Second and third year, nothing too difficult Right?
~ 1994/1995 ~
Coming into her second year Hermione was ecstatic to say the least. As much as she loved her parents she couldn't help feeling awfully isolated over the summer months. She longed to see her friends again, especially Harry and Ron. As much as the two boys annoyed her drastically they were her best friends and understood her. Her Hogwarts friends had become the family she didnt know she needed. They got her in a way her parents never would.
The Grangers meant well. They loved their daughter but they couldn't even begin to pretend on understanding her magic or her studies. As such they felt rather out of their depth during the summer and so took to avoiding their only child a little because they really didn't understand.
Harry and Ron, understood magic. They didn't necessarily understand it to the degree Hermione did. She was the brightest witch if her age after all and even then her magical ability was advanced well beyond her years.
She had also had word from Ron that there was a new duelling club starting up within the school open too all years. Sure it was Professor Snape leading it but it would give her a chance to train alongside her peers on her offensive and defensive ability within a duel like setting.
Her first few weeks back went off relatively without a hitch. Except it was the first time Hermione had the slur - mudblood - thrown directly in her face by none other the Draco Malfoy, Slytherins finest bully. But Hermione was determined not to let it get to her. She may be a muggle-born but she was still the best in her year and no slur would change that.
Ron puked slugs when his curse backfired and hit him instead of Malfoy after he tried to defend Hermione.
Harry could talk to snakes, the chamber of secrets was opened by Slytherins heir releasing some monster that petrified Flinches cat and attacked muggle-borns in the school. Ginny Weasley was acting rather strange.
The trio as usual tried to figure out what was going on. Their defence against the dark arts teacher was useless and all the teachers were worried and while Harry and Ron were of doing whatever Harry and Ron do, Hermione took to the library trying to figure out what was attacking muggle-born students and how this 'monster' was getting around the castle unseen.
After hours upon hours of research and slowly piecing together the clues she had gathered Hermione figured out that the monster was a snake (a basilisk to be exact) and it was using the pipe system to move around the castle freely. She also realised that the only reason the students hadn't died yet was because none had looked directly into the snakes eyes and had only seen its eyes in the reflection of something.
And thats when it was lights out for Hermione. One moment she was walking to go and inform Ron and Harry. The next it was dark and she didnt know of anything else for some time.
Things kept moving without her. Hagrid was framed (again) for the attacks. Lucius Malfoy (from the school board of governors) suspended Headmaster Dumbledore and Harris was shipped off to Azkaban. The boys figured out it was the snake thanks to Hermione clutching a note in her hand amd help from Hagrids friend Aragog (an acrumantula - in other words a massive spider).
Ginny Weasley was abducted by the Basalisk. Harry, Ron and the DADA went into the chamber in search of Ginny and put a stop to the attacks.
The DADA teacher was useless and tried to escape eventually obliviating his own memory.
Ron and Harry got separated. Harry continued on and learned he was actually talking to Voldemorts soul trapped in a diary that Lucius Malfoy bad Slipped Ginny. Effectively brain washing her into opening the chamber and releasing the basalisk. Voldemort tried to stay alive forever by trying to drain Ginny of her life while Harry fought and eventually won against the basalisk and destroying the diary with one of its fangs when the sord of Griffin Griffyndor was dropped of in the sorting hat by Fawkes Dumbledores fire hawk. The hawk healed Harry and flew everyone back to safety.
By the time Poppy Pomfrey the school nurse had managed to cure Hermione and the other Muggle-born students it was the end of term. Her house won again and it was off again for the students back towards their respective homes.
To say that Hermione was apprehensive was more than a little understating her feelings. She feared that after the reaction she received from her parents last summer all she would get was a repeat of her parents pulling away from her and her feeling extremely isolated.
~ 1995/1996 ~
Hermione was more than a little relieved when she returned to the Castle for her third year. Her summer had been tense with a variety of different emotions. Her parents were sweet at first. Both glad to see their daughter and Hermione equally happy to see them. It had been a long year after all and she had missed them more than she knew. Then had come the strange awkwardness days later that didn't shift again until the day they left with Hermione to drop her off at the train station.
Leaving Hermione feeling isolated and alone for the second summer running. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to keep doing that. She feared that eventually they would stop wanting her home. Though she refused to think about that right now. So she spent the entire summer practicing her wordless and wandless magic because so long as she didnt use her wand the ministry couldnt track her usage of magic outside of the castle. Why it was forbidden for those under 17 at hogwarts to use magic at home she did not know but thought she'd best adhere to it because she really didn't want to be expelled.
Her third year like the years before it had come and gone with the usual healthy dose of near death experiences for the trio or 'golden trio' as a lot had taken to calling them.
Things were good for a while, except Ron being a prat because his rat went missing and he blamed hermione's cat for his dissapearance. Their new Defence against the Dark arts teacher was a huge improvement from previous years. Remus Lupin was down to earth. He engaged his class and Hermione found a new thrill in his teaching. She may already know the course material and have mastered the magic but he was still interesting to listen to.
Professor McGonagall had also entrusted Hermione with her own personal time turner. Instructing her to take care of it for her enabling Hermione to attend every single class offered to students. Except divination. She HATED divination.
Of course there was the proverbial hold your breath months as news spread of Serius Black's escape from Azkaban when it was believed he was hunting Harry to finish him off. After all the whole wizard in world believed it was Sirius who had sold out the location of Harry's parents to Voldemort the night Harry's parents were brutally murdered infront of an infant Harry, where voldemort then tried to kill Harry. His mothers love saved him though.
Weeks turned into months and Christmas again came and went and Hermione eventually worked out that Remus Lupin was secretly a werewolf. The Weasley twins (Fred and George Rons older brothers) gave them a magical map of the castle that showed where everyone was at any given moment.
It was then that the trio paused. The name - Peter Pettigrew - moved around the Castle. But it couldn't be could it? He was meant to be dead. Serius Black was meant to have killed him right?
Their confusion grew until it all came to a head one night where the trio found themselves in the shreaking shack with none other than Sirius Black the escaped murderer, Remus Lupin their professor, Professor Snape and none other than Peter Pettigrew himself. So he obviously wasn't dead.
Hermione had to stun and disarm Snape to stop him attacking Sirius while the trio got the explanation for what was going on.
Turns out Sirius is Harry's godfather and innocent of all crimes, Pettigrew however was the guilty one. He tried to flee, the trio gave chase along with Remus and Serius.
Big mistake Remus was a werewolf and it was a full moon. Serius stepped in to protect them, transforming into his animagus form (a black wolf) to fight the werewolf. Snape threw himself infront of the students to protect them. Ron broke his ankle. Sirius was captured by aurors.
Back in the infirmary Dumbledore turned up not so subtly giving Hermione a nudge to use her time turner to save Sirius and Buckbeak (Hagrids animal) from execution. Hermione and Harry travel back in time to set Buckbeak free and then break Sirius out of his holding cell before he is taken away from the Castle. He flies off with Buckbeak with promises to keep in touch and that Hermione has to consider a very successful year.
Especially when she passed all her classes and her house yet again won the house cup.
With a weary sigh she handed the time turner back with an "ill not be needing this again, im exhausted" smiling gently on her way out of her professors office as she heard the deep chuckle from the woman Hermione had come to admire so greatly.
Another year was through and Hermione sighed as she sat in her cabin on the train surrounded by her peers. Merlin she wished she didn't need to say goodbye.
~ meanwhile in a dark Rocky shore in the middle of nowhere a tall ominous, crumbling building stood surrounded by the ice cold winds and harsh beating of the sea as it whipped around the murky shallows of Azkaban ~
Bellatrix Lestrange sat huddled in the corner of her damp cell, cold black chains restricting her movement as she wrapped her arms around her legs in an attempt to maintain some semblance of heat.
It was times like this she really questioned her sanity in agreeing to help Albus by posing as a death eater in the dark lords inner circle of followers. Surely there could have been another way. She had questioned herself with that one a hundred times and unfortunately every time she always found the same answer.
No there was no other way. She had originally agreed to protect her sisters. Andromeda and Narcissa had been her everything growing up. The bond between the three black siblings was unquestionably the strongest many a witch or wizard had ever seen. They had grown up in an extremely abusive home. Their father was a tyrant. A pureblood supremist who was infuriated at their mothers lack of ability to produce a male heir when she had Bellatrix. His anger grew worse with each sister and ultimately Narcissa would be the last pregnancy her mother could carry to term after almost dying during labour when there was a complication. To this day Bellatrix didn't know what that complication was only that it had resulted in her mother being rendered infertile.
As they grew older her fathers abuse steadily moved from her mother onto his daughters and Bellatrix had done everything in her power to ensure that she received the worst of it. She couldn't bare the thought of anyone harming her Dromeda or Cissy. Her baby sisters.
It was how she got involved in the dark arts to start with, hunting for some piece of magic that would ensure that while Bella was off at hogwarts studying their father couldnt lay a hand on her sisters. She had found the answer in a dark arts book, casting a protection charm on them both her first summer home would ultimately be the best thing she had ever done in her life. It meant that while she was away if her father even attempted to get close to her sisters he would become seriously ill to the point that he either left the room or passed out from pain. It had saved the younger blacks from a whirlwind of pain at the hands of their father.
Unfortunately for Bella she did not have the same luxuries. Every break she was home she'd become his punching bag and by the time she had left school Andromeda had met and fell in love with Ted Tonks, a beautiful, kindhearted muggle-born witch and Bella had all but begged Ted to take her sister away and far from their fathers rath. This left Bellatrix and Narcissa at home.
She was lucky she supposed that she had met Rudolphus. They had met at Narcissa's graduation properly. Sure they had gone to school together but had never really had much interaction with one another until that day and they soon fell madly in love with one another.
It was that day Albus had approached both Bella and Rod with his proposal. For both to join the death eaters as their fathers demanded but instead of giving into the dark they'd secretly be feeding information to the light in an attempt to take down the dark Lord. Albus swearing to keep an eye on Andromeda and helping Bella see how she could use this to keep both her sisters safe.
From there it had gone. For six years Bella and Rod had worked undercover. Ensuring that their 'victims' were not actually harmed but seemed that way. With the knowledge that they would be healed amd returned to themselves when this war was all over. They wormed their way steadily to the top of the dark lords ranks and were relieved when he seemed to have placed his utmost trust in the young couple.
As a 'gift' for their loyalty the Dark Lord had left it down to Bellatrix on how to handle her 'blood-traitor' sister who had run off with the 'mudblood' and he had allowed Narcissa to work behind the scenes and forgo the pain of having to get the dark mark. "She is a healer my lord, she would fair better as she is without dark magic tainting her abilities" Bellatrix had explained relieved when he had agreed.
So her sisters were safe and the people she harmed were not actually hurt but the world didn't know that. Not yet anyway. They couldn't know yet. Albus had explained. They knew the dark Lord was merely gravely injured but would one day be back which is why Bella found herself in the predicament she was in now.
Bound in a damp cell without her wand or proper food. It was where she had been for the last 14 years.
Merlin had it been that long? Her little girl would be almost a woman by now. At 14 years old she would just be coming into the full scale of her magical abilities and Bellatrix prayed that the girl would know not to flaunt her power. It would give her away far too quickly. It would ruin everything and her heart squeezed at the mere thought of either side finding out just who the girl was. She'd become an even bigger target than the Potter family were. The dark Lord would want her power if she refused to join he would wakt her death. And the light? Although they would never wish her harm would all at once despise her parentage but covet her abilities and she did not want that for her baby girl. Its why she had given her up after all. That and she knew that until the girl was of age her prophecy could not come to fruition and if she had any chance of her family surviving what was to come she needed her little girl to have the chance to fulfill her destiny. She wanted her baby to have a happy childhood free from the pressures of war amd the dangers that lay around her heritage. At least until she was truly strong enough to face it, Bellatrix did not want her baby knowing exactly who she was because she know that her little Hermione was safe in her ignorance.