Masquerade Act Three: The Veneer of Thalia and Melpomene

The Twenty Sixth Dance: Everyone's Mad Here/ The Duplicity of the Gifts


"Have I gone mad?"
"I'
m afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usually are."
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland


"Are you feeling better?" Ron asked in a soft voice as he handed a glass of water over to Hermione. The brunette accepted it grateful and took a sip, her hands still shaking a little.

"Yea, a bit," she admitted and gave Ron an unsteady smile.

She was sitting on her hospital bed right now, the healers having knocked her out to calm her down and then revived her and given her some potions to relax her. They had left for now, letting Hermione be with her friends. They stood around her bed, worried expressions on their faces.

"We were worried when you flipped out like that," Harry said.

"What happened?" Ginny softly prompted. "If you don't mind us prying."

"No, it's fine. I just had a shock, a mental sort of lock down." Hermione set her glass of water on the nightstand by her bed. "I had thought...I had thought that everything I, well I guess I dreamed it, was true. And when I found out it wasn't, it was a giant shock since it had been all so real to me. It still feels real to me," she slowly spoke, trying to find a correct way to phrase this so as not to alert her friends anymore than she already had.

"The soul spell must have done more damage than we thought. But it's a good thing we're at St. Mugo's. Where you can get the proper aid for a swift recovery," Ron sat down next to the brunette on the bed and patted the back of her hand to comfort her. But she didn't want him touching her right now. So she moved her hand away and he didn't chase after it, a slightly hurt expression taking up room on his face. But it was quickly gone as Hermione avoided looking at him and got up from her bed, circling around to her window. Harry and Ginny watched her intensely from their spot in the doorway, looking for signs that she might break down again.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ginny asked as Hermione looked outside. There was a storm whirling around mimicking the state of her thoughts and her feelings. The potions had kept her from panicking but she was still unsettled, her thoughts never giving her rest until she could make sense of what had actually happened. Right now she wanted to be alone so she could figure things out.

"I'm fairing better. I assure you. I just need some time...to come to terms to this. Alone," Hermione added in case she wasn't clear enough.

"Right," Ron stood up, straightening the front of his robes. "Then we'll give you some space." He strode out the door without looking back at her.

Harry and Ginny looked worried over Ron's rude departure but didn't comment on it. "See you tomorrow Mione," Harry said and then he and Ginny left as well.

Hermione finally was alone with her thoughts and inhaling deeply she then let the air in her lungs out slowly. It was time to break down everything logically. According to her friends she had been in a soul coma for about eight months and had just woken up two weeks ago, which lined up correctly with her memories. But where her memories deviated from theirs was in the content of those two week's. In their recollections, nothing really happened in those weeks. Harry and Ron had apprehended some Death Eater's and Voldemort had never come back to life. And since Voldemort had never been alive, she and Bellatrix had not switched bodies. And so the only other thing that both Hermione and her friends also agreed on was that she had fainted about a day ago. Thus those two markers were correct, so that left the question of whether what Hermione experienced in between the events was real or imagined.

Hermione felt they were real. She was certain she had been awake during that two week period and thus either it was a really strong dream she had had or else she had lost her memories of what had occurred sporadically and in it's place her mind had made up these false memories. But why would her mind do that? Was it part of the soul spell's side effects?

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. She wished she could ask Kingsley or McGonagall. In her recollection the two had been at the battle against Voldemort's army and she wanted to affirm with them if they too had not experienced the battle. And if their memories proved vacant of that then she seriously had to reevaluate what to do. It wasn't natural the way her memories were off.

She wondered if Bellatrix had experienced the same thing? Did she too have memories of the hotel? Of the body switch? Or were her's different? Maybe she was completely fine and then Hermione had made this all up by herself.

Wow, I cannot believe my mind unconsciously imagined such a complex environment, and with her of all people. Why not Harry or Ron, or Luna? Even Draco would have made more sense to see in a dream my mind made up since I went to school with. But Bellatrix? Is it because I was so scared of her that my mind wanted to find a way to make her less terrifying, thus that scenario where we were civil to one another?

Hermione let out another sigh as she rubbed a hand over her face before leaning her forehead on the cold glass. Where do I go from here? What do I do? Should I ask Harry to send for the headmistress of Hogwarts, and for the minster of magic? I kind of want to ask Bellatrix about what she remembers...maybe she can proffer me some clues to this conundrum.

"Brooding? That is unbecoming of you," a voice, friendlier than the last time she had heard it spoken, pulled Hermione from her thoughts and she turned on her heel to spot her new visitor. Speaking of the Devil...

"Bellatrix, how did you escape your wards?" Hermione couldn't help from blurting out, intensely curious how the older woman had done this, and without a wand no less. She should have expected the woman to be able to do this, she was clever after all, yet she was still mildly shocked at how quickly it had occurred. It had only been a day since they fainted, right?

"It does not matter how," Bellatrix waved her hand dismissively. "I've come to check up St. Mugo's newest nut case."

Hermione felt her cheeks flush once the statement fully sunk in. "I'm not crazy!"

"Sure, sure. I'm just repeating what everyone thinks. Golden Girl Goes Gonzo, the headlines are calling it."

There goes my reputation. "And what do you think?" Public opinion be damned for now. She just wanted to know if the soul spell had only affected her memories or if it had affected Bellatrix's as well.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "I think that I don't care."

"So you remember then? The hotel and the battle against Voldemort?" Hermione burst out with excitement. Had Bellatrix been playing dumb before when Hermione's friends had been around? Oh please, I don't know why she did it, but I hope she was.

"Of course I do," Bellatrix rolled her eyes again, as if this should have been obvious.

"Then why didn't you help me? I thought I was...wrong. Crazy, you know, and I was trying so hard to figure out how and why I could have conjured up a whole another dimension and-"

"Stop rambling," Bellatrix cut in impatiently. "I didn't come here to hear you talk yourself to death."

"Then what are you here for," Hermione snapped back, a bit miffed at the rude interruption.

A smirk lit up Bellatrix's features. She was deriving way too much pleasure from this. "I came to see how you were dealing with all this. It's not fun being crazy is it?" Hermione didn't answer this, scowling.

Bellatrix continued on. "Anyways, I came to bid you a good evening." At this Bellatrix took up her hospital gown in between both hands and did a mock curtsy.

This seemed a touch suspicious. "What are you really going to do? I doubt you came all this way, risking getting in trouble with the aurors, to tell me a good evening."

"I came to say that you won't have to worry about me pestering you and your little friends anymore." Bellatrix's voice got more serious. "This world has no need for a witch like me with bloodstained hands and outdated ideals."

"You're leaving?" was Hermione's gasped response. "Where?"

"None of your business, that's where," Bellatrix responded nastily. "I don't want you or your little friends following me and bothering me. I just want to live the rest of my days in peace. I won't be going back to Azkaban which is what will most definitely occur if I stick around. There is no way in hell I would do that."

Bellatrix's reason was levelheaded. Why should she stay when all that awaited her was prison or some other nasty fate. Yet Hermione wasn't entirely happy with it.

"You can't go!" Hermione blurted out. She had had this grand idea that she would be able to reform Bellatrix and make her into a member of society. And in this way keep the witch from being behind bars. And then she could even use her as a poster child for helping reform the prison system.

"Why not?" This seemed to irk Bellatrix.

"You're not the same anymore...as you once were." Hermione tried to phrase this without mentioning all the crimes she had committed specifically but it left her response lacking.

"Yes," Bellatrix snapped. "But who remembers that? No one but us and I doubt they will take the word of a lunatic and a post coma girl with a grain of salt even if we talked our selves hoarse to prove our point. That is why I'm not sticking around. I'm getting out while I still can."

"No...we can convince them. We can make them believe us. I just need more time." Hermione didn't know why she felt that the witch shouldn't leave. Perhaps there was a part of her that didn't trust to leave the other out of her sights, especially since the two of them were bond by soul. If Bellatrix died than so did Hermione.

"And why should I care about convincing them?" Bellatrix's lips curled up in disgust. "I don't carry in high regards the opinions of potty boy and his red headed family of follower's."

"You don't understand. I can't leave you out of my sights!" Hermione cried out, exasperated. Why couldn't the witch see she needed to stay? Why couldn't she trust Hermione to convince her friends to their side?

"Oh?" Bellatrix said with a coy smile. "Can't get enough of me? Don't want to tear your eyes away from this figure?" She ran a hand down her neck to her chest, stopping on her hipbone and Hermione snorted angrily, although she couldn't help but follow the hand's path despite trying to seem disgruntled by it. Bellatrix arched a brow at Hermione's reaction but didn't say anything more, or move her hand anymore in a suggestive manner.

"It's because we're linked by the soul spell. If you die then so do I!"

"I'm not stupid. I'm not going to get myself killed. I'd be more worried about you. You can barely cast a decent spell!" Bellatrix stuck out her tongue at this.

"That is not true! I am well read and versed in a multitude of both high and low level caliber spells that I can use for the offense, defense, or for healing. And I'll have you know-" Hermione forced herself to stop there before she went on a diatribe. "Stop trying to throw me off topic," she growled out at Bellatrix, annoyed that the woman was trying to throw her off. "The situation is settled. You need to stay here. I'm certain I can convince them that what we experienced is real."

"And what if it wasn't real?" Bellatrix's soft question tripped Hermione up for a bit.

"What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly. "You just confirmed with me that we did indeed go to the hotel-"

"But what if what I saw and experienced was only because of the soul spell? That we were the only two to think this to be true because of the unknown magical variables of the spell that affected us."

Hermione didn't like this. She did not like it one bit. She knew the spell couldn't do something like this. No spell could alter reality like this. Yet her words had a tough time coming out. "Then explain to me the three judges. How could we hear their voices in our heads?"

"What if I told you those were the names or personas of the voices I heard in my head on a regular basis? That we were both able to see them as people in the hotel because I was sane there, but when we left I was no longer sane and thus they were only voices? And that through the spell they transferred over to you?" Bellatrix leaned closer to Hermione, a look of triumphant on her face at making Hermione this uncomfortable.

Hermione shook her head. She could feel the edges of panic creeping back in. The potions must have been wearing off.

"So you see, that is why we won't be able to convince your friends or anyone else for that matter that what we experienced was real."

"This doesn't explain everything! I know I was fully conscious during those two weeks and I know what happened there! I know it! So tell me then, since you clearly know everything," this was said with angry sarcasm, "how did it come to the situation that we were both in each other's body, trying to hunt Voldemort down? How come he was able to escape the figment of the hotel and come into this other dream?"

Bellatrix looked a bit disgruntled at this and she leaned back, stemming both hands on her hips. "I don't have time to answer your stupid and silly questions. There is no point in trying to understand the soul spell. No one has been able to in all the years of it's existence. Each reported case of conjoined souls has had different effects on it's users. Ours could be a highly complicated and sophisticated version of some bad side effects. And since I clearly am a witch of high caliber, the soul spell could be stronger with us compared to other weaker witches or wizards that cast it."

"Then why did you do it?" Hermione asked in a quiet tone, her hands having fisted by her sides. "Why did you decide to ruin my life by casting that spell?"

Bellatrix felt guilt at those words but she let her face remain passive. "I cast it because I wanted to have an advantage over the other side, a bargaining chip in case things went to shit. I bet you would have done the same if you had lived through all the shit shows I did." Bellatrix hadn't noticed but she had taken two angry steps forwards. She was pissed now but she didn't know why. The malignant voices in her head were egging her on, telling her to get closer to the other, to shake some sense into her. To get her to stop being this annoying and naive! The girl had barely been alive two decades. What did she know of this world and how to manipulate it in order to survive in it. If you didn't manipulate it, it would manipulate you.

"I would never endanger another's life like that," Hermione said resolutely. "I would use honest means to win-"

"Just like the honest means you used to kill Voldemort?" Bellatrix saw guilt flash in Hermione's eyes. "Ah, see. Spout all the high moral nonsense you want but when it comes to matters of life and death a person will change. They will do anything to live." Just like I changed my opinions, Bellatrix added to herself. But because of the consequences of my death and not the actual act of dying.

"Hypothetically speaking that I killed Voldemort, since apparently nothing like that actually happened," Hermione pointed out. "So then why did you kill him? A Death Eater, afraid of death?" The brunette snorted derisively at this.

"I wasn't afraid of death. That is a natural course of life. Something that can in fact be conquered, as Voldemort was proof of it. I was worried of losing, and I wanted a contingency plan."

"So then why me? Why pick a mudblood? Why not go after Ron, or anybody else, someone from the Order? Surely you wouldn't want to bind yourself with the very thing you hated."

This only served to make Bellatrix angrier. And she took three steps forward, boxing in Hermione against the window pane. It was cold on the younger girl's back and she let out an involuntary gasp at the drop in temperature. "Because you were the weak link," Bellatrix softly hissed as her hand grasped Hermione's chin and picked it up so that she could gaze down into wide open brown eyes. The brunette wasn't scared of her, even though she knew full well what Bellatrix was capable of.

Maybe we should remind her? Gleefully suggested one of the voices and with an internal huff of disgust Bellatrix dropped her hand. "So don't think there was any other motive behind my choice. No matter how much I despised mudbloods-"

Did she just say despised, as in the past tense? Does she not dislike them anymore?

"-Harry was reserved for Voldemort, so I wouldn't dare lay a hand on him. Ron was too stupid, probably charging ahead to let himself get killed, whereas you were smarter, so I knew I could trust you not to be rash and try to off yourself in order to kill me."

"But what if I had. Killed myself, that is, rather than let you live?" Hermione's eyes searched the other's face, feeling nervous after spitting this out. How would the other react to this?

Bellatrix was silent a while, taking her time in examining the brunette's face for something before scoffing loudly and taking a step back. "You wouldn't. You're not a true Gryffindor." Then with that she spun on her heel and made way for the door.

"And where do you think you're going? I already told you, you weren't leaving!" Hermione called out, feeling like she could breath more easily now that the other wasn't hovering over her.

"I told you I am not sticking around! I've already wasted enough time as it is having this inane discussion with you. Have fun muddy, with your little friends who think you've gone daft!" She wiggled her fingers in goodbye, not turning around.

"You are not leaving!"

"And what are you going to do, stop me?" Bellatrix asked, clearly sarcastic as she peered her head out the door. It was after hours, less staff was walking around.

"Maybe I will," Hermione huffed, rushing after the woman.

"How cute, the little cowardly lion coming to stop the big bad snake," Bellatrix said childishly as she pulled out the wand in her robes. No doubt she had stolen it from one of the auror's. "Don't come any closer," she warned Hermione who paused, hands up as the wand pointed at her. "Or I will hex you."

"I thought we were beyond that," Hermione grumbled, not believing that the woman would truly go through on her words.

"No, you're right. We're both well on our way to torturing each other with the Cruciatus curse." Bellatrix said this matter of factly, enjoying the discomfort that arose on Hermione's face.

"I never meant- I mean I never wanted to-" Hermione stammered.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes at this. "Don't. I don't want to hear it." Then she hit Hermione with a body bind jinx. The brunette's muscles seized up and she fell rigidly to the floor. "And don't come after me," she reminded Hermione before adding a silencing spell on top of her first one. "I won't appreciate it." And then she was gone.


By the time the spells had worn off and Hermione had been able to warn the staff, it had been two hours and Bellatrix was found to be nowhere in the hospital, or the nearby vicinity of the city.

"How did she even manage to escape?" Ron exclaimed in disbelief as he sat in Hermione's hospital room, reading the news but not being able to find a single word of this in the paper he held in his hand. Kingsley wasn't sure if he wanted the public to know that Bellatrix was alive and not dead for fear it might stir up a panic, thus the lack in information. Hermione was pacing in agitation from the bed to the window and back, hand on her chin. "There were tons of wards and spells and guards watching her. How did she do it? And wandless to boot!" Ron continued on when no one answered his first question.

Harry, who had been charged with getting Bellatrix back, alongside Ron since the two of them were the only aurors to know of her revival (the other's having their memories oblivated once their shift was done), was standing by the window and looking out. "She's dangerous. We need to find her and soon. Do you have any idea where she could have gone?" He turned at this to Hermione who let out a sigh and shook her head.

"My only hunch would be that she's hiding in the woods, hoping to avoid detection. But the area covered by woodland is numerous and she could no doubt move from there and be somewhere else by the time every meter is thoroughly searched."

"I was thinking Albania. That's where all the exiled witches and wizards go," Ron offered, making both Harry and Hermione look at him. "What?" he said a bit defensively at the looks they were giving him. "It's a good hunch."

"But one that is too obvious. She won't go there because she knows everyone does." Hermione quickly disregarded his option.

"Then what if she is going there because it is obvious and thus she thinks we'll disregard it cause of that," Ron countered and Hermione had to say she was proud he had been able to pick that up. It seemed auror training had sharped his wits a bit.

"Still, going there would be dangerous. And I think she'd be unable to get that far in a short amount of time, without getting sighted. She's not using her wand, apparation will be difficult. And she won't be able to do it without getting detected as crossing the international magical borders. Thus it will have to be either magical travel such as the train, or by muggle means," Hermione brainstormed.

"So we'll start in England." Harry closed his eyes briefly. "It will be an impossible amount of area to cover with just the two of us. If only we had some sort of tracker on her like we did on the other Death Eater's." This was said with a touch of wistfulness.

"But we did have one. Only Kingsley ordered it be taken off," Hermione said, forgetting temporarily that the two boys would have no recollection of this since it had never technically happened.

"We never had one on her. You're making things up again Hermione," Ron chided but not maliciously and the brunette let out a resigned grunt but didn't say more on this knowing it was a moot point.

"We better get going. We have a lot of work to do." Harry and Ron had come here to inspect the escape scene but had been unable to find much to help them. Thankfully no one had been hurt, except for some boils and burns that she had jinxed the auror guards with during her process of running away.

"Be safe and good luck," Hermione wished her friends.

"Thanks. We'll need it," said a tired Harry. He looked grim thinking about all the work that awaited him.

"And get better Mione." Ron gave the girl a hug and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. She returned his hug half heartedly, wondering if he was still upset at her for being rude to him earlier when she had asked for peace to think. It didn't seem like it, as he was mostly exhuming annoyance at having to catch Bellatrix. But one could never truly know what had Ron upset until it came boiling forth out of him in an explosive argument.

When the two left, Hermione settled down on her bed, grateful for the calm as she was able to think more clearly now. Where had Bellatrix gone? There was no telling. Hermione had been unable to stop her, or at least get some sort of clue from her. She only hoped the witch wouldn't do anything rash. Because if she was caught then Hermione was at risk of getting hurt, or worse, losing her life.

If only she could find her. She hated not being able to do anything. She wanted to be out there looking for her, but she knew no one would let her out of this hospital. All she could do was wait.

"Is that all you can really do?" an all too familiar voice asked her and she sat up quickly upon hearing it.

No, that can't be right...

"Dorian?" Hermione asked cautiously, her heart rate speeding up.

"The one and only," Dorian said and with such gravitas she could imagine him bowing at the waist, dressed in his cream and gold finery, before snapping straight up. "Now, it seems you are quite troubled. Is it because Bellatrix ran away? Has that got you all up in a tiff?" He was mocking her now, amusement in his voice. "I know where to find her, to help calm your thoughts."

"How are you...you aren't real. You aren't real. You can't possibly know where she is." Hermione shook her head vigorously and clamped her ears with her hands as if this could somehow keep his voice out.

He tsked, but it wasn't an annoyed one, but an amused one. "Think what you like, however, if you really want to make sure no harm comes to you, then do go find her because I'd hate to see all the hard work and effort put in by the two of you in getting back to life only for it be shut down." He paused thoughtfully. "Actually, I wouldn't really hate it, but since I'm not allowed to hurt you until the two of you rightfully return to the afterlife, and since Gabriel doesn't want you stepping foot anywhere near the hotel until he gets those magical fires sorted out, I have to satisfy myself with meddling in your lives." That didn't sound very promising but Hermione didn't want to dwell on that now.

"Is it real then? The hotel? And all our struggles?" Hermione's voice was faint and she waited with baited breath for his answer. I'm so stupid, asking a voice in my head if my hallucinations were real. Get a grip Hermione, she scolded herself.

There was silence in her head as she waited, making her think that perhaps she'd been foolish to ask in the first place and then she heard the chuckle. "I don't know Hermione. After all, I am just a voice in your head. You tell me if anything was real."

"Well fuck you too!" Hermione couldn't help from snarling out. She was upset. She wanted resolution, but what was she expecting to get from asking a voice in her head? Some straight answers? She was so confused. She didn't know what to think anymore. Her friend's seemed to have no memories of the events happening but she and Bellatrix did, yet the older woman insisted it was all part of the soul spell because she was afraid of it actually being real, similar to how Hermione's friends blamed her 'fantasies' on it too. What was she to do? She hated not having a rationale to explain everything. It had driven her to irritation in the hotel not giving her any rest until she could figure it out, just like it would do the same to her now.

"No need to be rude to me, and also, straight answers. How cute. " Dorian chuckled again, as if privy to some joke she wasn't too. "Maybe months ago that would have satisfied you, but it won't now."

Why did Hermione feel like this voice was making some sort of a sexual innuendo that she wasn't getting?

"Just tell me where she is," Hermione demanded, getting tired of Dorian's teasing.

"I thought I wasn't credible enough a source given how I'm just a voice in your-"

"Get on with it," Hermione gritted out through her teeth.

She expected him to maybe get angry at how rude she was acting to him but he didn't. "She's currently hiding at the Hog's Head."

"That ratty old bar?" Hermione asked incredulously. "And no one's spotted her?"

"She's quite resourceful. So make sure you're careful when you apprehend her," he warned.

"Who said I'm going after her?"

"Oh, come now, Hermione. I know you don't want to leave this in Harry's and Ron's hands. They want to see her rot in prison. But you want to save her. And you can't do that without being able to get to her first. And without proving to other's that you're not crazy." His voice was a seductive whisper in her head, enticing her with things she knew to be true.

"I must be crazy, if the voice in my head says I'm not," she mumbled darkly.

"Hermione, who are you talking to?" came Ginny's timid voice as she knocked on the door frame to announce her arrival.

Hermione startled, jumping badly. She had her hands over her ears and thus hadn't heard the other appear. How long had Ginny been standing there? Had she heard everything?

"Nothing, nothing," Hermione stammered, lowering her hands. "Just, uh, trying to think out loud."

"Man, your excuses still suck after all this time. I would have thought you would have gotten better at them but you haven't."

Shut up Dorian, she grumbled at him while she plastered on a smile for Ginny. "What brings you here?"

"You, of course," Ginny said and raised the basket that she was holding up higher so that Hermione could see it. "Do I need to be flanked by Ron and Harry in order to visit you?" This was said playfully but it made Hermione cringe inside for her rude earlier statement.

"No."

"Good, because I bought some food from Molly." She strode into the room and set the basket down at the foot of Hermione's bed before shooing the girl over so that Hermione could make room for her so that the two girls were sitting at the head of the bed. Hermione tossed the covers aside so that Ginny could sit more freely.

"I swear your mum is trying to fatten me up. I can't eat all that," Hermione said as she eyed the basket that was over spilling with fresh food.

"Pst, Hermione."

Hermione tried to avoid Dorian's voice.

"Hermione~" he sang, making it hard for her to hear what Ginny was now saying.

"What?" Hermione asked, scrunching up her eyes in an effort to hear better.

"I said-"

"Hey, Hermione, if you wanna go after Bellatrix, now would be a good time. Ginny's packing a wand, isn't she? Get it." Dorian's words were poison. A poison that ate at her brain and she grit her teeth.

There is no way Ginny would hand the wand over to me.

"I was thinking something more along the lines of you stealing it from her," Dorian said.

I will not hurt her!

"Uh, Hermione are you okay? You're zoning out," Ginny commented with concern, snapping Hermione back to her present world.

"No, I'm fine..." she stammered but not very convincingly. She wanted to curl her fingers into her hair and pull hard. Was this what Bellatrix had to go through on an everyday basis? No wonder the woman had cracked. Hermione already felt fed up with this and it had only been ten minutes. Dorian's voice was on endless repeat in her mind, the singular phrase Do it, running in mad circles around her cranium. Hermione wished he would just shut up.

"Hermione?" Ginny put a concerned hand on her friend's shoulder as Hermione's gaze lowered down to her sheets as she hunched in on herself, placing her hands to her ears in an effort to drown Dorian out.

Shut up! Shut up please! She begged, hoping she could drown him out with her own screams.

"I will. If only you steal that wand and escape from St. Mugo's."

"I refuse to! I will not trick my friend."

"Hermione?" Ginny's brows went up, the brunette not aware that she had said this out loud. She pulled her hand back and got up. "I'm going to go get the healers."

"No. Don't!" Hermione cried out in a panicked voice as she noticed now what Ginny was about to do. "I'm fine. I swear I am."

"LIES!" Dorian snarled in her head. "LIES!" Her face was pale and she made a weak attempt to smile as she winced at the volume of his voice. His words bounced painfully off her skull. Her smile only served to worry Ginny more.

"I really should go get someone just in case..." Ginny trailed off, backing out slowly to the door.

Hermione's smile fell.

"She's going to leave. Your only chance to escape this place and drag Bellatrix back before she makes a dumb mistake that risks the both of your lives...drifting away. Will you let that happen? Come, we both know you are smarter than this. You'll be able to find Bellatrix where your friends will fail." Dorian's words were too irresistible.

"This, isn't right," Hermione spoke to Dorian but Ginny was also able to hear it, and perhaps in a way the brunette was saying this to her friend too. She got up stiffly from her bed and approached Ginny with a neutral expression on her face, a determined blaze in her eyes.

"Hermione?" Ginny sounded uncertain. Her wand hand discreetly moved to her side where it would be close to her wand.

"But, you're right."