Hermione stood on the threshold of Azkaban, her eyes taking in the sight of the place. It never got easier. The snow whipped around her blowing her hair around and into her face. Yesterday she had been in Vienna with Andromeda, now she was here. Her former best friend dead. She checked her wand and went past the gates, the snow continued to swirl as she crossed the bridge. She kept her hand tightly on the railing because the icy conditions could easily send someone toppling over the edge. The newspaper, as per usual, got the story wrong. He had been found in his cell yesterday, he hadn't died yesterday. According to Vance's report Ron had been dead for three days when they found him. Hermione felt sick to her stomach. She ascended the steps, she had to clear the room and the body before he could be released to his family. She didn't want to think about that, she didn't want to imagine him in the ground.

She walked down the row of cells ignoring the whistles and cat calls from the prisoners trying to grab at her. Ron's cell was at the end, a minimum security prisoner his conditions were better than most. The guard opened the door and ushered her inside, the candles lit when she entered the room, she took a sharp intake of breath, from floor to ceiling lining the walls were pictures of her, her alone, her with Bella, her with Maia, her with Ron, with Tonks, with Harry. She saw a lavender jumper on the bed that had been hers, she had noticed it had gone missing over two years ago.

Next to the jumper on the bed lay Ron as if asleep. The only difference was the slight bluish colour around his lips and eyes. His fingertips were dark as well. There were no marks on him, nothing on his clothes and no sign of a struggle. Hermione noticed a flaky substance on his mouth, vomit most likely. She caught some in a phial and placed it in her pocket. She examined his hands and scrapped under his nails. She worked in silence, divorcing herself from emotions as she moved to his other hand and scraped again.

Andrews entered the room as Hermione was inspecting Ron's eyes.

"Whoa." He looked around the room and stared at Hermione. "Friend of yours?"

Hermione looked at him in annoyance, "You could say that." Her foot hit a little phial on the ground, the little tinkling sound it made caused her to notice it. She lifted it and put it into a bag and shoved it into her robes.

"He seems really obsessed with Bellatrix." Andrews said peering at the picture of Bella holding Maia. "Is this your daughter together? I read about that. The soul bonding."

"Andrews, shut up." Hermione said frustrated, "Go and ask the prisoners if they saw anything."

"Sorry, sorry it's just Bellatrix is my life's work. I did a thesis on her in school."

Hermione pointed at the cell door. His obsession with Bellatrix creeped her out and annoyed her. "Please, I need to work and I need quiet." She said explaining as he left the cell.

"We'll talk later." He said eagerly as he headed to question the prisoners. Tonks was off that day, she hadn't been feeling well since her leg injury. Vance had given her the week off which meant that because Tonks was off, Hermione was called in and had to work with Andrews.

"Oh Ron." Hermione said gently rolling him to check his back for any marks, nothing was apparent.

She laid him back and looked around the room. A stack of letters on the desk addressed to her but never sent. She sighed and bagged them for evidence. She looked for a suicide note, just in case but she found nothing. Books were stacked neatly on the shelf in the corner, she flicked through them, a post card fluttered to the ground. It was one she had sent when she was in school and had gone to France with her parents on holiday. He had used it as a marker for his page.

"You only had a year and a half to go Ron." She said flipping through the calendar on the wall. It felt oddly damp to the touch, she snatched her hand back and peered at it. The calendar laid flat against the wall and then disintegrated into dust. "What the-" She collected the ashes into another bag. Birch-Lock insisted on everything being bagged and tagged, his new obsession extended to crime investigation shows now.
It took Hermione nearly the entire day to take everything down, bag it and record it. She was disturbed by the images Ron had looked at. He had cut Bella's face out of several and inserted his own wherever that was a picture of Bella with Hermione and Maia. He had scratched Bella's eyes out in several and Maias. Other times he had drawn little hearts around the baby's picture.

The pictures were muggle pictures, static and frozen in time. Very few were magical, she frowned, how did he get so many muggle pictures of them? She looked through the desk drawers, parchment, quills, old newspapers. Every single clipping, mention, snippet or otherwise was cut out perfectly and placed into scrapbooks that were stacked under his bed.

There were very old pictures, from before Hermione and Ron were even born that featured Bellatrix and the Death Eaters. He had been ordering back issues of the paper and creating a scrapbook from the first mentions of Bella's birth up until a week ago when Bella and Hermione had attended a local Quidditch match.

"Interesting hobby." Birch-Lock said when Hermione arrived back at his office with the list of evidence.

"I'd say he was obsessed sir, if I may." Andrews offered, Hermione rolled her eyes. It had been a long day.

"Alright Black, go home. Ordinarily I wouldn't have put you onto this case but, well he still helped save the wizarding world. I thought it could use your care and attention."

"It's fine Birch I doubt anyone else would have taken the care."

"You're supposed to be on holiday Black." Birch-Lock observed, "Vienna I believe?"

"Yes but, we've postponed it for now." Hermione explained. She was leaving here to go with Andromeda over to the Weasley's.

"Sorry Black." He said with a frown.

She nodded and left the office hearing Andrews asking if he could get a look at the scrapbooks when evidence was done checking them.

Hermione sat in the Weasley's sitting room, George handed her a cup of tea, she thanked him and set it aside. Andromeda was talking softly to Molly on the other end of the room.

"How are you holding up?" She asked patting the seat for George to sit down.

George shook his head as he sat, "Stupid git." He said sniffing, "Never was too bright."
Hermione looked down at the floor.

"Two brothers dead, one in Azkaban. The war hasn't ended for us Hermione." George's voice was soft and sad.

"It doesn't make sense, he only had a little while left. He was up for parole in a month and even if it was denied he only had just over a year to go."

"I know I just saw him two weeks ago, he asked me to bring him some candy."

"Did you?"

"Of course I did, anything he wanted I sent it to him."

"Does Percy know?" Hermione asked thinking of the other brother in Azkaban.

"Percy's a git, he's the reason Ron was in there in the first place. It's his fault Ron is dead." George said bitterly. His statement surprised Hermione seeing as how Bellatrix was usually blamed for the fate of the Weasley brothers.

"Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked finally taking a sip of tea.

"On her way back from America. She couldn't get a portkey back today, had to wait until tomorrow."
Hermione nodded grateful somehow that Ginny was not present. She couldn't deal with the accussations and harsh words.

"Hermione." Andromeda said crossing the room to stand in front of her. "Are you nearly ready my Love?."

Hermione nodded and stood leaving the cup of tea on the side table.

"Thank you for the tea George." George nodded sitting back in the chair. Andromeda walked with Hermione to the door, Mrs. Weasley came to open it for them.

"Take care of yourself dear." Molly said to Andromeda, Hermione turned slightly to address her but she did not meet Hermione's eyes.

"Goodbye Mrs. Weasley." Hermione said turning back towards Andromeda.

"Hermione." Mrs. Weasley called when Andy and Hermione had reached the garden gate. Hermione walked back to the door where Mrs. Weasley stood.

"Yes?"

"I know it's not your fault. I know-I know Bellatrix has you bewitched, you have to break it. You have to figure out how to stop the spell she has on you and Andromeda. I'm worried about you."

"Mrs. Weasley she doesn't have me under a spell. We're bonded, you can't bond with someone aganst their will."

"Break the enchantment Hermione or it'll be you next. Please."

Hermione nodded and Molly hugged her for a moment before releasing her to return to Andromeda.

The two women walked through the garden gate to a point of apparition. "What did she say?"

"She said Bella's bewitched us and that I'll be next if I don't break it."

Andy sighed and hugged Hermione close, "We're not bewitched Angel." She kissed Hermione lightly. "Come, lets go home."

Bella was waiting when they arrived, Hermione had gone straight from the hotel to work and hadn't been home yet.

"My poor Pet." She said taking Hermione into her arms. Hermione breathed Bella's scent in, "You've lost your friend." Despite how horrible the Weasleys were to Bellatrix she understood their importance in her wife's life.

"What do you need Love?" Andromeda stroked Hermione's back as she continued to cling to Bella.

"Just this." Hermione whispered, the darkness of Bella's hair and robes encased her in safety. The gentle smell of jasmine on Bella's skin instantly calmed all of Hermione's fears.

Bella leaned against the back of the couch holding Hermione as Andromeda went to get something to eat. Her eyes fell onto the pair several times as she cut up some cheese and bread. Bella was whispering against Hermione's ear, the younger woman nodding and sniffling. Her fingers wrapping slowly around one of Bella's curls as she held her.

"Do you want to eat? You must be famished." Bella said guiding Hermione to the table.

Andy gave Hermione a plate with bread and cheese, there was stew in a bowl as the three women sat.

Bella squeezed Andy's hand, "How are you Love?" She asked her sister who had shared a friendship with the Weasley family over the years.

"Just hurting for the Weasley's. I know how I would feel if something were to happen to Dora. It's their second child to have lost." Andy said spooning stew into a bowl. Tonks had messaged that she was with Harry who was beside himself.

Hermione stared at the tabletop for a moment, "It doesn't make sense." She mumbled as Bella put stew into Hermione's bowl.

"Death rarely does Pet." Bella said breaking Hermione's roll and adding butter to it.

She went back to work the following week, she and Andy would travel to Vienna after Maia's birthday at the end of January. She moved in a daze leading up to Christmas, everything around her seemed to go on at a normal pace that she couldn't keep up with.

Birch-Lock smacked a file down on her desk, "Hemlock. Heard of it?"

Hermione frowned, "Is a poisonous plant. Kills you if you ingest it, made famous by Socrates." She glanced at the file, Ron's name along the side of it. "He drank hemlock?"

"Not clear if he drank it or ate it but he ingested it. The white residue that you collected was hemlock milk, comes from the plant."

"How would he get hemlock?"

"That's what we're looking into. It's not something easy to come by and certainly not something you can get past the guards."

"So he ate the hemlock to kill himself?" Hermione said staring at the report.

"Or someone gave him the hemlock to murder him." Birch-Lock said curiously. "I mean, you guys do have enemies. You're too hard to get to because of Bellatrix and Harry, well he's Harry. That leaves Ron a sitting duck in Azkaban."

She shook her head sadly, Hermione had assumed it had been a terrible accident, some mistake or underlying health issue that had gone unchecked.

"That is why I have handed it over to Andrews and Umbridge. You're too close on this one Black."

Hermione grabbed the file, "No Birch, this is my case."

Birch-Lock shook his head, "No can do Black, this is from the higher ups. You're on leave until after the New did a great job processing the body but now you need to take a step back. We're not totally clear on what we're dealing with here."

"What the hell Birch." Hermione said angrily.

"It's not my choice Black, I just wanted to fill you in."

"When does my leave start?" Hermione said handing him the file.

"End of today. It's not optional Black, we all can see you're taking strain. You're just too close to this one Hermoine. I'm sorry. I really am. I can't even put Tonks on it, it's- it wasn't my decision."

"Come with me for a short trip then Andy said over breakfast the following morning. "Come, we never got to see the markets, that was our whole reason to go besides the museums."

Hermione glanced at Bella who nodded, "Go Pet, get some presents for Maia. I refuse to muggle shop." She said spooning egg into Maia's mouth who bounced up and down in her chair.

"Come it will just be for a few of days, we'll be back by Friday." Andy said her smile won Hermione over.

They spent the next two days walking through the busy market stalls, little dollies that cried, little trains that moved without batteries and would stop on their own at a crossing. She even found one modeled after the Hogwarts Express. Hermione kept her fingers wrapped with Andy's. The Christmas sights and sounds did what Andromeda had hoped for pulling Hermione into a better mood. She laughed to see Hermione so excited over the gingerbread houses that had sugar ice snow falling on them. She went back to the stall several times throughout the day to spy the houses again.

"Do you want one Pet?" Andromeda asked after the third trip to the stall for Hermoine to admire the creations.

"Wouldn't Maia love it?" She said wistfully reaching out to catch the sugared snow on her gloved hand. The stall keeper smiled and offered her a piece of gingerbread. She bit into it and gave the other half to Andy. She followed Andy's bite with a kiss. Puffs of cold air escaped her mouth as she broke off the soft kiss.

"Come I want to see the fairies again." Hermione said as Andy smiled and followed her, their fingers still entwined. Hermione couldn't make up her mind between the green fairy or the blue one.

"Why not get both?" Andy asked looking over the Teddy Bears that walked and sniffed your hand before climbing up a tree to reach the toy bee hive.

"Well she has a small fairy already." Hermione said stepping away from the fairy booth to examine the animals, her hand rested on Andy's back rubbing gently. Andy glanced at her for a moment before selecting a small version of the bear toy for Teddy. The market keeper wrapped it for her and promised it would be sent to their hotel that afternoon.

They walked along in silence for a few minutes before getting some warm butterbeer to drink. "What do you think of the market?" Andy asked as they leaned on a fence to watch the ice skaters.

"I love it." Hermione said breathlessly, she hugged Andromeda close, "Thank you for bringing me here." She looked up at Andromeda and for the second time that day their lips met. Andromeda deepened the kiss slightly sending a shiver up Hermione's spine, her hand brushed across Hermione's hips inside her cloak.

"Andy." Hermione whispered in the kiss.

"Yes my Angel." She replied slightly breathless from the kiss.

"Take me back to the room?"

Andy smiled and in a flash they disappeared from the market and appeared back in their hotel room.

Bella exhaled slowly leaving a trail of thick smoke and studied the man across the table from her. Birch-Lock stared back, the folder open showing Ron's dead body.

"So my wife is out of town and you thought you'd contact to me to what? Investigate this?"

"I'm just asking you to reach out, ask around see if something comes up."

Bella nodded dragging on her fag for a moment as she flipped the page. "I'm retired. Pardoned, no longer in favour of the greater good. In case you didn't know." She blew smoke in his direction and flicked the ash over the folder before sliding it back across the table.

"He was your wife's best friend."

"He means nothing to me." She said staring past Birch-Lock to the wanted posters on the wall of his office. "His family means nothing to me."

"But Hermione does."

"Of course she does, she's my wife and the mother of my child."

"It's just a few questions Black, it would take you all of ten minutes."

Bella nodded flicking the ash away again, she rarely smoked but it was a pleasure she indulged in every so often. "It would take me about that long. Suppose I do this, what's in it for me? Don't tell me the greater good. Also gold is of no use to me. What is my ten minutes worth to you?"

"You'd be helping solve this mystery involving your wife's friend."

Bella shrugged disinterested.

"What do you want then?" He sounded slightly exasperated.

Bella pretended to think it over, "A favour."

He looked interested, "What sort of favour."

Bell put the fag out on the tabletop due to the lack of an ashtray. "I would say fire my wife but I respect her too much."

Birch-Lock looked astonished by her words, "You would have me do that?"

"I just said I wouldn't though it's no secret I hate that she works. No, this involves Nymphadora."
Bella explained what she wanted, he said he would do what he could but there were no promises.
She left his office and fastened her cloak. She sent an owl to Hermione's parents asking them to keep Maia for the night and set off.

Hermione trembled underneath Andromeda, she dipped her tongue gently into her mouth. Hermione moaned into the kiss, trying to pull Andromeda closer, "Please don't stop." She whispered and was answered by a harder kiss, Andy biting into her lip, Hermione faintly tasted blood mixed into the kiss. She strained against Andy's body until she gave in, Andromeda's name on her lips pressing into the kiss.

They laid on the floor looking at a brochure for the museum they were going to go to the next day. The fire warmed them as Andromeda stroked her hair, her hand straying every now and then down Hermione's back and between her legs. Hermione blushed and pretended to not notice. Andy loved seeing her cheeks flush as she unfolded the booklet. They looked at the map marking where they wanted to go until finally Hermione flicked it away and moved into Andromeda's arms. Her mouth closed gently on her neck, Andy sighed happily pulling her lover in closer.

"I think Molly had it wrong." Andromeda said with a sly smile. Hermione sat up slightly to look at her confused.
"It isn't Bella who has us bewitched it's you."

The rain poured as Bella pulled her cloak tighter and waited at the gate for entrance. A shimmer across the bars told her it was granted as she passed through unharmed.

"Bellatrix." A voice called in greeting from the open doorway. "How good of you to come."

Bella nodded a greeting and entered the house, the place had a feeling of neglect when you walked in. There was a slight decayed feeling about the place, dirt and debris sat in the corners. She followed the man through the corridor and into the sitting room.

"How are you my dear child? Are you keeping well?" The gentleman asked ringing for tea. A decrepit old house elf appeared bearing a tray with tea and cakes.

"I am well, and you?" Her eyes took in the face that was a picture of her dead husband, her ex father in law stared back.

"I am keeping, lots to do of course. Is Rodolphus treating you well?"

Bella paused for a heartbeat and then nodded, "He is, he wanted to come but the dark lord keeps him busy."

They spoke for a few moments as though no time had gone by and then his eyes shifted slightly and he stared at her as if she'd just sat down.

"A mudblood Bella? Was my son so awful to you that you disgrace him and refuse his name." He wagged a finger at her as though she were a naughty child.

She knew his wand had been taken from him the previous year when he tried to curse several healers but his wandless magic was still something to be weary of.

"She is a muggle-born yes." Bella corrected him gently as if agreeing with what he said. "And it was easier to go to Black after-"she paused as they stared at each other. "Don't." She said looking at his hand, "Don't do that." the spell faded from his hand.

"My sons are dead." He said looking around the room. "No heirs to carry on our name."

Bella held her breath, he had always blamed her for Carina's death. He said nothing about the lost child and Bella released the breath. His words from years ago echoed in her mind, the blame, the horrible things he said when she failed to get pregnant again.

"I've come to ask you something." Bella ventured.

"You didn't rest enough Bella." He said and Bella sighed, she would not be lucky enough to not hear about it. "Women don't lose children in my family Rodolphus." He looked to the space next to her as though Rodolphus sat there next to her. "Weakness in the genes, mark my words, inferior genes led to that child's death. I am sorry my dear but you're not good enough to carry his heirs. Perhaps I should trade you for the other one. I think your parents tricked me, gave me the wanton one and kept the best one for a better match. Perhaps I should demand her for your brother Rodolphus at least then I would get a viable heir."

Bella braced herself for the worst insults but they did not come. She frowned but her father in law said nothing, he simply stared at the open space. Bella glanced at the space in spite of herself, there was only emptyness. She strangely felt a pang of sadness, Rodolphus had always defended her to his father. It was very strange being in the house now without him.

"A mudblood Bella." He spoke again in the present, "Your parents would blast of you off that tree like your no good blood traitor sister. Rotten the entire lot of you. Narcissa was the only good thing to come out of your family. I told Rodolphus you were filth, you and your sister."

Bella stood and left the room, he followed her to the door, as they left the room he went back into the past. "Leaving so soon my dear. Do give my best to your parents, I am sure it all busy at your house preparing for the wedding. Let me know if you require anything, anything at all."

"I will. Thank you." Bella said gently and exited the house. She leaned against the closed door gasping, grateful to be away from the old man. She had enough to know he wasn't guilty of Ron's death. Her head spun as she got sick in the potted plants. She stood for a moment spiting into the plants before venturing back out into the rain to leave the grounds. She glanced back at the house, she would burn it to the ground when the old man died. She smiled slightly, she'd dance on the ashes.

She held Maia's tiny body against her as she slept. Her fingers traced each delicate line of the baby's face. "Mummy loves you." She whispered pressing a kiss to the tiny nose. Her hands examined Maia's tiny little finger nails and fingers. She stirred slightly and then cuddled back into Bella's arms. "So much like your mama." She pressed another kiss to her nose. Bella fell asleep, her face nestled into the soft sweet curls on Maia's head. Hermione found them like that the next morning. Little story books and toys strewn around the bed, one of Hermione's cloaks thrown over them as they slept.