I was wondering, lost in thought, through the bottom floor of the manor.
I didn't realize that someone was heading the other way, until I looked up a second too late.
Smacking right into a hard chest,collapsing onto the ground with the person on top of me.
"Oof!" I gasped out as I felt the weight of the person.
"Sorry, I didn't realize you four were back already, how are the Blacks'? Is everything alright?" Abraxas asked, after he rolled off of me, and quickly stood up.
"Fortunately, we got there when we did, there was, however, a group of you-know-who's followers waiting to ambush Tom and me. We managed to create a portkey for the Blacks, I gave them a healing potion and an energy restorer. They should be back soon." I informed. "How are Bellatrix and her sisters?" I wondered, beginning to feel overwhelmed once more.
"They are well. It seems thatthey'll be waking up soon." He said.
I nodded in response, my hands staying behind my back.
"You look frustrated, did something happen?" He asked, carefully.
"It's not that something happened, it's what hasn't happened, and what will happen. I-I don't know how prepared we can be. This guy is gaining power in the wizarding world as we speak, I have no idea how Grindlewald comes in to play in this, but I have a feeling that he has just been a pawn in this psychopathic murderer game." I babbled.
He nodded, suddenly looking behind me.
"Nobody knows for sure what will happen, we can only practice and refresh everything that we do know. Dueling, offensive and defensive spells, potions..." He said, as I heard footsteps.
"We'll discuss that during dinner time. I need to speak with Anna, right now." Tom cut in, causing me to jump a foot in the air.
I quickly turned to look at him, before clearing my throat. "Tom, how-how long have you been standing there?" I asked, innocently.
"Long enough..." He said, his hand hidden behind his back.
"Alright then, well, I'm going to take a walk in the garden." I said, before his hand wrapped around my upper arm.
He shook his head at me before leading me back towards the room I had woken up in a few hours prior.
He pulled me in before slamming the door shut, and putting a spell so the door couldn't be opened.
"What's going on?" He demanded, in a lowly tone.
I could tell by the way the muscles in his arms flexed, and his rigid pose that he was trying not to get angry.
I took a slow deliberate breath before looking up at him.
"Fine. I am feeling tried, restless, frustrated, and overwhelmed. There's too much going on. I-I fear that we could lose too many people. I-I don't want that." I said, turning my back so that I was now facing the window.
I could hear him sigh as he began to make his way towards me. "I know that you're stressed over what this arsehole has done to everyone, but there is only so much we can do, at least for the moment. We are more than advanced in dueling, I mean you took down five men with a flick of your wrist and in less than a blink of an eye." He said amazed, then let out a chuckle.
Causing me to turn to look at him with an eyebrow raised, before turning back to stare out the window at the soothing rain.
"Dolohov may not say this out right to your face but after you left he was rather grateful that you did what you did. It was a rather amusing scene to watch. He was extremely thankful that you were so quick on your feet." He said, giving me one of his rare full smiles, as he enveloped me in his arms.
We stood there staring out the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the gray skies as it suddenly began to rain harder, getting harder and harder by the minute.
"Why did you react like that?" I asked him, after a few moments, watching as the rain went from light trickles to full showers.
The outside of the house, which could be seen from this specific room and angle, had began to fade until nothing could be seen from the heavy sheets of rain coming down.
"How would you react if you were walking, minding your own business, and you see me laying splat on the ground with another girl on top of me?" He retorted.
"Hey, that was an accident!" I grumbled, frowning. " Besides, it was my fault, I wasn't looking at where I was heading. I seemed to be rather distracted too much lately." I explained, feeling my face heat up, all the way to the tips of my ears.
"Are you seriously blushing right now?" He asked, pulling back slightly to look at my face.
I shook my head at him, before getting out of his hold and going to sit on the bed.
I could hear as he groaned before he walked towards me.
He stopped before me, standing between my legs as I felt one of his cool fingertips grasp my chin and pull my face towards him, before he leaned down and captured my lips in a searing kiss.
My mind was wiped clean of any frustrated thought in that moment.
Everything around us seemed to disappear, as he pushed me down on the bed before climbing on top of me.
"I hope you weren't too hungry, because we're going to be here for a rather long while." He whispered in my ear teasingly.
I let out a giggle before I felt his lips begin to work on the side of my neck.
"Sophie, it's time for- Oh bloody Merlin and his long gray beard! My eyes! I've gone blind! Bloody hell, my eyes have lost their ability to see!" Bellatrix cried dramatically, as she walked into the room.
Tom rolled his eyes at her antics, before quickly reached over and pulled a blanket over us, and pulled me closer to his side.
"Bella? What's going uh-nnn — oh dear..." Narcissa asked as she walked in right after Bellatrix, who was leaning into the door while rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her palms roughly.
"Merlin's beard, cover your modesty. No one wants to see your chest, or bum." She scolded, averting her eyes.
Andromeda chose to walk into the room, before rolling her eyes at us, and smirking. "You two better get dressed, and do it quickly, might I add, before our mother comes too and wrings both of your necks." She sang amused.
With that I quickly waved my hand, causing the drapes of the canopy to close before I grabbed my brassier and panties from where they ended up on the bed, clipping the brassier on and adjusting it to the proper position, before reaching to grab the cotton, over the shoulders, navy blue, lace sleeved, floor length dress. Slipping it onto my body before climbing off the bed.
"This isn't over." Tom whispered to me as he climbed off after me.
I giggled, slipping on my ankle boots before going over to the mirror to comb my crazy hair.
"You do realize you have a large bruise on the side of your neck, you might want to do something about that." Bella said, innocently.
I glared over at her as I quickly went to my trunk, popping it opened, before pulling out a small box.
I then pulled out a thick ribbon-ed choker with a star medallion hanging from it.
Sighing as I tied the choker onto my neck, adjusting the medallion to hang in the middle before turning to look at everyone.
"Happy?" I asked, sarcastically.
"That hid the ones on your neck. What are you going to do about the trail on your shoulders?" Andromeda asked, sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes before I closed my eyes in concentration. "Happy?" I asked sarcastically, when the trail disappeared from my skin.
"Very." The three sistersreplied together.
"Alright, enough with the wit. Dinner is ready, and we have things to discuss with those who have already arrived here." Tom said, after I pulled on my sleeveless cloak.
"Ugh. My appetite is gone after seeing that." Narcissa muttered as she followed us down the stairs.
"Be lucky it's just your appetite and not your eye sight. My left eye is still twitching." Bellatrix quipped.
To say dinner was awkward, would be putting it lightly.
Almost every pair of eyes in the room was on Tom and me. I felt the need to hide, but quickly put that idea to rest as I felt Tom's hand grip my thigh, hard.
"Was there something you needed?" Tom asked, setting down his fork.
We were met with silence.
I was hoping that we'd finish dinner before anything started but again I seemed to be wrong.
"We just want to know when we'd be starting the dueling practices. The practices of defensive and offensive spells." Abraxas said, looking at Tom.
"First thing tomorrow morning." Tom said shortly.
Everyone nodded.
Once dinner finished I quickly excused myself leaving Tom to discuss the details of everything to the guys, and girls.
I slowly made my way back to my room, where I slipped my shoes off and climbed into the bed, letting my tired body finally rest.