mickume/harry_potter_tiny · Datasets at Hugging Face

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Bellatrix frowned. "You ran off pretty mad after Apparation."
"I wasn’t mad at you," Hermione assured. "You made it look so easy and when I tried to do it, I couldn’t move. Susan Bones managed to at least move."
"Not moving means your probably better than Susan," Bellatrix assured. "If you had splinched that bad, it would mean that you needed more help."
"That makes no sense, Susan apparated."
"Yeah, she did, by coming about it all wrong and if the teachers weren’t there, she would have bled out and died," Bellatrix said. "Look, splinching that bad means you cocked it, right? I can’t speak for anyone else, but you, Hermione, are brilliant. So if you’re not apparating, it means that you haven’t got the final piece, but you’re not cocking it up, either."
Hermione swallowed, shifting on her feet. "Could you help me get the final piece...I know we can’t apparate-apparate, but maybe if you explain it or show me how to turn or..."
"How about now?" Bella said. "We’ll have lunch and then go to the old Charms classroom?"
"Sure," Hermione agreed, feeling a warmth spill through her.
The old Charms room was the same one they used for duelling, so it didn’t take long to set it up. Bellatrix stood beside her, taking her through the same pose that they did for duelling, only this time Hermione was having trouble loosening her limbs.
"You’ll trip over yourself with how stiff you are," Bellatrix said, grabbing her shoulders.
Hermione swallowed, ignoring how warm the woman’s hands were through the material of her clothes.
"Here, take a deep breath," she said and Hermione followed, sucking in a deep breath and then exalting. "Good, now, relax..." Bellatrix’s hands let go and Hermione relaxed, until the woman stepped behind her, placing her hands on her hips. "Here, shift your legs," she said and her hand reached down to Hermione’s thigh, adjusting it.
All Hermione could think about was the dream she had, back before Christmas, of Bellatrix taking her hand and shifting it away.
"I’ve got it," Hermione squeaked, shifting her leg. "I’m okay, I’ve got it."
Bellatrix gave a soft laugh, stepping back. "Alright, Granger, I’ll stop manhandling you. Now, flick your wrist and turn."
Hermione tried, but the spin felt wobbly. She stopped, already knowing that Bellatrix would be shaking her head.
"Like this," Bellatrix said, showing how she waved her wand and then spun. There was a surprising grace to it, as if she was spinning in the arms of a partner rather than herself.
"Can you dance?" Hermione asked.
"Probably," Bellatrix said. "When I went through the old school books, there were photographs of me at the end of year ball, dancing with some guy."
"Rodolphus." Hermione guessed, but Bellatrix shrugged.
"Don’t know, don’t care. I can’t imagine a school party is all that fun, anyway."
Hermione hummed in disagreement. Despite Ron’s behaviour at the Yule, she had otherwise had a wonderful evening. But that may have been due to both schools having being in attendance. "I think it depends," Hermione said, thinking about how lovely it would be to dance in Bellatrix’s arms before she tried to erase that thought, thinking about Viktor Krum instead. "I wish we would do more with the other wizarding schools."
Bellatrix frowned, but before Hermione could ask why, the witch was getting her to stand up straight and loosen her limbs again. "Remember to spin on the ball of your foot."
Hermione took a breath, flicked her wrist and as she spun, she fell off balance and tripped over her the hem of robes, falling to the floor.
Bellatrix caught her in time, hands around her wrist as she held her. "You’re still too stiff."
Hermione was caught in the woman’s arms, looking up at her as she realised they were close. Very close.
Hermione could remember how Bellatrix’s lips had tasted when she kissed her, and since then all she had thought about was as soft the witch’s lips were and how much she wanted to kiss them again. Now, right here, there was an opportunity.
Bellatrix’s throat cleared as she helped her to stand, pulling back. "Hermione, I..."
Hermione flinched at the tone, squirming as she scrambled back. "I think I’ve got it, thank you!" She said, before grabbing her bag and running off as she cursed herself. Her eyes burned as she ran around the corner, making her way far away from the old charms classroom to the library, where she could at least hide in a stack of books.
She hadn’t kissed Bellatrix, but it had been obvious, so obvious how much she wanted to and Bellatrix had looked at her so awkwardly, ready to remind her that she wasn’t interested in her and of course she would.
Because despite everything, Bellatrix didn’t like her like that.
Why had she been so foolish to agree to Ginny’s advice about asking for help. She didn’t need help; if she did, she’d find it in books, not with Bellatrix.
Hermione didn’t get better at apparition. Her mind felt as though it was full of bees any time she was near Bellatrix, hearing the witch say over and over in that soft tone, "Hermione, I..."
She had begun to avoid being in any matter of space with her, without at least a buffer of another friend, whether that was Ginny, or Harry. The only time that was difficult was Runes. Harry and Ron had a free period after Herbology, which usually meant that Hermione and Bellatrix would walk to Runes together, but this week, Hermione couldn’t imagine anything worse.
More than how awkward the Charms Room had been, was the fact of how much her heart hurt in Herbology when she saw Daphne asking Bellatrix for help. The two witches were close together, giggling and teasing each other, though somewhat discreetly, as they tried to get the pearl out of the plant.
It hurt and somehow made Hermione feel so very alone in the world, which was ridiculous because Harry and Ron were right next to her, chatting about Quidditch.
After class, Hermione couldn’t bear to wait around and quickly grabbed her things before running off, careful to not slip on the melting snow.
However, as she was making her way into Rune, Bellatrix managed to catch hold of her, tugging her into a spare classroom.
"We’re going to be late!" Hermione said, already feeling her stomach turn at the idea. She hated being tardy. She hated especially when a teacher would look her and say something like "I expected better of you," when she entered late. Not to mention that the last thing she wanted was to be alone in a room with Bellatrix.
She’d probably cry with how awful she felt. If she was being honest, she felt like crying now.
"Why are you avoiding me?" Bellatrix demanded.
Hermione swallowed. "I’m not."
"You go to bed early, your lights off when I go up to bed. You don’t come down until Ginny’s there. What’s your problem? I thought we were friends!" Bellatrix snapped. If Bellatrix had raised her voice like this back in the first Summer, Hermione would have cowered away from her. But she knew now that the woman wasn’t angry, she was scared.
"We are friends," she assured. "That hasn’t changed."
"But you’re avoiding being alone with me. You didn’t mind before? Are you angry about Daphne?"
"That’s not why I’m avoiding you," Hermione said, though it felt like a lie. She squirmed, shifting away from the witch as Bellatrix’s eyes flicked over her face, as if examining her.
"I don’t believe you. I know Pansy is a bitch, but Daphne’s not like that."
"Why do you always defend her!" Hermione snapped. "You always say that "Daphne’s not like that’, but she still laughs when Pansy makes a comment. She doesn’t stop her. I don’t care if she "doesn’t actually find it funny’, she’s still apart of the problem."
Bellatrix blinked, stepping back. "So you are angry about me being friends with Daphne."
"Well, you’re not just friends, are you? Your dating her."
"We mess around, sure. But it’s not dating."
Hermione felt herself grow sick. "We’re going to be late," she said, going to leave, but Bellatrix had grabbed at her wrist, holding her still.
"Are you jealous? I told you, everyone lies about that sort of thing. The amount of people who are actually having sex or have done anything is much smaller than you would think."
"You think I’m jealous of you having sex?" Hermione said. "Get off me!" She snapped, pulling away before she made her exit, out of the classroom. She didn’t care what else Bellatrix had to say as she ran off towards the girl’s bathroom, where she quickly darted into a stall and shut the door behind her, bursting into tears.
She hated that Bellatrix saw her as being so immature as to be jealous about sex. As if that’s what mattered. Hermione would rather she didn’t have sex until she was thirty than have sex with the wrong person. And right now, it seemed like no one was the right person. Least of all a witch who thought she had the emotional maturity of a child.
Hermione avoided Bellatrix the rest of the week. Rather than talking to Ginny about it, she ate her meals early and hid in the back section of the library where few could find her. Only Harry, familiar enough with her hiding spots because she’d brought him there before in their fourth year, when he’d been fighting with Ron, had been able to find her.
Thankfully, he didn’t ask why she was hiding. In truth, she wasn’t sure that Harry was aware, for all she knew, he was blissfully ignorant and come to some wrong assumption about her looking for information.
He was, however, more suspicious of Draco as of late. "I overheard him in apparition," he told her. "And he didn’t attend Quidditch. You can’t deny the evidence."
Hermione chewed on the end of the quill. As much as she despised the conversation, it was a welcome distraction from her heartbreak. "I don’t know, Harry. It’s all circumstantial. I’m not saying I don’t believe you, I’m only pointing out that you could be drawing the wrong conclusion about what he’s doing. He could be...plotting the escape of his father?"
Harry didn’t look convinced but he agreed that Draco could be up to some other type of wrong doing, though he was certain it had to do with Death Eaters. And if Hermione was truthful to herself, despite how circumstantial the evidence was, she couldn’t deny that it was getting stronger. Draco was failing classes. A lot of them. In previous years, the both of them had been neck and neck in marks for most of the classes. Not to mention that he was tired all the time and skittish.
He looked sick, and Hermione could imagine that having your father being sent of to Azkaban was enough for anyone to become depressed, but she agreed that there was likely something more to it.
"It’s Ron’s birthday tomorrow," Harry prompted after a moment of quiet.
"I have his present wrapped," Hermione assured. "I can give it to you later, after dinner to put on his pile tonight, if that’s alright?"
Harry nodded. While girls could enter the boy’s dormitory, it was ordinary frowned upon in the later years. Not that it should really matter. If her prefect duties had shown her anything, it was that if teenagers wanted to have sex, they would find a place to it. Usually in classrooms after curfew...but not always.
It seemed that the added anxiety of the looming war had lead to a lot of accelerated sex drives.
"Does he know that Hogsmeade’s cancelled?" Hermione asked.
"Since Katie. Didn’t you read the bulletin in the common room?" Hermione asked.
Harry looked sheepish before admitting, "I didn’t realise there was one."
Of course he didn’t. Hermione wondered sometimes if Harry’s glasses even worked half the time. "Professor McGonagall placed up on the bulletin board that Hogsmeade’s cancelled until further notice. Unless they find out who did it, I doubt they’ll be letting anyone out on Hogsmeade again."
Harry deflated. "Ron will love that, he was excited for it."
"Maybe next time," Hermione said, though talking about Hogsmeade reminded her of how she’d promised to take Bellatrix to Hogsmeade, last time. Daphne and her probably had plans anyway to find some secluded spot and make-out behind some tress or whatever.
She bit her tongue, trying to distract herself from the ache in her chest. Maybe Bellatrix was right to think she was being childish.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked. "You’ve almost broken that spine."
Hermione looked down to her hands where she was holding the book in such a way that would bend the book. Placing it down before Madam Pinch saw, she took a deep breath and exhaled. "I have a lot on my mind with the coming NEWTs," she lied.
Harry frowned, tilting his head. "They’re not until next year."
"We’ll have practice exams before then," she said.
"This isn’t about Ron and Lavender, is it?"
"Lavender?" Hermione balked. As if she cared. "No, it’s not. What makes you ask?"
"It seems that you’re avoiding Ron. You don’t sit with us as much. I know things are different since you were asked to look after Bella but...it seems like ever since Ron started dating Lavender you haven’t had as much time for us."
Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but Harry was right on one point, at least. She had been spending less time. "You could always sit with me," she said, instead. "But I’ll try to make more of an effort to sit with you. I know you don’t like Bella."
Harry gave a tight expression. "I don’t not like her. She’s a good Quidditch player and there’s plenty of times I’ve caught her hexing Pansy and Draco in a pretty amusing way, and while I wouldn’t trust her like you and Ron....I don’t not trust her, if that makes sense?"
Barely, Hermione thought but she warmed all the same by Harry’s words. "What did Sirius think about her after you all met?"
Harry shrugged. "Same as me. He went from disbelief to distrustful and I think it somewhat neutral. Andromeda seems more interested but I don’t know much about her. Barely knew she existed until he brought her up."
Hermione had done some research of Andromeda from the school records she could find. There wasn’t much. She was an average student, though she exceeded in potions and charms. Terrible at defence against the dark arts. Given Tonk’s age, Hermione assumed she began a mother quite young and seemed satisfied with that role.
"Does Tonk’s know about Bella?" Hermione asked
"I don’t think so?" Harry said. "But I don’t know. I’m not penpals with Andromeda, and Sirius isn’t really good with sharing information. It’s mostly cryptic remarks about who not to trust. He thinks Draco’s up to something."
Hermione sighed. They were back on that topic again. She tried to hold her tongue but as Harry began muttering under his breath about Draco’s "weird behaviour’, Hermione lost her patience. "Even if it is true, you’re going to get yourself in trouble with the way you’re acting. If you want to get to the truth you have to be open to all the facts, not emotionally rushing to the worst possibility!"
Madam Pince overheard them, kicking them out of the library, leaving Hermione feeling worse about herself as Harry only cast her a dirty look before storming off.
Maybe she deserved some of that. At the least the part about getting kicked out of the library.
Hermione went to bed early, before Bellatrix could see her and say something. The next morning, she got up early, intending to sneak out, only for Bellatrix to be downstairs waiting for her.
"Stop avoiding me, Granger."
"I’m n-not, who said–I would––"
Hermione sighed, her shoulders sagging. "If you’re going to force a conversation, can we not do it in the Common Room?" Hermione asked.
Bellatrix nodded, leading her out into the hall where they entered a familiar Charms common room. The very same one that they had cast bird spells in. The one Bella had pulled her into to teach her to apparate.
Hermione entered the room, feeling awkward as she watched Bellatrix charms the desks to the side of one wall.
"What are you doing?"
"You and I are going to fight," Bellatrix said, standing with her wand ready.
"What? No––"
Bellatrix cast the first spell and Hermione dodged it, pulling out her wand as she stared at her. "What the hell, Bella!"
"Come on," Bellatrix said. "If you’re going to be weird, you can grow a backbone and fight me."

Bellatrix frowned. "You ran off pretty mad after Apparation."

"I wasn’t mad at you," Hermione assured. "You made it look so easy and when I tried to do it, I couldn’t move. Susan Bones managed to at least move."

"Not moving means your probably better than Susan," Bellatrix assured. "If you had splinched that bad, it would mean that you needed more help."

"That makes no sense, Susan apparated."

"Yeah, she did, by coming about it all wrong and if the teachers weren’t there, she would have bled out and died," Bellatrix said. "Look, splinching that bad means you cocked it, right? I can’t speak for anyone else, but you, Hermione, are brilliant. So if you’re not apparating, it means that you haven’t got the final piece, but you’re not cocking it up, either."

Hermione swallowed, shifting on her feet. "Could you help me get the final piece...I know we can’t apparate-apparate, but maybe if you explain it or show me how to turn or..."

"How about now?" Bella said. "We’ll have lunch and then go to the old Charms classroom?"

"Sure," Hermione agreed, feeling a warmth spill through her.

The old Charms room was the same one they used for duelling, so it didn’t take long to set it up. Bellatrix stood beside her, taking her through the same pose that they did for duelling, only this time Hermione was having trouble loosening her limbs.

"You’ll trip over yourself with how stiff you are," Bellatrix said, grabbing her shoulders.

Hermione swallowed, ignoring how warm the woman’s hands were through the material of her clothes.

"Here, take a deep breath," she said and Hermione followed, sucking in a deep breath and then exalting. "Good, now, relax..." Bellatrix’s hands let go and Hermione relaxed, until the woman stepped behind her, placing her hands on her hips. "Here, shift your legs," she said and her hand reached down to Hermione’s thigh, adjusting it.

All Hermione could think about was the dream she had, back before Christmas, of Bellatrix taking her hand and shifting it away.

"I’ve got it," Hermione squeaked, shifting her leg. "I’m okay, I’ve got it."

Bellatrix gave a soft laugh, stepping back. "Alright, Granger, I’ll stop manhandling you. Now, flick your wrist and turn."

Hermione tried, but the spin felt wobbly. She stopped, already knowing that Bellatrix would be shaking her head.

"Like this," Bellatrix said, showing how she waved her wand and then spun. There was a surprising grace to it, as if she was spinning in the arms of a partner rather than herself.

"Can you dance?" Hermione asked.

"Probably," Bellatrix said. "When I went through the old school books, there were photographs of me at the end of year ball, dancing with some guy."

"Rodolphus." Hermione guessed, but Bellatrix shrugged.

"Don’t know, don’t care. I can’t imagine a school party is all that fun, anyway."

Hermione hummed in disagreement. Despite Ron’s behaviour at the Yule, she had otherwise had a wonderful evening. But that may have been due to both schools having being in attendance. "I think it depends," Hermione said, thinking about how lovely it would be to dance in Bellatrix’s arms before she tried to erase that thought, thinking about Viktor Krum instead. "I wish we would do more with the other wizarding schools."

Bellatrix frowned, but before Hermione could ask why, the witch was getting her to stand up straight and loosen her limbs again. "Remember to spin on the ball of your foot."

Hermione took a breath, flicked her wrist and as she spun, she fell off balance and tripped over her the hem of robes, falling to the floor.

Bellatrix caught her in time, hands around her wrist as she held her. "You’re still too stiff."

Hermione was caught in the woman’s arms, looking up at her as she realised they were close. Very close.

Hermione could remember how Bellatrix’s lips had tasted when she kissed her, and since then all she had thought about was as soft the witch’s lips were and how much she wanted to kiss them again. Now, right here, there was an opportunity.

Bellatrix’s throat cleared as she helped her to stand, pulling back. "Hermione, I..."

Hermione flinched at the tone, squirming as she scrambled back. "I think I’ve got it, thank you!" She said, before grabbing her bag and running off as she cursed herself. Her eyes burned as she ran around the corner, making her way far away from the old charms classroom to the library, where she could at least hide in a stack of books.

She hadn’t kissed Bellatrix, but it had been obvious, so obvious how much she wanted to and Bellatrix had looked at her so awkwardly, ready to remind her that she wasn’t interested in her and of course she would.

Because despite everything, Bellatrix didn’t like her like that.

Why had she been so foolish to agree to Ginny’s advice about asking for help. She didn’t need help; if she did, she’d find it in books, not with Bellatrix.

Hermione didn’t get better at apparition. Her mind felt as though it was full of bees any time she was near Bellatrix, hearing the witch say over and over in that soft tone, "Hermione, I..."

She had begun to avoid being in any matter of space with her, without at least a buffer of another friend, whether that was Ginny, or Harry. The only time that was difficult was Runes. Harry and Ron had a free period after Herbology, which usually meant that Hermione and Bellatrix would walk to Runes together, but this week, Hermione couldn’t imagine anything worse.

More than how awkward the Charms Room had been, was the fact of how much her heart hurt in Herbology when she saw Daphne asking Bellatrix for help. The two witches were close together, giggling and teasing each other, though somewhat discreetly, as they tried to get the pearl out of the plant.

It hurt and somehow made Hermione feel so very alone in the world, which was ridiculous because Harry and Ron were right next to her, chatting about Quidditch.

After class, Hermione couldn’t bear to wait around and quickly grabbed her things before running off, careful to not slip on the melting snow.

However, as she was making her way into Rune, Bellatrix managed to catch hold of her, tugging her into a spare classroom.

"We’re going to be late!" Hermione said, already feeling her stomach turn at the idea. She hated being tardy. She hated especially when a teacher would look her and say something like "I expected better of you," when she entered late. Not to mention that the last thing she wanted was to be alone in a room with Bellatrix.

She’d probably cry with how awful she felt. If she was being honest, she felt like crying now.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Bellatrix demanded.

Hermione swallowed. "I’m not."

"You go to bed early, your lights off when I go up to bed. You don’t come down until Ginny’s there. What’s your problem? I thought we were friends!" Bellatrix snapped. If Bellatrix had raised her voice like this back in the first Summer, Hermione would have cowered away from her. But she knew now that the woman wasn’t angry, she was scared.

"We are friends," she assured. "That hasn’t changed."

"But you’re avoiding being alone with me. You didn’t mind before? Are you angry about Daphne?"

"That’s not why I’m avoiding you," Hermione said, though it felt like a lie. She squirmed, shifting away from the witch as Bellatrix’s eyes flicked over her face, as if examining her.

"I don’t believe you. I know Pansy is a bitch, but Daphne’s not like that."

"Why do you always defend her!" Hermione snapped. "You always say that "Daphne’s not like that’, but she still laughs when Pansy makes a comment. She doesn’t stop her. I don’t care if she "doesn’t actually find it funny’, she’s still apart of the problem."

Bellatrix blinked, stepping back. "So you are angry about me being friends with Daphne."

"Well, you’re not just friends, are you? Your dating her."

"We mess around, sure. But it’s not dating."

Hermione felt herself grow sick. "We’re going to be late," she said, going to leave, but Bellatrix had grabbed at her wrist, holding her still.

"Are you jealous? I told you, everyone lies about that sort of thing. The amount of people who are actually having sex or have done anything is much smaller than you would think."

"You think I’m jealous of you having sex?" Hermione said. "Get off me!" She snapped, pulling away before she made her exit, out of the classroom. She didn’t care what else Bellatrix had to say as she ran off towards the girl’s bathroom, where she quickly darted into a stall and shut the door behind her, bursting into tears.

She hated that Bellatrix saw her as being so immature as to be jealous about sex. As if that’s what mattered. Hermione would rather she didn’t have sex until she was thirty than have sex with the wrong person. And right now, it seemed like no one was the right person. Least of all a witch who thought she had the emotional maturity of a child.

Hermione avoided Bellatrix the rest of the week. Rather than talking to Ginny about it, she ate her meals early and hid in the back section of the library where few could find her. Only Harry, familiar enough with her hiding spots because she’d brought him there before in their fourth year, when he’d been fighting with Ron, had been able to find her.

Thankfully, he didn’t ask why she was hiding. In truth, she wasn’t sure that Harry was aware, for all she knew, he was blissfully ignorant and come to some wrong assumption about her looking for information.

He was, however, more suspicious of Draco as of late. "I overheard him in apparition," he told her. "And he didn’t attend Quidditch. You can’t deny the evidence."

Hermione chewed on the end of the quill. As much as she despised the conversation, it was a welcome distraction from her heartbreak. "I don’t know, Harry. It’s all circumstantial. I’m not saying I don’t believe you, I’m only pointing out that you could be drawing the wrong conclusion about what he’s doing. He could be...plotting the escape of his father?"

Harry didn’t look convinced but he agreed that Draco could be up to some other type of wrong doing, though he was certain it had to do with Death Eaters. And if Hermione was truthful to herself, despite how circumstantial the evidence was, she couldn’t deny that it was getting stronger. Draco was failing classes. A lot of them. In previous years, the both of them had been neck and neck in marks for most of the classes. Not to mention that he was tired all the time and skittish.

He looked sick, and Hermione could imagine that having your father being sent of to Azkaban was enough for anyone to become depressed, but she agreed that there was likely something more to it.

"It’s Ron’s birthday tomorrow," Harry prompted after a moment of quiet.

"I have his present wrapped," Hermione assured. "I can give it to you later, after dinner to put on his pile tonight, if that’s alright?"

Harry nodded. While girls could enter the boy’s dormitory, it was ordinary frowned upon in the later years. Not that it should really matter. If her prefect duties had shown her anything, it was that if teenagers wanted to have sex, they would find a place to it. Usually in classrooms after curfew...but not always.

It seemed that the added anxiety of the looming war had lead to a lot of accelerated sex drives.

"Does he know that Hogsmeade’s cancelled?" Hermione asked.

"Since Katie. Didn’t you read the bulletin in the common room?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked sheepish before admitting, "I didn’t realise there was one."

Of course he didn’t. Hermione wondered sometimes if Harry’s glasses even worked half the time. "Professor McGonagall placed up on the bulletin board that Hogsmeade’s cancelled until further notice. Unless they find out who did it, I doubt they’ll be letting anyone out on Hogsmeade again."

Harry deflated. "Ron will love that, he was excited for it."

"Maybe next time," Hermione said, though talking about Hogsmeade reminded her of how she’d promised to take Bellatrix to Hogsmeade, last time. Daphne and her probably had plans anyway to find some secluded spot and make-out behind some tress or whatever.

She bit her tongue, trying to distract herself from the ache in her chest. Maybe Bellatrix was right to think she was being childish.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked. "You’ve almost broken that spine."

Hermione looked down to her hands where she was holding the book in such a way that would bend the book. Placing it down before Madam Pinch saw, she took a deep breath and exhaled. "I have a lot on my mind with the coming NEWTs," she lied.

Harry frowned, tilting his head. "They’re not until next year."

"We’ll have practice exams before then," she said.

"This isn’t about Ron and Lavender, is it?"

"Lavender?" Hermione balked. As if she cared. "No, it’s not. What makes you ask?"

"It seems that you’re avoiding Ron. You don’t sit with us as much. I know things are different since you were asked to look after Bella but...it seems like ever since Ron started dating Lavender you haven’t had as much time for us."

Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but Harry was right on one point, at least. She had been spending less time. "You could always sit with me," she said, instead. "But I’ll try to make more of an effort to sit with you. I know you don’t like Bella."

Harry gave a tight expression. "I don’t not like her. She’s a good Quidditch player and there’s plenty of times I’ve caught her hexing Pansy and Draco in a pretty amusing way, and while I wouldn’t trust her like you and Ron....I don’t not trust her, if that makes sense?"

Barely, Hermione thought but she warmed all the same by Harry’s words. "What did Sirius think about her after you all met?"

Harry shrugged. "Same as me. He went from disbelief to distrustful and I think it somewhat neutral. Andromeda seems more interested but I don’t know much about her. Barely knew she existed until he brought her up."

Hermione had done some research of Andromeda from the school records she could find. There wasn’t much. She was an average student, though she exceeded in potions and charms. Terrible at defence against the dark arts. Given Tonk’s age, Hermione assumed she began a mother quite young and seemed satisfied with that role.

"Does Tonk’s know about Bella?" Hermione asked

"I don’t think so?" Harry said. "But I don’t know. I’m not penpals with Andromeda, and Sirius isn’t really good with sharing information. It’s mostly cryptic remarks about who not to trust. He thinks Draco’s up to something."

Hermione sighed. They were back on that topic again. She tried to hold her tongue but as Harry began muttering under his breath about Draco’s "weird behaviour’, Hermione lost her patience. "Even if it is true, you’re going to get yourself in trouble with the way you’re acting. If you want to get to the truth you have to be open to all the facts, not emotionally rushing to the worst possibility!"

Madam Pince overheard them, kicking them out of the library, leaving Hermione feeling worse about herself as Harry only cast her a dirty look before storming off.

Maybe she deserved some of that. At the least the part about getting kicked out of the library.

Hermione went to bed early, before Bellatrix could see her and say something. The next morning, she got up early, intending to sneak out, only for Bellatrix to be downstairs waiting for her.

"Stop avoiding me, Granger."

"I’m n-not, who said–I would––"

Hermione sighed, her shoulders sagging. "If you’re going to force a conversation, can we not do it in the Common Room?" Hermione asked.

Bellatrix nodded, leading her out into the hall where they entered a familiar Charms common room. The very same one that they had cast bird spells in. The one Bella had pulled her into to teach her to apparate.

Hermione entered the room, feeling awkward as she watched Bellatrix charms the desks to the side of one wall.

"What are you doing?"

"You and I are going to fight," Bellatrix said, standing with her wand ready.

"What? No––"

Bellatrix cast the first spell and Hermione dodged it, pulling out her wand as she stared at her. "What the hell, Bella!"

"Come on," Bellatrix said. "If you’re going to be weird, you can grow a backbone and fight me."