Harry Potter and the Aevum of Eternity

by Thundercracker-TC

The survivors of the second wizarding war suffer the scars of Voldemort's reign as they struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives, and Harry is spread thin across multiple responsibilities. Duty bound, he and Ron join the Aurors, where new challenges and mysteries await. Not all is as it seems though, and powerful forces lurk in the darkness, biding their time.. BLxHG slow burn

29. Chapter 29

Warning: Gore

Harry Potter belongs to JKR

Chapter 29

"What's a snake's favourite subject in school?" Hermione asked. If Julia could remember the answer to the riddle, it meant the memory had been rejuvinated.

Julia narrowed her eyes in thought, then shook her head.

"Nope, nothing," she said.

Hermione noted the result in a notebook and then added another mark to the chalkboard and shook her head and threw the chalk into the tray, knocking up a small cloud of dust.

"Linear, it's all linear," she said, "we need to start brewing before the obliviation happens otherwise the charm won't work."

She frowned at the two lines on the board, one drawn in blue and the other a series of yellow dots, her eyes fixed at the point where they intersected and moved away from one another. Hermione shook her head sighed heavily without looking up from the graph, mentally cursing the lines, wishing she could turn one of them into a curve. Julia shifted on her stool.

"Actually, I may know of one way," Julia said.

Hermione turned her head to look at the other girl and noted her hesitant expression.

"We could use a Hag's eye," Julia said.

"A Hag's eye. Does she think we could just wander up to a Hag and it will hand us its most prized possession if we ask nicely enough?" Hermione thought.

"Even if we knew where a hag who'd created one was, it's too dangerous," Hermione said, "we're better off researching another way. We could start tomorrow, after we take a field trip; we're out of will o' wisp and it's expensive, so it's into the forest again."

Hermione hmm'ed as she flipped through her planner; her free slot tomorrow was filled with Charms revision.

"What's wrong?" Julia asked.

"NEWTs are coming, we need to start revising," Hermione replied, "I guess we can start researching on Saturday…"

"Who cares about NEWTs?" Julia asked. Hermione narrowed her eyes at her, but her partner grinned before continuing.

"We've already made a huge breakthrough, cured pretty much every future accidental obliviation. All St. Mungo's has to do is keep a stock of potion on-hand," she said, "we'd be famous for that alone, not to mention you're the golden girl. You could have any job you wanted. What's more important, a letter on a piece of paper, or knowing you did absolutely everything you could to save your parents?"

Hermione shook her head. She'd put so much work into her studies already, she couldn't abandon them now.

"Don't you know anything about me by now?" she replied, "if I don't prepare for NEWTs, I won't be able to concentrate on anything else."

"I figured you'd say something like that, so here's another reason: With the two of us, you don't think we can manage both?" Julia asked.

Hermione smirked at that. Even though Julia did tend to have an ego the size of a small country, her brilliance couldn't be denied. Hermione flipped through her planner as Julia's confidence infected her; it just might work.

"Alright, we can think of it as a challenge," Hermione said, "but we have to do it without sacrificing sleep; that rule stays."

"Of course, wouldn't be much of a challenge without that," Julia said with a self-assured grin.

After midnight that evening, the two of them snuck out of the dungeons and onto the castle grounds. By now, they'd all but perfected their disillusionment and silencing charms, and getting out of the castle was almost routine. The half-moon hung low in the sky, lighting their path once their eyes adjusted, and they made their way towards the forbidden forest. Will o' wisps were less likely to light up while the moon was out, but walking through the forest in pitch darkness was impossible, and bringing a lantern was like lighting a beacon for all the nasty critters that called the place home; trouble would be drawn to it like moths to a flame. The best method was to get in, find what they were looking for, and get out without a fuss.

"There won't be any by the centaurs. We should head northeast," Hermione said as she pointed, "that way should be clear of the acromantulas, too."

"We're okay for venom?" Julia asked.

"Yes," Hermione replied.

"Good, I don't fancy reaching into any more acromantula heads. Ever," Julia said.

They wandered into the forest and stuck to the trails as best they could. The wind whistled through trees that had just started budding leaves, and the creak of boughs masked whatever undergrowth they disturbed with their passage. Thin, sparse clouds slid across the moon, plunging the forest into inky blackness, and they slowed almost to a standstill. Hermione groped around and found Julia's hand in the darkness and gripped it tightly so they wouldn't get separated or have to speak to find one another.

Will o' wisps used their luminescence to attract unwary travellers off paths. When they approached, the wisps went dark and used their magic to douse the travellers' lanterns as well, leaving them lost in the wilderness. The trick would be to charm them so they couldn't douse their glow, then they'd be easy pickings.

Hermione heard Julia recast her warming charm as they waited in the darkness for the clouds to clear, then she saw it off to her right: the nearest trees stood in dark contrast to the faintest bit of light beyond them. She squeezed Julia's hand and received a squeeze in return. They walked hand in hand through the ensnaring undergrowth, creeping closer to the pale blue light as it waxed and waned at irregular intervals.

Julia stopped suddenly and let go of Hermione's hand, and Hermione froze as well, then she saw it, about sixty feet away through the branches, a wan, pale greenish-blue glow floating slowly to their left.

"Aperto infundium," Julia whispered, and the wisp brightened as the charm took effect. They walked quickly towards it, and once she got closer, she saw the wisp itself, little more than a few indistinct appendages with a central cross section. It wriggled in its own light and tried to move away, but it could only float about a foot per second and they easily caught up to it.

"Immobulus," Hermione whispered, and the wisp stopped and floated quietly.

Julia opened her silk pouch and withdrew what looked like a black siphon hand pump. She stuck the tapered end right up to the wisp and drew the handle back slowly, sucking in the glowing essence until only a dim pale glow remained, pulsing like a heartbeat.

"Right, off you go," she said as she nudged the depleted wisp away with the tip of the siphon. It slowly drifted off into the woods.

Another glow drew Hermione's attention, just beyond a small ridge.

"Looks like another one," she said quietly as she pointed.

Julia checked the pump.

"Only half-full" she said, "we lucked out."

The two witches crept up the incline to the ridge, but when Hermione cleared the top, her eyes widened at the scene just beyond. Not more than twenty feet away in a small clearing, two hags stood on top of a fallen forest troll, their distinctive humped backs and extra long limbs marking them as the dangerous Dark creatures. A pile of troll limbs already lay on the forest floor, and vines and roots had grown out of the ground to bind what remained of its arms and legs. Although it opened its mouth and struggled to escape, not a sound reached them, and the vines, obviously magically enhanced, held it fast. One hag stood on the troll's chest, and the other stood astride the stumps of its thighs and had jammed a giant syringe needle deep into its belly.

"They've amputated its limbs and now they're siphoning its blood," she thought as she spied a large bucket next to the troll, "oh Merlin, it's still alive!"

She grabbed Julia's robe and pulled her down, but Julia brushed her hand away. Hermione tugged on her robe again, staring into her eyes and shaking her head frantically.

"We can't take on two hags at night, they'll kill us, or worse!" Hermione thought, but Julia only held up one finger, then peered over the top of the ridge again and aimed her wand.

"Is she mad?" Hermione thought.

She gripped her own wand and swallowed.

With a whispered spell that Hermione couldn't make out, Julia ducked back below the lip of the ridge and caught Hermione's hand, almost yanking her arm out of her socket as she pulled her away. Julia silenced both their feet and ran full tilt through the woods, dragging Hermione behind her through the snarling branches and uneven ground, away from the hags. An insane giggle bubbled out of Julia as she pulled Hermione along, and Hermione almost suspected she wanted to laugh out loud with the audacity of whatever she'd just done, and was only barely holding it in due to the hags just a few hundred feet away. When both of their breaths became laboured and Hermione's legs started burning, Julia stopped to lean against a large tree and bent over, hands on knees and heaving deep breaths.

"What were you thinking?" Hermione panted, "they could have seen us."

"Did you see *pant* what the one *pant* on its chest was holding?" Julia asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"No," she said when she realized Julia probably couldn't see her in the darkness.

"We just *pant* found our Hag's eye, hahaha," Julia said. She took a few more deep breaths and Hermione barely made out her silhouette standing up straight as she snickered again.

"What? What spell did you cast?" Hermione asked.

"Tracking spell," Julia replied, "this way we can come back tomorrow, with Ginny, during the day. If the sun is out, the three of us can take a hag, no problem."

The moon re-appeared and cast its silvery glow through the budding leaves, onto the forest floor.

"That's still incredibly dangerous, we should tell a teacher. If we know where a hag is going to be, they could help remove it, or even contact the Ministry," Hermione said.

Julia regarded her with a hand on one hip.

"And what do you think happens to the eye if we do that?" she asked.

"But… my condition," Hermione said, "it's not safe."

"Ah, it'll be fine," Julia said dismissively as she took her hand again.

Hermione wasn't so sure, but she stayed silent as they returned to the castle and snuck back into the dungeons.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the next morning dawned to a light drizzle, the kind that could last for days. Julia grumbled about it all through breakfast but Hermione was glad; it meant they could put off going after the hag and instead research other ways to increase the potency of their potion. She spread some jam across her toast and took a crunching bite.

"They're starting the wolfsbane potions," Julia said as she read an article in the Daily Prophet.

Hermione looked to the head table, where Professor Winthrop sat. He glanced up and made eye contact with her, and she waved to him, which he acknowledged with a small nod. She sighed.

Julia snorted as she continued reading.

"We'll see if the Ministry stuffs it up," she said, "A shoddy government funded batch of wolfsbane potions could just maybe be a problem."

Hermione nodded.

"Don't remind me," she said, "I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole thing."

Julia folded the paper and placed it on the table.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, I suggested to Winthrop that he try to persuade his father to put the legislation through, and then Death Eaters murdered him, and now they're probably after Professor Winthrop too," Hermione said, "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

"I thought you were going to talk about that," Julia said, referring to Hermione's visits with Madam Schultz, "what did she say?"

"Yes, and I suppose the sessions are helping but…" Hermione replied, "maybe I'll bring it up again today…"

---

"I still feel I'm at least partially at fault," Hermione said as she sat cross legged on the chair opposite Madam Schultz. The elderly and tiny witch with the bright blue eyes nodded in understanding.

"I sink you have healed enough to take on ze burden of additional understanding," Schultz said.

Hermione looked at her questioningly.

"As I understand, zis werewolf law vas debated for months and months, and nothing," the healer said, "zen after ze elder Vinthrop vas murdered, it is passed in a matter of veeks."

"Yes but-" Hermione said.

"How many lives vill now be saved or improved in exchange for one old man's?" Schultz asked.

Hermione expected her internal thoughts to rebel at this line of thinking, and she shocked herself when she found they more or less agreed with Schultz's assessment.

"That's not right though, it's a very slippery slope," Hermione said anyway.

"Zat is ze child in you talking, vat is right and wrong," Schultz said with a dismissive wave, "vee are grown vomen, we don't have zis luxury, zere is only who benefits, and who does not."

"Still, it would have been better if Abel Winthrop were still alive to pass it himself," Hermione said.

"And if it took another six months?" Schultz asked, "six more transformations, how many attacks, how many infections, how many deaths? Six more months of unemployment."

Hermione found herself weighing on a scale the remaining years of one older man versus a lifetime of werewolf transformations, of an innocent person becoming a murderer against their will, of a family devastated by a werewolf attack… she tried to stop, but she couldn't, and found herself again agreeing with Schultz's reasoning. Then she felt disgusted with herself.

"So you think it's right to murder someone if it will save more lives down the line?" she asked.

"Yes, of course it is," she thought, "ugh, what is wrong with me?"

"That's repugnant," Hermione said despite her own internal monologue.

"No," Schultz said forcefully, then grew quiet again, "I sink you should not feel guilt as though you did."

The old mind healer smoothed out her white robes.

"You did not hold ze knife," Schultz continued, "you did not intend for anyone to lose zere life. Ze Professor does not blame you in zis, and you should not either."

Hermione nodded, and she found the old woman's words soothing. A very small part of her made a few sounds of discomfort with the thought of feeling this way, warning her that next time, she might well be the one holding the knife, or giving the order, but she quickly pushed that down. She would never do something like those murdering Death Eaters did. Besides, their assassination of Professor Winthrop's father had the exact opposite reaction they wanted.

"Perhaps I am growing up," she thought.

"Come, ve must continue your treatment," Madam Schultz said, "have you had any more episodes since we last met?"

"No," Hermione replied.

As she spoke with the wizened mind healer, Hermione pushed the guilt over Winthrop's father's death away. Schultz and Julia were right; it was the Death Eaters alone who were at fault for Winthrop's father's murder. She didn't bear any responsibility, and there was nothing she could do for Abel Winthrop now, so it was time to grow up and focus on the people she could help.

---

Hermione twisted her fingers beneath the lacquered tabletop in the meeting room at the headquarters of the Daily Prophet, rehearsing what she was about to say. She looked up as the door opened to admit Rita Skeeter. The reporter wore one of her fitted fuchsia dresses, a large pearl necklace, and her signature green glasses.

"I almost didn't take this meeting," Skeeter said as she closed the door behind her.

"But then you realized that would be unwise," Hermione said with a lot more confidence than she felt.

"What do you want, Granger?" Skeeter asked as she sat down opposite Hermione, "I've been more than flattering of you."

"Leave Julia alone," Hermione replied.

"Your friend, the 'transfer' student?" Skeeter asked with a raised eyebrow, "why?"

"It doesn't matter, she's off limits," Hermione replied.

Skeeter narrowed her eyes at Hermione.

"I'll admit a lot of what I write can be considered 'sensationalist' by the snobbish elite, but you aren't the least bit curious why there's no record of this person ever existing before this year?" Skeeter asked.

"The nerve of this woman!" Hermione thought.

"No," Hermione said, "I've spent hours upon hours with her, and she's been nothing but trustworthy."

Rita Skeeter pursed her lips.

"Well, I suppose I could write something along the lines of 'all the more reason we should be curious', or 'what enchantment has this foreigner cast on our beloved golden girl to influence her so', but instead I think I will simply agree to your request," Skeeter said.

Huh? Hermione's eyebrows came together in confusion.

"That's it? No strings? No self-serving insinuation?" Hermione asked.

Skeeter's lips peeled back in a wolfish grin.

"Oh no, it'll be far too delightful if something ends up surfacing, and then I'll be ordered to write an 'I told you so' follow-up," Skeeter said.

Hermione snorted.

"Good luck with that," Hermione said as she stood up.

Skeeter leaned back in her seat and smiled at Hermione.

"Do drop by again. Perhaps we could have a proper interview; I ever so adore our chats," Skeeter said with a small wave.

Hermione ignored her as she made for the exit of the Daily Prophet as quickly as she could without breaking into a run; she just barely missed running into a copy boy with a large stack of paper as she rounded a corner and only managed to mutter an vague apology without looking back.

---

Bellatrix tossed her broom into the locker with a heavy thunk and started stripping off her gear. Practise had been more or less acceptable, but she'd had to resort to using one of the school's Cleansweeps after hers had trouble turning to the left. She showered quickly and dressed slowly, keeping Ginny's red hair and freckled skin in the corner of her eye; with tomorrow's weather forecast calling for sunny skies, she needed to speak with her, alone. Bellatrix timed putting her shoes on and packing up her equipment to match Ginny and held the tent sflap for her.

"White," Ginny said, "you need a better broom."

"Put me in the next game?" Julia replied.

"Get a better broom," Ginny repeated as she shouldered her bag and walked past her.

"I wanted to talk about something," Julia said, "in private."

She fell into step next to Ginny as they started the trek back to the castle. The warmth of the showers rapidly fled, and an evening spring breeze combined with her damp skin and hair caused gooseflesh to rise on Bellatrix's arms.

"It's about the project," Julia said.

Ginny's steps slowed.

"I think we've just about got it. Now we only need to find a way to increase the potency of the potion faster," Julia said.

"What do you mean 'you've just about got it'?" Ginny asked.

"I mean keep it to yourself," Julia said as she dropped her voice, "but we've done it, the cure works."

Ginny's mouth dropped open.

"Wow. That's… why didn't Hermione say anything?" Ginny asked.

"It only works for obliviations that happen after the potion starts brewing," Julia said, "we can't get the potency up fast enough to work on past obliviations, so, we're working on that."

"Oh," Ginny said, "Still, that's incredible, nobody's been able to cure obliviation for centuries. Do you know how you're going to increase the potency of the potion?"

"The only way we've found is with a Hag's eye," Julia replied, "do you know what that is?"

Ginny shook her head.

"A hag cuts out her own eye and infuses it with her essence, and it turns into a stone," Julia said, "the older the hag, the more powerful the stone and the longer it lasts. They can do a lot of things with it, but one of its powers is it can make things age faster."

"Like potions," Ginny said.

"Like potions," Julia echoed, "we were in the forest two days ago and I put a tracker on a hag, thinking to fight it in the daytime, but they're… they can be tough."

She recalled the near-death experience she'd had fighting a lone hag in daylight, one without the Hag's eye stone.

"Uh, yes, I remember our DADA class on them," Ginny said, "so we do this, get the eye, and Hermione can cure her parents?"

"Pretty sure," Julia replied, "she doesn't want to go because of her condition, but I figure if the both of us are going, there's no way she'd say no, and with three of us against one hag, during the day, we'll be fine."

They walked in silence for a moment, their shoes crunching on the worn path between the quidditch stands and the castle.

"When are we going?" Ginny asked.

Julia grinned.

"Ah, Weasley, I see why Potter likes you so much," Julia thought.

"Tomorrow," she replied, "the tracker won't last forever."

Ginny nodded.

"You want to tell her or should I?" she asked.

"I figured we could head to the labs now and tell her together," she said.

Ginny nodded, and ten minutes later, they opened the door to the spare potions lab.

"Hi," Julia said as she spotted Hermione making some notations on the chalkboard. She motioned Hermione to the door.

"Ginny?" Hermione said as she dusted her hands off.

"Good evening," Ginny said, "we're headed into the forest tomorrow to get the Hag's stone, are you coming?"

"I…" Hermione said as she alternated between looking at Julia and Ginny.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Ginny added.

"No you can't…" Hermione said, then she sighed as she looked at Ginny, "you're really going?"

"'Fraid so," Ginny said, "will it be just the two of us?"

"No no… I'll go," Hermione said.

"Okay, so… 10am?" Ginny asked.

"10am," Julia said with a smile.

Ginny nodded and departed, presumably back to her dorm. Julia turned to see Hermione facing her, arms crossed.

"That was dirty, roping Ginny in to convince me to go," she said, "it's going to be dangerous."

"You faced down You-Know-Who, what's one hag? Besides, nothing ventured, nothing gained," Julia replied, "it's for you… your parents. Plus, we'll be going during the day, we'll be fine."

She brushed past the muggleborn and Hermione followed her to the tent.

"I don't want to sound unappreciative, and I know this is about your memories too, but I still don't like the idea of you putting yourselves in danger like this," she said.

"Like it or not, I'm going, and so is Ginny," Julia replied without turning around.

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh.

"Merlin, you can be stubborn," she said, "still, I suppose we should be okay with three of us, so… thank you."

Julia nodded.

"Don't mention it. It'll be worth it when you get your parents back, you'll see," she said as she picked up her toiletries bag, "for now, we'd better get some rest."

The following morning, the three witches set out for Hogsmeade, but veered off the path and skirted around the edge of the grassy fields around Hogwarts until they had put the whomping willow between them and the castle, then they turned deeper into the forest. Bellatrix had stowed several extra jars in her silk pouch, similar to the kind the DMLE often used to collect evidence only painted black on the outside, because she needed a few of the hag's body parts for a ritual she had planned.

"Sequitur navis," Julia said, and her wand levitated and pointed towards the northeast.

"Handy, that," Ginny said.

Bellatrix ignored her.

"Come on, let's go before any clouds show up," Julia said. She led them through the forest. Sunlight filtered down through the trees, green with spring buds and new leaves, and the chirping of birds and scent of flowers filled the air. It almost seemed like a normal forest, but Bellatrix knew better. Many of the nasty creatures dwelling within might lay low during the day, but that didn't mean they were gone or completely inactive.

"Sequitur navis," she said again, and the wand pointed them slightly to the right. The spring sun was high in the sky by the time they arrived at a small hillock, similar to the one she'd found the first hag in.

"This is probably it," she said, "they like to stay in these things during the day."

She used her tracking spell a few more times as they circumnavigated the small hill to confirm the hag was inside.

"Okay, we've got to get the sun shining down on it," Julia said, "so that means clearing the trees, and then moving the top of the mound away."

"You sound like you've done this before," Hermione said.

"Extensive research," Julia replied.

With three wands working together, they culled the branches in short order and soon sunlight shone directly down on the small hill. Next, they scooped large portions of dirt and roots away and dumped them to the side. It wasn't until they'd nearly finished removing the entire top portion of the hovel that Bellatrix realised something was wrong.

"The trees are growing," Ginny said as she pointed. With a rustling of branches and creaking and splitting of bark, the trees around the small clearing they had made grew and expanded. They stretched up, higher and higher until they cleared the hill, then they bent towards the centre, interweaving their branches into a roof and packing themselves tightly together.

"Shit," Julia said, "they're blocking the sun!"

"No, no, no, incendio, finite!" Hermione said, and a bolt of fire impacted the tree nearest her, but the scorch marks grew over quickly, and her dispelling had no effect whatsoever.

"Defodio, reducto!" Ginny said, likewise attacking the trees trapping them with the hag, but the drilling charm only made a small hole which quickly grew over, and the reductor didn't do anything at all to the living tree.

With the entire area now in a magical gloom, Bellatrix could clearly see an unnatural purple and green glow shining up from inside the hovel and reflecting off the living dome above.

"Forget it, we came for the hag, so let's do it, then we get out of here," she said with a small flourish of her wand, and assumed a duelling pose. A loud cackling issued forth from inside, and rising up unnaturally slowly, a hag holding aloft a glowing stone wreathed in purple fire cleared the top and landed on the lip of the hole. Bellatrix's lip curled at the cursed ugliness of the creature, with its hunched form, extra-long arms, and fetid, razor-sharp teeth. Her stomach tightened as a second hag clambered up to join the first.

"Ah shit, it's a trap," Bellatrix thought.

"One hag in the sunlight, right…" Ginny said as she raised her wand, "if we get out of this White, I'm going to bloody murder you."

"So delicious," the first hag said as she ran a disgustingly long tongue over her teeth and eyed them like slabs of meat, "come to us willingly, witches, and your last moments will be spent in peaceful bliss. Resist, and die slowly and painfully."

Bellatrix's wand whipped in concentric circles, punctuated with a forward jab.

"Anescere!" she shouted with a half-step towards the hag, hair flying back with the force of her curse. Forked green lightning shot from the tip of her wand, narrowly missing the stone wielding hag as its form blurred and it dodged to the side.

"Keep them alive, I haven't tasted live witch's blood in years," the hag said to the other.

She held the stone up, purple and green aura pulsed, and Bellatrix heard rustling sounds from behind them.

"The vines!" Ginny said as the second hag jumped down to the ground. Bellatrix could see to the sides; the undergrowth beneath the trees was growing, and the ends of roots and vines grasped to find something to snare. They grew inwards, driving them towards the hags.

"Don't let them touch you!" Bellatrix said. She took another step forward only for her foot to slide out from under her.

The hag on the ground grinned at her, and now Bellatrix could see both of its hands covered in white frost and planted on the ground.

"Protego!" she thought reflexively while sitting on her arse, and an ear-splitting crack of thunder deafened her as a bolt of fucking lightning that would have incinerated her face into a bloody cinder impacted her shield and merely made her arm go completely numb and caused her hair to stand on end.

"Protego!" she said out loud, reinforcing the magical barrier. Hermione ran over, shoes crunching on the ice; she'd transfigured metal spikes into the bottom of them.

"Clever," Bellatrix thought, but she couldn't manage the transfiguration and hold the shield at the same time.

Another lightning bolt slammed her shield and the crack of thunder had her blinking and shaking her head as Ginny slid to a stop next to them.

"Imperturbulus." the redhead said, throwing up an opaque yellowish barrier as a series of sharpened icicles rifled at them. They slammed the barrier and clattered and slid across the frozen ground as Hermione transfigured Julia's shoes into ice cleats.

"Any bright ideas?" Ginny asked.

"Blind them, especially the one up top so we don't get fried, then focus on the ice one on the bottom," Julia said as she got to her feet, "just hit it as hard and as fast as you can."

The vines were through the shields and already grasping at their ankles; they were out of time.

"One, two… three!" Julia said, and she dropped her shield and dove forward while Ginny and Hermione went to either side. She caught a flash of the ice hag with its hands held together with a small globe of pure blue-white ensorcelling them.

"Lumos Maxima!" she thought, squinting her eyes and throwing a bright light into the air at the same time as a blast of icy cold passed above her and still managed to numb her face and freeze her eyelashes.

The pair of shrieks from the hags brought a smile to her face, and she giggled as she sent a wordless anescere at the ice hag on the ground. Momentarily blinded from the three brilliant orbs, it didn't know to dodge, and the green lightning impacted it in the chest the same time as Ginny's silent yellow confringo curse. Bellatrix watched in satisfaction as the ice hag's torso literally combusted and exploded in a shower of gore and dust, unfortunately spraying all over Hermione.

"She'll get over it," Bellatrix thought.

A low crack and a scream of pain drew her attention back to her right, where she saw the other hag, still holding the glowing purple and black stone in one hand, had wrapped up Ginny's wand arm with whip made of pure blue light. The lightning whip faded and the redhead dropped to the ground, twitching, smoke rising from the burnt flesh of her forearm. Bellatrix drew up her wand to attack, but the hag, movements blurring again, covered the distance and backhanded her with an arm that hit like a bludger and knocked the wind out of her. Bellatrix flew through the air and landed heavily against the grasping branches, and they immediately started twisting around her limbs while the hag continued on and leapt towards Hermione.

"No!" Bellatrix thought as she tore her wand arm free and slashed behind her twice to cut off the rest of them. The hag, in one fluid move, wrapped Hermione up with both of its elongated limbs and pinned Hermione's arms to her body. It's fanged mouth opened impossibly wide and drew back for a strike at Hermione's defenceless neck.

"I just need enough breath for one word," Bellatrix thought.

A step forward, a slash of her wand.

"Crucio," Bellatrix grunted. The hag arched its back and dropped Hermione, who crumpled to a heap on the ground, but the spell was weak and the hag turned to Bellatrix.

This thing dared to hurt Hermione. It wanted to drink her blood. The hag, like the first one, impossibly, started to stumble towards her. She felt vines at her heels again.

"Crucio!" Bellatrix said, louder this time as she stepped forward again, reinforcing the Unforgivable. Out of the corner of her mind she noticed Hermione covering her ears on the ground and shuddering.

A small part of Bellatrix realised she couldn't finish the hag alone. She needed Hermione to get up and kill it, but that thought died quickly as righteous anger gave way to the pure ecstasy of inflicting such pure pain.

"CRUCIO!" Bellatrix bellowed, resisting the urge to break into a triumphant cackle and settling for a maniacal grin instead as she felt the nerves of her opponent literally sizzling with the Dark power of her pure-blooded magic. The hag dropped to her knees and wailed even as dark violet power pulsed and coalesced in the stone in its hand, all while Hermione covered her ears and burrowed her forehead into the icy ground.

"Danger, the Eye," Bellatrix thought to herself, "it's gathering power for an attack!"

But she couldn't stop, the Unforgivable had her as much as she had the hag. She could feel every delicious ounce of agony, and she wanted more; infinite pain was hers.

"Sectumsempra!" Ginny shouted, and the hag's head separated neatly from its body and fell over backwards to the ground. The stone instantly went dark, and for a second, nothing happened, then a torrent of dark hag's blood burst forth from the neck, and the body fell forward to the ground as fine droplets of blood coated all of them. Bellatrix, the spell broken, chest heaving with exertion, looked to her right, partially to see what had stopped her spell, only to witness Ginny's wand clatter to the ground as the redhead stared at her blistered and trembling forearm, then Ginny sat down and lay back on the ice, chest heaving. The trees started to shrink down to their normal size, and Bellatrix looked to Hermione, who stood up unsteadily and locked eyes with her. Still exhilarated from the Dark spell she'd just cast, Bellatrix took in her form, wild hair and face covered in bits of hag dust, flesh, and blood, wand held loosely in one hand, battered but victorious, and never had she seen anything so beautiful. Bellatrix took four quick steps to her and wrapped her in a tight hug, then pulled back and had eyes only for her mouth, slightly open in shock, barely exposing her perfect teeth. She wanted to taste those lips, she wanted to taste Hermione's tongue; she wanted HER, all of her, and she wanted her now. Bellatrix leaned in, but at the last instant, some semblance of sanity returned to her, and she realized what she was about to do, and swerved, planting her lips on Hermione's cheek instead of devouring her mouth. She got a taste of hag dust but she didn't care.

Bellatrix pulled back to see Hermione staring up at her with confusion now mixed in with shock, a wet kiss mark on her cheek.

"We won," Bellatrix said as she wiped Hermione's cheek with her thumb. She stepped back and opened the dead hag's hand, prised the small black stone from it, then placed it in Hermione's hand and closed her dirty fingers over it.

"We won," she said again, "We can bring your parents back."

Hermione looked to the stone in her hand, then back at Julia.

"We won," she repeated, then flung her arms around Julia to hug her tightly.

"Ginny," Hermione said, and she let go to stumble to where the redhead lay.

"I'm okay," Ginny said, "just singed, and… fucking tired. Did you know getting electrocuted makes you tired?"

Ginny and Hermione shared a small laugh and Bellatrix looked to the fallen body of the hag, and remembered the other reason she'd wanted to kill one. She pulled a few black jars from her silk pouch and quickly used her wand to start carving bits of flesh off the corpse and dropping them in, where the charms caught them and they hovered in the centre of the darkened jars.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"I need the hag flesh," Julia replied without looking up.

"What for?" Hermione asked.

"An experiment," Julia replied, "I'll tell you if it's successful; don't want to jinx it."

She filled three jars before the trees moved enough for the sun to land on the rest of the body, and it started smouldering. It didn't immediately disintegrate like a vampire's would have, but it definitely blackened and smoked in the direct sunlight, and Bellatrix expected that rendered it worthless. She stowed the jars back in her pouch.

"So, one hag in sunlight," Ginny said.

Julia looked over to see the redhead sitting up and holding a sizable piece of ice against her arm, and Hermione seated next to her.

"You know," Julia said as she wandered over and plopped down next to Hermione, "after everything that's happened to you two, aren't you used to plans falling to shit?"

Hermione chuckled at that, and even Ginny joined in a little, then she grew serious again.

"You used an Unforgivable," she said, "three times."

"I saved Hermione's life," Julia said.

"You put her in danger in the first place," Ginny said.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione said as she stared at the small stone in her hand, "we won, and we have the hag's eye."

"Fine," Ginny grumbled, "I was just saying…"

Bellatrix glanced to the muggleborn sitting next to her, who sat staring at the unimpressive looking black rock in her hand. How she wanted to take Hermione's soft hand in hers and stroke it while staring into those chocolate brown orbs, but she had to settle for watching a small smile touch her cheeks.

She looked to Julia.

"Thank you," she said with such an expression of pure gratitude that Bellatrix actually found herself forced to look away.

"You're lying to her, every second of every day, you're lying about who you are," she thought.

"Come on, let's get out of here before something smells this hag blood," Julia said.

"I should get this looked at too," Ginny said as she stared at the blisters on her arm, "it bloody hurts."

They trudged their way back to the castle, drawing stares on their way to the Hospital Wing from the few students not in Hogsmeade. While Madam Pomfrey made a fuss over Ginny's burn, as usual, she didn't ask anything beyond a cursory question about the nature of the injury. They left Ginny in her care and returned to the dungeons and the lab. Hermione left the pouch holding the stone and most of the rest of her belongings in the tent, and they quickly gathered their towels and toiletries for a much-needed shower.

The warm water pouring over her brought both arousal at the thought of Hermione wet and nude and running her hands over herself, and curiosity at her uncharacteristic silence. Bellatrix would have thought she'd be ecstatic over acquiring the stone. Now they only needed to find another source of black filament, and the potion was as good as done. This time, she timed her shower perfectly and turned off her water just as Hermione did, and quickly shoved her arms through the sleeves of her bathrobe to meet her as she crossed the sinks. Hermione's cheeks were flush pink from the shower and scrubbing, and Bellatrix imagined she looked much the same. Hermione gave her a polite smile, but then she returned to frowning again as she continued on to the lab. Julia fell into step next to her.

"What's the matter, shouldn't we be celebrating?" she asked.

Hermione only frowned as they squelched their way across the hall. They opened the door to the lab and stepped inside. Only once they were behind the wards, Hermione started speaking.

"I completely fell apart during the fight," Hermione replied as they crossed the room to the tent, "I thought the sessions were helping, but today… I couldn't do anything against those hags."

They ducked into the tent.

"It's a good thing you were there," Julia replied, "you saved us with those iron cleats."

"Turn around," Hermione said as she prepared to change. Bellatrix turned and put her palms on the table and closed her eyes. She did her best to block out the sound of rustling cloth, to focus on Hermione's words and voice instead of the image of her naked body conjured by her mind.

"You can turn around now," Hermione said, "Honestly, I was okay at first, which I suppose is an improvement, but then it was like I was right back when …, when I was…"

"When you were being tortured," Julia said as she turned and took in Hermione's muggle outfit, jeans and a grey sweatshirt, "probably was the same spell."

"And the same voice," Bellatrix thought. She took Hermione's silent thousand-yard stare as confirmation.

"You said the sessions were helping," Julia said, "maybe just keep going."

Hermione blinked and looked back to Julia.

"Of course I will, it just feels like a setback is all," she said, "sorry, what was I thinking, you still need to change."

They traded spots and Bellatrix fought off the urge to 'accidentally' brush against her as they passed.

"Anyway, you're right, we should be celebrating," Hermione said as Bellatrix changed into a fresh set of robes.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade then?" Julia asked.

"After today, I'm in desperate need of a hot chocolate, a good book, and a comfortable chair, preferably by a fire, so that means Gryffindor common room," Hermione replied, "You?"

"You sure know how to party. Then again, I shouldn't talk; there's some research I need to do," Julia replied. She needed to confirm everything about the ritual she was preparing to undertake.

Hermione nodded.

"I might sleep in the tower tonight…" Hermione said, "see you tomorrow."

Julia waved as Hermione exited the tent.

---

Hot chocolate in hand, Hermione slowly climbed the nearly deserted steps to Gryffindor Tower. The image of Julia's exultant face swerving at the last second to plant a kiss on her cheek played over and over in her head.

"Was she just really happy about getting the Hag's eye, or was it something else?" Hermione thought. Her fingertips brushed the spot, just to the left of her lips, and she felt a tightening in her chest as she contemplated what it would have felt like if Julia hadn't swerved. It was already intoxicating having them pressed against her blood-spattered cheek; she wanted to know what a real kiss felt like.

"This isn't normal," she thought, then she immediately chastised herself.

"Stop it, this is perfectly normal, you just never imagined it might be normal… for you," she thought.

"Then again, you don't even know if you really are…" she thought, "oh, now that's pathetic. You can't even think the damn word."

"Do it, think it," she thought, "gay. Lesbian."

They were words she'd always associated with some abstract 'other', and never considered applying to herself.

"Possibly applying," she thought, "you don't even know for sure."

She touched her cheek again.

"It could be stress, you know, a response to a near-death experience," she thought, "then again, that could easily apply to Ron, too."

"Hope springs eternal," she said, and the Fat Lady's portrait swung open to admit her to the deserted common room. The red and gold themed carpets and overstuffed chairs were just as she remembered, and a fire crackled merrily in the hearth. She sat down near enough to feel the heat from the flames, set the mug down on the side table, kicked her shoes off, and fished around for something to read. She settled on the Standard Book of Spells, Year Seven, figuring she could get some revising done while she tried to relax. After trying to read the same paragraph four times, she gave up and just moved her eyes over the words while the fight played out in her mind over and over again, especially the part where Julia embraced her tightly, kissed her on the cheek, and placed the Hag's eye in her hand.

She heard the common room door portal open, and her gut clenched as a fake saccharin sweet voice drifted to her. Hermione watched silently as Neville and Daisy Vane entered and kissed at the foot of the boys' dorm.

"I'll be right down," he said as he vanished up the steps. The Head Girl glanced around, spotted Hermione, and smiled at her.

"Bloody hell," Hermione thought as she looked down at her book.

Vane did not take the hint, and crossed the room to lean against her chair.

"Hi Granger, I haven't seen you here in a while," Daisy said.

"Visit the Gryffindor common room often?" Hermione asked without looking up.

"I'm Head Girl, I can visit all the common rooms," Daisy replied, "Neville's just asked me to the dance, though really it was a foregone conclusion. I hadn't heard, did you have a date?"

"Shit," Hermione thought, immediately followed by, "wait, you thought it was a waste of time, why do you even care?"

Of course, she knew the answer to her question: it was because Daisy Vane was trying to rub it in her face.

"Not really any of your business," Hermione replied as she turned a page.

Daisy's face contorted into a small pout.

"Aww," she said, "that's okay, I'm sure someone will pluck up the courage to ask you."

She put her thumb and forefinger to her chin.

"Then again, all the war heroes are being snapped up, and you were dumb enough to lose yours. Who's going to date poor, plain-Jane, know-it-all Hermione Granger now?" Daisy said, "men don't like women who are smarter and more accomplished than they are, you know."

"Do you even like men?" Hermione thought, "you certainly had feelings for Ron, and Victor, sort of. But not like this."

"Oh, well, looks like I've given you a lot to think about," Daisy said as she patted Hermione on the back of her hand and stood up, "don't worry, I'm sure you'll find someone, and definitely won't grow old alone living with a bunch of cats."

"I wonder if Julia would go to the dance with me," Hermione thought, "oh bollocks, Vane left and I didn't say anything. What is her problem, anyway, why is she such a bitch? I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be friendly."

Neville, wearing a fresh outfit, waved to her as he exited, and she smiled and waved back.

"Should I say anything to Neville?" Hermione thought, "no, better not get involved."

Her mind drifted back to Julia, more specifically, Julia's lips. Minutes ticked by and she didn't really notice the passage of time, except that her leg fell asleep after she'd sat on it for half an hour or however long it had been.

"Hermione? What are you doing here?"

She looked up to see Eric Wildy descending from the boys' dorm.

"It's my common room too," Hermione replied.

Wildy smiled.

"Ahh, yes, I know, I just meant err, I never see you here," he said.

"I wanted to relax a little bit," Hermione said, then she furrowed her brows, "why aren't you at Hogsmeade?"

"Oh," Wildy said as he stood up a bit straighter, "I was working on next week's schedule."

"For the escort service, right?" Hermione asked.

Wildy nodded.

"Mind if I see it?" she asked.

"The schedule? Sure, be right back!" he said, as he turned and sprinted up the steps.

He returned less than a minute later with a large rolled up parchment, and she padded over to a table to join him as he unfurled it. Colour coded boxes were connected by various multi-coloured lines, some dotted in varying styles.

"It's everyone's schedule who's signed up for the service, and everyone who is escorting anyone else from every club and class, where they need to be, and when," he said.

"This is really impressive," Hermione said as she studied the schedule.

"Thanks," Wildy said, "it's a lot of work, but it's worth it. Attacks in corridors have all but stopped."

Hermione glanced over to see the redhead staring down at the schedule with pride.

"So next weeks' schedule is done?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Wildy replied with a nod, "I just need to get the copies to the members today, or tomorrow morning, maybe."

"Are you… going with anyone, to Hogsmeade, tomorrow?" Hermione asked.

"Just Hunter and Thomas," Wildy replied, then he paused, "err, are you?"

Hermione shook her head, and Wildy nodded. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Would you like to go together?" Hermione asked.

"With you?" Wildy asked, his voice rising a full octave, "Err, I mean, yes, sure, I'd love to."

"Nine o'clock then?" Hermione asked.

Wildy nodded.

"I'll see you at the entrance, by the Grand Staircase?" he asked.

Hermione smiled and nodded, and Eric Wildy beamed at her. She turned back to the schedule.

"This is really impressive, what you've done here," she said.

"Thank you," he said.

"I'm going to go back to my book now, see you tomorrow?" Hermione said.

Wildy nodded.

"Of course, you like reading," he said, "see you tomorrow."

She nodded and returned to her chair while he exited through the portrait. Was she possibly leading Wildy on to satisfy her curiosity about her own sexuality? Yes, yes she was.

"Isn't that what dating is supposed to be about though?" she thought. A bit of guilt spread through her.

"Even if nothing happens, he'll still be ecstatic he went on a date with me," Hermione thought.

---

The following morning, Hermione cleared the last step to reach the ground and walked towards the main entrance of the castle to find Wildy already waiting for her. She'd taken the effort to put on a skirt and stockings, and he wore a light blue sweater and dark slacks. He smiled and waved when he spotted her, then stuck his hands in his pockets. He stood up a bit straighter as she approached.

"Hi morning," he said, "ready?"

"Yes," she replied, "you look smart today."

"Thank you, so do you," Wildy replied as his cheeks flushed red.

Hermione let her hand swing by her side as they walked beneath the overcast sky and wondered if Wildy would try to take it. She felt more in control of this date than she'd ever felt on any previous one; the fact she felt almost nothing romantic for Wildy at all and had no expectations whatsoever was, in a way, extremely liberating. Of course, the whole point of asking him to Hogsmeade was to see if she could feel anything for him.

"He's a perfectly acceptable boy, maybe a bit young, but he has initiative, and he's clever, and he obviously fancies me," Hermione thought.

"I thought we could stop by the Three Broomsticks for a late breakfast, and then see where the day takes us," Wildy said.

"Sounds lovely," Hermione replied.

They found a booth and sat across from one another, ordered, and then stared at each other for a solid three seconds. Hermione smiled at him.

"I erm, I like your outfit," Wildy said, "where did you get it?"

He sort of winced, and Hermione internally giggled at his discomfort.

"This is fun! Is this what dating is supposed to be like?" she thought, "ironic that the easiest way to have fun is to not have any expectations."

"Thank you," Hermione replied, "err, I think I bought it at a charity shop, to be honest."

"Oh.." Wildy said.

Hermione smiled again and decided to throw him a bone.

"I know almost nothing about you, why don't you tell me about yourself?" Hermione asked.

"Sure. Umm, what would you like to know?" Wildy asked.

"Maybe start with your family," Hermione replied.

"Okay," Wildy said, "well, I'm a half-blood, my mum didn't know my father was a wizard until I had my first bout of accidental magic…"

Hermione listened and nodded at the right places as Eric Wildy started opening up and she filed away bits of information about his life… how he had a muggle older cousin who was really more of a brother to him, how his first accidental magic happened at the age of three, when he'd made bubbles shoot out of the laundry machine, and when his letter had come, then of going into hiding with his father the previous year. Their food arrived and Hermione kept him talking with a few nods, smiles, and follow up questions all the way through the meal. They ordered coffee, and Hermione stirred a cube of sugar and some cream into hers.

"I think I'd like to get to know the real Hermione Granger," Wildy said as he watched her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean we all know the stories, how you and Harry Potter and Ron Weasley defeated You-Know-Who, but I was talking to some of the older escorts, and they said the stories aren't like Harry at all, that he's just a normal bloke," he said, "but none of them seem to know you that well, really, and I imagine it's probably the same… whatever they write about you isn't the real you."

"I'm not sure exactly what they write. What if you don't like what you learn about the 'real me'?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think that's poss…err… it's probably a risk worth taking," Wildy replied.

She observed him over a slow sip of coffee while he swallowed.

"Are you bringing anyone to the dance next week?" she asked.

Wildy shook his head.

"I haven't umm.. I haven't asked anyone yet," he replied.

"Would you like to go? I'm sure we could talk more then," Hermione said.

"With you?" he asked.

Hermione blinked and stayed quiet.

"Err. Yes. Yes, I think that would be brilliant," he said.

"Good," Hermione said as she took another sip, then she paused, "Hang on, exactly how many people did you ask about me?"

Wildy's face flushed crimson and he stammered, and Hermione just laughed: a real, good-natured release, and after a moment, he joined in as well.

"Always a good sign when someone can laugh at themselves," she thought.

They walked the outskirts of the town, and gradually Wildy got over his initial nerves and relaxed a little, though he still blushed and grew quiet whenever Hermione teased him. The entire time, she kept introspecting, wondering whether she was feeling the beginnings of any romantic attachment.

"I'm really not sure," she thought, "I suppose I'll only know for certain if he tries to kiss me."

Her mind flashed back to the forest, of coming an instant away from having her throat ripped out, and Julia closing in and almost kissing her, and her stomach made a little flip.

"Like that," she thought.

After walking around the edge of town and chatting, they eventually made their way back to the castle and parted ways beneath the Grand Staircase, with Wildy heading back up to the Tower and Hermione headed to the library. As usual for Hogsmeade Sundays, it was deserted except for Madam Pince, and Hermione basked in the deadened silence and smell of leather. She entered the Restricted Section and started searching for books that might hold instructions on how to activate a Hag's eye. After less than an hour of reading though, she discovered that they were rare enough that each Hag's eye was for all intents and purposes unique, and what worked as a method to unlock one might not work on another. She pulled one tome after another from the shelves and began the arduous task of copying down whatever she thought might be useful, and made notes on references to other books that she'd have to peruse when she had more time.

Several hours and a missed dinner later, she returned to the dungeons to find Julia already asleep. Hermione quietly changed for bed, then slipped beneath the covers. If she'd been allowed to remove the books from the Restricted Section, she could have kept reading, but as it was, she would have to be satisfied with the several pages of notes she'd written. She had already designed outlines for a few experiments to test whether the procedures she'd uncovered would unlock the eye's power to accelerate potion brewing, so the day could be considered a success.

"More research tomorrow," she thought as she tried to get comfortable in her bunk.

Hermione found herself back in the library, looking over dusty tomes chained to the shelves. She pulled one and her eyes blurred over the words held therein, reading them but not really comprehending what they said. When she looked up, she saw a bed in the next row of bookshelves, just sitting there. She found it odd but also perfectly natural at the same time. Then a mysterious someone wrapped arms around the waist and kissed her on the neck, and she felt herself smiling. It was a vague and shadowy shape, and it led her by the hand to the bed, where it pushed her gently down on her back.

"That's odd. Why is there a bed in the library?" she thought.

The figure leaned over her and kissed her lips, face, and neck, but it didn't have any features itself.

"I'm dreaming," she thought, "oh, these are the best kinds of dreams…"

Now that she knew she was asleep, she could take control of the dream. She turned the heat up, caused her dream-lover to tear her clothing off and lay her bare, and she spread her legs wide, grinding against the weight pressing down on her. It felt so amazing, so real, and she knew, here in the safety of her own mind, she could do whatever she wanted. She inched closer to a release and mentally urged the figure on to push her over the edge, when suddenly Julia's face and blue eyes appeared above her.

"I want you," she whispered.

With a sharp inhale, Hermione snapped her eyes open, and the library shelves slowly faded into the darkness of the tent. She lay splayed out in her own bed, still clothed, thank goodness, with a pillow between her legs instead of a shadowy lover. Heat intense enough to be almost burning radiated from her groin, and she squeezed her thighs together. Julia lay sleeping in the bunk on the other side of the room, her breaths deep and steady. Hermione pulled the pillow back in its proper position and adjusted the sheet she'd kicked off back over her legs.

"I've never had that kind of dream about a girl before," she thought as she stared up at the bunk above her. Not that she'd had many actual sex dreams in the first place, but still.

Ugh, she'd been right on the edge when she woke up. Hermione rolled onto her side to try and fall back asleep, but the warm and tingling sensation between her legs could not be ignored. She tucked the extra pillow back between her thighs and tried to get comfortable, but the pressure there only served to further wake her up.

"Why shouldn't I finish it?" she thought as she turned onto her back, lifted up the hem of her nightgown, and ran her palms over her stomach. She'd read that fantasies were perfectly natural and safe, and were more or less anything goes.

"That includes fantasies about girls," she thought as she closed her eyes and ran her hands up to her ribs, dragging her shirt up with it. She exhaled slowly and tried to control her breathing so as not to wake her tentmate. One hand made its way up to her nipple, already hardened with her arousal, while the other drifted down, back over her stomach, and to the edge of her knickers. She ran her hand over her inner thighs and closed her eyes, picturing Julia's face smiling as she imagined it was her teasing hand. Then her fingers slid beneath the elastic band to nudge it down, seeking out the wetness she knew was just below. She spread her knees again to try and give herself better access, but the fabric stretched against her hand, restricting her movement even as she found the spot and dragged some moisture up to it. Hermione opened her eyes and glanced to her right, at Julia's sleeping form.

"Just need to be quiet," she thought as she brought her knees up under the covers and slipped her knickers over her bum and down to her ankles. She left them looped around one ankle so she could find them later, pulled her shirt up above her breasts, then ran both hands down the sides of her naked hips as she spread her knees again, this time relishing the sensation of freedom with nothing restricting her movement, no barrier between her and the sheets sliding over her skin. One hand dove down again, to the hot wetness between her legs, while the other moved northwards to tease first one nipple, then the other. She settled into a steady motion as she imagined Julia touching her everywhere, sliding their bodies together. The wave built and she tensed, then it built some more.

"Almost…" she thought as she imagined Julia's face filled with lust, cheeks flush, hair draped down around their faces.

Her toes clenched of their own accord as it suddenly crested, and she clamped her mouth to shut to breathe through her nose as her climax swept through her, shuddering and pulsing. When she came back to herself, she glanced over at her tentmate, who still slept soundly. She lay there for a moment, rubbing her thumb and first two fingers together as her heart rate and breathing slowed. She pulled her nightgown down and considered leaving her knickers around her ankle, but then the thought of possibly kicking her sheets off in the middle of the night and exposing herself the following morning crossed her mind, and she reluctantly looped them back around her other ankle and pulled them back into position. She rolled onto her side again and tried to ignore the dampness still between her legs as she closed her eyes.

"It was just a fantasy," she thought.

The following morning, Hermione stretched as she woke, then she recalled what she'd done the night before. Julia was already up, changing clothes by the table, and Hermione watched silently, wondering how accurate her conjured image of her naked body was. She tried to shake off the mental remnants of the previous night's activity.

"Morning," Hermione said.

"Morning yourself," Julia replied as she turned around, "sleep well? Breakfast?"

Hermione nodded.

Julia exited the tent and left Hermione alone with her thoughts. Although it was all in her own head, Hermione felt as if she'd used Julia's likeness, without permission, for her own carnal pleasure, and that somehow it was wrong of her to do so.

"This is stupid. Why do I feel like I took advantage of her?" she thought, "I shouldn't feel guilty about this. Besides, how would I even ask permission for something like that?"

She dressed quickly and brushed her teeth, then returned to their potions classroom, where Julia leaned against one of the tables, twirling her wand.

"Hi," Hermione said as she entered the lab holding her toiletries bag, "just going to drop these off…"

Without stopping the twirling, Julia turned her other palm up as if to say 'well, get on with it then'.

"I just have to act like nothing's out of the ordinary," Hermione thought as she emerged from the tent and images of the previous night's solo session continued to flash across her mind.

Hermione's thoughts churned on the walk up to the Great Hall. Julia was uncharacteristically quiet, but her presence was like a beacon to Hermione's senses, and she was hyper-aware of her every move.

Hogsmeade had been so easy as she smiled and chatted with Wildy, why did she feel so awkward now?

"Blast, why am I so self-conscious? Where did yesterday's confidence go?" she thought.

She just had to remember that she was the one who was feeling odd, and Julia had no idea what she'd done the previous night.

"Just act normal," she thought.

Ginny joined them at breakfast.

"Heard you had a good time yesterday," she said as she started filling her plate.

Hermione looked at her questioningly.

"Marcos says Eric Wildy took you to Hogsmeade?" Ginny said.

Julia glanced at Ginny.

"Oh, that's nothing," Hermione replied as she picked up a warm muffin, "he's interesting but… how should I explain this. Nothing happened."

Ginny nodded.

"Uh huh, sure," she said.

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes.

"How bad are the rumours?" she asked.

"You're carrying his child," Ginny said.

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued spreading butter on the muffin.

"I told them I hadn't heard otherwise," Ginny said.

Hermione shook her head and chuckled despite herself as Ginny smirked, while Julia silently watched the entire conversation.

---

"Another redhead?" Bellatrix thought as she absently deflected and sidestepped charms and hexes from her two duelling opponents, "does she have a thing for them or something?"

She actually found herself waiting for Michaels to finish his spell, everte statum, which she blocked with a perfectly timed and focused protego to send it straight back at him. The Slytherin fifth year flew through the air to land heavily on his backside on the ground.

"Ok ok, stop," Bellatrix said, and Wong let her wand arm hang by her side while Michaels dragged himself back to his feet.

"That's enough for today," she said, "this is a duelling tournament, so you'll be able to focus on your opponent fully and not worry about someone else jumping in. Before next session, I want both of you to practise two wordless spells, and keep going until you literally can't move your wand anymore. Mastering one or two spells to the point you can act on instinct and reflex is ten times better than knowing two dozen that you can't recall in the middle of a fight. Michaels, make sure you have a good wordless protego, too, so you can reverse whatever they throw at you, and Wong, you're a firstie, so forget the shield. Flipendo and expeliarmus. More importantly, practise casting them while running and dodging. You're going to make them miss and then hit them before they know what happened; it's all about surprise for you."

Allison Wong nodded.

"Are we improving fast enough?" Michaels asked.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes.

"Just assume you're going to be duelling me in the first round, and keep practising," she replied.

Bellatrix absently twirled her wand between her fingers as the two others drank from water bottles and straightened out their robes, and her thoughts turned to Hermione again. The rumours had only magnified since Monday morning, and why wouldn't they? Their resident war hero had gone with Eric Wildy, the lanky Irish Gryffindor fifth year, to Hogsmeade. Bellatrix didn't know much about Wildy, only that he was one of the three bullies who had had several incidents with Michaels. She snapped her gaze up to Michaels just as he was about to depart.

"Wesley, quick question," she said, and he waved to Wong as she left.

"What do you know about Eric Wildy?" she asked.

"Guy's a wanker, but he's left me alone lately," Michaels replied, "he seems to have become more popular after that escort service thing. Why?"

"No reason," Bellatrix replied absently.

"It's because he's dating Granger, isn't it?" he asked.

Bellatrix shot him a look that promised unspeakable agony.

"Bye," he said as he fled through the door for the relative safety of the hallway. She let him go.

"He's not the problem," Bellatrix thought, her mind already delving down the paths of how she could humiliate or threaten Wildy to stop him from dating Hermione.

"You know, you could always talk to her, she trusts you, remember?" Julia thought, "at least confirm if the rumours are actually true before you cause any permanent damage."

She settled on doing exactly that as she returned to the lab only to find Hermione wasn't alone. She stood near the blackboard nearest to the empty storeroom and was in the process of explaining the charts, while Winthrop stood near one of the lab tables, nodding. They glanced to the door as she entered, and Hermione gave her a small smile, while Winthrop waved her over.

"Come on in, Miss White," he said, "I was just congratulating Miss Granger on your fantastic discovery; it appears you've done it, and without any additional potions mishaps."

Julia nodded as she stood next to Hermione, who gave her another nervous smile.

"Is she nervous because she's realized I fancy her, and she's now dating someone else?" Julia thought, "what if she's started dating someone because I fancy her?"

"Thank you, sir," Julia said.

"I suppose the only question is, do you want to wait until you've determined whether there's an alternative method of increasing the potency of the potion before submitting to the Council of Master Healers?" he asked.

"I think we'll wait, sir," Hermione said, "we still need to test it, and I want to cure my parents as soon as possible."

"Of course," Winthrop said, "it seems as if you won't be needing the potions lab this summer after all, Miss Granger."

"Still, thank you for the offer," Hermione said.

"Of course," Winthrop said, "though there is one thing you might assist me with. I intend to sponsor a few field trips next month. I want to see if it's possible for us to build homes for disadvantaged muggles."

Hermione furrowed her brow.

"You mean with magic?" Hermione asked.

Winthrop nodded.

"If we could do it easily, and without alerting the muggles, don't you think we ought to?" he asked.

"Of course," Hermione replied almost automatically, "we almost have an obligation to… but what about the Statute?"

"Leave that to me, Miss Granger," Winthrop replied, "shall I say you're interested?"

Hermione nodded.

"After all you've done, how could I refuse? Plus it's for a good cause," she said.

Julia nodded. No way was Hermione going on a field trip without her.

"Well, that's settled then," Winthrop said, "once again, congratulations, ladies. I am convinced you will go on to lead extraordinary lives, and it is my honour to know you both."

He stood and left the two of them in the lab.

"Muggle houses?" Julia asked.

Hermione shrugged.

"It's the right thing to do," she replied.

Julia raised an eyebrow. Enough about muggle houses, that's not what she wanted to talk about.

"Right. Sorry to be a gossip, but I have to know, are you really dating Eric Wildy?" she asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I'm really not. We just visited Hogsmeade together, and honestly I wasn't intending on even going, but that two-faced… Head Girl was rubbing it in my face that I didn't have a date to the dance on Saturday," Hermione said.

"She doesn't have a date to the dance," Julia thought as her blood surged, "bloody hell, I'd completely forgotten about it, but here's an opportunity…"

"Hmm," Julia said, "… shall we both go as single ladies and see how many heads we can turn?"

"Oh… I didn't have a date, but I do now," Hermione said, "I'm going with Eric. As friends."

Julia raised an eyebrow again, and Hermione laughed.

"Just as friends, I swear," Hermione added.

"Mhmm, and do you even have a dress yet?" Julia asked.

Hermione, still snickering, shook her head.

"I'll stop by Madam Malkin's tomorrow, maybe," she said.

Julia rolled her eyes.

"If you want to show up Vane, Malkin's won't do, go to Twilfitt," she said, "they're more pricey, but well worth it."

"I'll think about it, but you're taking this way more seriously than I am, how is that possible?" Hermione said, "really, what business is it of yours who I date?"

Julia stopped for a second. True, it really wasn't any of her business at the end of the day, but of course that wouldn't stop her.

"Well, I'm your friend," she replied matter-of-factly, "I ought to know these sorts of things."

"Besides, I don't like Vane, and now I like her even less. That girl just has to be the centre of attention, all the bloody time, so when you show up and turn every head in the room…" Julia said, and then she smiled, a wicked predatory look, "oh, it'll be exquisite."

"Alright, if you insist," Hermione said, her lips quirked to the slide in amusement.

They spent the rest of the evening poring through Hermione's notes and devising possible alternative methods for activating the Hag's eye until the lights flickered, indicating it was nearly lights out.

The following morning, Bellatrix awoke to her wand vibrating in its cubby. She dressed quietly and stepped into deserted halls, and climbed all the way up to the top of the Astronomy Tower. The ritual to quicken a duellist's reflexes included vampire dust to counteract the aging effect of using magic to enhance a witch's reaction time.

"Hag's dust should work just as well, so long as it's fully dusted but its magic hasn't been destroyed," Bellatrix thought, "that means cooking it in weak, dawn sunlight."

Her thighs burned as she climbed the last of the spiral steps and emerged on the large stone platform, lit only by the grey, pre-dawn light to the east. The large copper orrery dominating the main platform ticked away quietly, tracking the position of various planets as they moved across the sky, even when they couldn't be seen. The bronze telescopes lining the outside of the platform had all been capped after the previous night's lesson, and Bellatrix found herself alone, looking down at the misty fog drifting over the lake. A sense of peace and calm washed over her as she watched the world silently preparing to wake up, then she got to work. First, she withdrew from her pouch a large platter she'd swiped from the Great Hall, and a silver stirrer lifted from Sluggy's potions class. Then she emptied the horrid slabs of hag flesh from the jars onto the platter, where they landed with wet squelches, and waited for the sun. The sky slowly shifted from grey to red and gold where the sun reflected off a few small clouds, high up, and the sky itself turned to purple, and then an ever brightening blue. Bellatrix caught some movement down below, a single person, previously hidden by the mist, rounding the eastern edge of the Black Lake and jogging towards the castle. She squinted and considered aiming one of the telescopes down to see who it was, but the hag flesh started smoking, and she got to prodding and flipping pieces over with the silver potions stirrer. The ichor was the first to vaporise, followed by the skin. Little flecks of dust flaked off in the swirling breeze at the top of the tower, but plenty stayed at the bottom of the platter. Just as the sun crested the horizon, Bellatrix flipped one of the jars upside-down, and held it over the dust and charred lumps to levitate all of them up to be held suspended in the middle of the glass, then capped it and stowed it quickly in the darkness of her pouch.

"Done and done," she thought as she vanished whatever sludge remained on the platter, then waved it about a little in case she missed anything.

Golden sunlight reflected off the silver, and she glanced at the still brightening sun just barely cresting the trees.

"Hermione would like this," she thought, and smiled to herself. She packed up and returned to her tent to see if her partner was awake; after having roused herself before dawn, Bellatrix was famished. She opened the flap to see Hermione already stretching and yawning in bed.

"You're up early," she said.

Julia nodded.

"I watched the sunrise from the Astronomy Tower," she replied.

"Okay…" Hermione replied, "how was it?"

"Quite nice," Julia replied.

"Ask her," Bellatrix thought as Hermione didn't reply.

"Would you like to see it?" she asked.

Hermione paused.

"Okay," she said, "tomorrow?"

"Long as the weather holds," Julia said, "are you hungry? I need food."

The next morning, the two of them snuck up to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Luckily, the weather was the same as the day before, clear skies with fog over the lake and grounds and the tower rising above it. Hermione yawned as they leaned on the cool metal railing and waited for the sun.

"There he is again," Julia said as she noticed the figure running through the mists.

She pointed to draw Hermione's attention.

"Hang on, is that…? It can't be," Hermione said as she squinted, "I think that's Draco Malfoy."

"Cissy's son?" Bellatrix thought. She uncapped a telescope and aimed it downwards, standing on tiptoe to reach the eyepiece. It took a moment; she had to get the telescope aimed ahead of him and then let him run through the field of vision.

"Definitely Draco Malfoy," she said as she recognized the blonde hair and sharp nose, "why's he wearing muggle clothing?"

"What?" Hermione asked as she stood up to look as well.

"He was running there yesterday too," Julia said.

"Strange," Hermione said. Then she stepped away from the telescope, crossed her arms, and stared down at Malfoy as he returned to the castle.

"What do you know about him?" Julia asked.

Hermione shook her head slowly, then she let a puff of air out through her nostrils.

"What do you want to know? He's an entitled bully, and a coward. Altogether a loathsome human being," Hermione said without taking her eyes off of him, "why do you ask?"

"Just curious," Julia replied.

"Curious about Cissy," Bellatrix thought, "her son is here, at school. If there's a way to make contact with her, it's through him. But I can't just waltz up with a, 'hey there mate, how's your mum?' Grr."

"I hope you're not getting any ideas," Hermione said, "he's the reason Dumbledore is dead."

Bellatrix turned her head to stare at Hermione.

"He killed Dumbledore?" she asked, then hoped she'd sounded more alarmed than impressed.

"No, Severus Snape killed Dumbledore, but Malfoy let the Death Eaters into the castle that night," Hermione said as she glanced at the far end of the platform, "it happened right there. Harry saw it all."

She leaned on the railing again to stare down at the tiny figure, and her expression hardened.

"It's unforgivable, what he did," Hermione said, "I can't believe Hogwarts let him return after that."

This wasn't what Bellatrix wanted when she asked Hermione to watch the sunrise with her.

"Hey," she said as she bumped her shoulder into Hermione, "forget it. As soon as we find some more black filament, we have everything we need to cure your parents."

Hermione smiled at that even though she must have known she was trying to take her mind off Draco, and Bella's chest twinged in response; she couldn't help but smile back.

"And you," Hermione said.

"What?" Julia replied.

"And your memories," Hermione said.

"Ah, right, my memories," Julia said as her smile faded. Hermione's expression turned questioning.

"I was thinking," Julia said, as she turned to stare at the growing light in the east again, "what if I've been obliviated for a reason? What if I did something I shouldn't have, or… what if I obliviated myself?"

Hermione watched the pink and gold sunrise for a moment before responding.

"Well… if you really don't want to, that's your choice, of course," Hermione replied, "but if it turns out to be something like that, then… we'll work it out together. And we have friends, too, I'm sure we'll be able to take care of almost anything."

The sun peeked over the top of the trees, leaving bright after images on Bella's retinas. She looked to Hermione, who turned her head to meet her gaze, and smiled at her as light of the sun reflected off her eyes.

"Kiss her, it's perfect," Bella thought.

"Don't you dare!" Julia thought.

"Thanks for this," Hermione whispered. She rested her hand on Julia's forearm for a second, her touch electric even through her robes.

"I'm hungry, let's get breakfast," she said suddenly, and led the way back down into the castle, with Julia trailing in her wake.

---

Later that day, after afternoon classes finished, Hermione and Julia huddled in the lab, trying process after process they'd researched in the Restricted Section. Hermione had hoped at least one of them would activate the potion brewing powers of the Hag's eye, but that hope faded as one experiment after another yielded no result. Finally, the last process turned up nothing, and Hermione's patience, already thin due to the early morning, ran out.

"Stupid bloody eye," she said as she ground her fingers in to her scalp and then brushed out her frizzy mane, warm and slightly damp, thanks to the heat from fires they'd been using.

"Forget it, there's bound to be more theories in other books in the library, we can check after dinner," Julia said.

Hermione sighed heavily. She wanted to argue, but there was nothing left for them to do now; they had no choice but more research. On cue, her stomach growled.

"Right, let's go," she said.

She jerked the lab door open and nearly ran into someone, only to look up and almost immediately recognize the platinum blonde locks of Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" she asked.

He looked down at her and blinked slowly, then took a deep breath.

"The Slytherin common room is in the dungeons, Granger," he drawled, "you'd know that if you'd ever read 'Hogwarts, a History'."

Hermione's mouth opened as the instinct to retort that she had, in fact, read 'Hogwarts, a History', several times collided with the realisation that Malfoy knew it, and was making fun of her.

"The real question is," he continued as he attempted to glance past the threshold of the lab door, "what are you doing down here?"

Hermione eyed Draco and reached back to close the door behind Julia as she slid into the hallway.

"I meant what are you doing at Hogwarts?" Hermione said, "I'm surprised you'd show your face around here at all, after what you did."

"Fortunately or unfortunately, after the joy that was last year, it'll take a little more than a few sophomoric comments to dissuade me," Draco replied, "I'm preparing for my NEWTs, same as you, I imagine, though you still haven't told me what you're doing down here; your common room is in a tower."

Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"None of your damn business," she said.

Draco leaned forward an inch and held up a finger.

"Exactly," he said. He turned on his heel, put his back to her, and walked on.

Rage and frustration, both at the lack of progress with the Eye and how she'd seemingly been verbally outmanoeuvred by Malfoy, compounded with her empty stomach and bubbled over. She took a step forward to call after him.

"How's your arm these days, Malfoy?" she asked, completely ignoring the small crowd that had started to gather at the minor confrontation.

Draco paused with his back to her, then he spun. For a split second, she saw fury in his eyes, then it was gone again, back to his usual, unpleasant countenance.

"How's yours, Granger?" he sneered.

"Ha," she thought. With a triumphant smirk, she grabbed the cuff of her robe and jerked it up to reveal the cream coloured and perfectly unblemished skin of her forearm.

Draco stared at it for a second, then he sniffed.

"Good on you, Granger," he said, then he turned his back again and continued walking down the passage.

As she lowered her sleeve and the crowed dissipated, she felt like she'd won the argument but still lost somehow.

"I see what you mean," Julia said, "pleasant fellow."

"Forget him. Dinner, then library," Hermione said.

---

Bellatrix tapped her fingers on the potions desk. Hermione had entered the tent to change into her outfit for the spring dance, and she was taking what seemed like forever. Finally, she emerged, hair as frizzy as ever, but now wearing a floor length dress that didn't have any flaring to speak of, but wasn't overly revealing. A vivid violet at the hem faded up to pink, and then near white at the shoulders. A single white sleeve covered her scarred arm; apparently, she was still concerned about the transfiguration she'd cast to hide it. Bellatrix swallowed as her stomach flipped about, especially when Hermione stepped off the platform to reveal a slit halfway up one leg. The muggleborn held the dress off the floor; she would be wearing heels when she went to the dance but until she put them on, it would drag on the ground.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked as she turned around.

"I think… well I think you're stunning, but it needs some accessories, and you'll have to fix your hair," Julia said.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I know, it's such a bother though," she said.

"I'll help," Julia replied, "I'm thinking some fine gold chains looping around your shoulders and arms maybe."

"Idiot, you should have suggested going together a long time ago, then this could have been a joint effort for both your outfits," Bellatrix thought.

"Gold chains," Hermione repeated dubiously.

"Little ones. A very fine chain about your neck and shoulders will be a great accent, trust me," Julia replied, gesturing with her fingers.

"I don't have money for that kind of jewellery," Hermione said.

Julia scoffed.

"Are you a witch or not? We'll transfigure it," she said, "it only needs to last the night, and nobody here will be able to tell the difference."

"Especially when you're the one wearing it," Bellatrix thought.

"Alright. What should we use, some thread, maybe?" Hermione asked.

"Good idea," Julia replied, "there are old tapestries, practically falling apart, in an unused classroom on the third floor. I'm pretty sure we could pull some from there."

Hermione changed back into robes and twenty minutes later, they were hard at work transfiguring the various threads they'd unwound from the worn tapestries into very fine gold chains. It was harder than it looked, and it took a few misfires at first before they found the right method.

"Are you sure this isn't going to look gaudy?" Hermione asked without looking up.

"We won't overdo it," Julia replied.

---

A simple sticking charm affixed the golden threads to the dress about the shoulders and neckline, and Hermione had to agree with Julia, their sparkle would draw attention down somewhat, but not overly so.

"Good?" Julia asked as she held the garment up by the shoulders.

Hermione nodded; Julia had been right, the gold completed the outfit.

"Right, hair next," Julia said, "sit, look that way."

Hermione found herself pushed down into one of the stools by the potions table and Julia took a position behind her.

"Vanitus capillus," Julia said, and Hermione felt her hair flattening out. Julia repeated the charm a few more times, and an unsettling feeling burbled in Hermione's stomach; she wanted to see what Julia was doing, but there were no mirrors in the classroom.

"Subrevo extrin," Julia said with a few waves, and Hermione felt her hair flipping, twisting, and styling itself "torquent calor, torquent calor."

A small wave of heat rushed by one cheek and then the other as tendrils of hair curled about and hung there.

"Where did you learn all this?" Hermione asked. None of these charms were in the standard book of spells.

"My mum," Julia replied as she twisted and pulled her wand with a few more wordless charms, "at least, that's where I think I learned them."

"Hmm," Hermione said as her hair continued contorting itself, "thank you for this."

"I don't trust anyone else to do it," Julia replied, "you need to look your best so that stupid bitch Vane feels maximum insecurity. Vinculum."

Hermione saw a near white ribbon with just a hint of pink in it zip off the table, then felt it weave itself through her hair and tie itself off.

"There, what are you using for makeup?" Julia asked.

"I have some in my bag," Hermione said as she opened her pouch and rummaged around inside. She pulled out a half-used lipstick, some blush and eyeliner.

"What in Merlin's name is that?" Julia asked, "is that muggle makeup?"

"Err, yes?" Hermione replied.

Julia rolled her eyes.

"Wait here," she said as she walked off to the tent.

Hermione opened her compact to check her reflection; her hair looked almost professionally styled with a pair of small braids running along the sides of her head and some kind of looping, twisting knot in the back she couldn't even begin to imagine how to create. The ribbon tied it all off beautifully, and she almost touched it with one hand, but then held off for fear of ruining it. Hermione snapped the compact shut as she heard Julia open the tent behind her.

"Right, here we go," Julia said as she placed a small black box on the table and held Hermione's dress up for her to take.

"Zippy's deluxe makeup kit," Hermione said as she read the label on the side, "what does it do?"

"Mostly stores makeup," Julia replied, "change."

Julia turned her back while Hermione slipped into her dress. By the time she finished and sat back down, Julia had popped open a small compartment in the side of the black box and now stood poised with a white brush in one hand.

"Foundation, hold still," she said as she leaned in and started applying it to Hermione's face.

Julia worked in silence, switching from one instrument to the next. When she started on the eyeliner, Hermione could actually feel the heat from Julia's face as she leaned close to focus on the application, and Hermione breathed deep. Fresh sawdust. At first, she thought it was the scent of the makeup, but then Hermione realised she'd smelled it before, usually after Julia returned from duelling or quidditch practise.

"Julia's scent," she thought as she inhaled again, drawing it in. She glanced over without turning her head to see Julia's face just inches from her own, her lips slightly parted as she focused on the lip liner. Hermione's heart started pounding as she caught a glimpse of Julia's teeth, and her tongue behind them. The pureblood stepped back to inspect her work.

"I'm surprised nobody asked you to go," Hermione said in an attempt to take her mind off her body's reactions, but her voice came out slightly more breathy than she'd intended. She swallowed.

"Who says they didn't? But I told them all to fuck off," Julia replied as she switched to a small spray bottle and spritzed a floral scent several times on Hermione's face and shoulders.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

Julia replaced the bottle and closed up the box.

"Because I didn't want to go with any of them," Julia replied as she turned to face Hermione.

"Elegance in simplicity," Hermione said.

"Motto of my life," Julia said, "you're done, do you have a mirror?"

Hermione opened her compact again and barely recognized the young woman staring back at her, even when she smiled.

"Beautiful," she thought. She absently rubbed her arm beneath the single sleeve of the dress.

"Thank you," she said.

A knock sounded at the door, and Hermione glanced towards it.

"Just in time," Julia said.

Hermione nodded and slipped on her heels. They were only slightly uncomfortable as she balanced in them, but she felt somewhat odd looking down on Julia.

"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked.

Julia glanced around the potions classroom.

"Try to figure out this Hag's eye," she replied.

Another knock sounded at the door.

"I'll… see you later then," Hermione said.

Julia nodded.

"See you," she said quietly, almost whispering.

Hermione stopped by the door to glance back and see Julia give her a small wave. Then she opened it to see Wildy wearing dark dress robes and carrying a small bouquet of white and purple flowers in one hand. His mouth dropped open when she opened the door, then he swallowed and found his voice.

"You look fantastic," he said.

"Thank you," Hermione said, "so do you."

He offered her the bouquet, which she accepted and gave an obligatory sniff.

"Shall we?" he asked, and she nodded.

He offered his arm and she looped hers through as they started through the dungeons. She could practically feel the nerves grating through Wildy, and she mentally encouraged him to relax. They entered the Great Hall; despite the dim lighting, the massive room had been magnificently decorated in hues of green, yellow, and light blue for the spring dance. Flower chains hung from the walls, and vines of green partially obscured the ceiling, currently enchanted to show a lazy spring morning sky complete with puffy white clouds. A long table of refreshments sat where the sorting took place, and a band played a slow melody where the head table usually resided.

"Would you care for a drink?" Wildy asked, overly formally.

"Yes please," Hermione said as she tried to make his life as easy as possible. He trotted off towards the refreshments while Hermione glanced around at the decorations. She spotted someone approaching out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see Tracey Davis and Andrew Stevens, her dark-haired counterpart prefect, only a few feet away. She wore a deep green dress and her hair had been pinned up to reveal her slender neck, while his robes were black but with a matching green vest. Glittering silver eyeliner spread from her eyes to give her an exotic look.

"I don't know why you don't clean up more often, Granger," she said.

It took Hermione a second to realise that coming from the Slytherin, this was a compliment, and she smiled.

"People shouldn't judge others on their appearances," Hermione said.

"Maybe not, but they do," Davis replied, "I mean, look at Stevens."

"Whu-?" the prefect said as he tore his eyes from Hermione.

"See?" Tracey said, as she backhanded him lightly in the arm, "why don't you get us a pair of drinks."

Stevens nodded and with one more glance at Hermione, shuffled off to the refreshments table.

"I like the gold," Tracey said, "and your hair."

Hermione glanced over to see Tracey give her a small, almost imperceptible smile, and her heart warmed slightly at the apparently genuine appreciation she saw in the prefect's expression.

"Thank you, your dress is beautiful," she replied.

Tracey smirked.

"See, it is possible for us to get along," she said.

Wildy returned with a pair of cups.

"Evening Davis," he said as Hermione accepted the drink and took a sip of what tasted like some kind of berry juice.

"Wildy, well done," she said as she stared out into the crowd of dancing students, "ah, would you look at that. Weasley's brought Potter."

Hermione looked up, and though it took her a moment, she eventually spotted Harry and Ginny near the centre of the crowd on the dance floor, looking like they only had eyes for one another.

"Trace," Stevens said as he returned with a pair of cups.

Tracey accepted and took a sip, then placed her cup on a table.

"Sod it, let's dance," she said as she grabbed Stevens' hand and led him onto the floor.

Hermione watched Harry and Ginny for a moment, so obviously and completely in love that they seemed to not even notice there was anyone around them. She smiled and then felt a small lump form in her throat. She didn't feel anything like that for Wildy. At all. Then again, of course she didn't, she barely knew him, while Harry and Ginny had known each other for years.

"How is it you're happy and sad at the same time?" she thought.

"What about Julia?" the thought popped into her head, but she pushed that away for the moment.

"She's a girl. How common or accepted is… that, in Wizarding Britain?" she thought.

"You hypocrite, does it even matter?" she thought, "No, of course not. What matters is how she feels about you. She's your friend, and from the looks of it, you're her only real friend at Hogwarts."

She looked up at Harry and Ginny again, still dancing, still gazing into one another's eyes.

"You'll have time to figure it out, when you're trying to get her to learn the patronus charm," she thought.

"Hermione?" Wildy asked.

"Hmm?" she replied.

"You're going to make me say it again?" he asked, "would you… care to dance?"

She smiled at him.

"I'd love to," she replied.

---

"Stupid fucking Wildy," Bellatrix thought, "stupid idiot yourself, Bella. You could have asked her and she would have said yes, because since when do you care what anyone else thinks?"

"But what if she said no?" Julia thought, "or worse, what if you blew our cover? Then she'd hate us. And not just a little pansy hate but real, feed us to dementors hate, because not only did we kill her friends and carve up her arm, but we would have added lying to her and betraying her as well."

It'd taken every ounce of willpower and all of her occlumency training to keep the appearance of calm while she carefully put on Hermione's makeup, with their lips literally an inch from each other's, while all she wanted to do was tackle her and snog her senseless.

"But you didn't do that, because you can't," she thought.

Bellatrix pounded her fist on the table, then picked up the jagged stone from her pocket.

"Lord Voldemort," she thought as she turned the stone over three times.

The shade appeared as it usually did, across the ceiling in an attempt to tower over her, but Voldemort no longer held any power over her; she felt no fear, only contempt as her lip curled.

"Do you have knowledge of how to unlock a Hag eye's powers?" she asked.

"No," the Shadow whispered.

"Do you have any theories you believe to be correct of how to unlock a Hag eye's powers?" she asked.

"Yessssss," the Shadow hissed.

"Excellent," Belaltrix thought.

She grilled the shade for over an hour, delving into its knowledge of vampiric magic, Hag's eyes, and the essence of time stored within them. She wrote her notes on one of the blackboards and took a step back. As she pondered her next question, an uneasy sensation settled over her, and she glanced towards the door to see someone standing there, a man. Her wand dropped into her hand before she registered a dress-robe clad Professor Winthrop. He smiled at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"If you recall, the Headmistress asked me to ensure the school's property is well maintained," he replied, "and to check on your progress, so to speak, but we've already had that conversation. I will be happy to report that the classroom is kept in good order, with ingredients and equipment properly stowed when not in use."

Bellatrix forced her breathing to slow and attempted, without success, to get her heart to stop pounding.

"Who were you talking to just now?" Winthrop asked as he looked at her over the top of his glasses.

"Nobody," Bellatrix replied, "geniuses often talk to themselves, didn't you know?"

"Some do. The smart ones stop before everyone thinks they're insane," Winthrop replied as he pushed his horn-rimmed glasses back up his nose.

"I'm not crazy," Bellatrix replied.

"Of course not," Winthrop replied as he glanced about the room, "I apologise for the intrusion; I expected you to be at the dance…. Miss Granger is there."

Bellatrix froze at that.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Winthrop gave her a searching look.

"Nothing, it would seem," he said.

"He knows," Bellatrix thought, "he knows you have a crush."

Incredibly, against her best intentions, someone else knew something of what she felt, but somehow, she sensed that Professor Winthrop had her best interests at heart; he would not betray her. An overwhelming and inexplicable urge filled her, to learn his opinion.

"What should I do?" she blurted out.

"How should I know?" he replied, "though usually I find doing the right thing is the right thing to do."

"What's right… what's right… what feels right?" Bellatrix thought, "holding Hermione feels right, dancing with Hermione would feel right. Kissing her…"

"Though I find a helpful alternative gauge, is to examine which choice I would most regret not making in ten- or twenty-years' time," he added, "take that for what it's worth."

She stared at Winthrop and he stared back at her, awaiting her response. She sensed there was a story here, but her focus was somewhere else entirely at the moment.

"You would regret not taking a chance with Hermione for the rest of your life," she thought.

"I'm going to the dance," she said.

The professor nodded.

"I'll leave you to it then," he said.

"I need a dress," she thought as he departed. She pulled out several garments from her silk pouch and after a quick evaluation, settled on a simple black sleeveless dress that flared slightly below her hips.

"Can't go wrong with black," she thought.

She quickly transfigured the leftover threads from the tapestry into similar gold chains as they'd done for Hermione's, though larger, easier to craft, and looped them about and charmed them to stick to the waist of the dress; they hung down to just below her hips. She also transfigured a pair of gold bracelets for herself to round out the outfit. Then she reached into her pouch again and pulled out a beautification potion; not as good as an actual makeup session, but it would do in a pinch. She quaffed down a few gulps, then used her wand to style her own glamoured hair into a simple braided headband. She'd already reached the door when she realised she still wore flats. She switched them out for her only pair of heels, black, of course. She'd much rather have worn her boots but they weren't appropriate with the dress she'd picked. After switching shoes, she made her way through the deserted corridors to the Great Hall. The band on the head table's podium played a slow crooning number, while the couples slow danced and those who didn't have dates either hung nervously near the edges or chatted with friends. Bellatrix scanned the crowd, looking for the white top of Hermione's dress.

She finally spotted her at one of the benches, with a baby-blue clad Daisy Vane, that bitch, saying something to her. Hermione looked extremely non-plussed but was apparently ignoring the Head Girl as she stared off onto the dance floor. Redheaded Eric Wildy was nowhere in sight. Bellatrix had half a mind to walk right up to Vane and turn her face inside out, but then she glanced at the refreshments table and had a better idea, one that wouldn't get her branded as a psychopath.

"Hi Neville," she said as she approached the punch bowl, where Longbottom had just poured two cups.

"Oh, hey, Julia," he said as he tugged at the collar of his dress robes, "I didn't see you earlier."

"I just arrived; how about a dance?" Julia said.

"Now? Umm, sure," he said. He left the cups on the table and led her by the hand just inside the edge of the dance floor, where he bowed low and Julia responded with a perfect curtsey, the action drilled into her from her earliest days. She laid her hand lightly on his shoulder while he placed his on her hip, and she easily followed his lead.

"He's not bad," she thought, "clearly had practise."

"I didn't know you danced," Neville said.

"Surprise," she replied. She grinned internally as she spotted a pastel blue dress barrelling towards them out of the corner of her eye.

"So that's what happened to my drink," Vane said as she reached them.

"Ugh, sorry Daisy, but I saw you were busy chatting and…" Neville said.

"And nothing, you left me alone to dance with someone else? Come on," she said as she grabbed Neville's hand, and started tugging him away.

"You're not even going to let us finish the song? Rude," Julia said.

"Not as rude as that outfit," Vane fired back, "are you really so cheap you had to transfigure it yourself?"

"Oops," Julia thought as she noticed a bit of tapestry thread hanging from her waist where her hasty transfiguration had worn off one of the gold loops. Not that she really cared, but when she saw the dawning realisation on Neville's face, she leapt at the opportunity.

"I could be wearing house elf rags and I still wouldn't be insecure enough to forbid my date from sharing even a single dance with someone else," Julia replied with a smile, "have fun."

Vane's mouth dropped open as Julia sauntered over to where Hermione sat smiling at, Julia guessed, the interaction. Julia sat down next to her and re-transfigured the wayward thread back into a gold hoop. She glanced up to see Daisy Vane now engrossed in what appeared to be a serious conversation with Longbottom.

"Ha, that was almost too easy," she thought.

"Having fun?" Julia asked.

"I thought you weren't going to come," Hermione said.

"Hello to you too. I got bored," Julia replied, "where's your date?"

"Loo," she said, "he's been there for a while, I hope he's okay."

Hermione looked out at the dancing crowd again and sighed. Julia followed her gaze and spotted what she was staring at.

"Potter and Weasley?" she asked.

Hermione nodded.

"They're so obviously in love," she said, "they really are perfect for each other."

Bellatrix observed Hermione for a few seconds, at the small smile on her lips and glistening eyes.

"They are in the very wrath of love," Hermione murmured.

"Clubs cannot part them," Julia said.

Hermione whipped her head around to stare at Julia.

"I didn't know you read Shakespeare," she said, and Bella's heart fluttered at the small astonished smile that graced her lips.

"I might have picked up a little," she replied, "some muggleborn dragged me to a cinema to see a film about him and something must have stuck."

Hermione pursed her lips and eyed her again.

"Anyway, nobody's perfect for anyone," she said as she put her elbows back on the table and crossed her ankles in a very un-ladylike fashion, "everyone has flaws, so either you've got to be blind to them or…"

"Understand them for who they are, warts and all, and love them anyway," Hermione said.

Julia made a 'pfft' sound.

"That sounds tough, most people annoy me, generally," Julia said.

Hermione apparently didn't have an answer for that. The band paused, then started another slow song.

"This is depressing," Julia said, "come on, I didn't get all dressed up to not dance."

"What, the two of us?" Hermione asked as she glanced around.

"Why not?" Julia said as she picked up Hermione's soft and unexpectedly warm hand and tugged her to her feet.

Hermione offered no resistance as Bellatrix led her to the edge of the dance floor, near the rest of the couples, and put her hands on Hermione's waist.

"Put your hands on my shoulders," she said quietly, but Hermione's arms stopped far too low for her liking, "higher, around my neck."

Hermione stepped closer, close enough that Bella could smell her Zippy's perfume, but Hermione glanced about nervously.

"People are looking at us," she whispered.

"Fuck 'em," Julia replied, "they're only staring because they want to be dancing with either me or you."

Hermione breathed something that Bella thought might have been 'you', but it was so soft her ears might have been playing tricks on her.

They swayed with the music and Bella lost track of time simply drinking in being in the presence of the object of her desire, close enough she could feel the heat emanating from her body through their dresses. She'd never taken a love potion before, but she imagined this is what it would feel like; the rest of the world faded to black-and-white, and she only saw Hermione's perfect face, fully made up and mere inches from her own. Too soon, the song came to an end, and she stepped closer to draw Hermione into a hug, almost cheek to cheek, and the sound of Hermione's exhale almost undid her. Hermione's arms wrapped higher and tighter, then stopped.

"You glamour your hair?" she said.

"Oops," Bellatrix thought.

"Shh, don't tell anyone," Julia said.

"Now I'm curious what it really looks like," Hermione said as she stepped back; the moment was over.

Julia was about to reply when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked over to see the lanky redheaded Eric Wildy, even more pasty looking than usual.

"Mind if I cut in?" he said.

It was only by an incredible exertion of willpower that Bellatrix didn't send him sprawling across the room. As it was, Julia gave him the briefest of smiles.

"Not at all," she said as she took a step back.

Her previous resolution to make known her feelings to Hermione fled in terror in the face of the reality of possibly being rejected in front of the entire school.

"Anyway, I only stopped by to see the decorations and say hi; I'll see you later," she said to Hermione.

She quickly walked towards the exit.

"I've got to get out of here, or I'm going to ruin everything," she thought, "if I stay I'm going to do something stupid like snog her in front of the school, or maybe transfigure Wildy's clothes to snakes or slice off his-"

"Hi Julia, would you like to-" a seventh year said, but she wandlessly langlocked his tongue to the roof of his mouth without breaking stride.

Once out of the hall and out of sight of the other students, she tore off her heels and started climbing steps, at first taking them two at a time, then sprinting barefoot all the way to the seventh floor, to the Room of Requirement.

---

Hermione watched Julia go as Wildy pulled her into a dance, only looking to him when she would have been forced to crane her neck to keep her eye on Julia. The next time they turned enough so the double doors were in her line of sight, she was gone.

"Sorry I took so long, someone either hexed me or spiked my punch, I think," he said.

"What? Who?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno. Dunno if it was me specifically they were after; there were a few other blokes in there as well. Probably just a prank," Wildy said.

"Hmm," she said, and to her shame, all she could think about while dancing with Wildy was Julia.

"I think the same thing might have happened to Julia," she said as the song ended, "I should check on her."

Wildy nodded and she walked off, heels clicking on the floor. She beelined for the first-floor girls' lavatory, the same one where the troll had walked in on her all those years ago. She entered to see a green clad, pale-faced Ginny Weasley bent over the sinks, and the redhead glared at her murderously when she opened the door, only to soften when she recognized her.

"Ugh, they got you too?" Ginny asked as she turned back to the sink and washed her hands, "I swear when I find out who George sold these to, I'm going to hex them into next week."

"So it was a prank?" Hermione asked as she stepped closer. Ginny wore a floor length form fitting dark green dress with leaf patterns woven through it, tailored for her athletic frame. As Ginny rinsed her mouth, the leaves on the dress seemed to sway and rustle in a non-existent breeze.

"Believe me, I know a puking pastille when I'm hit with one," Ginny said, "this is custom, delayed onset. Antidote is taking longer to kick in, too."

Ginny looked furious, her eyes blazing, but Hermione's concern was for someone else.

"Did you see Julia?" she asked, "she ran out abruptly just now. Maybe she was hit too."

"Maybe, or maybe she found someone to snog," Ginny said, "she's not here."

Hermione's mouth dropped open for a split second before she closed it, and the image of Julia necking in a broom cupboard with some stranger flashed across her mind. Her chest ached suddenly even as she tried to tell herself that Ginny was only joking, and why should she care even if Julia was snogging someone? It's not like she had any claim over her.

"Either way, I'm sure she'll be back," Ginny said, "do me a favour though, tell Harry what happened? He's worried."

Ginny held up her mood ring, which swirled a light blue colour.

"Of course," Hermione said, "feel better soon."

Ginny only nodded as her cheeks puffed out and she covered her mouth to stifle another round of vomiting. Hermione beat a hasty retreat to return to the Great Hall, and found Harry standing near the entrance, wearing his black and white dress robes, with the trim enchanted dark green to match Ginny's dress. His hair was mostly tamed, though it still stuck out a little in places.

"Harry," she said, and he broke into a grin when he saw her, then pulled her into a tight hug.

"You look beautiful," he said.

"Thank you," she said, "I just ran into Ginny. Someone's played a prank and she's in the loo, she's fine."

"Yeah, I saw a few blokes running out," he said, "wouldn't be a Hogwarts dance without a prank or two."

Hermione smiled at him.

"How's work?" she asked.

"Busy, complicated," Harry said, "who's your date?"

"Oh, Eric Wildy," Hermione said as she suddenly remembered him, "he's younger; we're just friends. Barely friends, really."

Harry nodded.

"I saw you dancing with Julia," Harry said.

Hermione looked at him, and he gave her a small smile.

"She is pretty," he said.

Hermione froze for a second, then smiled at that. Harry suspected she might have feelings for Julia, and this was his way of telling her he didn't mind, that he was her friend, no matter what.

"He's definitely grown more perceptive," she thought, "must be all that Auror training."

"Was it that obvious?" she asked quietly.

"No," he said, "but I like to think I know you fairly well by now."

"I don't even know…" Hermione said, "I need to figure myself out first."

"Well, whatever happens-" Harry said.

"Hi, Harry Potter," Eric Wildy said from behind Hermione. "it's an honour to meet you."

"Eric Wildy, right?" Harry said as he extended a hand, "Hermione's told me about you."

Hermione recognized the practised air Harry almost immediately threw on, his public persona.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Eric said.

"He's nervous," Hermione thought, "and why wouldn't he be? We're practically heroes to him. Literally heroes."

"Not at all," Harry said.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we hope you enjoyed the night's performance, this will be our last song," the lead singer said, his voice amplified across the Hall. A few groans went up from the rapidly thinned crowed near the stage.

"Hey, I'm back," Ginny said as she walked through the double doors.

"Brilliant," Harry said, "just in time for the last dance. Nice to meet you, Eric."

The music had already started, and Harry led Ginny halfway to the stage, then stopped and they started slow dancing in no-man's land.

"Shall we?" Eric said, holding out a hand. Hermione took it and let Wildy lead her to a different portion of the Great Hall, also with very few people nearby.

"I hope you had fun tonight," Wildy said as they swayed with the music again.

"It was interesting," Hermione said. Her thoughts were still on Julia, but she didn't see her partner anywhere; she'd just showed up for a few minutes, shared one dance with her, and left.

"I um, I had a great time," Wildy said, "wish it didn't have to end, honestly."

Hermione smiled, but inside she was extremely confused. She didn't know how she felt about Julia. Or maybe she did know, and didn't want to admit it. Plus, she didn't know how she felt about men or women in general. For example, would it be possible for her to feel anything at all for Wildy? She had no idea.

"Well, there's one way to find out," she thought.

"It doesn't have to," she said.

She felt him stiffen up and almost stop dancing.

"Are you having me on?" he asked quietly.

"Maybe. Do you remember the spiral staircase behind Gulliver Pokeby?" she asked, her heart starting to race with how forward she was being.

He swallowed and nodded.

"Meet me there at midnight," she said quietly, "don't get caught."

He nodded as the song ended. The brightness increased in the room, and Hermione smiled at the look of almost disbelief on Wildy's freckled face. She smiled back at him and gave him a small wave as she walked to the doors, and he offered her only a weak wave in response.

By the time she returned to the lab, her smile had turned into a frown.

"You've never done anything like this before, what's wrong with you?" she thought as she slipped off her heels and carried them the rest of the way, the stone of the dungeon floor cold against her tired feet. She opened the door to the lab hoping to see Julia, but the classroom and tent were both vacant.

"You were never this forward with Ron," she thought.

"There's nothing wrong, I'm following McGonagall's advice, being a normal student for once," she thought as she changed into robes, "I survived Voldemort, there's nothing wrong with a little bit of harmless fun."

Deep down though, she knew what she was doing; using Eric Wildy and his crush as a test for her own sexuality. She walked across the hall to the loo and scrubbed the makeup from her face. It took a bit longer than it normally would have; the magical kit was more resistant to smudging and, apparently, removal. She stared at her wet face in the mirror, hair still styled and not yet frizzing out. Was she really going to do this? It was so… unlike her.

"Who cares, it's not like I'm going to have sex with him or anything," she thought.

She returned to the classroom to wait, both for Julia's return, and for midnight. Then she noticed new notes on the blackboard; Julia had been working on theories for the Hag's eye. Hermione looked over the incomplete theories; there were possible methods outlined of activating the Eye, but none of the reasoning behind them. The lights flickered for curfew, and then went dark.

"Where does she even come up with these things?" Hermione thought as she lit her wand to continue reading, "I'll have to ask her when she returns."

But Julia hadn't returned by ten minutes to midnight, and, heart now second guessing what she was about to do but not wanting to stand Wildy up, she twirled her wand about, disillusioning herself, and made her way through the darkened hallways to the secret passage on the first floor. She lifted the catch to swing the painting open, and started climbing the narrow spiral steps in the dark.

"Hello?" she heard a whisper from above.

"Hi," she whispered back.

A pale glow lit up from ahead, and Wildy, now wearing normal school robes, descended from around the curve with his glowing wand held up. She let her disillusionment drop in a dark spray that vanished into nothingness.

"You came," he said.

"Not yet," she thought, then chastised herself for her dirty mind.

"Seems that way," she said as she stopped two steps below him.

"So…" he said as he looked down at her.

Her heart pounded in her ears as the realization of what she was about to do fully set in.

"Maybe we should err, slide around each other, so I'm not on a lower step," she said.

"Oh, right, of course. Good idea," he said as he pressed himself against the wall.

She slid past as she stepped up, and just as she was almost by him, their faces passed close by.

"Now," she thought, and closed her eyes to plant a kiss directly on his lips. They were already moist; he must have been licking them before she arrived, and she felt him startle in surprise, then she felt his hands around her sides and he pressed her against the inner wall of the staircase. Even though she stood a step above him, she still needed to look up slightly.

"Merlin, I'm really doing this," she thought as she felt his mouth open and his tongue slide against her lips. She flicked it with her own and smiled as he gave her a 'mmf' sound. Something poked into her thigh, and it took her a second to realise he had a raging hard-on, and then she smiled again at the thought that she was the one turning him on. She let him kiss her for a minute or two until she opened her mouth, and he eagerly dove in, almost as if he were trying to explore every inch of her mouth with his tongue. He had just a hint of stubble on his upper lip and chin, rough against her lips and cheeks. At first, she tried to analyse whether anything was turning her on or not, and then eventually, after not being able to really tell, she decided to think about that later and focus on what she was doing, and enjoying what many considered a rite of passage at school. Her lips started feeling tired and she felt his hands starting to wander across her arms.

"Not there," she thought as she physically caught his hand and stopped him from running his fingers over her scars. She placed it on her waist instead.

"I love you," he whispered.

Her eyes snapped open, and she stared into his wide-eyed expression in the dim light of his still-lit wand.

"Shit, I mean…" he said, "I don't know why I just said that."

The wrongness of what she was doing hit her like a brick to the gut. She knew Wildy had a crush on her. She knew she didn't have romantic feelings for him, and she was leading him on. He must have read something in her expression.

"I'm sorry, I… I ruined everything, didn't I," he said.

She pursed her lips.

"I don't know about ruining everything, but… maybe we should stop for tonight," she said.

Wildy nodded and he straightened out his robes.

"Erm, are you headed back to the tower?" he asked.

She nodded, and he led the way up to the exit, where she disillusioned both of them.

"I need to learn that one," he whispered. She smirked to herself.

As they quietly climbed the dark steps towards Gryffindor tower, Hermione started to realise what was about to happen the following day. Wildy would no doubt tell his friends about their tryst. He might leave some parts out, but by afternoon, the news that she'd snogged Eric Wildy, fifth year, after the dance would be all over school.

"What will Ginny and Neville think?" she thought, "what will Harry think? What about Julia?"

What had seemed like a little bit of playful fun now seemed like a colossal misstep, and regret sat like a lump of coal in her stomach. Then a solution came to her and she almost stopped walking.

"It would be so easy," she thought, "and no one would ever know."

Each step seemed like climbing a mountain as she weighed the risks and costs of taking action or doing nothing. Then the fat lady's portrait was right around the corner, and she was out of time. She stopped walking, ended the disillusionment on Wildy, and aimed her wand at the back of his head.

"Obliviate," she whispered before the dark spray had completely fizzled off, "confundus."

Wildy stopped walking and stared off into the darkness.

"Hermione never showed up tonight," she whispered, "you grew tired of waiting and are returning to your dorm, and plan to ask her what happened tomorrow."

He started shuffling off towards the Gryffindor Common Room, while Hermione retreated back down the stairs. Guilt, rather than regret, now weighed on her, but by the time she reached the dungeons, she'd almost convinced herself that it was for the best for everyone if nobody knew what had happened that evening. Almost. Unfortunately, that didn't change the fact she'd forcibly taken from Wildy what might have been one of his best memories of school, for her own selfish reasons. The thought troubled her as she passed out into bed, alone in the tent.

---

"I need someplace to let off steam," Bellatrix thought as she paced in front of the blank wall. The door appeared and she yanked it open, then locked it behind her.

The duelling training room and bath once again appeared before her and she tossed her heels aside. Still wearing her dress from the dance, she approached a training dummy and raised her wand, then she paused. She thought about the one dance she'd shared with Hermione, about how the entire world seemed to fall into darkness when they embraced, how beautiful she was, the expression she'd made when Bellatrix had quoted Shakespeare back to her, and how she'd smiled when she spotted her in the Great Hall.

"Expecto Patronum," Bellatrix said as she went through the complex wand movement. A silvery mist issued forth from the tip of her wand, and her mouth fell open. The mist faded as she lost her grip on the memories from the shock of seeing something, anything from the charm.

"A happy memory," she thought. The proof was right there. It wasn't a corporeal patronus, but it was an actual, properly cast patronus shield. Hermione's stupid plan had worked; they'd created a genuine happy memory together. Bellatrix walked away from the duelling arena and collapsed into a large, overstuffed reading chair the room had conjured for her, her wand arm draped over the side and hanging down towards the floor. Then she lifted it up and cast the patronus shield charm again, and then again. She didn't notice when the gold on her wrists and waist turned back into worn grey tapestry threads while she marvelled at the spell she'd been so sure she'd never, ever be capable of.

"I'm actually happy when I'm with her," she thought, "like… truly happy. Does that mean I won't be happy if I'm not with her? Could I stomach watching her fall in love with someone else?"

That did it; she felt an actual physical pain in her chest at the thought. Consequences be damned, Hermione Granger might fall in love with her or she might not, but she would never fall in love with anyone else so long as Bellatrix Black had anything to say about it.

---

Hermione squinted into the sun as they walked down from the castle, then glanced over her shoulder as someone called her name. She spotted Eric Wildy hurrying to catch up with them.

"Hi," he said, "err, could I have a moment?"

Hermione nodded to Julia, who continued on to Herbology.

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said, then she looked around and walked a few feet off the path, into the shade of the castle.

"I fell asleep, and when I woke up it was after three," she said quietly.

He looked at her dubiously.

"You really fell asleep?" he asked.

"Yes, sorry," Hermione said with a shrug an and apologetic grimace, "I guess I was more tired than I thought."

"Well… would you want to try again?" he asked, "maybe tonight?"

She smiled at him again.

"It's probably not a good idea," she replied.

His shoulders slumped before he remembered himself and stood up straight again.

"Err… did I do something wrong or…?" he asked, as he struggled and only partially hid the raw pain of rejection.

"No! No, it… it wouldn't have worked out, is all," she said.

He nodded slowly.

"Maybe if I was a little older," he said with a weak smile.

"Maybe," she said with a small smile of her own.

He grimaced, and then stuck out his hand.

"Friends?" he asked.

She shook his hand with a smile.

"Friends," she said.

Hermione arrived in Herbology just as Professor Sprout called her name.

"What was that about?" Julia asked.

"Nothing, just putting up some boundaries," Hermione replied.

Julia nodded and they turned to listen as Sprout started the lecture about Brazilian Snappers, a type of carnivorous plant native to the Amazon rainforest.

Later that evening, they huddled in the lab and brewed up a potion, this time with the Hag's eye suspended in a copper wire frame over the brew.

"I didn't see you after the dance," Hermione said.

"Oh, well… you were busy, and the other people there were starting to annoy me, so I decided to wander," Julia replied.

Hermione looked at her and tried to figure out if Julia was having her on.

"What, don't give me that look," Julia said with a smirk, "and don't tell anyone else I do that either. I mean, I'm sure you get it, but others might think I'm some kind of freak."

"I thought you didn't care what other people think," Hermione said.

"Generally, I don't, but if I'm out trying to be alone and someone comes looking for me, it's going to annoy me even more," she said.

Hermione smiled to herself. In a roundabout way, Julia telling her meant she didn't mind if Hermione came looking for her. Sometimes you had to read between the lines with the pureblood exchange student, but Hermione had gotten good at it over the past several months.

"I think that should be enough," Hermione said as they removed the Hag's eye stone and set it on a towel to dry. She carefully ladled a small measure of the greenish blue potion into a vial.

"How did you come up with this method, anyway?" Hermione asked.

"I dunno, just seemed like it would make sense, given Tobin's theory of temporal transfusion," Julia replied.

Hermione nodded. She didn't really see how the two were related, but she'd learned to trust Julia.

"We'll do the one from this morning, what's the phrase?" Hermione asked.

Julia opened a notebook and flipped a few pages.

"What fruit do twins love to eat?" she asked.

Hermione narrowed her eyes in thought.

"Don't try to figure it out," Julia said.

"I know!" Hermione replied, then she shook her head, "no idea."

Julia drew her wand.

"Vivica scopum," she said as she pointed it at Hermione's forehead.

The answer to the riddle came in the form of Julia's voice, when she'd read it to her the first time, earlier that same day.

"Pears," Hermione said, "Merlin, that's a terrible riddle…. Wait, it worked!"

Julia smiled at her, and her smile grew and grew until she was beaming.

"It worked!" Hermione said, "we did it! We just need…"

She leapt to her feet, snatched up a piece of chalk, and started tapping out equations.

"It's been just short of ten months, so add another two months for brewing, that makes a full year… and it'll be finished, just a few weeks after graduation," she said, "I'm sure Professor McGonagall will let it finish brewing after we tell her what a breakthrough this is."

"This is amazing," Julia said, "we actually did it. Do we have enough ingredients?"

Hermione pulled out a small black notebook and flipped a few pages.

"We can start brewing it now, but we'll need more black filament before it's done," she said.

"And enough to brew for submission to the Council of Master Healers," Julia said.

"And for you," Hermione added.

Julia's smile faded, but didn't vanish completely.

"And for me," she said.

"Don't worry, everything's going to work out," Hermione said, "we'll draw up a list of cathedrals and other places we might find it. Worst case, we'll grow it ourselves."

She placed a hand on Julia's to reassure her, and she smiled when Julia squeezed for a second in acknowledgement before withdrawing as she stood up.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's start the brew for your parents first," Julia said.

"Right, and while it's brewing, we'll have time to study for NEWTs, perfect!" Hermione said.

Julia stopped and let out an agonized groan as she bent backwards to lay her on the potions table, arms spread wide, and Hermione laughed for the better part of a minute at her antics. The experiment was a success; they had the formula, and she felt like she could walk on air; everything was going to be okay.

---

A/N: Please leave a review, next chapter status is in my profile.