AN: For those who are interested (or want to see the gestures I poorly write), I use the following website for the sign language:

Chapter 16 Early November

Hermione was at the dinner table, finishing up paperwork for Kissara's speech therapy. She would be starting in a week. She was hopeful it would help her little girl to make friends, she might even be able to speak clearly in a couple of years. It would mean the world if Kissara could communicate properly. The bullying may have lessened, but misunderstandings will always be a problem. Hermione had also started to wonder whether Kissara could feel her classmates' opinion of her.

The Gryffindor paused as she sensed a presence behind her but didn't move as she felt a now-familiar head of curls brush against her temple, she heard a whisper in her ear:

"I found your parents."

Hermione still jumped at the sound of Bellatrix's voice, as, even expected, she was very close. She had steadied herself and righted the papers in front f her before the whole meaning of those words sunk in. Her parents had been found. Her heart soared and she leaped from her seat, knocking her chair over, and hug-tackled the source of the voice.

Bellatrix stiffened from the hug, stunned. The dark haired witch did soften though, she supposed people who actually liked their parents would be happy about this.

Hermione pulled back a moment, doubt creeping into her mind; "You're not kidding, right?"

"I'm not that evil."

With that the Gryffindor pulled the other witch into another hug. One which Bellatrix returned slightly. It was nice for the time it lasted. The younger witch pulled back and Bellatrix noted a sad look in her eyes hiding behind the smile.

"Where did you find them?"

"Carnarvon, Western Australia, living under the names you gave them."

Hermione's eyes widened. "How?" She had looked there and had found no trace of them.

Bellatrix smirked. "Location spell."

Hermione lightly hit Bella and shot her a look that said, 'seriously?'. Shouldn't there be more to it than that?

Bellatrix backed away from Hermione who, realizing she was too close to the dark witch, shot her a quick apologetic glance. Although the younger witch immediately found herself missing Bellatrix warmth. Choosing not to dwell on it, she locked the feeling away, she had more pressing matters.

"I could teach it to you, it's more powerful than the average location spell."

Bellatrix watched as the other woman only vaguely heard the proposition and nodded at the statement then Hermione sat back down at the table and ran her hands through her hair. Bellatrix suppressed a sigh, she wasn't good at these kinds of things. She flopped down in the chair across from Hermione and started fiddling with the papers on the table. She smiled a bit as she read what they were for, but didn't dwell on it, she needed to comfort the other witch. How, she wasn't sure, but it never hurt to try.

"What's wrong?"

The brunette looked up at her seemingly confused over the question before looking back down. Bellatrix heard her mumble under her breath:

"What am I going to tell them?"

Bellatrix decided on the direct approach first; "Um….You explain why you altered their memories and fill them in on what has happened since then."

Hermione sighed, frustrated and agitated. "Oh yes, mom, dad, I doctored your memories so you would be safe while I, a 17 year old, went to end a war with only a small group of people. Then, after failing to find you, I adopted a deaf year old babe at the age of 21. And now, against all logic, I'm letting her birth mother enter our lives and she's an ex-criminal, a murderer who hears voices!"

Bellatrix flinched at the younger woman's rising tone, but sadly conceded; "Yes, I suppose that will be hard to explain to them." Not letting her feelings show she picked at the papers in front of her; "I suggest rephrasing it though."

She heard Hermione get up and guessed the Gryffindor wanted to get away from her. So Bellatrix decided it was time for her to leave. But as she got up to go kiss a hopefully sleeping Kissara goodnight she was pulled into another hug. Perhaps she had no hid her feelings as thoroughly as she thought.

"I didn't mean to upset you."

Bellatrix returned the hug in earnest now and sighed as the voices inside her head yelled at the muggle-born that she had no sway over the dark witch. She pushed them away and forced out: "I understand, I wouldn't want someone like me around my daughter."

The younger witch didn't answer but kept her head on Bellatrix shoulder. It was strange, but nice. Unfortunately the voices didn't approve of her proximity. Pulling away before anything could happen Bellatrix spoke.

"I should go." She took a piece of paper out of her pocket and put it on the table. "Here is their address. Let me know if I can do anything else."

Hermione just nodded and watched as Bellatrix went up the stairs to kiss their daughter, who was hopefully still asleep. Then realized she had forgotten to ask about their sudden departure at the party several days earlier, or if they were still going to the bookstore tomorrow. At the moment though, one thing was for sure, as happy as she was to know her parents were alive, she wasn't ready to face them yet.

Hermione had just dropped off Kissara at Harry and Ginny's house. She placed her daughter's small bag pack of toys and extra clothes in the entrance way as she watched Kissara run to the back of the house to say hello to Dobby. The elf was free, yes, but spent a lot of time at the Potter's, enjoying helping them out, especially now that little James had arrived.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back for supper?" Ginny asked, bouncing six-month-old James on her hip.

She hadn't seen her friends in a couple of weeks and as much as she wanted to stay she was way too anxious about her current situation. Her parents had entered her thoughts many times in the past twenty-four hours, each time her heart tightened. To add to that Bellatrix had not communicated with her at all, leaving Hermione to conclude that Bellatrix did not, after all, want Hermione to accompany her to the bookstore, especially after last night`s conversation. It upset her horribly.

Her mood is what prompted her to call Ginny and ask her if Kiki could spend the afternoon and have supper with them because she 'missed her aunt and uncle'. Truth was her mood had affected her daughter greatly. Kissara was upset because her mommy was upset, to the point where her teacher had called and asked Hermione to come and pick her up. She had closed up the store at eleven, went to get Kiki and they went home. Kissara had barely eaten at lunch; constantly asking what was wrong. And, yes, Kissara was very mature and would probably grasp some of it, but Hermione hesitated to tell her about her grandparents just yet. It would make the situation all too real.

"No, that's alright, thank you. I have an errand to run anyways. Sometime soon though"

"Alright then, see you at seven." Ginny returned Hermione's smile as she watched her friend apparate. She was worried about Hermione. The bookworm had isolated herself from the rest of the group after the war, only reconnecting with her friends after having adopted Kiki. And that had come as a huge surprise, and seemed a little impulsive at the time, but it seems it was the right decision. Kissara had brightened her mommy's world, and, even throughout the legal battle, Hermione had given the girl the love she deserved and needed. Yet once again Ginny could feel Hermione pulling away. Something had changed several months ago, Hermione cut off all communication, only coming to meet James on the day of his birth. Ginny had planned on confronting her once she had healed but the problem seemed to have resolved itself, Hermione had reached out to them on a few occasions since then. Now though, it seems there was another obstacle in her friend's life.

It was now two o'clock, but Hermione didn't feel up to going to work. She went home and made a mental note to hire a few employees. Her bookstore was doing well enough to stay open on evenings and weekends, it would also give her more freedom to take a day for herself or her family from time to time. To be honest, she wasn't sure why she hadn't yet. Although she had never really taken time off, when she had adopted Kiki she had taken only a week off to bond with her then started bringing her girl to work with her. Even throughout the legal battle she had only had to take court days off as her bookstore was a great place for research.

Since she wasn't going back to work or, as far as she knew, anywhere else, Hermione decided to get comfortable and try to relax. She got to her library, took off her jeans and slung them over the couch before picking up a light read. Pointing her wand at the fireplace, she started a fire and flopped down unto the armchair. Hermione sighed as she tucked her legs underneath her, closed her eyes and leaned back. She was stressed about the current situation with her parents and now she was disappointed that she hadn't even heard from her to cancel. But at the moment Bellatrix was taking up her thoughts. She had looked forward to the outing with Bellatrix.

Hermione did find it a little frightening. She had come to really enjoy the ex-Death Eater's presence. Whether it was playing with her and Kiki at the end of the day and during the weekends, or watching Bella attempt to learn to cook, or just sitting and reading in the library after Kissara was tucked in. It really was crazy and what's more, she couldn't keep hiding her friendship with Bellatrix. The truth had to come out, first to her parents she supposed, then to her friends. It wouldn't blow over well, but she wasn't about to remove Bellatrix from their lives. That was, if she didn't upset the witch to the point the older woman would want to leave them.

With that her thoughts turned to her parents once again. She supposed that next week she should head out to Australia, the longer she waited, the worse the sinking feeling would be. It will be hard to tell them what had happened since the seventh year, but she had no doubt they would still love her, no matter how mad they might be. And wouldn't it be nice to spend Christmas with her family once again? And, while her parents may not agree with her choice to have a child at such a young age, she was sure they would love their granddaughter.

So later this week Hermione would ask Tonks if she could watch over Kiki. She should also tell her friends about Bellatrix by the annual New Year's party, preferably even before Christmas. Fuck, this would definitely make her lose friends, whether or not the ex-Death Eater had been pardoned. But it needed to be done, Bellatrix was family now.

Hermione had been reading on and off for about half an hour when she heard the crack of apparition. It made her jump and almost drop her book, she had not been expecting anyone. And who on earth would apparate directly into her house? It wasn't long before the person walked into the library, it was Bellatrix. Hermione should have known, who else?

Bellatrix nearly laughed at the sight that greeted her as she crossed the library's threshold; Hermione reading in her underwear looking over at her with wide eyes. She managed to control it and raise her eyebrows and in a neutral tone asked:

"What are you doing?"

"Reading?"

Bellatrix rolled her eyes at the answer obviously not thought through. "I can see that. What are you doing here, shouldn't you be at work?"

Hermione paused. "Wait…what are you doing here?" Bellatrix was right, she should be at work, so why was Bellatrix here?

Bellatrix smirked, "I came to borrow a book." She picked up said book off the shelf and showed it to a surprised Hermione. "Seriously though, what are you doing here?"

Not knowing whether Bellatrix was being genuine and, surprisingly enough, not caring, Hermione tried instead to describe what she felt. But a weak "I don't feel well" was all that came out.

"You're sick?"

"Well, no, but…"

Hermione trailed off, really not knowing what to say. But Bellatrix understood immediately, and Hermione then felt should have known the older witch would understand. One of many things she must not have thought of du to her present state of mind. And she was certainly pleased with Bellatrix's seemingly simple solution;

"Well, we were supposed to go to the bookstore later, would you like to go now?"

Bellatrix had to keep in another laugh as Hermione quickly put her book down and jumped up hilariously. She watched the woman go over to the couch and grab her pants, putting them on. Bellatrix couldn't help but steal a quick glance at the other woman's ass as she put on her jeans. She stopped her thoughts there though, no use ruining this awkward friendship over something impossible.

At the front closet, Hermione nodded to the other woman after putting on a light coat, indicating that she was ready to go. An unintentional smile slipped out as the young woman took the offered arm. It didn't take long for the swirling feeling of apparition to take over.

They had landed in another forest that Hermione was not familiar with, at least this time the landing was more graceful than the last side-along trip. Hermione looked around for a building but found none.

"Another forest? I thought we were going to a bookstore?"

Hermione regretted asking the question when a pair of annoyed eyes turned to her. It seemed this time, Bellatrix, though refusing to admit it, was also lost. It was always difficult to know what she could or could not say. Though questioning her actions should have been an obvious subject to avoid.

Hermione was stunned, however, when it wasn't long before said eyes relaxed. Hopefully this meant that Bellatrix's inner struggles were becoming easier to deal with when it came to her. A fact which made a still-cautious Hermione happy.

Bellatrix curtly explained; "I was told to apparate here, then walk purposefully until I find the building."

At Hermione's confused expression, Bellatrix just shrugged and shook her head, she truly did not know more than that.

They walked so-called purposefully for a little while, Hermione trailing slightly behind the older witch, missing the friendly atmosphere of their last trek through the woods. As they keep walking, Hermione kept thinking, and eventually her mind came back to the subject she had not yet broached with Bellatrix; their abrupt departure from the party Halloween Night.

But as she opened her mouth to ask a house appeared from nowhere, and she stopped walking. In fact it seemed to stun Bellatrix as well. She swore it wasn't there a moment ago, it was standing alone. Two stories high with a wraparound porch with a little garden in front, it gave off a Victorian air. Hermione was used to disguised buildings but they were rarely alone, like 12 Grimmauld Place, or were disguised as run-down buildings, like Hogwarts, but never had she seen one appeared out of nowhere. This building and the clearing surrounding it had appeared where there once was a dense forest. Of course the moment doesn't last long, Bellatrix threw back;

"Well, come on then."

Hermione swore to herself that she would ask about the Halloween party after their visit to this mysterious structure. She had to lightly run to catch up to Bellatrix who was already at the front door. In the window, corner closest to the door, was a sign in symbols that Hermione recognized as the alphabet of the universal language of all non-human creatures, Afmiya. Hopefully it meant "come in, we're open" as Bellatrix didn't even knock, just opened the door and stepped in.

Sure enough a little bell rang when the door opened and the interior was set up like any other bookstore. The shelves were full, and books were starting to pile up on the floor. Priority was given to the older books, while the newest ones were on the floor. Hermione gasped as she saw the date on one of them; a book seven hundred years old. Some of them looked even older, but she couldn't tell their dates because of a language, and presumably a different calendar, barrier. Hermione was also glad to see there were new copies of the old books available to avoid damaging the old.

She turned to speak to Bellatrix but the witch was already on the other side of the room, starting to systematically move through the shelves. Hermione laughed, she didn't think they could get through everything before she had to go pick up Kissara. So she left Bellatrix and headed to the back to ask about the book they had come for. She smiled as she went by the staircase, noticing the upper level was also part of the store. They would just have to come back later. The unfortunate thing was not many of the books were in English.

Hermione stopped in her tracks. This was not expected. Sitting behind the counter was a human woman, a muggle at that, judging by the computer at her desk. The woman looked no older than herself.

"Hello!" The cashier looked tired but her smile was genuine.

Hermione smiled back. "Hi," She shot a glance towards Bellatrix who was still browsing the shelves, "We are looking for books to learn the universal sign language…." Hermione trailed off, not knowing what to call it, but it seemed she didn't need to, the woman immediately got up and went into one of the isles and pulled a book from the pile on the floor.

Still smiling she handed it to Hermione, "Here you go, the book is enchanted so you'll only need this one to learn all the signs."

Hermione was slightly surprised but nodded in understanding.

"Could I help you with anything else?"

"No, thank you….?"

"Joelle."

Hermione smiled. "Thank you Joelle, I think we would just like to look around now."

"Would you like me to keep that at the cash for you?"

"Yes, thank you." Hermione turned to head back towards the shelves and caught a glimpse of Bellatrix seemingly looking at her, but the dark witch had turned back to the books before she knew whether or not she had imagined it. Another question popped into Hermione's mind as she reached the closest bookcase so she turned and faced Joelle again.

"So how did you get to work in a non-human bookstore?"

Joelle laughed. "I'm a comparative anatomy student at York University."

"York? Wait, we are in Canada?" Hermione was stunned.

Joelle laughed again. "Don't worry, you're not the only one to be surprised. This bookstore is one of only seven. One for each continent, the creature's way to ensure there's at least always one accessible bookstore with material from all planets, not just this one." Hermione's mouth had now formed an 'O' shape. "Although Europe's bookstore is kept by the goblins so many come here instead of facing a hospitable goblin."

"Wow."

"Yep, pretty much."

"So?"

This drew another laugh from Joelle; "So I stumbled across this bookstore when studying non-human anatomy. The owner appreciated my curiosity and lack of aggression towards non-humans so when I asked to work here, he agreed to hire me. Unfortunately, I can't use this as a subject at my university, but I was told comparative anatomy books were scarce and would be appreciated in this community. So yeah, finishing up my thesis, then I will do some research and write."

Joelle shrugged at the end of her explanation and acted as if she hadn't accomplished anything, as if getting accepted by non-humans was nothing. Hermione wanted to ask more, but it seemed that was all she was going to get today. Joelle seemed to have retreated into her own mind.

Trying to keep a good mood going between them, knowing she would probably be back, Hermione started another topic.

"The wizarding world seems to know nothing about science, and seems to expect muggle-borns to forget everything we had already learned. It's really frustrating, they take magic for granted. Yes, it works, but why does it work?"

That drew a laugh from Joelle; "Yes! Actually in most species a balance is found between science and magic."

And with that, they launched into a decent conversation. Although when the conversation lulled, Hermione took the opportunity to bow out, as she did want to browse the store. When Hermione turned to go, she turned right into Bellatrix. She jumped back. "Bella!" How long had the women been standing there?

"It's time to go," the witch plainly said. "Is there anything else you wish to get while we are here?" Bella waved towards the sign book, "I'll pay for that.

"Actually, yes." Hermione addressed both Joelle and Bellatrix, confused over Bellatrix's behaviour. "Do you have any books to learn Afmiya?"

Joelle guessed the reason for the question while writing down the purchase. "Actually, most of the books here will change to a language the reader can read, as long as it was at some point translated. However if you actually do want to learn there are a few books in the corner." Joelle finished by pointing to said corner.

Bellatrix thanked the employee curtly and took their book before marching out the door. She didn't care about the others' opinion for the moment, even as she watched Hermione exchange a very confused glance with the other girl.

The dark witch walked for a little while before leaning on a tree, out of sight of the bookstore. She closed her eyes and took steadying breaths, squeezing the book to her chest. She tried to calm both the jealousy she felt at the easy conversation between the younger women and the anger the voices forced upon her over her feelings. They were ridiculous really, a normal conversation between women with similar interests should not spark feelings of jealousy. But it was the tone and fluidity which made her envious, Hermione and her had never had a comfortable conversation. However they were raising a child together, or somewhat together, and it would be nice to be able to speak easily. Then again, many people raise children together without even being on civil terms with each other. Yet Bellatrix wanted more…

"Bella?"

The dark witch snapped out of her reverie as she heard Hermione's voice close by. Finding no use in hiding any longer, Bella turned away from the tree and walked to Hermione.

"Would you like to go eat before going to get Kissara?"

It was clear that Bellatrix didn't want to talk about what caused this sudden departure either, and since it seemed she had already calmed down enough to be civil, Hermione let it slide. She decided instead to be happy at the fact that Bellatrix wanted to have dinner with her, and had seemed to invite herself over afterwards.

"Sure. Do you want to keep walking and see where we end up?"

Bellatrix shook her head. "No, we are more than likely hours away from anything."

"So back to London then?"

The other witch seemed to consider this, "No, people don't know about our arrangement yet, they would be an uproar in the newspapers…but I do know somewhere we can go."

Bellatrix extended her arm to Hermione once again, who took it without much thought.

They landed in a somewhat crowded street. Hermione looked around and noticed that the signs were in German.

"Germany, huh?"

"Well, they don't know us." Bellatrix turned to her, "Unless, you've been her before?"

Hermione shook her head and Bellatrix turned away and started walking down the sidewalk. Hermione followed a little behind. She took the time to read some of the signs. Out of boredom she sometimes found herself trying to read books in a foreign language, teaching herself to read them with the help of different translated text. Hence she could now read in French, German, Spanish and Italian, the Latin alphabet being the easiest to understand. Unfortunately, reading wasn't quite the same thing as speaking. She could get by with the basics, but she needed practice. Perhaps Bellatrix would be interested in practising with her?

Hermione was startled out of her reverie when a cool hand slid into hers and threaded fingers with her. She looked up to see Bellatrix rolling her eyes. The older witch turned away and pulled Hermione along.

She was led to an Indian restaurant, which was kind of surprising, but she wasn't about to complain. The restaurant was ornately decorated in reds and golds and cultural murals. An Indian waiter came to the door to greet them.

Bellatrix spoke up; "Einen Tisch für zwei, bitte." 'A table for two, please.'

The server nodded and held out his arm; "diesen Weg" 'This way', and proceeded to lead them to a nice corner table, far from everyone else.

They sat down and the waiter handed them some menus while a pitcher of water filled their glasses.

"Kann ich Ihnen etwas zu Trinken?" 'Can I get you anything to drink?'

Once again Bellatrix answered but Hermione noticed that she couldn't seem to look at their waiter while speaking.

"Riesling bitte, Für uns beide" 'Riesling please, for both of us.'

"Wünschen sie ein, oder zwei?" 'Do you want 0.1 or 0.2 liters?'

"Zwei."

The man nodded and left them to look over their menus. Wine glasses appeared in front of them shortly after.

"White wine?"

Bellatrix looked a little confused at Hermione's question. "Yes? It's good with Indian food, and I thought, whilst we are in Germany we could try the local wine."

Hermione looked back down to her glass. "I don't really drink wine."

"Oh… Well, would you like anything else?"

Hermione picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. It wasn't as bad as her previous wine tastings, in fact it was rather good, save for the strong taste at the end. She could get used to it, if not she always had her glass of water.

Hermione shook her head. "It's fine, thank you."

Hermione watched Bellatrix take a sip of the wine, then got nervous as she watched the dark witch's eyes harden when the waiter came over.

"Sind Sie bereit zu bestellen?" 'Are you ready to order?'

Bellatrix didn't seem to register the question, Hermione looked briefly at her menu and choose the first entrée she recognized.

"Kann ich das Lamm Rogan Josh haben?" 'Can I have the Lamb Rogan Josh?'

The man nodded and looked to Bellatrix who just handed him her menu and said:

"Huhn Madras, bitte." 'Chicken Madras, please.'

The man once again nodded and left with both their menus.

Bellatrix looked at Hermione, looking slightly surprised, slightly pleased. "You speak German?"

Hermione scoffed a little but still a little proud of having impressed the older witch; "Not really, I can read it and hence I know the basics. But I doubt I could hold a conversation."

Bellatrix smirked. "That explains the very heavy accent, granted, I have one too, but not as strong. Honestly I doubt it will be much of a challenge to be able to speak it, if you can read fluently?" Hermione nodded at the question. "Well, maybe next time I'll bring you to a German non-human party."

Hermione smiled at the suggestion. "That would be nice."

Bellatrix smiled back, but it disappeared as another restaurant employee walked by their table. Again, it didn't last long, their food appeared on the table. It looked and smelled good, but before they continued with their supper, Hermione found it important to address Bellatrix about the fact that the woman kept looking at the dark-skinned staff suspiciously.

The look on her face must have shown her disapproval since Bellatrix sighed and actually looked ashamed. She did seem to debate whether to explain herself or not as she fiddled with the place setting, but choose not to avoid the subject;

"My parents always told me that if someone was not like me; pureblood, rich, white, that they were filth. It just didn't matter if they were kind or talented, I was to avoid them and if I couldn't I needed to degrade them. I did learn otherwise over the wars, but the cycle, the habit, was hard to get out of, especially with the voices. After I started spying for Dumbledore, I met Rosie, and she helped me so much with accepting others. But we could only approach non-humans. So today, it's easy to put aside the terrible mindset I grew up with, with other species. Unfortunately not so much with humans. I need to know someone from a group, and like them, to be able to overpower all the bad thoughts I have for that group and hence judge them for who they are instead of what arbitrary group they belong too."

"So you're trying to stop?"

Bellatrix looked a little annoyed at that question. "Of course." It was almost as if the girl hadn't been listening. "I know you, hence it's now easier not to hate all muggle-borns. But, I don't know any coloured people, so…"

"Seriously, you don't know any coloured people?"

"Nope."

"Huh."

With that Hermione took a first bite out of her food, it may have been chosen at random, but it was really good. She tried to dispel the earlier tension, confident Bellatrix really was working to become a better person.

"So… do you work? Or do something during the day?"

Bellatrix looked up from her plate once again. "No. I don't need to. And even if I did, who would hire me?"

"Right. So what do you do to occupy yourself? You don't seem the type of person to do nothing."

Bellatrix shrugged to buy herself time to finish chewing. "I read mostly. Sometimes I go out to visit Andy, Cissy or Rosie. I saw you were filling up the papers for Kissara's speech therapy?"

"Yes, I'm very hopeful." Hermione smiled a bit, still a little nervous about this new obstacle.

Bellatrix rubbed her foot against Hermione's leg. "There's nothing to worry about, Kissara's an amazing girl. Only good can come out of this…unless the teacher's bad, but then it's easy to find another." Bellatrix added the last bit in a playful threatening tone which made Hermione laugh.

Bellatrix's pinch of dark humour lightened up the atmosphere at the table enough so that both women could put aside that awkward attempt at conversation and eat dinner in comfortable silence. Hermione laughed a bit, they didn't have this problem at home, Kissara was always the chatty one at supper. They were always trying to keep her from signing but often failed and talked with her anyways.

She supposed today was a good day to learn to enjoy Bellatrix's presence when Kissara was not around, instead of hiding away in their books.

Hermione and Bellatrix landed on the sidewalk at Grimmauld Place. As Hermione strode to number 12 Bellatrix tucked herself in an alleyway.

In a better mood, Hermione didn't hesitate to knock on the door. She heard thumping footsteps coming towards the door and a thump consistent with Kiki going to open the door too quickly and colliding with it instead. Harry's laughing snort reached her ears as he opened the door. A blurry black head of curls collided with her and she took a step back to balance herself. Hermione bent her hands into her chest, pointing to it, then touched her right middle and index fingers to the top of her left middle and index fingers.

'Have fun?'

Kiki nodded and raised her arms, wanting to be picked up. Her mommy obliged holding her tightly, then addressed Harry.

"Did she behaved herself?"

Harry smiled; "As much as any other four-year-old, maybe a bit better." He then handed her Kissara's backpack, which contained extra clothes, a few toys, a water bottle, and anything else she might need while out. Hermione swung the pink and green bag up onto her own back and looked to Harry once again.

Both just stood there for a little bit; Harry was like a brother with which she had grown apart. She still loved him, but rarely saw him, she usually only got to see Ginny. Although that would change when Ginny went back to Quidditch.

"So, how's work?"

"Good. Serious crimes have dropped considerably since we've caught Alecto Carrow. It makes my life a little more boring, but it's comforting."

"I'm happy to hear that." Hermione truly was, Harry was doing a great job as head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"How's the bookstore?"

"Oh, it's good. I'm planning on hiring some employees soon, to have longer hours, and maybe to be able to take some time off."

"Good for you." Harry smiled at her. "Actually, could I send someone your way? One of the Aurors' daughter just graduated from Hogwarts and needs a part-time job to help pay for further studies."

"Yeah, sure. I'll let you know when it's a good time."

"Cool, thanks."

"Anyways, I need to put this one to bed." Hermione vaguely waved to the girl who had gone limp in her arms. "Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Mione."

And with that Hermione turned away and walked back towards the sidewalk, looking back as she heard the door close. Hermione put Kissara down when she turned off of Grimmauld Place. The girl wasn't happy at first, but then she spotted who was waiting for them. Kiki ran and jumped into her momma's arms. Bella swung the girl around, and hugged her tightly. Hermione smiled as she saw Bellatrix tear up a bit at how happy Kissara was to see her. She often had to remind herself that the ex-Death Eater was not shown this sort of affection often.

When Star put her down, Kiki took Star's hand and extended her other hand towards her mommy, who walked towards them and took the offered hand. Holding her mommies' hand Kiki hopped over the sidewalk cracks as they walked home. It was a long walk, and she wanted to stay up but she felt her eyes start to close. Kissara soon felt her mommy pick her and she tucked her face into her mommy's hair.

Next thing she knew Kiki was being lowered down into bed by Star, she was already in her pyjamas. Star pulled her blankets over and kissed her forehead before leaving. Then her mommy came, handed her Taiga, the stuffy Star had gotten her for Halloween, and also kissed her forehead. Kissara had fallen asleep before her mommy had closed the door.

They were settled in the library, both with their book of choice when Hermione decided it was as good a time as any to ask about Halloween.

"I've been meaning to ask you…"

Bellatrix feigned disinterest, but looked up briefly from her book.

"Why did we have to leave from the party so suddenly?"

The dark witch stilled, seemingly not even breathing. The book slid from her hands and fell to the floor, the loud noise making Bellatrix jump and cover her ears. Hermione prepared herself to draw her wand in case of trouble, but was surprised at the expression on the other witch's face. Instead of the usual dark expression brought on by the voices, she looked utterly terrified.

"Bellatrix?"

Hermione carefully approached the other woman and kneeled before her. She slowly and obviously brought her left hand, the hand which wasn't holding her hidden wand, up to touch the other woman's knee. Bellatrix jumped and pulled away, then she seemed to realize who it was and she sobbed out;

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry…so sorry."

The ex-Death Eater was now rocking back and forth, repeating those words over and over again. Hermione was astounded that Bellatrix would actually show this type and amount of emotion in front of her. That feeling passed quickly though, she realized something was very wrong.

"Bella," She spoke gently, trying not to agitate the woman further. "Why are you apologizing? What happened that night?"

Bellatrix stilled, stopped apologizing and looked Hermione in the eye; "I put her in danger."

"Who? Kissara?" Bellatrix nodded. Hermione could not believe it, Bellatrix had said the gathering was as safe as could be. She knew for a fact that Bellatrix would not put their daughter in danger, or at least she used to be confident about this.

Hermione felt panic rising in her chest, she spoke more sternly to the woman, resisting the urge to shake her. "What happened?"

Tears escaped and ran down Bellatrix's cheeks. "Her father was there."

"What?" Hermione didn't have much more to say; Bellatrix had never brought up Kissara's genetic father. She had assumed he had been a Death Eater, who was now either dead or in Azkaban.

Bellatrix pulled away from Hermione.

"Her father was there…not in the clearing, he couldn't get through the wards. I don't think he knew he had a daughter, but he knows now. And he threatened to harm her."

Bellatrix stopped talking when she saw Hermione was fighting an inner battle. The young mother was caught between fear anger and panic, each making her tremble and making it hard to breathe. She wanted to yell at Bellatrix for having put Kissara in danger and not having told her sooner. But Hermione knew exploding at the other witch would get them nowhere so she took a few shaky calming breaths and she looked back up to the older witch, managing to force out the important questions.

"What is he?"

"I don't know."

"Is he dangerous?"

"Yes." She added in a hushed whisper; "Very."

"What can we do to keep Kissara safe?"

Bellatrix looked away; "By their laws, when one threatens the life of another, the other or their family is allowed to retaliate. Whether he is successful in killing Kissara or not, we are now allowed to kill him in order to protect her or in seeking revenge." And looked back, her gaze having solidified; "I'd rather kill him before he has the chance to do anything."

Bellatrix was pleased to see Hermione firmly nod in agreement. She had been worried the Gryffindor would not condone killing. She continued;

"I've asked Rosie to kill him if she can. Her lover, Shiara, is also keeping an eye out for him. I haven't had the heart to tell you, Andy or Cissy yet, but I have been keeping an eye on Kissara during the day. I decided to come here today to put up stronger protection wards, but those plans were changed, as you know…"

Hermione nodded and plunked back down to the floor. Her head was light and she couldn't think the feeling of dread was so overwhelming. She did hear a shuffling and assumed Bellatrix had left when all was quiet.

Bellatrix felt terrible, for what she had done, but mostly because of the fear that that monster may come after them. She stood and went to the kitchen, getting a glass of water for both Hermione and herself. The young woman jumped when she placed the cool glass of water in her hand and seemed to come back to reality. The older witch slide down the couch onto the floor next to the younger.

"I came to a bad realization today, at the bookstore…. You already have strong wards around your home, though they could be improved. But, unless we figure out what that monster is, no wizarding ward could ever be strong enough to stop him."

Hermione understood, but only nodded. She had always prided on being able to resolve any situation but at the moment her mind was just overwhelmed by the unknown and fear for her daughter. She felt powerless and was angry by her lack of action. However it seemed she didn't need to be strong tonight, Bellatrix had wrapped her arms around her and Hermione leaned into the embrace. She was glad she hadn't yelled at Bella earlier. Understanding would make them a team. Tonight Bellatrix was stronger, another day it could be reversed.

It was a little disheartening when Bellatrix pulled away, but the woman's now certain voice was reassuring as she pulled Hermione's chin up to look her in the eye.

"Tomorrow, we are going to go talk to Rosie and see if she could point us in the direction of a powerful true witch."

For a moment Hermione, jumped to the question of blood purity, only to remember meeting some 'true witches' at the Halloween party. The species which had crossed with humans to create the wizarding race. She shook the thought away? How could her mind think of something like that when they were more important matters at hand?

Bellatrix's hand appeared in front of her face and Hermione jumped and looked up to the dark-haired woman.

"We should get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us."

Hermione took the offered hand and was startled when the thin witch managed to completely lift her onto her feet.

They didn't say another word. Bellatrix gave her a tight smile and Hermione started towards the staircase and looked back to see Bellatrix disappear in green flames.

Hermione started to climb the staircase, dazed, and spotted her little girl sitting at the top of the stairs, in tears, clinging to the bannister. The girl probably felt as upset as her mothers, without the consolation of knowing why. Hermione picked Kissara up and rubbed the girl's back, kissing her on the head. She would have to figure out a way to block the powerful emotions that could stem from them. She couldn't block Kiki's ability, as much as she wanted too, to protect her from every hurtful emotion out there… But she could try to find a spell to seal in the emotions in the room they were in.

She sighed and rubbed her nose in black ringlets. She got in the glowing room and lowered her girl onto the bed. Kiki whined a bit and kept holding on firmly to her arms, Hermione gently pulled the little hands off of her and pulled the covers up over the still sniffling girl. She brushed her 'I love you' hand against the girl's cheek. Sitting down on the bed Hermione swallowed her emotions and tapped rhythmically on Kissara's chest, lulling her to sleep.

It took a little while for Kissara to fall asleep again and Hermione was relieved when it happened. All she wanted to do now is sleep. She got undressed quickly, only just remembered to brush her teeth and collapsed into bed.

Hermione buried herself in her covers, her heart was clenching. What if Bellatrix was right? What if that creature really wanted to harm Kissara? How could they stop him? They didn't even know what he was. Perhaps she could return to the bookstore and see if they had any material that could help them identify it? It also brought forth another long list of questions; how is Kissara different than other wizards? Obviously she was deaf, but humans could be deaf, and less obviously, she could sense others' emotions. That last one was probably a result of her now revealed ancestry. Would other things surface later on?

With these worrying thoughts added to her collection of worries, Hermione tossed and turned and barely slept that night.

Vayne looked towards the quaint house from the forest, he scoffed. Such a false sense of security.

He looked down to the creature beside him. He had taken a long time to decide what the creature, indebted to him, would do to repay him. Following the events on All Hollow's Eve he had decided to ask the tailypo to kill the thing he had sired. It was a delightful thought; especially now that he knew the destruction of it would also destroy at least two other lives. Of course, the cryptid did not refuse, those things did not have a sense of right or wrong, but did repay their debts.

The dark elf hybrid reached out with his energy. It was a strong magical being, like himself, and he knew the energy would draw it outside. Time passed and it wasn't coming outside…it seemed it wasn't as powerful as he had thought, or maybe more powerful and could ignore the energy but he doubted it.

He was about to give up and send the tailypo up to its room when he heard the back door finally creak open and saw it emerge outside. Vayne left as the tailypo started its walk towards it, he could not be discovered if the thing's cries alerted the others. Let the carnage begin.

Kissara woke up for the second time that night. This time, she wasn't sure what had woken her up. She could tell her mommy was finally asleep and that it wasn't time for school. Pushing the feeling down, she stared at the stars on her ceiling and giggled. They were so beautiful; the dark twinkling sky was so pretty with the dawn colours of her walls. She wanted to look at them for the rest of the night but felt too sleepy. She cuddled with Taiga and fought not to close her eyes.

As soon as she had started to drift back to sleep Kissara felt something pull her awake again. Kiki sat up and looked around her room. Something was different, something was calling to her and she needed to find out what it was. Sliding out of bed and gripping Taiga tightly, she headed towards the staircase.

The deaf girl knew from trial and error to walk lightly and avoid the top step so she wouldn't wake her mommy. She went down the stairs and turned towards the back of the house where she could feel a presence. The closer she got to the source, the more uneasy she felt. She started to breathe hard, if her stuffy were alive it would be in pain because of how hard she was squeezing it. Kissara slowly reached for the door handle, not noticing the locking mechanism unlocking itself, it was slightly above her head and hard to turn, a purposeful feature so she had to put Taiga down and use both hands to turn it.

She peeked through the crack in the door before stepping out. Seeing nothing the four-year-old walked unto the porch and looked closely at the tree line, not hearing the door close and lock behind her.

The same black shadow the girl had seen at the Halloween party walked out of the tree line. It was moving slowly towards her wanting to reveal itself. Slitted yellow eyes that glowed in the dark surrounded by fur so black it was hard to make out the creature's features. Kissara only made out its body when it entered the soft circle of light emanating from the few light sources left on in the house. It had a jaguar's body. However its front paws resembled hands with long clawed fingers, its ears and tail were much longer than a normal feline. Its triangular face seemed to smile at her with its long sharp teeth.

As the creature stalked towards her, not a hunting stride nor a friendly one, it started to chant; "Tailypo….. Taaailyyyypoooo… Tailypooooooo…." Kissara could not hear the whispered call, but could feel its presence in the air. The call brushed over her like a furry tail threateningly caressing her face. Kissara was frozen in place as the creature stepped onto the first step of the porch, repetitively scratching the step, gouging deep marks into the wood.

The creature was face to face with the child when it bared its teeth.

AN2: Yes, for the observant reader, I changed the tailypo's eye colour….

AN3: OMG 0.0 This story is getting more and more elaborate and gaining more and more characters…

AN4: Also, I apologize for the bad German, correct me please! Also, does German have the same rules for capital letters as English? The translation software I used seemed to throw in caps all over the place…

AN5: Next up! A chap for Second Chances, but we need to tidy the timeline first and I'm heading into midterms, so don't expect it before December :(