A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am so glad that you enjoyed Hermione and Rodolphus's little chat, but more importantly their kiss. Just because Hermione ran away doesn't mean that Rodolphus is just going to give up. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. Additionally, I am planning on posting another time travel au next week, but with Theo x Hermione as the pairing, so keep a weather eye for that :)

Please let me know what you thought of chapter eleven and be on the lookout for chapter twelve soon!

January 1968

After the kiss that Hermione had shared with Rodolphus, she had no choice but to return to being a hermit for the rest of the holiday break. She just wasn't sure what she was more afraid of - that she would try to kiss him once again or that they would inevitably end up in some kind of row.

It wasn't that she didn't want to be friends with Rodolphus, because even though it was difficult to admit to it, Hermione did find herself enjoying time spent with the Lestrange heir. He wasn't anything like what she would have expected out of the pureblood. He didn't act like someone who wanted to eradicate all muggleborns, but if she was honest, none of the Slytherins she'd come across so far had. Even Bellatrix had been able to speak to her like she was a normal person. It wasn't as though Rodolphus wasn't prejudiced...his questionable thoughts on the wizarding world proved that he saw muggleborns as some kind of odd interlopers who should assimilate or get out. It was more that her being a muggleborn didn't come up very often.

A small part of her hoped that maybe being friends with him would help steer him to the right path, a path where he saw muggleborns as equals in society instead of some subclass that he was forced to interact with. But kissing him...dating him...was just a step beyond what she was currently comfortable with.

Luckily for Hermione, the Christmas break sped by in a blink of an eye. The Weasleys had sent her a pretty set of silver earrings and a book on the Wizarding history of their corner of Britain, which was very nice. Elna, Fawn and Lottie had gotten her a pretty hair pin, a packet of sugar quills, and a simple planner respectively. She was glad that she'd had the forethought to send them all gifts as well, or she might have felt very awkward greeting them at the returning feast.

The trio was excited to share with Hermione that Lottie's boyfriend, Marcus Hynes, had asked her to wear his ring, apparently an important step towards courtship. Hermione didn't really understand all the steps in the complex dating ritual that still seemed to be occurring in the 60s. Fawn must have noticed, because while the other girls where oohing and ahhing over the silver band Lottie wore on a chain around her neck she was whispering to Hermione that she could always ask her if she had any questions.

Hermione wanted to do just that, but first she knew that she would look to the library for a book that would explain everything. She didn't know just how little she truly understood Fawn would find unusual, and the less questions her friends had about her life before Hogwarts the better. So, she thanked the blonde before informing the rest of her roommates that she was off to the library to study. Elna grinned at her, wishing Hermione luck and simultaneously bemoaning her lack of dedication to her studies.

As she was walking towards the doors, she noticed that Rodolphus stood up from the Slytherin table, making his way towards her as if he wanted to talk. Even though the rest of their witnesses were back - she very much doubted he would try to kiss her in front of all these students - she still wasn't ready to talk to him either. Doubling her speed, she slipped out of the Great Hall, not bothering to check if Rodolphus was following her.

Finding her trusty reading nook empty, Hermione let out a sigh of relief when she noticed that Rodolphus hadn't followed her to her sanctuary. Pulling out her potions book, she began reading through their assigned passage on creating poison antidotes and found herself actually missing Professor Snape. Professor Slughorn was nice enough, but he clearly played favorites - whoever he thought would have the most influence later in life - and she found herself not nearly as engaged. Of course, Professor Snape always made her feel on edge, but at least her potions were on point.

She was barely a page into her reading when someone sat down across from her in the little window seat that she'd found. Looking up from her book, Hermione was dismayed to see Bellatrix Black sitting there, staring at her with a cheshire grin, an eerie echo of the witch she would become in the future. "What do you want Bellatrix?" Hermione asked, thinking that not nearly enough time had passed since she'd last been subjected to the witch.

Bellatrix was not deterred, though, no matter how rude Hermione sounded. "Is that really anyway to talk to your old friend Bellatrix? You didn't even ask me how my Yule was. That was very rude, Granger," she answered, sounding a little bit put out.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Fine, how was your Yule, Bellatrix? Did you get your father to break off your betrothal?" she prodded.

That question did get the other witch to look a bit more upset. Bellatrix's eyes dropped to her lap. "Well, now that you mention it, no, daddy did not dissolve the betrothal yet," she explained. "But I'm working on it, so you don't need to worry your little mudblood head about it."

The Gyffindor was unsurprised that the witch would call her that name to her face, but she still wasn't happy with it. "That's not very nice, Bellatrix," Hermione seethed. "I thought that we were friends," she mocked the other witch's announcement that they would be the best of friends. She couldn't imagine Harry or Ron ever calling her mudblood at all. For that matter, she couldn't imagine Rodolphus openly using that word with her either.

"Oh don't be so sensitive," Bellatrix said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Some people can be so touchy. But don't worry, Hermione. I know the real reason that you are so upset," she added, reaching out to pat Hermione on the arm with all the compassion of a jellyfish.

"Really?" Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "And why would that be?"

"You just want to be free and clear to go after Rodolphus, and you keep letting this pesky, silly, little betrothal get in the way of your happiness," Bellatrix explained, her voice quickly transformed into a familiar sing-song. "And here I am telling you that it's still on. But I promised you that I would handle things with my daddy. The betrothal is as good as over. You just need to let me handle it. Don't hold back from Rodolphus."

"Bellatrix, I don't know the best way to explain this to you," Hermione said, biting her lower lip. "I know that you think there is something going on between me and Rodolphus, but there just isn't. The betrothal isn't holding me back." The lie tasted sour in her mouth, but she knew that she had to keep it that way.

The Slytherin witch smirked at her, pushing her long black hair over her shoulder. "Oh, you are adorable when you try to lie to me, Granger," she cooed. "I know that something happened between you and Rodolphus. The way that you practically sprinted away from him in the Great Hall made it more than obvious to me. Don't worry, you won't be breaking my heart if you go and plant a big kiss on his lips in front of the whole school."

Setting aside the fact that Bellatrix really seemed far too interested in seeing her and Rodolphus in any amorous acts, Hermione was mostly disturbed that she had been so obvious when she left dinner. How many other of their classmates were formulating their own theories about what had gone on between them over break? "Nothing happened," she insisted, swallowing thickly.

"You really expect me to believe that?" Bellatrix laughed, shaking her head. "The pair of you were here all by yourselves for nearly a week without any supervision to speak of. I can just imagine it now - handheld walks around the grounds, ducking under mistletoe to snog...maybe he even snuck you into his dorm. Salazar knows you muggleborns are wanton."

Hermione blushed red in anger at the suggestion. The idyllic little scene that Bellatrix had narrated was nothing at all like the rather chaste kiss that they had shared. "Well you are wrong. And it's not as if we were alone….even Rabastan was here."

Bellatrix giggled. "See, I knew that you wanted to get your little hands all over Rodolphus. Though Rabastan is a little shadow isn't he? That probably didn't leave you much time alone with one another," she said, drifting off in though, tapping a finger against her lip while she thought. "You should insist that Rodolphus take you to the next Hogsmeade weekend. It's near Valentine's day. It would be so romantic."

"I'm just not that interested in Rodolphus," Hermione said, wishing that it was the truth.

"Come on, what's not to like about him? He's very good looking and he's a talented Quidditch player," Bellatrix said, clearly trying to talk him up. "And even though he doesn't apply himself very well, Rodolphus is smart. I can just see the two of you having all sorts of philosophical debates together."

"If you like him so much, why don't you just marry him?" Hermione asked, feeling a bit exasperated that Bellatrix was trying to play matchmaker with her future husband.

The other witch waved her off. "He's just not my type you know?" she said, her eyes finding some far off spot, her face transformed by a rather pretty smile while she thought about the wizard she was after. "I need someone with a bigger vision, someone willing to do whatever it takes to get the outcome he wants. Someone with the same kind of...priorities as me."

A cold tingle ran up Hermione's spine when she realized that she knew exactly who Bellatrix was talking about. It had been a long time since Hermione had thought about Voldemort and that fact that he was out and running free now. There were no mysterious disappearances yet, no signs that he was ascending to power. So how was it possible that Bellatrix would have known about him, and enough to become enamored with him? Was her father involved with Voldemort now? Hermione always thought that they agreed with what he was doing, but only leant material support.

Biting her lip so that she didn't say what immediately came to mind - some very choice swears if she was honest - she settled for giving the other witch a tight smile. "Well, I hope that you find someone more suited to your tastes, Bellatrix," she said, hoping it was suitably diplomatic.

It must have done the trick because Bellatrix was giving her a warm smile, one that rather made her look like a shark. "Ah, see, I think we are well on our way to being friends," she cooed. "So promise me that you will at least give Rodolphus a chance?"

Still unable to figure out Bellatrix's angle, Hermione shrugged her shoulders noncommittally, hoping that it would be enough to satisfy her for now. She didn't want to think about the tantalizing prospect of giving Rodolphus a chance, no matter how nice some of the suggestions Bellatrix had given her sounded.

"Well, I won't keep you from your studies," Bellatrix condescended. She finally stood up from the window nook, smoothing down her uniform skirt with flourish. "Think on what I said, Granger. And I will be seeing you around." She marched away after that.

Hermione was left sitting by herself, feeling more mixed up and confused than she'd been before, but most notably concerned that Bellatrix's promise once again sounded very much like a threat. Oh how in Godric's name had she ended up entangled with all these Slytherins and future Death Eaters? Why on Earth did they find a lowly muggleborn like herself so worthy of attention?