Masquerade Act Two: When the Masks Fall

The Eighteenth Dance: What Hermione Searches For

The searching for ourselves is the most agonizing, isn't it?- and yet the most stimulating- and one cannot simply escape it- Karen Horney

And so Harry, Ron and Hermione scheduled a meeting with the minister of magic to make sure Hermione got the help she needed in finding this cursed object that would not let her rest until she did so. The minister had been more than delighted to see one of his favorite people back on their feet and he had cleared his entire morning schedule in order to make time for her. He had hugged her upon her arrival into his office and then gone on to ask her how she was doing. She took the seat directly in front of his desk and the two boys took the chairs by the sides as they weren't the direct objects of the minister's questioning and joy.

Hermione and he conversed for a good hour before he finally asked her the true purpose of the visit. In her answer she laid out her rational motive and the reasoning behind for what she wanted to do. The minister hadn't looked too pleased but he understood her desire to set things right in her own life before she could move on with it from this point and into the bright future she deserved. He was still intent on having her become minster of magic in her later years.

He agreed to help her, knowing it would ease her suffering. The rest would come later and could be figured out then. This included the sad state of her memories, and other underlying magical maladies.

"My ministry researchers will be at your disposal," Kingsley stated. "What is that you're looking for Hermione?" He folded his hands over his lap.

Hermione was quiet before she bared her teeth, in almost in a sneer, uttering her one word demand. "Bellatrix."

The silence in the room was so thick that it was stifling, only cut through by sharp pricks of shock. "Excuse me?" Kingsley had heard what she had said damn well but it was more of a reaction to the words that had come from her mouth than a request for a repetition of the phrase.

"Hermione, what do you want with that-that horrid woman?" Ron blustered out, a mix of anger and surprise in his voice.

"And she's dead too. We don't even know where her body is," Harry put in, making Hermione rub her eyes in annoyance at having to deal with them and explain her reasoning.

"She's not dead. That empty grave in the woods was hers. She is alive and in hiding."

"Or she could have very well been taken by a Death Eater or more likely eaten by an animal in the woods. More likely than her just bloody getting up and walking away."

"I don't know why I even bothered to tell you all. A bloody waste of time," Hermione growled out at Ron's reply, tapping her fingers angrily onto the wood of her arm rest. "I knew you would be useless."

"Hermione-"

"Look Potter," she snapped out, making him flinch back with the venom she used in addressing him. She had never used his last name like that before. Or at all, if he recalled correctly. "The soul spell that was cast has more than one repercussion for those involved. And because I managed to crawl my way back into life, that means she has too."

Harry nodded his head finding himself agreeing with Hermione and, pushing aside the small sting he still felt at Hermione's rude use of his last name, he verbally voiced his opinion. "I think Hermione...might be right." How ever much he was loath to admit it he had been thinking something along those same lines. Back when Hermione was still asleep he had wanted to find Bellatrix's body so that he could see if there was a way to break the spell through her. Yet still, how was Hermione so certain of it?

"First you went about spouting nonsense that Voldemort was alive and now that Bellatrix is alive. Hermione you're being ridiculous," Ron argued, turning his angry gaze on the girl he loved.

"That Voldemort is alive?" Kingsley raised a brow, not having been privy to this tidbit of information.

"When she woke up she was going on about how Voldemort was still alive. But there's no way the git could do such a thing. He's deader than dead."

Hermione rolled her eyes at this. "Never mind him, we can get to that later Ron. I need to find Bellatrix. She has something of mine that I would very much like back." Hermione leaned in her chair towards Kingsley as she said this, her gaze intense. "And if I don't get it back, very bad things will happen. Very bad things." Her eyes were drills, boring into Kingsley's soul and he felt a tinge of foreboding at her words. He felt the urge to slouch down in his seat away from her gaze but thankfully the spell was broken by Ron.

"Oh yes and let me guess what that 'bad' thing is. It has something to do with Voldemort!" Ron mocked her and that was the last straw. Hermione stood up from her chair slowly and fixed him with a level gaze, her brown eyes swirling with barely restrained ire. Her eyebrow twitched and she breathed heavily through her nose.

"Will you stop mocking me and shut up for a minute!" The high pitch of her scream could have shattered glass, as it was it left everyone's ears ringing.

"Miss Granger," Kingsley gasped, shocked by her outburst. "I implore you-" He stood up to help calm her down but she ignored him, instead moving with predatory steps towards Ron who looked up at her, a frightened little boy and not the man he was supposed to be. "You know why I'm so bloody confident that she is alive, Ronald? Because I bloody saw her in the fucking afterlife!" She threw out her hand at this, her steps and gaze never wavering. He began to shrink down in his chair, his lower face disappearing into his shirt as if it could hide him from her harsh reactions.

"And just like I was fighting to leave the place so was she. And guess what!" She raised her hands up into the air making Ron flinch, and Harry who was sitting next to him, also flinched even though he wasn't the target of her choler. "I got out and because of the conjoined spell, the one that caused me to die when Bellatrix died, it also let her come back to life. So now we have a highly skilled Death Eater back on our hands. And you will help me find her or I will do it myself." At this Hermione finished her rant and then stormed out of the room, slamming the door on the way out.

When the minister of magic, Ron, and Harry finally caught up with Hermione they found her in the lobby surrounded by a crowd of aurors, ministry workers and reporters. "Well there goes the carefully planned reveal," Kingsley mumbled under his breath; then to the boys: "I feel we have some damage control to administer." He lead the way, pushing through the crowd that parted for him. Hermione was in the middle of this and instead of finding her scared or stressed, she was actually looking to be enjoying the attention.

"Ah Kingsley, how glad you could join. Ron. Harry." She greeted them with a wide grin as if the argument a couple of minutes ago had never happened.

"Miss Granger, what are you doing?" Kingsley whispered into her ear as he grabbed her by the upper arm. He waved his hand to the crowd, lights flashing as cameras went off. He had a smile plastered to his face but he was definitely not happy with her actions. "I thought we had agreed to wait on this, to schedule one."

"Well it just happened," she shrugged. Ron and Harry were waving to the crowd too, who were shouting out their names. They looked a bit disgruntled and put off by being the center of attention when they had other things to do. Other more concerning and pressing issues. Like figuring out where Bellatrix now was. After the brunette had left, the boys decided to give her a bit of time to cool off and took to discussing the issue of a possibly resurrected Bellatrix. Kingsley wasn't entirely convinced by Hermione's theory but he did respect the fact that she was the brightest witch of her age for a reason so he was going to regard her stance for now. Harry also agreed with Kingsley but not as reluctantly on the matter. Hermione was his friend and he owed it to her to trust her and believe in her like she had in him. Ron was the only one vehemently opposed to this. He felt the spell had altered her memories to such a point she was delusional. Yet he begrudgingly went along with it for now. He would help her but only to prove to her that Bellatrix was indeed not alive.

"We need to leave," Kingsley whispered to her, turning his head to answer a few calls from the reporters asking how everything was going. "All is well," he cheered.

"It's too late now. They know I'm awake, I might as well answer their questions."

"We don't have it scripted. We don't know what questions you can answer and which ones you shouldn't." The minister had wanted to hire some close reporter friends to manage the interview for the papers because he could school Hermione on what to say without revealing too much of her case and position. But now this had happened.

"I'm going to wing it. Surely you can trust me enough that I won't say something stupid." With that she wretched her arm free from his grip and took a step towards the crowd. "I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have for me. However," she held her palm flat up to pause the flurry of questions thrown at her. "I am limited for time, so keep it brief."

"Hermione when did you overcome the soul spell?" Shouted out a woman, waving a pen and paper in the air to get her attention all the way from the back of the crowd.

"About a week ago."

"Why wasn't this publicized?" asked another woman.

"Because I wasn't strong enough to talk to others or to face much social interaction. I needed to recover and to have more tests run on me to ensure I was okay."

"And what is the state of your health?" This was a man's question.

"I'm still sadly not at a hundred percent, so I will be spending more time recovering before I am ready to take part in war reparations. I will be getting fresh air walking across the city and the likes."

At this Kingsley took to add, "Yes, so if anyone sees Miss Granger, please give her some space." This turned the line of questioning over to him.

"Minister, what will you being doing now that the golden girl is back in action?"

Kingsley came up to Hermione and put a hand on her shoulder. "I will be hoping Miss Granger will decide to work for the ministry. Merlin knows we could appreciate a bright mind like hers helping clean up the messes."

"As for you, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, how does it feel to have your friend back?" The reporters hungry gazes turned to the two boys, camera's flashing in their faces.

"Uh, it's great," Ron responded. Months later and he still wasn't entirely comfortable with being questioned so publicly by reporters. He wondered if this was how Harry felt when he had been younger and on everyone's mind, his name rolling out of their mouths. But then again he was still the center of everyone's attention.

"We're really glad to have her back. We never gave up believing that she would come back to us. And she proved us right." Harry smoothly swept in and slung an arm around Hermione's free shoulder, Ron quickly following suit. A couple of pictures were taken of them in that pose.

"What are you going to do after this Miss Granger?" Asked someone and she smiled back at him cheekily.

"Now I'm going to get some rest."

It wasn't even a full day before newspapers recording Hermione's miracle recovery circulated around the community. Bellatrix learned about it a different way. Her lord had come fuming into the so dubbed Voldemort's Abode, casting spells at the furniture which either charred or exploded into bits. The Death Eaters, who had been sitting and calmly chatting at the table-there were now eight of them, including Bellatrix- jumped up at his lord's arrival and smartly moved out of the way of his aim. Bellatrix, who had been lounging, slumped over on the windowsill, watched the chaos unfold but said nothing.

Voldemort was most displeased. It seemed the little know it all had managed to crawl her way back to life. And with her back it was only a matter of time before she told the rest of the world that he and Bellatrix were back and he couldn't have that. The mudblood would ruin him yet again! "Bellatrix!" he snarled out.

"Yes my lord?" she immediately stiffened, her face fearful in the face of his dark emotions.

"I want you to find me this Granger bitch and finish her off!"

"But she is still-"

"She awoke." He shoved the paper at Bellatrix, the front page containing an image of a smiling brunette, Ron and Harry hanging around her, with the minister of magic as well. "And I cannot have her telling the world that we are back alive before our plans reach fruition."

"And I am to kill her?" Bellatrix's voice was soft as she took the paper from his trembling hands and looked at it wide eyed.

"Yes. Go and be rid of her. But do it quickly and in such a manner that will satisfy me."

"Can we really trust her to do that?" Rookwood sneered. "She hasn't crucioed anyone since she came back. Seems something she wouldn't want to miss out on yet she wasn't able to complete a single crucio. I smell a rat." He tapped the side of his nose all knowingly.

This was true. Voldemort had demanded the dark haired witch to cast the unforgivable curse but she had failed each and every time. So he had tortured her instead to remind her what the curse felt like. She had laid panting and hurting on the floor before him and yet she had still been unable to cast the curse. He had been disgusted by her. It seemed his lieutenant was impaired. He had told her either to fix the problem on her own or he was going to relegate her to the lowest position among his Death Eaters. He had yet to see results and it had nearly been a week since he had come back from the dead.

"Then you must be smelling yourself. How about you take a shower?" Bellatrix bared her teeth at Rookwood, before she flung an agumenti in his direction. It caught the man in the face and he spluttered as water went up his nose and into his mouth.

"You bitch," he coughed as he blindly reached for his wand, wiping his eyes hastily with the other hand.

"Enough," Voldemort ordered, stopping them both. He was not in the mood for inner circle squabbles. "If you do not trust her then you can go with her on the missions Rookwood. And if the mission fails then I shall blame it on you and it will be your head on the plate. If that's too much pressure then speak before you think to insult my best. She did after all give her life to a line of service to me, while I found you hiding and sniveling like a rat as you cowered from aurors."

Rookwood paled at this and threw himself on the floor. "My apologizes my lord, I did not mean-"

"Silence," Voldemort silenced the man with a spell and turned to Bellatrix. "You will take Rookwood with you and kill the girl."

"You would not wish us to capture her? Question her?"

"I have nothing I wish to ask her about."

"Wouldn't it be suspicious if she just died randomly? Won't the ministry blame it on the remaining Death Eaters? Won't they crack down on us-look for us and make it harder to complete-" Bellatrix cut herself off when Voldemort slipped his wand gently onto her pulse point.

"And since when did you become so logical Bellatrix. Since when did you question my orders?!" He yelled, his screams blowing across her face. He could see her lips trembling, her whole body shaking to the core, yet she stood there and faced him. Others would have already been on the floor, soiling their trousers.

"Death has rationalized me, my lord. It has put a different perspective on life," she responded softly, her pulse beating erratically against the wand tip.

"I hope that perspective is not different from mine, or else we are going to have issues, Bella."

"No my lord," she whispered her gaze lowering as he brought his face closer to her. She did not dare directly look him in the eyes this closely.

"Good." He removed himself from her and could hear an audible sigh of relief come from her lips. He moved over to the fireplace in the room and lit it with a flick. It had gone out during his attack on the furniture.

Staring into it he contemplated Bella's previous words. They held a grain of intelligence to them. "For the girl, I do believe you have a point Bella. It might be risky if she were killed off all of a sudden. So do make it look like an accident." Then with a swish of his robes, he dismissed everyone in the room. It was just him and the fire and he didn't mind. He conjured an armchair next to the fire and stared into it, imagining crumbling buildings and screaming and running people in the confines of the conflagration.

Soon, the world would burn.

Hermione, Ron and Harry were seated in a hotel room that overlooked the nicer part of the wizarding world. The one that had been largely untouched by Voldemort's attacks. They were sitting in uncomfortable silence, Ron playing a game of chess against the magicked chess board, Hermione reading a newspaper in the armchair by the fireplace while Harry had taken to marking things off that he had yet to do for his job in his small leather bound notebook. He and Ron had been given the whole week off by Kingsley to help Hermione but that didn't mean he didn't have work waiting for him when he came back.

A couple minutes before they had gone over possible locations as to where Bellatrix could be right now but they had come up against a wall multiple times, failing in coming up with any good leads. Finding someone who was undead was turning up to be harder than initially thought, and they were all aware of the time limit hanging over Hermione's head like a guillotine. Hermione felt the pressure the most because she had snapped at both boys, prompting Ron to angrily shut the both of them out and go to playing chess. Harry had to calm down Hermione himself and he had wondered more than once where this temper had come from. He had known the girl had a temper but never before had it been so clearly and directly directed at them.

It distressed him but the thought that they could find Bellatrix and absolve whatever it was that the dark witch had taken from Hermione made him feel a bit better. Perhaps it was her restraint that the witch had taken? He let out an amused snort under his breath, one that Hermione heard. "Something to say?" She had flicked back the page of her newspaper to glare at him, daring him to say something.

"Nothing," he answered, not even bothering to look at her from his seat on the bed. "Just a funny joke I recalled from work."

There was a humph before the girl went back to reading her paper. There was silence once more, only the fire crackling merrily in the grate. A sudden thud against one of the windows brought the trios attention to it. A bird was at the pane, but not one that they recognized. It scrambled at the window, trying to get in and Hermione not even bothering to look up called at Harry in an annoyed tone, "either let the bloody bird in or get it to leave."

Harry stood up and let him in, the bird brushing past him in a cold gust of wind. The bird, a raven, fluttered closer to Hermione and alighted on her shoulder. She looked up irritated at it and ready to smack it off when her eyes opened in recognition.

"Odious," she cooed. "You're still alive." She went to stroke the bird but it dropped the note it had in it's beak into her lap before biting her outstretched hand and flying off and out the window once more.

"Ah, that blasted bird," Hermione hissed, sticking her offended fingers into her mouth. She tossed her paper to the side, done with it.

"What did he leave?" Harry inquired about the note, shutting the window behind him now that the bird was gone.

"Well I haven't had the time to read it now, have I?" Hermione mumbled irritably around her fingers before pulling them out. Using her other hand, which wasn't wet with her saliva and which wouldn't smudge the writing on the note, she opened the note and read it. Her face changed expressions multiple times. It went from shock to disbelief to relief to worry and then to something neutral. Harry discreetly watched this out of the corner of his eye, pretending he was interested in his nails.

"So?" Harry asked once she was done, not daring to come next to Hermione, afraid she would burst out into anger again. He stood by the wall, leaning against it casually. Ron was still ignoring the two of them.

"It's nothing," she snorted derisively. "They sent it to the wrong person." Then she got up and tossed it into the fire. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to die of boredom if I continue to sit here any longer. I'm going on a walk to clear my head, maybe I'll get some ideas on where the other witch is." With that she grabbed her coat and hat.

"I'll come with you," Harry offered only for her to shoot him down.

"I'm not a weakling. I can manage walking a couple blocks on my own." Wrapped warmly she tossed over her shoulder before she left, "Don't wait up on me. I don't know when I'll be back."

Harry and Ron exchanged a wordless look with one another. They were going to follow Hermione. She was acting suspiciously.

Grabbing their coats, they cast a quick glamour on themselves before they went out into the snowy evening, so that if the girl looked back she wouldn't be able to recognize them. Trailing Hermione was hard, the girl on her guard and most definitely exhibiting leery behavior. She kept casting glances around her and going down back alleys, twisting and turning directions to throw off anyone that could be trying to follow her. More than once they almost lost her or got sighted. Only thanks to luck were they able to find a hiding spot, keeping a distance of a block or two. They had been following her wordlessly for an hour and still they had no idea where she was taking them. She seemed to be going to a more shady part of the town.

"What do you think she's doing? Is she supposed to meet up with someone?" Ron questioned, his breath billowing around his lips. It was too cold to be out for this long. His warming charm was beginning to wear off.

"I bet it must be someone she doesn't want us to know she's meeting."

"But who? You don't think it's Draco?" Ron spat. "Or Krum?"

Harry shook his head and pulled Ron behind a building as Hermione cast a look behind her. They stayed there, backs to the cold brick before Harry chanced a peek and saw the girl had crossed the street and moved on. "She doesn't have any memories. I doubt she would remember Malfoy or Krum. And it can't be someone new. She hasn't been out of the hospital for more than a week."

"Then could it be...someone whose threatening her? And she didn't want to tell us?"

"But who would threaten her? The only wizards I could think of are the Death Eaters but they don't have enough power as it is right now."

Before Ron could say something else, Harry put a hand on the boys chest, drawing his attention to someone else. "That girl has been following Hermione for a while too." He pointed at a woman dressed in thick furs on the street adjacent to them, a hood obscuring her face.

Ron's eyes went wide at this. "Do you think she is the person Hermione is supposed to meet up with?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know but to be sure, I think we should intercept her." The two boys went around the back of the block, ending up on the same street as the woman. She seemed to be oblivious to them, her focus intense on Hermione. They were getting deeper and deeper into warehouse districts, the night getting darker. Hermione rounded a corner and the woman following her hid behind a line of mailboxes directly to the left of it. She crouched behind them for a while. This gave Harry and Ron the chance to slide by next to her, grabbing her shoulder. She gave a start, her mouth opening to scream but Ron covered her mouth. "Don't scream," he whispered. "Turn around slowly. We won't hurt you." The woman nodded her head and turned around slowly, her eyes twinkling happily. They recognized that face under the hood.

"Luna!" Harry whisper shouted. "What are you doing following Hermione?"

"I saw her walking without you guys, and I followed her. It seemed the right thing to do. She had been off ever since she woke up and I want to check if my hunch is right." Luna seemed to be able to tell who they were under their glamour. With a wave of his wand, Harry magicked it away. The charm was wearing off anyways and he would have to reinstate it.

"What hunch?"

"The one about the Nargles Ron. I thought they had gone away but they've only gone into her."

"Uh, sure, that explains a lot Luna," he mumbled sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Luna thinking what he said was sincere, said gratuitously. "And what are you guys doing?"

"The same as you. She got a letter from someone but didn't tell us who and then left," Harry explained.

Luna frowned at this. "Well then we better hurry. She could be in a lot of trouble." Her tone got hard and serious. The boys nodded their head in agreement and they got up from where they had been hiding. Hermione still hadn't come out from the alley and creeping carefully towards it Ron and Harry stood next to the lip of the entrance on one side and Luna took the other. Harry motioned for the blonde to be quiet and to listen. Now that they were closer they could make out some talking. It was hard to decipher what was being said and Harry wished he had some extendable ears. He could clearly tell one of them was Hermione's voice and the other one was a female one too...the tone in pitch tickling Harry's brain with its familiarity. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to recall what it was that-his eyes shot open wide. He knew whose voice that was, yet he couldn't believe it.

He rushed into the alleyway. "Mate!" Ron whispered after him before he saw Luna shrug and walk in too. Ron was the last to join and when he saw what was before him his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. There, looking as alive as could be, was Bellatrix Lestrange in all her deranged, creepy glory and she was talking to Hermione. To Hermione! The girls were having a civil conversation.

"Hermione," he cried out, his voice choked by shock. The brunette, whose back was to them, stiffened upon hearing her name. It was Bellatrix who noticed them first, her side facing them. Her eyes opened wide and instead of fear, her face saturated with relief. "Luna, Ron and Harry!"

Ron pulled out his wand and held it in front of him. "Holy shit, she's alive. Harry, Luna, Bellatrix is alive. Hermione was right. She was bloody right. This is so wrong. So, so, so, wrong. On so many levels." Ron wasn't aware of it but he was babbling almost breathlessly. Luna and Harry's wands also went up.

Anger at his uncle's death still churned inside Harry, a slight to the boy that would never been forgiven. Bellatrix froze at the sight of the three raised wands. Hermione finally turned around, her face neutral and wand tip pressed to her mouth.

"Hermione...how did you...she sent you the letter?" Harry sputtered out, his mind swirling as it tried to put together the pieces. Hermione had been looking for the witch but then she had gotten that letter and...and...but why would Bellatrix send her a letter? Was she as confused by Hermione by what had happened to her and knew the other girl had been involved in the soul spell so she owled her?

Hermione opened her mouth to say anything, when she was caught off by Ron's shout. "Hermione we need to take Bellatrix down! Then you can get the thing you want! Step away quickly!" With that Ron fired off his spell. Hermione's eyes widened.

"No!" Hermione pulled up a protego around her and the dark witch. Bellatrix stood where she was, blinking her eyes rapidly and looking positively downcast at Ron's actions at her.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron was appalled by the golden girl's actions. "Are you really protecting this murderer? We can bring her in for justice! When she died she was able to get away with all her crimes-but now she's alive and the public can get the retribution they deserve!"

Hermione let out a tsk. "I had hoped you two would be smart and stay behind instead of following me. This is going to make everything much more complicated. Bellatrix help me."

The dark witch startled at this, her gaze which had been trained on Harry with a sense of familiarity that left him feeling like he had worms crawling up his back, shifted to the brunette. "But I-"

"Just stupefy them." Hermione raised her wand and sent three jets of red at the boys and Luna. Harry knocked them all away frantically, almost failing to push the last spell aside.

"Hermione, what are you doing? Did she imperio you?" Ron asked, anger boiling in his blood.

"Help me Bellatrix," Hermione growled and the witch snapped to, slipping out her wand. Harry knew they had no chance of winning when they were fighting Bellatrix. They needed to retreat. This space was too small.

"Ron and Luna, we need to leave."

"I'm not leaving Hermione behind. The evil witch has got her under her control! There's no telling what torments she'll inflict on her this time. I already failed to protect her once more, I can't fail again." With a brave roar, Ron rushed forwards. Which was stupid in hindsight. Hermione sent jinx after jinx at him which he deflected, but since he was in the middle with no cover he could only do so much to protect himself. He was left wide open for Bellatrix's stupefy spell.

Which would have hit him if Harry had not decided to follow his friend into battle. There was no way he was going to let his friend go on a suicide mission. Luna too felt the same and while Harry took care of Bellatrix's spells Luna fired her own off at the dark witch who flung them back in halfhearted effort. Her aim was off too, all the returned spells bouncing off the walls and floors around her opponents.

Steadily the three ex-Hogwarts students pushed the two girls to the back of the alleyway. Hermione's teeth were gritted in concentration and she had a couple of cuts where some jinx's passed her by. Ron took on Hermione more directly while Luna and Harry tag teamed the dark witch who looked stressed by this whole situation, her face pale and drawn tight. No matter what spells they threw at her she merely deflected them, rarely firing off any of her own. One of Luna's spells exploded the cobbles under the dark witch's feet and she was flung backwards, landing in an undignified manner on her butt.

Luna and Harry strode over to her, wands facing down at her. The tips glowed with an oncoming combined stupefy spell and panicking, the dark witch threw her own at them. It was more powerful than their's and launched them off of their feet to the ground with a loud noise where they crumpled unconsciously. Ron noticed the sound of the spell going off with a bang and glanced over at his friends.

Hermione, who had drawn her back to the wall, and was breathing hard, took his lapse in attention to stupefy him and he too joined his friends in an unconscious pile on the floor.

The two witches looked at one another, both breathing hard from the fight.

"Now what do we do?" Bellatrix asked, licking her lips in uncertainty.

"Their your friends. Figure it out," Hermione responded and then stalked off from the alley.

Ron slowly began to come to, his ears ringing with loud voices and his vision swimming with bright light. He was aware that he was lying on his back on something soft.

"I swear if you permanently damaged Ron-" Bellatrix's shrill voice began only to be cut off by Hermione's sneering calm one. "What, what are you going to do? If the blundering idiot hadn't followed me in the first place this wouldn't have happened. Blame it on him, not on me." Had he just heard Bellatrix concerned over him? He must have hit his head hard when he was hit by the spell.

Ron let out a loud groan as he finally came fully awake, aware of all his cuts and bruises and aches. Black curls filled his vision and he saw that the dark witch had pulled up a chair to sit next to him as he had rested on the bed. Frightened by her close proximity he tried to shuffle away and grab his wand where it rested on the night stand away from her, but a quick spell from Hermione froze him. "Incarous," she mumbled from where she was leaning causally by the fire place. Her cuts were still dripping blood but she hadn't bothered to heal them.

"Mione!" Ron gasped as he was constrained to the bed. "What the devil is going on here?" He gave a quick survey of the room and saw it was the hotel bedroom they had been in before. Luna and Harry were propped up in the chairs at the small table, no doubt not able to move because of a binding spell on their bodies. They too looked like they had just woken up.

"Oh, looks like I was right," Luna mumbled as she sleepily looked from Bellatrix to Hermione.

"Were right about what?" Ron almost snarled at the girl, this whole situation confusing and irritating him.

Luna turned a smile on Ron. "Looks can be deceiving."

"That doesn't help-"

"Hermione why are you working with Bellatrix?"

Now Ron turned an incredulous look to Harry. "She's been Imperioed."

"No she hasn't. She was the one giving out orders during the battle. Something's not right here. So," he turned over to look at Hermione, his glasses askew on his face. "Tell us Hermione."

The brunette scoffed at this, leaning up off of the fireplace and waving her left hand dismissively in the air. "Tell us, tell us," she mocked in a higher register. "Bellatrix why don't you tell them what's going on?" She indicated for the dark witch to take the floor. Bellatrix's face looked uncharacteristically nervous as she got up from her seat and spoke up.

"Ron, Harry, Luna," she addressed them each by name and Ron pulled back his lips in grimace. "Don't call us by our names you ugly old hag-"

"Silenco!" Hermione flung the silencing charm so quickly at Ron that it was almost a blur. Ron opened and closed his mouth in indignation but nothing was coming out, his face turning red and the veins in his neck standing out as he tried to shout at her.

Bellatrix shot Hermione a disapproving glare but the other simply shrugged unapologetically and so she cleared her throat and moved on.

"Guys, me and Bellatrix switched bodies." She let the words hang in the air. Slowly they trickled into the recipients brains and each face paled drastically, even Luna's, and she had had an inkling as to what was really going on.

"What do you mean by me...and Bellatrix...you can't be...no...no," Harry shook his head as his mind went to a conclusion he did not want it to. "You're Bellatrix," he told the witch who had told him this.

"Harry, stop being ridiculous." Bellatrix placed her hands on her hips. "I'm not lying to you. I'm Hermione." She pointed to her chest. "And I've been trapped in Bellatrix's body, while she has been trapped in my old body."

"Oh bloody hell," Ron wanted to whimper out but all he did was let his eyes roll into the back of his head and promptly faint. This was the last thing he had been expecting to happen.

A/N: Well, so there's that plot twist.