Author's Note: I am reworking this story. While I love this story so much it has a lot of holes etc... that I want to wrap up and close. So I will be working on each chapter doing a rewrite.


She spied the shock of pink hair easily; it wasn't hard to miss it. The smoke was choking and burning her throat as the ground exploded around her. She dropped to the ground instantly as a volley of spells came over her head. Bits of rock and pieces of wood scrapped across her arms as she inched forward. She had to get to the girl, she had to. She spied Rookwood to her left, he was closing in and she couldn't let him get any closer. Grasping the warmth of the slender piece of wood in her hand she threw her arm out and cast a glowing shield to surround the girl with the pink hair. The force of Rockwood's spell caused her shield to buckle slightly but it held. The girl saw it, she moved quickly to the right and out of harms way for a moment. The spell the girl cast at Rookwood missed by a millimetre. The sounds were deafening as again the ground shook.

"Fuck me." Her words barely a whisper against the assault of the noise as the giants approached the castle. Their huge lumbering bodies moving the ground as they stepped; their clubs, the size of tree trunks, swinging non-discriminately towards a group of witches and wizards huddled behind the high end of a rampart. The sound of their bodies hitting on the flagstones below was a sickening sound. Students, their uniforms covered in dust and debris. The anguished cries lost among the spells and falling bricks.

She moved slowly taking cover as needed, she was gaining ground, she brushed her hair from her face, her fingers came back rust coloured as she swore again at the annoying pain that was shooting into her head just above her eye. Finally, finally she had her, her fingers closed around Tonk's leg. The girl turned at the sudden pressure, her eyes widened in shock seeing Bellatrix Lestrange, her aunt, grasping her leg. Bella quickly held up a hand to stay Tonks' wand. Bella shook her head and lowered her other hand that had been casting the ward of protection. For a moment the two women stared at each other in silence before their exchange was broken by Tonks sending a stunning spell at her aunt.

"Fuck!" Bella swore rolling out of the way and sending a cutting curse towards her niece.

"Come to finish me off Auntie Bella?" Tonks spat blood, her hand quickly swiping left to send another curse at Bella.

"Stop you fool." Bella shouted above the den around them. Her hand bleeding as she held her wand tightly to keep from being disarmed. "I-I am trying to protect you." Her voice rasped from the smoke.

"Trying to kill me you mean." Tonk jerked her wand as a fisherman would to pull in a catch. Bella's wand sliced deeper into her palm.

"No!" Bella screamed, her wandless hand coming up and a jet of light flew off her fingertips stunning Tonks and laying her out flat on the ground. Bella threw herself down onto her covering her nieces body with her own as another volley of spells erupted around them. "Don't throw off the curse. Just stay down. Do you hear me?

Tonks stared at her aunt, her breathing hard as they sized each other up. "Bellatrix Lestrange, you're under arrest-"

Bella cut her off, "Spare me, I know that, just stay down and you can have all the glory later."

Looking quickly around, Bella moved Tonks' immobilized body into a alcove. She cast a few ward spells and then Tonks felt her body go cold. "Bitch-" and then Tonks was silent, her world went black and the last thing she heard was Bella still mumbling a steady stream of spells to ward the alcove.

Satisfied with the wards she had cast; Bella shrouded her niece, so she blended into the look of the brick in the alcove.

"That will do, now to find that mutt of a man you call a husband." Bella said before casting a disillusionment charm on herself so she could move more freely around the chaos that was closing in. Her body ached with each step, her healing potions had long since been depleted. Her throat burned and the smell of the smoke had seeped into every pore. "I'll never get this smell out of my hair." She complained before beginning the ascent of the broken stairwell to see if she could spot the werewolf Lupin.

She spied the Weasley boy and the Mudblood running towards the entry way to the castle. A stab of regret for the word she had carved into the girls' arm. It was for the greater good she told herself. It was what was needed to ensure the safety of the Wizarding world.

It took her longer than she thought it would to find the werewolf. He was duelling with Lucius when she found him. Before she could cast a protection spell the Weasley girl ran at her, Bella flicked her wand to banish the girl away from her, but it didn't work out that way. Suddenly Molly Weasley stood before her, her wand her, swear words falling from her lips as she threw a killing curse towards Bella. Before it could hit her, before she had a chance to focus on a location, Bella apparated away, the killing curse simply hitting the smoke that remained from Bella's escape.

"Bitch." Bella swore as she found herself atop the astronomy tower away from all the action. A gash in her leg from a slight splinch. Spending no more than few precious minutes tending to her wounds, she dashed for the stairwell to take her back into the action. She had to get to the werewolf. She had-

A voice boomed out over the grounds, The Dark Lord was speaking, her mark was burning on her arm. "Fuck." She swore again, her fingers touching the mark before she found herself in the Forbidden Forest in a clearing with the rest of the Death Eaters. She saw Hagrid there in chains, a sight that made her feel ill. Hagrid was stupid but kind. She saw the boy then, laying on the ground, was he dead?

Her eyes frantically searched the dirty faces, singed robes and various states of injuries that had befallen her side of the war. There, there she was, her baby sister Narcissa, safe, unharmed, and remarkably clean for having been in a battle.

She watched as her sister approached the boy and then heard as she declared him dead. Laughed erupted around her and she joined in. Her mind on the castle, on her niece hopefully still shrouded in the alcove. She moved through a daze as they walked as a group, Hagrid holding the dead Potter in his arms. The band of fighters who had defended Hogwarts stood before them, just as battered and bruised from the fighting that had lasted for over two days now.

Suddenly there was movement, the boy, the Potter brat was alive. He was running through to the crowd, his group of merry Hogwarts students surrounded him, and Voldemort screamed in rage. It had come down to this moment, to these two wizards fighting it out to the end. There was silence as they duelled. An unspoken peace had arisen from the dark witches and wizards. Voldemort had not wanted precious magical blood spilled, he wanted one wizard, one person's blood. Not the mounds of dead bodies that surrounded them on all sides. But this had been Dumbledore's plan all along. Death, destruction, war… the old fool loved it, he bathed in blood and did not care who it was who died. It should be Albus and Tom fighting, not this child facing the greatest dark wizard of all time.

When it was over Bella found herself surrounded by Aurors, her niece among them, recovered from the stunner and still carrying injuries as her wand was fixed at Bella's chest. Bella did not see the werewolf in the crowd of screaming students, teachers and others who cried out for her blood. Bella simply smiled and held up her hands, her wand clattering to the ground as a dozen binding spells hit her at once.


Four Years Later

Hermione checked her reflection in the mirror again. Today was the big day, the day she had worked for, for four years. Today she was hearing Bellatrix Lestrange's case for probation before the Ministry for Magical Justice and Reconciliation. There had been other cases before the panel, not as high profile as Bellatrix Lestrange, but they had been newsworthy.

Hermione was the youngest witch to ever have been given the job of Junior Ministry for Magical Justice. The addition of Reconciliation had been added after the war. Hermione swallowed hard and sipped her herbal calming tea. She scratched absent minded at her scar, she was so used to it she never noticed it anymore but today, today it came back, she could swear it even ached a bit.

She reminded herself to breathe as she checked over her folder of notes again. She had everything, this was an opportunity to ask questions related to the new evidence to either keep Bellatrix Lestrange behind bars or release her for time served. The fact that she had aided the war was information that had been reviewed, evidence collected and testimonies from a variety of witches and wizards. It has taken four years to complete all of the investigations and allegations into the case. Bellatrix Lestrange had been in Azkaban all that time and had been a model prisoner.

Hermione walked into the room and sat her stack of folders and notes down. There was a pensieve in the middle of the table with several vials of silver liquid. She was pleased that she was not the first one in the room, she has been worried of looking a little too eager by arriving so early. Kingsley, the Minister of Magic was sitting there, along with the muggle Prime Minister, Percy Weasley and two aurors. Bellatrix had not been admitted yet, she was just beyond the room waiting in shackles to be brought in.

Hermione remembered the wanted posters from so long ago, the image of an insane witch screaming, unkempt hair, rotting teeth, dirty face, and clothing. The moment she sat down the door to the left of her opened. She could hear the shackles before she saw Bellatrix. The formidable witch was flanked on either side by two aurors. Her chains were the highest security level, the silver glowed red as she sat down in the chair. The chains were made to magically bind the prisoner to the chair and not release them to even make hand gestures.

In the case of Bellatrix, her hands were covered in silver mesh as her wandless magic was legendary. She has been given magic dampening potions since her arrival at Azkaban, but they were taking no chances. Even without a wand and her hands bound, Bellatrix could be a dangerous force.

Hermione shuffled her notes and did not directly look at the woman before her. From the corner of her eye Hermione noted that the witch looked immaculate. Her hair was perfect, not a curl out of place, her teeth were pristine, and her eyes lacked the insanity that had been burned so clearly into Hermione's memory.

After introductions were made and the procedures explained, the floor was opened up for questions and testimony.

The Mudblood, Hermione, Bellatrix remembered her. Not a frightened girl in her sister's home, no this was a woman. A powerful witch who, if the papers Bellatrix has been reading were correct, was the brightest witch of her age.

"Why should we even grant you a hearing today?" Percy Weasley asked to open the meeting. It was a standard question that was asked of all prisoners who were given probation hearings.

"I am not proud of what I did." Bella said finally after several long minutes of silence in the room. "I did what I had to do at the time."

"You killed people Mrs. Lestrange-" Percy Weasley interjected.

"Please, Ms. Black." Bellatrix said with a sad smile, "I never wanted to be a Lestrange."

Hermione was taken aback slightly. She had come to take Bellatrix's testimony, she waited for Bellatrix to answer the question.

"I don't expect you to understand." Bellatrix's eyes fell to the scar on Hermione's arm. She knew the witch had purposefully worn the short-sleeved shirt to reveal the word Bellatrix has carved into her arm. "What one must do for the greater good."

"The greater good." Kingsley spoke now, his rich voice filled the room. "And how does killing innocent muggleborns, torturing them-" He gestured towards Hermione's scar, "How does that support the 'greater good.?"

"Yes, I killed people. I tortured people and caused damage that I can never undo. At the end of the day the lives that were sacrificed were so that countless others could live. I cannot undo what I have done, I can only give testimony as to what was known by Albus Dumbledore and by this Ministry and what they ordered and allowed."

Bellatrix had a hypnotic soothing voice. She did not look at Kingsley when she spoke, rather she looked at Hermione so intensely that it felt as though Bella were assessing Hermione's very soul.

"Were you always working for the Order?" Kingsley inquired.

"No. I became an Order member when my cousin was murdered by Tom Riddle. He, well he discovered the horcruxes and turned traitor, the dark lord- Tom Riddle killed him himself. I had to watch as he tortured Regulus for hours. He was tracked to a seaside village. I watched the boy I had cared for; the baby I had held in my arms as a child slowly tortured to death. It ended for me then when Regulus died. My family, the purest of the pure, the most ancient and noble house of Black was not untouchable. All the words he had spoken to me of honour and righting all the wrongs in the magical world were worthless, it was all for naught as I had lost my cousin."

"How did you seek out the Order?" Hermione finally asked a question. Her eyes lifted to meet Bella's for the first time. She had, up until that moment been either looking at the person asking the questions or scribbling notes on Bella's file.

Bellatrix smiled, "I sought out Albus Dumbledore. It wasn't easy, he didn't trust me as he had every right not to. I had to prove myself a number of times but in the end the information I provided to Albus Dumbledore proved invaluable."

"And Lord Voldemort had no indication that your allegiance had changed." Hermione's eyebrow raised.

"No."

"How is that possible?" Hermione sounded sceptical.

In that moment Hermione felt her head go slightly fuzzy, her eyes unfocused and she felt Bellatrix literally pushing against her mind. Kingsley stood and the pressure released from Hermione's mind.

"I am highly skilled at occulemency, I dare say my skills at both Legilimency and Occulumency are among the best in the world Ms. Granger. I doubt there is a wizard alive who could accurately interpret my thoughts."

Hermione was slightly breathing harder from Bella's intrusion. "Do forgive me Ms. Granger, I thought a demonstration would suit better than a description."

"Ms. Black, you are on shaky ground. We do not require demonstrations of your abilities." Kingsley stated as the aurors on either side of Bellatrix lifted their wands and held them to her throat.

"So Lord Voldemort couldn't read your thoughts." Hermione continued her line of questioning, her mind still felt slightly warm from Bella's demonstration.

"No, he couldn't read my true thoughts. They were buried quite deep, too deep for him to penetrate."

"The Longbottoms?" Hermione asked after looking down at her parchment. "Frank and Alice Longbottom. You tortured them until they went insane."

"For which I served fourteen years in Azkaban." Bellatrix finished Hermione's statement.

"For which you did not serve your full sentence of life." Hermione corrected feeling heat rising to her face.

"For which the ministry released me from my sentence." Bella added.

"Lord Voldemort broke you out."

Bella laughed slightly at this and nodded to her solicitor who flicked through a file producing a parchment paper and handing it over to Hermione. "I think your files are missing this piece."

Hermione read through the note quickly and handed it to Kingsley who read it who then passed it onto Percy to add to the official record.

"The ministry was responsible for the breakout?" Hermione said in slight disbelief looking at Kingsley, it was two ministers before his time, during the reign of Fudge.

"In a peace treaty with Tom Riddle, yes. His Death Eaters for the promise of no further retaliations against the wizarding community. The Longbottoms were a tragic accident. I never meant what happened to Alice and Frank. It was regrettable and I cannot undo that damage, but I did pay for that crime Ms. Granger."

"They are still at St. Mungos Ms. Black. They will not recover. Ever." Hermione said with a slightly angry tone.

"Nor will I Ms. Granger." Bellatrix's answer deflated Hermione immediately. "I envy them; they have no memory of what occurred. They live in a dream state with no fear or pain. I am aware Ms. Granger, every minute of every day I am aware of my crimes. For fourteen years I have replayed those crimes again and again."

Hermione swallowed hard; she hadn't been expecting Bellatrix to be like this. To be, human.

The questioning went on for four more hours. Hermione's head ached by the end. When they were finished, she thanked Bellatrix for her time and watched as she was led from the conference room. Not back to Azkaban, but to a cell in the dungeon of the ministry. She would be granted a pardon, that was certain but the debriefing and the details of all that had occurred had far reaching ramifications for the ministry itself.

Hermione sat in the Leaky Cauldron and waited for Tonks, Harry and Ron to show up. It was their weekly night out without spouses, though Hermione enjoyed Ginny's company she often felt she couldn't truly be herself when Ginny was around.

Tonks arrived and ordered the first round of beers.

"I read the report. How are you doing?" Tonks asked after taking a long drink of her beer.

"It's a lot to take in." Hermione responded with a deep sigh.

Tonks nodded; she hadn't known that Bellatrix had been working for the Ministry or the Order. She had known there were other moles, like Severus but their identities had never been revealed. Tonks had given testimony, after Bella's arrest, about the incident during the battle, when Bellatrix had saved her life.

"Is she in the dungeons?"

"Yeah." Hermione said peeling the label off the beer bottle. Tonks watched her for a moment. "You know what that really means right? Peeling the label off."

Hermione chuckled slightly; she was frustrated but not sexually.

"They knew Tonks, the Ministry knew and did nothing to stop him. All those people, all those deaths and pain. They did nothing." Hermione's voice was disillusioned.

Tonks took a deep breath, "Sometimes it is better to not know what your Ministry is up to."

Harry and Ron came in fresh faced from a day off, they came into the bar laughing and chatting loudly over the Quidditch match they had just played in the park. "I think you should go professional Harry, really."

Harry nodded, "I am thinking of trying out for Puddlemere. Oliver said he would get me a tryout if I fail out of the trials."

"Naw mate the Cannons." Ron as always pushed for this favourite team.

"We'll see Ron I have to make it through the trials first to see if any team will have me. It's not great having glasses and being a seeker. One bludger in the middle of the game and I am out of the running to get the snitch."

Tonks and Hermione moved over to make room for the boys to join them. "Wotcher Harry, Ron." Tonks said as Hermione just nodded a greeting and took another sip of her beer.

"Whoa, you look like you've been through the mud." Ron said as Harry elbowed him.

"Wha- sorry Herimone."

Hermione shook her head, she knew she looked rough, eight hours in a room with Bellatrix Black would do that to a person.

Ron seemed to remember that fact, "Oh, hey yeah sorry, how did that go? Is she full of shit?"

"No, she is telling the truth. As insane as that sounds." Hermione responded before calling over a waitress to get a shot of fire whiskey.

"Naw, can't be." Ron said shaking his head. "She's a murderer, no way Dumbledore employed her."

"He did Ron." Tonks said handing the boys the beers. "The greater good."

"She killed my uncles." Ron said bitterly taking a swig.

"She killed a lot of people." Harry responded staring darkly at his bottle not drinking it.

"So did Snape." Hermione said unsure why she was defending Bellatrix Black who had carved 'Mudblood' into her arm.

"Yeah but, well that's different isn't it." Ron said looking from Tonks to Hermione.

"'Fraid not, it's one in the same, actually more so because she was at more risk." Hermione answered after Tonks sighed at Ron's stupidity.

"Look I know to hate the Blacks and the Malfoys is the popular thing at this table, but I need to remind you that I am a Black." Tonks said with a frown, "A Tonks first and foremost but a Black as well."

"Sorry Tonks." Ron said after a beat. "You're right."

Ron walked Hermione home after bidding Tonks and Harry goodnight. They had had an early evening, Tonks wanted to get home to Teddy and Harry was eager to catch the replays of the first round of trials. His was coming in the next two weeks.

"Want me to come in?" Ron asked putting his arm up slightly to stop Hermione from running into her flat and closing the door.

"No, not, not tonight Ron. Maybe next time."

"Hermione you say that every week." Ron said moving in closer to where Hermione stood.

"I'm tired." She replied.

"You say that too." He chuckled.

"I just- work is really hard right now Ron. Maybe next time." She brushed her lips quickly to his.

He sighed heavily and accepted it; she gave this excuse every week. What had started as a red hot romance after the war ended had fizzled into drinks with friends once a week. Hermione watched and waved at Ron as he walked down the street. He didn't trust himself to apparate when he was drunk. It was a good thing, there was nobody at home to help him if he splinched himself due to lack of concentration.

Hermione turned on her record player and looked at her desk. It was thick and covered with files, all linked to Bellatrix. Hermione ran her hand over them and poured herself a glass of wine, it was her job to secure the terms of Bellatrix's pardon and reintroduction to society. She looked at the photo, not her Azkaban mugshot where she was screaming in her madness, the other one. The one the Ministry had taken four years ago when the war ended. A calm Bellatrix, a tired almost bored looking witch that seemed as though she was grateful that it was all over. The Bellatrix in the photo winked at Hermione, Hermione stepped back and looked at it again, sure enough Bellatrix winked at her and giggled.

Hermione went to bed that night with Bellatrix on her mind, the dark eyed witch invaded her dreams. Once again Hermione felt the weight of Bellatrix's body press her into the cold wooden floor, the witch's leg forcing Hermione's apart as her dark curls tickled against Hermione's face. The cold tip of the dagger scraping into Hermione's arm, the laugh and warm whisper against her ear. The kiss Bella has placed there as she carved the word 'Mudblood' Hermione's screams as she begged Bellatrix to not to stop. Hermione jerked awake; her heart raced as her pulse throbbed between her legs. Her throat was dry as she tried to pull the dream back. It was the same nightmare she always had only this time, this time it hadn't been a nightmare. Hermione had wanted it, had wanted Bellatrix to continue cutting her, to continue pushing her legs apart. She could still feel Bella's breath against her ear.