1978
Hermione thought that Lucius likely got the message about keeping quiet about the affair that they'd had. She wouldn't put it past him to try to spread rumors if only to hurt her relationship chances with Theo, but she hoped that he was at least smart enough to realize that it would fall back on him as well. No one wanted to have to deal with a volatile Bellatrix Lestrange, especially when you hurt someone who was as precious to her as Narcissa was. Hermione was not stupid - even though the sisters bickered a lot, she knew that they had a very tight bond.
And, given that Bellatrix was still giving her the time of day and not trying to destroy her life, Hermione was certain that Narcissa and Bella remained in the dark about what had transpired between the two of them.
Even since Theo had accused her of liking Bellatrix a little too much, Hermione had tried to put some distance between her and the dark witch, but she found it easier said than done. Bellatrix was one of the only witches that she associated with who didn't seem to care much about holding her tongue and behaving the way that a good pureblood witch should. Hermione found it so utterly refreshing to be a bit bad with Bellatrix.
It was odd to wonder if there was some alternative timeline where Bellatrix could be swayed away from the Dark Lord and to a more progressive mindset, knowing that it would give her the freedom she so craved. But, Hermione knew that was an impossibility at this point with Bellatrix too in love with the wizard called Lord Voldemort to honestly attempt to convert her.
So, Hermione would resign herself to simply enjoying the time that she spent with Bellatrix and try not to think too much about the little rants she went on against mudbloods, wondering what Bellatrix would do if she knew she was actually ranting to one.
They would meet up for brunches in Diagon Alley and to do some shopping at least once a week, ambling around and gossiping about society witches basically the whole time. As much as it pained her to admit it, she adored talking shite about Pricilla Parkinson, who Hermione surmised was to become the mother of Pansy. She wondered if she would have adored doing the same about Pansy when she was in Hogwarts if she would have lowered herself to participating in girly chats with Lav and Parvati.
It was an unseasonably warm day late in autumn, so the pair of witches decided to do a bit of window shopping ahead of their standing brunch reservation. There wasn't anything terribly too exciting out at the moment, but it was still nice to enjoy a bit of the weather.
"What are you doing sulking around here?" a mean voice questioned from behind them, making Bellatrix twirl on her heel. "I thought your type kept themselves confined to Knockturn Alley."
Hermione nearly gasped when she came face to face with Sirius Black once again. He wore his hair short and was undeniably good looking - nothing left of the spotty teenager she'd last met at Grimmauld Place. Belatedly, she realized that he must have graduated from Hogwarts earlier in the year and was now working as an auror under Alastor Moody, if she wasn't mistaken. He was certainly the last person she'd expected to run into.
"What do you mean by my type, cousin?" Bellatrix sneered at him, not at all intimidated by the way that he casually had his wand drawn, twirling it between his fingers.
"Dark witches of course, Bellatrix" he said, giving her a cheeky grin. "Don't act like you don't know the rumors about you."
"Ha, rumors!" Bellatrix said with a laugh. "I'll be happy to confirm them for you, though I don't think you'll like the outcome. You're barely out of Hogwarts, and I've got years of experience. I don't think the odds are in your favor." She drew her own wand, holding it loosely, but still ready to strike at a moment's notice.
"Bella, we should just go. We don't want to miss our reservation," Hermione said, desperately hoping to pull the other witch out of this situation. Sirius was an auror after all, and the law would not be on their side if they were left dueling in Diagon Alley.
"Ah, and a Nott. I see you've wasted no time making all the worst sorts of acquaintances. Though, I would expect more out of someone from your family," Sirius said, sneering at her, despite not really knowing a single thing about her. Hermione rankled at that, hating the way that she was being judged for nothing more than her last name, realizing that it wasn't entirely different from what she'd faced when she was a muggleborn. It wasn't as if she could help it, not really.
"You don't deserve to carry the name of Black, you horrid excuse for a wizard!" Bellatrix screached, fully reminding Hermione of the witch she would become in the Department of Mysteries, skipping and laughing that she'd killed Sirius Black.
"Walburga already blasted me off the portrait, so I'm afraid she's beat you to it," Sirius mocked her back, clearly unconcerned that they were gathering a bit of an audience.
Before they could trade any more barbs, Moody was there with a thunderous look on his face. "Black! No antagonising people into duels in public! Think of the bystanders," he scolded, clearly unhappy with his apprentice's behavior. "Even if she deserves it," he added, just loud enough for Bellatrix to hear.
The dark-haired witch gave a little shout of frustration, but she was not going to be goaded, not even by Moody. "Come on, Hermione," she said, a sneer on her face. "Change of plans!"
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as she tried to keep up with the long strides of Bellatrix's booted legs.
"To Gringotts," Bellatrix snarled, walking with complete purpose. "My aunt may have blasted him off the family tree, but that does not mean that he's been formally disowned. I will not let that blood traitor get his filthy hands on any of my family jewelry."
Hermione did not think that it was likely that Sirius even wanted anything to do with the Black family jewelry. But, the piece of information about Sirius never being formally disowned suddenly made a lot more sense. That must have been how he was able to inherit Grimmauld Place and his family's fortune after his parents' deaths. "Good idea, Bella," Hermione encouraged anyway. "Your family is so fortunate that they have you to look out for them."
"My Uncle Alphard already left his own inheritance to that little slug when he died!" Bellatrix seethed. "Even though he ran to the Potters for help. We should have known he was a bad apple the moment that he was sorted into Gryffindor. My Uncle should have demanded that he be resorted into Slytherin. Once he was in Gryffindor all of their blood traitor ways could just rub off on him."
They were standing in the middle of Gringotts by then, and Bellatrix demanded to be taken to her vault. Hermione wished that she would have seen this before she'd tried to impersonate the other witch, because she had a lot of notes. Bellatrix didn't even wait for the goblin to get off of his chair before she was marching her way towards the carts.
Hermione climbed into the cart next to Bellatrix, who was nearly out of her mind with impatience. "Goblin!" she shouted, her voice echoing across the marble. "Take me to my vault now!"
The goblin didn't seem too impressed with her shouting and took his sweet time in getting into the cart as well. "Madame Lestrange, which of the two vaults would you like to visit."
"The Black one first, and then the Lestrange vault after," Bellatrix said, suddenly very reasonable once she was getting what she wanted.
"Anything for our most valued customer," the goblin said with a smile that showed off rows of sharp teeth before he
Inside, Hermione could feel her heartbeat quicken and she wondered what luck she had that she was being invited into the Lestrange family vault, where Hufflepuff's Cup was located. She knew that she would do whatever it took to get her hands on the Cup, especially now that it was the only thing left between them and destroying Voldemort, even if she had to imperio Bellatrix herself. She was not going to let this opportunity go to waste.
The Black vault was impressive to say the least, nestled in the deepest levels of the wizard bank. It was not far from where she remembered the Lestrange vault being and she briefly wondered if the Nott family vault was somewhere around here as well. She knew that Theo had opened his own vault when they arrived in the past, but surely he would have come here on business with his father when he was a boy.
When the cart stopped, Bellatrix insisted that Hermione get out with her. "Please make yourself useful and help me carry some things," she asked, her voice saccharine sweet. "Then we can get to our brunch even faster."
Hermione did as she was asked, not too keen to argue with Bellatrix when she was in such a state. She held out her arms to Bellatrix until they were laden with necklaces, rings and even a set of sterling silverware that Hermione was certain would be of no interest to Sirius at all. Once Bellatrix was satisfied that she had taken her share of the jewelry from the vault they made the short walk down to the Lestrange vault.
As they approached, Hermione could barely hear Bellatrix chattering away over the rushing of her blood in her ears. She stepped inside, following behind Bellatrix, holding her breath to steady her nerves. She held onto her wand tightly, ready to attack the other witch if need be, ready to grab hold of the Cup and get out of there as quickly as possible. Hermione braced for that familiar whisper of dark magic that only a horcrux seemed to have, to try to invade her mind and make promises that it couldn't keep.
But it never came.
She stood there dumbly, letting Bellatrix liberate her of all the jewelry she'd carried over, her eyes desperately searching every corner of the vault, looking for the Cup. She could remember exactly where it should be when they had broken into Gringotts, like it was yesterday. It pained her to admit it, but there was not even a hint of a horcrux lurking around in this vault. She felt her breathing increase and realized she was dangerously on edge of panicking when she was forced to acknowledge that the Cup wasn't here and that meant she had no idea where it was.
"Your family should really thank you for doing this," Hermione said, mechanically, knowing that she still needed to interact with Bellatrix. She couldn't let the witch know that something was amiss. "I can only imagine what that blood traitor would do with this."
"I know," Bellatrix agreed. "They should have done something about him a long time ago. I feel so much better now. Let's go to brunch."
Bellatrix did not wait to see if she was following her out to the cart. Hermione gave one last longing look around the vault, hoping that she might find it by some miracle, but in the end, she was marching out to sit next to her friend, the goblin slamming the door to the Lestrange vault behind them.
Her mind was in the clouds the whole time she was eating with Bellatrix, circling around negative thoughts again and again. Bellatrix, it seemed, did not notice her suddenly melancholy mood, and if she did she did not say anything about it. She did notice when Hermione drank more than half a bottle of champagne all on her own, despite it not even being afternoon yet.
Just as Hermione was about to pour another glass of the bubbly, Bellatrix pressed her hand on the top of her glass. "Hey, I hope you don't take what my idiot cousin said to heart," she said, surprisingly compassionate. "I think you really have made the right sort of acquaintances, and lots of other witches look to you for trends and the like. I mean, I'm not too bothered by that sort of stuff, but I know Narcissa and her little friends are."
Hermione scrunched her nose. "Of course not," she said, having nearly forgotten what Sirius had said about her.
Bellatrix removed her hand then. "Good. Then go on - drink to your heart's content."
"Ah, I better not. I hadn't realized how much I've had," she decided, knowing that she was teetering on the edge of drunk. It was better to keep her wits about her.
Once their breakfast was over, Hermione begged off shopping with Bellatrix, knowing that she was barely holding it together. She needed to get home and she needed to talk to Theo. Marching off in the direction of the apparition point, she was completely unraveling by the time that she reappeared in her own home, tears streaking down her cheeks.
Theo was there immediately, helping her over to a couch and letting her cry into his shoulder. "It wasn't there Theo, it wasn't there," she moaned, feeling the utter agony of failure.
"What wasn't there?" he asked gently, just trying to figure out what had reduced his wife to this mess of tears.
"The Cup, the Cup," she whispered, her thoughts still going a mile a minute as she wondered how she could have failed so spectacularly.
He grabbed her by the jaw, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Start from the beginning," he encouraged. "You aren't making any sense."
"Bellatrix and I...we ran into Sirius Black in Diagon Alley today, and it made her want to move her valuables from the Black family vault to the Lestrange family vault, and she brought me with her," Hermione said, hiccuping. "I was so excited that this was my perfect chance to get Hufflepuff's Cup, you know? I didn't even have to do anything to break in this time, just...she invited me in. But, the Cup wasn't there. The last horcrux wasn't there," she explained in agony.
"Oh," Theo said, obviously not prepared for it.
"And just think, I was so fucking sure that it would be there, I didn't even consider the possibility that it might be somewhere else," Hermione said, wishing that she wasn't always so sure of herself. "We've been here for five years now, and I never once thought that it might be somewhere else...I've wasted five years that we could have spent looking for that damned Cup, just because I couldn't consider the possibility that I might have it wrong."
"That's not what happened," Theo insisted. "It wasn't as if I was saying we should keep an open mind and you were insisting you already knew where it was. It just never crossed either of our minds that the Lestranges wouldn't be trusted enough."
"How could he not have given them the Cup?" Hermione asked, feeling utterly hopeless. She had no idea where they were even going to begin to look. "Bellatrix is clearly his most loyal follower."
"Maybe they do have it, and just haven't moved it to their vault yet," Theo suggested. "After all, Lucius Malfoy just had his in a desk that wasn't even locked shut."
"No, Bellatrix isn't as stupid as Malfoy," Hermione explained. "If Voldemort asked her to keep something safe, there is nowhere she would put it other than her vault. But maybe...I don't know, we don't really have any other leads right now."
"We'll just have to get into their home and try to have a snoop around," Theo said, pushing his hair back out of his eyes. "I'm sure I could convince Rodolphus to have some kind of party. Any excuse for drinking..."
"We need to do something about it quickly though," she said, pressing her face into his chest once more, wishing that she didn't feel quite so miserable. "We are running out of time. Like I said, I met Sirius Black in the Alley, that means that Harry's parents have graduated from Hogwarts as well."
"It's still 1978," Theo said, ever the pragmatic one in their duo. "We still have a lot of time before Halloween 1981. We can devote all of our time to finding the Cup and then destroying the horcruxes, and then Voldemort will be mortal once again."
"You make it sound so easy," Hermione said with a frown.
"It's true that we've been here for five years, but you have to think of everything we've already achieved - we did still find four horcruxes with no one the wiser. And we managed to integrate into this society so seamlessly that I don't think anyone has noticed anything amiss about us. And, remember, we showed up with barely fifteen galleons to our names."
Hermione smiled, remembering those first few days when they were making wild bets that they knew would pay out. It had been so long since then. "I suppose you are right. We had Arthur as well," she said with a grin, thinking about their son. He was a delight that she never could have imagined or planned on.
"So, we just need to focus, but I think we can find one last horcrux and have time to spare. We are almost done, Hermione," he said, pressing a kiss to the palm of her hand, his blue eyes serious, but hopeful.
She felt her heart melt a bit with his casual affection. She was glad that she had Theo as a partner in all of this, because she was positive she wouldn't be able to get through to the other side without him.
