Chapter 14: Late September 2004

The summer was spent in the treehouse and in various lakes and rivers. Hermione had bought a telescope for the treehouse which delighted both dark-haired girls who had often fallen asleep in the treehouse after a late night watching the stars, Hermione never bothered waking them up, she only joined them for the night. Tonks often brought the children on boat rides. She learnt that Teddy enjoyed fishing, but Kissara only wanted to jump overboard and swim. So when the Potters and Weasleys came with them, Harry and Ron would take Teddy fishing, Ginny often joining them, while Tonks, Lavender, Kiki and baby James would stay at the dock and swim. Later Bella took the Tonks and Grangers to meet Narcissa and Draco. Narcissa Black, who had divorced her husband now in Azkaban, enthusiastically welcomed both old and new family members into her life, as did Draco. Kissara had enjoyed chasing her older cousin through the hedge labyrinth at Malfoy manor and got along well with her Aunty Cissy. When it was time to return to muggle school, Bellatrix had attempted to help the little ones get geared up for first grade but the voices prevented her from staying long in this surprising new world. But it happened, which was the important part and now Bellatrix sometimes saw Kissara off in the mornings and picked her up after school. All in all the new family had been getting to know each other and got along.

Kissara hadn't called Bella 'momma' yet. Yes, Bella, Hermione had gotten to a point where she was that comfortable around her. But lately Bellatrix had stopped being alone with the muggle-born, she had even trickled her visits into the wizarding community to the bare necessities. Hermione feared this meant the voices were getting worse. Hermione had thought a lot about her family situation this past month. She was determined that the family's next step was to speak to Bellatrix about these voices and to get her up to date with Kissara's potential learning and communication problems.

There was just one problem; Bellatrix and Hermione couldn't be alone. But the bookworm had a three-step plan; Step one: talk to Narcissa and Andromeda, Step two: talk to Bellatrix, Step three: soul healer.

Hermione was in the kitchen setting out some tea and biscuits, Kissara was having a sleepover at Tonks' home, when she heard the chimney. She stepped into the hallway just as Andy stepped out of the fireplace. They hugged as a greeting and when Narcissa arrived, Hermione hugged her too. It took Narcissa a second to return the hug, she did like Hermione, she just wasn't used to such nice greetings. She was still an 'ice queen' in public, she believed some things needed to remain private, so most people treat her like one. Not Hermione though, she was quick to warm up to the blonde. It was one of Hermione's most likable qualities, she could always give someone a second chance. The only person she seemed to be having trouble with was Bellatrix, though the other sisters understood that their situation was more complicated.

"So, how is everything?" Hermione asked as they sat down. Andromeda cocked her eyebrow, she saw Hermione two days ago. Hermione shrugged.

Narcissa humoured her; "Things have been well. Draco has finally finished his studies, he wants to open an apothecary. I was wondering if you could give him some advice on running his own business?"

"Of course!" Hermione was genuinely happy for him. He occasionally came into her shop to buy some schoolbooks, a couple of times she had helped him with some of his work. She already knew he was doing well, but she was glad to hear he passed.

"Thank you. Now I don't think you invited us for small talk."

"There hasn't been any small talk."

Now both older women looked at her unimpressed.

Hermione fidgeted and decided to get straight to the point, "The voices have been getting worse."

"What do you mean?" Andromeda was confused. "They haven't made an appearance in a while."

"Not around you, no. But she has been getting more attacks in public, so much so she limits her trips out. So much so, I don't think she has been eating enough. To add to that she refuses to be alone with me, I'm afraid that it is to avoid attacking me." The sisters looked at her worried, Hermione told them her plan; "I was wondering if you could help convince her to go see a soul healer."

Andy choked on her tea.

"What?" Narcissa exclaimed. "You obviously haven't heard of the time our parents tried sending her to a soul healer."

"She got worse," Andy picked up, seemingly far away, "became much more violent … broke everything in sight, hurt everybody she could, even us", she added, looking at her younger sibling.

Hermione sighed; "I thought up a similar scenario, but it has to be done, her spell is not working as well, it would be better for everybody if we came up with a more permanent solution to the voices." Hermione paused but the sisters stayed quiet, "Last time I imagine she had no help to deal with everything," She took the continued silence as a yes. "This time, she'll have our help." Both older women nodded, but still looked concerned. "If a soul healer doesn't help, what do you think of bringing Bellatrix to see a psychiatrist?"

"What's that?"

"The muggle version of a soul healer." Andromeda explained.

Narcissa turned to look at Hermione; "Wouldn't that be worse? Muggles are a very obvious trigger. To add to that she wouldn't be able to be completely frank about her wizarding life."

Hermione shrugged, "I'm sure there are one or two psychiatrist squibs in the world. The soul healer hasn't worked before, and I know for a fact that muggles have treatments for …problems… like hers. Whichever way we choose, it has to happen."

The sisters were still uncertain, but knew Hermione was right.

Giving in, Andromeda asked, "So what do we have to do?"

"Tonight all you two have to do is to keep her from killing me, later support her. Simpler said than done I know. She should be arriving in…" she checked the time, "Five minutes."

The two sisters looked surprised as they looked at each other and nodded towards the younger witch, who thanked them.

"You can stay in the kitchen if you like. I'll talk to her in the library. Just come running if you hear screams, objects breaking or if all goes quiet."

Narcissa and Andromeda didn't have time to answer; they heard the whoosh of someone arriving in the chimney.

The sisters watched as Hermione picked up her mug and another full one and went to greet their older sister. Bellatrix looked at Hermione inquisitively, backing up as the Gryffindor approached, until she noticed her sisters in the kitchen. Bella then made a B-line towards them, but Hermione put a hand to her shoulder and said,

"I need to talk to you in private."

Any walls guarding Bellatrix's emotions fell, she seemed to panic slightly as Hermione led her to the library. Narcissa noticed that her sister did look thinner, she made a mental note to ask Cherry, her house elf, to keep Bellatrix's food stores full.

There wasn't a door to close to give them privacy, instead there was a large archway. But the sisters couldn't see inside the other room, the living room was directly across from the kitchen, the library was further back.

"NO FUCKING WAY!" The sisters jumped, that didn't take long.

Narcissa and Andromeda stood, Andy started to head towards the library but stopped when she heard Hermione.

"Please, think of Kissara."

They waited for a long time, another 15 minutes went by and neither heard more than a whisper. Occasionally they saw red lights, Narcissa had to stop Andromeda from rushing to Hermione's side. She knew it was only Bellatrix's temper shooting sparks from her wand.

"You'll be able to do more."

"Maybe I don't want to do more!"

"You're restless!"

Then they heard a thump. Both sisters rushed into the library to see Hermione on the floor slumped against the wall rubbing the back of her head, books all around her. Bellatrix was standing over her, eyes hard.

"Bella!" Narcissa shouted, worried for both of Kissara's mothers. Andromeda rushed to Hermione while Narcissa stood between the Gryffindor and Bellatrix. Cissy raised her wand, just in case.

Andromeda had to help Hermione stand. When the young mother straightened up, Bellatrix seemed to have a moment of clarity, her eyes widened and she disapparated with a pop!

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Andy. I'll be fine, just sore."

They stood there awkwardly for a bit before Narcissa asked, "The verdict?"

The Gryffindor sighed, "She didn't agree to anything, though she did listen to all my reasons. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

Late October

Hermione settled in to read, Kissara was in bed and she could relax now. Unfortunately Kissara's problems in school were circling in her mind. Kiki had such a hard time following in school and the kids teased her. Hermione put her book on her lap, leaned her head against the back of the couch and sighed. She wasn't sure what to do about the bullying, she'd talked to the teachers but they only seemed to care about the fact that Teddy and Kissara got violent. Hermione knew that those two weren't the problem, she knew it took a lot to set them off, she knew violence wasn't the solution but it was very hard to reprimand a child for punching when she was crying about the names the other kids called her. She'd tried to think of a solution, but she herself had been bullied, and it hadn't let up until Harry and Ron had become her friends. But Kissara only had Teddy and while he hadn't had any problems making friends, she had and his friends weren't very kind to her. So other than having good friends, Hermione didn't know what would help her daughter.

Hermione had talked to Tonks about it, seeing as Teddy was defending Kiki all the time, but the metamorphmagus had nothing better to say than 'Use your words'. Both mothers knew that was a pointless suggestion for Kiki seeing as she can't talk. Then she wanted to talk to Bellatrix about it, see if she had any ideas, but the woman hadn't shown herself since the 'discussion' in the library, only leaving little gifts on Kiki's bed from time to time. She had also wanted to talk to Bellatrix about the lip-reading program. This program would help Kissara follow conversations, the information on the program also said that they could teach the deaf to speak. Hermione wanted desperately to put Kissara in the program, but it was offered only in private muggle practises and the government didn't fund it. She snorted. Of course they didn't fund it, there weren't supposed to be any deaf kids in the wizarding world. So the bookshop keeper couldn't afford it, but she figured Bellatrix might be willing to pay for some of it.

She heard a creak on the staircase, Hermione sighed; it must have been Kissara. She got up to check on her daughter.

Only to find Bellatrix coming down the stairs, Kissara in her arms. The dark witch was looking at the sleeping girl's face. Bellatrix only looked up to see Hermione when she reached the bottom of the staircase.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, half-demanding, half-cautious. Her eyes looked to her sleeping daughter then back up to the witch. Her uneasiness with the situation must have shown on her face as Bellatrix shook her head softly and nodded towards the living room.

Slowly they both went into the living room and sat facing each other, Hermione on the couch she had just vacated and Bellatrix in the rocking chair with the sleeping child.

"So… You wanted to talk?"