A/N: So. Welcome back. Now that school is all remote learning, I should (theoretically) have more time to write, especially since my work is closed. All my muse has to do is cooperate. Anyway, I hope you're all doing well and staying safe and whatnot.

Crazy

I like that, you like that, so let's be crazy

The contact, impact, I want that daily

Our breath getting deeper, deeper, lately

I like that baby

-I Can't Get Enough- benny blanco, Tainy, Selena Gomez, J. Balvin

"Draco, does Andromeda have an Animagus form? I know Sirius was a dog and Tonks was a metamorphmagus. This says your mum is a peacock," Ginny mused, shuffling papers around.

"Let me find it," Draco answered, rummaging through his pile, "Andromeda is...a dove."

"That's interesting. I wonder why Bellatrix wasn't an Animagus," Ginny said, double-checking her pile as she spoke.

"I'm fairly certain she was," Draco said, looking through the files, "I could ask mum."

"I wonder what your Animagus form would be. You do have Black blood, it seems to run in the family," she mused, "You can if you want, we still have a good amount of people on each side."

"I'll see how she's feeling when I visit her," Draco said, helping Ginny organize the papers.

"I wonder if Teddy will be an Animagus," Ginny mused in a whisper.

They fell into a slightly awkward silence after that, both of them refusing to look at the other. Ginny felt a pang of guilt for saying it, but she was curious. The rustling of papers as they confirmed their information was the only sound between them, and when they finished, they both mumbled a quiet goodbye. They spent the next few days being more reserved with each other, being careful with what they said so they wouldn't cause more awkwardness. It wasn't until the end of the week that they were able to resume their previously established banter, and by then, Draco was getting ready to visit his mother for the weekend.

As one of the few Slytherins that had returned, and one of the few Slytherins in general, Draco was fortunate enough to have his own room, but he suspected that might've been the case even if there were more students in his house. It hadn't come as a shock to him that many of his classmates were refusing to return to the school, but he was one of the few who wanted to finish his schooling, and McGonagall had been generous enough to let him take classes as long as the professors were comfortable with it. He wished he had asked Hermione earlier, but the announcement was made too soon before the start of term for him to have the courage to ask her.

Draco finished securing his trunk as he ruminated, absently calling for a house-elf to take the unnecessarily large luggage to Malfoy Manor. As for himself, he made his way through the castle to McGonagall's office. He kept his head down, focusing his gaze on the floors and doing his best to remain unnoticed. He had taken great lengths to keep himself out of trouble, something he had found much easier to accomplish without the Golden Trio and Voldemort around. It was almost like what school should've been like the other years he attended.

His blonde hair and height made him more visible than he would've liked, but he had tried to stay out of peoples' way. The first few weeks had been rough, but after not allowing himself to be baited into a fight, people had begun to leave him alone. He was still cautious whenever he traversed busy corridors, doing his best to move out of the way when he could. His relatively newfound friendship with Ginny had offered him a little more station in the halls, but he was not about to push the limits of his peers. Once upon a time, he would have, but he now knew the price to pay for his excessive pride.

Draco stood to his full height when he reached the gargoyle statue guarding the Headmistress's office, uttering the password with a clear voice. The stone scraped gently against stone, revealing the staircase, which he took two at a time. In mere moments, he was in McGonagall's office, the fierce but kind witch waiting for him behind her desk. Her green eyes focused on him as soon as he entered, immediately filling with warmth and compassion.

"Draco," she greeted, "I take it you're ready to go?"

"Yes, I already sent my trunk with a house elf," he said, "Thank you for letting me visit my mother."

"It would be wrong of me to keep her isolated from her only remaining family for most of the year," Minerva said, waving her hand in a manner that suggested it was not a big deal.

"I will return Sunday after dinner, is that okay?" he asked, waiting for verification. When she nodded, he took a handful of floo powder and stepped into the floo, annoncing is destination and releasing the powder with a flourish.

Narcissa was waiting in the foyer when Draco emerged out of green flames, and she didn't hesitate to engulf him in a tight hug. She rejoiced when he returned the hug, pulling back a little and reaching to fix his tie. She caught herself at the last moment, giving him a sheepish smile.

"How are you, mum?" he asked, draping his arm over her shoulder.

"Lonely, but it's not so bad now. How's school?" she responded, beginning to walk toward the study.

"Not too bad. I told you that Hermione let me join her class, right?" Draco fell into step next to her, his eyes fixed on her face to gauge her reaction.

"No, but I'm glad you were able to join, especially so late in the year. Did you miss much?"

"A bit, but I've been working on my own to cover the material so I can sit for exams. Hermione said if she felt I would pass she would give me the approval. And we're doing a project right now, so there's no new material we're covering and I don't exactly have a full course-load," he explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I've never done a project for Defense, what's that like?" Narcissa asked, pushing open the door to the study.

"It's interesting. I'm working with Ginny. Weasley. She's brilliant. We're doing a comparison and analysis of the Animagus forms of Order members and Death Eaters," he said slowly, sitting in the chair across from her and carefully watching his mother's face as he spoke.

"Hmm." She sat on one of the chairs, crossing her legs at the ankles, "And how is that?"

"It's interesting, but there's something that's been bothering me. We have the Ministry records, and the other Blacks were Animagi, but Auntie Bella's file isn't there," Draco said carefully, taking long pauses to make sure his mother was still open to the conversation.

"Hmm," She said again, turning her face to the fireplace and flicking her wrist, "Draco, I wouldn't be surprised if the Ministry destroyed her file since she is no longer with us."

The coldness of her tone took Draco by surprise, but he managed to say, "I would've thought the same, but the other people who died are still in the records."

"I remember when she became an Animagus. It was probably the happiest day of her life," Narcissa began, staring into the flickering flames, "She showed me and Andy as soon as she had succeeded. I remember being so impressed with her, thinking that no one would ever be as good at anything as Bellatrix was. Father was furious when he found out she was a raven. He wanted her to be a greyhound, like on the Family crest. All Bella ever wanted was to be free."

"Was anyone?" he asked, feeling himself drawn into the story but making a mental note of Bellatrix's form.

"I don't know," she admitted sadly, visibly deflating.

They sat in silence for many moments, Narcissa staring into the fire with a blank expression and Draco watching her with concern.

"Tell me something, Draco," Narcissa said suddenly, shocking him from the trance the silence had left him in, "What did Hermione name her familiar?"

"Polaris," he said, furrowing his brow in confusion, "Why?"

"A beautiful name for a beautiful creature," was all she said, lapsing back into silence with a hint of a smile on her face.

Draco continued to watch his mother with a scrunched up face, wondering why the question was eating at him the way it was. The more he thought about it, the more a sense of familiarity overtook him but it was still just out of reach. He knew the answer was right in front of him, he just didn't have the pieces in the right order. The more he thought about it, the more his thoughts circled unproductively around his head.

By the end of the weekend, Draco still hadn't come up with an answer, but he was certain when he talked to Ginny he would make sense of it all. It was the first time he actually wasn't dreading the return to Hogwarts, and Narcissa noticed but didn't comment on it. She merely bid her son goodbye, with the assurance that he would return again within the next few weeks. As he disappeared in a burst of green flame, she turned away from the floo to return to her desk where she began drafting a letter to Hermione.

Minerva was in her office when Draco gracefully exited the floo, her glasses perched on the tip of her nose as she studied something on her desk.

"Hello, Professor," he greeted, lingering only long enough for a response.

It took all his self-control not to run to the library, where he had promised to meet Ginny when he returned. He was too excited to share the news with her, and hoped that by doing so, he would figure out why his mother had asked him that question. To his relief, the halls were mostly empty and he was able to use his long legs to his advantage. Upon entering the library, a cursory glance revealed Ginny waiting for him at their usual table, her head buried in a book he couldn't make out.

"Ginny," he said, almost breathlessly.

"Draco," she said, tearing her eyes from the pages, "You alright?"

"Mum said Bellatrix was a raven," he answered, taking a moment to compose himself.

"A raven?" Ginny asked, blinking her eyes as she processed the information. Something niggled at her brain, a sense of familiarity.

"Yeah, and then she asked me something kind of strange, but it stuck with me."

"Well, are you going to tell me?" She set her book down, completely forgetting that it had ever held her attention.

"She asked me what Hermione named her familiar."

"Polaris," Ginny said, her eyes unfocusing as thoughts swarmed her brain.

"Bloody hell," Draco whispered.

"Draco," Ginny started, "Isn't it your family's thing to name people after stars?"

"Yeah, from my mum's side," he said.

"Do you think?" Ginny started.

"Is there any way it's even possible?" he interrupted in a whisper, "I mean, it's Hermione. She's the Golden Girl, she would never."

"I think she would, Draco, and I think she has. There have been little.. I don't know what to call them, really, but just things that haven't been sitting right, and I just figured maybe she wasn't completely over everything," Ginny whispered back.

"We shouldn't talk about this here," Draco said.

"We should talk to her," Ginny responded.

Draco nodded tersely, shifting their focus back to their project, deciding, possibly against their better judgment, to leave out the information about Bellatrix's Animagus form. They hoped they were overreacting, that it was just their imaginations getting out of control and spiraling. Without Bellatrix's data, they just had a few loose ends to tie up. They worked until they finished, well before curfew, and then they just spent time chatting about nothing or sitting in silence. When Madam Pince kicked them out of the library, they parted ways, each of them heading to their dormitory before curfew began and Filch started his patrols.

On a whim, Ginny decided to go to Minerva's office instead of her Common Room. Her mind raced as she ascended the staircase, emerging in Minerva's office almost without realizing it. Minerva looked up as the sound of footsteps hit her ears, doing a double-take when she saw Ginny.

"Ginny," she said, abandoning her work, "Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," Ginny mumbled, approaching her desk.

"For goodness' sake, child, sit," Minerva said, ushering her into a chair and calling for a pot of tea.

"Thank you," Ginny said, accepting the cup of tea Minerva thrust at her amd leaning her elbows on her knees.

Minerva made her own cup of tea, waiting for her to begin talking so she didn't feel like it was being forced out of her.

"Professor, I'm worried that Hermione's familiar might be Bellatrix. I feel so crazy for even thinking it," she muttered while staring into her cup of tea.

"You're far from crazy," Minerva assured her, "But if you're concerned you should talk to Hermione. I'm sure she would answer your questions."

"It's just... It's Hermione. Why would she ever do something like that? She wouldn't, right?" Ginny asked, looking up at Minerva.

Minerva's silence unnerved her, as if she knew something Ginny didn't. Which only made her more sure that Hermione was hiding Bellatrix, and that Minerva might know about it. She wasn't sure how to feel about that, part of her felt betrayed that Minerva knew and allowed it, but part of her understood Minerva's desire to protect and help Hermione. Deep down, she knew Minerva would never allow the students to come to harm at anyone's hand. Minerva grimaced under Ginny's gaze, knowing her response had confirmed the young witch's suspicions, and it would have no matter what she had said.

Finally, Ginny set down her teacup, still full, and said, "I trust you, Professor," before leaving her office and going to her dormitory.

Ginny woke before breakfast the next morning, hoping to catch Hermione before she left her room. Hastily pulling on her robes, she headed out the door while tying her tie. She sped through the corridors, adjusting her robes and hair into a semblance of presentability before she reached Hermione's room. When she reached it, she hesitated for a minute before knocking loudly on the door. She shifted her weight back and forth while she waited, jumping when the door opened after what felt like an eternity.

"Ginny?" Hermione asked sleepily, rubbing the tiredness out of her eyes.

"I need to ask you something. Privately," Ginny said, peering around the corridor.

Hermione cast a glance into her room secretively before opening the door and gesturing for Ginny to enter. Ginny looked around and couldn't squash the relief she felt at finding not Polaris, but an open window instead. She continued to cast a cursory glance around the room, not speaking until her eyes finally landed on Hermione.

"Is Polaris Bellatrix?" she blurted out after taking a deep breath.

Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times. She sighed, turning away from Ginny and trying to think of an answer that wasn't quite true or false.

"I guess she could be," she finally answered vaguely.

"Hermione's," Ginny said firmly, "You know that's not what I'm asking."

Herrmione worried her lip between her teeth, sighing defeatedly. "Yes."

At that moment, Polaris- Bellatrix's, rather- flew back into the room, perching on Hermione's shoulder and looking at Ginny with narrowed eyes. Ginny felt uncomfortable under the burning gaze of Bellatrix, but she refused to back down. Bellatrix had heard the conversation from just outside the window, and she was contemplating hexing the young witch to keep them safe, but both Hermione and Ginny had yet to make a move for their wand.

"Okay," Ginny finally said with a nod, taking her leave from Hermione's room.

As soon as the door was closed behind the redheaded witch, Bellatrix was in front of her, backhanding her across the face. The sweetly metallic taste of blood bloomed on Hermione's tongue, trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"I told you," she hissed, collecting a few drops on the pad of her thumb.

"I know," Hermione said, refusing to wince at the sting the action caused.

"It's fine, we're almost ready, anyway," Bellatrix said, relishing the sweet taste of Hermione's blood on her tongue. She wove a hand into Hermione's hair, holding he head at a slight upward angle as she leaned closer and traced her tongue along the small trail of blood to the corner of her mouth. Hermione fought against the pull of Bellatrix's grip to capture her tongue. It was a struggle, but she succeeded, probably because Bellatrix let her, and felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her close as the cut on the corner of her mouth continued to bleed. Bellatrix growled low in her throat as the blood mixed into their kiss, tugging sharply on Hermione's hair. With all the self-control she could muster, she broke the kiss with a quick nip to Hermione's bottom lip. Hermione made a noise of complaint as Bellatrix pulled away, making it even harder for her to do so. She ran a thumb over the small cut on her lip once more, healing it even as she collected the blood on the pad of her thumb.

"Let's go," was all she said, shifting back into a raven before Hermione cleared the haze from her mind enough to respond.