Soul Bound 47

“Hermione get up you can’t sleep the day away.”Narcissa said. Bellatrix groaned at the sound of her sisters voice and tightened her arm around the warm body snuggled next to her in Hermione’s bed. They had spent the previous day going through the vault until it was time for the bank to close. Griphook offered to let them stay later due to Hermione’s partial ownership but Narcissa said they had other things to do. Which was true but still disappointing. The spent the rest of the night running errands and calling Hermione’s parents not getting back until after curfew. Hermione went straight to bed and Bellatrix had joined a couple hours later. She planned to not leave it for the entire day and keeping Hermione with her. That wouldn’t happen if Narcissa was going to force Hermione to get out of bed.

“Leave her alone Cissa she’s tired.”Bellatrix grumbled.

“Yes I know she is tired but we have to meet with Minerva to discuss when the pet shop owner can deliver the things for the mere people. That means she needs to get up, take a bath, eat breakfast and get ready for the day.”Narcissa would love to have a bed day with Hermione. That just wasn’t in the cards for them at the moment.

“Can’t you just handle that?”Bellatrix didn’t know why Hermione was needed.

“Hermione is the one that made the alliance and excepted the terms. It’s her responsibility to follow through.”Narcissa would happily take care of this for Hermione. However Hermione was the head of the Fawley house and it was her that offered the alliance. That meant she had to handle the details.

“She’s right Bella.”Hermione’s muffled voice said.

Narcissa looked at the way Hermione was positioned wondering why her voice was muffled. Seeing how Hermione was laying Narcissa huffed.”Bella get off of her. I doubt she can breathe.”

“She can breathe just fine and I always lay on top of her.”Bellatrix liked to lay on Hermione because she could keep the girl from leaving bed that way.

“Regardless let her up. I made breakfast.”Narcissa had gone to the kitchens and got ingredients to make the four of them breakfast.

“We have food in here?”Bellatrix perked up hearing that.

Narcissa nodded.”Yes we do and if you want some you need to let Hermione go and both of you get up.”

“Come on pet. Let’s go eat some breakfast.”Bellatrix rolled off Hermione and pulled her out of the bed with her. Leading her into the kitchen she pushed her in one of the chairs at the table taking the one next to her.”What did you make?”

“I made a ham, pepper and onion frittata.”Narcissa poured Hermione some orange juice then put a slice of the frittata on her plate.

“I like that.”Bellatrix was glad is wasn’t something gross.

“We know you do.”Andromeda said as she walked out of the bathroom fully dressed for the day. She took the only empty seat across from Hermione.

Narcissa caught sight of Andromeda’s left ring finger when her sister picked up her cup of tea.”I really think you should pick a different finger to put that ring on.”

“I like it on this one.”Andromeda wasn’t going to switch fingers.

“It gives people the false impression that you are engaged and based on the crest that you are engaged to a member of the Slytherin family.”Narcissa was jealous that Andromeda got a ring from Hermione but until Narcissa was officially divorced she couldn’t wear a proper ring from her soulmate. She would rather wait until she could before Hermione gave her one. She just preferred that Andromeda not wear one.

“Maybe they will think she is engaged to the Dark Lord.”Hermione joked.

Bellatrix laughed.”If Molly sees it that is the first thing she will claim.”

“I’m surprised she didn’t show up while we were shopping or when we stopped to eat.”Andromeda was sure the woman would make an appearance.”Ted as well.”

“We did get some press though.”Narcissa was not pleased that over a dozen reporters accompanied by cameramen had sought them out when they exited the bank. They had obviously been camped out there all day waiting for them.

“Yes we did however Hermione handled them beautifully when she was asked about Dumbledore.”Andromeda was proud of the way Hermione handed the reporters.

“I stuck to our talking points like you told me to.”Hermione had been prepared by the sisters while they were in the vault to be faced with the reporters and had practiced what she was going to say to certain questions.

“Yes you did but you came off as well spoken, mature and very respectable when you spoke to them and left a good impression. Especially when you explained Fawkes.”Narcissa like Andromeda was very proud of the way Hermione handled the reporters.

“I’ll looking forward to this mornings paper to see how it’s going to be covered. Hermione saying that she didn’t trust Dumbledore and that his fixation on her made her uncomfortable is going to raise a few eyebrows. That and her reiterating that she did not take anything Dumbledore said as a joke and thought the man was a bigot against purebloods. Those things are going to definitely going to be quoted.”Bellatrix was looking forward to reading all about Hermione’s statements.

“I want to know what Dumbledore’s response is going to be. Hermione directly challenged what he said and basically called him a liar.  She also said she feared he would target her and the three of us for our association with her if he was let back into Hogwarts. He can’t just be silent about any of it. He will have to make some kind of statement.”Andromeda and the sisters didn’t answer any questions and let Hermione take care of everything. That way they could show that they weren’t controlling Hermione by answering for her.

“It’s smart to say that though. Now he really can’t do anything to us because if he does it will prove that Hermione was right. Her saying that basically gave us a free pass from his schemes because not only do we have a reason not to speak to him Hermione highlighted his behavior so he can’t retaliate either.”Bellatrix thought that was the best thing Hermione said.

“That was Dora’s idea.”Hermione said.

“Well Dora is a genius because now he has to be very careful around us if he wants to keep the public on his side. Something that he will need because he lost the chance of having the backing of seven pureblood houses and the Slytherin heir on his side. Not that we would ever let you join his side just that for all he knows he actually had a chance and screwed it up himself.”Narcissa liked that Dumbledore would blame himself for Hermione slipping through his fingers.

“I bet if he does come back that he is going to encourage Draco and Gerold to act out in hopes of making us quit.”Andromeda could easily see Dumbledore doing it.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually took Lady Greengrass up on her offer to see her supposed proof against myself and Narcissa. Proof that the Greengrass family has so much faith in that their children think they can use it to blackmail us into getting their own way.”Bellatrix was curious about what Lady Greengrass had that she thought was actually proof of any wrongdoings she and Narcissa did.

Hermione was thinking the same thing as Bellatrix.”What do you think this proof is? Neither of you did anything in the Dark Lord’s name. Well Cissa got gold for Lucius to give to him but everyone knows that. What does she have that she thinks she can convince people like Dumbledore and Prof McGonagall?”

“We all know she has nothing. I personally think that the reason she keeps insisting that she give them the proof over tea is she is going to lace the tea with truth potion. Then her plan is likely to get them to admit that they covered up our supposed crimes. Thus giving her not only blackmail material over the pair of them but over me and Bella as well.”Narcissa wasn’t worried about anything. They did nothing wrong so nothing could be pinned on them.

“That’s exactly something she would do.”Andromeda thought about it for minute.”Do you think we should mention to the press that she is trying to use the evidence as a way to get access to the Malfoy estate? That would force her to have to come forward with the evidence because we all know the press would hound her until she did.”

“That would a good idea because like I said her children and their posse have been trying to use it to not only gain access to the Malfoy estate but to bully myself and Narcissa into getting their way at school. That will likely continue until Lady Greengrass is exposed as the liar she is.”Bellatrix wanted to put the woman in her place.

“I will draw up a statement for our lawyer to release to the press about what has been going on with the children and their threats. I will also include the crude letter the woman wrote me and mention the reasons why I don’t want Hermione near her as I’m Hermione’s magical guardian.”Narcissa would send it that night.

“I think it’s good that the public finally knows that. It might make a few scammers think twice before they send a letter. We know it won’t stop all of them but even a few is better than nothing.”Andromeda would prefer no one reach out to Hermione to try and gain from her but because they did the sisters screened all of Hermione’s mail. Mail that had gotten more outrageous and dangerous as the days went by. The sisters now had a policy of opening Hermione packages and letters when either Hermione was in bed or if they were in one of their private professor’s room. Based on what Hermione had received there no way the sisters were exposing the girl to any of it.

“I bet Narcissa will start getting courtship requests for Hermione.”Bellatrix said.

“I’m eleven it’s way too early for me to be thinking about courting.”Hermione was too young to think about romance. She didn’t love the sisters romantically. She loved them like they were people who were meant to be in life and take care of her.

“That is not how the world works pet. You are a pureblood woman who has 7 titles. Usually a woman never has a title and if they do they transfer it over to their husband after they get married. That will have people trying to secure a claim on you as soon as they can. It doesn’t matter that you are so young. All that matters to people is your titles and wealth. I bet that people older than us are going to try to marry you even though you are eleven.”Bellatrix would bet Hermione’s vaults that she would be overwhelmed with marriage proposals and Narcissa would get courtship requests.

“That’s so gross. Who would think marrying a child just to gain their titles is the right things to do?”Hermione asked.

Andromeda reached her arm across the table and took Hermione’s hand in her own.”I’m sorry sweetheart but people aren’t like you. They don’t see a problem with exploiting a person to gain something for themselves. Where as you would never even consider using someone to better your life most of society would step on their own mother to get a better position in life.”

“I hope that you three somehow punish everyone who thinks it’s ok to take advantage of me. Especially the marriage proposals.”Hermione wanted people to be held responsible for their actions.

Narcissa smiled.”We already planned on it darling.”

“Later you can help us brainstorm different ways to do it.”Bellatrix loved that Hermione was so supportive of things like this. The girl was the kindest person Bellatrix had ever met but she wouldn’t put up with bad behavior no matter who it was directed at.

“You know I never asked but what happened to Draco?”Hermione hadn’t heard anything about the boy.

“He woke up Friday afternoon. His hand is completely healed but it left a scar. For the rest of his life the word unworthy in big bold letters is going to be branded into his hand. Of course he could use glamor to cover it but glamor doesn’t work the best on the palm of your hand because you move it around and touch things with it. That was the only lasting effect of him trying to break in other than feeling tired.”Andromeda had hoped for more maladies when the boy woke up.

“What was his excuse for trying to break into my room?”Hermione asked.

“He stupidly claimed that he heard what he thought was someone calling out for help and tried to get in to save them. When it was pointed out that I had been in the room and I didn’t scream he tried to backtrack saying that he was trying to get in because he was afraid the room was dangerous because no one but you had been in it and he wanted to make sure you were safe. It was then pointed out that many people witnessed myself, Cissa and Andy enter the room and he tried denying knowing that. Minerva told him she didn’t believe him and if he didn’t tell the truth she would expel him. He blustered and threatened but in the end he cracked and admitted that he and his friends were trying to break into your room to find something incriminating against you.”Bellatrix had laughed when Minerva told her that.

“He is an idiot because even if he got in he wouldn’t find anything. It does show you how desperate they are though.”Narcissa said.

“Breaking into your room in the morning with people out and about who could witness it is very stupid. It’s especially stupid that he did it while you were out running. You outfit showed that you would be back to change so they would most certainly be caught not knowing how much time they had.”Andromeda expected better from members of her house.

“He also tried the door knob and he wasn’t wearing gloves. That meant if he did get in he would have left prints everywhere. As for the door knob that’s always secured. Even in the muggle world they go out of their way to make sure intruders can’t use the door knob to enter.”Hermione would never use a door knob if she trying to break in somewhere.

“I’ve said it all along. The boy comes from bad stock having Lucius for a father. Then he has been influenced by the Greengrass family and all their allies. He was doomed from the start.”Bellatrix didn’t think any child could thrive in those conditions.

“Speaking of allies. I sent Isabelle a letter last night after we got back telling her who Blaise was hanging out with and what they had been up to this school year. I made sure I mentioned that he was suspected in Draco’s attempt to break into Hermione’s room to find blackmail material. I also mentioned that he accused Bella of being a Death Eater and that if he continued on his current path when Hermione took over her houses she would likely cut all ties with the Zabini family. I told her the reason I wrote the letter is that I respected her enough to let her know that her son was ruin her family’s reputation.”Narcissa hoped that Isabelle took care of Blaise because Narcissa did actually like Isabelle.

“I don’t know if she will actually be able to get through to him. The group he is with are very stedfast in their beliefs. Also Blaise is the only one out of the group who actually lives like a pureblood. That being the case the group probably treats him like he is extremely important. I doubt he will want to step away from that kind of adoration.”Andromeda didn’t think Blaise would walk away from his friends.

“You warned your friend. That’s all you can really do. Now it’s out of our hands. If Blaise continues to act out then we make an official declaration against his house.”Hermione didn’t want the sisters to lose a friend but Blaise was forcing their hands.

“You are going to be making a lot of declarations when your officially take your title.”Bellatrix was looking forward to all the people Hermione was going to publicly cut ties with.”The first thing we are going to do after you claim everything is go to Black Family Manor take care of our divorces, reinstate Andy and Dora then disown everyone but the Prewett bothers and all four of us.”

“I’m very excited for that.”Hermione desperately wanted Narcissa and Bellatrix divorced and Andromeda and Nymphadora as Black family members again.

“Less than a year to go.”Narcissa had taken to marking a calendar she hung in her bedroom.

“I’m worried about the condition of the manor. Sirius never visited it or the other properties and who knows what the last orders the elves assigned to each were.”Andromeda feared things would be in disrepair.

“It doesn’t matter. We have enough gold to fix anything wrong with it.”Narcissa wasn’t expecting the manor to be perfect and was already prepared for having to do a lot of work to get it back into shape.

“We have enough gold to do whatever we want.”Bellatrix was still having trouble wrapping her mind around the amount of gold Hermione had access to. An amount that was going to increase a lot when she claimed her titles.

“I’m excited to get an inventory of the Slytherin vault.”Hermione said.

“We all are excited about that.”Andromeda was planning on taking a day off just to read through it.

“It’s going to take at least a month for them to get halfway through.”Narcissa didn’t think they would be getting the inventory anytime soon.

“I still can’t believe that you pet own a large part of the bank.”That was another thing Bellatrix was having trouble wrapping her head around.

“We need to go over what other businesses and properties she owns.”Andromeda wanted to what else Salazar invested in.

“They are going to be just as impressive I bet. They would have to be to still be in business so long after Salazar died.”Narcissa said.

“Do you know anything that has been in business that long?”Hermione asked.

Bellatrix shook her head.”I have no clue.”

“I don’t either.”Andromeda told her.

“Me neither bit to find out we need you two to get ready for the day so we can meet with Minerva. Once that’s done we have the rest of the day free.”Narcissa was looking forward to changing into some muggle lounge clothes and spending time with Hermione.

“I took a bath last night so you can have the bathroom first pet.”Bellatrix had been to wired from all the excitement of the day to go to sleep right away. She talked to her sisters for an hour then took a bath to relax. Which was extremely easy in Hermione’s bathtub the thing was so nice.

“Alright. Are you going to pick out my clothe Cissa or should I?”Hermione let Narcissa pick out her clothes because Hermione knew the older woman liked to.

“I will pick them out.”Narcissa was going to have Hermione wear some of her own clothing.

Hermione stood from her seat and wrapped around Narcissa giving her a hug.”You’re the best Cissa.”

“Of course I am darling.”Narcissa didn’t mind hearing Hermione telling her that though.

“Get in the tub you charmer. If you stick around we will never leave.”Andromeda teased. She smiled when Hermione blushed.

“I’m not trying to charm anyone.”Hermione grumbled on the way to the bathroom.

“That’s part of your charm.”Bellatrix called after her. She chuckled when Hermione shut the door instead of replying.”We are going to be in big trouble when she is old enough to actually focus that charm on each of us.”

“Don’t I know it.”Andromeda had no doubt that Hermione was going to be a smooth operator when she was finally old enough to start romantic relationships with the sisters.

“I don’t mind because regardless of what she says she always one hundred percent believes it. Every one of her complaints are completely sincere and I personally love every single one of them. I especially love the way her whole body lights up in joy when she sees me after we have been apart. It doesn’t matter how long even if it’s five minutes she looks at me with so much happiness it makes me feel warm inside.”Narcissa loved Hermione’s complaints and reactions to her.

“I love them too. Hermione makes me feel really good about myself in all things I do. Even the questionable things I’ve done in the past and my want to punish anyone who reaches out to her she supports me and loves me no matter what. I also know that that love will never go away and it makes me cherish it even more.”Bellatrix loved the way Hermione made her feel about herself.

“Hermione is the reason I’m so confident now. It was hard playing my role. People looked down on me because I wore cheap clothing and worked hard. Plus my family disowned me. Even after divorcing Ted and reuniting with you two I wasn’t respected much. Then when Hermione was old enough to start showing us affection I felt like I could take on the world because Hermione wanted me to be with her all the time. Then when she said my name first is like nothing could bring me down. If someone as important as Hermione loved me enough that my name was her first word then what did it matter what people said. That confidence has just grown over the years as Hermione has gotten older and her affection has changed.”Andromeda felt untouchable because she had Hermione’s love.

“I still think her first word should have been Bella.”Bellatrix couldn’t believe Hermione didn’t say her name first.

“At least her first three words were our names and not someone else’s or some random object.”Narcissa would have preferred Hermione say her name first but just happy it was said before something else.

“It still isn’t right.”Bellatrix grumbled.

“It can’t be changed now.”Andromeda wouldn’t change it for anything. She was proud Hermione’s first word was her name.

Narcissa stood from her seat”I’m going to get Hermione’s clothes ready.”

“Don’t dress her in all your clothes.”Bellatrix knew Narcissa would pick out her own clothing for Hermione to wear.

“And don’t think I didn’t notice that you left a bottle of your perfume in the bathroom with her things.”Andromeda had bought a bottle of her own when they were shopping the day before to take the place of Narcissa’s in Hermione’s bathroom.

“Hermione prefers my perfume.”Narcissa lied. Hermione didn’t care about perfume but would wear it if it was left with her stuff in the bathroom. Her thinking being that one of her soulmates wanted her to. Which was exactly the reason Narcissa left hers there.

“Actually she prefers mine. I caught the scent on her pillow last night.”Bellatrix took that to mean Hermione preferred hers.

“She probably sprayed it on her pillow because she missed you when you were involved in the investigation.”Andromeda said.

Bellatrix frowned.”You are likely right.”

“Regardless I’m going to go pick out her clothes.”Narcissa didn’t wait for a reply before making her way into Hermione’s room and into her closet. A lot of the sisters’ clothing was in it along with Hermione’s. They still hadn’t figured out how to give the three of them access to the room and Narcissa was having Hermione focus on that when they finished with Minerva. It had been nice being able to sleep in the same room as Hermione even if Narcissa wasn’t sharing a bed with the girl. Narcissa always slept better knowing Hermione was close and Narcissa could get to her if she was in trouble. When she was at Hogwarts the previous year Narcissa had many sleepless nights staying up worrying about what kind of trouble Hermione was getting into. It was only because Nymphadora was still living with the Grangers at the time that Narcissa felt comfortable being away from her soulmate. Now she didn’t have to though and to be able to continue to do that Hermione needed to give them access. Narcissa knew there had to be a way and if there wasn’t they would make their own.