Chapter 17: Cloaked in Shadows
Maggie grabbed the tea kettle from the cabinet below, filled it with water, and set it on the stove. After igniting the flame beneath the pot, she went and sat across from Hermione who appeared lost in thought as her eyes roamed the streets of Hogsmeade.
She sighed, placing her hand over Hermione's. "Everything will be okay, Hermione. Lucius is still a highly respected wizard. It doesn't matter if he left the Death Eaters or not. They won't go after him." But Hermione didn't budge.
Lost in the memory of Lucius' warm protective embrace, her gaze never shifted from the kitchen window, not even as the kettle on the stove began to shriek. She reminisced about the feeling of his skin against hers, but in the darkest parts of her mind, an ominous black cloud began to form above them as they gripped each other tighter. She couldn't get Mrs. Humphrey's words out of her mind. She wanted to believe Maggie. Everything she told Hermione made sense, but something inside her still couldn't make sense of it. Last night, Lucius told her there may be times he wouldn't be there. Could this be what he was referring to?
Maggie poured them a cup of hot tea and set the cups down on the kitchen table. The clanging of the tea cup hitting the table caused Hermione's neck to snap away from the window as the soothing smell of lavender tea with milk and honey wafted around her, draping her in a warm blanket as she exhaled a breath she had been holding since they got back to the store.
"Thank you, Maggie." She let her shoulders drop as she tipped the cup to her lips and succumbed to the relaxing effects of the tea.
Maggie nodded and smiled as she took a sip from her cup. They let silence fill the room until Maggie perked up in her chair.
"I saw how you smiled when Mrs. Humphrey told us about Lucius telling Narcissa no." She narrowed her eyes as Hermione put her palms over her suddenly burning cheeks. Maggie tried to peek around them. "Does it make you feel any better knowing that?" She asked as Hermione dragged her hands down her cheeks and held onto the sides of her teacup. She watched the cloudy milk swirl in her teacup as she remembered that moment at Mrs. Humphrey's.
"I don't know," she finally said. "I suppose it does." The muscles in her face began to ache as Hermione fought back a playful smile as Maggie finished the last of her tea and laughed.
"I thought it might," Maggie said as she got up to put her cup in the sink. "I wouldn't worry if I were you, Hermione. Lucius may appear rugged and tough, but he is also brilliant and well-educated." She shoved her chair back under the kitchen table. "He'll know what to do when the time comes."
Maggie left to her bedroom as Hermione finished the rest of her tea before heading up to her room. After changing into shorts and a tank top, she sat against the window and looked over the village. As she lost count of the stars, she began tallying the rooftops adorned with smoke billowing from their chimneys. Anxiety pricked at her flesh like needles as her stomach turned with fear. While Maggie's words reassured her, she still couldn't look past the idea that Lucius might be in danger. Her eyes felt heavy and stale as she finished counting rooftops and stood up from the window.
Suddenly, her eyes locked onto something towering and dark emerging from the alleyway across the street. She sat back down and tried to get a better look. From the darkness of the shadows came a cloaked figure with a hood so tall it seemed to pierce the sky like a needlepoint. The obsidian cloak enveloped its entire form, and its frayed edges dragged across the cobblestone as it revealed itself under the soft glow of a nearby street lamp. Something metallic glared across its chest as it passed beneath the street lamp as if the figure was wearing a chest plate of armor.
She sucked in her breath as pure terror gripped her by the throat, her body beginning to freeze against the glass. A cold sweat began to drip down her back as the cloaked anonymous figure slowly walked beneath another street lamp and then turned down another alleyway. Every muscle in her body tensed as she watched it disappear back into the darkness, and an invisible box rendered her motionless and stricken with fear.
"What the hell was that?" She finally said into the silence of her room. Slowly, she moved away from the window and held her palms against her shivering shoulders. She stood on tiptoe by the side of her bed, attempting to peer back into the street, but all she could see were the warmly lit spots over the roads and the shadows between each building. The streets looked untouched and empty like they did every night before.
She wondered what that could have been—who that could have been. Why were they there? What were they doing walking between buildings and wearing such ominous clothes? She lay awake for most of the night, feeling like she was sitting along the edge of a cliff until her body finally surrendered to its exhaustion.
The blinding morning light drifted into her room as the sun rose above the rooftops and over her eyelids. She scrunched in her bed and groaned, wishing the sun would take a vacation day so she could sleep in a little longer.
"Thank goodness it's Sunday." She grunted as she turned her pillow over and hid her face from the daylight. As she allowed herself to drown in the darkness of the pillow, her mind couldn't help but travel back in time to the night Lucius held her close to him in a perfect dance in front of his black marble fireplace. She vividly remembered the sculpted contours of his muscles beneath the black button-down shirt, the penetrating gaze of his rain-cloud-colored eyes, and how his words of admission elicited goosebumps across her body. The captivating memory couldn't help but be accompanied by the rumors from Mrs. Humphrey as the image of Lucius' stunning Victorian home slowly morphed into Mrs. Humphrey's golden mansion. The haunting words repeated over and over again in her head:
'None of that will matter if she asks the Death Eaters for help.'
The words seemed to wrap around her neck like a noose that would surely tighten if she thought about them anymore. She sat up in bed, rubbed her eyes, and gave up the fight to stay asleep. She replaced Mrs. Humphrey's words with the reassurance from Maggie during tea the night before. Suddenly, she leaped from her bed and ran to the window as the memory of the tall, cloaked figure came crashing into her mind like a tidal wave.
Breathless, she planted her face against the cold glass window and searched the streets and the now-lit alleyways but found nothing. She quickly changed into blue jeans and a grey sweatshirt and ran down the stairs into the store.
"Good morning, Hermione!" Maggie smiled as she unwrapped a set of robes from their plastic cases until her face slowly contorted into one of concern. "Woah, are you okay?"
Hermione put her hand over her chest, focusing on slowing her breathing.
"Maggie," She said between breaths, but her words continued to flow even faster. "I saw something in the streets last night! It was black, and the hood was tall, and it walked out of the alleyway and—
"Slow down, Hermione." Maggie laid the robes along the desk and put her hands up. "Are you sure you didn't dream this because of our talk at Mrs. Humphrey's?"
Hermione's mind seemed to travel a hundred miles per hour, hardly able to grasp Maggie's question. "What do you mean?"
Maggie narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. "Well, it sounds like you're describing seeing a Death Eater out in the streets last night, right?"
Hermione's eyes widened with realization as Maggie's words soaked the fabric of her brain. Suddenly, the memories of all her encounters with the Death Eaters blinked rapidly across her vision as she compared last night's sighting to the physique and attire of any Death Eater. Maggie was right, that had to be what it was.
'But who?' She thought. 'And could it have been a dream?'
"Hermione?" Maggie stepped closer.
"Uh, yes, it had to be a dream. You're right." She said as she put her palm against her forehead. "I'm just being crazy."
Maggie shook her head and put her hand on Hermione's shoulder. "You're not crazy, Hermione, and you've been through a lot these past few days, so it's natural to feel a bit paranoid."
There was no way this was just a dream. She knew what she saw was real. It had to be. She recalled how her palms sweated, the way her body froze in place like a deer caught in headlights—every detail too vivid to be a mere dream. Maggie had a point: the coincidence of a Death Eater strolling through the streets of Hogsmeade on the very night she heard rumors about Lucius and Narcissa was striking and certainly didn't help put her mind at ease.
They sat down for their morning coffee, as if the dream was just that, a dream.
"Any plans today?" Maggie asked as she stirred in a spoonful of sugar and a small cup of creamer.
"Not that I know of, why?" Hermione took a sip of her coffee.
"Madam Jinx's shop is having a Sunday sale today on robes and dresses, and I wanted to check it out. Are you up for a little shopping?"
Hermione peeked over the rim of her mug mid-sip. "Oh, is Charles busy today?" The words seemed to slip out before Hermione could stop them, unintentionally sounding sharp and blunt.
"Well," Maggie chuckled and seemed to ignore Hermione's jab. "I don't know if he's busy or not. I was hoping it could be just the two of us."
"Oh," Hermione smiled, suddenly feeling foolish and embarrassed. "Shopping does sound fun. I'd love to go!"
After a much-needed hot shower, Hermione combed through her hair and applied a little mascara to her lashes before quickly changing from the sweatshirt to a black and white striped long-sleeved shirt. She snatched her coat from the bedpost and hopped down the stairs to meet Maggie waiting in the store. She wore a pair of black leggings with a gorgeous deep green knit sweater.
"Ready?" She asked as she stood up from the blue armchairs.
Hermione pulled her arms through the sleeves of her jacket and nodded as she followed Maggie out of the store and into the street. As they walked to Madam Jinx's, the village streets began to fill with Sunday visitors. Occasionally, Hermione would glance down the alleyways between the businesses they would pass, wondering if she would catch another glimpse of a Death Eater if that's even what she saw last night. She knew it was unlikely she'd see one out in the open, let alone in the daylight.
As they entered Madam Jinx's, Hermione's senses filled with the smell of old books and new class robes as the memories of shopping here before the start of every school year filled the gaps in her mind. Ron and Harry meet her here at the beginning of each year to procure new robes and books for the upcoming term. She could still feel how exciting it was to finally see them again after a long summer in London.
"Look at this!" Maggie retrieved a grey bodycon dress from the rack and lifted it to her chest for closer inspection. "What do you think?"
"I think the dress would compliment your form, but what about this color?" She reached for the same dress but in a ruby red shade.
Maggie took the dress from Hermione and put the grey dress back on the rack. She held the red dress against her chest as Hermione nodded.
"Much better." She said.
"I think you're right!" Maggie draped the dress over her arm and continued to browse the store. Hermione walked behind her and stopped to admire a few articles of clothes. She pulled a knee-high, deep green skirt off a shelf and held it up to her waist but decided to put it back.
"Oh!" Maggie exclaimed as she reached for a burgundy spaghetti strap with a slit going up the side and held it up to Hermione. "This would look stunning on you."
Hermione held the dress to her chin and rubbed the satin fabric between her fingers. She glanced around the store and headed for the dressing room at the other end of the store. She yanked a brown curtain across the rod above her and closed herself in a small closet-sized dressing room as she undressed. She pulled the dress over her head, letting the bottom slip down her sides and down to her mid-calf while she pulled the straps over her shoulders. She turned and gazed at her reflection.
The dress kissed her curves, giving her a breathtaking hourglass shape. The slit down the side gave recognition to her lower and upper thighs, while the other side felt like heaven as it moved over her body with every movement. The top of the dress hugged the sides of her stomach and loosely bundled and fell around her chest. She turned and admired the back of the dress or, lack thereof. The back of the dress fell to the middle of her back, accentuating the muscles of her shoulders and the natural arch in her back.
"Oh my gosh!" Maggie's voice echoed through the store as Hermione pulled away the curtain and stepped out of the dressing room. Her cheeks flushed as she glanced around to see if anyone had heard them.
"You look stunning, Hermione."
"Really? Thank you! I might buy this one."
"Oh no, please let me buy it for you?"
Hermione shook her head, not willing to let Maggie pay for yet another gift when she already signed her paychecks. "No, Maggie. You've been far too kind. Let me buy that dress for you." She pointed to the ruby red dress still draped over Maggie's arms.
"Really?" Her eyes grew wide.
"Yes, my treat!"
Hermione undressed, put on her regular clothes, and stepped out of the dressing room, happy to have found such a dress. She grabbed the bodycon dress from Maggie's arms and draped the dress over her arm. After a bit more shopping, they approached the checkout counter. Hermione pictured herself in front of the black marble place at Lucius' home, back in each other's arms, swaying back and forth in an intimate slow dance as the ruby dress swayed across her smooth legs. While standing behind Maggie in line, she glanced around the rest of the store until her eyes spotted something on a coat rack nearby.
She stepped out of line and walked toward something long, black, and made of wool. She pulled the wire hanger off the rod and revealed a long cloak that snapped together in front of the chest. The hood of the cloak extended into a long point, resembling the one on the cloak Lucius wore during his visit to Maggie's Tailoring one night. Hermione ran her palm across the rough wool-like texture of the cloak.
"This thing must keep you warm." She said to herself. Something intrigued her beyond its striking resemblance to Lucius' cloak. She wanted to buy it, but it certainly wasn't flattering. If she were to wear it, the garment would envelop everything but her ankles, while the hood would obscure her face and hair entirely, reminiscent of a Grim Reaper costume.
"I got it!"