Chapter 07:
Hermione's eyes lit up the second she laid them on the numerous books lining the tall shelves, "Thank you," she whispered distractedly at Robb and made a beeline for the shelves.
She ghosted her fingers lightly over the spines of the thick, old tomes and felt a new life entering her. She pulled in a deep breath, inhaling the sweet aroma of rusted over paper and scanned the names of all the books, her dancing eyes shining with her excitement and hair framing her face.
She bit her lip when she came across any book she thought she should pick, then shook her head and moved on, intent on seeing as many books as she could before she made her choice.
And her innocent joy at being reunited with her first love – books, was playing havoc with Robb's peace of mind.
His heart skipped a beat when the excitement entered her eyes, her whole face melting into soft, lovely lines as she smiled a beatific smile and glided towards the shelves.
He prayed to the old Gods, to let him feel those fleeting touches she was awarding the books with, on his own naked skin as they snuggled on his warm bed between the furs.
His gut clenched when that particular image entered his mind and he felt her lip biting's effect in the one part of his anatomy that made even walking difficult. Lords have mercy, thank them for his tight breeches or he would have embarrassed himself mightily while looking at his father's ward.
Lord Eddard Stark looked up from his letters when he heard the door to the library opening and saw Lady Hermione fly towards the book shelves with his eldest son standing rooted to the spot, unable to tear his gaze away from her.
Ned cleared his throat loudly when his son refused to turn his way despite being summoned twice. "Robb, to what do I owe you the pleasure of your visit?"
"Nothing," Robb shook his head and cleared his throat when he realized his voice wasn't coming out right. "I just came to show Lady Hermione the library, I'll be on my way now. Have.. uh.. yes.. have to go for.. now.." he spoke distractedly, eyes still turning involuntarily towards the witch who was so engrossed in the books that she did not even notice any of untoward behaviour.
"Alright then," Eddard Stark nodded, giving his son his leave and yet it took Robb a few more minutes to get his act together and make his feet obey his father's command to leave instead of following his heart's desire to move close behind her.
The next morning, Ginny and Hermione did not go down for archery practice, instead they slept for an hour longer and then stealthily moved to the kitchen, preparing the promised delicacies for the Stark kids.
"What would you like to make?" Ginny asked, eyeing the vegetables, fruits, species and condiments around the kitchen.
"I was thinking of omelettes, you know, something simple yet delicious."
"Hmm.. want to add some veggies in it? Make it wee bit more healthy for the little boy? I remember mum doing that with us," Ginny smiled in fond nostalgia.
"Sounds promising," Hermione smiled and then grimaced. "Shall we bake some bread too? I'm kind of fed up of the stale, hard thing they dish out."
"Oh, yes please," Ginny exuberantly nodded. "And since it's still dark out can we please use," she waved her hand as if holding a wand, "all of its build-up inside me is making me crazy. I feel like I am on the precipice of something dark and annoying if I don't use some of it now."
Hermione nodded. "I so get you. I've become so jumpy and angsty these days. The fact that my date's round the corner is probably not helping either."
Ginny nodded in understanding.
Making small talk, they prepared the breakfast omelettes for Rickon, Bran, Arya and even Sansa, all of whom had behaved quite well the previous day. And of course of themselves too.
"Think we can juice out a pumpkin?" Ginny whispered in Hermione's ear as all the kitchen staff was now surrounding them.
Hermione giggled, shaking her head and balanced three plates in her hands, walking towards the dining hall, Ginny following behind her doing the same.
Hermione set the plates down in front of Rickon, Bran and Arya while Ginny did the same for Sansa, Hermione and herself.
"And what is that, may I ask?" Lady Stark looked at the served plates with disdain.
"Omelettes. They are made of eggs and are quite famous from where we come from," Hermione replied automatically.
"And we baked some bread for everyone. It's soft and warm, exactly how bread should be," Ginny added.
"I can't let my children have any of it," Lady Stark glared at the two witches.
"If you're worried about us having poisoned the food, I'll taste it in front of you," Hermione offered.
Lady Stark's glare did not waver but she motioned for Hermione to do just that. Biting back her angry retort, Hermione cut a piece of every omelette served, chewed it and then swallowed. For the benefit of the children though, she smacked her lips with her tongue, faked a smile and moaned, "Hmm.. Delicious."
"How do I know you haven't ingested an anti-venom already?"
Robb saw Hermione's normally warm brown eyes turn into chips of ice, her hair actually sparked, letting loose a few stray flickers of fire, though she ran her hand through her messy mane in an attempt to stop it.
Hermione lost her lid at Lady Stark's question and wandless and wordless, she froze the younger four Stark kids to keep them out of what was to ensue.
"Because trust me when I say this, Lady Catelyn, if I wanted to harm you or yours, there's nothing you can do to stop me. We are here for your protection and by extension the protection of the realm. Whether you like it or not, we will stay and do our duty; but that does, in no way mean, that I will take all the rubbish you throw my way."
"I am not only a witch but a very powerful and knowledgeable one at that, I am known as the brightest one of the age for a reason and believe you me, I am not one to be trifled with."
"You have trouble keeping your youngest fed so I thought I'd help, but I promise to not interfere in your family affairs henceforth. I thought of them as my own brothers and sisters so I intervened, I will not do it again unless specifically requested by you." With a flick of her wrist all their morning's hard labour disappeared to be replaced by the daily menu of dry bread and three minute boiled eggs. "Since you made me break a promise, you will explain the reason behind it to your kids."
Hermione lifted the spell on the four children and stormed out of the hall, hair still sparking behind her.
Ginny pinned Lady Stark with a withering glare before following her friend out.
"Where's my omnet?" Rickon cried, Bran and Arya looking around the table in confusion.
"That might have been a tad uncalled for," Ned spoke softly enough for only his wife to hear, "Not that I'm justifying her behaviour," he hastily added.
Hermione was mad! Raving angry! And much to her chagrin, Theon decided to waylay her just then.
"Lady Her..." he started.
"Move," she ordered and was gone from front of him in a flash.
Theon stood rooted to the spot in shock till he saw red hair whipping behind the same path that Hermione had taken not seconds back.
Without a second's thought, he followed the two and found them sitting by a clearing close to the woods. Lady Ginerva was setting food on what looked like a carpet of sorts and Lady Hermione looked mad enough to murder someone. Wondering what had happened so early in the morn for this, he moved towards them and cleared his throat.
"What are two lovely ladies like yourselves doing in the woods all by themselves?" "Breaking fast," Ginny offered without bothering to look up.
"May I join you?" Theon asked, thanking his luck for running into them. Now, not only did he get food but also the company of two of the ladies that were raising quite a few eyebrows in and around Winterfell.
Ginny caught Hermione's gaze questioningly, who gave an imperceptible nod in reply, so Ginny shrugged and made space for Theon to join them on the carpet she had hastily transfigured from some freshly plucked grass.
"What is it that we're eating?" Theon asked, eyeing the circular yellow things with curiosity.
"Something called omelettes and freshly baked bread," came a voice from behind them and Ginny turned to look at Robb who was walking along with Jon towards them.
Hermione stiffened at his voice but didn't turn around.
"May we join you, Lady Ginerva, Lady Hermione?" Robb asked eyes flicking between Ginny's face and Hermione's back. At least her hair wasn't crackling anymore! That was good right?
"Why are you two here?" Ginny asked instead. "For breaking fast," Robb shrugged.
"And to ask why you kept us both waiting in the dark. If you didn't plan to come for archery, you could've told us the same, we would've slept for a bit too," Jon spoke from beside Robb.
Ginny raised her brow. "We never spoke about meeting today, how were we to know you two would be waiting?"
"I thought it was a given, seeing as yesterday was the first day you actually managed to string an arrow correctly."
Ginny opened her mouth to reply, but Hermione placed her own hand on hers. "We're sorry Jon, we'll be there tomorrow onwards."
"Just give us a proper time if you don't want to wait for us too long," Ginny warned.
"Yes, my lady," Jon bowed a little at his hips.
"So, you didn't answer my question, Lady Ginerva, Lady Hermione, may we join you?"
"No," both the women vehemently replied together. Theon's eyebrows lost themselves in his hair. Instead of being insulted though, the brothers felt their lips twitching. "And why is that?"
"There's not enough food," Ginny grumbled.
"I seem to recall six plates full," Robb replied.
"Your mother will be displeased," Hermione looked the two men in the eyes and replied. "She's always cross with me," Jon shrugged and sat himself down.
Hermione furrowed her brows at Jon's careless comment realising just how deep his wound must be and then turned to Ginny who nodded and served the breakfast to the two young men who were sat on the carpet.
Robb walked around the carpet to face Hermione and knelt in front of her. "What about me Lady Hermione, am I allowed to join your party and break my fast?"
"It's your house and your food, Stark, knock yourself out," Hermione replied and stood up, walking past the gathered group deeper into the forest.
Robb stood up with her, his eyes following her into the woods. "The woods aren't particularly safe for a lone woman," Theon interjected, watching Hermione as she disappeared into the woods.
Ginny smirked. "Of course, they aren't. Mione's throwing a hissy fit in there, Merlin save the poor things that come her way." When she saw Robb following Hermione though, she shouted her warning at him. "Robb! Let her be, you're chivalry will get you maimed or killed otherwise."
Robb faltered in his steps but continued onwards, calling back without really turning, "I can't let a woman go alone into the woods knowing of the dangers that lurk in there. I'll get her out in a few moments."
"What an idiot," Ginny muttered under her breath and sat to eat with the two men keeping her company.
"You know Lady Ginerva, sitting with two unwed men so close to your own age, without a chaperon is not very wise of you," Theon started and Ginny sighed. She was surrounded by the idiotic lot this morning!
Meanwhile, in the woods, Robb found Hermione pacing between two tall willowy trees, the skirt of her dress fluttering with her swift steps, her hair sparking again in her anger while she kept saying unholy things under her breath.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione stopped her rant the second she realised she had company. She had lived with the Weasleys after all, her vocabulary could put most from her current era to shame.
"I came to escort you back, my lady. Staying for too long in these woods, especially by yourself is not a good idea."
"Were you not there when I put your mother to rights this morning? Or do you need a demonstration again?"
Robb winced. Yeah, his mother was going to take a long while to settle down after the morn's episode, and with the week they had ahead, he just knew it was going to go from bad to worse.
"How about I make it up to you? I'll teach you dagger play along with archery, does that absolve me from my mother's sins?" he asked hopefully, his warm blue eyes shining with mirth and remorse all at the same time.
Hermione's hand flew to caress her forearm at the mention of a dagger and she groaned internally. Perfect! With an amazing cue like that she was bound to have nightmares that night. Bloody brilliant!
Robb saw Hermione's pinched expression and then his gaze narrowed at the way she was rubbing her forearm tenderly. He stepped closer and pulled her arm towards him, pushing its sleeve away. MUDBLOOD it read in a very scratchy script.
"Who branded you? What does this word mean?" he asked, his eyes unmoving from the scarred flesh, his hackles raised at the prospect of someone coming close enough to his lady to brand her!
"It's not your concern, now, is it?" her eyes flashed angrily as she pulled her arm away from his tender, careful hands and pulled the sleeve of her dress back on.
Robb forgot his usual calm and his mirth left him in a breath. "It is very much my concern, Hermione, to know everything about you. Who hurt you? What makes you smile? What angers you such? Everything..."
"Why?" Hermione looked at Robb in confusion.
He took the last step towards, their fronts close to the other's but not quite touching. He lifted his hand and brought it around her nape, his thumb gently rubbing the apple of her cheek. "If you think about it long enough, my lady, you might just understand why." With that said, he stepped back, making Hermione feel bereft of his touch.
He waited, watching her keenly, as she brought herself together and walked past him. "One of these days, I'll hex you Robb Stark," Hermione warned as she moved past him.
"Continue to call me by my given name and I will take any hex you throw my way, Hermione," he whispered back, but he knew she had heard him, the slight falter in her step gave her away.
AN: Okay, so the response for this story hasn't been too great... and while I'd hate to abandon a story, I'm actually considering doing just that if it's something not many are enjoying!
My sis is getting married and I'm really hard-pressed for free time right now; so if not many are involved I will give this one up...
Let me know if you'd like me to change my mind!
Love,
CrazyA!