The End of the Universe

Chapter 18 - The Silence

Chapter 18

The Silence

Hermione Granger (POV)

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"Oi! Natalie! Hermione! Breakfast's being served downstairs! And you better hurry or Ron's going to eat everything!" the Doctor's voice drifted slowly into her head, as if he was far away. Hermione slowly opened her eyes blearily. The bed was extremely comfortable, and she didn't feel like getting up. The rain was pounding against the window, and a flash of lightning momentarily lit up the room. Behind her, Natalie flicked on the lights, and got up.

"I'll be ri-right back." Natalie said sleepily stifling a yawn as she exited the room to go to the bathroom at the end of the hall.

Groaning, Hermione sat up and rubbed her eyes. She glanced around the room, "I wonder who lived here," Hermione thought, while pulling on her socks, "They must have been rich. But why is Jamie so frightened of this house?" she wondered, slowly getting up, and searching for her shoes. When Natalie was done, Hermione quickly freshened up, and they descended the stairs together. When they pushed open the doors to the dining room, they found that everyone else was already there, and they weren't the only ones that were tired. Rose's eyes were drooping as she slowly ate her scrambled eggs. Rapunzel had leaned her head against her hand, staring off into space, while absentmindedly eating a piece of toast. Ron was gobbling down some pancakes, but looked exhausted. Jack and the Doctor were the only ones without a trace of weariness on their faces.

"Good morning," Jack said, looking up from the table as Hermione and Natalie sat down, "How'd you sleep?"

"Terribly," Natalie groaned, taking an apple off of the table, "The thunder kept me up all night."

"Is that why all of you look tired?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes." they all replied at once.

"Didn't you hear it?" Ron asked.

"No." the Doctor replied, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I heard it," Jack answered, "It sounded like a war was going on outside. I don't blame you guys for being tired."

"I know right!" Harry said, "How did you not hear it, Doctor?"

"I was busy." the Doctor replied, taking a bite out of his banana.

"Busy doing what?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Something important," the Doctor replied vaguely, "Now where's Jamie? I think we need a word with him."

"He's upstairs with Sophie. I'll get him." Jack said, and with that, he flew out of the room.

"Why do we need to talk to Jamie?" Rose asked, the moment Jack had left the room.

"While you guys were out, we told Jamie that we were in that abandoned house he told Jack about, and he freaked out. But before he could say any more, he was interrupted by you guys when you got back." Natalie said.

"Well, sorry! We were being chased by a werewolf!" Ron exclaimed.

"We're not blaming you!" Hermione said quickly, "It's just that we want to know why he's so frightened of this place!"

"Why?" a voice said from the doorway. They all turned around to find Jack and Jamie standing near the door. Jamie's face wore a confused expression.

"We're just curious, and you never know, it might be important." the Doctor replied.

Jamie walked over to a chair at the table and sat down. Jack doing the same.

"So," Harry began, "Why are you frightened of this place?"