Okay to one and all here is my new chapter and if you hate it R&R, if you love it R&R, if you can write and are reading this chapter R&R! Yeah so I hope you like and thank you to wonderful zoz34340. Give her a hand! Cheers from an audience.
Now here is the new chapter, enjoy.
Hermione was so cold and bear. She vaguely remembered Voldemort tucking her in and kissing her cheek.
When Hermione woke up her vision was hazy. The room was well lit and she moaned awake. Ella was in the front of the fire. She was heating something up. Ella looked pleased and was merrily working on her chores and humming a small song. Hermione smiled and liked seeing such a cheerful creature.
She had killed. Her entire body went numb in disbelief. This fact soon washed over her like a cold bucket of water and she started shivering uncontrollably. She felt so confused and unsure of what she stood for anymore. His words ran in her head and all she could think was that she killed for selfish reasons. Just like him. She tried to shake herself out of it. No I killed to save that woman from torture and that is that. Or was that it? Her morals were coming into question and everything that had kept Hermione so happy over the years with Harry and Ron were floating away.
Ella after a while turned around to check on Hermione.
Ella bowed and said, "It's good to see you awake mistress." Ella just stared at Hermione.
Hermione just shook her head and smiled a little, "You can just call me Hermione."
"She most certainly cannot." Bellatrix came whirling into the room and Hermione leapt out of her bed.
All thoughts about her being a killer escaped her and she tried to shove them in a closet of her mind. Unless she did it would definitely be apparent to Voldemort's side woman. She needed to keep her tucked away, at least to the death eaters. She shoved those memories somewhere deep inside her mind.
Hermione looked suspiciously at Bellatrix, "What are you doing here?"
"You have refinement classes everyday from now on. I realized that you needed my immediate help when you appeared this morning."
Hermione looked indignantly at Bellatrix and said, "What did I do so poorly that you have decided I needed your immediate attention?"
"For one your posture is appalling, two, you need serious help with your hair, three, your cuffs weren't worn correctly."
"I'm not a slob. I do alright and what do you mean my cuffs weren't worn correctly?"
Bellatrix just tapped her foot impatiently and ticked her disproval. She took Hermione's cuffs and rolled them up by about half an inch. On the top of the cuff was a beautiful looking strip of fabric with an elaborate design in it. Hermione's drooping arms let the cuffs fall back immediately.
"You need improvement.", said Bellatrix scornfully. "Roll the cuffs back up and follow me." Hermione did as instructed and tried to keep the cuffs where they were suppose to be, but it was really hard because the fabric was so slippery.
Hermione eventually gave up keeping her normal posture and held her forearms out so that she looked like mini Frankenstein or a T-Rex.
Bellatrix opened a door and the inside was a dinning room about the size of the great hall, but it had only one long table down the middle. All sorts of decorations leered out of the shadows of the ceiling, and the table was all clear except for two place settings and an open box full of silver ware was in the middle of the two place settings. There were a few candles lighting everything. Hermione was confused what were they going to do there?
"You'll be dining with me for dinner. Please sit down."
Hermione took the chair nearest the big wooden box. Bellatrix took the seat opposite her. Hermione started inspecting the big wooden box filled with silverware.
Bellatrix cleared her throat and Hermione came back to the food in front of her. It was a spring salad and the dressing was in towards the huge box.
Bellatrix sighed and said, "Okay for starters we're going to start working on posture. Now sit up and if you start slouching I will make sure you have no food for the evening." Hermione tried to sit up and curved her back.
Bellatrix started laughing and Hermione gave Bellatrix a non-to-pleased look. Bellatrix stopped sniggering and said, "Okay you're not trying to win biggest chest award. Push your shoulders forward and move your hips forward." Hermione did this and she felt oddly stiff.
"Your waist should always be six inches away from the table." Hermione scooted her chair back from the table and had to extend her arms out a little to reach the table.
Bellatrix sighed with relief, "That's so much better. Now the first thing you do when eating is to place your wand to the left hand side. When the table is set correctly there should always be a spot for you to set it down." Hermione saw the spot and put her wand in it.
Bellatrix looked slightly happy and said, "Now we can eat. Now eating salad is the easiest yet the hardest food of all. All you need do is cut it, but don't let any of the leaves fall off the fork. I will be lineate about this at first, but if you don't catch on quickly enough I won't allow you to eat the pieces you drop."
Hermione shook her head. She was hungry enough to eat an elephant so she would try to make sure everything that was on her fork got into her mouth.
"First I have to show you how to cut salad. First take up the knife gingerly in your hand don't clutch it. Now put your finger on the bridge and your pinky should tuck neatly under the mount of your thumb." Hermione did this and felt as if the knife were about to fall out of her hand.
"Now take the fork into your hand, gingerly," she had seen Hermione trying to grip it to make sure that it stayed in her hand, "the index finger should go just above the bridge. The pinky tucks work for the fork as well." It felt like the utensils were about to slip out of Hermione's grasp.
"Now when actually cutting it's more of a wrist like movement. Let me see you do it." Hermione followed Bellatrix's example.
"Don't move you're fingers. Let them stay put where they are when cutting them. You're fingers should be immovable unless I pry them out of you're dead fingers." Bellatrix sounded exasperated. Hermione tried to get a better grasp on her silverware, but it didn't work very well. She cut to Bellatrix's satisfaction.
"Now make an equal armed cross the plate and make diagonials to that." Hermione followed Bellatrix's example.
"Now try and do it with you're salad and don't look at it. Look me directly in the eyes and continue conversation with me."
Hermione looked at Bellatrix and tried to feel her way around the plate. It took her a while and sometimes she could hear the scrape of silverware on the rim of the plate. Hermione knew it was apparent that she had fumbled around the plate.
Bellatrix sighed a little, but said, "That was alright for your first try I wouldn't expect you to have perfect table manners knowing where you've been raised and where you've eaten before. Now let's eat."
Hermione made towards the salad dressing, leaning over the table. Bellatrix gasped in horror, "Don't do that! You have a wand for a reason you silly child. Make the salad dressing come to you!"
Hermione lifted her wand and tried to think of a spell that could help her without getting the salad dressing all down her front.
Bellatrix had started to eat her salad and said, "Just say slide after accio." The rest of the salad went rather well. Hermione was taught to correctly hold a salad dressing pot and how to pour. Hermione was pleased that what seemed like hours of trying to learn the right etiquette she was allowed to eat. She took very tiny bites to make sure that she didn't drop one single leaf. The fork fell out of her fingers once and she felt very stiff. Everything was very complex and she thought this might be harder then magic.
"Now Hermione continue talking with me, and what are you trying to do make sure your salad doesn't run away? Don't stare at it as if it were living. Now what subjects do you particularly like in school?" Hermione felt stiff and wished she didn't have to do this. She didn't want to talk to Bellatrix Lestrange about her school life. Hermione continued though because she knew this was the only way she would be getting dinner tonight and she was really hungry.
The training had taken a lot of Hermione. "I did like Charms and Transfiguration."
"Well I liked Potions myself, and you're grades." Hermione tried to concentrate on the salad beneath her as she said, "I am the top witch of my class."
"Really? Well that is something to boast about. Now I'm going to tell you a few silverware rules, never switch fork and knife between hands, don't hold the fork and knife like a barbarian and never thrust your fork straight in the middle of the plate." Hermione just nodded her understanding still trying to concentrate on her salad.
"Now what after class activites do you particpate in?"
"None." This was lie, but she would rather rip out her own teeth then talk to Bellatrix about Dumbledore's Army. Hermione soon talked through the school activities and which one's went on and who headed what. Hermione got every last scrap of salad down her throat.
"Now on to the main course. We can work on the other courses later. Now this is roasted duck." At Bellatrix's words two house elves came in holding a sliver platter embracing a dark brown roasted duck.
Hermione was taught how to cut around the bone and other unwanted elements. It took forever to eat, but Hermione was soon full on duck and salad.
"Now everyday we'll go over three pieces of silverware." They went over a clear soup serving spoon and how to use it. They also went over a dinner fork and a salad fork. It was easy enough for Hermione to follow and she was soon catching on.
"We will also be going over jewelry an important trait for a woman of status. Now…" she pulled out two red colored stones one was almost like a blush cherry, clouded and one was a deep red like that of blood, glistening. The clouded one was fixed in a bracelet and the deep blood red one was large and fixed in a pendant.
"Would you like to take a guess to what these are?" Hermione honestly didn't have any idea. She didn't like jewelry and neither did her mother so she was never taught about it.
"These are both rubies of the finest quality. The one which is clouded hasn't been finished or polished obviously." Hermione just nodded her head and stared at both hypnotized by them.
"Have you remembered them well enough? That was the lesson for today. But this is for you." She put the bracelet in Hermione's palm.
"What? This is yours I can't take it."
"No. It was bought for you. Your father thought that you deserved something to welcome you and make you feel more at home. He thought you might like the Gryffindor colors."
Bellatrix nearly sneered, but shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well it's for you take it."
Hermione shoved it roughly into her pocket and decided that she would examine it closer when she got to her bedroom. She hurried out of the dinning room and back to her room.
Ella wasn't there so she took out her newfound bracelet. All the rubies were in tear droplet shape and the chain that held everything together was gold. It was truly very pretty and Hermione wanted to keep it safe so she hid it in the shelf of her bedside table. She tucked it gently into one of the corners.
She didn't understand the feelings that were running through Hermione's mind. Could he truly love someone? She even doubted he loved himself. He had made her kill though. A small voice said in her mind, yes, he had tried to make her kill, but didn't he say he was sorry. Was he truly sorry though? Maybe. Why send the gift? To make you feel more at home. Or he's trying to buy his way into your good graces.
Hmmm… Hermione knew that this type of questionnaire could go on all night. She decided that his conduct tomorrow should shed more light on who he truly was.
Hermione cried herself to rest that night and couldn't stop thinking I'm a killer. She kept hearing the woman's screams and the man's screams. She could hear his cold words in her ears. She dreamed about her blood drowning her that night.
CareBearErin- Totally made my day. I hoped someone would like my discussion between Voldie and Hermy. Thanks and you are awesome.
F75- Hope you like this chapter.
Zoz34340- Thank you once again for reading through my chapter. Lots of smiles!
