Masquerade Act Two: When the Masks Fall
The Twenty Fourth Dance: The Third Times the Charm
A/N: Alright, so for clarification, whatever Bellatrix does or says in this, is actually Hermione doing or thinking it. Same concept applies for Hermione. There will be some instances where Hermione will be referred to as Bellatrix and Bellatrix as Hermione by the others. I know this is very confusing. It confused the crap out of me too when I was writing this chapter. I tried to make it as easy to follow but it probs still isn't. But you guys are smart. You'll figure it out.
Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure. Earl Wilson
The tug of apparation faded from Hermione's stomach as her and Bellatrix appeared in the middle of thick forest. In front of them stood a shabby little shack, one that Bellatrix was leading Hermione too, still roughly tugging her by the elbow and not allowing the brunette to get her bearings at all.
"A shack, eh? Didn't take Voldemort for one that downgraded. But I suppose anything is possible when one comes back from the dead," Hermione commented but Bellatrix didn't answer her, her face staring straight forwards to the shack, unoccupied hand raised in a gesture that let them pass through unharmed through the door. Hermione frowned at the raven haired woman's lack of words. "Not one for talking? Too nervous?" When Bellatrix still didn't answer Hermione's scowl deepened. Bellatrix, or more correctly, Hermione's soul, masquerading as Bellatrix, would be chatting up a storm by now. Even when situations were tense the brunette had often yammered Bellatrix's ear off with questions and stipulations and hypothetical situations. But now, nothing. How odd....something wasn't sitting right with Hermione, or for Bellatrix's soul stuck in the younger woman's body.
She didn't have another chance to dwell on this because they were walking down the hall to a living room, where various dark cloaked figures were standing about, or sitting down on the sofa's and chairs, chatting in hushed tones or simply posturing evilly. Hermione did not miss such pastimes. She remembered how boring it had been trying to stand and look intimidating among one another; basically it was a competition between the Death Eaters for them to see who could out evil the other in terms of appearance. She had never had the patience for such things and in the end she had taken to storming around the place, throwing curses here and there and screaming and ranting at the top of her lungs. This got the rest of the Death Eaters to stop bothering her and also won her the spot for the evillest from the Death Eaters as no one could ever achieve as much chaos as she could. She had one uped them and brought an end to their stupid activities but it seemed that they had decided to bring it back and Hermione hadn't been doing a good enough job as Bellatrix in order to stem the continuation of the practices.
The presence of the two women entering the room brought all of the Death Eater's attention on them. Hermione could make out a few familiar faces under the hoods. There was Antonin, although he looked nothing like his handsome previous self, the war leeching his looks from him. Scabior too was thin and malnourished, Alecto's and Amycus' eyes shrunken into their facial sockets. In fact, they all looked like this- haunted shells of their former selves. The only one who was worst off was Travers. His clothes hung around him like rags and his eyes flicked back and forth every couple of seconds, a mad and unsteady gleam to them. There were a couple of others she didn't recognize. Either they were new members, judging from their more well groomed appearances or she had never run into them during her course as lieutenant.
"Looky 'ere, it seems Bellatrix 'as caug't 'erself a lovely little doveling," Alecto clicked her tongue, hands on her hips.
"About time," growled out Travers, appraising Hermione with an unhealthy glint in his eyes and Hermione had to hold back from snarling at him. She told herself she was playing as Hermione and had to sell her part. So she schooled her features into ones of confusion and horror. "What's...what's going on?" she asked. Before she had arrived, she had added a disillusionment charm so it looked right now like she had put up a fight with Bellatrix before being captured. There was bruise around her eye, blood trickling down her lip and her clothes had a couple of rips and tears in place. She made to move in the raven haired witch's grip but Bellatrix tugged her closer and slide a wand to her throat. "Where is my lord? I wish to show him the good news."
"He's out right now," grumbled out a voice. It belonged to Rookwood, who was actually disappointed that Voldemort had done nothing to Bellatrix after he had put all that effort into making sure the dark lord would read her mind. It seemed the little ploy had not worked and now he would only look like an idiot. And worse yet Bellatrix had actually captured the girl.
"Well then call him back," Bellatrix ordered childishly. "I had express directions to deliver this girl to him."
"I can take her off your hands if you'd like," Travers offered and Hermione did curl her lip up this time, in disgust. She knew what he was getting at and she did not like it one bit.
"No." Bellatrix's answer was wooden. "I am to bring her to him."
"Oh, where's the fun in that?" Travers argued. "We could have a bit of fun with her, torture her you know. The dark lord surely wouldn't mind."
"He would mind if she was too incoherent to answer," Bellatrix replied.
"He's only going to kill her anyways," Amycus spoke up, his deep voice a rumble in his chest.
Hermione gave out a scream at this, making sure her eyes were wide in fear as she twisted in the elder witch's grip. "No, no, he can't do that! Voldemort's dead, he's gone. You need to realize this-" A slap to her face stopped her cold. Had Bellatrix just slapped her? Hermione's eyes were genuinely wide now, but in shock. Bellatrix (the real Hermione) was really taking this act seriously. Who knew the girl had it in her?
She raised questioning eyes to Bellatrix and found herself staring into vacant eyes. "You will hold your tongue, you little bitch. You dare to speak his glorious name with your mudblood mouth?" At this she gave Hermione a vicious shake, making the brunette's teeth clack together. "The lord has risen once more, to take his rightful claim upon this planet. To unite the purebloods together and kill off all the mudbloods, and you will be his first. So be honored." Her red lips split in two as she leered down at Hermione, whose mind was currently rewinding and replaying one phrase over and over. We've been compromised, the plan is going to fail. She's been Imperioed.
Hermione had seen enough people under the Imperius curse during her time as Voldemort's right hand and she knew what a person under it looked like. The one sign that always gave away an Imperioed person was their eyes. They were vacant and glassy, no sign of an awake conscious anywhere within them.
Fucken bloody hell, now what do we do? The Order had relied heavily on the fact that Bellatrix would not be under any spell when the plan would be set in motion, but she was. And Hermione had no doubt she would actually get killed if she stayed around. But what was she to do? She had her wand on her, could she fight her way out?
No, there were simply too many people and to be blunt, Hermione's magical capabilities sucked arse. Hard. If she had been in her old body then there was no question she could somehow orchestrate her escape but as it stood...
Could she maybe make a grab for the portkey and send herself back to the Burrow? That seemed like it could be her only escape plan before Voldemort arrived. But yet again, there were too many people in this room for her to attempt such a thing. Why had the dark lord even cast the spell on Bellatrix? Had she not been acting Bellatrix-like enough? Damn it, I knew we should have never let her do this double spy stuff. She's terrible at it! Whatever the cause had been, the dark lord was making Bellatrix act like her old self, which meant that she was also going to be easily manipulated by anger and make rash decisions.
A smile worked it's way unbidden to Hermione's lips as she realized something. Her odds for escaping would be no good if she was in a room of Death Eaters but...if she was one on one with Bellatrix then she could find a way to grab the portkey one way or another.
"What are you smiling about, muddy?" Bellatrix hissed, her nails pricking into Hermione's skin painfully, her wand pressing down more harshly on her pulse-point.
"You honestly think that just because Voldemort is back a third time, that he will win this time? You are sorely mistaken. Harry will beat him again, and your armies will crumble once more."
"You shut up!" Bellatrix snarled. "You know nothing of this world you self centered and stupid Gryffindor. This time my lord will kill all of your pathetic friends along with your disgusting and filthy kind!"
Gods, had she really sounded like that when she worked for Voldemort? Hermione shivered to think how cliched and deranged she had seemed.
"I'd like to see him try," Hermione jeered before she spat on her face. Bellatrix's nostrils flared and she raised her wand hand to wipe away the offending saliva. Jeers came from the Death Eater's around them, instigating and escalating the situation.
"I was going to let you go but it looks like you need to be taught some manners before we go and present you to the dark lord," Bellatrix's voice was uneven and it looked like she was struggling to hold in her temper. Excellent, Hermione thought. It's going just like I foresaw. The quick success of her plan also made her a bit worried about her character; it begged her to reevaluate her personality, but that was something she refused to do and especially not now.
"Heh, looks like the old Bella is back. I knew she couldn't hold back from torturing anyone for too long," Scabiors commented as Bella directed Hermione into a room next to this one.
"In, in I said!" she pushed on Hermione who twisted in her grip, trying to put up some sort of fight. "You let me go!" Hermione huffed and pushed herself against her, hands coming up to push at her shoulders when the witch struck her with a fist on her temple and black rocked Hermione's vision as she stumbled down to the floor, hands grasping at Bellatrix's robes to stop her descent.
"Get off me you dirt!" Bellatrix snarled, kicking at Hermione to get her off of her. The brunette cowered as kicks covered her ribs. Pain bloomed and she bit her lip to stop from crying out. The kicks continued. "Move, get in. I said, in!" Forced, Hermione crawled her way into the middle of the room, where she collapsed by the fireplace. In her old body she would have barely been this winded by the kicks but it seemed the younger girl's body sorely lacked any type of resilience to pain. So she knew if she was crucioed it would be hell. That was why she needed to get out of here.
Good thing she had the portkey. It was wrapped in her hand, the cool metal soothing. She had gotten it during the tussle with Bellatrix, staged so that she could pickpocket the woman. Now all she had to do was activate it. But the question remained, did she want to leave Bellatrix here or bring the woman back with her? No doubt it would be unwise and unfair to leave Bellatrix here. Even though the girl deserved it for being so stupid and allowing Voldemort to curse her.
That meant she was going to have to knock her out, because she wasn't going to just come if Hermione asked nicely. Great. Just great.
She eyed the dark witch out of the corner of her eye, still pretending she was too hurt too move. Bellatrix was pacing around her, wand twirling with manic energy. "You are so pathetic. Scum like you deserve to die out. You only take the jobs and resources that true wizards need. You aren't even fit to breathe this very air."
Ouch, did she really use to talk like this? Hermione made a mental note to herself to not say any of these things if she truly wanted to better herself and get out of a fate with hell. "I don't need to listen to this," Hermione said slowly, making sure that her wand, which was up in her free hand's sleeve, was there. It wouldn't do well if she had lost it in the small scuffle from before, because she was going to need it now if she was going to insult Bellatrix. "You purebloods are the real scum here. You think everything is your birthright simply because you were born with nobler blood. You go around living life without putting much effort into anything, expecting everything on a silver platter and then get mad when someone whose actually hardworking and talented takes it from you." Hermione spoke the words she knew would have deeply angered and aroused the resentment in her old mindset.
"You little bitch! How dare you speak to me like this!" Bellatrix's wand was quick and if Hermione hadn't slowly slide her wand down during her speech, then she would have never been able to raise a defensive spell in time. But she had and put up a protego that blocked the cruciatus curse.
Bellatrix let out an enraged snarl, upset that Hermione had tricked her. She launched another spell at the brunette, who had managed to get to her feet now and taken cover behind a couch in the nicely furnished room. She had to tuck her body in on itself so as to squeeze in the tight space between the object and the wall. The spell missed her by an inch and she let out a silent thanks that it had. If not she would have turned to ashes. There was still a chance she would. She knew the exact extent of her old body's skills and it was not looking good. And it would be looking even worse if she didn't knock out the raven haired witch before their duel brought too much attention to them.
"You dare spout such trivial nonsense in my presence? You will pay for it, just wait until I get my hands on you." Was the heated promise, one Hermione did not want to see up-kept. She blindly fired some spells out to keep Bellatrix from advancing on her and more spells were flung at Hermione's hiding spot, the couch taking hits that ripped it's stuffing, exploded bits and pieces of it and set it on fire. It was no longer useful and Hermione had to find a new place to hide. Or maybe not quite completely useless. With a quick flick of her wand she sent the flaming couch at Bellatrix who was not expecting the giant object flying at her.
The dark witch reduced the size of the couch and then tossed the small flaming object into the dark fire place which set it ablaze. At this moment Hermione took her chance to advance on the witch, not having the patience to stay and plan her form of battle any longer. She was more of the sort to leap into conflict anyways. She aimed three blue colored spells at Bellatrix but the witch was too fast and she brushed them all aside. Realizing she should probably hide, Hermione canted to the right to hide behind another couch but the witch was ready. With a happy leer on her face she span her wand around and caught Hermione right in the stomach just as the brunette was mere inches from cover.
Outside, the Death Eaters were privy to the noises coming from the room next to theirs. "I 'ear...dueling?" Alecto had a confused frown on her face. "Is t'at rig't?"
"But why would they be dueling?" Scabiors poised, edging away from where his ear had been pressed against the door. The doors here were thick but not thick enough to hide the sounds of screams or cries of terror that came from their captive guests sometimes.
"I agree with my sister, it does seem like they are dueling," Amycus supported. He too was by the door, although he wasn't pressed against it. There was no more room for him to do so, Rookwood, Travers, Scabiors and Alecto all taking up the space.
"See, I knew something was weird with Bellatrix. Why would she be dueling with a supposed enemy?" Rookwood said, straightening up from his bent position, his pointer finger waggling all knowingly in the air.
"Maybe because one is supposed to be dueling with their enemies in the first place. That's our job after all. To take out the forces of good. It would not be strange if Bella was dueling Hermione. Perhaps she is taunting her, giving the golden girl a glimpse of hope for escape and then savagely shutting her down before she gets to torturing her," Antonin stated, coming up to join the others.
Rookwood tsked angrily. It seemed the other Death Eaters still took him for a fool. "Then I'll go in and check. If she is doing nothing out of the ordinary I do not see why I cannot partake in it." His hand hovered over the door knob when a sharp piercing cry jolted all the Death Eaters. It had caught them off guard.
"Well, there you go. The torments begun. No need to check now," Travers said, a bit glumly. He had been hoping to torture some folks but Voldemort had not given the okay for him to do so yet. He only knew he would be allowed to fight in the ambush on Azkaban later this day. He supposed that would be good enough.
The screams continued, loud and sharp, accompanied by loud gleeful laughter. The symphony of madwoman. The Death Eaters all moved away from the door and Rookwood tsked again, angry that his suspicions went largely unproved. He knew something was up with Bellatrix, he just didn't know what, or how to prove it.
Hermione lay inside the room, on the floor, screaming her lungs out. It hurt, it hurt so damn much. Pain laced up and down her body, hitting every nerve, raking its white hot claws against her bones, grinding down on it. She grit her teeth to try and stop her screams but it didn't work. Hermione's body was too weak to stand up to this much pain. She contorted on the thick rug of the room, her hold on the spoon and on her wand loosening until they had fallen out of her hands and rolled away from her. Instead her hands snagged in the carpet, making purchase in it to keep her grounded as the pain rocked her world. She was vaguely aware that Bellatrix was standing over her, lips curled in a grin as she cackled loudly.
When the first spasm of pain passed, Hermione knew that the spell had run it's course. She took in deep heaving breaths of air, grateful for the air even though her lungs burned as she breathed. Her eyes, blurry with tears, tried to locate her wand or the spoon. "Can't take the spell muddy? Maybe you should think before you make me mad next time, only there won't be a next time for you," there was a soft laugh at this. "My lord is going to kill you for what you and your blood traitor friends did to him." She crouched down to Hermione at this, her wand descending down to her throat. It stilled Hermione and made her attempts to covertly reach for her wand, which had rolled under the couch, stop. The spoon too was out of her reach, the tip just barely brushing her fingers. Bellatrix's eyes caught this and she moved her wand with decision to Hermione's outstretched hand. She pressed the hard tip down to soft palm and another cry left Hermione's mouth as sensations of fire spread from that spot up to her arm to her shoulder.
"Naughty little girl, trying to reach for her wand."
"This is quite ironic, don't you think?" Hermione muttered through gritted teeth, willing her breathing to steady.
"What are you talking about?" The question was brisk, demanding.
"I tormented you like this in the past Hermione, and now you're doing the same to me, albeit it is still your body. I suppose I deserve it. Makes us even now."
Bellatrix's lips curled grotesquely. "I have no idea what nonsense you are spouting out from that muddy and diseased mouth of yours. But I can quickly quell it." With a savage twist of her wand, the heat emanating from it increased and Hermione let out a loud cry. It felt like her right arm was literally going up in flames right now, although there were no visible flames. And did she just catch a whiff of her cooking flesh? Her palm was turning a bright red and then black, as her skin literally cooked. The blackness began to spread up her wrist, boiling the blood in her veins in its ascent.
Tears streamed freely from her eyes and she kicked her feet reflexively against the floor, screams ripping from her throat. Fuck, this hurt. Come on, snap out of that stupid spell! She urged the older woman in her thoughts because she couldn't verbalize anything intelligent right now. But Hermione knew the only way to reverse the Imperius curse was with another spell and she was now wandless with her wand hand currently being cooked to well done.
Suddenly the pain disappeared as Bellatrix's wand rose away. Immediately the pain in her right arm died down to a dull throb although the scent of cooked flesh remained hanging in the air. "Well, well. Hello there Bellatrix," Bellatrix's voice was different. Deeper and more suave.
"What?" Hermione asked, her throat hoarse. Had she heard right?
"It seems you are in quite the situation right now," Bellatrix commented, still on her haunches over Hermione. Hermione recognized that voice from somewhere. "Dorian!" she sputtered out, after her synapses clicked together. "What- what are you doing in that body? Have you possessed her? Are you doing this to me as a sick sort of joke?" Hermione could not stop the anger from fueling her voice. She made to sit up but instantly regretted it, her body screaming at her to lie the fuck back down. Still, she didn't want to seem weak in front of Dorian so she stayed put, her muscles trembling in protest. Dorian, wearing Bellatrix's body, pushed her back down with a single hand on her shoulder. She flopped back to the carpet but retained an angry glare on him.
"It's not a joke, although it was a nice bit of justice. You got some of what you had coming to you. It would have been better if your bodies had been reversed when it happened but," at this a hapless shrug.
"Then return our bodies to us," Hermione demanded.
Bellatrix shook her head at this, her curls bouncing around her face. "I cannot. It is not my gift, therefore I cannot reverse it. Only the judge who gifted it can. And since that was Gabriel, only once the conditions for it have been fulfilled will the magic revert. Or you could kindly ask him to do it for you. That would work too."
"I would ask him, if I could find his cowardly ass anywhere," Hermione grunted out.
"Yes, well he is very busy with that little nasty fire spell you left. He won't be responding anytime soon."
"Then what are you doing here? Are you going to taunt me?"
Bellatrix chuckled, something deep and rumbling that looked strange coming from her. Great, it looks like my old body not only houses Hermione's soul, but was also cursed by Voldemort and is now possessed by Dorian. I swear if I get back and find anything changed with it...! The mental threat was left as it was, because Hermione still did not have enough breath in her lungs to say such long sentences.
"I'm here to help. Because you've mucked things up. It appears Hermione was controlled by Voldemort to turn against the Order. Voldemort read her mind using occulumency and found out the whole truth. He now knows the two of you switched souls. But what he intends to do with that knowledge I do not know."
"So? It means nothing. I will kill him either way, he won't have time to figure out what to do about this soul switch issue."
Bellatrix looked down at Hermione and could not resist pinching her cheek. "You are so adorable when you get angry like that. Especially since you lack the magical prowess to back up your verbal lashings. Really sucks being in Hermione's body, doesn't it?"
Hermione snapped her teeth at her retreating hand, the one that had pinched her cheek till it stung red. "Get to your point Dorian. I still have a plan to execute."
"No need to be so grumpy," Bellatrix huffed, blowing up a strand of her hair. "Beside you can't do much in the state you are in." Straddling Hermione's waist for a better stance Dorian raised Bellatrix's wand and began muttering words under her breath, her wand hovering over Hermione's hurt arm, her flesh regenerating. The rest of her body's aches began to float away as the wand swept up and over her chest, to her neck and then to her face as well, the tip always a teasing centimeter or two away. Hermione would have complained about this treatment but her body already felt better.
"I didn't know you could actually be useful," Hermione muttered, not willing to seem grateful to him.
"I do have my uses," Bellatrix answered, a small smirk on her lips before she sobered up. "Going back to the issue at hand, I've used some of my powers to rid Hermione's soul and your body of Voldemort's magic. She's as good as back to normal. However, I won't be able to offer anymore assistance after this. Taking over her body and fighting the spell from the inside has taxed me, especially since your world is out of my domain of magic. So whatever you do," at this Bellatrix leaned down closer to her, dark eyes peering down her nose into brown eyes, "do not waste the chance I have given you."
"And why are you helping us? I thought you wanted to see us suffer?"
Skirting around a concrete answer she spoke,"if you complete this mission then the third and final gift comes into play and I think the two of you will greatly appreciate it. I know I will especially enjoy it." With a tiny smirk, Bellatrix's eyes rolled back into her head as Dorian exited the vicinity of her mind and the body slumped over Hermione, who was now pinned to the floor by an unconscious person.
"Wonderful. Super looking forward to that gift now," Hermione mumbled sarcastically before she rolled the body off of her to the left. Bellatrix's eyes were closed and she was breathing peacefully. Was she truly fine now like the judge claimed? Or would she still be under the curse when she woke up? Hermione didn't know but she certainly didn't have a lot of time left. She wondered how much she had wasted already. Snatching up her wand and the portkey, she gave her recently healed arm an experimental move. It seemed fine. The judge had patched her up good for now.
Quickly thinking she set up wards on the door to this room. One was a repelling charm that would send any and all who approached it away, thinking they had something else to do. Another was a sound charm, it would replay her screams to make it seem like she was still being tormented. That should buy her some time to figure things out. Then she levitated Bellatrix's still sleeping body onto the only undamaged couch in the room before she activated the portkey by placing it in the middle of the room by muttering out the activating phrase.
Immediately the members of the Order appeared, wands at the ready and in defensive positions. They peered each and every way, wands held up at enemies that weren't here. It took them a while to orientate themselves, as they wondered why there was silence and nobody here but Hermione with an unconscious Bellatrix.
"What's going on here," Arthur asked, eyeing Hermione and then Bellatrix on the couch. "This wasn't in the plan."
"It's a trap, she's betrayed and tricked us!" Ron shouted out and let out an expelliarmous, meaning to disarm Hermione but the girl put up a protego casually. "Look, I appreciate all the distrust, really, I do," she said sarcastically, "but I have bad news that I need to convey to you, before any more accusations are flung at me. Along with spells." She sent a pointed looked at Ron who still looked livid enough to fling another one out at her, but Harry's outstretched hand stopped him.
"Tell us what happened," Harry ordered, coming to stand in the front of the group. "Why is Hermione hurt?"
"Oh, and how are you Bellatrix? Did you get tortured or something? Are you feeling better now? I'm doing fine," Hermione asked and answered her own questions.
"You got tormented? By who?" Ron asked, with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"I did, by her," Hermione pointed accusingly at Bellatrix. "But I'm better now. And so is she. Apparently she was put under the Imperius curse by Voldemort."
"How?" George shot out. "She was fine."
"Yes, this all sounds a bit odd," McGonagall added.
"Just let me explain before the Death Eaters make their way in," Hermione growled out.
"So we are at the Death Eaters headquarters," Kingsley mussed to himself but loudly enough that Hermione heard him.
"Yes," she snapped impatiently. "I wouldn't drag you to the wrong location, now would I?"
"Seems like something you would do. You're evil after all," Ron spat back.
This made Hermione's nostrils flare and she stomped her foot in anger. "Can you shut up and bloody let me explain what happened?"
Ron opened his mouth to argue but caught the sharp glance from Harry and stopped. "Fine, but bloody hurry it up. You've already wasted enough time yammering about as it is."
Hermione wanted to fling a curse at the red haired oafs face. He was the one who insisted on wasting time with useless comments! But she held herself back. "Voldemort must have conducted occumulency on Hermione because he suspected her and in this manner he read her mind and learned of all our plans against him. Thus, my guess is that he didn't want to tip us off that he knew and Imperioed her so that she would pick me up, so he could, I don't know kill me or something, and then she would still activate the portkey and then have his Death Eaters surround you and kill you when you apparated. It essentially would be a trap that you would walk into."
"Shit, so what do we do now?" Billy grunted out, his hand on his wand tightening.
"I still don't trust her, it seems a bit convenient. That all of a sudden Hermione was Imperioed the day before the plan came to be. Bellatrix could have easily knocked her out and aligned herself with the Death Eaters again and then brought us here to falsely trust her but then she is really stalling us for time so that Voldemort gathers his strength."
"Yes, what a brilliant idea. Because surely they wouldn't question the fact that I am in Hermione's body and would believe my claims that I am truly Bellatrix." Hermione sneered in disgust at Ron's stupidity.
"Ronald, I understand your concerns but I made a promise to Hermione. That if she would trust Bellatrix then I would too. And I take my promises seriously. So even though the situations seems conspicuous right now, I am operating on my belief that Hermione judged Bellatrix's need to destroy the dark lord viable." McGonagall sniffed as she finished her statement.
"As least the old bat has some common sense in her head," Hermione breathed out when a loud groan from her right brought her attention over to Bellatrix. It looked like the woman was finally waking up.
"What, what happened?" She sat up, rubbing her head. "I feel so tired." She glanced blearily around, her eyes coming open when she realized who was in the room with her. "Did, did we win? Is the battle over?"
"No, it hasn't even started yet," Harry said gently. "What happened to you?"
Bellatrix stood up, her eyes clouding over meaning she was deep in thought. "I think...I think...I was dueling Rookwood last I remembered and then Voldemort came and he..." there was a sharp gasp as she realized something. "He read my mind. He knows of our plan! We have to abort the mission now!" She shot off the couch like a rocket.
"See, I was right," Hermione sang triumphantly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"A bit too late for that now," Kingsley said grimly. "We are already inside Voldemort's Abode. So settle down miss Les- I mean miss Granger. Luckily Bellatrix warned us, so we have some advantage over the situation." He held his hands out in a calming gesture to her.
"Thank Merlin," Bellatrix sat down with an exhale. "But I can't quite recall what happened after that." She rubbed her forehead in confusion. "Did... he didn't kill me which was odd. He must have played with my memories."
"Or Imperioed you," Hermione hastily explained to which Bellatrix let out a frightened 'what?'. "Now, are we going to go out there and wipe the floor with some Death Eaters, or are we going to just wait here like sitting geese, waiting for the Death Eaters to break down the door?"
The Death Eaters in the living room had just settled in for a game of cards while they awaited the dark lord's arrival. He had gone off to do some last minute scheming but had not said anything about what it was he was doing or when he would be back. Rookwood was currently winning at the game of poker when the room to which Bellatrix had dragged in the golden girl, opened up. The screams had stopped a couple minutes ago and they wondered if the girl had simply passed out from the pain and now Bellatrix was going to join them since she was bored. The dark witch strode out of the room, her heels clicking on the floor. She looked sober, no crazy grin on her face.
"What? Did something go wrong? Kill the little girlie?" Travers smirked, throwing down a chip to raise his stakes on the bet. The pile of chips in the center was tall. They had been going at it for a couple rounds.
"No. In fact, I think the only thing that's going to go wrong is-"
"-the rest of your day," Hermione came out of the room behind Bellatrix, her wand poised at the pile of chips on the table. "Confrigo!" A giant explosion rocked the table, sending flames, smoke, and bits of chips everywhere. The ten Death Eaters seated around the table dropped to the floor to avoid getting hit by the small pieces of shrapnel.
"Get the little bitch!" Scabiors roared out, scrabbling for his wand as he rose to his feet.
"Not so fast!" Bellatrix roared, her wand whipping through the air and sending him jerking up to the ceiling, the process causing him to lose his wand. He was now stuck up there until someone let him down.
"Bellatrix, what is the meaning of this?" He howled out, stung by her betrayal. Had Hermione Imperioed the dark witch into working for her side?
The other Death Eaters had all recovered to their feet, wands steady but not yet flinging curses. They knew they had an advantage. There was only two girls and ten- now nine- of them. " 'ave you gone mad?" Alecto demanded.
"No," answered Hermione. "I've always been crazy."
"She was asking me, not you," Bellatrix mumbled from the corner of her mouth as the two of them held their ground, wands steady on the enemies in front of them.
"Right, I had a momentary lapse and forgot what I looked like."
"Also, I told you to bloody wait in the room until I lured them all there, but no, you had to be bloody impatient and storm out."
Hermione snorted. "Obviously that was because you suck at deceiving others. That's how you got caught in the first place. I figured it would be better if I just knocked them out from the get-go."
The Death Eaters all turned confused looks on each other. What were these two witches babbling on about?
Only Rookwood seemed to understand. "Aha!" he cried out, exuberantly. "I knew it. I knew that something was up with Bellatrix. And now the truth comes out. The two of you have been working together! I don't know why, but I'm sure the lord will figure it out as he pries the answers out of your cold. Dead. Corpses!" With that his wand was spewing forth magic, magic that was blocked by a quick protego from Bellatrix.
"I'm not the only one she's been working with. Say hello to the members of the Order!" Hermione announced and a second later, Harry shaking his head, mumbling about how she couldn't keep her mouth shut, came out with the rest of the members.
"She's betrayed us! She betrayed us and the dark lord!" Antonin shrieked, his jinxes aimed at the newly appeared Order members.
"You were his loyalest. Why?" Amycus growled out, sending out his own magic.
"Times change," Bellatrix answered as she grunted out, Rookwood's flurry of spells against her shield pushing her back.
"Seriously? That's the answer you're going with?" Hermione scowled, as she ducked down to the floor to avoid the wall that exploded next to her. The room was too small for all the warring wizards and witches, so some Death Eaters had fled down the halls, with shrieks of panic as to how they did not need the order capturing them. Arthur lead the chase with Billy, Ron, Harry, and Fred behind him. "Don't let them get away!" Arthur ordered as he charged down the hall, tripping up one of the newer Death Eaters. He went down hard, his fellow Death Eaters leaving him behind. Even after all this time the Order still brought the stench of fear among the evil.
"Hey, someone let me down from here," Scabior pleaded. "I want to join the fight. Guys!" But none of the Death Eaters were listening to him and a quick green bolt of magic that blackened the ceiling next to his head shut him up. "Never mind. Maybe next time," he conceded in a small voice.
"What else was I supposed to say? You want me to curse or something? That's not like me," Bellatrix argued as sent out an explosive spell at Rookwood who had holed himself up in the room next to this one and was ducking in and out of the doorway to aim spells at her. The doorway combusted and a scream came from within.
"I don't know. Something witty would have been nice. Like 'you Death Eaters can eat it,' or something close. Your lack of creativity is making me look bad." Hermione picked herself up, and dodged to the right, slashing up with her wand at the same time to send a wave of pure energy at Antonin. It flipped him over, and took out half of the ceiling with it. Quite a feat considering Hermione had such little latent magic ability. She supposed the move had drained most of her magical resources. Time would only tell if she was right. Plaster crumbled down, raising clouds of dust that made everyone in the room cough as they waved it away with their wands. It was worse on the Death Eaters side, crushing one beneath it and taking Scabiors down with it, his screams strangled. McGonagall shot Hermione a highly displeased look to which the brunette shrugged, unapologetic. "Looks like I do have some magic ability in this body."
Kingsley took the clouded room as an opportunity to fire at the blinded Death Eaters and take out two of them with stupefy's. McGonagall did the same, her lips still twisted in disapproval at Hermione's actions.
"Because I'm sure bad one liners are the worst that you should be concerned about when it comes to your public image," Bellatrix shot back, rolling her eyes. "I can think of worse things." And I cannot believe she just made such a bad pun. Death Eaters, can eat it? Really? How old is she?
"Yea, we'll you're not exactly an angel. You tortured me a mere hour ago."
"I WHAT-?" Bellatrix swung her head to stare at Hermione in disbelief. "When?"
"When you were Imperioed." So she truly had been Imperioed. It looked like she had failed as the golden girl.
"I'm-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" sounds of things shattering and breaking almost drowned out Bellatrix's hasty apology.
Hermione waved away her apologies with her free hand, her other hand directing her wand to knock down a couple of spells that had been sent at Bellatrix who had been so frozen by the revelation she had hurt Hermione that she had stopped paying attention to the fight. She was now a sitting duck out here. "It's fine. I don't mind. I found it funny actually. Now we've both tortured each other." She let a grin grace her lips.
"Of course you would find it funny," Bellatrix muttered darkly, still feeling immensely guilty and ashamed of herself. "But it's not okay-"
"Look, I would appreciate if you could focus back on the fight. You're currently renting out my body and I would love it if you could return it to me without a single scratch. Besides, I think Rookwood is trying to get your attention. Do be a dear and give it to him."
Bellatrix huffed, but knew Hermione was right. She had been too out of focus from the battle. "Fine, but we'll talk about this later." Then she stomped off to go after Rookwood.
As soon as she stepped into the room that Rookwood had holed himself up in, careful to avoid the flames consuming the doorway, Bellatrix was greeted to a flurry of spells aimed with the intent to maim and seriously hurt.
"Finally, it's just me and you Bellatrix! And this time I will win this duel," Rookwood cried out, blood gushing from his mouth where his chin and lip had split from an earlier hex the dark witch had cast on him.
"Honestly, I don't have time for this," Bellatrix grumbled out. She was here for Voldemort not some second rate henchmen. With a flourish of her wand the room exploded into blinding light. Rookwood wouldn't be able to see anything now, his hexes missing her widely. "Stupefy!" Her spell was able to hit true, as she wasn't affected by the light. He crumpled to the ground and she made sure to use a binding spell on him so that he couldn't get up and come after her.
When she finished, she found that most of the fighting had already concluded in the mansion. The fleeing Death Eaters had all been caught by Arthur's group and were bound by his feet, lying on their side as George, Billy, and Ron made sure they were tied up tight. McGonagall and Kingsley had also rounded up their own Death Eaters. Harry was currently jerking Scabior around, the man having crawled out of the rubble only to be levitated in the air and plopped down harshly on the floor next to his comrades.
"I think that's all of them," Harry announced proudly. "But still no sign of Voldemort." His proud smile dropped at that. "Do you think he left for the prison already?"
"Probably with the other half of his Death Eaters army. I knew this was a trap," Ron's suspicions rose in an ugly flare of temper.
"No, that was never his plan," Bellatrix said as she came up to them. "All of his Death Eaters are the ones situated here. He has no other current allies. And he would never dream that his curse on me would fail. I still have no idea how I overcame it," this part was said with a bit of wonder before she cleared her throat and went on, "I'm certain he will come back so we must be ready."
"He's already here, shit," Travers muttered from where he lay on the floor, his dark mark burning as did the other Death Eaters. "I must warn him, I must warn my lord that intruders-" Harry cast a silencing charm on all the Death Eaters on the floor. "Quick, we have to hid them. And then ourselves."
"No, you need to leave," Hermione ordered, pausing Harry with her words as he was halfway to lifting up a Death Eater.
"What?"
"I agree," Bellatrix said. "I thank you for all your help, but this final battle is between us two and Voldemort. The curse won't be lifted otherwise."
"But it's dangerous. It's Voldemort- he can kill you!" Ron shouted out, panicked that his friend was saying such things.
"No. I believe miss Granger and miss Black to be right," McGonagall spoke up. "We do not know much about this magic that is holding them in such a state, and they do, so I think it would be best if we entrusted them with this."
"We did it once with Harry, we can do it again for Hermione," George offered and smiled at Bellatrix who gave him a grateful smile.
Ron let out a huff but met Bellatrix's dark eyes, searching for a glimpse of Hermione's soul trapped within. "Alright. But you have to come back this time."
Bellatrix's lips twisted up bitterly. "I will." She had no intention of breaking that promise now.
"Let's get out of the ladies hair then," Kingsley gruffed.
The members of the Order all nodded their heads quickly and set to work. The last of them had just left outside when the front door opened and Voldemort strode in, his cold calculating eyes taking in the ruins of the living room. He didn't say anything; he didn't need to. He knew something had gone wrong.
"Potter?" He asked, the image of the boy coming to his mind first. Whenever his plans went astray he knew he could blame the boy.
"No, you're wrong," a decidedly female voice answered him and he watched calmly as Hermione, the golden girl, strode out from where she had been hiding behind a chair. "I did this all. Took out your Death Eaters single handily. Destroyed the place." A fib, but what was he to know. He couldn't suspect she hadn't been alone here.
She had always been one of his strongest, even in another body it seemed that power followed her."Ah, Bellatrix. So I see that you have been delivered to me, just as I asked the impostor who was masquerading in your body to do so. A true shame that the judges did such a thing to the two of you, but I have the other under my control and with the two of you here, I can return you to your proper body. Before I kill her. And you." Ah, so it seemed the dark lord was a bit hurt that she had betrayed him like that.
Voldemort was indeed pissed by his most loyalest behavior. He had seen her eagerly working with the Order for his blood. She had been his greatest asset during the wars and now she was going to be his biggest downfall-if he didn't stop her first. "Have you fallen so low that you would wish to destroy me? Me, after all I did for you? After I took you in under my wing and gave you purpose?" He had done so much for her. Taken her from her horrid life trapped in that gilded cage called a home and shown her her potential and the world and now she had bit the hand that fed her.
Outside, the Order members were apparating away to take the Death Eaters to prison one by one but as they did so, Harry looked back with longing at the shack that his best friend was in. Trapped with his greatest enemy and Bellatrix Black. What if Bellatrix doubled crossed her? He couldn't let that happen. He would sneak his way back in.
Ron saw his friend brooding, playing with his wand and knew what the boy was planning without it even needed to be voiced out loud.
He slung an arm up on Harry's shoulder. "Let's do it mate."
Harry nodded his head.
When Billy had returned back to the same spot he had departed, in order to bring another Death Eater with him, he saw Harry and Ron were missing.
"Where have they gone?" Arthur looked concerned as he appeared next to him, ready to pick up another body for deposit.
"I think we already know the answer to that. You know those boys can't be stopped," George said with a grin. "We'll probably see them back at the Burrow in ten minutes, a bit roughed up, hungry for Mum's cooking, and ready for more action at the end of it all."
Arthur harrumphed but dragged the unconscious Death Eater by his feet up and then disappeared.
Back inside, Harry and Ron had stealthily made their way into the living room, crouching down under the cover of some of the fallen ceiling. They tuned in to the conversation going on around them, making sure that they would time their entrance right.
"The decision to do so did not come lightly. I...I looked up to you for such a long portion of my life. I thought you were the most wonderful person I ever met. I thought you could do no wrong. That you would lead us all to salvation. But after you came back from death that second time, you had changed." At this Ron, who was hiding behind a huge chunk of rock, made a gagging noise at having to hear the woman say such things.
"And back in that afterlife I realized something. I realized that everything I had done under my blind devotion to you was wrong. I no longer wanted to continue such a thing. For my loyalty to you I was going to go to hell. And as I stood there waiting to be judged, I knew I had screwed up royally. I had always pledged to myself that I would be an independent witch and never let any man dictate my actions. I thought I had fulfilled that by neglecting my martial duties to Rodolphus and by fighting for the pureblood cause, but I was wrong. I had broken that very promise by serving you.
"I never questioned or doubted your cause and had I not gone to the gates of hell then I still would have probably thought the same. Yet, I was sent there and they made me come to terms with myself." At this a deep inhalation. "And what I found out for myself was that Bellatrix Black does not intend to go to hell for serving and enabling a man's crimes. If she goes to hell it will be because of her own violation." Ron and Harry had their interest peaked by the woman's spiel. Who had known that this was the real reason behind her change? Now they understood her rash switch to sides a bit better.
Voldemort, who had been quiet that whole time, staring at her with unblinking eyes let out a small scoff. "Are you done with your pompous speech?"
She glared at him, working her jaw. "No. I'm also going to kill you because if I don't then I'm going to die too. And I've always been a selfish bitch."
"Then I suppose I won't wait to change you back into your old body to kill you as well," the dark lord whispered out before he flung his wand hand forward. "Avada Kedavra!"
"Avada Kedavra!" The cry left Hermione's lips just as quickly and the two bolts of green light locked together, the green light flooding the room. But it was no contest. Voldemort was the stronger one and his magic was pushing back Hermione's jet of magic. She grunted out and scrunched her eyes together willing her wand to work fucking better. Why did Hermione have to be so weak? And where the hell was Bellatrix right now anyways when she was needed? Had she chickened out?
Bellatrix had not left but instead was waiting around the corner from where she was supposed to jump out and join Hermione. The girl had planned that she would distract the evil lord with a speech, giving Bellatrix enough time to gather her courage and then fire a killing curse which Bellatrix was supposed to join in on. But despite the leeway, she still wasn't ready. She still couldn't kill Voldemort.
How had Harry even ever done it? She had shooed the boy away but she shouldn't have. She needed him by her side more than ever. How had he ever gone to face Voldemort by himself, knowing that he would face certain death in that duel? Maybe she really wasn't a true Gryffindor?
A movement caught her eye and she saw huddled behind a chunk of ceiling were Ron and Harry. They came back for me! I'm so glad.
They too noticed her. Harry sensed her hesitation and began to mouth some words to her. She squinted her eyes to decipher what he was saying, and they widened apart a couple seconds later when she comprehended his words.
Hermione, you can do this. We believe in you. It's your time to shine. Harry shot her a thumbs up and so did Ron. Harry had come back to make sure his friend wasn't going to be betrayed and hearing the words of Bellatrix's soul stuck in Hermione's body reassured him. Now all Hermione had to do was complete her destiny.
A frustrated grunt sounded from Hermione, who was still locked in duel with the dark lord and Ron tensed to get up but Harry put a hand on his arm, wordlessly settling him down. They weren't the ones who were meant to win this fight. Hermione was. He realized this now.
Bellatrix nodded her head in grim determination, taking one last bolstering look at her friends, and rounded the corner, her wand extended in front of her. And then, mouth uttering the one curse she never thought she would ever speak, a bolt of green light exited her wand. "Avada Kedavra!" Her spell joined streams with Hermione's. Voldemort's spell had almost reached the brunette's wand tip but now the spell began to move towards him, creeping steadily forwards.
"No! I refuse to believe it will end like this!" He snarled out, redoubling his efforts to power the killing curse.
"It all ends today, Voldemort. No longer will you bring terror to the doorstep of the wizarding nation. You will be punished for your crimes. Worry not. Your death will only be the beginning of your penalization. For I know three gents who are quite eager to meet you." At Bellatrix's words the shadowy forms of three men appeared behind them. They were dim creatures, but Voldemort full well knew who they were. The three judges from that blasted hotel.
"Never! You will never take me!" Panic crept into his voice. The stream of the magic jets was evenly tied. Even with Bellatrix's help it was slow going. He was too strong. Which was only pissing Bellatrix off more.
"Just die already!" she screamed out.
"I say you should die too," Hermione added more calmly, shooting Bellatrix an appreciative look. She had thought the girl was going to leave her to die another time. Bellatrix blinked back at her.
"I will not perish. You will!" Looked like he was a stubborn old man with stubborn views, like the view point that he would remain alive.
"Hmm, I don't think so. It's two of our votes against your one vote, and in this world, majority rules," Hermione taunted. Her wand arm was aching, muscles seizing with the amount of time with which she had used it. But she knew she couldn't give up. They were so close.
"You've been outvoted Voldemort, it's official. There's no place for an outdated man like you, with even more outdated ideals, in this world! So make like a dinosaur and go extinct, " Bellatrix hollered out, and Hermione shrugged. She guessed that was an okay one-liner. She had no clue what a dinosaur was but they sounded stupid. The three forms of the judges swirled behind the two girls, causing their hair to lift in an indoor breeze before the forms conjoined and flew at the dark lord's face.
"No!" he howled out, waving a hand to shred the smoke apart, and making him distracted. That was all that was needed for the two girls to get an edge on him. Their combined magic pushed his jet of magic aside and powered straight on, splitting his wand down the middle, along with his arm as the spell traveled up and into his mind. His eyes flashed green with the power of the curse, rupturing them and then he was dead. The light in the room dimmed, no longer illuminated with the killing curse. Voldemort's body fell to the floor, limp and blood pooling from his mouth and split arm.
"We...did it," Bellatrix breathed out in disbelief, dropping her wand hand and letting her weapon clatter to the floor. She had killed a wizard. But not just any wizard...the evillest wizard of all time.
"Yea," Hermione breathed her voice strangely strained. Her eyes were watching the dark lord's body for something, Bellatrix didn't know what.
"Hermione, bloody hell you did it." Harry burst out from his hiding spot, arms open in joy. "You defeated him for once and for all!"
"We're so proud of you!" Ron added, his eyes dancing in relief. They all made their way across the mess of collapsed room to get to her. She turned to them, tears glimmering in her eyes. She still couldn't believe what had happened.
"Guys..." her words trailed off as suddenly her vision went very blurry and her body got heavy. Too heavy to stand up. With trepidation she watched as her body fell limp and dropped to the floor. Her friends ran with outstretched arms to catch her but it was too late. She had already collapsed to the ground, her world darkening around her.
Next to her, Hermione's body did the same and the two boys were left scratching their heads, joy cut short and three felled bodies next to them.
"Now what do we do?" Ron whispered. "Are they okay? Have they died?" His voice rose in pitch on the last question.
Harry bent down next to Bellatrix, hand over her mouth. "Their alive. But we need to get them to St. Mungo's. Now."
A/N: And this marks the end of the second portion of this story. The third part is coming up shortly, and will finally see to some M rated content. To be continued in this fic.