Yes, she lives. It's a short chapter but I wanted this up before New Year!

Love is an act of faith & its face should always be covered in mystery. Paulo Coelho,

Do Not Go Gentle

Hermione felt frozen in shock as she stared at the tall, dark-haired witch. Bellatrix could not have been more than her late twenties; her appearance was impeccable instead of the grotesque caricature of herself that came out of Azkaban in the 90's but it was obviously her. Hermione could remember the sing-song voice she had used in the ministry, the sunken face with shadowed, skull like features that had leered at her and her friends while threatening them with torture.

"Bella," Regulus too had frozen at the sight of her. "You came all this way to see me?"

"Of course, Regulus," her voice was almost syrupy sweet as she addressed him. "After you sent word that you couldn't come for Easter, I got worried. I had hoped my dear baby cousin would have a good explanation as to why he cut short such steady plans after we had made them months ago."

Hermione stifled a gasp. Bellatrix turned to regard her as though she were considering an insect. "Don't you think that this conversation would be better away from strangers, Regulus?"

"No," he replied coldly. "I don't have anything to say. I'm not coming home for Easter break. Most students stay and study. I was planning to stay as well."

"You were planning on staying to study?" she repeated. "You are a good student Regulus; you would surely do well either way. Not that a member of our family ever had to worry too much about their marks, we get by on natural talent."

"It is important that I do well," he repeated. "You know how much I like to keep my marks up, Bella."

"Enough to cut short a meeting with your cousin?" There was an edge to her voice that Hermione did not like. The raven-haired witch had cast her a piercing glance when she said these words. "Regulus, this is about your marks, right?"

"Of course," he said. "What else would it be about?''

"Perhaps a certain Ravenclaw that you have been going around with?" the piercing glance was back and more focused. Hermione found herself wondering if by any chance Bellatrix knew legilimency.

"Rose has nothing to do with this," Regulus told his cousin. Several students had left the Great Hall and were passing by with curious looks on their faces but neither Regulus nor Bellatrix paid them any mind. "I have to study. My mind is made up, Bella. I am staying here."

"Your mind is made up," Bellatrix was looking more poisonous than ever. "I refuse to believe that."

"Believe what you want," Regulus told her. "It's true though."

Before she could reply a third unwelcome voice cut in. "What the hell is she doing here?"

Sirius Black had showed up with his friends by his side. He and Bellatrix regarded each other for a moment with equal loathing.

"Sirius," Bellatrix said. "I came to visit my dear cousin Regulus. He was invited to Easter at my fiancés home."

"This required you to come poisoning the school with your presence?" Sirius's voice was loud and angry sounding.

Bellatrix kept her voice much lower but for all of its sweetness, there was venom in the words. "Oh, but it wouldn't concern you if I came to pick up my cousin. He and I needn't share any of our business with you. Not after you made it so clear that you wished to be clear of us in favor of riffraff." She gave Lupin and Pettigrew her most poisonous look yet.

"It doesn't concern me either as I told you that I am not going," Regulus spoke up. "Thank you, but I am staying here and studying." At that everyone turned to stare at him. "I mean it," he said again. "I am not going Bella."

Hermione saw the look of surprise on Sirius's face. He turned back to Bellatrix with an almost gloating expression. "So that's it then," he said. "You have no reason to still be here."

"If that's it," Bellatrix said. "That you choose studying," her eyes darted to Hermione once more. "Then I have nothing more to say to you now. This isn't the last time we will talk of this though."

Sirius laughed. "It's never the last time we hear from you." At Bellatrix's look of venom again, he continued. "Say hello to the family for me, particularly my dear mother. Tell them my life is better than ever."

"Goodbye Bella," Regulus said quietly. The two made eye contact for a moment. Hermione thought that moment an eternity.

'He is staying here,' she thought. 'I did it, I really did it.'

"This isn't over," Bellatrix said. She threw a scathing look at Sirius and his friends before turning back to Regulus. "Aunt Walpurga will hear of this. I shall make sure she hears of your new girlfriend too." She spared Hermione a withering glance before stalking away and out the door, her tall form as statuesque as a queen's.

For a moment after she left there was silence. Sirius was the first to break the quiet. "Regulus," he began. "You did the right thing." He walked towards his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Regulus shrugged it off. "I just need to study," he repeated without looking at anyone. "That's it Sirius." He turned to walk away.

"Regulus," Sirius turned to go after him but Remus pulled him back. "Give him time, Sirius." He turned to Hermione. "Why don't you go and see if he is ok, Rose?"

Hermione and Remus stared at each other for a moment. "Remus," she started to say but trailed off helplessly. He shook his head.

"It's alright now, Rose. Just go after him." She nodded sadly and turned and followed Regulus. He was on his way to the library. She met him at the door.

"Regulus!"

He turned to her. "I don't need a lecture, Rose. I am just staying behind to study. I want to do well," he said.

"So do I," she told him. And then she kissed him.

He froze. It had been since the last summer that the two had even alluded to the kiss of the previous year. He looked dazed for a moment and then leaned in and kissed her back, one of his arms wrapping around her as he did so.

After a moment they broke apart. Hermione could feel her heart beating madly. "Alright," she said. "Then let's get that studying done."

"I have a better idea for now," he told her and then he kissed her once again.

Hermione supposed she could get used to this.

Word spread like wildfire that Rose Perkins, Ravenclaw and Regulus Black, Slytherin, were obviously a thing. Hermione tried to shut out the excess noise. Gossip aside, she felt better than she had in a while. It was as though having a distraction besides schoolwork helped keep the feeling of dread that the Horcrux currently sitting in her trunk had brought to her life at arm's length. The key to ignoring it seemed to be to spend as little time around it as possible. Regulus somehow filled that void in a way schoolwork and friends alone could not.

She was learning more about him than ever, what he ate in the Great Hall when he stopped by the Ravenclaw table, what his lips felt like when he kissed her, the way he tilted his head slightly when he was questioning things. Hermione felt that he was observing her too, trying to put a reason on her tiredness and in his own haughty way looking after her precarious health.

Hermione wondered how long this would last, the general content feeling that seemed to fill her as they sat in the library together after class, their heads bent over books and parchment. She felt that Regulus was more cheerful these days than he had been in months. Maybe that made all the difference.

The spring holiday passed and warm weather came with the lightening of days. Sometimes they would wander the grounds together, their bags swinging by their sides, their hands occasionally interlocked. Hermione would occasionally break the subject of schoolwork to comment on some muggle book she had read. For his part, Regulus may have made the occasional sarcastic remark but she could tell he was listening just the same. He loved to read as much as she did and had a nearly insatiable thirst for knowledge. Hermione couldn't help but tease him about this in light of his Hogwarts house. "You should have been a Ravenclaw," she said cheerfully one day when they were near the lake.

"No member of the Black family gets sorted into Ravenclaw," he haughtily replied.

Hermione grinned. "Sirius got sorted into Gryffindor so you don't all end up as Slytherin's."

"Sirius always had to do things differently," Regulus told her. "Since we were kids, he has always stirred up trouble."

"I wouldn't call getting sorted into Gryffindor "stirring up trouble." Hermione replied.

To her surprise Regulus grinned. "You don't know our family," he told her. "Slytherins for many generations, then he goes and breaks with tradition."

Hermione laughed. "He does do a good job of being different, doesn't he?"

For once Regulus did not seem sour at the mention of his brother. Maybe, Hermione thought to herself, progress is being made.

That night saw her worst nightmare in well over a month. She dreamt that she was wearing the diadem and it was possessing her completely. The piece of Voldemort inside of it had control over her and with wand raised, she cast a deadly fire over her loved ones. Harry, Ron and her parents went up in flames, Regulus and her friends from Ravenclaw could not escape from the fire coming their way. She was horrorstruck but helpless to stop it.

She woke up in a sweat, clutching her sheets tightly, her heart beating madly. The room was quiet and dark, the even breathing of her roommates could be heard from their beds. Hermione lay in bed, trying to get her breathing under control.

"I need to find a way to destroy it," she whispered to herself. "It will consume me if I don't." She knew no one who could help her besides Dumbledore and was afraid of how much she could tell him. Yet she had already altered things so much, her and Regulus dating already was proof of that.

Regulus would not be fooled if he saw her in this state. Sure enough, the next day saw her being dragged back to Madame Pomphrey's for a pepper up potion. Hermione had no defense as her friends were on his side regarding Hermione's poor health. She knew she had no excuse to please besides overwork due to exams coming up. Finally, she made a resolution. She would study methods to destroy horcruxes when she got done with school in June. In the meantime, she was going to have to remove the diadem from her room.

It was with considerable nervousness that Hermione found herself placing a small box containing the diadem back in the Room of Requirement. She had spent several days working up charms she could use that would keep people from seeing it, just in case she was not the only student to come upon the room. It was not the most ideal of solutions but her health and sanity currently demanded any reprieve. She was leaving the room one evening when she came upon James Potter on his rounds.

"Perkins," he nodded at her. "Doing alright then? Not up for some extra unnecessary studying?" His hazel eyes were twinkling as he said this and his thin mouth twitched as though he were holding back a grin.

"Nothing too much," Hermione replied. "I am managing the balance between work and sleep well enough."

"Even with the extra time spent with Regulus Black?" he asked her. The grin was definitely there this time, as cheeky as ever.

"That is not your business," she replied, though she couldn't stop a brief grin forming on her face as well.

James laughed. "I'm sure. Well Rose, it might interest you to know that Sirius approves of you dating his little brother." At her look of surprise, he added. "He thinks it's good for him. Gets him away from his wannabe death eater mates."

"He told you that?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"Didn't have to," James replied cheerfully. "I know Sirius like a book. I've seen enough that tells me that he was worried about that brother of his going wrong like his friends. Sirius is not that hard to figure out."

"I haven't done much," Hermione replied though she felt a glow of pride at his words. "You know that those brothers can both be stubborn."

James laughed. "Too true," he said. They walked the halls together, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and Hermione felt some of her tension pass. She had felt in the past some discomfort around James Potter due to his uncanny resemblance to his son but it lessened as time went by and as Hermione felt herself become more used to her 1970s surroundings. He walked her towards her common room and parted at the entrance.

"Keep up the good work," he told her with a grin. "I want to see the end results."

"So do I," she said to herself as she entered the Ravenclaw common room. "They better be nothing short of spectacular."

She had a better night sleep that night and awoke refreshed in the morning, her mind on studying and Regulus instead of the diadem. It was shaping up to be a nice day. Spring was in the air, the days longer and brighter, the trees coming into bloom. The only negative was the N.E.W.T's were now almost here and she felt like she had more studying to do than ever. Luckily Regulus was much more agreeable about studying than Harry and Ron used to be.

They got together after class and putting their heads together started with transfiguration and worked their way down the list from there. Regulus was much calmer than Hermione while studying but no less dedicated to keeping up perfect marks. He was agreeable to practicing with Hermione's notes and included suggestions of his own, tricks for remembering different incantations.

She was in a much better state of mind until about a week after she had moved the diadem when she caught sight of Barty Crouch and Regulus talking in the library.

"Goes to show you that a guy will allow himself to go to the dogs over any random girl. I might as well at least warn you…"

Regulus caught sight of Hermione just then and shook his head. Barty continued as though he didn't see her.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "What matters is doing what is right. I have made my plans. What about you?"

"I agree with you that it's about doing what is right," Hermione said. At his nasty look she added: "We may disagree on what that may be." She put her books down on the table with a sort of finality. He threw her a look of deep loathing.

"Think about it Regulus."

"I have," Regulus told him. "And now Rose and I are going to study. So goodbye."

Hermione felt considerably cheered as Barty Crouch left the library. She almost didn't catch his next words until Regulus repeated them.

"Spying on both of us and claim you are sneaking around the school late at night and acting suspicious."

"What did you say?" she asked him. He frowned as he repeated it a third time.

Hermione didn't like that. She had charmed the diadem so she would get alerted if anyone tried to take it but it still felt wrong having Regulus's old death eater mates spying on her.

"Never mind him," Regulus told her. Hermione nodded. She was just going to have to be more careful, she decided. Evan Rosier and Barty Crouch were certainly not going to best her. Not with all she had done.

"Let's do charms next," she said. "Could do with a basic cheering charm right now."

End Chapter