Hermione's Four Hearts 1

“What happened? Where is she?!”Andromeda asked as she stormed into the cottage after getting word that Hermione had been rescued. The last week and a half without getting any contact from the girl had been terrifying because Andromeda knew that if Hermione was at Malfoy manor with her sister Bellatrix she wasn’t being treated well. Andromeda had tried to rally a group to rescue her but the place was the Dark Lord’s headquarters and they couldn’t figure out a way to safely retrieve Hermione. Looking around and seeing a lot of confused and angry faces Andromeda wasn’t sure what to think. Harry looked like he tasted something foul but that was probably because Hermione was back and would likely pick up her role as savior while he was the boy who never amounted to anything.

“Thank the goddess you’re here Andromeda she won’t let anyone in the room except for you.”Fleur told her.

“Which is not right because we need to question the prisoners.”Molly Weasley said.

“What prisoners?”Andromeda asked Fleur as she followed her up the stairs.

“That’s the thing. Hermione showed up on the beach with two other people with her but before we got close enough to see who they were or to help them they appriated to one of the guest rooms and cast powerful wards keeping everyone out. The only thing Hermione has said is that she will only allow you to enter the room.”Fleur explained.

“Were there any other captives left behind when Hermione saved Luna and the group she sent here a few days ago?”Andromeda had been proud and annoyed by the fact that Hermione had chosen to save the prisoners in the dungeons instead of herself.

Fleur shook her head.”Luna claimed that Hermione made sure that each cell was empty before sending them on their way. So unless these are new captives I don’t know who they would be.”

“And she didn’t invite you in?”Andromeda would have thought that Hermione would have reached out to Fleur because Hermione always spoke kindly about her.

“No and I’m pretty sure they need medical help. There was blood on the beach where they showed up.”Fleur was somewhat upset that Hermione hadn’t asked for her help. That was mostly due to the fact that Fleur had romantic feelings for the girl.

“If she didn’t invite you in this is more serious than I thought. You are one of the only people in the Order she trusts.”Andromeda said.

Fleur smiled hearing that.”I trust her as well. That’s why I have kept everyone away from the door.”

“You know that’s probably why she didn’t invite you in. To have you keep everyone away and to explain to me what is going on.”Andromeda figured that is what Hermione was thinking.

“This is the door to the room she is in.”Fleur was the only one in the house who could stand in the hallway to the room because of how strong and threatening the magic was. At least that’s what the others told Fleur. To her it felt comforting and welcoming and Fleur truly believed if she tried she would be able to break the wards.

Andromeda frowned when she examined the door.”She used blood magic.”

“This situation must be extremely serious then.”Fleur didn’t think Hermione would use blood magic unless it was the last resort.

“Luckily I can open it. You might want to go back downstairs. I’ll come down once I get a handle on what is going on and let everyone know.”Andromeda didn’t want to expose Fleur to anything bad.

“I’d like to stay but I don’t want to upset anybody. Just let me know if you need anything.”Fleur gave the door one last glance before making her way downstairs.

“Alright sweetheart let’s see what is so important you need to keep everyone away from it.”Andromeda pulled out the dagger she kept hidden in her robes in case of emergencies and used it to slice open her palm. Once the blood had gathered she wiped it on the door causing the wards to fall. Pushing the door open she was met by two wands pointing in her face. Her mouth fell open in shock seeing who was holding those two wands.”Cissa, Bella?”

“Shut the door and reapply the wards.”Bellatrix told Narcissa.”Now are you going to give us trouble Andy or are you going to help fix our little witch?”

“What is going on?”Andromeda asked.

“We will explain everything once you fix Hermione.”Bellatrix grabbed Andromeda’s arm, pulled her towards the bed and pulled back the blankets revealing a bruised, bloody and battered Hermione.

“Merlin.”Andromeda quickly pulled out her wand and began casting diagnostic spells on the girl.

“We did what we could but you were always the better healer.”Narcissa wished she could have done more.

“What happened to her.”When Andromeda didn’t get an answer to her question she looked back in disbelief seeing Bellatrix openly crying.”Bella what happened?”

“I tortured her for four days.”Bellatrix didn’t hold back the tears or the sobs that came when Narcissa pulled her into a hug.

“Why are you here if you tortured her?”Andromeda knew that wasn’t the whole story. Hermione wouldn’t have brought them with her if they had hurt her. She definitely wouldn’t have used blood magic to keep them safe.

Bellatrix took a deep breath to gain control of her emotions. Pulling out of her sister’s arms she turned to Andromeda.“Hermione saved me and Cissa as well.”

“Why did she save you?”Andromeda asked.

“We don’t know why she did it but she killed my husband and Draco. Now I am no longer magically bound to Lucius.”Narcissa couldn’t have been happier about it either.

“You aren’t upset she killed your son?”Andromeda would have expected that Narcissa would be furious with Hermione.

“Draco wasn’t my son. His mother was Alecto Carrow.”Narcissa smiled at the look of surprise her sister was giving her.

“How does nobody know that?”Andromeda thought that would have been common knowledge.

”I can’t be sure but Alecto’s husband didn’t want anyone to know and would have raised Draco as his own if the boy didn’t have blond hair. I was happy about it because then I wasn’t pressured to give Lucius an heir and he left me alone while he had his affairs.”Narcissa was more than happy with the arrangement. She may not have been able to cheat but she would prefer not having sex for years than having it with Lucius.

“If Hermione killed Lucius and Draco that means she is the Malfoy Head of Household.”Andromeda looked at Hermione’s right hand and noticed three rings on it.”Wait there are three rings. Why does she have three rings?”

“Because to break out of the manor we fought a bloody battle and more people fell to Hermione’s wand than they did to ours. Probably because they hadn’t realized we switched sides. Anyway two of those people who fell were Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. Hence the third ring.”Bellatrix was proud of Hermione for earning that ring. She wasn’t able to kill her husband or his brother due to the magic binding her to their family but it still felt good watching them die.

“That still doesn’t explain why you are here with Hermione after you tortured her.”Andromeda began casting healing spells on the girl while making a list in her head of the potions and supplies she needed to heal her.

“I honestly don’t know what happened or what Hermione was thinking but late last night I pulled her out of her cell and brought her to my punishment room. It was as I went to shackle her to the wall she grabbed my head and kissed me hard on the mouth. I fought her for a second then all of a sudden it felt like my mind was clearing and the longer she maintained contact the clearer it got. When she pulled back I watched as a dark liquid spilled out her mouth. She asked for my wand and I didn’t even hesitate to hand it over. She cast some spells I didn’t recognize on the ground where the liquid was, where it was on her body and even cast some into her mouth. Once it evaporated she passed out.”Bellatrix was still confused by what happened.

“You don’t know the spells?”Andromeda figured if they knew them they could figure out what Hermione did.

“No but once all of the dark liquid was gone I felt like I was a whole new person. I haven’t felt this level of sanity since I was at Hogwarts with you two. Also I checked and my Dark Mark is gone.”Bellatrix rolled up her sleeve and showed her the unblemished flesh.”I however don’t think it was the Dark Mark that was making me act so crazy.”

“What happened after Hermione passed out?”Andromeda needed the full story.

“I called for Cissa and we took Hermione to one of the guest rooms in the manor.”Bellatrix told her.

“I forced her to drink pain and blood replenishing potions, preformed some healing spells then we gave her a bath. She woke up four hours later.”Narcissa wished there was more she could have done.

“And she didn’t tell you what she did when she woke up?”Andromeda asked.

Bellatrix shook her head.”No but that’s because we didn’t have a chance to talk. The Dark Lord had come back to manor and he was on a rampage. He was flinging spells left and right and killing a bunch of his followers. Knowing that I likely would get called to him I had Cissa pack a bag and we took Hermione and fled as fast as we could. Once it was obvious to the others that Hermione was trying to get away we were overwhelmed with Death Eaters trying to kill us. I honestly don’t know how Hermione did it but she was incredible. Not one spell hit her, Cissa or myself because she was protecting all three of us. Once we made it out of the wards she grabbed us both by the waist, brought us here, got us to this room, told us you would come and then after casting the wards she passed out again.”

Andromeda wiped the sweaty hair off of Hermione’s forehead.”Oh my darling what am I going to do with you?”

“So is there any way to help her?”Narcissa asked. She wasn’t sure she liked how affectionate Andromeda was being with Hermione.

“Yes but that means I’m going to have to go speak to at least Fleur. I would also like to get you some food. It looks like you haven’t eaten in years Bella.”Andromeda was unimpressed with the state her sister’s body was in.”I have something for your teeth as well that I’ll grab while I’m out.”

“Hermione is my priority. The rest can wait.”Bellatrix didn’t care about herself. All that mattered was making Hermione better.

Andromeda looked at her sister in surprise. That seemed like a rather caring statement for Bellatrix.”She is my priority as well.”

“We will just wait here for you to bring things back.”Narcissa wasn’t interested in leaving the room unless Hermione was going with her.

“I shouldn’t be long.”Andromeda told them.”Make sure you recast the wards after I leave.”

“We will.”Bellatrix wasn’t going to chance it.

“If anything happens send a patronus.”Andromeda said as she made her way out of the room.

As soon as the door was shut Narcissa began recasting the wards.”I am going to be casting wards on every room I go into from now on.”

“I don’t trust them either. The fact that Hermione locked us in here and refused to let anyone but Andy in tells us a lot about her comrades.”Bellatrix took that to mean Hermione didn’t trust any of them.

“I hope she feels better soon.”Narcissa said as she transfigured a decorative pillow into a chair and put it next Hermione’s bed. She sat down on it and reached for Hermione’s hand, rubbing her thumb over the back of it.

“I feel so guilty that I did this to her.”Bellatrix would never forgive herself for what she had done.

“I have a feeling that she won’t blame you for it.”Narcissa didn’t think Hermione would hold it against Bellatrix.

“It’s so weird. The reason I hated her so much and why I wanted to hurt her was because she is a muggleborn and the Black Family Head of Household. Now though the title doesn’t even matter that much to me. That and I think Hermione would do good running the Black family. All those things I learned about her that annoyed me to no end are things that I now think are the best qualities needed to run the family.”Bellatrix wouldn’t mind Hermione being her Head of Household.

“I just really want to know what she did. How was she able to cure your mania and get rid of your Dark Mark? I’ve never heard of anyone being cured of insanity or having their Dark Mark removed.”Narcissa was just barely stopping herself from waking Hermione up to ask the question.

“Well the only thing we can do is wait until Hermione wakes up to ask her.”Bellatrix said as she took a seat at the end of the bed and tucked Hermione’s feet under the blankets. Narcissa just hummed in agreement and went back to watching Hermione. Bellatrix took the silence to think things over. For some reason Hermione was nice enough to heal her. Then she went as far as saving her from the Dark Lord by removing the Dark Mark. Bellatrix really didn’t understand why. Especially because she spent days torturing the girl. That hadn’t mattered to Hermione though. What mattered was Bellatrix and Narcissa were in a bad situation and she had a way to get them out of it. Now they would need to start planning for the future. That would have to wait until Hermione was awake however because not only had the girl saved them from the Dark Lord and their husbands she had authority over what parts of the Black family estate they could have access to. To include the vault and their many family homes. Bellatrix wasn’t to worried though. She didn’t think Hermione would leave them destitute. Not after going to the trouble of saving them.