On the Saturday before Easter, Hermione sat in front of the Fire Place in
the Gryffindor Common Room waiting for Ron and Harry. They were to Floo to
Grimmauld Place and spend the remainder of the weekend with The Weasleys,
Lupin, and a few others.
"Are you all set then?" Ron asked, carrying his Gryffindor Duffle Bag down the stairs from the dormitories. Harry followed slowly and what appeared to be reluctantly.
"Ron, I don't want to go." He said blankly.
"Oh come on Harry, Mum insisted you come. Everyone will be there."
"Not everyone." Harry said sadly, crossing his arms.
"Harry, you need to get out of this depression, the only way you're going to do that is by facing it. And that means going to Grimmauld Place and dealing with whatever memories it stirs up." Hermione's tone had an icy feel to it.
Ron and Harry looked up at her in surprise. "Since when did you become so insensitive?" Harry asked.
"Insensitive? Me? Don't be ridiculous! I think were all getting a bit tired of you sulking about all the time. We understand that you've lost Sirius, Harry, but honestly it has been nearly a year." She said flatly.
Harry opened his mouth and closed it a few times, reminding Hermione of a fish out of water. "I - Hermione ---." Harry started, but stopped just as quickly. Hermione saw trickles started to tear from his eyes and he dropped his bag and fled from the Common Room.
"Hermione!" Ron scolded. "How could you say something like that?" he ran upstairs after the crying teenager.
He was right, how could she say something like that. She's never in her life said anything that harsh before to one of her friends.
That's because they aren't your friends anymore, the tiny voice sparked to life again.
She sat back down on the couch in front of the fire, waiting for Ron and Harry, or possibly just Ron to come back downstairs.
After nearly twenty minutes, the two boys joined her once again. Harry's eyes were red and bloodshot and she saw a crease on his face from crying into a pillow.
She sighed, wondering how she ever was such good friends with these dolts. 'You're thinking like Malfoy' the voice spoke again. She couldn't help but smile this time. Glancing at the clock above the mantle she saw it was nearly two, which meant they had better get going to Grimmauld Place if she wanted to snoop around the house in the daylight. Besides she had to prepare for this evening. Professor Snape had informed her that there would be an Order Meeting, and they had worked out a way for her to find out what was going on.
"Listen Harry," she decided on not to delay Flooing any further, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said before. It's just that it really hurts - me - and everyone else - to see you so - depressed all the time." She lied.
Harry sniffed and wiped his cheek with the back of his sleeve. "I understand Hermione, I just need some time..but you are right. I do need to visit Grimmauld Place, it would be a good first step."
"Glad to hear that." She smiled sweetly, while her brain thought completely different thoughts. 'You've had a full year you stupid little prat. Get over yourself, he isn't coming back'.
After Flooing and dusting the soot from herself, Hermione stepped right into a very large hug given by Molly Weasley.
"Hermione! Dear! So glad you could make it!" she beamed.
"Nice to see you too Mrs. Weasley." Hermione smiled. She then felt a pang in her stomach, Mrs. Weasley had changed very much since she had seen her last. Granted at the restaurant that night she didn't get a good look at her, just a glance, but Hermione was positive she didn't look this way before. Her eyes were set back, her skin tone no longer a rosy, but a dull grayish color. She looked tired and the wrinkles in her once cheerful face showed it.
'Good job, Granger.'
"Hermione, so good to see you." Remus Lupin held his hand out and smiled.
She felt her heart lurch in her chest. Over the past few days Professor Snape had been giving her lessons on keeping the charade up and keeping everyone's suspicions down, especially Lupin's.
"Professor Lupin!" she smiled happily and gave him an enormous hug, burying her face in his shirt, determined to hide the deceit on it. "It feels like ages since I've last seen you!" she took a deep breath. "Last Tuesday was a full moon, I thought of you!"
Lupin eyed her suspiciously. "Ah, yes. The transformation went well. Professor Snape has been aiding me with a new potion that allows me to transform into a wolf, but keep my rational mind. Seeing as the wolfsbane is so hard to come by in the Spring, the new draught is made with the most common items."
"Fascinating! You'll have to tell me all about it!" Hermione said with false enthusiasm.
"Oh, so good to see you all!" Arthur Weasley rushed to the room, smiling broadly. His appearance change wasn't as drastic as Mrs. Weasley's, but he looked exhausted all the same.
"Its good to see you too, Mr. Weasley." Hermione smiled. "I'm just going to head upstairs and unpack my things."
She grabbed her bag and dashed up the flights of stairs until she reached the room that she normally shared with Ginny. After throwing her bag on the bed and tearing it open, she pulled out the long piece of shimmering fabric. From two summers ago, she had helped renovate the entire house, and she knew where The Order kept their documents. It was a tiny office off the dining room and kept under powerful wards, but Snape had given her all the information she needed.
After slipping the silver fabric over her head she flew down the stairs and back into the sitting room. Mrs. Weasley was hugging Harry, and Ron was talking with his father. Perfect, now she just had to stay clear of Lupin and his wolf-like senses.
She gently pushed a door open, unnoticed and slipped through to the dining room. Inside it was empty, a fire place blazed to the side, but other than that, there was no movement. Hermione crossed the room to the door that was enchanted to look like the wall.
"Fizzing Whizbees!" she whispered and she heard a lock open. Normally that would just open the door, but this door was bewitched and if you didn't provide the second password in ten seconds it would start shrieking.
"Lemon Meringue!" she said quickly. The section of the wall faded away and became transparent, and Hermione saw the office on the other side. She felt a shiver as she passed through the wall and turned around to watch the kitchen through the transparent wall. It faded away and the wall became solid again. She felt the need to panic, but knew she didn't have time and she would of course find a way back out of here.
The office was small, with no windows. A roll-top desk sat on the opposite wall with piles of papers on it. To her right was a filing cabinet and behind her a bookshelf. She scanned over the books quickly, catching a few titles; "Strategic Magical Planning", "One Thousand Curses", and "Defending Yourself Against The Unforgivable Curses" sprang out at her.
Hermione turned from the books back to the desk and sat on the swiveling chair. She began looking through the sheets of paper. One was a map of Wales, with tiny pins stuck all over it, signifying where Voldemort had been seen. A few were blue prints of different houses. There were several magical photos of Peter lurking about in a town, his hand covered by a long black sleeve. Finally at the bottom of the pile, like a treasure waiting to be found, Hermione uncovered what she had hoped for - a parchment with a list of signatures; members of the Order. She rolled the parchment and stuck it in her back pocket.
Next she moved over to the filing cabinet, it opened with a loud groan, she winced and started flipping through the files. She came across a folder entitled Death Eaters. She pulled it from the drawer and flipped it open. Inside was a list of the entire circle, minus, herself, Snape, and Malfoy. The next page was entitled Possible Death Eaters, listed were Draco, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Narcissa. She closed the folder and tucked it under her arm.
Footsteps in the dining room. She would have to hurry.
She reached for the drawer on the bottom and her heart nearly stopped when a family of moths came fluttering out. Each file had a different name on it. Tom Marvolo Riddle, Bellatrix Black-Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe Sr., Holly Parkinson to name a few. Curiosity got the best of her and she pulled up the file on Bella.
Opening it up, she saw a black and white photo of Bella moving about and looking out viciously at the viewer. Hermione looked over the first page, which appeared to be information on Mrs. Lestrange. Full Name: Bellatrix Elizabeth Black-Lestrange, Birth date: November 5, 1958.
Hermione scanned over the information. She knew she shouldn't be looking, the other Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort would agree, yet she couldn't control the urge to continue to read. Notes were littered all over the page in many different handwritings, different theories about Bella. One, which Hermione was positive was Sirius' handwriting claimed that Bella had always wanted to prove a witch could be a more devastating force than any wizard. Another person had added further down that she was trained by Voldemort to be lethal and cunning, the only known witch in his inner circle at the time.
The next few pages were scattered with information on torturing the Longbottoms into insanity, Hermione winced when she saw the photo of Frank and Alice unconscious on the floor of their home, bleeding, with a tiny Neville crying in the background. A note was written in gold ink on the photo above Neville's head, it read: " ? Possibly tortured or used a memory charm on son, does not remember much about incident".
Hermione flipped the page and it had a Daily Prophet clipping about her trial, a page about her sentence to Azkaban, with a detailed map of where her cell was. Hermione felt a chill just looking at a map of the place. After that another clipping of her escape.
In the dining room, someone dragged a chair across the floor, making Hermione jolt and drop the folder. When she picked it up a photograph fell out and she looked closely, wondering why she didn't notice it before. It was a grainy black and white photo of Bella's cell, in the foreground a Dementor's back. It was facing Bella who was nearly face to face with it, leaning on the bars of her cell. What Hermione thought was strange about the photo was Bella was looking straight at who ever had taken the photograph, as if completely unaware the Dementor was there. Then Bella did something completely unexpected, she actually smirked at photographer. She felt suddenly creepy and put the photo down, as she did so she realized something else in the photo moving. On the bottom right hand corner a tiny time ticker moved, Hermione watched it span over three hours, the Dementor left, a guard walked by, and Bella didn't move, she unrelentlessly stared back straight at Hermione.
Hermione put the folder back in the filing cabinet and shut the drawer. She had enough information for Voldemort for the time being. She pulled the Invisibility Cloak back over her head and peered out through the false wall into the Dining Room. Fred and George were inside, sitting at the table with a pile of their merchandise spread out. She dodged passed them and upstairs. When she was safely back in her bedroom, she took the cloak off and shoved the files she had just found under her mattress.
She sat down for a moment, catching her breath. Spying was an exhilarating experience. After thinking for a moment just how proud Voldemort will be with her, she sprang up and rummaged through her bag retrieving a collection of tiny glass bottles, and a vial containing a chunk of black greasy hair. It was time to get ready to make her appearance at The Order's meeting.
________ ________
Ok, first of all. Review. Secondly, I really hoped you liked it. I wanted to get more into depth with Bella's character. So anyway Chapter 17 will be up shortly. By the way, you can all thank my really great Beta Reader for her wonderful insight.
"Are you all set then?" Ron asked, carrying his Gryffindor Duffle Bag down the stairs from the dormitories. Harry followed slowly and what appeared to be reluctantly.
"Ron, I don't want to go." He said blankly.
"Oh come on Harry, Mum insisted you come. Everyone will be there."
"Not everyone." Harry said sadly, crossing his arms.
"Harry, you need to get out of this depression, the only way you're going to do that is by facing it. And that means going to Grimmauld Place and dealing with whatever memories it stirs up." Hermione's tone had an icy feel to it.
Ron and Harry looked up at her in surprise. "Since when did you become so insensitive?" Harry asked.
"Insensitive? Me? Don't be ridiculous! I think were all getting a bit tired of you sulking about all the time. We understand that you've lost Sirius, Harry, but honestly it has been nearly a year." She said flatly.
Harry opened his mouth and closed it a few times, reminding Hermione of a fish out of water. "I - Hermione ---." Harry started, but stopped just as quickly. Hermione saw trickles started to tear from his eyes and he dropped his bag and fled from the Common Room.
"Hermione!" Ron scolded. "How could you say something like that?" he ran upstairs after the crying teenager.
He was right, how could she say something like that. She's never in her life said anything that harsh before to one of her friends.
That's because they aren't your friends anymore, the tiny voice sparked to life again.
She sat back down on the couch in front of the fire, waiting for Ron and Harry, or possibly just Ron to come back downstairs.
After nearly twenty minutes, the two boys joined her once again. Harry's eyes were red and bloodshot and she saw a crease on his face from crying into a pillow.
She sighed, wondering how she ever was such good friends with these dolts. 'You're thinking like Malfoy' the voice spoke again. She couldn't help but smile this time. Glancing at the clock above the mantle she saw it was nearly two, which meant they had better get going to Grimmauld Place if she wanted to snoop around the house in the daylight. Besides she had to prepare for this evening. Professor Snape had informed her that there would be an Order Meeting, and they had worked out a way for her to find out what was going on.
"Listen Harry," she decided on not to delay Flooing any further, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said before. It's just that it really hurts - me - and everyone else - to see you so - depressed all the time." She lied.
Harry sniffed and wiped his cheek with the back of his sleeve. "I understand Hermione, I just need some time..but you are right. I do need to visit Grimmauld Place, it would be a good first step."
"Glad to hear that." She smiled sweetly, while her brain thought completely different thoughts. 'You've had a full year you stupid little prat. Get over yourself, he isn't coming back'.
After Flooing and dusting the soot from herself, Hermione stepped right into a very large hug given by Molly Weasley.
"Hermione! Dear! So glad you could make it!" she beamed.
"Nice to see you too Mrs. Weasley." Hermione smiled. She then felt a pang in her stomach, Mrs. Weasley had changed very much since she had seen her last. Granted at the restaurant that night she didn't get a good look at her, just a glance, but Hermione was positive she didn't look this way before. Her eyes were set back, her skin tone no longer a rosy, but a dull grayish color. She looked tired and the wrinkles in her once cheerful face showed it.
'Good job, Granger.'
"Hermione, so good to see you." Remus Lupin held his hand out and smiled.
She felt her heart lurch in her chest. Over the past few days Professor Snape had been giving her lessons on keeping the charade up and keeping everyone's suspicions down, especially Lupin's.
"Professor Lupin!" she smiled happily and gave him an enormous hug, burying her face in his shirt, determined to hide the deceit on it. "It feels like ages since I've last seen you!" she took a deep breath. "Last Tuesday was a full moon, I thought of you!"
Lupin eyed her suspiciously. "Ah, yes. The transformation went well. Professor Snape has been aiding me with a new potion that allows me to transform into a wolf, but keep my rational mind. Seeing as the wolfsbane is so hard to come by in the Spring, the new draught is made with the most common items."
"Fascinating! You'll have to tell me all about it!" Hermione said with false enthusiasm.
"Oh, so good to see you all!" Arthur Weasley rushed to the room, smiling broadly. His appearance change wasn't as drastic as Mrs. Weasley's, but he looked exhausted all the same.
"Its good to see you too, Mr. Weasley." Hermione smiled. "I'm just going to head upstairs and unpack my things."
She grabbed her bag and dashed up the flights of stairs until she reached the room that she normally shared with Ginny. After throwing her bag on the bed and tearing it open, she pulled out the long piece of shimmering fabric. From two summers ago, she had helped renovate the entire house, and she knew where The Order kept their documents. It was a tiny office off the dining room and kept under powerful wards, but Snape had given her all the information she needed.
After slipping the silver fabric over her head she flew down the stairs and back into the sitting room. Mrs. Weasley was hugging Harry, and Ron was talking with his father. Perfect, now she just had to stay clear of Lupin and his wolf-like senses.
She gently pushed a door open, unnoticed and slipped through to the dining room. Inside it was empty, a fire place blazed to the side, but other than that, there was no movement. Hermione crossed the room to the door that was enchanted to look like the wall.
"Fizzing Whizbees!" she whispered and she heard a lock open. Normally that would just open the door, but this door was bewitched and if you didn't provide the second password in ten seconds it would start shrieking.
"Lemon Meringue!" she said quickly. The section of the wall faded away and became transparent, and Hermione saw the office on the other side. She felt a shiver as she passed through the wall and turned around to watch the kitchen through the transparent wall. It faded away and the wall became solid again. She felt the need to panic, but knew she didn't have time and she would of course find a way back out of here.
The office was small, with no windows. A roll-top desk sat on the opposite wall with piles of papers on it. To her right was a filing cabinet and behind her a bookshelf. She scanned over the books quickly, catching a few titles; "Strategic Magical Planning", "One Thousand Curses", and "Defending Yourself Against The Unforgivable Curses" sprang out at her.
Hermione turned from the books back to the desk and sat on the swiveling chair. She began looking through the sheets of paper. One was a map of Wales, with tiny pins stuck all over it, signifying where Voldemort had been seen. A few were blue prints of different houses. There were several magical photos of Peter lurking about in a town, his hand covered by a long black sleeve. Finally at the bottom of the pile, like a treasure waiting to be found, Hermione uncovered what she had hoped for - a parchment with a list of signatures; members of the Order. She rolled the parchment and stuck it in her back pocket.
Next she moved over to the filing cabinet, it opened with a loud groan, she winced and started flipping through the files. She came across a folder entitled Death Eaters. She pulled it from the drawer and flipped it open. Inside was a list of the entire circle, minus, herself, Snape, and Malfoy. The next page was entitled Possible Death Eaters, listed were Draco, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Narcissa. She closed the folder and tucked it under her arm.
Footsteps in the dining room. She would have to hurry.
She reached for the drawer on the bottom and her heart nearly stopped when a family of moths came fluttering out. Each file had a different name on it. Tom Marvolo Riddle, Bellatrix Black-Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe Sr., Holly Parkinson to name a few. Curiosity got the best of her and she pulled up the file on Bella.
Opening it up, she saw a black and white photo of Bella moving about and looking out viciously at the viewer. Hermione looked over the first page, which appeared to be information on Mrs. Lestrange. Full Name: Bellatrix Elizabeth Black-Lestrange, Birth date: November 5, 1958.
Hermione scanned over the information. She knew she shouldn't be looking, the other Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort would agree, yet she couldn't control the urge to continue to read. Notes were littered all over the page in many different handwritings, different theories about Bella. One, which Hermione was positive was Sirius' handwriting claimed that Bella had always wanted to prove a witch could be a more devastating force than any wizard. Another person had added further down that she was trained by Voldemort to be lethal and cunning, the only known witch in his inner circle at the time.
The next few pages were scattered with information on torturing the Longbottoms into insanity, Hermione winced when she saw the photo of Frank and Alice unconscious on the floor of their home, bleeding, with a tiny Neville crying in the background. A note was written in gold ink on the photo above Neville's head, it read: " ? Possibly tortured or used a memory charm on son, does not remember much about incident".
Hermione flipped the page and it had a Daily Prophet clipping about her trial, a page about her sentence to Azkaban, with a detailed map of where her cell was. Hermione felt a chill just looking at a map of the place. After that another clipping of her escape.
In the dining room, someone dragged a chair across the floor, making Hermione jolt and drop the folder. When she picked it up a photograph fell out and she looked closely, wondering why she didn't notice it before. It was a grainy black and white photo of Bella's cell, in the foreground a Dementor's back. It was facing Bella who was nearly face to face with it, leaning on the bars of her cell. What Hermione thought was strange about the photo was Bella was looking straight at who ever had taken the photograph, as if completely unaware the Dementor was there. Then Bella did something completely unexpected, she actually smirked at photographer. She felt suddenly creepy and put the photo down, as she did so she realized something else in the photo moving. On the bottom right hand corner a tiny time ticker moved, Hermione watched it span over three hours, the Dementor left, a guard walked by, and Bella didn't move, she unrelentlessly stared back straight at Hermione.
Hermione put the folder back in the filing cabinet and shut the drawer. She had enough information for Voldemort for the time being. She pulled the Invisibility Cloak back over her head and peered out through the false wall into the Dining Room. Fred and George were inside, sitting at the table with a pile of their merchandise spread out. She dodged passed them and upstairs. When she was safely back in her bedroom, she took the cloak off and shoved the files she had just found under her mattress.
She sat down for a moment, catching her breath. Spying was an exhilarating experience. After thinking for a moment just how proud Voldemort will be with her, she sprang up and rummaged through her bag retrieving a collection of tiny glass bottles, and a vial containing a chunk of black greasy hair. It was time to get ready to make her appearance at The Order's meeting.
________ ________
Ok, first of all. Review. Secondly, I really hoped you liked it. I wanted to get more into depth with Bella's character. So anyway Chapter 17 will be up shortly. By the way, you can all thank my really great Beta Reader for her wonderful insight.