Chapter 1
5th September 1990
Hermione walked shambling towards the playing ground near the neighborhood her foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins, were living at. She squeezed tightly suspenders of her bag like fearing someone might snatch the bag away from her in any second, even though she hadn’t heard of them in fifteen minutes. She kept glancing over her shoulder, but kept her pace slow, so she wouldn’t draw too much attention. Hermione hated attention, it usually meant getting bullied, harassed, and abused. Eventually Hermione reached the gate which led to the large playing ground and decided to enter there, catch some breath, and calm her nerves. After all, she had just run for quite a long time while trying to get away from bunch of kids who were bullying her. She was exhausted.
Hermione looked over the ground. It was empty apart from the small bunch of 17- and 18-year-old teenagers whom she had seen before, messing around the town in any which place. The cool Black who little Hermione looked up to and her friends. They were okay. They ignored the small 10-year-old girl completely. Why would they have paid attention to her? They were living their carefree youth including numerous first experiences like dating, kisses, sex, alcohol etc. They complained about their “overprotective parents”, schoolwork, hobbies and they loved it. But end of the day, they were happy to have warm homes, friends and family. They had bright futures ahead of them. Hermione wished she could have all that.
She walked to the other side of the playing ground far away from the teens and sat on the bench which was set towards the town she had just come from. The moment she sat down, tears began running by her cheeks and quiet sobs erupted from her mouth. The little girl was so tired at everything. No matter what she did or didn’t do, the other kids were constantly targeting her. She was so beaten up, physically and mentally. Her foster parents didn’t care, they had made it clear that Hermione had no right to complain, or else… Oh no! What would they do to her now, when it was clear Hermione would come home so late? They didn’t care about Hermione’s health, of course, but they enjoyed getting mad for her, they enjoyed abusing her. The excuse to beat her would no doubt to be “why did you return here so late; we could have been asleep already”. Hermione wished she wouldn’t have met her bullies on her way back home from library so she could have sneaked early back to her room without drawing her foster parent’s attention.
While Hermione was worrying on the bench, the teenagers were having a blast.
“Hah hah, are you serious, Rod? I’m not doing it!” someone laughed.
“What, have no guts? I knew you didn’t have it in you, Lucy!”
“I never said I did! But clearly you can do it so give us a little show, please!” laughed a boy called Lucy, while Rod turned beet red. Their friends begin to laugh and whistle.
“Clearly he’s incompetent. I’ll do it!” some girl chackled. Group of teenagers whistled even more and laughed “Go Bella!”
That was the moment Hermione got pushed down from the bench. She yelped loudly when her head stomped to the ground. She felt dizzy.
“Here you are, Beaver! We’ve been looking for you for quite a while! It’s not polite to run from your buddies like that!” was shouted above her. Dudley and his gang. They had found her. Again. They were all there. Dudley, Piers, Malcom, Dennis and Gordon, the main bullies who were a year older than her. Hermione began to cry again but stood up and squeezed her fists.
“What’s wrong, Beaver? Why are you not answering? Can’t you understand simple words, are you that slow? I guess you won’t be needing those books you are carrying in your bag then! Why won’t you just give them to us!” Malcom shouted with evil grin on his face.
“Why would I give them to you, when you couldn’t have any use for them, either?” sobbed Hermione bravely and earned a hit from Malcom to her ribs. Se let out another loud yelp and sobbed the pain she was feeling.
“You better watch your mouth, Beaver! We are not happy that you run away before we got our fun” said Piers and approached Hermione threateningly. He tried to kick Hermione on her leg, but she managed to jump aside even though her head was still dizzy. She made a little yelp.
“Oh Beaver, you really are like a little animal, squeaking so much and all. So ugly. You must be so ashamed of those buck teeth of yours. I almost feel sorry for you!” laughed Dennis with mean joy. The others laughed with him. Dudley reached towards Hermione’s bag but failed to catch it when he felt someone to grab his arm.
***
The teenager gang had finally noticed that something on the other side of the playing ground was off. They had heard painful cries and approached the crowd of kids, examining the scene before them. Very soon it was clear to them what was going on and they decided to act. Rod rushed to grab Dudley’s arm while couple of other teens, Lucy, Stan, Andy and Ted went between crying girl and other kids. Andy started lecturing to bullies about how cowardice their behavior was. They should’ve been ashamed of their actions. Ted announced loudly that if the bullies ever repeated their actions and bullying, there would be consequences.
While other teens were between little girl and her bullies, someone rushed to girl: “Are you ok, little one? Of course you’re not, it was a stupid question… Where are you hurt? Would you let me touch you, I promise I won’t hurt you…”
Hermione sobbed and rubbed her eyes from tears, trying to see who was approaching her. When her vision cleared, her eyes met with the most beautiful dark, almost black eyes. It felt like looking into cosmos and getting lost there. It was Bellatrix Black. Hermione felt dizzy again. “I.. um.. I..”
“Don’t worry, I think you are a bit shocked right now, but you know what? I’ll be here with you until you feel better. Here, let me help you up, here you go. I’ll help you to sit down on the bench. Not here. There, let’s go little further from those gits. I’m Bellatrix by the way” the beautiful teenager said. Of course, had Hermione immediately recognized her. She was that super-cool girl she had admired at the town from far. She hoped that the girl would be her big sister. Ha. She was such a dreamer.
Hermione let herself to be lifted and supported and begun walking towards the bench. She couldn’t help herself and sobbed little more. Her head and ribs were aching and body little sore. The girl supporting her squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. They sat down and the older girl pulled the smaller one to her side. She begun stroking her head gently.
“Don’t worry little one. We sort this out.”
While Hermione was helped to the bench, the bunch of her bullies had been lectured harshly and escaped running away like there was no tomorrow. Bellatrix’s friends approached the other two. Rod put Hermione’s bag next to her and asked from Bellatrix:
“What are we gonna do? How is the girl doing?”
“I think she’s in a shock right now, she hasn’t talked yet. But I think it’s the best to let her calm down a bit. Would it be okay if I stayed with her here for a while? You could go, however you feel like, but maybe we should give the girl a little space and time. I’ll stay with her to make sure she’s okay and walk her home later. I’ll explain this to her parents.”
“Yeah, we’ll give you some space. Let’s go guys. See you at home Bella” said Andy. Teenagers left the playing ground.
***
Bellatrix and Hermione stayed behind, and silence fell around them. Bellatrix examined the younger girl. She seemed exhausted. Her outfit and looks were quite ragged. Girl shivered by her side, but sobs were decreasing. Bellatrix considered the look in smaller girl’s eyes when their eyes had meet each other. It had been desperate and unhappy. Her eyes had been intelligent and beautiful, too. Deep hazel brown irises and long lashes, shimmering with tears. Quite the doe-eyes.
Bellatrix had no idea who this little girl was, she didn’t remember seeing her at the town before. Not that she really paid attention to kids, anyway. She was 18 and focused on certain life experiments and planning her future. Only kid she was paying special attention was her 14-year-old little sister Cissy. But seriously, the town wasn’t large, who was this sweetling?
“Are you feeling any better? Would you like to tell me your name? Or what happened with those gits? Tell me, so we can make sure that won’t happen again.”
The girl looked up at her and Bellatrix saw a decision to be made in her doe-eyes.
“I’m… Hermione. Hermione Smith. I… I don’t know why they are bullying me… Not exactly at least. They call me ugly and laugh at my clothes and stuff… And they say that nobody wants me here. Sometimes I’m stupid Beaver and sometimes I’m annoying know-it-all who tries to… tries to get attention from adults…” Hermione said quietly. “They like to bully me because they know nobody cares. I’ve been here two years living at my foster parents. Before that, I lived a year at other foster parents and before that, two years elsewhere and before that I don’t remember. Nobody cares for me, I don’t matter. I’m all alone and I have no future” at this point Hermione started sobbing. Bellatrix looked her with concern and pity. Girl’s situation seemed to be terrible. How could someone go through all that at such a young age?
“Well, that’s not true, sweetling. You do matter. You do have a future”
Older girl looked carefully younger girl’s sorrowful face and saw desperation in those big brown doe-eyes. Her heart clenched with pity, and she reached slowly to stroke little girl’s tear-stained cheek.
“Don’t worry, Doe-eyes. Everything will get better. Eventually. Remember that you can be and do whatever you want. No one can decide for you. You need to be brave. I know it might feel hard right now, but I’m gonna encourage you.” Bellatrix hopped off the bench and offered her hand to Hermione. She smiled to the girl and added: “I’m gonna tell you my secret, wanna hear it?”
Hermione seemed a bit unsure but put her hand on the older girl’s. Her eyes shined with curiosity as she nodded and stood up. Bellatrix led Hermione through the playing ground to a climbing wall. She let go of the younger girl’s hand and asked kindly: “Do you know how to stand with your arms? Can you do it? At least when you support yourself? And not dizzy or hurt anymore?” Hermione nodded.
“Great” Bellatrix said with a grin. Hermione seemed confused but nodded to Bellatrix, who steadied her while she bent to her arms and lifted her legs up against the climbing wall. When she was steady, Bellatrix let go of her and had soon positioned herself next to Hermione. She stood on her arms steadily and turned to look Hermione who still seemed confused. No wonder. Bellatrix grinned again.
“Ok, I’ll let you in to my secret, Doe-eyes. To be honest this might seem a little stupid” Bellatrix said and looked a bit embarrassed. “Close your eyes, Hermione, and listen. Listen to the sounds everywhere around us. Breathe. Smell the air around you. Feel the ground beneath your hands. Feel the calmness. Feel the control you have over your body.”
Hermione closed her eyes and was immediately afraid that she would lose her balance, but then she did as older girl had instructed her. She focused on sounds, smelled the air, and felt the solid ground. She focused on breathing peacefully. She sensed so much and little more. It felt surprisingly wonderful, beautiful and strengthening. She also sensed Bellatrix’s delicate but intoxicating perfume, her warmth and her breathing beside her.
They stood on their arms until their arms were shaking and hands aching for release. “Ok, let’s get down, Doe-eyes” Bellatrix whispered. Both girls did so and sat silently beside each other, calmness spreading through their bodies. Hermione’s face was calm, but also a confused question mark and Bella smirked.
“Did you feel it, Hermione? The world around us. The peace, the power, all possibilities, freedom and space? When we stand on our arms, the whole world is in our hands. I think it reflects that when we put some effort, we can do anything. Anything. Even it would take some time. We just must not give up. Do you get what I mean? I dunno if it’s little stupid but… that’s my secret metaphor” Bellatrix whispered and smiled to the smaller girl.
Hermione looked up at her with wide eyes. Hopeful eyes. Doe-eyes. She understood. She breathed calmly the chilly autumn air, whispered “Thank you, Bellatrix” and leaned against older girl’s arm.
Bellatrix smirked happily. For once she had managed to do something right.