and for all." He began laughing abruptly at this, his big booming voice echoing through out the room. Dorian did not share his amusement.
"It'd better," he growled under his breath as he turned on his heel to leave, leaving the still laughing man behind. "Or else I'll unleash my full fury on this place, and nothing will be able to hold me back from tearing it down to the last brick."
Voices swirled in the never ending dark and Hermione twisted and turned to catch a glimpse of the bodies these voices belonged to. She was only rewarded to more black. "Hermione, it's me, Harry. I just wanted to tell you that we did it." His voice was filled with enormous relief. "It's over. When you wake up again we'll be able to live in a peaceful world. No more Voldemort. So please come to us."
Harry...Harry...the name stayed on the tip of Hermione's tongue, tasting familiar and feelings of warmth fuzzing inside her. But the other name, Voldemort, that called up fear and hatred and revulsion inside her. She had seen his name here before, but where and how? There was a pause before another voice spoke up. This was the whiny voice from before. "Hermione, I miss you. Come on. You have to wake up for us. We're heroes now. I'm sure you don't want to miss that. People are praising you for being the smartest muggle born alive." He sounded close to tears and Hermione had to swallow the lump in her throat as she heard his pain laced words.
She waited for the third voice, as it often came but it was silent and then she was awake once more. Hermione sat up in her bed, breathing heavily. For the longest time after she had taken the second key she had begun to have these dreams more and more often. They confused her to no end. She knew it wasn't the judges speaking to her, or any of their magic tricks being used on her. She felt like these voices were people she knew from her past, somehow getting to her here, wherever here was. She had tried talking to them, reaching out to them, but they remained ignorant of her cries. So all she did was listen to them and wait. They kept begging her to come to them, to come back. And that they had finished some great war, some war between witches and wizards.
She had wanted to talk this over with the dark witch but Bellatrix had locked herself into her room and hadn't left no matter how long Hermione begged her to come out for. Without the other witch Hermione drifted from room to room in the house. She didn't have information on the judges because Bellatrix only told her things on a need to know basis and so the brunette couldn't even go after the last key if she desired to do so. She was mad at the dark haired witch. How dare she do this! They were supposed to get through their troubles together. They had sworn to trust each other and to tell each other the truth. Yet it was clear the witch was hiding something from Hermione that was so terrifying she would break their promise for it.
Hermione got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast, readying herself to another day of boredom when who did she see but Bellatrix tending to the fire. The sight of the witch surprised Hermione so much that she paused, her hand on the stair railing and feet on the last step. The dark witch didn't notice her and continued to work at the fire silently. At last when Hermione found her voice she spoke the witch's name.
Bellatrix turned around, her face looking pale and gaunt, her eyes haunted. She looked momentarily scared of Hermione but replaced it with a haughty look, jerking her chin up and putting her hands on her hips. "Don't even start with the questions."
"And why not?" Hermione came down from the last step, glaring the witch down. They were going to have a confrontation that much was certain and Hermione was going to walk away with answers this time. "I have every right. You can't keep disappearing up into your room every time something bothers you. We're in this together and if something is bothering you I need to know so I can help you."
"I don't need your help," the witch spat back haughtily. "I just need time to be alone without your pestering presence to think things over."
"If I really bother you this much then why ask for my help in the first place? If you're so confident in your abilities then by all means be my guest. I'll hand the keys back over to the judges and let's see you get them back by yourself." Hermione grit her teeth.
"I asked you for aid because I thought you would be a help and not an annoyance. I needed a partner that would focus their energies on escaping from this place and not prying into my personal business!" Bellatrix extended a hand in anger, to punctuate her point.
"It's not prying into business when it affects both of us!" Hermione spat back. She was not going to let this conversation go into a circle of blaming and screaming at one another without anything of value being said. "I know what happened at court that date." At this Bellatrix's face got paler. "So why don't you stop pretending like nothing of importance did because we both damn well know something did." Hermione had had a lot of time to think about things without the dark witch around and she had put some things together that she didn't like.
Hermione knew she had the other witch now. She spread out her hands. "The stage is all yours. I'll let you speak and explain these things unless you'd rather listen to what conclusions I've arrived at."
Anger at being forced into this flashed in the dark witch's eyes and she paced away from the fire, coming to rest her hands on the back of an armchair. "How much do you know?"
Hermione gave a small smile. Oh there was no way she was going to tell the witch how much she had figured out, so that she could only stick to that and not elaborate beyond that. "Let's assume I know as much as you."
Bellatrix's nostrils flared. She knew that Hermione was aware of what she had been trying to do and swallowing hard she went on. "Back in the court room I was sentenced to hell." Her voice was whispery and light. Fear flashed in her eyes at the memory of that day and her hands curled tightly on the chair as she looked away from the brunette. "And that...frightened me. I saw things there that you didn't. Horrors that I can't even begin to comprehend much less explain. That's why I had to be alone. To think things over. I didn't want you to see me in that state." Bellatrix felt extremely uncomfortable saying this. She was admitting to her feelings and feelings were a sign of weakness. But she'd rather admit to this than the actual truth: that she had been a criminal in her past and hurt Hermione herself. She swore she would never tell. Because it would ruin everything they had done so far.
"And?" Hermione questioned and Bellatrix felt a stab of panic next to her heart. Had Hermione actually found out the truth? "And what?" she said cautiously.
"Is that it?" Hermione's face gave away nothing. In this moment Bellatrix felt like the brunette was a judge, judging her and the words spilling from her mouth. And any minute she would deliver a swift and terrifying decision. "Yes. As for your scars I have no idea where they came from. I have scars too on my body. Nothing like yours but it can be safe to assume we must have gotten them somewhere here. A way to mark us by the judges."
Hermione's lips twisted into a frown and she absently looked down at her covered arm, the one with her scar. She seemed to want to speak more on the matter but dropped it for now. "We'll talk more about this, but I want to address something else with you now." Bellatrix let out a barely audible sigh of relief. She felt like she had barely dodged a bullet. "And what's that?" Her hands relaxed on the top of the chair.
"I think I have an idea of where we are." Bellatrix waited silently for the brunette to collect her words. The brunette picked up her eyes, connecting with the black haired woman's. "Think about the facts. We wake up with no memories wearing either white, black, or gray with masks to conceal our identities and then they require us to forget everything, to just eat and wait as they parade a myriad of distractions like plays or tea parties to blind us from the truth of this place." Hermione had begun to pace around the room, counting off on her fingers the facts, her eyes on the floor. Bellatrix's eyes followed her in interest. "And then one of the things they require us to attend is a play on Dante's Inferno which has heavy themes of heaven and hell and on what one deserves in the afterlife. And then the three judges, those who decide our eternal fate once we leave from this place. One of them being hell." Hermione's eyes briefly locked in on those of Bellatrix's to gauge her reaction to those words. The dark haired witch kept her face neutral.
"And let's not forget all the dead bodies. That's the biggest clue."
"So what does it all mean?" the other witch was getting impatient. She just wanted Hermione to get to the point. Hermione paused at this, a grim look on her face.
"Bellatrix, we're in purgatory."
The fire crackled innocently behind them as the words weighed in the very air in this room. "Purgatory?" Bellatrix said slowly, tasting the way the word fit in her mouth.
"Yes," Hermione answered resolutely. "It only makes sense. I never would have known such things existed if it had not been for me watching that play but it all makes sense now. Whatever this wizarding war is it has caused massive causalities and resulted in our...deaths," Hermione choked a little on saying this word. "And now we're stuck here awaiting our judgment, as to where we should go next in the afterlife."
Bellatrix furrowed her brow. "Are you sure this is correct?"
Hermione gave a little laugh of disbelief. "And where else would we be Bellatrix? Do you have any other explanation for our situation?"
Bellatrix shrugged haplessly. It had never crossed her mind that they were already dead. Her hands slowly came up to grab at the sides of her face. So what was the point of her trying to get the keys if they were already dead? It's not like they would just come back from beyond the grave. It wasn't possible!
Hermione sensed the inner conflict going through Bellatrix's mind. "We're not going to give up, Bella. The keys are important, but not for the reason we originally thought. The keys can bring us back alive. Back to the real world."
The older witch meet the others eyes, her black orbs swirling. "But coming back from the dead is impossible. It's never been done before."
Hermione merely smiled. "And when has that ever stopped you?" Truthfully Hermione had been distraught by this idea, but at the same time the concept gave her a peace of mind and confidence. Now that she knew what the truth of this place was than she could feel freer to focus all her energies on getting her life back. She was a bit shocked that the dark witch was taking this harshly as she was usually so unaffected by the things going on around her, but she supposed the witch had been undergoing a particularly stressful time period, with being condemned to hell and all that and now finding out she was dead all this time. Hermione refused to let her mind dwell on the specifics of the trial because if she did she started doubting Bellatrix and she couldn't because she was the only person she had here. She wasn't even going to delve deeper on the connotations of wearing white versus black. She was certain that Bellatrix couldn't be that bad, right? After all she had done nothing but help and fight with Hermione to save both their lives. If she had truly been evil then she would have killed Hermione or hurt her a long time ago, at least that's what Hermione reasoned. She shook her head to dispel these thoughts and focused on regarding the older witch. She looked more assured now, that familiar fire burning in her eyes.
"The idea is certainly something and I would want to dispute it but I have nothing better to offer. So I'll go with it for now. And since I'm going with it, that means we need to get the third key as quickly as possible. Who knows how long we've been gone. I can't speak for you but I'm impatient to getting back to the real world."
Hermione let another smile grace her lips, glad to see Bellatrix had bounced back from her earlier horror. "And what are your plans for it?"
It turned out Bellatrix's plans involved getting smashed at a bar.
"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Hermione groaned, one hand rubbing her face, other clutching the shot glass of fire whiskey in her hand. She sat right across from Bellatrix at a table in that night club-the In Between- that Hermione had first arrived in what felt like years ago.
"Because, they won't expect us to be here, that's why. As far as I know this is no judges domain, but we're going to make sure. Dorian's domain was the dance hall, or just big parties in general, whereas Ibraham's is feast halls, anywhere there's food and drink in copious amounts."
"And the third one?"
Bellatrix waved her hand to show her lack of knowledge on the matter. "I actually don't know. I haven't seen the third judge much. He doesn't leave his domain often, whatever it is."
"So then what do we do to find it? I'm sure knocking down shots of firewhiskey is not going to help us achieve that." Hermione's face was a mask of displeasure and she gave a disgruntled sound from the back of her throat.
"No it won't," Bellatrix conceded, not voicing that she had been tired of being stuck in the house all this time and needed some change of scenery and a bottle of liquor to make her forget her troubles momentarily. "But it'll help us relax. We have to celebrate the fact that we've stolen two keys from them."
"Really?" Hermione was not impressed by this choice. "You do realize their hunting us down and now we're out and about getting inebriated which will make us easier to catch."
Bellatrix waved a finger in front of Hermione's face. "They will be expecting us to be hunting down for the third key not getting smashed. So enjoy yourself for now, because tomorrow the real business starts. We might as well celebrate the fact that we've died." Bellatrix raised the glass to her lips with a smirk and Hermione rolled her eyes as the witch downed her fifth shot in the past hour.
"That's not something one celebrates," Hermione pointed out when the witch gave her a questioning look as to why the brunette had yet not taken her first shot.
"Then take a shot in honor of the fact that we'll soon be alive, ready to rejoin the world we departed too early."
"Fine, but only one shot, Bellatrix. One of us needs to be coherent if things go downhill." Hermione took the shot, grimacing as the hard liquor hit the back of her throat and burned its way down. "Uh, I can't believe you drink this."
"You'll get used to the taste eventually."
They sat at the table, talking in hushed tones as music played around them and patrons moved around. Somehow along the way, Bellatrix had managed to convince Hermione to take four more shots of the stuff. The brunette found out she had a low alcohol tolerance as soon the room was spinning around her and she could barely focus on the conversation with the older witch.
"What happened to being the more coherent of the two?" Bellatrix taunted, as she helped Hermione stumble out of her seat. She held the brunette by the waist so that the girl didn't tip over as they made their way through portals back to their safe house.
"Oh bugger off," Hermione slurred. "I don't understand why we had to drink that cat piss shite anyways."
Bellatrix merely chuckled at this. "I didn't know Hermione had such a potty mouth on her once she's drunk."
"I do not have a potty mouth," Hermione hiccuped. "I have a clean mouth because I go to dentists and stuff."
"Sure, sure," Bellatrix affirmed lackadaisically as she helped the two of them stumble into the living room of the house. The lights were off, only the magically glowing fire still on. Instead of turning on the lights like a sober person, Bellatrix merely whispered "Lumos" and the tip of her wand lighted up as she drunkenly pulled Hermione up the stairs. The process was laborious and took a long time as Hermione was nearly asleep on her feet and Bellatrix kept giggling uncontrollably to herself; the witch had taken at least ten shots and firewhiskey was no joke. At last they arrived to Hermione's room and Bellatrix dropped her unceremoniously to the bed. The girl bounced off the mattress and laid there like that, flat on her stomach.
"Whelp, this is where I leave you, dearie." Bellatrix made to move when a hand on her wrist stopped her.
"Don't go," Hermione mumbled. "I've never been drunk before. It's-what happens now?"
Bellatrix laughed at the absurdity of the question. "You sleep it off and hope you don't have a headache next morning or worse yet, a hangover."
"No, stay with me," Hermione whined, her voice muffled by the pillow it was in. Bellatrix let out a sigh. "I'm not. Good night." She swept out of the room, almost running into the door on her way out and managed to her bed, not bothering to change out of her clothes, the alcohol in her veins ordering her to sleep right this instant.
She had almost drifted off when a second later she heard the sound of someone stubbing their toes blindly on her dresser.
"Ow." Came Hermione's not so quiet response.
Bellatrix let out a sigh and reached for her wand which she had dropped sloppily onto her dresser top. "What do you want?" She raised the glowing wand at Hermione, the girl squinting her eyes at the glow. "I can't sleep by myself. Can I sleep with you?"
"And if I say no?"
"Then I'll cry if you don't let me." The brunette did indeed look close to tears at being rejected again and so Bellatrix sighed. This girl was so needy when drunk. She would remember not to let the girl drink any hard stuff any time soon. "Fine."
Hermione dropped down gratefully to the queen sized bed, jostling the other witch with her actions. Bellatrix, turned her back pointedly to the other witch, placing her wand on the desk. She was just about to drift off to sleep again when she felt a hand snake around her waist and a face bury into her back, the length of Hermione's body pressing against her back. The brunette was cuddling up to her. How annoying.
Bellatrix tried to curl her lip in disgust but her veins thrummed, deceitfully betraying how she really felt about it and she leaned back more into the gesture. She couldn't recall a time she had been held close willingly by another person and she wondered if this had to do with all those people she had killed. Despair clawed at her heart and it began to pound. How could she do such a thing? Why? She still couldn't believe it. It felt like someone else had done it, as if the her of the past was disconnected from the her of now. As if losing her memories had recreated her.
Recreated she might be, but her sins still stayed with her and she knew she was going to pay dearly for them if she stayed here. She raised her hands and stared at them in the dark before slowly clenching them. Hermione made a little noise in the back of her throat and her arm came up higher, fingers tickling Bellatrix's rib cage.
How could Hermione feel so comfortable sleeping with a murderess?
She can she because doesn't know since you haven't told her, sneered a voice in the back of her head. Coward.
Shut up! Bellatrix spat back. I have to do it to protect her. Once we escape I'll make it up to her. And to everyone I've hurt. I'll be a good person.
Ha! You can't help those who are dead.
Bellatrix grit her teeth, her shoulders tensing up. Hermione sensed the shift in the other woman's body because she let out a whimper. Her fingers tangled in the corset of the others dress and she nuzzled the back of her neck in an unconscious effort to relax the other. Bellatrix froze at this, suddenly feeling disgusted by herself. She grabbed Hermione's hand to remove it and paused. In the light of the moonlight from the window the scars on Hermione's arm glowed and she felt a stab of guilt. She let her fingers trace over the bumps. "I'm sorry Hermione," she whispered.
"It's okay," Hermione mumbled back and Bellatrix stiffened. Was the other girl awake? "I did my homework Harry, you can use it to help you study." Then with that the other girl turned onto her other side, her arm slipping out of Bellatrix's grasp. The dark witch felt oddly cold without her pressing into her back, even with the heat the alcohol in her system offered. But she merely closed her eyes and finally let herself drift away.
Hermione woke up the next day, her head pounding between her eyes and no idea what had happened. She sat up slowly, eyes flicking back and forth from her unfamiliar surroundings. This room wasn't hers. She felt her pockets for her wand. Had she and Bellatrix been captured by the judges? Had they been locked into a room together? But no, she felt like the judges would have punished them immediately rather than let them sleep off their drunkenness. And speaking of that, Hermione was never going to drink firewhiskey ever again. She felt disgusted. What had see been thinking? They could have been attacked by their enemies by anytime! She was never letting the older witch convince her into such things.
Hermione, not finding her wand in her clothes, patted the bed around her, her hand bumping into something. She turned her head to the side, her eyes flaring wide open. What was she doing with the dark witch in her bed? The others hair was strewn haphazardly on the pillows and the sheets were wrapped around her shoulders, a hint of clothes peeking out from underneath. Oh god, had they-? Her hands came up to her mouth to cover the loud gasp that came out of it but she wasn't quick enough. Bellatrix began to stir and when she did she slowly rubbed her eyes and sat up, Hermione unable to move, a lump forming in her throat.
"Well good morning pet. Sleep well?" Bellatrix asked, her voice still heavy with sleep although she looked wide awake. "What? What's with that face?"
Hermione's throat was dry as she asked, "did we, did we, you know-"
Bellatrix chuckled, sliding her feet off her side of the bed and stretching languorously. "No we didn't. But you are quite the cuddler." She shot back over her shoulder, grin on her face as she watched with satisfaction as Hermione's face flushed red. "Wouldn't leave me alone all night." She got off the bed, striding over to her dresser for a change of clothes.
How utterly embarrassing. Hermione was tempted to hide her face behind the sheets but instead she got up, deciding it was high time she got decent.
Once everything was in order, the two witches met downstairs for some tea and a late breakfast. "I'm never drinking with you again," Hermione muttered as she drank her tea, her head still throbbing. The other merely chuckled, not looking the least bit affected despite downing so much more liquor. "You're just jealous you can't handle as much as I can dearie. Besides, I'm pretty sure you didn't mind when you had your arms wrapped around me in bed." This was said with a wink that caused the brunette's ears to burn up in shame.
"Ugh," Hermione eloquently put and busied herself with eating, deciding not to continue this conversation. She couldn't believe she had actually clung to the other witch last night. She wouldn't be able to live this down and the twinkle in the other witch's eyes promised that it would not be forgotten any time soon.
"What? Nothing to say for once?" The older witch teased.
Hermione smartly kept her mouth shut.
With breakfast over they cleared the dishes and put on their masks, Bellatrix again with her golden ram horns and Hermione with one she had made for herself. She made one that only covered her eyes and was reminiscent of the features an owl had around their eyes. It was all white with blue sapphires hanging around the eyes. "Now we hunt for the third judges domain," Bellatrix announced and they headed out, cautious of their surroundings and of staff members who might look for them.
They had been walking around fruitlessly for several hours, going up and down corridors when they finally came across something that could be of interest to them. It was a man, being dragged away by two security guards from a room. Wordlessly the two girls hide behind an alcove in the hallway and watched with interest at the ongoing scene. This was no ordinary man. It was the one with no hair and pale skin that Hermione had first seen in that room of dead people. She could tell it was him, even past the mask he was wearing. Hermione had been right in her guess. The dead came to this hotel, or Purgatory, and were resurrected so to speak in order to await their judgment day.
"Let go of me!" the man snarled, as he strained against the vice like grip with which the burly guards held his upper arms in. "You can't keep the truth from me! I will find it out even if it takes me all eternity to do so!"
Bellatrix and Hermione shared wide eyed stares with one another. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Bellatrix asked.
Hermione nodded her head minutely. "Good," the dark witch muttered and then shot out from where she had been hiding. "Pulso!" Twin jets of red magic hit each guard in the forehead and they dropped, unconscious to the floor. The man who had been in their grasp looked sharply to see his jailers were down and turned a careful but curious stare on Bellatrix as the woman approached him, coolly appraising her. Hermione's mouth was gaping open. This was certainly not what she had been thinking. But of course she should have known that the dark haired witch was going to choose fight over anything else.
"My, what marvels," the man spoke, pronouncing each word with care. He didn't look scared of Bellatrix at all. In fact he looked pleased. Bellatrix smiled but didn't dwell on the compliment. Hermione strode out from where she had been hiding and joined her friend. "Ah, there are two of you? Are you here to discipline me for my actions? Given your reaction to these guards here to I think not." He kicked the unconscious bodies next to him. "And I've never seen guests like you before, but I could be wrong about your intent to harm me." Something about the way he spoke and even the way he moved, his red eyes shifting back and forth from the two of them made Hermione feel very uncomfortable and very unsafe. Her gut twisted and squirmed but she couldn't place a finger on why exactly he disturbed her. Her wand threatened to slip out of her suddenly slippery grip and she tightened her hold on the wood. Bellatrix gave no indication if she recognized him, merely jerked her chin down the hall they had come from.
"I'm going to ask you a question only once and depending how you answer it, I'll decide what to do with you."
"How frightening," the man simply replied, only he did not look scared.
"Do you desire to seek the truths of this place and of escaping from them?"
The man contemplated this, raising his chin thoughtfully. "Is that not a paradox? Why seek the truth only to run from it?"
Come on, just answer the question, Hermione hissed impatiently. The hotel workers could happen upon them at any time.
"Because the truth is what will allow us to run from it," Bellatrix shot back, twiddling her wand in her fingers. She was talking to this man almost like an old friend, their conversation tone familiar.
"Well then I shall answer yes to that. I do want the truth and I do want to escape this horrid place."
"How much do you know?"
"I know enough that I wish to not remain in this hotel a moment longer." Bellatrix nodded her head at this. "Follow us then and we will lead you to salvation." The man nodded his head as they made their way back to the safe room but Hermione could not drop the sense of disquiet that dwelled in her. Bellatrix had said she would lead the man to salvation but why did Hermione have a feeling he was going to lead them to their doom?
"This is our safe house. Here you will be safe. None of the judges can get here to you. Or the staff workers." Bellatrix lead the man smugly around the house as he peered in interest at everything. "And you created this with magic?"
Bellatrix had also explained to the man about wands and the likes. Hermione had told her she had seen the man dead with a wand clamped between his fingers, prompting the dark witch's belief in this, but other than that Hermione was quiet during the duration of which Bellatrix entertained their new guest.
"Yes," Bellatrix proudly responded. "And you have magic too. Hermione told me you have a wand and we will go shortly to fetch it."
"Hermione," the man said the brunette's name as if tasting it like a snack that he wasn't quite sure he liked. He gave her a look that made her skin crawl.
"Yes, that is Hermione. She's been helping me on my quests." Bellatrix indicated to the younger girl. Somehow they had ended up back in the living room at the conclusion of the tour. Hermione stood a reasonable distance away from the man although Bellatrix had no qualms about it. They were a mere three feet from one another and this bothered the brunette but she didn't know why.
"And I am Bellatrix." The man's lips split into two on this. "Ah, Bellatrix. I feel like I have known you for a long time, yet I cannot recall our times spent together."
"I feel the same!" Bellatrix burst out excitedly. "I feel like I trusted you with my whole life!" Hermione rolled her eyes at this. Being over dramatic much? "Like I would have done anything for you." At this proclamation Bellatrix froze, her excitement dying down. She thought back to her trial. What had her lawyer said...that she had served someone devoutly and almost blindly and that had lead her to commit heinous crimes. Was this the same man? But no, he seemed so different. She felt towards him as one might to a friend. She pushed her doubts out of her mind and took to focusing on the warm feelings he invoked in her.
"Why the glum face?" the man tilted his head at her, his red eyes sparkling with some unreadable emotion as he noticed the way the joy had died on her face without warning.
"That is because I do not know you're name," Bellatrix played it off, tugging her lips into a faux smile.
"Call me Lord Voldemort." Hermione's heart skipped a beat at that. What had he said his name was? She felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees, she felt as if she was suddenly not in the same room with the others even though she was. Her mind whirled a thousand miles per hour, flashing a red WARNING sign. Bellatrix and Voldemort was oblivious to Hermione's inner turmoil and when she finally regained her composure she found that the two were leaving to go get the wizards wand.
"Wait here, we'll be back," Bellatrix instructed, tying a mask around her face. Voldemort was putting one on too. It was black with a beak that protruded and two round red dots on his cheek. "Wait, Bellatrix before you go we need to talk," Hermione said, rushing forwards to grab the older witch by the forearm.
"Go on, but quickly. I don't have a lot of time. Me and Lord Voldemort have to go before our window of opportunity closes." Hermione cast at a look at the man, his impassive face looking back at her. "Not here." She lowered her voice. "Privately. Just the two of us," Hermione added for clarification purposes. Bellatrix wrested her hand free.
"Later." Her hard look brooked no more discussion and the two left, leaving Hermione alone.
Hermione sat glumly on the couch, waving her wand around in boredom and watching the colorful dust waver in the air before it dropped down. What was taking the two so long? Had he hurt Bellatrix? Hermione could just imagine the man standing over the older witch, his hands soaked with her blood.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Hermione took to pacing around the house, trying to get her mind off of such dark matters. She had just cracked open a jar of peanut butter (it seemed whenever her boredom grew too much she was always in the kitchen) when the two magical beings stumbled into the house, laughing heartily.
"I can't believe you knocked that one guard down so hard he lost all his clothes in the process!" Bellatrix cackled with glee as she closed the door behind her.
The man's laughter was more subdued, sort of like a weird whispery noise. "I was not certain what that spell would do. The wand responds wonderfully to me, and the spells come to me in battle, but most are largely a mystery." They had walked into the living room now and tossed their masks onto the couch. Without the mask on the man's full face came free. It looked even more terrible from this close up, pale skin with the veins showing underneath, two holes were his nose should be and no eyebrows, giving his face a flat effect. What had happened to this man that he had been so ruined? Hermione left the kitchen to met with them.
"Do not worry, they will come to you. But we can train if it helps."
"I would like that."
"Bellatrix, can we talk now?" Hermione cut the two off. Bellatrix paused, as if she had forgotten the brunette was back at the castle. "Not now." She responded. "I'm going to train Lord Voldemort."
"But-"
"Nope." Bellatrix sang as she brushed past Hermione to the room they had designated for spell casting. Voldemort gave Hermione a look and then moved on. Hermione glared at the back of his bald head but said nothing as she internally fumed.
"I do not like this Hermione girl very much," Voldemort admitted as he blocked and sent a couple of spells back to Bellatrix. The black haired witch's veins were singing in joy as she got to fight him. He was so powerful, energy radiating off of him like a sun. It was nothing like fighting Hermione, who seemed had no proclivity for dueling magic. "Apologizes if I have offended you."
Bellatrix frowned, ducking her head as the brick wall behind her exploded. They were training in a magical replica of the In Between Club, albeit it was missing its patrons. Was she offended by the man's ready admission? If she was she didn't feel it yet. "And why does she offend you so?"
Voldemort waved his wand, sending all of Bellatrix's spells back at her. She put up a shield that blocked most of them, one of them passing past her cheek, ripping the skin. Hot blood trickled down her cheek and she licked it up using the tip of her tongue. Blood! Ha, now this was a duel! She wanted to push the man more and see what results she got!
"I'm not quite sure of the reason, but a large part of it has to do with the fact that I feel she's someone I hated in my past life."
"So you knew her too?" By Merlin's beard did every witch and wizard somehow know each other? Bellatrix caved the roof with a single wave of her wand and used the dust raised by it to slink closer to Voldemort. When the smoke cleared and she could get a good angle on him she let loose a flurry of red spells. They hit nothing, as he was no longer there. "Where-?" She turned her head and was rewarded with a spell to her face. She gave a scream as it knocked her to her feet, blood rushing in rivulets down her lips from her nose.
"Do you concede?" Voldemort asked and snarling Bellatrix got up. She never conceded to anyone. "That's what I thought," he sang merrily as she shot off so many spells in this dizzying array of color that she would be hard pressed to believe that none of them didn't hit him. But none had and he merely stood there coolly, his tie waving in the left over breeze. "How?" Bellatrix was shocked. She had never encountered someone with so much power. Just who had her friend been?
"Do not concern yourself over me, Bellatrix. I am impressed by your skill. This duel has jogged some of my memory, or whatever I can call these vague recollections that play upon my mind now, but in it I saw you and me, standing above armies of witches and wizards. You were the only one of my...friends that could rival my power as we fought against those who tried to kill us. Just like I know I can count on you to help me as we take our freedom from this hotel." But Bellatrix wasn't focused on the praise.
"Kill us, you said."
"Yes. Other witches and wizards wanted to kill us so we killed them before they could do the same to us."
"And why did they want to kill us?" Bellatrix had lowered her wand, and she was breathing hard but it wasn't from exertion.
Voldemort was oblivious to the raging emotions inside her. "I do not know that much, but surely it must have been because we were persecuted for some belief we had." Bellatrix couldn't stand to be in the room one moment more. "Training is over for today," she snarled and stormed out of the room, the man watching her silently. If he was stunned by her sudden twist in mood he gave no indication of it.
The dark witch needed a moment to think, to be at peace. She had already known that she had done horrible crimes, but hearing that she had not been alone in it, that she had done it under the orders of someone else made her sick. So he was the man that her lawyer had mentioned at the trial. And from the sounds of it, and what Bellatrix had just seen him do with magic, she had just given a monster the ability to continue it's crimes. What was she going to do now? She couldn't just ask for his wand back and there was no way she could beat him for it. Fuck, I fucked it all up! She grabbed her hair and pulled hard, pissed off at herself but also terrified of the monster she had let into her sanctuary.
She half expected Hermione to be outside waiting for her but when the brunette wasn't there, Bellatrix rushed to her bedroom only to find the brunette was instead in her room, looking at a picture on the wall. She startled the brunette with her violent entrance and Hermione turned to face her.
"What are you doing here?" Bellatrix snarled, not in the mood for company. She wanted to be alone in her room right now to figure out a way to fix all this. Hermione was startled by the amount of heat in the other woman's words but didn't comment on it. "You're bleeding." Bellatrix had completely forgot. She wiped at her nose with the back of her hand and stared at the crimson streak. "So?" She barked.
"It looks painful. Let me help." The brunette moved over to her and Bellatrix was half tempted to jinx her through the floor just to get her to leave but she couldn't do that. If she did then the brunette would ask her what happened along with some silly queries focusing on her emotions, and she was certainly going to jinx her then for all those annoying questions!
The brunette took out her wand and steadied the dark haired witch's face with her palm. "Epiksey." A burn spread across Bellatrix's face but once it was gone, all the blood had been cleaned up and her nose was no longer sore. "Now will you listen to what I have to say?"
Bellatrix let out a huff and plopped herself down on her bed, propping herself up on her pillows. Hermione took this as a yes. "It's about our new guest," Hermione hesitated on saying the man's real name. She didn't know why, but she was tempted to just refer to him as you-know-who. "I think he's not a good wizard. When I went to get my wand all that time ago the box it was in was labeled Voldemort's war."
"And?" Bellatrix feigned disinterest even as her heart rate speed up. So she wasn't alone in noticing something was wrong with the man. "I think I might have...perished during this war that he made. I mean the box wouldn't be labeled like that if his war hadn't been of importance but it was. I don't think we should trust him. He rubs me the wrong way," Hermione rubbed her arms as goosebumps arose on them. "I don't think we should help him escape."
Both Hermione and Voldemort did not like each other. Did that mean that Hermione had been on the other side of the war? That she had tried to stop them and then Bellatrix had tortured her for it? The thoughts disgusted Bellatrix. How could she have done something like that in blind devotion to that man? Where had her logic been?
"I agree," Bellatrix said, shocking the brunette by her admittance. She got off the bed to peer out the window. All that greeted her was fields of flowers and a dying afternoon sun.
"You do?"
"Yes, I do. He's too dangerous for our operation. We can kick him out of here. He won't find us since we haven't made a pact with him. He won't be able to enter the house." Bellatrix felt conflicted even as she said this. A big part of her wanted him to stay because he seemed to know something about her past and maybe would be able to recall it. Also she felt more at ease with him here, more joyful. But she couldn't risk Hermione questioning the two's relationship and finding out that Bellatrix had committed all these terrible crimes. No, it would be best to kick him out.
Hermione nodded her head at this. She had wanted to add on what she had heard in her dreams today but surprisingly she had convinced the witch easily and would have no need to mention it. Strange...Hermione wondered how Voldemort and Bellatrix knew each other. Had they been on the same side of the war?
Voldemort meanwhile was still in the ruined remains of the room they had been fighting in. He was in awe at the level of skill it must have taken to create a whole castle out of magic. He wondered if he could do it. A vibration in his coat pocket informed him he had a message. He pulled out the special device he had been given, reminiscent of a small pocket mirror and saw a pale blue face on it.
"Did you trick them?" it asked impatiently.
"Of course I did. I'm in their safe house even as we speak."
"Good. I want you to steal their keys, and raze the place down with them still in it."
Voldemort stretched his nonexistent lips into a smile. "It will be done." And then as after thought he added, "Right now." Closing his mirror he crept in search of the two women.
A/N: I wasn't sure if I should originally include Voldemort in the story but then I thought about it and realized it would make sense to do so. After all it posses the question of who Bellatrix will chose. Will she chose her long time friend and leader or will she chose her enemy? Also he will play a big role in something that will happen later on so he needs to be here.
And finally we're starting to get somewhere with the leads. Their getting a bit closer ;) I really wanted to do something with the drunk scene but it wouldn't have worked because they don't have any tension between them yet.