Bella stormed back in through the front door of the Dark Mark slamming the door behind her. "Un-fucking-believable."

Tonks looked up from her phone. She was sitting behind the front desk with her feet up. "What's the matter, Aunty? Did Hermione not like the soup?" Bella shot her niece with a death glare. "Okay. Never mind. I rescind my banter. What happened?"

"She lied. She fucking lied, twice."

"What?"

"She lied to me. Bellatrix Black." Bella was pacing back and forth in front of the desk.

"Slow down and sit down. The pacing isn't helping."

Bella sighed and plopped down in the swivel seat next to her niece. "I never got around to making her soup. She told me last night she wasn't staying over because she was feeling poorly. Then I went out of my way to bring her stuff so I could make her soup. Me! Bellatrix Black, buying soup ingredients. Well, when I got to her house, her flatmate, Luna, told me she wasn't sick but at class and out to lunch with Ginny. Well imagine my fucking surprise!"

"You are way too mad for that to be all. What happened after you talked to Luna?"

"Oh that's the best bit. After I talked to Luna, I sent Hermione a text. You know to give her a chance to come clean."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. Here look." She tossed her phone to Tonks. "She said she was still sick in bed."

"Yeah. That was stupid." Tonks said, handing the phone back to her aunt. "What are you going to do?"

Bella shrugged and hung her head. "I don't know. I stormed back to the front door and left the stuff with Luna so that Hermione would know that I caught her. I really really like her, Dora but you know how I feel about lies and deception."

"Well… you did have a whole lifetime of it." Tonks gently reminded Bella. "Maybe she felt she was justified." The two sat in silence considering Tonk's words. "What do you think set her off?"

"I have no idea." Bella sighed.

"She was asking an awful lot of questions about your appointment yesterday."

Bella's eyes widened. "Oh. Fuck me." She got up and made her way into her office. Bella sat down at her desk and noticed things were a little out of place. She opened up her drawer and saw Lily's journal had been slightly moved. Tonks stood at the door. "She found this." Bella said, holding up the journal. "Shit. Why didn't she just ask me? She's obviously leaped to her own conclusions and thinks I'm a murderer."

"Aunt Bella I love you but would you honestly have told her if she approached you? From my discussions with her, it seems you weren't very forthcoming with the details of your past."

"The details of my past are enough to scare any woman off. If I had it my way, Hermione never would've found any of this out. To answer your question, I would've been pissed at her for looking through my shit but I would've preferred a confrontation over her lying to me."

"Well you could always message her."

"Me? Message her? Are you mad? She obviously thinks I'm some deranged murderer. I should just let her go. She doesn't deserve to get pulled into my baggage."

"Aunty." Tonks started as she sat down on the couch. "I haven't seen you this happy ever. Hermione was wrong and owes you an explanation and a major major apology but you owe it to yourself to see this relationship through. No matter the outcome."

Bella sighed and put the journal down on the desks. She opened it and looked at that picture of herself. "I don't know, Dora. I need some time to think. I think I'll head to the cottage. If Cissy comes looking for me, tell her where I am. If Hermione comes, you make that call."

Tonks nodded and left Bella alone with her thoughts. She needed an escape, just a few days' way to think things through. She picked up her phone. There were no messages from Hermione. "Figures." She texted Tonks to say she was leaving her cellphone behind and to call her on the landline if she needed her.

———————

It had been a week. One week since Hermione found out part of Bella's secret. One week since she got caught in her lie and one week since she's last spoken to her girlfriend or showed up for work. She had been too much of a coward to show her face at work assuming she still had a job. She didn't even have the nerve to contact Tonks whom she felt was the least intimidating of the Black women. Hermione had settled on going to class and the library then returning home and locking herself in her room. She wouldn't even speak to Ginny.

Ginny had enough of Hermione's bullshit on the sixth day of being locked in her room. She was banging on Hermione's door. "Get out here. Stop acting like a stroppy teenager and come out here and talk through whatever happened like an adult."

"Go away, Ginny." A small voice from the other side of the door.

"Either you are going to come out or I'm going to break down the door." Ginny listened for footsteps. "I'm not joking, Hermione. You've seen The Shining, right?"

"I think she's serious." Hermione heard the airy voice of Luna join in the conversation. "She asked me if we had access to an ax or a hatchet."

The two girls heard a dramatically loud sigh and the sound of heavy footsteps. The door clicked open and Ginny pushed inside. "See? Now was that so hard?"

"Actually, yes. It was." Hermione scrunched her nose up in distaste.

"Come on," Ginny said as she grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her over to the couch. "Sit." Ginny instructed as she sat down facing Hermione on the couch with the feet tucked under her. "Now… talk."

"Ginny, we can't force her to share if she doesn't want to."

"The hell we can't! She's been moping around for a week."

"It might help to talk, Hermione." Luna encouraged her friend.

Hermione's head hit the back of the couch and she closed her eyes. "I'm not even sure where to begin or what even happened."

"I find starting at the beginning to be the most helpful." Luna smiled at Hermione. "Why did Bella think you were sick?"

"I told her that I was sick and that I was missing class."

"Well what did you go and do that for?" Ginny asked. "Anyone who knows you in the slightest knows you wouldn't skip class unless you were dying. Bella probably thought you must have been really sick to try to make you soup."

"I didn't expect her to show up here! And to find out she was worried made it even worse." Hermione said defensively. "I made a really stupid mistake."

"Aside from lying?" Ginny smirked.

Hermione shot Ginny a glare that wiped the stork off of her face. "Bella was off the last day I went into the office. Apparently she takes every Wednesday off. I tried to talk to Tonks about it but she wasn't spilling any details."

"Okay but that doesn't seem harmful. Asking Tonks about her Aunt didn't hurt anyone…"

"I'm not done." Hermione interrupted Ginny and continued. "Tonks had another client coming so I excused myself to Bella's office to study and I fell asleep. Bella had texted me and told me if I wanted to stay over to get the spare key out of her desk." Hermione was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. "I didn't mean to start snooping. Everything happened so fast."

"Oh Hermione, you didn't." Luna quietly stated.

"Forget about that. What details did you find out that had you running and lying."

"Well, I was sitting at her desk and I saw that her desktop calendar had the appointment on it."

"And?" Ginny asked, leaning in.

"Her weekly Wednesday afternoon appointments are with Minerva McGonagall."

Hermione was staring at Ginny. Ginny was lost so she turned to look at Luna. "Do you know who that is?"

"Am I supposed to?"

"Guys, I know both of you had to take Psych 101. Minerva McGonagall is a famous criminal psychologist. She's known for helping criminals clear their names."

"So you got spooked by a name on her calendar." Ginny asked with a slightly amused tone to her voice.

"Well… not exactly. After I saw the name… I…" Hermione sighed and hung her head in shame. "I looked through her personal stuff and came across a journal. It belonged to some girl named Lily. There was a newspaper clipping. It read: girl, 25, dead. Girlfriend arrested for conspiracy to murder. There was a mugshot of Bella. I freaked out, put it all back and left."

The three women sat in silence for what seemed like forever digesting Hermione's words.

"Did you google it?" Luna asked.

"No. I've been too much of a coward to read any further into it. I just like Bella so much and I'm afraid of what I might find out."

"Do you think she's capable of murder?" Ginny asked, sounding concerned for the first time.

"I don't know, Ginny. It's not like I really know anything about her past. She's done a good job at keeping everything from me."

"Maybe she was just afraid that this would've been your reaction if you found anything out." Ginny reached her hand out to rub Hermione's shoulder. "I've only had a few encounters with her but she seems to really care about you. And she never gave me creepy serial killer vibes."

"She must care about you if she brought you soup. She looked really gutted when I told her you weren't sick."

"I feel awful about that I really do. She hasn't tried to message me this week."

"Do you really blame her for that?" Ginny asked.

"No. I suppose I don't." Hermione sighed. "What would you do? She could be a murderer."

"Could be but you don't know because you didn't stick around long enough to find out." Ginny pointed out.

"Damn. I really fucked this one up. I suppose I could send her a message. Thanks guys. This has been really helpful. I know now that I need to hear Bella out whatever the outcome and apologize for being a git."

Hermione excused herself and headed back to her room to get her phone. She sat down on her bed and pulled up Bella's contact info. She sat with her phone in her lap for ten minutes before she shook her head, closed out the screen and text Tonks.

9:45pm

Tonks. Help. I really really fucked up. I'm sure you heard all about it by now.

9:47pm

She's alive. Hasn't text. Hasn't stopped by. Didn't bother showing up for work. It's a wonder you still have a job.

9:48pm

I don't have any excuse other than being a chicken and a complete shitty person.

9:50pm

well that's a start. Yes I did hear about what happened. Bella came storming back all bitchy then found her journal out of place. She put two and two together and figured you lied because you jumped to your own conclusions.

9:52pm

Can you blame me though?

9:53pm

I don't think lying to my aunt was the best move, love. She has major trust issues. She has a whole past life that you don't know about but I know after you saw that article you passed judgment quickly. If you would've just talked to her she would've told you everything.

9:55pm

fuck. I need to apologize. I should come over.

9:56pm

She left. She's not in town.

9:56pm

oh. I could call her.

9:57pm

she didn't take her phone. I'm not going to give her the number where she is staying.

9:57pm

Okay, well nice talking to you.

10:00pm

if I know my aunt, she's been drinking all week and feeling sorry for herself. You don't want to talk to her right now. My aunt and my mum are going to get her tomorrow to sober her up and bring her ass home.

10:01pm

okay. So should I wait for her to message me?

10:01pm

that might be best. I'll text you if I find anything out. Take care Hermione.

10:01pm

Thanks, Tonks.

10:02pm

oh and don't be a shitty person anymore. It's not a good look on you.

10:02pm

Yeah, I know.

—————————

The next morning Narcissa was standing outside of Bella's cottage for the past 20 minutes. Alongside her was a shorter woman with mid length straight black hair. Narcissa had been trying and failing to get Bella to pick up the house phone for the past four days.

"Enough is enough Cissy." The dark haired woman said.

"Well what do you suggest Andy? She's obviously upset and won't answer the phone: we've been knocking on the door for 20 minutes." Cissy said exasperated.

"You are being too nice about it." Andy started banging on the door and yelling at an alarming loud rate. "Trixie. Get your ass out here now and open this fucking door."

"Don't call her that. You know she hates it." Cissy scolded her middle sister.

Andy broke into a mischievous smile. "Exactly Cissy. It should be just annoying enough to get her off her ass." She started pounding on the door again. "Trixie. You open this door right now or we will call the police to come and break it down."

They heard a loud bang come from inside the cottage and what sounded like a glass bottle hitting the ground and shattering. They heard grumbling from the other side of the door as the lock clicked open. Bella was standing behind the door squinting in the sunlight. She was wearing an oversized black off the shoulder sweatshirt and a pair of baggy sweatpants. Her hair was wild with curls everywhere and dark bags under her eyes completed her look. "What the fuck are you two doing here?"

"Is that any way to welcome your sisters?" Andy smirked.

"Aren't you going to let us in?" Cissy added.

"Whatever." Bella said, opening the door and staggering over to the kitchen counter to grab a couple of aspirin and a glass of water from the tap. "You do remember there's a spare key under the little wolf statue out there."

Andy glared at Narcissa. "Obviously that slipped our baby sister's mind." Narcissa shrugged and smiled. "Oh well no harm done, Trixie."

"Call me that one more time and they will never be able to find your body, Andromeda." Bella grumbled, throwing back her aspirin and washing them down. "Come here to rescue me?"

"No. We were worried about you. I've been trying to call you for four days now, Bella. Forgive me for caring."

"I'm fine, Cissy. Thriving up here actually. Can't you see?" Bella said, waving her arms around at the empty alcohol bottles and takeaway containers scattered around the living room and kitchen counter.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"No. Not really."

"So are you planning on staying here and drinking yourself to death?" Andy asked in a slight teasing tone with an underlying tone of care.

"She found Lily's journal." Bella poured herself a tumbler of whiskey and walked past her sisters to sit on the couch.

Narcissa reached out to pluck the glass from her hands. "It's 9am, Bella. We are done with this now."

"Surprise. It's sober time." Andy smirked looking at the irritated face of her older sister.

"Fine. Take it." Bella shoved the glass into Cissy's open hand. "I didn't want it anyways." Bella stuck her chin up petulantly as she sat down on the sofa.

"She found the journal?" Cissy asked with worry in her voice.

"Yes. And that newspaper clipping with my wonderfully gorgeous mugshot after being arrested for murder."

"Conspiracy to murder. It's different." Andy corrected.

"It doesn't fucking matter what the charge was… does it?" Bella spat out.

"Why do you say that, Bella?" Cissy asked carefully.

"Because she took one look at my mugshot and fucked right off. She told me she was sick. I'm sure Dora told you the rest."

"Yes. She mentioned it." Narcissa confirmed. "And we both agree that it was wrong for Hermione to lie to you."

"I can't say I blame her. I'd have ran too if I found out the person I was shagging was a murderer."

"Stop saying that." Narcissa admonished her sister. "Minerva did her job. We all know you loved Lily more than life itself. Nobody ever suspected you of killing her."

"Except those bastards who locked you up." Andy added.

"That's not really helpful, Andromeda." Cissy glared at her.

"Noted." Andy nodded. "She's right though, Bella. Anyone who knew you knew that you weren't guilty."

"Ten fucking years guys. I was in prison for ten fucking years. If it wasn't for Minerva, I'd still be rotting in that hellhole."

"Bella, why didn't you just tell Hermione in the first place?" Cissy asked gently.

"Hi. I'm Bella. I was accused of murdering my girlfriend. Oh and I spent ten years in prison. Would you like to sleep with me?" Bella rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's an amazing pickup line."

"Well obviously she still would've slept with you… you are a Black." Andy smirked and Bella nodded in consideration. "Seriously though. I haven't met her yet but my Dora talks so highly of her. Maybe you should just tell her everything and see what happens."

"But she lied to me. You know how I feel about that."

"We do, Bella. But do you love this girl?" Cissy asked moving to sit next to her oldest sister, putting her arm around her shoulders out of comfort.

"I don't know. That last night we spent together I was so close to telling her that I loved her." Bella sighed. "Nothing has changed there. I just know she's young and deserves so much better than what I can offer her."

"That's rubbish and you know it, Bella." Andy said coming to sit on Bella's other side. "You have come such a long way from where you were during your relationship with Lily. Back then you were a different person and incapable of loving someone properly. I've seen the changes myself. Dora even talks about how happy you've been the past few months."

"Bella, if she means as much to you as we suspect, you at least deserve to hear her explanation for lying." Cissy saw Bella nod and continued, "and it seems like you have quite a few things to tell her yourself."

"I never wanted to have to have this conservation with her. She was already so quick to jump to conclusions and leave. What's to stop her from hearing the whole truth and leaving anyway?"

"Nothing I suppose but you won't know if you don't have this difficult conversation with the girl."

Bella sighed. "You are right Cissy."

"Hey. I helped too." Andy said, almost offended.

"You helped too." Bella kissed Andy on her forehead.

"Yuck." Andy said, wiping off the kiss dramatically. "So this alcohol induce pity party is over?"

Bella shoved Andy with her shoulder. "Oh piss off. You are just mad I didn't invite you to the party. I know you could drink me under the table. I just wanted to make sure there was enough whiskey for me." Andy laughed and reached around to hug both of her sisters. Bella let it last for a few moments before she broke free. "Okay enough of this mushy shit. I took a train here then an Uber… so who's driving? I'm probably still drunk."

"Let's go. I drove us up here. You'll have time to sleep off the remaining booze in the car and text Hermione when we get back." Cissy said standing up.

Bella walked to the bedroom and threw all of her clothes and her laptop in her bag. "All right. Let's go."

The women left the cottage. "Shotgun!" Andy shouted running towards Narcissa's Jeep.

"What a brat." Bella said, smiling at her sister. "Can we stop for some coffee?" Bella asked Cissy as they neared the car.

"Of course we can, love. Get in." Narcissa unlocked the doors and everyone settled to begin the two hour journey home.

The two hour journey for Bella was full of bullshitting, many cups of coffee and a well deserved nap. Narcissa dropped Bella off in front of the Dark Mark. "Don't forget, Bella. If you need us for anything, don't wait. We will come immediately.

"And." Andy spoke up. "If things go south and I need to kick Hermione's ass, just say the word."

"Thanks guys. For everything." Bella waved goodbye to her sisters and walked in to find Dora working on a back piece. "Dora! You managed to keep the shop from burning to the ground."

"Good to see you too, Aunty." Tonks said smiling but not looking up from her work. "It's been quiet around here without you."

"Hmm," Bella said in acknowledgment as she walked over to check the pile of mail waiting for her. There was nothing important.

"Everything okay?" Tonks spoke up again.

"Not yet. But I'm hoping it will be." Bella said earnestly. "Did she call?"

"No." Tonks looked up then to see a frown on her Aunt's face. "But she texted me. She feels bloody awful for what she did. And honestly she should. What a cowardly way to handle a situation." Bella nodded in agreement but didn't say anything. "She wanted to call you to apologize but I advised her it was better for her to wait for you to reach out."

"Thanks, Dora. For everything." Bella started to excuse herself. "I'm going to go upstairs to sleep the rest of the day away. Come get me if there are any problems."

"Will do." Tonks mock saluted her and winked and went back to looking at her piece of art.

When Bella had made it into her apartment, she threw her bag onto the floor and went straight to plop herself into the middle of her end. "Ahh it's good to be home." Bella reached over to her bedside table to pick up her phone. She saw no missed calls nor texts and she sighed. "Well I suppose I was expecting that." Bella laid in her bed holding her phone to her chest for several minutes before admonishing herself. "Don't be a pussy, Bella. Just rip off the fucking bandaid and text her."

2:48pm

we need to talk…