Rip Out The Wings
DaggersBloodPain
Chapter Twenty-Five
Need You Now
Ginny/Hermione
Please come to my office tonight, we have some plans to go over.
You may tell others where you are going, you won't be gone more
than a few hours. I will make sure you are back before curfew.
LR
The two girls were startled when in the middle of their separate Defense classes a parchment appeared on their desks. Reading through it they knew they would finally get to know what happen to their friend after she had been smuggled from Hogwarts. Severus had only been able to give them vague updates for fear of someone overhearing them. They did know about the time turner and knew when Lilah said they would only be gone for a few hours she meant it, no matter how long their talk lasted.
They managed to hide their excitement through the rest of the day, but it wasn't easy. Hermione had it the hardest, she had Defense as her first class of the day and had to wait through all the rest, Ginny didn't have Lilah's class until after lunch.
There was never a student so eager to get to a teacher's office as Hermione and Ginny were after classes were over. They made hurried excuses that they needed to talk to Professor Rayne and somehow managed to make the trip from Gryffindor tower to Lilah's office only take five minutes. The second they were in the door a tight three way hug commenced. No words were exchanged as they just reminded each other they were real and safe. Lilah hadn't seen her friends for four years, this was heaven to her.
Nothing disturbed them until there was a light tapping against the door, like someone was trying to knock without making a lot of noise. "There is someone I want to introduce you to." Lilah told her friends as she finally let them go and opened the door.
Imagine the girl's surprise when the corridor outside the office was empty, they were just about to put words to their confusion when the door closed seemingly off its own accord. Their surprise quickly turned to shock as Bellatrix Lestrange materialized out of thin air as she removed Lilah's invisibility cloak, the Marauder's map clutched in her hand.
Bellatrix immediately had two wands trained onto her before Lilah could even say a word, to put an end to any thoughts her old friends had of attacking Bellatrix she stepped in between the wands and her lover. "Ginny, Hermione, stop that! I invited her here." Lilah commanded as the two girls sheepishly lowered their wands. "A lot has happened, and she is a big part of it, come with me we have a lot to talk about." Lilah continued on as she went to a bookcase along the back wall of the office. Pulling out a single book on the top shelf she was rewarded with a grating sound as the bookcase slid to the side and an entrance to her living quarters was revealed. The only way to explain a passage that had to extend between many floors and opposite sides of the castle yet only last about a foot was magic.
"Alright, start talking," Hermione said as soon as they were settled in the comfortable seating area of Lilah's rooms.
Lilah and Bellatrix took turns to tell the whole story over the next two hours. Everything from the first time Lilah had been introduced to her father, up until she was accepted as a Hogwarts teacher. Lilah finished off the explanation by saying, "The Dark side is exactly that, dark, but we have a purpose and a mission. Our methods of completing that mission may not be acceptable to the Light side, but if we left it up to Dumbledore to fix the problems of the wizarding world magic could die out completely."
"So much has happened to you, its almost hard to believe, I can't believe you took the Mark but I can understand you wanting to be connected to your family. You seem happy though, and I believe Bellatrix may have something to do with that," Ginny observed as she looked to where Bellatrix and Lilah sat on the couch touching shoulders with linked hands. "You were never this happy when you were a servant of Dumbledore, and if the Dark side was truly as bad as the light portrays it I wouldn't be seeing that small smile on your face, or the determination in your voice. You are more confidant now than you ever were, and strong, I can tell just by looking at you that you have been training hard. If this is what the Dark side does to its soldiers than I am convinced it is the right way to go."
Hermione continued from there. "I agree with Ginny, you are looking so much better. I listened to your lecture in class today and I agree with it completely. You managed to get everyone to think about what is really going on in this world. Challenging the traditional roles of Dark and Light, and obliterating them. You made more sense in a single class than all six years of Dumbledore's speeches. I can honestly say even if I wasn't your friend I would be following you and not the Headmaster."
"Thank you, it means a lot to hear that, and yes Ginny I am happy. I am confidant because I know exactly what I am fighting for, and I have a pretty good idea of how to achieve that. I have worked hard to get this far, and I will not stop fighting until I'm finished with my job. I am more ready than I ever was to fight, and it is all because someone actually decided to tell me the truth. I want to do that in my classes, and maybe just maybe we can get through this war without any bloodshed."
"Now please tell me what in the Hell happened to Ron? I can understand him being too shocked to support me, but I was shocked to see him act so recklessly in class. You would think with how good he is in Chess he would have more tact, if he really wanted to make a point he should have been much more coherent in his objections." Lilah observed, still not understand the complete turn around.
"After you left, Ron's temper started to get the better of him. He was almost always yelling at someone, and without you to do his homework with, he stopped caring. He was so mad at Hermione he didn't even bother to ask her to check over his work anymore. His marks in class started plummeting and he had detention at least once a week. There was a night not long after you left that he snapped and started raving in the common room about how you had run off to the dark side and betrayed us all. Hermione Obliviated him, removing any information he had about who you really were. He still wasn't the same after that, he got paranoid and even angrier. I don't think he could play a game of chess and win anymore, let alone make an intellectual argument." Ginny confessed, her sorrow at what was essentially the loss of her brother obvious.
"I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't know this would happen, but I still wouldn't go back and change it. Ron forgot that I didn't ask for any of this, I am just doing the best I can with what has happened, it is not anyone's fault but his own if he can't grow up." Lilah replied gently, not wanting to upset Ginny anymore than she already was, but she wasn't about to lie about her feelings towards the hotheaded Weasley.
"I don't blame you, I know it is Ron's own fault for doing it. I am just mourning my brother, because he is dead to me, and in Ron's place is this thing. I don't know why he couldn't change and adapt, but he didn't and we are just going to have to live with it." Ginny responded, never intending to make Lilah feel guilty. She has known long ago her brother's temper was going to get in his way at some point.
Hermione felt the need to change the subject to spare Ginny some pain, so she turned to Bellatrix. "You love Lilah we can all see that, but does her father's know about you two?"
"Yes they know, it isn't something we wanted to hide. If you are expecting a funny story full of death threats and heart attacks you are not going to get it. They approved of us, and Lilah is an adult now she can make her own choices, even if they did object their is nothing they could do." Bellatrix replied coolly. She hadn't known these two girls long enough to completely open up to them, but didn't see any harm in answering that question.
"I was more shocked that they did approve, than they were at the situation itself. My dad was concerned, but he got over that fairly quickly." Lilah explained deeper. If she showed she trusted her friends, Bellatrix might grow to be more comfortable quicker.
"I was friends with Severus in school, Narcissa and I would look out for him when Lucius could not, he would be concerned about the age difference but not about Lilah's safety. I have proved my faith in the Dark side and loyalty to our lord enough to earn the Dark Lord's approval." Bellatrix volunteered slowly, extending a tentative olive branch to these girls. She wasn't afraid of them, but she was concerned that if she offended them too much Lilah could get angry with her and she didn't want that.
"It is odd to hear Professor Snape called by his first name, but thank you for explaining that. I had been wondering about that." Hermione thanked her as Lilah squeezed her hand in support and gratitude.
"I have the same issue with hearing him called Professor." Bellatrix admitted, relaxing at Lilah's approval, she had never cared for someone so much before. She honestly loved this powerful, and beautiful, woman at her side. Love makes people do odd things, even making friends with people who not long ago were on her kill list.
"Hermione, I think it is time for you and Ginny to be getting back to Gryffindor tower, Hermione you have used a time turner before, go back two hours and you will be back in plenty of time before curfew. Go into my office to use it and leave it in my top desk drawer, I will go get it in five minutes when I am sure you are gone." Lilah told her friends, wanting some alone time with her lover, as much as she missed her friends, she could see them all year. It would be a very rare event for Bellatrix to sneak in.
"Thank you for taking the time to explain everything to us, see you tomorrow at Breakfast." Hermione thanked her as she took the golden hourglass pendant from Lilah's outstretched hand. Her and Ginny disappeared into the office.
"Thank you for accepting them, it means a lot to me," Lilah told Bellatrix kissing her gently, wanting to restrain herself long enough to fetch the Time Turner not wanting to leave it sitting unprotected in her office all night, the two hours would be enough of a risk.
"I love you Lilah, if what you want is for me to be nice to them, I will be." Bellatrix admitted.
"I love you too, and more importantly I love the way you are, do not change into something you are not just to try and please me. I can't be any happier than I already am." Lilah responded kissing her again, deeper this time.
It was Bellatrix who spoke when they broke apart for air, "Go fetch your trinket before we both forget. When you come back I will be here."
"I know," Lilah replied with a kiss and a smile, reluctantly getting up to go get the precious object, leaving the most precious thing sitting on the couch, shivering in anticipation.