Hey all, I'm back, and just giving you an update, I plan on making this 30 chapters long, so we are nearing the finale, and boy is it worth the wait! Rate and Review for all my thanks!
As Bella slowly healed in her room at St. Mungo's, the Wizarding World slowly found out about the attack, and were forming their own hypotheses as to what had happened. The students of Hogwarts were also wondering this, and given many knew Hermione, they were puzzled by the connection between Hermione and Bella. Many theories were rumoured to be true, some asking why they would be linked together, with Hermione being 'a mortal enemy' of the pure blooded Bellatrix; while others asked if the pair were linked exactly because of this, an 'anti-soul mate' connection. The teachers of Hogwarts knew better, however; fully knowing that Bella and Hermione were linked because of their love for one another.
The more pressing issue was, just who had attacked her? A select few knew the true reason, but everyone else merely speculated; one young Auror even went so far as to say that Voldemort was back, an opinion quite quickly revoked after talking with the Minister. Kingsley soon found out what had happened, courtesy of the Malfoy family, and swiftly took charge of the situation. He sent Claire to Hogwarts to look out for Hermione and to aid her if needed, and told Tom to keep a close eye on them. Kreacher was to stay with Bella, hoping that in time, she would be fit enough to return home. Dobby and the Malfoys were left to sort out the Manor, as Kingsley reasoned, it would be better for someone to have attacked her than for her to have attacked herself. The family agreed, and in no time at all, they had managed to make the Manor look like it had been broken into.
Bella slipped in and out of consciousness over the next two weeks, sometimes falling asleep for days at a time. Finally, as October rain set in and the light pattering of the showers on the windows awoke her, she consciously realised just what had happened.
"Mistress Bellatrix?" Kreacher said as he sat on a chair to the right of the bed. "How do you feel?"
As she attempted to sit up, the ever present pain in her stomach jolted her senses. She whimpered in pain, and Kreacher aided in getting her to sit upright. "It still hurts, Kreacher." Looking at the weather outside and at her complexion in the mirror opposite her, she asked Kreacher how long it had been since the attack.
"Kreacher thinks it has been almost 3 weeks since it happened." As Bella digested this nugget of information, an all too familiar gurgling sound made itself known. "Does Mistress want Kreacher to fetch her something to eat?" he asked. When she nodded, he left the room heading straight for the cafeteria.
Bellatrix removed the bed sheet to examine her body more closely. As she had seen in Limbo, the medics had sutured and cleaned all her wounds, and there were dressings running across them. On the table next to her were several potion vials, all with droppers inside. She reached over and examined the labels:
Nutrient potion – 2 drops in patients mouth per 8 hours.
Healing potion – Apply one drop to affected areas every 12 hours.
She stopped looking, as the rest seemed to say the same thing; and she wondered, after everything that had happened, why people were helping her? Why didn't they let her die?
As she pondered this, Kreacher reappeared with some food in tow; and although not a banquet, the small sandwiches and apples that he had bought looked almost as satisfying as one. As she took her first bite, she realised that she hadn't eaten in over 3 weeks, so her mouth was terribly dry. As she started to cough, Kreacher went and fetched a glass of water from the sink in the room. As she gratefully gulped down some of the water before finishing the sandwich, she offered Kreacher one.
"No, Mistress, this is your meal, not mine."
"Kreacher, I want to share this meal with you, as my way of saying thanks;" she replied weakly.
With a mixed look of astonishment and a rare smile, Kreacher sat on the edge of the bed as the two ate their lunch together. The rest of the day, Kreacher informed Bella of what had happened, and she was content to listen. All of the rumours and stories made her smile, she liked that people didn't know she was crazy. Of course, she also wanted to know if her lover thought she was crazy.
Around 9pm, after the nurses had finished their final rounds and Bella as lying in bed, she thought of Hermione, and how she was doing.
"How many times do I have to say it, Bella? I don't like you reading my mind!" came a voice from the mirror. Bella slowly got up and walked to the mirror, which morphed to show the Gryffindor Common Room, complete with Ginny, Claire and Hermione.
"Hermione!" she gasped, as the three giggled on the other side of the mirror. "How are we talking?"
"It's actually quite ingenious," Ginny chirped, "we used a spell to send a message from the fireplace to a specific point in space, specifically the mirror in your room in St Mungo's!"
"Once the others had gone to bed, we were able to cast the spell and talk to you!" Hermione continued, her face beaming with happiness. "So, how are you feeling?"
Bellatrix looked at her body, before replying happily "I feel great! I feel like some part of me is gone forever, and that it is a great thing to have happened."
"I'm glad you feel good Bella," Hermione replied. "I want to see you again, so the three of us are heading to St Mungo's with Tom over the weekend."
Suddenly realising she had not asked what day of the week it was, she sheepishly asked her. After having a good laugh at her expense, Ginny replied that it was Wednesday, leaving 3 days until they would arrive at St Mungo's. "What do I do for 3 days?"
Claire was the one to speak this time. "I'm sure you can find something good to do, Bellatrix, you always were one to find a deed to do when bored."
"Anyway, we will leave you to get some rest, ok love?" Hermione said; her face genuinely happy for the first time since she was at St Mungo's. "I love you, Bella."
"I love you too, my sweet Miney." As the mirror faded back to normality, Bella pondered about what Claire had said: 'Find a deed to do'. As she climbed into bed, she decided that there was a good deed she could do over the next two days.
When Bella got up the next morning, she felt more determined than ever before. She knew exactly what she had to do, but more importantly, why she had to do it. She got into a pale yellow dressing gown and started looking for her targets, the Longbottoms. After almost an hour of searching the entirety of St Mungo's, she finally found them in a ward, fairly far away from many of the other wards; and once she entered the ward she saw why. Inside were almost a dozen witches or wizards who had lost most, if not all, of their memory. They were deemed the 'incurables' and kept away from others, mostly to prevent them from hurting other people. As Bella walked through the ward, she noticed that none of the patients paid any attention to her, as if they didn't care that they got a visitor. She spotted the Longbottoms, in a private room no less, and bravely stepped inside.
"Hello," she said nervously as she shut the door to the room behind her. "I'm looking for Frank and Alice, are they here?"
"I think, that Alice is in the other building," Alice said sweetly, the infamous look in her eyes signalling that this may have been a bad idea.
"I came here to help them," Bella said, a little softer than she wanted to, though it had the desired effect.
"Why do you want to help us?" Frank said from his bed. "All I know is my name and my wife. I don't remember anything else."
"Well, Mr Longbottom, that is why I'm here," she replied confidently. She knew that the best way of bringing back their memories was giving them back. "My name is Bellatrix Black…"
"BLACK!" Frank moved out of his bed faster than he had ever moved in the last 15 years. "HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE!" Frank was on the floor, his hands around Bella's neck, strangling her.
"I… I came… here… to apologise…" she gasped, struggling to breathe. "I… I want to… return your memories… so that you can be with… Neville." At the mention of his name, Frank stopped, and his face went blank, as if he was racking his brains to find information that was no longer there. As Bella recovered, Frank sat on the floor, tears streaming down his face. Bella noticed that Alice was also crying.
"How can you help Alice and Frank?" Alice asked, her face sincere and covered in tears.
"I helped take your memories 18 years ago; it is only fair that I give them back to you, so you can live happily with your son." Bella held out her hands to the Aurors, who gingerly accepted them. She closed her eyes, and concentrated.
Hermione raced down the corridor, Ginny and Claire close behind. When Kreacher had said that Bella had disappeared, Tom authorised them to go to St Mungo's earlier than planned. With the Halloween weekend close by, they were not bogged down with any workloads, so going a day or two earlier for an emergency was allowable. Hermione turned the corner and raced into Bella's room, to find nothing but an empty bed. "Where is she?" she asked aloud, as the other members of her entourage arrived at the room.
"Why would she have left without saying a word to anyone?" Ginny asked, searching the room for any clues.
Hermione wondered the same thing, and as the group searched the room for hints, her mind wandered around the hospital, trying to find Bella. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. She held out her hand and whispered: "Expecto Patronum." Her Patronus flowed gently out of her arm, before morphing into the form she had become accustomed to seeing since the incident: a ghostly portrayal of Bella. "Find her," she commanded the Patronus-Bella, and it slowly floated down the hall, before morphing back into animal form. As the group followed, some of the other patients' curiosity got the better of them. Soon enough, there was a small gathering behind Hermione as they headed towards the same ward as Bella.
When they finally made it to the ward, Hermione opened the doors and walked inside. The other patients were staring at a particular room, as if transfixed with what was going on inside. "What are all these people staring at?" Ginny asked quietly, as if speaking at normal volume would break their trance like state.
"I dunno, Gin," Hermione replied, as the group moved closer to the private room. As they slowly opened the door, Hermione stood in shock as she saw Bella and the Longbottoms in a trance, eyes closed and heads down, all the while a faint aura surrounded them. "Bella… What is going on?" she asked.
As the aura faded, Bella woke from the trance and picked Alice and Frank up from the floor. "What is your name?" Bella asked.
"My name is Alice Longbottom," she replied.
"What do you remember?"
"Everything."
In no time at all, the news spread of the 'healing' of the Longbottoms, first throughout St Mungo's, then throughout the entire country. Bella had fast become the talk of the town, how she had brought them back from insanity. But some questioned her motives, thinking she was looking for empathy, that if she claimed she was doing some good deed then someone would do one for her.
Hermione knew different. After informing Neville of a change in his parents' condition, he raced over to the hospital to see them. When they greeted him with open arms and smiling knowing faces, he was overcome with joy; he had never been greeted by them like this, they barely even knew he was related to them. When he asked who has given him back his parents, she told him that it was Bella's doing.
Neville headed over to Bella's room, where she was talking with some reporters for the Daily Prophet. After telling them he wanted to speak with her alone, they left out of respect; not just for him, but for her as well. "Why did you do this?" he asked after contemplating for a bit. "What do you gain in return?"
"Neville, all I want is a fresh start," she replied. "The best way to do that is by doing good deeds for others. One of those things that I needed to do was return the lives of your parents that I took."
"Tell me what happened that night, the night you attacked my parents."
"We were told by Voldemort to go and find the children who could grow up to stop him, as per a prophecy he had found. One of course, was Harry Potter; the other was you. The Order of the Phoenix put both your parents into protective custody, as well as the Potters. Eventually, we found out where they were keeping you and we struck. We interrogated your parents on where the boy was, but they said that he was safe. Then the Order appeared and drove us away. 3 days later, we hear news of Voldemort's disappearance. My late husband and his brother ran off to find your family, and I followed them. They attacked and tortured your parents, but they were strong. Eventually their minds broke, and you came crawling towards them. The men wanted to kill all three of them, but I said no; I said that even Death Eaters had to adhere to a code of honour, even amongst ourselves. But their bloodlust was too great, and they started firing curses everywhere, and I tried to protect you. One of my deflections hit a passer-by, and within minutes the Ministry had arrived, looking for us. I fled, along with you; while the Ministry Aurors tended to their own, your parents. I found your grandmother's home, and gave you to her. She realised what I had done, saving you despite being a Death Eater. A few hours later, I was arrested by the Ministry for murdering the Muggle passer-by, and for my part in the torture of your parents."
Neville digested this tale carefully; his Nan had never mentioned him being rescued by her, nor did she display any outward sign of affection towards Bella. "Why did my nan never say anything?"
"She knew what I did that night, and when it emerged that I was a killer, and was part of what happened to your parents she was angry. She came to the Ministry's holding area before the trial, supposedly 'to give me a piece of her mind'; but in actuality, it was to discover the truth. She kept the truth from the world for so long, even from you; and for that I am truly sorry, Neville."
As Neville accepted her apology, and forgave her; he now had a new life to begin alongside his parents. Bella was discharged from the hospital a few days later, and greeted the November sun with glee.
"So Bella, how do you feel being out of that stuffy hospital?" Hermione asked when they got back to Black Manor.
"I feel better than ever, but I feel best because I did something good." Bella's face was beaming like a kid in a candy store eyeing up the chocolates.
"What's up?" Hermione asked, noting Bella's cheery face.
"I haven't been home in ages; it just feels so warm and full of love." She glanced back to her lover and added "that may just be you though." As the two sat down in the lounge, Bella started fidgeting and glancing up and down.
"What's wrong, Bella?" Hermione asked.
"I wanted to ask you, if you want to see your parents?" Bella said slowly. She looked at Hermione and her lover could tell that she was truly sincere.
"If you really want to go to find my parents, then we will go over the Christmas Break, and we will go via Muggle aeroplane," Hermione said after thinking it through. "I think if we drop off the radar a little bit then maybe all the public interest in you will go away. Going via Muggle transport is going to help us achieve that, plus I don't think Apparating to Australia is best for our baby."
"I think I can live with that," Bella replied happily, giving Hermione a gentle loving cuddle to cement their decision.