A Story of a Short Ending | T.R

Chapter 24 - The Calm Before the Storm

Movement - Hozier

The sun was setting and so was Leonard's patience. It was already dark outside and the women still hadn't made their way back to the Manor. The fact that Lestrange was with them was more worrying than calming, considering he is a no man's friend and violence visits him like rain in their lands - often.

He stood by the window in his bedroom, the room feeling too cold to rest and get comfortable for the evening. The fireplace was on and the slight cracking of fire was the only soothe he could offer to himself, as the darkness outside was growing and so was his impatience. What is taking them so long?

The first unsettling fact of the day was Riddle choosing to give the tasks to the girls instead of those who worked for him for years, he probably started to lose his mind. Leonard didn't doubt the women even for a second, he knew what they were capable of and knew they were more than qualified to carry out the tasks their Dark Lord threw at them, but the fact that he chose them instead of the men was pinching his ego somewhere deep down in his chest.

He sat down in the armchair, his eyes on the fireplace as the thoughts kept nagging. The question he knew he should ask himself was - why? Why is he worried in the first place? The excuse of being an empathetic person didn't work anymore, because as much as it pained him to admit he was only worried about one particular person who was currently out of the Manor and if others came back and she didn't, he truly wouldn't have been okay with that.

He didn't know how much time he spent just staring at the cracking fire in a fireplace, but the muffled sounds downstairs tugged him out of the daze and he himself not knowing why ended up in the hallway. The lone figure coming up from the stairs and heading in his direction made his heart sink with relief. There she was and she was okay.

Angeline walked closer towards him, but her thoughts were in another place. She didn't see the man standing at the end of the hallway, her focus staying miles away. It only raised his suspicions over the nature of the task they were sent to. What was so specific that they themselves couldn't do it and what get her to be so absent minded?

Her eyes were on her gloves as she was tugging them off her hands as if in disgust, probably feeling the closeness of her bedroom and not counting on an encounter with anyone else. He understood that she was too close too late, stepping to the side to let her pass but neither of them calculated it right and moments later her shoulder met his, surprising her out of her own thoughts. Angeline turned swiftly, putting her hand on his forearm to gain some stability and not find herself on the floor.

They both stared at one another as she looked down at her hand on his skin, the mix of emotions running through her eyes was worrying him more and more.

"Sorry," Leonard finally broke the silence, snapping them both out of the trance they were caught in.

Angeline seemed to understand what just happened and moved her hand away from his arm, clearing her throat while straightening her blouse out.

"It's okay," her eyes found him, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

She looked like she wanted to say more, ask him something, maybe even confront him but instead, she simply took a step back, her footsteps silent on the plush carpet.

"Goodnight," was all she said before she disappeared down the dim hallway, leaving him to his own thoughts.

He stared in the direction she went, such a strange encounter after everything that happened in the Manor, between them.

Meanwhile, Angeline hurried back into her bedroom, her back pressed against the wooden door once she finally locked it behind herself. If what she felt was true then the situation just got even more confusing.