The Resistance

Chapter 10

Hermione signed off her letter to McGonagall detailing the conversation she had had with Bellatrix at the New Years dinner. Her old head of house had been keeping in touch with her future self to inform her of the progress that Hermione had been making. Of course, she had been sparse about the details of her relationship with Narcissa, but it was safe to say that she had successfully identified the one thing that may, with a little luck, keep Bellatrix from fully committing to Voldemort. And as long as this tiny ounce of doubt as to the cause was sitting on her heart, as long as she valued Narcissa's safety above You Know Who's cause, as long as she loved her more than them, there was hope for her. She suspected that it would not be long now until she was sent back home. She only hoped she had done enough, and that Narcissa would try to continue her work, even in the face of her future husband's allegiances. As she watched her owl disappear into the distance, she felt a little whisper of dread at the idea of having to leave her lover behind.

Narcissa burst into the room, the door slamming violently open against the wall, a Bellatrix like expression of pure anger adorning her face. Hermione looked up and frowned.

            "What is it?" she asked. "What's the matter?"

            "Apparently I am to marry Lucius Malfoy!" Hermione's heart sank. Narcissa started to pace back and forth in front of the bed, her words tumbling from her mouth in a whirlwind of rage. "Apparently we are to be married this summer, after graduation. This summer! That's not even a year from now! Oh and of course I have no choice in the matter. Apparently it is a 'non-issue' that I don't love him. I'll learn to in time, mother says. We looked so lovely together last night at the diner party that it seems our mothers decided it is "simply meant to be"!" She turned sharply to glare at Hermione, who had been sat calmly on the bed the entire time, her hands folded neatly in her lap. "Why won't you say anything!" she demanded. "Why are you not angry about this?"

            "I am from the future remember," she muttered darkly. "This isn't exactly a surprise for me." Narcissa's icy eyes widened in shock and she ran at Hermione as she shouted,

            "You knew!?! And you didn't think to warn me?"

            "How was I supposed to know you were to be married so young? I haven't even been born yet remember. I thought you married him because you loved him not because your parents made you." Hermione flopped back against the cushions and let out a deep sigh. She rubbed her eyes wearily with the palms of her hands, and then looked up at her young lover. "Even if I had told you, what difference would it have made? Any way you know I am not allowed to tell you any more than is absolutely necessary, especially about you own timeline."

            "Do you even care?" Narcissa asked blankly. "I have just told you that my parents are forcing me to marry a person I hardly even know, a man that I don't love, and you scarcely even blink." Hermione looked up and scowled at her lover. Her eyes itched hotly, tears scratching against them, threatening to break loose.

            "How can you say that?" she whispered. "Watching you kiss him last night made my blood boil. All I wanted to do was scream and cry and run to you. But I couldn't. I was so furious, and yet I was not even allowed to show it." Narcissa smiled a little.

            "If it makes you feel any better, he wasn't half as good as you."

            "I should bloody well hope not!" Hermione laughed. The two girls kissed, and Hermione wrapped Narcissa in her arms and they lay in silence for a while. The horror and dread of what was to happen to them seemed to be slowly sinking into her every pore as the realisation hit them that they were nearing the end of this era. Narcissa wanted to scream; she wanted to shout and cry and throw things. But there was nothing she could do. There was no way of stopping this. The fact that Hermione had known this would happen all along simply proved it. She would be forced to marry a man she did not love, and be miserable. She held on tighter to Hermione, encased safely in her arms.

            "I don't want to marry him," she whispered. "I want to marry you."

            "You know that's not possible. I don't even know how much longer I'll be here before they pull me back."

            "We've never talked about that before," Narcissa mused.

            "I suppose we have both been avoiding the subject rather carefully."

            "I'll wait for you," Narcissa said, pushing herself up onto her elbow to look Hermione in the eye.

            "Are you sure? You'll be waiting for quite a while." Narcissa smiled.

            "I'd do anything for you."

            "Then make me a promise," Hermione said.

            "What?"

            "Marry him," she said. "When I go back, you must marry him. You must have his son, and raise him to be good. You must make him like you, he must have your heart, your goodness. Promise me."

            "Why? Why is it so important that I marry him?" Hermione rolled her eyes.

            "You know I can't tell you that." Narcissa looked at her uncertainly.

            "And even if I do, you'll come back to me?"

            "Of course. As soon as I come back, I'll find you."

            "Then I promise."

Bellatrix heard a soft knocking at her door. She had been hiding away from her wretched husband in her old room all day. She could swear she found him more intolerable by the day.

            "Come," she barked, not looking up from her book.

            "Bella?" The dark haired witch looked up to see her little sister standing in the doorway. Bellatrix frowned at her.

            "Cissy what's the matter?" she asked, putting down her book and sitting up a little straighter. 

            "I'm to marry Lucius Malfoy," she said, her voice breaking. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. Bellatrix sighed and opened her arms to her baby sister. Narcissa ran to her, a great sob escaping her chest as she buried herself in her sister's embrace.

Bella held her, encased in her long arms, running her fingers through her hair, and cradling her in silence whilst she cried, as she had done when they were children. As she had done for both of her sisters up until very recently. Hermione's words echoed around her head, and she felt that familiar need to be the protector, to protect her little sister from all the darkness and all the shadows that were creeping into the world at the moment. And she couldn't help but feel that the picture she inhabited, was suddenly one third incomplete, without Andromida.

Notes:

Sorry I didn't post a chapter for the past two day after promising I would ! I am in Rome so finding time is tricky but here is another one! I hope you enjoy and if you do, let me know! If you don't, well then let me know that also! Have fun and happy reading folks!