Riddle and His Lady
Chapter Five: Butterbeer and A Little Kiss
Having returned from her trip with Rosie, Hermione found herself back in her room with a piece of parchment and a feathered quill. She had to admit, she rather enjoyed her little conversation with Orion. She wasn't expecting to meet someone who was so similar to Sirius, especially as the Black family were notorious for their muggle-hating. They were considered a particularly dark family and probably the closest to Voldemort than any other family, although Hermione knew for definite that at least three members of the Black family had been disowned due to their non-muggle hating.
She couldn't be sure, however, whether Sirius had told them about his father. Hermione gnawed at her lip. Her surname was pretty obviously a muggle one and she wondered whether Orion already knew that.
Hermione decided that now would be a good time to write a letter to Dumbledore. She reached for her quill and thought for a moment; there was so much she wanted to ask him but there were things she couldn't even reveal to him. There was a thin line that Hermione had to tread carefully now she had broken the laws of time. With that in mind, she began writing.
Dear Headmaster,
I must thank you for your generosity towards me in my current state. I cannot thank you enough for helping me when you do not even know me. If there is anything I can do to repay your kindness, I would welcome it.
Now, when I last saw you, you mentioned a boy called Tom Riddle. I must trust you with some information of dear importance in return for some details regarding this boy.
In my time, I am familiar with Tom Riddle. In fact, everyone in the wizarding world is familiar with him although through a different name. There are few that know him for his actual name. Most know him as Lord Voldemort and we are currently involved in a war with him and his followers. I cannot indulge you with any more information as I have probably told you too much already but I thought you had a right to know before I ask you what I will.
I would like you to tell me all you know of Tom Riddle, including his current murder record. Please do not ask me of my intentions with this information, but it is vital if I am to make my stay here worthwhile.
Once again, I must thank you for your kindness towards me; it is much appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Hermione Jean Granger.
Once she had finished writing, she sealed the paper and trotted down to Madam Rosmerta to borrow her owl that quickly flew off with the letter in his mouth.
"Hermione, dear!" Rosmerta cried from the back of the pub. She was currently charming cloths to wipe the tables clean and sponges were washing the pint glasses.
Hermione trotted over to her and accio'd the cloths into her hand once the tables were clean enough. "We are about to open, my dear, so could you unlock the doors and then get three Butterbeers ready. Old Jack Hopparth likes to have a pint ready for him when he gets here every Friday." She shook her head, "he'll drink himself to an early grave yet."
Hermione nodded and did as she was told. Rosie joined her by the bar as she was sorting the pints out and hoisted herself up on the counter as people filtered in, ordering drinks and lunch meals. She was surprised by the business they were getting and it was only lunch time.
"Hermione," Rosie sang, prolonging the vowels in her name. Hermione glanced up with a smile; she was feeling quite under pressure from the incessant wizards piling up to the bar, but she tried not to show it in front of Rosie. "I want to be like you when I'm older," she said, just as Hermione was about to levitate a tray of drinks to one of the tables.
Hermione laughed, her mood suddenly picking up. "Why ever would that be, Rosie?"
"Well," she began, kicking her short legs out in front of her. She seemed adamant to stay perched on the counter as her mother was sending her agitated looks whilst rushing to and from the kitchen with plates of food. Hermione didn't have the heart to tell her to get off, so she ignored it. "I want to be a barmaid like you one day. And you're pretty!" she exclaimed with a jolly smile on her face.
Hermione chuckled, "Thank you, Rosie. But you're much prettier than me!" she protested, stretching her arm out to tickle the little blonde girl under the chin. She giggled in response and continued, "But you are pretty, Hermione! I bet you have loads of boyfriends."
Hermione laughed out loud at that, levitating two trays of drinks at once to opposite sides of the room, just as a group of four strapping young men waltzed into the pub.
"Oh, no, darling. Boys rarely look at me; my hair is too big!" she chuckled, and Rosie giggled at that, lifting herself up with her hands and balancing on the counter.
"I happen to think your hair is beautiful, among other things," a deep voice said from beside them. Hermione head snapped round as she heard the voice and her eyes met with those of Orion Black's. Oh my, she thought, he does have nice eyes.
Hermione felt her face heat up, and prayed in her mind that her face wasn't as red as it was feeling. "Hello, stranger." she said with a small smile, flicking her wand to produce yet another pint to hand to Old Jack Hopparth.
"This is his fifth one," Hermione sighed, shaking her head, trying to ignore the burning stare she was feeling from her right.
"Is this your boyfriend, Hermione?" Rosie asked, cocking her head to the side with an evil smile on her face. Hermione squinted her eyes with mock anger and opened her mouth to reply before she was, rather rudely, interrupted.
"Oh, she wishes," Orion said dramatically, winking at Rosie who grinned in responce. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at that and turn her gaze to him. She was slightly surprised to see a rather heated gaze returned to her and she swallowed awkwardly.
"Are you ordering a drink, Orion?" She inquired, smiling quickly at a rather red-faced Rosmerta who was still rushing back and forth with full and empty plates of food in her arms. Wizards seem to have rather large appetites, Hermione thought with a smile just as Orion replied.
"Yes, actually," he began, leaning on the counter towards the stifled witch with a cheeky smile, "Can I have four Butterbeers please, my pretty?"
"Of course," she replied with a laugh, "I'll send them to your table in a giffy. Anything else?"
"Well, a little kiss wouldn't go amiss," he joked, straightening up and pointing to his table at the back and then walking off with a wink.
Once their drinks were ready, Hermione lifted her wand to levitate the tray over to Orions table but caught his eye before she could. The young wizard shook his head with a twinkle in his dark eyes, and crooked a finger to tell her to come over to the table.
Hermione then turned to Rosie and said, "you can deal with this for a moment, can't you Rosie? I'll just be a second." and trotted over the the table with the tray of drinks in her hands.
"Here you go, boys." she smiled, placing the tray down and handing the pints round. She took little time to observe the four men before her. Sat next to Orion was a tall boy with short blonde hair. Due to his rather smug facial expression as he looked upon Hermione, it didn't take her two guesses to figure out which family he came from. "This is Abraxas Malfoy," Orion said, stabbing a thumb in his directed. "This is Evan Rosier," he pointed to a lean boy with windswept hair whom was currently sending Hermione a dashing smile. The name rang a bell in her mind, but she just couldn't reach it. "And this is Lestrange. He doesn't like his first name so we don't go there," Orion chuckled, directing her to a smart boy with light brown hair who gave her a small smile.
"Boys," Orion said proudly, leaning back, "this is my new friend, Hermione Granger."
She smiled timidly at them all and Lestrange quietly said, "Ah, so this is the girl that's caught Tom's attention?"
"But she's a mud-" Abraxas began before being elbowed sharply by Orion, and apparently painfully if the gush of air leaving his mouth was anything to go by. She nearly laughed if it were not for the stern look on the young Black's face.
"Yes, she is a muggleborn, Brax." Orion said firmly.
"Don't fight, boys," Hermione chuckled, "It doesn't bother me." Hermione wasn't completely lying. Of course, she still felt small pangs of hurt whenever used the term "mudblood", but she had become so used to that word being fired at her during the war that it became just that; a word.
"Anyway, I must get back to work," she chimed and grabbed the tray, walking off only to hear one of the boys say, "Well done, you prat, you've scared her off now."
She chuckled, feeling slightly glad to hear them giving Abraxas a little bit of grief. Well then, she thought, I might have found a friend in Orion.
Having returned to her position behind the bar, business had luckily simmered down to a comfortable flow of customers. Madam Rosmerta soon came over with a appreciative smile on her face, "You were brilliant handling that, Hermione."
"Oh, it wasn't too difficult" Hermione replied, cleaning away numerous empty glasses and charming the cloths and sponges to clean them.
"You just wait til tomorrow night," Rosmerta sighed, wearily, "Saturday nights are monstrous. That's why I have to get my nephew to come in and work those nights; two people can't manage it."
"We'll manage," Hermione smiled.
"You can have your break now, Hermione; you've certainly earned it." And then Rosmerta swapped positions with her.
She was about to go into the kitchen and make herself some food before a strong hand reached out and clutched her arm firmly. Upon seeing her shocked expression, Orion softened his grip and smiled. "I just thought," he began, releasing her, "since you're on your break you could come and sit with us."
"Oh," Hermione said softly, surprised that his friends would like her being there. It was fairly clear they were all aristocratic purebloods. "If your friends are okay with that."
"Of course they are!" He laughed and grabbed her hand to lead her to the table. Hermione slid in next to her new friend with a timid smile on her face, once again greeting the three wizards.
"So, Hermione- you don't mind me calling you that, do you?" Lestrange said quickly. Hermione shook her head, smiling and encouraged him to continue.
"So, how did you and Orion meet?" he inquired, taking a gulp of his Butterbeer.
"In Honeydukes actually," she started, "I was taking Rosie there for a treat and Orion was taking his brother." Lestrange nodded slowly, his eyes darting to Orion with a mischevious smile on his face.
"Speak of the devil," Orion said with a chuckle as Rosie sprinted up to us and lept onto Hermione's knee, beaming at everyone.
"Are these your boyfriends, Hermione?" Rosie said innocently, looking up at the bewildered witch.
Hermione's eyes darted to Orions who was currenlty laughing into his Butterbeer with raised eyebrows. "No," Hermione exclaimed, "No Rosie, they're certainly not."
She glanced around the table shyly, her eyes narrowing at the sight of everyone else finding Rosie's question rather amusing.
Rosie kicked her legs out excitedly again and cried, "Can I have this one then?" Hermione was amused to find her pointing towards Abraxas Malfoy, who had a shocked expression on his face which soon turned to horror as he looked towards Hermione.
"Oh, go on then," she whispered with a smirk on her face and Rosie promptly jumped over Orion to clutch onto Abraxas' arm.
"Got yourself a girlfriend, eh?" Evan said with a wink which Abraxas replied to with a scowl.
The boys continued to discretely tease Abraxas about his "new girlfriend" much to Hermione and Orions amusement.
"What's this then Abraxas? A little young for your taste..." A husky voice said from beside them.
Hermione turned to see where the disembodied voice was coming from just as Orion cried, "Tom! We didn't think you were coming!"
The strikingly sculpted form of Tom Riddle came into Hermione's sight and she suddenly stiffened, a stony expression masking her face. With a small smile, Tom slid in next to Lestrange and unfortunately for Hermione, directly in front of her. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably which did not go unoticed by Orion whose gaze seemed glued to her. He nudged her arm under the table whilst everyone else conversed and she caught his gaze.
"You alright?" he mouthed and she nodded. Hermione was not about to tell him that she was sat with several Death Eaters and there evil leader who kills most of her friends in the future. She was not about to tell him how awkward she felt and how guilty she felt that she had eaten cake with this man when he was the one who would ruin peoples lives, the man who killed her best friends parents and godfather. And killed their best friend, and his wife. She found it hard to wrap her head around that concept and that this charming, handsome young man would become such a notorious murderer and even try to kill her. She had to force herself to give him the benefit of the doubt and not kill him right on the spot. He was young; he was not evil yet. Hermione had no choice but to endure until she heard from the Headmaster.
Hermione suddenly jumped up from her seat, quite tired of finding it a chore to keep her eyes away from Tom's face whilst he talked to his friends. His friends.
"I must return to work," she said in a shrill voice before swallowing and forcing a smile on her face as she turned to Tom. "Is there anything you would like? A Butterbeer, perhaps?" Laced with poison, she thought.
Toms eyes snapped up to hers and held her gaze for a moment before opening his mouth slowly. "Yes, thank you, Hermione." he drawled with a little flick of his lips. She interpreted that as a smile and trotted off with a nod of the head. "Come on Rosie," she called and heard the little girl sigh and bid the boys farewell.
Hermione returned to her position behind the bar, aware of two heated gazes burning into her face as she tried desperately to ignore them.
I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter. I quite enjoyed writing it!
Thank you to everyone who reviewed although I'm slightly worried about the number of people reviewing...please do? Otherwise my motivation to update is slightly deflated haha.
So, Tom has come back into the story after a few chapters without him!
Unfortunately, I probably won't update for a week if not more as I'm going away on holiday tomorrow and then when I come back I go back to college. Boo.
But please stick with it and leave me some feedback :D
-Buckbeak