Bellatrix had arrived with Pansy shortly after Hermione and Draco arrived, and just in time to see Granger storm off after Draco. She shook her head, noting Pansy's laughter. "Best let it pass, luv. Few things we ought to get between, and a lover's quarrel is one of them. That one especially. Besides, there's more you don't know, but need to." The raven-haired woman glanced around them before pulling Pansy along into the kitchen.
"That's not your Hermione," she said bluntly, sitting down at the table. They hadn't been gone to terribly long, and there was still breakfast prepared for them. Brunch now, she supposed. "Cissy had a peek inside her head, and she's from some other place. From what I gather, somethin' like the other side of a mirror. She knows you, but not you." Bellatrix sighed. "I reckon it's taking her a fair time to get used to. She first saw me, and you'd swear I was gonna turn her inside out, she looked so frightened. And that were only yesterday."
Hermione listened as Draco's tone softened, her angry confusion fading like morning dew in the sun. Her hands shook, and she felt a terrible headache creeping up her neck. She was slowly feeling more detached from her past reality, like she was being obliviated piece by piece, but it was still there. A kernel of memory locked away to set everything at unease.
It still felt wrong, but only a shadow so. She had her wits, apparently far more so than Other Her, and she had the knowledge she had learned all her life. But she was beginning to get memories that weren't hers. Being the child of Pureblood parents, her father a Slytherin and her mother a Ravenclaw. Childhood instruction of cunning and wit, intelligence and ambition. Schoolyard games, and quarrels at times. Her first outburst of magic; giving a school bully bright purple polka dots up and down her face and arms. Her letter to Hogwarts, her excitement and her parents expected pride.
She was narrowly placed into Slytherin, very nearly being placed in Ravenclaw. Still, there was no fear or dread, only a different sort of pride. That Hermione had been eager to prove herself, hungry for validation, and lacked confidence in her own knowledge. She had made a quick friend in Pansy Parkinson, almost like Harry and Ron back in the other world, and had relied on her to help her through her academics. She returned the aid by sticking up for Pansy when Gryffindor's saw fit to bully them.
Then Draco's hand was at her chin, and her vacant stare focused on him. As his lips pressed to hers, more memories flooded her.
"You'll never believe who asked after you," Pansy teased, setting her books down next to Hermione.
Hermione sighed. "I swear, if it's Gregory Goyle again..."
"Close," she tittered, "Draco Malfoy."
"Shut up. Draco Malfoy? My, is my hair a mess?"
His words in the present hit her, and caused the tears gathered in her eyes to spill. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, pulling herself more forward as she kissed him again. Her lips trembled, frightened and distraught, but still needing and desiring the comfort. She remembered their first meeting, the Yule Ball. She had danced horribly, but Draco hadn't minded. When he complimented her choice of dress and her styled hair, she had been able to do little more than grin like an idiot. Then things had begun to darken at the close of the Triwizard Tournament, and he had sworn to protect her...
Bellatrix looked up at the ceiling, slowly stirring her tea. "It's gone quiet..." Her eyes fell back to Pansy, a faint smile on her lips. "Now we really stay out of that. Believe me, unless you want to see something you'll regret later."
Pansy's gaze remained in the area where she had last saw Draco and Hermione, it lingered there a little longer. She had to bite the sides of her cheeks form making a whole huge thing about the way Hermione acted towards her. Then again, there was a part of her that understood because she had gone through it with Blaise a couple of times. More than she had thought. She always thought that Draco and Hermione were so perfect because they've never fought, it was completely strange to see them fighting.
But her attention was grasped when Bellatrix had pulled her aside, she sat at the table next to the dark-haired witch. She listened when she said there's something that she didn't know. What could she possibly have not known? As soon as she came out with it, her eyes widened, was what Bellatrix saying actually true? She wouldn't lie to her, and even if she tried she'd know because she's been apart of the Malfoy family since her and Draco were in nappies.
Pansy's head cranked back to look up at Bellatrix, "How is such thing even possible, Trixy? It doesn't make sense, none of this does! Where is my Hermione then!?" She shrieked.
His dull silver eyes wandered the smallest speckles along her face, taking in the blank canvas as there wasn't even such thing as a scar there. He blinked, she looked like she wasn't even there with him and for a moment it set him with an uneasy feeling. His stomach tightened into knots.
Then, she came to which caught him in his own tracks on wandering eyes over her olive skin, and her lips were pressed to his again, arms flailed to wrap around his neck with a firm grip. HIs heartbeat quickened, and perhaps even skipped a beat for a second. Draco could feel the way her lips trembled beneath him, she was there, with him in the present and that was more than enough for him.
His hands roamed her clothed canvas, gripping at her sides with ease and caressing the opened skinned areas with a gentle hand while his head tilted just a tad for him to deepen the kiss. He took in as much as she could, inhaling her breathed pants and giving hers back. The hand that was at chin lifted up the side of her face, and got lost in her curled locks with a light grip, allowing his fingers to intertwine with some of the strands. With a light pull, and just the right amount he scratched his nails against her scalp, and lightly pulled which would make her head tilt back just enough for him to deepened the kiss more, to deepen the love he had for her, whether she was his Hermione Granger or another. He still loved her, even if she didn't feel the same.
He knew someday it would hurt to give her some part of him, that she couldn't be able to give to him. But this? In the moment, was enough.
Pansy glanced over in Bellatrix's direction; her facial expression contorted as she grimaced of disgust. She shrunk her head into her shoulders, and went about eating her brunch.
Bellatrix shook her head, her shoulders shrugging a little. "I don't rightly know. S'pose that'd be a question for her to answer, innit?" Her nerves were fried, and without much thought she pulled a cigarette out, lighting it. She'd handle Lucious later if he raised a fuss. "Either way she doesn't seem bad. Just... diffr'nt. I suppose you've already noticed she's smarter? Maybe after than our precious Draco? That don't just happen overnight. Besides, Cissy wouldn't lie to me, and Draco told the same tale."
She made a wry smirk at Pansy's discomfort with the proposition of them going at it. "Y'know, as her best friend, if you felt it was a bit too soon for her to be rollin' around like that. Well... I didn't see nothin'."
Hermione let out a soft moan as his hands wandered her body. She didn't try to stop it, didn't want to stop it. Despite having more her memories than the Other or was it about equal? This felt right to her. As well as deliciously good.
Where the hell's this coming from, Granger?
His hand at the back of her neck sent shivers down her spine, and goosbumps rose along her arms. She felt her nipples tighten and press against her shirt – oh god she had forgotten to put on a bra! But, oddly, she didn't care. HIs touch was even too timid for what she wanted in this moment, and she was surprised even at herself as a hand slid down his arm to guide the hand that was at her side up until it brushed against the side of her breast. She let out a shaky gasp, moaning softly before her lips rejoined his.
How far are you going to let this go, Granger?
Pansy's mouth gaped open as she exaggerated a gasp, "You think she'd just tell me something like that? Everyone else knows, and I'm the las to find out! Draco shoulda told me!" She crossed her arms over her shoulder with a huff, snapping her head up towards the ceiling with a deathly glare. How could they just be going at it right now? No, this was not okay. She knew she wouldn't have liked it if someone walked in on her and Blaise, but this wasn't his or hers Hermione, this was an imposter! - preposterous shite! Just because their Hermione hadn't given it up to him, doesn't mean this one will!
She snickered quietly, oh but when Bellatrix mention that it was too soon for them to be going at it, she hadn't seen nothing her eyes immediately lit up and with a once-over she shoved off the dining tables chair, and stormed her way through the many corridors, up the stairs and down to his room.
In all these years, he had never seen this coming. Him and his Hermione had come close to shagging, but she'd never let it up and he of course being a gentleman and all accepted it. That was until he hurt her just by telling her that he loves her, how daft was that of someone to get hurt over? Unless there was a bigger meaning behind it that he didn't understand, it hurt to not be told he was loved back.
But this? His hands exploring the curves of this Hermione brought him excitement, the excitement that he had felt when he was waiting to be told he was loved and soon it was eventually crushed with nothing but quietness. They were in the same poistion that him and her were in now.
Draco's groan was muffled in the locks of her hair, his hands continued to explore her sides. When she shoved him onto the bed, he fell back with such a lust look glistening in his silver hues as they pierced into her eyes, digging deep into her soul until he could see a light. He was going to bring her to the edge of oblivion and she didn't even know. Nor, did he think she were ready for that. You see; Draco isn't the kind of passionate type of lover, he likes the control over another, he likes it rough and at times he had brought passion. He made it known that he'd adore every part of her body, every mark, every scar.
But bloody hell she looked beautiful on top.
Draco raised himself up, with his hands gripped tightly at her sides and with his hips thrusted up, he flipped her over onto her back and delved deeper into her, his lips hungrily kissing the sides of her jawbone, trailing down to nip at the pulse of her neck. The temperatures between the two of them raising, his hand came to the single button on his robed blazer and took it off, one arm at a time. Her hands had muffled his hair, and it sprawled wildly along his forehead. Much like it looked when Her Draco had been turned into a ferret.
When she moved his hand to explore at the side of her breast, he eyed her deliciously and needy look filled his eyes, and his grasp as his hands massaged her breast in a gentle, yet applied harsh grasp. When she thrust her lips against his, he didn't hesitate when his upper teeth pulled in her bottom lip to nibble at.
"Fuck." He moaned out.
Hermione's pule quickened as they writhed about. She gasped as he turned them over, her back hitting the mattress. Oh god, this was really happening wasn't it? She felt a warm wetness spreading between her legs, and her knickers were increasingly sticky and uncomfortable. More than anything she just wanted them off. Her lips parted as he bit them, though her brow furrowed at his uttered word.
"A crude way to put it, Draco, but yes..."
Her head fell to the side, her cheeks flushed and her hair tousled. She moaned again at his hands, her hips rising to press against his. Right now, none of it mattered, and was a thousand miles away from her thoughts as she let him explore her body, even though they were both clothed. Her nipples pressed maddeningly against her shirt, two firm dots in the fabric as her chest heaved with deepened breaths.
Not even a second waisted, the door flung open and almost seemed as though it were kicked open. Pansy rushed in with her hands on her hips after brushing her hair over her shoulders, eyes blazing dealthy towards the two who were now sprung up out of shock.
It had all came crashing down as the door had been slammed open. Hermione screamed, throwing her hands up. Her first thought was that they were being attacked.
"Draco Lucious Malfoy! Get the fuck away from her right now, you are not going to do this to the other Hermione, do you bloody understand me? This one isn't yours, have you gone mad? Do you think the other Hermione would just give herself up so easily?" Pansy shrieked, and she stomped her way over and smacked him across the face, the same cheek that Hermione had smacked him but she didn't know.
A harsh smack to his face, which in result his hand came up to grab as he knocked back again but caught his footing. Twice in one bloody day!? Draco grimaced, his brow knitted so tight it was rare and his teeth gritted against one another with his jaw locked in place. His cheek stung, it stung and tingled against his already raised temperature skin.
She heard Pansy shrieking at Draco, who moved quickly off of her – much to her disappointment. She was just as surprised as Pansy slapped Draco, and she quickly scooted back just in case a slap was coming her way too. What was she on about, saying things like 'this one' and 'other Hermione'? Was Draco sneaking around behind her back.
Draco hadn't wanted to get off of her, he wanted to keep going, to take this matter further then possibly imagined. But of course, this time he wasn't going to get what he wanted because of Pansy. He swore sometimes that she had something for him deep down despite Zabini, his best man and her. This was all mad! It infuriated him that she could be so daft to just walk in like that, to just interrupt something before it could even begin!
"What the hell, Mum!?" She shouted, her hand slapping the bed. "You were the one that always egged me-" She froze mid-sentence, her brow furrowing. "No... That's not." Her blush deepened as she realized just what she and Draco were about to do. More pressingly, she was aware of her visible nipples and the now-uncomfortable arousal in her knickers. She grabbed a pillow, holding it to her chest, but still scowled at Pansy, put out.
Mum!? His head snapped to Hermione's direction when she spoke the nickname that his Hermione had for her. How was she getting these things? Through thick and thin, mum. What the bloody hell was going on right now? Animosity grew evermore over his face, the paleness on one side of his cheek had deepened red welt of a hand.
"I appreciate your concern Pansy, but who's to say Draco started it?" She crossed her arms firmly. "Who's to say this isn't the moment? Or was. Are you wanting in on it?" Where on Earth did that come from?
"I'm starting to question if you've got a little something for me, Pans. You're always walking in at the wrong times, you always have." He growled out, "You either have something for me, or Hermione. It's getting tiring isn't it? Not being able to have what you want?" He questioned her though his gritted teeth, letting his hands come up to fix his hair away from his forehead.
Pansy could feel her olive cheeks reddening with each thing the both of them shouted at her, but the way Hermione called her mum. It was the first nickname that Hermione had given to her because Pansy was always looking out for the brunette's best interests. Perhaps, this was their Hermione, maybe she was still inside if that wasn't really their Hermione? Well, now, nothing makes any sense to her anymore. None of it.
"I-" She muttered, her head dropped low as her gaze fell to the ground, even her hands fell from her hips and landed at her side. Her raven hair fell forward in her face, what the hell are you doing? Her thoughts were all over the place, what was she doing? Her cheeks flared even more red when Hermione asked if she wanted in on it, she nervously shook her head no because she didn't see either of them like that. Yeah, she had a crush on Draco for a while but wanted Hermione happy.
But, she didn't know that.
Pansy stomped her foot, "No! It's not like that! You are both entirely wrong! I have Blaise, you both know that. Okay?" She raised her head to glower at them, "Draco, we grew up as littles together." She looked at him, then turned her head towards the brunette, "You got sorted into Slytherin, and I just knew I had to make friends with you. But then we became best friends, and..." She faltered, "I knew Draco liked you. I-" She paused, "I'm sorry! Okay!" She shrieked and left the bedroom, using her wand to close the door behind her.
Hermione flushed with embarrassment, as Pansy grew frustrated. She didn't mean for that to happen, certainly. She bit her lip, giving Draco an apologetic look before hopping down from the bed. "Pansy, wait!" She hurried after her, only to have the door slam in her face. "Oww! Dammit!" She ripped it back open, quickly following behind. "Pansy! Oh, this is ridiculous." She drew out her wand, conjuring a series of ropes in front of Pansy.
Draco scoffed as Hermione went after her. It was quite ridiculous how Pansy knew how to get her ways that's for sure and that's exactly what she had gotten with the little stunt she had pulled.
When Pansy was caught in the series of ropes that Hermione had pulled from her wand, she haulted to a stop. Unable to move.
"Will you wait, for just one moment?" She tucked her wand back, turning Pansy around at the shoulder. "I didn't mean that, alright? I'm... well it's only been a day. I'm not trying to make excuses, only..." Someone had told her, as well Hermione should have, as she needed to know. Might as well be out with it.
"It's not quite an easy thing, having two minds somehow mush together into one. I don't mean to be blunt, but I have both memories of you as a wretched little harpie that loved nothing more than brutally teasing me, and as my best and dearest friend. Everyone in this house, especially Draco, I both loathe and love at the same time." She worried her lip, tilting her head. "Increasingly love, if it helps."
Hermione sat down on the bench, glancing over her shoulder to see if Draco had followed. Not seeing him, she looked back to Pansy, then the floor. "I don't even know if I can get back. Or how it even happened, really. And what if I can't? Am I going to be like this forever? Or will I go right back to being the Hermione you know better?" She found that she had been chewing at her thumbnail, and abruptly stopped, blushing.
The blonde-haired left his bedroom, immediately closing the door behind him as he passed the two. "I, uh, will be downstairs eating. You two need to talk." He harshly stated as he walked by, and down the stairs.
Glancing up at Draco as he walked on by, she felt bad that she had interrupted something so special for two people. Pansy didn't even intend for the brunette to follow after her at all, but she did, and she knew that's how Hermione used to do all the time when they'd get into fights. She'd always want the last word.
The raven haired sighed, rolling her eyes and lolling her head to meet Hermione's eyes, but she listened to the witch speak about having two minds. One of her Hermione and her Own. She was getting confused with everything. "Well, I am not the Pansy from your world! Just like Draco is not the Malfoy from your world. However, they both are to you, we are not that here." She shrieked, "If you can easily snog with Draco, then you can just as easily try to make this work. Put aside how the old Pansy was, and see me for who I am as your best friend." She huffed, brushing her raven locks over her shoulder, and crossing her arms over her shoulder.
Her lip quivered a little as Pansy reprimanded her. Didn't any of them understand that she was trying? Oh, but there was no sense in pushing it.
The witch cocked her head, "I'm sure Draco and I can help you with whatever you need if you really want to go back, we will not hold you here in a world that is not yours." She reassured, "But since you came here, created an uproar of events, you're going to stick around and help us with it before you go back. You don't just get to come around, and leave us to defend ourselves, Draco will lose his bloody mind if you leave! Not to mention-" She paused, glancing towards the stairwell where Draco had gone, "If this other Hermione comes back, she won't understand what's going on, and plus..." A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips all cheekily, "We need your brains for what's to come. Just remember, while you are here? We will look after one another!" She chirped.
But the rest of what Pansy said...
"Now just hold on," Hermione objected.
"This has been going on for months before I got here. Years even! Has no one noticed?" Her brow furrowed a little. "Wait- I know you have. And Draco. They- we... started dating right when Dumbledore went mad. Oh god, Dumbledore..." Her hands came up to her forehead as she softly shook her head.
Pansy's arched brow raised ever more while the other knitted into it and lowered closer to her eyelid, creasing at the forehead. "What about Dumbledore?" She leaned in, questioning her. But shook her head, "Never mind." She muttered.
When the brunette objected her response, her brow arched just the slightest, "Yes, it's been going on for years before you came here. I'm saying your outbreak of magic use. Slytherin's aren't allowed to use unless in front of a professor, but you didn't know because you weren't... from here." She shrugged nonchalantly, "We also snuck you out, which is a death sentence for us."
"What are we to do about this?" She asked numbly, before giving a dry laugh. "A dumb question, really. After all, before I got here, I was hunting bloody Horcruxes with Ron and Harry, three stupid children trying to fight the Dark Lord and his army..."
The raven-haired witch unraveled herself from the ropes that Hermione had binded her with, "You know what we're going to do about it. Much like you did before you came here, go to war. We don't have a big gathering though." She lowered her gaze, not having much people on their side wasn't a good sign, perhaps they'd be the losing side. Oh, gods!
Hermione shook her head again, noting again with a growing sense of self-conscious embarrassment the cool wetness between her thighs. She shifted uncomfortably before giving Pansy's arm a soft squeeze. "Go on down, alright? I just need to... freshen up. I'll be right down after you, okay?"
A warm open-mouthed smile spread over her lips, stretching from ear to ear and it even actually met her eyes, "Yes, go freshen up." She cheekily giggled, giving a gentle shove at the other witch's shoulders for her to go, as she too went a different way, down the stairs.
Hermione shook her head, smirking a little bit despite herself. She did appreciate Draco and Pansy staying by her, even if she had been quite difficult. And she, of course, would stay by them.
She backtracked to Draco's room, shutting the door softly this time behind her. She didn't bother locking it, and crossed the room hastily to the bathroom. Once there, she peeled off the t-shirt, folding it once and setting it on the countertop. That was fine, however... She wormed uncomfortably out of the jeans, then her knickers. Ugh, she had made an absolute mess. And worst of all, with no resolution.
Sighing softly, she dropped those in the laundry hamper before turning on the shower, getting it just right before stepping in.
Bellatrix had started day drinking by the time Draco and Pansy came back down. Well, trying to drink. She sat, staring numbly at her coffee mug, filled more with whiskey than coffee. Hearing hurried footsteps, she quickly brushed her eyes, looking up with a forced smile.
"Oi, Lucy. Get everything sorted, did ya?"
Not to long after Pansy and Hermione's conversation, she entered the dining room where she seen Draco eating the food that he had missed for breakfast. He didn't even glance up at her, and right there she felt a sinking feeling down inside somewhere. She felt like she was at fault for something, and of course she knew what that something was but he always got over it in the end, and they can't be acting like children when there's a war to come. She took up a seat across from him, and delved into her food.
"Oh, yea, everything's sorted." His words were just as cold as his glare in Pansy's direction. But when he looked up to his aunt, he raised a brow in curiosity, "All right, Auntie? Want to say something?" He asked her, he could tell from the looks of it that she may have been crying, which he could understand because of Tom's death. Draco hadn't even processed everything just yet, and all he could think about was keeping his family, yes, including Pansy and Hermione safe from Dumbledore's lions. Especially Potty and the Weaselbee.
Bella gave a dry laugh, though her look wasn't cruel. "Course nothin's alright." She wouldn't tear into Draco, that wouldn't help one bit. But her brow did furrow as she regretted having Pansy pull her interruption.
"I heard all that shoutin'. Dobby too; he's fixin' up a nice treat to soothe hurt feelin's. Why don't you make sure Mione's actually doin' well, eh?"
Her attention drifted to Pansy as she shook her head. "What a right mess of a day, am I right?"
Hermione had finished her shower, and was leaning against the wall. Water dripped down her body from her hair as her eyes stared dully at the drain. She kept replaying everything, trying to sort out her memories from the others, and found it increasingly difficult to do. Impossible, actually. Worse still, or perhaps better, since she was more mature about it, she knew how the other Hermione had really felt about things.
The blonde-haired wizard frowned at the dry laugh and his aunt's response, it was quite the dumb question to even ask in the first place but he wanted to make sure that she was still going to be with us no matter the circumstances. That she didn't go and do something entirely stupid, get herself killed. It wasn't something that was needed when she was one of the strongest of the family, not to mention that she was the one who had taught him Occulmency. But he took a bigger turn when he not only could close his mind off to those who'd use Legilimency on him, but manage to hide his true feelings, and blank expressions on full display.
"Yeah, sorry to ask." He apologized, "Just don't want you to go and do somethin' to get yourself killed, auntie. That's all." His eyes drifted down to his now empty plate. He felt a hell of a lot better now that he had gotten to properly eat something, yeah that apple held him over but it wasn't quite enough.
"I'm sure the whole house heard. Thought that these walls were thicker, but it seems I've assumed wrong." He shrugged, nodding his head to excuse himself from the table and sauntered his way back up the stairs to his room.
Pansy's eyes drifted to the back of Draco as he slugged himself out of the dining room, still feeling bad from what she had done and had created. There was a weird distance growing between them now, surely, she'd have to apologize at some point but knew to give him space. She had once again, interrupted something serious.
Finally, her eyes fell onto Bellatrix, "Oh, yes, quite the start of the day." She mumbled in response. Playing with the food on her fork, she couldn't bring herself to eat any more than what she had.