There was something so beautifully untouched about the way she laid, her hair in their natural messy curls with a perfect ringlet here and there. It was almost as though a painting had come to life as a cloud shifted and allowed a ray of sun to light up her face. Bellatrix felt the warmth of their heating charm on her own skin as they lay beneath an old tree a little bit from the lake, it made her sleepy and relaxed. Every now and then she would throw a stick in the air and watch as it slowed slightly through her invisible fortress before falling back to the ground. She had set them up a barrier to keep them hidden in plain sight, camouflaging them as shrubbery was the easy part, the hard part was the charm to make wanders suddenly remember an urgent task when they got too close. Managing the charm was worth the impressed look on Hermione's face and her eagerness for the older girl to teach her it. Despite the biting cold of November, they had made a habit of setting up a warm little hideaway beside the lake, it was the easiest way to talk freely without worrying about the hundreds of others that may be walking around and listening in.

"So where did you learn all of those charms? I didn't think Hogwarts taught stuff that complex?" Hermione questioned, trying not to feel intimidated.

"My father taught me and my sisters a lot of survival spells, basic um… dark magics also" Bellatrix stared straight up at the sky, nervous to meet the other girl's eyes as she spoke of her family.

"What are your family like?" Hermione braced herself for a negative reaction or an excuse to leave.

Bellatrix paused, they had always skated over the subject "well, my father was essentially the dictator, he wrote the script and we all played our part really. My mother has always just been an extension of him I suppose, not as cruel though. Um…Narcissa is doing a very good job of becoming a little version of my mother. she wasn't always that way, but she's married now with a son now so she's changed, we don't talk that often anymore" Bellatrix paused again, hesitant to fill the final gap "And I imagine you know of my other sister Andromeda through Sirius. She's…very much her own person but, I haven't spoken to her since she left about 5 years ago so "

The short silence when Bellatrix had finished was heavy in the air and Hermione double checked her words before she let them free "I'm sorry it was like that Bella" She turned to the older girl and gripped her arm rubbing her thumb across the fabric of her jumper.

At the touch Bellatrix turned to look at Hermione, looking at the seriousness in her face, but it didn't look like pity and was relieved. She smiled back a her, she had never called her Bella before, but she liked it "So, what are your family like, 'mione"

Hermione smiled shyly with her nose crinkling a little at the exchange of nicknames. "it's just me and my parents, but they're lovely. We're kind of like a little team really" After only a moment she spoke her thoughts aloud "I like how you listen to me"

"what do you mean" Bellatrix furrowed her brow as she readjusted her position to be more comfortable as she watched the younger girl.

"I guess people tend to switch off sometimes, because I talk a lot. But, you haven't yet" She blushed as she said it, worried that Bellatrix would laugh. Instead Bellatrix gave her another gentle smile and leaned in to kiss her softly.

"Look Harry mate, I'm not sure this is a good idea." Ron increased his steps to keep up as Harry weaved through students and out of the castle.

"You saw the map with your own eyes Ron, we have to go and help Hermione" Harry picked up his pace as they now moved across the grounds.

Ron had seen the map with his own eyes, but he had also seen the way Hermione had been acting for weeks, the constant smile on her face since she snuck out with Bellatrix on Halloween. He wasn't the most observant person in the world, but this was obvious. Though there was still that little part of him that twisted at the sight of Hermione's affection for someone else, he knew what love looked like and strangely he had a feeling it wasn't one sided.

Harry strutted, his map in his hands and Ron in tow until he saw two figures walking back from near the lake. They stood close, their hands catching each other at moments as they looked around for spectators, until they spotted the two boys. He furrowed his brow and walked right up to them. "what do you think you're playing at Black" He practically yelled it at her.

"Not sure what you mean Potter" Bellatrix clenched her jaw tight, she had no clue why Hermione liked this insufferable moron.

"Look, I don't know exactly what's going on here, but I know you're up to something that's going to hurt Hermione and I'm not going to let you just get on with it" His face was going red as he thought about what it was they were doing.

"You're the one putting people in the hospital wing, not me" Bellatrix wanted to jinx him to high heaven, but she knew Hermione would intervene and that proving herself dangerous to the moron would likely damage her plans for him later. The thought of the coming vengeance soothed her anger enough to allow her to relax her jaw a little.

Harry scowled, he didn't like to think about what he did, even if it was to Bellatrix. "Just leave her alone Black"

Suddenly Hermione stepped forward having finally found her words "Harry for merlin's sake I'm not a damsel in distress, she hasn't kidnapped me, I'm spending time with Bellatrix because I want to"

"Hermione you know what she's like, what about all the times she's been horrible to you" Harry could feel the swell of anger inside.

"Yes to me, so it's me who gets to forgive her and me who gets to move on" She grabbed Bellatrix's hand and stormed off in the direction of the castle

Ron looked between them and Harry, his mouth flapping slightly as he tried to think of what to say to stop what was happening, but he was coming up empty. With a sigh, he followed his angry best friends back towards the castle.

His body was tensed and tight like a coiled snake, every noise made him paranoid that someone was there, watching as he sat on the end of his bed in the dark of night. Around him the soft sounds of sleep only irritated him. Hermione was being naïve, and she was only going to get hurt. At the hands of that girl, even after everything she did, and everything her death eater father did. The thought of them both made him think of his parents, how they had died at the hands of people like Bellatrix Black over blood and control, it stirred a rage in him that scared him, almost like it was coming from a part of him he couldn't even identify. He tried to push it out of his head, it wasn't really him, he knew what anger could turn people into and he had felt it when he had knocked Bellatrix off her broom. Dumbledore had looked so intensely at him that he felt as though he may melt and then handed him a few weeks of detention and a very stern warning, the very worst part had been the thought in his head that said, "what does he think of you now". The man who had always been there to save him must have looked and thought so much less of him, Dumbledore wouldn't have used violence, he would have used his head. That's what he was going to do from now on, if Bellatrix was being genuine then he would have to learn to live with her being around Hermione, but if she wasn't, then he was going to have to find out.

A few floors down a similar figure sat at the end of their own bed. Bellatrix had been there for almost an hour, thinking and then distracting herself so she stopped feeling so nauseous, before thinking about it again; the small tationary case sat upon her trunk along with the black family sealing wax that she had left untouched since she had received it from her parents. With a deep breath and a look around her, she grabbed the case and rushed out to the common room. As soon as she saw it was empty, she dropped the case onto a corner table as though it had been too hot for comfort in her hands. After a few more moments contemplating she shook her busy head and grabbed a piece of parchment

Dearest Father,

I awaited your further correspondence and have decided to be proactive, I imagine your plans for my classmates are in the works and would like to be of service. Please allow me to prove myself and reply with your intentions so I may assist you.

Your faithfully,

Bellatrix Black

As soon as the letter was written she sealed it before she could reread her pathetic words and sent it home, he may not be there considering how wanted he was, but her mother would know where to direct it. If she knew what her father's plan was then she could work around it to keep Hermione as far from it as possible, this was the only way she could ensure it. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, he could have just gone away somewhere and lived out the rest of his days, but no, her father always insisted on finishing things even if they weren't his to finish.

When she was finally in bed she thought of the day, she hadn't thought about Andromeda for so long, she hadn't even spoken to her since she started Hogwarts. Her eyes closed, and she could see the night she left so clearly, she had as much stuff as she could crammed into an overnight bag and she was sobbing through the words she screamed at her father. Bellatrix couldn't remember what she had said, she only remembered her father throwing curses at her to stop her noise before Narcissa had intervened and attempted to calm her father and give her older sister a little time to run, which she had, and never returned. In a rage her father had burnt her bedroom to cinders with all her things in it, every drawing and letter and nostalgic knickknack was destroyed in an instant. Bellatrix hadn't said a word the entire time, she just gripped tight to the letter in her hands with "Ted Tonks" scrawled across it that she had showed her father. It had been all her fault, she knew better now but still it was her who had been so eager to please her father that she had almost got her sister killed, and now she might as well have no sisters at all. They had both gotten married, Andromeda at 20 a couple years after she had left and Narcissa at 18 at around the same time as her older sister, and now they both had kids. Most importantly though, andromeda would never speak to her again, she hadn't tried, and Bellatrix hadn't dared to either. The thoughts of the three of them growing up, keeping each other safe and being closer than anything brought bitter tears to her eyes. She couldn't stand it and brought another imagine into her head; Hermione and her big brown eyes that glowed a dark amber in the sunlight. The imagine of her soothed the bad feelings of what she had done, and what worse things she was going to have to do so that she could fall into a troubled sleep.