Concurrent Existences
Chapter Seven: Choosing a Path
Time is up, the decision is made.
I'll stay by you right under the shade.
Close your eyes, I won't disappear.
Rest well my love, have no fear.
Shite.
She was already in love with the muggle-born.
My muggle-born.
Six months passed since Hermione's arrival.
It was another bright and shiny weekend where Hermione would be spending the rest of her day with the three Black sisters for a picnic by Black Lake. Once again the brunette was just waiting below one of the large trees by Black Lake under the shade enjoying the soft breeze and the warm sun.
The last six months were just so incredible that there was no other way to describe them. This time period, 1968, is when she was supposed to be born. She was sure this is where she belonged, by Bellatrix's side.
Hermione lifted up here hand and began going through elemental magics. Voldemort would not be able to rise if she stayed. Tom Riddle would not know what hit him when two of the smartest and greatest witches of the age shot wandless spells into his face.
Maybe that's why he lost his nose?
If she did stay here, she would have to assume a new identity and hope that a time paradox didn't hit. Hermione began musing some more on possible things she could do when she heard the sharp giggle emanating from a running Narcissa.
"Morning, Hermione!" Narcissa quickly plopped down beside her after quickly placing a sheet under them. Narcissa was as bubbly and cute as ever. Now, she actually wished she had a sister. Hermione believed she would be able to preserve Narcissa's current personality rather than the cold, distant woman she had met into the future. She patted Narcissa on the head.
"Hey, Cissy." Her hand was immediately pushed away while the small blonde was struggling against being petted.
Soon after, Andromeda and Bellatrix came. Non-stop laughter and chatter was what the four girls were going through after passing random comments and stories around while eating the picnic that Andromeda had prepared. Even more laughter came when Tenty decided to swipe one or two sandwiches.
Bellatrix often glanced towards Hermione, giving a loving gaze, but not lingering long enough to be obvious. These moments were a treasure.
Andromeda had actually borrowed a camera from someone. Hermione assumed it was Ted Tonks, but didn't voice it out in case the middle sister didn't want it known. Bellatrix was unmovable at first, but with a little prodding, the other sisters grabbed her. Hermione volunteered to take the picture first.
Something was missing though, then it hit her. A loud laugh came out of Hermione as she told the sisters to wait while she got something.
A white lily.
Hermione then placed the white lily on Bellatrix's ear. The white lily on Bellatrix's ear really did suit her. It was just like the photograph she had seen during the time limbo in Malfoy Manor.
It was the exact same picture that Narcissa had.
"Smile!"
Smile.
All three sisters were asleep by the area they were having the picnic in. The bright day slowly had dark clouds trickling in as if indicating Hermione's shifting mood. It was a few hours in the afternoon and the brunette was sitting at the same spot where she had landed six months ago. Her back was to the tree trunk and had Bellatrix laying her head down on her lap. The dark haired witch fell asleep a few minutes ago and the brunette had no intention of changing that. She did not want heartfelt and tearful goodbyes because there would be no goodbye.
Hermione could've stayed another six months to complete a year, but decided that prolonging the inevitable was something she could not do anymore. Staying around Bellatrix had been the happiest few months in her life without question. Each time the dark witch smiled, laughed, grinned and blushed, Hermione counted it as a win.
Her plan would work. Bellatrix would not be in any pain from her disappearance aside from what time already had in store for her. If her plan failed and didn't work then both of them would disappear. She didn't care about her own life. Not really.
She wanted to spare her dark love the pain, but altering the time stream was just too much.
The smartest witch of her age fought long and hard against herself. One side of her wanted to change time. Change all the events from now until the future to ensure the happiness of her dark witch, but that was a gamble. Playing with the time stream was risky and Hermione never left anything to chance if there was an alternative or at least something with better chances of success. Leaving Bellatrix and her sisters to the time stream hurt her more than anything, but she had to be strong.
The one side of her continued to shout at her to stay. To brace everything with her love. To live in this age. To destroy Voldemort before he rose to power. To slap Dumbledore before he became so paranoid.
My plan will work.
It has to.
It will.
Hermione brushed aside the dark curly bangs away from her dark witch's face. Pale, lovely and so adorable. A swift poke to the nose and the evil-to-be witch scrunched her face. Merlin, she was just too cute. How could this be the epitome of insanity and evil?! She could have spent forever holding her witch. To protect and guard her with her new found skills and power.
One last kiss to the forehead. One last cup of her cheek. One last brush of her hair.
For now.
"Temporalis Claustrum Obliviate" This was the spell she needed for her parents, but had only discovered it after several months of research in the time limbo. This spell would be a temporary lock any memories she needed hidden away. It was hard, but this was the plan she had. Andromeda and Narcissa was also hit with the spell as she multi-casted it.
No one would be able to remember her.
Except Tenty.
The giant cephalopod seemed to know what she was planning. A lone tentacle was waving back and forth as if saying 'Good bye'.
Tears gathered up as the content look on her dark witch faded to a grimace. The sky was cliché enough to slowly weep with her with a drizzle. She promised she wouldn't let out tears, but they just wouldn't stop.
The witch took the armlet she had given Bellatrix. No evidence could be left. The dark witch wouldn't be able to use it as any memories of her teachings would be locked away.
Hermione stood up and casted a quick Warming Charm and an Impervius Charm to protect Bellatrix and her sisters from the rain and anything else that may wander too close before they woke up.
The brunette looked at the sleeping sisters and took one last long look at her lovely witch before taking out the Time-Turner. She began to weave a complex symbol with her right hand while channeling the appropriate amount of magic.
"Protinam Tempus."
It was the safest route back to the present. The Time-Turner would not hold together much longer. Hermione could feel the magical energy inside it decline. Two or three more uses and the Time-Turner would just be metal, glass and sand.
Even if it was the safest route, it was a route that would hurt her so much. She had traveled forward fifteen years approximately. The wet newspaper in her hand had the exact year, 1983. It was a year after Bellatrix Lestrange was incarcerated into Azkaban for the torture of the Longbottoms.
It hurt.
It was an inevitable truth that it would happen. She had known this, but it was still painful. The brunette cursed, she could have changed time. She could have saved her from all this pain.
I could have saved them all.
She could have destroyed time as well.
Azkaban was right in front of her. The island was not hard to get to once she had gotten the coordinates, patrol details and apparating paths from the Ministry during the time limbo. She'd been curious about Azkaban at the time.
Well, in all fairness she was curious about everything.
There was no time to be scared of the dark apparitions that existed within the walls of Azkaban. She had a mission to complete. It was necessary albeit selfish.
With all the spells in Hermione's arsenal and her trusty bottomless bag she brought along, she went forth into Azkaban.
Horrifying. It was one word she could describe Azkaban as a whole. Hermione had walked in with a mixture of charms cast on herself. Procedures detailing Azkaban security was a document she had already read back at the Ministry. There were very few guards around since the Ministry believed that employing Dementors was a good thing, they were wrong.
Screams and pleas for the Dementors to stop was heard everywhere. Nothing was humane about Azkaban at all. This was the prison that the Ministry had been using since 1718? Horrific. Terrible. She doubted the prison was ever cleaned since it was created.
Back in the day when she was truly nineteen, she would have said that all criminals belonged in Azkaban. Not anymore. Not after seeing it for what it truly was. Not after seeing the hollow shells of these people, these humans. This isn't how humans should be treated. Nobody should be treated like this. She felt like she should care more, but she was surprisingly numb about it.
Dementors were not ethical. Employing Dementors would be something Voldemort would have done. She would need to further research on Dementors. There had to be further information on them as well.
Some reports she had seen in the present Ministry also had details on reinstalling the Dementors back in Azkaban. The Ministry released information that the Dementors were slowly being taken away from Azkaban, but the Ministry failed to release the information that the Dementors were slowly going to be sent back again.
Familiar faces were seen. Death Eaters that the brunette would fight in the future were right there in their dingy cells. Some were talking to themselves, others being mind-raped by Dementors while others just laid there, catatonic. A growing part of her mind said that they deserved it. These people were part of the reason her childhood was manipulated. Part of the reason she was manipulated!
She finally reached the cell.
Thoughts stopped.
Tears trickled down.
Right in front of her was Bellatrix. Her Bellatrix. Still beautiful under all the rags and dirt, but broken. The dark witch was kneeling on the floor, blank eyes staring straight ahead.
My fault. This was her fault. It could have all been prevented.
No. She could not return to that line of thought. She had her mission. She had her plan.
A quick modified Alohomora had the cell door's lock disabled. Before anyone saw something out of the ordinary, she entered and then closed it from behind her. She made no sound, but the obvious opening of the cell could have alerted others. The other inmates were too busy with their own despair to notice anything. Not even her beloved witch gave any notice to the door opening for a second.
Her beautiful witch still held her beauty even after fifteen years of getting older. The year she spent in Azkaban had done much damage though. Having Dementors for company would give that result.
My poor witch.
Hermione knelt down to look into her beloved's haunted eyes. It took a few seconds, but Bellatrix finally noticed her. Rage, confusion, anger and surprise went through the dark witches expression. The chained witch was apparently extremely confused to how some random person got into her cell. She obviously did not look like a guard, but she had no idea who it could be. Being one of the most dangerous witches in Britain did not give a person much visitor privileges. Dementors were always free to visit though. The dark witch wanted to cackle, rage and attack, but she was just so tired.
"Who the fuck are you?" She growled out with as much acid as she could, but Hermione just smiled. It looked like her witch still had some kick in her.
"Temporalis Recludam Obliviate." Hermione did not know how this next part would go. Restoring a person's memories fifteen years in the future after erasing them was not an experience she had. Although, with all her research on Obliviate charm, it might be possible to remove it from her parents. Using experimental spells on her Bellatrix.
What a great girlfriend she was.
A thought quickly crossed her mind.
"Suspencio Incantatores." A spell to suspend and freeze any possible spells that are ongoing on Bellatrix. The brunette just had a feeling that something else was affecting her dark witch.
Bellatrix's poisoned filled eyes turned sad and broken. She remembered the six months that had been removed from her memory. She remembered the love that she thought she never had. She remembered the happiest moments in her life.
She remembered those six months that could have saved her.
She then remembered everything after. The pain, the murders, the tortures and all other atrocities she had committed. Bellatrix did not really care much about all the chaos she caused. She was still a dark witch no matter what, but there was still the twinge of guilt at any innocents she had caused harm to.
"Why, luv?" The broken voice asked Hermione. The brunette nearly cried at how heart wrenching it sounded. She could understand her beloved's pain though. Hermione could have stayed. Maybe Hermione could not have saved everything, but she could have saved Bellatrix. Tears started to gather in both their eyes. The use of her old pet name was just too much for both witches.
"Do you still trust me?" Bellatrix was not sure she heard right. Hermione was asking if she still trusted her? How could she still love or trust someone who technically abandoned her?
He must be obeyed... He will come back for me. Always trust the Dark Lord.
"I trust and believe in the Dark Lord." The passionate sound in Bellatrix's voice tore the brunette's heart apart. "It all makes sense now. Why you couldn't interact or be seen by others. Time magic." The dark witch stopped, she seemed to just run out of things to say for the moment.
"Why did you abandon me?" Everything was piecing itself together. Bellatrix's facial expression began to harden. She wanted to let the little witch in. To love her, to trust her again, but could she? After every blasted thing that happened in her life?
No wonder she had never loved anyone or fell in love with anyone, she was already in love with someone. All the memories just hidden away in her mind.
"You will have to trust me. I promise that everything will be okay. All I can tell you right now is that this is part of the original time stream. I chose not to interfere even if it broke my heart when I thought of what would happen to you." The brunette placed her palm on Bellatrix's cheek. The dark witch was planning to move away from it, but decided it was too taxing.
It was so warm.
He must be obeyed... He will come back for me.
The bound witch knew there had always been something mysterious about Hermione, though being a time traveler was not one of them. Her emotions were all conflicting with each other now. How could she say that she still trusted and believed in Voldemort after her memories were restored? She couldn't betray her Lord either.
He must be obeyed.
How had it actually come to this? She was never a hard pure-blood supremacist. It was like a fog had slowly cleared up when her memories were unlocked by Hermione. It was disorienting.
She felt like herself again. She could think again.
"You were the one light I had left. When you ceased to exist in my life, everything just started to crash down. The Dark Lord soon appeared and it just started to spiral out of control. I don't even know how it got to this point. You knew. You knew this was all going to happen to me and yet you just left me?" She did know that it was not Hermione's fault. Even if the brunette disappeared, the choices she made were still hers. She thought the choices were hers at the very least.
Hermione went closer and hugged her dark witch. She did not care if the witch was dirty from not showering, she just needed to convey physically how she still felt.
"I have a plan. You know I wouldn't have let this happen if there was any other way. I just couldn't take the risk of playing with Time magic. Please sweetie, trust me." Hermione used the last pet name that Bellatrix hated. The dark witch cringed at the term, but it still made her feel warm inside. The warm feeling was something she had forgot even existed over the long years of following the Dark Lord.
Bellatrix sighed. Her muggle-born witch did always act logically. Was it part of insanity that she could think so clearly and logically right now? Her mind knew that it was okay to full believe in her witch, but her heart still tried holding a grudge for being left alone, even if she did not remember it. It all felt worth it, having the warm feeling again.
"I trust you. When it comes to fruition, you better tell me everything. I can't believe I'm almost twice your age now." Bellatrix felt old now, a bit of a cradle robber too if they were still going to be together.
She also had a husband.
Shite. She didn't touch the git, but it was still on paper.
I did warn that idiotic bug he'd be married to himself. Some of her memories were still jumbled up. Probably because of Hermione's spell?
"I have a plan for everything. The reason why I came here is to learn Occlumency and Legilimency. This would have been the perfect time since there won't be anyone to disturb us." The conditions were not so good, but this was the best time to learn. Being in a cell in Azkaban would give them all of the privacy needed. The dark witch knew it wouldn't be prudent to escape as well. The Azkaban tattoo could not be tampered without being detected and would just paint her a prime target for the Dementors.
Bellatrix decided not to ask any more questions. She trusted her witch. Getting into Azkaban without detection just to learn Occlumency and Legilimency meant her love had little to no options left and needed it done quick.
The dark witch was chained down anyway, it would at least relieve her boredom.
"Okay, luv. Don't think this is over. Depending on your full explanation in the future, I might mark your muggle arse red. Make my shackles more comfortable." It was nice to remember all the wandless spells Hermione had taught her before, but did not want to risk her magic being detected. The wards in the cell block were attuned to detect the usage of magic by prisoners, not anyone else. The magic drain spell activated when it detected a prisoners magic wasn't fun either.
With the brunette's spells and preparation, she doubted anything would detect or surprise them.
Hermione smiled as she tried to make her dark witch more comfortable without being obvious. Legilimency and Occlumency were two things she really needed to work on. Being alone for over a decade in the limbo had its perks, but learning Legilimency and Occlumency without someone? Nope.
The slight smile on Bellatrix's face quickly morphed into horror when she spotted a growing black spot behind Hermione. There was no way she could cast a Patronus wandless without the armlet that Hermione had given her even if she had regained the ability to cast one.
The smartest witch of her age saw the look the dark witch gave her and concluded the obvious. There was a Dementor behind her.
Oh Merlin.
Hermione knew she was prepared for this! She was still scared though, a Dementor was still not a being to be trifled with. She slowly turned around. She was ready for a Dementor. The witch would not have entered Azkaban without some countermeasures. It was all within the limits of her plan.
She gasped.
Two Dementors!
Shite.
Suspencio Incantatores - Spell Suspension / Suspend Incantations
Remotio Coactionis - Compulsion/Coercion Removal
Temporalis Claustrum Obliviate - Temporary Lock Obliviate
Temporalis Recludam Obliviate - Temporary Unlock Obliviate
Protinam Tempus - Forward Time
AN: Hermione's crazy plan actually begins. She really didn't want to screw over the time stream completely, so this is what she has decided. A bit more of her plan will be revealed next chapter as well. Time-Turner is almost dead though. :(
Hope you liked the part with the white lily that Hermione found in the photo in Chapter 3.
Sorry to those that wanted Hermione to be stuck in that time stream, but paradoxes!
Bella's missing a bit of energy and isn't that snarky, but it's understandable.
I also have a pretty good idea where I'm taking this story, but as always suggestions are highly appreciated! Especially the person who reminded me about the Veil!
Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!
Edit: I received some messages from people that are confused and wanted to try and clarify a bit. Hermione's aim is to not affect the time stream too much. If you imagine her returning right now to the present, there would be nothing that would change in the past because of Hermione's Obliviate-type spells. Hermione is changing the past in a way that none of the changes would be obvious, unless she releases the Obliviate lock. In the end, who's to say that everything that Hermione just did was already part of the true past? - I hope that helped a bit! Playing with the time stream can be really tricky sometimes.
Well, her Time-Turner is almost busted anyway! xD