Chapter 39: Andromeda's Visit
Hermione was finishing her breakfast at Hogwarts' Great Hall on early Tuesday morning, when, not entirely unexpectedly, one of the Grotto owls dropped a scroll on her plate, and perched on her shoulder.
Bellatrix took to sending her notes in the middle of the week. Usually short. Usually irritating in some way.
"You didn't tell me she wrote.
The sooner, the better, spawn!
The sooner, the better."
'Oh please!' Hermione muttered under her breath, and bit with a little too much force into her toast. It's not like the note held anything other than acknowledgement and scheduling information.
"..Thursday or Friday after 6pm, or at any time on weekend afternoons."
Bellatrix simply wanted, in her roundabout way, to let Hermione know she was in her room, once again.
'Love letter?' Ginny whispered in her ear before settling next to Hermione for her own breakfast.
'Oh please!' Hermione sputtered with even more exasperation.
She tried once again to dislodge the owl from her shoulder. The bird didn't budge. An offering of a treat received only an indignant squawk. It was the same every week. Trust the dark witch to pick the most disagreeable of the several birds living on the island.
Hermione pulled out a blank parchment. She was going to propose Thursday evening. Bellatrix wanted sooner, and Hermione agreed. The anticipation of the visit, and the fallout from it, was already heavy on her mind. She didn't want to worry about what-ifs or deal with anxious Bellatrix any longer than necessary.
Every week she returned from Hogwarts a little more of Bellatrix's personality, a little more of her outward emotions, was displayed. It took Bellatrix two months to snap out of her odd state after Azkaban. It was now past the two months deadline. Hermione dreaded the moment Bellatrix would get in touch and in control of all her emotions and reactions, whatever limited volatile set that was.
'Hey!' Hermione glared at the small moody owl perched on her shoulder. 'Stop it!' The bird kept pecking on her ear, and showed no inclination to fly away.
In a bout of temporary madness, Hermione scribbled two sentences on the back of Bellatrix's message.
"Starting to think you miss me, darling.
Do you sleep there too when I'm away?"
The owl grabbed the semi-folded scroll and took off before Hermione had a chance to change her mind.
Two days later, early on Thursday evening, Hermione found herself standing outside the Burrow.
'..do anything foolish. Teddy needs you.' carried through the opening door.
Andromeda Tonks and Molly Weasley stepped outside.
Hermione smiled awkwardly at the two witches.
Things between Weasley's matriarch and Hermione had returned to almost normal since the Wedding. Hermione had joined Weasley family dinner once, and even exchanged several letters with the older witch. Still, the ease and warmth Hermione used to feel in the older witch's presence hadn't returned. And by the look on Mrs. Weasley's face Hermione's latest initiative was testing her limits of understanding once again.
Mrs. Tonks shot a warning look to her friend.
She looked quite different from the last time the two met.
Half the length of her hair was gone. Thick highlighted strands mixed with the natural brown. The curls, by the power of a product, treatment or spell, turned into waves. Jeans, turtleneck and sleeveless puffer jacket completed the look. Distinctly Muggle-like composition.
Hermione sighed internally.
'Your wand?'
Andromeda handed the wand over to Molly.
'Hermione-'
'No, I'm sorry, truly, but no, Mrs. Weasley.' Hermione shook her head to emphasize the point. This was one thing she was not going to negotiate on. 'No one but me should have a wand in there.'
Bellatrix couldn't have been the only Black capable of wandless magic. Hogwarts library didn't give access to personal OWLs and NEWTs results. However, Andromeda Black received recognition in a number of clubs on subjects that mattered, at least until the 6th year, when all mentions of her disappeared. Still, her complicated personal situation couldn't have impacted her magical abilities.
It was a toss up which witch would be in disadvantage in case of confrontation.
'That's fine, Molly.'
The redhead gave reproachful looks to both Andromeda and Hermione even as she took the offered wand for safe-keeping.
'Uhm… Mrs. Tonks, do you have uhm… anything else that could be used to harm another person?'
'Hermione!' Mrs Weasley sounded beyond mortified.
'Like what Miss Granger?'
Hermione just wanted the day to be over.
'Like a knife or poison or dark artifact… or something?…'
'No. Can you say the same about my charming sister?' The witch stated flatly. 'She does reside inside our childhood house… mostly by herself, as I hear… Raised as the heir, she'd have the knowledge and the access to any secret the house holds.'
That was a concerning thought, especially in light of the odd things happening at the Grotto. The two witches didn't need to know that, though. So Hermione focused on the immediate situation, and replied with more conviction than she truly felt.
'Bellatrix has no desire to end up inside the Ministry's dungeons. She won't hurt you. And, I'll be nearby.'
'Hm… we'll see. Shall we?'
Bellatrix was already in the sunrise sunroom when Hermione showed up with their guest. The sisters glowered at each other silently, as Hermione stated the rules for the visit at them.
'Yes yes no killing no torture' muttered Bellatrix, and waved her off, without taking her eyes off Andromeda.
'It's fine, Miss Granger' added Mrs. Tonks, and nodded, without taking her eyes off Bellatrix.
Hermione stepped out of the room and closed the doors.
Her heart was in her ears. This was such a bad idea!
She walked away from the doors; then quietly slid to the floor and inched back close to the sunroom's entrance. She softly touched her wand to one of the stained glass pieces. The paint turned transparent. The real pieces were made of colorful glass and resisted modification charms. So, earlier, several original shards got replaced with the fake painted inserts.
Hermione felt bad for spying on a private conversation; though nowhere bad enough to give up the idea. She would feel far worse if one of the witches harmed or killed the other. And, she would feel far more awkward to actually supervise the meeting, as was the DMLE requirement for potentially confrontational meetings, according to the boys. Given the personalities and the wrongs involved, potential for violence was not a figure of speech. So this was her compromise... even if she was the only one aware of it.
It was eerily quiet.
Hermione held her own breath for fear of being heard. She peered through the clear glass.
The two hadn't moved from where Hermione left them.
After another minute, Andromeda moved her hand in a series of gestures. The magic washed over the space behind the closed doors. It felt similar to the privacy wards the Commissioner had set over her office during their meetings.
Only when the second wave of magic washed over the room the two witches moved towards each other.
Hermione felt for the Ear in her pocket. She was going back and forth on the idea. She sighed. The conversation would be unpleasant, emotional, personal. She didn't need to know everything. She only needed to know if anyone was being killed. The view through the glass should be enough for that.
'The girl says you blame me for your half-breed's death.'
Bellatrix's flat voice was muffled by the distance and the doors, but still clear enough.
Hermione let go of the Ear in surprise.
'I don't blame, you mad bloody hag, you killed my only child!'
Andromeda stood half-turned away from the doors. Her face was barely visible. Her voice, though directed away from the doors and muffled, was louder, and filled with emotion.
Bellatrix folded her arms. The toe of her boot started tapping.
'Andromeda, things may be a bit fuzzy in my head right now, but I'd remember cursing to death the pink haired half-breed. I did put her in St Mungo's repeatedly, you had to have noticed.'
'That's all you know of her… the deficiency of her blood,' Andromeda's voice became even louder, 'and the color of her hair?! She was my daughter, Bella! She was of our blood, dear Madam Black.'
The derision in the address was clear.
Bellatrix flinched and her hand twitched as if to go to a nonexistent wand.
Andromeda stepped closer to her.
Hermione gripped her wand.
'She was kind, and brave, and loyal-'
'Andromeda, is there a point to this?'
'She wasn't pink-haired, Bella. She just had a baby. Her husband was in danger. She wasn't pink-haired…'
Andromeda grabbed fist full of back hair and dragged Bellatrix head impossibly close to hers. It looked like she was going to kiss her. Bellatrix's eyes widened but she didn't fight. Her sudden grip on Andromeda's shoulder seemed simply for balance.
The two froze.
Bellatrix flinched and her eyes went wider still.
Andromeda's hand let go of Bellatrix's hair and pressed to her own chest. A loud anguished moan escaped her. Then she wrapped her arms around herself and sank on the floor sobbing.
Hermione felt her own eyes water at the sounds, and at the memories they called forth. Suddenly the two images she liked to keep separate, the old Bellatrix and the new, the before and the after, the monster who caused such misery, and the mostly quiet, occasionally irritating and sometimes likable witch, merged into one image in her head.
'So I did kill her…' Bellatrix mutter carried faintly through the doors.
Bellatrix's head cocked to the side, her eyes were now half-lidded. Her expression was not of surprise anymore but of contemplation… The flickering expressions on her face kept repeating… As if she kept looking at the same thing… As if she was examining the memory over and over. She muttered something under her breath. Only a few things made it into the hallway.
'..was looking for… ..she was in my way...'
Andromeda pressed at her eyes and sobbed louder. That finally brough Bellatrix out of her observations .
'Get out of my head, stupid cow!' She hit the sobbing witch over the head, and leaned over her glaring and screaming. 'Get! Out! Now!' And smacked her again.
Hermione was on her feet, ready to storm in to break up the altercation. Then, through the stained glass, she noticed the dark blur moving away from the center of the room. Hearing nothing, she returned to her spying spot.
Bellatrix stood some distance from distraught Andromeda. Her eyes were squeezed shut. When they opened they were glazed and flat. She was occluding heavily. She then moved even further away from Andromeda, and sank heavily into one of the armchairs.
She waved at another chair and it crushed loudly near slowly getting back her composure Andromeda.
Bellatrix waited in silence as Andromeda's crying subsided and she stopped hugging the chair and actually sat in it.
'What do you want, Andromeda? You must have thought of how this would go. So? Money? Favors? Secrets? The Ministry took everything of value. My life? That's your best option. Won't fight-'
'I don't want your worthless life! You are not worth the trouble! I pity you thinking you could compensate for what you've done. You took my child, Bella! My child.'
Bellatrix didn't look phased. Then again, based on Hermione's readings on natural occlumens and the way Bellatrix looked and sounded, her brain and her emotions must have taken residence in separate realities. She actually didn't sound too different from when she just came out of her comatose state in the summer.
'A child's life, then? I don't have children. I can't- It won't be proper to offer the girl's… Not that she has any at the moment...'
What?!
'You are insane! We are not in the Dark Ages!'
Bellatrix's fingers drummed on the armrest, and her toe started to tap once again too.
'Why are you here if not for revenge or restitution?' The occluded gaze and tone were gone.
'I wanted to know why. I almost believed you were looking out for us… in your deranged way but still… Why kill her when all was over?!.. but you didn't even know… you destroyed my life, you took my child, and you didn't even know! It was below you to even remember her face.'
Andromeda covered her face with her hands as she once again cried.
Hermione drifted off into her own thoughts and plans trying to give the two some semblance of privacy.
She was startled back into the present by Bellatrix's screech.
'Stop! Get out of my head! Get out! Get out! Get out!'
Bellatrix was pulling at her hair and grabbing at her head, and screeching for Andromeda to stop.
The two didn't notice Hermione's rush into the room.
Andromeda looked at Bellatrix in horror. Then she laughed. Hysterically.
'You are a special type of monster, aren't you, dear sister? Narcissa doesn't know, does she?'
Bellatrix screeched.
'That's enough!'
No one paid Hermione's presence or words any attention.
Andromeda once again gave out a bit crazed peal of laughter.
Bellatrix screamed for Andromeda to get out of her mind.
A blast made a hole in the floor between the two sisters. It threw the two apart, and startled them enough to break the connection.
Bellatrix sucked in a deep shaky breath. Andromeda clutched her head as if in pain.
The two soon noticed Hermione, looking at her surprised.
'Sorry to interrupt.' Hermione nodded towards the doors to Andromeda. 'We are leaving. Now.'
Andromeda hesitated.
'Wait!' Bellatrix didn't look at anyone but it was clear who she was addressing. 'Will you tell Narcissa?'
'Maybe, maybe not. Maybe she'd come to curse your name one day when you least expect it. Or maybe I'd wait until you are tired of suspense and tell her yourself. Destroying the last of the family you have left.'
With that Andromeda headed for the exit.
'Andy… I wish I had recognized her.'
'Goodbye, Bellatrix.'
Hermione half expected the house to be set on fire by the time she returned from side-aparating Andromeda to the Burrow. Yet nothing was disturbed.
She hesitated before going to look for the distraught witch. She knew the reunion was a bad idea and yet allowed it to happen.
She checked the usual spots of which by now there were many, mailroom and library, the orchards and the potion workshop, the east and west sunrooms, the orchard porch and the beach. The elves as usual were of no help.
Bellatrix was nowhere to be found.
Hermione concluded the witch must have retired early.
Andromeda's remark about Grotto House having secrets and Bellatrix knowing about them, kept nagging at her. With nothing urgent to do, Hermione decided to do some snooping. An hour in, she felt utterly ridiculous casting revealing and dispelling charms at walls and furniture of the basement rooms. She spent extra time in the potion workshop, since that was the most visited by Bellatrix room on the floor. She managed to aggravate some potion and ingredients enough to have to cast Protego and cleaning charms.
Eventually events of the day caught up to Hermione, and she decided to retire too.
Hermione couldn't say why she detoured to the hallway leading to the Master suite. She generally avoided that direction unless she had to meet Bellatrix there. And on meeting days sightseeing in the hallways was the last thing on her mind. So it was with some surprise she realized she saw a shimmer at the corner of her eye. Right next to the entrance to the Master chambers.
The wand was immediately in her hand, and her heart pounded with extra speed in her ears.
She turned her head this and that way and eventually was able to again see the shimmer, right next to the double doors.
'Finite Incantatem'
Absolutely nothing happened.
'Revelio'
Nothing!
'Specialis Revelio'
No change.
'Homenum Revelio'
Her heart sped up some more but the hallway remained free of hidden aurors or evil-doers.
'Revelio Maxima!'
The shimmer became slightly more obvious.
Hermione shouted Revelio Maxima once again and at the same time felt around the shimmering spot.
Her hand touched something that felt a lot like a door handle. She grabbed onto it. The knowledge and the feel of the hidden door altered her perception. The hallway started to expand and narrow in her side vision as if her mind fought to get through the illusion.
Hermione twisted, pulled and pushed at the handle. Soon enough she stumbled through the cracking but still invisible door.
The room was a study. There was an old paper on the desk, from 1981. Chained Bellatrix was taunting Wizengamot on the first page of the issue.
The doors on the other side of the room were open to reveal several more connecting spaces. Rooms flowed one into the other and ended with a bedroom. The set up was similar to the Master chambers. Only more spacious.
Hermione let out a startled shout, clutched her heart and raised her wand. A beautiful witch blinked at her in the dim lantern light. This was the first proper portrait she saw at the house. The witch gave her a little smile but stayed silent and stayed put.
There were no more portraits in the rooms, only pictures. Several were of Black sisters as children. Several were of older Narcissa and of her family, baby Draco included. Very many were of the witch from the portrait, by herself, and with a wizard Hermione recognized, Bellatrix's father.
The abandoned feel of the space became even more obvious as Hermione walked through the other rooms. The furniture was covered by the clothes and the clothes were covered by dust. Pretty much everything was covered by a layer of dust.
The closet still was full of clothing, wizard's clothing.
After some snooping Hermione concluded these were the elder Black's rooms.
There was one extra door in the bedroom. Hermione suspected its purpose and went to confirm. She stepped through the door, and promptly stepped into the Master bedroom she was familiar with.
Hermione froze on her tracks. She was ready to cast Lumos, or light the candles, but a candle was lit already.
She glanced behind her. The wall was empty of any doors.
There was a human sized lump under the blankets on one side of the large bed. Hermione gripped her wand tighter. This was silly. The only possible explanation for the lump was Bellatrix of course. Why did the witch choose the spot instead of her usual places?..
Hermione didn't wish to invite Bellatrix ire for the disaster of the meeting but she was reluctant to leave the witch alone either. She couldn't tell whether it was because she wanted to keep an eye on the volatile witch or because she was worried for her.
Whatever it was, she slowly stepped closer to the bed, and then climbed up to sit leaning against the headboard on the free side of it.
'Bellatrix?' she whispered and reached out to touch what she assumed was the shoulder.
The lump startled then relaxed. After several moments Bellatrix rolled over to face Hermione. Dark head appeared outside the cocoon of blankets for several beats to look at Hermione. Hermione tried not to fidget. Bellatrix's gaze was as flat as it was a month and a half ago. Silently, Bellatrix pulled the covers and pillows around herself, and shifted closer until her forehead was almost touching Hermione's thigh, and the back of her hand actually did touch it lightly.
'I am a blood traitor, spawn' Bellatrix muttered after a long silence. 'I killed my sister's child after all… just like my lord commanded.'
The witch laughed shrilly.
Hermione froze as her mind, quite unhelpfully, reminded of a different place and time she heard the same cackle.
'Just like he commanded.'
And Bellatrix continued laughing.
'Like he commanded'
'He commanded... and puff I did'
Bellatrix cackled for sometime.
'..wasn't even a challenge…'
Eventually the cackles and the mutterings stopped.
Hermione carefully sat her hand over what she approximated was Bellatrix's head and softly petted the blanket, and then petted it some more, and eventually just left her hand there. She was going to stay there only as long as it took for Bellatrix to leave or to fall asleep...
When the next morning came, both witches were slumbering in the same positions the previous evening left them in.
End of Chapter 39