Chapter 4
A/N: I hadn't thought of when in the canon this story took place, but as I continued to work on it, I realized that it had to take place during The Order of the Phoenix, but before the DA is formed. Can't promise to follow the canon exactly, sorry!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own copies of the HP books! JKR owns it all, and then some.
Hermione paid for the book and rushed to the Three Broomsticks. She swallowed the words that were trying to pour out of her when she saw Ginny sitting with Ron and Harry at a very small table. She wasn't prepared to bring Ginny, or anyone else for that matter, into this. But she wasn't sure that she could wait long to let the boys know. Her indecision had her even more flustered than she was when she'd left the bookstore.
"Merlin, 'Mione! What is wrong with you! Did something happen in that shop?" Ginny eyed her friend with confusion and concern.
"What? No! No, nothing! Why?"
Ginny scrunched her eyebrows, cocked her head, and pointed at the book in Hermione's hand. "Well, you only have one book! Since when do you only buy one book in a bookstore?"
"Yeah," Ron echoed, "and such a small book too! You must be ill or something!"
"Well, I… umm… I only needed this one, and I was trying to rush back here to be with you all!" Her self-obsessed friends seemed fine with that explanation, though Harry continued to examine her.
"What book did you get?" he asked, reaching for it.
Hermione realized that maybe this was a good way to let him know what had happened, without talking about it. She slid the small volume across the table to him.
"It's about plants. Look at the first page."
Harry opened the book and peered at the title page. " 'Native Plants of the British Isles.' Huh. They didn't have this in the library?"
Hermione tried to give him a pointed look, and said with slightly more emphasis than she would normally use, "Keep reading. Look closely."
"Published in 1984. Blimey, 'Mione, this isn't even that new! Isn't there a more updated copy?"
"No, Harry! Let me see that." He turned the book to face her, and she saw nothing on the title page except exactly what he'd read.
What? She snatched the book back, and when she touched it, the sentence immediately appeared, though Harry did not seem to notice. Hermione realized that the message had been charmed to appear only to her. It's just an invitation to me, then.
"Umm… well, there is some really good stuff in here about plants that aren't so flashy but that make up our native flora, and I wanted to know more about it for when I go camping with my family this summer."
Ron snickered. "Only you would be doing research for a vacation that isn't for another 8 months!"
Hermione glared at Ron, and then tried to enjoy the rest of her butterbeer and time away from Hogwarts. She would tell the boys what had happened on their walk back to school. Right now she couldn't do anything else but enjoy herself, so that's what she tried to do. She also took careful inventory of each and every person in the room, looking for a certain older witch, not knowing if she hoped she'd be there or not.
While the dark-haired witch did not make an appearance, Hermione noticed a Hogwarts student sitting at a table by herself, reading.
"Hey, Ginny. Who is that? She's all by herself." Hermione nudged Ginny and quietly made her query.
"Ummm… I think her name is Roxanna. She's in Ravenclaw, a 6th year, I think. She's always by herself, and she always has a book with her. I only know who she is because Fred wanted to prank her once, and George wouldn't let her, so then Fred was convinced that George fancied her. But I think George was not being a prat for once, you know? I mean, she seems content, but kind of lonely."
"Oh… hmmm." Hermione's mind was going a mile a minute, and she barely registered Ginny's disappointed look at not being encouraged to keep on with her schoolgirl gossip. Mostly one thought kept repeating itself in her head: She reminds me of me.
On the walk back to Hogwarts, Hermione decided that she wanted some more time to herself to think. Using the pretense of looking through her new book, she fell back from the others just a bit. While her mind was mostly elsewhere, she did notice that the plants mentioned in her book were used in very common potions, nothing she couldn't have found out in her own textbooks.
I wonder if I'm going to end up having to sneak into the restricted section to find a book about plants used in dark magic potions. I expect so... Otherwise, what would Bellatrix have been doing in the forest? Surely Voldemort would only have sent her after plants he couldn't get anywhere else, or that were exceedingly dangerous. Or both.
Hermione slowed her steps when she realized that she was feeling reluctant to talk to Harry and Ron about what had happened in the bookstore. She had been so eager to before, but now she was becoming more and more curious about what she might be able to learn from Bellatrix, and she didn't think that they'd believe her when she told them that she just wanted to know. Not for anything bad, just to know.
Finally, she caught up with them to talk just before dinner.
"I think I might have figured out a way to find something out about Bellatrix and what she was doing in the forest." This got their attention, and they seated themselves at the far end of the long table to talk privately.
"Harry, I'll need your cloak for tonight. I think I might know where I can go to find out what we need to know."
"Sure, 'Mione, but can't we come along? Where are you going?" Harry was always generous, but he never wanted to be left out, and he seemed to think he was Hermione's protector. As did Ron, even though she could out-hex both of them at the same time. It was kind of cute, but not tonight.
"No, I think I'd better go alone. I think I can find some information in the restricted section of the library, but it might take a long time to find it."
Harry and Ron's eyes practically glazed over at the word, "library" and Harry agreed that this sounded like a one-woman adventure. Plus, other than Madame Pince or Filch, what harm could come to Hermione in the library?
Hermione mentally agreed that the library was a safe place to sneak around at night, which is why she mentioned it, neglecting to tell her friends that she wasn't actually going there tonight. Technically, she hadn't lied to them, she told herself. And they'd flip out if they knew where she was actually going.
Eleven o'clock at night found Hermione shuffling quietly through the halls under the invisibility cloak, book in her hand. She wasn't sure how she was going to get out of the school itself, but decided she'd figure it out when she got there. As it turned out, she had no problem. As she approached the doors, the book in her hand became warmer, and she was easily able to open them silently and slip out. The invitation written in the book seemed to have more magic behind it than she'd previously thought.
Anxiety and anticipation tripping through her body, Hermione made her way quickly to Hogsmeade and into the Hog's Head pub. She followed closely behind a burly patron to enter, then quietly slipped to a corner. The bearded wizard who ran the questionable establishment looked up and into the corner briefly, but then got back to the business of pretending to wipe down the counters. Hermione checked to see that no part of her body was peeking out from under the cloak, and when satisfied, she settled down to wait.
Close to midnight, other students began to slip into the pub in small groups. Slytherins, mostly, with a few Ravenclaws in the mix. Hermione was not shocked to see Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle there, but she was surprised to see some of the others. All of them were either from pure-blood families or were at the tops of their classes, often both. None were muggle-born like her. They sat in their small groups, scattered around the room, glancing curiously and a bit distrustfully at one another.
At midnight, an older wizard who radiated strength and presence strode through the door. He stood near the middle of the room, and with a glower sent every patron who wasn't obviously a Hogwarts student towards the exit. When it was just him and the students left, he began.
"Gather around. You are all here for one reason, so stop pretending to play innocent. Sit around this table and listen closely. I'm not here for foolish games, and nor are you."
Hermione stayed invisible in her corner. This wasn't what she'd been expecting, but obviously something was up, and she planned on staying to watch.
However, while she clearly expected this meeting to be some sort of dark magic practice lesson, it began sounding more and more like a typical recruitment session. The wizard, introducing himself as Professor Jugson, spent much of his time "teaching" a warped history of wizarding magic, and how there was a limited amount of it, and how every muggle-born was diluting the pool. As he continued, he started using the term "mudblood" in place of "muggle-born" and "stealing magic" in place of "using magic."
It was deftly done, Hermione had to admit, and many of the students in attendance seemed to be listening carefully. This kind of propaganda would be enough to plant the seeds of doubt in many minds, and Hermione wondered what the next stage of recruitment would be. She waited eagerly to go back to Hogwarts and tell Harry and Ron what she had discovered. Dumbledore would want to know this, too, she knew.
As Hermione began to work through her plan of action in her head, the door to the pub opened and the dark witch from the bookstore walked in. Hermione's thoughts came to a screeching halt as she watched the witch and wizard acknowledge each other, then the witch proceed to the bar to get a drink from the surly barkeep. Hermione's plan of action immediately derailed in favor of some new strategy to get to talk with the witch on her own. The alarms going off in her head sounded like background noise to these new thoughts.
Hermione watched as the witch, Bellatrix?, turned at the bar, drink cradled in her slender hand, and began inspecting the room and its inhabitants. Each student at the table got a searching look from the older woman, and many faltered under her dark eyes. However, even the empty parts of room were looked at closely, and Hermione could have sworn that her gaze lingered on her own corner.
Not long after the mysterious woman's arrival, the "lesson" was finished and the students were sent on their way back to the school. Hermione stayed behind, waiting to see what would happen next.
"What do you think of this batch, Jugson?" the dark witch asked the large wizard.
"Not a bad lot, not to start. We won't keep them all and will have to do a little memory modification of those who don't return, but I think most will be back. I can see their greedy little eyes want more, even if it is just a secret to lord over their classmates. I'll lure them in and bind them up like flies in a spider web." The man boasted confidently, trying to impress, but Hermione could see that it was having the opposite effect on his compatriot.
"Fine. You may leave; your work is done. I will tell our lord that you have done a sufficient job for now, and he won't punish you, at least." The wizard looked put out by her dismissive response, to say the least, and began to say something. It took a mere look from the dark-haired witch for him to shut his mouth, and he nodded curtly and left.
After his departure, the only visible humans left in the room were the dark witch and the bartending owner. The woman lifted her head in the direction of the bearded old wizard and announced, rather loudly, "I think I shall have one more firewhiskey before I go. No need to rush off now that it is just us in here, is there?"
Hermione flushed, certain that Bellatrix had made that announcement for her benefit. It was now or never, she figured, and she quietly made her way to the bathroom door. Waiting for a moment when both the barkeep and Bellatrix were looking the other way, she pushed at the bathroom door with her foot and pulled down the cloak in the same instant. When they both turned to look at her, she hoped it would look like she'd just come out of the bathroom, innocently missing the dismissal of her schoolmates.
The barman gave her a searching look that she would have wilted under, had she not been distracted by the quirked eyebrow and satisfied smirk being sported by the dark-haired witch. Hermione's fingers immediately began tingling with nerves, while her belly and core were doing flip-flops.
"Hmm. Not quite alone, I see. Come and join me, dearie. Let's chat." Bellatrix grabbed her whiskey and a butterbeer and beckoned to Hermione with a dark-tipped finger, settling herself at a small, cozy table in the corner. Hermione cautiously sat down across from her, very aware of the proximity of her knees to the skirt-covered legs of her companion.
"What is your name, pet? No need to look so nervous. I won't report you being out after curfew."
"Uhmm…" Hermione stuttered, hoping that she just looked like she was nervous, and not like she was lying. "Roxanna. Roxanna Sevilla."
"Ah. Roxanna. I am Lyra Black, of the House of Black." The woman had a bit of a mischievous glint in her eye as she said this, as if daring Hermione to contradict her. Well, I guess we'll both be someone else tonight. Except that if she finds out about me, I'm dead. Hermione stayed wisely silent.
"So, Roxanna, we are well met again. I hope you enjoyed the book I found for you. Did it meet your needs?" Hermione could have sworn she felt Bellatrix's leg move a bit closer to her own under the table.
"Yes, ma'am. It has a lot of good information in it." She looked down at her drink, fiddling nervously with the bottle.
There was silence until Hermione looked up and met Bellatrix's dark eyes. Well, she couldn't change those, at least. Those are the same eyes. Bellatrix cocked an eyebrow at her, as her lips showed an amused pout. She knew how she was making Hermione feel, damn her. Hermione swallowed, found some Gryffindor courage, and spoke.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. What would you like to talk about?"
"Don't call me ma'am – I'm not that old. And don't apologize. It's weak. Why don't you tell me about yourself, Roxanna, starting with what you were doing this evening hiding in the bathroom?"
Hermione flushed, feeling her cheeks get even hotter when she realized that Bellatrix's leg had stretched out so that her boot was propped up against Hermione's chair leg, and her calf was pressing slightly against the young woman's shin. This is going to be an interesting night, Hermione thought, taking a deep breath.
A/N again: Next chapter we finally get some time with our ladies together! Bellatrix may seem OOC, but I figure she's got a lot of personalities in her toolbelt, all part of the manipulations she's so good at. Well, when she's not being batshit crazy. Oh, and please review! I'm just getting back in to creative writing and trying to find a good voice, so any and all feedback is helpful! (Except the kind that isn't, and you know what I mean.)