A/N: 1. don't own anything
2. Sorry for the delay, got sidetracked by a combination of real life and terrible block on the first section of this.
3. Most reviews ever for a chapter last time. awsome.
4. Keep reading and keep reviewing. you guys rock.
Chapter 10
I Missed (Trying to Kill)You
Hermione was mad. No, Hermione was furious. After Harry had the utter gall to disappear on her she had calmed down by rationalizing that she could set him straight when he came back. He never gave her that chance. The bastard appeared on her front lawn in a magical shock induced coma.
Now, to add insult to injury, he kept calling for Bella in his sleep. Not her. Fucking Bella! Godmother (That's what she had to be) or not it wasn't fair! She was the one who had been taking care of him for the last three days! She was the one who he was with. Oh yes, when he woke up they would have to have a talk.
The first signs of Harry awakening came on the fourth day when he managed to moan, "Water..." Instead of his usual, "..Bella..." Hermione instantly leaped to her feet and summoned a glass of water, grateful to finally stop hearing that godforsaken name. Harry took the water gratefully for a few moments before slowly pulling himself into a sitting position.
"Uhh, my head. What happened Hermione?"
"I'm not entirely certain, seeing as you left without me. But, from what I can gather, you decided to storm the gates of Azkaban single-handedly and ended up back on my front lawn an hour latter in a coma." Hermione snapped in frustration as she regarded his nonplused expression.
"Fuck, the dementors." Harry groaned as the memories rushed back to him.
"Among other things I'm sure." Hermione added with a scowl as she regarded him. Harry looked into her blazing eyes and swallowed nervously. That was not a good look to see from Hermione. Full lecture mode combined with genuine righteous anger. At least he had a pillow.
"Now that your awake and done scaring me to death we need to have a little talk." Hermione began in a tone that was nearly a growl. "First of all there is the little matter of this insane hero complex of yours. Just because you're a Lion doesn't mean you have to prove it in every bone-headed way possible! I've lost you once already and I'm not inclined to do so again just because you feel some all consuming urge to attack the most deadly fortress in England without bothering to even make a plan!"
Harry nodded in response as Hermione ranted on for several minutes on the follies of impulsiveness. She was right of course, not that it would stop him from charging straight in if he had to. Strategy had always been Dumbledore's department. His was tactics. Small level combat and instinctual improvisation in the heat of battle. Still, it was probably best not to let Hermione know that. Next time he'd let her make a plan if he could spare a few moments.. It might even help, and it would definitely save him a few hours of his life afterwards.
So caught up in what he had long ago called his 'Hermione lecture mode' he almost chocked when she suddenly changed gears, "Now, the second thing I want to talk about is Bella."
Bella? How the fuck does she know about Bella? Damn. Must have heard me during the nightmares. This could get ugly. Never a fun task to tell your girlfriend that there's someone out for your blood, and by extension hers.
"Now I know its hard to lose a godmother, but really I don't think its healthy to obsess over one person as much as you seem to over her..." Harry registered from Hermione as he broke out of his reverie.
"What? Sorry, I zoned out for a minute there Hermione, but what exactly does Bella have to do with a godmother? As far as I know I don't even have one."
"Oh...but... I... assumed, I mean it only made sense for her to be someone who you lost and were calling for and well, it seemed the most rational choice. I knew your mother and father of course, and sadly your aunt as well, but I figured it must have just been some odd variance from your world..."
Harry looked on at Hermione in horror as she rambled. Bella his godmother? The very notion was terrifying. Holding up a hand to stop her before she passed out from want of oxygen Harry cut Hermione off, "Easy there Hermione. Lets go back and start with that Bella is not my godmother."
"Who is she then? Some old lover you forgot to mention?" Hermione snarled with a cold glint in her eyes.
"Bellatrix Black is a murderous bitch!." Harry snarled back in answer, " We hunted each other across the whole of England in an endless dance of vengeance and death. She drove me to depths of evil you cannot even imagine. Crucio? Hah. A sad opening salvo in our exchanges. Necran Demaritam, and Ipsas Agnoi werewonderful little toys I learned from Bella. I killed as she killed, tortured as she tortured.
I don't cry her name in mourning at night remembering some lost lover's embrace. No, Hermione, I scream it in hatred as the pile broken bodies at her feet grows ever larger. She killed Sirius, the only family I had ever so much as glimpsed and for that alone I would hunt her until one of us breathes our last. But, that was not near enough for Bella, oh no; she took more. Ron. George, even Dumbledore in the end."
Hermione stared at him in horror as he spoke, her eyes going wider and wider until they might have given Dobby's a run their money. Finally, when he had at last trailed off into incoherent growls of rage she cut in, "Oh my god, Harry I'm sorry! I just, well...you must know how it sounded to me? Calling for someone else every night, some other woman. I can't say I'm glad to hear the reason, but..." Hermione trailed off abruptly, realizing she may well have gone too far.
"But, you're still happy it wasn't something else." Harry finished for her even as that insidious voice in the back of his mind whispered, "Jealous? My Hermione is never jealous. Never. But this isn't your Hermione, oh no. You can pretend. But Hermione is dead. Dead! There all dead, all gone...all but Bella...
Bella threw herself underneath a crackling bolt of black magic death with a frantic dive to the left. Her own wand answered back in kind, spitting Ipsas Agnoi, the soul writhing curse, back in response. Its sickly green light flew straight and true, only to suddenly wink out of existence with a soft pop in the face of a pale blue runic shield.
From behind the shield Lucius's face was bared in rictus of rage. The death of Narcissa had hit him hard. Harder than I thought. Bella mused even as she continued to dodge about the room. Heartning in a twisted way really. I never knew he cared.
They had dueled nearly constantly since then, taking out rage in a way far more satisfying than torturing house elvesLucius was almost as good as he had been in her world. Almost. Bella thought with a sigh as she conjured a cloud of flesh eating beetles to absorb a Crucio curse. This Lucius lacked the killer edge from ten years of war that not even his vaunted Malfoy blood legacy could fully imbue.
Oh, his style was the same: fast, brutal and deadly: a true predator in every sense, but they were a fraction of a second slow, a hair weak and just a tad less vicious.Bella mused as he blew her beetles to pieces with a wide arc blasting curse. My Lucy would have used a dark conflagration there.
A strange sort of sadness welled up in Bella as she danced about the room trading silent curses. The duel was dead. Sterile. Despite the rage that filled both of them the energy she had come to crave, the rush of battle was not there. The air was filled with crashes, explosions and roars of superheated air: a veritable embodiment of the cacophony of battle. And yet, somehow it was missing something.
No taunts flew between them. No Hatred. This was a battle of skill and of power. Magic as the purebloods had meant it to be. It was not enough.
With a disgusted sigh at the empty feeling of the whole thing Bella leaped into battle with redoubled ferocity, peppering Lucius with a flesh shredding hex and a pair of lava bursts.His runic shield held for the barest instant before flickering out of existence with a dull 'squelch.' Lucius tired frantically to renew his shield in the face of her assault, but the flesh shredding hex was simply too fast as it tore through the weak shield he had managed to reraise and stripped his wand arm down to the bone. Howling in agony Lucius fell to the ground.
Bella wasted no time: Lucius had an incredible pain tolerance and would soon master himself if she didn't press her advantage. A stunner finished the fight and Lucius's screams.
Walking over next to his fallen form Bella hesitated to revive him. She needed a moment alone to think. No, no not that. Solitude was madness. Thinking was madness. A legacy of Azkaban that still haunted her to this day. Her peace was found in the arms of her lovers, the heart of battle and the screams of the innocent. Anything that roused the Black battle lust to overshadow the bitter stain Azkaban had left on her soul.
Already she found herself regretting the oath truce with Potter. She needed to kill him. No. That wasn't it. Not kill, she had been telling the truth when she said she was weary of their dance of death, weary of losing everyone around her who could hold the darkness of Azkaban at bay.. No she wanted to fight him. To torture him. To make that brat scream. To have him make her scream...
Yes. That was may have been what she missed most. Lucius was all control, all poise. Ice made human even in the very depths of his pain or rage. She and Potter were fire. Burning, capricious and destructive. Ice and fire may share an opposite kind of beauty, but ice was not what her soul needed to stay kindled against the madness. True madness, irrevocable and final: oh she was mad already. What else were the common wizards to call a woman who's sadism and bloodlust were matched only by her love of her own pain? What else were they to call the one who laughed as the world died around her?
But the cold was a different kind of madness. It would quench her flame. It would be the end of her. Idly Bella toyed with Potter's dagger even as she unconsciously shivered at her thoughts. The idea of using the dagger now was intoxicating. She would need to soon in any case.
Potter was the only one who could get her into Azkaban if Lucius were to be believed. At first, she had been slightly worried about the prospect in spite of the bravado she had shown to the elder Malfoy. Now, sadly enough, with the death of Cissy and subsequent imprisonment of the damned Mutt it would be laughably easy.
No. She had better go soon before Potter attacked the damned place himself. If he freed the Mutt without her there would be no way of convincing him of the need to help her free Rudolphus.
Mind made up Bella grabbed the dagger and whispered, "Potter."
Harry groaned in pleasure as Hermione 'apologized'deeply for their earlier argument. Good lord, but my Hermione certainly never did that. Harry thought with a grunt as Hermione shifted in a most pleasurable way on top of him.
Her apology had been going on for nearly an hour now and Harry was almost spent. Hermione seemed to sense this as she frantically increased her pace. Just as her actions were about to be rewarded with a very satisfied Harry she screamed as a soft 'pop' echoed across the room and a weight settled down on top of her.
There was a moment of mad leg and arm flailing before, with three distinct 'thuds,' three bodies fell haphazardly out of bed. Two of the bodies immediately threw out their hands and cast wandless lumos spells.
"Well Potter." Bella drawled with amusement as she unabshedly looked him up and down in the dim light of the room, "I less disappointed then I expected Harry simply glared at her in response before sighing deeply and snarling, "Too kind as ever Bella, but then again when the standard you have for judgement is that husband of yours I can't help but tower above the competition. Now, what in the name of holy Merlin himself are you doing here?"
" Aww, is ickle Potter not happy to see me?
"Your niether writhing in pain nor bleeding to death Bella, so I'm afraid I'll have to answer in the negative. Now, if you don't mind I was in the middle of something when you decided to pop in."
"Not my fault you forgot to make the portkey conditional. But, if you really feel some urgent need to dirty yourself further with some mudblood whore than feel free, I'll wait." Bella said with a nearly Malfoy-esque smirk as she looked down on the shorter Hermione in clear disdain
"I'm neither certain nor desirous to know what does it for you Bella, but some of us aren't into voyeurism." Harry drawled back as he crossed his arms across his chest in annoyance.
"Well Potter if you didn't insist upon a steady diet of mudbloods I could solve both our problems by joining in the fun. But, sadly the true blood of Black does not soil itself so." Bella said with a perfectly straight face.
As Bella and Harry verbally sparred Hermione lurked in the background, hiding her naked form behind Harry and growing more furious with each exchange. Something was badly wrong here. Harry had talked about Bella as a creature of his old world. She had to be, Bellatrix Black was dead here, killed on the same day as Harry. That meant that somehow...somehow this Bitch who was looking at her Harry had come cross worlds as well!
What was worse was Harry hardly sounded surprised by her presence. He knew! He knew she was here and never told her! Bastard. And to think she had felt bad enough to...errrr! There would be words. Words and curses. Hermione thought with a grim frown as she turned her attention back to the steadily escalating verbal battle.
"Need I remind you for the thousandth time Bella I am the pureblood of Black! Your just some disinherited tart."
"No matter what those fucking papers you drew up say Harry my blood is far Blacker than yours can ever be! Unlike my pathetic excuse for a cousin I have been judged worthy! The gift of the Blacks is mine of its own volition. Can you say the same Harry? Have you felt the rage? The hatred?" Bella trailed off into a whisper as she unconsciously licked her lips in remembered ecstasy.
"That's enough Bella." Harry snarled as he cut off her mutterings with a harsh hand gesture." Bella slowly raised her violet eyes and locked them on his blazing emerald gaze, "Or maybe you have. Yes. Yes I think you have Harry. You've felt the ecstasy of the Black blood racing through your veins and yet you dare continue to debase yourself with a mudblood!"
"The blood of the Blacks as debased itself more than enough without my help" Harry screamed out in frustration as the mad witch ranted on.
Bella continued on as though she hadn't heard him, "I know you've felt it Harry. The liquid fire in your veins; the rush of power! It calls us to slaughter, leads us unto destruction! The Cairo massacre; the slaughter of Blackfire plain Harry. I remember them and so do you. How could a man kill as you did? How could a man who lacked the noble blood of the Blacks unleash the Necran Demaritam with such indiscriminate fury? Were the screams music to your ears Potter? The agony of innocent alongside the guilty?"
"I did what I had to Bella. Don't you dare make me into some monestrous copy of yourself! Now, if you have no further business here, begone! Oath truce or not I have no obligation to tolerate your presence."
"Aww, but ickle Potter, we were having such a good time reminiscing. Don't you want the mudblood to know how powerful you are, how cruel?" Bella giggled in her baby voice as she shot a mocking wink at a furious Hermione.
"You know Bella, with an attitude like that its no wonder you haven't gotten laid in ten years." Harry shot back, "Well, that and the fact I killed a few of your better prospects; though, consider the quality of death eaters like Avery I do like to think I was really doing you a favor."
Bella snarled in rage at Harry's remark while her left hand unconsciously drew her wand and pointed it straight at him. Harry responded in kind, summoning his phoenix feather wand from its neglected place on the night-stand.
Seeing the stand off Hermione too lunged for her wand and pointed it at Bella. Harry never broke his gaze from Bella as he calmly said to Hermione with the barest edge of strain creeping into his voice, "Put the wand down Hermione, she can't hurt you unless you attack her."
"That Bitch has her wand pointed at your head Harry! I'm not going to just stand here!" Hermione shouted back as she ignored his order. Harry cursed violently, drawing an appricative smirk from Bella before calming himself down and speaking to Hermione again, "Hermione trust me on this. Put. Down. Your. Wand! She's oath sworn to not attack my friends unless they strike first!"
Hermione glared at Bella for another long moment before at last slowly lowering her wand to the ground. Harry sighed in relief as he watched Bella's expression fall from one of manic glee to mild disappointment, "Sorry Bella. No cheep shots at Hermione. Now, do you have a reason to be here or not? If not my oath sure as hell doesn't prevent me from forcefully Apparating you so long as I send you somewhere harmless. I hear the Bermuda triangle is nice this time of year."
"I've got a reason Harry. You see it has been brought to my attention that the ever righteous old man has decided to raise an arch mage grade ward around Azkaban."
"Are you sure you just aren't getting weak in your old age Bella? I was able to apparate through the wards without any trouble at all."
"Most likely because you don't carry the damn dark mark Harry."
"Forgive if my knowledge is a little off Bella, but neither do you. Tommy boy is dead and, well, not exactly buried, but you get the idea."
"Merlin's beard Potter! You really should have done some of your own research. The dark mark might fade with the death of the Dark Lord, but it doesn't disappear, just goes dormant. It's a piece of my soul and there is no way to remove it." Bella snarled in frustration.
"Alright Bella, so there's a bunch of arch mage grade wards around the island that stop you from getting in. Now, you being your usual evil self I'm going to assume that if I bring down these wards you are going to do more than plan a picnic in the pleasant climate of the island."
"My you've gained in perceptiveness over the years Harry." Bella drawled, "I was, in fact, thinking more along the lines of a mass scale breakout, followed perhaps by an encore of seizing the prison or burning it to the ground."
"And just why would I want to help you in this?" Harry shot back, arching an eyebrow cooly even as he fought down the rising tide of hope in his chest. If he could bargain with Bella he might be able to find a way to free Sirius. He would have to be careful to maintain a position of strength though, Bella was ruthless when she sensed weakness.
"Come off it Potter, I read the paper. The Mutt is currently rotting his noble ass off in Azkaban. You help me and I help you free his sorry ass." Bella snapped back.
"And just why do you think I need your help?"
"Well, to be honest it was only an educated guess until a moment ago." Bella drawled with an entirely too satisfied smirk on her face. "You confirmed it for me when you gave me that tale of jaunting through the wards of Azkaban. I hardly expect you would have left that worthless Mutt to the fate he so richly deserves if you could have helped it."
Harry scowled at himself for his foolish mistake before nodding his head slightly in concession to Bella, "Very well Bella, what exactly did you have in mind?"
"Wait!" Hermione screamed from behind him, "You can't actually be going along with this! I know Sirius is important to you Harry, but rescuing him does not justify leading a full scale evacuation of Azkaban!"
"That hardly is my concern Hermione. I honestly don't see why it is yours. Did you not tell me how petty the wizard world is? Who weak and who cruel? Why should I not have what they have stolen from me if the only price is some well deserved pain on their part?" Harry shot back coldly.
"That may be the case Harry, but there are still innocents among them! And they will be the ones who suffer if a pack of death eaters are unleashed! Them and the poor muggles who have done nothing more than exist to warrant their brutal death! You promised to listen to me before you went off rushing headlong into things and I am holding you to that! You cannot go with this bitch! We will find some other way to free Sirius I promise." Hermione pleaded.
"How very Gryffindor." Bella drawled, "Its too bad Mudblood that Harry here abandoned that particular brand of Lion-tripe years ago. He may still be a headstrong idiot without half the cunning a black should have, but at least he's not a noble headstrong idiot.
"Enough Bella!" Harry snarled, cutting her off as much as he wanted to agree with her, "You will stop insulting Hermione in her own house!"
"Not bothering to deny what I said are you Harry?" Bella said with triumph as she made a mocking bow of apology directed at Hermione.
Harry sighed deeply as he chanced looking back at the very naked and very angry Hermione, "No Bella I won't deny it. But don't expect me to revel in it either. The light side did what we must during the war to survive. That separated us then and it does now."
"Lies Potter, your founder must be turning over in his grave, but if you insist upon clinging to your illusions then far be it from me to crush them." Bella drawled with a tone suggestion that she would, in fact, like nothing better.
"Now, enough of this dissembling Potter. Do we have an agreement or not? Your aid in exchange for mine. Sirius for Rudolphus and company."
"Aye Bella. When do we strike?"
"Tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Need a dictionary Potter?"
"Hardly. Give me a moment to change into my battle robes. My current attire would not offer the best of protection." Harry drawled with an expansive gesture over his naked form.
"You really should work on that Potter. No sense in letting the blood of mud tainting a child of the Black line." Harry didn't bother to respond to the weak jab, simply settling for flicking Bella off before he stalked out of the room to gather his battle equipment
"I'll be back in five minutes. Don't kill each other." He threw over his shoulder just as he stepped out of the door. For a long moment after Harry had left Hermione and Bella simply glared at each other. Then, Hermione drew herself up to her full height and snarled at Bella, "I don't know who you think you are to bandy around such vile lies about Harry!"
"Lies little mudblood? I spoke nothing but the truth."
"Bullshit! Harry is a Gryffindor true and true. Just because he claimed something else to shut you up means nothing! You have some gall trying to twist his admittedly over-zealous love of his godfather into something dark!"
"I refuse to waste my breath arguing with one whose blood is as debased as yours, so let me just leave you with one little thing." Bella grinned evilly as she locked her eerie gave on Hermione, "You can't cast the Necran Demaritam without loving those screams, without hungering for more. Harry may hide it as much as he wants, but Black blood always shows true."
"Your lying. Lying!" Hermione snarled.
"Think what you will little mudblood. But I speak the truth." Bella spat with malicious glee just a moment before Harry entered the room fully armed and armored.
Bella winked at Hermione before strolling up to Harry, grabbing his arm, and vanishing with a harsh 'pop.'
Hermione stared into the empty space for a long moment before murmuring, "Lies. Lies..." Even to her own ears her voice sounded small, alone and far from certain.