Dark Desires

Chapter 18

The first half hour after Hermione had discovered that she was the subject of a nationwide manhunt had been rough. Everything she had worked so hard for all her life seemed to go to waste; her knowledge, her dignity, the successful future she had imagined for herself, fell away and revealed what she should have foreseen from the beginning - this was a lost cause. Through saving Bellatrix, she was effectively destroying her own life, and it had only dawned on her just now. She had been sitting numb when Bellatrix found her in their carriage on the train, only half an hour until the train station in Paris, people and surveillance cameras and ticket controls.

Bellatrix entered Hermione's sphere of attention, with two cups of black coffee in her hands - one of which she put in front of an unresponsive Hermione.

"Coffee. The infamous muggle drink. Aren't you going to thank me?" Bellatrix pouted and waited for an answer, receiving nothing but a blank stare. "Fine, you don't have to say anything, I will just have to imagine your gratitude." Bellatrix stared suspiciously at the brown liquid before taking a sip and swallowing, grimacing. She sputtered and squished her nose in disdain. "Ah, Merlin, and I thought wizards were crazy. Who puts this in their mouth voluntarily, it tastes like dirt."

Hermione didn't crack a smile, instead grabbed one of the single-serve milk packets from a box at the table and poured it into her coffee with a pack of sugar while Bellatrix watched intrigued. She saw the dark witch mimicking after her, yet she could think of nothing but her own wasted future. Everything seemed pointless now, and maybe it was partly because of her lack of sleep or travel fatigue, but Hermione had lost all hope in everything. She wondered if the other witch knew about their TV stunt, or if she was blissfully oblivious to the whole nationwide manhunt. Or maybe she had brought her coffee as a silent apology for causing this mess, though that seemed like an unlikely turn of events.

"You're still angry about me slapping you at the train station, aren't you? Is that why you're giving me the silent treatment?" Bellatrix was too preoccupied with pouring a fifth sugar satchet into her coffee to observe Hermione's reaction as closely as she would. "We don't have to talk, that's fine. Suits me perfectly." She mused on, evidently getting bored with this whole ordeal. "You not talking is probably the best way to start the day anyway." She downed the whole cup of coffee in one go, and Hermione still did not utter a sound. "I mean, for Merlin's sake, it was just a slap! I didn't molest you or anything, I just don't really get why you're so serious about it." Bellatrix waited. No reply. There is a particularly uncomfortable situation that arises when the person you're talking to stops replying. Bellatrix started to feel self-concious. She fidgeted with an empty packet of milk. It seemed as though minutes went by. She was in agony. "Fine, what do you want me to say? Maybe I shouldn't have slapped you. But you didn't see yourself - really, it was quite funny." She looked up to meet Hermione's cold gaze. "Fine, sorry. Okay? I am sorry. Are you happy now? I really don't feel like you should be this upset over a joke, it was-"

"It's not about the slap, Bellatrix", hissed Hermione, snapping the packet of milk out of Bellatrix' pale hands. She enounced every word with clear precision. "We are the subject of a nationwide manhunt, if you haven't noticed. Which means that I don't have a future anymore, because of you."