AN: This is one of the few Bellatrix/Minerva stories, beginning with their thoughts as they see each other during and after the war, then spanning backwards to when Bellatrix was at school. Enjoy, please review so I know how it's going – this is a pair I've only just considered putting together, but once an idea has struck me I have to get it out! Italics are thoughts, emboldened italics are memories/flashbacks.

Flashes of deadly green light flew past Minerva as she forced herself to focus on the task at hand. The school's defences were broken; Death Eaters flooded the castle and the battle had begun – yet it was all Minerva could do to concentrate on anything but whether or not she would see her again. She clenched her wand tightly, firing curses towards the enemy in order to save the students they were battling. Secretly, she held a great affection towards all of the Hogwarts students, both past and present, but for the past few years she had found it very difficult to show. There was only one woman to blame for that, but she couldn't let herself think the name – she knew that if she did, her defences would crumble and she would be forced to seek her out in the masses of bodies both alive and dead. Minerva couldn't help it; after everything that monster had done, she still prayed that she hadn't joined the magnitude of lifeless corpses littering the castle grounds.

And then she heard it. That laugh, that terrible cackle that only one person in the entire universe could emit.

Bella…

Minerva whipped around, eyes searching frantically for a mass of curly black hair, black eyes, anything – and there she was. After all this time. The women froze, staring at each other, talented enough to rid themselves of any competition without having to break their gaze. For a second, they were completely alone; it didn't take either of them legilimency to know what the other was thinking. After so long imagining what they would do if they were ever lucky enough to be in the same room again, their reactions were unsurprising – yet tainted by necessary conversations required before they allowed themselves to become reacquainted physically. For Minerva, she had to discover whether the infamous Bellatrix Lestrange still had remnants of her love, Bella Black.

Bellatrix Lestrange couldn't help herself when the idea struck her. It would appear that she was following her orders so wonderfully to the Dark Lord, when in reality… She moved forward so suddenly that even Minerva couldn't move quickly enough to stop what was about to happen. They both heard the screaming as Bellatrix wrapped an arm easily around Minerva's neck from behind, the point of a blade gently resting on her pulse point, smiling as Minerva shuddered. Before any of the surrounding fighters could do anything to aid either witch, Bellatrix disapparated them both, thankful the bonds of Hogwarts were broken now.

Seconds later, they landed forcefully in a place no one would ever consider to look for them. Minerva internally cursed herself in her fear; if only.

If only she hadn't taken the girl back to her home all those years ago.

If only she hadn't turned into a dangerous lunatic.

Easily, Bellatrix removed Minerva's wand from her grasp and threw it across her bedroom.

"Bella… no, please don't do this…" Minerva choked out, bracing herself for the torture she was sure to come.

She was, therefore, shocked when Bellatrix's wand joined her own across the room, along with her blade.

"Oh, Minnie. Did you really think, after all this time, I'd forgotten? You don't recognise me anymore, but you will."

She leaned towards her former professor, noting with displeasure how the woman flinched from her in fear, clearly expecting "her" Bella to be gone. Gently, slowly, she reached across to free Minerva's hair from its clip, smiling as it tumbled down her back. It had always been one of her favourite assets of Minerva's, something the professor obviously remembered too. Why else would she have lost the fear in her eyes, replaced with something deeper. Something that dredged up welcome memories inside Bellatrix.

"I lie awake at night, trying so hard not to think of you." Minerva whispered. "I discovered a long time ago that, despite my best efforts, a person can't decide what they dream." She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as Bellatrix leaned closer still and brushed her lips against Minerva's.

"What do you think of, Minerva?" Bellatrix whispered too, lying on Minerva's bed. "When you think about me, do you remember me as I was when I was yours? Or do you simply see what stood before you in the battle; a treacherous personification of everything wrong with the world?"

Minerva smiled sadly and lay down next to her. They faced each other, bodies pressed together for comfort.

"Both, always both. Because they are the same, what you just described. My Bella, my sweet Bella is still somewhere inside the woman who accomplishes such acts of pure evil. Had you chosen… to stay with me," her voice broke, "perhaps my Bella would have overcome, recovered from the evil she had inflicted on her heart from a young age."

"You know I had to leave. I had no choice." Bellatrix closed her eyes and turned away from Minerva, facing the wall. At her words, Minerva had felt a sudden anger surge within her, one that had often surprised her. It had flared in the past when she thought of what Bella had become after she had given up on everything they had fought so hard to have, and here it was again.

"There is always a choice, Bella Black." She hissed.

Bella whipped around at the use of the name she was so unused to hearing, eyes wide. Quickly, she positioned herself on top of Minerva, now forced to lie on her back as Bella grabbed her wrists and thrust them upwards.

"What did you call me?"

With her arms pinned above her head and Bellatrix atop her legs, Minerva had nothing but her words to control this situation.

"I believe you heard me, or you would not have had quite such a reaction. Tell me, does being on top of me turn you on as much as it used to, or is this simply a technique you use to frighten people nowadays?"

Her voice was icy in a stark contrast to the fire that burned in her eyes; Minerva McGonagall was, ironically, in complete control of the situation despite her position. She was revealing the emotions and reactions Bellatrix Lestrange thought she had destroyed, or at the very least buried so easily. It all stemmed from the fact that Minerva had known Bella Black, a somewhat sweet girl who endured such terrible trauma and substantial "persuasion" to become who she was today. With a few well-chosen words, Minerva McGonagall was reducing the less than human Bellatrix Lestrange to become Bella. Her Bella. She was torn as to whether or not she should let that happen, unused to allowing her well-built barriers crumble even slightly. These were the defences that saved her from becoming affected by the atrocities she saw and committed on a daily basis, the mental obstruction which allowed her to ignore any memories of the witch currently underneath her.

"You are only here, Professor, because I willed it so. No one will ever suspect that I would bring you to your own home…" Bellatrix became suddenly sneering in an attempt to cover her internal battle, remembering suddenly that she did have a task. Whether or not she could complete it was another matter entirely.

"To do what with me? Torture and kill me? Because I can see in your eyes that there's something else you would rather be doing to me, isn't there Bella?"

"Don't you dare. I don't answer simply to Bella anymore, and certainly not to Black. That is not who I am, and you are not here so we can start some sordid affair again – you are here because the Dark Lord wants you dead. It's my mission." She paused, and Minerva became aware of a raging battle behind her lover's eyes; one that Bellatrix herself wasn't particularly aware of. Bella Black was fighting it out with Bellatrix Lestrange, the former brought back to life by simply seeing her true love in front of her once again.

Minerva took advantage of Bellatrix's moment of weakness and shifted underneath her, wrists escaping the grasp of a Death Eater to rip open her lover's corset in a manner she hadn't acted in for so long, yet remembered so vividly. She could recall every reaction Bella had ever had during their time spent here, in this bed, and she wanted to see what had changed about her.

It seems Bella can remember too, Minerva thought as she ran her fingers over soft skin, the Christmas of her seventh year of Hogwarts in particular, I'm sure of it – she was brought out of these thoughts at the same time as Bellatrix, who had been picturing the view of snow covered grounds of so long ago, seen from the window to the left of the bed they were on right now, often gazed at after they had made love.

Bellatrix forced herself away from the hands she so badly wanted to touch her and retrieved her wand; desperately trying to recall the mission she had been appointed.

She pointed her only weapon at Minerva, the feel of her wand – the cause of so much devastation – forcing Bella Black deep inside of her. A sick, twisted smile spread across her face.

"Bellatrix." She shivered as her name left the Dark Lord's lips, facing him once again. He had just completed a meeting with all of his marked Death Eaters, assigning stronger members of the Order of the Phoenix to be murdered strategically by those who he considered worthy enough for such a task. Everyone had been mildly surprised when Bellatrix had not been mentioned, but of course, these thoughts were kept as fleeting, hidden under practiced Occlumency.

"My Lord?" She inquired when he had simply watched her until the room was completely empty and silent. "You require my services?"

"Indeed. There is one more member of the Order who will need to be taken care of as the war rages around them. And it must be you who kills her, do you understand me?"

Bellatrix nodded furiously, willing to do whatever her Master wished, wondering who it was.

"Minerva McGonagall."

Her eyes widened for a second, but she covered her reaction instantly.

"Consider it done, my Lord." She hissed, turning on her heel and leaving Voldemort alone, Nagini curled up next to him.

What Bellatrix did not hear, was Voldemort muttering to Nagini the reason why it had to be Bellatrix who murdered Minerva McGonagall. If she had, Bella Black might have fought harder against Bellatrix Lestrange.

Hey everyone, if you could please review and let me know what you think that would be great! I have the entire story planned out and I'll take everyone's thoughts to heart. Thank you for reading,

C