I can't tell you how many times I reread this. I really need a Beta to keep me in line cause I get to stressing about the flow.

"No. No. No." Hands caught at her before she could collapse to the cold hard floor. She didn't know whose embrace she fell in but she clutched at the heavy robes and did her best not to fall apart in front of her family. She had to think, stay rational and more importantly in control of the volatile magic swirling around inside her. It was her only chance to save her family.

"Breathe Hermione, breathe." Andy held her tighter in her arms, easing them both to the floor and taking deep breaths herself as she encouraged her sister in law to do the same.

She felt another, older and more firm, hand fall on her shoulder. "We will find her, love. Family always finds each other." Esme told her softly, her own sorrow echoing with every word and Hermione knew that Esme knew just how difficult that would be. Bellatrix was easy to find, even without the strange pull toward her magic. Hermione knew how her mind worked, what her goal had been. But Sterling, with their daughter she had no idea. She knew the girl had probably wanted to help, but wild magic was unpredictable at best and it could have taken her anywhere. With no real blood relatives to do a locating spell with finding her would be all the more difficult.

"I'll get the aurors on it right away Hermione. And we will get to Bellatrix too, before she does anything stupid." Hermione pulled away from Andy, her eyes landing on Nymphadora with a wet hope glistening in them.

"Bellatrix…..blood, Merlin!" Hermione struggled out of Andy's grasp, the witch protesting whatever Hermione had planned.

"No, Hermione leave Bellatrix and Umbridge to the aurors. Your magic was so weak, you were so tired-"

"No, Andy!" Hermione grasped hold of the woman's arms, pulling them both up in her hopeful excitement. "Blood. Bellatrix's blood can be used to find Sterling."

The healer stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "Hermione," She started gently, as if she was breaking very bad news to a mentally unstable patient, which in hind sight she thought she might be. "They are not related. She adopted her remember?"

Hermione laughed. "But they are." She forcefully pulled herself away. Avoided both Esme and Tonks as they tried to catch her as she rushed down the stairs. It wasn't that she was happy, she was terrified. But she let the warmth of hope fill her until the terror and anger faded from her mind and she was more able to calm the rushing magic that she hadn't yet become used to.

She was afraid to use any magic right then or she might have apparated instead of dancing around Molly, who tried to catch her as she made her way to the floo, at the behest of Esme and Tonks.

She didn't have full control of the wild swirling mass inside of her, the untamed raw magic itching to get out of it's vessel and angry at having once again been encased in a cage more than able to contain it, at least for the next several hundred or so years.

Without her own magic, which was still currently tied up to the frothy pink bitch, she was as vulnerable as a muggle in the wizarding world. That didn't mean she had to let everyone else fight her battles for her. She had all her memories now, King Arthur was as much a part of her now as Hermione Granger-Black was. And she had never allowed other people to fight her battles for her, not then and certainly not now.

She barely glanced back towards her family as she felt a jinx hit her back, someone had tried a body freezing hex and they were startled when it didn't work. She didn't spare it much thought as she tossed the powder into the flames and said in a clear voice, "Witch's Brew."

Without any more of an explanation Hermione was gone. But at least they knew she had gone after Bellatrix. At least she had let them know where they would be. They just all really hoped no one died.

"I have to stay here, look after my husband." Esme told them. Despite their newfound friendship she couldn't leave him in their care, he could become distressed with people he wasn't too familiar with, especially if she wasn't there to calm him down. She couldn't bear to worry about him and the girls too.

Andy nodded to her, Tonks was already fixing on her cloak and asking Molly and Arthur to keep an eye on Teddy. "I'll go to the ministry, I need to talk to Moody about all this, we need to start looking for Sterling and I really don't want to have to clean up Aunt Bellatrix's mess if she starts killing all her enemies."

"It's legal," Molly said in anger, more directed towards the kidnappers than them. Molly wasn't sure if she agreed with killing them per say but she had been like a second mother, well more like second Nana, to Sterling for a while now and she did not take kind to someone trying to take her from their family. And she was terrified for the girl now, wherever she had gone.

"It's a mark on her soul." Andy told her softly. "Killing for a brand is justifiable in cases where one party is threatened. But even Peter Salt's death weighs heavily on Bella, taking a life always comes with a price." Molly frowned guiltily. She knew the man's death had bothered Bellatrix, even though she believed he deserved it. She felt a little selfish for not reaching out to her about it, for not trying to understand before now.

"You're right. I just-"

Andy smiled sadly at her, taking a pinch of powder after Tonks disappeared with a loud pop. "I know. I love them all too and I want everything that ever threatened my family's happiness to die a horrible death as well. I just don't want my family's safety and happiness to be at the cost of my sister's soul."

~HB~

Hermione had no idea where she was, well she did, she was in Knock Turn Alley, she could tell by the unsettling stench of unwashed people and the dark dreary décor. She stepped out of the fireplace and into the dark dusty shop, brushing dust and soot off her robes as she went.

She had no idea why she hadn't gone straight to the pub but at least she knew she had landed in the general area.

It was a dark arts shop, she could tell instantly. There were warnings on several of the artifacts and a few were encased in glass with waving colorful shield charms activated around them. Whether it was to contain whatever was inside or to keep fingers from reaching out towards dangerous things she didn't dare think.

She pushed the door open and headed out onto the street before the startled hunched up man behind the counter could properly collect his bearings and demand to know what a student was doing in his, probably illegal, shop. She blinked in the light of the street lamps and let her eyes adjust, despite the dim light the street was better lit than the shop she had just fled from.

She pushed her head back in, ignoring the huffing from the man as the bell jingled jarringly above her. "Where is the Witch's Brew?" She asked, in a voice infected with so much authority he had no option but to answer. He pointed a gnarly hand toward the right and she nodded before slamming the door and starting off down the street.

She drew quite a few curious glances, a few even went so far as to proposition her. No one dared touch her, her icy glare and determined gate was enough to garner her that bit of a reprieve.

She wondered what she was going to walk in on, she couldn't see Bellatrix sitting opposite Delores Umbridge for drinks, even if the woman hadn't kidnapped her wife, they didn't seem the type of people who would mesh well together. More than likely she was walking into a blood bath. She sighed harshly, wondering why she had to go and be the more level headed of the two.

~HB~

Bellatrix was indeed sitting opposite the annoyingly cheerful woman while sipping on her firewhiskey. She had been disturbingly quiet, it was setting the entire establishment on edge, even the building itself seemed to be holding it's breath, waiting for the string holding onto Black's sanity and temper to snap.

Most everyone who could read knew Hermione Granger-Black had been kidnapped, and in the past twenty four hours or so Delores Umbridge's picture had been plastered all over the walls as Undesirable Number One. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots, not with the two women sitting together with such intense silence passing between them. It was like a Train wreck, dangerous and interesting and for some reason no one seemed to want to leave.

Delores fidgeted with a soft pip as she waited for Bellatrix to….do something, probably thank her if the teacher guessed right. She was such a….pureblooded supremacist. She probably didn't even think what she had done to Hermione was a crime, after all house elves could be abused and no one ever shouted out about their unfair treatment did they. To the supremacists muggle born weren't any better, probably worse if Bellatrix was being honest.

"It wasn't the best plan, Umbridge." She finally told her, punctuating the casual statement with a nonchalant sip from her drink. She held the bottle precariously by the stem as she tilted it back to her lips. Umbridge watched in rapt fascination. Bella wondered how long the woman had been fixated on her.

"Well, there was certainly hiccups, but then I had to resort to working with riff raff and your sister had a change of heart halfway through. I thought blood status meant something to her, I had obviously been mistaken." She let out that annoying laugh, something Bella was sure she did only to fill the silence, it probably intimidated her subordinates.

Bellatrix hummed thoughtfully. "So….it was all your idea then? Kidnapping my family?" There was another pip at the word family and it looked as if Delores was about to interrupt but Bellatrix carried on, ignoring her completely. "You see that part was done fairly well, the vows, the distractions for the teachers and all the men." Umbridge seemed to swell at what she considered praise. "But then everything fell apart didn't it?" Bellatrix smirked at the bit of outrage that crossed her plump face. The woman took a quick sip of her own drink and huffed.

"As I said, I was forced to hire out amateurs. I couldn't let the minister know what was going on could I? He is so….confused when it comes to issues regarding fragile problems like this. He just couldn't look outside the box for the solution, you know? He doesn't like to get his hands dirty so I, of course, must do so in his name."

Bellatrix hummed again, she started tracing knife marks in the table, almost seemed bored with the conversation but she was anything but. She needed to trick Umbridge into naming names. She knew her sister was involved but there were others, her sister had named a man called Riddle. She had sounded afraid, and he had been the one who placed the brand on Umbridge, he was the one she needed to find. The one who could possibly be….persuaded to undo what he had done.

"Aside from my wife escaping with my sister you got what you wanted." She didn't look up, trying not to appear too interested. She wanted Umbridge angry about her flippant attitude, angry enough to slip up.

"Yes. I got the brand from the mudblood, and Riddle delivered on his promise." Bella barely held back a growl at the derogatory term aimed at her wife. "It just wasn't appropriate for someone of such…..filth to have such a hold on one so pure as a Black. Riddle is a descendent of Slytherin, a very skilled man in the dark arts," she admitted happily, it was clear she idolized the man much as she did the minister, "and he agreed with me. It was obvious I was the better choice, I am after all a pureblood as well."

Bellatrix couldn't let that slide, not if she was playing the roll of supremacist herself. She glanced up, a mad smirk on her lips and her eyes blazing with the insanity from the voices. "Oh….but your not. You know this, I know this. It won't be hard for others to find out either." She chuckled mirthlessly. "Dear old Daddy diddled a muggle didn't he?" She laughed again at the pale outrage on the woman's face. "He did, and she and your squib of a brother ran off to join the muggles." Bellatrix clicked her tongue thoughtfully and pulled out her wand, she stuck the tip of it in her mouth thoughtfully. "That makes you a half-blood, doesn't it."

She enjoyed the outrage on the secretaries face. It had been what she was aiming for. She couldn't kill her but needling her was it's own satisfaction. "It's still better than being a mudblood. Or a blood traitor." She spat at Bella.

"Hmmm. But is it? Hermione was powerful. Brightest witch of her age. At least she had that to offer me."

Umbridge balked. "I am more powerful than some teenage girl." She declared, although Bellatrix already knew it wasn't true.

"Hmmm, Hermione held her own in a duel against me. Not even Moody can boast that." She twirled her wand dangerously between her fingers, it's dance both fascinated and frightened the undersecretary, despite her belief Bellatrix couldn't harm her now that she sported the matching brand.

"I heard you couldn't harm each other, it was hardly a fair duel."

Bellatrix laughed. It wouldn't have mattered. Even if they had been able to harm each other Hermione had matched her shield for hex every time. And they had been very strong shields.

Umbridge narrowed her eyes at her. "I would have thought you would have been a little more grateful." For a moment Bellatrix was actually startled. It was amazing how the woman thought she should be thanked for turning her life upside down. For trying to shackle her like some common pureblooded wife to her husband. Bellatrix wouldn't have put up with it when her father tried to cage her and she wasn't about to deal with it now.

She let the mask slip. She let her fury show and for the first time since she had sat down, the entire room was aware of just how pissed off Bellatrix Black was. Just how close she was to committing mass murder.

Somehow Umbridge didn't look as afraid as she should have been. The old dark gnarly wood was pointing in her direction. Hanging loosely from Bellatrix's nimble fingers just itching for a chance to destroy the witch. But she sat there as if she didn't have a care in the world. As if Bella wasn't the most dangerous thing in the room. As if she had tamed the wild that was Bellatrix Black.

The thought crossed her mind and brought with it a force of rage she hadn't felt since before Bellatrix Black was ever thought of. Rage she hadn't felt since the night her father murdered her lover and she took her own life to spite him and rejoin her.

This time Bellatrix was not going to spare anyone else by taking her own life. If Hermione died from this woman's actions she wasn't sure Sterling would be enough to save her soul. She would kill them all, hunt them down, everyone of them that had played a part. Everyone that had failed to protect her wife, had failed to see her worth…..had plotted her murder.

She growled threateningly, but Umbridge smiled.

"You see, after your sisters change of heart I thought you might not be…..as agreeable as she made you out to be. But I know that as long as I have this mark branded on my arm there is nothing you can do to me. You have to be near me." She gave her a calm smile. "I read the journals Narcissa thought she guarded so well. Bonded Blacks are volatile if not with their partner. Not a one has actually survived killing their bond mate. And not one had accepted a bond, until you. But instead of it being someone worthy of your prestige it was that tainted muggle born. I couldn't have that. No," She reached out across the table as if she expected Bella to reach out to her, as if she were offering Bellatrix a life line. "I will be what keeps you sane. I will be the most respected and sought after woman in the ministry and we will bring a new era to the mudblood filth of this society. They will learn their new places serving under real witches and wizards-"

Bellatrix was on her feet, a sparking wand pointed at the shock woman as she reached over and touched the hole in her pink fuzzy sweater. The skin underneath was singed. She turned slowly back to face Bellatrix, her hand grasping for a better handle on her own wand.

Bellatrix didn't move, she let her draw the wand and point it at her with a trembling hand. "How…? I was told….."

Bella smiled slowly. "You were told I couldn't harm Hermione. That neither of our spells could hurt one another. But have you ever heard of another pair of bonds like us? No? Because in all your power hungry, egotistical, maniacal and racist planning you neglected the most important thing." She waited for the fear to spread in Umbridge's mind before she chuckled. "Know thy enemy. If you had done any research on branding, like I have, like Hermione did, you would know everything there is to know about them. Which….isn't very much mind you, but you would have known that brands can hurt the other, they cannot kill the other with magic no. But I can crucio you to my heart's content and right now….I think it's going to be a long time until I feel even a little content."

~HB~

She was trying to hurry, she was nearly running through the dark streets, avoiding anyone stupid enough to get in her way and following the screams she knew would lead her straight to Bellatrix.

It was all rather chaotic. People were running everywhere, mostly away from where she was headed but she could make out a few battle ready witches and wizards pushing through the crowds. Probably ministry officials trying to keep the peace but she couldn't be completely sure.

She couldn't see Delores Umbridge being arrogant enough to draw Bella out without her own backup. Despite it's obvious failure she had planned Hermione's kidnapping so meticulously she had almost gotten away with it. Surely the witch had planned for afterwards too, had planned for Bellatrix's temper.

"Hermione!" She growled as someone grabbed her sleeve, effectively pulling her to a stop and into a spin toward her. Tonks stood there, worry etched into her pale face. Her shaking hands held tight in her robes as she held the witch still in front of her. "It's a blood bath." She told her, her voice trembling with emotions she couldn't really deal with as an auror.

"I can hear it."

Tonks shook her head. "I went to the ministry, someone attacked them just after Sterling disappeared. They got into he Department of Mysteries."

Hermione tugged on her sleeve. "I don't have time to worry about that I have to get to Bellatrix, I have to find Sterling."

Tonks shook her head furiously, redoubling her grip on the blonde. "Moody thinks that's how they got to Sterling. He thinks it has something to do with her disappearing on us. The timing was….." She trailed off biting her lip. It was too many loose ends. It didn't really make sense, what would they want with Sterling. Tonks wasn't high up enough in the food chain to know and most of the Unspeakables had been killed in the attack. Everything was falling apart around them but none of it made any sense. It didn't feel connected to Hermione and Bellatrix losing their brands. Tonks couldn't figure out why they would take Sterling when they already got what they wanted.

Hermione tugged away, this time managing to put distance between them. "Right now I don't care about how, I just need to know where she is and I need Bellatrix for that."

Tonks eyes a few wizards rushing by them, aurors. They spared her a glance and a grim nod before rushing through the crowds of people stilling running away from whatever battle was going on ahead of them.

"I'm going with you. I don't know what the hell is happening over there but I know Aunt Bella is right in the middle of it."Hermione shot her an incredulous look before spinning away and taking off at a breakneck speed toward the chaos. Tonks was barely able to keep it but it was her presence with Hermione that got the girl through the lone or aurors without a fight.

Moody caught them both before they could fly right into the shop. Though he had a great deal of trouble holding Hermione back. "Wait damnit! All you Black women are too damn impetuous…." Hermione would have normally found it amusing he knew such a long word, his normal vocabulary consisted of mostly surprise attack and constant vigilance. "They are shooting off some ridiculously strong magic in there, something I would never have dreamed Delores Umbridge capable of." He hissed the undersecretaries name out like it left a shitty aftertaste in his mouth.

"I need to get to Bellatrix. She is the only hope I have of finding Sterling." Moody shot a look toward Tonks but the grim line of their face convinced him not to speak any of his doubts.

They all ducked as a window exploded behind them and a body came flying out of it. A quick glance let her know it wasn't Umbridge or Bella and Tonks quickly moved toward the man to check for a pulse. Hermione watched as she leaned over, wand ready to defend herself should another body follow. The older woman turned back to them with a scowl, "He's taken the piss! He's asleep!" She moved back to them as Moody gave a harsh command for another to take him away.

"See what I mean. Those two are going to kill someone if we are not careful." Moody peered around through the open door and immediately pulled away again as an arch of green shot by his head. "Merlin and dragon fire! They are likely gonna kill me!" He cursed softly but Hermione could see how tightly he was clutching his wand. She knew he liked Bellatrix and she also knew he didn't know what exactly he was going to do to stop the destruction they could hear happening inside.

"We could just wait for Aunt Bella to end it."

"No. No more killing, not even Umbridge." Hermione echoed Andy's words earlier, both witches on the same page even though they hadn't even discussed it. They had both seen the toll the death of Peter Salt had taken on Bellatrix. "I need to get in there and put a stop to this. You can arrest Umbridge and be done with it once and for all. She is the one who kidnapped me."

"I can't let you go in there! Your just a student!" Moody stared at her as if she had lost her mind. He figured if he couldn't handle Back and Umbridge she surely couldn't. Hermione didn't deem him deserving a reply she simply walked by him. He tried to freeze her with a jinx but it had no effect, he didn't manage to reach out and grab her before she walked into the building and his horror filled eyes met Tonk's as a round of explosions struck the wall they were using as cover. He blinked in the dust, surprised the blasted wall was still standing and once again tried to enter the bar himself, determined to save the idiotic student.

~HB~

Bellatrix let her hate fuel her, let the madness cloak her mind as she cast hex after hex. Part of her felt exhilaration at the battle she was waging. Moody hadn't even proved to be such a challenge. But in her mind she knew this was her wife's talent not Delores Umbridge. The power she felt was intense, but her control over it, her timing of her blocks, was far below the skill level her wife had shown in the classroom so many days ago.

It didn't make the battle easy though, pain was a good motivator and Bellatrix hadn't been bluffing about using the crucio hex on the witch. The first hit of if had nearly knocked the plump woman on her backside and it was only sheer luck she had managed to break out of it's hold. The aurors had distracted Bellatrix long enough for her concentration to break and as the woman escaped she had launched a volley of hexes at them and sent them all scurrying back to safety outside.

Since that first unforgivable Umbridge had stepped up her defense. Curses weren't getting past her shields but Bellatrix knew she was getting a few good jinxes in if her face was anything to go by.

Umbridge herself hadn't laid a single spell on her yet, and wasn't likely to. She just didn't have the skill to use Hermione's power. She wasn't even used to being so powerful, before the brand Umbridge had trouble with even the simplest of spells sometimes. Which had been why she terrorized her underlings and forced them to do mundane tasks that shouldn't have taken her longer than a few seconds and a wave of her wand.

If Bellatrix had been better in control of herself she probably could have ended it all in seconds. She probably still could but she was enjoying dragging it out, a part of her rejoiced every time a painful spell landed on the other woman.

Umbridge ducked behind a table as Bellatrix shot a bombarda at her, she saw a man fly through the air and smash through the window as the table went flying but she barely spared it more than a seconds thought. Her attention was focused only on Umbridge, on doing the most damage she could with whatever time she had before those aurors thought of a way to stop their lovely little conversation.

"You should be thanking me!" The plump woman called as she rushed around the bar avoiding more spells and shooting up shields as fast as she could.

"I'll thank you for letting me kill you." Bellatrix told her hatefully, slightly surprised at how spry the woman was despite her heavier weight.

"We could have ruled the magical world!" She easily avoided a hex Umbridge sent her way as she scoffed at the words. "We could have ruled together side by side with Slytherin's heir!"

Bellatrix laughed nastily, she had no interest in ruling anything, least of all with some arrogant bitch and a man who was apparently arrogant enough to believe himself to be the heir of Slytherin. She had no interest in a life of demeaning others to make herself feel powerful. She already knew she was powerful.

Umbridge shot another spell toward her, imperious this time, as she made a dash toward the other side of the bar. It angered Bellatrix that she was still trying to get control of her. That she hadn't fled because she believed she could get the upper hand and wrap her around her little finger. She was not going to be anyone's puppet, willing or otherwise, not ever again.

Bellatrix shot bombarda at the wall as she ran by, intent to continue the entire length of the building. Bushy blonde hair stopped her mid spell and her mind raved in madness before clarity settled back over her like a dash of cold water.

"Hermione." Her wand dipped as she exhaled the name. A movement forced her wand back up but she was quick to notice it was only Moody trying to charge in and save the day. She shook the last of the rage from her mind and turned around to try and find Umbridge.

The room was dusty and destroyed. Bits of bar and tables scattered everywhere, victims of her bombardas. Alcohol littered the floor, broken bottles leaking and crunching bellow boots as Hermione and a few others made their way deeper inside now that the chaos had ended.

"Find Umbridge." Moody told one gruffly. His eyes scanning the room for the woman who had seemed to disappear the second Bellatrix had regained her senses.

Hermione took a step toward Bellatrix until a mass of black smoke pushed her forcefully back, she grunted in surprise, her vision clouded until suddenly Umbridge's face appeared in the dark smoke surrounding her.

"She is mine! I will not be giving up so easily." Hermione choked on her own rage and forced herself out of the smoke, in a last ditch attempt to escape all the aurors Umbridge set the alcohol on fire and the smoke flew from the building. They shot hexes at the retreating mass but none seemed to connect.

Moody cursed as he contained the fire and checked on the rest of his men. He shot Bellatrix a nasty look. "You could have killed us all!" he raved at her.

Bellatrix actually shrugged her shoulders as she made her way purposefully toward the younger woman. She caught a glimpse of Tonk's checking on another drunk patron that had been too tossed to get out of the bar before the real destruction had started but she didn't care enough about anyone but Hermione right then to wonder if he was alive or dead.

"Are you alright?" Hermione nodded but she worried her lower lip between her teeth with indecision. It was obvious she had something she needed to say and Bellatrix was sure it was going to have something to do with the destruction she had just caused.

"Sterling is missing."

The words were quick, at first they didn't connect inside Bella's mind. But when they did she had to find an intact chair and sit down. Hermione rested a hand on her back as she leaned over and tried to process her child being gone. Of no one knowing where she was, if she was alive or ….

"I need your blood to do a location spell." That brought her head up. Bellatrix knew of those, dark deep magic. Blood magic. Like the magic that had taken Hermione's brand away. But I'm order for that to work Sterling would need to be related to her, which wasn't possible. She started to tell Hermione that when Andy came running up to them.

"Are you alright?!" She asked the two of them breathlessly. "they called me in to treat a few aurors."

Bellatrix wanted to ask if anyone had died, she figured if was something she should want to know. But at the moment she didn't care about anyone else. She needed to find her child.

"I failed to kill Umbridge." She told her sister simply. "I don't care about that I want to find Sterling. But your idea….Hermione there is no way it will work. Sterling and I share just as much blood as you do with her. Which is none."

Hermione moved back around and kneeled beside Bellatrix's chair. She ignored the groans of the bartender lamenting his lost stock of alcohol, ignored the aurors asking witnesses questions and Moody's perpetual swearing the Black name. She kept her eyes on Bellatrix's dark ones. Drew strength from their past lives and their past love.

"Galatea," the name moved something within Bella but she didn't remember her entire life, didn't feel the connection Hermione felt with Arturia. "She had a child."

That brought a frown to Bella's face. "Galatea and Arturia had a child?"

Hermione shook her head. "When we- When they met she was pregnant with her husband's daughter."

"What does any of this have to do with Sterling?" Andy asked, confused and lost and wondering about their sanity no doubt.

"There wasn't a child." Bella insisted. "I know from….I know she killed herself when Arturia was murdered, she wouldn't have done that if there had been… " Whether Bellatrix wanted to admit she felt a connection the witch she had been was a moot point, Hermione could feel the anger of that moment still rolling off her lover as if it had happened just yesterday, despite the fact she knew Bellatrix was trying not to hate her father.

"She was pregnant. And Silver…..a being who embodied living magic tried to save us, bring us back from the dead. She created Tiove and Prance in her anger and she nearly killed your daughter by using her to try and save us."

Bellatrix was silent. Her eyes gazing unfocused at the blonde beside her, ignoring her younger sisters many questions and huffs. Her mind was elsewhere. Trying to remember if what Hermione was telling her was true. And if it was what did it have to do with Sterling?

"She brought her back, Bella. Silver gave me your daughter to take care of. She has your blood in her veins. Sterling looks like you because she came from you."

Bellatrix shook her head wildly, her eyes focusing again as she barely restrained her shouts of disbelief. She couldn't fathom being her mother, not with a blood connection. Bellatrix had always felt that the Blacks were a cursed lot. Madness ran in their family. It was why she hadn't ever wanted children of her own. Because she couldn't pass down the craziness to a child she hadn't birthed.

"Bellatrix, tell me you don't believe me. I don't care. But trust me. Let us find your daughter." Hermione grasped Bella's hand tightly.

The dark witch nodded slowly, tears misting her eyes. "Our….." her voice broke as she spoke past all the emotions rolling around inside her. "Let's find our daughter, Hermione."

The brunnet stared at her for a moment, a clear look that held all the surety of the monarch she had once been, all the determination of a King who had led her troops to battle from the front lines, before she grasped a broken bottle shard and slashed quickly at Bella's arm. Blood dropped onto the floor, one drop, two…another and then it stopped. Hermione having waved her hand over the wound to close it, ignoring Andy's exclamation as the skin knitted itself back together without a wand or vocal word from her.

Hermione was too busy now, too focused. This was why she hadn't just used her magic to apparate right to Bella. Why she had forced herself not to give into panic. She knew she would need all her strength for the task of finding Sterling. Knew if she was going to lose control of her new charge it was going to be for something as important as this and not because of her impatience and fear.

She drew the magic Silver had bequeathed to her and focused all her mind and magic on their child. On her laugh, her smile, how small things reminded her so much of Bellatrix.

Suddenly she could feel them, all the Blacks, Andy so confused beside them, Nymphadora and her worried glances their way even as she tried to do her job. She could feel Narcissa as she sat beside her son's bedside, so worried for him and so disgusted with herself for her foolish part in everything.

She could feel Bellatrix. Could feel her burning love for her family and also the pain she felt on a daily basis raging at her mind. Fragmenting everything good she had with doubts and bitter thoughts that she knew had no bearing on her actual life. She could feel the living magic that had somehow infected the Black line. They all held a trace of it. And Bellatrix was the source. Whether it started at her birth or before Hermione didn't know. She did know it couldn't remain within them. It was growing weaker in the generations but it wasn't fair for them to unwillingly and unknowingly shoulder the burden she had accepted.

With only a thought she plucked at the string that was the magic. Gathering it in her mind from each member of the Black line and twining it together until it felt like a strong rope in her mind. Then she pulled it inside herself.

It struggled. Like a slippery eel freshly plucked from the water, it struggled. And it raged. It liked it's hosts. It loved their line, so susceptible to strife, to fighting. The Black's famous racism against anything but pureblooded suited it just fine and while there had been a few black sheep it didn't want to leave. It wanted to continue to live on in them, continue to bask in their hatred while it turned their minds on themselves and anyone not like them.

She wasn't going to let it continue. For Sterling and Draco and so many others not even born yet.

She forced it away, dragged it inside herself and contained it with the rest of what she already possessed.

The others would never know, it didn't have the same hold on them as it did on Bellatrix. But the dark haired witch knew immediately something was different. And she knew who had done it.

"Hermione what did you do?" The voices were gone. Not quieted. Not muted, but gone. Her mind had never been so clear, her body had never felt so light. It was a dizzying sensation. If she hadn't been sitting she might have fallen down.

Hermione ignored her, even when she reached out and grasped at her arm. She kept herself firmly fixed in the Black bloodline. Even though she could faintly make out the pain in her knees from crouching for so long, she dared not move. It was difficult to use the power Silver had given her, it didn't like the way she was using it. It wanted her to hunt Umbridge down and finish the job Bella had started. She ignored it. She had always been good at ignoring bullshit.

She forced herself to focus on Bellatrix's blood. On her personal line. It was confusing. She could follow what she saw in her mind, strands of genetic magic connecting the family like DNA. She wouldn't have guessed magic was such a genetic feature. Not like what she was seeing anyways.

She could see the clear distinction between Andy, Narcissa and Bellatrix. And she could see how Draco and Tonks were connected to their parents. She looked for that kind of connection in Bella. And she followed it.

'Thump…..Thump…..Thump…..'

"I found her." Hermione pulled away from the magic. Forced her own back down into herself, refusing to let even the smallest bit escape her. Her eyes landed on Nymphadora as she approached. "She is in the ministry. Whoever took her...after whatever they did there…..they never left."

Maybe I kinda like Umbridge. I thought she might have been dead by now….I've been struggling with getting the characters where I wanted them. I think I finally got it. DortheaClementine thanks I fixed it! Been doing too much supergirl