Harry Potter And Bellatrix Lestrange

Using her ring as a guide to find Harry, Bellatrix exited Nair'icaix's dungeons and then made her way out to the rocky beach that surrounded the black castle. She found Harry chucking rocks into the ocean. Captain Nailoff and some of his men were casually walking about a small distance away from him.

Bellatrix approached Harry and silently watched for several minutes as he continued to throw small rocks as far as he could. Eventually, he slowed down, and then stopped throwing rocks altogether.

"I guess I lost control." Harry said dully to Bellatrix.

"It happens to the best of us." Bellatrix commented.

"She's so stubborn." Harry picked up another rock and fiercely threw it to punctuate his comment and express his opinion about Hermione. "If I kick her off the island she'll come back. If I forgive her she'll insist on 'earning' her forgiveness and she'll spend the rest of her life clinging to me. If I refuse to forgive her, she'll beg for me to kill her or worse, commit suicide."

"What will you do then?" Bellatrix asked.

Harry sighed, shrugged, and sat down on the hard beach, opting to study the water of the ocean rather than to throw things at it.

Bellatrix joined him, wincing as she maneuvered to avoid some of the sharper rocks. "Hermione realizes what she has done and wants to apologize and make amends. She also wants to try and patch up your former friendship. This should be easy for you because she will do anything at all in order to accomplish what she wants."

"I just want her to be sorry and leave me alone. Now that I look at the situation more closely, I suppose I can understand why she believed them and what she did, so I suppose I can forgive her if she doesn't make it hard." Harry mumbled. "I don't want her serving me the rest of her life, I don't want to kill her, and I don't want to punish her."

It was very hard for Bellatrix to hold back a sigh of exasperation. It didn't help that she couldn't decide who it was that was responsible for the issue at hand either- Hermione for her persistence or Harry for his stubbornness. 'Compromise,' she told herself. 'There needs to be a compromise.'

"Harry, you just said that you want her to be sorry." Bellatrix pointed out and then went on. "You can simply let it go and know that she's sorry and therefore forgive her."

"I don't want her making me uncomfortable." Harry added in.

Bellatrix nodded. "That's fine. If she doesn't feel like she deserves your forgiveness then it's her problem and she needs to work it out by herself, right?"

"Absolutely."

A small smile crossed Bellatrix's lips. "That isn't so hard. I'll go and talk to Hermione about how you feel. It's apparent that you're willing to put this whole thing in the past and forget about it. I'll tell her that you'll freely forgive her if she'll also put it in the past. Will that make you comfortable?"

"Yes." Harry nodded, relief apparent in his whole posture. "But, I don't want her trying to force the re-growth of our friendship. That will have to take time and I want to be the one who initiates anything in that regard. I'll do so when I'm comfortable doing so."

"I'll let her know that." Bellatrix informed Harry, happy that he was able to work through everything and be able to let it go.

Voldemort would have never let such a slight to his character go so unpunished. "You'll need to at least tell her that you forgive her to her face."

"I don't feel like facing her now." Harry sighed.

"That's okay." Bellatrix told him. "I think that waiting for a little while would be best myself. If you don't mind, I think I'll go back and talk to Hermione."

"Go ahead." Harry said, sounding much more relaxed.

Bellatrix nodded, stood up, and began to slowly make her way back to the castle. Just before she passed out of ear-shot, Harry called out to her. "Get her some clothes and better accommodations. Having her chained up and barely clothed was embarrassing!"

"As you wish." Bellatrix yelled back, glad to see that his mind had moved onto what she considered to be more trivial things.

...

Hermione sat huddled in a corner of her cell hugging herself to fight off the chilly air that seemed to be inescapable. Once she had calmed down after Bellatrix's departure, she had begun reflecting on the confrontation with Harry. Now that she looked back on the whole conversation, Hermione realized that she had put Harry on the spot and had probably embarrassed him to no end.

That meant that he would probably go out of his way to avoid thinking and or dealing with her situation. It was very fortunate that Bellatrix was present and had taken an interest in her situation. Hermione suspected that if not for Bellatrix, she would be down here without any hope of getting out.

Just as Hermione's thoughts began to drift toward worst-case scenarios, she heard footsteps echoing down the long hall that her cell was situated on. This caused Hermione's hopes to soar. Had Harry calmed down and felt guilty? Had Bellatrix already convinced him to forgive her?

She was somewhat disappointed when only Bellatrix appeared but was excited to see that Bellatrix wore a smile on her face and was carrying something- presumably for her. "Has Harry made a decision?" Hermione asked, with a nervous quaver in her voice. Maybe he had decided to send for Count Trazkaban.

"You could say that." Bellatrix replied as she opened Hermione's cell with magic and stepped in.

"I helped him sort out his feeling and get to the root of things. He's perfectly willing to forgive you and put things in the past if you will leave him alone and also put everything in the past."

The smile that had grown on Hermione's face slipped when Bellatrix stated the last clause of the agreement. "That won't do." Hermione told Bellatrix sadly. "That way he'll always remember that I betrayed him. We'll have supposedly put it in the past, but he'll always remember."

"You make Harry's feelings seem more complicated than they really are." Bellatrix said. "He's perfectly willing to re-instate your former friendship so long as you let him be the one who does it when he is ready. Making him ill at ease will not help your situation." Bellatrix then threw the bundle she had been carrying at Hermione. "Get up and put these on. You're being moved to a room upstairs." Her tone brooked no opposition.

Slowly, Hermione stood up, shed her undergarments and put on the new clothes that fit perfectly. As she did so, she continued the conversation with Bellatrix. "But I still feel guilty. I need to do something to make things right."

"Harry has decided that any issues you have with accepting his forgiveness are your own problem." Bellatrix stated, motioning for Hermione to follow her out of the cell once Hermione had finished dressing in the clothes that greatly resembled the basic Hogwarts uniform.

"Meaning that he doesn't want to punish me or accept any reparations. Typical." Hermione retorted.

Bellatrix smiled broadly for two reasons. That was indeed typical Harry, and she loved him for it. Secondly, it was apparent that Hermione's spirit was far from broken. "That means you can just put this behind you." Bellatrix told Hermione as they began their climb up a flight of stairs.

"I can't put this behind me." Hermione replied firmly.

"Are you so prideful that you cannot accept Harry's plain forgiveness and move on?" Bellatrix said in a somewhat harsh voice, trying to convince Hermione that she was going a little too far. "Is this because you cannot stand to be in his debt?"

"No matter what I do, I'll always be in Harry's debt." Hermione replied angrily but with a resolute voice which then dropped to a whisper. "The guilt won't go away until I feel that I've paid the price for what I've done."

Bellatrix remained silent for a few moments as she contemplated some ideas that would help Hermione recover from her extreme guilt with a minimum of hassle for Harry. Finally she came up with an idea. "Is there a way that you can significantly contribute to the fight against Voldemort? Helping Harry get the upper hand over Voldemort is the best way that you could redeem yourself in his eyes."

"My powers are insignificant compared to his." Hermione sighed. "What do I have to offer?"

Silence fell over them as the two carefully considered how Hermione could help out. Bellatrix's eyes lit up as she received a sudden inspiration. "You got kidnapped because you tried to confront Harry didn't you?"

"Yes." Hermione answered. "What does that have to do with it?"

...

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