DRAGON'S HEARTSTRINGS || dramione | harry potter

Chapter Four

Upon the High Reeve's take-off, Missy showed Hermione to her room which in fact was at least three rooms in one, because it had not only a bathroom, but also an adjoined living room and library, albeit smaller than the main ones in the house. The dominating colors were reddish and gold, the textures – wood and iron, the walls were adorned with vintage floral tapestries, and the bed with the canopy was triple the size of the one at Hogwarts. The fire cracked in the hearth, illuminating the room's darkened corners and warming the place up. Hermione entered and looked around in awe – the whole manor was big, and dark, and cold, but this room seemed like a small haven of warmth.

She expected something else – not a jail cell, not a windowless cupboard in the dungeon, but not anything like that too. It was unusually vast, but it represented none of what she was used to seeing in her nightmares, so that was good.

Mipsy asked if she wanted anything to eat or to drink, if she wished to explore the bigger library or check out the depths of the dungeons underneath them, but Hermione refused it all, unused to being served by house elves and choosing instead to unpack. The wardrobe and the chest of drawers were both empty, so that's where she put her clothes. She filled only a third of the wardrobe and a single drawer with them – she didn't have a lot of clothes, and she didn't need that much space.

She went to the small library, already half-full of books she promised to check out later, but there the space was not enough – she filled all the shelves, and still, at least two-thirds of what she brought with her had to be stuffed in the corners of her bedroom and on the floor.

She filled the shelves in the bathroom with products for her hair because magic spells couldn't help teasing that beast. She saw a sage-colored bathtub in there and tried to remember when was the last time she took a bath – probably that same summer when she Obliviated her parents. She wanted so badly to take the bath now, to sink into the hot water filled with bubbles and aromatic oils, to wash off all the dirt, the tears, the sweat, the pain of the past few years, she wanted to feel her constantly tensed muscles relax but she resisted that temptation – she couldn't relax, not even a little bit, not at the Malfoy Manor, not where the High Reeve lived, not when he could invade her space any time he wished to.

When she unpacked, she sat on the bed, trying out the mattress, and looked around the bedroom once more, taking it in together with her belongings. Just then, Mipsy popped back on and Hermione had a feeling she had been there the whole time. She wore quite a nice little dress with a bow tie on her head, and Hermione realized she had never seen a house elf dressed so well. The elf's eyes were kind and her smile seemed heartfelt.

"Are you sure you're not hungry, Missis?" the elf asked.

Hermione hadn't even had breakfast but the knot in her stomach would stop her from absorbing anything anyway. "No, thank you, really..." she answered politely. "It's just... Your master hasn't told me what I should be doing exactly, so now I don't know what... to do."

Mipsy smiled at her, "Oh, for now, you don't need to bother yourself with anything, Missis. Master told me to make sure you're comfortable here." She said the High Reeve's name not in a way Hermione was used to hearing; from Mipsy's lips, it sounded more like Master Dragon. "Is everything to your liking?"

Hermione looked around. "Everything's perfectly in order, Mipsy. Thank you."

The elf bowed slightly. "You don't need to thank me. It is my pleasure to serve you, the Lady of the Manor..."

Hermione's eyes widened when she heard that last bit. "Oh, no, please, I'm not—"

"But if you're quite sure there isn't anything I could help you with, then I shall bother you no longer," Mipsy finished and disappeared with another loud pop.