New Chapter at long last. Sorry about the super long delay!

J. owns all HP characters and references.

One reviewer commented that she didn't like AU stories. Normally I don't either, but this was hanging around in my head and demanded to be written. I chose HP instead of the Mortal Instruments for this one (even though it would have worked for either) as I felt it would be fun to play with these characters in a non magical setting.

:)

It took her five days of conversations with her friends, but Hermione finally decided on who she wanted as a housemate by Friday. She had received calls from Daphne, Millicent and Dean about whether she was interested in them, and Hermione had firmly told Daphne and Millicent no.

When she had been discussing the housemates with Ginny, Luna, Hannah and Lavender over lunch, Luna had been interested in Dean, but admitted that Hermione would not deal well with someone who spoke in slang all the time. The four girls agreed that the Blaise guy was slightly creepy (although Lavender reminded them all that Hermione had commented on his good looks, which seemed to justify something in her books) and that the two men with kids were a definite no. Hermione barely handled babysitting James so there was no was she would cope with a child in her house every second week.

Pansy had told her to choose Draco during a phone call the day before, but the other girls weren't as convinced.

"He's a soldier. Don't they go away on excursions or something? And he could get shipped off to war!"

"Luna's right. And he's a teenager Hermione. That's like jail bait."

"No Ginny, it means she needs to ensure that she is a well preserved cougar."

"Lavender! I'm not that old! And for the last time, I'm NOT going to sleep with a housemate!"

Ginny and Luna were laughing at Hermione's expense and Lavender looked at her with a smirk. "Besides, he's too young for me. Which is also another issue I have with him- he's likely to bring other girls around. I'm not sure I'm okay with that."

Lavender rolled her eyes and Ginny shook her head. "He's young. And so are you. If you ask him not to bring girls around, then I'm sure he won't have much choice but to obey you if he wants to move in as badly as you say he does."

Hermione pursed her lips and thought about it. That was true. He did seem pretty desperate to get her to choose him. And of all the housemates Crookshanks had met, Draco had been the one who the cat had looked remotely interested in, even going as far as sniffing his hand when Draco had offered it.

"I told him I'd know by today. But I still haven't found his phone. I reckon he must have lost it on his way back from looking around the first time."

Luna looked thoughtful at that. "You are pretty clean Hermione. I'm sure if it was lost at your place you would have found it by now."

Ginny nodded. "Just like that time James lost his rattle and it was the only thing under your couch, so we didn't even search long."

"He was looking under the sink! Why he was doing that I don't know. It's a bit weird if you ask me," Lavender stated as she shredded a paper napkin.

Hermione shrugged and picked up her mug. Blowing on it, she looked off into the distance thinking about what she should do. Her instincts told her that Blaise was not ideal. She had no interest in the girls and the two men with children were a definite no. Dean would drive her crazy. Of all the people she had met, Draco was the best fit despite his age. "Okay, so I think I'm going to go with Draco."

Three sets of eyes bore down on her. Placing her mug back on the table, Hermione sat forward. "I'll let him know that I don't approve of him bringing his conquests home. I'll arrange a cleaning roster so that he has to pitch in and help me keep the place clean." Hannah nodded her head and said that was normal in share homes. "I'm going to France soon, so I'll have to make sure he is okay with looking after Crookshanks for me."

"You should also make him tell you when he is going away, so that way you can know in advance if your schedules clash," Hannah suggested practically.

Acknowledging that was a good idea, Hermione closed the topic with "And if it's truly horrible living with him, I can always kick him out with notice," as a waiter arrived with their lunches.

Hermione still hadn't found Draco's lost phone, so she called him on the number that he had written on her pad of paper. A woman picked up and Hermione asked to talk to Draco Malfoy. She was requested to give her name, and a short pause followed before she was told "Mr Malfoy will be with you shortly".

Hermione surfed the channels on the muted television as she waited for Draco to come to the phone. She wondered where she was calling. This was not a home telephone number so she assumed it was the army base.

Scuffling sounds soon reached her ears and a quick beep resounded down the line before Draco's came to the phone.

"Hermione?"

"Draco. Hi. Um, how are you?"

How did one go about offering another a room?

Draco chuckled before saying "Good, good. Is this the call that tells me you have made a decision?"

"Well yes. But it is also the call that tells you that I haven't found it."

"Found what," he asks, sounding perplexed.

Hermione raised an eyebrow as she stood and walked to the kitchen to put the kettle on. "Your phone," she responded as though it was obvious. And it really was.

A short silence followed her words and then Draco let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, have you still been looking for it?"

Narrowing her eyes, Hermione snapped down the line, "Of course I've been looking for it! And I've tried my hardest, I feel guilty and I do not appreciate you laughing at me."

Suddenly Draco's cocky demeanor changed and he donned a soothing voice. "It's okay Hermione," he said. "It's just a phone. I can replace it easily. Now, tell me the good news. Am I in?"

Hermione was tempted to hang up on him, but didn't. She recognized that he was young and stupid and probably didn't even understand why she was so upset about the lost phone in the first place. His generation was probably used to losing things and then replacing them without a second thought, but Hermione wasn't raised like that.

She sighed, hoping she wasn't about to make a big mistake. "Yes, you can move in."

Hermione expected a 'whoop' from Draco, but he stunned her when he suddenly became all business like. "Excellent. I am free to move in whenever suits you. I can pay one month's board upfront, and I will transfer this into your nominated account."

She stood there with her mouth open as he spoke. It was like she had talked to three different men in the matter of a few minutes. A sudden thought dawned on her; did he have a personality disorder? It would be just her luck to choose the person who outwardly appeared normal, but one who could change within moments.

Draco was still talking and Hermione pulled herself out of her thoughts, responding that yes, she was happy for him to move in next Thursday, and that yes, one month's board was fine for bond.

The two talked for a short while longer to arrange what he could and could not bring before Hermione hung up and made her cup of tea. It was Saturday and she had a day of work planned, determined to get more done on the Bellatrix Lestrange case. Progress had been slow so far, as she could only work on her suspicions during her own time.

And she wasn't even supposed to do that! While she was not taking documents from the office, she was sure that researching the woman in her own time was a no-no. But Hermione trusted her gut instinct, and something was telling her that the case was not as simple as it appeared.

Her phone began to ring just as she finished pouring the milk in. The number was blocked and silence met her when she said "Hello?"

She repeated "Hello" again and a voice finally spoke. It was male and it was deep. She had never heard anything like it before.

"Bitch," it hissed harshly before the phone went dead.

Hermione stood in her kitchen staring at her phone in shock. What had just happened?! Shrugging, she left it on the counter and made her way to her computer with her mug in one hand. It must have been a wrong number she mused to herself as she placed her mug next to her and turned her computer on. As far as she was aware, she had no reasons for someone to call her a 'bitch'.

There wasn't a pissed off ex-boyfriend, or even crazy psycho ex-girlfriend of a boyfriend in her life. For a 28 year old this was strange but Hermione accepted her lack of romantic life.

She spent most of her Saturday trawling through the Internet looking for references of Bellatrix Lestrange and Alecto Carrow. As it was, the name Carrow brought up numerous searches regarding the band the woman's twin brothers were in. The Carrow twins had been in numerous interviews and Hermione absentmindedly clicked one just to gain an insight into Alecto's family. She still could not work out how siblings could take such drastic paths.

The interview was on an online gossip site and Hermione's eyes flicked over the words uninterestedly. She had never heard the music- it wasn't to her taste- but apparently the younger generation lapped it up. Something she read suddenly caught her attention. The interviewer was asking the boys about their childhood and if they were heart breakers. One of the twins had said that their babysitter had caught him trying to sneak a girl into his room and that the girl had never talked to him again. Her eyes got wider as she read that the babysitter's name was Bella.

Could this be the link she was looking for? The age difference was about right- there was 8 years between Alecto and Bellatrix, so it put Bellatrix at the right age to be a babysitter. It was sketchy and not enough evidence to put to her boss, but she had a feeling this Bella was Bellatrix. Bella was not a common name for a girl's first name so it would make sense that it was a shortened nickname.

For the rest of the day Hermione went through numerous interviews taken with the Carrow twins to see if any more clues could be obtained. One of the twins mentioned in one interview that one of their songs had been inspired by the babysitter that hated them, yet adored their sister. Hermione felt she had hit jackpot when the article included lyrics the boys said summed up the babysitter who would encourage their little sister to dob on them to her parents.

"Bella! Bella! You and your eyes hiding your tricks and lies as you whisper in her ear"

By the time she went to bed that night, her mind was whirling with the new possibilities that Bellatrix and Alecto had known each other for much longer than their time in the bikie club together. Had Bellatrix been grooming Alecto to the criminal lifestyle even at the young age of 8? Hermione knew it was possible: she had encountered situations where kids had been groomed to be criminals much younger.

It was intriguing, and she determined that she would get to the bottom of it as soon as she could.

Hidden behind a tree outside, a shadowy figure watched as the light to the fourth floor bedroom went out. A mobile phone was drawn from a pocket and buttons were pressed. Moments passed before the light on the fourth floor came back on.

A button was pressed again and the message that had just glowed into the dark disappeared.

Bitch.