Chapter 3: The Search Continues
The Malfoy Manor was not what Hermione expected it to be. The manor had been unlived in for four years yet the house was immaculately kept. The grounds surrounding the actual house were large and well tendered well many bright and beautiful flowers, though some did look quite dangerous and Hermione reminded herself to be careful when she went to knock on the front door.
Walking up the front path, she noticed that around the back of the manor there was a dark wood, much like the forbidden forest at Hogwarts. If no one answered the door of the manor then Hermione decided that she would go and search the wood, even though from the distance it looked cold, uninviting, and really quite frightening.
When Hermione reached the front double doors of the manor, she was taken aback by the carvings in the wood. There was a large snake carved around the edge of both of the doors and it was moving continuously round and round. In the centre, there was a silver knocker that was also a snake only this time the snake was wrapped around a lion that was struggling and its jaws were moving up and down in an endless silent scream. Hermione was slightly fearful of using the knocker but calling on some of the famous Gryffindor braveness quickly reached out, gave it one loud knock, and took a quick step back from the door. Silence emitted from the house that almost belied the look of care that the house had.
Hermione took a few more steps back form the house and looked up into the windows that were facing her. She thought that she saw movement behind one the curtains on the fifth floor so she marched back up the path and grasped the knocker and brought it down twice very hard. Inside the manor the echo of the knocks were heard and Hermione began to tap her foot in annoyance while waiting for someone to come and open up the door for her. It seemed to take an eternity before the large double doors began to creek open, Hermione looked straight ahead but couldn't see anyone and as she looked down she saw the most pitiful house elf, he had a pillow case wrapped around his middle that was black and burnt in spots, the body that protruded from above the pillow case was all bone and loose hanging green skin. Thoughts of S.P.E.W. instantly came to mind but that would have to wait.
"Hello, I am looking for Draco Malfoy." Hermione said very clearly as she looked down at the unfortunate house elf.
"You is looking for Master Draco?" Came back the squeaky reply, he peered at Hermione through squinted bulbous eyes.
"Yes that's right, I was wondering if you could please let him know that I am here to see him." Hermione thought that the best way to get into the manor and to find Malfoy was to play dumb for once.
"There is no Master Draco here, he is gone, gone, gone." He squeaked.
"What do you mean gone? Does he no longer live here?" Hermione began to panic, not that she let it show. Her fear was that Draco was dead and no one knew about it.
"No, Master Draco is not at this home, who is you?" The house elf was beginning to look angry and Hermione knew that it would be pointless to try and get any real information out of him.
"Oh I am an old school.friend of Draco's and since I hadn't seen him in the longest time I thought that it would be a nice surprise to come and see him, but it doesn't matter I will catch him later on." Hermione smiled to herself when she realised the pun of her words. "Thank-you, sorry I didn't catch your name?" Hermione thought that it would be a good idea to show the poor house elf some kindness before she left.
"My name is Bobby" He squeaked.
"Well thank you Bobby, and if you see Draco can you please let him know that I stopped by." With a waver Hermione turned and left the front porch of the manor however instead of heading down the long drive at the front of the house she took the path along side the house and followed it to the dark wood.
The closer Hermione got to the wood the colder the air became. Pulling her cloak tightly about her she held her chin high and marched towards the wood, she was not going to be frightened by a bunch of trees. Though the small voice in her head whispered that it wasn't the trees that she was frightened of but what might be hiding in or behind those trees. Hermione told the voice to push off and hesitated only slightly as she reached the first band of tress.
"Don't be stupid!" She said to herself as she shook her head and stepped into the wood. While she walked down the small track that had been made between the trees she noticed how strangely quiet it had become and this unnerved her more than the sounds of animals would have.
The wood was dark and Hermione muttered the appropriate words and a light glowed from the end of her wand, illuminating a wide circle around her. Hermione was anxious, the woods surrounding her were quite creepy and the further she walked the colder it got.
After searching for close to an hour and not finding anything Hermione decided that she was not going to find anything from the wood on this night and any other. With that she disapparated and apparated back at her apartment. She quickly lit a fire and put out some food for Crookshanks and finally sat down on her comfortable sofa and closed her and drifted off to sleep.
½ an hour later Hermione was woken by an incessant tapping on her window. Getting up she walked over and let the owl into her lounge room, "Hello Pig" she said as she took the letter that was tied to his leg. "Have you got a letter for me from Ron?" Pig hooted happily and zoomed around the room while Hermione opened the letter and read it.
Dear Hermione,
I hope all is going well with the little job that I set you. I know you will manage to succeed, though why I was asked to get you to do it I will never know! However I can not say too much in here. You never know when a letter will be intercepted!
I had a visit from my lovely twin brothers yesterday, I was so tempted to curse the both of them and send them to Azkaban just for the hell of, they seem to think that now I am the Minister of Magic that I am like Percy. Really they should know better! If Professor Dumbledore hadn't come to visit me at precisely the right moment they probably would be warming twin cells in Azkaban this very moment.
Oh, Lavender has asked me to ask you to dinner when you are free. She seems to think that you being single is not a good thing so she has a nice wizard that she wants you to meet. I told her you probably wouldn't be interested but I promised that I would write you about it.
Ok then, best of luck with your mission and when you have something to report I expect to be the first to know of any developments and I will pass on the information to the interested party.
All the best
Ron Weasley Minister of Magic.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the twins behaviour, they knew all the right buttons to push to get Ron riled up, and they did so at every available opportunity. Hermione could not believe that Lavender wished to set her up on another blind date after the last one had gone so terribly, she would just have to tell her no when she saw her next time. Hermione shuddered as she remembered the events of the last date, Cracks had handed her flowers, which she had thought was a nice touch, however they had turned out to be flesh eating stork traps and had instantly tried to attack her and that was just the beginning! After many disasters the final straw for Hermione had been when he tried to demonstrate how well he could juggle fifty plates with food on his head. He tripped and fell on Hermione leaving her covered in food and small cuts. Hermione gave another shudder and quickly scribbled a reply on a scrap piece of parchment.
Ron,
I will send you a long letter when I have something to report.
Tell Lavender thanks but no thanks, I can do without the blind dates and I can finds a date for myself when I want to! But tell her nicely, I don't want to offend her!
Lots of Love Hermione.
Hermione tied the letter to Pigs leg and sent him on his way before crawling into bed and falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Hey Avrelle-skywalker thank you so much for reviewing! It is nice to know that there is someone out there that is reading my story that actually likes it ;oD I hope that this next chapter doesn't disappoint you! And thanks again!
If there is anyone else out there that is reading my story and has any ideas for me they would be greatly appreciated! :) I could use the help because I am starting to get writer's block!
The Malfoy Manor was not what Hermione expected it to be. The manor had been unlived in for four years yet the house was immaculately kept. The grounds surrounding the actual house were large and well tendered well many bright and beautiful flowers, though some did look quite dangerous and Hermione reminded herself to be careful when she went to knock on the front door.
Walking up the front path, she noticed that around the back of the manor there was a dark wood, much like the forbidden forest at Hogwarts. If no one answered the door of the manor then Hermione decided that she would go and search the wood, even though from the distance it looked cold, uninviting, and really quite frightening.
When Hermione reached the front double doors of the manor, she was taken aback by the carvings in the wood. There was a large snake carved around the edge of both of the doors and it was moving continuously round and round. In the centre, there was a silver knocker that was also a snake only this time the snake was wrapped around a lion that was struggling and its jaws were moving up and down in an endless silent scream. Hermione was slightly fearful of using the knocker but calling on some of the famous Gryffindor braveness quickly reached out, gave it one loud knock, and took a quick step back from the door. Silence emitted from the house that almost belied the look of care that the house had.
Hermione took a few more steps back form the house and looked up into the windows that were facing her. She thought that she saw movement behind one the curtains on the fifth floor so she marched back up the path and grasped the knocker and brought it down twice very hard. Inside the manor the echo of the knocks were heard and Hermione began to tap her foot in annoyance while waiting for someone to come and open up the door for her. It seemed to take an eternity before the large double doors began to creek open, Hermione looked straight ahead but couldn't see anyone and as she looked down she saw the most pitiful house elf, he had a pillow case wrapped around his middle that was black and burnt in spots, the body that protruded from above the pillow case was all bone and loose hanging green skin. Thoughts of S.P.E.W. instantly came to mind but that would have to wait.
"Hello, I am looking for Draco Malfoy." Hermione said very clearly as she looked down at the unfortunate house elf.
"You is looking for Master Draco?" Came back the squeaky reply, he peered at Hermione through squinted bulbous eyes.
"Yes that's right, I was wondering if you could please let him know that I am here to see him." Hermione thought that the best way to get into the manor and to find Malfoy was to play dumb for once.
"There is no Master Draco here, he is gone, gone, gone." He squeaked.
"What do you mean gone? Does he no longer live here?" Hermione began to panic, not that she let it show. Her fear was that Draco was dead and no one knew about it.
"No, Master Draco is not at this home, who is you?" The house elf was beginning to look angry and Hermione knew that it would be pointless to try and get any real information out of him.
"Oh I am an old school.friend of Draco's and since I hadn't seen him in the longest time I thought that it would be a nice surprise to come and see him, but it doesn't matter I will catch him later on." Hermione smiled to herself when she realised the pun of her words. "Thank-you, sorry I didn't catch your name?" Hermione thought that it would be a good idea to show the poor house elf some kindness before she left.
"My name is Bobby" He squeaked.
"Well thank you Bobby, and if you see Draco can you please let him know that I stopped by." With a waver Hermione turned and left the front porch of the manor however instead of heading down the long drive at the front of the house she took the path along side the house and followed it to the dark wood.
The closer Hermione got to the wood the colder the air became. Pulling her cloak tightly about her she held her chin high and marched towards the wood, she was not going to be frightened by a bunch of trees. Though the small voice in her head whispered that it wasn't the trees that she was frightened of but what might be hiding in or behind those trees. Hermione told the voice to push off and hesitated only slightly as she reached the first band of tress.
"Don't be stupid!" She said to herself as she shook her head and stepped into the wood. While she walked down the small track that had been made between the trees she noticed how strangely quiet it had become and this unnerved her more than the sounds of animals would have.
The wood was dark and Hermione muttered the appropriate words and a light glowed from the end of her wand, illuminating a wide circle around her. Hermione was anxious, the woods surrounding her were quite creepy and the further she walked the colder it got.
After searching for close to an hour and not finding anything Hermione decided that she was not going to find anything from the wood on this night and any other. With that she disapparated and apparated back at her apartment. She quickly lit a fire and put out some food for Crookshanks and finally sat down on her comfortable sofa and closed her and drifted off to sleep.
½ an hour later Hermione was woken by an incessant tapping on her window. Getting up she walked over and let the owl into her lounge room, "Hello Pig" she said as she took the letter that was tied to his leg. "Have you got a letter for me from Ron?" Pig hooted happily and zoomed around the room while Hermione opened the letter and read it.
Dear Hermione,
I hope all is going well with the little job that I set you. I know you will manage to succeed, though why I was asked to get you to do it I will never know! However I can not say too much in here. You never know when a letter will be intercepted!
I had a visit from my lovely twin brothers yesterday, I was so tempted to curse the both of them and send them to Azkaban just for the hell of, they seem to think that now I am the Minister of Magic that I am like Percy. Really they should know better! If Professor Dumbledore hadn't come to visit me at precisely the right moment they probably would be warming twin cells in Azkaban this very moment.
Oh, Lavender has asked me to ask you to dinner when you are free. She seems to think that you being single is not a good thing so she has a nice wizard that she wants you to meet. I told her you probably wouldn't be interested but I promised that I would write you about it.
Ok then, best of luck with your mission and when you have something to report I expect to be the first to know of any developments and I will pass on the information to the interested party.
All the best
Ron Weasley Minister of Magic.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the twins behaviour, they knew all the right buttons to push to get Ron riled up, and they did so at every available opportunity. Hermione could not believe that Lavender wished to set her up on another blind date after the last one had gone so terribly, she would just have to tell her no when she saw her next time. Hermione shuddered as she remembered the events of the last date, Cracks had handed her flowers, which she had thought was a nice touch, however they had turned out to be flesh eating stork traps and had instantly tried to attack her and that was just the beginning! After many disasters the final straw for Hermione had been when he tried to demonstrate how well he could juggle fifty plates with food on his head. He tripped and fell on Hermione leaving her covered in food and small cuts. Hermione gave another shudder and quickly scribbled a reply on a scrap piece of parchment.
Ron,
I will send you a long letter when I have something to report.
Tell Lavender thanks but no thanks, I can do without the blind dates and I can finds a date for myself when I want to! But tell her nicely, I don't want to offend her!
Lots of Love Hermione.
Hermione tied the letter to Pigs leg and sent him on his way before crawling into bed and falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Hey Avrelle-skywalker thank you so much for reviewing! It is nice to know that there is someone out there that is reading my story that actually likes it ;oD I hope that this next chapter doesn't disappoint you! And thanks again!
If there is anyone else out there that is reading my story and has any ideas for me they would be greatly appreciated! :) I could use the help because I am starting to get writer's block!