A/N: Hey guys. Here's another chapter for you all. Thanks for the support and stay safe. It is crazy times at the moment. Disclaimer: All characters (except the ones you don't recognise) belong to J.K. Rowling.

"If I haven't already it said, I say it now: you are absolutely barking mad."

Hermione ignored Bellatrix's comment. The dark-haired witch had indeed said it before, in fact many times. Each time the brunette ignored her, mainly because secretly she agreed.

More than once Hermione would question whether she truly had lost her mind whilst in Azkaban. Here she was planning on breaking in to the place that, up until recently, had been her place of work for many years. Breaking into the Ministry was of course not something new for the brunette, but never would her eighteen-year-old self have imagined that years later she would be planning on doing the same thing again, except this time she would be accompanied by the most notorious witch around.

"Are you going to help, or just make useless comments," muttered Hermione.

Bellatrix made a comment that the brunette didn't quite catch, but she definitely heard the word 'crazy'. They had been pouring over maps of the Ministry for days now. Narcissa and Andy had agreed with Bellatrix, albeit a bit more diplomatically. Andy was certainly concerned that Hermione was putting herself in unnecessary danger.

More than once the older witch had asked Hermione if she was behaving in a manner she deemed reckless because of Ron's death. Each time the brunette would shake her head and repeat the necessity of finding out more names.

Each day Narcissa would leave and retrieve as much news as she could. They had all decided that for her safety, Andy should remain at the cottage and go into hiding with Teddy permanently. Too many people knew of her close friendship with Hermione and they all agreed that it wasn't safe to leave Andy vulnerable at home when the League were getting so brutal. Teddy didn't mind this in the slightest. It turned out that Bellatrix was his favourite aunt. Hermione was amazed every time she watched the two together. The brunette hadn't expected such kindness and care from the former Death Eater and yet the way she was with Teddy caused an unexplainable feeling in Hermione.

"So, let me get this straight," muttered Bellatrix, after a moment. "Your plan is just to walk in there as if you aren't the most wanted witch in Britain?"

"Yep, exactly," said Hermione, nodding. "And I still don't get why I'm Undesirable Number One and you're now Two."

"Believe me, I don't get it either," growled Bellatrix. "I may not be as insane as people think, but I worked hard for that spot and now you come along and bump me off. And what exactly have you done? Me, I've supposedly tortured and murdered countless people and then there's the whole Voldemort lieutenant thing. You, you accidentally kill someone and get framed for another and you usurp me!"

The brunette couldn't help but smirk at Bellatrix's clear annoyance. She quickly remembered that she was not supposed to find anything the dark-haired witch said amusing and schooled her features into a frown, but it was too late. The older witch caught her smirk and playfully stuck her tongue out. Try as she might, Hermione couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from twitching at Bellatrix's petulant display.

"Like I said," started the brunette, "the League clearly think that I'm more of a threat in Britain and they must think I'm still here. You've not been seen in this country for years. Now, simply walking into the Ministry makes the perfect plan."

"How?" demanded Bellatrix. "Just how is that a good idea?"

"Because," replied Hermione, trying her best to keep her voice calm. It was hard though considering how many times she had already answered this question. "It's the last thing anyone would expect. Who in their right mind is going to think that Bellatrix Black and Hermione Granger are just going to casually walk into the Ministry?"

The dark-haired witch frowned and stared at Hermione. "Mmmmm, perhaps that has some logic, but I still say you are absolutely mad. People say I am, but at least I know I put it on. You genuinely are crazy."

"I thank you for the compliment," said the brunette.

Bellatrix muttered something that sounded distinctly like 'It wasn't a compliment' before returning her attention back to the maps.

Hermione had managed to create maps that detailed each floor of the Ministry. She was lucky that she had worked in the departments she had, it meant that she had extensive knowledge of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and knew exactly what the schedule was for the security guards. Everything had been planned in detail and she knew there could be no room for mistakes. There was every possibility the pair of them would be caught and Hermione knew if that happened, they wouldn't even make it to Azkaban.

At that moment, Andy came in carrying a tray of tea. "So, how is the planning going?"

"Granger plans on having us waltz into the Ministry and just walk up to Cypher's office," stated Bellatrix, taking a mug.

Andy just blinked at the pair of them. "You cannot be serious?!"

"Come on, no one would expect it," argued Hermione.

"It's completely insane," said Andy, looking at the pair of them as if they'd just told her Dumbledore was alive again.

"Oh, we know, but that is precisely why it will work," replied Bellatrix, causing Hermione to nearly crick her neck in shock.

"You…wait…you've been complaining for hours about this plan, days even and now you agree with me," spluttered the brunette.

Bellatrix shrugged. "What? You're right, it's not as if they're going to have a welcoming party for us. If I'm Cypher right now, I would have moved any information about the League to the Ministry, knowing that it's the most secure building for them right now and knowing that it would be practically suicide for the pair of us to step foot in there. It's so insane, it's genius."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth, looking like a fish. "You're…You're so infuriating."

Andy just looked at one and then the other in total disbelief. "The pair of you are mad. Absolutely mad."

It had been decided that they would leave for the Ministry that evening. Hermione saw no sense in hanging around and planning. If her time on the run with Harry and Ron had taught her anything, it was that extensive planning didn't always lead to success. She had the scars to prove it. At the thought of Ron her chest tightened, but she quickly pushed all thoughts of him from her mind. She couldn't afford to be distracted right now.

Andy had been trying to persuade them to adopt a different plan for hours and Narcissa had hit the roof when she heard, but the pair of them eventually realised there would be no reasoning with either Hermione or Bellatrix. The pair of them were set on their plan and were determined to see it through. No matter how much Narcissa pleaded that Bellatrix was needed, the older witch would not listen. Hermione wondered whether the blonde witch actually blamed her for putting Bellatrix at risk.

They planned on leaving fairly late in the evening. Hermione knew from her time working at the Ministry that they now kept very lax security. It shouldn't be too difficult for the two witches to get in. The only problem came if they got a security guard who had his wits about him. It had taken Hermione a long time to explain that they couldn't simply take the guard out. Each guard had been equipped with a spell that if they were hit by any spell, an alarm would sound and alert would be sent out. Bellatrix had suggested they do it anyway, but after Hermione and then Andy and Narcissa had told her in no uncertain terms was she to do that, the dark-haired witch had reluctantly agreed.

Hermione was stood outside the cottage breathing in the fresh air. She had been cooped up for days, ever since she had revealed her intentions to break into the Ministry. It was nice to just get out and breath clean air again. Footsteps came closer from the direction of the cottage and she knew it was Bellatrix. The brunette could always sense her presence whenever she came near. It was alarming, but in a strange way also comforting.

"Ready to go?" asked Bellatrix, coming to stand next to her.

"As ready as I can be," replied Hermione. She looked over her shoulder in the direction of the cottage.

"Andy and Narcissa are already having kittens," chuckled the dark-haired witch.

The noise still alarmed Hermione. It was strange to think of Bellatrix laughing in any way other than the deranged cackle that had become associated with her.

"And they will be until we come back," said Hermione.

"We should let them know we're leaving," muttered Bellatrix. "It gives them one last chance to protest and then we can go."

"Yes, we should do that," agreed the brunette. "There's just one thing."

Bellatrix turned to look at Hermione confused. "What?"

There was no time for her to call out. Hermione hit her with a quick Petrificus Totalus. The dark-haired witch went rigid and hit the floor hard.

"Sorry, well actually I'm not that sorry," said the brunette. "I just don't trust that you won't get that list and then leave me for the League to get. When the Aurors come running, and they will, when it comes to a choice between us both getting caught or one of us getting caught, I don't intend for you to hand me over to them. So, I figured that this was the best option. I get my list of names and you can still try and carry out your plan. I say that's a win-win."

Bellatrix was glaring at Hermione and the brunette knew that if she could Bellatrix would be cursing her in every way imaginable.

With a last look towards the cottage, Hermione turned and walked off.

XXXXX

It was strange how comforting Hermione found the darkness. She used to view it with suspicion, as if it cloaked those she was attempting to catch. Now she welcomed it, used it to shield herself. Not for the first time, the brunette was thankful that things had calmed down since the war. Recent information had revealed that this was because of the League, more than people finally enjoying the peace, but it at least meant that the Ministry had relaxed their security presence at night.

There were still guards, but she was lucky enough to know their routines, plus she relying on them not really thinking it was her walking into the Ministry.

The entrance was where it had always been: the public toilets. It still seemed bizarre stepping into a toilet and flushing herself, but then this was the magical world. With a flash and roar of flames she found herself in the Atrium. Taking a shaky breath in, Hermione walked as confidently as she could through the hall, her footsteps reverberating off of the green tiles.

She held her breath as the security guard looked up. Hermione had deliberately chosen a fireplace that would deliver her on the other side of the Atrium to the security desk and was relying on poor lighting at this time of night to make it difficult for the security guard to recognise her.

"I've just left something in my office," she called out to him.

Amazingly, he just nodded and returned his attention to the Evening Prophet. Hermione winced internally as she saw her own face on the front page complete with the caption Undesirable Number One. Trying not to walk too fast, so as not to arouse suspicion, the brunette headed quickly for the lifts. Once inside, she hurriedly pressed the button to take her up to the Department of Mysteries.

The door began to close and just as Hermione was about to let out the anxious breath she had been holding, a hand reached in and stopped the doors from closing. The brunette's heart was in her mouth until she recognised the face.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

Bellatrix stepped in, glaring at her with daggers. Before she responded she hit Hermione with a Stinging Jinx to the side. "That's for leaving without me. Now we're even."

The brunette glared back, her hand reaching for her wand. The door shut and with a shudder the lift began to move.

"Don't be stupid," whispered Bellatrix. "If we start a duel in this lift, every security guard in this place will come to investigate."

"I don't trust you," growled Hermione.

"Like I trust you," replied the dark-haired witch. "But like it or not, we are each other's best option right now. We should just agree to look out for one another and not try and send the enemy of our enemy to our enemy."

The lift doors opened and the two witches stepped out. The corridor looked clear and there was no sign of anyone else. Just to be sure, Bellatrix flicked her wand.

"No one else up here," she muttered. "Come on, the sooner we find information, the sooner we can leave."

The dark-haired witch hurried off down the corridor and Hermione hurried to follow.

"The security guard didn't react to you then?" asked the brunette in a hushed voice.

"Obviously, otherwise I never would have made it up here," replied Bellatrix, rolling her eyes. "They don't hire security guards for their brains you know. I just said I worked for Euphemia and he believed it."

Hermione nodded and then realised that Bellatrix seemed to know exactly where she was going.

"I didn't realise you knew the Ministry so well," said the brunette.

"I worked here once upon a time," answered Bellatrix, with a shrug. "It hasn't changed that much. Besides when Voldemort got into power, I came here a few times."

They came to a stop outside the door to the Auror Office. The dark-haired witch reached out a hand to open the door, but Hermione stopped her.

"Wait," she said, looking up and down the corridor. "There's high security on these doors. Do you honestly think they would just leave it unlocked? This is the Auror department and there's a lot of sensitive information in here."

"So, how do we get in?" asked Bellatrix. "You could have mentioned this before."

"If I did," argued Hermione, "you would have said this idea was even more insane than it currently is."

The dark-haired witch frowned. "Why? What else haven't you told me?"

"Well, just get ready to run and cover your ears," replied Hermione.

Before Bellatrix could stop her, the brunette raised her wand and blasted the door off its hinges. Sure enough, alarms sounded out across the whole building. The noise was deafening and the immediate reaction of both witches was to cover their ears. Hermione quickly ran and Bellatrix followed as the brunette led her around desks to Cypher's office. Again, the brunette blew the door off and rushed inside, turning and repairing the door and casting wards to buy them a little time.

"You could have told me that part of the plan was actually letting everyone know we were here," yelled Bellatrix over the alarms.

"Less chat, more searching," Hermione shouted back.

The dark-haired witch was clearly using a few choice phrases, but couldn't be heard over the noise. Despite her apparent anger at the situation, she quickly turned her attention to Cypher's bookcase and began looking through the books and discarding them on the floor. Hermione focused on Cypher's desk. It was the most obvious place to look, but that also meant that it would be easy to overlook something. The brunette knew they only had a few moments before all hell broke loose.

The drawers revealed nothing, then again, she hadn't expected it to be that simple. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. She slammed the last drawer shut and began to feel the panic building. Hermione forced it down and began to look around again. Bellatrix had moved on to tearing the pictures off the wall. The brunette turned her attention back to the paper on Cypher's desk and when this revealed nothing, she lost her temper. Yanking out one of the drawers she threw it against the far wall where it shattered. Bellatrix either didn't care or hadn't noticed.

Shouts came from the other side of the door and Hermione realised they were out of time. As her eyes began to flick around the room, her gaze fell on the missing drawer in the desk. The gap between the drawer and the desktop was unusually wide. Frowning, Hermione rang her fingertips along the gap. Bangs could now be heard against the door, clearly the security guards were trying to get in.

"Uh oh!" said Bellatrix. "We got company."

Hermione looked up and saw Bellatrix was stood by the wall to ceiling windows that looked down on the Atrium below. There were flashes of green signalling the arrival of Aurors. Bodies could be seen rushing towards the lifts. Hermione tore her attention away and returned to the desk.

"We need to do something, Granger, or we are never going to make it out of here," shouted the dark-haired witch. Hermione ignored her. "Hey, are you listening to me. We have to find a way out. Now!"

Still the brunette paid her no attention. Instead she stood back and aimed her wand at the desk. Bellatrix opened her mouth to no doubt unleash a tirade of insults, but Hermione didn't care. She flicked her wrist and the top of the desk flew off.

"Do you just like blowing stuff up, or…" began Bellatrix, but stopped when she realised why.

There was a secret compartment hidden away. Littered inside were papers, which Hermione was now collecting up.

"This is what we came for, I'm sure of it," said the brunette.

Bellatrix merely stood there with her mouth gaping. "Well, how stupid can one man get?"

Before they could celebrate too much, the room shook as another more powerful spell hit the door. Hermione knew the safety wards wouldn't survive another hit like that. Already there was a large crack in the door.

"Now what?" said Bellatrix. "You thought of how to get us in, how do you plan on getting us out?"

The brunette turned and looked at her with a twinkle in her eye.

"Oh no," replied Bellatrix. "That look tells me that I'm going to hate your plan."

"Probably," said Hermione. "But drastic times call for drastic measures. How good are you at jinxing people whilst flying through the air?"

The dark-haired witch looked apprehensive, an expression that Hermione never expected to see.

"I'm pretty good, why?" answered Bellatrix, not able to keep the nervousness out of her tone.

In answer, Hermione merely looked to the windows which showed the Atrium below.

"Perfect," murmured the dark-haired witch. "That's just…"

Another blast of a spell hit the door and without waiting for the Aurors to fire first and ask questions later, Hermione grabbed Bellatrix by the hand, flicked her wand at the window and jumped out, dragging the dark-haired witch with her.

Thankfully, Bellatrix was a woman of action. She rotated in the air and fired a spell back up into Cypher's office. Hermione wasn't sure what spell it was, but the fire and explosion followed by screams told her it was not one a lot of people were going to get up from straightaway.

The brunette focused on the ground below, her wand moving quickly as she fired off spell after spell at the people in the Atrium. Luckily, it seemed that the majority had already gone up to the floor they had just left. As the two witches were about to hit the floor, the brunette cast a Cushioning Charm. Bellatrix cast a strong Shield Charm around them and together they moved through the Atrium.

It stunned Hermione how well they worked together. They seemed to be in perfect sync, moving against one another like one person. She felt she didn't need to communicate with Bellatrix and soon enough there was no one left conscious in the Atrium. Spells cracked the tiles by their feet and they looked up to see some Aurors firing from Cypher's office.

Smirking, Bellatrix fired another spell up there. The Aurors jumped out of the way, but Hermione's attention had been caught by the lifts all arriving and more wizards and witches piling out, ready to engage the two in battle.

"Your turn to think of a plan," yelled the brunette to Bellatrix.

"Yeah, you're going to regret saying that," smirked the dark-haired witch.

Hermione expected her to aim at the oncoming rush of witches and wizards hellbent on capturing them. Instead, Bellatrix aimed her wand up.

"What are y…" started Hermione, but didn't have time to finish.

A powerful force erupted from the end of Bellatrix's wand and shot up to the ceiling. It connected with a band and sent shockwaves across the Atrium. Hermione just stared as tiles started falling and the ceiling began to come down.

Without waiting to see the devastation that was about to be unleashed, Bellatrix grabbed Hermione by the hand and yanked her into a fireplace.

"We should do this again sometime," laughed the dark-haired witch, before they disappeared in a flash of green.