Hermione woke up after a short nap, feeling refreshed. The size and quality of her room had been a pleasant surprise. Hermione hadn't been certain about what kind of lodgings she would receive here as a servant, but the airy, well-apportioned room she had been given was more than she expected. In addition to the bed and the decor, the room had a dresser, a nightstand, a full-length mirror, a closet, and its own attached bathroom.
Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 4 o'clock. She had been sleeping for about an hour and a half. That was probably enough rest for now. Between her excitement at her new job and her unexpected attraction to Narcissa Malfoy, Hermione had energy to spare.
Teoni had told Hermione that she would return later to start teaching her the finer points of her duties. Hermione had no interest in lazing around until then, however. She decided to see what her maid outfit looked like. Hermione got up from the bed, walked over to the closet, and opened the door.
As she reached for the handle, Hermione's eyes were drawn inexorably to the silver bracelet on her wrist. She had spent a few minutes before napping trying to see if the bracelet was indeed unremovable. Although Hermione hadn't tried very hard to take it off (she did not want to risk damaging it) the bracelet seemed well and truly bonded to her wrist. Clearly, it was not coming off before the end of her three months at the Lestrange Estate.
Hanging up inside the closet were no less than five black and white maid dresses. They were rather more involved than Hermione had been expecting. Although fashion was far from Hermione's strong suit, she thought the term "gothic" might fit here. The dresses were mainly a rich black with quite a bit of white lace trimmings on the skirt, the short sleeves, and the neck.
All of the maid dresses looked identical. Hermione reached out and felt the soft, luxurious material. Whoever had bought or made these had spared no expense with the materials used. Once again, Hermione was impressed with what she had been provided.
Remembering Mistress Malfoy's directive to always be wearing one of these outfits on duty, Hermione stripped off her muggle clothing. Clad only in her underwear, she retrieved one of the hanging outfits and began the task of putting it on. It took a minute or two to figure out, but Hermione was soon standing in her uniform. At least, the main portion. The maid dress fit her perfectly, which made Hermione wonder how exactly they had known what her size would be.
Hermione checked out her reflection in the full-length mirror by the dresser and was impressed by what she saw. Her long, bushy brown hair contrasted somewhat with the refinement of the dress, but the effect was surprisingly pleasing. All in all, she looked quite nice in the ornamental black and white maid outfit, even if on closer inspection, a few accessories meant to be worn with it were missing. Chief among them was something to wear beneath her skirt. The skirt ended mid-thigh, which might have been fine for some, but it was a touch too short for Hermione's taste. She walked over to the dresser in her room and opened the top drawer. Inside were many pairs of black stockings and tights. Hermione took only a few seconds to select some sheer black tights for herself.
Hermione had just finished putting them on when she heard a faint knock at her door. Hermione swallowed nervously, thinking (and hoping) that Narcissa might be here to check on her. She took a deep breath, smoothed out her skirt, and walked over to open the door.
Only to find no one there, seemingly. Hermione blinked, then looked down. Teoni was standing there, taking in Hermione's appearance. Of course it was Teoni. The house elf had told Hermione that she would be back, after all. Hermione was a little disappointed that it wasn't actually Narcissa, but she did her best to hide it.
"Hello, Teoni." Hermione greeted the house elf cordially.
"Good, good. You already have it on. Now let's finish getting you ready." Teoni said happily, skipping inside the room.
Hermione closed the door behind the house elf. Teoni was acting a little differently than she had been a few hours ago. Hermione was no longer an honored guest and she was not family to the house elf's employer either. It meant that Teoni was friendlier, but rather less polite to Hermione than she had been. It wasn't a bad trade-off, all things considered. Hermione hadn't known what to expect from house elves, having only read about them and never having seen one before. Teoni could have easily been hostile to Hermione's presence, but thankfully, that wasn't the case.
Hermione watched as Teoni dexterously retrieved various items from the other drawers of the dresser. Teoni placed them on Hermione's bed while she was done. Hermione walked over and saw a small lace apron bottom that was meant to be worn on top of the skirt and a long, shiny black ribbon whose function Hermione couldn't quite guess at the moment.
"You're lucky you have such a nice figure, Miss Granger. You don't even need to wear a corset." Teoni said off-handedly, skipping over to the nightstand.
"A corset? Really?" Hermione asked in considerable surprise, never having worn a corset in her life.
"Yes. Mistress Malfoy said you didn't need to wear one. So you don't need to worry about that." Teoni replied distractedly, pulling out a small silver marking shaped rather like a coin from the nightstand.
Hermione was intrigued by the silver mark. It had a crest on it, as well as lettering that was too small for her to read from this far away. She thought she recognized the crest, though. A far larger version had been hanging from one of the tapestries in the entrance hall. Was it one of the family crests, and if so, which?
Having gotten all of the accessories Hermione would need, Teoni led her back to the mirror. The house elf passed her the white lace apron bottom first, and Hermione tied it behind her waist without any trouble. Teoni then passed Hermione the shiny black ribbon. Hermione opened her mouth to ask what the function of this was, but Teoni was already motioning Hermione to sink to her knees. Baffled, Hermione did so.
"That goes around your neck, Miss Granger. Tie it in front of you in a bow." Teoni explained helpfully.
Hermione did as she was instructed, with Teoni's tiny fingers guiding her own. After a few moments, the black ribbon was tied over the white lace of the outfit's neck, ending in a tiny bow over Hermione's collarbone. Teoni then attached the silver marking to the middle of the bow with a press of her small hand. To Hermione's surprise, the marking stuck to the bow like it was tied there as well.
"Good. Good. That should meet Mistress Black's approval." Teoni said with a satisfied nod.
"Mistress Black? Who is that?" Hermione asked curiously, having known only Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange to be here.
"Mistress Malfoy's sister." Teoni answered shortly.
"You mean Bellatrix Lestrange? Why does-" Hermione began, puzzled.
"Do not call her that. Please, Miss Granger, whatever you do, do not call Mistress Black by her married name. She will become very angry." Teoni explained in a pained voice.
"O-Okay. I won't. Is she here now?" Hermione said nervously, wanting to know as much as she could about the evidently intemperate woman.
"Oh yes, she's sleeping. Mistress Black usually gets up right before dinner." Teoni answered in a calmer tone, stepping back from Hermione to take a look at her.
Hermione stood in place awkwardly, never having been terribly confident of her looks. Refined outfits like these never really looked right on her. But Teoni nodded approvingly at Hermione and turned around to go back to the closet. A moment later, the house elf appeared holding a pair of black shoes. The shoes were beautiful, but they had what looked like 4-inch heels on them. Hermione groaned inwardly.
"Are those really necessary?" Hermione asked gingerly.
"If you want Mistress Black's approval, they are." Teoni replied in a sympathetic tone.
Well, Hermione certainly wanted to get off on the right foot with the woman. Hermione sighed, put the shoes on and practiced walking a few paces. She could count the number of times in her life where she had worn high heels on one hand. After a short while, Hermione managed to shed her awkward gait and did a passable job of walking in them.
"Very good, Miss Granger. I'll show you how dinner is served later. Mistress Malfoy says that she expects you to be waiting in the Entrance Hall in half an hour." Teoni explained, already heading to the door.
"Alright. Thank you for your help." Hermione replied politely as Teoni left her room.
Alone once more, Hermione went back over to the mirror and looked herself over again. The shoes and the outfit together told Hermione that looking pleasing to her employers was probably going to be one of her chief duties. It was a little galling, considering how much effort Hermione put into her studies only to find that her appearance was what was valued. But she couldn't complain. Narcissa was enabling Hermione to help her parents.
And privately, Hermione was eager to be seen in an outfit Narcissa would approve of.
Hermione waited rather nervously in the Entrance Hall. A lifelong habit of showing up early had left Hermione with little to do but to stare up at the tapestries that hung from the ceiling. There were three in total. The largest one in the center had the Lestrange family crest. Fitting, as this was the Lestrange Estate. Flanking it were two smaller tapestries that displayed the Black and Malfoy family crests.
There was something to consider here. It hadn't taken any time for Hermione to match the crest on the ribbon on her neck with the Black family crest that hung from the tapestry above her. Teoni had given it to her and said that Bellatrix would approve. Along with Teoni's admonition to never call Bellatrix by her married name, Hermione couldn't help but conclude that the woman had a definite antipathy toward her husband.
As keen as Hermione was to get on Bellatrix's good side, appearing to take sides as a servant in a marital squabble did not seem like a very good idea. But there wasn't much Hermione could do about it at the moment. Other than tear the ribbon off her neck, and she couldn't very well do that.
A large, ornate grandfather clock in the Entrance Hall struck six times to indicate the time. Hermione tensed up, then tried the inner mantra she used to get herself to relax before taking a test. Unfortunately, one of the tenets was to remind herself of how well she had studied, and that wasn't even close to true in this case. Hermione was mostly in the dark here.
The sound of heels contacting a hard floor reached Hermione's ears. It seemed to be coming from the same doorway she and Teoni had gone through earlier for her interview with Narcissa. Sure enough, as the door opened, Hermione caught sight of the blonde woman in her emerald green dress. Her breath caught momentarily as she took in Narcissa's glamorous appearance once more. A moment later, Hermione remembered that she was wearing the maid outfit Narcissa had told her to put on earlier. What would the woman think of it?
"Hello, dear. You look lovely." Narcissa said in a cool tone as she approached, looking Hermione up and down.
"Thank you, Mistress." Hermione replied politely, deciding on the spur of the moment to offer Narcissa a curtsy, raising the edges of her black skirt.
Narcissa smiled approvingly at her. Hermione's breath caught once more. The woman's smile vanished shortly thereafter, but its fleeting quality only made Hermione hungrier to see it again. Narcissa, for her part, regarded Hermione with a knowing expression before turning to face the stairs. Hermione fidgeted slightly, wondering if Narcissa knew exactly what was going through her mind.
The seconds dragged on in silence. Hermione alternated her attention between the stairs and Narcissa every once in a while, looking for some kind of clue. They were waiting for someone, clearly. It had to be Bellatrix. Teoni had said that the woman got up around this time.
Eventually, Hermione heard the faint sound of heels again. A door opened on the second floor, but from where she was standing, Hermione couldn't see who it was. A few seconds later, a tall woman with long, shining black hair appeared at the top of the stairs. Hermione could tell immediately that she was beautiful. The woman, Bellatrix, was wearing a long black dress and heels, and as she came down the stairs, the contrast her soft, pale skin made with her dark outfit was something to behold.
"Oh, who is this, Cissy?" Bellatrix asked quietly as she came down the staircase, her dark eyes fixed on Hermione.
"This is Hermione Granger. She will be working here as a maid for the next few months." Narcissa answered evenly.
"I know I told you to hire someone, but I expected to get the chance to meet the girl before you did." Bellatrix said sardonically, looking over at Narcissa.
"Perhaps if you had gotten up earlier, you would have had the chance, Bella." Narcissa replied, somewhat tightly.
"Hmph. Let's get a good look at you." Bellatrix said after a moment, stepping very close to Hermione.
Before Hermione could react, Bellatrix reached out with two fingers and brought them under Hermione's chin. The taller woman then raised Hermione's chin an inch or two so that they were looking into each other's eyes. The sheer presumption of the woman was unbelievable, but Hermione was too taken aback to do or say anything. Bellatrix looked intently at Hermione's features. After a few seconds, a smile appeared on the woman's face.
"Hmm. Pretty little thing. I know she's not pureblood, but I think I recognize her eyes. Is she related to the Rosiers?" Bellatrix asked conversationally, keeping Hermione's chin tipped upwards with her fingers.
"No, Bella. Hermione has no wizarding parentage." Narcissa answered in a clipped tone.
"Really? You mean she's a mu-" Bellatrix began in surprise, raising her eyebrows.
"Muggleborn, Bella. The term is muggleborn." Narcissa cut in before her sister could continue.
"That's what I was going to say." Bellatrix replied silkily, her smile turning into more of a smirk.
Hermione wasn't so sure. She had sufficiently recovered to act. If Bellatrix wasn't going to release her chin, then Hermione would do it herself. Hermione stepped backward out of Bellatrix's reach. The woman raised her eyebrows again at Hermione's movement, but she said nothing. Hermione took a moment to collect herself before speaking. She did not like this woman, but she could not afford to antagonize someone who could send her packing, especially since Hermione hadn't yet received her pay.
"Hello, Mistress Black. I am grateful for the opportunity to work here, and I hope to meet your approval." Hermione said evenly, offering Bellatrix a similar curtsy to the one she had offered Narcissa earlier.
"Well, you've made a good impression, I'll say that. You know just what to say, and what to wear too." Bellatrix said approvingly as she spotted the crest at Hermione's neck, seeming to have just noticed it.
"I have no doubt that Hermione will work out well. Now come, Bella. We need to discuss what we're going to do about Andromeda." Narcissa cut in again, motioning for her sister to accompany her, likely to the dining room.
"I imagine it's going to include throwing a few thousand Galleons her way again. Is she in Italy now? France?" Bellatrix asked with a theatrical sigh, following Narcissa.
Whatever Narcissa said in response was lost as she exited the hall. Bellatrix turned her head and gave Hermione a long, considering look before she followed her sister out of the hall. As soon as she was alone, Hermione let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding. That could have been a disaster, but Hermione thought she had managed to avoid one. For now.
A door opened on the first floor. Hermione turned to look, not having heard anyone coming. Teoni was there, and the house elf waved Hermione over. It was time to learn how to serve dinner to her two employers. Assuming there were no other diners, and Hermione fervently hoped there wouldn't be.
Hermione felt like she already had her hands full with the two pureblood women she had met today.