T R A I N E D T O S I N | dramione

Fourteen

Hermione's eyes slowly opened as she blinked away the blinding streaks of light until it sunk comfortably to the back of her head.

"Topsy!" The voice was deep and muffled and Hermione gazed slowly around the room, attempting to pin-point the source of it. Her eyes landed on the door as it closed and she was left alone.

Her head ached but she felt no external pain, only the unwavering throbbing near her temples. She tugged her arm free of the tightly wrapped bed covers and brought it to the side of her head, massaging in rhythmic circles as she gazed around the room for an inkling of what had happened to her.

She found the window and her stomach dropped, her breathing staggering and the sting in her temples growing painfully more present. She saw a pair of cold eyes staring at her , only it was in her mind as the image resurfaced. They had been so similar to Draco's but as she recalled the moment before her unconsciousness, so different.

Lucius' eyes were those of a mad man. Hollow and worn and red rimmed. Icy and cold just like the silver reflected in them. But his eyes were guarded. She suspected there was nothing much to hide behind them anyway, perhaps just the mad ramblings of an old man. But that only made him even less predictable.

They had suffocated her even at such a distance. The amount of panic he had struck upon her using just the intense glare of his empty eyes was dangerous. The fact he already held so much power over her was concerning and if her assumptions about the Malfoy's were right, he would already be thriving off of it.

There was a bright flash of white followed by a crack and Hermione snatched her head to the side of the bed, her heart rate increasing slightly and her nerves prickled in awareness.

Topsy was stood warily by the side of the bed. "The Mudblood should not be alarmed." The elf said as she began tugging at a loose thread on the cloth she wore as clothes. Hermione sank slightly into the mattress, attempting to let go of the tension that clung to her muscles.

"Master has called for Topsy." Hermione frowned, she couldn't recall Draco being in the room when she woke up. "Is the Mudblood needing anything?" Topsy asked fidgeting on her feet.

"What's the time?" Hermione frowned, searching the room for any indication of it but the dark night sky said nothing accept that it was late. "It is being midnight." Topsy said watching the sky briefly, her side eyes reflecting the stars from outside.

"Can you send for Draco?" Hermione asked and Topsy blinked, her head snatching back to Hermione, though she hardly kept her gaze. She wasn't sure why but she wanted to talk to him. Perhaps about his father's return or the reason for his absence in the first place. He wouldn't have even been someone she considered had he not been the only person she was even able to talk to. Although, back in Hogwarts she had never done much talking either and there, the options of people to confide in were endless.

She liked to keep to herself but there was only so much she could hold in.

"Master Draco is busy, Topsy thinks." Hermione pressed her lips into a thin line. She supposed she could talk to Topsy but the poor elf couldn't even look at her and Hermione didn't intend to put her through even more torture than what she  undoubtedly already endured at the Manor.

"Okay. That will be all then." Hermione smiled and the elf quickly vanished as though she had been on the brink of it ever since she arrived in the room.

Hermione sat absentmindedly on the window sill as she tapped the end of a pencil on the glass. The irritating tap of it, passing through the glass and her head leant against it. It had taken her at least an hour to persuade herself that when she was return to the window, Lucius wouldn't still be there staring up at her with his cold, malicious eyes.