As always enjoy….

Wide Awake

Chapter 39

"I don't mean to draw attention to the elephant in the room, but Bella is not the only one with injuries." Hermione said breaking the silence.

Narcissa touched the bruise on her face, wincing slightly.

"Yes, well when I tried to get her up and out of the room she struck me across the face. That's when the fight began. We began to duel and in the end I had hit her with a Stupefy charm, if I hadn't I would have never been able to fully subdue her. Hermione she…was unhinged…if I were not slightly more skilled at dueling, I would have been possibly killed." Narcissa explained, her voice breaking slightly.

"How did you get her to her room?" Hermione asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

"I had to body bind her, but it didn't hold for very long, but after that, she had calmed down enough for me to give her a calming drought." Narcissa explained.

Hermione was horrified, she had never thought that someone could be so unhinged, then again, Bellatrix was not the first person to be able to suppress that side of her and she wouldn't be the last. She held her head in her hands for a minute, trying to process everything; she then felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hermione, it was all I could do…" Narcissa said softly.

"I know…" Hermione sniffled.

She looked up into light blue eyes, and closed hers, stealing herself. Narcissa got up from the couch, a few minutes later she handed Hermione a cup of hot tea. Hermione took it with a word of thanks, and took a slow, careful sip.

"I want to change the subject here for a few minutes, I want to go over the seating chart for the dinner party later tonight. " Narcissa said.

"Yes, Bella said you wanted to make sure everyone was seated comfortably." Hermione said smiling.

Bellatrix awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright in bed, she looked around the dark room, but Hermione was nowhere to be found. She sat up stretching as much as her body would allow, wincing, she stood and put on her heavy robe. She slipped on her slippers and left her room, padding quietly down the hall until she heard laughter coming from the drawing room. Bellatrix smiled as she saw her sister and lover laughing and having a good time.

"I see you two are getting along." Bellatrix said from the doorway.

Hermione beamed at her lover, it was good to see her out of bed and walking around. She got up and walked over, planting a kiss on Bellatrix's lips. Bellatrix smiled into the kiss and looed down at Hermione.

"It's good to see you up and walking around, do you need anything?" Hermione asked looking at her lover.

"No, I'm fine, I just felt like I needed a walk and I came in to find you two having a great time. I'm glad…" Bellatrix said.

Narcissa smiled and walked towards the two women, she pulled them both into a hug.

"I'm so happy for you two, but you may want to dress for dinner. People will start arriving soon, and I need to dress as well." Narcissa said softly.

Narcissa left the room leaving the two women standing in the drawing room. Bellatrix looked around the room and led Hermione out and back to her room, before the memories of that room came flooding back. Once back in their room Bellatrix closed the door behind them and leaned against it.

"That outfit rather suits you." Bellatrix said looking Hermione up and down.

"Just some old jeans, an old sweatshirt and my Dr. Martens, nothing all that special, but I am glad you like it." Hermione said smiling.

"Mione…I want to tell you that I am sorry, I keep pushing you away and all you want to do is love me, so…I was thinking that maybe tonight after dinner we could go back to your place and explore this…intimacy thing a little more." Bellatrix said looking at Hermione.

The younger witch was taken aback by this statement, she didn't think that this subject would come up especially now, but she wasn't opposed to this idea, and was happy that Bellatrix brought up the subject.

"I would like that." Hermione said smiling.

"Shall we dress? I saw that you brought a bag with you, I am assuming that you brought something to wear tonight?" Bellatrix asked.

"Yes I did as a matter of fact; I figured there was a dress code. Narcissa doesn't strike me as the type for a casual dress code for dinner." Hermione said.

"No, she isn't, we should shower, care to join me?" Bellatrix asked.

"I would." Hermione replied smiling.

And with that the two women got into the shower.

TBC…