The Fall of Hermione

For full disclaimer see chapter one.

Author\'s Notes-This chapter is considerably shorter than the rest, but to compensate for that the next chapter is nothing but smut and will be posted tomorrow.

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The Fall of Hermione

Chapter Three

The Plot Thickens

It had all seemed so simple a few hours ago. All Hermione needed to do was fool The Dark Lord long enough to be left to her own devices. Then, it would have been merely a matter of locating Snape, a quick Avada Kedavra, and she could have apparated to safety. Afterwards, she could spend as much time as she needed finding a way back into her own body, she had absolutely no intention of remaining inside Bellatrix\' corpse for the rest of her life.

However, it was morbidly humorous how fate seemed to throw you a curve just as you were making progress. This particular curve came with red hair; Ginny Weasley. Hermione shivered involuntarily at the thought of what Rabastan was most likely forcing her to do at this very moment. Standing from her seat in the study of The Lestrange Estate, Hermione began to pace; she had always thought more clearly on her feet.

She knew that there was nothing she could do for Ginny at the moment. If Hermione just rushed in without thinking, she would most likely be dead before she could do any good, and that simply would not do. Recalling the screams of agony as the captives inside Hogwarts were eaten alive by the green smoke and the guilt of leaving them all to die while she escaped, Hermione knew that she would not, could not leave Ginny to suffer a fate worse than death for something as petty as revenge.

This did not by any means indicate that she had given up on her original plan. Indeed, she still had every intention of sending Severus Snape straight to Hell, but not at the cost of Ginny Weasley. What Hermione needed was a plan, one that would allow her to rescue Ginny without being discovered. Once Ginny was safe, then it was back to her first order of business. But how was she to go about it?

The first thing she needed to do was find out what Bellatrix knew about Rabastan Lestrange and his home. Know thy enemy. With that in mind, Hermione flung herself down upon the sofa, closed her eyes, and began to rifle through Bellatrix\' memories yet again.

Rabastan was not married; he had gone to Azkaban at a young age and not had the opportunity to do so. Therefore, he had lived alone in his mansion until tonight. Bellatrix, much to Hermione\'s relief, seemed to know Rabastan\'s home inside and out. Locating Ginny should be relatively easy once she got inside. For that matter, Rabastan and Bellatrix appeared to have a friendly relationship, so it should be no trouble to pay him a visit and discover where he was keeping Ginny. It would be better to know exactly where Ginny was when Hermione went to save her rather than waste time searching the entire mansion for her. Deciding that she would drop in on her brother-in-law the next day, Hermione moved on to Ginny.

When Hermione had first laid eyes upon her at the Death Eater meeting, Ginny appeared to have been under the Imperius Curse. However, this did not sit with what Hermione knew about Ginny. They had spent three years in Dumbledore\'s Army under Harry\'s tutelage and had gone on to become members of the Order of the Phoenix. As a result, Ginny had been able to throw the curse since she was sixteen and could not possibly be under it now. But if she wasn\'t, what else could produce such similar symptoms?

Hermione thought back to Lord Voldemort presenting Ginny to Rabastan. Along with the portkey, The Dark Lord had given Rabastan a wooden box.

Her docile nature is, once again, thanks to Snape.

Voldemort\'s words played through Hermione\'s mind and she realized that Ginny had been given a potion, one that Snape had made.

At this insight, a memory of Bellatrix\' surfaced, the contents of which caused Hermione to clasp both hands over her mouth. Snape had turned the Unforgivable Curses into potions. Ginny may have been able to throw the curse, but no one could remove the effects of a potion without an antidote. Hermione searched through Bellatrix\' recollections frantically, hoping that the antidote would be there. What she found caused her to retch violently upon the floor.

The only other bit of information that Bellatrix had was that the Avada Kedavra Potion had been used on Hogwarts. Hermione now understood what Bellatrix had meant earlier when she told Hermione that Hogwarts was an earthen wasteland now that Severus was through with it.

Absentmindedly casting a cleansing charm to remove the vomit from the carpet, Hermione thought back on the green smoke dissolving everything in its path. Now that she knew what it was, she began to analyze how it worked. Potions in vapor form were almost always very weak and ineffective. If they were not than no one would be able to brew them without suffering dire consequences. For the Avada Kedavra Potion to be so destructive as a gas and still be brewed without causing harm to the maker, it had to be useless in it\'s liquid form and kept that way until the final ingredient was added. Whatever this component of the potion was, it had to cause two things to happen. One, it must turn the liquid into a vapor, and two, it must cause the potion to become lethal. There were too many possible ingredients to narrow down without knowing the exact formula, and so Hermione moved on to her next line of thought.

While the Killing Curse merely forced the soul to leave the body, the potion destroyed the body, leaving the soul to pass on. While each accomplished the same end, the means were quite different. In a way, the potion was more of an acid with a magical augmentation. Hermione supposed that as long as death and destruction were achieved, The Dark Lord did not care about technicalities and debates over the proper classification or naming of a potion.

This line of thinking, however, did not put Hermione any closer to finding a solution to her problem. Ginny was being controlled with the Imperius Potion and Bellatrix knew nothing about it save for its creator. It seemed that Hermione would have to go to Severus Snape for her answers, so what did Bellatrix know about Snape? A myriad of memories spun themselves through Hermione\'s mind, each more horrific than the last, and she was hard pressed not to retch again.

\"Oh Gods!\" Hermione exclaimed, wrapping her arms around herself and rocking gently. \"What have I gotten myself into?\"

The images that played before her mind\'s eye made one thing unfortunately quite clear; Bellatrix and Severus were lovers. From the sheer volume of recollections containing lurid details of their affair, they had been together for quite some time. Slowly, pieces of a puzzle Hermione was unaware she had been trying to solve began to fall into place.

Bellatrix wanted Rodolphus dead and he conveniently dies on the eve of victory when many had fallen in battle. From what the Dark Lord had said to her at the meeting, Bellatrix herself could not have killed him. However, Snape very well could have, and as another memory of plotting and more things that Hermione did not care to see surfaced, she concluded that Snape had.

Bracing herself for more disturbing images, Hermione dug a little deeper. It was perfect, really. The two had kept their relationship secret from everyone. This had been a mutual decision, but each seemed to have separate motivations.

While Bellatrix had outwardly agreed with Snape that, given her position in The Inner Circle, having it known she was seeing the man Lord Voldemort suspected of betrayal would not have been wise, inwardly she had had her own agenda. At first, Bellatrix had merely been using Snape, making him love her enough to kill for her. Once she had gotten what she wanted from him, she had had every intention of leaving him.

Since he had returned to the Dark Lord after his rebirth, Snape\'s word did not hold water with anyone. He was looked down upon by all, kept in the lowest of ranks and used for his potions skills and position in The Order. Had Snape gone to Lord Voldemort with his knowledge of what Bellatrix had done, he would have been disbelieved and killed. Therefore it was much more likely that Snape would have said nothing, leaving Bellatrix free to lead her life as she pleased.

What Bellatrix had not counted on was that Snape would make her love him as well. In fact, Snape was expecting her to meet him the following morning to celebrate her husband\'s death. Hermione could feel as the color drained from her face. She absolutely would not sleep with Snape!

But what about Ginny? Snape was evidently the only person who knew how to make the Unforgivable Potions. If he became suspicious of her, or at the very least jaded by Bellatrix\' lack of feeling, he was spiteful enough not to answer her questions. What would she do then? Run to the Dark Lord like a child and get him to make Snape tell her what she wanted to know? Bellatrix could only brew the simplest of potions; allowing Voldemort to know that she wanted something that Bellatrix would never desire would certainly give him cause to become suspicious. Suspicious enough that should Snape go to the Dark Lord with what he knew about Bellatrix, Voldemort may believe him.

If she was found out now, then there was no hope for Ginny. What it really came down to was that Hermione had no choice but to bed Snape and keep him from doubting Bellatrix. Hermione sighed, resigned to her fate. She truly hoped that her Gryffindor bravery would not desert her this time.

Look on the bright side, she thought. It will be much easier to get what I want from him this way.

A wicked grin slowly spread across her face. And won\'t it be all the more sweet to see his face when the woman he loves murders him.

She stood then, her smile never leaving her lips, and left the study. Making her way up the stairs and into Bellatrix\' bedroom, Hermione flung herself upon the bed and began to call the memories that had sickened her earlier to the forefront of her mind. The thought of Snape believing Bellatrix was the one who killed him was simply too delicious to pass up. Yes, she would become Snape\'s lover, and with Bellatrix memories of his sexual tastes, Hermione would make sure that he felt Bellatrix\' betrayal as intensely as all of Wizarding Britain had felt his.