Chapter 12
When Hermione awoke, she was met with even more darkness but she could make out the faint outline of a person in front of her.
"Who's there?" She asked into the area of the person. "Where am I?"
A candle was lit and Hermione squinted at the new source of light to see a pair of familiar grey eyes and blond hair. She would've thought that this was the same Malfoy boy who she had been with not to long ago but this person had slightly longer hair and looked older.
"Who are you?" Hermione asked again before looking around the room. She was in the tunnel that she had gone through earlier that day.
"I am Titus Malfoy. I trust you know Draco and that he is my descendent." Titus said with an evil grin.
Hermione swallowed. She didn't like this one bit. Why had Malfoy just gone silent and left without another word? Had he had anything to do with her being here now? What in Merlin's name was going on!?
"Draco had nothing to do with you being here. I found the tunnel he'd apparated to and followed him here. I could practically smell dirty blood in your veins." Titus scowled at Hermione before kicking her in the face.
Hermione was hit directly and her head bashed hard onto the floor and she felt her nose start to bleed. She could also see tears threatening to fall from her honey coloured eyes.
"But I must say, you are a pretty little thing, aren't you?" Titus went down to her level and tipped her chin up so that she was able to glare right into his eyes. "And a fiesty one at that. It really is a shame that I have to dispose of you."
"Granger?" Hermione heard Malfoy call out from the living room. "Are you down the tunnel? I thought you didn't want to go ba-"
Malfoy saw her and Titus and stopped dead in his tracks. He saw that Titus had his wand out and was now pointing it at the girl's throat.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked with little to no emotion in his voice but inside he was getting rather angry and upset for some strange reason…
"Disposing of the Mudblood." Titus exclaimed with odd pride. "Avada-"
"Expelliarmus!" Draco cried and Titus' wand went flying out of his hand and clattered to the floor. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Draco then grabbed the Gryffindor girl by the arm and dragged her out of the tunnel. He then levitated a bookshelf and covered the entrance, putting an indestructible charm on it.
"Damn." Draco muttered quietly to himself, running a frustrated hand through his hair.
He then left the room again to go to bed because he didn't feel like he could look at Hermione any more.
Right. Draco thought to himself. So I've saved the stupid bookworm twice now. Wait… WHY THE BLOODY HELL DID I SAVE THE MUDBLOOD?!
Draco groaned and flopped onto the bed. Either this damnable house was making him soft or there was something VERY wrong with him. Maybe he should see a Healer from St Mungo's when he got back to civilization...or their time.
What if their time wasn't their time when they got back? What if Draco never existed? He had just left his great great something or other in that tunnel, completely unable to move! He'd even cast it so that it can only be undone by the caster and when they want to undo it.
Basically, if he didn't go back in that tunnel and make his great great whatever be able to move, he wouldn't exist in the future.
Just what I need. Draco thought sarcastically as he gave a deep and heavy sigh into his pillow.
Downstairs, Hermione was just sitting and trying to get her breath back and her head around the last ten minutes or so. Had Malfoy just saved her again?
"Great." Hermione muttered to the empty room. "Just great."
Hermione almost jumped out of her skin when she saw feet appear in front of her. They were bare and the skin was almost glowing. Hermione looked up to see the now familiar face of Tallulah.
"Hello, Hermione." The girl said with her usual dreamy and far away voice. "I see you are making progress. The house is pleased."
Hermione couldn't keep the confused look off her face at the mention of the house being pleased. In all her six years in the magical world, never had she heard of houses having feelings.
"You remind me much of my mother. So much, in fact, that I almost think you could be her but reborn." As Tallulah said this she laughed. It was an enchanting and sing-songy laugh and it was rather beautiful to hear. "You have the same colour hair and the same honey coloured eyes. Fascinating how the world works, isn't it?"
Hermione smiled. "Could I hear more about your family?" She asked and Tallulah nodded enthusiastically.
"My mother was very very kind and she always looked after all of us, Hubert, Hugo, Helena, Ula, Julep,Tilly and I. She would sing songs to us if we were sad and read us stories when we caught a cold. If we were crying then she would tell us stories from when she met our father at school." Tallulah closed eyes as if relishing the memory.
Hermione's eyes filled with emotion in the form of water and had to keep rubbing her eyes. Tallulah was obviously sad and happy about the memory of her mother and for some odd reason, Hermione found this very moving.
"She would tell us how her and our father had hated each other until they were sixteen. How they had called each other names and how dad had made mum cry a lot. But then one day, they started to forgive. They left school a year early because they didn't feel that they could manage another year there and they made this house, the house of Forgiveness. If anybody were in need to forgive for even the smallest of things, the house would keep them until they have learned to forgive." Tallulah smiled with her eyes still closed and disappeared again.
Hermione was smiling with red eyes. She had always been very emotional while reading and hearing about people's sorrows. She'd even cried when she had first read about Harry's parents being killed when she had first gotten her letter.
Hermione then got onto the sofa and lay down, going into a soft and dream filled sleep.
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