Stepping into the future.
"That's so sappy it makes my brain hurt!"
Hermione's reply sounded so naive a part of Bella wanted to roll her eyes once again.
"What's so sappy about We came in peace for all mankind?"
Bella sighed but being snuggled up to Hermione made it impossible to get properly angry. And given how draining her night was and how that night was turning into dawn already, Bella even let her hands stay resting under the blanket they shared. She was exhausted.
"Remember your history books? Basically everyone's been trying to fight basically everyone they could get at since the dawn of humanity? They've got to know those are just pretty words!"
Hermione obviously didn't realize how infuriating her trying to sound sensible could get, even if her voice showed she was as tired as Bella was.
"They're both trained fighters, Bella, but they also understand it is something to aspire to."
"Nonsense. That line about a single step was perfect and damn, I still can't believe fudgen muggles are walking on the Moon. And watching him make that step and hearing him talk about it being a leap for mankind and knowing that includes me and knowing there's like a hundred million muggles watching it too really made me feel wizardkind is just a bunch of fools who are stuck in the past. Almost made me feel being a blood traitor is something we can get away with. This, however, is just unfounded optimism and naive hypocrisy in one neat package."
She could feel Hermione's eyes boring into her face and turned her own gaze from the telly towards Hermione. But then Hermione's face softened and Bella saw her lean towards her ear and her voice was barely more than a whisper.
"I'll help you believe in luck and hope again, Bella."
It was the sweetest kind of pain that Bella could remember. She could actually feel hope invading her mind, she could almost delude herself into believing she finally got lucky. But there was that hooked claw of experience raking across her soul, reminding her of what traitors deserved and how Hermione might be playing with her and…
The pain that shot through her when her nails almost pierced her palm helped. Breath in, breath out, breath in… Hermione's voice certainly sounded gentle and understanding.
"A real shitty day, eh? And it is like four in the morning, my brain would be as worn out as you seem to be if I had to go through what I exposed you to. You need some rest."
Hermione leaving the bed almost made Bella groan in disappointment, even if she understood the reason when she watched Hermione put away the few remaining tomes and snacks from the edges of the bed. Hermione gently grabbing her left ankle and giving it a symbolic tug, however, made her mood rise again.
"They're about to get back into the lander and they're not lifting off yet. Let's get at least some sleep too, shall we?"
****
It was definitely one of the best mornings of her life. She must have only slept like three hours, given how she felt, but… Despite them having gone to sleep like a pair of sensible young ladies, she woke up being spooned by Bella and feeling the heat from Bella's palm on her stomach easily pass through the thin fabric of her night dress. So let her own right hand gently pin Bella's hand in place and smiled when she noticed Bella wake up too.
"Can you imagine Andy's reaction once she recalls her quip about finding you a wife in me?"
Silence, followed by Bella's whole body pressing into Hermione's in somewhat anguished manner, then Bella's forehead resting against Hermione's shoulder.
"I really don't want to fuck this up, Hermione. I want you but I don't want either of us hurt and there are so many reasons to back down that it gnaws at my insides but I don't want to fight this anymore."
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Hermione's common sense kept telling her to thank Bella for her self-control but her heart kept yelling at her to get stuffed with paranoia and self-sacrifice and to just kiss Bella. She opened her mouth to close it a heartbeat later, and did it again and again. Finally, the accumulated months of Bella proving, despite her remaining flaws, that she was nothing like her old-world Bellatrix tilted the scales.
"Then don't."
Slowly, so as to not jab or startle Bella, Hermione turned to face Bella.
"I've seen dozens of people die, Bella. Either of us could fuck this up, or we might die today or in a month. But the only way we maybe might make it work is by giving it a try."
And she kissed Bella on her nose.
Two or three seconds of stunned silence and then a hint amusement on Bella's face that got washed away by a tsunami of passion. Hands pulling her into Bella's embrace hard, lips hungry to taste more than they could, a thigh between her legs she couldn't resist grinding against. There was so much she wanted to say but her brain only managed to get out one word.
"Yes…"
****
"up! Wake up! It is lunchtime!"
That weirdly croaky and somehow familiar-sounding voice woke Bella fast and her head snapped towards the source. She felt Hermione jerk awake too and then she saw the culprit. A crow made of blue light, no doubt a corporeal Patronus, was perched on the telly.
"Wake up! Wake up! It is lunchtime!"
Hermione reacted before Bella managed to.
"Ugh… Tell her crushed oranges and I'll send a message in ten minutes. Or fifteen."
The not really a bird managed to nod in acknowledgment, leapt into flight and vanished. Apparently, Patronuses could be used as messengers. But the whole exchange gave Bella plenty of time to notice a few more things. Her body hurt and ached in too many places. She was hot and thirsty and needed a shower. There had to be like ten times more muscles in her tongue than she used to think and she was way too aware of every single one. She didn't regret her tongue hurting, the reason she wanted it not hurting was so she could use it on Hermione again, but how the fuck was she supposed to know her tongue would need *that* much endurance?!? Even plain talking hurt!
"Was that some code phrase?"
And she couldn't resist kissing Hermione's shoulder and running her palm along Hermione's inner thigh, which made Hermione's voice waver rather satisfyingly when she replied.
"Yes, that was Andy's Patronus and I told her I'm safe. I guess we managed to sleep through-"
Bella couldn't resist joining Hermione in finishing that sentence before she added her own one.
"-our lunch with Andy and Ted. She'll be insufferable!"
She felt her right hand being lifted to Hermione's lips, then came a gentle kiss and Hermione's voice became softer.
"We could blame it on the Moon landing, Bella."
Bella's heart broke a bit at those words, because she knew Hermione too well and the unspoken message behind them touched some of Bella's vulnerable spots. This was Hermione giving her a chance to change her mind, to make them a one-time thing they wouldn't have to tell Andy about. It was an offer to protect her from all the consequences that falling for a muggleborn would bring. It told her that Hermione loved her so much that she was willing to let her go, to make her life easier, even if it meant losing her. But things like this was exactly why she *couldn't* leave Hermione, not when these qualities made her love Hermione in the first place. Hermione being a genius was nice, her being sexy was fantastic, but it was how she could understand and support and love Bella that made the difference between Bella wanting Hermione and Bella loving her. There was only one possible response to those words.
A gentle and loving smack across Hermione's right buttcheek- and the sound sent a hungry twitch into Bella's underbelly.
"I hoped I made it quite obvious I love you, pet. You taught me I don't have to hurt myself, so don't you go learning bad habits from me, Hermione. We are the two smartest witches of our generation, do you really think people like my Father can bring us down?"
"No."
And Hermione was turning towards her again and her eyes were glistening and her lips sweet and loving. And the only thing that ensured they would actually send that second message to Andy and meet her and Ted for dinner was that their tongues really fricken ached.
****
****
****
"Wake up! Wake up! It is lunchtime!"
The twelve-year old's voice was accompanied by his fist hammering at the door to their suite and Hermione, putting down her tome, heard Bella's muffled groan from the bed.
"Ugh… We're on holidays!"
Hermione couldn't resist the temptation to sound extra nice, even though she also kept her voice a bit hushed.
"Good morning, honey. Though that's really stretching the definition of what a morning is. And this was *supposed* to be a nice and relaxing trip to France. Now it is half that, half a training camp for Quidditch enthusiasts, like the one who woke you up."
Bella's head, with bedhead reminding Hermione of post-Azkaban Bellatrix, poked out from under her blanket.
"I blame the blinds on those windows for the late hour, pet, and thanks for those. Didn't feel I was that hammered when I got back."
A part of Hermione's mind felt bad for the amusement she felt when the Moon rock set into Bella's wedding ring clinked into the glass on her nightstand and she saw her hung-over wife flinch. But she didn't feel too bad, as she was the one who placed the glass there for Bella, so it wasn't like she was punishing her.
"Well, some of us went to see a play with Andy, some went to a bar with a team of amateur Quidditch players. I'm not complaining, nobody expected Francois would find the gold to switch the Marseille Cup to a yearly event, so I'm not surprised the team wants this to go like last year. Okay, you guys have let James talk you into letting Harry tag along this year, but I don't expect you'll be drinking so hard he'll have to wake you up every day."
It was a relief to see Bella taking her licks in good spirits, even if Hermione wasn't being that hard on her. Then again, the team didn't get to enjoy such outings that often, they all had their jobs and Quidditch was just a sport they loved, and this was the first time Bella came back this drunk, so no need to give her a hard time over a fluke.
"Nah, that will be Draco, to drag me to the pitch or to get me to get Cissy to let him join us too. And she should, they're both the youngest Hogwarts Seekers this century, Draco deserves the same opportunity to train over the summer that Harry has!"
Bella's words awakened first some very old memories and then some rather naughty thoughts.
"Now, I really don't mind your enthusiasm for Quidditch, Bella, given the figure it helps you keep. I think that was quite obvious yesterday morning. But if Draco comes knocking on our door so early he'd interrupt me... appreciating said figure... I'll be a bit angry. And how come he's joining us at all?"
Something was wrong, given the way Bella's face went serious.
"Uh, that'll be the reason I got so drunk yesterday. Cissy's here with us now and she's kinda pissed off at Lucius and it took me more than a few drinks to get her talking, you know how she is. Apparently, he's gone and tried to talk some sense into his father again."
Bella went silent and it was obvious she was trying to come up with a way to say what had to be said without angering Hermione. Better to rule out the worst possibility that came to mind.
"Okay, I know Abraxas is still a disgusting blood-supremacist bigot, but why would that suddenly make Cissy pissed off at Lucius? The two are still as love-struck as ever, in their own snobbish fashion, so don't tell me Lucius caved in to Abraxas or something."
Hermione had trouble remembering Bella being this hesitant.
"The opposite. As far as I know, things got so heated Abraxas made some threats so ugly that Lucius tried to hit him with a curse that would fill his mouth with festering warts and *then* it went real bad. Abraxas actually lost his wand hand, though Cissy said it was supposedly a clean cut and the hand could be grafted back and should recover fine unless handled by an idiot healer, and she's pissed because this stunt might've landed Lucius in Azkaban. He's lucky Abraxas will never want to admit to this in public."
The whole horror of it all, coupled with old memories that still haunted Hermione's relationships in her new world, made Hermione stay silent for a moment. But then she jumped from her chair, pulled the blanket from Bella and did her best impression of screaming at her naked and hung-over wife without actually doing so.
"Get out of that bed and into the shower and go talk to Cissy right now! Is she stupid, and have you caught stupid from her or what?!?"
Her intensity surprised Bella, whose reactions also told Hermione that Bella still hasn't fully recovered from previous night's events. Bella's words, though, remained so calm that every single one deepened Hermione's disbelief.
"I know he did it for her but he might've died or ended up in jail, all because of one bigoted idiot he's denounced ages ago! Of course she's pissed he does shit like that!"
Hermione just sighed.
"Stupid or still drunk, both of you. I'm no fan of Lucius but the man loves her so much he managed to overcome all that pure-blood shit he grew up in and got disowned by his family for it and he absolutely dotes on Cissy and Draco and she does super-shit like this?!? Imagine I would be this nasty to you after you defended me from *your* Father. And aren't you trying to talk some sense into your own Mother too, now that Cygnus is dead?"
Hermione saw blood drain from Bella's face.
"Oh. I guess Apparating naked into Cissy's suite to scream at her drunk head would be too much, right?"
"You. Shower. Now. And I'm not joining you this time! Put at least a robe on afterwards or you might flash Draco!"
The grin on Bella's face when she paused on her way into bathroom and turned back towards Hermione was one Hermione knew all too well and loved.
"Aye aye, pet. But it shouldn't take long to talk sense into Cissy, even if I might have to pour a sobering potion into us both first. So how about you take a shower after me? I might make it back in time for *me* to join *you* in that shower."
Bella's naked and unashamed and athletic body, coupled with her grin, made it impossible to stay angry.
"I'd love you to. But now get moving!"