Disclaimer: I don't anything in Harry Potter. J.K owns all the characters and places.
Author's Note: Take heed please – There are scenes of torture in this chapter, if you it is not for you please do not read the first portion of this chapter. You have been warned.
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 26 - Third Year
Hermione was looking forward to spending the last two days with just Bellatrix and the Manor. Cassiopeia had gone to stay with Druella and Cygnus for a while "To get away from you two!" Hermione had laughed when her grandmother had disapparated from the Manor. Bellatrix had accidentally found out about the sixth son of the Weasley's having slipped the compulsion draught into Hermione's drink and in her tirade, murdered Cassiopeia's favourite house elf, Rosie.
Bellatrix had been so infuriated, threatening to find the Weasley's and decimate them, but thankfully Hermione calmed her down and Bellatrix turned her anger on the poor house elf. Now the two of them were sitting in the dungeons again; two new toys to play with. Bellatrix had admitted to Hermione that she got bored and so had killed the three previous toys.
~*Warning! Torture Scenes Ahead – You've been warned*~
Hermione flicked her wand and the bars to the cell opened, she had hidden behind a pillar, Bellatrix was standing in the corner just behind the stairwell wall. They waited for the muggle to make her appearance; it was slow going but eventually the woman came out from her cell.
Starting a fire in the one section of the circular chamber, they watched as the muggle jumped in fear. Turning around slowly trying to get a feel for the room around her, which was previously darkened. Her breathing was picking up as her fear began settling in. Bellatrix had let lose two snakes that had begun hissing and inching their way closer to the muggle.
Hermione flicked her wand a few times allowing small arrows to fly through the room, piercing the muggles flesh, eliciting a scream as they embedded themselves within her flesh. Hermione could see Bellatrix trying to stifle her laughter. She began charming the floor to take on the quality of sinking sand and this had the muggle screaming her desperate pleas for help. Bellatrix began her cackling shriek of laughter which had the muggle screaming even more.
"Kitten give her a good one next! I love her screams, they're beautiful!" Bellatrix was jumping around the sinking floor with excited squeals and peels of laughter. "Take her arm off; let's see how loud she screams!" Hermione came out of the darkened area she'd previously been standing, an evil smile on her face.
"Defodio!" Both witches grew silent as the spell carving into the muggle's chest and shoulders. The words that Hermione carved into her flesh, 'Filth' 'Scum' 'Insect' 'Dirty', all four words deeply carved into her flesh they showed through to her bones. Every letter bringing more and more screams and her crying eyes were shining bright with fresh tears. Hermione and Bellatrix were bent over with their howling laughs echoing around the chamber, mixing in with the muggle's screams.
Bellatrix started teasing the muggle in a sing-song voice, she brought more fear to the woman than ever before and with a maniacal gleam in her dark eyes she raised her wand and aimed it for the woman that started screaming anew, "Dirty muggle scum! 'Deprimo!'" Hermione watched as the spell hit the muggle's head causing it to explode, showering the ground around her in bodily pieces and blood.
The squeals and laughter echoed all around the ground floor of the empty Manor, those in their portraits shuddering with glee as their descendants practiced for hours on their spells.
~*Torture Scene Complete*~
Dinner was fun for Hermione, she had been in a playful mood and had started a food fight with Bellatrix; a few minor jinxes and hexes joined in. On the whole though the two of them had been reduced to giggles, food everywhere and a very angry Twinkle standing at the head of the table pointing her long skinny finger at them both.
"Look at Misses mess, their hair has too many foods in them! Now Twinkle is having to rewash everything and Mistress will not be happy." Bellatrix was rolling on her back giggling, "Miss Bellatrix must be going for bath now and little Miss must joining." Hermione was just at the door when a piece of pumpkin pie hurtled toward Bellatrix; it hit Twinkle instead and sent the house elf flying to the floor with a squeak. This sent Bellatrix into a fit of giggling madness, her cackling making the little elf's cheeks to colour and her eyes to water.
"Stupid elf!" Shrieking with glee, Bellatrix ran from the dining hall and back to her bedroom. Still giggling at the vision that kept flashing through her memories.
After using the bathroom to shower and clean themselves, Bellatrix and Hermione went through to the downstairs study; the room that housed the larger of the fireplaces. Here is where they landed up staying until Hermione passed out on top of Bellatrix's Animagus form.
In another part of England, a teenage boy was sitting quietly on the roadside curb in front of a park. His trunk next to him and his temper only starting to dissipate while he heard his aunt's high pitch screams in the far-off distance as she floated along the cloudy sky.
Sirius sat just behind a brush in his Animagus form; coming out from between the branches, wanting to speak with the young man he must have startled him too much for a wand was now aimed at him and the icy wind picked up, it gave him a rather scary picture. Barking out at the boy in his way of a friendly tone, the boy flicked his wand upwards and suddenly the Knight Bus came to a stand still in front of him. Blocking his view of his godson. Giving up for the time-being, he ran back into the brush and continued back along the path that would take him home.
Hermione was sitting in the library; it was her last day in the Manor before she began her third year, she was curled up on the sofa with a book on becoming an Animagus when a body was suddenly on top of her. Shrieking from fright she and said body tumbled to the floor nails and fists causing some injuries to both bodies and suddenly teeth were biting into her shoulder the body above hers shaking with laughter.
"Bella! What are doing? You nearly scared me to death!" Hermione was rubbing at her shoulder where teeth had been mere seconds ago. "You better hope this doesn't bruise." Pouting at Bellatrix who was hovering above her she felt fingers grab at her lower lip pinching it enough that her nails broke the fleshy part inside. Hermione hissed at the pain and lifted her knee up to Bellatrix's abdomen and pushed her away.
"Awe come on kitten; I want to play!" Bellatrix started crawling toward Hermione, gripping her legs again nails once again biting into her flesh. Pulling away she stuck her fingertip with Hermione's blood on it, into her mouth. Hermione growled at Bellatrix tackling her to the floor again. Both of them wrestling around on the floor. "Ouch! Hey! That's not fair! You're going to make me bruise." Hermione smirked at the older woman and winked.
"Yes well, payback is a witch." Standing up and dusting herself off, she clambered back onto the sofa and made to grab her book again, but found her lap covered in wild black curly hair and a smiling face looking at her.
"I'm going to miss our play time 'Mione. Only fun I get to have is when you get to go to Hogsmeade on the weekend. I can come visit you for a little bit on those weekends." Hermione ran her fingers through Bellatrix's hair; taking small pieces and braiding them together. "Did you get Aunt Cassi to sign your permission slip?" A hum came from beyond her closed eyes, peeping through one she saw Hermione smiling softly to herself. They lapsed into silence, Hermione continued with her ministrations while Bellatrix fell into a deep slumber, having succumbed to the relaxing sensation running through her body from Hermione's fingers as they dragged across her scalp.
"Hermione, are you ready?" Turning to face the door she saw the dark witch making her way into her room, her travelling cloak already secured around her shoulders, Hermione's hanging from her arm.
"Yes, Bella, I'm just finishing off my hair and then we can go." Twinkle was waiting with Ara and Hermione's trunk in the foyer. Ready to leave as soon as the other two were downstairs. Soon the sound of hurried footsteps descending the stairs was heard and Twinkle saw the nod from Hermione. Disappearing with a 'pop', closely followed by Bellatrix and Hermione.
Appearing on the platform seconds later, Hermione was overwhelmed by the volume of noise this year. Mutterings of a Grimm being sighted around a muggle suburb had become the talk of the wizards and witches gathered around the platform. Small warning bells started inside Hermione's head, a Grimm, she would need to keep her eyes opened.
"Okay kitten, I will arrange with you for each weekend you go to Hogsmeade to meet up. So, call me on the mirror and we can arrange. I understand if you want to go alone for the first trip so you can get familiarized with the village." Tucking a wayward strand of hair from her face, Hermione looked at Bellatrix and smiled.
"We can meet on the first trip; I don't have a problem with that. You can maybe show me your favourite place to have lunch in?" Smiling at the excitement glistening in familiar dark eyes. "I'll take that as a yes." Bellatrix nodded and glanced at the clock.
"You've got ten minutes left, let's say our goodbyes and you can board the train. We will speak again soon." Giving her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, Bellatrix waved as Hermione disappeared onto the train. With an inaudible 'pop' she was gone.
The sorting was done, more students sorted, and a song sung by the choir. Hermione and Draco sat watching as Headmaster Dumbledore spoke about light in dark places; not that either of them paid much attention to him. They gave their attention when he introduced two new faculty members;
"I would like to introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor R.J. Lupin and filling in for Care for Magical Creatures, Professor Grubbly-Plank, will be our own Rubeus Hagrid." Applause was heard around the hall. The Slytherin's were quiet, not even an acknowledgement for either of their new professors. "Now let the feast begin." With a clap of his hands, the tables were lined with all sorts of hot foods.
All the students dug in and ate their fills, happily chatting with each other and catching up with each other. Hermione was telling Draco of a new spell she learned with Bellatrix and promised to teach him how to do it. Theo asked if she could maybe show him as well, having overheard the cousins. Nodding happily at his request, the three continued with their meals.
It had been a couple of harder days for the students, they finally had a proficient teacher in Defense Against the Dark Arts and he had them working hard with theory and practical magic. Hermione and Draco were thriving in Professor Lupin's classes, their knowledge of spells helping them drastically in his classroom.
They had just had an interesting session learning about the Grindylow, and how to defend themselves with the Revulsion Jinx which will shoot jets of boiling water at them while a person is underwater or the Ebublio Jinx which will also assist whilst submerged by encasing the Grindylow in large bubble, allowing the person to escape.
They were on their way to their next class, Potions. They were learning about the Babbling Beverage and were going to brew it as well. Professor Snape set them to their tasks, working in pairs. Draco and Hermione sat together and got started on their brew, Hermione went to collect the ingredients, Valerian Sprigs, Aconite and Dittany. They began working through their brewing, each taking a turn to add and then stir.
Draco began by stirring the crushed Valerian Sprigs into the cauldron, five clockwise turns and two anti-clockwise turns, Draco was then adding in the Aconite powder which Hermione followed with eight anti-clockwise turns and finally they added three drops of Dittany which was followed by ten clockwise turns and three anti-clockwise turns. Their potion became red in colour, earning them ten points a piece for Slytherin. They cleaned their stations, put the ingredients back where they belonged and then left the class after their Professor dismissed them.
Hermione split off from Draco, going to her next class, Ancient Runes while he went off to Care for Magical Creatures. Taking the stairs until she arrived at the classroom on the eighth floor. Professor Babbling was starting with the basics of Ancient Runes, by requesting that begin by practicing the writing of the runic alphabet. All the while she began explaining the art of runes and how they are used with many different types of wards.
"This is why you typically work with Arithmancy when dealing with runes, should you miscalculate when mapping out your runes for a specific ward, you may cause the ward to become inactive or worse, a death trap." Hermione having made notes in between her runic drawing.
"Can anyone give me an example of which rune is used in a protection ward?" Four hands rose into the air, Hermione being one of them.
"Yes Miss Bulstrode?" Hermione waited to see if her fellow classmate would answer correctly or not.
"It's a double rune, the 'estate' rune is first drawn into the rune stone allowing the magic to open a blue dome shaped shield which is then followed by the 'elk-sedge' rune which merges into the shield turning it transparent and cementing it to the rune stone." Professor Babbling clapped her hands with a smile.
"Correct, five points for Gryffindor." Turning to her chalkboard she flicked her wand and gave them the example of how the runes were used and what they created, just as Millicent Bulstrode had said.
"I'd like for each of you to find a rune you would like to write an essay on and present this in your next class. This will be your homework for this lesson. You are all dismissed." Hermione packed up and smiled at her Professor. She was excited to begin learning the art of the runes.
Hermione was sitting in the library doing research on her next assignment for Arithmancy, having a free period helped. She was quietly writing out her equations for Professor Vector. Draco had said that he greatly enjoyed taunting Potter and the Weasel immensely during the Care for Magical Creatures class. She couldn't understand why he would take on such a boring elective for their third year but didn't bother getting into an argument over it. It wasn't worth it for her.
When she had completed the assignment, she began on her next one for Professor Lupin, he was a competent teacher and she found herself enjoying his classes. She was working on the one-page essay on Grindylow's after their lesson they had, had. When she was done, she packed away her ink bottle, quills, books and assignments.
Walking back down to the common room, she was happy to finally be done for the day. She would take a shower before dinner and then return to her dorm to plan her first weekend at Hogsmeade with Bellatrix. Dumping her book bag onto her bed, she grabbed her toiletries and headed for the showers.
Freshly showered and dressed in her informal robes, she made her way out into the common room where she met with Draco. They headed out for dinner and joined Blaise and Theo along the way. Draco and Blaise were conspiring again for their next class with Potter and Weasley and how they could get them sent to detention.
Hermione was busy explaining to Theo about the spell Bellatrix had taught her, "It's called Transmogrifian Torture, it tortures the victim to death. It will change the shape of the victim to cause severe pain and will continue to do so until they're dead. The incantation is 'Transmogrify'." Theo was smiling widely, a curse like that was nothing short of brilliant. It was lighter than the Cruciatus curse, but it would do.