AN: I didn't really get much feedback on the first chapter. I'd love to hear some feedback from you guys :).
So if you're just now stumbling across this story, don't forget to read and review. But please remember everyone, I am not a professional writer and I only do this for fun. So please, if you have anything negative to say, I kindly ask you to simply just click away and go find something that you do like & please don't leave me any hate. It's completely unnecessary and it only makes you look like an arsehole.
R&R
Hermione jumped back in an attempt to dodge the item being thrown at her, only to bump her shoulder into the mantle behind her.
A heavy vase came tumbling off the mantle and smashed into the floor, making Hermione scream at the sudden crashing noise.
For a moment, Hermione stood frozen in place, afraid to move or even breathe.
From the other side of the room, she could hear Missy and Scorpius as they ran to her side.
"Oh dear, oh goodness," Missy exclaimed as she fussed over Hermione, checking her for any injuries. "Are you all right?"
"I - I am fine," Hermione said, her voice shaky and unconvincing, as she finally found the courage to look back up at the staircase.
When she looked at the spot where she had previously seen the figure, her eyes were once again met with darkness.
The figure was gone.
She glanced down at the broken vase and had a hard time reconciling what had just happened. Of course, there was no one on the stairs! She told herself as she looked back up to the concerned eyes of Missy. It was simply a trick of the light, playing with her mind and making her see things that weren't there, nothing more. She told herself as Missy began fussing with her all over again. It was nothing but a shadow,
"I'm fine Missy," she told the frail older woman, in hopes of reassuring her. "I promise."
Missy's eyes darted over to the stairs for a second before she looked down to the vase as it laid shattered on the floor before her feet.
"I'm sorry about the vase," she apologised, hoping she hadn't screwed everything up by breaking one of the family's artefacts before she even had the chance to get started properly.
"No worries Miss," Missy told her with a tight-lipped smile. "Accidents happen."
The look on Missy's face didn't lay Hermione's fears to rest, but she accepted her words as she had no one else to refer to in order to see if she had truly messed up.
In all her worrying she had almost forgotten about Scorpius until she felt him come up beside her and slip his small hand into hers before gently tugging it.
He looked terrified, like a scared animal in a trap, he looked like he was ready to run from the room at the slightest inclination something could be wrong. "Are you sure you're all right, Miss Scott?" Scorpius asked her, his voice trembling as he spoke.
"Yes, Scorpius," she told him, stealing her voice so she wouldn't scare him with her uneasiness. "I'm fine, thank you for asking sweetheart."
"Let's go to the kitchens," Missy suggested, pushing Hermione and Scorpius out of the entry hall and over in the direction she had originally come in from. "I'm just putting the finishing touches on lunch."
Lunch hadn't been quite as complete as Missy had insinuated, and so the meal soon turned from lunch to dinner. As they all sat down to eat, Hermione couldn't help but notice the tension in the air. She took a small bite of veal and chewed slowly as she looked around. Her eyes wandered from the dark panelling on the walls to the dark pattern on the tapestry.
I feel as if I'm eating in a cemetery, Hermione thought. Her only conversation, came from Scorpius as Missy and Millie, the maid who helped serve, stayed deathly silent, observing their interaction from the corner of the room.
This gloomy room needs something bright and sparkly, she decided. She thought about her family's old dining room and the gorgeous chandelier that hung from the ceiling in there, deciding a similar one would be just as beautiful here.
"Miss Scott," Scorpius piped up between bites of food. "Have you ever been to a circus?"
"Yes," she told Scorpius, with a small smile before dabbing her lips with her cloth napkin. "I have been to three circuses, as a matter of fact."
"Three!" Scorpius exclaimed, his eyes large and bright. "Are they grand?"
"Very," Hermione told him with a grin.
"Do they really have lions and all other sorts of animals there?" Scorpius asked.
"Of course!" she told him. "They have lions, camels, and elephants as well. You should see all the animals they have, they're amazing"
"Are the lions scary?" he asked, eyes the size of saucers.
"Goodness, yes," Hermione replied. "You should hear them roar."
"Father told me that the lion tamer sticks his head right into the lion's mouth," Scorpius added. "Is that true?"
"It is," Hermione told him, thinking back to the circuses she used to attend with her father when she was younger.
"Do you think the lion ever snaps his mouth shut and bites off the lion tamer's head?" Scorpius asked her, his eyes sparkling in curiosity.
"Scorpius!" Missy reprimanded him, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived in the kitchen.
"What?" he asked her with a pout. "I was curious."
"Curiosity is a very good thing, Scorpius," Hermione told him, "But some types of curiosity are simply not appropriate at the dinner table."
"Sorry," Scorpius muttered. "But will you tell me more about circuses later, when we're not at the dinner table?"
"I don't see why not," Hermione told him, smiling at him indulgently before turning to face Missy. "I've been meaning to ask you. When will Lord Malfoy be returning?"
"Lord Malfoy?" Missy asked as if she had never heard of the man before. "I will be with you in just a moment," she told Hermione, standing up and hurrying out of the dining room. "I must go see to the pudding."
No one seemed to know when her employer would return. And she so needed to talk to him. Malfoy Manor was a dreary depressing place, and his son needed him.
"Father is never here," Scorpius told her dejectedly, as Missy disappeared from the room. "Miss Scott, do you think I'll be able to see the circus one day?" he asked her, his sorrowful expression transforming into a wistful one as he met her eye.
"Yes, of course," she promised him. "If the circus comes to Wiltshire. I'll be sure to take you, but if you'll excuse me, I find I am quite worn out from my travels and need to lie down."
"Do you not want to stay for dessert, Miss Scott?" Scorpius asked, bottom lip jutting out in disappointment.
"Sure," she told him, not wanting to hurt the boy's feelings. Especially hearing what he had just said about his father.
A moment later, Missy returned with the pudding and began to serve it. Hermione poked the pudding with her fork, taking a bite or two every now and then as she pushed it around her plate. She wasn't really hungry, but she didn't want to let anyone else know for fear that they would know she was thinking about her earlier incident in the entry hall. Hermione was having a hard time not seeing the face of the former Lady Malfoy as she stood on the staircase. Had it really been a trick of the light casting shadows on the staircase?
"Would you like me to show you to your room?" Missy asked after noticing that Hermione wasn't interested in dessert.
"I can show her, Missy," Scorpius said, "Miss Scott is staying in my wing of the Manor and her room is right up the hall from mine," he added quickly when Missy looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Such a mannerable young man," Missy smiled at him before nodding in acquiescence of his request.
"Follow me, Miss Scott," he told her as he jumped from his seat and Hermione stood to follow him out of the dining room.
They soon found themselves back in the entry hall, and Hermione felt that familiar shiver travel up her spine as she stared at the staircase.
Scorpius started up the staircase with Hermione hot at his heels. The house was like a maze Hermione thought as she followed Scorpius through the halls, not wanting to lose sight of him and potentially get lost. Soon they came along a long hallway, that seemed to stretch from one end of the Manor all the way to the other. Scorpius seemed to pick up speed before turning right down another hallway.
"Quick, Miss Scott," she heard Scorpius say as he disappeared around the corner. "I don't like staying in the hallways, they're scary."
As she turned the corner, she saw him walking hurriedly on his short little legs down the hall. He stopped at a door framed by two wooden pillars before pointing at it. "This is my room," he told her before running further down the hall and stopping in front of another. "And this one is yours."
Hermione sighed as she approached the door, eager to put the day behind her and lay down. "Goodnight Scorpius," she told the little blond boy and began to step into the room. The room was dimly lit by an oil lamp which sat on a desk in corner of the room. Dark shadows danced across the walls making Hermione feel nervous as she looked around the room.
"Will you read to me before bed?" Scorpius asked her before she could close the door. "Pretty please, Miss Scott," he added. Hermione breathed a sigh, happy to have an escape from the dark room, even if it was a small one.
"Of course, Scorpius," she told him. "Did you have any particular books in mind or shall I read you one of my own?"
"Can you please read me, The Children of the New Forest," he asked her excitedly. "It's my favourite!"
"That's good to know," Hermione told him with a smile, "Let's go get you ready for bed then, shall we?"
Scorpius beamed at her before running down the hall to his bedroom, giggling the entire way as he ran.
Hermione shook her head at his enthusiasm, laughing internally at his burgeoning excitement. Scorpius really is an adorable boy, Hermione thought as she stepped back out of her room and closed the door. She walked up the hall and met Scorpius in his room just as he was beginning to take off his little blue suit.
"Where are your nightshirts?" Hermione asked him as she looked around his bedroom.
"They're in my wardrobe, Miss Scott," he told her as he pointed in the direction of the wardrobe.
Hermione walked over to the wardrobe in the corner of the room and admired the ornate carvings that decorated before pulled out a clean, linen nightshirt. She handed the shirt to Scorpius before moving over to his water basin and picking up a flannel before wetting it and wiping Scorpius' face off.
"Thank you, Miss Scott," Scorpius said after she was done. "None of my other governesses have ever helped me wash up for bed before."
His words broke Hermione's heart, making her want to wrap him up in her arms and tell him everything was going to be okay. Instead, she simply just smiled sympathetically towards him before asking him where he kept his books.
"They're over there on my desk," he told her, climbing into his bed and snuggling beneath the covers.
She walked over to his desk and immediately saw the book he'd wanted her to read. As she picked up the book, she noticed a sketch pad lying beneath it.
"What's this?" Hermione asked, reaching for the pad. "Do you like to draw, Scorpius?"
"Don't touch that!" Scorpius screamed, causing Hermione's hand to recoil from the sketch pad. He jumped from the bed and ran over to the desk, snatching the sketch pad from the table and running back to his bed.
After a steadying breath, Hermione began speaking again, "There's nothing to be ashamed of, Scorpius. I like to draw as well." she told him as she crossed the room and had a seat on his bed.
"You do?" he asked her, his eyes trained on her with an indescribable look on his face.
"Yes," she told him, remembering the chalk drawings that she had done inside her prison cell a year ago. "May I see yours?"
Scorpius stared at her for a long moment before hesitantly holding out his hand. Hermione took it from him and smiled before flipping it open. The first page was a detailed sketch of a hot air balloon. Scorpius had drawn himself in the balloon's basket, happily sailing through the clouds.
"This is wonderful, Scorpius," Hermione told him.
He didn't reply, but Hermione noticed him scoot closer to the edge of the bed.
She flipped the page and found a sketch of Scorpius on a tropical island surrounded by monkeys and zebras and giraffes.
What an incredible imagination he has, Hermione thought. "I wish I could draw as well as you do, Scorpius," Hermione told him. "How do you think of such amazing things?"
"I don't know," he told her, edging a bit closer to her. "I just do."
"What could be on this next page, I wonder?" she asked, smiling at him. "I can't wait to see!" Hermione flipped the page - and gasped.
"No!" she whispered. A sharp, burning taste hit the back of her throat.
Hermione turned the pages faster and faster. Sketch after sketch showed a woman in a coffin.
Each woman's face twisted in an expression of terror.
In each sketch, there was a different creature feeding on the woman's body; worms, bats, lions. . .
In the last picture, a baby with sharp bloody teeth and a wide grin ripped the beating heart out of a woman's chest.
"D - Did you draw all of these?" Hermione asked Scorpius. Her face felt frozen as she spoke, unwilling to believe such a sweet looking boy, could have such a morbid imagination.
Scorpius remained silent, simply nodding his head in response to her question. He took the sketch pad back and flipped to the first sketch of a woman in a coffin.
"These first few sketches I did of Miss Parkinson. She came to take care of me right after Mother died. She was not as pretty as you though," he added.
He flipped to another page.
"This is Mrs Steward. Mr Steward's wife. She was my next governess, after Miss Parkinson."
Flip.
"This is Miss Davis."
"But Scorpius," Hermione said, trying not to show her horror, "why did you draw them all in coffins with . . . with . . ."
"Because they're all dead now," Scorpius answered calmly. "All dead and rotting in the ground. But not you. You're alive and you're here now," He looked up at her with wide eyes, and Hermione still didn't know what to make of it.
"You know, come to think of it, Scorpius," Hermione told him nervously. "I think I might have underestimated my tiredness," she said as she stood up from his bed and walked over to his oil lamp to extinguish the flame before crossing over to his bedroom door. "I should probably head down to my room to get some rest."
"Goodnight, Miss Scott," she heard Scorpius say just as she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. "Be safe," he added in a hushed tone just as Hermione went to shut the door behind her, making her pause midway through.
What does he mean by "be safe", Hermione thought as she looked over her shoulder and saw Scorpius staring at her intently. His grey eyes were gleaming at her in the darkness, sending a shiver down her spine as his words echoed through her mind.
Be safe. . . Be safe. . . Be safe. . .
"Goodnight, Scorpius," she told him quickly as she shut the door and briskly walked up the hall to her bedroom.
What exactly do I need to be safe from? Hermione wondered as she laid down and pulled the covers up over her head, leaving her lamp on as she fell into a fitful sleep.