Masquerade Act Two: When the Masks Fall

The Twentieth Dance: An Escape from the Loony

You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven. Jimi Hendrix

"Are you feeling better Mione?" Ron's puzzled and perplexed face stared down at the brunette who was now lying on her bed. The healers had been called in and quickly come to the aid of Hermione whose face had been turning different shades of alarming red as she was unable to make a sound. They had cast some spell on her and managed to get her back to normalcy. Now she lay on her bed, sipping some cool water to help with her pained throat.

"Yes, I'm better," Bellatrix muttered into her glass, her eyebrows knit in concentration over what had happened. She could still hear Ibraham's voice in her head.

"I hope that taught you a little lesson. No talking about what happened in the afterlife. If you do, you'll choke and you don't want that, do you?"

Come over here and I'll be the one choking you! How dare you try to harm me!

Ibraham chuckled at this. "I'm afraid I can't enter your world. So you'll have to do with your ill conceived fantasies. As for the little spell on you, I put it there as a little parting gift. It's there for your own safety, really."

Bloody gift my arse! Did you know you put me in the wrong body too? I'm bloody Hermione Granger right now. Was that another one of your 'gifts'?

There was another hearty chuckle from Ibraham.

Is this funny to you? Bellatrix shrilled, her voice rising in pitch. Because it's not funny. I can assure you that.

"No, it's not funny for you. I apologize for laughing. It's just that I now figured out what it was Gabriel did."

And what was that? Was the impatient question.

"He was the one who switched your bodies!"

That fuckin-! Wait till I get my hands on him! Change me this instant!

"I'm afraid that's not how it works. Only he can take back his little gift of his."

Did all of you leave us these 'generous' gifts? Really, you shouldn't have. Bellatrix could all but sneer out mockingly. Her fingers curled on the bed sheets she was lying on.

"Yes, we all gave you gifts before the both of you departed. So Hermione has the same spell on her that blocks her from speaking about the hotel and she also had her soul switched."

So Hermione was in Bellatrix's body. That was a tad reassuring. At least Bellatrix knew for certain now. But it was also concerning because Bellatrix was sure that she wasn't loved and there would be no small amount of hate thrown at Hermione, who was now trapped in her body. She only hoped the girl wouldn't do anything stupid. Going into hiding would be the best option.

And what was Dorian's gift to us?

"I can only imagine it's something bad."

Something worse than this? Bellatrix arched a brow.

"I wager. He was really upset with you both."

Just great. What could be worse than being trapped in the wrong bodies?

"Now if you excuse me I must depart. Just remember, find Voldemort and kill him. Oh, and your friends are talking to you, you might want to pay attention."

Bellatrix snapped to at this, noticing that everyone was staring at her with concern in their eyes. I bet they wouldn't look at me like that if they knew who I really was.

Ron went up to her and squeezed her hand, and she almost pulled it back before she remembered who she was supposed to be acting as. "It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. We just need to be patient. You need to be patient."

Bellatrix merely nodded her head and gave him a watery smile. Little would he know that she was leaving tonight. She had finally figured out a way to get out of this blasted place.

She left during the night. The hospital had less people on its staff during the night shift and it would make it easier to slip out. Cracking her door open, she had made sure to cast a glamour on her bed before she left so that the pillows she had stuffed under the blanket would look like her whenever someone peered in. If the charm would hold, none of the healers on the night shift should notice she was gone until morning, by which then she would be halfway out of town.

Bellatrix slid the doors shut softly behind her, slipping into the dim hallway. She had made sure to debug the doors from any charms that might try to keep her in the room. Then walking quickly and quietly with purpose, she wrapped the healer robes around her more tightly. She knew her face was famous right now but she hoped that if she was dressed oddly it might throw off anyone that looked at her. If not-then her wand was held up her sleeve, ready to fire off a stupefy spell. Bellatrix made sure to stick to the walls and to hold back if she saw any workers milling down the halls. The process was all slow going but she wasn't one to easily give up or be dissuaded. She had been through more perilous situations than she deigned to count and survival was one instinct that kept her alive and going.

She didn't know the layout of the hospital very well, so she kept wandering about, scanning the walls for some sort of directory. Magical hospitals were a maze, designed that way to keep their patients from leaving. She knew that the passageways could twist and turn and even repeat themselves all to keep a runway patient indoors. She hoped that by debugging the door to her room before she left, the hospital didn't think she was trying to run and it would let her out.

She had found a map on one of the walls and ran her eyes over it, scanning it quickly. It was a sophisticated thing, with little dots that showed where each staff member was, and where each patient was. She found her dot on the map. Hermione Granger, it said and Bellatrix let out a little snort. So even magic saw her as the little bushy haired girl. No matter, she would be out soon. She had gotten lucky that no alarm spells had gone off when she left the room but if her dot was this visible then she had to move and soon or else she would get caught.

Turning on her heel, a general location of all the night staff members positions in her mind's eye, she crept down the less used hallways. She was planning on using the backdoor exit. Hopefully it would spit her out into some grungy alleyways in which she could meld into the shadows and be on her way. Her shoes squeaked on the linoleum tiles and she cast a silencing spell on them to remain incognito.

So far so good...she breathed, rounding a corner and nearly bumping into Luna. She stopped herself from falling onto her butt and pulled out her weapon as soon as she had regained her balance. Luna wasn't as fortunate or skilled and she fell to the floor with a loud squeak.

"Shh!" Bellatrix warned, casting wary eyes down the empty and dim halls. None of the doors opened to spit out any employees so it looked like no one had heard the piercing cry. In the quiet it only seemed the more louder. "What are you doing here?" She hissed at the blonde, eyeing her suspiciously as she got up to her feet. The girl didn't bother to take out her wand, not in the least bit worried to be jinxed by Bellatrix.

"I could ask you the same thing," she responded calmly, dusting off the butt of her trousers. Bellatrix twisted her lips, not liking this girl's retort at all.

"You've come to stop me, eh?" She said, raising her wand hand up higher to remind the blonde haired girl the threat of what powers it held.

Luna let out a soft giggle, only confusing Bellatrix. "Don't be silly. I want to help you."

"Help me? Here I am trying to escape this prison of a hospital and you want to help? Are you daft?" Bellatrix angrily whispered. "Why?"

Luna let out another giggle, lacing her hands behind her back. "So you are trying to escape, as I knew you would." She tipped her head at Bellatrix. "And yes, I am daft. People have told me that all the time. To be fair, Loony Luna is more of my go to name."

"I don't have time to go over name preferences with you right now," Bellatrix grunted out, losing nerve with this girl. Why was she so infuriating? Here she had thought Hermione was annoying with all her questions and the way her nose was always buried deeply in someone else business. But this Luna girl was even worse. She had this airy way about her that unnerved Bellatrix. It wasn't just any type of airy demeanor, no it was one that was light and girly but could also be crushing with its cold clarity in certain moments. The girl was weirdly astute and Bellatrix wondered if she had a seer in the family.

"Oh, of course not," Luna nodded her head. "We have to leave."

"You are not going anywhere with me. And you are most certainly not telling anyone that you meet me here." Bellatrix was on the verge of uttering an oblivate spell when Luna froze her with her next words. "I have to help you, because I know of the other. You cannot do this quest alone."

Bellatrix swallowed deeply. Shit, just how much did this girl really know? Was she working with the judges? Had they sent her to help Bellatrix? Her piercing blue eyes made Bellatrix feel stripped of all her dirty secrets. Before she could ask away, there was a squeaking of shoes behind her and quickly thinking, Bellatrix grabbed the blonde by the elbow and spun them around into a dark alcove.

"Be quiet," Bellatrix warned. "If you aren't and we get caught I will hex you until your grandchildren feel it." Luna smartly did not argue. Peering out from the alcove, Bellatrix watched as a cleaning witch walked by with a mop and broom. When she was at last gone, she pushed Luna out of the space and whirled the wand at her face again. She didn't know how much Luna knew about Hermione's current predicament so what was she to do with her now?

"Do you believe me? About He-who-must-not-be-named?" There, that seemed like a safe question. If Luna was working with the judges then she would surely know about the lord coming back to life. My lord...her inner mind sang and she quickly shut it down, scolding herself. He wasn't her lord anymore, just a man who made her do terrible crimes.

"I do not know that much. But I know that something went wrong when you came back from beyond the ethereal plane. The others can't sense it but I can."

Bellatrix's lips thinned at this. That was not at all what she was expecting to hear. It seemed the girl couldn't give a straight answer. Realizing that she had already wasted too much time talking to this girl when she could have already been out the building, Bellatrix made to move down the hall. Luna's hold on her wrist stopped her.

"Let me go!" she wretched her hand free violently.

"There's more I must say-"

"I don't have time for your vague bullshit. You're just trying to stall me so your backup can come and stop me." Why Bellatrix had ever thought there was more than fluff and nonsense in this girl's head she wasn't sure. Luna had simply picked up on Hermione's body (really Bellatrix in disguise) and felt that something was off about the girl. There was no way she could know the truth. She was only trying to psych Bellatrix out, make her stall so that Potter and that blood traitor could find her. Or the staff.

"I'm not."

Bellatrix didn't have any more time for this. When she saw Luna reach to grab her once more she used her wand and sent a stupefy spell at the girl. Luna's eyes rolled into the back of her head as the girl got sent into the wall.

"Whose there?" a burly voice called out and Bellatrix swore under her breath. She had forgotten just how loud spells could get. Without looking behind her she tore down the hallway.

"Hey, wait up!" the voice insisted. Instead she only ran faster. She had to find a way out. There was the thud of shoes behind her and the noise of a spell being cast. It shattered against the wall by her head and she swore once more under her breath. Stupid Luna and her stupid bloody garbage talk!

The hallways began to shift, no doubt in reaction to her trying to escape. Another shout came from behind her; it seemed the first voice had been joined by another and she worried how many people were after her now. She sent a confrigo spell at them and let out a satisfied cackle when she heard someone scream in pain.

The hallways slide away from the door that was supposed to take her to the stairs that would lead her to freedom and locked in on an elevator that chimed open to reveal three guards. Hissing in frustration she sent a smoke screen at them before taking the corner next to them. Bloody hell, what do I do now? The hallway she had gone down had a dead end and there was no way she could fight off that many hospital workers in such a tight space. Come on, think, think! She urged herself, stopping before the end. She bit her thumb and looked at the bare walls around her. Well, if there wasn't an exit...she could always make one.

With a devious smirk on her face she aimed her wand at the wall in front of her and let loose. Red jets of magic assaulted the wall and with a loud explosion that nearly flung her off her feet but which most certainly covered her in dust and grime, an opening appeared and lo and behold the outside world greeted her.

She peered over the edge, assessing the ground below. She was facing a parking lot and looked to be about three stories up. She had hoped she would be on the side of the hospital that had green grass or bushes to soften her fall but it seemed luck was not on her side.

"What was that?" one of the voices behind her questioned and she knew she was out of time. She had to jump now. And not a moment too soon. Jets of magic just missed her and as she fell down she waved her wand, hoping she had timed her arresto momentum spell just right. If not, then Hermione's body was going to get a not so nice makeover.

The spell worked, stopping her face three inches from the ground. She hovered there for a moment before it dropped her. She got up to her feet and started running again, never looking back at the hospital. A group of disgruntled staff members who had been chasing her, yelled at her from the open hole in the wall, but their spells no longer could reach her.

Bellatrix was free.

She wandered the streets of the city for a while after that, snagging some clothing off of a clothes line and replacing her white healer robes with them. She kept to the shadows and made sure the hat and glasses on her face were always in place. It wouldn't do if anyone recognized her.

Now that she was free, she didn't know what to do. She knew she had to hunt down Voldemort and stop him from starting a war for the third time for that was surely what he was going to do, but where was he? She had no clues to follow in order to track him and it was frankly frustrating. Could she start with finding Hermione first, or more correctly, Bellatrix's body? But where could it be?

She rubbed her chin in contemplation as she sat down on a public bench. It was still early in the morning, barely four and not many people were out. Which Bellatrix was grateful for. She hated huge crowds of people unless it was in battle. Then the more the people to fight, the better. The crush and thrum of battle, the way sweat and blood mixed into one, the way cries of valor ripped from the tongues of those who fought- it was all enough to give her shivers. Battle was what she lived for, what she craved. The horror and fear on witches and wizards faces alike when she appeared on the war grounds. It was what made her live.

Bellatrix realized she was smiling widely to herself and stopped. This wasn't a time to be thinking of that. She had a mission to do. But thinking of war had lead her to spark an idea. It was at the battle for Hogwarts that Bellatrix had been defeated (this left a sour taste in her mouth) and so she had her first lead to finding her old body. There was a slim chance it would be there. Perhaps it had gotten snatched up by some wild animal or taken in by the death eaters. Maybe it wasn't there because Hermione had awoken and moved. Bellatrix didn't even know if Hermione was awake. They had left the hotel at the same time. But given the state of Hermione's body when Bellatrix had entered it, there was a chance that Bellatrix's body was in no better position specially if it had been rotting in the woods for some time.

Gross. She shook her head to dislodge the concept of Hermione walking around in a rotting corpse. Definitely not going to be fun.

With that lead, Bellatrix sent about finding a way to get to Hogwarts.

The search had not gone well. Bellatrix had arrived at Hogwarts at six in the morning and taken to scouring the Forbidden Forest for a sign of herself. The woods creeped her out and she kept her wand at the ready for any sign of danger. She decided to not resort to calling out for Hermione as she didn't want to startle any dangerous animals. But as time went by and she couldn't find anything, she began to get ticked off.

"Where the bloody hell is my body!" she growled out to no one in particular. She had forgone her wand in favor of her hands. Hands that were now tearing into the ground with vigor and malice, as if she could pain the forest into giving her what she wanted. "Where the bloody hell is it?!" she screeched out. She moved from one patch of earth to another, her nails sinking it. She was covered in dirt up to her elbows and some was streaked across her face but she didn't care. She wanted to find her fucking body!

Her mad digging had only been stopped when Hagrid, this bumbling fool, had approached her. Bellatrix had almost killed him on the spot, but remembered who she was playing as and reigned in her dark magic with much struggle. The man wanted to take her to McGonagall and Bellatrix had been vehemently opposed to the idea. But she had to play the part she had been given, and cursing the judges for this gift, she set out to see one of the people in this world that she hated strongly.

It had taken all the energy and patience in the universe that she could muster to be nice to the woman. Every second she spent with her brought back memories of her time in Hogwarts and how she had always, always had blasted detention with this woman. McGonagall had hated her with a passion, although she could never explicitly show it or say it. But Bellatrix knew when people held seeds of hatred towards her. It was a skill she possessed given her line of work. She had seen hatred on the faces of her enemies, of her family, and her friends.

Still Bellatrix tried, only because she knew that if she acted too much out of character it would bring her trouble. And when the old hag had asked about Hermione's experience in the after life, Bellatrix had to swallow down a groan of annoyance. Last time she had tried to speak about the place she had nearly been choked. She was not looking for a repeat performance. So she had been as vague as possible and found to her relief that there was no choking involved. So she could talk about the place but just not specifically.

She had thought her performance was very convincing but then the old head hag had called in Hermione's friends to go escort her to find the mysterious object in the woods that had compelled her to run away from the hospital. Oh yes. That little bit of information had been a ruse to get the old woman off of her back but apparently Bellatrix had been a tad bit too good with that part. And now Bellatrix was stuck with two guard dogs. Plus a stinky, smelly, giant.

The search in the woods had been less than pleasant. Bellatrix had to listen to the oafish ramblings of that nitwit giant and had to placate that ginger and the boy who lived fears over this object that was bringing her so much 'anguish'. Once again, Bellatrix wondered why all of Hermione's friends were so annoying.

Even when they finally found Bellatrix's grave, it was empty. Bellatrix had been in disbelief even as her hands ran through empty soil. It was clear from the start that her body wouldn't be in a freshly dug up grave. This meant Hermione could be anywhere right now, wearing her body and in Merlin knows what kind of danger. That girl wouldn't be able to face the hazards that came with wearing such a skin as Bellatrix's. She only hoped the girl wasn't stupid enough to get caught by aurors.

Was she even in the forest still? Maybe she was living here, simply in hiding? Bellatrix would have to cover every inch of this woods; a task that brought her mood down even further. So far her one lead had fizzled out. She was stressed and pissed off and ready to break something when the Potter brat had said the one thing he shouldn't have. He had asked her if she was okay.

Her wand was on his jaw the moment those words left his mouth. She couldn't help it. He was calling her crazy, insane, a maniac, loco-the list could go on and she wasn't any of those words. She wasn't crazy! How dare this sniveling diaper wearing brat tell her this.

With a great show of restraint, Bellatrix had reeled herself in, the thought of the consequences of hurting Harry stopping her. Not only would Hermione probably be very pissed off and sad if the dark witch killed her friend, Bellatrix would have another mark that would work against her. She was supposed to be trying to be a better person, not go back to her old ways.

But trying to be better wasn't the same as being better and Bellatrix knew this better than anyone else. For too long she had simply stopped trying to be a good person and all that neglect of her morals was going to bite her in the arse in her second chance at life.

After the little mishap in the woods, the two boys decided to take her to Kingsley, yet another person Bellatrix was less than excited about to meet and who she did not give one fig about. But if she could manipulate this meeting with him then perhaps she could get the man power she needed to scan the woods and find Hermione. Kingsley had been more than shocked by her announcement of what she was looking for as were Ron and Harry. They hadn't expected poor sweet Hermione to be looking for such a murderous witch, but little did they know the same witch they detested was right under their noses this whole time.

She couldn't help from cackling internally at this. Oh, the amusement she could derive if she ever revealed her true self to them. She might just die of laughter.

Nevertheless Kingsley granted her his help, with an allowance of two weeks time to finding Bellatrix's body before she had to go back to the hospital. She could not imagine they would be pleased to see her back there after she had blown a wall out.

But even with the help of his most brilliant researchers and field workers, nothing had shown up. Bellatrix's body was nowhere to be found in the woods and Bellatrix could not come up with any more leads as to where the girl could be. Neither could Harry or Ron and this had lead to a big blow out fight in a hotel room they were staying at, courtesy of the ministry.

Bellatrix was stewing in her anger at her inability to find Hermione when a bird appeared. It was a crow-her crow- and she wondered how it had known to find her here. Who had sent it? Apparently the bird hadn't recognized her because it nicked her fingers before fluttering off with a squawk. She had opened the note he carried, her heart thumping in her chest.

I hope this note reaches you, because if it does not I am royally screwed. I think the judges made a mistake when they placed us back in our bodies, for I woke up in your body Bellatrix and I do not know how to leave it. I only dare to assume that the same predicament rests on your shoulders. But I fear mine might be a bit worse. For you see, Voldemort has risen once more and he has found me. Well, you. He thinks he has found you but in reality it is the wrong person and I do not know how much longer I can keep this charade up. I fear he knows too much already and may wish to kill me.

I needed to talk to you, to get in contact with you, and I saw that you have finally awoken. This has given me hope but also despair because Voldemort wants me to kill you now and that is simply something I cannot muster. I would like it very much if we could meet to discuss this. Do not worry, I will not harm you. You know I cannot. I only need your assistance on what to do next. And whatever you do, do not take Harry and Ron with you. I do not wish them to see me in such a state.

Let us meet in District X by the warehouses on Humble Street. You'll know the one, I'll have magicked it to call out to you.

The note was unsigned but Bellatrix didn't need a name to know who it was from. Her hand writing stared up at her, the l's and t's looping haphazardly as she let them. She had been elated to have received the note-she finally had a lead- but she was also mad. How could Hermione been vapid enough to get caught by the dark lord right from the start! Bellatrix was aware that Potter had been watching her reaction this whole time and she made her face neutral, hoping her expressions did not belie her true emotions. She needed to leave and get to Hermione.

Just in case, she made sure to take twists and turns to keep the boys off of her back. It seemed they were pretty good at trailing people because they had found her in the end, just as she had been talking to Hermione.

The whole situation had been weird. Seeing her body, standing in front of her, her usually proud chin kept lowered, her straight stance hunched over and uncertainty on her usually haughty features, made her feel like this was some sort of surreal dream. But it wasn't. It was real life.

Their life.

Bellatrix was certain Hermione must have been going through the same shock as her, because her eyes hovered over the body standing in front of her, confusion in them. "Well, at least I can put down an out of body experience on my long list of marvelous accomplishments," Bellatrix had joked and it had snapped Hermione out of her stupor.

"Even your voice is my voice," she said softly, discomfort clear on her face.

"What did you expect? For me to sound like myself? It is your body dearie," Bellatrix chuckled and her body cringed in front of her.

"Don't say those things. Their distinctly Bellatrix like and it's creeping me out that their coming from my mouth."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes- Hermione's eyes- and sighed. "Let's get on with business, shall we? I don't desire to stay in your body any more than you desire to stay in mine. So I'd like it if we could figure out a way to destroy Voldemort and get into our correct bodies. Preferably now. You said that you were found by him and are now working for him, under the orders of having to try and kill me."

"That is true," Hermione softly said.

"Then I don't see why you cannot just go and kill him yourself. You're in the perfect position to do so."

Hermione squirmed uncomfortably. "I don't...I don't think I have the resolve to do this."

Bellatrix let out a huge scoff. "What happened to all that determination before? Were all those words just for show?"

Before Hermione could have responded, Bellatrix heard the distinct voice of Potter calling out her name. Oh great. Now things are going to get messy. And just like she had predicted, a fight had broken out and Ron- bless the idiot's heart- had really thought that his friend was under the spell of the dark witch. Was he always this stupid?

The fight left Bellatrix disappointed. Being in Hermione's body meant that Bellatrix was stuck with the girl's magical abilities. And the girl's skill was deplorable when compared to her own. Bellatrix hoped that Hermione would use the power in the dark witch's body to end the duel sooner, but the woman seemed reluctant to hurt her friends. How typical, Bellatrix had sneered. Did she have to do everything around here herself? And when the duel was finally done, the two found themselves with a new situation on their hands.

A/N: There is one more chapter that is meant to fill in the gaps on what happened with the two and then we are going to get into the fight between the two and Voldemort.