This is new and there will be mistakes all through it. Apologies.
Reviews welcome and I don't Own anything!
This was not the first time this had happened since the war had ended. Hermione suspected that it was because her mind had time to settle now and less to distract her. Now the throbbing in her cursed scar continuously bought her back to Malfoy Manor. It seemed both figurative and literal as once again, defying the laws of magic and logic combined. It all started with the dreams. Or perhaps fractured memories.
They all started the same. Those dark wild and fearful eyes blended with hope and elation and utter devastation at the same time. Insane. Pure insanity. Or so everyone thought. But the more often she ended up here on this floor, the more often she dreamed of this event the more she was beginning to wonder. Was it insanity or was it fear that drove the dark witch to do the things she did?
"The same?" The voice was gentle, off to Hermione's left and she slowly turned her head to meet those haunting… haunted blue eyes.
"The same…" Hermione trailed off and closed her eyes for a moment.
"But different." The younger witch offered as she sat up.
She was covered in a fine layer of sweat as she always was and Narcissa was standing off to the side with two cups of steaming tea hovering not far from her left shoulder. Hermione stood on shaky legs and shivered slightly. It wasn't ever particularly warm in this house let alone this room. Narcissa cast a hot air charm around the young witch as she approached and plucked one of the cups from the air.
"Different how?" Narcissa asks curiously as the two made their way to the sitting room down the hall. Hermione settled into a stuffed chair before recounting this dream.
It starts the same every time. She's already on the floor when it does. Bellatrix is straddling her hips, pinning her down and screaming at her. Asking where they'd gotten the sword, how and if they had been in the vault. Narcissa had been there but she seemed far away as if she could block it out.
That was when it changed from the normal. Bellatrix leaned down and when she normally would growl out insults to try and shame the tortured girl this time she didn't. This time it was Bellatrix that begged.
"Please… save me. You have to save me. Only you."
In the dream Hermione had shifted, turning her head to look at Bellatrix, meeting those eyes and seeing fear and torment mirrored back at her. Pleading for rescue from what Hermione had no idea. Then it shifted again and the insanity seemed to seep back in that was when she started carving Hermione's arm again and the smaller witch woke up in the Manor.
"So this time she was asking for help?" Narcissa frowns that didn't sound like the sister she knew. Not the one that Bellatrix had become.
"It's strange, Narcissa. It feels more like a memory I blocked than a simple shift to the dream. Even now I remember this as if it happened." Hermione admits softly her scar throbbing enough that she idly rubbed at it.
"But help from what? Bellatrix chose that life. She was his right hand." Narcissa sounded bitter and Hermione didn't blame her.
In the weeks that this had been happening the two had become, strangely, friends. Narcissa at first had been somewhat hostile to fine Hermione screaming on her drawing room floor. She'd kicked Hermione out immediately. After the third time though they started talking. Mostly about Hermione's dreams to start with but the longer they sat the more they spoke.
Narcissa's marriage had been arranged but love had grown between her and Lucius after the first time Voldemort had fallen. Stress and fear had apparently lifted from Lucius' shoulders and he'd become happier and more approachable than he had been. He'd been a good father to Draco for the first few years but then the whispers had started in their circle again and paranoia set in.
"I don't know. She was just begging for help. Said I was the only one that could help her." Hermione frowns softly and pinches the bridge of her nose. The silence then lingered a little only to be broken by another clearing throat.
"I've made up the room beside yours mother, she may as well spend the night instead of going back to the Burrow and waking Mrs Weasley again." Draco spoke up from the doorway when both witches looked at him.
Draco had changed perhaps the most drastically of anyone. He was plagued with regret, that much was for sure. He hated what he had become and had told Hermione so just the week before. He loathed that he bought into all that pure-blood hype and tormented people he had once assumed were less than him only to realise he wouldn't be here without these people. Hermione being one of them. He regretted the role he played in Dumbledore's death despite that having been by Albus' design.
"Thank you, dear." Narcissa smiled gently.
Narcissa may have been one of the bigger enigmas. She had never bought into the pureblood hype much like Andromeda hadn't. The circumstances were different though. Narcissa actually liked her intended so the arranged marriage she had been pushed into hadn't been a problem for her. Yet she played her role adequately and she had done all of it for the sake of her son.
"Goodnight." Draco offered before heading back upstairs to bed.
"I'm sorry this keeps happening Narcissa. I don't know how. I shouldn't be able to get through your wards let alone out of the Burrows." Hermione sighed softly, this all frustrated her so much.
"Don't stress yourself dear. I know I wasn't kind the first week but you're welcome here and combating the being woken in the middle of the night simply means going to bed a little earlier. Which is not something I mind at all." Narcissa smiles gently at the young witch.
"Thank you." Hermione smiles softly and puts down her now empty cup.
"Come, I'll show you to the room." Narcissa rose and with a flourish of her wand she sent the empty cups to the kitchen.
It wasn't until after the sun had risen and Hermione had returned to the Burrow that she had really noticed anything different. Of course her friends and the rest of the Weasleys were now very aware of Hermione's night time travels. They had tried different wards and such in an effort to combat it but it hadn't helped. Somehow in her sleep Hermione always ended up on the drawing room floor of Malfoy Manor.
This morning she was offered apologetic and sympathetic looks from the heads of the Weasley family. She had just smiled gently, explained that Narcissa and Draco had given her breakfast at the Manor before she had returned here. Molly ushered her upstairs where Hermione gathered some clothes and headed for the bathroom for a shower.
That was when she noticed the difference. Her scar, while still cursed and and throbbing, was completely different. No longer did it say mudblood anymore but instead it said more. Now it read 'look behind Walburga'. Hermione stood and stared hard at the scar trying to adjust her eyes or focus or something in the hopes that it would be her imagination.
She quickly finished her shower and dressed before heading back downstairs. Fleur and Bill had been there for the last week helping with the new wards and simply spending time with the family that was mourning the loss of one of their children. She looked at everyone sat there for a moment having their breakfast before looking to Fleur.
"Fleur. May i speak to you for a moment?" Hermione asks gently and Fleur smiled gently and nodded standing.
They moved back into the den and sat side by side on the lumpy old sofa before Hermione rolled up her sleeve and simply showed the scar to Fleur who tilted her head before her eyes widened in surprise.
That was really all the confirmation that Hermione needed. This wasn't normal. The dreams and the apparating through strong wards in her sleep. None of this was normal.
"Ermione… zis is not normal. Not even for a cursed scar." Fleur spoke with clear concern in her voice.
"I know. But I have to do something. These dreams. She's leading me to something." Hermione sighs softly.
"You should ignore it. She was insane. She tortured you." Fleur gently placed a hand on Hermione's knee and squeezed, her expression was imploring.
"I know." But she didn't. Hermione was having serious doubt about Bellatrix Lestrange's sanity now. This was calculated.
"You're not going to zough are you? Please, be careful." Fleur seemed highly concerned but Hermione smiles gently at her.
"Careful's my middle name." Hermione half shrugs trying for levity.
"Actually zink it is Danger." Fleur huffs but the small smile and look of understanding was enough to take any sting from the comment.
Harry and Ron had been spending quite a bit more time with the Ministry lately. Since the funerals were done and over and the Ministry was finally getting back in Order. Harry and Ron had signed up to help with identifying the few Death Eaters that had escaped and the pending trials. A lot had already been processed such as Lucius who was sentenced to 3 years in Azkaban and a further 8 years of house arrest with a trace being put back on him. That was the reward for his defection or his crimes would have had him in prison until his final breath.
On top of helping out to keep busy they had actually been offered an express course to get them through Auror training. They jumped at the chance and signed up immediately, their training set to start in a few weeks. It was because of this though that Hermione was able to go to Grimmauld without judgement. Fleur having agreed to keep the change of her scar to herself for now.
Though Harry very much intended to clean Grimmauld out properly and live there himself soon they hadn't actually been back there since the end of the war. It was dark and musty and the interior actually had a tremor run through her body but Hermione made a cautious entrance and headed upstairs unerringly.
On the landing, covered in a heavy drape and blissfully silent was the portrait she was looking for. They had in the past attempted to get it off the wall. To remove it and possibly even destroy it. All to no avail. The sticking charm that had been used to place the portrait was indeed a tricky one to abolish.
Tentatively Hermione reached out with a slightly shaking hand and pulled the drape from the portrait. She tensed and squeezed her eyes shut in preparation of the screaming of slurs to come. It was a half minute before Hermione realised there was no screaming of slurs though and cautiously she opened her eyes to see the painting of Walburga Black looking at her curiously.
"Is he dead?" The regal woman asks after a moment and Hermione nodded.
"Speak his name." Walburga urged.
"Voledmort?" Hermione tries immediately but nothing happened. Walburger continued to stare expectantly.
"The Dark Lord?" Hermione tried again as this seemed a title that would be used within this family. Still nothing.
"Tom Riddle?" This was the one she last expected to have a reaction but no sooner had she said it did the portrait simply drop off the wall banging to the floor.
Behind the portrait in the wall was a tidy small cavity and within that cavity was a small piece of parchment and most surprisingly was a time turner. Something Hermione had thought to have been destroyed during the fall of the Ministry. With still shaking hands she reached out picking up both items.
You have no reason to trust me, but I dearly need your help. Please. Though I don't deserve it. Won't you meet me in time?
Yours,
Bella
The way it was signed confused and surprised Hermione. Yours? Then surely this was supposed to go to someone else. Hermione was the last person Bellatrix would ever offer that kind of farewell too. Even politely at the bottom of a note it would be anything but claiming to belong in any kind of way to a mudblood.
"It most definitely is for you, Miss Granger. My dear niece needs you." The voice fluttered up from the portrait as though the woman in the picture could read her mind.
"But I'm a mudblood. You must be confused." Hermione shakes her head but the portrait scoffs.
"While that might bother some of us, blood status has not ever mattered to that headstrong woman." Walburga seemed almost disappointed.
Hermione stared for a moment and swallowed. She had no idea how she was meant to meet Bellatrix anywhere even if she wanted to. But even still she pocketed the time turner and the note and grabbed the portrait and placed it back on the wall.
"Be a dear and cover me back up will you. It's much easier to sleep in the dark." Walburga requested before Hermione did just that and then left the house.
"13 and a half turns backwards. Please please meet me." Bellatrix begged in that fearful and desperate tone before it again morphed back into insanity and and began carving Hermione's arm again.
"You know if this is just going to keep happening maybe you should just move in here." Was the first thing Hermione heard as she woke in a cold sweat.
"Ugh. I'm so sorry." Hermione rubbed her face lightly and groaned.
"I know you can't help it but sincerely Hermione. Move in. It's got to be less dangerous." Narcissa offers seriously.
"I'll… I'll talk to Molly. Thank you, Cissy." Hermione spoke gently as she picked herself up off the floor.
"Of course. How are you holding up? You look like you're not sleeping more than a few hours a night." Narcissa asks as the two made their way to the sitting room.
"I'm not. But … it was different again. The dreams are changing and so is my scar." Hermione explains rolling up her sleeve as she sat on the armchair.
"Is that the first time?" Narcissa looked at the seemingly random number sequences on Hermione's arm.
"No. Second. Yesterday it told me to look behind Walburgas portrait. I found a time turner and a note." Hermione admits, Narcissa was the first person she had told about it. Even Fleur had asked and been lied too.
"She's giving you clues and you're just following them? That seems dangerous." Narcissa looked immediately concerned.
"Yes I know but… I have too." Hermione shifted somewhat uncomfortably.
"Have too? Hermione the last thing anyone should do is follow directions from my psychotic sister. She tortured you." Narcissa huffs annoyed.
"I know that! But she begs for help! She needs help!" Hermione bites back a little annoyed.
"She's dead! You can't help her now!" Narcissa scowls.
"Then there's no harm in following these clues is there." It wasn't really a question and it was followed by silence.
"Just… be careful. I've grown fond of you, Hermione. I'd hate to see something bad happen to you as a result of this." Narcissa pleads gently and Hermione nods.
"I'll be careful." She promised softly and picks up her tea.
"What is it anyway?" Narcissa asked gesturing Hermione's arm.
"It looks like longitude and latitude. Coordinates." Hermione admits after a moment. She'd have to find a map she suspected.
"Odd. Seems more of a muggle thing I didn't expect her to be aware of." Narcissa admits after a moment.
"She may have been insane but she was also brilliant." Hermione reminds with a sort of grudging respect. Bellatrix didn't become the only female in his inner circle for her looks.
"You're right." Narcissa nods slightly as the two laps into silence. This time when the tea was done both women retired to their rooms.
56.921698,-3.927860
It had taken Hermione almost half the day to figure out just where the coordinates would take her and when she did it didn't make her feel better. The pin dropped river side in the Cairngorms National Park in Scottland and not to far from Pitlochry. The fact it was in the middle of no where didn't suit her too well but she had gone decided she was a highly capable witch and would at least check it out.
The next half of the day had been spent getting a few supplies. Leaving both Narcissa and the Weasleys a note regarding her needing a little time away from everyone. In Narcissa's case she admitted to following the coordinates and where too. Once she was ready she apparated as close as she could get and then set off on foot. Having only really passed through the area in the past though she was unable to apparate directly there. She didn't know what to picture and didn't want to hurt herself.
It was getting just on nightfall when she finally did make it though. She trudged along the river until she found a clearing up ahead and in that clearing was a small cabin. Hesitating for only a moment the wit had pressed forward. Cautiously she entered the cabin only for it to appear completely normal. On the table however was a small piece of parchment.
At 8pm 13 and a half turns back. Please.
Yours,
Bella
And so she waited in the single seat there in the cabin with the time turner already around her neck. She had a small few crackers and some cheese she had bought with her and a drink of water. No sooner did it hit 8pm did she turned the time back 13 and a half spins.
When she felt herself moving back through time it was just like she remembered from her third year. Except she never once remembered running into something solid along the stream and being pulled out of it. Landing back on her feet in complete darkness as things beside her seemed to move along the stream of time in clear view.
There was a sound beside her and then arms around her and Hermione startled almost violently when she realised it was a very alive Bellatrix Lestrange hugging her almost desperately.
"What in the world?" Hermione tried to pull back and Bellatrix let her.
"Oh Hermione. Thank God." Bellatrix breathed relieved.
Hermione was stiff and it took Bellatrix a moment to realise that before she pulled back. When she did she looked a mix of relieved and disappointed. Mostly relieved though. What startled Hermione the most was when the decidedly sane looking Bellatrix lifted the sleeve of Hermione jumper to reveal blemish free skin. Hermione hadn't even noticed the throbbing had stopped.
"I'm sure you're really confused, little one. But thank you so much for coming." Bellatrix actually smiled and it was so abnormal to see and so surprising that Hermione could do nothing but blink owlishly.
"What happened to my arm?" Hermione asks after finally finding her voice.
"You came here. That changed the timeline. In your current timeline I tortured you and was killed by Molly. In my timeline things aren't that grave. Close. But not quite." Bellatrix explains seriously.
"I'm not following. Your time line and mine should be the same." Hermione frowns deeply.
"Oh?" Bellatrix quirked an eyebrow.
"What do you know of it?" The older witch asks curiously.
"Well… theory mostly. But their should only be one timeline forward or back but no branches. Branches are a sign of temporal disruption and it's theorised they've lead to cataclysms in the past. Times natural repairing mechanism." Hermione frowned, she'd done a lot of research when she had first been given a time turner.
"You're right. So we are outside the time stream at the moment. It's called the Slate. But the cataclysm is cause by a creature not just the fraying of the timelines. And it is frayed right now. There are two timeliness running parallel to each other at the moment and the Old One isn't impressed with it." Bellatrix actually ran an agitated hand through her hair.
"The Old One… wait. Do you mean like… a dragon? Before I learned of the wizarding world I read stories of ancient dragons. Myths about Time Wardens, dragons who could see both ways along the threads of time." Hermione's eyes lit up with interest and it made Bellatrix smile.
"Indeed. An ancient Queen with no known origin watches the time stream and monitors when branches occur. The branch we are experiencing now happened around 19 years ago when I met a muggle man and woman with a new born baby." Bellatrix explains softly looking at the wheels turning behind curious brown eyes.
"Do you mean… my parents?" Hermione asks softly suddenly worried.
"I do. You were an adorable child. Now you're very much a beautiful young woman. Thankfully this is the case in both branches. But when I met your parents they asked me a question. That was when the split happened." Bellatrix rubs the back of her neck.
"What question?" Hermione swallowed.
"They asked if I wanted to hold you. Then the branching happened. In my timeline I said yes. It was so profound. You were the first baby I had ever held. Holding you changed so much even though in my timeline I didn't see you again until well into your teens. In your timeline I said no and maybe verbally abused them and called them filth before stomping off. Not because I wanted too. But because I was afraid. Fear drives me to do some pretty shit things in your timeline." Bellatrix waved her hand and suddenly there in the blackness they were standing in appeared two armchairs. Hermione sat after Bellatrix did.
"Why did holding me as a baby change so much?" Hermione asks after a moment.
"You were always extra good at asking the hard questions. I'm not sure you're ready for that answer though. Ask me something else." Bellatrix urged instead.
"Why do you need me? I thought at first it was just coincidence that these clues ended up with me but they were specific to me." Hermione frowns a little.
"Yes. While the branches run parallel to each other they aren't entirely separate. I was able to get here using a time turner, the one left for you, and then jumping the stream. I broke my leg the first time I got here. The Old One healed me. But I was able to see the differences, to observe things that happened in your timeline. I saw my death and the consequences of my actions. The way I tortured you. I admit Azkaban wasn't as kind to me in your timeline as it was in mine. I'd made different choices after holding you as a baby." Bellatrix admits gently.
"I don't understand why I mattered so much." Hermione was frowning, she'd barely stopped since getting here.
"I know. You have no real reason to believe me and I think some of this is better left until later to explain but you are literally the only one I could have asked for help. No one else could do what you can." Bellatrix shifted in her seat.
"What can I do?" The younger witch was frowning.
"You can get into the Slate. Which means you can manipulate time." Bellatrix explains seriously.
"I only got here because I collided with you." Hermione argued lightly.
"We are from different timelines. You got here because you could reach the edge of the stream and managed to get flung out. Normal time travellers can't do that. There is no edge for them. You are not just a muggleborn. You're a dragonborn." Bellatrix explains after a moment.
"A dragonborn? What are you talking about?" Hermione was frowning again and at risk of wrinkles.
"It's not what you might think. There is so little history of the time turners. No one actually knows who created the first one or where the sands came from. It's why their destruction was so devastating. But I know who can explain this better. I know this is hard… but can you trust me?" Bellatrix spoke softly, imploringly.
Hermione didn't know. Could she? This clearly wasn't the same woman that had attacked her. Not the Bellatrix that had tortured her on the Manor floor and demanded to know where the sword had come from. This woman was so completely different that it was startling. She genuinely felt that she could trust this Bella which confused her because her own had been batshit.
"I can." No sooner had she spoken the words did she find herself standing beside Bellatrix, their hands clasped as everything shifted around them.
When it became still again Hermione was confused. Behind them was the stream she could see clearly both branches of it and the blackness of the Slate but before them was a massive scaley expanse so large there was no end to it. Slowly, directly in from of them, eyelids parted and a massive emerald eye with a slitted pupil opened to regard them. A massive rumbling vibrated through both women as the expanse before them shifted.
Two halves before me. You found my dragonborn. Yet you are still not whole. The voice rippled through both witches minds and Hermione almost stumbled forward feeling like she was falling into the large eye before them.
"Not yet. Hermione doesn't understand her purpose." Bellatrix hadn't let go of Hermione's hand nor had Hermione realised her grip had tightened on Bella's hand.
You are my dragonborn, the last of your line. I see the sands of time in your eyes, shimmering there in your iris. The mark on your hip is my mark. The brand of the Dragonborn. You however are the first witchborn dragon. So much potential in you and you have yet to unlock any of it. Limited by your human form…" The voice trailed off and the creature shifted again.
"I don't understand. What does dragonborn mean?" Hermione was increasingly confused. The creature shifted again and then something strange happened.
The massive leviathan seemed to then start to condense down growing smaller and misshapen before it started to take a different shape. Slowly the massive dragon became a tall slender woman with sand blonde hair and vibrant bright emerald eyes. She was wrapped in a simple silk toga her eye expression was curious and kind.
"Show me the mark, little one." The dragons voice was a little rough but confusingly smooth as well. Hermione's hand went over her left hip automatically.
"Show her." Bellatrix urged gently.
Hermione wasn't sure why but Bellatrix' gentle urging had her lifting her shirt a little and pushing down the band of her jeans to reveal a rather obscure mark on her right hip. She didn't know what to expect but seeing the human-dragon bend down and place a kiss over the mark. She cried out as a sudden burning sensation tore through her skin leaving her just as quickly as it came. Looking down Hermione's obscure birthmark was now a very clear silhouette of a rampant dragon with wings unfurled.
When Hermione looked back up from the mark it was to see the Old One move closer to her. Hermione braced herself but she hadn't expected soft lips to then press to her forehead. Her grip on Bellatrix' hand tightened again and then she was gone. Now Hermione seemed to be standing in a circular chamber and all around her was screen playing something.
"Focus, Little One. This is your ultimate beginning." Was whispered in her mind as she now stood alone.
The image was of vast blackness and a dragon, the Old One. But she was much smaller here. Still massively large but not so much that Hermione couldn't see her end. The dragon was curled around an egg and as she watched the egg began to hatch.
Slowly out came a small wet dragon, wings stuck and tucked along its back and a long tail that tapered off at the end. When it blinked open its eyes and chirped up at the Queen whom had hatched it Hermione could see its eyes where bright yellow.
The Old One reared it's offspring for a long while. Years and years as it grew slowly sustained by the magic of the Slate were they lived. It was taught everything it needed to know about the timeline, a male dragon he was. But finally it became something of a bore for him. Expressing this to the Old One she shed a scale and crushed it producing the first sands of time and the first time turner. The very same one Hermione now had hanging around her neck.
With the time turner and the magic of the Slate around them the drake was turned into a striking young man before he entered the stream and joined the human world. He would work inside of reality to correct temporal disruptions and then went on to find the love of a human girl where they were able to fall pregnant and produce children of their own. All of them and every descendant of the drakes bore the dragon queens mark even if it began to blur over time. While the drakes mark was sharp and clear the more knowledge lost down the line the more blurred it became.
Finally it showed Hermione, much to her embarrassment, her conception where she discovered her father to bare the same smudged mark and then her birth. The mark on her tiny little hip so much similar to the mark on her father's hip. But time didn't stop there. It moved forward a few months. To a sunny warm day where her parents were on the street looking up at the home they'd just bought together. And on the street came one young and confused looking Bellatrix Lestrange.
"Hello dear. Are you alright?" Emma Granger was holding her baby in her arms as she regarded Bellatrix who looked almost lost.
"I'm fine." Bellatrix was frowning and seemed surprised to even be asked of her well-being. The witch couldn't help but look at the baby, or what she could see of it.
"Would you like a hold?" Frank asked the stranger and though Hermione thought it odd that they would offer over their child to a stranger Hermione couldn't help but be pleased with their obvious compassion. Bellatrix looked distressed.
This is where things shifted though and suddenly the images seemed to overlap. There because two versions of all four of them. One Bellatrix offered scathing words and stormed off without a backwards glance. Her parents turned to watch her leave commenting that they hoped the woman could find her way. It was clear they did not mean directions.
At the same time however Bellatrix had smiled a little unsure and nodded at the Grangers before gently and a little uncertainly taking the small witch in her arms. The look on her face as she gazed down at Hermione was startling. It was a look of clear adoration that everyone had when looking at a peaceful baby, but it was also a look of intense recognition and suddenly Hermione wondered about the first comment the Old One had made. Two halves that still weren't whole. Hermione had been rather drawn to Bellatrix since first hearing of her. She had researched Bellatrix Lestrange.
Bellatrix lingered for a moment looking down at the little girl who regarded her back so seriously that even her parents commented on it. When Hermione was handed back Bellatrix walked off with a small smile on her face and then the 'screen' around her shattered and fell away and suddenly she was standing back with the Old One and Bellatrix. Her hand still in Hermione's.
"What do you need me to do?" Hermione asks gently.
"This half is smart. She was able to get here because she shares a soul with you. It makes sense why you were not born at the same time given the longevity of witches and my dragonborn kin. You will have a long many years together… if you can sew time back together. That is your job, little one. An ancient power lies within you and I am offering you both a chance."
The Old One spoke slowly.
"A chance?" Hermione looked from The Old One to Bellatrix and back again.
"This one will find the anomalies and you will fix them, sewing time back together into one continual stream. If you can't do that I will sever the stream and start anew." The Old One says clearly.
"Anew? When was the last time that happened?" Hermione asks softly almost afraid to know.
"Millenia upon Millenia. You are this time lines last chance, little one. You and your other your will prevail or I will pluck you from time and we will start anew. You will begin the cycle again in that case instead of simply continuing it." The Old One started to distort again now and expand. It seemed to happen quicker than it had when she had condensed.
Go now. Was whispered into their mind before they were back where they had started in the black vastness. Only not quite. Now they were at the branch between both streams of timeline. They were standing at the point where Bellatrix and Hermione broke time.
"This is a lot. It's too much." Hermione gasps lightly now and closes her eyes. She wondered if it might all just go away if she pretended this wasn't happening for now. Yet when the warm hand in her own squeezed gently she opened them to regard the witch.
"We can do this. You and i? We can save the world, can't we?" Bellatrix asks softly and Hermione swallows.
"If she believes we can… we can." Hermione nods.
"We need to talk about this though." Hermione nodded lifting their hands.
"You'll see." Bellatrix smiled then and it was soft and warm and full of a similar fondness to the one she had had when she saw baby Hermione almost 20 years ago. Similar but yet more intimate.
Hermione nodded again a small smile curling her own lips. Holding hands still the pair turned back to the stream in front of them and watched. They watched an angry and jaded Bellatrix walking away as the other Bellatrix held the baby girl.
"Why did you walk away in this timeline. Why was you so angry?" Hermione asks after a moment.
"You might ask why I was in a small muggle town instead. Even here I still hadn't bought into the blood status side of things. But my husband had. Rod had always thought of muggles and muggleborns as less. Less than dirt. Mud. He had these grand designs of pure-blooded babies carrying his name and my skill." Bellatrix smiles a little sadly.
"Bella?" Hermione looked at the woman concerned.
"We'd tried to have children for almost a year at this point. I was borderline obsessive. I tracked my cycle, when I was ovulating. When I was most fertile. I wanted that baby so badly, not for blood status. Not for Him and not because it's what Rod wanted. But because it was what I wanted. That little soul to love and have close and care for and to raise and selfishly I wanted a child to distract me from the darkness yet to come. But I was having so much trouble despite fertility potions and spells and the right timing." Bellatrix sighs softly before continuing.
"I was desperate but I was beginning to think something was wrong. I wouldn't dare go to our healers. I didn't want to know let alone have anyone else know. So I went to a muggle doctor. They examined me. Very thoroughly and it was very uncomfortable. I do not actually produce ovum. I had just found out that I could try until the end of time. I would never conceive." Bellatrix admits softly.
"So this was you making a choice. But you made both choices?" Hermione asks gently.
"Impossibly. Yes. You can see where I make the choice to leave in this timeline and I do. But in this one I stay and hold you. Then I walk away. And I went back to my life and I continued on as if nothing really changed even though everything had. And I became a little more jaded as time went on. But not in the extreme as my other self. She got angry and fast and didn't know how to cope. We can't interfere directly. It causes more problems. We need to find a different way." Bellatrix explains frowning slightly.
"Yes. We go to Narcissa." Hermione says firmly. "What is your Narcissa like?"
"Mine? She's actually become your best friend in my timeline. She was always fond of you from the moment I told her about the adorable baby the muggles let me hold. She was the only one I told about you." Bellatrix smiles again.
"We need to pluck them out of time and change some things for your sake. How are you with memory manipulation?" Hermione tilts her head at Bellatrix.
"I'm a master Legillimens. That and some Charms and I should be able to make them the same person. That will make the merge easier when you weave the stream together." Bellatrix caught on quickly and Hermione nodded.
"I don't know how I know how to do this but since the Old One made my mark like new it just… it shouldn't be possible." Hermione murmured as Bellatrix moved the streams of time along a little on either side of them until they found Narcissa just after the branching had happened.
Bellatrix watched then as Hermione's eyes glowed a bright yellow much like the drakes had long ago. Moments later stood two very confused versions of the same woman. One was immediately standoffish while the other was as curious as she was confused. Before either could speak Hermione reached out and touched both versions foreheads and they immediately collapsed asleep. Bellatrix caught them with magic before they hit the ground and settled them both.
Then it was Hermione's turn to step back and let the older witch work. A hand on each versions forehead as she closed her own eyes and Hermione could practically see what Bellatrix was doing. Using legillimency to share and imprint the memories of one witch to the other and vice versa. The changing of personality was seen on the tension in sleeping faces. One hardening slightly while the other softens. When Bellatrix was done she sway slightly before standing.
"They won't remember this." Bellatrix assured lightly before the yellow of Hermione's eyes flared and both versions were placed back in their timelines.
The changes were immediate and Hermione was certain than if she had been back in her own timeline she would have a killer headache. The mark on her arm appeared again where before it had been unblemished. Things were definitely changing but Hermione felt herself able to weave the timeline forward again lessening the branch.
"Bella… the you in my timeline hates me. The Old One spoke of us as the same whole. Soulmates. How can that be if she is willing to torture me?" Hermione asks after a moment as her magic, an ancient magic she could feel more deeply than she'd ever felt anything, weaved the timelines back together.
"Are you sure you're ready for that? We are bound in a way I struggle to explain. In my timeline you are my everything and you will be in yours as well. But even in my own our bonding is only halfway complete. We have never done more than share a few fleeting kisses as time has not been on our side from the beginning." Bellatrix explains a slight tinge coming to her cheeks even as Hermione's positively flame red.
"That just makes it more confusing. Not even time can deny us being soulmates. She dies in my timeline." Hermione didn't know why that bothered her so much now. More than it had when it actually happened. Likely because now she was aware of just why it bothered her in the first place.
"We need to find a point after fixing some things where we need to be. Given that this is here now that point is going to be shortly after you're at the Manor. This being here is an inevitability now. But we do something. Keep going, Weaver. We will see what soon." Bellatrix moved closer to Hermione then and curved a soft and warm hand around Hermione's forearm gently. They turned back to the timeline before them.
As they looked back at the streams they could see where they merged. Now both Narcissa's had the same responses to Bellatrix despite Bellatrix' being different in both timelines. This could be seen to visibly change the Bellatrix in Hermione's timeline. Choices Bellatrix were making were different now. Not as severe as they had been before the branches were weaved together. Slowly it progressed. Bellatrix didn't torture the Longbottoms. Rod and Rabastan did though. They were going to kill Neville but Bellatrix actually saved him.
Hermione actually watched the Aurors take the little boy out of Bellatrix' arms. The witch looked at the boys parents unconscious on the floor and actually looked regretful. She watches as time moves seeing the way that Azkaban took its toll on Bellatrix. Despite having protected Neville and not actually casting against the Longbottoms the Ministry had still sentenced her to the same fate as her husband and brother in law. That hadn't been fair and Hermione felt a surge of anger at this and actually reached out, touching the edge as she watched Bellatrix in a fitful sleep. Bellatrix still stood with her hand on Hermione's arm but her eyes were closed.
"That's the first time I'd dreamed of you. But I didn't know it was you until much later. Not until the Department of Mysteries." Bellatrix spoke softly watching the way her sleeping self settled and slept peacefully for the first time in years.
"Your sentencing was unfair." Hermione sighs softly.
"Of course. But my cousin is a prime example of how the Ministry can get things wrong." Bellatrix reminds gently. She moved time along.
The next time it slowed was after the breakout. Bellatrix in Hermione's timeline was now different. She followed the orders given to her but there was a hesitation now and Rodolphus was confused as to why his once loyal wife now wanted nothing to do with him. This intern made Rod more volatile confusion and rejection not suiting him well at all.
Hermione could still feel the mark on her arm though. Then they made it to the Department of Mysteries and Hermione's memory's shifted of the event. She was still almost killed by Dolohov but before he had struck her with his spell she had been stopped by Bellatrix who seemed confused and angry. Why had she been dreaming of this girl? This muggleborn. Yet between then and the war it wasn't to be the last time they'd meet.
In fact surprisingly Bellatrix went back to that street she'd made her first choice on. She had taken her sister with her. The two of them had watched the house during the summer between the fifth and sixth year until one evening Hermione was late back. She remembered it clearly now.
She hadn't meant to be so long at the library but she had found a book. It was a simple fantasy book about witches and dragons and fantastic creatures and prejudice and subterfuge. It was so easy to forget her own problems when instead reading of the problems of twins Iseult and Isabeau. Therefore it was getting dark by the time she entered her street on the way back to her home.
She hadn't seen them until she was almost back to the house and when she did her immediate reaction was to pull her wand. Narcissa seemed to see this coming though and disarmed Hermione before she'd gotten her wand halfway raised. Bellatrix caught the wand and laughed lightly, almost condescending.
"My for someone so smart you sure are lacking awareness." Bellatrix taunts lightly.
"I didn't expect my enemies to be stalking me." It was all false bravado. Or was it? Hermione remembered having seen Bellatrix at the Ministry. Even being yelled at she had this strange feeling that she knew this woman.
"Neither did we." Narcissa gave her sister a look and Bellatrix waved her off but she'd yet to look away from Hermione.
"Why are you here?" Hermione was confused. They were within arms reach yet she was still alive.
"That's a good question, little one. Why am I here? What have you done to me that I can't stop thinking of you? You haunt me worse than dementors ever could." Bellatrix sounded clearly frustrated but this admission surprised Hermione. She'd had dreams too.
"I don't understand." Hermione says weakly. Bellatrix did reach out then, it was abrupt and before Hermione had a chance to react the slightly taller witch had her fist wound in Hermione's hair pulling harshly as she got in her face.
In the Slate Hermione actually felt Bellatrix wince at her own actions. Narcissa seemed to he a good catalyst as the streams continued to weave back together subtly influencing actions around them all but not changing things too drastically.
"Why can't I think of anyone else?" Bellatrix was in her face now as she grits out the words frustrated and confused and angry.
"I don't know!" Hermione gasps out in pain as the hand in her hair pulls tighter and then the oddest thing happened.
This rather mad yet beautiful woman crushed her lips to Hermione's. It wasn't a chaste kiss by any means. Hermione barely responded but for a surprised gasp at first as Bellatrix absolutely dominated the kiss. Yet when the older witch seemed to realise what was happening, that Hermione wasn't kissing her back, she softened almost completely. This is when Hermione responded. Unable to keep herself from doing something she'd wish to have been able to do for months now. Hermione was kissing her back.
The hand in her hair flexed and released, the stinging pain leaving as the hand dropped to the back of her neck holding her in the kiss that Hermione didn't want to pull out of. Even the frustrated and borderline disgusted groan beside them didn't pull them apart. It came to a slow and natural end but it left so much more confusion than had been there to begin with.
"We need to go, Bella." Narcissa spoke up seeming to break the spell and the older witch let go of Hermione entirely and stepped back.
"I don't understand." Bellatrix mumbled frowning. She held her hand out, Hermione's wand in it and when Hermione took the wand Bellatrix and Narcissa disappeared with a soft pop.
"We don't see each other again until you're brought to the Manor but I had a role to play. It was pertinent that I did so for the sake of my sister and her son. You don't suffer alone though." These memories were new, it was easier to distinguish them here in the Slate.
Hermione looked to Bellatrix as the older witch pulled up her sleeve to reveal a matching scar on her arm but it no longer said mudblood it now said 'comes animae' Latin for soulmate. Lifting her own sleeve Hermione saw the same written on her own arm and past torment seemed to fade away as she smiled gently.
"We can save some of our friends during the battle. Just do me a favour? Don't kiss Ron this time." Bellatrix wrinkled her nose and Hermione couldn't help a soft laugh.
"Promise." Hermione grins lightly.
"We have to pick our moment. So many on your side don't like me at all even if my list of offences is much shorter now. I was more simply on the wrong side. Your friends won't keep it a secret that I tortured you." Bellatrix sighs softly.
"You're right we will sort it out though. When we are back in time." Hermione promises gently.
"I trust you." Bellatrix smiles gently before they turn back to time.
This time they watched the torture of Hermione which was considerably less as it was clear that Bellatrix was suffering everything she had done to Hermione and she did so willingly. Hermione didn't recognise the spell used but Bellatrix had temporarily bound them to share sensation. Usually thus sort of spell was used in sex to make the experience better for both partners. Bella used it to share an unfavourable event and it simply endeared the older witch to Hermione so much more.
Things were so much more in time now and Hermione could see their moment coming where they would need to re-enter the stream again. Things were healing on their own. Now things simply weren't going the way Hermione originally remembered them. Or the way Bellatrix originally remembered them. The lucidity that came with the branching of time for Bellatrix had been something Hermione's Bellatrix would not have been able to achieve. That said it also meant that Bellatrix was able to learn about the Slate and the dragonborn and was able to do something about it. Bella had been unable to manipulate time like Hermione could but she had been able to influence herself. Thus the clues had been left.
"Here. Just as you and Ron got the tooth and destroy the horcrux. Fred, Tonks and Lupin were all still alive then. I'm thinking that if I move to stop Rookwood I can save Fred and in doing so I can save Tonks and Lupin. I can't save Ted in either timeline though." Bellatrix seemed genuinely upset by this fact and Hermione stopped the flow of time without a thought and turned to Bellatrix.
"What you're doing. What you've done? I'll make sure everyone knows that this is because of you. Andromeda might be upset but she will be glad to have her daughter in this repaired timeline even if she is grieving her husband. That isn't your fault." Hermione lifted a hand to Bella's cheek.
"You're far too good to me already." Bellatrix spoke softly.
"You're my other half. Being good to you Is being good to myself." Hermione reasons half playfully.
"Indeed and I'll be repaying that once we are through this war. I'm sorry you've had to grieve these people though." Bellatrix stepped closer.
"It's alright. This is preferable." Hermione loosely gestures their repaired timeline.
"May I kiss you?" Bellatrix' voice was gentle as she asked the question. This would only be the second time for them in either timeline. The first out of time.
"Please." Hermione found herself saying as they moved closer to each other. She felt that hand lift and curl gently around the back of her neck again. When their lips met it was so much softer than the first time had started but it still sent a shock through Hermione at how right it felt.
Sex and sexuality had never really been something Hermione had put a whole lot of thought into in the past. She had always been more concerned with books and knowledge and proving herself to her peers. Of course there had been that bit of jealousy when Ron and Lavender had been seeing each other though that had had more to do with Hermione feeling like she was missing something. Another thing that had her thinking of Bellatrix.
Now though a large part of her wanted to say screw time. She wanted to stay here for the rest of forever and do nothing but kiss this stunning woman. Her other half. The one person who was capable of making her feel whole without needing to try. She may well have simply decided to stay. She already knew that the magic of the Slate would sustain them. Except then beside them a throat was cleared.
Hermione leaned back at the same time Bellatrix had and looked at the Old One in her human form standing with a small almost apologetic grin on her face.
"You've done it, daughter. You and your other half have managed to save the time stream this time. You give me hope that my line won't die out after all." The Old One gestured around them as the timestream became one again.
"This is the point you have to go back to. There is no choosing when you both play such pivotal roles for the future. But go, little ones. Bond and become one and find your futures for yourself. Feel free to visit on occasion, though i will be keeping an eye on you both." Hermione smiles gently at the dragon and nods.
"Thank you, mother. For giving us the chance to save time." It was Bellatrix who addressed the dragon as such and the Old Ones eyes lit up at hearing it.
"I have a gift for you, little one." The Dragon reached out to Bellatrix splaying a well manicured hand over the witches corset clad abdomen and Bellatrix sucked in a sharp breath a moment later.
"What?" Bellatrix looked at the Queen with a sense of awe and reverence.
"My child will be able to give you what you both so desire. When she figures out how to use her inherent magic." The Old Ones grin was borderline cheeky.
"You're talking about babies." Hermione narrowed her eyes a little and the Old Ones grin broadened.
"But I don't produce eggs." Bellatrix murmured.
"While I never really experienced it myself I only hope that when you have those monthly cycles that they stay as mild as they were for you when they was the case. I can assure you that you're going produce eggs now." The Old Ones smile became sincere and fond now and Bellatrix actually let out a sob even as she had tried to choke it back. Hermione immediately wrapped her arms around Bellatrix to steady her.
"It's OK." Hermione murmurs softly and the ancient one smiles and disappears.
They lingered for a little bit until Bellatrix wad able to collect herself and she finally pulled away from Hermione enough to gather herself and wipe the tears from her face. A simple spell and she looked as though she hadn't just been crying and she took a deep breath looking to Hermione.
"Don't forget. No kissing Ron." Bellatrix spoke firmly and Hermione actually laughed.
"I won't, I promise." Hermione chuckles and steps up to the slightly taller witch and kisses her lightly on the lips before letting her magic flow out and integrate them both back into the time stream.
