Chapter 11: Summer 2004

Late May 2004

Hermione crossed her arms and looked at Bellatrix unimpressed, if Kissara wasn't so pleased with the gift, she would lecture Bellatrix on the courtesy of asking someone before going and building something in their backyard. In the oldest tree, within sight of the backdoor, there was a new treehouse with no roof, so more like a basket with a hole in the wall for a door and underneath was a large swing which could easily seat four. There were at least five rope ladders that led to various tree branches and a wooden one that led to the treehouse;

Bellatrix smiled her most plausible innocent smile at Hermione, who sighed, giving in. A happy squeaky scream pierced the air, the women startled and looked back at Kiki. The girl had brought up several toys including her panther and fairy as well as the blue Easter bunny and was now signalling for them to join her.

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow at Hermione. "Race you." The older witch bolted towards the old tree. Hermione rolled her eyes for a brief moment at Bellatrix's childish behaviour before running to catch up. The large distance between the house and the treehouse gave Hermione the time to catch up and pass Bellatrix. She got to the ladder and climbed up to meet her daughter followed closely by the dark witch.

Over the past month, Hermione had gotten to know her former torturer. At first, Bellatrix had been standoffish, hesitant and shy but after Easter, she had come out of her shell quite a bit and, before she knew it, Hermione had warmed up to her. Bellatrix now came over almost every day, in fact the only time she didn't come over was when Kiki wasn't home or the Weasleys/Potters were over, which was rare. She usually arrived around the same time Hermione and Kissara came home. Bellatrix occupied the little girl while Hermione cooked dinner, usually this also included sign lessons for Bellatrix. After supper, Bellatrix would read while the other two went for a run, then both women put the girl to bed before Bellatrix bid goodnight. It was a comfortable routine for Kissara and, oddly, for Hermione as well. Though Hermione was still hesitant around Bellatrix, who didn't seem to realize that her friendliness put the Gryffindor on edge.

The women played with the child in the treehouse, unlike most other little girls, her games centre around magical creatures of all kinds instead of princesses or playing 'mommy'. They had a lot of fun together, Hermione only noticed the time when her daughter's stomach rumbled loudly, both Hermione and Bellatrix looked up at Kissara, who, of course, didn't know her stomach had made noise. The girl looked at the women with wide eyes.

'Are you hungry?'

Kissara over-exaggerated her answering nod.

Hermione was startled when she saw the time-6:30, past suppertime and Hermione hadn't even started on the food. Oh well, she decided, time to introduce Bellatrix to pizza.

Hermione folded all her fingers save her index and middle finger which were only half bent and drew a Z shape in the air. Kiki smiled, grabbed her toys and headed inside, her mothers close behind.

The pureblood turned to the muggle-born and asked "What's" she repeated the hand movements, this time Hermione just smirked and quickened her pace to the house. By the time Kissara and Bellatrix had washed up for supper, Hermione had already ordered a large half veggie, half cheese pizza and was putting plates on the table.

"Are you going to tell me what a –she repeats the hand movement- is?"

"You'll see."

Bellatrix frowned, "Ok, seriously you're going to have to tell me if you want supper to be prepared quickly. You don't have a house elf, prepared food won't magically appear."

Hermione laughed. "Have you heard of 'take-away'?" The other witch only raised an eyebrow. "Some muggle restaurants will let you either bring your food home or they'll come deliver it to the doorstep."

"Okay? Odd."

The pizza delivery man arrived at quarter to seven. As Hermione paid, she handed the pizza to Bellatrix, who looked confused over the large flat box.

As everybody settled at the table, Hermione opened the box and served Kiki a slice of cheese pizza. She then looked up at Bellatrix, who was staring at the pizza with a weird look on her face, Kiki obviously found it funny since she giggled when she took a bite. Bella looked over at the girl and pulled another face to make the girl giggle again.

"Would you like veggie or cheese pizza?"

"Is that what that is? What's it made of?"

"Bread, tomato sauce, cheese than some toppings. Toppings vary quite a bit."

"The side with just the cheese looks like those animals you can find by the side of muggle roads." Hermione gave Bellatrix a look that just said, 'really?' "So I think I'll try the vegetable side."

Hermione shook her head as she gave a slice to Bellatrix and took two slices of veggie for herself. Then both her and her daughter watched as Bellatrix took a hesitant first bite.

"Ok," Bellatrix begrudgingly admitted; "It's not as bad as I thought it would be."

Early June

"Hey, can I take Kissara to the park?"

Hermione looked up from behind the counter, it was 3:05 and she was surprised to see Bellatrix that early, she hadn't been to the bookshop since that first day.

"She's with Teddy in the back, but Tonks is supposed to pick them up for the night, so perhaps you can take Kiki to the park another day."

"What time is Dora supposed to pick her up?"

"4:30"

"Alright, I'll have them back by then"

Hermione just gave in, realizing a fight would be pointless.

Hermione had started bringing Bellatrix to their family outings. If Hermione had been honest, she was very afraid that Kissara might start liking her birth mother more than her. But Kiki had never forgotten her mommy, once she had gotten to know the new woman in her life, her time was split between the two women. Pretty soon Hermione was teaching both Kissara and Bellatrix how to cook. So now they alternate who cooked dinner and who got to spend time with Kissara before supper. Also Hermione was now comfortable letting Bellatrix take Kissara out by herself, Tonks was soon to follow her example.

As they left the store, she just signed 'behave' to the children who nodded and smiled.

Later that night, around 8, Bellatrix knocked at the Granger house. She knew Kissara wasn't home but Bellatrix was in need of company. She could've gone to Andy's, but for some reason she needed the muggle-born. Unfortunately, in the small amount of time it took for Hermione to answer the door, the voices started assaulting her again, she pressed her hands against her ears and closed her eyes.

Hermione was stunned to see Bellatrix at the door, she knew that Bellatrix knew that Kissara wasn't home, after all, she had been the one to hand the kids over to Tonks. She quickly noticed the obvious signs of Bellatrix fighting the voices. Hermione waited for Bellatrix to either leave or calm down which was what she normally did when only Hermione was around. But Hermione only saw the dark witch struggle more and more, so she reached out to touch Bellatrix's shoulder. It was a mistake. The touch broke Bellatrix's concentration and the dark witch's hand flew out to grab the muggleborn's throat and squeezed.

Hermione's hands automatically went to the hand around her throat to claw at it, she stood on her toes to avoid being picked up completely. She looked at the now hardened black eyes. The younger witch was terrified, she tried to plead but she couldn't get enough air, so she moved her flattened palm in a clockwise motion over her chest. 'Please' Bellatrix's eyes widened and abruptly let go of the muggleborn who fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

"I'm so sorry," Bellatrix sounded truly sorry as she knelt down to check on the younger witch. She reached out to gently touch Hermione on the shoulder. "Let me see."

Hermione, at first, was reluctant to let the older witch near her, she crawled away. But Bellatrix was persistent, she softly turned the Gryffindor towards her and looked at the bruising starting to form. Seeing that Bellatrix's eyes had returned to their normal dark chocolate colour, Hermione relaxed slightly and let the older witch heal her bruises,

"Episkey contribulo" Bellatrix whispered the specialized healing spell for bruises. As soon as she could feel no more pain, Hermione crawled away and wiped at the couple of stray tears. "I'm so sorry."

Hermione shook her head and croaked out; "What are you doing here?"

Bellatrix looked down and muttered something like "I'm not sure."

Rolling her eyes and sighing heavily, Hermione really couldn't bring herself to care about her guest. She settled back down on the couch under her blanket with her book. The bookworm could hear some noise and clattering behind her but again didn't want to move. She figured if something exploded, she'd go see what the woman was doing.

After a little while, Hermione reached for her tea, only to realize it was empty. She sighed and started to get up when her cup was removed and replaced by another hot cup. She looked up to see Bellatrix place a plate of cookies on the side table and settle down on the floor next to the opposing couch, nearly out of eyesight. The cup smelled like a lady grey, but Hermione didn't remember buying it. It was good though.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully, Bellatrix decided to tend to Hermione the rest of the night. She knew Hermione didn't trust her anymore, the Gryffindor was understandably distant. Bellatrix only left when her daughter's mother was in bed. That was not how she wanted the night to go. She was planning on conversation, not strangulation. She needed to figure out how to control the voices better, it seemed like her spell was getting weaker, though it was still strong around her loved ones, it broke easier around everyone else. She did count Hermione as family, but she was a mudblood in the eyes of the voices. She needed to repair their fragile relationship…

Mid July

Hermione hadn't left Kissara and Teddy alone with Bellatrix since that night. Bellatrix understood why but having the young mother keeping an eye on her every move was grating on her nerves.

Bellatrix was just kissing Kissara goodnight when she heard the familiar crack of apparition downstairs. Worried, Hermione gave a quick kiss to her daughter and headed downstairs. The confused girl tried to follow but her birth mother reassured her and pulls the covered up over the agitated girl, then headed downstairs.

"What happened?" Bellatrix asked when she saw Dora in the hallway.

"Break in at the bookstore." Dora explained. "We need Hermione to make a list of missing items or money."

"Wizarding or muggle side?" Both younger witches looked at their elder curiously. "They would probably have different motives." Bellatrix shrugged. "If they didn't steal money, the subject of the stolen book or books might be important."

A worried look crosses the store owner's face. Tonks looked at her friend questioningly. "Which side was it?" Hermione inquired.

"Wizarding"

Hermione brushed her hair back in frustration. "I have some books under lock and key that, let's just say, would belong in the Restricted Section at Hogwarts. The worst books are here but…"

"Why do you have those?"

This time, Hermione shrugged. "Curiosity. I like to read everything."

"Please tell me they aren't for sale."

"Of course not!"

"Come on, let's go."

Hermione turned to Bellatrix and sighed; "Keep an eye on Kiki?"

Bellatrix only nodded as they disapparated. She turned to head towards the kitchen but spotted a little head of black hair between the bars of the staircase railing. The girl didn't bother running to her room to pretend she was asleep when Bellatrix climbed up the stairs.

'What happened?'

Bellatrix didn't see the point in lying to the child. 'There was a…' she checked the sign-language book she carried with her, 'robbery at your mommy's bookstore.' The little girl's eyes widened. 'Shhh… Your mommy's fine, she and aunty Tonks are just checking to see if anything was taken then they'll come straight home. It won't take long. Come let's get you to bed.'

When her birth mother tried to guide her to bed, Kissara dug her heels in and frowned at her mother. Bellatrix changed tactic. 'How about you come downstairs with and wait for mommy to come home?' Kissara nodded and hugged Bellatrix, who proceeded to pick her up and kiss her on the cheek.

They went back downstairs. Instead of heading to the library, Bellatrix headed to the living room where she had seen a rocking chair. She did remember seeing Hermione rock Kissara when the girl was upset. Hermione usually sat down cradling her little girl, but wanting to try something, Bellatrix kept her daughter in the 'picked up' position with the girl's head on her shoulder. Then she started gently and rhythmically tapping on her back to the tune of an old lullaby she used to sing to her sisters. The idea came to her while reading, she was drumming her fingers and thought of Kissara? Yes sometimes even she had odd little fleeting thoughts. Though this one seemed to hit the mark, Kissara was asleep soon after she started. Bellatrix kissed her daughter's hair, thinking that, after all, she was glad of how things had turned out…. She just had to mend things with Hermione.