Chapter 10: XNotes:made one edit to this bc I accidentally typed Hermione's real last name instead of Potter :/
Chapter Text"You're holding him wrong," Hermione snapped as she tried to take Fatty from Bellatrix, who moved her hand quickly away from Hermione's approaching one and therefore putting the Brownie out of reach. "He doesn't like to be held like that."
"I think I know what I am doing, given that he hasn't bitten me," Bellatrix said back, her tone equally as hostile as Hermione's, and loud enough to gain the attention of a the other students closest to the pair.
It was the Monday after Hermione's first Quidditch match, and this was the first time she was around Bellatrix for longer than a moment or two. The dark witch had been off with Rodolphus the rest of the weekend, and Hermione hadn't yet decided if she hated that or felt relieved to have time to think without the girl's presence.
She had time to think over what had happened at the lake, and decided that she was correct in claiming it was a one-off, nothing more than the alcohol controlling her body. Bellatrix's beauty was undeniable, unmistakable, something that was impossible to not notice. On a purely physical level, she would have been the perfect partner for anyone.
But physical traits aside, there were so many reasons for why Hermione was not interested in Bellatrix. She was sarcastic, mean, incapable of being polite or nice to people she thought was below her, and harbored those abhorrent views on muggles and muggle-born.
They were friends, sort of. Bellatrix hadn't fought the statement when Hermione said as much at Honeydukes, but it would never go beyond that, aside from the one slip up that it was obvious Bellatrix had no interest in discussing.
"You're so moody today," Bellatrix commented when Hermione tried to take Fatty from her once more. "What crawled up your ass?"
"That's bold, coming from you," Hermione bit back. "Will you give me him!" Her voice was exhausted when Bellatrix still refused to pass Fatty over to him, and all she got in response was a haughty laugh.
Bellatrix gently sat Fatty back onto his nest, and when Hermione reached to pick him up, he gave an indignant squeak at her, as if to say how dare you try and touch me? that transformed Bellatrix's haughty laugh into a real one. Even as Hermione was smiling at the sound, she still slammed her elbow into the other girls side, which resulted in a half hearted shove back.
"Miss Potter, Miss Black, we have gone so long without the two of you turning a classroom into a fighting pit. Perhaps we could go a bit longer?" Kettleburn's deep voice broke them out of lightly whacking one another while Fatty kept squeaking every time Hermione landed a hit on Bellatrix.
"Apologies, professor," Hermione said, her cheeks a bit red from being caught goofing off with Bellatrix by a professor. He nodded his acceptance and gave the two of them a stern look before walking to look at another group's Brownie. "See what you did," she snapped once he was out of earshot, glaring at Bellatrix who kept poking Fatty's rounded belly. Each poke gained another squeak, this one sounding much less outraged and more enjoyable. "He hates me," she huffed, and would have swore the Brownie glared at her.
"He does," Bellatrix agreed with another laugh, and allowed Fatty to crawl back into her hand and wrap his long arms around her wrist.
"Thanks so much, Bella," Hermione growled, too distracted by writing down notes about Fatty on her parchment to catch the slip-up in calling Bellatrix by her nickname.
She also missed Bellatrix's pale cheeks darkening slightly, before she covered it by saying, "You're pretty annoying, so it's understandable."
That comment received her another whack to her ribs, and Fatty made his loudest squeak yet.
Andromeda and Narcissa were waiting against the bleachers when Hermione and Bellatrix finished up the day's Quidditch practice, both of them sweaty and Hermione a bit dirt splattered. Victoria had knocked her off of her broom twice today, and each time just served to infuriate Hermione more and more. It didn't help that when Bellatrix came down to pull her up, she mocked her lack of skills the entire time.
"Do I ever get peace from either of you?" Bellatrix complained to her sisters as she walked by, heading to the shed to store her broom.
"Not everything is about you, Bella. I'm waiting for Hermione," Andromeda replied, rolling her honeyed eyes at her sister. "And Cissy just likes to stalk me, I guess."
Narcissa rolled her eyes at her older sister, and said in that almost flat, lilting voice of her's, that always bordered on the edge of insulting you while still being polite, "She's looking a lot better thanks to you, Bella." Andromeda coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'suck up', and was ignored as Narcissa spoke some more. "Also, an owl arrived for you."
The oldest of the three siblings nodded at the youngest, but said nothing about who the letter was from. Instead she switched her focus back to Hermione and Andromeda. "And why do you need our lovely traitor?" Bellatrix asked as the four of them began walking back towards the castle.
"She wants help getting ready for tonight."
"What is tonight."
Andromeda looked from her sister to Hermione, who looked as if she'd rather be anywhere else once she picked up on Bellatrix's biting tone. But the fifth year answered all the same, a coy smile overtaking her features as she picked up... something between Hermione and Bellatrix about tonight. "Her date, of course. She didn't tell you? Daniel asked her out."
Bellatrix's dark eyes slid to Hermione's, her full lips pulled into an annoyed scowl as she just said, "Is that so?"
"It is," Hermione finally found her voice and said. Her throat felt uncomfortably dry the longer the eldest Black daughter kept looking at her like that. "Is that a problem?"
"In the sense that that is one more person I have to deal with who sullies themselves with mudbloods." Bellatrix's voice was as hard as her gaze as she stared at Hermione and ignored Andromeda's outraged response about Ted entirely. "Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, given your reputation as a blood traitor and sympathizer."
The words didn't hit Hermione like they would have before, and she was now aware this was just Bellatrix using anger and insults to cover something up, but that just posed the question of what was she hiding?
Surprising none of them, it was Narcissa who halted whatever fight probably would have started between Andromeda and Bellatrix. She wrapped her pale arm around Bellatrix's bicep and frowned at the sweat she found there. "You need a shower. And you're helping me with Divination. You don't have time for petty arguments with Andy. Let's go."
Silently, Narcissa pulled Bellatrix away from Andromeda and Hermione, both of them watching Bellatrix be willingly led before an argument could break out. And Hermione knew it would have, as when she turned to look at Andromeda she found the girl red with anger, her bottom lip sucked in between her teeth.
"Come on, you can distract yourself from the annoyance that is your sister by dressing me up. I know you like stuffing me in overly nice clothing."
The joke did its job, and Andromeda bumped her shoulder into Hermione's as the two of them continued on to the castle and towards the fifth year Slytherin's dorm.
Daniel led her by the hand outside of the castle and through the well cared for grounds. They passed many other students out as well, a couple younger Gryffindor boys daring one another to go farther and farther into the woods, and Hermione couldn't help but smile at knowing they would soon get caught, especially with Filch lurking the grounds somewhere. Older students huddled on the ground in small groups, practicing the occasional small and harmless spell, such as levitating their school books or starting tiny and contained fires.
It sent a feeling of longing so sudden and intense that Hermione nearly stumbled as they walked down a slight hill. Watching the fourth years laughing around the tiny, sparking fire was so similar to what she had done more times than she could count with Harry and Ron, and all of the times they had come so close to being caught by a professor.
She couldn't even wonder what they were doing right now, as they technically didn't even exist. No one in this time period except for herself knew how wonderful the two boys were, how far both of them were willing to go to protect others.
That thought made her pause, and she looked to Daniel as he walked beside her, completely unaware of her rapidly saddening thoughts. Would he do the same? Would he so readily place his life on the line to protect others? Would he stand up to argue with professors in defense of his friends? Would he rush to the Ministry as a fifteen year old and attack a skilled group of Death Eaters, all to save one man?
Hermione would like to say he would, but the truth was she knew very little about Daniel aside from the basics: Muggle born, a Quidditch player, a decent student, though he seemed to about as much drive to study as Harry did.
This train of thought led to another one, completely unbidden and once it entered her mind she could not get it out.
Bellatrix was all of those things, and so much more. There was not a single doubt in Hermione's mind that if Andromeda or Narcissa was in danger, Bellatrix would do anything in her power to save them, would completely wreck herself to make sure they were safe. And though the cause was horrible, and went against everything good in the world, Bellatrix would one day be go to Azkaban for her fanatic support of Voldemort. Hermione hoped to change that, but that sort of devotion would always be a part of the girl, even if it was no longer directed to someone as vile as Lord Voldemort.
Hermione had to respect those sort of qualities in a person, and it did make her wonder if Daniel had them or not. Aside from his parents, who were so separate from this world, was there anything he would be willing to die for? She didn't like that she didn't know.
Daniel spoke up then, and Hermione hadn't even noticed they had come to a stop. "It's not exactly extravagant, but seeing as I don't know when we're going to Hogsmeade next, and I didn't want to wait..." he looked down at the small blanket on the ground, a small lidded basket in the corner. "It's stupid, now that I'm looking at it, I'm sorry."
Hermione grabbed onto his hand and found it warm and sweaty, but held on anyway as she gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile. She forced all previous thoughts from her mind. There was no reason to dwell on anything like that, not when she was on a date with a nice boy, who clearly put a lot of thought into this outing. "It's sweet, thank you. And I'm starving. I only just finished practice and haven't had lunch."
She could see Daniel's broad shoulders drop in relief before he motioned for her to sit down on the blanket, and followed once she did. "It's just sandwiches and fruit. I had to beg one of the elves to help me," he confessed, that gentle and slightly nervous smile present on his face.
"Everything is very nice, Daniel, really, it's all quite lovely." She nodded her thanks when he passed her a cup of pumpkin juice, and then pulled out two wrapped sandwiches and a few small platters of fruit.
"How was practice?" Daniel asked as they bit into ripe strawberries minutes later. "Learn any new moves?"
Hermione shrugged as she finished chewing, and was thankful no juice had dripped down her chin. "Trying to figure out Slytherin secrets? We just ran some plays Steve had been working on with Ryan. I didn't think I'd ever like Quidditch nearly as much as I do, and I am looking forward to the next game."
"Against Ravenclaw, right? Their seeker is bloody fast, and their chasers are sneaky. Watch out for them."
"Sneakier than Gryffindor beaters trying to knock me from my broom to get us out of the running for the rest of the year?"
He at least had the decency to look ashamed as he stared into his cup of pumpkin juice, the tips of his ears bright red. "I wanted to apologize for that," he started, his voice firm and level. "I told them it wasn't a good move, and we shouldn't do that, but our captain wasn't hearing it. We're all so close in points this semester, everyone is nervous on who is going to win the cup. Not that it matters, we shouldn't have targeted you like that. You could have been seriously hurt, and that's the last thing I would want."
Right in that instant, Hermione had her answer on whether Daniel would stand up to a professor or throw himself in front of someone in need, and it wasn't a positive thought.
But she smiled, and said, "Not that it matters, since Slytherin absolutely crushed you guys. Without playing dirty."
"I wouldn't say it wasn't dirty how you shot those beaters," he laughed, and Hermione found herself doing the same as they both recalled the ferocity with which she hit the balls. She definitely had something to prove at that first match, and accomplished it well enough. Gryffindor had stopped targeting her after she switched positions, and she was unforgiving in trying to knock the opposing team from their brooms.
"How is fair that you're so good at Quidditch anyway? I thought you weren't a sporty person before all this."
"I'm not, or I wasn't," she agreed, thinking of all the times she had been in the air and hated every moment of it. "But Quidditch was more than just riding a broom, and I like the logical parts of it all, of thinking about how my move would effect the whole team." It was a bit like chess, even if that wasn't a favorite of her's either, but she's played enough with Ron to respect the game. All of their own individual moves would effect the others, save maybe the Seeker, who only impacted the team if they caught the ball. "And, Bellatrix has been helping me train almost every day, aside from training with the team."
That caused Daniel's eyebrows to raise in surprise as he stared at her. "Bellatrix has been helping you out?"
Hermione nodded once more, her attention more on grabbing some purple grapes from the box than Daniel's incredulous expression. "She was determined not to let me ruin Slytherin's reputation, and so she started helping me."
"I can imagine that's hard. I know the two of you aren't on the best of terms, which is understandable, since Bellatrix Black is... hard to get along with." Even though his remark wasn't inaccurate, and saying she was hard to get along with was a much nicer version of what some people could say, and was much nicer than what Hermione thought about the girl at the beginning of this mission, his statement still rubbed her the wrong way.
He didn't know anything about Bellatrix, not really, nothing more than the brutal persona she portrayed herself as. She still was that girl with the scathing remarks, with the hairpin trigger anger, and the mouth that was constantly get her in trouble, but she was also so much more. Hermione hadn't forgotten what Andromeda had told in the hospital wing after the Hogsmeade attack, about the version of her sister teaching all of them how to play Quidditch and climb trees, and how she was close to Sirius Black as well.
Daniel didn't know any of those, and judged Bellatrix purely on one level she showed of herself.
He most definitely didn't know how softly she could hold someone when she kissed them, how gentle her mouth would feel against-
Now is not the time for any of that.
"Hey, did that upset you?" Daniel asked when Hermione failed to respond, his mouth in a slight frown and his eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sorry, that wasn't- I should have figured you guys were friends. I'm sorry for saying that about her, even if you aren't friends, that was rude."
It wasn't as rude as it could be, and honestly Hermione couldn't really grasp why the comment bothered her as much as it did anyway, when it was true from Daniel and so many other's points of view.
She didn't want to talk about that anymore. Didn't want to talk or think about Bellatrix at all, so she merely stole one of the berries from his plate and said, "Tell me about your life when you aren't at Hogwarts."
Daniel launched into his stories about the summer, and how he alternating staying in muggle London with his parents, but spending multiple weekends with his Wizarding family cousins and uncle. He described his father's job (accounting) and described it in the barest details that he figured Hermione would understand, as to him and everyone else she knew very little of the muggle world and its professions.
When it was her turn to talk, she used her summers at the Weasley residence to describe how she spent her summers, instead of her true life with parents who didn't remember her, in a muggle home she would never see again. She couldn't say any of that, so she described hunting down garden gnomes and going to the Quidditch World Cup with friends.
As time passed, the sun was starting to set as Hermione and Daniel remained on the small blankets, sitting crossed legged and facing one another. The fruit had long since run out, and they were on the last dredges of pumpkin juice, and Hermione had found she enjoyed the afternoon and evening.
Like everything about the boy, talking to Daniel was easy. He always listened attentively to what Hermione had to say, and was even invested enough into his studies to debate a decent amount of topics with her, which was always thrilling. When he confessed to having dreaded going to every single Divination class, Hermione couldn't hold back from ranting about her hatred of the course, how it was faulty magic at best, and outright lies at worst. Daniel had whole heartedly agreed, and the two fell into a laughing fit.
"I had fun today," Hermione said as they packed the little basket back up once it started to get closer to curfew. Her statement was true, she did greatly enjoy spending time with the boy, aside from the slight stumbles in the beginning. "Thank you for bringing me out, and for doing all of this."
"Thank you for coming out with me," he said back to her, arms full of the blanket. "I have to admit to being very nervous to asking you out. I really thought you'd say no."
She knew he was nervous, that much was obvious from how easily he turned red around her, but the part about her saying no was new. "Why did you think that?"
His gaze was on the ground as he spoke. "You're just so.. I don't even know how to describe it. You make me very nervous, and you don't really talk to anyone aside from Andromeda and her sisters, and now your Quidditch team. I thought over how to ask you out more times than I want to admit. My friends have a blast making fun of me."
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The very last voice Hermione wanted to hear right now sounded behind her, and she took a moment to breathe deeply before she spun around. Now was not the time for Bellatrix to be here.
And immediately knew from the glint in Bellatrix's dark eyes and the mocking smile on her face, this would be a conversation ending in some sort of argument.
It didn't help that Rodolphus was beside Bellatrix, watching the dark haired witch with an interest that set Hermione's teeth on edge.
"Oh, are we interrupting a date?" Bellatrix's voice was heavy with sarcasm as she took a step forward, one eyebrow raised higher than the other and the tips of her teeth poking through her smile. "How so very... interesting, isn't it, Potter?"
This was not good. "I don't think anything about this is interesting to you, Bellatrix." Not when Bellatrix knew Hermione would be on a date, though was it luck that had the two of them stumbling upon Hermione and Daniel, or did they purposely seek them out, just to create an altercation?
Bellatrix tapped one of her fingers against her chin as if she were seriously contemplating what Hermione said. "That's just not accurate, my little blood-traitor. We both know all the reasons I would find this interesting, now don't we? Perhaps Rod and Daniel would like to know as well?" Her gaze turned from Hermione to Daniel, that terrible smiling widening. "You see, Daniel, Hermione-"
"Bella." Hermione's voice was low with warning as she moved to grip her wand in her pocket. She would hex the girl to oblivion if she didn't shut up, not when Hermione knew the topic Bellatrix would so willingly bring up, even in front of Rodolphus.
"I'm curious, love," Rodolphus said as he wrapped his arm around Bellatrix's slim shoulders, pulling her closer to his side. "What do we want to know about dear Hermione?"
Correction- she'd hex them both. Bellatrix for being herself, and Rodolphus for having the audacity to put his arm around Bellatrix like that.
Bellatrix had eyes only for Hermione as she talked to Rodolphus. "Well, our precious Hermione Potter-"
"Knock it off, Bella," Hermione growled, her wand now entirely in her hand but pointed towards the ground. Bellatrix's grin only grew in delight at the sight of Hermione's wand out, so similar to their earlier interactions. "I'm not in the mood for this game."
Both boys eyed the two girls apprehensively, and Hermione could tell Daniel was judging whether it was best to intervene or let them argue this out, even if Hermione wasn't sure why they were arguing to begin with. Bellatrix hadn't outgrown teasing Hermione or making her life hell, but it had shifted to smaller things, such as making fun of her Quidditch skills or Fatty despising her. It had been a long while indeed that Bellatrix seemed to make a point of ruining Hermione's good time.
And she wasn't going to let Bellatrix do it now either. Today had been good, and Hermione wanted it to continue to be so. She didn't even look at Bellatrix as she grabbed Daniel's free hand and said to him, "We're leaving."
It was the first time Hermione had ever turned her back and walked from Bellatrix, and for the first time, the other girl made no comment as Hermione and Daniel walked together back to the castle.
Bellatrix was not in the dorm or common room when Hermione woke up early the next morning for practice, but given that the girl had never flaked on her before, Hermione assumed she had merely left without her to go to the field.
Her assumption was correct, and Bellatrix was in the process of opening the large chest of balls they dragged out from the shed every practice. Whether she took notice of Hermione furiously stomping towards her or not, she did not react.
At least until Hermione shoved her over when she was bent down grabbing the Quaffle.
"What the fuck?" Bellatrix growled from her position on the ground, her hands behind her back supporting her weight. Her expression was less furious than other times they had fought and more incredulous, as if she couldn't believe they were back to this.
"How dare you?" Hermione yelled, her anger burning stronger the longer Bellatrix remained on the ground, unmoving and unbothered by Hermione's raised voice. "You had no right to say anything to Daniel or myself yesterday."
At that point Bellatrix pushed herself from the ground and dusted her practice clothes off. She ran a hand through her hair in a poor attempt to detangle some of the messy curls, though it was of course to no avail.
"And here I was, under the impression I could say whatever I desired. Tell me, traitor, what was it you were so willing to keep hidden from Daniel?"
Hermione would not be giving Bellatrix the satisfaction of saying it out loud, not when that is exactly what the girl had been trying to goad her into doing yesterday as well. Not that it even made sense, seeing as Bellatrix had been keen on ignoring the entire thing all weekend and yesterday morning, but the moment she had come across Hermione and Daniel on their date, she changed her mind.
"I thought we were past this," Hermione bit out between clenched teeth. She had to hold back the desire to knock Bellatrix to the ground once more, and let out a long breath to calm herself down. "I'm tired of doing this, Bella, really I am. It's like... every step forward I think we're taking, you do something like this to remind me that we really aren't-" she cut herself off, unsure of what the next word would be anyway. "Whatever problem you have with me, please just leave Daniel out of it. He's nice, I like hanging out with him."
"Is that all you like about him?" Bellatrix's voice was flat as she asked, completely ignoring everything else Hermione just confessed.
"I do like that he's nice. But I like that he's interested in school, and that he makes me laugh." She didn't think of the negative aspects about Daniel she discovered yesterday, even if they weren't technically a negative. Not wanting to lose your life wasn't something people would normally care about. But then again Hermione had not lived a normal life up until now, if this could even be considered normal. "What is it to you anyway?
Bellatrix looked up at the brightening sky, her dark eyes mostly concealed and part of her bottom lip sucked in between her teeth. "Purely curious," she finally answered, her gaze anywhere but Hermione. "It's insulting for the Black's to be known as a family who-"
"Do not call me a blood-traitor, or a sympathizer, or Daniel or Ted a mudblood again."
"You've never-"
"I've picked my battles with you, Bella, but I'm not doing that anymore. Your beliefs are bigoted, and outdated, and vile. You like me. We're friends." Hermione's heart increased the angrier she became, and she forgot entirely about being here for Quidditch. Now, she had so much to get off of her chest. "At any point since finding out about Andy and Ted you could have gone to your father, you could have ruined everything for her, just because he's muggle born. But you didn't, because you know how your father would react. You can look at that, and see that that reaction is not right, and yet you can't even see that is exactly how you are behaving?"
Bellatrix's attention was now wholly on Hermione, her cheeks red with fury and her eyes slitted. "Do not compare me to my father, Hermione, when you have no idea what you are talking about."
"I don't need to know. Not when I can look at you and see everything he's ever put into your head. And it's all wrong, Bella, you have to know that. Every single thing he's said about muggles or muggle-born, its all wrong."
Everything Hermione was saying was accurate, things that needed to be said, things that Bellatrix needed to hear. Yes, Hermione had never met Cygnus Black, but she didn't need to. She had met the woman Bellatrix would grow to be, and knew that she became the spitting imagine of her father. That was what Hermione wanted to change, and what she needed Bellatrix to understand.
Bellatrix, however, didn't want to hear any of it. But where Hermione expected to see more anger, she saw just heavy lidded eyes staring back at her, Bellatrix's full bottom lip jutted out slightly and her eyes bright.
Was she... she wasn't going to-
She wasn't going to cry, was she?
Hermione had her answer a moment later, when that oh so full lip pulled up into a mocking grin. "So many negative things to say about me then, hm? And here I was thinking we were... friends."
Nope, not crying at all. Just being her typical, infuriating self.
"Bellatrix, I'm serious, and-"
"And what?" A step in Hermione's direction.
It was obvious what this was; nothing more than a ploy to distract Hermione from her previous focus on convincing Bellatrix every single thing she had been raised to believe was incorrect.
That didn't mean it wasn't going to work though.
It was definitely working, working very well as Bellatrix lowered her voice. "And we, aren't we? Friends? You've said so yourself."
"We're friends."
"Would you say we're good friends, dragon rider?"
The words slammed into Hermione, taking her mind to just a few days prior. "You're a dragon-rider, but a bit of fish swimming by you is too much?" It had come just after Hermione had pulled away from Bellatrix after having what was probably the best kiss of her life, though that could have been the alcohol clouding her judgment about it.
This was a game, just a game. Game, game, game, her mind kept screaming at her, but she could do nothing except think back to the weekend, and how nice it had been and-
"Knock it off," Hermione snapped when Bellatrix stepped closer, that devious grin never faltering even as she reached out a hand to tuck one of Hermione's escaped curls behind her ear.
"What's wrong?" Bellatrix's voice was barley above a whisper, but Hermione could still make out the teasing tone of voice as she felt a feather light finger trailing down her arm. "You weren't complaining the last time I was this close to you."
"We were drunk." The excuse felt feeble to her own ears as she sucked in a deep breath. When her tongue came out to wet her too dry lips, she didn't miss Bellatrix's eyes dipping down again to watch the movement.
It was Hermione who took the step back, her throat dry and her breathing quick as she jerked a hand through her. She desperately needed to bathe. A cold one would be best.
This had all gone on long enough. It had started as her being furious for Bellatrix's actions the day before, and then turned into Hermione trying to get the girl to see the truth about pureblood ideologies, and then it became... Hermione wasn't sure what it became, but this certainly wasn't positive. Whatever the hell this was.
And she didn't even want to consider the fact that Bellatrix was using whatever it was a tool to manipulate Hermione. She didn't care at all about something that had been bothering Hermione so much. No, Bellatrix was just using it to get her way, to distract and tease and mock and whatever else way she could twist this to her own amusement.
"I'd rather skip practice today. Let's just go to breakfast," she said, instead of saying or acting on any of the inappropriate thoughts slamming into her mind. Bellatrix wouldn't have been receptive of any of them, not really.
It was a feeble excuse, but one that the other girl accepted without comment. Bellatrix nodded her head, the movements slow and deliberate as she did not take her eyes off of Hermione, and stayed that way for a long heartbeat before moving to gather the box of Quidditch balls while Hermione silently moved to grab their brooms.
Neither girl said anything the entire walk to the shed and then the castle, and while that wasn't out of the norm for Hermione, it was practically unheard of for Bellatrix to keep whatever thoughts she had, no matter how insulting, to herself for so long.
Hermione would have given anything to know what Bellatrix was thinking right in that moment. She could guess, and assumed it was about how her plan had worked, how she had riled Hermione up enough to drop the topic, but still Hermione wanted to know. And then not talk to Bellatrix for a long while after today.
"Hey, you got an owl." Andromeda's voice distracted Hermione as Bellatrix immediately headed in another direction once they reached the Great Hall, choosing today to sit with Rodolphus, Rabastan, and their friends. The sight had bile rising in the back of Hermione's throat, and she focused all of her attention on the fifth year before her.
"I snagged it for you, since I didn't know if you were making it to breakfast," Andromeda continued when Hermione didn't respond, but she took the letter with a whispered 'thank you' as she sat beside her friend.
Mechanically, she grabbed some food: a muffin, a tiny helping of eggs, and poured a glass of water. The longer she thought about how easily Bellatrix slid into the empty seat beside Rodolphus, the longer she thought about why seeing Hermione with Daniel upset her so much, the more Hermione lost her appetite.
Andromeda took notice of all of this. "Are you okay?" She frowned, and followed Hermione's line of sight until she saw her sister, pushing around a helping of food and saying nothing to anyone beside her. "Oh, did something happen with Bella?"
"No," Hermione said quickly, too quickly, and watched as Andromeda's eyebrow raised in disbelief. She changed the subject. "How is your Runes assignment going?" Ancient Runes was the only course Andromeda truly struggled with, and Hermione had spent the last nearly four months of her being here to help the girl in the course.
"It's fine," was the response Hermione received, though Andromeda watch her carefully for a moment longer before she added, "She likes helping you with Quidditch."
"I'm sure that's a lie." Hermione ignored the way her stomach flipped at the statement. There was no way it was true, or if it was, it was more so along the lines of Bellatrix probably enjoying making fun of Hermione, which she did often.
But Andromeda insisted it was real. "She said as much, in her roundabout Bella way. And she's glad you're her partner with Fatty, even if Dumbledore insisted it. She thinks it worked out well."
"And she just... tells you all of these things?"
"Yes and no."
That answered nothing. Hermione said as much, and Andromeda just smiled, looked to Bellatrix once more, and went back to eating her toast.
Hermione really, really just wanted to go take a shower and then spend the rest of the day sleeping, even though she knew her body and mind would never let her do that. She'd go and work on an assignment, or read ahead for the week, but sleep was definitely off the table.
Hoping for a distraction from everything with Bellatrix, and now Andromeda, Hermione finally opened the letter addressed to her.
Miss Potter,
Following a stellar introductory dinner, you met all expectations placed upon you. While your skills and dedication in the classroom speak for themselves, your discussions during our meal added depth to the conversation. I greatly cherish students able to approach new ideas with an open mind, and you have one of the most interesting minds I have had the pleasure of meeting.
With that being said, I would like to formally welcome you to the Slug Club. Your acceptance is official and absolute, and you shall remain in the club until the time of your graduation. At that time, you will find yourself with a very strongly worded recommendation to any job of your choosing. I have no doubt it will be one in a position worthy of such a brain.
Furthermore, you are hereby invited to the annual end of semester Christmas party, held in my office. Any plus one of your choosing is welcome, and I look forward to more debate on a myriad of topics from you.
Yours truly,
Professor Horace Slughorn
Hermione read on for the date and time, and discovered it would be the last Saturday before term ended, which also happened to be the day of the last Quidditch match before vacation. Slytherin was playing Ravenclaw, and it very well may be Hermione's final game as a beater for the team, if their original chaser is back to being 100%.
It was a relatively depressing thought. Hermione had come to enjoy practicing with the team every day, not to mention training with Bellatrix.. She even liked the thrill of the games, and was looking forward to the next one. The idea that it would be ending sooner than later hadn't even crossed her mind.
And it shouldn't be now either, not when is wasn't a definite, and the date was so far away. Now she needed to focus on her studies and the upcoming exams, especially as each day added a new weight to her chest the closer and closer they got to Christmas. Hermione still hadn't quite figured out what she'd be doing for it, as she should be staying on the castle grounds for the two weeks, seeing as she had no family to go to.
But then there would be nothing stopping Bellatrix from doing whatever Voldemort had in store for her. Hermione needed a plan, and she needed one soon.