Hermione left in a daze, wondering exactly what had happened there. Cygnus didn't seem like she thought, Druella was. That woman was terrifying, but from what little she knew of Pureblood society, that was almost expected, in order for Druella to be a presence, maybe she had to be cut throat. Though, she was much more brash than she expected, Hermione bit her lip as she was lost in throat. Her facts weren't lining up and as she through, her head started to ache something fierce.
Without thought Hermione rubbed her temple as she continued to walk. She wished Bella was here, she wanted to confirm somethings with the oldest Black sister. From the way she spoke, she expected more from Cygnus, much worse, it almost seemed like he cared, but he was ready to sell Andromeda to a mad, sadistic man. There was more to this than she could see on the surface, he was more descriptive with the marriage and child bit, then the treating well part. Maybe it was tacked on for her benefit since she was a woman? Or maybe because her father was 'softer' than other purebloods?
Hermione huffed as her hand fell to her side, the little rub didn't seem to help with the throbbing headache. Maybe she needed something to munch on if her head was aching so badly. Or thinking less, people have said that in the past, but there was no much that needed figuring out, just she had to know the answer. Nothing seemed right here-
"Mia!" Hermione blinked for a couple of moments, "I expected you to be with my father longer, how did it go?" Hermione felt warmth spread from her hand as Cissy's hand slip into her own.
"It went well enough, he simply stated his expectations," She watched Cissy simply nod, "he suggested a tour of the gardens?" Hermione smiled as she tried to ignore the throbbing in the back of her skull, "Would you care to show me around?"
Hermione could see the light in Cissy's eyes as she nodded, thankfully Cissy was her normal self instead go the mask she was in front of her parents. "Well, the gardens are more beautiful in the spring but we do have a couple of winter blooming flowers and with the assistance of magic we are able to keep some blooms through the winter."
The brunette witch nodded a couple of times as they walked through the garden, she looked around as Cissy explained and pointed out a couple of flowers. However, Hermione saw none of them, even as she nodded in understanding, she was more interested in the magic that keep the lilies alive through the winter.
"And then the purple flowers come alive and sing songs at midnight hour," Cissy stopped and glared as Hermione simply nodded and said, 'uh-huh.' Hermione managed a couple more steps before she noticed Cissy wasn't following her anymore, just in time to hear a huff followed by, "Are you even listening to me?"
Hermione shifted her gaze and innocently said, "no?" Cissy rose her eye brow and Hermione sighed, "okay, maybe not everything, but honestly the magic that keeps the flowers alive is much more interesting than the actual flowers. Right? I know you agree with me~"
Cissy rolled her eyes and huffed for a moment, "fine, yes, but-"
"No buts, now, we can have a more interesting conversation about the spells and enchantments used, or we can debate about how I should have been listening," Hermione blinked for a moment as she felt a piercing pain behind her eye before shaking it off.
Cissy took a deep breath, "Well…."
The pair quickly shifted into a long debate about the spells necessary to keep the flowers alive until the sun started to set and nearly to the point where they needed to get ready for dinner. They only stopped because they both started to get cold through the warming spells, still with no true answers. Apparently Cissy's ancestors put those spells into effect 300 years ago and the house elves kept the spell work intact. The conversation quickly fell into spell theory as they moved inside and the potency of elf magic within the household. Hermione wanted to say something about house elf rights, but managed to keep her mouth shut for so many reasons.
They separated to prepare for the meal and from that point they were rather quiet as dinner was a somber affair. Hermione knew that it would be best if she was only vocal when spoken to, and that didn't pop up very often through dinner. Cygnus was rather quiet and Druella only asked about her specific spell work and accomplishments, so there were very, very few words were spoken through the meal. And after the meal, the duo headed to the library and actively looked for a book or two that might carry the answer to their quarries concerning the garden.
By the time the pair made their way upstairs for bed, neither had come up with an answer. They left it as a mystery for another day, they hoped that they would be able to continue the discussion tomorrow and the book search, however that was not in the cards for the pair. Especially, since Hermione woke with a barely contained whimper as pain and images flooded her vision.
Through the night, Hermione's dreams were filled with strange images. Images of a blond girl, green eyed boy with dark hair, and a shaggy haired boy and a sea of red heads, filled her mind. Images that could never be real; like a red headed child tormenting her, a shaggy haired boy picking her up, a blond girl using a soft tone to calm her before a troll stormed in and a bird on her uniform. By the time she awoke her head was literally throbbing and she was panting as she forced her face into pillow, it was so vivid and real.
She didn't understand any of them, she could only assume they were a part of a very realistic dream. But how could a dream feel so real and so, she hated to think, similar to her memories but not her memories. And her head, just freaking hurt. More than she had ever experienced, she could only assume it was a migraine, her mother had them on occasion. If she remembered correctly, which was hard at the moment, she would take some sort of pill and try to sleep through it? Maybe, she wasn't sure, it just hurt.
Hermione groaned as she reached for her wand to see what time it was and found that it was still three hours before she needed to be up. She groaned even louder and cast a pain numbing spell, for it to only fail. A couple of spells later and the pain only seemed to intensify. Another pained groan and she remembered a pain relief potion that should to the trick in her bag, she just had to get to her bag.
20 minutes later and Hermione was back to sleep at the bare minimum. And way too soon for her liking her alarm went off and she rolled herself off the bed and made her way to the bathroom in a zombie mode. Her head thankfully hurt less but there was still a dull ache, a clear indication as to how the day was going to go. Especially sense every slight change in light hurt, and each step caused a flash of pain behind her right eye. After her shower, she thought about another pain potion but, well, the last one put her to sleep and she had to be down for breakfast in about 20 minutes.
She couldn't chance that. So, she took a deep breath, made herself presentable with a glamour here and there and headed down for a quiet meal. A quiet meal that only made matters so much worse. The quiet echoed through the room and caused the throbbing in her skull to intensify, even the quiet sound of their chewing made her want to flinch. And she was so thankful when the meal was over and she could escape the oppressive silence.
Hermione debated about heading back to her room, but before she made it to the stairs Cissy whisked her towards the library, "Are you alright?" she said quietly.
"Just a headache…." Hermione said with a sigh and a painful smile.
"Have you taken a potion for it?" Cissy said with sympathy in her voice.
"The pain potion put me back to sleep early this morning."
"Maybe a less potent potion, wait here," Cissy said, leaving her to rest in the quiet library. Hermione was going to just take a seat but she found herself wandering and after a few moments she had the oddest sense of déjà vu, almost like she had been here before. Hermione gasped in pain as she gripped her head as an intense pain radiated through her skull as a series of images rolled through her mind of a shaggy haired boy, a blond girl, and a green eyed boy were wandering this very library with her looking for a potion book.
"Mia?" Cissy walked up and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder, "you okay?" with no response, Cissy tilted Hermione's head back and poured the potion in. That seemed to grab Hermione's attention and pull her back to here and now. "You okay?"
Hermione nodded and took a seat in a nice comfy chair. "I'm just not feeling well…"
"Well, then we can just relax in here, we don't have to do anything until dinner, maybe just read here by the fire," Cissy said with a smile.
"That sounds wonderful," she said as she picked up a random book, a book about potions she swore she had never seen before, but looked eerily familiar.
They passed the afternoon sitting by the fire, although only one of them were actually reading; at least that was what Hermione believed. Hermione was simply staring at the pages and after a moment turning to the next to repeat the process; flip, look, stare, and flip. She didn't look over to Cissy, if she had she would have noticed the look of concern and the lack of page flips.
You see, Narcissa remembered a time just a couple of months ago when her betrothed was almost like this, only more withdrawn and in less pain. She was concerned, especially after she returned with the potion and with it seeming to have no effect on the brunette witch. She didn't know what she could do for her, if there was anything she could do. She knew that she couldn't give her something stronger if it was just going to put the other witch to sleep; her mother and father would not like for one of them to sleep through the day; no matter the reason. Narcissa took a deep breath and closed her book softly before placing it on the table in front of them, "Are you feeling any better?" She swore she could see the other girl flinch at her words. "How about some lunch?"
Narcissa noticed a small shrug and with that she summoned a house elf and asked for lunch for the two of them and another potion for Mia. She watched as Mia sipped on the potion before picking up a small finger sandwich and nibbling. She knew when the other girl was only doing something to appease her, and right now, she knew Mia was only eating to keep her from worrying. And saying something would accomplish nothing.
The blond witch knew there was more to this, but she also knew that pushing her witch would get her nothing. What was she to do? "I doubt my father informed you, but there will be a dinner party tomorrow evening to celebrate the holidays with some of the most to do families," she noticed a half nod and wince from Mia, "I believe that is where our engagement will be announced and if Bella's engagement isn't announced hers as well."
Hermione blinked a couple of times. That was news to her, she figured it would happen, just not this soon, through this soon was a good thing, right? It meant that things were going well and her new life could truly start; sooner rather than later. Though, there was many things to figure out with that life. Like, the Dark Lard, her stance with light and dark, these weird dreams, what she was going to do if she ever faced herself, and how many changes she wanted to make to the time line. So many things to worry about and thinking about them was just making matters worse.
She really needed to simply focus on one thing at a time, one littler thing. Like a holiday dinner where the two of them would be announced as engaged and so would…. Bella. That wasn't good. Bella was, misguided, but good at this time, but within years she would be crazed and at the side of the Dark Lord, could it be due to her marriage? Afterall, Andy was promised to a horrible person, what would stop Bella from being promised to a horrible man as well?
"Should I be worried about this dinner party?" She asked before taking another, very small bite of a sandwich.
"Not really, it will mostly be the Malfoys, Blacks, LeStranges, Carrows, and a couple of other families," Cissy shrugged, "mingling and such, I'm sure other families will have announcements to make as well, plenty of them have children coming of age." Hermione nodded, "I'm sure your father will send suitable attire for the occasion since it seems like he cannot be in attendance."
Hermione nodded, "I'm sure it will be here any time," she was sure that would be arranged, "He would be here if he could, but business overseas required his attention." Her voice was quiet and empty sounding, she wasn't sure she cared that the man wouldn't be there, she was sure she didn't, and she was sure she should be expected to deal with her own engagement announcement on her own.
"Of course, things need to be taken care of," Cissy shrugged, "Hopefully your dress robes arrive soon, it would be for the best if we can coordinate colors," Hermione nodded, "How's your head feeling?"
"Still hurts," she was caught off guard by the change in topic, but not surprised by any means, "I'm sure it will pass."
**A/N: No matter how long it takes me to write a chapter I won't abandon this story;I can promise that. I will try to update more frequently from here on out, at least this than several months in between. Anyway, the headaches are leading up to something and next chapter will include the announcement of their engagements.