Chapter Fifty
Reunited
The clouds continued to linger even after y he rains had stopped, leading the two young men to think they might want to find some sort of shelter. Tom led the way with a confident stride, while Abraxas trailed firefly behind.
Eventually they spotted and crumbling old barn with an ancient windmill that didn't look as if was able to turn anymore. Tom's hope of finding food diminished as they drew nearer.
"I doubt anyone has been here in years," said Abraxas with a dismal sigh. "I think we may be in Muggle territory."
"Yes, I believe so," Tom agreed. "There's a decided lack of magic here."
"I hope the place has some kind of food left over," Abraxas grumbled.
They stepped through the doorway and Tom grabbed the door to pull it closed. The hinges squeaked noisily all the way, and the wooden pieces flattered together as it closed.
"Who is there?" came a woman's voice. A very familiar one.
"Hermione?" Tom called, his voice catching in his throat as he turned to look for her. She was nowhere to be seen.
Then, not one second later, her arms were clamped around him so tight he couldn't even breathe. Tom would have held his breath for a thousand years to be able to taste the kiss she gave him then.
"What are you doing here?" he finally managed to ask.
"I've been hiding here all week," she replied as she rained kisses all over his cheeks and lips. "Ever since-well, since Edmond and I became separated, I suppose you could say."
Tom's face grew serious as he backed up to look into her eyes. "I've already dealt with Edmond, love. I had to be rather harsh."
"Is he-"
"He's dead," Tom confirmed. "And Dumbledore's future will soon be dead as well."
"But he has the Elder wand," Hermione protested. You can't stop him, he'd kill you if you tried."
"Edmond said Dumbledore knows your future, so the only way to fight him is here and now. We're going to build a future of our own."
"Hermione," came Abraxas' frustrated voice from somewhere behind them. "Haven't you got any bloody food in this place? I'm starved."
Laughing, Hermione let Tom go and stepped to her hidden door inside the bale of hay. "Come on, in here. I've got enough food to last a week."
"We might eat it well before then," Abraxas told her with a smirk. "Feel free to leave me with the supplies while you enjoy your reunion."
"Glad as I am to see you again, Hermione, I doubt I would last five minutes if I don't eat some food as well."
"Well, we can't have that, can we?" she chuckled, squeezing his hand and giving him a wink.
"Indeed not," he agreed, whispering the words against her ear. Hermione blushed as she moved forward to make some sandwiches for all of them.
Tom settled her against his side as they sat near a table made of hay and began to eat. But then he sniffed the air curiously. "You don't have any Amortentia around here, do you? I smell strawberries."
Hermione blushed, and opened a nearby container, showing him the freshly picked berries she'd brought in earlier.
"Comfort food," Tom managed to say past the sudden lump in his throat. She smirked at him, and fed him one of the berries before she set them on the table.
Smirking, he leaned forward with the berry in his mouth and angled his face so she could take a bite from it as well.
"Get a room, why don't you?" Abraxas grumbled between bites of his sandwich.
"Good idea," Hermione agreed, flicking her wand at one of the magically generated walls of their fortress. A large oak door with elaborate antique brass fittings appeared, making everyone laugh.
"That looks very much like the door to the hidden room, Hermione," Tom mentioned as the two of them gathered some food and walked toward it.
"I suppose it does," she agreed. "That room gave me something to wish for."
"And what was that?" he asked with a smile.
"Just home," she said. "A place where I knew I belonged. And someone to share it with, of course."
"So this is home?" he asked, looking around them. "Cozy."
"No, this is home," she whispered as she pulled him through the door and let it shut behind them. Then she wrapped herself into his arms.
"This, right here?" he asked softly. "This is home?"
"Always," she told him.
Tom flicked his wand, and a bed like the one he'd found her in appeared. Hermione giggled as he laid her on it. "Be my sleeping beauty," he teased her.
Hermione giggled, but then complied, closing her eyes and pretending to be asleep.
"By the gods, what a beautiful woman," Tom said. "But alas, she is asleep. Perhaps if I were to kiss her, she might open her eyes and love me—"
"Will you just kiss me already?" Hermione grumbled.
"And she talks in her sleep, too," he added. "I'm not sure I'd better kiss her, she may even snore for all I know, and then I'd never get to sleep again."
Hermione pretended to snore, and Tom leaned down and kissed her nose.
"You missed, Riddle," she told him.
"Then maybe my beauty should show me how it's done," he chuckled.
Hermione sprang up and tossed him beneath her on the bed, and proceeded to kiss him for all she was worth.
"If you keep doing that, you'll never get out of this bed unravished."
"Who said I wanted to?" Hermione asked. And, ever the gentlemen, Tom gave her what she wanted.
