Getting out of Paris was easier said than done, they had to get up out of the incredibly comfortable. The sun had risen a considerable amount of hours earlier but there was still no will of power that had gotten them to rise out of their beds. Hermione had been lying awake for the last couple of minutes, just starting to the side out of the window. There were clear skies as far as her eye can see.

There wasn't a single cloud blocking the light blue as it spread out against the sky. Hermione could see that they weren't in Scotland anymore. There she would have seen that it would either be a day of rain or a day with no rain but still a bunch of clouds. Here she was happy to see the sky for a chance.

Next to her she had heard and left Bellatrix tossing and turning in her sleep. She wasn't the most reserved person while sleeping, but she did stay on her side of the bed. She might turn on her side from time to time, but she never rolled over onto her stomach. She was also not one of the people that would grab a blanket and then pull it all the way over herself. Waking up Hermione had even found that she had hogged the duvet overnight, but only slightly. It wasn't really in her nature to do that, but as Bellatrix wasn't aware she had just kinda slit the duvet back over her.

The dark witch had gracefully put her arm around the duvet, hugging it tight as her arm had grasped onto it. It was somewhat adorable to see the person in a position of power being so vulnerable. There was a relaxed smile on her face. If her first impression of her teacher was something like that, she wouldn't have hesitated to call her cute. But as her first impression was a stern witch that had an eye for perfection and order she was a bit taken aback when she had found her like that.

Waking up she was looking towards the door, on the far side of the bed. Looking a little lower she had been greeted by the by the most adorable smile on her professors face. It had taken her about five minutes to look away, first she had been frozen in fear. Scared that she would get catch starting at her face, Hermione had just laid there watching her breath for a bit.

When it became quite clear that there was no way that Bellatrix was waking up anytime soon. She had relaxed a little bit after that realisation. She had dared to move her body over to the other side, rolling over her back till she could look out of the window. Seeing the curtains closed she had reached for her wand and slit them open so she could look out of them.

She had been greeted by the big blue sky, the sun had already been up for a while now. There was no sound coming from the street below, but Hermione had already suspected that there was a spell cast that was keeping the sound out. Leaving the people inside the rooms undisturbed in their sleeps.

After almost dozing off again twice, Hermione decided to check the time with her wand. It was almost twenty past nine and they would have to leave around one to get the connecting portkeys all the way to Albania. Still plenty of time left she thought as she looked over to the witch that was sharing her bed. It was still a bit mental if she thought about it. It hadn't even been a week since she had first spoken about her research project, and now she was taking her across the continent on a hunch.

One that very much could be totally useless, as she had said in her letter requesting to go. She wasn't sure how it even got past Professor Black in the first place. There should have been no way that her plan would be approved. And there should have been no way that the budget commission should have approved it. she honestly didn't know what she was supposed to do when she got to Albania. Like she had proposed that communicating with the ghost, and then there would be research around the area for any hint of how he had come into possession of the information on making the horcrux itself.

But she had already decided that it was probably a waste of time. it had been over eight centuries since he had dwelled around the surroundings. She very much doubted that there was any kind of a trace left of the people that had lived back then.

She heard something next to her move, like someone was stretching out. Unlike the somewhat similar noise of someone rolling over to the others side. Bellatrix must have woken up, she concluded when she heard that.

"Morning," she offered as she sat up a bit. Looking over to where her Professor was still laying down.

"Morning," Bellatrix offered, sounding like she had been railed for the last couple of hours. Her morning voice was something to be cherished, Hermione thought as she heard it in its full glory.

Stumped for a moment, she forgot what she was saying and just stayed silent looking everywhere but towards her Professor. It had become apparent that the voice of an older woman could do to her. Especially in the morning.

Bellatrix, she either didn't notice her sudden silence or she chose to ignore it in favour to walking up very calmly. She sat up herself, showing how her nightdress had risen up during the night. It was now a bit over her middle, showing off the legs that had been hidden from the world under need the robes that Bellatrix had been wearing around the castle. It hadn't come up at all, Hermione thought as she was now granted a good and long view of them.

Being so enthralled by them she didn't catch the first time Professor Black asked her a question. When she finally managed to tear her eyes of those tights Bellatrix was on her third attempt at getting her attention.

"Hey, Hermione," she said as she waved her hand in front of her eyes, "do you know when we have to leave to get in Albania on time?" she asked as she looked past her out of the window. The sight must have surprised as she suddenly jumped out of bed. Apparently thinking that the time of leaving was earlier than was actually sooner than it actually was.

She was already moving along running off into the bathroom before Hermione had the chance to tell her that the only really needed to leave in a couple of hours, she was gone. Bellatrix was gone. Leaving the scene of the crime.

"We only need to leave in a bit…" she said to a closed door which was slammed closed. She was left sitting in her bed. She could hear the older woman franticly try to get dressed and refreshed as she was looking out of the window. The sky was still as clear as it had been a couple of minutes before. Still the light blue sky was untouched by any of the clouds that resided in it.

"You could have told me when I got out of bed," Bellatrix said as they made their way to the portkey centre. They had left the Tavern only a couple of minutes before. Bellatrix had bolted out of the bathroom, an had looked like a startled deer in the headlights. She had demanded that Hermione be quick and change so they could leave on time.

Hermione had set herself back against the backboard and had pulled out her book. Looking up as Bellatrix had called on her to get changed she explained that they had a lot of time left. And that they really weren't in a rush.

Bellatrix had stopped her frantic packing at that moment and was stopped in her tracks. "couldn't you have said that earlier."

She smiled thinking back to it, it was still a great memory to have. She now had something that she could keep close when they would be returning to the castle later on.

"Do we still have far to go?" Bellatrix asked as they were walking closer to the centre. Hermione sniffled at the question that she had been asking for the last couple of moments. There was not a moment that Bellatrix didn't use to ask if they were coming closer to the centre. You'd think that after the fifth time it would become annoying but in actuality it was more endearing to her. She could imagine Bellatrix like a cat that was curious where they might be going.

The comparison did actually work very well with her. Around people she didn't want to know in a closer capacity she cared very little about them and let the dedicated hate show through very clearly. But the people that she tolerated had an easier time getting through to her. It was like she had decided that only a couple of people were tolerable.

Of these people, which she counted herself one of, Harry might be one of the others that were tolerated, she was with little question the favourite of the bunch. But she didn't really know how far that would carry her through the many lessons that had been given to her. Professor Black seemed to be the kind of teacher that would make it harder for her to pass the class because she knew that she could do better.

But for the moment they could forget all of that because they were on their way to Albania, a place that was so far of the curriculum that she wasn't sure why they even were joining them on the way to it. Like she needed some kind of supervision, but she wasn't sure why Professor Black was on the list of people with her. So far all she had done was relax and leave most responsibilities to herself.

Approaching the portkey centre Bellatrix was about to ask it again, if they were almost there. but before she could do that Hermione pointed out the building. Bellatrix looked a bit happier, seeing the doors that would carry her all the way to the warm sun and nice climate.

As they approached the doors of the centre they were stopped by a couple of security wizards. They wanted to know who they were, were they were going and if they had committed any crimes on French soil. The answers that they gave were, Hermione Granger and Bellatrix Black, Albania via Italy, and that they hadn't broken any laws on French soil. Seemingly satisfied with those answers they were let through into a grand hall that was made of white marble. It was all filling and very bright.

Inside they found that there were a bunch of people queuing to get to specific destinations. Looking up they could see that the destinations are colour coded. The route that they were taking would need them to go through Marseille, which was indicated as a destination along the red line.

Hermione looked around and found that there was a red arrow that pointed to the stairs on the second floor. Pulling Bellatrix towards the stairs she thought that she recognised a face in the crowd that was waiting for their turn on the portkey. It was a person with a very beautiful face that she couldn't place at the moment. The platina blonde hear was also draping her face which looked very pretty.

But not having enough time to look closer she and Bellatrix made their way up the stairs towards the red line, mysteriously there was no one there to take a portkey to Marseille at that time. Hermione didn't think much of it, Marielle was a busy city but also one where there was plenty of time to hang around in. but as it was a working day they where the only people making use of the portkey.

"Name and destination?" a voice called out from behind a corner they had just approached. It sounded like the voice of an old wizard that was spending the last couple of years of his life in the public sector. Helping along the people who were less versed in the intricacies of the French public portkey system.

As she was the first to see him Hermione introduced herself first, "Hermione Granger, going to Marseille," she told him. A wizard that was older than time itself it seemed. His beard was long and white, almost like headmaster Dumbledore's was at the moment, only longer and whiter. It was a bit like she was seeing into the future of the old wizard.

"And you are?" he asked as Bellatrix turned the corner, and came into his view. Looking her ones over, his eyes closed like small slits under a door. looking her over again he leaned back a bit. "Madame Black, bienvenue sur le continent," he said in fluent French. This stopped Bellatrix in her tracts for just a second before she carried on walking past him, nodding in his direction for a curtsy. She didn't spare him a moment of her attention as she made her way to the portkey hall of the south coast of France.

This hall was a bit less white marble and more light bricks that reflected the different architecture style that was reminisant of the building style of the Provonce. There was also a slight warm sea breeze that was coming in straight from the Mediterranean. From what could be gathered from the weather was nice over there.

Walking up the helpdesk that was set up they rang the bell to call for someone to help them. The desk was laid out neatly, Hermione could see. It was like there was someone that liked to keep things in order. She could appreciate the work effort that being up forward. She was curious who would be the person that would greet them here.

When she heard a door opening from the side, both she and Bellatrix turned to the side. There, coming out of a backdoor was an older woman. About her mid-fifties if Bellatrix had to guess, around her age if not a bit older. The smiled brightly as she approached the desk. Her clothing showed that she cared about her presentation, it was immaculate and there was hardly anything to be noted on it.

"How can I help you?" she asked as she sat down behind her desk. Placing her wand in a spot that had been empty before but now it was filled up very nicely. All the spots now had something in it that was organised to a tee.

"We are traveling to Marseille," Bellatrix said before Hermione had the chance to speak for her. she didn't want to have that happen again. Now she was taking her own fait in her hands. She didn't want to be under the supervision of someone that was considerably younger than her. there was also the notion of taking back the power as she had kinda lost it by sleeping in the same bed as her student.

"Marseille, your in luck," she said as she turned over a couple of pages checking the departure times. There was a blank page when she finally got to the Marseille page, it was like no one wanted to go to the city at the sea.

"If you would follow me?" she asked as she pulled out a key and started making her way to the doors on the side of the room. "You know you are the first people who are going there today, if I think about it, you're even the first people who are going there all week. I wonder what is going on there?" she asked as she opened the door as they were let inside.

Inside of the room there was a small pillar with an small object onto op it. It was essentially a chain that was made so as many people as possible could take the ports key at a time. But with only two of them they had a lot of space to take a hold of the chain. Looking over to the older woman's she asked, "how long till we get on our way?" Bellatrix asked her they stood there.

"I would say that it will be hap…"

And she was gone, they were pulled through the magical medium that was over as soon as they two witches had gotten used to it. popping out on the other side there was a great view of the sea.

The room where they were received in Marseille was empty, spare for a couple of chairs that were placed next to the entrance. Looking round Bellatrix didn't see any movement, or instructions. There was just the door on one side and the big window in front of her that showed the sea that was on the edge of the city.

"Where is everyone?" Hermione asked as she stood up, having been thrown to the ground by the portkey. She was now looking closer to the floor seemingly having found a detail that Bellatrix had missed.

"Bellatrix?" She asked her as she made her way to one of the walls, the girl had obviously seen something that was of major importance.

"What have you found?" she asked as she walked over to her, she still wasn't seeing what there was supposed to be. As she reached the girl, Hermione turned on her feet and held up her finger. It had become a little more dirty then it should be. Not that she kept trac of the general cleanliness of her student, she had just been aware of it as it had held the book Hermione had been reading as she had stormed out of the bathroom.

"There is dust on the floor," Said as if there was a grand revelation in that statement. To Bellatrix, Hermione had just said that there was a some dust on the floor. Where dust usually lived.

"Are you telling me that the house elves have put their work down?" she asked, wondering what the other witch was on a about.

"No, no Professor," she started looking around for a moment, "this place is completely entrenched by magic. So there shouldn't be any dust that would be able to settle on the floor. There are a bunch of charms that would keep these halls nice and clean. But here none of them were active. It was like someone had dispelled all the charms in the vicinity." She ended as there was a low growl coming from far inside of the building. Nothing too loud to worry about but certainly something to keep tabs on.

Bellatrix looked over to the door as she heard it, already being in the mindset of her role as Professor of the Defence against the dark arts. It was her role and duty to get her students safely home again. Now in a place where she didn't know the parameters of how things had gone, there was a kind of urgency of how things were panning out.

"okay, let's first get a hold on the situation and let's go from there Bellatrix said confidently," not wanting to let panic spread under the other people. The other people was now only Hermione but out of training she still stayed on the multitude of people that needed to be calmed. Her being in a panic on the inside did little to help them in the situation.

Hermione nodded as she made clear that they would be going towards the door that was the way out of the room. They would have to make a move through there and see what was waiting for them behind the door. as they walked past the window again. Bellatrix noticed something odd, there was no real movement outside of it, in the distance she could see the waves crashing into the beach. But looking at the city there was no movement happening. Noting that in the back of her mind, she moved Hermione along to the door.

Arriving there she stopped them and she leaned against the door. It gave way, 'not locked,' she thought as she waved Hermione to stand next to her against the wall. If something was gonna be blasting through the door, there was a relatively small chance that the first spell would have the range to hit them from there. So shielding her Student she slowly moved over to the door and pushed it open. There was no light to be seen in the hallway. It was as dark as the night, if there was no moon in a cave that had been sealed from the beginning of time.

Motioning that she would be moving into the hall and that Hermione should not follow till she had given her the signal. Seeing the girl agree, she made her mind up. There could be many things out there. Some of which she couldn't prepare herself for. But she was a Black. There was nothing that could stop the most Ancient and Pure house of Black.

Breathing out she left the relative safety of the room and stepped into the hallway. As she had seen already, it was dark. Not a person should be able to see in this kind of circumstances. But luckily there were spells that would help out with a lot of small troubles. Like seening in the dark was something that could easily be done, but the use of the spell was prohibited, as it would be too easy to just cast that on yourself and rob a place blind in the dark of night than when they would need to bring some kind of light with them.

She casted the incantations and made sure to do it right, the downside of prohibited charms was that there was a very strict way of casting them. She was always on point when she tried to use it. So after a moment she got pretty confident that it had worked and she opened her eyes.

Before her was the same dark hallway, but for now there was also a lined out version that was on top of it. So she could see what was going on.

At first glance there were a couple of chairs that were thrown about in the hallway, nothing out of the ordinary for an abandoned building. Well the out of the ordinary part was many that it was supposed to be a working portkey network hub. So there should be people here, especially as there hadn't been any notice given to other's that there was a problem here.

Bellatrix looked back towards the room where they had entered. She could see Hermione standing there, waiting for a signal she didn't want to give at any point. There was no need, she would do the recon deal with the possible threat and then would go back to fetch her student. It was a plan that couldn't fail. The only thing that was standing in her way was the unknown and there was something out there that had stopped the operations here in a major way.

There was also the possibility that she could find her end in here, she realised. This had been a metropole of wizards and witches before it was rudely stopped in it's track, probably a week ago if she remembered the older witch from a few moment earlier. It was a curious case that in her previous profession there would have been some interest into what might have happened.

Now though she was sneaking from wall to wall, staying in the out coves where the doors where. She had her wand firmly grasped in her hand letting nothing distract her. She needed to be alert to all the normal things and also the abnormal. Like a chair that was knocked over was not that out of place, it might had been knocked over as the building was deserted. The moist ceiling was a more curious case.

In all of the halls that she had been in there had been no trace of water. No puddles on the floor, the air even felt dry when she breathed it in. but when she turned the last corner there was a collection of water droplets stuck to the ceiling. It was like someone had showered for a long time in an unventilated room. Walking up the where the line of water on the ceiling started, Bellatrix peered into the far side of the hallway.

There was nothing there she concluded. There were no tables, chairs or even paintings on the wall like there had been before in other hallways she had looked in and walked past. It was a bit unclear whether it was by design or if it was done on purpose or if it was a coincident. Checking the Time with her watch she saw that she had been gone from the girl for at least ten or more minutes. She wasn't sure if it was a bad idea to just walk bad, get her and then try to find an exit.

When she was about to turn back, there was that sound again. only this time it was more pronounced. Like it had come closer, or in this case like Bellatrix had been closing in on it. Wand in hand she looked over to where she had heard the noise. It was to her left down another hallway, that when she looked a little closer in a large open space.

'That's not where I'm going,' she thought as she backed away to the previous more or less safe point. She still hadn't seen a living or dead person there yet so there was some hope left in the world. A screech could be heard from a bit farther away than last time.

'Let's not risk it She said as the started with backing away from her current location. It was a pretty direct shot she recalled, she didn't take that many corners to get here. From the entrance she had taken the fifth left, then the second left and the fourth left. 'Easy peasy lemon squeezy,' she thought as she made her way to the fourth crossing of corridors. Like she remembered there was a red chair in the middle. Marking the right that she had to take.

The next turn she had to take was visible from where she was standing, there was just the empty corridor on a T-point.

"Creak," a sound could be heard through the hallway. Bellatrix stopped her retreat in place. Not making a sound herself she tried to listen where it might have come from. When no new noises happened she carried on walking. Making sure she left no trace she started magickly wiping her own tracs of the floor as she advanced. Anyone that would be following her would be very confused in the way a single person that wasn't there had walked in a circle a couple of corridors back.

The next turn she had to take was the easy one, she just had to look where the light was coming from, even when the girl had closed the doors, they didn't make a perfect seal, so light was free to pass through it. more confidence was in her step as she, no longer sneaking back, walked in the direction of the final change of direction. Taking a right she immediately saw the light shining through, during her time in the dark her eyes had become extremely focused on the slightest amount of light. And now it was so eagerly given, her eyes more or less overexposed her vision.

It took a couple of seconds before she was seeing without a bunch of black spots in her vision. Standing there with her eyes half closed looking in the direction of the light, but not at it, she quickly regained her sight. The darkness around her deepened and if it wasn't for that spell that showed her the outlines, She would have walked into a lot more stuff on her way back to Hermione.

Watching the older witch walk out of the room, Hermione hard looked at her back as she disappeared in the shadows beyond. It became clear that there was no way that Bellatrix was coming back to get her till she had cleared the place out herself. Hermione was actually kinda glad that she was going to be left in relative safety. Even though she had at least four decent defence against the dark arts professors they had spent relatively little amount of time on the practical parts of the class.

Her ability was one of the few areas that she was not that confident in. the whole side of spellcasting was a bit hazy in her mind. The last time she had actually really put a lot of time in spellcasting was for the OWLS that they had to take in their fifth year. She had passed all of them with flying colours. But she had been losing her technique a little since last year the teacher had put them through a manly a very theoretical course, leaving the practical part for the next teacher to come around.

He had been lucky that the next teacher was Bellatrix as she was focusing more on wand work she had heard. She hadn't seen it herself as technically their second lesson would be happening today. But at the moment her teacher was taking them on a trip to Albania for a research project that she wasn't even sure would work out. But now they were here, in Marseille stranded in an abandoned portkey hub.

An abandoned portkey hub, where her teacher was now going through and she was stuck behind the safety of the entrance room. In a place where all if not some of the protective layers had been stripped away. This room had jet to fall to the darkness that was going on inside of the hallways. Here the sun was shining, the weather was lovely. Only a couple of white sport marked the sky, as if they were small sheep floating up there. 'they would more likely be ginormous sheep,' she thought as her logical brain started to evaluate the situation.

Looking back at the door, she was conflicted. Professor Black had been quite clear that she didn't want Hermione to move a single foot from this room till she was able to guaranty that there was no more danger lurking around. It would be a while before she could have done that so, for the moment she was stuck here in a padded room where no harm would befall her. whatever that would mean in a place where obviously something terrible had happened. 'But no, she was not allowed to follow along in her footsteps,' she huffed in her mind.

"it's not like they'll would be doing her any good here she was just sitting to be gotten by whatever might have been trashing around in the building. It might even be coming for her now, she wondered looking with some fear in the back of her mind at the door. it was just a very nice wooden door that would be no barrier to the outside world.

Hermione got up to the door to cast a couple of protective barriers, to keep her mind a bit on the side of saneness. The barriers glimmered in the sunlight that was still coming in from behind her shoulder. The sun had risen a little more and the dustiness was more presentable. Now there was a real barrier between her and them.

Approaching the door Bellatrix noticed that there were some big gashes on the doors, they were worse for wear now that they had been when she left to discover what was out there. Suddenly she realised that there was a possibility that her student was not in there anymore. The door had looked closed from a distance but now she saw that they were just leaning on the side of the door frame. Sagged in and on top of on another Bellatrix saw that they had been fractured in the middle.

Standing almost ten feet before the room entrance she was able to look into the room. What had been a mostly prestige room was now covered in a bunch of dirt and slime. She didn't see any red though so that was good, whatever it might have been it was not the insides of her student. Walking closer so she was able to touch the doors she stopped. Suddenly she wasn't sure what was going on in her, didn't she want to know what was happening to her student.

She had promised the headmaster that she would be responsible for the people that she was taking on this fieldtrip. In other words, she had promised to bring Hermione back to the school unsaved. But now she was unsure what to do, would she lock in the actions that she had undertaken or would she leave it vague and have someone come in a get the answer independently. So she didn't have to deal with it anymore.

"Urgh," a sound came from in the room. Something or someone was still breathing and living, id sounded human to say the least so the chance that it was Hermione were quite high.

Looking at the ground she lifted her wand and disintegrated the doors. She was not here to make an explosive entrance. If the person making the noise inside was not of her most dear student she would not be giving them an opportunity to catch her of guard.

Holding her wand pointed outwards she walked slowly up to the lip of the room and pressed her wand just past where the border of the room would be. Casting a small spell that was used to slow things down. But now she would be using it to give herself an speed advancement.

Letting the magic fly free, she waited a second. Letting the spell really grab a hold of the things that were in the room. Playing around with time was not the best way of dealing with problems but she had to be creative. The worst case Hermione was being held hostage she told herself.

Not wanting to imagine the unthinkable, she was not even going to pretend that Hermione might be in a more permanent state of being. That was not something that she could get through her mind. No, there was no way that she had let that happen to her.

Walking past the barrier she found the room, spare for a new helpdesk that was thrown against the wall. Like it had been when she had first arrived. Only this time it was much, much more dirty. Not only was there a ginormous smear on the wall. She found also a little part of the wall was smeared with some red. It was spread out in a splatter about chest height. She moved across the room to inspect the desk that was kinda splintered around the edges.

"Urgh," the sound was now heard again. coming from inside of the cove that he desk made with the wall. Bellatrix leaned forward to inspect the underside of the desk. There she found the girl, bludgeon and beaten up.

"Bella?"