Alright so i was for quite a while there convinced i'd never actually continue this and make it a real fic but... these plot bunnies are wild and wilful creatures.
So to be clear, i have absolutely no idea how long this fic is going to be or how long i will be writing it out. I do plan for it to be multichapter so there is that and not terribly short. I am hoping for some humour with the angst as well as it all started out of humour as is.
That said, i am more than willing to hear some suggestions or requests though keep in mind they may not make in into the fic depending on which way i end up going with it. Brainstorming and hearing ideas is always food for the bunnies though.
Reviews highly encouraged.
And yes, this will be a Bellamione fic.
Hermione needed a breather from it all, it had been a around 7 weeks since the Battle for Hogwarts had come and gone and with it so many friends and family. The Weasley's especially grieved hard for Fred and their friends. Harry grieved for all of them, some kind of survivors guilt that he had no real idea how to cope with. Ginny was helping him through it.
Ron on the other hand wasn't coping very well and it probably wasn't helping to have Hermione there. During the battle they'd definitely shared a moment but Hermione genuinely did not feel anything could come of it. She didn't want anything to come of it and she had told Ron so. It didn't do him any favours that he was always such a poor loser though.
He was attempting to rub it in Hermione's face that she was single while everyone else was paired up. George and Angelina, Harry and Ginny, Bill and Fleur, Ron and a Hufflepuff girl whom Hermione couldn't remember the name of despite having spent the last two hours in her company. Even Charlie had met a nice Romanian Witch in the colonies. It didn't bother Hermione nearly as much as Ron hoped it would though.
Yet she needed a break. She had sent for word of her parents in Australia and had only heard back that morning from her contact. They were alive and well. Wendel was indeed a dentist in his own right but her mother had hung up the drill and mirror and taken on a job of running a small coffee and tea shop below the flat they'd bought. Hermione had been over the moon to hear they were alive and unscathed but it bought back the realisation she was alone.
Of course she had Harry and the Weasleys. But it wasn't the same. The Weasleys had never quite taken her in the way that they had with Harry and she supposed that was fair. He actually needed the familial love and acceptance he had never gotten from his aunt and uncle. But it still bothered her if she dwelt on it too long. Like tonight with everyone actually having a good time, Molly having cooked a family dinner with the help of Fleur and Angelina.
This is why Hermione was out in the field standing at the fair edge of the cane grasses growing there out of sight of the Burrow but in the clear moonlight. It also meant she was out of the protection of the wards which she might have thought was a bad idea but most of the death eaters and snatchers had been caught by now and they had all been found so far from Britain, spread further throughout Europe.
Yet when Hermione suddenly found the wind knocked out of her and flat on her back looking over the head of a dark figure straddling her, messing with her hand? She realised briefly she'd made a terrible mistake. And yet, it all seemed over in a moment as the figure made a brief pleased and decidedly feminine sound and Hermione felt something constrict and pulse around her ring finger before it settled into a gentle weight. The figure scrambled back and stood up and Hermione took only a moment before finding her own feet.
No sooner did she find her feet though did she find her wand in her hand and her heart threatening to expel itself out through her rib cage as it pounded in borderline terror. Without thinking she offered the best stinging hex she could muster in that moment, later wondering why she hadn't used a more ruthless curse. However the moment the curse hit the witch before her her own body was wracked with pain and they both cried out, soft and simultaneously.
"I wouldn't try that again, little girl. You can't hurt me without hurting yourself." The woman laughed almost madly yet also seemed to rub the decidedly unmarred left forearm against her hip.
"You should be dead! I saw Molly kill you." Hermione scowled darkly.
"Very nearly, pet. Very very nearly. But not quite. It did take me 4 weeks to recover all alone though." Bellatrix Lestrange, or she supposed it was Black now that the woman was widowed, cackled almost delightedly at her own suffering.
"What are you doing here?" Bellatrix tilted her head at this question but then stepped closer. Hermione stepped back only for the dark witch to step closer again and snatch up the hand she'd been fondling before. Hermione's eyes bugged when she saw a black ring hugging her finger.
"Well I came back for you, pet. See when you stepped up with the courage to speak out and correct the darkest wizard to rise in the last half century. Well… you've got me all intrigued. Even for a mud-...muggleborn." Bellatrix black actually frowned at herself but not as deeply as Hermione did. Did the dark witch just correct herself from saying mudblood?
"That was… I have terrible impulse control in high stress situations." Hermione blurted out shaking her head and earning a decidedly throaty chuckle.
"Indeed. All the same, you were magnificent pet and it got me thinking… you can help keep me out of Azkaban." Bellatrix grinned brightly.
"And just why would I do that?" Hermione huffed stepping back and pulling the hand away from Bellatrix where the woman had still been holding onto it.
"Well because of the ring of course. You have no choice. See this ring ties you to me. It limits the distance we can be from one another and it means everything you feel, I feel and vice versa. It would kill both of us too be too far apart. They can't send me to Azkaban without sending you. Their golden girl." Bellatrix grin was now one of victory as realisation seemed to dawn on Hermione and her eyes widened.
"I don't know why you look so surprised. I did ask you to marry me." Bellatrix points out as if this was entirely reasonable.
"I thought you were joking!" Hermione barks panicked.
"Circe, no. You're a hot little thing and I like a challenge." Bellatrix looked absolutely delighted by how this was all going.
"Take it off! Now!" Hermione thrust her hand towards the woman angrily.
"I don't think so. There isn't a chance in hell I'm taking that ring off of you." Bellatrix huffed and pushed the hand away, she rubbed at her forearm again.
"Fine! I'll find someone to make you!" Hermione was livid as she grabbed Bellatrix' wrist hard and dragged the woman back towards the Burrow.
The dark witch might not have spoke but Hermione could actually feel the rising fear of facing all of these people again. Yet it was curious to the angry little witch that Bellatrix didn't seem to fight her on it. She simply allowed herself to be dragged along to the house where laughter could be heard from within as they drew nearer.
Hermione didn't really think as she stormed in the back door and dragged Bellatrix to the den where everyone was seated talking happily. If she had thought about it she might have realised that it was a terrible idea. Yet it wasn't until after every wand in the room was pointed at the witch beside her she realised her mistake.
"No d-" Hermione never got the word out before Harry, Ron and Molly all let forth green jets of curse all three connecting with Bellatrix in the same moment.
Hermione and Bellatrix both dropped instantly to the floor curling in on themselves as they screamed with the sheer agony of three Cruciatus curses at once, each more powerful than the other. Ginny was the voice of reason though when she realised that somehow the two witches were connected and her family was effectively torturing Hermione.
"Stop! You're hurting Hermione." Ginny shoved lightly at Harry who bumped into Molly and they both disengaged the spells. Ron however, had needed to be disarmed by Arthur.
Fleur immediately moved over the two prone witches briefly checking Bellatrix before turning her attention to Hermione who was convulsing slightly with the memory of the curse and the intense burning of her arm. Bellatrix groaned and shifted towards Hermione grabbing her arm causing them both to cry out. Bella's hand came away bloody as Fleur shifted Hermione's hand and gasped.
"Fleur?" Bill asked concerned at the sound.
"She has put a Tether ring on Hermione." Fleur spoke up after a moment.
"Make her take it off." Hermione groaned as the others looked confused or shocked.
"We can't. Those rings are ancient with a long forgotten magic. She can only take it off of you willingly. Not even an Imperius curse can make her remove it." Bill explained apologetically.
"What the hell is a tether ring?" Harry asked confused.
"It's also called a Ring of Fate. It will tether two peoples fates together. What one feels the other feels and vice versa. They were outlawed a long time ago but they used to be more common. A way to tie families together through forced and arranged marriages." Fleur explained as she pulled first Hermione into a seating position against the wall and then Bellatrix beside her. Both witches were still trembling with the after effects.
"How the hell does Lestrange even have one?" George was scowling at the dark witch.
"Black." Hermione panted the correction much to everyone's surprise. She couldn't help it, bad impulse control. She apparently liked correcting people.
"Why do you think Mummy and Daddy Black died at the same time? Daddy outlived his purpose and Voldy sent him to hell, he dragged mother dearest with him." Bellatrix let out a laugh, cradling her arm before looking at Hermione who looked mostly normal.
"Why does it hurt so much?" Bellatrix frowned darkly at the little witch.
"You should know, it's your fault." Hermione snarked angrily.
"What the hell are you doing here Le-…Black. Molly killed you." Harry says firmly before Bellatrix could comment on Hermione's words.
"Well I didn't fancy living on the run and 'Mione did tell me to talk to her if we both survived the war when I asked her to marry me. So here I am." Bellatrix rolled her eyes like that should have been obvious. Hermione stared at her for a moment.
"So what? You're going to marry Hermione against her will and drag her to Azkaban for a honeymoon?" Ron bit out angrily.
"She can't go to Azkaban." Percy spoke up finally startling everyone.
"The hell she can't." Molly quipped angrily.
"No mum. Sending Bellatrix back to Azkaban means Hermione has to go too. They can't be too far from one another without suffering and eventually dying." Percy explained after a moment.
"Why would you do this? Are you that selfish?" Harry bit out at Bellatrix who shrugged.
"Indeed I am, Baby Potter." Bellatrix looked at the stunned faces before her and couldn't help dropping her head back with a bright and decidedly insane cackle.