Mirror, mirror

Chapter 16: A Piece of the Action

Today was the first day of the new school year. Along with the rest of the staff, Bellatrix had arrived a few days early to take the school out of lockdown and prepare for the arrival of the students. Of course, she had also returned all the equipment she had taken from the storage, with the exception of the dissiminator, in the deepest of secret and had been sure to cover her tracks carefully.

Hermione had returned with her. The girl had made herself useful by helping out and spent her evenings and nights with Bellatrix at the caretaker's shack. And that was where they were now: lazying in bed. The dark witch was holding a snoozing Hermione close to her, in her arms.

She smiled to herself. If there's one thing she had learned, it was that Hermione loved to cuddle and that hadn't been a night that she'd been able to keep to her own side of the bed. Not that Bellatrix minded, of course. All her life she had had this unrelenting longing for closeness and all her life she had been denied this simple pleasure. But all that had changed: she stroked a hand through Hermione's silky long brown hair as the girl lay pressed against her. The young witch was so generous with her affections that Bellatrix felt much like a pauper experiencing wealth for the first time in her life.

And that made getting out of bed all that much harder.

"Pet?" she whispered. "Time to get up."

"Noooooooo," Hermione protested sleepily. "Bed is so soft! You are so soft! Wanna lie here with you forever."

"I'll be late for work and you'll be late for class," Bellatrix whispered. "Do you really want to end up in detention on your first day?"

Hermione grinned, her eyes still closed. "Detention with miss Black sounds nice. I'd just love to serve detention under her."

"Truly?" Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I've heard miss Black is really tough on misbehaving tardy students. And she's not easily distracted by naughty red underwear."

"Hmmm, that's a lie," Hermione chuckled sleepily now. "She might seem tough, but I happen to know that deep down she's just the sweetest. And she loves to take off naughty red underwear with her teeth."

Bellatrix snorted. Though she didn't quite agree with the first part of that statement, it was hard to deny the second part since, well, a naughty red bra and a naughty red pair of knickers in Hermione's size were now lying on the ground next to the bed.

"Hmmm..." Hermione stirred. "You know what I think? I've been such a bad, bad girl. I think detention isn't enough. I think... I think I'm going to have to be spanked."

"Hah," Bellatrix kissed her forehead. "Is sex all you ever think of?"

Hermione's eyes fluttered open, her arms snaking around Bellatrix a little tighter. "Sex!" she stated. "Yes, more of that, please."

Bellatrix managed to disentangle herself from the sleepy younger witch and slipped out of bed, reaching for her bathrobe. "Come on," she demanded. "Up, up!"

"Noooo!" Hermione protested sleepily, stuffing her head under her pillow. "You're meeeaaannn!"

"I thought you said that deep down, I was just the sweetest," Bellatrix spoke with a mocking tone.

"Nrgh, you want me to get out of bed," Hermione muttered, her voice muffled from the pillow. "You're pure evil!"

"Classes start in an hour and if we don't hurry, we'll both be late for breakfast," said Bellatrix. "New first years are coming in this evening and there's loads of preparations to do for the sorting ceremony."

"Sod the first years!"

Bellatrix took this moment to pull the duvet off the bed, exposing as hissing Hermione to the cold air. For good measure, she gave her girl a playful smack on the bum.

"Don't tease!" Hermione demanded.

"Out!" Bellatrix demanded. "Some of us have to work for a living."

"No!" Hermione protested and, if she could have, she would have stuffed her whole body underneath her pillow. "And you can't make me!"

A wicked grin came to Bellatrix as she leaned in, let her hands run over Hermione's bare back, her bum and the back of her legs. "If you get out of bed, I'll soap you up in the shower..." she purred.

As it turned out, Hermione had only needed the right incentive to get out of bed this morning.


The first day was rife with bustle with students mulling back and forth and heading to their first classes of the day. But before starting her work, Bellatrix had an appointment with the Head Master. On her way there, she actually passed an idea she had had which would make her life as caretaker considerably easier: a notice pinboard located in the courtyard, which was a busy thoroughfare during classes. The pinboard contained a warning section, a Lost and Found section and a general section.

The warning section currently only held a warning about Old Shrieking Sarah and the firm suggestion to stay within Hogwarts limits during the darker hours. Bellatrix was quite proud of herself by the rather graphic description of the damage a banshee scream could do to a human body. She was particularly fond of the 'clawing at your own oozing exploded eyeballs while your brain starts melting inside your skull' bit.

The general section would allow her to post notifications of parts of the school which were currently off limits or closed off for maintenance. There was only one item up there currently.

As for the Lost and Found section, she had set up a wooden box near the front door of her shack where students could drop off things they had found lying about. A few curious students reading the board waited for her to pin up the first Lost and Found items.

One wand, ten inches, walnut, dragon heart-string. Seriously, who loses his or her wand literally the first hour of school?!

One toad with a nametag reading 'Trevor'.

One remember-all. Ironic, really.

One plastic muggle music box with earbuds.

One deck of playing cards with pictures of witches in various sexy poses wearing naughty lingerie. She was interested to see who would stop by to pick those up. And if nobody did, she was quite sure Hermione would love to have them.

A few moments later, she arrived at the Head Master's office. One the sudden changes this year, once which caught most of the staff by surprise and certainly the students, was the announcement that Aberforth Dumbledore had decided to retire and spend some free time in his garden tending to his goats, leaving Snape to be instated as his successor.

Truth be told, that had been a bit of a surprise. Over the summer, she had been too focused on her own healing, her blossoming relationship with Hermione and the experiments to pay much attention to the news, but Riddle and Hagrid had been kind enough to fill her in: apparently the Ministry had been unhappy with Dumbledore's performance as Head Master for some time and Arthur Weasley had finally started to make his big push to oust the man. After weeks of hearings, Dumbledore suddenly announced his retirement and that was that. Things were about to change at Hogwarts, that was certain.

Snape had apparently wasted no time with the first change of his regime: getting rid of all the goat-statues and making the office considerably tidier. It left more room for bookstacks and allowed for more light to come in through the windows without being blocked by a taxdermied mountain goat. That said, the office lacked any personal touch outside of a few family pictures of him, Lily and Maisie.

"Ah, miss Black," greeted Snape. "Thank you for coming. First of all, I'm quite pleased you've decided to stay on for another year."

Bellatrix sat down in the chair opposite to him as Snape sat down behind his desk. "I understand congratulations are in order."

"Thank you," replied Snape, stroking his ring-beard for a moment while seeming contemplative.

"There's more going on here, isn't there?"

"Perceptive," he nodded. "Truth be told, there's a reason why Dumbledore is no longer Head Master. The number of scandals during his tenure has been exceedingly high and his position as Head Master has been precarious for years. The educational quality of our school has suffered, as has our prestige. It had reached a point that many parents prefer to send their students abroad to Durmstrang or even Ilvermorny."

"I'm surprised Weasley allowed you to take over the position," said Bellatrix. "He never was your biggest fan."

"He was the one who recommended me for the job," said Snape. "Arthur Weasley is many things, but he is quite concerned about the quality of our school and our students' safety. He tasked me 'unfuck the mess Dumbledore left in wake'. His words, not mine. For now, let me worry about the Weasleys of the world."

"So why am I here right now?" Bellatrix asked.

"For the last ten years, the number of student deaths has broken record numbers. A very grisly record, I'm sure you agree. One of my assigned tasks is to significantly lower this number before the end of the year," said Snape.

Bellatrix smirked wickedly. "Does that mean people will finally start listening to my warnings about that old banshee roaming about at night?"

An annoyed lock crossed Snape's features. "I assure you, some did listen. I've allocated some of the budget to have areas on the Hogwarts ground warded. The Hogsmeade town council will do the same for the town."

Bellatrix replied with approval. "Very efficient."

Snape nodded in response to the compliment. "In fact, I'm installing a Hogwarts Health and Safety Council and I'm hoping that you, in your role as caretaker, will accept a seat. It will mean extra work after hours, but you'll be duly compensated, of course."

"Who are the other members?" Bellatrix asked.

"Myself and Lily, obviously," said Snape. "Hagrid and Dolohov have also agreed to take a seat on the council."

"I do have an item for the first meeting. I've closed off access to the top floor of the west tower for the time being due to problems with the safety railing," said Bellatrix.

"Which is?"

"The problem is that the safety railing is currently located next to the foot of the tower. And since we can't trust the students..."

"... to have the wisdom to not plummet to their own deaths, we should see to its repair quickly," Snape finished for her.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Bellatrix cackled.

"You'll make a fine addition," Snape nodded in approval. "However, there is a point I need to discuss with you. About your relationship with miss Granger."

Instantly, Bellatrix rose from her seat, placed both hands on the desk and leaned forward to glare Snape in the eye. "I won't give her up! And if you ask me too, I'll be happy to hand you my resignation right here, right now!"

Snape held up his hands."Nothing quite as drastic, miss Black. I simply ask you to be at least somewhat discrete," he said. "Relationships between students are not frowned upon as long as said student is of age, which miss Granger is. However, I am concerned about accusations of favoritism which might be bad for both you and miss Granger. I went through this myself last year concerning my own daughter and treated her unbecoming a father because of it. It's a fine line to walk."

"So what do you expect me to do?" asked Bellatrix.

"We won't ask," said Snape. "You don't tell. If someone asks you to confirm the 'rumor' that you and miss Granger are involved, simply deny it or don't answer the question at all. I will ask miss Granger to do the same later today."

"I suppose I can live with that," Bellatrix replied.

"And perhaps you should consider not sharing you would like to keep private with Hagrid?" said Snape. "He's a big man with a big mouth."

"I'll keep that in mind too," said Bellatrix as she got up to leave. "If that is all, I still have a lot of preparations to make for the sorting ceremony tonight."

"Oh, one more thing before you leave," said Snape as he was looking through a few more papers. "A magical disseminator has gone missing."

Bellatrix kept her expression as neutral as possible. "Oh?" she asked carefully.

"Hm," said Snape. "Merula wanted to check one of the machines out of storage for an experiment she is running, but found it missing. She found another one for her experiment, but that does not solve the core problem. I decided to run through the logs and it was supposedly checked out by Blishen for the Magic Theory classroom before the start of summer and never returned. Of course, when I went by the classroom, it wasn't there."

Typical. Snape took office and discovered a piece of missing equipment in one day. Bellatrix didn't know if she could curse Snape for his competence or herself for not covering her tracks better.

"Now, it's not the first time someone forgets to check out or check in a piece of equipment in the log. Or perhaps someone simply borrowed it without mention," Snape shook his head. "This happens daily. However, this is a rather expensive and delicate piece of equipment and I would very much like it found. If you would keep an eye out for the machine during your rounds, I'd very much appreciate it."

"Of course," said Bellatrix. "It's a big school, though. And you know as well as I that these pieces of equipment get spread around."

"Your duties take precedence, naturally," said Snape.

Her next stop were the goblin support crew. Even though she had only been part of the Hogwarts staff for a month or so before the end of the last school year, she had gotten to know the goblins quite well. They ran the kitchen, kept the grounds and tended to the greenhouse and generally worked with Bellatrix for larger maintenance projects. Where the Hogwarts had a small army of house-elves, there were only about two dozen goblins on staff. The reason for this was two-fold: Goblins actually expected to be paid and they were rather good at negotiating their contracts.

Bellatrix had to admit that she rather liked the goblins. Unlike the pathetic, simpering and obsequious house-elves, the goblins were straight-forward salt of the earth workers who were coarse and direct and had a tendency to tell everyone around them exactly what they thought of them. There was not a snowball's chance in hell that any of these goblins would ever clean up after a student and then thank them for the privilege.

Truth be told, Bellatrix had never really appreciate just how many work went into preparing the sorting ceremony. The students would arrive tonight in the evening and would be taken from the station to the school via the lake, so there needed to be enough boats. Said boats needed to be lit with magical lanterns, which all had to be individually enchanted. Charms needed to be placed on the boots to keep curious merfolk from tipping them over. Also, safety procedures needed to be adhered in case a new student still managed to fall overboard somehow.

Student seating had to be planned out carefully for the evening, as there should be enough empty seats at all the house tables for the new students. The hat needed to be dusted off and its pedestal prepared. Not to mention that sleeping arrangements had to be made in all four houses. Complicating all this was that there was no way to know up front how many new students would end up in which house and historically the division of students could be notoriously lopsided. She and the goblins needed to be prepared for all possible outcomes.

And then there was the matter of the great welcoming feast, which would keep the majority of the goblin staff busy.

It was all a bit overwhelming, but Bellatrix wasn't one to simply let things grow over her head. Blacks excel at everything, was her family's mantra, and she was determined to give the new students the best sorting ceremony experience of the decade. So focused was she on the itinerary that she failed to notice the room growing considerably colder.

"Bella!" sounded the familiar voice of her younger self as the ghost girl came floating through the walls. In response, Bellatrix almost jumped out of her skin.

Equally startled, embarrassed and angry at being embarrassed, Bellatrix put her hands to her hips and glared at her. "Don't sneak up on witches like that!" she growled. "You're up late. It's just past noon."

"I can't sleep! I'm so excited!" replied Ghost-Bella, doing a barrel-roll while zipping about the room for good measure. She stopped and floated in front of Bellatrix, puffing up her chest. "I've been promoted! You are now looking at the official Ravenclaw house ghost!"

"Oh?" Bellatrix crossed her arm. "I didn't realize you were Ravenclaw."

"Well, of course I was," said Ghost-Bellatrix.

"I'm just surprised," replied Bellatrix. "Considering your 'heroics', I suspected you might have been Gryffindor."

"The fact that I am a ghost might be a clue that I'm not that brave at all," Ghost-Bella replied.

"Or Hufflepuff then."

"Oh, now you're just being mean!" Ghost-Bellatrix pouted. "Anyway, you are not going to ruin my good mood today!"

"What happened to The Grey Lady?"

"Who?" Ghost-Bella frowned. "Never heard of her."

"She's the Ravenclaw house ghost. Has been for hundreds of years."

"What? Have you hit your head?" Ghost-Bella crossed her arms, looking rather huffy. "John Dee was the Ravenclaw house ghost for the last 400 years or so. He's a nice man with loads of interesting stories to tell and he showed me the ropes when I first came back as a ghost. But he sort of retired and asked the Ministry to be re-fettered to the Charles Bridge in Prague. He always went on about how much he missed the place."

"Well, in any case, congratulations," she spoke. "That also means you're now a part of the sorting ceremony night. I take it you will approach that with the same enthusiasm?"

"Okay, boss!" Ghost-Bella saluted playfully. "What do you need me to do?"

Bellatrix picked up the itinerary and looked it over, letting her finger slide over the time-stamps. "I need you and the other house ghosts to come swooping in from the eastern part of the Great Hall during a specific point of Snape's welcoming speech. When Snape speaks the words 'As well as a contingent of house ghosts to see to your comforts during your first days...' the four of you swoop in and fly over the tables. Just make a bit of a show, do a loop-the-loop or whatever. Impress the new kids."

"That I can do," replied Ghost-Bellatrix.

"Great," said Bellatrix. "I'll be along later tonight when the other ghosts are up."

Any further conversation was nipped in the bud when a rather burly goblin chef came rushing towards her. "Oi!" he shouted. "Get outta here, ye nippy bint! Yer colder than a well-digger's arse and yer starting to put out our fires! Don't ye know we have a feast to prepare?! No fires means no feast and a lot of crying hungry kids!"

"Man has a point," Bellatrix raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh, fine!" Ghost-Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "Later."

"Oh, and if you see Hermione, tell her to meet me for a smoke-break at the jetty later!"

"I will!"

Just as well. Bellatrix still had loads of things to prepare. Next item: hanging up the house banners.


A visit to the infirmary was in order when Bellatrix had a free moment in between the planning stages for the sorting ceremony. Lily had asked her to come back after summer for a check up and did so diligently while the two of them chatted.

"You must be pleased with your husband's promotion," said Bellatrix as Lily roved her wand above her body when she was lying on the examination table.

"Pleased and worried in equal amounts," replied Lily. "Naturally, he was ecstatic when he was given this chance, but almost immediately he started overdoing it again. You might have noticed a lot of new faces among the teachers, and roles have been shifted around at the last moment. That's going to give this school term some nasty start-up issues. And that's not the end of it. He's determined to fix Hogwarts' reputation."

"And then some," said Bellatrix. "Though I suppose a Health and Safety Council isn't a bad start."

"Ah, he asked you then. Good. Severus has been given his tasks, true," said Lily. "But I see it as my task to make sure he keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground and doesn't end up turning the entire Hogwarts staff against him when he will inevitably become far too draconian."

Bellatrix chuckled. "If he's anything like the Severus I know, you'll have quite the task ahead of you. I suppose the saying is true: behind every powerful man stands a strong woman."

"Hah," Lily smiled. "I'd like to think of myself as standing right next to him, really. I'm also simply happy that Maisie doesn't resent him for what happened last term. Of all the weeks we've spent together in Norway, Severus has been the perfect father. Reading stories every day, taking her out for walks, teaching her new spells. Severus tends to overcompensate when someone shows him the error of his ways. He's grateful to you, though he'll never actually say it."

Lily finished her examination and jotted down some words on a chart. After calculating some of her findings, she motioned Bellatrix to get up from the examination table. "You're in peak physical health," said Lily. "You've kept up with your healthy diet for the most part and it looks like you're getting regular exercise. Are you getting enough sleep?"

"When Hermione doesn't keep me up, certainly," Bellatrix replied.

"Heh," Lily chuckled. "Like I said, plenty of regular exercise. But to try to sleep a full eight hours a night. Any more nightmares?" Lily asked. "Physically, you're fine. More than fine, but..."

"I'm still a basket case, you mean to say?" Bellatrix challenged, only half joking.

"Not quite as harsh as that," Lily put down the chart and took a seat opposite to Bellatrix. "I mean, physically there's no longer any signs of your time spent in that POW camp, but not all wounds are physical, now are they? I've been talking to Terry, though. He said you're making good progress."

"I suppose I am," she muttered. "Been having a lot less nightmares lately, so perhaps that's a good sign."

"In any case, I'm happy to see you're adjusting well to living in our brave new world," said Lily. "Though I suppose Hermione has a lot to do with that."

Bellatrix sighed and rolled her eyes. "Hagrid told everyone, didn't he?"

"Hagrid did," Lily confirmed with a grin. "Never tell that man anything, Bella."

The dark witch shook her head. "I'll never know why she chose me."

"First time I met Hermione was when she stepped off the Hogwarts express," said Lily, rubbing her chin in remembrance. "She was just the saddest and loneliest little girl you could ever imagine, standing there with her dog and holding that little suitcase of hers and that little backpack strapped to her back. Merlin, she had everything she owned in there. I know as a magical orphan, she gets a stipend from the Ministry every month, but I can't imagine that being much of a consolation at the time. When it came to the sorting ceremony, she just had this harrowing blank expression on her face. All the other kids were so excited, but she? Not even when it was her turn to take the hat. That blank expression never changed. When the other children left the Great Hall, she just kept sitting in her chair. I finally couldn't take it anymore, scooped her up to hold her tightly to my chest and told her everything was going to be alright. Hermione didn't stop crying for an hour."

"Your point?" Bellatrix asked.

"Point is," Lily smiled warmly. "She came to Hogwarts after such tragedy in her life and felt so lost, like a fish out of water. I think she might have seen the same in you when you first came here and decided to pay a simple act of kindness forward. It's said that lonely souls are attracted to each other, after all."

Lonely souls?

Perhaps Lily was right.

"Not so lonely anymore," Bellatrix whispered to herself.


Bellatrix ended the evening quite pleased with herself. The sorting ceremony was executed perfectly and to the letter. No issues, no problems, no students falling out the boats, the ghosts appeared on cue and the new first years were all suitably impressed. She'd ended some of the evening having a drink with the rest of the staff, including the goblins, and Snape had given both her and the goblins his compliments for a job well done: praise was rare from the likes of Snape.

Oddly enough, she hadn't seen Hermione all day. They had agreed to meet in the afternoon at the jetty for a smoke in between classes but she had never shown up. Come to think, she hadn't seen her during the sorting ceremony either.

Thankfully, she didn't have to look far for her young love, for when she opened the door to her shack, she found Hermione sitting on the sofa. Immediately, Bellatrix knew that something was off. Hermione had thrown her robe halfway across the room and apparently her wand in a different direction. She sat on the sofa was pursed lips while spread out next to her lay Spock, his head in Hermione's lap as he was being stroked.

Hermione looked up. Her face lit up, but it was easy to see by her red eyes that she had been crying.

"Pet?" Bellatrix asked when she hung her cloak from the hook next to the door. "What's wrong?"

"That gormless ponce Snape, that's what's wrong!" Hermione spat out. "He had the gall! The gall to ask me to deny our relationship if anyone asked! I told him I wanted to cry to the heavens about us! He told me to be discrete and asked if I would consider starting to sleep at my dorm room again. And then I told him where he could stick his discretion. AND his dorm room!"

"Hm," Bellatrix snorted and sat down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and giving her a cuddle. "Of course you did."

"So he gave me detention. With Dolohov. I spent almost two hours beating the dust out of old carpets with a thousand year old carpet-beater," Hermione pouted. "And tomorrow I'm going to have to do it again. Fuck my life!"

"Cigarette?" Bellatrix asked and offered her girlfriend a smoke. "Parkinson had fresh stock in."

"Oh, you have no idea how much I need one right now," said Hermione when she took the cigarette and allowed Bellatrix to light it for her. The dark witch lit one herself and together they took a few drags. Hermione was visibly calmer, but not anywhere near alright.

"Why didn't you just lie to him? Or placated him?" Bellatrix asked. "Would have made things easier for yourself."

"Because!" Hermione replied, taking another puff. "For some things you just have to take a stand! You... you don't think our relationship is worth fighting for?"

The hurt in Hermione's voice was obvious and Bellatrix couldn't help but lay her head backwards on the headrest to let out a silent groan. Her girlfriend was really showing her age here: it was either one thing or the other, with no form of nuance in between.

"Take a stand for what?!" Bellatrix chuckled. "Snape is perfectly fine with us being together! He's just asking that we don't add too much fuel to the fire!"

"But he asked me to..."

"... think of it from his perspective," said Bellatrix. "He's been instated as Head Master to basically get the school's problems under control and he has to be on guard for any potential scandal. But on the grand scale of things, an accusation of favoritism is nothing compared to death rates, teen pregnancies, unlicensed teachers and clandestine lobby groups! He'll ask for more than he expects to get. That's how the game is played. You should be more Slytherin about this, pet."

"I'm not Slytherin," Hermione replied.

"That much is obvious," replied Bellatrix. "Are you sure you're Ravenclaw? Because the move you pulled is boneheaded enough to be thoroughly Gryffindor!"

Hermione huffed and gave her the cutest angry pout she had ever seen. "Well, that's nice!" she glowered.

"If you were Slytherin, you could have walked out of that office with a bag of gold and a new broom if you wanted to, but instead you ended up with detention for two days and a far worse position to negotiate from! Look, here's what we'll do. I'll have a chat with him tomorrow, tell that you misunderstood and reacted out of passion. Then you will go in to apologize."

"I will not!" Hermione huffed. "I will not apologize for defending our relationship!"

"You will not apologize for defending our relationship," said Bellatrix. "But you will apologize for telling him to stuff his head up his own bum."

"I... URGH!" Hermione groaned and leaned over to put out her cigarette in the ashtray. "Fine!"

"Just placate him and try not to cause any trouble for him and we'll be absolutely fine, no matter where you sleep," said Bellatrix. "Remember, he's my employer and your Head Master. It behooves us to stay on his good side."

Hermione pouted, reluctantly agreeing. "I hate this place," she spoke softly. "I don't want to be here anymore. It's not fair, you know? I'll be twenty soon. There's people my age in the muggle world who already graduated, who have started a career and are living on their own! All I have is this stupid stick of wood and I can't even use it well! Maybe I should just drop out. It's not like I can get any worse at magic!"

"You won't," Bellatrix said, pulling the girl a little closer to let her vent.

"All because life decided to throw me this magical curve-ball," Hermione muttered. "What if the programs for muggleborns wanting to return to the muggle world after Hogwarts didn't exist, hm? What then? I'd be even further behind with my life! What vocational school would have me without any form of proper muggle education? Being eight years away from the muggle world throwing up these enormous roadblocks for the rest of my life?! Oh hey, congratulations, you can do magic. Now spend a mandatory eight years at this hellhole of a school... oh, you want to go back to the muggle world? Well you can, but we'll make it so goddamn difficult for you that you have effectively no choice but to continue your magical life. This magical school isn't a blessing, it's a prison!"

Hermione leaned against Bellatrix while stroking her dog with one hand. "Sometimes I wish I never was a magical child."

"We never would have met," Bellatrix spoke matter-of-factly. "You never would have met your friends. Or Narcissa and Lucius."

"There are... good things to it too, yes," Hermione related.

"Trust me, pet, I know all about hellholes and prisons," Bellatrix smirked at her. "So unless Hogwarts is equivalent to spending almost fifteen years trapped and chained on a grey rock surrounded by dementors, I don't want to hear about who has it hard."

Hermione nodded. "That... does put things in perspective."

"Feel better?"

"Better. I'll tell you one thing, though," Hermione grinned. "I am going to sleep right here. In this shack. Tonight and every night. In our bed! "

"Right you are," Bellatrix kissed the top of her head. "Hm, I just had a thought. Do you have those metal working tools of yours at hand?"

"Sure," replied Hermione. "Why?"

Bellatrix gave her a half-smile. "Just had a thought. Tomorrow you will apologize to Snape and offer to weld the guard railing on the west tower back in place. Everybody wins: you get to make nice with Snape, you will get to do something you love and I get to open the top floor of the west tower without the risk of students falling to their deaths."

Hermione cocked her head sideways and gave her a smirk. "How very... Slytherin of you."

"It's in my blood," Bellatrix shrugged.

The two witches snuggled for a moment, forgetting the vagaries of the day, until Spock suddenly jumped off the sofa and started whining softly. It didn't take long for the source of the dog's fear to show itself: Ghost-Bella came flying through the wall and hovered in the middle of the living room.

"Uhm, hello. Sorry to just barge in, but," she pursed her lips. "I really need your help."


And so Bellatrix and Hermione found themselves at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, much closer to Hogwarts grounds that Bellatrix would have liked. The reason for that was down in the glen they were looking down into from the hill they were standing on. There, in the distance, roamed a familiar banshee. Basking in the light of the moon, the banshee floated a few inches off the ground. Long black hair waved over a tattered black robe as the spectral entity wandered aimlessly among the trees.

Meanwhile, Ghost-Bella was lying on her stomach as she regarded the spirit with a forlorn, longing look in her eyes. She rested her arms on her elbows and her head in her hands as she smiled, ignoring the ice-crystals forming underneath her.

"Why are we here?" Bellatrix asked carefully.

"I think I know why," smiled Hermione.

"I spotted her a few days ago," said Ghost-Bellatrix. "Been coming back here every night just to admire her. Look at the way her hair sways in the breeze. How the light of the moon reflects off her skeletal features. How I could just drown forever in those black, empty eyesockets..."

"Wait, what?!" Bellatrix blinked.

"Aw, how sweet!" Hermione smiled.

"Let me wrap my head around this," said Bellatrix. "You are romantically attracted to Old Shrieking Sarah?"

Ghost-Bellatrix nodded her head slightly. "But... she doesn't even know I exist..." she spoke in a pathetically small voice.

"It's cute," Hermione smiled. "I also think it's really funny that the older you is attracted to younger women and the younger you is attracted to older women. You really are like a mirror to each other."

"Also, I'm not dead," Bellatrix pressed. "Regardless, we have a love-sick puppy on our hands and a lethal banshee that's never been this close to school grounds. She's beyond the warded area! How is that even possible?!"

"Uhm..." Ghost-Bellatrix muttered. "I, uhm, might have, uhm, you know, frozen and shattered those wards."

"You did what?!" Bellatrix shouted. "Are you actively trying to get people killed?! Because this is how you get people killed!"

"Keep it down, you two," Hermione said, looking over the ridge. "Or Sarah might hear us."

Ghost-Bella sighed. "I just... wanted to be closer to her. Maybe... maybe she'll float into me one day."

"Bella," Bellatrix pressed. "She's a banshee."

"Why don't you just go down and talk to her?" Hermione suggested.

Bellatrix frowned. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea, pet. Banshees are known to be very territorial."

"Nonsense," said Hermione. "Bella, why don't you go down there and talk to her. She'll never know you exist if you don't introduce yourself."

"But... what would I ever say to her?"

Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "This is the girl who lectured me about my love-life," she threw up her hands.

"That was different," Ghost-Bellatrix protested. "That was you. This is me!"

Hermione sat next to the ghost-girl and gave her a warm smile. "Hey. Just be yourself. We all like you, Bella. Just go down into the glen and introduce yourself. How can she not like you?"

Bellatrix resisted the urge to face-palm; what Hermione had just said was charmingly yet epicly naive.

"You're right!" said Ghost-Bellatrix with newfound confidence. "I can do it! I'm going down there and introduce myself to Shrieking Sarah!"

"That's the spirit," Hermione smiled when the confident ghost girl floated off the ledge right into the glen. Bellatrix looked on, just shaking her head and being quite sure that this was just going to end badly. Her thoughts were proven to be prophetic when a loud wail pierced the air. Fortunately, both witches were far enough away for the scream to not be lethal, but it did leave Bellatrix with ringing in her ears and left her wondering if there was still some enamel left on her teeth.

"Oh," Hermione cringed, hissing through clenched teeth. "That didn't go very well."

Soon enough, an inconsolable ghost girl returned to the hill and sat down on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest and bawling her ghostly eyes out. "She hates me!" Ghost-Bella sobbed. "She hates me!"

Hermione toyed with the idea of putting a hand on her shoulder, but changed her mind before her skin could freeze. Bellatrix sighed heavily: deep down, her ghostly counterpart was still a seventeen year old girl, complete with all the insecurities which came with that age. And she would remain so forever.

"What?" Bellatrix crossed her arms and gave the girl a stern look. "You're just going to give up? After one try? That's pathetic!"

"But... she hates me," the ghost girl sobbed pathetically.

"Do you think I would ever have been with Hermione if she had given up after one try?" Bellatrix pressed. "Do you?"

"Yeah," Hermione laughed. "I really had to work for it. But now we're both so happy."

"Sure, rub it in," Ghost-Bella muttered.

"Point is," said Bellatrix. "You've got to work for it to. That old Banshee down there probably hasn't interacted with anyone for decades. You'll have to approach her carefully and keep trying. You'll catch her attention eventually."

"How about a nice gift?" ask Hermione. "That might cause her to warm up to you. Hm, what do banshees even like? I don't think a bouquet of flowers will do the trick."

"A fresh, bloodied heart," said Bellatrix. "Banshees are angry spirits. The heart of a fresh kill will likely soothe her."

"Hm," said Ghost-Bellatrix. "Are there any students you don't like?"

"Uhm, I have a better idea," said Hermione. "I'll pick up a fresh pig's heart from the butcher's in Dufftown next time I go. You could offer it to Sarah in the glen. See how she reacts!"

"Oh, that would be great!" replied Ghost-Bella, now smiling again.

"It's close to midnight, pet," said Bellatrix. "Time for us to go home and get to bed. And for Merlin's sake, stop snap-freezing the wards!"

Ghost-Bella saluted again. "Yes, boss!"