Vacivitas

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

Over the course of the next three days, Hermione doesn't see Malfoy anywhere.

Tillian and Faye had been brought to the manor sometime during the four days that Hermione was healing. They'd had plenty of time to explore and find things they liked to spend their time doing, but they often like to go into the drawing room. Hermione refuses to step foot in there, so she doesn't know why they like it so much, but she's happy they enjoy exploration more than her. She prefers her books and her armchair in the library.

The day she opened the door of Malfoy's room to find her friends standing there, Hermione hadn't thought she had any tears left in her body. But there they were, and all three of them were crying. They'd told her all about their individual rooms, how Tillian had befriended almost all of the House Elves that worked and lived in the manor, and how Faye had found the greenhouse to be her favorite place to sit and practice her knitting. As they spoke, the two of them chattering excitedly at her, Hermione could only think about Malfoy and how she wanted to kiss every part of his face.

He'd brought her friends here...Just like he promised.

When her friends insisted on bringing her down the hall to where their rooms were, Hermione told them she just needed a moment, and then she'd be right outside. She fully and completely intended to kiss Malfoy, without hesitation or preamble. But when she closed the door and turned, he was gone. The bed was still a rumpled mess, but nobody was in it. She had no idea where he could have gone, especially given she hadn't heard the Apparition. Had it been when her friends and her were exclaiming and talking over each other?

She figured he had to go to his horrible job for the equally horrible Voldemort, and then left the room. She was sure she'd see him later that night.

Hermione did not see him that night. She, Tillian, and Faye ate supper at the table, chatting the way students used to do at mealtimes at Hogwarts. Malfoy never came, and she assumed he would be there tomorrow.

He wasn't.

Hermione wakes on the third day, worried. What if he's in trouble? If he is, did her accident have anything to do with it?

Why does he keep leaving?

Hermione wishes she could talk freely about this with at least Faye. If only she had someone to talk to that understood this world that she's been living in for the last five weeks. But she hasn't even told her friends the truth about the purpose of the oubliette, who owns it, and why people are being sold. She hasn't told them that Malfoy agreed to pay for them so she could free them from it. How can she possibly talk to Faye about what's going on with her and Malfoy?

What is going on with them?

She can't deny it anymore—there's feelings there on his end. He's said things to her that show her as much. He does things to her that make her feel more than good. They make her feel wanted. He took care of her when she was wounded. Stayed up with her in his arms because he was afraid she'd stop breathing. Apparated across countries to save her from his father. Resolutely refused to allow Carrow to see her face until he was forced to in some way. Created an entire network of false memories that, while dangerous to her mental health, tricked the Dark Lord, all so he could keep Hermione from being taken.

The way he makes her feel is indescribable. They've been through something that no one else would understand. No one would ever be able to understand what happened at Charon Palace, and what will most likely happen again if the Dark Lord gets suspicious. There's a bond there that seems to have skipped several steps to a borderline relationship.