March
"Yes, you win this one. Got to admit I didn't expect you to get this… intense."
And intense was definitely too mild a description, given Hermione was on the ground, pinned under Bella's weight and there was a dagger-shaped piece of rubber that likely used to be something like a breadstick before Bella Transfigured it pressed against her neck. She wasn't freaking out, months of daily exposure to Bella really helped her brain separate the older Death Eater Bellatrix from the younger Andy's sister Bella. And the fake dagger was a surprise she never saw from Bella during their training before and by the time her brain caught up with the events enough to be able to start panicking, it saw there was no reason to panic and so didn't.
"Learned this move from a goblin. Sure, it only works when the other witch is close enough and doesn't expect it, but that's often the case inside buildings, eh? So it is five wins for me and four for you, right?"
Bella's happy smile was perfectly understandable, given this was the first time she's managed to win more points than Hermione in one of their training sessions. But the time it took her to say it all made Hermione very aware of two things. One, Bella's body felt very warm and nice against her own. Two, the new perfume Bella used combined with her shampoo and sweat and everything to create a mixture that made Hermione want to inhale rather improperly.
"Ye-es, you've finally won. Told you you would, months ago."
Bella's smile got even wider, which seemed next to impossible a moment ago.
"And what about my rubber dagger? Can you tell I've shaped it after my goblin steel one? This one's Transfigured out of an old parchment, though, so it wouldn't cause you more than a papercut even if either of us disrupted the Transfiguration."
A part of Hermione's mind wanted to stay in place for as long as possible, enjoying closeness she wasn't allowed for months and months. Doing nothing that might scare Bella away, she simply enjoyed the moment. But then her brain had to mess it up.
"Good idea, if you don't mind that Muggles have been using training rubber daggers for years, as far as I know."
Bella didn't get angry, didn't storm away, she simply sighed.
"Do you really have to be such a sore loser, Hermione, especially when you know how lucky I was with two of my points today? Yes, I do know Muggles use fake weapons for training, you can't rile me up this way. Why do you have to try to sour my victory like this?"
"Wait, I didn't want to rile you up! I just thought you might not want to use it again if Muggles use these too! Can you imagine what some people might say should they see you using it?"
Bella's smile returned but the unspoken pause had been broken. Bella put the dagger away and rose and something inside Hermione felt surprisingly sad. Even Bella's hand, offered to help Hermione stand up, couldn't make that sadness go away.
****
"I'll have to ask for some of your love potion antidote, Andy."
To Bella's disappointment, Andy's face showed too much shock. She really was going soft and careless, cultivating bad habits. They were in public, even if the little cafe on the outskirts of Hogsmeade was mostly empty and their nook was warded against eavesdropping, so Andy should have maintained better self-control.
"Why would you need my love potion antidote? Think somebody slipped you something and you lost your own?"
At least Andy had enough common sense to reach into her robes and offer a small vial. Taking it and measuring four drops into her cup of tea, Bella replied without looking at Andy.
"Don't think so, but I feel I've missed something. I feel too attracted to someone and even though I don't think she would slip me something herself, somebody might want to ruin our standing by doing this to us. And I've been told your antidote is better than mine."
She thought she saw Andy connect the dots.
"Your ingredients are still fermenting? Hermione mentioned she told you about the antidote like two weeks ago. And don't worry, I brewed this batch myself, with Cissy's help."
Turned out Andy really was getting careless, or maybe focusing too much energy into protecting her own secrets.
"I don't know the recipe, so I wouldn't even know what to ferment, she just told me it exists. You should have mentioned this and we could have had these important details sorted out those two weeks ago, Andy, you know how many people might be after us. I guess she imagined you'd share it with me on your own initiative."
She saw Andy's face get a bit embarrassed but was relieved it was only apparent to those who knew her well.
"Uh, the exotic two recipes it also protects against use either Indonesian or Peruvian ingredients you can't even buy in Britain and the only book I found at least the Peruvian recipe mentioned in claims our old antidote would work, while the downside of what you just drank is slower reaction speed for an hour or two afterwards, so I thought you wouldn't want it anyway? By the way, Cissy talked Mother into getting her both the recipe and the ingredients for the Peruvian potion and tested it and the regular antidote only works if you take it within about two hours after ingesting the love potion, which explains how a lazy tester simply concluded it works. However, I thought you'd rather keep your quick reactions; what are the chances of anyone using something this exotic around here, given an antidote is far from being the only defense we have?"
About one hundred percent, because Bella was definitely going to find a way to use whatever exotic brew Hermione would provide against Rodolphus, but that wasn't something she'd burden Andy with.
"No harm done, I guess. I just hope you're not going to be too angry with me."
This earned her Andy's raised eyebrow.
"Because I only have like a dozen doses left? No worries, Bella, this is just family paranoia, nobody's ever tried to slip me a love potion."
This time, even Bella couldn't resist a sigh, despite being in public.
"No. Because the witch I'm catching feelings for is Hermione and the antidote did nothing about it."
****
"I am sorry to say I do not bring good news, Hermione. I have managed to talk to what is left of the mirror's creator, which means a damaged and half-insane shade. You can visit him yourself, should you wish to, but what I've learned convinced me the problem is so complex I will have to postpone dealing with the mirror until after we've defeated Riddle."
Dumbledore's office was as weird as always but Dumbledore himself seemed more focused, as if the topic at hand was so important he has decided to drop his usual facade. Months of fruitless experiments and false leads have accustomed Hermione to the idea she might stay stuck in the reality the mirror in question spat her out into, but even limited information on the artifact might be better than none.
"So what have you learned, Albus?"
"Not much, and what I heard is unreliable. But for what it is worth… The mirror's creator was trying to research a theory about multiple timelines and used a mirror as a focus. It was supposed to link to another similar mirror in an alternate timeline. And when he tried to use it, fleeing from some mortal danger and having no other means of escape, a flaw in the design caused it to link to multiple other mirrors. Not only did it splinch him, even his soul got fractured. The main part of it remains in this reality, in a ruined mansion on a small island off the coast of Scotland, but he is insane as a result. You are lucky your own mirror was the only one no part of his soul made it through, as the other mirrors got disconnected as a result, so you only had one mirror to go through and didn't get splinched yourself. However, repairing our mirror and then reconnecting it to your own timeline is a task that will take months at best and might turn out to be impossible at worst. We still don't even know whether you're from an alternate timeline or an independent parallel reality, and what I've learned might be crazy ramblings of a damaged ghost anyway. I am sorry but we have more pressing issues to deal with, as you're all too aware.
The information, while not good, was no surprise. Yes, it might become a stepping stone for further research that might eventually get her home, but that was at least a few years in the future. She was as good as stuck in her current reality, just as she grew to expect during the last few months. But somehow, this confirmation of her expectations made her intensely aware that she better deal with her growing reactions to Bella's perfume and heat.