Harry was so cold his toes stung, but he barely noticed, he felt strange after Bellatrix had approached him. Straight after the incident Harry had been consumed by rage towards Bellatrix, as Cygnus Black was no longer alive to blame too. He had expected Sirius to agree with his rage, but instead he met Harry with a calm sadness. They spoke a little about how Sirius was raised, something they never really touched much upon and Sirius asked Harry to try and contain his anger, for Hermione's sake. Harry had a suspicion that Sirius pitied Bellatrix's position, or even sympathised, and it hadn't made sense until Hermione had revealed that Bellatrix had killed her father. Then to add to the strangeness, Bellatrix had found him to apologise. Despite his anger, Harry felt it was a sincere apology and it seemed out of character that Bellatrix hadn't gone straight to Hermione, being such a head strong woman. That being said, he still didn't trust Bellatrix, not after all the effort she had gone to in order to clear her father's path to him. He was so lost in thought he almost walked straight into the fat lady, when he got inside Hermione and Ron were sat by the fire waiting for him. Ron had one hand in his hair and the other on a quill writing an essay, Hermione was curled up in an armchair with a thick book, absorbing the words. Harry had two choices, keep what had happened to himself and follow Hermione's lead of pretending that Bellatrix no longer existed. Or follow Sirius's lead and present Hermione with all of the facts. The part of him that was angry, didn't want Bellatrix to earn any points if Hermione thought it was a sign that she was truly sorry and ready to change. But Sirius's voice always rang the loudest when he thought long enough about things. So, he sat down and told them what had happened. Hermione stayed curled in her chair as he spoke, she held her book to her chest with fingers stuff in the page she was on to keep her place. She watched his face as he spoke and took in his words, but when he was done, she didn't say anything right away. Her eyes were unfocused for what seemed like a long time, as Harry and Ron looked at her and between each other.

"I wonder why she did that" Hermione said softly and reopened her book.

Ron looked at Harry with a confused looked on his face, it was rare that Hermione didn't give her full thoughts on a topic.

"I mean, I thought you might have some ideas, since you know her the best" Harry said tentatively

"clearly I don't her as well as I thought" Hermione looked at Harry over her book.

Harry cleared his throat and excused himself to go and get clean. He had seen Hermione angry, sad, happy, or moody, but he hadn't seen her like this. Her mood turned so quickly from spite to calm that Harry could barely tell if her comment had been spiteful at all. It worried him how she had changed, and how before she spoke openly about how she felt, and now she kept it all to herself.

Hermione stared at the pages in front of her, but didn't read the words, she was thinking about Bellatrix. She couldn't imagine what she would have looked like, apologising to Harry in a way that made even him think she was being sincere. She thought of the rain that might have dampened Bellatrix's curls as she spoke with her head bowed in remorse. She remembered how it felt to stroke those thick curls as she leant in to kiss those soft lips. Hermione's throat began to tighten, and her eyes were stinging with tears as her mind reminded her of the moment, she'd told Bellatrix she loved her. Right before she walked into the trap Bellatrix had helped set. She closed her book and excused herself from Ron and his essay writing. As she began to climb the stairs to the girl's dorm, she heard a series of giggles and a number of voices and stopped in her tracks. She liked her roommates, but they weren't close, and the thought of small talk right now was unbearable. Instead she turned back down the stairs and as Ron put his head in his hands once more, she slipped past him and out of the Gryffindor common room. Curfew wasn't for a couple of hours, so she kept walking until she reached the seventh floor.

Bellatrix was pacing the halls of Hogwarts, her mind racing. Since she had spoken to Harry, her mind had been gathered steam. How embarrassing it would be tomorrow when all of Harry's friends and probably the school heard of her grovelling. She would be all the more hated, at least the Slytherins had been avoiding her, but now they would mock her behind her back. The sound of snivelling laughs began to web together in her head, and she gripped her fists in poorly contained anger. She needed to let off steam before she bumped into somebody and took their head off. She headed up to the seventh floor and walked to the blank wall at the end of the great corridor. She stood for a moment and waited for the large oak door to appear. But it didn't. Bellatrix looked around her and furrowed her brow, it never took this long. She stood there for a short time, debating over whether to just leave. As she went to turn, she heard a soft scratching. Bellatrix watched as a door slowly etched itself into the wall, it was strikingly out of place in the castle, with a square shape and a shabby coat of white paint on it. She took a puzzled look around before she softly pushed the door open. Inside was a cosy little room, filled with shelves upon shelves of beaten up books. The wallpaper was floral and worn and the entire room smelt of old fashioned perfume and stale air. In corner stood a couple of well-loved armchairs that were empty, and it took her eyes a minute to see the tiny balled up person sat in the centre of the rooms thick rug. As she circled the creature, she saw it's legs tucked tightly beneath its chin, and its wool covered arms holding up a copy of 'Thumbelina'.

"Hermione?" Bellatrix said softly.

Hermione visibly stiffened at the voice in the room, she hadn't heard the door open. She closed her book but remained on the floor.

Bellatrix moved into Hermione's line of sight and didn't move from that spot; she didn't want to try her luck. "What is this place?" She asked as she looked around at the shelves filled with old volumes.

"It's my nan's old library from when she was alive, I think the castle thought it would make me feel better" Hermione's tired eyes raised to look at her.

"oh" Bellatrix didn't know what to say "I'll go, sorry"

"oh, now you're sorry" Hermione scoffed and smiled sinisterly "the girl who never apologises is suddenly throwing sorrys out like they're insults".

"I just thought Harry deserv…" Bellatrix started but was interrupted.

"He deserved an apology, did he? I thought he deserved to be tortured and sacrificed to bring back Voldemort, my mistake." Hermione spat the words.

"I didn't know the full details, I.." Bellatrix was flustered.

"I guess that means you're off the hook then doesn't it, only acted like half a death eater, not a full one" Hermione refused to look at Bellatrix, it made it so much harder.

"I should have come clean the minute he contacted me I know" Bellatrix grew red in shame. "I should have told dumbledore but, my father's dead now, he can't bring anyone back"

Hermione sighed quietly "right".

Bellatrix looked down at Hermione, she looked so small. She tentatively got down onto her knees to get to Hermione's level. "Hermione"

She looked at Bellatrix again, but said nothing

"I'm sorry Hermione" Bellatrix looked deeply into Hermione's eyes, almost like she was praying to her. "I never meant for you to get hurt, it was the last thing I wanted. I wanted to keep you safe the only way I knew how, but I was wrong."

Hermione kept looking, her eyes glassy.

Bellatrix continued "I don't know if you will ever forgive me or look at me the same way again and if you want me to leave you alone I will. I'll do whatever you want to me to do Hermione. Because…I love you".

Tears rolled down Hermione's cheeks and she turned her head to wipe them away with the sleeve of her jumper. She sat for a moment, silent except for involuntary sniffs from crying. Finally, she looked up once more at Bellatrix. "I don't you to leave me alone" Hermione whispered.

Bellatrix shuffled from her position slowly towards Hermione, watching how she reacted to see whether to continue or not. She put her arm around Hermione and sighed in relief as the other girl relaxed into her. Bellatrix then wound her other arm around to hold Hermione as she cried softly.

Bellatrix looked down at Hermione's arm, she had taken off the bandage, the jagged silver letters screaming against Hermione's skin poked out from beneath her jumper. In Bellatrix's head she saw the younger girl laying on familiar marble floor, face unreadable, tears rolling slowly down the side of nose. It brought tears to her own eyes and she held Hermione a little tighter.

"I'm so sorry" Bellatrix whispered into Hermione's hair.