Fall into Darkness

Chapter 7: Arsenic

To say that Bellatrix didn't have an easy night had been putting it lightly. First she woke up after her nightmare and spent some time making sure her throat was still intact. The second time she'd been woken up by a dog crawling into bed with her. Apparently, Max had decided to travel back and forth between Bellatrix' bed upstairs and Nymphadora's folding couch downstairs to maximize the amount of cuddles received. Rather than sleeping, she had decided to put her efforts into memorizing the map of the local area, finding the coal mine and all manner of locations and landmarks so she could get around in a pinch if need be. Some places, some mountains, would be recognisable even in the darkest of nights. She was determined not be caught helpless in the dark again.

Morning finally came, after what seemed to be an age and a half.

Of course, Nymphadora had insisted on bringing that bloody dog with her into town. After some light breakfast in Bright Falls, Bellatrix had indeed managed to find a good replacement for her missing diary. After that, Nymphadora had dropped her off at the cabin again so she could work on forging her diary in peace while she herself would head into town to do her detective stuff. Bellatrix had spent a few hours to make the diary look used with cantrips and had filled a page or ten with some random gibberish when she heard barking outside and a car stopping on the road.

A rather smug looking Nymphadora strode out of the car moving like a peacock in heat. Behind her, the dog Max was pushing his muzzle through a side door window that was slightly ajar. Max barked happily when seeing Bellatrix.

That was one out of two, at least.

"Hope you didn't put too much effort in that forgery, because I know where your diary is!" Nymphadora announced smugly. "Get in the car, it's only twenty minutes out from here."

Of course, the bloody dog assaulted her with his smelly tongue the moment she took the passenger seat. After gently pushing the dog back to the backseat, she fastened her seatbelt and Nymphadora took to the road.

They passed the empty cabins and the remnants of the visitor's center. It looked far worse by daylight with a gaping hole smashed through the front of the building, poles knocked over, ranger station ransacked, cabins empty, cars destroyed and not a living soul around for miles. Nymphadora couldn't help but sigh. "Shouldn't we report this?" Nymphadora muttered. "I feel we should report this."

"And what would we even say to Sheriff Breaker?" Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "A tornado of darkness smashed its way through Elden Wood, consumed all the people there and turned them into shadow-creatures which we put down and then they disappeared?"

"Well, since you put it that way," sighed Nymphadora. "I'll save it for my report to MACUSA before I leave. Still doesn't feel right, though."

Max whined softly when looking at the visitor's center one last time before Nymphadora took to the road. At first, Bellatrix took some time to look around the mountains and the forests in the distance. She took note of high mountain tops, truck-stops, radio-towers and collections of buildings in the distance. She saw the old abandoned coal-mine in the distance and took note of its location in relation to one of the radio towers. All these things were where she expected them to be. It looked as if studying the map was playing off as she was correct that the local trainyard was quite near the coal-mine. She did notice one thing, though.

"Where are we going, exactly?" said Bellatrix. "We seem to be headed away from Bright Falls."

"To one of the local trailer parks," said Nymphadora. "Remember Rose, from the Oh Deer Diner? She certainly remembers you. And she said she has your diary. Apparently you left it at the diner when you first arrived here and she's been trying to get a hold of you for a week."

Bellatrix gave her niece an incredulous look. "I left a diary documenting my inner most thoughts and my most private ruminations at a dodgy diner in a pustule of a country town. Because that really sounds like something I definitely would do."

Nymphadora snorted. "Need I remind you about the time someone forgot their baby at the dragon sanctuary and it was found happily crawling around in a nest with newly hatched dragon-pups? People lose all sort of important things for any reason. And even if it's not your diary, well, she might have useful information."

Bellatrix snorted. "She's a waitress in a diner. What would she know?"

Nymphadora gave her a smug look. "That's exactly the type of person we want to talk to. Hotel receptionists, bartenders, shopkeepers and waitresses. They meet everyone, see everything and remember it all. In fact, I found all sorts of things from the bartender of the local dive, once I firmly reminded him where my eyes were."

"Charming," said Bellatrix with a raised eyebrow.

"It's about the island…"

A buzz sounded from Bellatrix' coat pocket, causing the dog to bark helpfully. Hermione's phone was still in her pocket and it was playing that awful song again.

"Going to answer that?" her niece said, giving her a bemused look. "Do you even know how?"

"I know how those things work!" Bellatrix challenged, fished the phone out of her pocket and fiddled with it a lot longer than she would have liked.

By the time her niece was starting to laugh at her, she managed to answer the call. "Miss Black?" sounded from the phone. "This is sheriff Sarah Breaker. I'm afraid I don't have any news about your missing girlfiend yet. I'm calling you because an agent Robert Nightingale is here to see you. He's FBI."

"FBI?" Bellatrix frowned.

"He's quite… anxious to see you. You'd better come to the station as soon as you can."

After ending the phonecall, Bellatrix replaced the phone in her pocket.

"Bonkers. FBI?" Nymphadora spoke incredulously. "What the bloody hell did you do?!"

"I didn't do a thing!" Bellatrix protested. "I… suppose I'm missing a week worths of memories, but I'm sure if I did something warranting the attention of the FBI, the sheriff would have never let me leave the station. Are you sure he isn't one of yours?"

Nymphadora shook her head. "Nah. I came here alone. But the FBI has zero jurisdiction over magical folks. Nothing to worry about. I have full permission to act on the DMLE's behalf on US soil and if this agent Nightingale has problems with this, then tough. I have full backing of MACUSA and my authority supersedes his by a factor of ten. Technically speaking, auntie, you are in my custody."

Bellatrix chuckled. "Somehow I suspect it won't be that easy. But we have more pressing concerns to worry about anyway."

A minute or two later, they drove into the parking lot belonging to the trailer park. Though the trailer park itself was surrounded by a lovely forest, the park itself was a decidedly sad sight. The park was small, containing something like twenty trailers. That trailers were supposed to be mobile was a bit of a technicality, since it seemed these were permanently grounded small wooden buildings. Was this wood? Or was this aluminium? In any case, these things were eyesores surrounded by a small waist-high chainlink fence which would fall over when a bear would cough against it from a five meter distance. Most of these trailers were decades old and looked the part.

"People live like this?" Bellatrix made a face.

Nymphadora shrugged. "Your Azkaban cell was smaller."

"I had no choice in that matter," said Bellatrix. "And my Swedish cell was small, but a lot nicer than these… things."

Indeed, there were a few trailer parks in Helena, but those were an upper class neighborhood compared to this particular park.

After letting the dog out of the car, a man in his fifties came out of a small wooden office building and headed towards them. He was pudgy, short and bald and from the way he walked Bellatrix surmised that he had a false leg. With a voice born from decades of chainsmoking, the man spoke with a rather defensive and wary tone. "Can I help you ladies?"

"We're here to see Rose," said Nymphadora.

"Who wants to know?" asked the man. "I'm Randolph, the manager and owner of this place."

"You must be so proud…" Bellatrix muttered under her breath.

"Nymphadora Tonks," said her niece. "And this is my aunt Bellatrix Black."

Randolph snorted, taking a moment to spit on the ground. "What the hell kinda weird-ass names are that?!"

"British names," Bellatrix grit her teeth. Her patience with this idiot was fast coming to an end. "Though I'm as American as apple pie these day."

Randolph narrowed his eyes. "Well, they just let anyone in these days."

Bellatrix scoffed and looked around the trailer park. "Yes, I can see why so many people want to come to this fine land of yours. If you want to keep the riff-raff out, you should consider building a wall."

"A wall?" Nymphadora crossed her arms. "What if they bring ladders?"

"Make the wall higher."

"Extendable ladders?"

"Higher still."

"Grappling hooks?"

Bellatrix thought a moment. "Turn the wall into the massive dome covering all of the trailer park. And no airholes either. They can climb in through there."

"What if they decide to dig a tunnel?"

Bellatrix shrugged. "Make the wall deeper."

Eyes turning to the pathetic fence, a muggle lightbulb seemingly appeared over the man's bald head. "A wall, huh? That's a darn good idea! Someone needs run for office with that idea."

Bellatrix shrugged. "If someone does, let everybody know it was originally my idea and he stole to from me."

"Anyway, you were here to see Rose, right?" said Randolph. "Nice girl. Always pays her rent on time."

"We just want to talk," said Nymphadora. "In fact, she invited us here. She has something that belongs to us and she brought it home from the diner. She said she would give it back to us."

Randolph seemed reluctant, but relented enough to lead them into the trailer park. And by Merlin, it was even worse on the inside. Wrecks of long abandoned cars, all manner of filth on undetermined origins spread all over the ground. Empty cardboard boxes, loose tires, empty cans. Good Merlin, was that a dead raccoon rotting away in that cul-de-sac? What a pisshole. Who'd live here? And why the bloody hell was her niece so excited to be here?

"Auntie, I was telling you in the car about my chat with the bartender. Found out all sorts of things from the newspaper too. There's a crazy amount of disappearances and mysterious deaths going back for almost a century. And, get this, most of those happen close to Cauldron Lake," said Nymphadora. "Found out about your island too. It was owned by a man called Thomas Zane."

Bellatrix stopped in her tracks for a moment. Thomas Zane? "I've heard that name before somewhere," said Bellatrix as she continued walking.

"Apparently quite a famous writer and poet, award winning according to a few newspaper clipping they kept in a shoebox for some reason, but I did a couple of other searches and I found absolutely nothing this guy ever wrote. It's like he and everything about him just fell off the bloody Earth after the Seventies. I did find out he was apparently into diving. So much so that the place was called Diver's isle. But the volcano erupted in 1970 and Zane went down with the island."

As they rounded about they corner, they were met with a rather odd sight. Lain on the ground, blocking entry further into the park, was a sailboat lying on its side. Aside from the fact that this looked decidedly out of place, it was also a lot newer than the other derelict vehicles found around this trailer park. The bottom side of the hull showed signs of it having been recently in the water, though this trailer park wasn't anywhere near the water. Its mast lay neatly nestled in between two trailers.

"How about that, huh?" said Randolph as he took off his hat and scratched his bald head for a moment. "It was just there this morning as if it's fallen out of the sky. Nobody even heard a goddamn thing, believe it or not. It'd take a tornado to lift something like that, or a big-ass forklift. We were lucky no trailers were even hit."

Bellatrix and Nymphadora shared a look. They had witnessed something that could lift that thing in the air last night. Did it mean that the darkness in the forest had been here too yesterday?

Randolph guided them towards a small garden-path behind another trailer, leading around the blocked off main path. "Anyway, I was telling you about Zane," said Nymphadora as they walked. "It gets better. A local girl, Barbara Jagger, drowned in the lake just a week before the eruption."

Immediately, Bellatrix was hit with the mental image of Hermione sinking down into the dark depths of her lake. The fear in her eyes as Bellatrix desperately tried to reach her. The dark witch pushed it away to the back of her mind with some effort. "How does that fit any definition of better?!" Bellatrix snapped at her niece before she took a moment to calm herself.

Nymphadora held up her hands. "Bear with me on this. They were lovers."

Randolph snorted. "It's all bullshit. Jagger's a local spook story. The cackling hag. Comes for you in the dark, shit like that. Scares the kids, entices the tourists. We get ghost-hunters camping at the side of the lake all the time."

Nymphadora shot the man a lot before ignoring him again. "Anyway, auntie, I'm just getting to the best part. All of the articles about Zane, the eruption, the aftermath. All of those were written by Cynthia Weaver."

Weaver… Weaver? Bellatrix frowned. "That barmy old lightbulb bint?"

"Oh, be nice," Randolph shrugged. "She can be a little nutty, but she's not dangerous or anything."

"Anyway, auntie, she knew both Jagger and Zane before they died and she had some kind of a breakdown," Nymphadora said. "According to the bartender she's been obsessed with keeping lights on all over the town ever since the Seventies. Weird, huh?"

The trailer belonging to Rose was the same construction as all the others, but had been decorated with potted plants hung from the siding. A small well-maintained garden lay around the trailer which itself was notably cleaner than those of her neighbors. A small heart-shaped ornament hung from the bright red door with the name 'Rose' painted on it. Everything about this trailer screamed 'a girl lives here'.

"Well, here we are," said Randolph. "What do you want with her if you don't mind me asking? You said you came to pick something up, but I wonder if there's more to it than that."

Nymphadora narrowed her eyes. "Just here to talk to her, mate. Nothing to worry about. You can go back to doing whatever it is people who manage trailer parks do."

Randolph certainly didn't like that answer and scuttled off, often shooting the pair dirty looks over his shoulder. Bellatrix had watched the exchange with interest. "Charming as ever," she smirked wickedly. "You're… infatuated with this Rose woman, aren't you? Getting rid of the competition?"

Nymphadora's eyebrows shot up into her colour-changing hairline. The colour of her hair changed from a dark brown to a slightly reddish one… same colour as her cheeks. "Look, I…" she stammered.

"Hm-hmmm," Bellatrix crossed her arms, smirking as she did so while her niece tied the now whining dog's leash to a fence-post just outside the trailer. Max didn't like being leashed and had been agitated ever since her niece at put a collar around his neck. And now that he was tied down, her seemed even sadder. Bellatrix quite understood how Max felt: he'd always been free to go where ever he wanted and now suddenly the two witches he had befriended had tied him down. Aside from a pang of guilt, it felt like an absolute betrayal and promised herself she would treat him to a nice juicy steak as an apology as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

"I spent an entire morning talking to her, alright?" said Nymphadora. "She's about my age, only little bit younger, very pretty and is a lot smarter than she looks. Too good for this town, honestly. I mean… American chicks dig our British accents, alright? Makes us seem more wild and exotic than we actually are."

"Merlin's arse," Bellatrix buried her head in her palm and sighed through her nose. "You are trying to shag her."

Nymphadora seemed embarrassed but shot her a half-smile. "I mean… I wouldn't say 'no' to her. And who are you to judge, hm?! I'm not the one who's been shagging her counsellor. For years I might add! You haven't got a leg to stand on, innit!"

Bellatrix let out a grunt. "Let's just get this over with!" she snapped and moved to knock on the door to Rose's trailer. The moment they heard movement from the trailer, Nymphadora adjusted her leather jacket and leaned nonchalantly against the side of the the trailer in an attempt to look cool. In response, Bellatrix rolled her eyes so hard that they might have rolled right out of their sockets.

Rose opened the door, emerging from the darkened trailer. Slowly, she raised her head and forced a smile that was way too wide for her face. When she opened her mouth, her voice was dull and monotonous. "Welcome to Oh Deer…. Oh dear... miss Black. Nymphadora. I'm so glad you're here."

She didn't sound glad they were here. She didn't sound like there was much going on in her head at all. Nymphadora, of course, totally missed his and went into flirt-mode without a second thought. "Well, you know, you said you had something for us and we were in the neighborhood, so… Might I say, that really is a smashing blouse you have on!"

Really? That was her pick-up line? Smashing blouse, well shit, no doubt Rose's underwear must have become instantly drenched upon hearing that zinger of a line. Bellatrix made a mental note to teach her niece some of the tricks she had used back during her daring days in the Seventies. By the sound of it, Nymphadora could definitely use some pointers.

The inside of the trailer was just as girly as the outside, with plenty of pastels and stuffed animals strewn about the place. A large sofa snaked the entire sides of the narrow trailer's living space. Further down was the kitchen and what looked to be a bedroom through an open door in the back. Lots of dark corners too, which unnerved Bellatrix a little.

Even more unnerving were Rose's dull, lifeless eyes. There was something definitely not right about this woman. Of course, Nymphadora had gone into full-on flirt mode, laying on her accent a bit thicker than usual. Merlin, Nymphadora sounded like a bloody Cockney… that was no way for someone with a Mancunian background to speak.

"I love what you've done to this trailer," said Nymphadora eagerly. "You've really made the most of this small space and you've given it so much character."

Inwardly, Bellatrix just groaned. Mostly, she wanted her niece to stop embarrassing the family through her awful lines and talking like a complete southern wanker when delivering them.

"Thank you…" sounded the monotonous woman. "Do you want some coffee?"

"I think I would enjoy having coffee with you in the morning every single day," Nymphadora smiled eagerly.

Ah, that one was a tad better. Subtle, yet full of intent.

Two cups of coffee were poured after a quick visit to the kitchen. Rose walked the way she talked: as if she'd forgotten how. After pouring the cups, Bellatrix carefully took it in her hand. Before she even had a chance to smell it, Nymphadora poured an entire cup down her throat and eagerly asked for another one of her 'superb brews', which was quickly poured.

Bellatrix took a small sip and found it to be absolutely disgusting. The amount of sugar in it was staggering and yet there was a bitter undertaste to it all. After two sips, she'd had enough and put it down on the table. Of course, her niece was still making lovey-dovey eyes at Rose who was still as dull-eyed as ever. "Ahum," Bellatrix faux-coughed. "My niece said you had something for me? My diary, to be specific."

Rose turned her head to her, moving in a way that made Bellatrix think she was a mannequin. "I know what you need," spoke the waitress. "A muse to inspire you."

Bellatrix groaned and rolled her eyes. "I knew this was a sodding waste of time!" she exclaimed. "Nymphadora, she doesn't have a bloody thing for us! All you've done is chase after your own cunt!"

Nymphadora didn't respond. In fact, her head was lalling just before she slipped off the sofa and onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. Startled, Bellatrix' eyes turned to the coffee just as her limbs were starting to grow heavy. The coffee. The bloody coffee. As her own head started to lall, and her eyelids were growing heavy, she could only curse herself: Oldest trick in the book and she walked into it with open eyes.

She fell to the ground of the trailer and couldn't move, couldn't keep her eyes open. She wanted to curse, she wanted to hex. But all she could hear was Rose stood over her muttering in that monotonous voice of hers. "Welcome to the Oh Deer Diner. Can I get you anything? Some coffee perhaps?"

Bellatrix fought with all her might to stay awake, and lost this fight mere seconds later..

Today something had been decidedly different during Hermione's visits. Ever since Hermione had moved to Sweden to be closer to her work… which was Bellatrix… they would usually chat a bit before their session, to a point that some chats had become their entire session. As a Brit living in a Nordic country, there were some aspects of life that were baffling to her. The way she told it, Hermione had purchased a cozy apartment with a sleeping loft on the top floor of a building in the heart of Stockholm. For four months, she talked about her experiences of living here as they sat either in her cell, the kitchen or the yard outside.

Now sat in her cell, next to the bed, Hermione seemed distracted beyond measure.

"So, what's wrong with you?" demanded Bellatrix.

"Hm?" Hermione looked up from her notebook. "Sorry. I was thinking."

"Have I finally lost your interest?" Bellatrix challenged. "Have I become a bore to you? You might as well not be here!"

Hermione started for a moment, looking up to meet her eyes. She let out a heavy sigh, putting aside her clipboard. Hermione bit her lip for a moment, wondering if she should say anything. "I'm sorry," she finally said. "It's, uhm, a personal thing. Maybe I shouldn't have come today, but… I never missed a day and…"

"Something happened, did it?" Bellatrix chuckled. "Well, out with it. You've been listening to my bullshit for the past two years. Let me repay the favour for once."

Hermione seemed to appreciate that and sat up a little straighter. "Ever since I've moved to Sweden, I… I've been feeling a bit lonely. People are friendly enough, but… everybody I know is back home and I really only talk to my parents or to you. It's just… I'm twenty-three years old now and, well, I'm single. All around me, people are starting families. My friend Ginny is six months in. And I'm sat in an apartment alone with piles of books and a cat. So…"

Hermione paused a moment, seemingly embarrassed by what she was about to say. "So I tried online dating."

Bellatrix frowned. "What kind of dating?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "It'd take too long to explain. Suffice it to say, it's a way of meeting people. So. Someone had interest. We met up. Our first date went wonderfully. We talked about everything from our daily lives to the books we like to read. I thought we'd really hit it off. So we went on more dates. Our previous date ended with a kiss after a walk through the park and yesterday, we… we went back to my apartment to spend the night."

"Something happened there?" Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, fearing the worst.

Hermione started sniffing. "I don't know," she stammered. "When I woke up this morning I was alone and I went tried to get in contact, I was blocked everywhere. I… things were going so well and then suddenly… What did I do wrong? I just don't understand what I did wrong…"

Full on tears rolled over Hermione's cheeks as she started to sob. "I'm sorry! I… I…"

Bellatrix quite understood what had happened here, even if Hermione didn't: she'd been used for sex and then discarded. 'Pumped and dumped' as the cool kids were wont to say these days. Hell, Bellatrix had been guilty of doing that a few times in the distant past. Apparently, the girl had learned a very harsh lesson, even if she hadn't realized it yet. Once, not even all that long ago, Bellatrix would have mercilessly mocked her for not realizing that she'd been used. Today? She was in a more charitable mood.

"Hm," Bellatrix leaned forward, startling Hermione by suddenly cupping her cheeks with both hands while rubbing away her tears with her thumbs. "Ssssh," she whispered harshly. "Don't you dare shed any more tears. You've been used, aye, but don't let it get to you. Learn from it. Harden yourself and be more prepared in the future. You are feeling angry and betrayed, but this is a betrayal you can walk away and learn from."

The girl looked her in the eye, the message clearer now. She closed her eyes and sighed. "Better luck next time," she lamented. "And I'll be more careful next time too."

"Hah," chuckled Bellatrix as started stoking the girl's soft hair while raising her chin with her other hand. The girl flinched a little at first. "Chin up. Eyes forward. And no more tears over some random bloke."

Hermione snorted briefly. "It wasn't a bloke," she said and almost immediately seized up. For a moment, Bellatrix stopped stroking her hair… and then continued her strokes a bit more slower while rubbing an errant tear off her cheek with another hand. Hermione smiled briefly. "I can't believe you're the first person I told. Not my parents. Not my friends. But you."

"Again," Bellatrix chuckled, withdrawing her hands and sinking back on her bed while Hermione sat up straighter on the chair. "I've been sharing a lot of intimate details with you. Seems fair you return the favour."

Hermione nodded. "I've not been dating much. But all dates I've had since leaving school were women. When I was with Ron, it… it just never felt right. We parted as good friends a few weeks after, well, that day at Hogwarts. My first relationship was with a girl from London. Muggle. Met at the theatre. It just felt… right. Like it belonged. Like a part of me I've never acknowledged suddenly clicked in my brain. Though the relationship didn't last, I'll always love Imogen for that, even if we didn't work out in the end."

"I've had passionate affairs with both men and women," Bellatrix lay back on the bed, folding her hands behind the back of her head as she stared at the ceiling. "Let me tell you one thing: women can be just as ignorant horny and manipulative pigs as blokes can be. Hell, what that girl did to you, I've done to a few ladies out in the wild. Used to hit the club scene back in the Seventies."

"You did?"

"The first war was a ten year long drawn out brutal guerrila conflict," Bellatrix snorted. "You think I'd not want to blow off some steam in between brushes with death?"

"No. I mean… with women?"

"Shagged quite a few muggle girls, yeah," Bellatrix chuckled.

"Really?"

"Surprised by that?" said Bellatrix. "No risk for pregnancies and easy to disappear into the shadows again. Broke quite a few hearts back in the day."

"I believe it," said Hermione, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. It was… cute.

Bellatrix chuckled. "Little bitch who blocked you has no idea what she's missing out on," Bellatrix smirked. "She could have had it all, but ended up with nothing. As it should be. So dry your tears, learn from it and be more picky in the near future."

Hermione pursed her lips. "Not sure I can afford to picky. The ladies aren't exactly lining up for me."

Bellatrix snorted through her nose and reached out to stroke her long brown hair again. This time, Hermione didn't flinch. In fact, the girl smiled gently. Odd how someone as confident as her could suddenly be so easily thrown off by self-doubt.

Hermione shrugged. "I suppose I'm just an inferior dating prospect."

Bellatrix groaned in response. "Fishing for compliments now?" she smirked. "Very well. Hermione Granger. You are not inferior. In anything. You never were."

The girl gave her a stricken look for a moment, before brown eyes filled with tears. The girl turned away, wiping her tears. It was clear to Bellatrix that she needed to hear that, especially now. A big smile was on her face as she turned back to her. "Well," she laughed. "If that isn't progress made, I don't know what is!"

Bellatrix snorted and rolled her eyes. "Well, you certainly know how to ruin the mood," she spoke with a twinkle in her eye.

A light so bright it was blinding flashed into existence, causing the dark witch to hiss and shield her eyes. For a moment, it seemed as if she was looking directly into a bright lamp. A voice sounded. A male voice. A voice she had heard before. "It's coming for you," said the man in a warning tone. "You must hide. You must turn the lights on. I'm not strong enough to protect you here."

Bellatrix struggled to look into the light. "Who. What…"

A hand grasped her throat. The Thing That Was Hermione had her in a firm hold, squeezing hard enough to feel as if her larynx was being crushed. Even so, The Thing That Was Hermione struggled in the burning light, clearly in agony judging from the gritted teeth and angry hisses. "Finish what you started," demanded The Thing That Was Hermione. "I must insist…"

"You must turn the lights on," the male voice repeated as Bellatrix felt her life fade away from her.