A/N: Sorry for the delay. I was trying to get this one up months ago, but the story was coming to me just a bit slow. I finally finished it the other day and set about rereading it several times before finally deciding it was allright enough to put up. I know there was probably a bit of confusion what with my bringing Regulus into the story to help Hermione instead of Bellatrix being the one to help. (After all, it is a Bellamione story, right?) Well, I do hope this chapter clears up the reasoning behind my method. I am hoping to have another chapter up by the end of the month, not making promises, but I am writing on it as we speak. I have also started up writing down another idea I have for the Harry Potter realm, don't know when exactly that when will be placed upon the site, but I am hoping to have several chapters of it fleshed out before actually adding it. Anyway, enough with all of that, I know you lot are ready to read, so on to the chapter!
Sixteenth of November, 1968
Midnight
Pain. Indescribable. Crushing, bruising anguish erupts from behind Hermione's eyes as she tries to open them. A weak groan emits from her lips, unbidden, as she tries to make sense of her surroundings.
"Don't tries to get up, Mistress Hermione," a crackling voice calls from her left. She feels the long fingers of a house-elf softly brushing her hair out from in front of her face.
"Kreacher," she croaks out from parched lips.
"Shh," he replies as he moves a straw closer to her lips. "You's mustn't speak. Not yet."
She tries to open her eyes again when she senses the light had become softer in the room they were in. "What happened?" she asks softly after partaking from the cool water he had given her.
"We's did it," he responds softly as he sets down the cup and glances at the many vials of potions on the bed-side table. "You helps us get closer to hurting the snake-man."
"Snake-man?" Hermione asks as her foggy mind tries to think back to what they had did earlier. "Oh," she says softly as bits and pieces filter through her hazy thoughts. "I remember the cave. And I remember us nearly being over-ran by Inferi, but what happened afterwards Kreacher? Where are we?"
"We are in the 'Come and Go Room' also known as the Room of Requirement," another voice answers from further in the room. Footsteps sound on the wooden floorboards bringing the person closer to them. "I couldn't allow anyone else to care for you after what you did. How are you feeling, Hermione?" Regulus asks softly as he comes into her view and sits down on a chair beside the bed.
"Why not to the infirmary?" the witch asks as suspicion creeps into her mind.
"Would you really think that Dumbledore would allow us to stay here within the confines of Hogwarts if he knew what we had done?" The wizard shakes his head slowly. "He thinks that he and his Order can stop the Dark-Lord through conventional means. I do not think he heeded Professor Slughorn's warning about his asking about Horcruxes all those years ago."
"Also, I don't think he would have thought too highly of two students sneaking out to gods know where!" another voice seethes from the back of the room causing Hermione's pulse to quicken.
Regulus rolls his eyes before turning towards the sound of the voice. "I told you before that what we did was of the utmost importance to save all of us from that man."
She strolls to the bed-side and huffs. "I know. I know. What I don't understand is why on earth you two did not tell me what you were doing! You both could have died. Regulus, what would I have told Uncle Orion and Aunt Walburga if you were to disappear?Your parents have already disowned your idiot brother, what would they do if something happened to you? And you Hermione? I would not want to be the one to have to tell your father that you simply vanished. I wouldn't even know how to go about finding him! You should have let me know what was going on, the three of us could have taken care of it and none would be the wiser." She turns to stare at the brunette, "Did you not trust me? You told my younger cousin and not me. I should have been there to help."
"It's not that simple, Bella," Hermione states with a sigh as she struggles to sit up in the bed.
"What do you mean it's not that simple?" the dark-haired witch retorts. "It is just that simple. Just as you spoke with Regulus, you could have spoken to me. You barely know him, yet you asked him before me."
Hermione pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a deep breath to try to combat the start of a headache. "I'm sorry Bellatrix, but we felt at the time that the less who knew about what we were doing, the better."
"Still, you went to my cousin, whom I have never ever seen you speak to, and asked him to help you with this Horcrux hunt and not me. This is what I can't wrap my head around." She sits down on the foot of the bed. "This man and his evil affects me just as much as it does any of us... probably even more so since he is constantly at my house. It's..."
"And he does not come to my parents house?" Regulus asks as he stares at his cousin incredulously. "Do not make this all about yourself, dear cousin. He is a madman that needs to be stopped before he harms anyone else. It does not matter whose house or who of us are seemingly closer to his clutches. He is a menace for everyone and we should not be arguing over who gets the pleasure of stopping him. It isn't a race, Bella. Also, Hermione has spoken with me several times over the course of the school year thus far. Maybe not as much as you, but we have spoken. I may not know why she had chose me over you to come with her, but we can not change the past. We must only look to the future now."
Hermione takes a deep breath, trying to keep herself from yelling at the two people in the room. "Look, does it honestly matter why I chose who I chose? If you must know, Bella, I spoke to Regulus about it because if something should have happened to us, his brother would have been protected from Riddle. If you had came instead and something were to befall us, who would have protected your sisters from his wrath? From your parents wrath? I had studied Regulus before I had spoke with him."
"Well, that's not creepy," the wizard mumbles loudly as he shifts uncomfortably in the wooden chair.
The brunette stares at the younger man before continuing, "As I was saying, I had studied Regulus and saw how he kept tabs on some of our fellow Slytherins... mainly Lucius and Rudolphus. So it wasn't hard to decide that he was a person that I could trust with my ideas."
Bellatrix huffs loudly. "You could have trusted me with any of this," the dark-haired witch mumbles as she squirms on the edge of the bed.
Hermione shakes her head softly. "I know I could have, but as I had mentioned before, it would have been harder for us to plan it together because you and your sisters are being constantly watched by those prats. It would have tipped them off and how could we have protected your sisters then?"
The dark-haired witch sighs as she thinks over what Hermione had said. It is true, if something were to befall her, no one would be able to keep her sisters safe from what could possibly occur. Her father was already turned to a simpering fool, ready to agree with anything Riddle spoke of. And her mother... her mother was raised never to question her husband's beliefs, no matter how crazy they had shifted from merely one year ago. It was a horrible part of pure-blood society that always struck Bellatrix and her sisters as archaic, but they never questioned it because they were also brought up within the same construct.
After mulling it over, the eldest Black huffs, "Fine, you were right in your decision. I may not agree with it, but there is truth in your logic."
Hermione smirks at the woman as she tries to catch her eye. "Glad you finally approve of it." She looks at the cousins and then towards the house-elf. "So now that we are all on the same page... what should we do about our current situation?"
Several hours and just as numerous arguments later, the group were no closer to an answer than before Hermione had woken up from passing out within the cave. The brunette knew that in her time, there were seven Horcruxes, but since Harry was not even a thought in either of his parents mind at this time, Hermione knew she was only dealing with six. 'Unless, He does not have Nagini yet,' she muses to herself as she watches the cousins arguing amongst themselves.
"I don't think we should tell any others, Regulus," Bella starts again as she rolls her eyes. "Can you imagine it leaking out to your brother's friends that we are trying to take down Tom before their precious Dumbledore can do it? It would be sacrilege!" She rolls her eyes again at the thought.
"We need to at least get some outside help, Bella," Regulus urges as he stands up from the chair beside Hermione's bed and paces the floor. "Even though we are in the same house, the others will get suspicious. We are literally in the snake pit!"
"And getting outside help from a bunch of Lions will help?" Bella throws back with a huff as she politely hands an empty teacup to Kreacher. "You know as well as I do, that Lucius and his lot will be even more suspicious if we start talking to the Prewitt's or Arthur Weasley for that matter."
"Well, what about Sirius?" Regulus asks as he turns to face the dark-haired witch.
"Sure, you want to bring your younger brother into all of this?" She tosses her hands into the air and stands up from the edge of the bed. "Be my guest, and while your at it... bring Potter, Lupin and that slimy rat Pettigrew into it as well. We'll have just a lovely time," she adds sarcastically as she walks over to a bookcase that had appeared when Regulus had first brought Hermione into the 'Come and Go Room'.
"I hate to say it, Regulus, but she is right," Hermione states as she tries to get out of the bed, only to have Kreacher gently push her back down onto the pillow. Huffing slightly at the house-elf's insistent need to keep her bedridden, the brunette runs her hand through her dishevelled hair and continues. "If we start to seek aid purposely from them, we will be found out instantly. But..." she pauses for a beat, making sure she had their attention. "What if we have someone else as a go between?"
"I just mentioned Sirius," Regulus says with a roll of his eyes. "But you both shot it down. It would be perfect. He is, after all, my little brother."
"Yes, he is," Hermione concludes as she leans up in the bed, glaring slightly at Kreacher who was attempting to make her lay back down, "but your family has disowned him. If Lucius and the others see you speaking with him, they will automatically know something is amiss. However, it would be perfectly within reason for Andromeda to be seen speaking with Bella."
"I see what you are getting at," Bellatrix states as she strolls from the foot of the bed over to the chair the wizard had vacated minutes before. "You want to use Andi as the go between. What with her relationship with Ted, it would be very easy to send messages to my long-lost cousins." The dark-haired witch nods her head slowly as she thinks more on it. "There is only one problem to your plan though."
"What is the problem?"
"There is no way in hell I am going to allow you to bring my sisters into the scheme!"