Masquerade Act Two: When the Masks Fall
The Twenty First Dance: The Queen of the Dark
I am a queen, and I demand to be treated like a queen- Sheila Jackson Lee
Hermione was in oppressive darkness, the weight of it pushing down on her and making it impossible to breath. It was wet, the dark, and smelt of living things and of decaying things. She didn't like it. She needed to leave it, her lungs burning for air that she could not draw in. She was out of place here, this dark something reserved for those who no longer required air to live.
She moved her limbs in the absolute dark, keeping her eyeballs shut so that it could not crumble and fall into her eyes. It shifted around her, inching slowly up and outwards. She could feel air sweep into the cracks she had made but still the pressure on her chest, on her face, didn't move and she knew she was running out of time. Come on, move! She pleaded and using all the strength in her numb body she heaved forth, kicking her legs up too. Bright light stabbed through her still closed lids and she let out a gasping breath, taking in the fresh air accessible to her. She sat up, rubbing dirt out of her eyes until she was accustomed to the light and could open her eyes again. She found that she was sitting up in a dirt hole, her lower half still somewhat buried underneath.
Her breathing regaining some regularity she attempted to crawl out of the shallow grave she had just been buried in. Her limbs were shaking from the exertion of this and once completely out she collapsed by it, gazing up at the sky through the thick branches of the trees of the forest she was in as she tried to draw strength into her weakened body. It was midday given the intensity of the light, yet it was a bit subdued thanks to the thick foliage. In fact this forest was dark in general and it was cold, the ground on her back chilling her blood.
Yet she didn't want to move, her mind whirling around her as pieces of who she was and what she was doing here came to her. She lay like that for a bit, the ominous magical silence of the forest around her unnerving her more than she would like to admit. Fragments of her past, of purgatory, collided in her head, reminding her of why she was here again. When at last she had reconstructed some sort of sense as to what was going on, she sat up and scanned the grave where she had been. She needed to find her wand and leave this place. She couldn't stay here for long. She had to take down Voldemort.
Digging in through the fresh dirt she wrapped her fingers around the familiar grain of her wood, cast a muscle replenishing spell on her limbs and set out. It was a bit hard moving around at first, her limbs not used to moving after all those months of lying still in the dirt. What was I even doing in a dirt grave? How much time has passed? Is it still the battle of Hogwarts? And why is my wand different? Did I not give away Bellatrix's wand yet? Hermione remembered she had stolen the dark haired witch's wand but for what reason she couldn't remember why. Her thoughts were still sluggish and she had a basic understanding of what or who she was. She knew the past would eventually come back to her, she just had to be patient. Images of death and fighting filled her head. Screams of pain and of fright, of victory and of insanity, rolled through her head like dark thunderstorm clouds. She recalled being in the middle of the castle, surrounded by her friends and by her enemies. So what was she doing outside? Had she run into the woods to hide herself? Hermione frowned. Things weren't making sense.
She traversed over the forest floor. The sounds of mysterious and magical beasts sounded off to her right and she whipped around, wand tight in her grasp. She had to get out of here. She knew this place was dangerous. She assumed it was the Forbidden Forest because there was no other forest around Hogwarts. But which way was out? She was out of sorts, with no sense of direction. Could she cast a spell for it? She'd never heard of such a spell that helped with directions, but maybe if she tried hard enough?
She decided she needed to take a break. Her body was still weak despite the muscle helping spell and she was out of breath already. She let her back hit the tree trunk and slid down, legs outstretched in front of her. She wondered if Harry and Ron were somewhere around here. She knew Harry had to have killed Voldemort, after all Hermione had seen him in the afterlife.
With a guilty wince she recalled that she had brought the evil wizard back to life. Harry would not be happy about this. All his hard work, reverted. And she recalled how he had suffered and struggled under that man's evil powers. And the-hold up, Hermione's thoughts ground to a halt as she looked down at her legs. They were clad in black laced up boots, a skirt covering them. Hermione frowned. She didn't ever recall wearing such black and old fashioned attire. She scanned up from there, eyes noting a corset and low slung dress that showed her cleavage. Since when were her boobs this big? She thought with a hint of panic. Hermione could feel her breaths starting to accelerate and she forced herself to take deep calming breaths. "It's not true. It's not true, I'm probably wearing a disguise or something," she mumbled out loud to herself, hoping to dispel whatever truth it was she had arrived at with falsities. With a shaking hand she touched the hair on her head and pulled one long curly strand to her line of vision.
It was black.
"No!" She roared, jumping up to her feet. "Water, I need water," she said, her words nearly tripping over themselves. She had to see her reflection. That was the only way she would know for certain. She stumbled through the woods like a mad woman, smacking aside branches and shrubs, her heart pounding in her chest. She willed with all her being that what she thought wasn't true. She found a small pond of water and dropped down next to it, her hands rising up to her cheeks. "No," she whispered, patting her cheeks, pulling at them, prodding them. These weren't her cheeks. This wasn't her face. It was Bellatrix's.
And right now her frightened black eyes were staring back at her.
"This isn't right. This isn't right. What happened?" Hermione cried out, stumbling back up to her feet and backing away from the water like it offended her. She needed to get away from it, as quickly as possible, her mind whirling around her. She was in the dark witch's body. Why? How had this happened? Had the judges messed it up? Was she even still Hermione? All she knew was that she was stuck in the former murderess's body.
That sent a sharp stab of panic through her gut. No, no, no. I still have to be myself. After all I have my memories. The one's of the past. This rationalization served to stem Hermione's panic a little. But the current situation still remained. Hermione was stuck in the dark witch's body. What to do now?
Angrily she kicked at a tree, hurting her foot on it. It caused her to drop to the floor. She couldn't walk around like this. They would kill her on sight. How could she get the Order's help now to stop Voldemort if no one would trust her! "No! Not this! Not this!" She screamed out, fingers finding a way into her curls-Bellatrix's curls. This was such shite luck. What was going to happen next? Evil wizards dropping out of the sky?
"Bellatrix," a voice called out to Hermione but she didn't hear it. The owner of the voice approached her, touching her gently on the shoulder. She flinched back, not expecting anyone to be here. Harry? She briefly hoped, but when she looked up, her eyes widened in fear and shock. She fell back onto her bottom and began to scramble backwards, trying to get as far away as possible from the wizard who had appeared. He followed after her, red eyes never leaving her.
"It's okay. You are now back in the world of the living. There is no need to fear me. It's me, Voldemort, your lord and savior. Rise Bellatrix and take my hand." Voldemort- holy hell- Voldemort was right here. Talking to her. And not attacking her. Yet. Every fiber in her body told her to defend herself right now.
She fumbled around in the grass behind her for her wand, her eyes never leaving his cruel and imposing figure. Grasping it she picked it up and pointed it at him, only to see it was a twig and not her wand. She tossed it aside and got up to her feet instead. Where had she dropped the blasted thing? Voldemort's eyes hungrily followed her. She couldn't take him on by herself. Where was Bellatrix? The real Bellatrix? Was her body lying somewhere in the woods too? If so now would be a good time for her to show up.
There was no way that Hermione could take him on. Why hadn't he still attacked her? Could she out run him? Not with the lethargic state of her body. "Bellatrix, calm down. You've just come back from the dead. I can see it has caused you to have some odd reactions, but we do not have time for that now. We must get out of here for we are on enemy territory. No doubt your screams already attracted some attention."
Oh.
Voldemort thought she was Bellatrix.
That explained why he was being so 'kind' to her. I suppose I better fake it till I make it, was the bitter thought. And then when he was off guard she could run. Or kill him, said a more malignant voice in her mind. After all, that was why she was here back in world of the living. To fix the mistakes she had made. Now, what was a Bellatrix like thing to say?
"I-I-how long has it been?" She stammered out, looking pale under her dirt smudged face. Well, that's great. Totally like something she would say, complained a sarcastic voice.
I'm sorry, Hermione cried. I panicked and couldn't think of anything else to say.
If Voldemort was suspicious of that Hermione couldn't tell, his snake like face not giving anything away. "I will tell you once we leave this place. Accio wand," he pulled out his wand to summon Bellatrix's own where she had left it discarded on the grass due to her earlier outburst. It floated up to his hand and he tossed it to her. She took it and looked at it. Here was her wand. And here Voldemort was standing, defenseless and trusting of her.
Do it, do it, the malignant voice insisted to her. After all, when would she ever get such an clear opportunity again? Swallowing deeply, her wand hand raised, pointed at Voldemort. The man did not even flinch at this but Hermione was shaking. This was it, she was going to do it. Going to kill the man who had killed so many countless others. There wasn't even any remorse or fear on his face. Was he not aware that his death was impending?
"Come, we must leave," he drawled, almost bored. Her hand shook, her chin raised up in what was meant to be a confident look, which was she failing at, and she stared at his face with dark eyes for a while as she debated something. Then she swallowed deeply once more before her arm dropped.
She couldn't do it. She was a chicken.
But maybe, maybe later. She could do it another time. She just needed a bit more time to get her bearings, to bring up that Gryffindor courage in her that she knew was dormant in her now.
He reached out a hand for her to grasp, and she waited for the death blow that was surely to strike. But when it stayed outstretched she realized that he wanted her to touch it. Gross, I do not want to touch him, she shivered internally. But she was Bellatrix now. She had to put up a front. Despite her resolution, her hand belied her reluctance, jerking back several times.
"Don't dally," Voldemort hissed at her, her cowardly behavior bothering him.
Bellatrix jumped at his words before she touched his cold flesh finally with the lightest of contact. There, that should be good enough. Hermione had a brief moment to wonder where Voldemort was taking her before there was squeezing sensation of side apparation.
The two of them dropped somewhere in the middle of the woods. These woods weren't magical, a lack of the thrumming of magic in the air. Were they even still in England? And what are we going to do here?
Voldemort lead the way and Hermione followed after him. Because she hadn't been able to off him before, it looked like she was going to have to play the role of a spy. And perhaps it was better that she hadn't killed him off from the start. What if he had recreated his army? Then Hermione needed the inside info that came with working with the dark lord. Perhaps it won't be so bad working with him? She hoped.
The dark lord made way to what Hermione could only assume was his new hiding place. It was a crummy little shack in the middle of a vast forest, reinforced with protective wards and shields and invisibility spells to ensure no one would be finding it any time soon. She could never have imagined him living like a hermit; it only seemed fitting that things of grandeur and high luxury accompanied his life. However, when she stepped inside she realized that the place had been expanded drastically with magic and it was like being back in the inside of a mansion. It was dark and chilly with furnishings of green and a lit fireplace that crackled but offered no warmth in this drafty room. Several conversing hooded figures sat at a large mahogany table in the center of it and as Voldemort swept up to stand at the front of it they stopped talking, and with trepidation Hermione realized who these people were. Death Eaters.
Shit.
It looked like things were about to get more difficult. Hadn't most of them been killed or something? How had the Order just let them run away?
She stayed away from the table, her muscles trembling with the urge to run. So far no one had noticed her. Could she still make it? Should she just leave now? But if she did, how would she get back here? "Today I have wondrous news," Voldemort started, calling their attention to him not that it wasn't already on him. The Death Eaters peered at him appreciatively beneath their hoods. "The fates had smiled down at me when they allowed me to live again. And the fates then smiled upon me once more when they brought a pivotal force back to our team. May I state that Bellatrix Lestrange once again walks among us!" He pointed his wand at her and the Death Eater's followed its line of sight.
There were murmurs of surprise as they turned to stare at her. Hermione took a step or two back, before she realized this was not the way Bellatrix would behave in this situation. Her hands curled and uncurled slowly by her sides. She needed to compose herself and stop acting so fearfully. After all, Harry had faced this monster down several times. He had had the courage to stop him, and so should she.
"Bellatrix, but how is she back?" roared Antonin, his face covered in stubble.
"How is she capable of resurrection!" Another demanded. Scabior, who like Antonin, was a scrawny and pathetic mess. Hermione recognized the last three Death Eaters at the table- Alecto Carrow, her brother Amycus Carrow and Augustus Rookwood. All the loyalest and most pureblood fanatic of all the Death Eaters were the ones who had survived and who had crawled back to the dark lord's side. It seemed they had all escaped judgment for now but bore the price of freedom. Worry, stress and exhaustion lined all of their malnourished faces. Yet like weeds, they had not been wiped out, waiting once more to grow strong so they could take over the beautiful garden and turn it ugly.
"She's an impostor my lord!" Rookwood stood up, his chair falling backwards and he pulled out his wand with haste. Hermione's heart rate skyrocketed at that. Had he seen through her so easily? Before he could fire off a spell, Voldemort had disarmed him with a simple flick of his wand. This action saved Hermione from having to draw her own wand.
"Settle down Rookwood. This is the Bellatrix we know, I am certain of it. We were both trapped in a sort of magical place in the afterlife, but we were able to meet there and plan a way out. I managed to escape first and I had feared she would not be able to either but I was proven wrong, my concerns unfounded."
"But my lord-" Rookwood hissed between his teeth, still standing, his fists curled up at his side.
"Sit down you git," Hermione snarled, finally chiming in. She figured it was time for her to say something. From what she had seen of the witch, she loved cackling evilly and throwing nasty barbs at others. Granted she had not acted in such a malevolent manner in the after life. Hermione wondered if the dark witch would go back to her spiteful ways now that she was back in the original world.
Hermione squared her shoulders and lifted her chin up haughtily. "You dare question our lord after he has done the impossible in coming back a third time from the clutches of death and gathered your sorry arses together, saving you from a pathetic life on run from aurors that you didn't have the balls to face? After he has given you another chance to serve him after you turned tail and ran like pitiful little girls away from the battle of Hogwarts? You disgust me," she spat on the floor to her left for emphasis, addressing not only Rookwood but the others as well. They all shifted in discomfort, well aware that it was the truth but only the still standing Death Eater answered her, an insult on his tongue that was left unspoken.
Rookwood merely grit his teeth with forced acceptance of her and muttered out a "welcome back you hateful old bitch. Try not to die like you did last time," before he sat down once more, pulling his chair up.
She sent a snarl at him and Voldemort beckoned her to join his side before she could launch herself at Rookwood. She did so, taking her time and giving everyone in the room a once over before letting it settle on the man who had given her the most trouble. Let's switch things up here...it won't due for him to be casting suspicions on me.
"Perhaps it is you who we cannot trust?" She sneered as she passed by Rookwood. The man merely cast her a hateful gaze. "Who knows if in exchange for your life you did not sell your soul to the aurors and are going to inform them of everything we have done." At this she slammed her hands down on the tabletop next to him and he stood up once more, his rank breath bellowing in her face.
"How dare you accuse me of treachery when I had long ago committed myself flesh, blood and soul to the lord-"
"You didn't commit enough," she hissed, stepping away from him and stalking up to her lord's side who watched the exchange with something akin to mirth in his eyes. "If you were truly devoted to his lord then you would have died in the battle rather then give up. Like I did."
Rookwood turned red in the face at this, so upset that words wouldn't even make it out of his mouth. "That is enough, from both of you," Voldemort set Rookwood back in his seat with a little help from his wand before the man could jump at the dark witch in front of him. "Rookwood will prove his loyalty to me eventually and if he should even waver in the tiniest way he shall be dealt with accordingly." The man paled at this and took to staring at the table, his anger dying. A cackle of amusement came from Alecto's lips, who didn't even bother to hide it. Bellatrix always did know how to stir up a room just with her mere appearance. She always did know how to entertain.
"Moving onto more pressing matters, we need to start gathering more supporters once more. We need to rescue those who are on our side being hunted down by the ministry as if they were mere dogs." Voldemort's lips curled in distaste on this. "I have already located a handful and I will be sending you all out to gather and rally them once again to our cause, to their cause. Bring them here only if they can be trusted. If they cannot, kill them. Antonin and Rookwood, take Scabior with you. Alecto and Amycus you will go together. And I will be going with Bellatrix to find our intended target. I expect to see everyone back here with results in an hour or so." The Death Eaters got up at this and without another word, turned into black smoke. Voldemort and Hermione were the only ones left behind. He extended a hand to her. "Shall we?" Great, I'm stuck with him again. Maybe I can off him now?
"Yes my lord," she answered softly, trying not to gag at having to call him that, and touched his hand before they both disapperated.
They arrived in a dark alleyway, putrid smells of rot and urine reaching their noses. It was crowded with trash bags and the sound of rats scampering among the garbage could be heard. Hermione immediately recognized that it was a Muggle alleyway, the unmistakable sound of cars honking and revving slipping into the alley. Almost mistaken as a trash bag himself, lay the man they were searching for: Travers. He was huddled up on himself so tightly it was impossible to tell if he was even alive.
"Travers," Voldemort spoke, his voice demanding yet soft. Travers head snapped up at this, his eyes wild and his beard unseemly and filled with bits of unnameable scraps. His eyes widened when he saw Voldemort and he stumbled to his feet, choking on his shock.
"My...my lord...my...lord," he sputtered. "How...and Bellatrix." Now he cast his gaze to the black haired woman next to his lord. "Both...how...you were dead."
"And now we are not Travers. Come with us, join us and help us raise the army of Death Eater's once more. Let us bring upon destruction to the filth who oppose us."
A wide grin spread on the Death Eater's face and he took a willing step forwards but then the smile slowly crumbled and he took a step back and then another, backing up to the wall which he had been huddled up against. "No. I'm hallucinating. This isn't real." He shook his head.
"I know you may have your doubts," Voldemort tried to not let the displeasure of Travers' stupidity color his voice. "But there is only one of me, and there will only ever be one. I should not have to prove this to you Travers. Now come and let us leave this Muggle world behind. We have much to do."
"No," the man stoutly said, his jaw trembling in fear but he was not going to believe that he had the good fortune of having his lord back. "I've gone mad with grief is what has happened. Or the auror's have come for me, in the form of you, my lord. I cannot, I will not fall into your clutches. I will keep running. You will not find me!" Spittle flecked the excited man's lips and he pulled out his wand from his filthy pants.
Voldemort knocked the wand out of the other man's effortlessly and Travers watched the wand as it clattered to the cobbled floor. Then he turned his wide eyed gaze to the man before him. "You will not capture me you impostors. How dare you take the form of the most respected lord!" He madly grabbed the trash bags next to him and with a shriek launched them at the two adversaries in front of him. Voldemort put up a protego, the bags bouncing off and onto Travers who went down with a harsh thud. He tried to roll the bags aside and rise to his feet again but he was breathing heavily; the energy it had taken to fling the bags already taken a toll on his starved body.
"It seems you need a reminder who you are talking to, Travers. You dare throw mudblood garbage at me?!" Voldemort snarled. "Bellatrix crucio him, teach him that we are not mere hallucinations. Let him hurt." He ground out through clenched teeth. Bellatrix's head snapped to him at this request.
"My lord...?" She trailed off uncertainly. He wanted her to crucio...to crucio this man? She-she-she couldn't! She'd never cast the spell before. Never even dreamed of casting it.
"What are you waiting for? Cast the curse."
Hands sweating, Hermione turned back to Travers who had given up trying to get up and was wheezing pitifully, his disposition having changed once more. He was going through some many mood swings in these few minutes that he was going to Bellatrix a run for her moody reputation. "I don't care any more. Take me in. I have no more cause to live. Everything I believed in is gone. Gone." He wailed loudly and let his head hit the dirty floor.
Hermione raised her wand, her hand slightly shaking as she stared at the pathetic man below her. She stared like that for a while, a muscle in her jaw working furiously. Should she just fling a curse at Voldemort and book it? There was no way she had been prepared to cast an unforgivable at this poor excuse of a man on the floor before her. And if she couldn't even cast a cruico, arguably the least worst of the worst, then how could she avada kedava Voldemort?
Voldemort didn't have patience for this. "What are you waiting for!?" Voldemort snapped at her and she startled at the loud volume of his voice. Wetting her lips she sent a reproachful look at him as if he was asking her to do something horrid and not her favorite pastime, then cast the spell. It looked like it was this or nothing. She had to remain committed to the cause. "Crucio." The spell sounded weak to her ears, and she had no hate with which to support the spell.
And nothing happened. Just like she knew it wouldn't. She didn't really mean the spell and as long as she didn't then it wouldn't work.
She could sense Voldemort's anger before it exploded on her. "What are you playing at Bellatrix?"
"I-I, it seems my powers, they aren't back yet." Hermione cowered as he raised his hand up, in an effort to restrain himself from flinging a curse at her. "I can't cast the crucio-"
"I can see that. For your sake I hope you have not lost your powers. I would hate to see my most powerful more worthless than the filth we strive to kill." He threw over his shoulder at his subordinate and then cast a crucio on the man beneath him.
All Hermione could do was avert her gaze as her lord tormented Travers. She swallowed thickly as his pitiful screams rang in her ears.
It wasn't even a full day before newspapers recording Hermione's miracle recovery circulated around the community. Hermione learned about it a different way. The dark 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 Hermione- jumped up at his lord's arrival and smartly moved out of the way of his aim. Hermione who had been lounging, slumped over on the windowsill watched the chaos unfold but said nothing. She had been with Voldemort's forces for a week now and she had gotten a tad used to his abusive and abrasive behavior. Which wasn't necessarily a good thing. And still, during all this time she had been unable to strike the wizard down. It was proving hard to find a moment in which to find him alone. He was always scheming and off traveling, gathering the remains of his followers and uniting them once more.
I have to get him soon before he becomes too powerful once more.
Voldemort was in another bad mood as he stormed into the room but about what Hermione couldn't tell. "Bellatrix!" he snarled out.
Great, what does he want from me now?
"Yes my lord?" she immediately stiffened, her face fearful in the face of his dark emotions. She tried to hide these emotions but she hadn't seen him this angry in a while, and he was asking for her. Had he somehow found out that she was a fake?
"I want you to find me this Granger bitch and finish her off!"
Find Hermione's body? Hermione had looked up information on what had occurred during the time she was in the hotel and it turned out eight months had passed. Eight full months after the battle of Hogwarts. And in this time her body had lain in a coma. Hermione hadn't known why this was, but she hoped it wasn't something permanent and that her body would awaken. Could it even awaken? Was the whole reason she was stuck in Bellatrix's body because her own body could no longer function? She dreaded to think that. She liked her body a bit too much to simply have it become a limp lifeless doll. And now Voldemort was asking her to get rid of a useless body. "But she is still-"
"She awoke." He shoved the paper at Hermione, 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." Hermione's eyes opened wide at the image on the paper. No doubt that was her body, smiling and waving. But how-? Had they reanimated it somehow? Or was Bellatrix's soul in her body? That was a possibility, one Hermione had not previously considered. It was an insane idea, but the only one that made sense. And if it were true then it would be the first recorded case of such an event. Hermione tore herself out of her inner musings when what Voldemort said finally sank into her.
"And I am to kill her?" Hermione's voice was soft as she took the paper from his trembling hands and looked at it wide eyed. He wanted her to kill herself?
"Yes. Go and be rid of her. But do it quickly and in such a manner that will satisfy me." His red eyes glimmered inhumanely at her.
"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. And of course, Rookwood had to chime in with that comment. He had not given up on trying to get the dark lord to be suspicious of her. But why? Was he jealous of her? Hermione didn't know anything about Bellatrix's past to be able to tell.
And it was true. Hermione had been unable to cast a single crucio. She simply couldn't no matter how much Voldemort demanded her to. And his displeasure had shown. He had crucio'ed her. She had thought being tortured by Bellatrix had been bad enough, but his curse hurt more. It tormented her mentally and physically, tore about at her will to defy him. She had laid panting and hurting on the floor before him and yet she had still been unable to cast the curse. He had told her to fix it or else he would be forced to take things into his own hands and she shivered to think how that would work out. She only hoped she could figure out a way to off him more quickly because if she didn't then he would eventually find out the truth and kill her. So far she had survived a week with him by the skin of her teeth. Each morning dread had pooled in her stomach when she had to wake up, still in this place, and follow him blindly in whatever orders he assigned her. She didn't know how long she could keep this out. Eventually her luck would run out.
Blinking her eyes rapidly to dislodge these unpleasant thoughts, she turned to the wizard who had challenged her.
"Then you must be smelling yourself. How about you take a shower?" Hermione bared her teeth at the man, 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. She had gotten a bit better at acting the part of Bellatrix. She flung spells and curses that Draco had used on her in school. She laughed maniacally at nothing, she snarled at others, and was generally unpleasant. In short, behaving like a spoiled pureblood.
"You bitch," he coughed as he blindly reached for his wand, wiping his eyes hastily with the other hand. Hermione wasn't worried. She had more power in Bellatrix's body and the dark witch's combat ability showed through simply even in the way she walked.
"Enough," Voldemort ordered, stopping them both. "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 in 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 Hermione. "You will take Rookwood with you and kill the girl." No, no, Hermione couldn't do this. If she did then her infiltration of the Death Eaters would be over. Could she somehow talk her way out of this and have Voldemort capture her body? If they did that then Bellatrix, if it was true what Hermione had hypothesized, would help Hermione fight off the evil lord and just like that they would be done with their little mission. Hermione hated having to put the burden of killing Voldemort on Bellatrix's shoulders but she knew she trusted the witch more to destroy him. That is not a good thing. Trusting Bellatrix more to be able to kill someone, Hermione thought with a dark laugh.
"You would not wish us to capture her? Question her?" Hermione asked, trying to say it as nastily as possible so that Voldemort wouldn't be too put off by her suggestion.
"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-" Hermione cut herself off when Voldemort slipped his wand gently onto her pulse point. Well, shite. There went that plan. She tried to still the tremors in her body, not wanting to look weak in front of him.
"And since when did you become so logical Bellatrix. Since when did you question my orders?!" He yelled, his screams blowing across her face.
"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. She hoped that answer would work.
"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 of 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.
Hermione disapparated away to her quarters upstairs, almost in too much shock to believe that it had worked. Her plan had worked! All she had to do now was get in touch with Bellatrix somehow...did she happen to have an owl or something? She made her way to the owlery. Here the Death Eaters owls were perched, nibbling at some meal or another they had caught. She didn't know if Bellatrix had an owl...hopefully she did...
How did she even call to it? She stuck out her arm, hoping that perhaps one would land on her. She waited patiently, the owls looking back at her and hooting as in amusement at what she was doing. Hermione began to feel a bit stupid now and she was about to lower her arm when a crow alighted on it. It let out a loud squawk at her. "Of course. Trust it to her to have a crow," she muttered to herself, then to the bird she said, "come, we have a job to do."
After she had written the letter, she let the bird go, hoping that he would reach his destination. Now all she had to do was go to the meeting place. But for that she needed Rookwood. The dark lord had instructed him to go join her in her mission. He was going to be nothing but a hindrance to her plans. Unless she knocked him out cold, stuffed his body in some shady alcove and then oblivated his memory after she had said all she needed to with Bellatrix.
With that half baked plan, she went off to find him.
The two witches were able to meet up, glad to see that while their souls were in the wrong bodies at least they were mainly unharmed. It was weird though, seeing her body, moving and talking in her voice in front of her but not really being her. It was surreal. No doubt Bellatrix felt as weirded out as well. But further discussion on what to do with this matter was not achieved because of intruders.
"Hermione," Harry cried out, his voice choked by shock. The brunette, whose back was to them, stiffened upon hearing her name. It was Hermione 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!" There were her best friends! She wanted to run up to them and hug them but stopped herself when she remembered whose body she was in right now. Oh, things were not going to go well. She would have to explain things to them before things escalated and oh, there went Ron, pulling out his wand, swiftly putting an end to that plan.
"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. Hermione froze at the sight of the three raised wands. Bellatrix finally turned around, her face neutral and wand 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.
Bellatrix 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 at the dark witch. Bellatrix's eyes widened.
"No!" Bellatrix pulled up a protego around her and the dark witch. Hermione stood where she was, blinking her eyes rapidly and looking positively downcast at Ron's actions at her. She knew the boys didn't know that their bodies had switched but it still hurt to be at the receiving end of a spell from them.
"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!"
Bellatrix 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."
Hermione's head snapped around at this. Surely they weren't going to continue fighting. "But I-"
"Just stupefy them." Bellatrix 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. Poor, sweet Ron. So innocent. So dumb.
"Help me Bellatrix," Bellatrix growled and the witch snapped to, slipping out her wand.
"Ron and Luna, we need to leave," Harry said, noting that if the dark witch struck then it could all be over.
"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. Bellatrix 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 Hermione's stupefy spell.
Which would have hit him if Harry had not decided to follow his friend into battle. Luna too felt the same and while Harry took care of Hermione's spells Luna fired her own off at the dark witch who flung them back in halfheartedness effort. Her aim was off too, all the returned spells bouncing off the walls and floors around her opponents. She didn't want to hurt her friends, but it didn't look like there was much of an option. She needed to knock them out, calm them down and then she could tell them the truth about what happened. No doubt they were shocked by this turn of events. She only wondered what Bellatrix had been up to in her body that had her friends so freaked out.
Steadily the three ex-Hogwarts students pushed the two girls to the back of the alleyway. 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, Hermione threw her own at them. It was more powerful than their's and launched them off of their feet with a loud noise to the ground where they crumpled unconsciously. Sorry guys, Hermione internally apologized. She couldn't risk having them take her in. Ron noticed the sound of the spell going off with a bang and glanced over at his friends.
Bellatrix 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 witch's looked at one another, both breathing hard from the fight.
"Now what do we do?" Hermione asked, licking her lips in uncertainty. A strand of dark hair had fallen into her eyes. She pushed it out of the way.
"Their your friends. Figure it out," Bellatrix responded and then stalked off from the alley.
Sneaking the unconscious bodies of three humans across London back to the hotel room was hard work. But with the combined skills of the two girls they succeeded. Bellatrix immediately went around restraining them.
"Why are you casting body restricting spells on them?" Hermione had asked, not liking the fact at all that her friends were being treated as prisoners.
"This is for our safety. Do you think they'll stop to think when they wake up and see your form? You're not exactly in the best of situations right now," Bellatrix explained and Hermione hated how right she sounded. Bellatrix propped Harry up in a chair, his head lolling back and forth in his unconsciousness before she cast a spell on him to hold him there.
"So we're going to tell them? About this whole situation?" Hermione asked, suddenly nervous to do so. How would she even start to explain it? Certainly there was no precedence for this before. She sat down next to Ron's side as Bellatrix went to work on Luna.
"If you want to. Frankly I don't care. All I wanted to do was find you. Now we need to go and procure Voldemort. We don't have a lot of time. Also, we need to fix this situation that we have, with our souls not matching our bodies."
"I think my friends could help us, with both issues," Hermione said, loathe to leave her friends when she had just gotten them back. "They've always been a help in the past."
"Well, all they have been is a pain in the arse right now. They're annoying. I don't know how you can put up with them. I say we leave them knocked out and run and if they try to follow we'll knock them out again."
This irked Hermione. How dare Bellatrix talk about her friends this way.
"You will not hurt my friends any more," she snapped back.
"Oh please," Bellatrix scoffed, finished with her spell work on Luna now. "As if there would be any great loss. The Weasley's have so many kids I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind one less."
The insensitivity of this shocked Hermione. What was wrong with the witch? She was acting nastier than she had back in the hotel. 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-" Hermione's shrill voice began only to be cut off by Bellatrix'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."
Ron let out a loud groan as he finally came fully awake, jerking Hermione's head to him. He was fine. Warm relief flooded her chest and she looked down at the boy that owned her heart. She could still recall how they had confessed to each other their love at the battle of Hogwarts before they had dove into the smoke and chaos, swearing to come back to each other's sides at the end. Ron had kept his promise, but Hermione hadn't. Falling to the floor, struck by nothing but feeling as if she had been, she closed her eyes to this world only to wake up in another's flesh.
Her soft smile and close proximity frightened him and he tried to shuffle away and grab his wand but a quick spell from Bellatrix 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?" Luna and Harry 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, in disbelief about what his mate was saying. "She's been Imperio'ed."
"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 Bellatrix, his glasses askew on his face. "Tell us Hermione." Harry and Luna had both noticed. Of course they would. They were more sharp witted then given credit for.
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 Hermione to take the floor. She got up from her seat and spoke up, trying to quiet her qualms.
"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!" Bellatrix 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.
Hermione shot Bellatrix a disapproving glare but the other simply shrugged unapologetically and so she cleared her throat and moved on. She have a talk with Bellatrix on hurting her friends.
Now...how did she break the bad news to her friends? She figured it would be better to just be upfront and honest. "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 conclusion he did not want it to. "You're Bellatrix," he told the witch who had told him this.
"Harry, stop being ridiculous." Hermione placed her hands on her hips. This was no time for his brain to fail him. "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."
At this Ron promptly fainted.
Well that went well, Hermione though sarcastically. This was going to be rough.