Hermione was giddy with excitement, as this was the first day she would be going out with her lover, Bellatrix; not only that, but they were visiting the Dark Lord himself to share the vital information that Hermione had seen in her vision. "You ready Bella?" she asked the older witch.
"Almost. There done." Bella said and stepped out of the hallway into the dining room. She looked at Hermione and was stunned, there in front of her was a woman who looked almost identical to her in every way; apart from hair colour it looked like she was staring in a mirror. "Wow Miney," she said, "You look so sexy and beautiful in that dress."
Hermione was wearing a lacy black dress identical to Bellatrix's own, only it was slightly smaller than Bella's due to her being slightly taller than her. "Speak for yourself, Bella," she purred; moving to stroke her lover's cheek. "If I look beautiful and sexy in this dress, then you must be equally as sexy, if not more so."
Bellatrix blushed at the comment, something she had become accustomed to since living with Hermione, her once ghostly white face now a youthful pink. "Well I do dress to impress," she said as she turned to get their travelling cloaks.
"Impress the Dark Lord?" Hermionie asked; Bella simply turned and nodded, not offering another word, as though it were forbidden ground. "I didn't know you thought about him like that, Bella. I thought he was simply your master."
"No Hermione," Bellatrix said as she came back out of the closet with cloaks in hand. "The Dark Lord has acted like a father figure since my own died in the First War all those years ago. He cared for me, and took me in when I had nowhere to go. Yes I had my husband, but I needed a parent, and the Dark Lord sufficed beyond my wildest dreams. That is why I would do just about anything for Him."
Hermione stood, and contemplated this new information. 'Could I really change the Dark Lord's view on the Wizarding World?' she thought. 'I suppose I'll have to try.' "Let's go see Him now, Bella;" she spoke aloud this time, and Bellatrix nodded in agreement.
"Good luck, Mistresses," Claire shouted from the hallway as the two witches opened the front door of the Manor.
"Thank you, Claire!" they shouted back in unison, before Apparating to Voldemort's Headquarters: Riddle Mansion in Little Hangleton.
"Who goes there," a voice shouted as the pair landed in the courtyard of the mansion. Out of the doorway stepped Peter Pettigrew, a.k.a. Wormtail to the Death Eaters.
"Relax, Wormtail. It is only me, Bellatrix Lestrange," Bella shouted. "I trust you will not prevent me from seeking council with the Dark Lord."
Wormtail quickly opened the door and, wand raised, ordered her to show her Dark Mark. Bellatrix obliged, knowing that the mark was one of the few things that could not be transferred via Polyjuice Potion, so could be used as ID for the Death Eaters. It was then that he noticed Bella's companion. "Who is this with you!" he yelled and whipped off the cloak surrounding Hermione. It was raining so the two witches had brought them over their heads, like hoods. Suddenly, Bella moved faster than Hermione thought possible, as Wormtail went to cast a curse at Hermione.
"Actually, Wormtail. Miss Granger is here with me," Bella told him. "She has some information she wishes to share with the Dark Lord." Wormtail, recognising her tone as one of authority, lowered his wand, and Bellatrix released his wrist.
"Very well," he said, recovering from Bella's tight grip, "follow me ladies." The trio walked through the mansion, Hermione glancing at the portraits that hung in the Grand Hallway. "These are portraits of the Dark Lord's ancestors," Wormtail told her as they walked through. "I trust you recognise this particular Wizard?" he asked as they turned a corner and saw an enormous portrait of a man she had only seen in books.
"Salazar Slytherin," she whispered to Bellatrix, in awe of the portrait's intricacies and detail. The frame itself was adorned in three intertwining snakes, travelling all around the frame before meeting their tails. "I've only ever seen pictures of him in my school books, but never anything as beautiful as that."
"Well, the Dark Lord is descended from Salazar, so it is only fitting that he owns the greatest portrait of him in his family home," she replied.
"Here we are, ladies," Wormtail announced before opening the door. In the 'Throne Room', for lack of whatever else it could be called, sat the Dark Lord Himself, and he looked up to see his visitors entering.
"Ah, Nagini," he spoke softly to his pet snake, which was curled up at his side; "it appears that we have company." Despite his reputation, Hermione noticed that she didn't seem afraid to be in his presence.
"Greetings my Lord," Bellatrix announced as she bowed to her master. "I have brought before you someone who may be able to aid your pursuit of Harry Potter."
"Oh, and who might that be; my dear?" the Dark Lord asked her.
"Her... Hermione Granger, my Lord," Hermionie stated nervously as she walked up to the side of her lover and bowed to the Dark Lord.
"The Mudblood friend of Harry Potter, the Golden Girl!" Voldemort laughed. "Why would I even grace my ears to hear you speak? I should just kill you now and be done with it." He eyed her up and down; truth be told something seemed off about her, but he couldn't tell. Considering he was the greatest Legilimens on the planet, this was somewhat alarming for him.
"My Lord," Hermione said, mustering all of her Gryffindor courage, "Harry Potter is seeking to destroy your Horcruxes." She looked at the man in front of her to find not amusement in his eyes, but fury.
"How could he have found out about my Horcruxes? Nobody was supposed to know about them." He muttered to himself. He was clearly stunned by this revelation, he knew that Dumbledore was aware of them, having been notified by the traitor, Regulus Black; but he was unaware of how many Dumledore knew about. Furthermore, he asked himself, how it was the boy had found out. "Granger," he said quickly and walked slowly towards her. "How much do you know about my Horcruxes? How much does Potter know?"
Hermione knew she had to be concise and to the point if she wanted to evade his imminent wrath. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought. "Dumbledore told Harry about them last year. The two of them were looking into your past to find out the secret of your immortality." She looked at the ground as she counted off the ones she knew about. "Dumbledore destroyed the ring Horcrux, which Harry said belonged to Marvolo Gaunt, while Harry destroyed your diary a few years ago. Also, there was Slytherin's Locket which was destroyed a few weeks ago." She paused as she gathered the memories of the previous afternoon, where she was astrally following Harry. "There's more, sir," she continued as she looked up to see him standing and listening intently to her every word. "Yesterday, I was reading some books in Bellatrix's library on a spell concerning Astral Projection. I was able to use it to find Harry and figure out what he was planning, but more importantly, what he knows." She waved her hand at an empty portion of the room, where the air started to shimmer with her visions of the previous day's astral events. "He knows about the Cup of Hufflepuff," she continued, as a vision of the Cup appeared, "and he knows it is located in the Lestrange Vault. He also knows about the Diadem of Ravenclaw," which had now replaced the Cup in the vision, "and he is aware it is located somewhere in Hogwarts. Then there is your snake, my Lord." This time, she gestured towards Nagini as the vision started to resemble a memory of her own. "He realised that he could sense Horcruxes through his connection with you, and realised the snake is yet another one." Hermionie looked up at the Dark Lord, who was visibly mortified by this information. "Then there is the final Horcrux, Harry himself." As she finished, Voldemort retreated to his throne, unsure of how to react. He never thought that somebody would be able to find all of these objects, but now he knew about his own soul residing within Harry, it appeared that he would never be able to stop him.
"Wormtail," he said solemnly, "we need to act as fast as possible to protect my Horcruxes."
"Of course, my Lord," Wormtail replied, as he turned to the door to leave.
"There is something else," Hermione said suddenly, catching everyone off guard. "My Lord, are you aware of the Deathly Hallows?"