Playing with Fire

Chapter 7 - Breaking The Rules

For the first half hour since Barty had left for business, Hermione waited in her room. She was slightly afraid that he would suddenly return and find her somewhere lurking around in his house. But she couldn't help herself. He had forbidden her to enter rooms that were locked. So she wanted to know which rooms that were. She wouldn't enter them, she would only look around. He had not said a word about not wandering around in the house. So Hermione left her bedroom and walked to the other end of the corridor, to see what was there. She found several doors, but they only seemed to be unimportant broom closets or storage rooms. Another room appeared to be a deserted bedroom, maybe it had belonged to Barty's parents. It was certainly large enough for two persons.

The door next to the deserted bedroom was locked. So Hermione knew that she wasn't supposed to open it to see what was behind it. She wasn't supposed to be curious, but she couldn't help it. She was very curious. The next room was locked as well. Hermione gathered that one of the rooms must be Barty's bedroom. He probably slept on the same floor as Hermione.

Hermione half expected another staircase, leading to an attic or something, but she couldn't find it. The manor only had one floor. There was a staircase leading to the ground floor, though. Down the stairs, Hermione found the most amazing room of the whole house. It was a pretty large library, filled with all sorts of books. She read some of the titles, and she even took some of the book off the shelves to take them with her to her room. When she wanted to leave, she bumped into Winky.

"Mistress should not steal books from master," Winky told Hermione with a small voice. "Mistress should ask master first."

"Of course I will ask him. When he returns. I am not stealing anything, I am just borrowing," Hermione said with a kind smile.

"Master Barty will not like it. Master Barty has told mistress not to touch anything," Winky sputtered.

"Oh, come on, Winky. I am bored."

"Master will be angry," Winky said, now clearly trembling.

The poor elf was really afraid for a possible punishment, at least, that was what Hermione thought. So she put the books back down on the shelves, which made the house-elf very happy.

"Thank you, mistress, you is a good person," Winky said relieved.

Winky escorted Hermione back to the first floor, and when they passed the closed doors again, Hermione couldn't help herself. She wanted to know.

"What is behind these doors, Winky?"

"Mistress should not interfere with master Barty's business!" Winky said shocked.

"I know, I wasn't going to. I just want to know what rooms they are."

"It is young master's bedroom, and his study. Winky is not allowed to show mistress those rooms!"

"Please? He won't have to know. I have already put back the books. Please?" Hermione asked.

"Master has told Winky not to let mistress in rooms that are locked!"

Now Hermione saw that Winky was truly indignant. She took out her hairclip again and started to force the lock open. She had had some practise back at Malfoy Manor, and luckily enough, Barty has not thought about deadlocking the doors with magic. So she was able to open it like a muggle would.

"What is mistress doing?" Winky asked nervously.

"I was not allowed to enter locked rooms," Hermione grinned. "It is not locked anymore."

Without waiting for Winky's protests, she opened the door and entered the study. Winky followed her, trying to drag her away, and Hermione felt slightly sorry for the elf. She also knew that Winky could easily apparate Hermione out of the room. But apparently the elf was not going to use magic on people, maybe she had learned that it was an insult to use magic on a witch or wizard.