A/n: And here's a new chapter! I have a new beta for this story (I believe) so thanks to Hunter's Heir for betaing!
4: To Change
She was apprehensive to go again. Something about that place didn't seem right, and something about the uncaring caretaker made Hermione uncomfortable with the entire situation. Sure, Abigail- and Liam- seemed pleased by the idea of company, but something about that place was off. Although she didn't have much experience with the system, the entire place seemed to lack compassion. How a structure that was in rubbles, that was not being repaired anytime soon, remained open and qualified to shelter children was beyond her, but that wasn't the only thing that bothered her.
It was the lack of children. Both times she was there she never saw a soul wandering around, looking for food, anything. Usually children were uncontrollably curious, and when visitors appeared they often wanted to see who it was. The fact that she only ever saw two children was unsettling, and she found herself biting her nails the following day while at work.
Hermione was never off her rocker while at work; this was her store, her life, and she adored every single book that came and went through the doors of the place. She was more comfortable there than even her house. So the fact that she was troubled while there made her certain that she was overthinking this little girl. Nothing too horrible could be going on there, right?
Right.
Nonetheless, that didn't keep her mind off the orphanage the following day. The entire time the shop was open she was preoccupied, her mind elsewhere than on the books she sold. It was close to closing time when a familiar silhouette wandered through her shop door, the first person all day to get her up and out of her seat.
"Malfoy? What are you doing here?"
He frowned at her as he made his way to the counter, eyeing a pair of young girls who were currently looking through a shelf nearby. He said nothing until he got closer. "I was passing through and thought I might stop by. There's something I thought we should discuss."
"Abigail?" she asked, going off of the only thing she could think of that they had to speak of. Surprisingly, he shook his head.
"No, not exactly. It's not specifically about her, but the situation. I don't suppose you would be open to talking once this little store of yours closes shop for the night?"
Glancing around, she considered his question. "I have to do inventory and all my other closings tonight once eight hits, but afterwards- or meanwhile, whichever- we can talk. So long as you don't mind following me around a bit so that I can work."
He cocked an eyebrow. "You must have something to discuss about that night then too, if you're so willing to let me go wandering through your sacred store."
Shrugging, she turned away to help the two girls as they filed towards the front with a large novel in hand. She could only assume that it was a gift for someone older. "Yes, but it's about Abigail, not just the situation," she muttered. Clearing her throat, she smiled down at the pair. "Did you find what you were looking for then?"
Bored with the conversation, Draco turned immediately and wandered off, deciding he would rather search through the shelves of Granger's quaint- if not slightly overstuffed- bookstore, reading through titles instead of making small talk with the woman. Once the shop locked itself for the night and the customers were out of this always-popular store, they could discuss the reason he was there.
Her note burned in his pocket, a token that he had picked up on his way out of his home when he made the rash decision to come and speak to her. He hadn't intended to, and meant only to owl her a brief and unpleasant response about how he was quite capable of reminding himself to report an incident such as the one from the other night, but he held his tongue. He didn't want to bring up touchy things like that at this time.
Besides, he had better things to worry about discussing, like the new scar he'd received on his arm after his walk yesterday. No matter what that daft woman said, he knew something strange pursued him and Abigail the night they met. It simply disappeared before she could catch sight of it, and that was possibly his own fault. Nevertheless, something strange was out there, and after a possible second-encounter, he was through playing games. He had his own problems to worry about and couldn't afford to handle even more like these.
In the last aisle of books, he found some rather peculiar titles for the level-headed witch that owned this bookstore. He supposed that they were there strictly to please those people who had some inventive ideas of the universe, but he couldn't fathom what would make Granger of all people buy such strange novels. Picking up one title, he cringed at the name. 1,001 Ways to Capture Dark Spirits? She must've been drunk the night she bought those or something!
"Malfoy, do you plan to actually be present when we have this conversation?" she called, drawing him from his wanderings. Apparently he had wasted enough time scanning the aisles, and the shop was now closed and customer-free. He found her bent over the counter, crunching some numbers to probably figure out how much she made that day. Considering how bloody popular he knew the place could be, he assumed the profits were quite nice. "Oh, good, you've returned," she commented without looking up.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't intend on actually making a conversation about this," he said, pulling out the letter to drop it beside her. She stopped calculating to glance at him. "For the record, I reported the bloody incident before even going home, though I doubt that anyone took it seriously." That was a bit of a lie, seeing as he'd only written the letter but not reported it. He wasn't sure he wanted to report it and then be questioned about it later.
"So long as it's been reported, it doesn't matter what people think. Why did you bring this back? I don't need it."
"You went to see her again," he responded, cutting in before she even had time to glance back at her paper. "The orphan, Abigail."
Her eyebrows drew together. "You don't have to refer to her as such! I'm sure those children don't like being reminded that they don't have a mother or father around! Merlin, at least you didn't say that to her face."
"I'd never crush a child's dreams," he said, though Hermione laughed at his comment. "I'm serious Granger. Although I might seem heartless at times I think it's unacceptable to destroy a child's self-esteem. Their peers will do that for them."
She looked alarmed, but didn't comment on the subject, deciding that they might just argue about it for far too long if she did. "So what if I went to see her? I'm a big girl Malfoy, I can make my own decisions."
"Yes, and Abbott just seemed thrilled to see us there. Look, we helped the kid and I think we're both better off if we stay away from that place."
"Why do you care if I go there or not?" she asked, looking back at her papers again. "That is my choice after all, so let me make it. It won't affect you, so butt out. Now if that's the only reason you're here-"
"No, it's not," he cut in, glaring at the top of her head. "I just think you're going to build up hope in that kid that you might adopt her, and then she'll be let down when you don't. And I'm not bringing this up to get into a controversial conversation on the topic, I'm simply mentioning it, as you did in the letter."
"Your point?"
"You must've mentioned it for a reason," the blonde pressed, leaning on his arms. "For some reason you wanted me to know that you were going to visit."
"I was hoping that from within that icy heart of yours you would see my reasoning!" she snapped, shutting a binder of papers that she moved and slid into a drawer beneath the counter. "That child adored you, and since you receive so much crap from everyone else, you should be thankful that the girl adores you so much. I think she would truly enjoy seeing you again, and it might brighten her mood in that horribly dreary house. Liam might enjoy you as well."
"Liam?" he asked, sounding perplexed. "What exactly is a Liam?"
She glared at him, shuffling some papers. "Liam is a boy that lives at the orphanage with Abigail. We didn't discuss you too much, but he might like to speak to a man, versus myself and Abigail, who really enjoyed talking about clothing."
"Poor mate," he said, shaking his head. "I might like to dress nice Granger, but even I can't tolerate a conversation between two chatty girls revolving around fashion."
Hermione frowned. "You think I'm chatty?"
"Never mind. Did you see anyone else while there, like another caretaker perhaps besides grouchy Abbott? Maybe someone in that place would listen to advice and get that place fixed up before it caves in on all the children."
"Right, other people…" her voice trailed off, during which time he sauntered around the desk to take a seat in the chair beside her, leaning back.
"Yes, the other people there. That place is enormous, and if only three people live there it's not an orphanage."
"I know," she said, reconsidering her earlier concerns. Maybe he would see a problem with the atmosphere again as well. "Only, I didn't see anyone else there."
Draco frowned. "No other caretakers, nothing? Seems a bit odd."
"No," she said, shaking her head, "It wasn't just the staff that I didn't see. I didn't see the other children. Abigail and Liam are the only people I saw there, literally, besides Hannah. I didn't even here anyone else there, and I know from experience that many of the floorboards even just on the first level creek. It was actually a bit eerie."
"An orphanage without orphans," he muttered, crossing his arms, "Right. Well, if there weren't other children, the Ministry wouldn't be funding it and the Liam boy and Abigail would be sent elsewhere, so there must be other children someplace. Perhaps they were just out?"
"I don't think so," she muttered, fingering the binding of a book, "Or at least, I didn't ask. I just talked to them really, but I didn't figure anything out. Abigail was talking non-stop about those bloody shadows again."
At the mention of the shadows, Draco's expression dropped and he sat correctly in his chair. "Did she now? Did she say anything specifically about them?"
Surprised that he was actually interested in that nonsense, Hermione blinked several times before responding, giving him plenty of time to turn this into something funny. "Um, well, she said the shadows are angry. And then she and Liam went on about the shadows wanting her, and how they can always tell when they are angry. It's rubbish really."
"Anything else?" he pressed, seeming far too eager about the topic. She didn't like it.
"Well," Hermione continued, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation with an adult! "She said the shadows don't like her because her father was a bad man, even though she doesn't know who that is. She also believes that the shadows can talk and told her all of this. Oh! And apparently they were hiding from me when I was over!" Rolling her eyes, she crossed her arms. "You do not actually believe any of this, do you?"
Instead of replying, he rested his chin on his hand and studied her. "What do you think of the situation?" he asked, seeming very interested in her response.
"I think that a set of lonely, bored children have some overactive imaginations and decided to create these shadows for entertainment purposes, and then their imaginations got out of hand."
"How very muggle of you," he sneered. "This isn't the other world Granger, this place has magic! Things that seem completely ludicrous to you because of that muggle background might not actually be quite so farfetched for people like myself. There are myths about the shadows you know, but they are simply considered that, myths."
Her eyes flashed. "You didn't think it was practical to mention this in the beginning!? Out with it Malfoy, what books? I'll order them immediately and get to the bottom of this!"
Draco waved his hand, signaling that she should sit back down. "Don't get overly excited about it Granger, I said myths, not novels. A quick peek through the library at my house brought up an interesting title about this particular topic."
"Oh yes? And what did it say?" She stood, collecting her things. "I have to put some things in back."
"It went on this tangent about the shadows being captured souls, souls that can't escape from Earth to pass over, but who were not pure in life and suffered for their misdeeds." He was wandering behind her through the back of her store, wondering when she would turn around and slap him for following her. Or better yet, when she would get mad that he had access to things such as that and she didn't, despite his dwindling funds.
"The book said that the shadows are bad people? Then they should supposedly like Abigail's dad since he was a bad man, right? Merlin, I can't believe I'm discussing this!" She placed something up on a shelf, before continuing on her way. "And what is the purpose of these supposedly captured souls? And what exactly captures them?"
He rolled his eyes. Leave it to Granger to pick at a topic of conversation that she didn't even believe in, and still need to know every detail. "I just skimmed the book Granger to see if it was useful, and Merlin knows I wouldn't remember everything about it even if I did read it cover to cover. It's at the Manor on my bedroom table right now."
She frowned, glancing back over her shoulder at him in the lit room. "You didn't think to bring it? It might've been nice to look through it-"
Hermione never finished her sentence. Before she knew what was happening, his eyes flashed and he pushed her roughly to the right, causing her to slam her head into a shelf as he fell beside her, her body bent in an uncomfortable angle, and she found that it hurt to open her eyes. Half a second later a loud crash caused them to snap open.
One of the shelves in her back storeroom had literally fallen over, the entirety of its contents scattered all over the floor. There was nothing extremely valuable or breakable on that particular shelf, but it was a bit alarming to see it shoved over like that. Groaning, she closed her eyes to try and wade off her increasingly awful headache.
"What was that?" she grumbled, hearing the blonde shift at her side. Barely a moment later he was letting out a string of curses, and she snapped her head up once more to see what had him so irritated. She felt any questions she had for him die on her tongue.
Eyes, a set of blue eyes stared out at them from the shadows at the top of the storeroom, on the darkened half of the space. Her mouth went dry as she stared into those seemingly bottomless orbs, hypnotized by surprise and fear for many moments before it sank into the shadows, disappearing entirely. Understandably, that made her even more uncomfortable.
"I told you I wasn't making it up that night," he said from behind her, though she didn't turn to look. "Something really did follow Abigail and me outside, and it did mean to do some harm. You best get up though, lest it try to kill us again."
She didn't respond and instead leaned her head against the shelf at her side, groaning. She could hear him stepping over her to see what the problem was, muttering beneath his breath.
"Well, hell Granger, why didn't you tell me you're bleeding?"
A/n: I meant to get this up earlier in the week but life got distracting. Hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner, but at a week at most! Hope you enjoyed lovelies! Want to leave a review and some feedback? Go ahead!
You can check out my competition one-shot For You if you would like to as well. It's a Dramione one this time!