Vial of Black Ink - Midnight's Feather
She stepped into the dimly lit tavern, listening to the door swing shut behind her, banging loudly into the wood frame. Hermione quickly moved from the entrance and over to the bar, extending a bag of wizard coins to the man seated beyond it. "One butterbeer, please. And a shepherd's pie."
The man took the bag of coins, pulling at the string of the pouch to look inside before giving a nod and disapearing through the broken swinging door of the kitchens.
A clatter of glass beyond her made Hermione turn her head, just enough to see a man on the ground, hands above his head. "Sorry, sorry," the man spoke in quick stutters, peering up at those standing in front of him.
"Sorry?" One of the men, she recognized as Crabbe's father from a portrait in a manor belonging to a family of Death Eaters mimicked the old man's words with a sneer. "You'll pay for that drink."
"I don't have-"
Another one, that looked strikingly similiar to Goyle bent down to grab the man by his beard. "If you don't have the money on you, then maybe we should go to your house and take whatever interests us as payment."
"I-" the man croaked as she turned in her chair, picking out a galleon to throw at the unmasked Death Eaters.
A third man caught the coin from his own seat, having looked on silently at the scene his men were creating. He twirled the coin in his fingers as he spoke, "Let the fool go. Crabbe, Goyle."
The old man scrambled to his feet upon being dropped to the stone and without a glance around the tavern he ran out the front door.
Hermione ducked her head down just as the third man stood up from his chair, walking over towards her. Even in the dimlight she recognized that straw-like hair, glistening in the flames from sweat. The Death Eaters must have stopped here after a mission, but she hadn't been able to let them beat on an old man just for being clumsy enough to knock Crabbe's drink to the floor.
The man leaned against the bar, setting the galleon on the wood surface, just as the owner walked out from the kitchens with her shepard's pie, a butterbeer, and a midnight black pouch. "Three firewhiskeys and one for my friend here," he tilted his head towards her.
She had to force herself not to draw her hood up further, to allow her fingers to even twitch under his sharp eyes. Hermione simply took her food and drink, drawing it closer to her, taking the pouch and putting it into her pocket.
"'Course." The owner took the galleon, turning around to grab a flask of firewhiskey and start emptying the contents into four cups.
"We haven't heard your name yet, friend."
The beat of heart increased, racing in her chest when he spoke to her. Even so she swallowed down the panic fluttering in her chest, containing it. "I haven't said it."
"Hmm." For a moment she thought he had recognized her voice, but then Barty simply took one of the mugs set in front of him and slid it across the wood to her. She stopped it before it could spill over her. "Goyle, Crabbe, we're leaving. Take your damn drinks with you."
She didn't let her shoulders lower even after the group of Death Eaters had left the tavern.
Prompt: 45. "We haven't heard your name yet, friend." / "I haven't said it." 41. Panic