Dedicated to my mother, whom I miss a lot. : )

Bellatrix sucked in a deep breath, her skin going completely pale. "H-H-Helen?"

"Bella my love where are you?" Tucked deep in the veil of shadows the voice came from the portrait hung carefully on the far wall. Fleur grabbed the small tinderbox from the table by the daybed and approached the source of the voice. Helens face became visible as Fleur drew nearer with the light. Helen squinted once Fleur was directly to the side of the frame. Upon her pristine face bloomed a brilliant smile as her eyes fixed upon the frazzled dark witch. "Bellatrix Black...oh my darling it is you! Oh Bella! Dear, sweet beautiful Bella!"

Bellatrix approached the portrait on unsteady feet, fat tears began to well in her eyes as her eyes finally came to regard the tender ones of Helen Gaunt. Standing mere inches from the canvas, her lips quivered as she stared deeply into Helen's painted eyes. Fingertips came to rest upon the contours of Helen's painted chin, and Bellatrix started to whimper. "Helen...oh sweet Merlin...my love…" Bellatrix struggled to form the words as Helen began to cry painted tears of her own. "I-I-I love you…"

"I love you Bellatrix. I still do!"

Fleur in the meantime crossed behind the elder witch and gathered Hermione into her arms. She pressed her soft lips to the brunette's ear, and smiled against her lover's neck. The two younger witches watched the reunion unfold before them, Hermione feeling as though she were bearing witness to a cosmic event.

She felt her heart wrench painfully in her chest as she watched Bellatrix lean forward, pressing her forehead against the brushstrokes of Helen's shoulder. Her right hand rose up to touch Helen's cheek. The sight tore the young witch apart; never had the proud death eater appeared so vulnerable, so desperate for the love she had been denied for so long.

"Bella...you look so different...you look...older. How...how long has it been?" Helens jaw quivered and her eyes scanned the study. Bellatrix removed herself from the canvas, and moved back a few inches, but still she was standing impossibly close.

Bellatrix swallowed hard running a hand through her raven curls. "Nineteen years have come and gone my love...I'm three years shy of fifty."

Helen leant back in apparent shock, her palm coming to rest on her forehead. "Forty seven years old...oh dear..."

"You died...nearly twenty years ago...and now you're here...somewhat...Helen..."

"Oh I am fully aware of my death, I remember it clearly...though how were you able to fetch my portrait from my Vault? There is simply no way Grandfather's lock would have opened for you." Said Helen with a confused tilt of her head.

Fleur attempted to stifle a chuckle at the sight. "You do 'zee same 'zing mon amor...now I see where you get 'eet from!" She whispered in Hermione's ear and the younger witch playfully swatted her in the arm.

Bellatrix smiled broadly. "I didn't fetch your portrait...though someone in this very room did...someone that has been dying to meet you." With that the dark witch turned to look at Hermione, beckoning her toward the painting with a twitch of the neck.

Fleur brought her lips to Hermione's ears. "Go on 'Ermy…talk to 'er...go on…je t'aime..." Fleur kissed her once before giving a light shove toward Bellatrix. Her legs moved with the speed of molasses as she slowly made her way toward the portrait on the wall. Heartbeats echoed in her ear as she finally entered the view of the young Grecian maiden in the painting, and the painted woman's eyes grew wide as she regarded Hermione for the first time. Looking directly into her birth mother's eyes caused her breath to catch in her throat, and it appeared that Helen was experiencing the same sensation.

"My God Bella...is that?" Helen began, her jaw moving methodically over each syllable. The woman was completely awestruck. Bellatrix nodded fervently with a broad, tear streaked smile.

The one word that Hermione had longed to utter for so long finally emerged from her quivering mouth in a stammer. "M-m-m-mother?"

One of Helen's delicate hands came to rest on her now heaving chest. "Hermione...?"

Now it was her turn to cry, the tears streaming down her cheeks one after the other. "It's me...Hermione..."

"My little one...you're alive!" Sobs of the purest joy burst forth from Helen. "My sweet, sweet, sweet little one...oh Merlin...you're alive! Though you are not quite so little anymore..." The smile that grew upon her mother's face was among the most beautiful Hermione had ever seen, and the laughter that followed was musical in it's quality. And the young witch couldn't help but chuckle as well.

"No...I am nineteen now mother..."

"Hermione...dear sweet beautiful Hermione...I..." Helen began to stumble over her words. "I have missed so much in your life..."

Hermione reached forward to touch the canvas of the painting, hoping to wipe a tear from Helen's cheek. "It's not your fault..."

"The fault is mine." Bellatrix interjected, gently pulling Hermione away from the picture frame. Her body shivered as she stood before Helen. "Back at the hospital...all those years before…I should've been more assertive...I needed to be at your bedside..."

"Hush dear Bella...what has passed is past. There is no use dwelling upon such terrible things now..." Helen suddenly grew nervous and swallowed hard. "Truth be told…if you were in the delivery room that day...you might not be standing here today either...this portrait would likely be back in my family vault...and well," She turned her head to look upon Hermione. "…who knows where you would end up little one. But there is no need to dwell upon such things. What is important is that our family is finally complete. Though I may not be with you in corporeal form...the immense happiness I am experiencing right now is unlike any other happiness I've felt while I was alive."

"You are in a better place, for nowhere can be as troubled as our world currently is my love." Bellatrix began, her gaze locked upon Helen's. "All of these years I knew that you were watching over me...each night I felt your presence by my bed, and heard your beautiful voice in my dreams...with me always...when Hermione told me of her finding your portrait...I could not bring myself to look upon you in fear that once you learn of what I have become...that you would no longer love me..."

"Bella...you are the love of my life and nothing will ever change that...have you been watching over my little one?"

Hermione took her chance to speak. "She has. She has kept me from harm's way, though I must echo her that you may not wish to hear of what has transpired as of late." Hermione turned to look at Fleur for reassurance, and the French woman gave a nod of understanding and mouthed the words go on. "We...I have done something most terrible."

"Terrible? Hermione it pains me to hear you speak in such a way...what have you done?"

"Tonight I have helped to bring a most awful man to dictatorial power..."

"You don't mean..."

"The Dark Lord Voldemort...your...our cousin...sacked the Ministry of Magic tonight...thanks to me…attacking the muggle Queen at her Diamond Jubilee just this morning..."

Helen hung her head, her ringlets spilling forward to veil her face. For a few agonizing moments the woman remained in total silence. Not one of the occupants in the room dared speak as the revelation continued to sink in for the deceased woman. Helen's head with out warning, whipped up, her face had contorted with anger and both Bellatrix and Hermione recoiled at the sight.

"He finally got what he wanted didn't he...even after all these years he still found a way to slime his way into my life...or lack thereof. Bella, Hermione, don't believe for once that I simply died in childbirth...I was murdered by my cousin. Tom Riddle Jr."

Hermione's stomach wrenched painfully inside of her, and instantly she found herself filled with dread, but mostly she could feel that familiar rage building within. The Dark Lord had committed yet another betrayal, one that had been there under their noses right from the very beginning. "M-M-Murdered!" The word was frantic. Bellatrix shook her head violently at the revelation and Helen continued to speak with increased fervor.

"My bastard cousin killed me in cold blood shortly after you were born...I can remember the moments plainly." Helens words were acidic, and spoken at nearly a hiss. "The hospital staff allowed him access to my delivery room since he is my next of kin, and he was there at my bedside all throughout my labor. Once you were born and handed to me Hermione, oh how I was only allowed mere minutes to hold you...he immediately obliviated the staff, and wrenched you from my arms. Oh how you cried, and I couldn't stand to watch him hurt you so! He began to speak at length over how you, Hermione, were exactly what he had wanted. You, no doubt, have inherited my great telekinetic abilities...Once he achieved his great triumph, he said, he would need an heir, a powerful one, and he used myself and Regulus to make you...what he did not count upon was my love for your Godmother, nor my wish to flee the country with you and Bella before his great war escalated. He had with him a mockery of a book about our family history, penned by himself. He showed me the chapter that was dedicated to myself...and it read that I had died in childbirth. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run, but I was so weak from labor...I was completely vulnerable. He struck me down with the killing curse shortly after."

Hermione wanted to scream.

Fleur appeared as though she was going to faint.

Bellatrix was thrown into a rage, grabbing a nearby vase and smashing it against the wall with a vicious arc of her arm. Frustration, and agitation painted the now contorted look of anger upon the dark witch's face. Her lips were curled and her teeth bared like a snarling dog. "That swine! That fucking...bastard!"

Fleur scrambled to repair the damage with her wand and Helen heaved a sigh. "Bella...calm down please..."

"All of these years...I believed that the fucking doctor killed you...shit! Muggles. Mudbloods. Oh God. That book. That wretched book had a fidelius charm upon it. Nineteen years of being completely unaware that she had even survived. And he dangled it in front of my nose like an ass with a carrot. I trusted him. I worshipped him. I tortured and killed for him. And now Hermione is up to her neck in this lunacy..." Bellatrix tore at her curls in frustration, stomping around the room. The movements ceased soon after as the dark witch doubled over in pain, snarling aloud as she grabbed at her healing wound in her torso.

Rushing over, Hermione hugged the dark witch from behind, and pressed a cheek to Bellatrix' shoulder blades. Her tears soaked through the fabric of the elder witch's shirt. The muscles beneath began to relax at the touch, and Hermione turned her head forward to speak into her godmother's back. "He duped us both Bella..."

"Betrayal begins with trust." Helen murmured somberly.

Fleur crossed the room toward the huddled women, and she too wrapped her arms around Bellatrix from the front. It was too much for the dark witch to bear, and she fell to the floor, dragging the two young lovers with her. Loudly, she began to sob and her body quaked with the intense emotions surging through her. Fleur gathered the defeated woman and held her in her lap, using a hand to softly stroke the Death Eater's sable curls.

"Per'aps I should take 'er to bed mon amor...she 'as 'ad way too much excitement for one day." Fleur thought aloud and Hermione nodded weakly in response.

"This has been an tremendously rough day for her...". The brunette conceded while looking into the concerned eyes of her mother. As Fleur made to lever herself and Bellatrix to their feet, Hermione halted them for a moment with a hand. "Fleur hold on one moment...mother, there is someone I'd like for you to meet." She pulled the French witch toward her. Bellatrix, having succumbed to weakness had slumped over on the floor in a light sleep. "Leave her for a moment, she'll be alright." Bringing Fleur's soft hand to her lips, she placed a tender kiss upon the skin and gazed up at the portrait. "Mother, this is Fleur Delacour...my reason for being. She is the love of my life."

"Bonjour Mademoiselle Gaunt."

Helen looked at Fleur with a warm smile. "Oh there is no need for such formality my dear...call me Helen. Anyone who matters so much to my daughter matters to me as well." The Grecian woman gushed. "And your wonderful name…Flower of the Court…how fitting and beautiful!"

"Oui. Parlez-vous Français?" Fleur asked with a grin.

Helen nodded her head enthusiastically. "Oui je le veux…pas bien!"

For several minutes Hermione watched in awe as Fleur and the portrait conversed in rapid French, intermittently breaking out in joyful laughter. Through their mirth, they sounded like a pair of chatty songbirds. Her heart swelled with adoration at the sight of her beloved and her mother talking as though they had known each other for years. Soon Fleur turned to hug Hermione tightly and kissed her lightly upon the lips. "She 'eez an utter delight...and will make a wonderful 'een-law...I will leave you both alone for now. I am taking Bella to bed...come find me later...I've missed you mon amor...".

Hermione was still transfixed on the word in-law. "Wait..."

Fleur simply ignored her and winked at the portrait. "Bonne nuit 'Elen!"

"Doux rêves ma puce!" Helen also winked.

The door shut with a gentle click and Hermione was left alone with her mother. She walked toward the frame and gently lifted it off from the wall.

"Where are we going?" A surprised Helen asked.

"Just getting a little more comfortable." Hermione spoke warmly as she made her way toward the daybed, and gently propped Helen's frame against the windowsill. Once she was satisfied with it's position, Hermione sat cross-legged a few feet in front of the portrait. Summoning with her mind, blankets began to wrap around her snuggly, and she smiled back the equally smiling Helen Gaunt.

Newly united mother and daughter regarded each other in silence for a few minutes, studying the features of the other closely. Hermione couldn't help be feel slight frustration, for she ached for Helen to be physically present, to feel her touch, to know that she was in fact alive.

"It's as though I am looking in a mirror..." Helen remarked with a grin finally breaking the silence.

"I feel the same." Hermione concurred, reaching over to touch the painted lines of Helen's face. "Merlin...there is so much I want to ask you...I searched for months to learn anything I could about you, and Bellatrix remained mostly tightlipped...in fact it was not until she shared memories with me via pensieve, that I knew of our...family."

"Yes...Bella was never good at disclosing her inner emotion; she was delightfully stubborn...as I hear that you can be as well..." A grinning Helen said knowingly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Fleur..."

"You make her so happy...it is so plain to see on her face...reminds me of myself when I fell in love with Bella all those years ago. And my darling as your mother I couldn't be happier with your choice of a mate. Fleur is nothing short of wonderful. She said that you were each other's destiny…that you give her a reason to keep breathing...I do so hope for a chance to get to know her better."

"What else did she tell you?" Hermione probed with a giggle.

Helen shook her head in an overly dramatic fashion, nearly losing the Grecian tiara perched upon her crown. "Tsk tsk, I promised not to tell. I shall take it to the grave...oh wait a tic, I'm already there!"

"How terrible mother!"

Helen could only laugh at her daughter's incredulous tone. "You can't deny me a bit of humor at my situation my dear...just trying to bring some levity...I am sorry to have awoken at such a terrible time for you."

"I wish you were here...as in alive here. Merlin knows that I've needed you for so long and I never knew it until recently. This past year has been nothing short of tumultuous...I discovered my true identity."

"What happened love...please tell me..."

"Merlin...where to begin!". She descended into the events of the days and months prior, her voice filling with vigor at certain points of her story. Tears flooded her eyes as she recounted denouncing the Grangers and Fleur's confession of love occurring in the same night.

"I should like to thank the Grangers dear. Though you feel resentment toward them, they raised you well, kept you clothed and fed. They meant well my love. They loved you, and I bet you that they still do…" Helen remarked amid Hermione's tale. The younger witch could only roll her eyes before Helen admonished her. "It's the truth my darling and you know it. But please do go on…"

Helen listened with rapt attention when Hermione grazed the topic of her telekinetic powers and her intense training. Helen scolded her for her fight with Pansy Parkinson, but right away grinned like mad when Hermione spoke of Bellatrix' keen disguise as Mrs. Granger. And the great Professor McGonagall fell for the charade hook line and sinker.

The air in the room grew tense as Hermione began to speak of the Dark Lord, the raid on the Burrow, the Jubilee, and finally the betrayal. At the mention of the cruciatus curse being cast upon her daughter, Helen's jaws twitched.

"Torture...raids...and you're telling me that Bellatrix has been doing this for years?"

"She swore fealty to the Dark Lord and became a Death Eater after you died...believing that muggle negligence was the cause of your death..."

"He preyed upon her sadness, and yours as well."

"As we speak Bellatrix remains one of the most feared people in all of England...she spent over a decade in Azkaban."

"No! I refuse to believe that Bellatrix Black would do such a thing...torture...murder...Merlin. Imprisoned in Azkaban…"

Her shivers were nearly epileptic in their severity as Hermione made her confession. "And I am no better. I have committed murder just a few hours earlier..."

"Hermione...you jest."

She shook her head in a despondent manner. "I killed Rodolphus Lestrange." She swallowed hard. "And...I don't regret it for a moment...Bellatrix is dying mother..."

"Dying!"

"She grows weaker by the minute, and I believe she is fully aware that she may not have much longer to live if she carries on the way that she has been. She has been shot by muggle soldiers just this morning...and tonight she was slashed over and over by the Dark Lord until she was unrecognizable...so much blood...and that pig Rodolphus, he had the gall to laugh at her suffering. And I had to punish him...I haven't told Bella or Fleur yet…"

"I never liked Rodolphus. Never liked the way he treated my dear Bella, or people in general, but even he does not deserve death for it, especially by your hand. Unlike Rodolphus and the Dark Lord, you are not sustained by hate. You are better than he is."

"But that's where you are wrong. I am full of hatred. Not even a year ago I learned that everything I once believed about myself was a lie...no longer would I be Hermione Jean Granger, a muggle born. I learned that I am Hermione Athena Gaunt, a pure blood...heir of Slytherin, a relative of the Dark Lord himself...that I have a birth mother...a Death Eater godmother...I fell in love, and that love is spat upon by people I once loved and trusted…I discovered these...powers...I fall for false promises...and in the end...I'm nothing but a monster. A MONSTER!" She choked on her words. "People are going to suffer...and it's my fault. Harry is going to die. Many more people will die. And their blood will be on my hands!"

"Hush my darling...hush...now tell me...what did he promise you?" Helen probed cautiously.

"Freedom. For Fleur and I. For all partial humans. Fleur, and people like her have been kept in bondage under the tyranny of the Ministry for far too long. And so at my most vulnerable, a deal of sorts was struck between myself and the Dark Lord."

"Her freedom for the use of your telekinetic ability." Helen completed the thought.

"How did you..."

"Hermione, my sweet little one, in the same fashion as the Gaunt men before him, Tom Riddle Jr. Is incredibly egotistic. He revealed his entire plan to me moments before he ended my life. He chronicled his plan to use my child's powers one day, to pit them against another child of light that had yet to be born. You are the antithesis to this supposed chosen one...whom I can only assume is this Harry you speak of."

"Harry Potter! He's...was...my best friend." Hermione looked down at her palms.

"Potter…yes the child of James and Lily! I remember them both from Hogwarts! Tom prattled on and on about a prophecy, and that he was nervous that his dreams of grandeur might not come to fruition, but he had a plan of insurance for this...he was going to craft a horcrux."

"A what?"

Helen's tone was deathly serious and her gaze could've bored holes through metal with it's intensity. "A horcrux. A remarkable, yet exceedingly evil object of ancient magical quality. To put it in simple terms, it is a vessel in which to store a fragment of one's soul. So as long as the horcrux itself remains intact, the witch or wizard who crafted it can persist; even if their corporeal form is destroyed."

"But what is it?"

"Ahh therein lies the genius of it all. A horcrux can be anything tangible. Any object. And it is made through a murder of significance, as it is an act so terrible, that the murderer's soul will literally rip itself apart...in this case, the Dark Lord killed his own flesh and blood...me."

Hermione leant forward with great interest. "Which object did he use for a vessel?"

"My Aunt Merope's locket...he wore it around his neck. It was a most revolting thing."

It was all a very simple equation and Hermione verbalized her conclusion aloud. "So as long as the locket is in tact...he is immune to death!"

Helen nodded. "Horcruxes were an integral part of my research. Many telekinetic wizards dabbled in the dark arts. And my dear cousin did his research too it seems. My death was the catalyst in order to make the locket into a horcrux."

"Do I just…smash it?"

"Of how to go about destroying it, I am unsure. I wish I could be of more help my darling…but I am growing weary over talking about my demise…can we speak of other things? You must understand that I am meeting my daughter for the second time, and I find her to be quite an enigma! The scholar in me wishes to learn so much more! But our first conversation has just been so…depressing." Suddenly, before Hermione could speak, Helen began to hum a low melody to herself before breaking out into song; her singing voice thick with soulful vibrato.

Gather 'round me, everybody

Gather 'round me, while I preach some

Feel a sermon comin' on here

The topic will be sin

And that's what I'm agin'

If you wanna hear my story

Then settle back and just sit tight.

While I start reviewing…

The attitude of doin'…RIGHT!

Helen started to snap her fingers like a snare drum and she bobbed her head in rhythm. And the younger witch found herself doing the same

You've got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive!

E-lim-i-nate the negative!

And latch on to the affirmative!

Don't mess with mister inbetween!

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum.

Bring gloom down to the minimum.

Have faith, or pandemonium's

Liable to walk upon the scene.

To illustrate my last remark

Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark,

What did they do, just when everything looked so dark?

Man, they said, we better:

Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive!

E-lim-i-nate the negative!

And latch on to the affirmative!

Don't mess with mister inbetween!

When she finished, Hermione began to applaud enthusiastically, albeit quietly. "Oh mother I've inherited so much from you, but I sure couldn't hope to sing like you!"

"With a little practice dear, anything is possible. Promise me that from now on, you'll ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive my dear! Tell me everything about you! Spare no details dear!"

Hermione could not suppress the broad smile that erupted on her face at the words. "Well, what would you like to know?"

The questions flowed forth like a river and Hermione was finding no issue in obliging her mother's endless curiosity. Throughout their conversation Hermione came to find she had much in common with the young woman in the portrait; her facial expressions, her gesticulations accompanying each story, even so far as their eating habits, as Helen expressed her disdain for adding anything to her coffee or tea. Hermione's heart swelled and ached at the same time as she heard Helen recount funny stories about her time with Bellatrix. She daren't think on what her life would be like if Fleur were to be hastily ripped from it as Helen was from Bellatrix' Though in the same vein, the simple fact that Helen's adoration for the Death Eater survived something so terminal as death was a comfort. Eventually Hermione felt herself drifting off into slumber, the ravages of the immensely long day finally getting to her. Helen simply smiled.

"You should be sleeping my love, you have endured much more in one single day than many people endure throughout their entire lives. And I find myself in awe of how grown up you are…but underneath it all, you are still so young, and so vulnerable all the same. You are entitled to cry. To be scared. Don't think you are obligated to carry the weight of the world upon your back at all times my love. That is too much for any one...So please sleep my sweet little one. Dream...Do not worry. I will still be here when you awake…unless my frame is knocked to the floor of course...or if it decides to sprout legs and walk away."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione gave a sleepy laugh and tiredly rubbed at her nose.

The woman in the painting gushed at the simple motions. "Oh that is so cute! I have such an adorable daughter…"

"Stop it mother…you're embarrassing me."

"And apparently I have a moody teenager as well…but all joking aside, go to Fleur my dear…she needs you. Good night my darling…pleasant dreams." Helen reached up to wipe a small tear from her eye. "It feels so good to finally say those words…" She whispered.

"And it feels so good to hear you saying them to me…" Hermione stood slowly; drowsily grasping the frame, she crossed the room to return Helen to her perch on the wall. "Good night…mother."

"I love you my little one. Always." Helen softly cooed and the brunette's heart suddenly grew tenfold. The words were so sincere, so loving in their tone it stopped Hermione dead in her tracks for a moment.

"I love you too." She said with a small yawn "…good night."

She took a quick shower, cleansing herself of the day. Entering the living room Hermione found Fleur curled up in a ball on a bed that she had apparently transfigured one of the couches into. She surmised that Bellatrix was given the guest bedroom, and Hermione eased back the covers and slipped in next to the slumbering Frenchwoman. She drew the lithe body against her own with a gentle pull of her arms. Fleur murmured in her sleep before rolling over to face Hermione and gently pressed their lips together in a tired kiss. Hermione rested her chin on the crown of Fleur's head, and the Veela rested her face against the soft skin of Hermione's neck. She wanted to wake her lover, to talk at length about the wonderful feeling of having a mother, but that could wait until morning. The blonde looked so peaceful in slumber, Hermione thought, it'd be a crime to disturb that. The syllables of her name passed through the Veela's lips in a sleepy murmur and Hermione couldn't help but feel all of the pain, the suffering, the confusion of the day wash away at the sound. So long as Hermione had breaths in her lungs, she would keep up the fight for Fleur; the delicate flower that bloomed amongst the darkness in her life. The Dark Lord wasn't going to preen this flower. She would give her life for Fleur without a moment's hesitation. Freedom was still within her grasp. She had made a promise to those she loved, and she was going to uphold her end. Come what may. Fleur stirred against her embrace and it roused from her thoughts. The slight warmth from each breath Fleur drew helped to lull the younger witch into a deep sleep, dreams arriving within minutes of her eyelids closing.

Her sleep continued uninterrupted for an hour until the floorboards creaked loudly under heavy footsteps. Shooting up ramrod straight Hermione scanned the room wildly before out of nowhere a fist connected dead on to the bridge her nose. Pain exploded behind her eyes and she crumpled forward like a rag doll. Muted sounds filled her ears as her consciousness rapidly drained like water through a sieve.

A scuffle.

A scream.

Then there was blackness.

A/N: Yes this is still an AU fic, and yes I'm including a horcrux. Just one. For reals. It was part of my plan all along.

A/N 2: The lyrics from "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" are not mine. Once again, another amazing jazz standard with a myriad of renditions by various greats. My personal favorite is by Ella Fitzgerald, but I also recommend the Bing Crosby and Andrews Sisters' version as well

A/N 3: The title of this chapter is from the opening theme of FFXIII, "The Promise" (lame I know haha) but it is an absolutely gorgeous piano piece that I think could accompany any loving scene of this nature. It's been added to the 'fic-track' linked on my profile, and even if you haven't checked it out at all during the course of this fic, I encourage you to at least listen to how beautiful this song is.