Masquerade Act Two: When the Masks Fall
The Nineteenth Dance: A Switch with A Witch-The First Gift
I am trapped in this body, and there is nothing I can do about it. Dudley Moore
A/N: So, kind of dug myself into a runt there with that plot twist. Thus I decided to do a bit of a POV switch until I can figure a way out because I don't want to not update for long stretches of time. Plus, the POV switch might offer up some additional info not mentioned before.
When Bellatrix had finally been cleared to go back into the world of the living she had felt so happy it was like she was weightless. No longer would she be threatened by the shackles that bound her to hell. She had a chance to try again, to make her life better. To prevent the horrendous fate awaiting her. She was ready to put her best foot forward. But when she woke up she wasn't where she thought she would be.
She was in a hospital bed and there were four people surrounding her. A bespectacled boy, a redheaded man, a redheaded girl and a blonde. She felt uneasy with their presence around her but couldn't figure out why? Who exactly were they? Her memories of the afterlife were firmly ingrained in her mind but her memories of the past still were vastly lost to her. She wondered if they would ever return.
Her head still buzzing and feeling like cotton, she heard one of the boy's call to her. "Hermione." Hermione? She thought groggily. No, that's not my name. Why would he call me that? She squinted at him, her gaze a bit foggy. She took in his mopey black hair, the round glasses, the scar on his forehead and something in her synapses fired and her eyes flew open. She knew who he was. Harry Potter, the wizard who lived and who had killed her lord. Anger and fear and panic swirled in her veins.
She was with the enemy! And no doubt everyone else here had been her enemy in the past at one point. She quickly snapped her head back and forth from everyone else, their names flooding into her head-except for the blonde's. She sat up in her bed, the quick motion sending her head reeling. She could feel her breaths getting shallower and she tried to fight the oncoming panic but couldn't.
"Hermione." Harry's voice was soft and her eyes snapped to him once more. "It's us. Your friends."
"No." She couldn't help the word from coming out. Something was wrong here. The judges must have messed something up when they sent their souls back. And why did they keep calling her Hermione?
"What do you mean no?" Harry looked hurt and confused by her harsh tone. Not that she cared. She was about to have a meltdown.
"She must be baffled," the red haired girl supplied. "She was in a coma for so long." I was in coma? Is that what my body has been doing this whole time? Bellatrix mussed. How long was I out?
"Hermione. Hermione." The red haired man spoke up this time, a look of pure joy on his face. It made Bellatrix's skin crawl in disgust. When he took a step forward she flinched back and shouted out another resolute "no!" which startled that stupid grin right off of his face.
"No?" he echoed dumbly, but Bellatrix had already moved her attention elsewhere. She was looking at her own arms in sick fascination. They were thin and on the underside of one was the word mudblood scribbled hastily into her flesh. She felt sick and a "no," bubbled out of her throat before she could stop it. Still choosing to hope that this was just some deranged nightmare and not reality, she tore the covers off of her legs and saw that they weren't her feet. But someone else's. "No!" She cried out again, her frustration leaking out from her.
Those fucking assholes! They put me in the wrong bloody body! "No, no, no no! NO! NO!" She screeched and tried to get out the bed. She had to get away from here, get away from the other's before they found out who she really was. They were going to kill her, that was for certain. "This wasn't supposed to happen! This wasn't supposed to happen!" She hoped the judges could hear her and reverse their mistake right this minute. If she was in Hermione's body then where was the other girl?
She collapsed to the floor, her limbs weak from misuse during her coma. She tried to crawl out through the door anyways when she felt a pair of strong arms on her. "Let me go!" she snarled. That filthy Potter brat was touching her! She twisted and turned in his grip, ignoring his and Ron's pleas to calm down. She was dragged unceremoniously to her bed and dumped on it, held down by the two boys. "Let me free!" She said with desperation. She couldn't be here. She needed to leave! She reached out to claw at the Potter's face.
"Ron, cast a body bind spell on her. Now!" Harry ordered as she tugged painfully on his lips.
"Okay," Ron cast the spell and instantly her arms and legs were pinned together and she could no longer move. Her vocalizations also calmed at this. Hair in her face and slightly sweaty from the effort it had taken her weak muscles to move, she took in deep breaths, watching the two boys next to her with a hawk like gaze.
Her initial shock at finding herself in the wrong body was beginning to wear off now that she had raged and let all these pent up feelings out. It was going to be okay. She just had to wait for a window of opportunity.
A moment later the red haired female weasel strode in with three healers, all clad in white. Bellatrix felt her muscles tense up. She wanted to run but she couldn't. What were they going to do now? "What happened here?" Asked the head healer, taking in the ruffled state of Ron and Harry and the messy bed that Hermione was lying on.
"She woke up and started freaking out. We didn't know what to do," Ginny explained as the healers swept in and and shooed the boys away from the bed to examine Bellatrix more closely.
"We put a full body bind jinx on her to calm her down because she was going to hurt herself," Harry offered.
"That was smart of you to do." The head healer said before he bent over Bellatrix, murmuring gently to her. "Now what do we have going on here? A miracle. Welcome back to the world of the waking. How do you feel?"
Bellatrix wanted to spit in his face for daring to get this close to her. I feel fucking terrible. I'm in the wrong bloody body, stuck with little miss know it all's insufferable friends, who if they find out who I really am, will send me back to my death! But she stayed silent, taking deep breaths through her nose. It looked like she was going to be in this situation for a little bit. It was best to act the part until she could escape. When it came to survival, Bellatrix would do anything, even if it meant pretending to be a certain someone that annoyed the shit out of her. Now...how did Hermione act? Let's see if she could pull this off successfully.
"I think she may have lost her memories," Ron said. "When we told her we were her friends she refused to believe it. She just kept shouting out no and no over and how this wasn't supposed to happen to her. How she didn't want to be here. Is that normal?"
And thank you for that, Weasel. Bellatrix smiled on the inside. He had given her a chance-a great opportunity really, although maybe it was thanks to her great freak out that it was all falling into place. She had thought she had ruined things with it but now it made the others seem to believe she had lost her memories. With this she had leeway to acting a bit out of character if she did something that Hermione normally didn't and she wouldn't be expected to recall events from the brunette's past.
The head healer instructed the two other healers next to him to do a wand sweep of her body. She did not want them getting close to her but she had no choice. What if their wands found out that it wasn't really Hermione in Hermione's body? Then what? It would be all over. She bit her lip to keep her nerves calm and took a steadying breath. Why was so freaked out about all this? Where had her apathy and cool head gone? She blamed the recent coming back to life experience for her frayed nerves. Even Voldemort was a bit off when he came back alive last time, she reassured herself.
The head healer was answering Ron's concern and Bellatrix paid attention to it, hoping it would give her some insight into her current predicament. "As for Hermione, we cannot be sure what to expect. Her's is the first recorded case in centuries of a soul coma. But she is awake, something we didn't think possible ever again. If she has incurred other damages then we can work from there because the worst is over."
Ron let out a sigh of relief. "It's going to be okay," Ginny insisted, coming up to her brother and squeezing his hand comfortingly.
Ah, a soul spell. Now that it was mentioned she recalled having cast it on Hermione. The spell was something ancient and complicated; something that was passed down from generation to generation in the Black family. Soul spells had been outlawed years ago because they were so complex and casting one took much care and preparation before hand. If the spell got messed up then it could immediately kill those involved in it. Had this been what happened? Had Bellatrix killed the two because of miscasting the spell?
She let her mind wander back...she could recall a pale faced Hermione in the castle of Hogwarts, her body nearly shaking from fright at Bellatrix's appearance. Bellatrix had cackled with glee at that. It was just the two of them. They had chatted briefly about something, the Gryffindor girl standing her ground and refusing to run although Bellatrix could see the need to do so practically bursting from her eyes. Then Bellatrix had cast the spell-she wanted a contingency plan should things go awry in this battle. If the dark side was defeated then by being bound to the golden girl she could secure her own safety and not be carted off to Azkaban. She had been worried that the death eaters would lose, a concern she never would have dreamed of having but the lord had gone amiss in his mission. And instead of focusing on conquering the wizarding world he had turned obsessed with killing the Potter boy. He had come back alive and it had ruined him. Bellatrix only wondered how he was now. With an uncomfortable twinge she noted she would have to kill him or else she would be punished by the judges.
The spell backfiring hadn't killed the two girls. Then what had? And who had been the one killed by it first? She certainly felt foolish now for having cast it. If she hadn't would they still both had been alive?
Bellatrix saw the head healers mouth opening and closing and realized that he was talking to her and that she should probably be paying attention.
There was a beeping coming from the wands scanning her and Bellatrix held her breath, worried what it meant. "She has high readings of magic around her right now."
"Could be due to her reawakening, to the magic that was keeping her slumbering breaking. Put your wands away for the time being." The two female healers did as asked, as the head healer waved their concern away. "Now, Hermione we want to let you go from these binds. Can I trust you not to run away again? Are you calm now?"
He searched her face and she tried to portray calm on her features. She didn't know if she was doing a good job but she must have because he took away the spell biding her. She sat up, experimentally moving her limbs and stretching the muscles out. Everything hurt.
"Please do not fear us. We wish to do you no harm. I know it must be frighteningly confusing having woken up after such a long slumber to see yourself in such a strange place with strangers around you. But we do not want to harm you," he emphasized. "These are your friends and they only wish the best for you. Can you cooperate with us and let us help you? We need to run some more tests on you. You've just come back from a very complicated and rare spell that had destroyed your soul and we just want to make sure everything is okay." When Bellatrix still remained quiet the head healer backed up a bit from her and took out a magical pad and quill which began to write down a report on what was currently happening. "We won't run any tests on you right now, but we will have to ask a few questions to asses your state of mental well-being. Can you do that for me, Hermione?"
Ugh, no I don't want to, Bellatrix groaned. I don't want you picking and prodding at me like some animal.
"Good," the head healer cheerily replied, taking her silence as an answer. "What is your full name?"
Well shit. Let's just start with the hard questions already. She licked her dry lips before responding. "Hermione...Granger." The name seemed to fit. She knew she had had to see it in the papers or something.
"Yes. And how old are you?"
There was a pause before she answered this, her mind whirling ferociously and her eyes roving all over the room. How old was the girl? She looked young, in her late teens. Noting the 18 balloon that was attached to her bed end she felt blessed by that bit of good fortune. "18."
"No cheating," chided the healer but in a good natured manner. "Do you know what day it is? What month?"
This she had no bloody idea about. "Winter?" she ventured, gazing out the window and noting the snow frosted panes.
"Don't worry. That was a bit of a trick question. You wouldn't be expected to know the date and month." So then why did you bloody ask you old coot? Bellatrix wanted to lift her hands up and strangle him for such a stupid question but she resisted the urge to do so. Her arm muscles were probably too weak to do that properly right now.
"It's your birthday Hermione," Ron interjected rather suddenly, causing everyone to look at him. He seemed a tad uncomfortable with this attention. "Happy Birthday."
Yes, happy birthday to me. I'm having a fantastic one, Bellatrix muttered sarcastically to herself and tried to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Uh, thanks," she mumbled out, realizing she should probably comment on this, before moving on. "Can I know what day it is? For myself," Bellatrix asked, wincing at the way her voice sounded. It was so weird...like the voice was detached from her, like it wasn't really her talking. Which it technically wasn't but still. This had to be one of the weirdest things she had ever gotten herself into and that was saying something. As a young witch she had had her share of …..interesting adventures, shall we call it.
"Certainly. It is the 17th of February. It has been eight months since the battle of Hogwarts and since you lost consciousness."
"Bloody hell, that long?" The words burst out of Bellatrix's mouth, surprising everyone with them. It looked like miss prim and proper didn't curse. What a bore.
"Yes, that long," smiled the head healer. "But all that matters is you're awake now. Moving on, can you identify your friends for me?" The head healer pointed a finger at Harry, indicating for Bellatrix to start with him.
That one was easy. "That's Harry Potter," she said and following the healer's finger she rattled off more names. "That's Ron Weasley." She had to resist the urge to fling out the words blood traitor and weasel at him. "And that girl...related to Ron...Ginny?" Ginny nodded her head when Bellatrix got it right. Of course the red heads were related. "And she's...she's...?" Bellatrix was stumped on the blonde haired girl in the room. She had never heard of her before. "I can't recall your name."
"That's Luna. But bloody hell this is great Hermione. You're back!" Ron cheered, a wide grin on his face. "Memories be buggered, those seem fine and we can always work on those later if need be. The best part is your back. The golden trio is once more!" He took big steps towards her and enveloped her in a big bear hug. She froze under his touch, stiffening. She didn't return the hug, the words get off of me, running through her head like the Hogwarts Express.
"We have so much to catch up on," Ginny said, coming to sit down on the bed by Bellatrix, the healers moving back from the bed and going to discuss with one another in hushed tones outside the door. "Gossip, school stuff, girl stuff. I missed having you around." She grasped the brunette's warm hand and squeezed.
Ron let go of her, grasping the brunette's face in his palms. "I am going to take you on the best date ever when you get out of St. Mugo's." Get your filthy blood traitor hands off of me! Bellatrix wanted to bellow out from the bottom of her heart but she didn't. If she did then it would ruin everything. So she merely remained quiet, letting her features become neutral.
"No, I taking her out first. On a girl's night out!"
"Bugger off, she's my girlfriend!" Bellatrix almost choked on that. Had she heard right? Ron and Hermione...tsk, tsk. And here I thought the girl was with Harry. Certainly she can do better than the Weasel.
"And she's my friend!" Ginny shot back.
"She's also my friend. I'm taking Hermione out first. We're going to a book store. I know you love those. I'll buy you a whole shelf of books."
"You are not going to outdo me Harry! I'll buy her the whole book store," Ron insisted, letting go of Bellatrix's face and clenching his fists as he argued with his sister and best friend, eager to prove his loyalty to the brunette. Bellatrix rubbed her face where Ron had touched her, eager to get his filth off. Her head turned back and forth from the people arguing over her, her ire at their loudness rising. Merlin were all of Hermione's friends this irritating?
The only exception was Luna. She stood by the window, her hands in her coat pockets and watching the brunette with an expression that reminded the brunette of a hawk looking at a mouse.
"Luna, come over here. Come say hi to 'Mione. She's not going to bite or scratch anymore," Harry joked when he saw that the blonde wasn't joining them.
"I'll pass," she answered without hesitation, her eyes never leaving those of Bellatrix's. Then without another word she left the room, her heeled boots clicking down the hall.
"How strange," Ron muttered, looking after her.
"She's always been an odd bird, leave her be," Ginny said, getting up from the bed when the three healers walked back in. "We'll have to ask you all to leave now. We have no doubt that miss Granger is a bit overwhelmed by the events that just occurred so it's best if she could get some peace. You are all welcome to come back another day and visit her in between the tests we will be running."
"How long will she have to stay until the tests are all concluded and she can go back out into the wizarding community," Harry asked. Yes, good question Potter.
"A month or so, depending on how well she cooperates with us," the head healer answered.
"A month?" Bellatrix spat out as soon as the words left his mouth. "I can't afford a month here. I want to- I need to leave." She had a highly dangerous wizard to kill!
"And you will leave. Just a bit more patience is all we ask of you, miss Granger. I understand you must be fed up of-"
"No, you don't understand. I need to be out there. I need to leave." This was hissed, almost a threat.
The head healer frowned, his tone less soft and brokering no argument. "I'm sorry but you cannot leave unless you have my explicit orders to do so. And until I tell the hospital that you are healed and ready to go, you will stay here under supervision. Please have more patience. Surely as the brains of the trio you can see I mean you no harm." With that he and healers left, their white robes swishing silently around them.
The urge to strangle the head healer returned so she fisted her hands to keep them under control. "It's going to be alright 'Mione. I'm sure you'll recover quickly and will be out of here in no time. And we will visit you so you won't get bored." I don't want you to visit me Ron! The further you stay away the better!
"Can I at least have my wand?"
The question caught the three friends off guard. "Your wand? Whatever for?" Ginny asked.
"Do any of you have it?" She didn't respond to the first question.
Harry and Ron exchanged a look. They had a feeling they knew the real reason for this. "I have your wand locked up at the ministry, waiting for you. But Hermione. You don't need it. She's not going to hurt you anymore."
"Who?" Bellatrix asked, clueless. Had Hermione been bullied as a child? It would make sense given all her infuriating questions and busybody behavior.
Harry worked his jaw, wondering if he should tell her. If she couldn't remember then why should he burden her and break her wonderful oblivion? Ron wasn't as tactful.
"Bellatrix can't hurt you anymore Hermione. She's dead."
Bellatrix's face paled at this. "Oh." Was all she said. Of course it had been her who hurt the brunette. Who else? She was stupid to have expected anything else. A vivid image of a squirming Hermione pinned under her as she drove the cursed blade into her flesh burst into her head. The girl's shrill screams pierced through her skull and she felt sick to her stomach. Never again, she promised. I'll make it up to you.
Ginny wapped Ron on the shoulder painfully. "Ouch. What was that for?" He exclaimed angrily.
"Be more gentle you numskull."
"Sorry," he muttered when he realized what he had done.
"Don't apologize to me, but to her."
"Right." Ron cast an apologetic look at the brunette. "So-"
"Still, I would feel better having my wand." Bellatrix wasn't going to give up on this idea. With her wand she would have a weapon and then she would leave this wretched place. She could go and find Voldemort and finish him before she had to stay in Hermione's body too long.
"Hermione I-"
"Please Harry?" Bellatrix turned pleading eyes up to him, hoping that the younger girl had some charm to work with. "Can't you do it for a friend? It'll help me sleep better at night. And I promise I won't use it for anything else. I'll be a good girl."
Harry let out a slow sigh, turning away from Hermione's pouty look. "Fine. I'll bring it over. Tomorrow." He owed that much to his friend.
"Thank you Harry." Gratitude and relief was in Bellatrix's voice.
"Now I guess we better get going," Ginny said. "Mum is going to kill us for being late to supper." Yes, leave, leave!
"Do we have to leave? Hermione just woke up. Surely mum can understand that. She'd want to be here too." Just fucking leave already!
"We can't overwhelm Hermione. She just woke up. I'm sure she could do with a bit of peace to regain her bearings. We probably already scared her enough as it is."
"I suppose you're right, mate," Ron grumbled, not at all happy he had to leave Hermione's side after she had finally woken up. "But I'll be here tomorrow as soon as possible," he promised his girlfriend, giving her one last hug which she didn't return either. Stop touching me!
Then with that and one last wave from the three of them, Hermione's friends disapparated. Finally she was alone in the dark and quiet of her hospital room. She let out a deep breath and pulled the covers back up to her neck as she settled down into the bed. Well, it looked like she was going to be stuck here for now. There was no way she could make it out given the horrid state her body was in. But if Harry brought her her wand tomorrow then she knew a spell that could help revitalize her legs if the healers didn't want to do it for her.
And then once she was able to walk, she was leaving this place. She had begun to piece some things together in her head and she didn't like where it was going. But she was certain she was correct; it was the only logical conclusion. She had to find the other witch who had escaped from purgatory before anyone else did.
Harry was the first one to come visit Bellatrix the next day. "Hermione, good to see you walking." His voice and sudden appearance startled her and she nearly lost her balance, recovering at the last second. She had been hopping around the room, balancing on one leg at a time for extended periods to get her muscles working.
Harry walked through the doorway of her room, where he had been waiting and watching quietly as the brunette did her exercises. Now she stopped in them, giving him a tentative look, her face drawn, before rushing over to him eagerly. "Did you bring it?" He knew what she talking about.
"I did. But how are you walking so quickly? I thought you would be bedridden for another week or so."
"I had the healers administer to me a muscle rebuilding potion. Normally one is supposed to take it easy with it as the process can be painful but I downed the whole bottle in one go. I want to be better already," Bellatrix admitted. There was no way she was going to stay cooped up in here longer than she had to. The itch to leave, to find Hermione and Voldemort was growing each passing hour and she felt that if she didn't get to go home soon then 'accidents' might start occurring to the furniture here.
Harry was impressed, his brows rising high. "Hermione you really are unstoppable when you put your mind to something." He knew the muscle rebuilding potion hurt as much as a Skelo-grow potion. Bellatrix had been in a lot of pain but she knew what she was getting into when she had downed the thing in one go. Her whole body had been wracked by pain and she had twisted and turned on her bed in agony, sticking the pillow into her mouth to stop the screams from coming out. After the ordeal had been over she was sweaty and tired but her muscles worked the way they should although she felt at first like a newborn colt trying to stand.
"Can I have my wand now?" Bellatrix stuck out her hand towards him in a childish and brusque motion. He dug into his pocket and handed over the wand to her. She greedily took the wood and ran her hands and eyes over it, absorbing it to the last detail. It wasn't her wand, but any wand was better than nothing and over the months the two girls had spent together in purgatory, Bellatrix had come to know Hermione's wand well, just as the girl had gotten to know hers.
"Hermione, I already said this before, but I'll repeat myself again. Bellatrix cannot hurt you anymore." Harry's words drew her eyes up and her lips curled up gently in a look that said she knew something that Harry didn't. Bellatrix wasn't planning on hurting the brunette anytime soon. No matter how infuriating she was she owed the other her soul and the Black's weren't a family that simply forgot a favor they owed to someone else.
"I know that. The wand is just here to help me with reading books at night. They don't appreciate me keeping the lights on late at night." She hoped this would sound like something Hermione would say. She couldn't have Harry suspecting her.
Harry smiled at this and Bellatrix knew she had said the right thing. "Of course that would be your reasoning for having a wand. Typical Hermione. If you could only have your way then you make sure that wands were as harmless as flies. No jinxs or curses whatsoever."
Bellatrix walked away from Harry at this, sitting pretzel-style on the bed after stashing her wand under her pillow. "Does the world know I'm awake yet?" Suddenly this thought, which had randomly popped into her head seemed imperative to know. She wanted to maintain anonymity. She didn't want to go out into the world parading as a mudbloo- Bellatrix stopped herself at this, shocked by the slur her own consciousness was using. No, Hermione wasn't a mudblood. Bellatrix's morals (or whatever remained of them) fought with her elitist pure blood upbringing. She's a muggle, she insisted to herself. I've never thought of her as a mudblood before, why now? Was it because of her memories of her past life that were coming back to her?
Already gaps in her remembrances had been filling in since last night and there were things she'd rather forget. She hadn't been able to sleep at all with the screams of people she had tortured running through her mind like a broken tape. And the images, oh Merlin the images. She had felt so disgusted and sickened at her own self that she had thrown up. Then she had smartly decided to avoid sleep, taking to pacing around the room and deflecting thoughts at all costs. The screams had died down to murmurs in her head but they were never completely gone and even now they were still there like a staticy buzz that if she tuned into she could draw them out more and louder. Not that she wanted to.
Harry shook his head. "No. We haven't told anyone about this yet. Only the four of us who were here last night know."
"Good. I'd prefer if it'd stay that way. I'm not ready to face the mobs," Bellatrix said, with an internal sigh of relief.
"I understand. But we can't keep this a secret for long. Our friends, the minster of magic and the headmistress of Hogwarts would all be upset if we didn't tell them you were awake. It wouldn't be fair."
Bellatrix's lips twisted at this and her eyes glimmered darkly. She briefly closed them as she battled with some internal decision. "I just want a few more days to myself. Is that so much to ask?" Her voice was petulant and Harry squirmed in discomfort.
"I suppose. But we have to tell them soon."
There was a loud crack outside the room and Ron came stumbling in a moment later, his shirt untucked and his hair standing up at the back.
"Ron, what happened? I thought you'd be the first one here to visit Hermione. What had happened to all you said yesterday?" Harry teased as Ron came to stand breathlessly next to him. Oh great, now the Weasel is here.
"I couldn't-sleep last night-too excited. And then when I-finally fell asleep, I overslept," Ron answered between breaths. "Hullo Hermione. I'm glad to see you. You look better than yesterday. Did the healers run tests on you yet?"
Of course they bloody did, she wanted to snarl out. "They did," Bellatrix said calmly, pretending to look pleased at his arrival. "And they also gave me potions to help aid my health."
"That's great! How are you feeling?"
"Better."
"Alright, I have to be on my way," Harry informed, looking at his watch. Panic flared inside Bellatrix. She couldn't believe it but she didn't want the Potter boy to leave, despite her mixed feelings on him as of right now-after all he had caused her lord much trouble, but then again Voldemort wasn't her lord anymore. Still Bellatrix didn't want to be alone in the room with the blood traitor-Ron-, she had to remind herself.
"It was lovely seeing you again Hermione." Then Harry disapparated away before she could even ask him to stay. Well, Bollucks. That left Ron and Bellatrix in the room alone. The red-haired man dawdled by her bedside, unsure what to do.
He took to sitting next to her and she pulled her knees up to her chest so that he would have more space on the bed. "Hermione..." he swallowed hard, unsure what to say. "I missed you, you know." He said at last. "I felt terrible. I thought the worst. I was ready to tear apart the witch who did this to you with my bare hands."
Bellatrix flinched at his harsh words and the images they provoked in her mind. There was no question she deserved it.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to sound so rough," Ron stammered, fiddling with his hands and looking down at them.
Bellatrix didn't say anything, taking to looking at her toes. The silence stretched between them.
"Mione, do you have any memories, the recollections of the time we spent together?"
Bellatrix's lips thinned at this. Mione, what an awful nickname. "To be honest, no. I vaguely know who you and Potter are." It was better to keep them thinking this was the issue.
Ron paled at this. "Blimey, that's terrible. Do the healers have anything for that?"
"If they do, they haven't tried it yet." Bellatrix shrugged and went back to looking at her toes. She didn't need the healers trying anything because if they did she would bite their fingers off.
Ron took a deep breath, needing to ask this next question but hating to have to ask it. "Do you...do you know that we're dating?" Ron managed to get the words out through his dry as sandpaper throat.
A chuckle escaped from Bellatrix's lips. She couldn't help it. She still found the concept of the brunette dating this pathetic excuse for a wizard hilarious. She was going to laugh in Hermione's face about this once she found her. "That we are dating?" Her voice went up in pitch as she struggled to hide her amusement. "No, I had no idea we were romantically engaged." She hoped she wasn't breaking Ron's heart too much-actually scratch that. She hoped she was. That way the two would break up. Hermione wouldn't be pleased but Bellatrix would be. She held in another cackle of dark amusement.
They sat in some more silence before another crack announced the arrival of Ginny. The redheaded girl strode into the room and immediately noticed the dark mood surrounding her brother and his girlfriend. "What's going on here?" she asked, lowering the basket of food Molly had prepared for Hermione to the floor by her night stand.
Ron merely shook his head and got up. He walked outside, hand over his mouth, his shoes squeaking on the tiled floor of the hallway. Ginny watched him go before she turned to look back at Hermione. "What was that about?"
Bellatrix cocked her head, more interested in the basket of food than with Ron's departure. "Is that food? It smells really good." Bellatrix dropped her legs to the floor and padded over to check on it when Ginny blocked her way to the basket.
"Hermione, what's going on?" Ginny put her hands on her hips, her eyes level to the brunette's. She wanted answers and now.
The brunette shrugged. "I lost my memories. It's no big deal."
"No big deal!" The redheaded girl's eyes went wide. "How can you drop a bombshell like that and say it's no big deal! Your memories are what make you as a person, therefore you've lost yourself Hermione. You've lost yourself." Ginny's voice softened at the end, horrified for what Hermione was going to have to go through, all because she had unwillingly been caught in a spell by the most horrid of witches.
"It's no big deal," Bellatrix stated once more.
"It is a big deal," a third voice stated. It was the head healer from last time. He came alone, a floating tray of potions and medicines on it following him. "However, Miss Granger will not understand this as she has no memories so she doesn't care to see what is wrong with not having any. In short, she is incapable of realizing what she is missing out on. Why don't you sit down? We have some tests and potions to administer." He gestured for Bellatrix to sit back on her bed and the brunette did so reluctantly. Here we go again, she huffed tiredly.
"I'll have to ask you to leave," he instructed Ginny and she nodded her head, leaving the room. The healer then got to work and Bellatrix did as he asked for the tests he was administering, although she didn't like it one bit and she most certainly still wanted to strangle him for not letting her leave this place.
It was night now and Bellatrix lay slumbering in her bed. Snow fell softly outside her window and a cold wind rattled the panes ever so often but she was safe and warm in her bed. She had just fallen asleep after she had exercised some more, making sure all the muscles in her body were functioning as closely to a hundred percent as she could get them. There was another reason for her arduous exercise. She was hoping to get so tired that it would let her fall asleep right away so that she wouldn't have to listen to the screams in her head of all the people she hurt.
She had also practiced her magic, heedful of the healers that would drop by her room sometimes. She'd hide it and pretend to be reading a book from the selection that Arthur and Molly had brought her before resuming it. She couldn't let them know she had a wand with her. No doubt they would take it away from her.
She wanted to leave right away but she knew she couldn't. She had to wait patiently. Make them trust that she wouldn't leave. The part she hated most was the healers and their damn nosy noses. They kept trying to poke into her head, to find her missing memories but she wouldn't let them. She didn't want anyone digging into her mind and she had made it clear. She'd scratched the face of the last person who had insisted on it and now the healers knew full well not to bring up the topic to her until she deemed she was ready. She never would be ready not that they would ever know since they wouldn't get the chance to do it because she was going to leave before then.
There were things that she had seen and done that couldn't and shouldn't be seen by the healers. And if they dove into her mind they would be shocked and confused as to why Hermione, the sweet golden girl, had such horrid images playing in her mind. They would question and prod deeper and find out the answer and she couldn't afford that. Then there was that blasted hotel and the prison sentence she had served there. They couldn't know about purgatory and what she had been through there. If they did then realities could crash, or something like that. She wasn't sure what the rules or repercussion's of it would be but she felt the judges would not like her sharing information about their world. So she was going to avoid that the best she could, besides she wasn't exactly excited to recall that hellish nightmare.
Bellatrix tossed in her bed, opening her eyes to the dark and suddenly awake. She felt uneasy, like something or someone was watching her. But who? Was it the judges? A shadow moved from the corner of her eye and without another thought she grabbed her wand and pointed it at their face. "Lumos," she whispered and saw that Luna was standing in her room by the door, her face expressionless and eyes glowing in the light of the spell. How had she even got in here?
"Luna. What are you doing here?" Bellatrix gasped, sliding her feet out from under the covers and trying to approach the other witch. "Are you spying on me?"
The other merely looked blankly on at her. "I was right." Said more to herself than to Bellatrix, Luna turned her back, opened the door and slide out into the empty and quiet hallway.
"Wait. What are you blabbering about?" Bellatrix peered out into the hallway as well but Luna had already disappeared.
Shit, was the girl onto her?
The next day Harry, Ron and Ginny visited again, bringing Neville with them. The sight of the young man had caught Bellatrix off guard. This was the child of those wizards she had tortured out of their minds. A stab of guilt hit her and she furrowed her brows. Why was she feeling bad about this now? Did she regret it? She tried to push the thought out and focus on her present situation.
Ron and Ginny had informed Harry about Hermione's lost memories and the black haired boy had been shocked. They filled Neville in on the matter's as well.
"I can't believe I missed you waking up. If only I had stayed a few more minutes," Neville shook his head in disappointment at himself before giving the girl a hug. She didn't return it but smiled up at him. Why were all of Hermione's friends so touchy feely? "It's good that you did. I was a mess, screaming and kicking people. I'm glad I had one less person to embarrass myself in front of."
"Nonsense," Neville waved his hand dismissively. "I wouldn't have minded. You're my friend Mione. Besides I got to miss the miracle of you awakening, and that's a once in a lifetime thing. I wonder what the papers will call you once word gets around."
"Hopefully they won't be calling me at all. I'd like some peace and quiet."
The friends chuckled at this, all in high spirits. It was the weekend starting today and they had come to visit their friend. They had all brought small gifts for her and decided to dine in the room with her. Ron had conjured up a picnic blanket like the muggles used and Neville had brought a wonderful potted plant, that with the aid of some of his herbology magic, grew around the blanket and it's guests, providing a small secluded world filled with the scent of honeysuckle and lilies. Bellatrix could almost forget she was in a hospital and she could almost forget about her mission but she hadn't so far. She had been here three days since she first awoke and she felt time was slipping away from her. She was going to have to leave soon. All this pressure to act like a model citizen was getting to her and she didn't know how much longer she could keep it up before she cracked.
Ginny had brought more of Molly's home cooking and Harry had brought a nice bottle of champagne. "I saw this at the parks when I was a little kid. Muggles love doing this especially when it's warm."
"We may be a bit behind, considering the blizzard raging outside," Ron commented cheerfully as he unwrapped the desert he had bought for the occasion.
"Mudblood's do this?" Bellatrix asked all of a sudden, the disgust in her words freezing her friends. She hadn't realized her blunder until Harry spoke up.
"What did you say, Hermione?" Harry turned to look at his friend, confused as to why she, of all people, would say the racial slur.
Bellatrix's eyes flared in panic as she realized the mistake she had made, given all her friends distraught facial expressions. "I didn't-I mean, it's what's on my arm. So I figured-" she dropped her head, panic swirling inside her. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Now their surely going to know! And what a pathetic excuse I used. It's on my arm-psh. No way that will get past them.
Ron placed a heavy hand on her shoulder-to attack her, she thought briefly, but instead he spoke calmly. "It's alright Mione. Must just be that you're picking up some things from your past. Some unpleasant things."
Bellatrix nodded her head at this, frantic to erase what had just happened. "How about some of those sandwiches, Ginny. I'm famished." Ginny smiled at this.
"Hermione don't pay any mind to what the scar on your arm says. We do not hate you for your muggleborn status. You're so much better than a lot of purebloods. Better than that nasty witch Bellatrix Lestrange!" Yes, yes, I get it. I was a nasty person in my past, you don't need to constantly remind me!
Ginny cleared her throat, urging Ron wordlessly to shut up before he triggered some memory in Hermione but he went on, oblivious to her attempts. "She may have carved those words into your flesh but don't ever let them stay with you. You are Hermione Granger, one of the golden trio!" This time it was Harry's turn to clear his throat and he did it a bit more loudly than Ginny had. Still Ron didn't notice it.
"And not only that-"
"Ron!" Ginny and Harry both said his name, startling the man and causing his hand to come shooting off of Bellatrix's shoulder.
"What?" He turned an innocent face to them.
"That's enough," Harry added. "Let's talk about something else." Ron sat down, heeding his friend's words.
"No, that's fine. I don't mind," Bellatrix said, making herself more comfortable on the blanket and grasping the flute of champagne in her hand that Harry's enchanted bottle had poured for her. "I know she did some terrible things to me and to other people. I can remember it well. That at least." She decided to go along with it for now, although hating on herself was an entirely new concept to herself. She had never once been ashamed of her actions in the past...but she had been different then. Now she was more aware of how wrong everything she had done in the dark lord's service was. It seemed purgatory had given her her moral compass back albeit it was still a bit rusty from misuse.
"You poor dear," Ginny rubbed Bellatrix's knee soothingly from where she sat next to the girl. "I hope your other memories come back so that you can have happier things to remember and reflect upon. Shall we tell you about some of them?"
Bellatrix hesitantly agreed to this. Did she really want to hear stories about Hermione? She was sure the most trouble the girl ever got into was for answering teacher's questions all the damn time. Soon the blanket was alive with chattering and reminiscing of all the wild things they had done at Hogwarts. Harry and Ron lead most of the talk with Ginny and Neville interjecting with their own comments. Bellatrix listened attentively, sipping sparsely on her drink to their talk. She felt...happy. Which was strange. But the atmosphere was warm and bubbly and she could feel the out-pour of love these people held for Hermione. Is this what it's like to have friends? Bellatrix couldn't recall a time when she had ever felt like this. Maybe with her sisters...she wondered how they were doing now. Had Cissy's family been taken to jail? How was Draco? And Andromeda? Even though she was a blood traitor, Bellatrix still missed her more than she was willing to admit. She would love to visit them but she most certainly could not in this body.
At the end when all the food had been eaten and all the drinks, drunk, the boys drew to an end on the latest adventure. They had argued over some of the details along the way and certainly exaggerated some of the facts but in the end Bellatrix's head was spinning with the influx of information and from the drink she had consumed. "I was such a troublemaker. And here I thought I spent all my days trapped in a library with my nose buried in some old book." This was said with a touch of wonder.
"You did spend a lot of time in the library. But when you didn't, you were getting in trouble with us." Ron chortled, his face flush with drink.
"Wow," Bellatrix mumbled to herself. "I was really not expecting that." It seemed Hermione wasn't as boring as she expected her to be. Her adventures could give Bellatrix's own escapades as a young witch a run for their money.
"I'm glad our stories could entertain you. But how did you even lose your memories from a soul spell? That's quite peculiar."
Ginny shook her head at Neville's question. "No one knows. That's why this type of magic was banned. It's too dangerous and unstable. Has too many unknown variables." Bellatrix had felt a hint of panic at Neville's inquiry but luckily the Weasel had come to her rescue.
"How did the witch even get this spell on you? You were always surrounded by the Order or by friends and teachers. So how?"
"She uh, caught me before the battle of Hogwarts could begin. It was the one time I was alone. I was out thinking things over and needed some peace and that's when she caught me. I guess she sensed that her side would lose and she wanted to drag me down with it, figuring that no one would hurt her if they found out she was attached to the golden girl from the trio. It don't work out like she wanted it to," Bellatrix said bitterly into the mouth of her flute, taking a big sip of her champagne. She still regretted having made the decision to cast the spell.
"That sick bitch," Ginny cursed. "I hope she's rotting for all the evil she's done. I wish she was still alive so we could stick her into prison with the other death eaters." Bellatrix winced at the harsh tone. If only you knew that I was alive and sitting right here, then how would you react? But there was no use in supposing.
"What has happened with Vol-I mean, He-who-must-not-be-named's army anyways? The papers don't say much on it." Bellatrix had took to reading any paper she could get her hands on but all of them talked about the same topic-the reparation of the community, awards given out to war heroes and how death eaters were going to be caught and punished with daily records of those who had been caught posted to boost moral. But that wasn't what she wanted. She had been sent back because Voldemort had come back to life. Yet the world seemed to not know this. Where was he? Was he in hiding? This definitely made things harder for her.
"Well, the army fell apart after he died and went into hiding. The aurors are looking for fragments of the death eaters even now as we speak. Me and Ron are the ones responsible for bringing them back and we've found a couple but not many. Their hard to find."
Bellatrix nodded her head in consideration of this. She still wasn't satisfied by that answer so she decided to go out on a limb. "And there's been no reports of Vol-I mean, He-who-must-not-be-named coming back alive?"
At this all her friends burst out into laughter, angering her. "What? What's so funny?" They wouldn't be laughing if they had been through what she had. If they knew what she did.
"Hermione, he's dead. He-who-must-not-be-named is deader than a door nail," Neville said. "Where did you get such an idea that he'll come back to life?"
"Hermione when I sacrificed myself it caused his final horcrux to be destroyed. There is no way he is coming back to life a third time!" Harry explained, only making Bellatrix even angrier.
"You don't know a damn thing do you!" She hissed, standing up, pissed of them. They were all fools. Fools! "He's alive and I know it. You didn't come back from where I did! You didn't see the things I did!" In her anger she had let slip a bit on the truth of her death.
This made her friends sober up. "Mione, what are you saying?"
"I was fucking dead, that's what I'm saying!" But she was too pissed off to stop although she knew she should have.
"No, you were in a coma, not dead-"
"I know what I was, Ron. I was dead. And I know I was dead because I ended up in purga-" Suddenly Bellatrix's throat stopped working. Her hands flew up to it and her eyes opened wide. What in Merlin's beard-she couldn't talk anymore! Her throat wasn't letting her! It was like someone had clapped hot iron clamps on it in a vice like grip. She couldn't even utter a single sound! Or breathe!
She could hear a soft tsking noise in her head that didn't belong to any of her friends-so where was it coming from? "We can't have you talking about our little hotel now can we?" Bellatrix recognized that voice. It belonged to Ibraham! What was the fat git doing inside her head? And he was the one who was doing this to her?
Stop this immediately!
"You have to learn your lesson first!"
"Hermione are you okay?" Harry was the first to his feet. Bellatrix shook her head urgently to let him know that she wasn't. She pointed with one hand, the other hand still on her throat, trying to alleviate the pressure she felt on it.
"Ginny, get the healers! Something's wrong!"
You fucking bloody arsehole! Bellatrix snarled at the judge as her vision began to go black. He merely chuckled as she sank down to her knees.
A/N: For clarification purposes this is from Bellatrix's perspective in Hermione's body. So she will be called Hermione by others because that's whose body she is in. And Hermione will be called Bellatrix because that's the body she is in.
Hehe, I had so much fun writing from Bellatrix's perspective for once. I loved writing her cursing, if it wasn't already obvious enough given how much she swore in this chapter.