Masquerade Act One: Hidden Figures
The Sixth Dance: The Key to What we Seek
A/N:Wooo, summer is here! This means more time for writing, which means I can probs get ahead plot wise for the story. Or I could distracted by the beautiful weather and just go to the beach. Haha, choices.
In the animal kingdom one of the keys to survival is to outwit your enemies. Neil deGrasse Tyson
Hermione found a room on the second floor of Bella's house that was small and comfy. It had a bed with curtains trailing from the top and a soft chair that was perfect for curling up and reading in. She decided this would be her room. She practiced waving her wand around in it and muttered a few spells, trying to forget her earlier fear at facing the black haired witch. She had seemed so different...so dangerous and Hermione had to wonder who the witch had been in the past. Had she been a fighter for the army of wizards and witches?
Sighing and shaking her head she gave up on practicing magic. The spells were hard to come by; it seemed like combat training was the best way to draw out a spell. Her body was in danger and more likely to use instincts to protect herself, the spells coming naturally to the tip of her tongue.
She changed out of her clothes and into pj's before she crawled into the bed, loving how soft the sheets felt and how her tired body sank into the mattress. It had been a long day if she thought about it. She had escaped from prison, passed through two tests, fetched her wand, fought Bellatrix and learned something of this place she was in, or at the very least learned about her situation. She had an alliance with the woman, one that gave her hope. Maybe she could finally get out of here. With that bright thought in her head she closed her eyes and let sleep take her.
She awoke the next morning to her door being violently slammed open. She jumped up in bed, reaching defensively for where she had left her wand on the night table.
"Wakey wakey!" It was only Bellatrix, grin on her face and hands on her hips. Hermione let her hand relax and used it to brush some hair out of her eyes to glare at the witch. "We're going to train today. Hurry up and get dressed."
"Train?" Hermione groaned as she slowly got out of her bed. Her body ached from yesterday's battle even though it had lasted a mere five minutes.
"Yes," the black haired witch insisted, shaking her head up and down so her raven curls bounced. She was wearing a different dress today although it was still black, and the sleeves long. "If we're going to escape from here you need to be proficient with magic otherwise they'll get us. So we'll be training today, tomorrow, and for as long as needed until you are comfortable with it. I better see you downstairs in five." Then she left, slamming the door closed behind her as she exited.
Hermione let out a groan. She didn't really feel like fighting again. She was scared the emotions that had risen inside her yesterday would do the same today. What would she tell Bellatrix if they did? Did the witch feel the same way? She knew that the dark witch felt familiar with her but that was it.
Hermione searched through the drawers in the room, looking for something suitable to wear. She found several pairs of pants and shirts- which must have been magicked here, especially since it had her measurements down right-but was disappointed to find that when she put them on all the color drained from them and they were white. "What the-?" Hermione tore them off to see if their color would regain but it didn't. So she tried on another pair of clothes only to have the same results. What was going on?
"Hermione! Get down here!" Bellatrix ordered, stopping Hermione from trying on a third pair of clothes. Right, she could ask Bellatrix about this!
"Bella, do you know whats going on?" she asked as she rushed down the stairs where the older woman was standing with her hands on her hips at the bottom step.
"With what?"
"With this?" Hermione gestured to her clothes as she paused on the final step to let Bella get a good look.
"Their just clothes," she shrugged noncommittally.
"No, I mean yes, but look, they all change white when I put them on."
"I thought you knew about this already."
"I didn't."
"It's a curse of this place. Each person is assigned a certain color. You white and me black and others gray. And no matter what we wear we can't change our colors."
"Why?"
Bellatrix threw up her hands, done with this conversation. "I don't know but it's not important. Now are you going to stand there all day and complain about it or are you going to go train so we can leave this place along with its nonsensical rules?"
"Fine," Hermione huffed a bit petulant with how the other witch was behaving impatiently. "You fixed the room?" she asked instead, trying to get the witch back into a good mood. "It looks as good as new." And it did. There was no sign of their fight from last night.
"Yes, I did." the witch snapped back, not falling for the compliment and leading the two girls through the kitchen and past some more rooms before pausing in front of a heavy metal door. "I made a separate room for us so we could train in. We can get as violent and reckless in here as we want." She said this with an excited childlike grin, pushed the door open and the two stepped in.
The room inside was a forest and Hermione was astonished. Magic was so awesome! Look at what it could create! And Bellatrix was awesome if she could create such things. Hermione wondered if she would be able to as well once her magic improved.
"I magicked this room so that it would take on the form of various scenarios. I know there are no forests here but I wanted to fight in one. Later on we'll train in smaller spaces, like hotel hallways, so that we can get used to close combat." Hermione nodded her head as her attention turned to her surroundings. A warm breeze tugged at her hair ends, birds chirped outside, the grass crinkled under her shoes. It all felt so real. She let the sun warm her skin as she closed her eyes to tilt her face up at it. Bellatrix watched the younger girl enjoy her room and snorted, although she was pleased the girl was amazed by it. "If you're done dawdling lets get on with the magic, shall we pet?"
Hermione nodded her head and drew out her wand, Bellatrix's already out. "I won't go easy on you this time," she promised and sent a flurry of spells at Hermione who only barely put up her shield in time. And Bellatrix held true to her promise. Yesterday was nothing compared to today. She sent her spells with such strength at the younger girl that Hermione's wrist almost snapped. Her feet left gouges in the dirt as she was pushed steadily backwards towards a line of trees.
Shit, she's so strong! Hermione's muscles ached with exertion as Bellatrix let out a cackle of glee. Again the black haired witch could feel her veins singing. She felt alive, more alive than she had in all her time here! But the same couldn't be said for Hermione. She noticed the dark and hungry look on the other witches face and fear enveloped her heart. Bellatrix changed when she went into battle and it truly terrified Hermione because she didn't know why. All she knew was that she had to run, to escape...
The brunette let out a cry as the earth exploded under her feet and sent her careening backwards into a bush. She scrambled to her feet, spitting out leaves and leaving strands of hair behind as she quickly pulled free to face her opponent a new. Before she had even steadied her wand a spell caught her in her chest and she was flung onto her back, her wand skittering away from her reach. She lay there gasping and trying to get her bearing as the world spun and sparkled in front of her eyes.
"Hermione. Hermione, are you alright?" a voice called to her. It sounded like it came from underwater. A dark figure approached, obscuring the light. "Hermione, can you stand?" the figure outstretched a hand for help but it seemed all wrong, the wand in her other hand a knife and her face twisted up in a cruel expression. "Where's the sword!" her voice echoed around the brunette even as her lips stayed closed. With a gasp Hermione turned onto her stomach and began scrambling for her wand blindly through the leaves and dirt, needing to get away to protect herself. She knew she had dropped it close by but where was it?
"Hermione, what are you doing?" Bellatrix asked, confused by the fear that had covered the girls face when she went to stand over her. She watched the girl crawl through the leaves, searching frantically for something.
"S-stay back," Hermione cried out, pointing her wand at the older woman once she had found it. She slowly got to her feet, her eyes never leaving the other. Bellatrix took a step forward. "Stay away from me you monster!" Bellatrix froze at this, hurt by the girl's accusations.
"Hermione," she whispered softly. "What's going on?" she lowered her wand slowly to show the girl she meant no harm. "I'm not going to hurt you. See?" she dropped the wand to the floor and then kicked it aside and raised her hands up gently, mimicking a human approaching a stray animal that was on the verge of fleeing. Hermione watched her, her jaw working and her wand hand shaking. After what seemed a while she lowered her wand slowly and dropped her head into her free hand. "I think we need to talk Bellatrix."
"So when you fight me, you get these memories that frighten you?" Bellatrix softly stated. The two girl's were sitting on a rock, observing a sunset that Bellatrix had magicked. The leaves swayed gently above them as Hermione looked down at her hands and fiddled with the wand she was holding there. Bellatrix's gaze was on the sun and if she was insulted by Hermione's admission she didn't let on.
Hermione nodded her head. "Do you feel the same when you fight me?"
The black haired witch was quiet a moment. "No." She offered at last. "I only feel like its right. Like..." she frowned when she couldn't find the words she wanted to express herself. "Simply put I don't see what you see, or feel how you feel in these moments."
"What could this mean? Bellatrix, what or who were we in our past? I feel like I knew you and you said you feel the same way so what does this mean? Were we acquaintances? Family? Friends? Or enemies?" Hermione's voice got soft on the last word. She hated to think that would be an option but it could be, given the way she feared the older witch so much when they fought.
Bellatrix's scowl only deepened as the last word struck a chord with her. She could feel buried memories surfacing to the top and she squashed them down, not wanting to be privy to these dark remembrances.
Hermione took Bellatrix's extended silence as a yes. Once more she poised the thought, her words wavering. "Bellatrix, do you think you've ever hurt anyone before? Do you think you've ever hurt me before?" Bellatrix felt something inside her coil tight. A sense of pride, of joy at the thought of bringing pain to others. Hadn't she liked it when she had knocked Hermione off of her feet? She had felt so powerful then. Even under the insult Hermione had dealt her by calling her a monster she felt a sick sort of satisfaction that she had made someone so terrified of her. A monster...the word fit her perfectly. But she wasn't going to admit this to anyone, not even Hermione, her own thoughts and feelings scaring her.
"Let me ask you the same then," Bellatrix rumbled. "Have you ever hurt anyone before?"
Hermione immediately shook her head no.
This quick and confident admission made Bellatrix feel even worse but she kept her face neutral. "I think it matters not who we were back then but who we are right now. I think the things you sense could be meant to dissuade you from helping me. A sort of curse put on you by the hotel." If Hermione noticed that Bellatrix had avoided her initial question she didn't mention it.
"You really think so?" Hermione asked hopefully, looking at the other witch. Bellatrix did not meet her gaze, her eyes focused on something on the distance. She couldn't face Hermione as she lied to her.
"I'm sure it is. I've been giving this hotel hell ever since I got here and since they can't stop me they certainly don't want others helping me and making me even more unstoppable." She smiled at this and raised her chin haughtily. "They are afraid of the great Bellatrix."
Hermione found her grin infectious and soon was smiling too. It felt better having this talk. She felt more at ease now. "I suppose I can ignore these feelings then."
"You'll have no other option. We have to continue practicing. You were pitiful today." The witch shot her a look and Hermione stuck out her tongue in retaliation.
And so the two witches continued to practice. Days passed, hours spent solely on enhancing Hermione's combat skills. The brunette tried to push her fear of the other out of her head as they dueled and found it was easier to do so as more time went on. What bothered her was the spells the dark witch used. They were cruel and hurtful. And when the older witch tried to teach them to her she vehemently resisted.
"Why not?!" the dark witch shouted in exasperation, her patience worn thin after Hermione's continued refusal of her magic.
"Because," the girl stamped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest. "Their wrong!"
"How are they wrong?"
"They just are. I can't explain it but they-I-you shouldn't be using spells like these." Hermione tripped up a little in the middle of the sentence due to her annoyance at the dark haired woman's ardent beliefs in the dark magic.
"Nonsense," Bellatrix threw up her hands, and stomped her foot too. "These are perfectly good spells that will help you when it comes time to fight."
"No. I just can't. Their wrong and I won't use them!" Bellatrix let out a growl at this and rushed towards the girl, grabbing her roughly by her upper arm. "Quit being stupid! You only think this way because of the hotel's spell-"
"It's not the spell! I feel how wrong this is in my bones. I refuse to use a crucio curse or anything of the likes. That magic is dark. It's not my type of specialty." Hermione gazed back into the dark witches eyes and Bellatrix let go of her arm, afraid of the questions burning in the others gaze. She could know what Hermione was thinking and she didn't like it. She was questioning her knowledge of these spells and Bellatrix wasn't ready to admit to why she knew them. Again the sense of unease tickled at her, the sense that something was wrong with her. That she had done something bad in her past and couldn't remember it.
"Fine, have it your way. Don't learn the spells. See if I care," she grunted out through gritted teeth and then left to go upstairs to avoid being interrogated, her black dress trailing angrily after her. Hermione watched her go, massaging where the older witch had grabbed her painfully. Why did the older witch know such dark magic? Hermione's muscle memory never once indicated the brunette had used such spells. What was the dark witch hiding from her?
The dark witch avoided Hermione after that. Hermione had no idea where her room was in this house despite looking for it several times. Either the witch must have hidden it from her with magic or there was a secret third floor. This irritated Hermione to no extent. She was left with nothing to do but sit in the living room and tend to the fire. All the books on the shelves had turned out to be blank, only for decorative purposes and the other rooms in the house were empty of anything entertaining to do. Luckily the kitchen had some food and Hermione took to making herself a meal whenever she grew hungry. She wondered how Bellatrix was getting her own food if she hadn't appeared in days. Shrugging and telling herself it wasn't her problem to deal with, Hermione made herself a simple sandwich with a cup of tea to go with it. She had just settled down by the coffee table to eat her meal when Bellatrix traipsed down the stairs, her long dress swirling after her. "Don't get too comfortable now dearie. We're off on a mission." She looked to be in high spirits.
"Nice to see you," Hermione grumbled darkly as she took a bite of her meal. The witch ignored her jibe.
"I'll quickly fill you in before we must leave." The witch settled down in the armchair across from Hermione, kicking her boots up on the table.
"So we're not going to address the fact how you completely ignored me for several days? And not once, even made an appearance downstairs or told me what you were doing?" Hermione said accusingly. Again the dark haired witch ignored her.
"I've being pondering and pondering over how we could leave this place and I know how. There are three judges here in this world." The older witch displayed three fingers. Hermione grumbled angrily but settled in reluctantly. She was still mad at Bellatrix's actions but curiosity overrode her ire. The witch was about to give her information and she loved information. She took another bite of her food as the witch continued on.
"And these three judges are the main people who run this hotel. I know that they each have a key. Separately the keys are useless but get all three together and they open a door. A door that no one except the judges use."
"And? Are you suggesting that their keys, are the key to getting out? That the door leads somewhere?"
"Exactly," the dark witch agreed, looking pleased at the brunette. She dropped her legs to the ground so she could lean forwards intently in her seat.
"But how do we know it actually works?"
"Because why would the ringleaders of this place have something like that? Their guarding them, so they must have value; a use they don't want us to know of." The witch whispered reverently. "But I know because I've been collecting data on this godforsaken place since I first got here. They think their clever but their not. Nothing gets past my notice. I even saw them use it." This was said proudly with a smug grin. "So I know it works."
Hermione chewed her sandwich thoughtfully. "And where exactly is this door? And how would we even go about collecting these keys from them? I highly doubt we can get them to just hand them over to us."
"Questions, questions," Bellatrix muttered, waving her hands in the air in a mock gesture of Hermione's blabbering mouth. "Can't you just take what I say in stride and go with it. We always waste so much time talking through things. I'm done wasting time here. I want action!" The dark witch got up from her chair, pacing angrily and flicking the fire in the hearth on with a swish of her wand.
"Well excuse me for wanting to learn what it is I'm dragging myself into," Hermione sniffed, having finished her meal and wiping her mouth on a napkin.
"We swore never to betray one another, so I don't see why you can't trust me," the witch turned on her, eyes flashing.
"I can't because you disappear for days and don't tell me anything about what it is you've been doing. That's not exactly trust worthy behavior." Hermione had gotten up, her hands curling in choler. Bellatrix only sneered at this.
"Perhaps I was planning our attack, our course of action and I wanted some peace of mind without you sticking your nosy nose into it! Or is that idea too ridiculous to get past your bushy hair?"
Hermione let out an offended gasp. Why was the witch being so nasty? "Leave my hair out of this! What did it ever do to you?"
"It exists that's what it does. It offends my eyes every time I look at you!" Bellatrix shot back, baring her teeth as the two childishly bantered.
Hermione felt her eyes sting with tears. "Well at least I-" Hermione struggled to find something wrong with Bella's appearance to insult. "At least I'm not an old vindictive bitch!" She settled on at last. Bellatrix raised her chin haughtily as if she knew that Hermione didn't have squat on her to insult. "Is that all you've got?" she mocked.
"You know what, if I bother you so much, you can just do this yourself! I'm leaving!" Hermione rushed to the door, one arm thrown over her eyes to prevent the other from seeing the tears that had leaked free.
"No, don't!" Bellatrix shrieked out in panic but Hermione didn't stop. She placed her door on the handle. "Goodbye Bellatrix. I wish you luck in your future endeavors," she sniffled and turned it before opening it.
"Hermione no!"
A/N: I gave Bellatrix a solid gold mask in this one with ram horns as an allusion to an Egyptian myth. In it a ram headed man protects Maut, which is the river of the afterlife that the sun god Ra travels everyday in order to start his journey across the sky. By Bellatrix wearing this mask, it means she is protecting something, and that something is Hermione.
As for Hermione, her masks changed a lot in the story so there is no real symbolism to them yet. I do plan on her getting a proper mask, one that is owl shaped because owls represent wisdom and that is what she craves the most here. She wants and wishes to figure out this world despite everyone telling her there is no sense to it.