Concurrent Existences
Chapter Eight: Parallels
A mind so strong yet so weak.
Breaking walls, just for a peek.
A flash of a smile, a hidden spell.
Stuck she is, alone in hell.
She gasped.
Two Dementors!
Shite.
Hermione quickly brought out a device that looked like the Deluminator that Ron had from her pocket. A Creature Absorbing Repulsor for non-beings AKA CAR.
Yes, it was named CAR by the Ministry. A lot of items from the Ministry obviously weren't available to the general public, some weren't even known to the general public and this item was one of them.
The witch hated the very stupid naming of the device and decided to call it just Repulsor, for very obvious reasons. The Repulsor was one of the more interesting things she was able to borrow from the Ministry. She had a few more things, but they would yet make their debut.
The Ministry did have some kind of control on the Dementors and this particular device was one of them. The Repulsor was able to absorb any non-being, meaning Non-Human Spirituous Apparitions. After the device absorbs the particular non-being, it will be able to create a small repulsing field that dissuades any creature of the same particular type from coming close. The duration of the repulsing field depended on how much magic could be fed into the Repulsor. The stronger the non-being trapped, the more magic required to sustain it.
The witch pushed the button on the Repulsor hoping that it would work on both Dementors. Both Dementors were quickly absorbed into the Repulsor, but Hermione already felt the pull on her magic. Her first estimate on how long she could sustain the Repulsor with one Dementor would have been around eight months. The brightest witch of her age did the recalculations based on the current drain she was feeling. Two Dementors would only give her three months before she had to release the repulsing field and barely a week before she had to release the Dementors she caught.
Bellatrix gaped at how her brown haired witch got rid of two Dementors with a press of a button. In all her studies and life experience, she had never seen that happen.
These secrets she's holding will be the death of me.
"Let's begin. Having two Dementors caught wasn't exactly part of the plan."
Time is running out again.
One month passed.
"Concentrate!" The dark witch began invading Hermione's mind all over again. She did not relish the thought of hurting her love, but the little witch insisted to be drilled hard on Occlumency and Legilimency.
It was hard. So very hard.
Well, it was fun fucking around with her witch too.
Glimpses of the future were just among some of the things Bellatrix had seen in the younger witches mind. Nothing full and concrete, but some visions were just enough to make her cringe.
The start was fine when the memories were mostly of an innocent childhood, but the further they went with the training, the worse and more recent memories were brought up.
All alone. Books. Tears. Knowledge. Acceptance. Reluctance. Teacher's pet.
"Aww, little witch was a teacher's pet? I wonder what else I'll find out this time?" Bellatrix said in a sing-song type of voice. Random memories always appeared in various orders.
Hermione ignored the barb. After a week of continuous training, she already surmised that falling to taunts would only distract her and leave her thoughts open to be read. Thoughts that shouldn't be seen by anyone. Not even by her dark witch.
Hermione continued to concentrate. The brunette began envisioning Bellatrix's invasion of her mind as a physical manifestation. She begun to organize her mind like a library with twisting and turning bookshelves that led on and on just like a labyrinth. Her purpose was to stall long enough and to try to feed in useless information, but sometimes Bellatrix just smashed through the bookcases in her mind.
Her witch really wasn't subtle. It was like Bellatrix had a bloody sledgehammer.
Soft. Glances. A touch. An apology. A smile. Red hair. Desire.
"Luv, you been perving on some ginger slut I don't know about?" Bellatrix knew this was a clip from the future, but knew it would annoy her witch nevertheless. The redhead reminded her of someone though. She couldn't pinpoint the name.
Moby? Melody? Momo? Fuck!
Must have been someone unimportant. She shrugged.
"Shut up!" Another bookcase block in Hermione's mind just toppled. Bellatrix was a bloody bulldozer! Each extra route and block she put up continued to be knocked down! How was the dark witch so adept at this?
Goodbye. Love. Regret. Family.
"Aww, baby missing mommy and daddy? Baby want her milky-wilky?" More taunts. It was too much, her walls were all crumbling.
"Stop! Bella! Stop!" She couldn't stop her dark witch from moving forward. Tears began to leak from Hermione's eyes, but Bellatrix did not relent. Mercy and tenderness would not help her love at this point. It was also entertaining to see into the pretty brunette's mind. Azkaban didn't leave much else to do. The dark witch pressed on.
Slice. Screams.
"Bella!"
It was a painful memory, but Bellatrix wanted to see just a little more.
Slice. Pleading. Laughter.
"Stop!"
Just a little more. Just a peek. See who she could get revenge on for hurting her little witch.
Slice. Mudblood. Mudblood. Mudblood.
"Bellatrix!" And Hermione's mind slammed down tight. She wasn't able to see who had tormented her young witch, but it seemed the little witch was adamant to keep this knowledge tucked away. She'd find out sometime and take revenge for her little witch. Asking out loud wasn't an option since she knew how stubborn her witch was in keeping the future in the future. Bellatrix opened her eyes.
Angry brown eyes looked back at her. Perhaps she had gone too far?
Oops.
The brunette used her sleeve to wipe at her tears and laid down on the charmed ground facing away from the dark witch.
"Little witch?" No answer. Maybe she had gone too far. No point in continuing their lessons for today. The witch had been able to cut the connection before vital information was taken. All in all, it was a successful lesson for the day.
Too bad, it seemed like there would be no cuddles tonight. She sighed and did the same facing the other way.
She heard a bit of shuffling and soon enough an arm went over her waist.
Warmth spread throughout Bellatrix as she held the hand on her waist. A tear of joy almost fell out.
Almost.
She was still Bellatrix Black.
But even Bellatrix Black wanted cuddles, and it seemed like tonight would have cuddles after all.
Two months passed since the little witch had arrived. Sadly, their training was nearly complete.
After the mishap near a month ago, Hermione steadily grew better at Occlumency. Her mental traps and walls were near flawless now. Even with Bellatrix trying her near best to get through those walls, she could barely see anything and could barely hear the whisper of memories. Of course, she could have augmented her assault with magic, but she didn't want to call upon an army of Dementors. The dark witch doubted the Repulsor would repulse a legion of those horrid beings.
The thought of a legion of Dementors just gave Bellatrix a cold sweat.
Halfway through the second month, Hermione had begun her Legilimency and just recently, she actually began to knockdown Bellatrix's walls and her bloody walls were nothing to scoff at. Even the dark lord had trouble bypassing them.
There was a month left before the three month mark would be hit and they did not want to chance the Ministry borrowed device to fail prematurely.
The past two months were amongst the best times of Bellatrix's life even if they were spent behind Azkaban bars. She was scared at first that her little witch would have missed one thing or another, but it seemed like Hermione had everything planned out. From her food storage to undetectable magic, or at least hiding her magic signature. Even the very seldom roaming guard that gave her food didn't suspect anything.
The dark witch thought about trying to learn a bit about stealth, but eh.
Hermione had really outdone herself with the food too in her opinion. Sandwiches and whatever else they could find in that bottomless bag seemed always fresh.
The dark witch would be really sad when her lunchbox would have to leave, her witch too of course!
They still had around a month and the dark witch doubted Hermione would have a breakthrough anytime soon.
Boy was she wrong.
Missing. Bitterness.
Hermione grabbed onto the memory. She knew she had to try better in order to fully master Legilimency or at least be adept at it. Memories with strong emotions were usually the easiest ones to latch onto, they were sometimes also the most painful.
Alone. Cissy. Marriage. Andy. Abandoned.
She could see Bellatrix slowly lose her sisters in her mind. She could see vulnerability. She could see the hole that she left in Bellatrix's heart. She could see.
She could see.
Voldemort.
She could see how he saw the hole in Bellatrix's heart after she left, even if the dark witch did not know what she was missing. How he saw the opportunity to subdue and anchor a witch to himself that had greater potential than himself. A way to harness as well as limit the potential of the dark witch for his own uses.
No wonder Voldemort said emotions were a weakness. He used that particular weakness against a witch that would have been greater than himself. A witch that would have been world renowned, had she had the chance.
The utter bastard.
Was it her fault? It couldn't be. She was not even supposed to be part of that particular time stream. It couldn't be. The brunette could feel Bellatrix's walls begin to tighten, trying to kick her out. The walls began to warp themselves in order to block her, but she wanted to see just a bit more.
Normally, it would have been impossible to go against a witch of her caliber, but she had her cheats after all. She tapped a little into her armlet. More. How had Voldemort wormed his way in?
Indifference. Apathy.
Bellatrix had been introduced to Voldemort. Tom Marvolo Riddle. The initial feeling was nothing though, the Black heiress wanted to get rid of him.
Tutor. Annoyance.
A private tutor? A mentor from his parents? Voldemort? Was that his ploy? More. She needed more, but the walls continued to tighten. She activated her earring. Just a bit more.
Annoyance. Admiration. Love. Confusion.
She knew it. The process had been too quick. The dark witch was put under the exact same thing she was put under.
Bloody Compulsion Charms.
The only difference was that hers was for the light and Bellatrix had been charmed to darkness. She highly doubted that the light or the dark side were good and evil respectively though. Looks like Voldemort had followed in his teacher's footsteps after all.
Hermione knew she should have stopped the mental prying, but she wanted to know more about her love. She wanted to know more about her dark witch. Know more about her life and know who to punish.
The mental walls were almost made out of diamond. She doubted that Voldemort or even Dumbledore could get through Bellatrix's mind barriers without handicap, but she had her boosters. She activated her ring. It was slightly invigorating that she needed to use all three of her trinkets at full power just to go through Bellatrix's mental shields. Her dark witch was barely in her thirties and she was already this powerful even after being held back by Voldemort.
It was scary to think what Bellatrix could have achieved on her own. If she had actually continued to get powerful without the trip to Azkaban. How had Albus overlooked the now-crazed witch?
How did Dumbledore miss the compulsion spells on Bellatrix? It should have been obvious that Voldemort was still alive due to the continuous compulsion spells still on Bellatrix. Had he just overlooked anyone not on the side of the light?
Mansion. Pain. Father. Orders. Disobey. Follow. Stop. Finish. Abandon.
Hermione's connection was abruptly cut. She could feel her magic trinkets discharge as they had nothing to focus on. She could see the dark witch's face contorted in pain as she was bleeding from biting her lip hard and bleeding from gripping too tight. This was not how it was supposed to go.
"No. That memory is not for you little witch." Bellatrix let out in a sad, pained whisper.
Both could feel the abrupt magical discharge resound through Azkaban like an expanding shockwave. Dementors, guards, prisoners and whatever else on Azkaban must have felt it. Hermione cringed.
She fucked up.
The six months she planned that had been reduced to three due to the two Dementors. Of the three months left, she had around one month, but now she had mere seconds.
The magic wouldn't be traced to this particular location since it had been too wide spread, but they would search and check thoroughly now. None of the spells in her arsenal would be enough to hide from them all. She had to leave.
She had to leave her witch again.
"No need to say anything little witch. It's obvious that time is up. Too bad we didn't have more time to play around a little bit." Bellatrix gave a pained smile that looked a bit gruesome due to the blood trailing down her mouth, but Hermione didn't care.
Hermione surged forward and locked lips with her witch trying to pour all the emotions she was feeling. Love, hope, apologies, understanding and everything else. The moment felt like forever, but it lasted only a few seconds.
"I'll see you when I have gray hair, I guess?" Bella said trying to lighten things up, but she could feel the Dementors and guards getting closer. The dark witch could also feel her heart breaking as she would spend the remainder of Azkaban alone.
Hermione smiled. Focusing on the spell she needed to cast.
"Temporalis Claustrum Obliviate." Memories locked.
There would be no goodbyes.
"Reflexum Hiberna." This way her witch would be able somewhat sleep through and go through Azkaban in a daze. Bellatrix's eyes went into an unseeing daze in an instant after the spell was cast.
"Suspencio Remissionis." Everything was placed back the way it was supposed to be. Even the bloody compulsion charms from Voldemort. Hermione would fix everything in her time.
One last wave to remove all the other enchantments placed around the room and it was time to move forward. She gathered enough power to propel herself to the exact time she wanted. Calculations after one or two trials made things too easy.
"Protinam Tempus."
Hermione had so much she wanted to change, but the plan she had thought out would continue.
She just had to collect a few more things lost in time.
Things someone dropped.
Suspencio Remissionis - Suspension Release (Resumes any suspended spells.)
Reflexum Hiberna - Reflex Hibernation (Person affected will be in a daze until lifted.)
AN: I was actually going to post this in a few hours when I woke up, but I can't sleep x.x 1:43am! Oh well! Thanks as always for all the feedback! Sorry for getting slow, but a lot of schoolwork and other games are eating my time. I'll still be updating every week at the minimum though. My thoughts have also been drifting to Frozen too x.x
Hermione really did want to complete her training in all aspects of magic. Legilimency and Occlumency were the two branches she couldn't really test, but now? She should be good enough to block most people. The brunette will of course continue her training passively.
Closer and closer to the present. Think the Time-Turner will blow up before then?
What will happen to Bella? All these memory modifiers must be annoying as hell.
If anyone spots errors, plot holes and etc just tell me! I'm listening! :D
Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!