Broken Mirror
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I don't make proffit either.
Chapter 9
Harry was still awake. It was past midnight, he had been laying there for what, two hours?
After Hermione left the meeting in such a rushed way, they had agreed to try and get some information on the older witch. Since he was living under the same roof as her, it seemed logical that he would be the one spying.
However, how was he supposed to do it? First, it would be a betrayel to Hermione's friendship and trust. Second, he couldn't just ask Bellatrix. She would have a way of avoiding him. What if she told Hermione? What if she didn't have any thing to do with those strange happennings?
Who was he kidding? Of course she had. It wasn't her style, to decieve and manipulate, that had been more Snape's area, but she could be doing it. Taking advantage of Hermione. It was a matter of time until his friend was put in real danger because of the danmed Death Eater and by then it could be too late. She already had a wand and her fighting skills were much better than he had anticipated.
What to do? Make sure Lestrange staied weak? How? Injure her in trainning? He turned to the side, covering his head with the sheets. Even with closed curtains it was possible to see the moon shinning. Why did he allways get himself in those desventures? Everyone was counting on him.
Sometimes Harry wished he could just ask for advice. To Professor McGonnagal or Mrs Weasley. Even Dumbledoor. He had already considered visiting his portrey in Hogwarts. But none of them would be of any help. How could he spy on the woman his best friend insisted on protecting without hurting said friend?
Waiting for Bellatrix to slipe seemed the best course of action. Only problem being, witches like her don't slipe. They don't make mistakes. At least none that he could pick on.
He turned to the other side and closed his eyes once again.
Next morning arrived with a heartless wind. The days were getting shorter and so was the time left for Christmas.
Hermione missed celebrating it with her parents. She missed them on a daily basis, but times like this were worst. Of course she had another familly now, one wich was loving and caring, but it's not the same. One could not replace the other. They couldn't ocupy the same spot: she had grown a different one for them.
Nedless to say, Christmas being Christmas had her very excited. She was planning on decorating the house muggle style, introducing one or two things to Bella. It was the least she could do after Halloween.
It had been a wondefull night. They hadn't gonne out, all dressed up like she once planned, but Bellatrix was an amazing story teller. After a good night of drinking and chatting with Harry, Draco, Ginny and the rest of the crew, all she had wanted to do was curl up next to her witch.
To her amazement, Bellatrix Black knew a lot of little facts. She explained how in the past Halloween used to be a night to honor all those who died in vain, accused of being magical beings. Not real witches and wizards, those could have easilly escaped the flames, but muggles. Married women, single women, women with many children, women with no children, old women, young women, little girls. All of those had died due to hate.
In the arms of her Bella she felt safe, but it could've been her. In another time, she might've been caught as a child and what would she have donne? She would've been burned, drowned in a river, tortured and interrogated. Forced to confess to crimes wich were not trully crimes. In Bella's arms, she was able to thank for not going through that. To thank for being born in the right time. Or at least a better one.
So there she was now, bringing all the Christmas decorations from the attic and wanting to take Bella on a tree hunting. Would it scare the hell out of her? Probably. Bellatrix Black might have never been surrounded by so many muggles. But once she saw the lights, the witch would be raydiant.
Last night still plagued Hermione's thoughts. The conversation about the meeting... And what had that thing been? The one where Bella almost died. Or at least it looked like it. And Skeeter? Both of them, what were they up to? And Ron, and that stupid cousin of Bella? And what would she do to Bella on Christmas Eve? Narcissa had invited her to go to the Malfoys along with Andy and little Teddy, but Bella couldn't go. She was phorbiden from seeing familly.
Hermione would deal with all that later. Now it was time to get Bella out of bed. Putting everything down near the couch, she half run, half hopped back up stairs. Christmas was a wonderfull time.
Only Bella was not in bed. And the bed wasn't made, for a matter of fact. The young witch pulled the covers up to make the bed look decent at least. It was quite uncommon for the other women to wake up early or on her own. Well, she had been trainning quite hard with Harry.
Thinking that maybe that's what she was doing, Hermione looked out the window. There she was, dark curly hair swarling around her. Probably diminuishing her field of vision too. Maybe the reason why Harry was able to pull a stunning curse on her.
Bellatrix was sent a few meters back flying. As if nothing had hapenned, the witch got to her feet in an instant, wand in hand. Hermione could see a glint in her eyes, even from this far. Harry was doomed.
The boy-who-lived sent another curse, wich Bella blocked with one of the stones from the pavement. She really needed to stop destroying her things. The stone shatered, creating a cloud of dust in between the two fighters. Wich was quite concerning, because stones didn't just shatered like that unless spells like reducto were used.
Meanwhile, Bellatrix had climbed a tree, something odd for witch wearing a mediavel dress. Harry looked around, wand close to his chest, a defensive position. He knew Bella had the upper hand, all he could do was to protect himself. Slowly, he walked past the dust, closer to the tree where Bella was hiding.
His eyes darted from one direction to another. He was expecting a curse any moment now. Suddendly, his head jerked upwards, looking right into Bellatrix' spot. Before he could do anything she threw herself at him. Both fell to the ground and in order to protect his face Harry let go of his wand.
As a cat, Bellatrix pulled herself up and pointed her wand at him.
Hermione couldn't believe Bellatrix had actually pulled that one on Harry. She had been the one to tell her about the pranks she played on her pops as a kid and this was almost a tradition.
There was a playfull smirk dancing on dark witch's face. So cute. Hermione openned the window.
"Are the two of you donne?" shouted she from the second floor.
"I am!" exclaimed Bella. "Why?"
"You'll see. Come have a bath and I'll tell you later."
Soon enough both Harry and Bella had showered and were patiently sitting, although at a safe distance from each other, on the sofa waiting for her to speak. Their positions were so diferent. Harry had his arms crossed over his chest, clearly not liking the idea of not knowing. Bellatrix on the other hand was almost bouncing with excitement.
"Well, so. Because Christmas is almost here-"
"There's still almost a month Hermione." said Harry, interrupting her.
"One month is not that long." she gave him her best Minerva's pursed lips and continued. "And because there is no Christmas without a tree and the best ones tend to be picked very early, I thought we could go and see some this afternoon."
The reactions she got were not what she had expected. Bellatrix didn't seem nearly as excited as she thought she would be and Harry was looking at her weirdly.
"Hermione, what's all this idea about tree hunting out of a sudden? We have never donne it before." the dark haired boy looked at her as someone looks at those weird comercials on TV.
"And? There's allways a first time for everything."
"That's one of the lamest excuses. C'mon, there's so much more we could be doing."
"Of course there is, but I thought this would be fun. We can bring Ginny and Draco an-"
"Actually we can't." he looked her dead in the eye. "This one here-" he nodded in Bella's direction "isn't allowed to see her familly. So no Draco."
"Harry, please. It won't hurt anyone."
"Look, you want to go you can go. Nobody's stopping you. I'm gonna see if Ron wants to play some Quiditch."
Without giving the young witch the chance to respond, he left. Hermione sat next to Bella, resting her head against the back of the sofa and covering her eyes. She sighted. Bellatrix sat awkwardly next to her.
"Hermione?"
"Yes, Bella?"
"We can go if you want to."
"It's okay Bella. You don't have to go if you don't want to. It's not like I can force you to." Hermione half smiled. All she wanted was to get herself in bed.
"But I want to go." as good as Bella's intentions were, she was not convincing anyone.
"No you don't. And that's perfectly fine." Hermione stood up and streched. "I'm gonna lay down for a little. Don't destroy anything, yeah?" with that, the bushy haired women headed for the stairs.
"Hermione, will you listen to me?" Bellatrix had stood up too and was now holding one of her wrists, unabling her from leaving. "I want to go. What if I have no idea what shit you were talking about? You planned it. You were excited to go. You wanted to take me and Potter boy with you. You wanted for some reason, Hermione." she cupped the younger witch's face, forcing her to look in her eyes. "It's important for you. It's not fair to just not go."
Slowly, Hermione took a step in Bella's direction. Their faces were so close Bella could see the stripes of gold in those light brown pools. Their foreheads touched, Hermione closed her eyes. She put her arms around Bellatrix' neck, getting in her scent.
"Thank you, Bella. I... Can we just hug for a while longer?" her eyes were pleading.
"You didn't even have to ask."
Bellatrix kissed her cheek and rested a hand on her hair.
Minuts later they were already leaving the house. Bellatrix had a scarf up to her nose and Hermione was looking through the map, making sure she still knew the way.
Something she had forgotten to tell Bella was how they were getting there. It was a muggle place so they would use a car. Of course the older witch had already seen it, a black BMW X1. She had never been inside it, though.
"Hermione, are you sure this thing is safe?" Bella asked, squinting her eyes at the thing.
"I promess you it is. I would never put you in danger on purpose."
They entered the car and Hermione took sometime explainning how things worked. Why she had to use the seat belt. Why she needed the keys.
During the all ride Bellatrix sat stiff, her eyes darting from the road to the driver. Everytime Hermione made a turn she would clench her hands into fists. However, turning on the radio seemed to help the older witch to relax. Of course she would like The Queen.
In no time they had arrived. Hermione leading the way held Bella's hand. Just to make sure you don't get lost. Or at least that's what she told herself and the other witch.
Bellatrix' eyes were open wide, her mouth gapping. Her hand held tight and whenever a muggle walked closer to them she would grab her witch's arm.
It was clear Bellatrix had no idea how to pick the right tree. The woman just kept pointing at whatever one she deemed better, juts for in the next moment change her mind. Hermione trailled behind, looking at the jumpish witch.
"What about this one?"
Bella had stopped in front of a huge one. It would barelly be able to fit through the door. Her dark eyes shone and the brunnete thought it was one of the most beautifull pictures she had ever seen.
"It might be a little too big." the youngest woman went to stand next to her companion. Bella imideatly placed her head on her shoulder. "We might not have space."
"Nonsense. We're witches, Hermione. Size is not a problem for us. And look at how green it is!" Bella turned to face her. "Is there any other you prefer?"
"Not really. If you really like this one then we should get it."
And so they did. Hermione paied for the tree, even with Bellatrix insisting on doing it herself.
On their way out, the ex-Gryfindor almost tripped. Not because of how slippery the ground was, but because she could've sworn she saw the so dreadful dark smoke. The one Death Eaters used to aparet. Not wanting to disturb Bella, she kept on walking to the car as if nothing had happenned.
What had it been? They were still hunting Death Eaters, but to see one so close to the muggle world? What if they were right? What if Bellatrix really was planning something?
She looked at the older witch, sleeping with her mouth open and against the window. Hermione couldn't help to smile. For someone who had terriefied so many, Bellatrix Black was quite adorable. She had looked so much like a child.
"I was scared."
Hermione hadn't seen Bella wake, but there she was, staring at her with sleepy eyes.
"I know."
"I didng't got hurt."
"I wouldn't have let anyone hurt you."
"I know but..." her coice had turned into a whisper "... itt's very confusing." Bellatrix closed her eyes on what the other witch assumed to be deep thought. "I have... memories. And reasons to hate them. But not now. This is not like before and you're not like them."
"I don't know how to help you, Bella. I don't know your story and it's fine if you don't want to talk about it." said Hermione. Bellatrix darted her eyes to the landscape, covered in snow. "But it's also fine if you want to."
"I know. But sometimes it feels like it doesn't matter. I don't want to be a burden, I don't want to annoy anyone. I know you wouldn't be, but it still feels like it. Sometimes I can't wait to get out of bed, spend the day with you and just do nothing. Other days, I can't help but wonder what's the point? Even if I go through all of it, even if I get my freedom, what will I do with it? With the Dark Lord... I had a purpose. There was something to wait for."
"And what would you have donne if Harry hadn't won the war?"
"The same I had planned in case he did. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't suppose to stay more than necessary. If my side won, I knew Narcissa and Andromeda would be safe, I had a deal. If your side won they would still be safe. Harry would defend Draco, and Narcissa by association, and Andromeda had helped them. I didn't need to be here. I never though I would be."
A shiver run down Hermione's spine. Bellatrix had planned on dieing.
"You don't need to know what you'll do. Not yet. I know you need something to look forward to, but I can't give you one. I don't know how. All I can do is wait for you to tell me. To be here for you. Only you know what you need, Bella. There's no problem in askingfor it or not knowing."
"Hermione..." Bellatrix lower lip trembled. She looked away once more. "I know this sounds silly, and I understand if you don't want to. You don't have to want, it's fine. But... when this is all over, I'll go back to Black Manor. I want to restor it. But I don't want to be allone." At this point it her voice had become restrained. "Do you mind if we keep on talking? And seeing each other? You don't have to if you don-"
"Bella, look at me." The black haired witch did so, with watery eyes and a pursed lips. "I was never planning on stop seeing you. No matter what happenned in the past, things have changed." The brunete bit on her lower lip. "We've been spending so much time together... I don't think I could just let you go."
Bellatrix didn't answer. She turned her head back to the window, but Hermione could see in the mirror how she was trying to keep control of her emotions. She had learned a long time ago Bella did it as a mechanism of defense. The younger woman turned the radio on and watched as tears trickled down the other witches's face.
When they finally arrived home, one of them was assleep and the other wanted. Hermione didn't have the strength to leave the car, so she simply staied there.
There was so much to think about. So much and Bellatrix seemed to be in the center of it all. She couldn't help but giggle at how the older witch had entered her life, just like a hurricain and turned everything upside down. Good changes, though.
Things didn't feel like the old days but... it was starting to feel like familly.
To be continued...
A.N.: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long... Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you thought or any other sugestions you might have, as well as ways of improving my writing.
This is the worst year of school, so I've had a lot of work going on and soon I'll have national exams. Also, I have about seven fics going on (I admit, not my brightes idea), so that's why I take so long updating.
If any of you cares, I'm hating this last season of game of thrones. I have a fic featuring Sansa and Cersei as a couple from the times where the Tyrel's were still alive, so check it out if you want. I'll probably start another, but about season 8, because to me all that's happenning just doesn't make sense.
Adeus!