Welcome back to all the regular readers!
I hope you are all enjoying the story!
Bellatrix was Narcissa's sister but Andromeda was the one who Cissa had always been close to. Bellatrix was extreme since their childhood. She had a short temper and tantrums were almost daily occurrences. She was mother's favourite because she parroted anything mother said without a second thought. From hating Sirius for getting into Gryffindor to pressuring Regulus to become a Death Eater, she was the ideal icon for the insanity that the pureblood wizarding society stood for. Andromeda had always been the sensible one. She would listen to everyone but do as she pleased, Narcissa had learnt the art of rebelling politely from her. The one thing she was better at than Andromeda however was bending the system to suit her will. Systems were easy, they had patterns, all one needed to do was find them. People were the same, they all had patterns. Most people lived their lives as though they were embroidering it, always pulling on the strings of fate to create something beautiful. Narcissa understood these people and their patterns, she knew that all she had to do was pull the right string and everything would unravel. But that only worked on sane people. Something Bellatrix was not. She was a nearly volatile and unpredictable as the Dark Lord residing in her house. However she still had to find a way to get through to her and the only one she could think off was Bella's vanity.
Bellatrix was busy tormenting an old house elf when Narcissa found her.
"Beat your self with the hot poker…" Came Bella's gleeful voice
You could hear the wails of the elf
"Again! Again!" Bella cheered cackling as she did so.
Narcissa pursed her lips and knocked on the already open door of the room
"Oh Cissa come in… look at this… it's Pipsy! That wretch Dobby's mum! I'm punishing her for her son's sins!" Bella said gleefully
"Pipsy leave us…" Narcissa said sternly
The elf nearly fell over bowing and disappeared with a soft pop.
"I'd thank you for disciplining my staff…" Narcissa said "but try not to break them in the process she added with a smile that didn't reach her eyes…"
Bella hardly noticed as she pulled out a bottle of wine form the rack and opened it "Want some? It a 69 Côte-Rôtie La Mouline…"
"Thank you, but it's a little early for me… " Narcissa said declining
"What do you want sis? I hear your dear husband is away on estate and other matters…" She took a sip of the wine and went "ohh… this is exceptional! Cissa you have an excellent collection!"
"I'm glad you approve" Narcissa said dryly then continued "I was wondering if you wanted anything from Gringotts… I was going to go down there tomorrow before Lucius got back and thought to ask if you'd want anything from your vault?"
"oh.. why? what are you going to get? I can hardly imagine you need gold right now to persuade people? You just need to introduce them to your very special guest.." Bella said with a deranged evil look
"I was actually going to get a family heirloom out for Draco. He's going to be home soon, it's his sixteenth birthday and I thought it would be a nice gesture to give him something from the black family as well…"
"Yes, he should have something from us!" Bellatrix declared "Just because you married into the pitiful Malfoy line shouldn't disadvantage him, once I kill my dear cousin he'll be lord Black too! He's practically royalty!"
"I thought you might say that, so what is it I can get for you?" Narcissa asked
"Oh, I don't know…" Bella said staring at the wall confused "I barely remember what's in it! Ha… hahahahahaha…" She cackled again… "Oh but there are two things in there that are very precious. Draco can't have either of course, not yet at least. I have them for safe keeping" She said pompously
"Really" Narcissa said conspiratorially
"Oh yessss…" Bellartix preened lapping up the attention "From our lord himself… Can you believe it…" She whispered "he trusted me… over all those worthless men.. Me…"
"You have always been special to him…" Narcissa gushed "…. What is it? Wait! Don't tell me… I may be your sister but he still chose you…" She said seriously
Bellatrix had a wild look in her eyes. Narcissa had done the one thing she hated, told her not to do something and stopped her from showing off… She looked around and then with a wave of her hand shut the door and whispered "Take me with you to Gringotts and I'll show you…"
Narcissa was caught of guard… She didn't expect Bella to ask to come, but she had to play along…
"Well? Cissa?" Bella asked
"I could pay off the right goblin to sneak you in I suppose…" Narcissa said sounding far more confident than she felt
"Perfect! I've been cooped up in here too long! If we have some time, let's go kill some muggles for sport as well…. This is great Cissa! We'll make a day of it! Murder and Mayhem!" Bella said cheerfully
Narcissa smiled at her sister but she was wondering how much hot water she'd gotten herself into. The Goblins couldn't be bought that easily…
—
Harry and Hermione stood panting in the empty classroom. Hermione had not managed to push Snape out but she had avoided him from going to the memories she considered most precious by throwing up useless information at him. She had tired to trap him in a space but he was too powerful. Harry had failed miserably again
"Again…" Snape said but Hermione stopped him with "Please sir, just give us a moment to recover…"
"What do you think this is Ms. Granger…" He growled at her "Do you think this is a regular class? Am I teaching remedial Occulmency? Do you think the Dark Lord will give a respite as he tries to break into Mr. Potter's mind?" He yelled "Legilimens!" Shot at Harry who instantly yelled "Portego!"
And just like that, Hermione saw Harry look as horrified as Snape for a minute and then both of them were out of the trance. Snape had just spoken about Lilly, it had been too soon. As he finished reliving his worst memory, Harry said "Professor I…"
"Get. Out." Snape was seething "Both of you! Out now!"
Harry and Hermione ran for their lives. Later that night Harry would tell Hermione what he saw and she would tell him to speak to Sirius about it.
—
When Hermione had gone home for Christmas, her mother had asked her about Draco. Hermione had ended up having a non specific conversation about the lineage project she was doing with him for fun. While she hadn't told her mother about familial magic or the Malfoy curse, she had asked her mother if she could help put together a family tree beyond just the grandparents and first cousins etc. It had been such a passing conversation over dinner that she had all but forgotten about it. Her mother, hadn't. Despite her busy practice, Helen granger had sat with her husband Richard and made an exhaustive family tree going back 4 generations over a period of 4 months. She had added all the cousins and aunts and uncles. She then wrote it down on a paper and sent it to Hermione via the special post box she had setup in Hogsmeade.
The next Hogsmeade weekend Hermione and Draco met in the Shrieking Shack. He had set up a table with lunch. It was their first official date. Hermione stopped by the Post Office before and picked up a rather heavy letter from her mother and headed to meet Draco in Harry's Invisibility cloak. She was wondering what was in the letter but the sight of him waiting for her a formal table setup in the middle of a dusty old shack made her forget about everything else.
They laughed and flirted and talked and for the first time in a long time they forgot about the Dark Lord, Umbridge, the impending doom awaiting them. When it was time to go, Draco gave Hermione a kiss and that's when the letter fell out from under the invisibility cloak lying forgotten on a stool
"I think you dropped something…" Draco said picking up the letter
"I almost forgot it was there… Thank you…" Hermione said taking it
"What is it?"
"Letter from home, though it's thicker than it typically is…"
"Maybe they have a lot of question about the handsome young man you're dating…" Draco said teasing
"You know the world doesn't revolve around you right?"
"Well it should… revolve around us that is…" He said taking her in his arms
"Shut up" She said but was quite mollified. They kissed and left separately to avoid being seen.
—
She met Harry and Ron at the base of the steps to Gryffindor tower.
"Finally! we thought we'd have to go looking for you…" Ron said
"So did you have fun?" Harry asked ignoring Ron
"Yes…" Hermione begins with a smile "It was…"
"La la la la la la…." Ron said putting his fingers in his ears.
"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione said giving him her best version of Molly as she gave him a whack on his head and looking at Harry for support
"Sorry, but as long as you had fun, I don't think either of us can stomach details about you two at the moment…" Harry said raising his hands in surrender
"Really?! You've known for almost a month now!" She whined
"Exactly, only a month… Also I need to talk to you both privately…" Harry said "Wattlebird" he said to the portrait as the fat lady as she swung open with a very drunk "Hello to you too!"
They took the corner sofa when Ron noticed the letter
"What's that?" He asked
"Letter from home…" She said
"Looks like a bit more than just that…" Ron said feeling the thickness of the parcel
"What did you want to tell us?" Hermione said ignoring Ron and turning to Harry
"Well, the scar has been prickling again… The Occlumency has helped but not too much, he seems to be excited about something, I'm not sure what… It's like he's found out something and he's really happy about it… He's planning something…" Harry said
"Planing what?" Ron asked
"I don't know… I can just feel flashes of his mood…" Harry said disappointed "Also the last time I spoke to Sirus, he told me what they were guarding. It's the prophecy, the one about me. Apparently he wants to hear it cause he feels like he's still missing something in it. Sirius says I just need to relax. How am I supposed to relax! He's happy, that can't be good for anyone!" Harry finished exasperatedly
"You know I've been thinking about this… er… connection you have with Voldemort… See with Draco he had to Dreamwalk but you seem like an antenna picking up signals that are not even meant for you… I have a theory but I feel like I need a little more research" She said, but what she was thinking was 'I need to read up a bit more on Horcruxes to figure it out…' Hermione continued "Until then, you need to practice Occulmency Harry. Maybe we should go back to Snape and talk to him about the memory you saw"
"Are you nuts… He would have Avadad me for seeing that 'mione… You weren't there… you don't know how bad it was…" Harry said shuddering at the memory
"I know, but what did Sirus say?" She asked
"Not much, Lupin however told me why Snape hates them so much… It's cause Sirius and my dad sent Snape to the shrieking shack when Lupin was turning there… Nothing happened but it could have gone very badly…" Harry finished seriously
Ron chuckled and Hermione glared at him making him stop instantly
"I don't know what to think… I always thought Dad and Mum were…. you know…. perfect, soldiers for the light…" Harry said
"And this doesn't change that, we all do stupid things…" Hermione said kindly
"I mean look at Draco and Her…" Ron whispered
Hermione whacked him on the head and for just a few moments they were back to being a bunch of teenagers at school …
New chapter tomorrow!
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