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This is the first of the 'House of Black' series:
Summary: What would life have been like if Hermione Granger was born a Black? Follow our little heroine as she grows up in the House of Black and becomes Bellatrix Lestrange's right hand girl.
Chapter 17 - Good News
Bellatrix loved prowling around the Estate gardens in her Animagus form and today was no exception; she was running at full speed around the gardens while Hermione was upstairs finishing off her assignment for Potions. She was a bit lonely though and wanted to play with something or someone; suddenly having a thought come through her mind she turned tail and ran straight for the hedge that bordered the outside of the Estate.
Hermione was sitting at her desk finishing off her last essay for Potions; dotting in a full stop, she replaced her quill into its holder on her desk; recapped the ink bottle and rolled up her essay. Pushing away from her desk, she went in search of some lunch.
She walked past Cassiopeia's closed door, knowing that her and Sirius were hard at work over something to do with Sirius' godson. Continuing along the way to the dining hall; she briefly wondered about what Bellatrix was busy with that she hadn't seen her since breakfast.
As she wasn't with anyone, Hermione plopped herself down into her chair and Twinkle appeared with a hearty luncheon for her; some mashed potatoes and roast beef along with some country vegetables all smothered in gravy.
"You know me well Twinkle." Hermione giggled when Twinkle's ears tinged pink and her eyes watered.
"Miss Hermione is too good for Twinkle." She disappeared thereafter, leaving Hermione to tuck into her lunch; Bellatrix's whereabouts still heavy on her mind.
It wasn't long after finishing her lunch that Hermione was passing by the landing, spotting the massive form of Bellatrix outside running wildly; curiosity winning out and she trudged down the stairs and out the front doors.
Bellatrix was running after three terrified humans all with varying forms of damage on them; she looked to be in her element as she herded them before swiping her massive paws at them when she was close enough.
Hermione watched on even when Bellatrix let loose a loud roar that was damned near close enough to sound like the gates when they open and she saw one of the three humans collapse in a dead faint; chuckling to herself she called out to Bellatrix and was rewarded with the woman shifting back into her own human self, causing the only female in the trio to shriek.
"Kitten come on over and practice on one of these dirty creatures; Aunt Cassi hasn't had time to train you lately so why not have some practice with them?" Hermione saw the one male look over at her with pale green eyes that widened in horror, noting how young Hermione was.
"Bella, it's not fun now, you've gone and damaged them and besides where did you find these things?" Bellatrix huffed out and scowled in the direction of the female that was screaming and making a mad dash for the tree line. Pointing her wand in the female's direction shouting out the incantation 'Crucio' smiling gleefully when the woman's screams lifted in volume.
"I found them in one of the houses along the road; I was bored, you were busy with homework and I wanted to play so I went and got some muggles to play with." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You could have waited for me you know; I would have gone with you; remember we still need to raid the pet store and get some animals to use as target practice for me." The unknown male was watching the two of them squabble over animals and muggles, whatever that was, he was fearful as he didn't know what they were. One had been a monster not even minutes ago and now she was a human; she had a stick that had shot a bright red light from it, all he wanted was to go home to his family.
Bellatrix noticed the man's movements and before he could do anything further, she motioned for Hermione to use a spell; rewarding Hermione with a serene smile as the Avada Kedavra was thrown at him. Bellatrix made short work with the remaining two muggles, calling for one of the house elves to remove the garbage she turned back towards Hermione.
"You are going to be amazing when you're older and when we get to go on raids it's going to be super fun!" Hermione looked at her in confusion.
"Raids?" Bellatrix looked at her with equal confusion, wondering how Hermione didn't already know about the Dark Lord. She would have thought that Aunt Cassiopeia would have told her about him by now.
"Let's take a walk and I'll tell you." Bellatrix waited for Hermione to join her before they both began their walk toward the back of the Estate.
"When I was about sixteen my Father was approached by a man that looked every bit as pureblood as you and I; he was tall with curly dark brown hair and red eyes, he had come to my Father after being in consultation with Lucius' father, Abraxas, and finding out about our family." Bellatrix looked down at Hermione and the girl nodded in acknowledgement.
"He came with promises of rich rewards to those who would prove themselves loyal to his cause; this being the removal of the filth that plagues our world, mudbloods and muggles, he wants to put them in their rightful places and keep them away from our kind. He had been told about myself, Andromeda and Narcissa and how we were the perfect ladies, of course he had also been told about my affinity with the Dark Arts and so wanted to lay claim to me." Hermione looked ahead before nodding once again for Bellatrix to continue.
"So, after a bit of back and forth arguing by my Father not wanting me being dragged into a pending war between the light side and this man; he told him to leave. The man left but he returned within a fortnight and was rewarded with my Father's promise of allowing me to join into this man's services." Bellatrix walked slightly off the beaten path and pulled Hermione with her towards the small stream that lay just behind the second Willow tree on the grounds.
"It wasn't long after I had graduated that I found myself standing before the man I had only seen twice. He was hosting a ceremony of sorts; it was more luck an induction than an actual ceremony, it's where he marked us and told us about his cause." At this Bellatrix lifted her left sleeve to show Hermione the skull with the snake coming out from between its jaws, looping around in a figure eight and then stopping with its head resting on the inner wrist of Bellatrix's forearm.
"He calls us through this mark; it burns when he needs us to come to him, we can call on him as well if needed. We are known to all the witches and wizards as Death Eaters, his followers. We go on raids when he needs us to cause a distraction or to collect a person that he is need of; while on these raids we torture muggles or mudbloods and can on the odd occasion bring one back for extra play. You'll be one of us when you're old enough to join as well." Hermione could already envision herself alongside Bellatrix doing the Dark Lord's work, it gave her a small smile and she was rewarded with Bellatrix's matching smile.
"When you told me about the magic you felt at Hogwarts I had hope that it may have been him returning from being gone for so long; that Potter boy defeated him the night his parents were killed by the Dark Lord and a lot of us went looking for him to help aid him back to good health once more, but we were unsuccessful. I along with the Lestrange brothers took off to the Longbottom's residence in hopes that they knew where he was, but as luck would have it; I broke my ankle when Rabastan pushed me aside in his hurry to get into their home and Rodolphus the idiot that he is left me there to struggle, knowing that I was horrid with healing spells." They took a seat on the bench that was over-looking the stream, it was situated just in front of the Willow tree's trunk.
"We were captured by the Aurors and taken straight to Azkaban, no trial was given to any Death Eaters back then, and that's where I was up until the day Uncle Arcturus got me released." Hermione was enthralled by Bellatrix's story, she knew that it was a shortened version, but it was all she needed to know that when she was older, she would happily take the mark of a Death Eater to work alongside her.
"Is this why you're training me?" Bellatrix nodded and Hermione smiled.
"I can't wait until I'm older so I can work alongside you Bella, I want to be a Death Eater just as you are, and I want to do the Dark Lord's work." Bellatrix looked at Hermione with pride.
"Good, I'm glad to hear it Kitten, I will make sure that the Dark Lord knows that you are going to be my right-hand girl. I will train you and make sure you are as great as I am amongst all the others, the light side will never know what hit them." Hermione moved closer to Bellatrix and lay her head against the older witch's shoulder; she couldn't wait to show the world how powerful she was.
Cassiopeia had watched Bellatrix and Hermione for a long while, she had seen Bellatrix play with the muggles, seen Hermione's first proper kill; whether the girl was aware of it or not, she showed no emotion whatsoever and Cassiopeia was proud. She saw the loyalty and devotion beginning to form between the two of them and knew that their bond would be most powerful indeed.
It was like an invisible string between the two; Bellatrix moved off the path and Hermione followed without coaxing, they were truly meant for one another, regardless of the type of soul mate they were supposed to be.
She had seen them the night before cuddled together in front of the dying fire light; a protective Bellatrix was as dangerous if not more deadly than an angry Bellatrix and Cassiopeia hoped that no one ever decided to do something stupid to Hermione.
Breaking away from her thoughts she continued with her letter to the Ministry requesting for a trial to take place for Bellatrix and Sirius having been informed by the two Mind-Healers that both of them were ready to sit and have the truth-serum administered, they were stronger than they had been when their consultations began.
Finalizing on the letter; she folded the parchment and placed it within the envelope, calling for her elf, she gave the letter to Pixie and told her to have one of the family owls take it to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
It was a week later when the family were sitting together having dinner; Pixie appeared next to Cassiopeia with a letter from the Ministry. Taking the envelope from the elf, she broke the seal with a wave of her hand; pulling the letter from within and opening it to read, a smug smile appeared, and she looked at her three charges.
"Well this is excellent news indeed." Sirius asked for her to elaborate and she happily did.
Good day Madam Black,
I have personally gone through the documentation pertaining to Mr Sirius Black the third and Ms Bellatrix Black. I have seen that both members of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black were imprisoned without trials.
I have therefore opened a docket for each of the aforementioned members of your House and have requested that a trial be done for both.
Both members of your esteemed House are to be presented in front of the Wizengamot two days from today where they will both be given a trial.
Please be present on July the tenth at exactly eleven o'clock in the morning.
Hoping you are well.
Madam Amelia Bones
Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Sirius and Bellatrix looked astonished when Cassiopeia finished reading the letter; Hermione was sporting a grin a mile wide; knowing full well that when Bellatrix was released officially, they would be able to go places without being careful.