Hermione woke from a restless night sleep. She had that nightmare again. The one that always ended with Bellatrix on top of her cackling while carving out the hideous slur on her arm. Hermione rubbed her arm to sooth any phantom pain associated with the scar.
"Oh Merlin." Hermione sighed as she stretched and got out of bed.
"At least I don't have Defense Against the Dark Arts until the end of the day. That's plenty of time to push the dread away." Hermione told Crookshanks as she scratched behind his ears.
Hermione put on her old school skirt, white button up, Gryffindor tie and vest. She went over to soothe her hair down in the mirror.
"It looks like no time has past since I've worn these." She put on her robes, grabbed a notebook, quill and her text books. "Best be off to breakfast before Ginny sends a search party after me." Hermione said to Crookshanks who meowed while eating from his dish.
Hermione made her way to the Great Hall and took a seat next to Ginny. The red headed girl threw her arms around Hermione's neck pulling her into a soul crushing hug.
"Hermione! I've missed you terribly." Ginny said into Hermione's hair.
"I can tell Gin," Hermione replied pulling Ginny into a less air restricting position. "I've missed you, too."
Ginny sat back and look at her friend. "Hey why aren't you sitting up there?" Ginny motioned to the professor's table. Hermione waved to Neville and smiled at Minerva. She immediately noticed the absence of Professor Black.
"Oh well. I'm a student today. I was told that I can sit here on days I'm not actively teaching."
"Makes sense. I'm so glad you came back. I can't imagine making it through this year without you," Ginny paused with a sly smile "or your study notes."
"That's what I told Neville. I'm looking forward to having him as our teacher. That will be an experience."
"What all are you taking for your NEWTS?" Ginny asked.
"I'm only going for five since I"ll be teaching. I'll automatically get a NEWT for Muggle Studies. I'm taking Potions, Herbology, Ancient Ruins, Arithmancy and". Hermione sighed, "Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Three classes together. Plus you'll be teaching me in Muggle Studies. Dad insisted I get my NEWT in it." Ginny barked out a laugh.
"Oh great. That'll calm my nerves about teaching" Hermione rolled her eyes. "If I help you out then you can be my human shield in DADA. I don't want to end up with mudblood carved into my other arm." Hermione tried to joke.
"Oh yeah." Ginny looked uncomfortable. "I've heard Black has changed. I don't know first hand. I've heard it from Luna and Neville."
"Wait a minute Neville? She tortured his parents and he is okay with her?" Hermione asked bewildered.
"Yeah. Something about his parents, Black and memory magic. I honestly don't know any of the details."
"Why does everyone around here seem to have forgotten who she is and what she's done?" Hermione huffed crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, I'm not saying she's changed. I guess I need to see it first hand. I believe it is possible though. I mean look at Snape. Turns out he wasn't all bad."
"Merlin. You sound like Dumbledore." Hermione rolled her eyes at Ginny's confused expression. "We best be off. Double Potions with Slughorn."
"Let the fun begin." Ginny and Hermione laugh as they left the Great Hall arm in arm.
—
The day flew by and Hermione found herself sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Ginny working on their Potions assignment. The common room hadn't changed at all. Hermione found it just as comforting and relaxing as she did in her previous time as a student. She would definitely be back. At this point, it seemed more home to her than her living quarters. Hermione and Ginny gathered up their stuff to leave the room to head to their last class of the day. The class that left Hermione with a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. The day wasn't a total wash though as she and Ginny worked as partners in Potions and brewed a perfect batch of the Draught of the Living Death. It came with the same incentive Harry received in his sixth year.
"I'm glad to see that I haven't lost too many of my witch skills in the past two years living in the muggle world." Hermione joked.
"Please. You can boil potions like a pro. I'm just happy Slughorn is repeating some of the course work seeing as how I didn't get a proper sixth year."
"Couldn't have done it without you GIn," Hermione said while Ginny put her arm around the older girl.
"And a bottle of liquid luck the each of us. Seems like it's already turning out to be a great day." Ginny said smiling.
"Maybe I should just drink mine now." Hermione said only half in jest.
"Oh come on. It's not going to be that bad. It's not like she will straddle you to the ground in front of the class." Ginny looked over and saw a blush rising on Hermione's cheeks. "I meant to torture you of course."
"That's not much better, Ginny."
When they made it outside the classroom door, they saw Luna approaching from the other direction.
"Hello Ladies. Hermione you seem distracted. Would you like me to cleanse your aura before we go in?"
Ginny excused herself to go in and get a table for her and Hermione.
"Umm, no thank you, Luna. I'm just a little nervous to go in there." Hermione felt most comfortable sharing her distress with Luna.
"That's perfectly understandable given your last encounter with Professor Black. Though it was Lestrange back then."
"You were there. You experience the Malfoy Manor but your face seems indifferent towards our current situation."
"Well I supposed my experience in the Malfoy Manor was quite different than yours. I was never tortured. Professor Black and Madam Malfoy always made sure that I had food and water. Nobody really talked to me or bothered me. It was just really cold in the basement. I have spent some time with her you know. We worked together here at the castle. Much like you, Professor Black seems to be facing her own internal conflicts about the past." Luna said offering a smile while unknowingly shooing things from Hermione's aura.
Hermione reached out to stop Luna's hand when they heard a voice clearing at the door.
"Ladies, Class is in here and I don't like to be kept waiting." Professor Black called and made her way back to the front of the class.
"You can do this, Hermione." She thought to herself as she made her way over to her seat.
"All right class let's get started. We have a lot to cover this year. It seems you lot haven't had a proper Defense Against the Dark Arts class in some time. We will start with basic defensive maneuvers and yes I know that's remedial but by the looks of you, it wouldn't hurt to review the basics. We will progressively get more advanced from there and work our way into dueling each other. To finish the year off we will be learning to cast the Patronus Charm." Luna's hand went up but before she could speak, Bellatrix continued. "I am already well aware that some of you have worked on the Patronus Charm before but I expect excellence from ALL of my 7th years and will not tolerate any indiscretions in my classroom."
Luna's hand was still raised.
Bellatrix sighed, "well go on then Ms. Lovegood."
"It's just… I thought… Death Eaters couldn't produce the patrons charm." After she finished everybody turned to stare at her with wide eyes.
Hermione, however, turned to look at Bellatrix. She looked so different. Almost normal. A far cry from the woman who tortured her two and a half years ago. Her teeth were white and perfectly straight. Her hair was tamed into flowing black curls over her right shoulder. She was wearing a long black skirt, black leather boots, a flow white button up blouse that was cinched at the waist by a deep green corset. Hermione noticed she was still wearing her jackdaw skull necklace. There was something beautiful and captivating about the way Bellatrix looked and carried herself around the classroom.
"Wait a minute. Since when did I start projecting the word beautiful onto Lestrange. Push that nonsense right out of your head Hermione. She tortured you." Hermione was pulled from her thoughts when Bellatrix finally addressed Luna's question.
"Ms. Lovegood," Professor Black began, her face seemingly unwashed by the question. "It's former Death Eater." She then proceeded to roll up her sleeve and the area of her arm where her Dark Mark had been was bare except for the faintest out line that remained.
"It is true that Death Eaters can not produce a Patronus Charm however as I'm no longer one, there should be no problems teaching that particular charm to you lot."
"Have you tried producing one?" Another student asked. Hermione's head whipped around recognizing the voice. The question had been asked by Draco Malfoy. Hermione hadn't yet noticed him in the classroom.
"No Draco, I have not. Prior to my days as a Death Eater, I was able to produce a corporeal Patronus and feel that I may be able to do so against at some point in the future." Before anyone could ask another question, Professor Black's tone turned slightly more harsh and she continued, "that however is not today's lesson. You will find the lesson on the board. Work in pairs. I expect 10 inches of parchment on what you and your partner accomplished today by next class. And most importantly, leave me alone." Bellatrix finished her sentence by dramatically plopping down onto the chair behind her desk.
Class went by rather smoothly. 20 minutes before class ended, Professor Black made rounds to check and see how the students were getting along with the lesson. When she got to Ginny and Hermione's table, she didn't speak just nodded in approval.
Hermione looked down and saw a folded piece of parchment. After she was sure Professor Black was back at her desk, she looked up and saw her Professor looking at her. Hermione took the note, unfolded it and glanced down at it. In perfect penmanship, the note simply said:
Please stay after class. I wish to discuss a few things with you in private.
B
