A.N. Hello my wonderful readers! :D So after looking through all of your fantastic reviews the main theme of the last chapter was "too short"...Well I say to you...Challenge accepted! ;) Another part 1 and 2 combined here.. ^_^ I hope you enjoy it!
P.S. I was considering animating this into a cartoon and posting it on youtube, good idea or rotten egg?! :) Happy reading and please review, I love knowing what you all think :D


"MISTRESS!" Minx cried, sprinting into the room. Bellatrix was sitting upright, and stiff in her bed, as she watched the elf run in. Bellatrix felt cold and her heart was fluttering in her chest, she had awoken with the same feeling people often get when they have had a dream about falling, only to suddenly jump awake before hitting the ground.

"Mistress 'Mione…Oh dear, Oh no, Oh no…" Minx squeaked

Chest still heaving, Bellatrix heard a faint moan from next to her on the floor, and hastily turned on the bedside light. Looking down she saw Hermione, lying with her head propped awkwardly against the corner of the chest-of-draws. Minx was frantically trying shake the young witch awake, occasionally giving the unconscious brunette hesitant slaps across the face, constantly pleading with her to wake up. "Please mistress please, must get up. Get up! Please mistress. Minx be good always if you get up!" The elf was now close to tears as she tugged uselessly at Hermione's limp hand.

Bellatrix was stunned by the scene on her floor. "What happened!?" She ordered, as she flung her legs out of bed and dropped to her knee's beside Hermione, instantly checking for a pulse from Hermione's neck.

Minx looked at Bellatrix with wide eyed fear. "NO!" She screamed grabbing Bellatrixes hand and wrestling with the witch to keep her away from Hermione. "You did this! Not harm my mistress! GET AWAY!"

"ENOUGH!" Bellatrix shook off the elf's grasp, "I'm not going to hurt her, OK?" Bellatrix waited until the elf gave a single nod in acceptance. "Good. I think she must have hit her head…"

"YES! Was very hard. HUGE Thump! Minx heard it, I heard it. Minx worried encase furniture dented but…..OOOOO!" Minx pointed to the chest-of-drawers where there was a very obvious crimson red blotch on the top corner.

"Shit." Bellatrix whispered, as she hauled the girl up into her arms and lay her onto her side in the recovery position, Hermione gave another faint moan, however still remained unresponsive. "Granger? Need you to open your eyes now!" Bellatrix said in a stern voice, but there was no way of hiding the obvious tone of worry.

Hermione lay still on the carpet. 'I can't take her to hospital, they'll think I did this! I'm not going back to Azkaban!' Bellatrix thought as full on panic raced through her veins. However when she saw the delicate figure of the girl lying so helplessly in front of her, Bellatrix couldn't simply leave her. She had no idea where her feelings for protecting the girl came from. She didn't want to find out. All she knew was that she had to do something.

"Minx?" Bellatrix looked about the room, but the elf had vanished. "I need to borrow your wand, Granger." She said uneasily to the unconscious figure, "otherwise you'll just have to lie there and forever be a vegetable, your call." She justified out loud, more to herself than to Hermione.

Remembering that Hermione kept her wand on her person at all time, Bellatrix carefully but quickly, lifted up the hem of Hermione's night gown until the leather holster around her inner thigh was fully revealed. Taking hold of the wand, Bellatrix felt riddled with guilt, she could feel the wands resistance to her in her grasp, but she ignored it, this was not the first time she had used the girls wand before, but only now did it display signs of unwillingness towards her. Most likely because it knew its owner had been hurt by Bellatrix.

She parted Hermione's wavy hair, which was more red than brunette, to reveal a large gash, that was still seeping blood. Upon seeing the damage, Bellatrix hastily pointed Hermione's wand at it, "Vulnera Sanentur." She breathed deeply, twiddling the wand over the wound.

It was as if it was in slow motion, but gradually the wound grew over, magically binding the skin cells together again, before new hair sprouted over the top. Until the only signs of a wound was the dried blood still clumped in her hair.

Hermione stirred on the floor, and Bellatrix found herself slumping back onto her arms with relief. At that moment, Minx ran in with several vials of 'Vamps-Blood Stain Remover', while muttering, "no stains allowed, must clean….OOO!" She stopped as Bellatrix helped a dazed looking Hermione to sit up.

"There we go…You're alright, you just hit your head….Hard!" Bellatrix found herself awkwardly cradling the brunette as wisps of light brown curls of hair blew into her mouth.

"What?.." Hermione said dreamily, reaching up to feel where the gash had originally been, but had been replaced by nothing more than a tiny lump. "My head, is…Ouch!" She winced, pulling herself up of the ground and perching herself on the end of Bellatrixes bed.

"Yeah…..Think that was my bad." Bellatrix answered Hermione's confused expression, as the girl continued to rub her head and pluck out clots of dried blood from her hair, "don't suppose you remember what happened before I thumped you?" The dark haired woman asked cautiously.

"Ermmm….You were," Hermione seemed to have to strain herself to remember, "you were, screaming! I came in here and you were going a bit crazy in the bed, I thought you might be suffering from a REM sleep disorder, hence why I didn't use magic to wake you up."

"A what? And why not? I don't care if you hex me Granger, trust me I've had worse." Bellatrix replied, trying to sound slightly disheartened by Hermione's lack of faith in how strong she really was.

"No, I think you were reliving something, they're a type of dream state where you physically relive a moment in your past, one you've forgotten or suppressed. If you're woken up in the middle of one, the person can be trapped in that state forever, constantly replaying the memory as if it were still happening." Hermione seemed to be talking more to herself than to Bellatrix.

"Minx helped!" The elf piped up, "Minx heard the mistress Bellatrix screaming, fetched Mistress 'Mione to help I did." The elf added, puffing out her chest as if to re-enact her bravery, before turning back to polishing the blood stain off of the furniture.

Hermione and Bellatrix chuckled at the elf together, Bellatrix turned away from Minx and glanced at the brunette, 'pretty in body and mind, how very rare…' She thought to herself, 'oh what the hell am I doing? First witch I stay with and I act like a school girl around the head boy. Control Bella!" She contradicted, angry with herself for even considering a mudblood to be beautiful. Yet she was.

Hermione turned back to face the dark witch, a little surprised to already find the woman looking at her, "Bellatrix?" She asked cautiously.

"Yes, Granger?" Bellatrix said, a little more flirtatious than what she had hoped for, causing her cheeks to blush. Bellatrix coughed abruptly into her hand, in a feeble attempt to cover up her embarrassment.

"Oh erm, I was wondering if you remember what you were dreaming about?" Hermione asked, avoiding the awkwardness, even though she secretly wished that she could see more of the 'playful' Bellatrix she had just briefly witnessed.

'Clever Granger.' Bellatrix relaxed, noticing Hermione's ability to change topic smoothly. "I remember…." Bellatrix paused, a pang of guilt emerged inside her, was it wise for her to be thinking about Voldermort, let alone mention his name after so many years?

"S'Ok you know," Hermione spoke encouragingly, clearly noticing Bellatrixes thought process change, "I won't mind whatever it is. It was only a dream after all."

"Yet it wasn't, not to me anyway." Bellatrix shuddered, as the hairs on her neck prickled as Voldermort's snake-like eyes flashed through her mind again.

Hermione remained watching Bellatrix closely. She could sense how hard it was for the woman to open up to her, the witch with so many secrets from such a dark past, and Hermione found herself dwindling on a thought of her own, 'How can someone so damaged, be so perfect?' However Hermione cut herself short. Anyone could see how pretty the woman was, even now men still fell at her feet, a point proven when they were in Diagon Alley and Hermione had noticed about four wizard's jaws drop open, as Bellatrix had retrieved the twig from her stocking.

Snapping out of her trance Hermione suddenly realized that she had been staring at Bellatrix for a moment too long and turned her head to glance at Minx, who was still brandishing off the blood stain off of the chest of drawers, before turning back to look at the woman, who, thankfully, hadn't noticed.

"Bellatrix…." The brunette began again, a sudden new idea formulating in her head, "if you don't want to tell me, you can always show me?"

Bellatrix looked up at the girl, a perplexed expression contorting her features. "How? More to the point why? Why do you want to see my dreams, or memories rather?" Bellatrix was unsure if she trusted the young witch enough to want to share dark memories from her past, particularly as she barely knew the brunette.

"I just think that.."

"They're not pretty Granger. You won't like what you see." Bellatrix interrupted, she was certain that if Hermione ever did see her memories, the girls view of her would change, and as much as she had loathed Hermione before, Bellatrix had grown to like, possibly even enjoy the girls company, it was the first bit of kindness the dark witch had had in many years.

"I think I'll manage, you're not the only one with skeletons in the closet." Hermione said, standing up and heading to the opposite wall and getting down onto her knee's.

"What on earth are you doing Granger, praying?" Bellatrix snorted, sarcastically.

"No…This is where I keep my pensieve, just….Here!" With that, Hermione pressed her hand onto the plain wall and instantly, the wall began to bubble, as if there were thousands of insects scuttling about under the paint.

"Any particular reason as to why its hidden away in this room?" Bellatrix asked, slightly repulsed by the walls movement, " I thought pensieve's were kept in rooms of particular importance, not guest bedrooms."

"It hold memories for me…Literally." Hermione said softy, lifting a large flat glass bowl from a newly formed hole in the wall, which instantly began resealing itself with the objects removal.

Bellatrix allowed her lips to curl into a small smile at Hermione's remark, watching her every move as she placed it delicately on top of what appeared to be an invisible table, leaving the bowl floating peacefully in the air. "You want to see a memory, now?" Bellatrix said, surprised at Hermione's eagerness.

"No, no, no, look!" Hermione pointed a delicate hand to Bellatrixes window, through which the pink haze of early morning sunlight began to flood across the horizon. "I think this would be better when you and I have had sufficient sleep, you'll need all your focus on the memory you'll be extracting. Think you can hold on to it until then?" Hermione asked, a little too patronizingly for Bellatrixes liking.

"Course!" Bellatrix retorted in a 'don't you know who I am?' Type tone.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Hermione asked, cautiously eyeing the dark haired witch, who was looking apprehensively at the pensieve and its silvery blue contents. However Bellatrix looked up at the girl and nodded.

Just as Hermione began tying her hair back, in readiness to submerge her head into the pensieve Bellatrix added, "this particular memory isn't nice Granger, there may be something's in it that you won't like to see."

"I know, but it's important we find out why they are coming through in your dreams, it can often be a side-effect of the Refermente charm, but it's usually a sign that its….. Well we'll get to that later." Hermione said positively. Even though Hermione knew that the dreams were often a sign that the charm was wearing off, and she didn't like the idea of telling Bellatrix this information.

"Right.." Bellatrix said skeptically, "what exactly do you expect to find?" The dark witch raised an eyebrow, she was certain Hermione was withholding information.

"Just a few tell tale signs, some of which even you won't be able to notice." Hermione added slyly, trying to put Bellatrix in her place for doubting her. If there was one thing Hermione knew more about than anybody else it was her charm. "After you." She added, gesturing towards the pensieve.

Bellatrix paused, analyzing the situation once more in her head. She had already put it off for three days, and she could see no reason why as to wait any longer. She stepped forward boldly, trying to give off a sense of confidence to Hermione, who at the same time also came to stand at the opposite side of the glass bowl.

With a last gasp of air, Bellatrix lowered herself head first into the pensieve, closing her eyes just before she reached its silvery contents.


Part 2


"Well this isn't that bad." Hermione remarked observing the familiar darkened streets of Nocturn Alley.

Both she and Bellatrix, were currently standing in front of the only shop Hermione had ever entered in Nocturn alley, 'Borgin and Burkes'; an unusually dark shop that was filled to bursting point with often evil and cursed items.

There was a strange eeriness to the streets. On both occasions Hermione had visited the alley, there were often numerous witches and wizards, although many of whom Hermione would try to avoid. Yet the emptiness in the streets without them made everything appear much more sinister, and Hermione could feel her nerves building.

"I'm in there." Bellatrix pointed to a small barred window above the shop, through which possibly the only trace of light in the street shone out of. There was a quick flash of a dark woman's silhouette, as the figure strode past the window. "Yes that was me." Bellatrix confirmed, giving Hermione a small smile.

"What are you doing up there?" Hermione asked, she was a little worried as to why the memory was not showing Bellatrix beside them. Then she realized, "This isn't your memory, is it?" The brunette questioned, the unease in her voice made Bellatrix turn to look at her.

"No, it's not." Bellatrix said dryly, "Its one I, borrowed…. Ok, I stole it!" She added noticing Hermione's eyebrows raise and arms fold.

"Well then whose is it?" However Hermione's question was answered with a faint *pop coming from the shadows behind them. Hermione whirled around and squinted to try and see into the shadows.

"Remember what I told you," Bellatrix said nervously, but Hermione was still watching and listening to the tapping of footsteps ebbing towards them, but still she couldn't see who it was. "These memories aren't-"

"SHHH!" Hermione silenced the dark witch, as the figure in the shadows drew nearer. Then she spotted what looked like a glimpse of purple and silver robes, as the wearer walked forwards, its details becoming clearer with each step.

A short white beard, a pair of brilliantly blue eyes, but the giveaway for Hermione were the half moon spectacles, perched on the end of a ridged nose.

"Dumbledore?!" This is Dumbledore's memory?!" Hermione gasped, whirling around to look at Bellatrix, who returned the girls look with an icy grin. Hermione wasn't sure if she was angry, or impressed, that Bellatrix had managed to steal such a memory, from possibly the greatest wizard of the era.

"Don't sound so shocked." Bellatrix retorted, unable to hide her pride in the acquired memory.

"Why are you showing me this?" Hermione asked, a little confused.

"Oh no you don't!" Bellatrix snapped a sudden playful temper emerging from her voice, as she folded her arms and gave Hermione a look that she would give Draco when he had been caught stealing from the sweet jar.

"Excuse-"

"Oh no Granger! Don't think I don't know what you're up to." She waved one of her tall fingers at the girl while she tutted sarcastically.

Hermione was totally taken aback. She had never been so easily outwitted in her entire life. She let out a nervous chuckle. "You mean all this?" She waved her hands to the entire alleyway.

"No, no this is still a memory, just one of my err, decoy ones if you like." Bellatrix winked at the brunette.

For the first time ever Hermione was totally speechless. Not only did she now realize that Bellatrix had managed to completely fool her, but now, the dark witch knew that Hermione was hiding information, or rather, trying to extract some.

"Now then, while I've got your complete attention," Bellatrix continued, strutting purposefully in circles around the still stunned Hermione. "I understand you are looking for any clues in my past, to be specific, for any idea as to how the Dark Lord can return, am I right?" There was a silence and Hermione was thankful for the dull street lighting, as it hid much of the rosy pink colour that had now flushed her face.

"Well, not on this occasion." Hermione finally said, deciding that honesty was the best policy here, as she was certain that Bellatrixes attitude towards trusting her would soon change if she lied, again.

"Then what is this?" Bellatrix said sternly, and with that she pulled out a brown envelope from up her sleeve, and Hermione just managed to catch the words, 'Harry James Potter" written in her handwriting.

"That's my letter!" Hermione exclaimed, suddenly becoming angry at the invasion of privacy.

"No. I think you'll find its 'Potters' letter." Bellatrix said coldly, "however it was written by you. Mind telling me why you think that the charm hasn't worked? And why you plan on 'interrogating me about my history with Voldermort'?" Bellatrix quoted Hermione's letter and a small pang of guilt emerged I her stomach, that had not been the only thing she had written about the raven haired woman.

"Looking at this memory isn't about any of that." Hermione said plainly, "I wanted to see your dream you had a few days ago. By doing so, I had hoped, that I would be able to see whether or not, one you weren't suffering from REM sleep disorder, and two, sometimes they can be signs that…" Hermione paused as the younger Dumbledore knocked four times on the door of Borgin and Burkes.

Bellatrix however, ignored the old man, frustrated that the young brunette had stopped. She didn't doubt the girl was telling the truth now, but she still enjoyed making a fool out of her like this. "Signs that what? C'mon C'mon!" Bellatrix flapped.

"Oh erm, well, that the Refermente charm is wearing off." Hermione bit her lower lip, she hated giving away such information. Fearing that if Bellatrix knew this, then she could begin to re-explore herself as she once was, and begin to crave her old life and seek to return to it.

"You what?!" Bellatrix half laughed, "You mean to tell me that you, Granger, cocked up?"

"I NEVER 'cock-up'" Hermione said, emphasizing the word 'never'. She glanced upwards and gave a sly smile, now certain that her charm had worked.

"And yet we are here?" Bellatrix smirked cheekily.

"I know I haven't, because of this one reason, look up." Bellatrix tilted her head back and what she saw made her gasp, but not in shock, in total wonder.

Towering above them were millions upon millions of green and blue stars, much bigger than the usual twinkling dots that you often see. These stars now resembled more of a Van Goff painting, frozen in a spiral form. The image was so unusual that it jolted Bellatrixes memory into a time when she had once looked up at the ceiling of the Great Hall at night. Only now it wasn't a charm, it was imprinted in one of her memories.

"But…. But it was never like that?" Bellatrix said still staring at the sky as four massive comets with blazing white tails zoomed across it.

"It's the after affect of the Referente charm, for some reason it makes the sky look like, this, whatever the weather too." Hermione sighed, as she too admired the vision above them.

However the pair were soon interrupted when they heard the door to Borgin and Burkes creak open, to reveal a young, beautiful Bellatrix Lestrange.

Hermione let out a small gasp, as she spotted the newer version of Bellatrix standing before them. The brunette turned to look at the present raven-haired witch standing calmly beside her, who smiled gingerly, as if she too was realizing just how close to perfection she had once been.

"I know, take it all in Granger." Bellatrix whispered coyly, winking at the girl, who hastily removed the shocked expression from her face.

"So, what is in this memory?" Hermione asked, as she allowed herself to feel much like her old self once did, the curious teenager with a hunger for adventure.

"It's nothing special, as I said it's just a decoy one." Bellatrix said dryly.

"Can we see it then?" She asked a little too enthusiastically, and Bellatrix smiled as she recalled a young Draco having the same enthusiasm for one of her own flying lessons. "I mean, how often do you get to see a memory from someone as great as Dumbledore?" Hermione added trying to calm her obvious eagerness.

"If you want." Bellatrix nodded stiffly, in an effort to hide any hesitations, however she couldn't help feeling apprehensive. She had hoped to simply leave after she busted the brunette about the letter, only now she was about to have to whiteness it.

Bellatrix and Hermione quickly followed Dumbledore as he entered the shop, with a young Bellatrix being almost oblivious as to who was at the door, even giving the wizard a small bow of her head as he passed.

The older Bellatrix managed to slip in quickly behind Dumbledore, just before the younger version of herself slammed the door shut abruptly, leaving Hermione outside. However understanding that this was a dream, Hermione stepped through the door as if it were smoke.

"I should have known you would do that to me." Hermione said as she caught up with the older woman, who had amazingly waited for her on the other side. Never-the-less, Bellatrix carried a broad grin on her face.

"Sorry, old habit." Bellatrix remarked playfully, seeing the annoyed expression on the brunettes face as they continued to walk closely behind the younger version of Bellatrix.

Hermione watched intently as the younger Bellatrix, moved with a certain flow about her, an ease in her movements. Yet even so, there was definitely a clear difference between this one and the Bellatrix walking beside her. The Bellatrix in front, although astonishing in looks, seemed to have lost a part of her sanity, which coupled itself easily with her tentativeness to portray her wicked and dark humor. The likes of which the unfortunate rats, that scuttled about on the dusty floor, received by ways of hexes and curses that either caused them pain or flung them across the floor like a sweeping broom.

Suddenly Hermione felt an arm grab her and pin her against the wall. The dark haired witch beside her had a sudden frantic look in her eyes, which sent a churning sensation into Hermione's stomach. "You've got to understand something Granger…" Bellatrix hissed, "What you're about to see…"

"I don't care what I see. I've seen my share of…" Hermione tried to wriggle free but Bellatrix held her even tighter against the wall. Although Hermione still felt threatened, a sudden thought crossed her mind, 'am I? No, no way! I am NOT aroused by this!' She thought angrily.

"NO! listen to me, this is me at my worst!" Bellatrix snapped ebbing closer to Hermione, "You must realize I'm not like the woman I was… Am, in there!" Why Bellatrix felt the need to clarify her past actions she was unsure, all she knew was that she felt the anxiety in her chest begin to build, with great pangs of guilt when she glanced at the door.

"Alright." Hermione said understandably, "If you like, we don't have to watch the memory at all, after all, it's not even yours, just a decoy as you said right?" Hermione felt Bellatrixes grip loosen a little as she spoke, a look of deep thought in the witches dark eyes. However Hermione's hunger for a little adventure was bubbling inside her and she secretly wanted to explore.

"However," she began, "It would help me see if there are any patterns between this and your dream from the other night. Never know, I might be able to work out why your dreams are so vivid from this one alone." She lied.

With that Bellatrix released Hermione, who rubbed her wrists where she had been held against the wall. "sorry," Bellatrix apologized, "I'm just…"

"Bellatrix its fine, honestly!" She said, showing the dark haired witch her wrists, even though they still throbbed a little, but Hermione thought it was best not to make a fuss.

Silently they crept towards the door, Hermione wasn't sure why they were being so cautious, she knew that they couldn't be seen, but she still felt nervous of what she was about to see, despite trying to act brave in front of the dark witch. She took one last glace at Bellatrix before she placed her hand on the wood of the door.

"I can't!" Hermione turned around to see Bellatrix, who appeared frozen to the spot behind her. She had clamped her fists into a ball so her knuckles were white, and she was shaking from head to foot, and her dark eyes glistened with tears.

"Hermione I can't do this!" Bellatrix whispered watching the brunette, "this is my past too, I've lived through it once, I don't want to live through it again." Bellatrix hated being portrayed as someone so weak as to be unable to look back on their memories, yet Bellatrix had true horrors in her past, that not even she could face again.

Hermione took several steps towards her and took her hands , the warmth from the young witch calmed Bellatrix a little. Hermione had instantly become protective of the witch, from the moment Bellatrix had used her name rather than the usual 'Granger' tone, "I'll be right beside you, the whole time, I promise!"She said, giving Bellatrixes hands a comforting squeeze .

Warmth rushed through the woman, slightly embarrassed she flinched away, attempting to feebly portray her old uncaring ways.

"Right well, let's get this over with." Bellatrix said, much more confident now with the brunette beside her.

They walked into the room.

Hermione was met by what she considered to be nothing more than a disused chamber. The room was aglow with a greenish-blue light, but there was no indication as to where it was coming from. There was no furniture, just exposed wooden floor boards and dingy wallpaper that was peeling off of the walls.

However then Hermione breathed in and her nostrils were filled with an acrid smell. The type of smell that only comes from something that has been dead for days and left to rot. She coughed and covered her nose and mouth with her hands, attempting to filter the air. Bellatrix half chuckled half choked into her own hands as she spotted Hermione's watering eyes.

"Probably should have warned you about the stench." She laughed.

She watched as Hermione opened her mouth to reply but stopped herself, before nodding and turning away to gag on to the floor.

"Prob…Probably!" Hermione smiled, looking around more closely at her surroundings.

Dumbledore was now stood at the far end of the room, with the young Bellatrix standing closely to him on his right, a definite longing in her eyes as she observed the old man. Hermione also spotted two other dark cloaked figures, each looking as ragged and worn out as the other. Although, like Bellatrix, theirs eyes shone with a crazed desire and Hermione began to think that everyone in the room was slightly 'unhinged'. Other than Dumbledore, the Death Eaters were ragged and worn out, their bloodied clothes showed the signs of battle but still they remained standing against the walls and staring into the centre, waiting.

Spotting Hermione's puzzled look, Bellatrix pointed to the closest Death Eater to them, "that's Barty Crouch Junior." Hermione followed Bellatrixes finger and looked at the tall man with leather boots and a long black blazer. She also spotted that he wore a green shirt underneath it, but all the buttons seemed to have been ripped off and it simply flapped open, revealing a heavily scared chest, that looked as though someone had slashed at it with a knife. "He got those from me." Bellatrix boasted, glancing at the white marks.

"What did he do?" Hermione asked, not surprised to see Bellatrix looking fondly at them.

"He was late. The Dark Lord was angry at that, very angry. I considered it an honor. So did Barty if I'm honest, likes pain that one." She chuckled, remembering how he would scream for her to punish him over the others.

"And he's Lestrange." Hermione turned to look at the other man standing beside Crouch. A handsome and solemn looking man, with shoulder length hair, his eyes were a red-chestnut and he appeared to be the most calm, occasionally stealing glances at the young Bellatrix, who was either completely oblivious or was going to great lengths not to look at him.

"Your husband?" The brunette enquired, watching the young witches behavior as Dumbledore began whispering into her ear, making the woman smile, and if Hermione wasn't mistaken, she was sure that Dumbledore was looking at her with just as much affection as Lestrange, whose handsome features had begun to contort into disgust as he too, observed the pair.

"Not anymore. Thank God!" Bellatrix spat, still unable to look at the man for long.

"You didn't get on then?" Hermione looked at Bellatrix beside her, who was now chewing at one of her fingernails and glancing anywhere but at Lestrange.

"Shall we say that that's another memory for another time. He's a pig. In fact I wouldn't even degrade pigs to his level!" She answered through gritted teeth, her anger towards the man was still there no matter how many years passed, however at this moment in time, her fear for what was about to happen overrode any other emotion.

"My friends" Dumbledore began, however his voice was totally unrecognizable, it was sly and smooth and there was an element of hissing as he spoke, rather than its usually croaky self. "Let me introduce you, to the aurers Frank and Alice Longbottom."
The old man wore a small menacing grimace as he pointed with his wand, at the ceiling.

The young Bellatrixes head shot skywards and an evil cackle began to bubble in her throat.

"Close your eyes." The dark woman commanded Hermione, before she had even had a chance to look up. Not sure if she wanted to see, Hermione shut her eyes tightly. She heard the young Bellatrix shout an excited, "RELATIO!", From the other side of the room and there was a loud thump as something, or rather someone, hit the floor right in front of Hermione's feet, followed by a low moan.

Hermione couldn't help it, she opened her eyes and looked down. What she saw made her let out a short scream, only heard by herself and Bellatrix. By her feet, lay two nearly motionless bodies, their clothes were scorched and blood stained. Their skin was ripped down to the bone in huge lacerations and it kept twitching and jerking under the tight rope bonds around their wrists and ankles, while their eyes darted around the room in a dazed and frightened manner. It was obvious now that the pair had already gone insane.

As Hermione backed away the younger Bellatrix waltz forwards, bringing out her wand and aiming it perfectly to where Franks heart would be. If he was insane he recognized Bellatrix and instantly began shaking his head wildly, pleading through the gag between his teeth.

"Crucio!" The witch screamed, the light from her wand tip was blinding, yet the agonizing cries from the Longbottoms sent shockwaves through Hermione and she covered her ears. She spotted Dumbledore, expecting him to be helping the aurors, or bartering with the Death Eaters for their freedom, but he was doing nothing, aside from watching, and Hermione was certain she could see him smiling. Was he impressed by this?

The violent display continued for several minutes, even Crouch and Lestrange seemed unable to watch as the young Bellatrix tortured the couple repeatedly. It was only until Dumbledore raised his hand, did the woman stop.

Lestrange, stepped forward to hold his wife's hands, but Bellatrix merely shook him off with a jerk of her arm, and returned to Dumbledore's side.

"They know nothing of the Dark Lords whereabouts, and if they do, oclumancy on the mad won't get us any further." Dumbledore said coldly.

"THEN WHAT NOW!?" Yelled Crouch striding towards Bellatrix wand raised. The young Bellatrix Merely laughed.

"We keep looking!" She cackled back, twiddling her curved wand in a lock of her hair.

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Crouched roared, and he fired a curse at the dark woman but Dumbledore stepped between them, defending Bellatrix.

"ENOUGH!" He cried angrily.

"Step aside Rabastan. That whore has doomed us all!"

It was then Hermione understood, but before she could even look at the witch beside her the memory began to dissolve around them, everything turning into wisps of black clouds, and Hermione could feel the familiar falling sensation as she was being pulled out of the pensieve.


Looking up from the bowl, she checked her surroundings, she was still in the spare room, just as they had left it. Bellatrix, was already staring out of the window, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"He wasn't there when we tortured the Longbottoms. Dumbledore I mean." Bellatrix began, turning around to face a very pale looking Hermione. "It was Rabastan's excuse when he was eventually captured. He tampered with his memory, it made it harder for the Ministry to work out the truth, that he too had been involved in, well that. Course, I knew he'd changed it, so I removed my own and stole his in its place. Not that it did any good, just made me look delusional."

"What were…Why?" Hermione began, still in slight shock from witnessing two innocent people, the parents of one of her closest friends, being brutally tortured by the woman in front of her. The hatred she had felt when she first saw the woman in Harry's office came creeping back into her mind.

"I was, broken." Bellatrix chocked. Hermione looked up to see Bellatrix, had returned to staring out of the window with tears streaming down her cheeks, and the hatred changed and became pity.

"What?" Hermione asked, taking a step closer to the crying witch.

"My, my heart was broken." Bellatrix sniffed loudly, and she covered her mouth with her hand to dull the sounds of her sobs.

"I, loved him, and he left me, when I needed him most he ran. Left me for the aurors, and then in Azkaban!" Her voice was changing, from the quiet wimps it had started off as, it began to warp itself into an angry rant.

"Who, Lestrange?" Hermione asked still a little confused.

"No…well yes," Bellatrix chuckled as Hermione passed her a tissue. "Rabastan Lestrange…My husband's brother."