Hello my wonderful readers! How are you guys? Probably not happy with me for not updating for so long, but rest assured, this will not happen as often anymore. I'm taking it slow from now on so that this story will be up and running once more in no time. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter that I bring you!
Bellatrix strode into the office with a grin upon her face. "Good morning, Miss Granger." She chirped, sitting at her desk.
Hermione glanced up at her with a suspicious glare. "Why are you so happy?"
"Because I..." Bellatrix thought a moment. "Do I really need a reason to be happy?"
"You're a batshit crazy psychotic bitch, so yes."
"I was only trying to be polite." Bellatrix shrugged.
"But why?" Hermione grumbled lowly.
Bellatrix simply chuckled and continued on with her work. The two women worked diligently, albeit quietly, for most of the morning. When lunchtime drew near, Bellatrix cleared her throat and Hermione looked up. "Would you accompany me for lunch?" The former Death Eater inquired.
"Why would I do that?" Hermione snorted.
"Because you would like to." Bellatrix replied. "It was an invitation you are free to decline."
Gathering her papers together the 'blonde' witch prepared to leave as the brunette thought on what she'd said. As Bellatrix stood to go, Hermione stood as well and reluctantly cleared her throat. "I... you did invite me and I was raised to be polite, so I suppose I could join you for lunch." Bellatrix gave her a small smile and led Hermione to a nearby Muggle diner. Hermione's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I thought you hated Muggles." She commented.
"I told you. I did some meditating and a lot of things were put into perspective for me, brought into the light. Also, to avoid detection in the Magical World, I had to hide in the Muggle one." Hermione huffed in disbelief as she and Bellatrix strolled up to the counter. After placing their orders, Bellatrix led Hermione to a table and sat down.
"A question has been brought to attention." Bellatrix stated contemplatively. "Why is it that, though you know who I am, you have not yet reported me?"
"I'm not sure." Hermione replied, playing with her sleeve. "I just... I suppose I'm waiting for you to provoke me in some way before I do it."
"How noble of you, Miss Granger. You truly are the best of the Trio, even if you did marry the worst."
"Ron's not the best person to be around, but he's still my husband."
"And he gave you two wonderful children." Bellatrix added with sarcastic sweetness.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I accepted your offer to lunch. The least you could do was not talk trash about my family."
"You're right." Bellatrix conceded. "I apologize for my comments."
Hermione raised a suspicious eyebrow at the 'blonde', but seemed to deem the apology sincere. "I didn't think you would talk down on a pureblood." She murmured.
"Well, there are two reasons for him. The first of which is not one you would like me to state and the second is because his family is considered blood traitor more often than pureblood. Though, I assume that's died out now as well?"
"It has." Hermione replied calmly.
"And this was your doing? I mean, it must be considering the other two men are part of the Auror department and therefore have very little say in laws such as those."
The brunette cocked her head at the woman opposite her. "I didn't think you'd noticed. Yes, the laws were mostly my doing considering the world learned that Muggleborns weren't as worthless as most people assumed them to be. Muggle technology, though vastly useless within the Wizarding World, can still prove to be useful knowledge for those of the Wizarding community living among Muggles. It wouldn't do for people like Mr. Weasley to go out and start asking questions about plugs, batteries, microwaves and Muggle radio as if they've been living under a rock their entire lives."
Bellatrix listened to the explanation with interest, green eyes surveying the younger woman speculatively. "Do you mind refreshing me on everything that happened at the battle? Since I'm going to be out of Azkaban for a while yet due to this job, I might as well catch up on what I've missed."
Hermione could not believe she was truly discussing this with the woman that had tortured her. I suppose some things really do happen despite past circumstances. "Harry and I helped to rebuild Hogwarts and then Diagon Alley. We helped persuade Wizarding families to come out of hiding and we spoke with the Muggle prime minister in order to stage a big gunfight in which the supposed perpetrator of the murders and weather patterns was killed."
"You killed an innocent man?" Bellatrix asked softly.
"Well, no." the younger witch shifted uncomfortably. "Harry dealt the final blow and the man had been sentenced to death the next day anyway, so it was perfectly fine. Morticians were bribed not to release their knowledge of the body and everything was smoothed over so the Muggles were none the wiser."
"So you've still not killed anyone before?" Bellatrix persisted.
"Unlike you, I don't take pleasure in killing." Hermione replied heatedly, suddenly defensive even though she had no idea why.
"I didn't take pleasure in killing." Bellatrix told her quietly.
"But all of those people you tortured-."
"Tortured." Bellatrix repeated firmly. "Death was usually a result of the torture or a direct order. I didn't enjoy killing as much as the men did."
Hermione nodded and smiled as the waitress brought them their orders. Taking a sip of her tea, Hermione watched the woman opposite her and wondered if she really had changed after all. That's an absurd thought. She reprimanded herself. Just keep on your guard and don't doubt who she was and still could be.
The pair ate in silence, not bothered by the lack of talking going on between them and actually comforted by the quiet. When the meal ended, they each paid half the bill and headed back to work. Hermione continued updating the Dark Witch once they reached their office again.
"The newspapers kept following us around, asking all types of questions and nosing into our lives. They were getting to be as intrusive as those American reporters you always hear about from across the sea." Bellatrix snorted as she went back to her paperwork, glancing up at her partner every so often.
"Finally, all three of us decided that an interview couldn't hurt. Harry and I told all we could remember, downplaying quite a few of the details so the story stayed as light as we could possibly make it-."
"Despite the journey being anything but?" the blonde cut in.
"Yes. Ron embellished his tale quite a bit, not even mentioning the fact that he left us, but Harry and I set the story straight since ours were more similar to each other's than to Ron's."
And I continue to wonder why you married the redhead. Bellatrix inwardly groaned, almost feeling pity for the girl's taste in men.
"After that," Hermione went on, blissfully unaware of Bellatrix's thought process. "Harry and I were almost immediately offered jobs from every department in the Ministry, whereas Ron had to go back to school and finish his NEWTs before being able to join. I went back to school as well simply because my OCD wouldn't let me drop out without finishing."
"What's OCD?" Bellatrix inquired curiously.
"Muggles have names for all sort of 'disorders' that they come up with to explain almost everything. OCD is simply an acronym for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder." Hermione felt almost as if she were back in school and teaching students instead of answering the teacher's questions. Bellatrix nodded in understanding and Hermione continued.
"Once I'd finished school, I accepted the job offer to be in the Department of Law and Order, which is how I was able to influence so many changes with Wizarding Law. I've been in this department ever since."
Bellatrix tapped her chin in thought for a few moments before giving the brunette a soft smile. "Seems you've had quite the exciting life."
"Anything about my life you want to read can be found in the biographies the newspapers and journalists created with help from me of course."
"And how do you enjoy the spotlight, then, Miss Granger?" Bellatrix's brow wrinkled in confusion. "And why do people still call you that? You're married, shouldn't you have taken his last name?"
"I do not particularly enjoy the spotlight." Hermione replied matter-of-factly. "People coming up to me all the time asking for my autograph or for me to tutor their child or something of the like isn't infuriating, it's annoying beyond belief. It's as if people don't understand that I have a life of my own that I want to live now that it's not in danger of bloodthirsty Death Eaters trying to kill me."
Bellatrix snickered at the joke as Hermione went on. "And as for my last name, I've told people that they could call me Mrs. Granger, but despite being married to Ron, I refused to get my last name fully changed. I am the last person in the Granger family and would therefore like to preserve my family line as much as possible. One half of our children is to have my last name and the other half will have his."
"And how many children do you plan on giving him?" the blonde inquired, skeptically.
"Not too many more." Hermione sighed wearily. "I have to continually tell him that I'm not his mother and therefore don't have the capability to spit out seven children. He seems to be fine with it, but I know it still bothers him."
Now everything seemed topsy-turvy. Hermione Granger was confiding in the woman she considered her worst enemy about her husband. Could the day become any more bizarre? Apparently it could.
"Well, if he loves you then he'll respect your concerns and listen to what you have to say." Bellatrix told her firmly. Hermione glanced up at her in surprise. "Rodolphus wasn't too keen on treating me the way I wanted to be treated, thinking his family to be higher than mine an dme to be below him. He never listened to me about things that concerned me and took any of my opinions as if they were poorly given advice. You're better than that and deserve as much."
Hermione didn't know how to respond and went for the only response she knew. "Thank you."
Ah, another interesting chapter for the people who seem to interest me most, yeah? Review for me, faithful readers. I will be anticipating them after all since this was a long awaited update.