Our's to Catch Chapter 14

Hermione groaned as something pounded against her door. The sound revibrated around in Hermione’s head, almost making it seem like someone was physically pounding her brain instead of on the door of the room she found herself in. She may not remember what happened to cause her to drink so much but she at least knew where she was: the green, silver and black color scheme left little doubt she was still in Black Manor.

“Rise and shine muddy.” Bellatrix bellowed through the door as she pounded on it again.

Hermione was sure the woman was smiling at the pain she had to be knowingly causing Hermione. Hermione had no doubt that if the older woman wanted in the woman or wanted something from Hermione, she would have just barged in. But of course Bellatrix couldn’t ignore the opportunity to torture Hermione while she was hung over.

Hermione groaned as she tried to get out of bed. Every small movement she made, made her entire world sway as if she were on a ship. It felt like her brain was trying to escape her head and no matter how slow Hermione moved, it didn’t seem to ease any of the pain.

“Come now pet, surely you’re an early riser with how much homework and reading I’m told you do.” Bellatrix said through the door at the top of her lungs, adding a few more pounds against the door for fun. “I have a letter that was sent for you and it seems pretty urgent; little Miss Lovegood is wanting to confirm you are safe while you stay with us. I would like you to respond sooner rather than later before she tries to get her father to make another visit with us.” Bellatrix said loud enough for her Gryffindor to hear, then added too low for the muggleborn to hear, “He rambles too much about his imaginary pets for my liking.” Bellatrix always made sure whenever Xenophilius visited, whether because they were technically ‘friends’ or to discuss business or battle plans, she did her best to make herself scarce. There were rarely any times she needed to actually talk with him and when she did, she did her best to make it short and sweet before ditching her sisters to have them put up with the man.

Hermione finally got to her feet and while she had thought her world had already been swaying precariously before she stood up but now that she was standing, it seemed she was in a raging storm. Everything she looked at was in motion, nothing looked solid enough to stand on it’s own. Her own feet seemed to sliding back and forth on the floor while the floor itself seemed to be moving up and down. It was all Hermione could do to not fall back down on the bed. But she had already put so much effort into standing, she didn’t want to put it to waste and have to start all over again.

“If you don’t answer me pet, I’ll just have to come in and make sure you’re okay.” Bellatrix screamed through the door, making sure to pound on the door a few more times to make sure her point got across to the young woman.

Hermione wanted to respond but opening her mouth seemed like the most dangerous thing to do. She wasn’t sure if she had anything to eat last night but if she did, whatever it was, was threatening to make a reappearance if she dared open her mouth. Hermione eyed the potion nervously. The color matched that of what she wanted, the perfect magical hangover cure. But she didn’t completely trust all the occupants of the house to not have poisoned it or to add something to do it that would hurt her. Perhaps if she could somehow talk to Andy then she could get assured she would be safe to drink it.

Slowly she reached for the glass of water, she was at least okay with drinking that. There still could be something in it still, it was very easy to make sure invisible in water, especially with magic, but with how dehydrated she was and with how much pain her head and stomach was in, drinking water seemed safe. Besides, with how dry her throat felt, she wasn’t sure she would be able to answer the Death Eater if she wanted to.

As Hermione’s hand grasped the glass of water, the door was slammed open, bouncing off the wall with such force Hermione was still feeling the vibrations in her body from the force. That certainly didn’t help her headache but it also made her cringe, dropping the glass she had finally been able to pick up.

The glass crashing to the ground echoed around the room and Hermione couldn’t help but look fearfully at the woman who had just rudely woken her up and caused her pain. Surely Bellatrix, the right-hand woman of Lord Voldemort wouldn’t stand for such a mess being made in her house. It was likely some super expensive rug, passed down through the generations that she had just spilt water on and ruined. This could finally be the tipping point of Bellatrix finally showing her true colors.

“Do you not know how to hold a glass pet?” Bellatrix asked, her tone a less friendly than it had two seconds ago.

Hermione didn’t even know what to say. She was frozen with wide eyes, waiting for the older woman to grab her wand and hex her. What she hadn’t expected though was what the woman actually did.

Bellatrix threw her head back and laughed. The look on her muggleborn’s face was priceless. True, Bellatrix didn’t like that Hermione seemed so afraid of her, a healthy dose of fear was always okay but the fear the woman had was a bit too much for the older witch’s liking. She would need to work on that with the witch; apparently her sisters were right when they told her Hermione was too afraid of her. Well, damnit. She didn’t want to be proven wrong and her sister’s right. Perhaps if she just didn’t say anything, neither would they.

“Why so scared pet?” Bellatrix said with a smirk, “If you think this is first time something has been dropped in this room, you would be wrong. This used to be Cissa’s room and when she was younger, she had a temper worse than mine when she didn’t get her way. Don’t tell her I told you though, she loves her calm and icy persona and will probably be made at me for sharing that tidbit.” Bellatrix said as she pulled out her wand and cleaned up the mess.

“I’m sorry.” Hermione said, then winced as she heard how hoarse her voice was from how dry it was.

Bellatrix opened her mouth to comment and tease about hearing Hermione’s deeper toned voice in a different setting but she knew that would be a step too far in her teasing. At least at the moment. Bellatrix did have control after all, no matter what her sisters tried to tell her.

“It’s like you forgot we had magic.” Bellatrix said instead with a smile, “Read the letter pet, there’s a stationary set in the desk there you can respond with, when you’re done just come straight down the stairs and we’ll mail it out and continue our talk. This time, we’ll all be there.” Bellatrix said as she tossed the letter on the bed. “Oh, the potion isn’t poisoned if that’s what you were thinking.” The dark witch said as she turned around to leave, “If we wanted to hurt you, you wouldn’t be in Cissy’s old room and you wouldn’t have been given the potion in the first place. Show a little faith muddy that perhaps all these big bad things we’ve done isn’t exactly what really happened.” She said as she started to close the door, “Don’t take too long though pet, Cissy may just come up here as well to get you downstairs.” She said, then with as much muscle as she had, which was a lot if you asked her, she slammed the door again, smirking when she heard her Gryffindor groan in pain again. That’ll teach her to not puke on her in the future. Bellatrix cackled at the younger brunette as she walked downstairs. She had already read the letter, and she already knew the Lovegoods had no issue with her family, it wouldn’t take long for Hermione to respond.

Hermione quickly downed the potion, more than willing to deal with whatever the consequences were if she could get rid of the headache that had become ten times worse when Bellatrix slammed the door shut. She opened the letter, ignoring the fact the seal was broken because Bellatrix had already admitted to reading it, and quickly read the letter. She didn’t want the others waiting for her and getting upset with her more than they already were.

She moved to the desk and easily spotted the stationary Bellatrix spoke of and quickly assured her friend she was safe. She also added a few questions herself. Luna had briefly mentioned not being completely concerned about Hermione being with the Black’s, just more concerned on how she got there and the lack of notice since Hermione wasn’t known to not plan things out. Hermione wanted to know why Luna wasn’t concerned.

Once she was done with the brief letter, she rolled up and tied it instead of sealing it with the provided wax and seal the stationary had. Once that was done, she grabbed her wand and cast a few spells to clean her outfit and fix her hair from sleeping. Once she felt refreshed and the potion already having completely fixed her hangover, Hermione took a deep breath and started her walk down the hall with determination. She would do her best to keep a cool head and get the answers she wanted. It was about time she knew exactly what was going on and what role the sister’s expected her to play. She also wanted to know more about this so-called prophecy; she figured finally getting her answers was the least the sisters could do.