Mirror, mirror

Chapter 20: Where No Man Has Gone Before.

Just like any Sunday morning, Hermione and Bellatrix happily lazied around in bed, cuddling for as long as they could get away with. However, it came to the point that they had to get up if they didn't want to miss breakfast. Cissy had always been quite strict on dinner-table punctuality: either be on time or don't eat at all.

Still, there was a bit of time left for some shared shower-time fun in the bathroom and, while Hermione started her usual twenty-minute long morning hairbrush session, Bellatrix decided to share the mirror to do her make-up.

Suddenly, the door handle moved and a slight curse sounded from the other side of the door.

"Occupied!" Bellatrix and Hermione replied at the same time.

"Oh," sounded Draco on the other end of the door. "So, uhm, you two aren't doing something in there that's going to take... time, I hope? I really need to go!"

"It's fine," replied Bellatrix. "Hermione has just started to do her hair."

"Oh, bugger off, I'll be waiting out here forever!"

In response, Hermione blew a raspberry at the door and continued brushing. Though they were good friends, her hair was obviously way more important than the state of Draco's bladder.

Hermione had a surprising amount of vanity when it came to her hair. So much that she risked not having breakfast over the volume of her lovely brown mane. After coming out of the bathroom which was then immediately occupied by Draco to prevent a burst bladder, Hermione voiced her displeasure with her previous twenty minutes of doing her hair and rushed back to their room to do a bit more brushing and add a bit more spray. However, she knew Hermione long enough by now that 'a bit more' could easily result in twenty minutes of yet more hair-care. So, Bellatrix went downstairs to save some breakfast for her before it would be all gone.

Fortunately, it didn't seem like she would have to. There was no breakfast on the table in the kitchen and found a yawning Cissy sat on a wooden chair in front of an empty plate.

"Good morning," Bellatrix greeted with a raised eyebrow.

"Morning," Narcissa greeted with a tired voice. "Apologies for the lack of breakfast this morning. Feel free to help yourself. Luna and Lucius are already in the lab working."

"Hm," said Bellatrix while opening the fridge and taking out a packet of sliced ham to put on breakfast sandwich. "It's unlike you not to have breakfast arranged, ready and perfectly timed to when everyone wakes up, Cissy."

"Forgive my indulgence," said Narcissa, suppressing another yawn. "I've spent most of the night talking to Andromeda and our ghostly elder sister."

"Oh?" Bellatrix sat down at the table, having prepared a Spartan breakfast by plopping a bit of ham on top of a slice of bread. "What manner of subject kept you up all night?"

"Believe it or not," Narcissa smile to herself. "Dating advice. Andie has been getting steadily more nervous as her first date approaches. Poor thing doesn't have much experience. Granted, our ghostly sister had a lot of useful tips."

"Hm," said Bellatrix. "She's been the school agony aunt since the late sixties. She'd know a thing or two about dating advice."

"It seems some of the women in my family are simply late-bloomers," Cissy smiled while sipping her tea.

Before taking a bite, Bellatrix frowned as she put down her sandwich again. "You're not talking about Andie anymore, are you?"

Narcissa leaned forward, a smile playing at her lips. "I've known Hermione for years. She's always been jovial, enthusiastic, kind and, well, fanciful. But underneath it all, there was this subtle hint of sadness and loneliness within her. Granted, she hid it well and it was hard to spot unless you knew what you were looking for. But ever since you and her became involved, that's completely gone. It's hard to deny the change in you as well. Unlike her, you've never really bothered hiding your dour side."

Bellatrix glanced over to the kitchen window and the sun shining over the rolling green hills in the distance. "This world has been kind to me," Bellatrix replied softly. "Kinder than my own."

Narcissa reached over and grasped her hand. "And you deserve it. You deserve Hermione. Never doubt that. Never deny that to yourself. Whatever happened in the past, whatever the things you had to do... they don't matter anymore. You have your fresh start right here. With us."

The dark witch said nothing, other than taking her sister's hand and squeezing it slightly.

It was at that moment that Hermione came bouncing down the stairs, causing Bellatrix to glance at the clock. "Hm, only fifteen minutes. That has to be a new speed record for you."

"Oh, jog on!" Hermione snorted playfully while sauntering over to the fridge to grab a pint of milk. Hermione was wearing muggle clothing: a pair of woman's jeans, converse and a rather baggy beige shirt. Something about seeing Hermione in muggle clothing... which was almost all the time outside of a school uniform... drove her absolutely wild. And that baggy shirt was perfect for her to snake her hand under to gently rub it all over Hermione's wonderful abs. Bellatrix did just that after Hermione sat down next to her with pint of milk. As per usual, Hermione gave her a sultry smile and shifted a little to give her easier access: her girl was quite proud of her abs, after all.

The only thing Hermione balked about was when a free hand was headed towards her head. "Hey!" she protested. "Not the hair!"

"I just want to ruffle it a little," Bellatrix smirked.

"Not on your nelly!" Hermione replied. "I just got it right, so don't muck it up!"

Bellatrix gave her an evil smile. "That only makes me want to ruffle your hair up more," she said, tightening her grip around Hermione's waist while hovering her free hand ever closer.

"No, Bella! NO!" Hermione giggled as she started to squirm and protest.

Narcissa watched the spectacle unfold with a warm smile, until she leaned back and grinned at Bellatrix. "Don't think I didn't see the two of you slipping upstairs last night. You can't just keep playing around like randy teenagers. Think about your futures, hm? Especially you, Bella. You're the eldest and the most responsible one. So when are you going to make an honest woman out of Hermione?"

Bellatrix blinked, feeling much like a hippogryph standing on the rails of the approaching Hogwarts Express. Hermione turned to her with a grin. "Yes. That's a very good question. Hm. Hermione Black. Sounds good, doesn't it?"

While Bellatrix was still stunned, Hermione's hands shot out to her curly hair and ruffled up her dark mane considerably before hopping off her chair and running off into the corridor. Bellatrix, whose countenance now resembled a particularly unkempt poodle, slowly turned her head towards Narcissa. Her sister gently patted her hand again. "Think about it," she winked.

After her simple breakfast, Bellatrix found herself back in the lab with the others. Though yesterday was entirely dedicated to Hermione's birthday, none of them wanted to give up too much valuable testing time on the seemingly never-ending attempts to get teleportation magic working. Such was fine by Bellatrix: she got to spend time with Hermione and her family during these sessions and it was not as if she had anything better to do. Would it ever work? She couldn't say. But there was at least some measure of clear progress.

Most of the morning was spent turning apples into mush by method of failed teleportation. Certainly, if this teleportation contraption never ended up working, at least Lucius could boast that he had invented the world's most over-complicated fruit-juicer.

Bellatrix sat on her knees to reset the disseminator in between tests while Lucius rambled off the figures for what would be test number forty-two today. While working, she felt three soft fingers slide over her cheek: looking up she found a smiling Hermione looking at her as she passed by, turning around and walking backwards for a bit to show off the golden pendant she was wearing over her regular clothes before returning to work on reconnecting the flow regulators. As per usual, her ghostly younger self was calmly sat on top of the machine to cool it, patiently and without complaint.

By now, Hermione's dog had sauntered into the lab and plopped down on a tarp to play with a squeaky ball. Luna immediately complained that the noise was distracting.

"Right, power up machine," announced Lucius.

"You know," said Draco as he looked at Spock playing with his ball. "Sometimes I wish I were a dog."

"Oh," frowned Luna. "So you can lick your own bollocks and shit wherever you want?"

That elicited a cackle from Bellatrix's ghostly counterpart and a chuckle from Hermione.

"What? No, Schwarzenegger, no!" Draco sighed. "I mean look at him. Always happy, always getting attention and loads of free food."

Lucius placed an apple on the platform. "There is something to say about ignorance being bliss. But I'd rather not give up my sentience."

"What?" Hermione spoke indignantly, crossing her arms as the magic starting flowing through the machine. "Are you saying my dog is stupid?"

"Well, he's not getting any smarter," Luna replied while pulling a few levers. "Remember the time he ate that piece of string from the waste basket?"

"That was an accident!" Hermione protested.

Bellatrix smirked at her girl. "He keeps barking at his own reflection."

"All dogs do that!" Hermione huffed indignantly.

"What about the time when he got his head stuck in the catflap?" Lucius spoke, a twinkle in his eye. Behind him, the apple disappeared with a magical crackle.

Hermione, once again, crossed her arms and glared. "That could have happened to anyone! Besides, why do you still have that thing? You and Narcissa haven't had a cat in years!"

"Right," said Draco as he moved towards the other end of the machine. "I'll go clean up the mess."

Meanwhile, Hermione knelt down next to her dog and hugged him around the neck, pressing her cheek against his fur. "Don't listen to those rotters, Spock. You're very smart. Oh, yes, yes, you are! So very smart!"

"Uh... guys?" sounded a rather timid Draco.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes when she saw Hermione cuddle her dog. Unfortunately, the two of them came as a package-deal. Still, she supposed she could tolerate the mutt.

"Guys..." sounded Draco, more insistent this time.

"So smart, yes so smart!" Hermione kissed the top of her beloved alsatian's head.

"Arf!" sounded a happy dog.

"GUYS!" Draco shouted out to them now.

The reason for this became very clear when they gathered to see what Draco was on about. There, on the receiving platform, sat a pristine-looking green apple. Silence was all around as if they were all processing just what they were seeing. After so many tests, so many attempts, this would be the first time an apple had gone through the machine intact.

Nobody dared speak at first as if to not break this miracle.

"Careful, it might still explode!" warned Lucius.

They all stood gathered around the apple, simply staring at it, almost afraid to move, speak or even think. The apple was simply stood on the pedestal, simply being an apple.

Having had enough, Bellatrix snatched it from its perch, brought it to her mouth and took a big bite. With the gathered looking at Bellatrix as if she had just poured a container of Caesium-137 right into her mouth, she chewed and swallowed. "Tastes like a perfectly normal apple to me," was her conclusion.

"Not exactly a scientific test," said Luna. "But I'll take it."

Lucius roved his wand over it. "No anomalies. No magical eddies. No internal disintegration. Luna, what were the figures of this test?"

Luna rambled off some numbers. The setup from the previous test was re-entered to run it exactly as it had before. Another apple was put on the platform, and that same apple was harmlessly teleported to the receiving platform. "It's repeatable," Luna whispered, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. "It's repeatable!"

"Holy shit!" Draco laughed and took a moment to hug his father. "We did it! We actually did it."

"More tests!" Lucius exclaimed.

And more tests they did. From apples they moved on to different objects. A solid lead ball. A chair. A broom. A lamp. All went through the machine without so much as a hitch and arrived on the other side of the contraption just fine. Then they changed the distance between funnels and tested again. The distance, apparently, played no role as all objects arrived in a perfectly pristine condition. Draco then dragged the entire barrel of apples onto the platform. It also arrived without problems and none of the separate items were fused together in any way.

Then came the more interesting phase: translating the figures into charms and spells and no longer relying on the machinery to regulate the flow of magic through the contraption. The ghost girl was no longer needed to cool the machine now that a predicable ice-charm could do that task, but she still floated around with interest. Bellatrix and Luna, recognized as the most talented and precise casters, performed the spells needed to activate the teleport. It took a few tries at first, but objects started to arrive in a pristine state.

The mood grew ever more elated with every test. More and more objects were sent through the machine, ranging from small beakers to large pieces of furniture. At first, an attempted with sending a mannequin through caused some consternation because it arm fell off during transport, leaving it on the departing platform while the rest of the thing was transported. It turned this was because it had not been fastened properly and it falling off was not related to the teleport spell. A second attempt was successful.

The next test was to transport a living creature. Said living creating being a weevil-bat in a cage. The weevil-bat came out of the other end like a perfectly normal, happy living weevil-bat. Same with a white lab-rat. Bellatrix and Luna exchanged a grin: the magic they performed was tiring, but seeing the results were satisfying and even energizing them to go on.

"I think we all just got famous," Draco chuckled.

"All tests are positive," said Lucius. "Items mundane and magical go through without any issues. There is no form of molecular or magical decay. Living creatures pass through without issues. Once... once we show our finding to the Wizengamot, we'll finally be given proper resources. Imagine, we could start human trials in a few months!"

"Why wait?" sounded the soft voice of Hermione as she gave her friends a warm smile. "I'll go."

It took Bellatrix a few moments to register just what Hermione was saying. "What?!" she hissed. "No! You can't! You're daft!"

"Bella," Hermione smiled. "I want to do this. It's one of the reasons why I helped Lucius. I've always wanted to be a pioneer on a grand adventure. To be the first human being to be magically transported! How amazing would that be?"

"This isn't a story in one of your stupid muggle picture-plays!" Bellatrix hissed. "This is reality!"

"Bella..." Hermione started.

The dark witch turned her head. "Send the dog instead!" she said, pointing at Spock still chewing on his squeaky ball.

"Arf!" replied the dog in between chews.

"What?!" Hermione gave her a look of shock. "That's horrible! What if something goes wrong?!"

"You're worried about the dog, but not yourself?!" Bellatrix all but shouted in pure disbelief.

"I get to choose! Spock doesn't!" Hermione protested.

Bellatrix felt tears sting in her eyes. "Oh, for Merlin's sake. Hermione, don't this!"

Hermione stepped closer and placed a hand on cheek. The soothing touch of Hermione's skin on hers calmed her down somewhat, but even so her heart was still pounding in her chest. "I'll be fine, Bella," Hermione whispered. "I trust you and Luna."

"I can't lose you!" Bellatrix whispered to her. "I don't know what I'd do if I'd..."

"This... this is the moment I was born for," Hermione smiled. "Don't you see? I have to do this!"

Bellatrix felt a lump in her throat as Hermione withdrew her hand and slowly stepped onto the departing platform. Lucius approached her, his expression one of worry. "Hermione? Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, obviously torn between the idea of risking Hermione's life while at the same time being so very curious about the outcome.

Hermione laughed. "Just make sure there's no fly with me in the transport. I don't want to end up as a Granger-fly creature."

"Hah", said Draco as he shared a brief hug with her. "Brundle-fly. You taught me that reference, Dreamer."

Bellatrix shot forward in a final desperate attempt to get her girlfriend from going through with this. "Hermione, no!" she said, spinning her around and grabbing her by the shoulders. "I'll go! Send me!"

Hermione smiled at her, trying so hard to reassure her. "Bella," she whispered. "You and Luna have to cast the spells, silly. Come on, we've been sending stuff through the machine all day. Why would it suddenly go wrong now? Bella, we've been talking so much about purpose and meaning. This is mine."

Defeated, Bellatrix stepped back to stand next to Luna. She and the blonde-haired girl shared a look. Luna's expression seemed to be telling her 'I swear, if you fuck this up I'll find the most painful way to end you in the slowest way possible'. And, Bellatrix being Bellatrix, she was certain that their own expression said much the same. Good, at least they understood each other.

Stood in front of the funnel, Hermione grasped a hand around the delta symbol hanging from her necklace and softly whispered to herself. "To boldy go where no man has gone before..."

Never in her life had Bellatrix ever performed a spell with the careful precision that she had as she did today. The motions as fluent as she could muster, her mind forcing tight control over the flow of magic through her body and into her wand. Even the release of the magic was tightly controled, her endless willpower leashing it and preventing any kind of wild magic from getting loose.

The magic flew forth from her wand towards the contraption. Hermione took a deep breath and straightened her back... just before disappearing with a magical crackle.

Instantly, Bellatrix dropped her wand and ran towards the other end of the machine. In her mind, she was almost certain she had failed the spell somehow, giving way to all manner of horror-shows: Hermione could be horribly splinced. Or missing limbs. Or been cut in half. Or even turned inside out. Fused with something the lab. Or, perhaps worst of all, never materialize at all.

When she came to the receiving platform, relief washed over her as she found Hermione standing there safe and sound. Gasping. Smiling. Laughing. "That... that was amazing!" Hermione yelled out, letting out a whoop. The dark witch rushed her and took her in the tightest embrace she could muster... an embrace Hermione gladly returned while all around her cheers sounded from the others.

"Don't ever scare me that again!" Bellatrix hissed angrily, before being overcome by Hermione's closeness. "I love you, pet. I love you so much!"

Those words certainly had an effect on Hermione, as she looked at her with those soulful, brown now watery eyes of her. "I love you too, Bella," she whispered, then smiled. "Best birthday present ever!"

A hard thud sounded from the door. All heads turned to see a rather amusing spectacle. Severus Snape had entered the lab with Narcissa in tow, the angry woman obviously had been attempting to stop him from barging in. The thud came from his travel bag which had been dropped to the floor... right next to his jaw as he stood there, frozen in time after having just witnessed a magical miracle.

Once everyone had sufficiently recovered, they had all withdrawn to the drawing room where Snape worked through his shock with tea and Andie's scones. The Head Master took in a few deep breaths and regarded both Bellatrix and Hermione.

"I came here to find our missing disseminator," said Snape. "And possibly to fire you, miss Black, and expel miss Granger, depending on your excuses. I admit, you were quite thorough in hiding your tracks, but not thorough enough. I went through the logs again and again, but when I did a visual inspection of store-room five, I concluded that a large number of devices had been moved around the start of summer. All were devices which Lucius had requested the use of during his first rounds of experiments at Hogwarts. It wasn't hard to put two and two together."

Snape sipped his tea, his hand shaking somewhat still. "But after this... This will change everything. Teleportation is a branch of magic which has never worked. Until now. I'll be frank Lucius, I never believed your claims. But it seems that I owe you an apology."

He extended his hand and, after a brief moment of hesitation, Lucius took it. "Accepted," replied Lucius.

"So am I fired, then?" Bellatrix asked.

"No," said Snape. "Though I do expect you to correct the logs retroactively first thing tomorrow morning. And you must realize that it might take a while for me to fully trust you again on a professional level."

"Fair enough," replied Bellatrix. "On both counts."

"And before you ask, miss Granger," said Snape. "I won't expel you either. I'd have to be mad to expel the first ever witch to be teleported by magic. I'm interested to hear your experience. But I'll tell you one thing though: once knowledge of this successful experiment hits public, your lives will never be the same. You'll be approached by the press, by headhunters for businesses, by the Ministry of possibly all nations, by scholars, by all manner of charlatans. Fame will follow, likely wealth too. I urge you to be careful and keep your feet firmly planted on the ground."

"To be honest," said Draco. "I don't think we thought that far ahead. We'd just be happy if we'd get it to work."

Snape nodded. "People rarely do, mister Malfoy," said Snape. "I urge you to take control of the situation yourself. First of all, patent your work and follow the procedures so no one can take credit for your invention. Only then do a presentation in front of the Wizengamot and perform the teleportation yourself. Of course, I would be remiss if I wouldn't ask you to strongly consider Hogwarts when it comes time to further research the application of teleportation magics once you receive proper funding from the Ministry."

Wise words. Snape, it seemed, was well aware how these types of political games were played. The dark witch turned to see a smiling Hermione. "Looks like our adventure is just beginning," Hermione chuckled.

"Sometimes I feel like my life has only just begun," Bellatrix replied. "Late-bloomer, indeed."

Bellatrix and Hermione snuggled for a bit. Honestly, she couldn't give a toss about further research, but as long as her Hermione would be happy, so would she. Hermione leaned into her, laying her head on her shoulder.

Oddly enough, she found Snape frowning at them.

"What?" Bellatrix challenged.

"Oh, it might be nothing," said Snape. "We spoke last Friday, miss Granger. And I could have sworn your hair was longer then. Have you visited a hair-dresser yesterday, perhaps?"

Hermione blinked. "What? My hair?!"

"Hm," said Bellatrix. "Now that you mention it."

Hermione blanched. "A mirror! I need a mirror! AND A MEASURING RIBBON!" she yelped, getting up from the sofa and rushing to the cabinet with the mirror worked in its door. She stood in front of it, desperately checking the length of her hair while Draco rushed to her with a measuring ribbon in hand.

After watching her young girlfriend's increasingly panicked antics, Bellatrix leaned forward to whisper to Snape. "And they say you have no sense of humor."

The corners of Snape's mouth formed into the smallest of grins.