A/N: Thanks to all the requests you have made - I gathered a whole bunch of stories to read. For the story that I was trying to remember, it is `The Serpent Court' by whitetigerwolf. Thanks to the Anonymous reviewer who left a hint about the title and jetsamsrule31 who figured it out.
~~~ Chapter 8: Take a Bow ~~~
Lightning and thunder crashed outside. The house was dark with candles placed sparsely placed around the house. High heels clicked as someone made their way through the house. They turned a corner and long curly hair swung with the movements as they walked up the stairs.
Passing a candle revealed her to be Hermione. She was on a mission. It was time. She made her way into the barely lit room. The only light was coming from the candles placed in the corners. There was a lone chair in the middle of the bed with simple mattress off to the side. On the mattress was a broken woman. Bruises was scattered upon her body and her clothes were even more ruined than the last time.
"Hello Bellatrix," Hermione greeted. Bellatrix tried to glare at Hermione but it was hard to do when she was starving, dehydrated and been tortured for Merlin knows how long. Hermione reached over, grabbing Bellatrix's arm pulling her up and dragged her over to the chair.
She shoved Bellatrix onto the chair. Bellatrix just sagged against the chair, unable to do anything else. She felt so weak, so helpless that it almost finished whatever sanity she had left but she prevailed. The muggle-born hadn't killed her yet, which meant she had plans for her.
"How are we feeling today?" Hermione asked. Bellatrix was getting tired of all the games they were playing.
"Why don't you just kill me," Bellatrix spat out. A cold smile crossed Hermione's face.
"Because I want to know one last thing," she grabbed what was left of Bellatrix's hair and pulled on it, hard. Bellatrix had no choice but to tilt her head back in a bid to save her from pain. "Tell me, does your precious dark lord know you're part of the gang who killed Harry?" Fear entered Bellatrix's eyes and Hermione's smile brightened. "Excellent. That just makes my plan for you far more interesting." She let go of Bellatrix's hair and stood back.
"Plan?" she asked. Hermione nodded.
"Oh yes," she smiled. Bellatrix shook her head, confused.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "Potter is dead; there is no hope for you pathetic mud-bloods. Why do you keep going?" Bellatrix just couldn't understand it. Potter was dead, they killed him and by doing that, they killed any hope people could have. Granger still had something to lose, her parents.
Bellatrix held her breath when she realised what she had been missing. No-one knew that Hermione was the Black Rose. No-one knew who was holding Bellatrix hostage. Any Death Eaters Hermione managed to get her hands on were tortured and killed.
She could have laughed. Hermione Granger, a muggle-born, was doing something what the Ministry and the Order couldn't do. She was systematically wiping them out. And Bellatrix felt something she hadn't felt in a while…pride. It was strange to be amazed by a muggle-born. All those years, they had believed that Purebloods were superior. They came from pure magical parents; they were stronger, powerful, and smarter.
But when Lily Evans entered Hogwarts, things began to change. She was smart, she was good at charms and potions to the point the teachers would consider her as successors. That began to tilt everything they knew in to chaos and they lashed out, attacking muggle-borns and half-blood for what seemed like an insult to them.
That all stopped on that fateful night when Harry Potter, a half-blood, had managed to defeat Voldemort, the most feared man on Earth. But for some reason, it hadn't changed anyone's views. They still believed that Pureblood was still more powerful than a Muggle-born or a Half-blood.
When Harry Potter and Hermione Granger entered Hogwarts, things slowly began to change as she heard things while stuck in Azkaban. Harry had shown to be powerful in his magic despite being a half-blood. Hermione had shown to be smarter despite being a muggle-born.
She remembered when she had been broken out of Azkaban, they all had hid out at the Malfoy's Manor, Lucius had complained about his son's dismal marks. That Hermione Granger had gotten high marks, higher than any of the pureblood that had entered Hogwarts…and Harry Potter wasn't that far behind her, impressing his examiners with his powerful spells. She could almost laugh…the two of them…they represented the best of Slytherin…far better than her Dark Lord could.
Even when she had been torturing Harry, he hadn't broken under the pressure. He screamed when the pain was overwhelming but he didn't break…he didn't tell them anything of the Order or the prophecy. So they tortured him about his friends and hit a sore point…Hermione.
Once that had been pressed, he lashed out with everything he had, ensuring them that he would kill them if they dared to touch her. They had just laughed and killed him, silencing him for good. They had made plans to go after Hermione but that had been taken out of their hands when their Dark Lord had learned of Potter's death. He had ordered them to back off everything they were doing until they had an idea of who had killed Potter.
Shortly after that, Granger had disappeared underground and none of the Death Eaters could find her…until she came back the following year and people started dying.
But she didn't understand everything. Torturing and killing the people killed Harry that she understood but going after every single Death Eater...Hermione seemed to understand where her thoughts had gone to.
"It is strange, isn't it? How people don't seem to realise that one action can create waves. Big enough to envelope everything you knew." Hermione shook her head before she reached over and grabbed Bellatrix's hair, tilting her head back so their eyes locked together.
"When you sent me that sphere of you torturing and killing Harry, I lost something very important."
"Oh, your precious half blood bastard," Bellatrix simpered before wincing when Hermione's grip tightened on her hair.
"And his baby," she hissed out. Bellatrix's eyes widened in shock as she gaped at the muggle-born witch before her. "Yeah, I didn't know I was pregnant either until my parents saw me bleeding and took me to the hospital. There I found out that I had been pregnant. The shock of watching the sphere caused me to lose our baby…my last link to Harry."
"But…" Bellatrix started, confused. All of their sources had said Harry and Hermione weren't in a relationship.
"One night…we spent one night together that resulted in our baby being conceived. Funny thing, it was shortly after we lost Sirius and I was released from the Hospital Wing. One night, our baby was conceived…until you and a bunch of egoistical bastards couldn't handle the fact that Harry and a bunch of fifth and fourth years managed to best you. You caused me to lose two of the best things in my life."
Bellatrix just stared at her; she was beginning to see how they had all pushed Hermione slowly onto the path she was now walking.
"Why…why are you doing this?" Bellatrix begged. Hermione smiled almost cruelly.
"Because Harry made me promise…and you took him away from me." Bellatrix stared at her. "Now, it's time for me to be finished with you. My plans have been set in motion and you are going to be the message."
Bellatrix frowned, confused. Just what was she going to do? A table filled with numerous of vials, filled with different coloured liquid appeared. Hermione smiled wickedly. "Oh, one more thing," Hermione lifted up a vial of blue liquid and walked over to Bellatrix. "I can't have you giving me away." She grabbed Bellatrix by the cheeks and forced her mouth open before pouring the liquid down her throat. Hermione closed her mouth and tilted her head back so Bellatrix had no choice but to swallow. Once she did, she let out an agonised scream.
Her hands came up to her head, clutching it as the skin bubbled. Her brain felt like it was on fire. Soon the pain slowed down and Bellatrix slumped against the chair, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down from her face. She looked around only to see a partially shadowed person in front of her.
Hermione stood in the darkness, her hood covering her face. Bellatrix stared at her in confusion.
"Who…who are you?" she asked. Hermione shook her head.
"Give Voldemort my best," she threw something at Bellatrix and watched as she disappeared with a small pop. Hermione stood there for a moment before she nodded, mostly to herself and left the house altogether. Dobby and Winky appeared to clean up the place.
~_HxH_~
Voldemort lifted his head when he felt something breach his wards and there was pop then a heavy thud as he stared at the broken body in front of him. Bellatrix Lestrange was back.
"Bella…" he asked. Bella lifted her head, her dark eyes scanning the area around her fearfully before she spotted him. He was shaken to see the pure relief in her eyes. He had never seen that look before.
"M…master," she croaked out.
"Bella," he signalled to his other Death Eaters and they bowed before leaving the room, intending to get Snape. Voldemort watched as Bellatrix flinched with each footstep. He stood up and moved over to her, eyeing her curiously. She was battered and bruised. Her clothes had blood on them but he could not see any cuts.
"Bella…" he knelt down next to her, shaken by the way she grabbed his robes.
"I tried master…I tried…but she was…" Bella broke down crying, letting go of his robes and clutching her head. "I don't want to remember!" she screamed.
The door opened and Voldemort stood up to see Snape hurrying into the room. He knelt down beside Bellatrix, waving his wand before he looked up at his master.
"I shall take her into another room. It will take me time before I can get a full diagnosis of what had happened to her," he explained. Voldemort gave him a short nod and watched as Snape called some of the men over. They were about to touch her when Bellatrix shrank back from their hands before screaming when they tried to use their wands on her.
Snape forced a potion, which he had tucked away in his robes, into Bellatrix's mouth. With a sigh, Bellatrix's eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she slumped sideways. The men carefully picked up Bellatrix and carried her away.
Voldemort watched as they left the room when there was a clinking sound. Turning his eyes, he saw something gold on the floor near his feet. He bent down and lifted the small gold sphere, frowning when he saw `watch me' note attached to it.
~_HxH_~
Snape examined Bellatrix, shaken by the scanning he had received. She had been badly tortured during the 6 months she had been gone. She had suffered broken bones, scarring from whipping, hair loss from where it had been pulled out. She had suffered mental and emotional trauma that he feared that she would never be the same again. What she had gone through, it was enough to put the fear into him.
Bellatrix slowly awoke and fear gripped her as she looked around the room before she spotted the Potion Master next to her.
"Snape…" she grabbed his sleeve when he passed his wand over her and he looked down at her. "Where is she?" she asked. Snape frowned, confused.
"Where is who?" he asked.
"The torturer…she tortured me, she made me tell her things I didn't want to tell her," Bellatrix gasped as she looked around the room as if she feared the person was in the room with them, taunting her. "I didn't want to tell her."
"Bella, you are safe," he placed his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back onto the bed as he tried to comfort her. Bellatrix shook her head.
"We're not safe…not while she's still around. She killed many of us…she's coming for the rest of us!" she screamed the last part as she tried to pull herself away from Snape. Snape fought her, trying to get to her to relax. He was terrified. Bellatrix was terrifying in her own way, people feared the day she would come to their door. For her to be terrified, it meant that there was someone out there more dangerous than she was…it was enough to make Snape want to run and hide.
~_HxH_~
Voldemort made his way into the main room and stood just before his chair.
"Where is Bella?" he asked.
"Snape is still attending to her, my lord," one of the hooded men told him. Voldemort's hands tightened.
"My lord?" another hooded man asked.
"Bring Bella to me," he ordered. The man bowed before leaving the room as Voldemort sat down on his chair.
The man hurried into the medical room to see Bellatrix was sitting up on the bed with Snape sorting through the potions. Snape looked up when he heard the door opening.
"Yes?" he asked.
"The Dark Lord wishes to see Bellatrix," he informed them. They nodded as Snape moved over to Bellatrix and helped her up. It was a slow trek as Bellatrix was severely weakened but they managed to make their way into the main room.
Snape helped Bellatrix onto the ground before he knelt before Voldemort.
"My lord, she had been tortured. I fear that she would never be useful to you again," Snape explained. "It seems that her fear of the Black Rose is crippling her."
"Does she know who the Black Rose is?" he asked and Snape shook his head.
"She claims the face is blurred. I have checked her mind for myself and I agree with her. This person had used a strange version of oblivation. She remembers everything she had suffered at the hands of Black Rose but not the person."
"But she still has all of her memories?" Voldemort asked. Snape frowned before he nodded. Bellatrix looked up at her master, wondering why he wasn't concerned about her possibly giving up information or finding the person who had done this to her. Voldemort saw the look on her face.
"Master?" she asked.
"When you were carried away, something fell to the ground," Voldemort stood up. He showed Bellatrix the small gold sphere and Bellatrix paled as she recognised it. "Imagine my surprise when I recognised the people who killed Harry Potter!" There was a collective gasp from the Death Eaters.
"Master…" Bellatrix pleaded.
"The boy was mine to kill!" Voldemort roared, beyond furious. "You have no idea what you have done!" He raised his wand and uttered the killing curse, the green spell shooting across the room and hitting Bellatrix across the chest. Bellatrix slumped to the ground, instantly dead.
Everyone in the room stared at the dead Bellatrix in a stunned shock, Snape more so. Bellatrix was the one to kill Potter?
"Get her body out of my sight!" Voldemort snarled, snapping his minions back into action and they hurried to do his bidding, not wanting to risk him turning his wrath on them. Voldemort sat down on the chair and slammed his fist into the armrest. This changes everything.
~_HxH_~
"Bellatrix Lestrange is dead," Snape reported the moment he stepped into the meeting room of Grimmauld place. Dumbledore frowned. Snape had contacted Dumbledore and Dumbledore had rallied everyone in the order so they could hear with Snape had to say.
"I thought you said Bellatrix had been kidnapped," Dumbledore said and Snape nodded as he sat down.
"She had been. She arrived back this afternoon via a portkey. She had been badly tortured, starved and dehydrated. Whoever it was that took her didn't care for her very much. The Dark Lord ordered me to help her. He came back an hour later furious and killed her on the spot. It turned out that Bellatrix had been one of the people who tortured and killed Potter. The reason he knew was because the person who sent Bellatrix back had also sent something else. We never saw what it was." Snape finished.
Hushed murmured started up as Dumbledore frowned.
"From Tom's reaction, I gather he had not authorised the attack on Harry, then," Dumbledore mused and Snape nodded.
"In fact, the Dark Lord told Bellatrix that Harry had been his to kill and that she didn't know what she had done," Snape explained.
"Who would know?" Moody spoke up, frowning as he did, "Potter is dead and the only people who knew who killed him was the Death Eaters. It hardly seem like they would go and pick each other off over the `Boy-Who-Lived'."
"Was it mentioned who else was part of the gang?" Dumbledore asked Snape, who shook his head. "Hm, then my guess is that they are already dead. Otherwise Tom would have either killed them on the spot or called them back to punish them." Moody scoffed.
"Well, that's a bit of a body count to go through considering death eaters are piling up every week." He took a sip from his flask.
"You think it's the `Black Rose' don't you," McGonagall asked Dumbledore, who nodded.
"It seems like it…Bellatrix was held for six months, so it is a possibility that they tortured her to gain the information they wanted and killed off the other members," he put forward his theory.
"But how would they know?" Arthur spoke up. "From what Snape said, You-Know-Who didn't know who killed Harry. How could this `Black Rose' possibly know?"
"That…is the puzzle," Dumbledore agreed.
"There is something else," Snape spoke up and they looked at him. "Bellatrix remembered everything she suffered…but not the person. I checked her mind for myself…it was strange. The person was blurry. It was like a strange version of oblivation. Whoever it was…they knew that we would check her mind."
"That is impossible," Molly huffed out. "There is no such spell or potion that would do that."
"Then it is possible that they found some way of removing themselves from Bellatrix's memory," Dumbledore said. Snape shook his head.
"They didn't remove themselves from her memories, they deliberately blurred themselves. There is no way to tell who it is."
The Order fell into an unsettled silence. They were no closer to catching the Black Rose than they were before.
~_HxH_~
"You, lass, are the best student I have ever taught in my life," Moody praised as he entered a living room. Hermione Granger stood in front of the fire. Above the mantel place was a portrait of the Potters. Lily and James Potter was smiling brightly at the few months old Harry Potter who was cradled in his mother's arms.
Hermione had found this place during her time away. She had searched every Potters' home, and Blacks' home, for any books she could use. The house she was currently in was the house that the Potters had been living in before they had to hide.
"Thank you," Hermione looked at Moody over her shoulder. "I had a good teacher." Moody smirked as he moved closer to the chair that looked inviting.
"So, that was your plan the entire time," Moody slumped into the comfortable chair as Hermione picked up the tumbler glass and the large bottle of whisky before moving over to where Moody was sitting and placed them on the table next to him.
"She took Harry away from me…so I took Voldemort away from her," Hermione replied as she moved over to the other seat across from him.
"I'm not complaining, Lass," Moody assured her, taking the crystal and filling up the tumbler with the rich alcohol. "But you are close to giving yourself away."
"Don't worry," Hermione spoke up from her spot in the other chair. Her feet were tucked under her and she was gazing into the fire. "They won't know it's me until I'm good and ready to let them know."
"Tell me…just how did you manage to blur yourself?" he asked. Hermione chuckled.
"As you know, there are a lot of potions that had been buried thanks to the Ministry's fear of them. A majority of them are found in the Blacks' books because they were pretty much originated from them. The others were from the other teachers who taught me. They knew better than to leave books lying around." Moody nodded. He was the one to find the potion that she had used on Lucius Malfoy. "Well, one of them was used before the oblivation spell came out. A oblivation spell is used to wipe memories out…the potion…it allows you to remember what you went through…but not the person who was there."
"Ah, so it was more likely used when people were raped," Moody said and Hermione nodded.
"Also whenever people were having affairs, they would wipe the person to protect them from the scandal or if young lovers who were forbidden to be together were caught."
"Fascinating," Moody murmured.
"With the spell, it can be easy to reverse it. The Ministry doesn't really like permanent spells and potions. But this potion, it can't be reversed…not unless you wish to turn the person into a vegetable and even so, there is no guarantee that you will get the identity."
"How is Neville doing?" He asked.
"I sent him a letter after I sent Bellatrix away. He just sent me a note saying `thank you'. He will not tell his Grandmother until after I have finished," Hermione told him. Moody nodded.
"Malfoy?" he asked. Hermione sighed.
"Mostly relieved," she admitted. "His father wasn't much of a father but he was still the only father he had so, mixed feelings. But he knows Luna is now safe so he's not going to overthink it."
"And the twins?" he asked. Hermione chuckled.
"Having the time of their lives," she admitted. "The order had always treated them like they were trouble-makers, not worth the attention. But I can see the geniuses in their pranks and giving them free range on the Death Eaters is great motivation for them."
"I never did understand why the Order refused to allow them access. The things they think up, they would be perfect for the Order to capture Death Eaters…but they refused."
"I think it's mostly because of Molly. She is determined to keep her children, children. Why do you think Ron has problems with jealously?" Hermione asked. Moody just sighed.
"What is your next plan?" Moody asked.
"I have a head to send," Hermione told him and Moody chuckled, taking a sip of his drink. Both of them fell into a comfortable silence. The war was going to heat up…they knew that…it was just a matter of time of what side people were going to choose.
~_HxH_~
Hermione made her way into her bedroom at Hogwarts. She changed into her P.Js before slipping into her bed, resting her head on her pillow and she smiled softly.
"We are very close," Hermione whispered and arms slid over her waist, pulling her back into a hard chest.
"Just sleep," he whispered, kissing her shoulder. "I will be here in the morning." Hermione vaguely wondered why he didn't seem enthusiastic about their impending reward but she was so tired, she let it go…for the night.
Harry just kissed the side of her head before he buried his face into her neck. He didn't want to face reality…not yet.
TBC
There we are…Bellatrix done and dusted. And you now know what Harry/Hermione's relationship was before that fateful summer…and I left a semi-cliffhanger *RUNS*
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