Summer is the best season to find robins around northern Britain; they tend to immigrate to these highlands at this time of the year. All of them singing with the hope to find potential mates. Like this lucky one, who already found a mate and now are nesting in a beautiful tall tree next to a big mansion. The nest is hidden among the entwined branches of the tree; no predator could easily spot them. It is the perfect place to wait for their young ones to hatch from their eggs.
"Bombarda Maxima!" The spell came with such force that the birds resting on the tree didn't know what hit them before being disintegrated into thin air. Knife-like splinters of wood exploded from the tree, shot in different directions stabbing nearby structures and breaking the glass of the windows. The only intact part that remained was the lowest part of the tree, which was practically the beginning of the roots, the rest of it ended up fragmented in small scraps. Nobody would ever believe that the tree was alive just a few seconds ago.
After the destruction, just silence remained. No birds singing. No rustling of leaves. As if life in the vicinity had suddenly vanished.
Perfect.
The caster removed the Protego that was guarding her against any splinter shot her way. With one simple move from her wrist, the glass started to repair itself as well as the frame of the window, and after a few moments, the curtains were closed once more. Darkness once again invaded the room.
"Bloody birds, I'm trying to sleep here." Muttered to herself. She aggressively disentangled the knot from the robe as she walked towards the bed, very eager to get into her cocoon of silky duvets again.
"Maybe next time I just should cast muffliato…Ha! No." A soft smile takes shape on her lips as she is about to be taken by the arms of Morpheus once again.
"What the bloody hell was that?!" The boy asked, sounding disturbed by the sudden strenuous sound. He looked at the other members around the table; his half-eaten breakfast was long forgotten.
"Draco, watch your language!" Her mother gave him a pointed glare as a form of reprimand, before returning to calmly sip her morning tea.
Draco was about to point out his mother's indifference when his father chimed in. "It came from the west wing" not lifting his eyes from the Daily Prophet. The man continued being absorbed by his own thoughts, he was considering buying new market stocks, maybe doing some investments in The Bark Brothers Co. could be highly profitable, after all, no matter which side of the war someone might be, everyone needed wands and to make wands you needed wood. He made a mental note to visit later in the week the entrepreneur brothers.
"You say it like it explains anything," Draco said looking at his father, after few moments of silence.
Lucius lifted his eyes from the paper, folded it and placed it next to him then gave his boy full attention. "It doesn't?" He straightened from his seat. Draco gave him an empty glare. Lucius loved his son very much there was no doubt about that, but there were moments like this that sometimes wondered how he could sire a son so obtuse. To add insult to the injury, that moment Narcissa gave him a glare that said among the lines "It comes from your side of the family." Right, because the Blacks never before married their cousins. But if he wanted to sleep tonight in his marital bed, he better kept that thought to himself.
"Draco, who are the people residing in the west wing?" His tone was borderline patronizing.
"Dolohov, Yaxley, the Carrows, Thicknesse...But none of them are here at the moment" Then his eyes grew wide, coming down to the realization "Oh…"
"Oh, indeed." Lucius said. Draco stayed deep in thought for a few moments, before returning to his breakfast.
Narcissa turned to look at his husband "Do you still don't know what is she-" Another strenuous sound came from the vestibule, interrupting her question. Although not as sonorous as the first one yet still strong enough to be clearly heard by the members of the Malfoy family. Muffled swears to become discernable as the angry steps were heading their way.
Narcissa released a small annoyed sigh and bid farewell to her family breakfast she was so much looking for today.
Both doors of the dining hall opened in a disruptive manner. "That bloody wench exploded a tree nearby; I wasn't even close and I still got hit." Fenrir Greyback sat at the end of the long table, attempting to lick the bleeding wound on his arm. Elves quickly started to serve him breakfast that mainly consisted of large quantities of raw meat.
The three Malfoys who were quietly observing him couldn't help but sneer at the disgusting sight.
"Filqui!" The intonation of her voice was soft and moderate. But for the trained ear, as his husband has, it was laced with annoyance.
"Yes, mistress Malfoy" A female elf appeared next to Narcissa, ready to listen to her mistress orders.
Narcissa always being the generous host "Bring a Healing potion for Greyback here. After that, do go outside and repair whatever damage the earlier explosion did to the property, bring the other elves if you have to" The female elf assertively nodded her head and disappeared.
Narcissa swiftly stood up and gently smoothed down her dress, heading towards the entrance of the hall at a quick pace. "Where are you going?" Draco asked looking at her mother who seemed slightly peeved.
She turned around to look at her son "I'm going to have a conversation with our guest"
"Do you think that's wise?" Lucius asked still in his seat. Understanding which exact guest her wife was talking about, he preferred to remain in his place.
Narcissa deliberately ignored his question. She spared one last gaze at her family, her eyes drifting again towards Greyback once more. No matter how many lessons of etiquette Narcissa received in her youth for how to conceal her real emotions. Nothing could hold back the grimace that appeared in her face when she looked the disgusting werewolf chewing his meat.
Narcissa arrived at her destination, the farthest room of the east wing. Is been so long since she had come to this side of the Mansion, especially these recent months she had no business coming here. After all, she wanted to avoid any unnecessary contact with the residents of this wing, or the other wing for that matter.
For half a second, she hesitated whether to knock first or just barge her way in. Like today's episode, this guest tended to have sporadically outbursts of anger or more specifically impulsive destructive behavior. And although rarely happened, it happened. Who knew, if someone were to invade her privacy like Narcissa was about to, how she would react.
Before she could continue that train of thought her servant interrupted her.
"Mistress Malfoy, Filqui tried to repair most of the damage, but Filqui can't repair the master's peacocks. They are dead." A grimace appeared on the elf features.
"All of them?" Her eyebrows furrowed; the peacocks weren't even close from the tree. Just how powerful must have been that spell?
"5 peacocks, mistress" Replied, extending one hand open, displaying her tiny 5 fingers.
She made a motion with her hand to dismiss the elf. She decided to barge in the room with her wand in hand.
The room was mostly dark, only small glimpses of light simmered through the sidelines of the curtains. With one easy movement of her wand, the curtains fully opened, allowing the outside light to fully illuminate the room. Narcissa's eye roamed all through the room. Her upper lip raised in disgust. To say the room was messy would be an understatement, it was simply in complete chaos. For starters, the smell of cheap alcohol aggressively invaded her nostrils, probably permeating her clothes as she stepped further in. Broken vials and clothes were littered in various areas of the room. Most of the furniture's surfaces had a paraphernalia of potions and ingredients, and wait… Was that mud on her walls and carpets? Forget about that! Were those books from her personal library?
How and when did she get those?!
"Wake up" A thinned line formed on Narcissa's lips, "I said wake up" getting angry by the second.
The body between the duvets finally stirred, lazily stretching her arms. "Ugh, what the fuck do you want?"
"What?!" Narcissa screeched. The nerve! She won't allow this lack of judgment from this filth pass without consequences. A grunt came from under covers "My apologies what I meant was, oh most gracious lady of this mansion, how can I, your humble servant, ask you to leave this room" Narcissa heard enough.
Narcissa cast a sting hex towards the filth lying on the bed. By the sobs of pain and the fetal form, she was sure she hit her mark square on the chest.
"That hurt. You win" Said the girl, hardly able to raise half-body from the bed; lifting both hands as a surrender gesture. The girl was naked from the waist upwards, Narcissa could clearly see the profuse mark that left her hex on the girl's chest. If left untreated it, it was sure to leave an ugly bruise later on the day. "You hit really hard Mrs. Malfoy. I can barely breathe" The words didn't match the body language and the tone of her voice, which was levity even playful. As if all this was just a game. Narcissa, who moments ago was ready to raise a shield in case the girl wanted to retaliate relaxed a little at the flippancy coming from her attitude.
She soon arrived at the conclusion that the girl didn't have the means to defend herself.
"Miss Granger, is there any particular reason why the room is in such state? And why pray and tell do you have my books?" pointing at the towers of books in the farthest corner.
Hermione took in the state in the room, as if she was seeing it for the first time. Then a slow smiled started to appear on her features. "Because I'm a teenager? And yes, those are definitely the books I borrowed and that I'm planning to return. Cross of my heart" tilting her head slightly as she traced two imaginary lines just above her left breast.
Narcissa rolled her eyes at the childish behavior. The woman decided to store her wand under her sleeve, seeing no use in aimed it to a disarmed child any longer. "No teenager I have ever seen can be this filthy. " after a pause, tired on the lack of modesty from the girl, Narcissa added "And would you please cover yourself" as a response to that, Hermione only shrugged her shoulders, then proceeded to remove the rest of the covers and walk towards the wardrobe, leisurely choosing her garments.
"One more thing Miss Granger, what happened to the tree?" Blue eyes looking past the window from where the tree was supposed to be visible.
The rustling of clothes stopped and Hermione peeked out her head from the closet door. "Birds." said as if that explained everything. Narcissa blinked once, then twice. The blonde opened her mouth for a second then closed it again. She concluded it was better for both parties to not follow that line of questioning anymore. "Be as it may, I'll ask you to not go randomly exploding trees around the mansion, someone can get seriously injured."
"Did someone got hurt?" She asked with curiosity in her voice
"Apparently Greyback got an injury in his arm"
A delighted laugh came from the girl. "I hope it gets infected" Her voice sounded joyful.
Narcissa didn't know how to respond to that. This girl in front of her wasn't the girl she met in King Cross Station years ago.
Understanding the topic was closed, Narcissa let her eyes roam once more around the room. The first thing her eyes set on was the bed. She didn't notice it before but the cover seemed ripped on top, as if by they had been the target of a slashing curse. Right then, she saw something coming out under the pillow, walking closer to take a better look, she saw a wand. All this time Hermione had her wand practically in her hand. She wasn't defenseless as the Slytherin had assumed.
The blonde went on to continue surveying the room, careful to not step on something disgusting. On the small table, the girl had a large supply of dandelion root, dragon claw, valerian roots, fire seed, devil's snare, moonseed, powered silver…And in the center, there was a small bottle of rare fairy dust. That was a beautification ingredient, why would the girl need that?
She mentally did all the potions that could be possible to create with that ingredient, but the only one that came to her mind didn't add up with the rest of the ingredients.
Hurried steps made Narcissa turn around; Hermione took her wand from under the pillow. She was dressed in a dark grey open cloak, displaying the garments under it, leathery black pants and a wine-red laced blouse. She played the very part of an elite witch.
Narcissa sneered at her own idea.
With a quick flick of the girl's wand, the room started to clean itself.
"Alright, would that be agreeable?" The brunette asked with a gentle smile. In no time the room was fully pristine Narcissa felt speechless for a second, she did notice the girl used a modified version of Scourge charm. And cast a non-verbal spell. Who trained her?
Narcissa had the question on tip of her tongue ready to shoot. The one that had been always been in the front of her mind since the girl arrived at the mansion a couple of months ago under the orders of the Dark Lord. Is not she hasn't asked before but apparently nobody knows anything, not even Bellatrix. The rest of the death eaters knew nothing of this development. Only Draco told her what little he knows. Basically, the girl is highly intelligent and diligent in her studies. That was all.
"Miss Granger, would you mind me asking, what exactly are you doing here?" Her intonation sounding as casual as possible. "I know the Dark Lord brought you here but…"
The teenager was brushing her wavy hair, long left behind the bushy hair she used to have in her earlier years, standing in front of the vanity. She abruptly stopped her activity and turned around to face the Malfoy woman. Narcissa was mesmerized by how the relaxed and playful semblance of Hermione instantly changed and a menacing aura emerged instead. The brunette's eyes flashed with a warning and with a smile that didn't reach her penetrating dark brown eyes replied "That's something you can ask yourself to the Dark Lord, Mrs. Malfoy" Her voice sounded so ominous. Her tone left no room for questions. Narcissa felt very disconcerted by the sudden change. She was tempted to insist once more, but again her intuition told her that eventually, she will know; she just needed to be patient.
The brunette opened her bedroom door "Now, I'm afraid if I delay any further there won't be any breakfast for me, and I'm starving. Have a wonderful day Mrs. Malfoy" And with that Narcissa saw the departing figure, leaving her alone in the room.