"And… initially, I was against it, but as he explained it, it did sound understandable." She winces slightly, "By that time, he was dealing with a lack of Aurors. You see, during the war, the Dementors joined Voldemort. When they lost, they initially tried to go back to the prison, but… Kingsley didn't agree with that sentiment. Not only because they were part of Voldemort's army, but because it was… extremely cruel." She stares at me, knowingly, and I get what she's insinuating.

Oh.

"I was… there, at Azkaban. How…"

"14 years." Narcissa says, with a degree of affected coolness.

Oh. Huh.

"I… despite the fact that I was tortured by Lestrange. Despite the fact that many people died as a direct result of Death Eaters… I couldn't stand for you to be tortured like you were. Regardless of what you've done. I've talked to Lucius about this, actually, and he up and told me he'd rather have died than stayed at Azkaban for a year, let alone 14. Sirius was not right after his stay, despite the fact that he knew he was innocent and he was an unregistered Animagus..."

"Sirius? Do you mean… my Sirius?" At Hermione's interested look I explain, "I… I have a love-hate relationship with him. I find him extremely annoying, but he's also fantastic at pushing our family's buttons, and he's great at getting out of it."

"Yeah. That Sirius." She says sadly, and… my next question stops at my throat. "He spoke of it like it was hell, and I don't know how anyone could stay there for a month and not go insane, let alone… 14 years. So at the end of the war, it was the Aurors who manned Azkaban, but they were dangerously understaffed. They offered positions to many people who were, frankly, unqualified. Even Harry and Ron admit that they shouldn't have gotten in as quickly as they did. They learned, of course, but…"

"With that many prisoners, a prison breakout was only a matter of time." Narcissa seems to repeat from memory… and she sinks down, her legs fanned out haphazardly.

"Right. So we were working against the clock in many ways…" She blinks, "And I agreed to put my Pensieve Project to use for a new prison, eventually. It took Kingsley a while to wear me down. So I started work on it with the head of the MLE, Aurors, the Minister himself. A prison of the mind, instead of regular prison. Because of that, we moved the prison space from an isolated spot out in the North Sea into somewhere closer. Much closer. An unused space near the Ministry, actually."

"Oh. That close?" I say, the ramifications of what she was saying finally hitting me… "Wouldn't you be scared of potential breakouts, in that case?"

"Technically, it's not connected to the Ministry at all. It's actually protected by a foot of bedrock in-between. I think it was originally set to be an expansion to the Ministry back in the 1800's, but that plan got put on hold. The only way in or out is apparition, which requires a wand that is registered by the Ministry, or Floo, which requires a password. Of course, that password system changes so often that it's far easier to just Apparate."

"Oh. And… how was it made. This… prison of the mind." I say, holding onto the new Pine wand so tightly my hands are shaking.

"The prison? Well. In all honesty, it took many months of walking, recording, and… breaking and entering." She says with eyes blazing, "I spent hours walking up and down London, entering people's houses or buildings in an invisibility cloak and fully examining the space. I felt bad enough about this as is, but it made me even angrier to know I couldn't do the same in obviously magical areas."

"You… didn't want to give people opportunities to get wands, I suppose." I answer from my spot on the floor, laying on my side and staring at the carpeted ground. Just the thought of this place not being real, this place being a prison...

"Which was ridiculous, I've told them that. This is why you can't actually go to certain places, in here. Certainly not a lot of Knockturn Alley, or Gringotts. Luckily enough I was able to get a wand from my friend Dean's place… I don't think they knew about that, though." She's getting angrier and angrier, "Once I felt like we'd gotten enough memories, I started to experiment once again. This time, editing memories."

"Wait. Do you not have memories of going certain places in here?" Narcissa asks, scooting back against the wall, "I'm sure you've gone to certain places only once…"

"You're right." She shakes her head angrily, "Well, by the time I'd fully recorded this area of London, and by the time I'd started my new experiments, factions had been formed, and plenty of them had ideas about using this place in ways I didn't approve of. The debate raged on, long and hard, for weeks."

"What was this debate?" I ask, purely to keep the story going. I needed to hear everything.

"What the point of the prison would be!" She slams her fist against the wall Narcissa was leaning on, causing some of the wands to spark off, "You see… It was my entire goal, for this place to be about rehabilitation. I accepted this mission from Kingsley to do exactly that. The point of Azkaban was retribution… and once people served their sentence, we just toss them out without any attempt to re-integrate them into society! They were traumatized by the Dementors, and then the Aurors… I'd heard from Harry that some of the Aurors guarding the prison openly bragged about atrocities that they'd committed against Death Eaters."

Neither me nor Narcissa can speak, now. Hermione's fiery dialogue is freezing us in our places, on the floor.

"Those same Aurors were fighting my vision for the prison. Some of the MLE people as well. They hated my proposal for this place. Pretty much all of them. They felt that, since they were the law, they should have more say over it then I do. I never got the full story of what they wanted, which I think was the point. Once I'd got done with my research, they were insistent that they be in control of this place, and not me, a lowly researcher." Her eye twitches, "Crock of shite."

"But what about Minister Shacklebolt?" Narcissa asks quietly.

"He… He was listening to them. They never told him what they wanted to do, I think. They may have told him that they were going to follow my plan to the letter, and that I would just be happier back in the Department of Mysteries."

"Which… would have been technically true." I answer, and she nods.

"Of course I would be, but… I couldn't let them take this place and use it for evil." She frowns, "Unfortunately, I couldn't hold out forever. I had very few friends in this project, as the Aurors they picked to directly work with me weren't ones who would be… amenable to my ideas. Sure, I complained to Harry and Ron about this, but they were thought of as too low level to handle a project of this magnitude. So… I was betrayed."

"Betrayed?"

"One day, when I tried Apparating into the prison, I was blocked. I tried again, and again, and it didn't work. So I went to the Ministry instead, and there sat Shacklebolt." Her tone is even, but her face betrays her horrible anger, "He told me that I didn't need to help anymore. That the Aurors understood this place, and that I could go back to my proper place. I raged. I raged so hard, but he merely said that the Aurors and MLE would do a fine job with this place. A bunch of… fucking bullshit!"

"Hermione…" I say, as she grabs a bunch of the wands Narcissa had been testing out at once, "Can you…"

"I worked SO hard on this project! SO HARD! I risked my life for this place, I spent months doing things I would rather not have done!" She's still shaking those wands, and Narcissa crawls over to me for safety, "All to be told that I wasn't the LAW, and that I should go back to my fucking place! I don't fucking know who it was that ultimately told Shacklebolt to take me off the project, but… I… I fucking want to strangle them. I want to burn them… I want them to be stuck here, to be killed by a fake Basilisk, or fake Dementor! MERLIN, what would've happened if we got Kissed!?"

"Hermione." I say, shifting onto my back and tilting my head to look at her raging face, "Hermione… do I really deserve rehabilitation?"

"That's… that's the point." She stares down at my guilty face and softens slightly, "My whole point. My plan for rehabilitation, was to remove the memories of you serving Lord Voldemort. To work with you, work with all of you, to help you deal with the memories you would soon be regaining. That when you got those memories, you could… remember, yes, but distance yourself from them. The ideal would be that you would have all of London to work together, to learn to be productive members of society again…"

"But instead… they're more interested in punishing you. I don't think they know, about… the memories." She sits down and starts rubbing my face gently, "They don't know about you, Bellatrix Black. They don't know the people they're punishing are innocent. Innocent children, in some cases. They don't know that you would be as aghast at the things Bellatrix Lestrange did as they are… They don't know that you're nothing more than a cocky, 18 year old. Nothing more than… a pathetic lesbian." She smiles beautifully at me, and I… I return it. The best I can.

"Do you really believe that, Hermione?" Narcissa is also leaning over me, "Even though she… even though Bellatrix Lestrange was a horrible monster?"

"Tom Riddle had ways of converting good people to horrible monsters." She sighs, and her hands stop moving, resting on my cheek, "You two aren't the first ones I found. Not at all. I visited many of them… Even though many of them were terrible before becoming Death Eaters, they were all redeemable. Every single one. At most, they were idiotic purebloods who had no idea how the world works. We could've worked with them. But instead… they rounded up every single person with a Dark Mark they could, even if they were found innocent, and stuck them in here."

"Wait… not…"

"No. Draco isn't an idiot, and when I was booted from the project, he immediately sensed that they might come for him. So before that happened, he decided to hide out with Harry and Ginny, in their attic." She reassures, despite her sadness and anger, "He's been complaining incessantly, but I think he kinda likes it."

"Snape?" She asks, and Hermione shakes her head.

"Too public. He's not the headmaster anymore, but he is the potions' teacher for Hogwarts. You know… did you know Fenrir Greyback is here? Do you know how old he was, when he was bitten?" When we shake our heads, her face tightens, "8. There's an 8 year old, lost, alone in London. I thought about taking him, but I needed someone… competent." She says shamefully, but… I can't help but agree.

"Merlin…" I sit up, gingerly, grabbing at my new wand that I seem to have dropped at some point.

"Narcissa… I assume you're here because they couldn't get Draco. Or you were with your husband when they caught him, and they took you to keep you from talking." She explains, "By the way… how long?"

"How long what?"

"Oh… the numbers, Cissy." She nods, pulling her robes to reveal the numbers… which have changed. Now it's 112/120.

"That long, huh…"

"Wait. If they took this place from you and you hadn't seen any of the additions they'd made, how did you get here?" I'm not suspicious or anything, but it does seem a little odd.

"Oh… I disguised myself as Draco!" She says brightly, most of her anger gone, "And then just walked around Diagon Alley, loudly proclaiming how good it was to be free and not in any sort of prison."

Narcissa grins brightly, "I bet he didn't like that."

"Not at all!"

"So… what now?" I say as I stagger to my feet, "Where do we go now? The ministry, or this new prison?"

"Ministry. Not only is that the exit point for the Pensieve, but there's one last thing I have to do." She nods seriously as she also stands up.

"What's that?" I ask, but she just leaves the shop without looking back. I glance at Narcissa, who looks just as confused as I am.

Well, I guess we'll see…

"And here we are." She says, pointing at the visitor entrance.

We made our way here very quickly. There didn't seem to be any traps on the way to the Ministry, which… knowing what might be waiting for us, didn't seem that strange. Mostly, me and Narcissa were practicing with the wands we'd acquired. Narcissa was doing fine, and even casting spells I was sure she didn't know previously. Probably a factor of her memories coming back, which… is it because she doesn't have this 'Dark Mark' thing?

As for me… I couldn't. I was getting very little other than sparks. I'd cast a single Wingardium Leviosa that levitated a rock a foot off the ground, but that was it. Hermione kept saying that I just didn't believe in myself enough, but after all that I'd heard, how could I? Did I even deserve to leave? According to what she said, the number on my leg signified how many hours I had left in the simulation. Narcissa had 120 hours, which was merely five days.

Me? I had 100 years.

Even if I was old as I see myself now, I would be 118 years old when I finally left. Bellatrix Lestrange was a monster… that… I don't think I should let escape. Hermione just seems too incensed from her research being stolen to realize this, and from what she said about the House Elves, and her Magical Creature advocacy, I think she's just too nice of a person. She's probably one of those people that will give you a chance, and then another chance, and another… All the while, someone who isn't as good will just exploit that day after day. Someone like...

"Yeah, your bodies are all outside." She's explaining the intricacies to Narcissa as we all crowd into the phone box, "You're under an IV, though, so you should be fine when you leave. Especially since it hasn't actually been all that long since you entered. They were waiting for 'Draco', after all, and since he was the last one for their little test group..."

"They were free to put us all in here." I fill in, "Though I'm not sure why Narcissa is still here, in that case."

"For all I know, it could simply be because she allowed the Death Eaters to live in Malfoy Manor without doing a thing to stop them." Hermione answers as she punches in the code, "Which is ridiculous, considering how many people worked at the Ministry despite…"

"What is your business here at the Ministry of Magic?" The woman's voice interrupts.

"Er… escape?" Hermione shrugs, and out pops three buttons: One for Narcissa Malfoy labeled 'Prison Break', one for Hermione Granger also labeled that, and one for…

Bellatrix Lestrange. 'Prison Break'.

"Shite. Don't bother worrying about that, Bella." She rubs my head gingerly and I grudgingly put it on. Her eyes look supremely sympathetic, but… I don't deserve it. I don't know why she's so insistent on this fact... Listening to the lift slowly descend, I worry about what we'll find.

"Where to first?" Narcissa asks as we leave the lift, staring at the strangely empty Atrium. I've been here a few times, though it's always been buzzing. This, more than anything else, fills me with dread.

"Department of Mysteries." She says and though I'm not quite sure why the exit would be there, I shrug and follow her to the next lift. Narcissa starts to follow as well, also looking suspicious. As we go down, I can feel Hermione's hand hover over to mine… does she want to hold hands? I feel like she's been flirting with me all throughout this situation, but… Does she…

No, no, that's ridiculous. She's trying to keep me from getting too frightened. You're in your 50's, she's in her 20's… Ridiculous. Stop.

We enter the Department and I can't help but be amazed at the foreboding atmosphere. What a place… She takes us into a black door, which leads us to a strange circular room with a high ceiling.

"Room of Prophecies." She announces, and the room spins and spins until it suddenly stops. Merlin, does she deal with that every day? Wait… why are we going into the Room of Prophecies?

For some reason, I expected a large, massive room with rows upon rows of prophecies hidden within. Certainly not… this. It's barely bigger than Ollivanders was, and there's only a few shelves, each with a few strange orbs inside. Each are labeled with… names…

"Hermione. Are these…" I fearfully ask as I try to back into the spinning entrance room again, but the door is closed, so I just bump my head.

"Your memories? Yes." She reaches out and grabs one from the nearest shelf, "Narcissa, here. I don't know how much you're missing, but this will fill you in." She takes it from Hermione, and she suddenly staggers forward, almost looking like she was going to collapse.

"I was bait, at first." She says, rubbing her head gingerly, "For Draco. But when they found 'Draco', well, someone argued that I should be here anyway. I believe he said… I may not have the Dark Mark, but that doesn't mean I wasn't part of His circle. The one thing that worries me, however, was how… easy it was. For them to break into our house."

"Easy? How so?" Hermione echoes.

"Well, I was kidnapped a mere 10 minutes after Andromeda took Teddy out for a Quidditch match. That was odd in and of itself, but… they broke in so easily. I was worried about people invading our home who had a problem with me, so I hired some of the best Ward creators in the world. And yet… It was so simple. They apparated straight in, as I was reading a book, and Stunned me pretty much immediately. I was able to catch a glimpse of their face, but I had no idea who they were. They were almost… too generic."

"Hmm, that may be the jinx that hides your identity." She murmurs, "Why they'd they'd want to hide from you, I have no idea." She shakes her head, "Not especially important. It wasn't really your memories that brought you here, Narcissa, but… those of Bellatrix Lestrange."

"What are you saying?" I ask, still frightened that she plans to give me the orb… but she just laughs at my horrified look.

"Bellatrix Black. Have you ever been in trouble with the Ministry?"

"...Bellatrix Lest-"

"No, I'm asking about YOU. The You who is talking with me, here, right now." She interrupts and pokes me straight into the chest, "Have you done anything that would trouble the Ministry?"

"I… no, I suppose not." I've been in trouble in Hogwarts plenty of times, but nothing that would trouble the Ministry.

"Nothing? Not even an innocent Breach of Security?" I shake my head, "So, doesn't that mean you're innocent?"

"Where are you going with this?" I ask, purely to fill the silence. I knew exactly what she was insinuating, and I didn't like it.

"Bellatrix Black, you've done nothing wrong." She says softly, staring into my eyes, "In fact, I find you… incredibly interesting. You were ahead of your time. I might even argue that you're ahead of THIS time."

"Are you kidding?" I ask incredulously, "I've tortured you, for Merlin-"

"No. Haven't we gone over this?" She pulls up her sleeve and shows me the horrid scar, "You didn't do this to me. You were so horrified… Bellatrix, I contacted you because I thought that by showing the people of the outside world that anyone, even someone like you, could be saved, that meant anyone could. And me, particularly, rescuing you… well."

"Do you intend… to break it?" Narcissa asks, her eyes alight with… longing.

"I do." She nods and turns around, "I intend to kill Bellatrix Lestrange, right here and right now. Bellatrix Black will be free, and will be considered innocent."

"You… You… how can you do that?" I say despondent, "Is that even legal?"

"I… I brushed up on the laws, before coming here. Well, I tried to. Nothing really applies to this situation." She admits, "But there have been some instances in history where something similar has happened, and they were considered innocent of anything they had done in the past."

"She would be free? Truly?" Narcissa says excitedly, "The Ministry would not be able to hold anything she's done against her?"

"I would guess not. Unlike an Obliviate, there will be no way for Bella to get those memories back. Especially after what's happened in here." Hermione bends down to pick up one of the misty orbs from the shelf, "You would be free, Bella. Don't you want that?"

Of… Of course. Of COURSE I want that. But how can… how can I just walk free? From what the evidence I've seen on Hermione, the evidence I've heard from Narcissa… I have done some truly horrible things. I doubt they've even mentioned half of my crimes to society. And now I would just be considered 'free'? After doing that?

"I… I can't. Surely there's a better way." I say quickly as she holds up the orb, "This can't be that easy…"

"You want it to be HARDER?" She says with no small amount of sarcasm, "Why? What do you want to happen? Do you want me to give you this? Do you truly want Bellatrix Lestrange to live again?" She starts throwing the orb gently in front of her, as though she means to throw it, and I shake my head fervently.

"No, no, of course not! Merlin, she sounds like the worst monster out there. But… There needs to be some sort of restitution, or something!"

"So, what, do you want to be in prison?" She asks rhetorically, "I wasn't aware you were into that, Bella, but there are ways you can do that without ACTUALLY being in prison."

"T-That's not what I mean!" My face burns as I think of what she's insinuating, "What about all the people I-"

"STOP." She growls, "No, I don't want to hear another word from you. I wasn't expecting this much blowback. Do you think I'm just doing this for you? Don't you think I want to have my final revenge against the bitch who carved Mudblood into my arm?" She raises the orb again, "I was all set to turn the other cheek. I really was, no matter how much Ron or Harry thought I was being a little too… sanctimonious. But now that I've met you? Now that I've met her first victim? How can I not put an end to her before she hurts anyone else?"

"Bella… I understand how you feel." Narcissa moves closer to me, and gives me a comforting smile, "Please, I really do. What she wants to do, right now, is one thing. We can discuss what happens after Lestrange is dead, later."

"Hmm… Now that I think about it…" Hermione's smile is more than a little chilling, "I think simply smashing it would be a little boring." She kneels to the ground, places it behind her and backs up to where we're standing.

"What do you plan to do, Hermione?" Cissy asks with interest.

"CRUCIO!" She bellows, and the orb containing all m- all of her memories, just shatters. I was a little worried that the mist would find me or something, but it simply floated away, through the ceiling. Hermione… despite casting the Torture Curse, looks extremely happy.

"And here lies Bellatrix Lestrange, a horrible, ruthless bitch who deserved nothing more than death." She sighs with contentment, "now, I can finally be free of her horrible influence, and more importantly… you can be free. Now, I know going into a 50 year old body is a little depressing, and there's probably some intense work that needs to be don-"

"If you think that alone will make me 'free'... You're a little naive." I murmur, still staring at the shattered memories, "I may not have any of her memories, but I sincerely doubt her influence is gone."

"I can work with that. You vastly underestimate the Wizarding World… or Overestimate, in a way." She speculates, "I can finally use my vast popularity for something good, again. You won't see the inside of a prison ever again, if I have any say about it."

"Cissy? Do you seriously think I can just be free, like she says?" I ask her, trying to appeal to her rational side, but she looks far too happy to even consider the negatives, "That I can just integrate right back into society, like THAT?"

"Voldemort… he tore us apart. Ever since you were arrested for the first time… Ever since Andromeda told us about Tonks… Ever since we met with Tom Riddle for the first time, I've wanted us to be back together again. Despite everything she did to her, despite the horrors Bellatrix Lestrange committed, she honestly wishes that all three of us could come together, and be the sisters we used to be. To be the sisters who stood together, and who loved each other. Andromeda's even confessed to me that she… She…" Narcissa's face reddens, "She got drunk and pissed right over Voldemort's grave."

"No, really?" Hermione giggles, "How did she get there?"

"Harry took her. I was rather impressed he never told anyone, actually." Narcissa coughs, "I cannot imagine Draco could hold a secret like that for very long."

Despite… despite my own feelings, despite the fact that I feel like I don't deserve it, these two will move Heaven and Earth to protect me. No matter how much I argue that I should pay for my crimes, they won't listen to me.

Maybe they're right. Maybe wallowing in despair because of choices made by someone… who, theoretically, wasn't actually me. At the point my memories cut off, she was merely a possibility. One that ended up existing, but a possibility. It's an odd, queer, scenario, but logically… Even if I do feel guilty, I shouldn't ask to be put in prison for it. I should work. I should help society, help those whom I've hurt. Sitting in prison would do nothing for anyone… And maybe that's the point Hermione was trying to make. That retribution, vengeance, revenge… what is it worth, in the end? A satisfied feeling? You still ruin a person's life, no matter how bad they were. If you can successfully rehabilitate someone, that will always be better than retribution.

But maybe I'm just trying to give myself an out…

No matter, we still have one more thing to do.

"Well, I think… I think we should go. We need to… we need to leave." I say quietly, and the grins I get back fill me with…

with...

R.I.P. Bellatrix Lestrange