3 - Hermione
Hermione
Leaving nocturn ally, Hermione apperated to the only place she needed to see one more time before she left. Her childhood home stood before her, lights off and a big ‘SOLD’ sticker plastered across the ‘For Sale’ sign attached to the gate of the old brownstone. It wasn’t hers anymore, not since the moment she erased her parents memories and left, she just needed to see it. See it and know that what she was about to do was the right thing.
Hermione took one more deep breath and walked away from her old home, she held the Merlin Maiks in her hand as she walked towards the alley way next to the 24 hour convince store on the corner of the street. Once she felt covered enough by the darkness of the alley she place the small round thing under her foot and pressed her weight against it until it cracked.
Instantly she felt an odd weightlessness overtake her body. It was nothing like apperating or using a port key, it felt more a kin to a time turner, like the world was moving beneath her feet and not her moving across it. In another instant it was over and she was standing at the door step of a large country house.
It could have been anywhere, Hermione had no idea where on earth she was, it was too warm for it to still be England, but then again the property could be under some kind of stasis charm, some of the older houses were bewitched as such, including the Hogwarts green houses (thanks Hogwarts a History). There was no other real identifiers on the building and so, not game enough to walk straight into the house, Hermione began to walk the perimeter of the building.
It was beautiful, old and ornate brick, with beautiful trimmings and archtical features, it appeared to be French in its design features, she remembered see pictures of similar houses in her Grandmothers old design magazies. Besides the beautiful old house, the gardens that surrounded the building were equally beautiful and well maintained. The Property was magic, you could tell by the plants and the small creatures that kept darting just out of Hermione’s eye line. Pixies, Botruckles, and perhaps even a small fairy shyly hid behind larges leaves and tree trunks. It made her giggle a bit, they were all so sweet and so sheltered from the horrors of the world beyond this place.
A small crack of apperition made her jump, she turned to the noise and saw a small and extremely well presented house elf at her feet.
‘Miss is welcome to the interior if miss is interested’ it squeaked.
‘Oh goodness, I’m sorry to intrude, please tell your master I apologise and will leave immediately.’ She panicked, fussing about, reaching for her bag.
‘Miss need not worry, Master was clear with instructions, Miss is welcome and Master tells Quincy to welcome miss with much respect.’ The elf said, before bowing deeply.
‘Quincy there is no need to bow, I am not your master, you are my equal in my eyes,’ she said to the elf.
‘Quincy will not argue with Miss at this time, Miss will follow Quincy to the house and will rest. Master tells Quincy Miss has traveled for long and must be weary. Quincy is to force Miss to rest if needed.’ The elf said with a stubborn shake of his head. He then reached forward, grabbing a handful of Hermione’s jeans and tugging her towards the rear enterance to the manor house. She followed along and let the determind elf steer her to the house.
It was warm inside, pleaslty so. The elf had taken her to the closest door, which now saw her standing in an old country style kitchen. Stone floors, a wonderful old cook top, a large fireplace with a fire cracking in the harth. Another house elf was chopping vegtables on a raised cooking platform.
Quincy continued to drag her towards a human sized chair at the kitchen table, with a forceful nudge she sat down. Quincy clicked his fingers and a picture of water and a cup appeared on the table.
'Quincy ask Grift to make Miss some food. Miss is too skiny for Qunicy's likeing' the elf said turing to the other elf who turned around at the sound of his name.
'Grift agrees with Quincy, Miss is too skinny. Grift makes soup to help' the other elf nodded, clicking his fingers. Hermione watched as the vegetables that had been on the chopping board hovered over to a pot that was on the stove already steaming and bubbling. It smelled incredible, and Hermione quickly became aware of the empityness in her stomach. It also dawned on her how long it had been since she'd had a full meal.
before she could reminise further a hot drink appeared infront of her, she could smell the inviting scent of Malt Milk. there was a slight sweetness to the smell too; calming draught.
'Miss will drink, help miss sleep' Grift nodded firmly at her, before snapping his fingers again, a bowl of seaming soup floated over to the table and set itself infront of her along with a placemat, napkin, and cutlery.
'Thank you. It's very kind of your master to allow such hospitality for me' She said before she took a mouthful of warm soup. it was the perfect temperature, hot but not so much that it burned her mouth. It was a delcious, chicken noodle soup, filled with vegtables and barley.
'Miss is most welcome. Masters orders.' Grift smiled and bowed.
'I wonder if I may meet your Master, to thank him for his kindness' Hermione asked once she had finished her soup and warm malt milk.
'Miss is to rest first, she may meet Master once Miss is rested and recovered.' Quincy said, reappearing at her side. 'If Miss is done, Miss is to follow Quincy' Hermione nodded and stood.
'Thank you, Mister Grift, it was a wonderful meal' hermione nodded at the other elf who smiled widely at her. 'Miss is most welcome.' she smiled and turned to Quincy, 'Lead the way Mister Quincy'.
They walked up a serreis of plain staircases that lead to the various floors of the house, if Hermione were to guess, these would normally be refered to as the servant's enterance. Quincy lead her to the third floor and down a long halway. when they reached the end of the hallway a singular door opened and led them to a large bedroom, with a lounge space and bathroom attahced.
"Miss will find all that she needs is present in these rooms. Now miss is to rest and not to come out till Miss is fully rested. Master's orderes.' the elf said firmly before closing the door and dissaperating with a small 'Pop'.
Hermione took in the ornate room, it was beautiful, large and airy, decorated with light brown wood features and purple linnen. There was a crest on the wall that she didn't recognise, it wasn't in any of the lineage books from the UK at least. It must be the crest of the master of the house. Hermione normally would be highly anxious at the whole situation but the food and the calming draugh had done it's job and she was much more pre-occuiped with the though of a warm bath and a long sleep in a comfortable bed.