They apparate in front of the estate's gates. Sophie almost collapses as soon as her feet touch the ground but Hermione grabs hold of her, steadying her. She looks physically sick.
"I want to sit down," Sophie mutters stumbling towards the wall of the estate.
Hermione lowers her to the ground where her cousin sits, resting her head against the wall. She reaches into her pocket for an empty bottle which he fills with water before handing it over to Sophie and ordering her to drink. After a few minutes, the colour returns to her cheeks and she stands up, a lot steadier on her feet.
"Do we have to do that again?" She asks with a frown.
"We'll have to do it again to get back to your house. It does get easier each time you do it, though." Hermione mentions as they set off through the gates.
She watches as her cousin stares wide-eyed at everything they walk past, including a woman who Hermione doesn't recognise. She tells Sophie it's rude to stare at people but she can't blame her. She remembers her first trip to Diagon Alley. The first time she was surrounded by witches and wizards. It is exciting. Thankfully, they reach her house without seeing anyone else. Hermione unlocks the front door, letting Sophie enter first.
Sophie nervously follows Hermione into the living room where she's surprised to find the room tidy. She had expected to find all the dishes from the previous night still scattered over the coffee table. From her cage, Athena chirps excitedly at their arrival.
"Hello, Athena. How are you today? Did Draco feed you last night before he went to bed?" She asks and Athena chirps in reply. "Good, shall I let you out to stretch?" She asks, opening the cage for the owl to flutter around the living room.
She lands on Sophie's shoulder. Sophie giggles, stroking her gently.
"She's very cute." She mentions, earning a chirp of agreement from Athena.
Hermione grabs the owl food from the kitchen and passes it to Sophie.
"Can you feed her some for me whilst I wake Draco up?" She asks her cousin who sits on the couch with her new friend and feeds her a pellet.
Hermione climbs the stairs hoping Draco's not as angry with her as he was last night. She'll apologise and explain what happened with David. Hopefully, he'll agree to go search for him. Although, with a number of bottles she saw in the kitchen, he might need a hangover potion. She knocks on their bedroom door, announcing herself before slowly creaking the door open. However, she's confused to find their bed empty, although the bed covers and pillows are still ruffled up so the boys obviously spent the night here. She's not sure why they left the house so early. It's barely half past eight.
She makes her way back downstairs to where Sophie Is running around the living room giggling as Athena chases after her. When the owl lands on the top her head, Sophie laughs, feeding her the owl pellet.
"I'm teaching her to play chase." Sophie laughs when she spots Hermione standing in the doorway. "Where's Draco?" She asks, looking behind her.
"He's probably at his friend's house. We'll go around and see if he's there." She explains. "Grab your bag."
"Can we bring Athena?" She asks hopefully.
"We won't be out long." She tells her.
"Okay," She sighs, sadly. "Does Draco's friend live around here?"
"Yeah, he lives near the gate." She mentions as they leave the house and she locks the front door behind her.
They walk in silence for a few minutes until they turn the corner onto Epsilon Street and nearly walk straight into Lisa and Theo.
YOU ARE READING
The Marriage Decree
FanfictionWhen all eligible wizards and witches are forced into marry in order to increase the population after the war, neither of them thought they'd ever have a chance at happiness again. Especially not with each other. DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTE...