Hermione shuffled through the parchments that contained some information on her patients. It wasn't much, though. Lupin also informed her that some parchments flew out of the window when there was a nasty storm and he left the window open.
Honestly, Hermione had no idea how this place could work. The staff wasn't capable of making informed decisions and she was sure the prison would be overruled if the prisoners had their wands. All the boys in Auror training were sweet, but not very efficient. They also didn't really care about this place. They just wanted to do their time and be gone.
Ron was a nice boy that often blushed and tried to have her back, but his spell work really needed a lot of work. It was fine here where nothing could really harm him, but she couldn't imagine how he would survive in the field.
Of course, Hermione realized she was no better than any of them because she was a trainee herself, but unlike them she wanted to stick around even after she finished her course. Azkaban was supposed to be her place of work even after training.
She wandlessly cast a warming charm because she was always cold and thought about how many prisoners were capable of wandless magic. Probably none of them because if they were, they surely wouldn't be locked up anymore. They would escape the first chance they got. At least I don't have to worry about that.
Hermione finished her cup of coffee and waited for the Auror to bring her first patient of the day into her office. Sessions here were so informal and she hated it. There was supposed to be a separate room! But of course, who was she kidding. Nothing would ever change here. At least she filed a request for a sofa. She also made a mental note to bring some pictures and paintings from home to make it a little more cozy. She would be spending most of her time here anyway.
There was a knock on the door and Dean walked in with Bellatrix in tow. He greeted her and then secured the prisoner to her chair. When he was sure the chains were securely locked, he gave Hermione a smile and left the office.
"So, how are you today, Madame Black?" Hermione asked, trying to swallow the lump in her throat that appeared whenever she looked at Bellatrix.. She really shouldn't be affected by someone's persona this much.
"I am well, Miss Granger, thank you for asking."
"That's good to hear," she replied and scribbled something in her notepad. Best muggle invention ever. "We will do something different today. I'd like to get to know you."
"Are we on a date?" Bellatrix grinned and batted her eyelashes.
"What?" Hermione choked.
"I'm only teasing, my sweet," she chuckled. "If we were on a date you would end up in my bed and we both know that's not happening here, is it?"
"Ehm, I …" she swallowed again and tried to calm her racing heart. This can't be happening every damn time.
"Shhh, don't stress yourself, little bird. Why won't you question me today?" she smirked and leaned back in her chair. Riling up the young woman was her new favorite sport.
Hermione cleared her throat before answering: "Because I'm here to work with the prisoners and help them if needed. I need to diagnose you in order to heal you."
"And what makes you think I want or need your help?" Bellatrix narrowed her eyes. She was locked up more willingly than anything else really. She was here because she wanted to be.
"I didn't say that, Bellatrix," Hermione replied steadily. "I think you're perfectly capable of functioning on your own. However, I need to specify your diagnosis and then treat you accordingly."
"I'm barking mad," she cackled. "That's my diagnosis."
"I don't think you are," the soul healer replied. "I've spoken with patients that are 'barking mad' as you put it," Hermione emphasized the words with air quotes, "and you don't really have the symptoms. You are way too logical for that."
"Is that so?" Bellatrix smiled.
"Mmmh," she nodded absently.
"Everyone says I am a madwoman, pet."
"Because you've made them believe it, not because you actually are."
The criminal smiled at that, revealing a set of perfect white teeth. "Well it's served me well. I have a single cell in a hidden area where no one really bothers me," Bellatrix shrugged. "Even the dementors didn't really bother to come there when they were still here." Wait, how come she saw through my façade just like that?
"See? Way too logical. And you're actually very aware of your actions," the soul healer interrupted her thoughts with an answer. "And I'm glad the soul suckers left you alone. Nasty creatures those…"
"I've had my share. Lupin liked to send them at me so he could study my screams," the woman said with a fire in her eyes. "He's the one I'll kill first when I'm out of here."
"What?!" Hermione gasped. "Surely he did no such a thing," she started to deny, but then thought better of it. "I mean," she cleared her throat. "I believe you, but I just can't grasp the concept. How could anyone put another soul through something like that."
Bellatrix smiled when the soul healer didn't accuse her of lying. It's what they all did if they didn't straight up ignored her. "Well, mankind is the worst species, pet. No other known species came up with so many ways to destroy each other. For fun, I might add."
"Not fun, power."
"Sometimes power, sometimes fun. For when I will kill precious Remus, I'll have enormous fun with it."
"I can only imagine," Hermione murmured and wrote a note in her notepad to revisit this potential murder later. "Your crime scenes were rather," she paused to search for the right word, "gruesome."
"I think you meant artistic," she grinned widely.
"I haven't seen one," the girl replied. "I only know what I've heard. Or read in Daily Prophet."
"Really? Well then I'll save you a seat next time," the criminal winked.
"No need, Bellatrix, thank you," Hermione wrinkled her nose. Only now was she truly reminded who sat opposite of her. Bellatrix wasn't just a sexy woman she met in a bar, Bellatrix was dangerous and unpredictable. "I do remember one particular detail of your murder actually," she said deep in thought, rolling the pen between her fingers.
"Enlighten me," the criminal leaned over the table and placed her head on her hands. The sound of chains rattling startled the young woman again. She could also see the bruised wrists from the where the metal bit into Bellatrix's skin. She let that one slip, though. For now.
"You cut off the man's penis," she said and tried very hard not to blush, "and shoved it in his mouth before slitting his throat. Why?"
"I think this one is quite obvious," Bellatrix breathed out and cocked her head to the side. "Make an educated guess."
"Something along the line 'you are what you eat?"
"Ha!" the woman cackled loudly. "I didn't actually think of that," she said and then added: "Well, maybe I did, somewhere deep inside. But the main reason was that he tried to rape me."
Hermione tried to keep her composure after the revelation, but she failed. The anger was hot and burning. "I guess I would have done the same," she replied through gritted teeth.
"Cut his dick off and shove it down his throat?" Bellatrix chuckled.
"Well, not quite," she blushed. "But I'd murder him too."
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. What a fine soul healer this young woman was.
"Perhaps you should be locked up here with me then."
"Perhaps," Hermione chuckled dryly.
It's been a long week of getting to know her patients and working with them. She's met most of the prisoners and come up with diagnoses for each and every one of them. She just had to meet with two more today and then she would have met all of them.
Ron tried to keep her company when he had a shift and she found him oddly sweet. He stopped by to greet her this morning too and if she was being truthful she really appreciated it. She was about to meet the boy that she tried to postpone for as long as possible. She dreaded this session.
"Can I call you 'Mione?" Ron asked when they were finishing their morning coffee. Hermione always made one cup for him when she knew he would be working.
"I guess?" she gave him a tentative smile.
"Okay," he smiled back. "What's your agenda today? Do you have a session with Bellatrix?"
"Yes, I do. Right after lunch."
"Nasty, that one," Ron furrowed his brow.
"She's quite cooperative actually. Grayback's worse."
"Really? How can he be any worse than her?"
"I can't really discuss that with you, Ron," she replied with a small smile. He meant no harm.
"Right," he sighed. "I guess we better get going, huh," he said when he checked the clock. "Hope there will be no drama today."
"There rarely is," she replied more to herself than to him. Today could get dramatic, though. Very soon actually.
"Thankfully. Well, I'd better go fetch Harry. He's your first today, right?"
"Indeed. Thank you," she sighed and rubbed her temples. Here goes nothing.
When Harry Potter entered her office he smiled widely upon seeing her. "Hermione!" he cheered and went to hug her. She stopped him before he could pass the table.
"Harry, please, have a seat," she motioned towards the vacant chair opposite of her desk.
"Oh, okay," he slumped, but sat down. "I'm just so happy to see you! You need to get me out of here!"
"I don't have the authority to do that," she explained calmly.
"Why not? I am innocent! You know I am innocent," he shrieked.
"I want you to go back to the day it happened. What do you see? Truly."
"Voldemort killing Cedric," he replied with so much conviction that she would believe him if she didn't know better.
"But that's not what happened, Harry. You killed him."
"No, it was Voldemort! You really need to get me out of here!" he stood up and looked desperately at her. She almost felt bad that he didn't have the chains as Bellatrix did to keep him down.
"Please, sit down. I'm here to help you."
"The only way you can help me is by letting me out! I need to find him and kill him before he kills more of my friends or me!"
"You've been here for years and he hasn't killed any of your friends, Harry. Why do you think that is?"
"He … I guess he's still looking for me! And if that's the case then you are in danger. YOU NEED TO LET ME OUT! RELEASE ME NOW!" he shouted and that's when Ron barged into the office and stunned him.
"Can you escort him back please?" she asked, trying to keep her cool in front of him.
"Sure, 'Mione," he nodded and levitated his petrified body.
Only when they were both gone did she let the tear roll out of her eye. Harry Potter was her classmate. A generous and kind kid with an uneasy past. He was faced with traumatizing events when he was just an infant and then bullied and assaulted by his own aunt and uncle.
Harry killed their schoolmate in only their fourth year, claiming Voldemort did it. They locked him up in Azkaban right away. This prison was the only place for wizards to go to. No one cared about their mental state, no one cared about their age. There was simply no other place to send the minors and mentally unstable.
It was horrific to see her friend being taken away from the school in chains by Aurors, him screaming he didn't do it and that she needed to help him.
Their session ended prematurely so she had some time to get a grip on herself before meeting the last remaining patient – Antonin Dolohov.
She had to take care of the whole prison now because Lupin just threw everything at her. He resigned yesterday because she managed to get Bellatrix to talk. Something about a man's pride and ego, she guessed.
No one was here to guide her, no one would really help. But she was used to it, she could do it.
"What's on your mind, my sweet?" Bellatrix questioned just when the door closed behind Ron, leaving them alone for the session. She was studying the woman on the other side of the table. She could see something was bothering Hermione right after she entered the office.
"It's nothing," the soul healer replied and tried to focus on her current patient. So much for being professional. She just couldn't get Harry out of her mind. He was in such bad shape. Bellatrix always seemed radiant, beautiful, somehow taken care of. It was such a huge contrast to Harry's dirty striped cloth, broken glasses and true desperation in his eyes.
"Hmm, try again," she narrowed her eyes.
"We're here to talk about you, not me," Hermione smiled softly.
"Well, you want to get to know me and I want to get to know you."
"I don't want to eat away of your time. It's nothing, really."
"If it's nothing then you can tell me," she winked.
"I shouldn't. Everything is confidential, you know."
"Well I'm counting on that," the criminal chuckled.
"Right," Hermione sighed. "It's just… I have a classmate here and he's very persistent I let him out. Which first of all, I can't do and second of all, he did commit the murder."
"Persistent? Did he hurt you?" she hissed.
"No, he's more talk than action, but I can't do what he wants me to do. I agree he shouldn't be here because he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia - he should be in a facility that deals with the mentally ill, but unfortunately we don't have such a place in the wizarding world," she said through gritted teeth.
"He suffers what now?" the raven-haired woman raised her eyebrows in confusion.
"Right, muggle thing," Hermione sighed.
"So how would you know that?"
"I've been taking courses at a muggle university during the summer. Muggles try to understand the mind. Wizards only try to penetrate it, bend it or manipulate it."
"Well it's quite handy if you ask me," she winked.
"Maybe, but magic doesn't make us immune to mental issues. And our world is completely blind to it."
"Because no one knows or cares. So, this troubled kid… why can't you release him?"
"Besides the obvious, he's obsessed over the idea that Voldemort wants to kill him," she slumped in her chair.
"And does he?" she asked even though she knew the answer.
"I truly doubt that."
"We're on the same page then. I'm pretty sure Tom has nothing to do with him," Bellatrix said her thought aloud.
Hermione scribbled 'Tom' in her notepad and was pleased that even though they were not talking about Bellatrix, she got some new information to explore later. "Well, Voldemort did kill his parents when he was just an infant. And Harry saw it. He saw everything. It was such a traumatizing experience for him that his mind just … well, the coping mechanisms are very strange sometimes. I believe it triggered his mental illness."
"I say let him out," the criminal grinned, trying to have a look at what the young woman wrote down.
"First of all, I really don't have the authority. And second of all, he wants to hunt and kill Voldemort."
"I gathered that. It might be fun to watch him try," she laughed.
"Very funny, Bellatrix."
"It is quite strange that Tom went after his parents, though. He usually keeps a low profile."
"I think they wanted to expose him. Someone snitched them out."
"Well that's not nice! Snitches get stitches."
"No one still knows who did it," Hermione replied quietly. "And how do you know whom I'm talking about?"
"Oh darling, you just told me so," Bellatrix smirked. "Dead parents, infant present, fear of exposure… I didn't live under a rock, you see. Everyone in the wizarding world knows the story of Harry Potter."
"You can't say anything, I –"
"Would you relax, pet?" Bellatrix said gently. "You didn't tell me, I came to my own conclusion. I also know itty bitty baby Potter is here so it only makes sense. Plus, I don't kiss and tell."
"I could get in trouble."
"With whom exactly? Kingsley? That set foot here only because you joined when we hadn't seen him in months before? Or maybe Lupin that just chickened out? I'm quite aware you're alone here, little bird."
"How do you know all of that?" Hermione swallowed.
"I have my ways," the criminal winked. "You're safe, I promise."
Hermione tried not to tremble under the gaze and information Bellatrix just shared. She looked at the clock and almost apologetically said: "Ehm, our time is up. I'm sorry that I rambled throughout our whole session."
"No need to apologize, pet," the raven-haired woman smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow," she blew her a kiss before shouting: "Weasel, I'm ready!"