Concurrent Existences

Chapter Four: Awry Apparition

Heat felt, free from frost.

All is well, but still lost.

Fearful figure, have you come to hate?

If so, then you are a little too late.

It's time.

"Restitue Tempus Maxima!"

Darkness. How cliché. Hermione tried to open her eyes, but all she could see was darkness. Somehow she could feel all her limbs still together thankfully. She wondered if the spell had failed and she somehow died. The small rock poking her back begged to differ.

Maybe it was fine if everything just ended. The fifteen years spent in the time limbo had sapped most of her exuberance. It was great that she had learned so much, but it was also draining to learn too much.

Is there still a point? What was she still living for anyway?

Early signs of depression. A bit late for that though.

"Excuse me, could you move out from under the sheet?" A small girl's voice. It was music to her ears having not heard a single sound other than her own for years.

No wonder it was dark.

Hermione plucked the black sheet that had been covering majority of her upper body and trained her eyes on the person she had heard. Her eyes landed on- No. Her eyes widened slightly. It can't be.

"Could I have the sheet back? I need it to start setting up a picnic." The innocence in the voice was heartrending. Hermione was not stupid, the blonde and blue eyes were a giveaway no matter how young.

Her spell had failed, and that was putting it lightly. Hogwarts anti-Apparition wards most likely caused her displacement to this area since her room was probably still warded in this time period.

Bollocks. Didn't think about that one.

Huh, refugee. No place to stay.

Hermione passed the sheet back to the girl and laid back down on the grass. It had been a long time since she had felt the warmth of the sun and the wind blowing around her. The sounds of life was one of the things she had sorely missed. The little things in life could only truly be appreciated when lost. The brunette took a gander around and knew that she was right by Black Lake.

"Cissy!" Oh no. Before Hermione could even Apparate away, two more girls entered the area. Twins. The two girls looked like twins except one had black hair and the other had brown.

Her thoughts darkened after a familiar tingle came across the scar on her arm. The scar never faded. She assumed that the dark witch that etched 'mudblood' on her arm used a cursed knife since no one could heal it. In front of her was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange.

"How many times have I told you not to run?" The future dark witch chided her younger sister, but expression only held a caring look. These girls were a far cry from their future selves. Still, she wondered if she could hex the dark witch. Would it weaken Voldemort in the future? She shook her head, it would most likely just create some time paradox that would bite her in the arse.

It seems like everything has been biting her arse so far.

The brown haired witch identical to Bellatrix saw that there was one other person in their midst. "Who are you?" The young Andromeda Tonks eyed her with slight suspicion. Hermione was glad that she still donned her black robes from when was taken from Hogwarts by those Aurors else it would have been more suspicious. Andromeda had the right to be suspicious after all, since her face would not have been a familiar one. She didn't look like a first year either, so she couldn't say she was new.

The eldest sister's eyes turned to her. The intensity in those eyes had almost been the same as her future self, but it lacked hatred and disgust. Bellatrix Lestrange, the caring big sister. Who knew? The temptation to hex this Bellatrix lessened slightly.

"Well? Answer Andy's question." Bellatrix's voice was a far cry from what it had been in the future. Years in Azkaban and dark events would do that to a person. There was not much she could do at the moment until she could figure out a spell to fix the Time-Turner. At least time was actually moving this time.

The brunette knew she should have just disappeared, but she didn't. She didn't know why either.

"Hermione." There seemed to be no harm in giving a name that would be forgotten. A simple Obliviate would be an easy fix as well. She had missed interaction with people anyway. Perhaps this would be fine.

Associating with the enemy, she wondered how Harry would react. She mused at the possibility, but didn't care too much, it had been so long ago that she last saw the boy-who-lived.

"Well, Hermione, I'm Bellatrix. The look-a-like is Andromeda and that tiny one is Narcissa."

"Hey-" Narcissa tried to cut in, but Bellatrix gave her the 'keep quiet' look.

"In all my years in Hogwarts, I have never seen you and I'm in my seventh year." Bellatrix had asked the right questions and straight to the point. The future dark witch was still fear inducing. If Hermione's true age had not been over thirty or if she had not gone through a war, she might have been intimidated. She did not want to say much that would implicate her or cause her trouble. If the headmistress or ex-headmaster caught wind of her, well, it would not be good.

"I'll tell you alone and after you share some of that food with me." A compromise. It would be much easier to get Bellatrix alone to gather some information about this time. Seeing the dark witch sparked an interesting thought in her. The fact that the eldest Black did not even ask her last name meant a lot. It seemed as if blood purity was not even a thought. She would have asked what her last name was if it was the case.

Bellatrix was willing to accept the compromise. Making a scene in front of her sisters would not be prudent. She knew Bellatrix was thinking something along the lines of 'If the mystery girl did have intentions to harm them, she would have already done it'. Patience won out and Bellatrix nodded to Narcissa to begin bringing items out of her bottomless handbag.

Huh. Looks like her idea wasn't so original after all.

All four of the girls enjoyed the quiet afternoon. Hermione was nearly brought to tears when she saw the sun setting. Her first sunset in over a decade and right in her view was the young Bellatrix. Her mind began to wander and space out. The bright witch realized she was getting sleepy, she had almost forgotten what that felt like. Before long, Bellatrix sent both of her sisters back to Hogwarts. Smiles and small waves were given to Hermione as the two younger siblings began to walk back.

"Talk." As patient as ever.

"I can't tell you everything, but if you keep my presence a secret, I'll make it worth your while." Hermione conjured a small fire that split and began to spin in her hand. She knew the look in Bellatrix's eye. The brunette had the same look each time there had been something new to learn. It would be ironic that she would be bribing and teaching her own torturess wandless spells.

"A bribe? What makes you think I won't just learn your spells and then tell the headmaster?" Bellatrix grinned widely. It was not the insane grin she had as a Death Eater, but an endearing one with a dash of arrogance. Hermione wanted to pinch her cheek. How could her torturer be so cute? The world was crazy. Maybe she was crazy? Cute torturess. Merlin.

"You don't look like the type that would tattle on me?"

"Oh really? What type do I look like then?" Bellatrix replied with a challenging tone.

"The type that doesn't care for authority figures. The type that does what she wants. The type that becomes eternally loyal and the type that would die for her loyalty." Bellatrix looked stunned. It looked like she had struck too close to home for a random guess.

Hermione smiled. The dark witch cared little for authority figures. She took whatever she wanted when she wanted it. She had been eternally loyal to Voldemort no matter how stupid it was. She had also died for Voldemort. The thought that had come to Hermione earlier came back. What if it she could change things?

Truthfully, Hermione had no plans to alter the timeline in any way, but maybe a few modifications wouldn't hurt too much. The brunette knew about the Butterfly Effect, but dismissed it. Who's to say what she's going to do already actually happened? Time is a confusing concept, but Hermione believed that she had the edge over it. Everything would go on as it would, but she could work behind the scenes. She always worked behind the scenes.

"Okay, I accept your offer."

"Meet me here whenever you want. I'll be around. Tell your sisters not to say anything as well. You're now my apprentice!" Hermione patted the girl on the head. It was surreal, so many plans were filtering into her head right now. The brightest witch of her age had all the time in the world. Her plan finally somewhat fleshed out.

Her plan finally had some sort of direction.

Bellatrix glared and lightly slapped the hand away. "You're not much older than me! Just because you know more spells and wandless magic, doesn't mean you're better! I'll prove it!" Bellatrix huffed.

It seemed as if the dark witch was near top of the food chain in Hogwarts right now. She was probably said to be the smartest witch of her age as well.

"Tomorrow!" Bellatrix swiftly walked away as she realized the professors might start roaming the corridors. No one liked detention.

Hermione's eyes was glued to the retreating figure. The dark witch had a nice backside. She shook her head. Crazy indeed.

She leaned on the tree while watching the dark witch slowly disappear. The stars out shining were so pretty. How long had it been since she'd seen the twinkling of the stars? Too long.

Maybe sleeping out under the stars won't be so bad.

Ugh.

It was bad. Hermione could feel a crick in her neck. She should have conjured a pillow at least, but her first night of sleep had just been so inviting.

Before anything else, the brunette went over a few diagnostic spells to check her body. Everything had been the same until she got to the final spell.

"Age Revelare." The same numbers from around a decade and a half ago appeared. There was a slight change though, It had moved one whole second.

Well, shite.

She was still stuck in some weird suspended animation state even after she was able to sleep. Had she found the answer to immortality? A random spell shot at a defective Time-Turner? This is all Ron's fault. Those three blows weren't close to enough for all this trouble!

Hermione pressed her fingers on her temples. A fifteen year migraine in the making finally hit.

A few weeks of spell theory, Arithmancy and testing should be enough for her to accurately move forward in time until she reached her present time. Her own time should normalize by then. Hopefully.

The witch sat up with her back to the tree. She fiddled with the collar of her robes bringing out and gazing at the Time-Turner. It was eroding. It seemed that either it was decaying because of spells being cast directly on it or it aged depending on the amount of time moved whether backward or forward. She was not that worried since Eloise Mintumble had gone back four hundred years. The circumstance may have been different, but she believed that she had a few more uses before she would be stuck.

A month at the most and she would be able to go forward.

Three months passed.

Hermione had not planned on staying this long. She was not even planning to stay for the month! Her calculations were all done, but she could not leave the dark witch alone. She still stayed by Black Lake apparating from a small abandoned hut close by.

"You are horrid at this game." Bellatrix giggled as she took the pouting brunette's king. At one point in time it would be an impossibility to consider anything other than an insane cackle coming out from her mouth. Hermione was amazed at everything she learned from and about the dark witch.

These three months have been golden. Hermione had not truly enjoyed another person's company since Luna and Ginny, and here she was wasting time playing Wizard's Chess.

Wizard's Chess.

She hated Wizard's Chess with a passion.

"How is your wandless Patronus charm?" Hermione huffed, trying to be indifferent about the loss. One day she would win. Bellatrix laughed at the obvious attempt to change the subject. Hermione had given Bellatrix the armlet that she could not wear. It also helped that Bellatrix's wand had used the exact same type of core she had, Dragon Heart String. With a swish of Bellatrix's wrist an ethereal raven burst out an circled around Hermione.

The brunette still kept the other earring and ring hidden since using more than one alternate foci wouldn't be prudent. The power output of all three artifacts might be detected as well since Bellatrix's core seemed more powerful than the regular person's magical core.

Over the course of three months, Hermione had been teaching Bellatrix any important spells she could think of. The brunette avoided the larger area of effect spells since she did not want to be discovered.

She wondered from time to time if this was the reason why Bellatrix was one of the best duelists in the world. She had also taught Andy and Cissy one or two spells, but every day was spent with Bellatrix without fail.

It was why she couldn't bring herself to leave. She was actually enjoying not reading a book while spending time with Bellatrix. The brunette had already accepted that a good part of her sanity had eroded, but who cares? The witch realized she spent too much of her life caring about what others, what the world would think, but in the end, none of it mattered.

The ethereal raven perched onto Hermione's shoulder and began to lightly peck her earlobe. Hermione was not one to lose teasing and sent her otter Patronus to start squirming around the dark haired girl's leg. Both laughed and smiled while casting other harmless spells without wands.

Hermione felt her age again, before all the chaos, before all the problems and drama, before the war and before being alone for over fifteen years. She could not even remember the last time she laughed like this with Ginny or Luna. A time before the war maybe.

A long time ago.

Bellatrix crawled closer to Hermione while the otter and the raven Patronus began playing with each other. The two had gotten close so fast that neither knew what prompted it. The snarky, arrogant, sarcastic pureblood seemed to worm her way through Hermione's defenses. The studious bookworm seemed to have done the same.

So ironic.

The last time she was this close with Bellatrix, the dark witch had been sticking a cursed knife in and out of her arm. The brunette slightly tensed. Was this really happening?

Bellatrix's strong and confident gaze kept Hermione enthralled as she leaned in slowly giving Hermione an ample chance to back away.

Crazy.

All the muggle-born did was place her palm on Bellatrix's cheek and give into the kiss.

What a kiss it was.

The few kisses shared with Viktor and the one kiss with Ron was nothing compared to this. She did not even know who slipped the tongue in first, but it was divine. The passionate kiss was finally cut when Hermione needed to take a breath. Both girls had dazed looks in their eyes.

"Merlin." If these were the kind of kisses given to her, she might've spent a little less time with her books. The reminder of stubble hitting her chin and a rough hand on her cheek made her mentally gag.

Eck.

Bellatrix recovered first and fell in love with the dazed look on Hermione's face. "If you had been around earlier in Hogwarts, maybe I'd have been less of a terror."

"Truly? You would have been a terror whether I'd have been there or not. The only difference is that you'd drag me on all your misadventures. And we had an audience!" Hermione laughed as she pointed to the two Patronuses. The otter was laying down looking at the while the raven was perched on its head. The amount of cuteness almost made Bellatrix squeal, but she still had to maintain some kind of reputation.

"True, true. You know me too well, luv."

"Luv? Is that a pet name, Bella?" Hermione slyly grinned at the dark witch and was happy to find an embarrassed blush dusting her pale cheeks. It was not every day that one could make Bellatrix blush.

"Laugh it up! But now, you're my girlfriend. Cheat on me and die!" Bellatrix's tone had been jesting, but the brunette could tell the underlying possessiveness that Bellatrix innately had. Bellatrix was not one to share anything.

The two witches began practicing their magic for the rest of the day. A few kisses, hugs and subtle touches were shared throughout their practice.

This is what Hermione had been searching for. Funny that it had taken her all the way to the past just to find the companionship she was looking for.

Although, Hermione knew that time was not on her side this time. The time limit she promised herself was already broken. She still vowed not to disrupt the time stream as much as she could, but she couldn't and wouldn't give this up.

She wasn't sacrificing anything for the greater good this time.

Her plan was fully fleshed out. She had a plan already created to beat time. Bellatrix would forgive her when the time came.

Multitudes of plans all coming together with a true purpose, a true center.

Bellatrix.

Some people would call her insane if they heard her plan. Everyone would call her insane if they knew Bellatrix was the reason for the modified plans. Hermione really didn't care. The witch spent years caring for others, following others and getting nothing in return.

She knew Harry would have books created in his name that would go down in history and she would just be the mudblood follower that helped carried the bag. But, this wasn't Harry's story anymore.

This is my story now.

Even though she vowed not to disrupt the time stream, she also vowed to get what she wanted. No one was going to manipulate her life anymore. Her plan was created, her plan would adapt. Her plan would work.

Bellatrix smiled before giving her a rough kiss and retreated back to the castle after a smirk and a wink. Who knew that one of the darkest witches in history would be the best thing that ever happened to the brunette.

My plan will work.

For me.

For her.

For us.

AN: Girls in love. Seems like both of them have a reason to truly exist now. I hope you like Bella's entrance even if it was a bit cliché. There's a reason I had to use this cliché and it will be seen in later chapters. See, there was a reason Romance was in the tag! I do hope it felt romantic enough, since this is my first time writing romantic stuff x.x I'm kind of a sap, sorry! I didn't really want to spend so much time explaining the first three months of poking each other either!

Looks like this is one of the reason why Bellatrix is such an awesome duelist, aside from the fact that she was already pretty awesome.

Thanks for the feedback and pms! I do hope everyone will enjoy this one even if it didn't have much action. If you spot any inconsistencies or big grammar errors, don't hesitate to tell me so I can try to fix them!

Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!