Here goes the third chapter. I hope this answers your questions about Hermione's disappearance. Enjoy:)

I own nothing, just saying

Alive

The first thing Hermione saw upon opening her eyes made her shut them tight once more. This isn't real, this isn't real, she whispered to herself over and over, wishing to escape the nightmare she seemed to be stuck in. Opening her eyes again, the brunette whimpered. Bellatrix Lestrange was sitting in a sofa, apparently asleep, just a few meters away from her. Trying to find some proof that this was not a nightmare Hermione looked around the room. It was dark and much too cold to be in Malfoy Manor. She let out a sigh of relief – she wasn't dreaming. A scream nearly followed that sigh: she was in a room with Bellatrix Lestrange, and she wasn't dreaming! A very real, very scary Bellatrix Lestrange that seemed to be breathing a little too much for a dead person. Hermione managed to hold back. If Lestrange was really there with her, the last thing she needed right now was for the Death Eater to wake up. Wondering what to do the brunette checked whether she had her wand and was relieved to feel it in her hand. She also felt the scratch of something against her ring finger. She was just about to look and confirm her suspicions when Bellatrix stirred.

"Shit!" Hermione stared at the Dark witch. She stirred again and her eyes began to open. "Stupefy!" Hermione shrieked not ready to face her yet. Bellatrix reacted faster than humanly possible, however: she drew a wand out of nowhere and deflected the spell. Hermione froze in terror, expecting a Cruciatus Curse to fly towards her.

It never came. Bellatrix had taken a defensive stance and was staring at her in surprise. The Dark witch blinked.

"Why am I here?" she snapped. Hermione noted there was now only determination in her eyes. "How did you get me here and how did you find me to do it?" Bellatrix demanded.

"I-I-I haven't-I didn't-" Hermione stuttered, unable to form a sentence. Damn it, Granger, cut it out! You have a wand in your hand this time and she looks as confused as you. Hermione stopped her internal dialogue to focus on the witch in front of her. Now that she really focused on her, Bellatrix seemed somehow… different.

"Talk, or I'll get you to talk!" Bellatrix snapped impatiently. Different but no less prone to violence, Hermione noted.

"I have no idea what happened" she blurted out. If she could keep the Death Eater talking, she would have more time to figure out what the hell was going on. She already had a suspicion it had something to do with the ring that had found its way back on her finger.

"Don't be ridiculous, girl, what business would I have dragging underage witches to my grandfather's house?"

"I am not-did you say that's your grandfather's house?" Hermione stumbled over her words, perplexed.

"I recognize the room and I doubt any other house in Britain would have his portrait hanging over the fireplace" Bellatrix pointed to Hermione's right. The brunette didn't dare take her eyes off the other witch but spared a quick glance to the wall. Sure enough, there was a portrait there, but she didn't look closely.

"What business would I have dragging you to your grandfather's house?" she shot back at Bellatrix.

"Why don't you start by telling me who you are?"

Hermione was sure she had misheard that. Bellatrix Lestrange who had fought her and her friends on multiple occasions, who had tortured her mercilessly not even a year ago, didn't know who she was?

"The 'talk, or I'll get you to talk' condition is still valid, girl" Bellatrix reminded her she was waiting for an answer.

"You don't know who I am?" Hermione hadn't meant to reveal how shocked she was, but this was just too much. Bellatrix Lestrange – alive and not knowing who she was? What was going on here?

Apparently, the other witch was as lost as her.

"How am I supposed to know who you are?"

They were back to staring at each other. This time Hermione used this to try and guess whether Bellatrix was faking her lack of knowledge. The other witch seemed to be studying her curiously. Her wand was slack in her hand and her position relaxed; though Hermione didn't doubt Lestrange could jump back into dueling mode in seconds, she didn't think the Death Eater would get this comfortable around an enemy. There was also the way she spoke: she had called Hermione underage even though she knew all about her and her friends from Draco; this included their age. What had shocked Hermione most was hearing Bellatrix call her a witch. The Bellatrix she knew would die before acknowledging the fact that Muggle-borns were witches and wizards too. The brunette decided she was either having a very realistic dream or was in a parallel universe.

"How did you get this?" Bellatrix spoke suddenly. Hermione followed her gaze to the ring on her finger. Uh-oh.

"I found it." Better play it safe with short answers.

"Lying around?" the older witch smirked, and Hermione noticed another difference: her teeth were no longer rotten. They were now pearl white, not one broken or out of place. "Well? Where did you find it?"

"In Grimmauld Place."

"Orion's ring then. You're not a Black though." Did Bellatrix actually just believe her? "Orion's dead. Sirius should have it. Did you steal it from him?"

"No, I-" Hermione was torn between anger that Lestrange would accuse her of stealing, and surprise at the fact she had used present tense for Sirius.

"You're a daughter no one knows about?" Bellatrix threw her head back and laughed. It was such a strange sound that Hermione gaped. "Sirius would be the one to do something like that."

"I'm not his daughter. I just found the ring."

"And decided to use it just like that?"

"I didn't want to-it happened accidentally!" Hermione got defensive. "I don't even know how to use it."

"Blood magic, girlie, Sirius should have told you about that before letting you know where he kept the ring. I would think he'd keep it on himself but then again he does hate everything to do with the family."

"Why are you talking about him like that?" Hermione couldn't help but ask.

"Like what?" Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. Even her eyebrow was immaculately shaped. Hermione noticed she had lipstick. Since when did dead people have time to go to beauty salons?

"Like he's alive."

The older witch's face went blank for just a second before she frowned. Hermione panicked, thinking she had set her off at last, but Bellatrix paid no attention to her as she stormed out of the room. Hermione heard the tapping of her high-heeled boots down the corridor, then down some stairs. Rooted to the spot by fear the brunette could only wait until the Death Eater returned. She looked serious now as she sat down on the sofa she had been sleeping in when Hermione woke up.

"Get comfortable, girl, because you're not going anywhere before you tell me exactly why I shouldn't talk like my cousin's alive, and what in Merlin's beard has gotten into everyone that every Prophet headline has something to do with 'rebuilding our world'."