The classroom slowly filled with students. Many curious looks were casted at the three new ones, while Slughorn eagerly tried to engage them in conversation. Hermione was too much caught up in her own thoughts, to pay close attention to his words.
Apparently the only seats, that weren't taken yet, were two in the front and two in the back.
Slughorn cleared his throat. "Well, welcome to another year of my potion class. As you see, we have a few newcomers here. I expect, you will welcome them as family! I bet, you can´t wait to get to know each other, so let´s mix things up a bit! Mr Potter, Miss Lovegood, besides Mr Greengrass here, please. Miss Granger, you may sit over there, but no worries, you won´t stay without company."
Hermione frowned, what was that supposed to mean? They took a seat. Hermione could see Harry nervously clenching his hands into fists. Luna seemed the only one, who wasn't affected at all. She hummed quietly to herself and Hermione could hear her ask the boy to her left, if he believed, that people with blonde hair were easier affected by Nargles.
The look on his face nearly made her laugh a bit.
Then the door slammed open and a girl with messy dark curls and fair skin entered the classroom. Hermione sat still as a stone, unable to move. Memories shot through her head. A menacing laughter, empty eyes, curses flying off in every direction... this was-
"Miss Black, late as always, Slughorn stated. You better take a seat and in future I would appreciate it, if you were in time."
"Yeah, whatever.", the girl shrugged and went to sit down besides Hermione.
She crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair, "And who exactly are you, new girl?", she asked, turning her head in direction of the frozen witch.
Hermione tried to concentrate on the table, "Hermione Granger."
The other girl crossed her arms and continued her interrogation."So, why are you here?"
"It´s a transfer, my friends and I are doing.", she answered, still not meeting Bellatrix gaze.
The raven haired girl leaned closer, "Sure."
She lifted her eyes, to meet Bellatrix', at least the dark witch wouldn't be able to curse her here in front of the class. "What do you mean?"
Bellatrix smirked "Oh, nothing, we often get "transfer" students here at Hogwarts. The last one was just...oh, can´t remember, must have been before my time here."
Hermione swallowed, as deep, dark eyes burned into her own. "Well, believe it or not, school system's making progress.", she answered as calm as possible.
Bellatrix chuckled quietly,"Well played, Granger. I'm sure, you won´t mind, sharing a book with me? Doesn't look like you've got yours already."
"That would be nice, thank you." She flinched slightly as Bellatrix thumped her book on the desk.
"Page 37.", she said, looking extremely bored. Hermione hesitated before inching closer and opening the book. The girl besides her studied her moves, lazily leaning back in her chair.
"The potion, we will brew today,", Slughorns voice boomed through the classroom, "is a quiet tricky little mixture, called "beverage of the hollow mind" Who can tell me, something about our task today?"
Instinctively Hermione's hand shot up in the air. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"The potion's got it's name because of the fatal effects it can have, when mixed in the wrong way.
The correct ingredients create a potion, that basically helps to calm the person, who drinks it. It's often used to heal insomnia, but also to help people with anxiety. If it isn't done correctly, it can completely wipe out the memories, which leads to a state similar to after the Dementor's kiss."
"Excellent, very well, ten points to Griffindor! Miss Granger, I must say, I'm impressed. Now, you heard you're classmate, better be careful with this specific potion. For today I want you to work in pairs, you will find your ingredients on my desk. Off you go!"
"Now, little Miss know-it-all, sure you can't wait to start. Hush, get our stuff and make old Slughorn proud." Bellatrix smirked, obviously not intending to move.
Sighing Hermione stood up, she saw no point in arguing with that person, most likely it wouldn't be worth the effort. Still, a little part of her wasn't very happy with just giving in. She had a feeling, that Bellatrix was used to getting her will. Well, she wouldn't just back off, no matter if the girl was a future death eater or not! She dropped their supplies on the table and took a seat.
"Well, I got the ingredients, now you can as well start."
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes. "Careful, pet, I'm not in the best mood today."
Hermione lifted an eyebrow. "How very unfortunate for you. Pity, I'm not afraid of you." She didn't quiet know, where she got that sudden courage from, but the young Bellatrix was clearly getting on her already tensed nerves.
Bellatrix voice was calm, as she lifted her wand to fill the kettle with water, but the glare, she gave Hermione would have made a dragon shiver. "Listen, Granger. You may be new here and obviously you got no idea, who I am, but that won't keep me from cursing you into oblivion."She smiled.
Hermione clenched her jaw. "Oh, I know perfectly well, who you are.", she said, cutting some hush poppies and adding them to the beverage, "Bellatrix of the most ancient and noble house of black."
The girl raised her chin. "Well, seems you're not that oblivious then. I assume, you know, that the Blacks are not people to cross." She went on, whispering some charm and describing a circle with her wand over the now bubbling potion.
Hermione snorted, annoyed by the comment-the size of Bellatrix' self esteem could be easily compared to the size of the lake on the school grounds.
"If you want to see it that way.", she said, slamming the knife, with which she cut the roots of a sleeping flower, down, maybe a bit harder than necessary.
"And what", Bellatrix asked slowly, "is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, as far as I know, your family believes themselves to deserve special treatment, simply because of blood purity." She could see Bellatrix' eyes darken, but at the moment she couldn't care less. She was trapped in the past, a war about to start, she had to play nice with people, who would later try to kill her-her patience was gone. "Maybe, if someone of this oh so noble house would have actually achieved something other, than make respectable pureblood marriages, you wouldn't have to rely on your heritage that much!"
Bellatrix slammed her calf down on the table, not bothering to lower her voice-by now half of the class was watching their argument, rather than focussing on their mixtures.
"Shut your filthy little mouth you stupid bitch! You will regret this for the rest of your pathetic life."She rose to her feet, sending her chair to the ground.
Hermione stood up as well, facing the witch, who was panting with anger.
"Oh, will I? Then why don't you come around the bush and try! Or does it irritate you, maybe scare you, that for once someone is standing up to you?"
Before they could do anything further, Slughorn interjected. "Ladies, please. I'm afraid, I'll have to give you two detention, if you don't stop this at an instant!"
Bellatrix seemed to consider the option for a moment, then she relaxed her features to a smile.
"Sorry, Professor, we were just discussing the last Quidditch championship-it seems, our argument got a bit heated."
Slughorn gave them a short disapproving look, while they continued with their work. As Bellatrix added some Unicorn hair to the mixture she leaned close to Hermione, so that she could feel her breath ghosting over her skin. "This isn't over."
Hermione shivered. The rest of the lesson was spent in silence, taking turns with adding ingredients.
At the end of the class, which seemed to drag on endlessly, their potion was the only one to have the light blue colour, it should have by then. Earning them ten points each and a smile from Slughorn.
Then finally it was over and they stood up, gathering their things.
As Bellatrix left, she shoved past Hermione and sent her a last smirk. "Pleasure to work with you, Granger. Pity, I'll have to destroy your fucking bloodline." With that she turned on her heels and left the classroom. Hermione waited for Harry and Luna to approach her, then they exited the room and waited until they were alone.
"What the hell, Hermione? How did she manage to piss you off that hard?", Harry asked.
Hermione shook her head. "I don't really know. It's just this whole situation...and then she started with that arrogant Pureblood attitude. Which is hilarious, I mean they're in no way different than other wizards or witches and-"
"I know 'Mione, but you can't let her get to you that much. After all we're supposed to keep our heads down and believe me, by know half of the school will already be informed."
Hermione shot him a worried glance. "Oh, don't be ridiculous! Who would be even interested in that story. I just...well, it seemed, like she always gets to do what she likes, without anyone standing up to her and her self esteem...like she could do nothing wrong! You've seen her in that department- it was just too much."
Luna nodded. "We understand that, still people will want to here about your argument. Like you said-nothing they've seen before."
Hermione stared at Luna, rubbing her forehead-she could already feel an headache forming. "Guess you're right. Oh god-", she groaned, "she'll want to kill me!"
Harry opened his mouth, but Luna was faster. "You still did the right thing."
They looked at the blonde witch questioning. "Well, you showed people, that even Bellatrix Black is human, it will give some people hope. Besides, she herself may have learned something too."
"Kill the new ones, before they start talking?", Harry asked doubtfully.
"She might try and kill Hermione, but I think you somewhat impressed her." Luna gave her a reassuring smile.
"Great, so I will die, but my killer is quiet impressed with me."
They fell silent, then Harry was the first one to laugh. "Welcome to the club, 'Mione. Now we both have a maniac, who sees us as their enemy, you should maybe find one too, Luna, just so that we're all in equal danger."
It was good to laugh, somehow it didn't happen very often in the last time. Still smiling they went to have lunch in the great hall.
When they entered the hall, it seemed like there were even more eyes on them than usual, whispering following them on their way. Hermione furrowed her brows, as they went to sit at the end of the table.
"Is it true?" When they turned around they were faced with Molly and a few other girls, her friends maybe.
"What?", she asked, suspecting no good.
"That you challenged Black!", another girl yelled excitedly.
Hermione smiled, though she didn't really feel like it. "Oh, you must have gotten something wrong-it's not like I challenged her or something. I just don't agree with some of her opinions, which led to bit of a heated discussion."
The girls in front of her exchanged looks.
"Well, it's Bellatrix Black, we're talking about. There's not really a difference.", Molly stated. "You really must have guts, Hermione - I wouldn't want to be the one to face the rage of a Black." Shrugging she turned around. "However, good luck!" And with that she and her friends went to sit with the other Griffindors.
"Told ya so, 'Mione.", Harry said, putting food on his plate. She sighed. She wasn't particularly afraid though. If you looked at it logically, Bellatrix wouldn't be that much of a threat, as her older version. She hadn't finished school, which meant, she most likely hadn't already studied dark magic-didn't they say, she had learnt the dark arts from Voldemort himself?
On the under hand Hermione didn't overestimate her chances. The witch was without any question skilled in magic. She recalled reading in an expansion of ' Hogwarts, a History', that her scores were the highest of at least the last century and she also witnessed the raw power, the witch possessed in the department of mysteries. If it was somehow evadable for her to face Bellatrix, she would definitely take that opportunity.
The rest of the day, first charms and then herbology went by without any incidents. It was somewhat calming, that those classes were even at that point taught by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout, although they of course didn't recognize them.
When their last class ended they decided not to return to the castle immediately, but to take a walk and get some fresh air first. They slowly made their way over the school grounds towards the big lake, where they had passed so many hours, sitting in the grass and enjoying the sun. The weather was still quiet warm, the summer still holding on to September, but you could already feel the cold winds of the nearing autumn. They sat down at the lake, Harry throwing some stones into the water and Luna trying to talk to the giant squid.
After a while Harry broke the silence. "Hermione, when we used the time turner in our third year, it meant, we had to relive the hours, we travelled back, does that mean,",he gulped, "does that mean we have to stay here for years, until we catch up with our time? We would be adults by then!"
Hermione just shook her head, she'd had the same thought.
"We can only hope, that Dumbledore finds a way, I don't really think, that we can do anything. As far as I know the library doesn't have any books, concerning such powerful magic. Besides, I never heard of anyone travelling that far."
Luna looked up smiling. "You see, Hermione, just because there's no records doesn't mean, something doesn't exist. Some people for example still don't believe in Wrackspurts, but that's only what they want you to think."
Hermione gave her a irritated look. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't think, the ministry's telling us everything. We've all seen it in the department of mysteries."
Hermione exchanged a look with Harry. Luna had a surprising talent to speak the truth, if you ignored the thing with the Nargles ect.
"So, let's assume you are right. We are the living proof, that one can travel back in time way further than assumed, but the ministry's keeping that information from us. It all makes sense now! This hilariously well protected department...all those things the ministry doesn't want people to know about."
"But why?", Harry interjected, "They would sure want everyone to know, what great achievements they've made, right?"
Hermione shook her head. "I doubt that. Something that gives you the possibility to travel that far would mean a great power to whoever owns it. They wouldn't risk, someone trying to steal it to use it for his own advantage. Just imagine, what damage could be done!"
Harry's eyes went wide. "Shit, 'Mione! Didn't think of that. I don't wanna imagine, what happened if Voldemort got his hands on such an item."
Hermione shivered. Better not even think about that possibility.
"I think I know what caused the time travelling."
Harry furrowed his brows. "We all do-the time turners on the wall were broken by Lestrange."
"Yes, but another thing was broken.. You remember the grandfather clock? I was thinking, that maybe..."
"You think that one caused us to skip that many years? "
"It is a possible explanation. And the few months we also skipped, could be because of the regular time turners."
They fell silent again. Nobody really knew, what to say-they now had an explanation for what happened, but were still far from finding a solution.
They were interrupted by a tentacle breaking the smooth surface of the lake and playfully splashing some water at them. Luna had actually managed to gain the squids attention. She now pulled some toast out of her pocket and offered it to the tentacle. They watched as it took the food and sank back into the water, waving them goodbye.
After they returned to the common room, Harry had announced, he would be taking a shower and Luna murmured something about talking to an old friend.
Hermione decided to maybe skip dinner and go to the library instead. She didn't feel hungry anyway. It was also a good way to avoid company.
She slowly made her way towards her goal, repeating what had happened so far in her head. It was her first day and she already managed to get much more attention than necessary.
It wouldn't help to make their story more believable. People would get suspicious, well, actually she worried about one person in particular... She frowned, being angry with herself. Where did she leave her courage? The young Bellatrix wasn't yet a murderer, she wasn't the hollow eyed maniac,they knew.
For the time, they had to spend here, it would be impossible to keep away from the future death eaters, they would have to face them. Hermione shook her head in order to clear her mind. She was a Griffindor and she wouldn't back off. If there was any chance, that within Bellatrix Black there was still some sanity, some humanity left, it would be worth a try.
When she entered the library, she stopped. She hadn't really thought about what she wanted to read. It would probably be a good idea to do some research on time travel, but honestly she just wanted a little break from everything.
She strolled past a few shelves, reading some of the titles without searching for something specific.
One gained her attention: Basic spells for every duel. They had learnt a lot with the DA, but still she had felt so helpless, when it came to facing the death eaters, this could be a quiet good idea and would help her to focus on something else. Maybe she could use the time they had to pass here and actually learn something useful.
Determined she put the book under her arm and continued to stroll along the files, picking up another two books before she went to find the librarian. While she was waiting for the paperwork to be done she left her gaze wander over the books surrounding her, freezing, when she locked eyes with a certain raven haired witch, leaning against one of the shelves.
Bellatrix. How did she manage to get there without catching Hermione's attention? She seriously had to work on that- how could she be safe, when anyone had such an easy job, sneaking up on her.
The other girl tapped her wand to her head in a mock salute and approached the librarians table. With a loud thump she dropped a book next to Hermione's pile. She was getting a feeling, that the dark witch really had a thing for dramatic appearances.
The librarian finished registering her books and warned her to handle them carefully. She nodded and wanted to pick them up, when she felt a hand, gripping her wrist.
"One second, Granger. We're gonna have a little chitchat. Girl to girl.", Bellatrix chuckled.
Hermione shrugged, despite her feelings and answered as calm as possible. "Of course. In the meantime would you be so kind and let go of me? I'd like to put those books inside my bag."
Bellatrix shot her a calculating glare and dropped her wrist. They waited in silence.
Finally Bellatrix grabbed her book and turned to leave. Hesitating Hermione kept up with her pace.
"So, you wanted to talk?", she asked, unable to bare the silence any longer.
Bellatrix observed her with heavy lidded eyes and gave a curt nod. "Yes, indeed."
When they reached the exit of the library she turned to face Hermione. "Ok, listen. There are two ways how this is gonna go."
Hermione looked at her in slight irritation, lifting one eyebrow.
Bellatrix returned the look completely serious. "Whether you face me in a duel or I'm gonna have fun with you otherwise."
"Why on earth should we have a duel?"
Bellatrix clenched her jaw. "You really don't see it, do you? Blacks aren't people to forgive, nor forget an insult. I warned you, but you wouldn't listen, so face the consequences."
Hermione stared at her in disbelieve. "You want me to fight against you? Seriously?"
The other girl sighed annoyed. "Yes. What is it, that's so hard to understand?"
"Well I don't really see the point in duelling, when there are other ways to solve a conflict."
Bellatrix blinked at her.
"I'm serious: Most conflicts are based on misunderstandings, so it is a good way just to talk in order to-"
She was interrupted by Bellatrix' booming laughter. The witch held her stomach and tried to regain her composure, failing miserably.
"You, you want us to sit down, maybe with a nice cup of tea and...talk? You're too funny, Granger."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to solve my conflicts rather with words than with violence."
"So, you are a coward. Should have known. What else can you expect from someone like you?"
"Someone like me?"
"Yes. You're name is none of a pure-blood family, I know."
Hermione groaned in frustration. "You are unbelievable! Just tell me: what is an actual difference between pure-blood and muggle-born witches and wizards?"
"Your magic and character is weaker than ours. You weaken the magical blood and therefore slowly ruin our society."
Hermione looked at her mouth agape. "You can't be serious! There is absolutely no proof for that theory! How can anyone be that biased to think, that even your character depends on blood-purity, this is simply ridiculous!"
Bellatrix glared at her. "Oh really, why don't you come and show me then? Why not have a duel, so you can prove me wrong?"
"Because I don't need to prove anything! Not to you, not to my friends and not to anyone else."
"So this is a no then?"
"Exactly."
Bellatrix smirked, but there was no joy in her eyes. "Well then, my dear mudblood - what, you obviously don't care, what people think of you- prepare to suffer. I'm gonna get my revenge, this way or another."
She approached her friends, who were seated a bit apart from the others at the end of the Griffindor table. Just as she reached the table, the plates refilled with several desserts.
"Hermione!", Harry called out, "Where have you been? We were just about to search-"
"Calm down,", she interrupted him softly, "I was just staying at the library for a bit."
Well, that and having a little talk with some younger version of Voldemorts most faithful, but she didn't see the point in confirming her friends' worries.
"Well, my Daddy told me, that the Nargles like to hide between the pages of ancient books sometimes, they like to feel the magic, flowing through the letters, you know? Maybe it was their call, that led you there.."
Hermione smiled at Luna´s words-some things never changed.
Even Harry smiled a bit. After a while of them eating quietly, each one caught up in their own thoughts, Hermione broke the silence. "It looks like we'll have to stay here for a while.", she gulped, "So I was wondering, how we shall deal with our fellow students. It is clear, that we will meet some of them in our later-or actually previous - lifes and they will most likely remember us too. Which means, that every action can have a big affect on the upcoming events. What do you suggest?"
Luna looked brooding into the bowl of pudding, sitting in front of her; Harry answered after a moment: "It should be best to keep away from everybody, as far as possible. We don't want to cause too much attention, nor rise any suspicions. We'll have to try and keep our heads down, until we find a solution for our problem."
Hermione wasn't really content with that, "We should also consider the changes, that could be made, changes for the better."
Harry looked at her in slight disbelief "Are you proposing to...convert the death eaters?"
"Basically, yes. People aren't born evil, those students aren't criminals."
Harry slowly shook his head "I don't know, Hermione, haven't you, yourself told me, that one mustn't change the past?"
The two had nearly forgotten, that Luna was with them, when she declared in her dreamy voice: "I don't think, it was coincidence, that we came here."
Surprised they turned to look at her; she smiled. "Nothing happens without a reason."
